1st Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
I once heard Pastor Jack Hyles in sermon say that he asked Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980) if he ever doubted his salvation, and he affirmed that indeed he had at times. Dr. Hyles said that every Christian at some time in his or her life DOUBTS God's free gift of salvation. As our text passage of Scripture confirms, we ALL share the same temptations.
What saith the Scripture elsewhere? 1st Peter 5:7-9, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Regardless of who you are dear reader, if you are a born again child of God, we all share in the same temptations, afflictions and burdens of life.
When I got saved at age 13 forty-five years ago in 1980, I doubted my salvation for the next several years. The primary reason was because preachers had horribly (but sincerely) misled me to think that prayer is required to be saved. Since I couldn't remember years later what I had prayed, I was stuck in a dire situation of fear, worry and doubt if I was really saved. I often cried in tears, scared of going to Hell forever.
So at age 17, I finally mustered up the courage to go talk with my Baptist pastor. Surely he would be able to help me, so I thought. Sadly, to my dismay he figured that since I didn't know that I was saved, I must not be. Then he did the worst thing he possibly could have done—he led me to pray another Sinner's Prayer. Arrggh! Unfortunately, even though he told the church the following Sunday that I had been saved, and then I was baptized in the baptistry soon thereafter, I still feared going to Hell and was no better off than before going to my pastor.
I eventually just decided to trust God's Word in spite of my doubts, and not worry about it. If I went to Hell someday it would be all Jesus' fault, because I am trusting Him 100% and nothing else. It wouldn't be until about 2005 when I read a very helpful book by Pastor Max D. Younce (1935-2023) titled, 'Salvation And The Public Invitation' that I finally obtained the PERFECT PEACE about my salvation that I had so desperately wanted since 1980. It took 25 years for me to find perfect peace that I was securely saved and on my way to Heaven. Since that time at age 38, I have never doubted my salvation one time. I am now 58 years old. I finally understood God's simple plan of salvation clearly. And it is God's salvation, not mine. I am simply the blessed recipient.
For those of you who still doubt, I'd like to share a helpful quote from Pastor Jesse Martinez...
“Regardless of what the voice in your head says, or what anybody else may say, God, says here that if you have believed you are now a child of God. You are not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man; you are born of God. This is important to understand. This is how we answer our doubts. And this is a practice that's not happening very often in Christianity, because it's not being taught. What 'practice' am I addressing here? The practice of relying on the Word for the answers to doubt. The doubt will always be there. The doubt will always try and dissuade you from the truth. But you have to recognize the doubt for what it is—it's a LIE! And that's the temptation of everything. There's a temptation to believe the lie. What's the lie in your situation?—that you haven't believed. If you've put your trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the payment of your sin, the Bible says you're saved.” —Pastor Jesse Martinez, YouTube: “Is BELIEVING in Jesus' Death, Burial and Resurrection ENOUGH to be saved?”
I have received thousands of emails over the past 23 years from people concerning their salvation. By God's grace I was able to help most of them, because they had simply never heard a clear presentation of God's simple plan of salvation.
But there are a small handful of people who struggle with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). It doesn't matter what truths I share with them, they just won't stop worrying. In my case, I was simply ignorant of exactly what God desired of me to get to Heaven. The non-essential 'Sinner's Prayer,' which preachers had deeply engrained into my impressionable mind as a youth, had utterly confused and misled me. It took 25 years for the damage to be undone which was caused by the Sinner's Prayer method to be saved.
Now, to clarify, most people naturally feel compelled to accompany their faith by praying, and that is okay. It is perfectly okay to call upon the Lord to ask Him to save you. That being said, and please don't miss this—it is NOT mandatory to call, ask or pray to be saved. You could simply BELIEVE the Gospel and be saved without ever calling out to God in a prayer. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
And please remember dear reader, Romans 10:13 is NOT a part of the Gospel. Calling upon the name of the Lord is optional. If you read Romans chapter 10, the Scripture plainly teaches that you must first BELIEVE (Romans 10:14), before you CALL (Romans 10:13). The Gospel of John is very clear that we are saved by BELIEVING (John 20:31). Prayer is NOT necessary to be saved, and it is wickedness for anyone to teach otherwise!
Dear reader, you can 'KNOW' that you are saved (1st John 5:13). In my humble opinion, the key verse in the Epistle of 1st John is 1st John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” If you have God's Holy Spirit living inside your spirit, soul and body, you know it! The epistle of 1st John teaches that if you hate your Christian brother, or can sin without any conviction at all from God's Holy Spirit, then you might not be saved. That is, you might not have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. God is not an absent parent, so He will scourge and chastise us when we sin (Hebrews 11:6-8).
Learning that I could be saved in a church pew without walking down an aisle, or praying some stupid Sinner's Prayer, finally freed my soul from any doubts about God's free gift of eternal life. I was saved in a church pew. To be saved and have everlasting life, you simply need to BELIEVE that Jesus did it all for you. What does that look like? Jesus died on a cross to pay our debt of sin. He was buried, but then miraculously resurrected from the dead three days later. This is 'The Gospel' (Good News), by which any sinner who BELIEVES IT is saved. Salvation cost Jesus the blood that He shed and His life. It costs us nothing!
Whatever doubts you may feel friend, just make sure that you're not trusting in anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ, who is the only begotten (biological) Son of God, the Christ. If your trust (reliance, faith) is in Christ alone, because of what He did through Calvary's cross to pay for your sins, you are saved. Nothing more is required or allowed. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.
