Do You Know?

Do you know that you are saved?

Do you know that you have eternal life?

Now be honest - do those two questions make you uncomfortable? We normally only hear questions like these in a church service, usually when the preacher is giving an invitation for non-believers to come forward and accept Christ. But shouldn't we as believers be asking ourselves these questions as well? The greatest and most horrific deception in the world is that of being deceived into believing you are a Christian when you are not.

I've heard many say that you should not question your salvation, but I believe that we should examine ourselves to make sure that we are in the faith. In fact, the scriptures command that we do it.

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified. - 2 Corinthians 13:5

I think the reason that most people are uncomfortable with those questions is that they may not know how to answer them. They may refer back to a decision they made years ago as a child or young adult. They may rely on how they "feel" at a particular time. But we should never rely on our memory or our feelings (even the most ardent believers will tell you that sometimes they "feel" like a Christian and sometimes they don't). We should rely on the truth, the Word of God. If the Bible tells us to examine ourselves, then it should also tell us how to do it, and I believe the book of 1 John does exactly that. In fact, John says that is one of the reasons that he wrote the book.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. - 1 John 5:13

As you read through the book of 1 John (something that I would suggest doing fairly often), you'll see several "tests" that can determine whether a person is in the faith.

1. Obedience to His Commandments

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. - 1 John 2:3-5

Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. 1 John 3:24

2. Brotherly Love

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 1 John 3:14

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 1 John 3:18-19

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. 1 John 20-21

3. Practice Righteousness

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 John 2:29

In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:10

4. Holy Spirit

Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. 1 John 3:24

By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 1 John 4:13

As we move into a new year, many people will be examining their life in order to make a new year's resolution. But I want to encourage each one of us to go far beyond the temporal and look to the eternal. We need to examine ourselves - to ask ourselves once again life's most important questions:

Do you know that you are saved?

Do you know that you have eternal life?

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23