Examine Yourself1 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. (2 Corinthians 13:5) The book of 1 John provides us with a comprehensive test for examining our spiritual condition. John explains that the reason he wrote this book was to provide assurance of salvation to genuine Christians. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13). Get alone with God and read the following statements and Scriptures. Ask God to help you understand your true spiritual condition and relationship with Him. 1. A CHILD OF GOD openly confesses a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with them, Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God (1 John 4:14-15). Questions: * Do you freely and fully embrace Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Lord of your life? * Do you believe that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sins as He died on the cross? * Do you trust Jesus Christ, alone, for your salvation? * Do you experience fellowship with Christ and the Father? Remember: Salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). But the grace that saves us also changes us (Titus 2:11-14). Saving faith is also continuing faith (Colossians 1:21-23). When God begins a work of salvation in a person’s life, He completes it (Philippians 1:6). 2. A CHILD OF GOD is characterized by obedience to God’s Word. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. . . . This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:3-6). But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth (1 John 2:20). God gives the Holy Spirit to His children to be their teacher and guide, and to equip them to understand His will (John 16:13). Questions: * Do you have a desire to read the Bible? (1 Peter 2:2) * Do you consistently seek to order your life according to the Bible’s teaching? * Are you known as a person who seeks to follow Jesus in all things? 3. A CHILD OF GOD desires to do the will of God. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17). Questions: * Do you find yourself still in love with the same “old” things? The Scriptures teach that one who is born of God becomes a new creation and begins a new kind of life (2 Corinthians 5:17). * Has knowing and doing the will of God become vitally important to you, even when it requires changes in your friendships or lifestyle? * Are you grieved by the wickedness of the world and those things in your life that hinder a walk of holiness? 4. A CHILD OF GOD purifies his life. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure (1 John 3:2-3). One of the first evidences that someone has come to faith in Christ will be a persistent God-given desire to be pure (see also 2 Timothy 1:5). The anticipation of seeing Jesus face to face motivates us to deal with sin and pursue righteousness. Questions: * Do you have a persistent desire to be pure in your daily behavior? * Are you convicted by the Holy Spirit of sin in your motives, attitudes, and actions? 5. A CHILD OF GOD does not continue in sin.
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother (1 John 3:9-10). Questions: * Is there an urgency in your spirit to be done with sin? Do you find it is a grievous thing to continue in sin? * Does God convict you of sin and discipline you when you disobey? Our heavenly Father “disciplines those he loves and punishes everyone he accepts as a son” (Heb.12:6-8). * Do you confess your sin whenever God reveals it to you? (1 John 1:8-9) * Do you demonstrate true repentance? Biblical repentance is a change of mind that brings about a change in lifestyle and choices (Luke 3:8-14). 6. A Child of God genuinely loves others. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. . . If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen (I John 3:14; 4:20). Questions: * Does your life reveal that you love God’s people? * Do you regularly put the interests and needs of others ahead of your own? * Are you becoming more loving in your attitudes, motives, and actions? Do You Have Assurance of Salvation? True assurance of salvation comes only from the indwelling Holy Spirit who applies the promises of the Word of God to our hearts. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us (1 John 3:23-24). We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit (1 John 4:13). The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children (Romans 8:16). As you have evaluated your life in light of the characteristics of genuine Christians found in 1 John, has the Holy Spirit testified with your spirit that you are a child of God? Has He given you a deep inner confidence that you belong to God’s family? If the answer is yes, then thank God for the grace He has shown by calling you to be His child. If the answer is no, but you desire with all your heart to become a child of God, then turn to Christ now. Confess your sinfulness and need of a Savior. Turn from your sin and call on Jesus to save you. Trust that He paid the penalty for your sin when He died on the cross. Commit your life to Jesus as Your Lord, without reservation.
Assurance of Salvation