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Assurance cannot be based solely on the fact that we prayed a prayer, or were baptized. The Bible gives us several tests we must first apply to our lives to determine whether there is evidence of God’s grace there. Paul goes so far as to command us, “test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves” (II Corinthians 13:5). Here are six tests straight from the Scriptures you can start with. It is as our lives pass the following six biblical tests that we can gain the hope and assurance of salvation:
1. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
Paul prays, “If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha” (I Corinthians 16:22). To fulfill the first and greatest commandment, which is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37) means that our hearts are solely devoted to Him. St. Augustine described this love well when he wrote, “He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.” Everything in our lives should exist for His glory; and every activity done should be done out of love for Him.
This first test may sound simple, but it is actually the only test. The other five tests determine whether we pass this first one, or whether we’re fooling ourselves when we sing, “I love you, Lord.”
2. Are you actively guarding your soul from sin and the world?
The Apostle Paul humbly acknowledged that he himself could apostatize and prove himself to become a castaway if he was not diligent in guarding his heart from being drawn away with the world. “But I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified” (I Corinthians 9:27).
I John tells us plainly, “Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I John 2:15). Guard your heart with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23), because to gain the world is to forfeit your claim to God.
3. Are you free from all habitual sin?
I John 3:9 tells us that “no one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” First John teaches that as Christians, we may sin at times, but that “if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (I John 2:1). We can confess our sins and know that He is faithful and just to forgive us (I John 1:9).
However, it is clear that for one who claims to be a Christian to remain in habitual sin, his faith is vain. Just consider the black and white clarity with which John distinguishes those who are true believers from those who are lying hypocrites, “The one who says, “I have come to know Him, “and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected (I John 2:4-5).”
4. Are you convicted when you sin?
As said previously, Christians are not perfect, and there are times that we succumb to our old nature and sin. The difference between a believer and one who is lost is in how they respond to sin. A believer possesses the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and will inevitably be convicted with guilt when he sins. Hebrews tells us that just as earthly fathers discipline their children, the Holy Spirit will discipline us when we sin. “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives . . . But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Hebrews 12:6, 8).
5. Do you love your neighbor as yourself?
Our world is becoming more decadent and distant from God; one of the most obvious indicators of this godlessness is that the love of many has grown cold (Matthew 24:12). The murder of unwanted children is commonplace as over 46 million abortions have been performed since Roe vs. Wade. This type of disregard for human life should cause our society to be repulsed. But instead, our society is only becoming more callus as we are now considering seriously the legality of euthanizing grown adults that are unwanted or disabled.
Christians, however, have a strong warrant to believe that every human life has dignity and is worthy of respect because we believe that man is created in the image of God. I John goes so far as to say that if we do not love our brother, we cannot call ourselves Christians, “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” (I John 4:7-8). Also, “anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother” (I John 3:10).
It is not enough just to say we love our neighbor; John tells us that if this love is not evidenced by our hearts being moved to offer aid to those who are in need, then what we call love isn’t love at all, and our faith should be called into question. “But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him” (I John 3:17).
6. Are you persevering?
There are many passages in the New Testament that warn us of false faith that fizzles before the finish. But this kind of fickle faith wasn’t faith from the first. I John tells us that if someone claims to be a believer, and yet falls away, their faith was false to begin with, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us” (I John 2:18-19).
God’s grace never fails. If what we possess is genuine, it will persevere until the very end. This is why Paul can speak with confidence to the Philippians, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Your assurance should grow day by day as you continue by God’s grace to persevere. Hebrews tells us that our full assurance will culminate in the end, when we have remained faithful to our Lord, “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end” (Hebrews 3:14). If God’s grace has made its residence in your life, you will persevere because it is no longer you who lives, but Christ who lives in you (Galatians 2:20). |
