Jesus is ascended. Pentecost has occurred. Spiritual gifts are now available for Christians to use in the carrying out of ministry.

A problem of growing concern in Church today is the number of people who consider themselves saved yet have never confessed and repented of their sins, have never made a commitment to Jesus to accept Him as Lord and Savior, and who do not seek to grow closer to Him.

We have multitudes of “Church” folk who have decided for themselves that they are saved, because they are “good” or because they go to church, or because they are charitable, or any number of other things. Or worse still, those who don’t believe that they need salvation because they are comfortable in their sins.

If we are saved, it is only because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. There is only one Savior, Jesus. Therefore, if we have not accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are not saved. There are no exceptions to this (Acts 4:12 — “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved”).

If we are saved then there is a point in our lives when we were saved. There is an occurrence, a kairos moment, a life changing experience where we accepted Jesus on His terms. A moment of complete surrender to the convicting power of The Holy Spirit. I can no more decide that I am saved than I can decide to be 8 feet tall. Your mother or father can’t decide that you are saved; your wife of your husband can’t decide that you are saved; I can’t decide that you are saved. We can’t have decided that we have been saved. We must be saved, we must have the experience of salvation, that moment in time when we really did believe in Jesus for salvation.

Having had that experience, how do we know that it was real?

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the Love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” — 1 John 2: 3-6 (NKJV).

Rev. Bobby Thornhill is a retired pastor.