If you believe that you are saved because you stood up one day and spoke with your month “Jesus is my Lord and Savior” without it coming from the heart, you have a false sense of assurance. If you believe you are saved because you are a good person and do nice things, you have a false sense of assurance.

So how do you know you are saved? It is not about what you have done but about how you have changed. I see many people that profess to be Christians because they have been taught to repeat a prayer and get baptized to “remove sins”. Repeating words does not show an inward faith nor does baptism remove sin. It must come from the heart; it is the heart that controls your truthful words and actions (Rom 10:9-10). When a person is truly saved, that person becomes a new creature. There is a conversion that takes place with forgiveness and repentance. Once that conversion takes place, habitual (repeating the same sin) sin cannot take place because the Holy Spirit is now living in you; He will convict you so that you will regret your sin. The conversion does not remove ALL sin from your life because as long as you remain in this world, there will be a struggle with sin trying to pull you away from your commitment to Christ. The difference now is that you have a desire, from your mind and your heart, to serve the Lord and be obedient to His word.

Many people believe that salvation takes place immediately after the confessing their belief and desire to follow Christ, while others believe it is a process that we walk thru; there are scriptures that support both doctrines. The man that hung on the cross next to Jesus was immediately saved and his belief was from the heart. He did not have time to walk in obedience with Christ. I believe that when we confess/believe with the heart (not just the mouth), with repentance, we are saved. Most scriptures concerning salvation use the word “believe”. Believing is not an intellectual action, it comes from the heart due to the renewing of the mind. Can we lose our salvation? No, it is a gift from God that He does not take back; He does not change His mind (Number 23:1). Do we see people profess to be saved fall? Yes. Some come back and those that do not, only God knows their hearts and whether he/she received the free-gift of Salvation.