That We May Know for Sure

“He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God”.  I John 5:12-13

When telling another person about Christ and how one’s commitment to Him has influenced one’s life, it is difficult for the receiver of this good news to understand if he or she has not experienced the new birth for himself or herself.  When a person is born again, God indwells the soul of that new believer in the person of the Holy Spirit, who is the witness of Christ within that believer who can’t help but know that Christ is God’s Son who has taken up residence within the believer.  To believe is to know because God gives the believer the ability to know for sure.  On the other hand, one who doesn’t believe God that Jesus Christ is His Son whom He sent to bear the cost of redemption cannot be sure about anything.  In a way, it is like the unsaved person walks around with a big, invisible question mark over his or her head.  Many people who don’t believe God think that they are smarter than God.  If you don’t believe that is true, then just look around at some of the ideas that people have that are contrary to what God says in His word.  A man’s words and ideas die with him, and then he finds out how wrong he was and how right God is, but it is then too late for him.

There is no ambiguity at all as to what God requires to be a member of His family for now and eternity.  Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to God, the Father (John 14:6).  It doesn’t get any clearer than that.  What is a mystery to me is why other people, intelligent people with common sense, can’t see that, but God is the One who opens the eyes of people to their sin through the conviction by the Holy Spirit. A question has bugged me for a long time:  does every person that has ever been born or will be born receive at least one opportunity to repent and receive Christ as Lord and Savior, or, because of deep-seated pride, are passed over, left to their own, stubborn free will, never feeling the convicting tug of the Holy Spirit upon their heart?  I like to think that everyone has at least one opportunity to repent and believe.  I do think that when God gives an opportunity to be saved, but the recipient rejects the call, that God may not send the Holy Spirit again to that person.  Perhaps that is why Paul wrote in  II Corinthians 6:2 that “…behold, now is the day of salvation”.  Multitudes of folks do not realize the urgency of preparing for eternity.

Spiritually speaking, there are only two kinds of people in the world:  1.) those who are born again, who know Christ in the free pardon of sin, who have the Holy Spirit as a permanent residence within his or her soul and have the promise of eternal life with the Lord in a perfect home upon passing from this earthly life, and 2.)  those who only have life on this earth without the Spirit of God as a protector and comforter, who live lives of sin and hopelessness, and whose eternal destination will be with Satan and his demons completely apart from God.  That is quite a contrast.  Many false religions and beliefs have been created by man in an attempt to circumvent the humility and submission that God requires in order to come to Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior.  Jesus said that one had to become like a little child in order to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).  A little child is humble and trusting, not arrogant and prideful.  When Mama and Daddy tell them something, they believe it.  That’s called faith and that kind of humble faith is required to be accepted by God into His family:  believing what God says and staking one’s life and eternity upon His word.

Those who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior live their lives to satisfy their selfish desires, but when those desires are met, and they find that they are still empty, they seek for more possessions, accolades, positions, or perhaps a new spouse to try and fill that void.  They are just empty shells that can’t understand why they have no long-lasting joy and/or peace.  They look for satisfaction is all the wrong places.  Paul wrote in II Timothy 3:7 that unbelievers constantly strive for meaning and knowledge yet are “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”.  Even if the truth is presented to them, nine times out of ten, they reject it.  So, what do they want?  They want joy and peace, but not by God’s way.  They want God to bless their sin.  They want to go to heaven when they die, but they don’t want to do what is necessary to make heaven their home.

John’s purpose in writing to believers was not only to refute false teaching, but also to help believers in Christ to have assurance of eternal life and to stay committed to Christ, not allowing faith to waiver, but rather growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord.  The moment one is born again is the initial beginning of the relationship with Christ, and this relationship must be nurtured in order to mature into Christlikeness.  In other words, effort is required on the part of the believer to develop his or her relationship with the Lord.  If the believer is seeking to know Christ better, become more like Him, have a desire to obey Him and shun sin, and standing for what is right and godly, then that is pretty good evidence that one knows Christ.