Am I saved? Meaning, am I going to heaven after I die?

Have you asked yourself this question? What do you think? How do you feel about it? Sometimes we ask the question because it is hard to believe God would forgive us after everything we have done. For others, there comes a time when we simply realize that life is more than flesh, food, clothe, and all the stuff that we invest our life pursuing, and we ask the question: What’s next, what’s the meaning of life? Am I part of something bigger than myself? If so, what is it?

This pondering is natural because we were not created for death but eternal life. So, I hope you are inquiring about the next life and your salvation.

For this, today, I will walk us through our theological understanding as Methodists of the way or process of salvation.

Let me begin by saying that the “Am I saved?” is a common question among churchgoers but not often voiced out. Although many may be thinking about it, we are afraid to ask for help with it because it would imply that there is something wrong with us—like lack of faith.

But is it? Is having questions about our spiritual wellness a lack of faith? Is it shameful to want to understand how we are saved? Absolutely not. In fact, a faith that is not seeking understanding hardly can be faith at all, and perhaps it would be better described as superstition.

So, if you are asking this question or any other questions about your spiritual wellness, that is a good and healthy thing to do because that is how we address issues with our spiritual life and how we grow out of them. And, if there is one thing we should be certain about because we don’t want to wait to find out, it is if we are saved.

The Scripture we are studying is Acts 8: 1, 26-38

Now those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word.

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”

The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 

The book of Acts is the story of the birth of the church. In the first chapters, we read about how the disciples received the Holy Spirit and were empowered to preach the gospel of Jesus. By chapter 8, the church was growing through powerful revivals where people received the gospel by faith and were baptized.

In this passage, we read about Philip and a eunuch man. First, Philip spoke to multitudes in Samaria, but then he was sent down to “the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” While on the way, he found someone to whom he was to witness about Jesus being the Christ.

As we read this story, we can confidently assume that the eunuch was interested in the religion of the Jews as he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way back, he was reading from the prophet Isaiah. In other words, he was seeking understanding. At this point, Philip, being led by the Spirit, approached him and asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” After this, Philip explained everything to him, and he understood and believed in Jesus as the Christ and asked to be baptized.

This man was seeking understanding about his spiritual wellbeing, and he found it. He did not give a gift or offered a sacrifice to attain salvation; instead, he earnestly believed in Jesus as the Christ and offered himself to God through baptism. He was not led by fear of punishment but by the gratitude of being loved.

Now, what was he saved from and what for? What are we saved from and what for? If we are asking the question, “Am I Saved?” it would be helpful to know from and for what we are saved.

What is salvation? Salvation is the healing of our being, the heart and soul, from all which destroys and leads us to death. It is the cleansing from sin and evil.

The Bible explains how sin and evil came into the world. The first humans, Adam and Eve, rejected God and were led instead by vanity and selfishness—only to learn soon that that would lead them to lose everything, including their lives. After that, their children, Cain and Abel, were also contaminated by sin and evil and one killed the other out of jealousy. No greater horror a parent can imagine.

After that, we find people behaving in all kinds of dark ways against each other. Sadly, we know how this looks like because we continue to see that kind of behavior all around: abuse, oppression, injustices, and so on.

So, we are saved from anything that is against life and rejects the moral goodness of God; and we are saved to live as beloved children of God full of life. In salvation, we pass from darkness to light, from damnation to redemption, from fear to love.

The story of the eunuch man shows us how God works this salvation in us. God’s grace was pursuing him all his life before he even knew or understood God. But once he did, once he met Jesus, he believed and was justified, forgiven, and was born again as a child of God. Then he committed himself to God through baptism, experiencing sanctification (being perfected in love) that would continue for the rest of his life.

This is the process of salvation. It is not reduced by a single prayer or any particular act of worship or membership to a church. Instead, it is an honest and vulnerable longing for God. This is what happened to the eunuch as he longed for God so much he was seeking for him everywhere he went.

Let me tell you briefly about how I experienced God’s grace in my life and how I was saved.

When I was a kid, my grandmother would take my brother and me to church regularly. My mom worked a lot to provide for us as a single mother. Growing in church, I went to Sunday School classes, Vacation Bible School, and church services. Because of that, I learned the stories of the Bible. Those teachings gave me a moral compass that guarded me when I became a teenager—not that I was an angel, but I was not a bad kid either.

Now, it was not until I was 17 years old that I knew I was saved. One night of October, around 10 p.m., I was coming back home driving with my uncle in his car, and we were talking about the meaning of Jesus dying on the cross. It was that night that my heart was “strangely warmed” when I realized Jesus’ love for me: “He loves me!” I told myself in my heart. I knew I did not deserve God’s love, but I also knew it was available to me if I welcomed it. And I did. Not because of fear of hell or punishment, but because of God’s goodness and love. And once I said “Yes!” to God, I knew right there I was given new life. God’s grace told my heart, “You are forgiven, you are loved, you are saved!”

After that night, everything changed for me. I said to God, “My life is yours, do as you please with me.” I was not thinking about becoming a pastor or anything like that; I just wanted to live the rest of my life honoring and serving God. So in the following weeks and months, I helped around the church with everything from putting chairs, cleaning floors, and folding bulletins. It was God’s grace that saved me and has helped me all these years to grow and get back on my feet when I have fallen or gotten lost.

I am before you today because, as a child, I was nurtured in the church by good people, starting with my grandmother. That was prevenient, pursuing grace. Then my uncle helped me understand who Jesus was and what he did, and I believed. That was justifying, forgiving grace. And as I have continued my faith journey to this day, with ups and downs, I am committed to God with all of you, the church. That is sanctifying grace, love through grace.

So, “Am I Saved?” I know I am because I reject sin and evil and want God in my life, I believe in Jesus and I hope for eternal life. I am not the product of a single act of worship or prayer or anything else, but the fruit of God’s grace through many people over many years.

Do you know if you are saved? Do you want to be saved? I invite you to welcome God’s grace and forgiveness and offer yourself by faith to Jesus Christ.