The apostle Paul tells us thesewords in 1 Timothy 4:16 that says, "Take heed unto thyself, and unto thedoctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, andthem that hear thee."
What Paulis telling us here is that we better be aware of the fact that in order to besaved we must continue in the teachings of Christ and to live daily by hisevery word taught and revealed in the scriptures of Gods holy word. We can besaved by no other way, but yet we see in the realm of the confessing Christianworld that millions are thinking and believing they are saved by the merebelief on the person of Christ. Yes, we must believe in Christ, because thereis no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved, but just tobelieve you are saved when and if you confess belief and acceptance of Christ,this certainly is not what Paul is telling us. To continue in the doctrine ofChrist means to continue accepting and believing what Gods word says throughoutall scriptures and not what a verse or two says.
To trulyknow without a shadow of doubt that you have been saved, or are being saved,you must be thoroughly convinced by what Gods word teaches on this subject andnot what man has to say about it. Most people fail to realize that Satan hashis many ministers preaching false teachings that will not save you from a lifeof sin, but will only blind your mind from the truth and bind you tighter inyour sin, keeping you in bondage to it as long as you live. Christ came to saveus from sin; as false teachings are proclaiming today. Most don't understandwhat it means to be saved and so therefore Satan's ministers teaching theirfalse doctrines will easily deceive you and give you a false hope of possessingsalvation. For this very reason millions of confessing Christians believe thatthey cannot lose their salvation no matter if they still continue to live inand commit sin.
The truthof the matter is that if you are still live in and committing sin, then you arenot born again or even being born again, but you have been deceived from thetruth of what Gods word truly teaches on this subject. It is the apostle Johnthat tells us these words stated in 1 John 3:9 that says, "Whosoever is born ofGod doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin,because he is born of God." Very few if any, will believe exactly what thisscripture says and go right on their deceived way to end up in a devils hellalong with the many false prophets that taught them, but there will be noexcuses accepted when they stand before Christ on that great judgment day. Paultells us these words in 1 Timothy 5:24 saying, "Some men's sins are openbeforehand, going before the judgment; and some men they follow after." Sowhich will it be in your case; will your sins follow you to the judgment andcondemn you on the spot, or go before the judgment having been taken away byChrist by your obedience to Him? Think about it....