Confirmed of Our Salvation

1 Cor 1:2 To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those
who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints,
with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
in every place, who is theirs and ours:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not
perish, but would have eternal life.


A saint is a person who has been called by God and who is now
calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. Early in their
Christian life, some saints may lose the feeling that they are
saved. They may not feel that they have the divine life or the
Holy Spirit. When I was young, I also sometimes lost this
feeling. Not long after I was saved, I read John Bunyan's book
Pilgrim's Progress. At one point, the pilgrim in that book
loses his certificate. When I read this, I asked myself where
my certificate was. It seemed that I was not able to find it.
For several days I was troubled about this, and I was unable
to eat well or sleep well. Then I read a book published by
Brother Nee, The Assurance of Salvation. In this book Brother
Nee says that in the Bible God clearly tells us that as long
as we believe in Christ, we are saved. When I read this, I
opened my Bible to John 3:16, knelt down, and said, "I want to
testify to the heavens and the earth that I believe this
verse. According to this verse in the Bible, I know that I
have eternal life." Although I still had some doubts after
that, eventually the strong feeling returned in me that I was
in fact a child of God. This is what I mean by inward
confirmation.


As believers in Christ, we all have this confirmation. We are
confirmed that we are children of God with the divine life and
the Holy Spirit. As Paul says, we are not lacking in any
gifts. We have seen that this means we possess the initial
gifts--the divine life and the Holy Spirit. We all should be
clear that we are truly saints. Can you deny the fact that you
are a saint? You have been called by God, you are calling on
the name of the Lord Jesus, and you have the inner
confirmation that you possess the divine life and the Holy
Spirit.