How Can I Know?
I just returned from taking our youth group to Winterfest. We had an awesome time jamming with Skillet, Disciple, Jeremy Camp and others. But we also go to hear messages presented by Clayton King and David Nasser. Clayton’s message was Gospel centric. You’ve got to be saved type of message. David’s message was directed more to those of us who are already Christians and are still carrying around a lot of baggage that is keeping us from a much better relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
From all this preaching and teaching, the struggle our students seemed to come away with is the struggle all Christians have dealt with as they mature – AM I SAVED??? HOW CAN I KNOW???
So, how can we know we are saved? The best way I know to answer this question is with Scripture.
1 John 5:13 (NIV)
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.
Whenever I speak to anyone about assurance of salvation, this is always my first stop. 1 John 5:13 CLEARLY tells us that we can KNOW that we have eternal life. We can KNOW it!!! That’s exciting to me. But that’s not enough for a lot of people. So there’s a verse that says I can know … but HOW can I know?
ANSWER: Read 1 John 1:1 – 5:12 for starters. John says I write these things to you … so that … Therefore, we can know by what he wrote before hand.
1 John 1:1 – 4 – John reminds us that he is an EYE WITNESS to Jesus. He saw the man, touched the man, at with the man and spoke with the man. John received direct teaching from Jesus himself.
1 John 1:5 – 10 – This section explains that we will at least have a desire to be living as a Christian should – “walking in the light”. This section also tells us that as Christians, we will recognize the sin in our lives. Not because we are good enough to know, but because the Holy Spirit within us is convicting us of sin. ONLY the Holy Spirit can convict us of sin. Do you desire to “walk in the light”? Do you recognize the sin in your life? Maybe you can know now.
1 John 2:1 – 14 – Here we discover that our love for Christ is demonstrated by our willingness to obey His commands. We also read that our love for our brothers shows that God’s love lives within us. Are you obeying the commands of Christ? Do you love your fellow Christians? Or at least … are you trying? Our desire to obey and to love can only come from the Holy Spirit living within us. Maybe you can know now.
1 John 2:15 – 17 – By the “world”, John is basically talking about the average non-Christian person. This person doesn’t know what peer pressure is because they say yes to everything. This person thinks mostly about their own desires and their own self rather than thinking about others. This person may support abortion or homosexuality as a life style. Are you trying to be different than this person? Do you desire to follow Jesus even if it means you won’t “fit in” with the people you work with or go to school with? Maybe you can know now.
1 John 2:18 – 27 – Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Have you ever had an “aha” moment when reading the Bible where you learned something new? You can only learn if the Holy Spirit is teaching. Maybe you can know now.
I could continue with the rest of the book, but this blog is already long enough. Here’s an idea – read it for yourself. Try to determine if you see yourself in those scriptures. Remember though – we will never be perfect. So, don’t say “that’s not me because I got mad at so and so yesterday.”
And then, read 1 John 5:13 again and believe what it is telling you.
Go with God,
Donald B
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