How do I know that what Jesus of history did changed the spiritual reality? How can I know that my sins are forgiven? Sometimes I find that this is a claim without any base??
Asked this question for you in the Facebook Group, and these are people’s answers:
Lorna Taitano: That is what faith is believing without seeing. But any reasonable person wants to live forever an have no pain or death. And Jesus claimed to have paid that for us. So accept it by faith and enjoy the anticipation of His return and life in Paradise forever!
Shelley Meyers: All I can say is SELF witnessed miracles. And pray for the rest who have not yet witnessed.
Paritosh Christian: It was an accepted religious faith and ritual all over the world in those days that sins can be forgiven by sacrifice. Arguments can be laid against it on basis of logic, nonviolence etc. but even the almighty God does not seem to be against it because mankind could not do anything more than offering their best crops or best animals. The principle was that if such sacrifice can bring forgiveness of sins of one person, than sacrifice of God himself for his children can obviously bring forgiveness of sins of entire mankind. The way in which blood of Abraham Lincoln brought independence of blacks and blood of Gandhi brought independence of India, the blood of Christ brings independence of mankind from sins.
Cornel Bilauca: John 1:29 NIV
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Daniel Jones: AND ALMOST ALL THINGS ARE BY THE LAW PURGED WITH BLOOD; AND WITHOUT SHEDDING OF BLOOD IS NO REMISSION OF SINS.
Donald Carpenter: Yeshua’s faith in his Father showed faith to all his children. His death on the cross gave grace to all sinners in his Father’s kingdom. It’s all about the love of his Father in Heaven.
Daniel Jones: FAITH COMETH BY HEARING, AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD.
and
Well, several of these are okay - as far as they go. But it isn’t far enough. I kept looking for any who stated the first thing about repenting of one’s sins and there was nothing.
Others are way off the mark. My guess is these people have been going to mainstream American Christian churches and are more entertained than educated in the Word of God. This is not their fault, necessarily, and can be remedied by searching for a pastor who preaches directly from the Bible. It needs to be OPEN on his podium and he needs to refer to it much, as his job is to “feed” God’s flock. This is the Word of God, and when the Word of God was incarnate, He was the man/God Jesus. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” and He also commanded us to share the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him until He returns. How can a spiritually thirsty person “come to Me and I will give you living water” if Jesus is in heaven? The answer is He left His Word, in human written form called the Holy Bible. Consider the following:
Jesus prayed the last night He spent on earth, before He went to Gethsemane: “Sanctify them by Your Truth; Your Word is Truth.” (John 17:17)
What this means is we must consume God’s Word daily by reading it daily. We cannot be conformed to anything but the flesh if all we put into our minds is the flesh: worldly goings on and desires.
Most mainline American Christian Churches are corrupted by the seminaries who turn out pastors who have been taught their job is to draw in worldly people into the church and keep them by entertaining them.
A THOUGHT: If entertainment saved, why would not all Hollywood be saved?
What’s missing in the handful of responses is repentance.
Repentance is turning away from our own sins, and turning to Jesus Christ for forgiveness. We must believe and trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior and our Lord. Then we must pick up our cross and follow Him. These are the requirements of salvation. And after all that has been done, even if you’ve heard about “predestination” and “elect” or “election” there is no need to worry. If you do this things with a sincerely broken and contrite spirit before God, Jesus Himself said He will turn NO ONE away.
If you haven’t done that, you may have reason to doubt whether or not your sins are forgiven. But that is not the end. All you need do is realize now how MUCH you have sinned (and yes, so has everyone else, that’s not an excuse, that’s an indictment of the fallen human race by the Almighty God) and turn to God with true, heart felt repentance, which is far more that a simple “I’m sorry”. (You must believe in Him first to be able to do this.) It’s a complete turning over of your life and your will and your “rights” to God. Not an easy thing for Americans to do. However, many have.
By the way, if you have NOT read the Gospel or heard it preached, all this may be new to you, or at least parts of it. I recommend reading the Gospel of John, which is the 4th book of the New Testament.
However, If you do not truly believe in Him, you cannot be saved. And if you don’t repent, you cannot be saved.
It’s sad to see few to none are willing to make that clear so that people can truthfully assess whether or not they have forgiveness of their sins from God.