Is there a way that you or I can be virtually certain we are Christians,
and that we have eternal life (i.e. the Lord's presence via the Holy Spirit)
abiding in us? In the
following pages we will delve into this topic in some detail. My intent is
simply to give the reader a sort of "gauge" whereby he or
she can compare his or her life and lifestyle to that of what the Scriptures tell us
about those who truly believe in God, AND in His Son, Jesus Christ. For
the Scriptures clearly tell us that "He who has the Son, has the life;
he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life." I John
5:12.
Our Beliefs and Confession about Jesus:
In I John 4:2-3 and 15 we are told that:
"By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit (i.e. person) that
confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit
that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of
antichrist, or which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in
the world....Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him,
and he in God."
In this passage we are told that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, meaning that he
literally became a man, and that He is the Son of God -- or the
God-man. This is also made clear in John 14:8-9 where Philip asked Jesus
to "show us the Father...", and Jesus replied by saying:
"Have
I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He
who has seem Me, has seen the Father..." In other words, Jesus
was saying that if God, the Father, had became a man, he would
have been a man just like Jesus. See also John 1:1-18 (esp. vv. 1-3,
10-14).
In this regard, in John 14:6 and 23, we are told we can only come to the Father
by coming to, or through, Jesus, and that when we accept Christ as our Lord, we
also get the Father as well. That's what Jesus meant by "we" in
John 14:23.
And in I John 5:1-5 we read that:
"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God; and
whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that
we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His
commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments;
and His commandments are not burdensome. Emphasis Added
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory
that has overcome the world -- our faith.
And who is the one who overcomes
the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.?
Emphasis Added
So here we see that Jesus is the Christ, or the Anointed One -- meaning
that He is the ONLY Christ. For we are also told in Scripture
that there is no other name whereby we MUST BE SAVED (Acts 4:12). See also: John 3:14-15; 8:24; II Cor. 5:10; Phil.
2:5-11, and I Pet. 1:18-21. Note also that in I Peter 1:21 we are
told that it is "through Him
(i.e.
Jesus) ... we are believers in God",
and that apart from Him
we can do nothing (John 15:4-5). In other places we
are told that Jesus is the one who (literally) holds all things in the
Universe together, and that He was actively involved in the whole Creation (Col. 1:15-17). This is also made clear in John 1:1-3,
10; and Hebrews 1:1-2, 8-10.
A Changed Life:
It has been said that one of the surest signs of someone who is a
"born-again" Christian is a changed life. For example, let's say
that before we committed our lives to Christ we almost never went to church, had
virtually no Christian friends, were into illegal drugs, got drunk on a regular basis, and
engaged in sexual relations outside of marriage whenever we had the opportunity. And now we regularly attend a Christian church where the Bible
is taught, have Christian friends, don't do drugs, no longer look at porn, and we are happily married, and only drink socially or in small
amounts, or perhaps not at all.
Note: The above list is only an example, and just because we are are now
perhaps "happily married" does not necessarily mean that we are Christians;
nor does the fact that we are in a bad marriage necessarily indicate that we aren't. However, our ability to get along with others, including our wives or
husbands, is an indicator of who we are and where we are going, but it is by no
means a "surefire" indicator in and of itself.
The example above is simply a "sign" of someone who is a genuine born-again Christian, but there are other signs as well.
A Love for others and for God's People: In I John
3:14-15 we are told that:
"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we
love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone
who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal
life abiding in him."
And in I John 2:9-11 we are told that:
"The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is
in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the
light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates
his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know
where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."
And in I John 4:7-8 we are told:
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone
who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not
know God, for God is love."
So if someone claims to be a Christian, and yet they shy away from and/or
continually criticize other Christians, rarely attend church, and have hatred in
their hearts toward a brother or sister in Christ, then this is a sign of either
a severely backslidden Christian, or someone who was never a Christian to begin with --
even though they may, at times, talk the talk (meaning they may, perhaps,
make some sort of claim of believing in Christ, or know a few Bible verses). However, if someone has a
genuine love for God and His people, then this is a sign of a person who is a
true believer in Christ.
A Hatred of Sin: In I John 3:7-11 it
says:
"Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices
righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin
is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of
God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the
devil. No one who is born of God practices sin,
because His seed abides
in him (or her); and he cannot (live a lifestyle of) sin because he is born of
God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are
obvious; anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one
who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have
heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." Emphasis
Added
And in Matthew 7:21-23 we are told that:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in
heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name
perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew
you: DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'"
Emphasis Added
Those words literally scared the Hell out of me about
27 years ago when I first read them, in a book by Hal Lindsey. For
although, at that time, I claimed to be a Christian, I was not living for the Lord, and
His glory, but rather for myself, and my own personal
pleasures.
So we see that the daily lifestyle we practice
is also an indicator of who we are and where we are going. In other
words: if we are sleeping around with women, or men, to whom we are not
married, then that is a sign that either we are not walking with God, or we
never got saved to begin with. If we are cheating others from the forgiveness, and perhaps
apology, that we owe them -- for our and their good -- then we are also
cheating God, and will pay the price. We are also warned in Scripture to
forgive others for the offenses they have committed against us -- Matt.
6:14-15. Are we cheating God out
of the intimate relationship that He desires to have with us by living in sin,
or holding bitterness in our hearts against a fellow brother or sister in
Christ, or against anyone else? Do we love God more than ourselves, and our wives, or
husbands, and even more than our children? In other words, if we are
forced to choose between God and a relationship with someone whom we love, who
do (or did) we choose?
