How Do I Know I am Saved?

If you claim Christ is your king and you His subject, how is it that He came to occupy the highest place of your affections, that throne atop your heart?

Prior to your redemption, the flesh and Satan quietly possessed your greatest affections, and like the rest, you were Satan’s slave, his vassal. And since he thus reigned over your heart (and was much stronger than you) how did this transformation to Christ take place? There is no doubt that Satan would have never willingly relinquished his reign of power over you. And you, being under the bondage of your own corrupt nature and Satan’s dominion over you, would not have been willing to simply renounce, nor able to resist the Devil's binding power, since he had taken you captive to do his will (2 Tim 2:26). For the flesh, the world and the Devil were enemies too powerful for you – they were greater and had vast superiority over your base affections. You were their plaything and that, most willingly. You could not unentangle yourself nor did you want to, for you loved darkness (John 3:19 ) and most willingly suppressed the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18 ). Mere exterior persuasion did not stracth the surface of your heart.

That Christ now reigns, then, must be the end result of Christ’s own resurrection victory over those enemies which enslaved you. Did Christ rescue you out of the clutches of Satan (who was marching you toward hell) and out of the bondage of your own lusts in the same way He rescued the Israelites out of Egypt? Do you have no hope save Christ in alone, no merit saves that thich Christ grants, no strength save that which Christ imparts, no nourishment save that which Christ feeds, no boast save in the cross of Jesus Christ alone? Through the preaching of the gospel did you hear God calling you as He once called Saul, blinding you to your own corrupt understanding, tearing down the rotten edifice you had built, building a new one in its place, stirring up your heart and affections toward Christ, opening your ears to His voice who knew his own shepherd …you who once thought well of yourself? Did God use these outward means and instruments to tame your wild heart so you might most willingly follow after Christ? Did Christ break your chains of ignorance, blindness, idiocy and darkness and shine His light in your heart that you might see? Did you have the power and desire to do this yourself, or did Christ lovingly grant you even these so that you recognized that you had no hope in the world save in Christ’s mercy alone … that you might ascribe all glory to Him alone and none to your own?

Can a government be overthrown in a nation by a foreign nation and a populace not be aware of it? If your soul casts out once prince and another takes his place (in the seat of the affections), would it be possible for there was no resistance to the laying down of arms before Christ entered? The Spirit may work quietly at first but when He makes His way in, there is no question that a change of power hs occurered since once you only saw darkness but now sees most clearly. Did you not, who once had a heart of stone, now notice that your heart was softened and yields willlingly to the words of the new Master? Did you do that yourself, or was it that He gave you this new heart? And now as David, do you say, “Behold, here am I, do to me as seemeth good unto him.”? (2 Sam 15:26).

Do you believe you have no hope in the world save in Christ alone?

Have you have faced God's majesty in the Word of God such that your self-complacency is shattered and you self-righteousness is renounced?

Has the Holy Spirit convicted you of your woeful, guilty, and lost condition which justly deserves the wrath of God save in Christ's mercy?.

Is Christ sufficient to fully save apart from anything else to maintain your just standing before God?

Do you now have a new affection for God (an impossible supposition for the unregenerate) which desires to obey Him?

Does sin trouble you? Do you hate it?

If these signs accompany your salvation then God has indeed done a work of grace in you. If your faith is in Jesus Christ alone, then based on the promises of God in Scripture, your sins are forgiven.