Are You Really Saved? — Look Back and Meditate
A note on the audio: This message has a Korean audio recording. The notes below are in English, but pressing play will play Korean speech.
Opening Question
Reflection Questions
Q. If you were to die tonight, are you certain that you would go to heaven?
1. The Most Important Thing Is the Salvation of My Soul
Luke 9:25
Reflection Questions
Q. What does Jesus say will happen if someone is not saved?
Mark 9:48-49
Q. What, then, does Jesus say to people who attend church?
Matthew 7:21
2. What Is Not Salvation?
First, Religious Activity Is Not Salvation
Attending worship, serving, and participating in church life are not salvation. Neither being raised in the church nor holding a church office has anything to do with salvation in itself.
Second, Knowledge Is Not Salvation
Knowing the Bible and even teaching the word does not make knowledge salvation. Those who said, “Lord, Lord,” as Jesus described them, were people who knew the Scriptures.
Third, Even Saying You Believe in Jesus Does Not Mean You Are Saved If You Continue to Live in Sin
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (New Korean Translation)
3. What Is Salvation?
First, Repentance
1 Corinthians 6:11 (New Korean Translation)
This passage follows 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, quoted above.
Reflection Questions
Q. According to this passage, what is the present state of those who have been saved through Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
The two biblical elements of salvation are repentance and faith. Both must be clear for faith to be genuine, and the one who lives them out is a real Christian.
Mark 1:15
Acts 2:38
Repentance and faith are like the two sides of a coin: they cannot be separated. Yet for many people in the church today, repentance has grown faint. They still live in sin, with themselves as the master of their lives. If that is so, is their faith genuine?
Reflection Questions
Q. Have you experienced clear repentance?
What, then, is repentance? There is an original way of life for which God created us: to trust God as our Master, depend on him, and live in obedience to his word. Sin, by contrast, is leaving that original way of life — making myself the master and living as I please, apart from the word.
Isaiah 55:6-7
Reflection Questions
Q. According to this passage, what is repentance?
Second, Faith
Salvation is received by believing in Jesus. But this faith does not stop at knowledge. Faith includes fully receiving the one in whom we believe, depending on him wholeheartedly, and obeying him. Of course, even after we are saved, we remain imperfect. There are also countless trials in life that keep us from living according to God's will. Even so, because the master of a saved person's life has changed, that person listens for his word and seeks to follow his will. Because we cannot do this in our own strength, we believe in Jesus and depend on him. This is the evidence of faith that brings salvation.
Reflection Questions
Q. How would you describe your faith in Jesus? Is it merely knowledge, or are you depending on him wholeheartedly and obeying him?
4. What Are the Results of True Faith?
First, There Is Rest for the Soul
Matthew 11:28-30
Second, There Is Joy in the Soul
Romans 14:17
Third, Jesus Becomes the Good Shepherd and Guides My Life
Psalm 23:1-6
Reflection Questions
Q. Do you have clear evidence that comes from this kind of true faith?
5. Even When We Have Clear Evidence of Saving Faith, Scripture Gives This Warning
1 Timothy 1:19
Matthew 18:7
Reflection Questions
Q. What does 1 Timothy 1:19 warn may happen to faith? According to Matthew 18:7, what can happen as someone walks the path of faith?
What is the biblical definition of faith? It means preserving its purity. This involves a struggle: a continuing struggle to repent so that sin does not take hold of me again, to rely on the blood of Jesus for cleansing, to be filled again with the Holy Spirit, and to keep depending on Jesus. This is how we preserve the purity of faith.
Reflection Questions
Q. As you listen to this message, take a moment to reflect: What condition is your faith in right now? If something concerns you, what is it?
Q. Do you sincerely want to believe in Jesus so that you may truly receive salvation? (Yes/No)