Saved? How Do You Know? - Part 1

Many people answer the question "Are you saved?" with "I think so" or "I feel like I am." But assurance of salvation does not rest on how we feel; it rests firmly on what God has said. John wrote his first epistle so that those who believe on the name of the Son of God may know that they have eternal life. In this first part, we look at the foundation of salvation. Eternal life is found in a Person, the Son of God, and to believe on His name is to believe everything God has revealed about Him: His deity, His saving work through His shed blood on the cross, and His promise of everlasting life to all who come to Him. Saving faith is not mere intellectual agreement, for the devils also believe and tremble. It is a heart belief that commits fully to Jesus Christ and trusts in His finished work alone, and it is a belief that continues. From there we begin the fruit of salvation with the first of John's tests: a desire to keep the Lord's commandments. A true believer is not perfect, but God's Word becomes the guiding star of his life, and when he sins he is convicted, confesses, and returns to the course. If a person can live in sin willfully and habitually without conviction or repentance, the Bible says the truth is not in him.