Jesus alone will judge each one of us as to whether we have been saved. If you are judging yourself as being saved, big mistake. However, if we do follow Jesus' teachings faithfully, we can have trust and hope in Him that He will save us. For those who think that their salvation is guaranteed, no matter what they do or don't do, good luck with that.
*Disclaimer: Any words in all capital letters in my post are not me yelling or angry, I’m just trying to emphasize the word.
I think I may be misunderstanding what you are saying, and I’m a little confused.
As I understand what you said……First you say we can not judge for ourselves if we are saved or not, but then you say people can have trust and hope in Jesus that He will save us ( Does this mean you think we CAN know/judge if we have salvation or not?) But then you say for those who think their salvation is guaranteed no matter what, “good luck with that”.
It seems to me like you are going back and forth and are not certain on your stance. As I said, I could be wrong and just misunderstanding what you are saying.
Here are my thoughts on the matter, and a few of the many Bible verses that have helped me come to my conclusion over the past few years:
I think The Bible, even Jesus Himself, clearly said that we can know if we are saved or not/if we will go to heaven or not in many passages. There are two things we must do: 1.Have faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior and 2.turn from, repent of our sins, and ask for forgiveness when we first turn to Christ and for the rest of our time in this fallen world. When we do these things TRULY, and are faithful to Jesus in our heart, we will be baptized of and receive The Holy Spirit, and can know for certain that we have salvation/eternal life (that we will go to heaven).
Those who TRULY love and have faith in Jesus can NOT go on DELIBERATELY sinning, but because we are still imperfect and in the flesh, we WILL sin. This will not be counted against us if we don’t mean to or don’t realize we have sinned, or if we are too weak to resist temptation (An example is getting angry and losing our temper with someone in the heat of the moment). When we realize we have sinned, we repent and ask for forgiveness. Many people also have certain sins they struggle with and fight their hardest to resist temptation, and they beg God for the strength to overcome the sin, and they constantly repent and ask for forgiveness. (An example is an addiction of some kind before God delivers a person from it). This does not mean they are not saved because it is not a DELIBERATE sin.
The Holy Spirit within true believers also helps to guide us and will convict us of sin that we are tempted to do, or sin we committed (not deliberately/willfully). It’s a deep feeling of guilt before or after doing (and sometimes during) the sin that will not go away until we repent and ask for forgiveness. And even after, sometimes people continue to feel dirty and guilty for their sin because of their deep love for God, even though they are forgiven.
A DELIBERATE sin is when a person does something, and continues to do something, that they know in their heart is against God’s law and offends God, and they may have even been warned it is a sin and rebuked, but they don’t care and they do it anyway (Ex: Sex outside of marriage both heterosexual and homosexual). They may even feel guilty about it before, during and after, but continue reveling in/enjoying the sin, and make it part of their sinful lifestyle. Those who do this are NOT saved and do NOT have assurance of salvation. Those who deliberately sin and live a sinful lifestyle, even though they claim to believe in Christ, do NOT have salvation or assurance of salvation. As Hebrews 10 says, when people deliberately sin and live a sinful lifestyle and enjoy it, but claim to have faith in and be saved by Jesus, they are trampling on Jesus’ sacrifice for us. They do not have salvation, but instead judgment and punishment awaits them. In addition, these kind of people do NOT have The Holy Spirit of God dwelling within them, because if they did they would not be able to willfully/deliberately sin and live a sinful lifestyle and enjoy and revel in it.
Again, I may have misunderstood/confused what you were saying, and I may have even said what you were saying in a more detailed manner. I‘m not trying to attack or correct you, I’m just trying to find clarification on what you are saying and share what I believe according to scripture.
Here are a few of the verses that I referred to:
JOHN 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
JOHN 3:34-36 “For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
ROMANS 10:9-13 “….because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””
ROMANS 8:1-8 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
HEBREWS 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
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