16 Statements That Could Prove Whether Or Not You Are Saved

Prison ministry is quite possibly the greatest evangelistic ministry on planet earth.  But I’m somewhat biased.  After all, where else can you go where they will insert you into a roomful of hardened unbelievers and lock the doors so that none can leave until you are finished sharing the gospel?  Yes, jail ministry just might be the world’s best place to minister.

Being a Religious Volunteer in the State of California’s penal system, I have the marvelous privilege of speaking to many men from all walks of life about not only how to get saved, but about what it means to be a genuine Christian.  Some weeks back I was preaching through Psalm 51 during an evening chapel service to about forty inmates.  I was explaining to the men that King David was begging God to do absolutely everything for him.  Begging, because he knew that—left to himself and his own power or self-righteousness—he would have no hope of ever receiving forgiveness of his sin.

In Psalm 51 we find David calling out to God, saying 16 important things: “Be gracious to me” (vs. 1), “blot out my transgressions” (vs. 1), “Wash me” (vs. 2), “cleanse me” (vs. 2), “purify me” (vs. 7), “wash me” (vs. 7), “make me” (vs. 8), “blot out all my iniquities” (vs. 9), “create in me” (vs. 10), “renew a steadfast spirit within me” (vs. 10), “Do not cast me away from Your presence (vs. 11), “do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (vs. 11), “Restore to me” (vs. 12), “sustain me” (vs. 12), “Deliver me” (vs. 14), and “open my lips” (vs.15).  It is a psalm commemorating our depraved impotence and the Lord’s sufficient omnipotence.  Pouring himself out to the Lord in repentant song, King David confessed his total inability to place himself in a right relationship with God, apart from God doing 100% of it for him.

And that, my friends, is the beginning of the gospel in a nutshell.

One of the inmates in attendance that evening was a Hispanic gentleman named Juan.  At the end of the service Juan came up to me, shook my hand, and as the tears poured down his face, said, “I want to do what you said.  I want to surrender my life to God.  I need His forgiveness.”  I smiled at God’s amazing grace.  “Then do it,” I said.  “Repent! Surrender your life to the Savior and give God all the glory.”  He did, and the Lord mercifully saved Juan’s soul that very night.

Since that chapel service, Juan has written me a few letters.  I want to share an excerpt from a recent one so that you can relish in the greatness of God and the precious quality of saving faith.  I would prefer you to read it precisely as he wrote it—word for word—questionable grammar and all.

“Hi Charles. Thanx for everything. I really like to hear your message I surrender my life to Jesus christ with your help 8-16 Im walking in faith can you please pray for me. Charles I consider you a friend I would really like to hang out with you when I get out. I really want to change my life and Im starting to now. Thanx Faith Hope love. Love, your friend Juan”

Like so many before him, Juan heard the gospel message and surrendered to its demands of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.  The Lord saved him and now—by God’s grace alone—he is a passionate disciple of Jesus Christ, conducting Bible studies and prayer groups with the other inmates scattered around his cell block.

As a genuine believer, your role in this world is a lot like mine.  And Juan’s.  Your role is to proclaim the biblical gospel of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ with anyone and everyone who will listen.  That is God’s will for your life today.  Your objective in this life is to grow in your relationship with God and make others into disciples of Jesus Christ.

Have you ever noticed that a hammer is nothing but inanimate steel and wood?  In other words, it cannot supply the necessary power to wield itself.  Yet when the hammer is swung by the omnipotent arm of the master Carpenter, it will certainly influence the nail.

I like what author Randy Newman had to say about the matter in his book, entitled, Questioning Evangelism.  “Not only do the minds of nonbelievers need to be persuaded, but also their knees need to buckle.”  That is a great picture of Great Commission Discipleship.  God persuades the minds of nonbelievers, which inevitably results in a lifelong process of knee-buckling discipleship.

QUESTION:  Have your knees ever buckled like that? Are you sure that you are saved?