So with your new knowledge, what significance would you understand 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 to have toward the notion of presuming one IS saved, delivered?
There are several verses that aid my understanding. One such passage is from 1 Samuel 16:6-7.
“And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:6-7 KJV
We can presume whether or not one is saved based on outward appearance, but the Lord knows because He looketh on the heart.
As for myself, I am saved if I remain a steadfast Thessalonian and do not become a stupid Galatian who ends in the flesh.
Galatians 5:13-26 speaks to my heart:
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, asciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
At this point, many catholics and Mormons cite the Pauline passage where Paul tells his audience to 'work out your own salvation in fear and trembling.' To apply this passage as a contradiction to many other passages where Paul rsts upon the Promise of as something God will do as His Grace toward the believer, the faither, well, that is typical of works based religions. Sorry. But perhaps you have different passages in mind that tell you it is up to you tomake sure God's Promise is kept?