Confidently Christian
7 Questions to help you be
Assured of Your Salvation
By Billy Graham

The Book of John was written “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31, KJV). The epistles of John, one the other hand, were written to give us assurance that our sins are forgiven. In other words, the Gospel of John was written to bring us to Christ, and the epistles of John were written to help us be sure that we do know Christ and that we know how to live the Christian life.

There are many people who go to church, many people who have been baptized, many people who have been confirmed in a church – but they don’t have assurance, they are not confident that Christ lives in their hearts. In the First Epistle of John we read, “These things have I written…that ye know that ye have eternal life” (I John 5:13).
We need to remember that the most important relationship we can have is our relationship with God: “This is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ” (3:23).
When the Bible says “believe” here , it is making a distinction. The word “believe” means for you to put your total trust in Christ: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (5:1) and “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).
Real faith requires commitment. We are not asked to just believe with our heads, but our commitment should be made by giving every part of our lives over to Christ. To do this, you should ask yourself these seven questions.
First do you really believe? Have you committed your life to Christ? Be sure that you have answered that question in your heart.
Second do you have a changed attitude toward sin? “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8). But “if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (vs. 9).
There is a remedy for sin. If we repent and confess our sins, God will forgive us.
The Bible says, “The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin” (vs. 7). The blood that was shed on the cross when Christ died has the power to wash away all our sins. I thank God that Jesus went to the cross because He loves you and me. Whoever we are, whatever we have done, He loves us.
But not a changed attitude toward sin needs to take place after we have come to Christ by faith. Instead of suffering from guilt or having an unrepentant attitude or wallowing in our sins, we need to confess a sin immediately. With God’s help, we need to forsake it immediately and seek after righteousness and holiness.
David said, “He restoreth my soul” (Ps. 23:3). Does your soul need to be restored? There are people who re believers but who have gotten lost from the truth, perhaps rebelling, and they need to rededicate their lives to Christ. Do you need to surrender your life to the Lord?
If you are a member of the body of Christ and you have rebelled against God, you can confess your sin and you can receive forgiveness and restoration. God restores souls. That is a wonderful thing!