David Diga Hernandez - How to Know You're Really Saved

If you’ve ever been worried about the certainty of your salvation, I want to talk to you. I want to show you some truths in Scripture that will help you be certain and assured that you are saved. No more living in fear; it’s time to live by faith. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a fearful Christian come up to me or write to me and ask things like, «I committed this sin. Did God abandon me?» Or, «What happens if I die while having this unconfessed sin?» Or, «What if I think this thought, say this word, or find myself in a sinful situation, and I die at that moment? What then? Do I go to heaven, or do I go to hell?» Many believers doubt their salvation. They go back and forth between living in faith and living in fear, without ever being grounded in the certainty of salvation through Christ Jesus. I want you to know that it is the religious spirit that causes you to question your salvation. By that, I mean religious thinking—imagining that you have to work for your salvation or that you have to work to keep your salvation. We need to understand that salvation comes by faith, period. Now, I know some people take issue with me saying that because they’ll say something like, «Well, you can’t tell them it’s by faith alone. Because if you tell them that, they’re going to go on sinning.» That’s exactly why Paul the Apostle had to say, «Am I saying we should go on sinning?» It’s precisely because salvation is by faith that Paul had to clarify that. However, just because we trust in the Lord for our salvation doesn’t mean that we should give way to sin, as I’m going to show in a few minutes. But I want to first and foremost help you, through Scripture, understand how you are saved. We must first understand the place of salvation before we can understand the place of holiness. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, «For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.» The reason believers sometimes fear losing their salvation, the reason believers sometimes question their salvation, is that they imagine they are the ones working for it. Worry is an attempt at control, and we worry about our salvation because we think we’ve saved ourselves. It’s not your devotion to God that saves you; it’s His devotion to you. You didn’t do anything to earn your salvation, and you can’t do anything to keep it. How are you saved? Romans 10:9 says, «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.» Now, I often used to look at that Scripture and wonder how someone who can’t speak is supposed to confess with their mouth. Therefore, how are they supposed to be saved? But here, confession isn’t necessarily the phonetic pronunciation of the words; it’s an acknowledgment. It’s knowing; it’s believing. It’s that deep acknowledgment, that inner witness: I am saved. Jesus is Lord. I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. It’s something that takes place internally. Galatians 3:6 says, «In the same way, Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.» So then, salvation clearly comes by faith. Again, religious thinking will start questioning that, saying, «How can it be by faith? Aren’t we supposed to live holy? What happens if you sin? Brother David, if you tell people that, they’re going to go on sinning. They’re going to think that grace is a license to sin.» No. As I said, we have to first understand the place of salvation before we can understand the place of holiness. Imagine this: you go in for an operation for some issue with your body. Now, if you go in for an operation, you’re not the one operating on yourself; you’re just the one who chose to get on the table. You see, when we go to God for salvation, we’re not the ones saving ourselves; that’s not our job. We don’t perform the works that save us; rather, we surrender ourselves. We yield ourselves to that process. It’s the equivalent of getting on the operating table. We get into that place and say, «God, save me. God, change me. God, make me holy. God, I’m trusting You to do the work.» Being saved is like getting onto that operating table in that it requires simple surrender and definite trust. Being saved is like receiving a gift. Someone writes you a check; you didn’t do anything to earn that if it’s a gift. They just gave you the check, but you do have to deposit it. You do have to exercise your faith, believing that the check will clear. In the same way, it’s not your works that save you; it’s believing that God is saving you that saves you. Now, this is so simple, and it’s precisely because it’s so simple that it agitates religious spirits. Remember this: whatever is complicated, tedious, and burdensome is always religious. Whatever is simple and liberating is truly spiritual.