Are We Truly Saved Or Deceived?
- Feb 8, 2025
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 11, 2025
4th March 2025 l Ava J Dearden
Are we truly saved or deceived?
It's probably thee most important question we will ever need to reflect on, our eternal destinations rests on the answer.
If we are saved, we feel it, we know it, we are changed from within. God's Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are His children. We can only judge and assess our own position in Christ. Only He knows our hearts. Someone who may appear to be the farthest example of how some perceive a Christian should look and behave, could well be one of His anointed. Conversely, someone who has been attending church all of their life, who quotes scripture, volunteers, helps out at the local charity, prays the loudest may in fact not be saved at all.
With God, it's all about our hearts
1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Can a prayer really save us?
The Bible teaches yes, we can say a prayer and be saved but it must be real and from the heart.
Once I am saved, am I always saved?
If we are truly saved then yes, once saved we are always saved, however we can become lukewarm in our faith, we can backslide and the Bible teaches that unless we repent and turn, there are consequences to living worldly, apart from Jesus.
John 15:6 - Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.
Being saved is only the first step on our journey. Salvation is a lifetime process.
Salvation is a free gift from God. It's a process that sanctifies and changes us so that ultimately we become more like Jesus. He saves us, sets us apart and makes us holy. If God isn't changing us, then we need to reassess if we are truly saved. The process starts the day we are saved and ends when we are taken home.
Salvation - starts the day we are saved and ends when we leave this mortal coil. It encompasses a process that God uses to save and sanctify us. Salvation is thought of by some as being the whole Bible from the beginning, the plan of redemption for mankind. |
Being saved - is the first step in our salvation. We pray to God from a genuine heart to be saved. He hears our prayer and our journey with Jesus as a born again Christian, a new creature in Christ begins. |
We are justified - God declares us righteous when we are saved. Jesus's righteousness is imputed to us because of our belief in Him and the sacrifice that He made to take away our sin. We are reconciled to God. |
Discipleship - is an ongoing part of the process. It requires a Christian's response to the promptings of God's Holy Spirit by obeying His teachings, renewing our minds, taking our thoughts captive, praying, reading, meditating and studying His Word. It requires our participation so that our faith strengthens and we grow closer to our Heavenly Father. |
Sanctification - God sanctifies us, sets us apart to make us holy. He may do this by orchestrating or allowing trials, test, sometimes tribulations in our life. It is a part of discipleship and growth. We can't be made holy if we refuse to listen His voice. We can't truly love Him if we aren't willing to sacrifice and obey His teachings. |
Saved by grace through faith
Ephesians 8:2-10 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
But are we using 'saved by grace through faith' as an excuse to continue in sin?
Ephesians 8:2-10 teaches us that being saved is a gift from God, it is not by our works, nothing that we do. But the next verse seems contradictory as it declares that God created us to do good works. There are different types of works;
There are the works of the law - which man attempted, and failed to carry out in his own strength. These were religious works such as not eating unclean food, keeping the sabbath...These are the works spoken of in Ephesians 8:9. We are not saved by these types of works.
Works that God created us to do - and we will judged on our works, we will receive our rewards based on what we have done with our lives. We are called to do good deeds, to use the gifts that God has given us for the good of others through our actions. We are not saved by these works either, but if we are not working for God's Kingdom, then it's time to reassess our position in Christ. We may have become lukewarm, backslidden in our faith.
Matthew 7:21 - “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Parable Of The Talents
Matthew 25:28-29 - “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.
Christians are expected to do good works, to use our God given free will and giftings for the good of others.
In doing good works we glorify our Heavenly Father. We are obeying His commands. God's ultimate goal is to make us like His Son Jesus, to become Holy as He is Holy.
"Can we earn our way into Heaven?...No, but everything that we do here on earth will reflect our rewards there." Jeremiah 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
Attributes of a true Christian
Galatians 5:22-23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
"The fruits of The Spirit grow as we
progress in our relationship with God."
Maybe it's time for a heart check
Do we love God and put Him first in everything we think, feel, plan and action.
Are we striving to live righteously.
Do we obey God’s Word and when we're struggling do we ask ask Jesus to help us
Are we practising selfless love. Do we put others before self.
Are we living in the world but not of the world.
Do we love the truth.
Are we willing to suffer persecution for our faith.
Do we forgive as we have been forgiven.
Are we bearing good fruits.
Do we hate sin and evil.
...and if we can say yes from a genuine heart and God's Spirit testifies with ours that we are His children, then we are truly saved.
Romans 8:16 - For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
All Post:
Are We Truly Saved Or Deceived? l 4/3/25
Top Bible Verses On Salvation l 5/3/25
Hope For The Lost And The Wicked l 30/3/25
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