3- Can a True, Genuine Christian Doubt His or Her Salvation?

The other day, "Keith" asked, "What is true repentance? Does Jesus have to be Lord of your life in order to be a Christian? Can a true genuine Christian doubt his or her salvation? Can a true Christian deny Christ before men? What does Jesus say about all of these things? Can church history help us out as well?"

Because answering these all in one post would result in a really long answer, I've decided to answer them all individually.  Today, we look at Keith's 3rd question:

Question:
Can a true genuine Christian doubt his or her salvation?


My Reply:

The thing about true repentance is that it also has a second part.  You need to trust that the person you repented to has truly forgiven you and has moved on.  For if you've given your burden to Jesus, but then continue to take it back from Him, then you never really gave it to Him in the first place.  True repentance isn't a means of storing your sins for later withdrawal.  Jesus isn't a savings account for your sins.  The dangerous thing is that the more you hang onto your past sins, the ones for which Jesus forgave you, the more you'll doubt your salvation.  The enemy is real good at convincing genuine Christians of this, too.  This often happens when we don't remember God's promises to us.  For example, Romans 10:9 tells us what we need to do to be saved, and John 1:12 reassures us that if we agree, then God makes us Children of God.  4 other good passages that help in reminding us of the assurances of our salvation are:

• The assurance of salvation (1 John 5:11-12)
• The assurance of victory over temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13)
• The assurance of forgiveness (1 John 1:9)
• The assurance of God's provision for our needs (John 16:24)

If you keep your focus on Jesus, and take your focus off your previous sins, then there will be no more doubt about your salvation.  Doubting your salvation is due to not fully trusting God's forgiveness of your sins, not fully believing that Jesus is capable of fully forgiving your sins, or taking your eyes off Jesus and putting them onto yourself.  Remember what Jesus said, "With Man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible."