AQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) on the assurance of eternal life.
1. What does it mean to be born again?
It means you are no longer going to die. In the Bible, death is defined as separation from God. Now that you are born again, you are one with God and you will never be separated from him again. When your body ceases to function, your spirit will leave your body, and you will go immediately into the presence of God as if you had never committed any sin. Sin is death, but all your sins have been washed away, and so the penalty of sin, which is death, has also been removed. You will never truly die. When your body ceases to function, the Bible says you are sleeping, because your body never really dies or ceases to exist, any more than your spirit ceases to exist. Your body will decay, but someday that will change. Your body will be resurrected, made alive, and joined to your spirit once again, on the day Christ returns to earth as King. Then you will have an immortal body.
Hell is death. Hell is separation from God. Hell is where the unbelievers and those who rebel against Christ will be kept forever. Hell is an unpleasant place, a place of pain, agony, regret, and torment; mainly the torment of being apart from God for all eternity. Before you were born again, your unbelief had kept you separated from God. You did not believe what God had done through his Son Jesus, and even if you had believed, you had rejected the offer of salvation until finally you accepted his offer. Once you believe and receive the gift of eternal life through God's Son, then you are saved. You are free from death and from fear of punishment. You are made one with God and have a new heart. Your spirit is made alive with God's Spirit. You have been rejoined to your Creator, simply by an act of your free will. You chose to believe God and receive his free offer of eternal life, and you will never really die at all. Your body may sleep in the ground, or you may even be caught up in the air if you're alive when Jesus returns and be made immortal in an instant, but you never have to fear being separated from God again.
2. Is salvation earned and kept by good works?
No. This is a lie of demonic religious influences on mankind. You cannot earn eternal life. No amount of personal effort or self-will can bring you back to life, once you are dead. You died spiritually the day you sinned. You were in a hopelessly lost condition. God alone can give you life, and he does this freely. He places no requirements on you, other than that you come the way he has chosen. He chose that through the sacrifice of his only Son, you could be saved. If you accept this and confess Christ as Lord, then you have done what God requires. You are now alive again, eternally. Nothing can take the Spirit of eternal life out of you now, except your own free will.
God already forgave the whole world their sins in Christ. He already decided he wanted you as his child, when Christ died for you on the cross. When you recognized that you were lost and realized that your only hope was Christ, you received the free gift already purchased for you by God. Only as another act of your free will can you lose this precious gift. Once you are saved by grace, you are kept by grace, but you do not become a robot. You still have the choice each day to remain alive in faith, or to cast away your faith. But once having tasted of God's Spirit, very few will want to throw away such a precious gift.
You are now a child of God. You are a part of a family. You have been born again. You don't earn membership in a family. You are part of a family by right of being born in that family. Earthly parents will rarely disown their children, no matter what they do. How much more will your heavenly Father keep you as his own, since he has already demonstrated such a great love as to forgive all your sins in Christ? You have nothing to fear in Christ, and you cannot lose the gift of eternal life by failing to keep some regulation or law. You live by faith now, and it is through faith that you keep your relationship to Christ alive. It is by faith in God's promise that you are assured of your home is Heaven and that God is your Father. You did nothing to earn this gift, and you can do nothing so bad that God will take it away from you. Just keep believing, and you will always have the calm assurance that eternal salvation is yours.
3. How can I be assured that I am saved, when I do bad things or I feel like God is not there?
Through the word. You are a newborn spiritual baby. You must have food. You must grow. Your faith comes from your spirit, not your mind. Your faith must be fed, it must have nourishment, or it will become weak and perhaps even die. You must recognize now that you have an enemy. The devil was once your master. He was your spiritual father. Now he has lost you and he is mad. He will try everything he can to deceive you, to discourage you, and to stop you from growing. The only way you can combat him, is through the renewing of your mind by the word of God.
You see, your heart was changed, your spirit was made new, but your brain is still the same brain, and you still have the same body. Unless you are saved at a young age, usually the mind is filled with all forms of ungodliness, and the body has developed evil, destructive habits. Your body will still want to do all the things it used to do. Your mind will still have all the same lies and garbage in it, that you have accumulated over the years.
Doubt is a weapon of satan. Doubt, deception, fear, lust, condemnation, guilt, lies, half-truths, pride, ego, greed, these are all spiritual forces of your enemy, satan. Jesus defeated satan through the word when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. You will go through wilderness experiences as a believer, and how can you expect to get by without the word of God, when even Jesus needed it?
Faith comes only through God's word. You were saved by faith, and by faith you stand. Make sure you have a Bible, maybe several Bibles of different versions, some Bible tapes, CD's, videos, and start listening to and reading the Bible. Watch Christian TV and listen to Christian radio. The only fight you have to fight is the fight of faith, and it's a good fight because the Lord is on your side and he never loses a fight. His word is greater than all. Greater is he who is in you, than he who is in the world. You need to get more of God in you than you have of the world in you, so you can win this fight.
God's word will give you the weapons you need for every spiritual battle you face in life. When you have God's word in you, you will realize that no matter what you do wrong, or how bad you feel, God promised in his word to never leave you or forsake you. He can't leave you. He promised not to. He promised to stay with you. Eternal life is exactly that--eternal. It's life that never ends. Once you receive eternal life, your life will go on forever. This is a free gift. Remember this, and you will always have the assurance you are on your way to Heaven.
4. What exactly happened when I got saved?
You heard the word of God, understanding came, your eyes were opened and faith came into your heart. You came out of darkness and death, into light and life. You recognized that you were lost, blind, hopeless, and in need of a Savior.
Rom 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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