Saved or Not?

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! “          2 Corinthians 13:5

Every Christian at some time during their life has either asked themselves or had someone ask them, “How do I know I’m saved?” So let me share with you four ways how you can know if you are or not.

First. Do you love Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?  Do you     believe that Jesus is the Christ? Then, you must have your     theology right to be saved. Romans 10:9-10 states the             following “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus    is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved.”

Second. If you are saved, you will keep His commandments. From 1 John 2:3-6, we read,  “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,  but whoever keeps his word,   in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” What does your walk look like? Can you sin and not grieve over your sin? If so, you don’t belong to Him. We will never be sinless, but a believer will eventually grieve over their sin.

Third. Do you love God’s Children? Do you love other believers? Again, scripture is clear if we belong to Jesus, we will love other Christians. John writes, “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever 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” (1 John 2:9-11).

Fourth. Do you love the world? A Christian knows that this is not their home. They are sojourners and just passing through, and this is not their home. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever .” (1 John 2:15-17)

God does not intend for you to live in fear or fear that you are not saved. If you are His, then all four pieces of evidence above will be displayed in your life. So examine yourself today and see if you are indeed a child of God.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark