How Do I Know If I Am Saved?

After Paul Washer’s sermon at Shepherds Conference on Friday afternoon, a firestorm erupted on social media criticizing one particular aspect of the sermon. Washer detailed his final visit with the late John MacArthur, sharing what he said to MacArthur during his time with him last March. Washer inquired about the condition of MacArthur’s soul, and followed up that question by asking about MacArthur’s fellowship with Christ as his life drew near its close.

Legions of critics have decried what Washer said as preaching “law” to a dying man, calling it cruel and heartless, dis-inviting Washer from visiting them on their death beds (as if he were coming anyways), and saying that these queries were tone deaf. Such commentary routinely is followed up by asserting that assurance of salvation is found by “looking to Christ” rather than “looking within.” Rather than looking to the condition of our souls, we ought to fix our gaze on the resurrected Lord, and find our full assurance in His finished work on the cross.

These criticisms have a ring of truth because they are partly true, but they miss an important strand of teaching within the New Testament. Repeatedly, we find the NT writers warning readers about a false assurance of salvation. We find again and again that multitudes of people will think they are on the road to glory, only to learn devastatingly on the Day of Judgment that they were never converted to begin with.

Perhaps the most famous passage that warns us of false assurance is in the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23 LSB).

Jesus is clear: false assurance is a significant and widespread problem, and it will be a problem until His glorious return. Many, not few, will be stunned on the Day of Judgment to learn that they have been banished into the eternal fire. They will be so shocked that they will deign to argue with the Judge, asserting that they of all people must have been converted. The judgment handed down against them will highlight their disobedience to Christ, their “lawlessness.” They had a profession of faith, but their lives were marked by the practice of sin. Whatever assurance they had was false, and they end up in eternal destruction. When we read passages like this, we would be wise to ask if it is well with our souls. We would be wise to consider that we ourselves might be among the many who are self-deceived.

Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount indicates that we should think about the assurance of salvation in two ways. First, the New Testament teaches that there is an objective assurance of salvation. Objective assurance is based on something outside of us, namely, the finished work of Christ on the cross. This type of assurance comes because we recognize that our salvation depends wholly on Christ, and not at all on us. We have been justified on the basis of His obedience to the Father even unto death on a cross and by His glorious resurrection from the dead. We can be certain that we are saved because Christ was successful in accomplishing a full redemption for sinners.

A second kind of assurance is a subjective assurance. Subjective assurance is based on something within us, namely, the work of the Spirit of God in our hearts. Subjective assurance tells us not only that Christ has accomplished a full redemption on the cross for sinners, but that we are among those sinners for whom He died. This assurance gives our hearts rest that Christ is not just the Savior, but that He is our Savior. He is ours, and we are His. Subjective assurance comforts us that we are not among the self-deceived in Matthew 7:21-23, but that we truly know Christ and have been born of His Spirit.

Subjective assurance is something we experience within, and the Spirit produces effects in our lives so that we might have this assurance. The first letter of John explains what the Spirit does to assure our hearts before God, summarizing how we can know we have eternal life into three basic results of the Spirit’s work within us. The entire burden of this short epistle is to enable us to know that we have eternal life (1 John 5:13). It is a personal letter, with a subjective intent, enabling readers not only to know that Christ provides eternal life, but that Christ specifically has provided such life to them.

The first effect the Spirit produces in our hearts is faith in Christ. John wrote, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1). Believing that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, that He is the very Son of God, is the fruit of the Spirit’s activity in the heart of a true Christian. Every sincere believer understands who Jesus is and has put his full trust in this crucified and risen Messiah for salvation. John is clear: If you get Jesus wrong, you get the gospel wrong, and the results are condemnation. But those who confess the truth about Christ from a sincere faith can be certain the Spirit has wrought life within them.

The Spirit also produces obedience in the life of everyone truly born again. 1 John 3:24 says, “And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.” Earlier, in 1 John 2:3, John wrote, “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” The Spirit produces obedience in the life of those who truly know Christ. This obedience is not salvation by law; instead, it is the fruit of a sincere faith in Christ, a faith that works through love (Galatians 5:6). When we see that we are growing in obedience to Christ, that we delight in His commandments rather than finding them burdensome, and that our sin breaks our hearts, we have great assurance before God that we have been born again.

John’s third category to give professing Christians assurance they are not self-deceived is love for other Christians. John asserted, “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:10-11 LSB). Nothing could be more clear than that! Those who love other Christians abide in the Light, but those who do not love the children of God are in darkness and self-deceived. Later, John said, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20 LSB). The point at issue is whether someone who claims to be saved by the work of Christ is truly saved, and John is clear: if you claim to be a Christian but you hate those who would be your brothers in Christ, you are deceiving yourself, and the blood of Jesus has not cleansed you from your sin no matter how much you insist you are “looking to Christ.” All true Christians love other Christians because the Spirit works that love in our hearts (1 John 4:19).

Subjective assurance is vital to spiritual health and growth. We must know not only that Christ’s work on the cross is sufficient to save sinners, but that we are sinners who have been saved by that glorious redemptive work. We need to know that our faith is real, that we have been converted, and that the Spirit dwells within our hearts by faith.

I don’t think any preacher in the past century has preached these truths more forcefully, consistently, or clearly than John MacArthur. In fact, I learned these truths from listening to his sermons on these passages and reading his books, especially his magnum opus, The Gospel according to Jesus. As a preacher, nothing delights my heart more than when someone who has heard my preaching preaches my sermons back to me. That tells me they are listening, they are learning, and they love me enough to make sure I am living up to what I have preached.

I have to believe that Washer was telling the truth when he said that MacArthur smiled warmly when he heard these questions, and that what followed was a life-giving, soul-enriching conversation about the glories of Christ and His cross. MacArthur knew that Washer had been paying attention, that he had learned the importance of both objective and subjective assurance, and that he loved MacArthur enough to preach his own sermons back to him. That is a gift every preacher would cherish.

As Christians, we need to understand how biblical assurance works. As pastors, it is even more important because people will come to us looking for peace to calm their anxious hearts. Point them to the cross, show them the work of the Spirit, and the Word of Christ and the Spirit of God will overcome their fears, so that they might have well-grounded confidence on the Day of Judgment (1 John 4:17).