Mission Venture Ministries

The question is: are you truly saved? If you were to die today would you know without a doubt that you would go to heaven? Colossians 2:8 tells us: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” 

God wants you to be sure! The Bible says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). 

There are many sincere people in the world who are deceived about their salvation. Satan’s ultimate weapon is to make people think that they are saved. We do not know of many people that would admit or say that they are not saved; everybody wants to be saved, so people convince themselves that they are, when they are not. This is due to a lack of knowledge of biblical truth and, unfortunately, through false teachings, such as the Word warns: “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Mark13:22) 

Recently we heard a beautiful and sincere testimony of a young woman that thought that she was a Christian because she had been raised in a Christian family, gone to Sunday school and to church most of her life. She knew that Jesus was the Son of God and that He had died on the cross for her sins. She knew that He had risen from the dead and that He now sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. In other words she believed the “Good News” and therefore thought that she was saved. 

One day thru God’s providence she listened to someone that she followed on the Internet and this lady told her to watch something on Youtube that was very important, so she did. It was then that she realized that she did not understand the plan of salvation. Imagine the power that Satan has over an individual who feels saved, but is not really saved. Many people are simply deceived because they have not obeyed the gospel the way in which we are commanded to obey it. 

As she listened to the sermon that Paul Washer gave to an auditorium full of half-hearted young rebels in a day when youth are appealed to accept all the worldly ways, she realized that she was one of them. Yes, she knew a lot about Jesus but she did not know about the “Bad News,” that she was a sinner that needed to repent of her sins, ask for forgiveness and turn from her sins and go the opposite way in how she had been living in…  

Jesus taught on the Sermon of the Mount that: “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). The term mourns means “to experience deep grief.” In keeping with His theme of spiritual blessedness, Jesus seems to indicate that this mourning is due to grief over sin. The people who agree with God about the evil of their own hearts can attain an ‘enviable state of blessedness,’ due to the comfort they receive from communion with the Holy Spirit that comes to reside in the believer the moment they are saved. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Comforter (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 2 Corinthians 1:4). The Spirit comforts those who are honest about their own sin and humble enough to ask for forgiveness and healing. Those who hide their sin or try to justify it before God can never know the comfort that comes from a pure heart, as Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:8 (see also Proverbs 28:13; Isaiah 57:15). 

To be truly saved a person needs to be broken and understand that they have offended and rebelled against Almighty God with their sins. Therefore repent and cry out to Him for salvation, for “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). 

Jesus says to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6) and to be pure in heart (Matthew 5:8). You can’t continue to sin and say: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life (Romans 6:1-4). 

Jesus’ kingdom is about daily trusting Jesus and living righteously therefore, “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. (1 John 2:29). 

As Christians, we do not like to think of anyone as lost, therefore, we do what Jesus commanded and preach the gospel, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Sadly, many people believe whatever feels good must be right. That is why so many people believe that if you are simply a good person you will be saved. Many people are deceived because they do not want to think objectively about their salvation. 

Jesus said to: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). We need to wake up and realize that narrow is the way and that more people are lost than are saved. 

A little later in His Sermon on the Mount discourse, we learn from Jesus that many people who thought they were saved are going to be surprised on judgment day. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23). How utterly sad that will be to those who are self deceived. 

We need to study God’s Word and examine our hearts to see if we are really saved or if we are self deceived. No matter who you are or how long you have been saved, or thought to be a Christian it would not hurt to examine yourself to see if you are truly saved. If you really are saved then this message will reaffirm your assurance, or perhaps you will come to the realization that for many years you have been self deceived. Examine yourself honestly, so that you are not surprised one day. 

The bottom line is that faith in Jesus Christ alone is preceded and followed by repentance, a turning away from sin, a hatred of the things God hates, and a love for the things God loves. It is a growing in holiness and a desire not to be like the world and not to be like the great majority of those who call themselves Christians but to be more like Jesus Christ. 

If you want to learn more, check out this link EXAMINE YOURSELVES TO SEE WHETHER YOU ARE IN THE FAITH – 2 Corinthians 13:5

 And always remember what Jesus told Nicodemus the highly esteemed teacher of Israel: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  

Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (John 3:16-21).

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