Like this:

I’m sure many of us have seen at least one movie where the main character goes to a party or some sort of special event where there is a list of guests.  And unfortunately, the main character’s name is not on the list. Or maybe you’ve gone to a restaurant with your family and you have a reservation, except the reservation part didn’t really work out so well. And what happens in each of these scenarios is that the person who thinks they are on the list or the family that “has” a reservation cannot get into the party or restaurant. Not being able to get into a party or not being able to eat dinner at a restaurant would be a big bummer, but what if this happens when you meet Jesus Christ? Perhaps the conversation will go something like this:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV)

To be honest, this passage sometimes scares me! These people say that they prophesied in the name of Christ, cast out demons in His name, and did many mighty works in His name, and what is the Lord’s response? “Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Or today, this could be, “Lord, did I not go to church every Sunday, and go to small groups every Wednesday, and read my Bible?” This brings up a question I’m sure all of us have had or will have sometime in our lives, the question, “How can I tell if I’m really a Christian?” Thankfully, the Bible makes it very clear what we must be doing if we are Christians. We will look briefly at three verses in the New Testament, all with a common theme.

The first verse, Matthew 7:21 is a verse from the passage we just looked at. It says,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Only the one who does the will of the Father in heaven is truly a Christian. A profession of faith (saying that you are a Christian, “Lord, Lord”) is not enough. One must also do the will of the Father in heaven, but what is this will? I take “will” here to mean God’s desire for us to live a holy live. So the meaning of Matthew 7:21 is “Not everyone who says they are a Christian actually is. Only the one who does what I desire (living according to God’s commands) is truly saved.”

The second verse is 1 John 2:3 :

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.”

First one word of encouragement about this verse. Notice how it says “by this we KNOW that we have come from him.” This “know” is not a cross-your-fingers know, this is a for sure, without a doubt, KNOW! You can KNOW, 100%, that you are a Christian (see also 1 John 5:13, the main reason that John wrote this epistle). How can we know if we are saved? If we keep his commandments. If we obey God’s will, if we keep His commandments, we can KNOW if we are saved! That is an encouraging thought!

The final verse we will be looking at is John 14:15

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

A Christian will love Jesus. That much is obvious. And a lot of people will say that they love Jesus if you ask them. And Jesus knew this when He was talking to His disciples. He knew that people did profess a love for Him (like Judas) and that people would profess a love for Him, but this love would be a false love. So He tells them that if they love Him, they will obey His commands. Jesus repeats the same idea  3 more times in John 14 (v.21, 23, and 24), so it is clearly a point that He wanted to get across. The test to see if you love Jesus in simple! Do you obey His commands?

From all of these verses (and these are not the only ones in the Bible), we can see clearly that someone who is truly saved will obey God’s commands. You can have assurance of salvation if you obey God’s commands! If your faith produces works, you ARE saved! And that is SO encouraging!

Above all, however, the assurance of salvation is a gift from God. If you are unsure if you are saved, ask God to give you assurance (see Ephesians 1:18). I also encourage you to read through the books James (especially chapter 2:14-26) and 1 John in the Bible. They are very convicting but also so encouraging and assuring if you are a Christian!

It is my prayer that this post will help you if you are struggling with assurance of salvation. If you aren’t struggling with assurance of salvation, rejoice in the fact that God in His amazing grace has saved you!

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