Other things we may be doing that we shouldn't
include: Are we stealing personal information from someone without their
knowledge or permission? This does NOT mean that we, as parents, or as a
spouse, are never justified in "spying on" our kids, or our
spouse; however, it does mean that we need to make sure that our motives are
right and that we are thinking about their welfare as much as our own. In other words, why are we doing what we are doing? Is it
because we want something for ourselves that we have no business having,
and/or that does not belong to us? Are we in a relationship, that
includes sex (in ANY of it's many forms) with someone to whom we are not
married, and/or have no intention of marrying? That does not justify
premarital sex, but in my opinion there is no justification for having any
sort of physical contact (other than perhaps a hug -- in public) with someone whom you are not
planning to marry. In other words, don't even hold hands with someone whom you do
not think you could marry and be happy for the rest of your lives.
Other things include: being a coward and never
standing up to anyone -- including those who are walking all over us, whomever
they may be. Being drunk. Trying to force another person to Love
you in an intimate manner. In other words, it is one thing to
communicate your interest in another person, and quite another to refuse to
take their NO (no matter how subtle it may be) seriously, and refuse to move
on, and/or to harass them over the fact that they don't have the same feelings
for you as you do for them. Avoiding almost all contact with anything
that is remotely Christian? In other words, do we ever attend Church or
Bible studies? Do we ever listen to Christian radio, or television
programs?
This does NOT mean that a someone who is a Christian
is "sinless" (I John 1:8-10), but it does mean that, as time goes
by, he or she should "sin less" and less as they grow in the Lord
and allow His Spirit to rule over their lives.
My experience, and advice, is that if we want to
maintain healthy relationships (and that includes our relationship with God,
if we have one), then we should never do anything that we do not have an inner
peace about doing. One married man I know, who has been married for over
30 years, has told me that he never goes anywhere that he would be ashamed to
take his wife, nor does he look at or read material that he would be ashamed
of if she knew what he was looking at. He has told me that "A clear
conscience makes for a soft pillow," and I agree. And in this
regard, the Scriptures also tell us to "Let the peace of Christ rule in
your hearts..."
This means that if our heart is pounding because of
something we are doing, or thinking about doing, then that is, very likely something that
we should NOT be doing, and God's way of telling us to stop.
In John 3:18-21 we are told that:
"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has
been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come
into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light; for their deeds
were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come
to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who practices the
truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been
wrought in God."
So we see here that someone who is on the path that leads to God, is also
someone who is seeking God, and to know himself, or herself, better, and to
know and do what is right in the eyes of God, and in the eyes of those who
love God (i.e. His people).
A Teachable Spirit:
In I John 4:6 we are told that:
"We are from God; and he who knows God
listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this
we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
Here we see that someone who is seeking God, or right with God, is also
someone who is genuinely seeking to know the truth, and who listens to other
believers. That does not mean that he, or she, must agree with everything a fellow believer tells him, or her -- for none of us have a monopoly on
the truth, except for the Lord, who called Himself the truth -- for
none of us are perfect yet; but if we challenge and or disagree with the things
that are clearly written down in the Scriptures (that mature believers are
acquainted with), then that is a sign that we are either not Christians, or that
we have become "sidetracked" in our faith and/or in our walk with the
Lord.
Association with other believers: In Hebrews 10:25 we are told not to forsake (or stop) meeting with other
Christians. And the context would appear that it is talking about
regularly meeting with other like-minded Christians. This does not mean
that we must never miss church, or Sunday School, or that we have to attend a
mid-week Bible study group, but if we find ourselves not associating with other
believers on a regular basis, then we need to ask ourselves why not? And
in this regard Proverbs 18:1 says that: "He who separates himself seeks
his own desire," and that "He quarrels against all sound
wisdom." What this means is that, more than likely, whatever
"excuse" we are using for not associating with other Christians, or
for not going to church, is a shallow one, and one that is also more than likely
selfish -- i.e. because we want to do our own thing, and don't have time for
God, or for hearing anything that our pastor (or would-be pastor) might have to
tell us.
A Humble spirit before God. In
Matthew 18:3 Jesus said that "Truly I say to you, unless you are
converted and become like little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of
heaven." This is a warning to all that, when it comes to
getting right with God, we need to forget about our (foolish) PRIDE and be
willing to humble ourselves before God, and admit our NEED of His salvation, by
faith in His Son and what He did for us on that Cross, AND to make amends with
whomever we may have offended over the years, and to ask for their forgiveness,
or offer ours if need be. This also means that we admit to God, and others that
we are sinners, and in need of God's help. Rom. 3:23; Eph. 2:8-9; I John
1:8-10.
A Personal Relationship with the risen Christ:
Does God ever "speak" to (i.e. communicate with) us in any way, shape,
or form? If not, then we need to question whether or not we even have a
Personal relationship with Him. For that is what the Lord means by His
statement: "I never knew you" in Matt. 7:23. Also in John
10:7-15, 27-28 Jesus said that:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All
who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear
them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to
steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might
have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep; He who is a hireling, and not a
shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and
leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters
them. He flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned about the
sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me,
even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for
the sheep." Emphasis Added
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall
snatch them out of My hand." Emphasis Added
Also in Ephesians 4:30 we are told not to "grieve the Holy Spirit of
God," by whom we were "sealed till the day of redemption."
In other words, if we are able to still live the same lifestyle of sin that we
did before we were saved, and it doesn't bother our conscience, then that is a
sign that we were never saved to begin with. Or perhaps now, after we were
(supposedly) saved, we are living a lifestyle of sin, or living in sin, and it
doesn't grieve our Spirit or bother our conscience, then that is also a sign
that we are not saved. See also Hebrews 12:5-8.
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See Also:
How Could A Loving God Send Anyone To Hell?
Will God Really Judge Us At
the End of Time?
Christians
are (said to be) Intolerant
Is
Everyone A Child of God?
Life's
Most Basic Questions
Why I Became A Christian
Getting Right with
God
Your
Greatest Enemy
How
to Know God
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