I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13

Salvation is not a “hope so” salvation, but a “know so” salvation! It also does not depend upon our feelings, but upon His promises. Jesus is FAITHFUL AND TRUE! 

Walking In Light

“⁶ If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:6-7 

What is this talking about? While you are walking you might step in something nasty and need to wash your feet. Jesus said, “...The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”  (John 13:10) “The one who has bathed” (i. e. been genuinely saved/washed by the blood of Jesus) does not need to be saved again. He only needs to wash his feet. That is, when you step in it and fail, use the Christian bar of soap (1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”) That means to confess what we did to God, admit He is right, take His side over our own, and turn from it. This is to restore fellowship, not relationship. Once a man is born again (John 3:5), of the Spirit, he cannot be unborn.) So when you fail and sin as a Christian, it is a failure, not a lifestyle. 

“Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you.” 1 Peter 4:4

 The life of a lost person is to joyfully and wholeheartedly plunge into sin! Picture a cartoon pig swimming in a mud hole, loving it, getting a mouthful of mud and spewing it out, diving off the high dive into the mud, wallowing in it and loving it! That is the metaphorical picture of a lost man! His nature is that of a pig. He loves filthy things. You could dress up a pig and sit him in church, but as soon as you turn him lose, he will run and find a mud hole to revel in because THAT IS HIS NATURE! A sheep, does not like the mud hole. He may step in some manure or the mud, as he walks along the way, but it isn’t something in which he delights. That is the picture of a saved man. Sometimes we “step in it” by blowing it as a Christian and sinning, but it is not our nature and we can no longer enjoy sin as we did before, nor do we want to stay there.

The Holy Spirit convicts us and gets us back on the right path, just like a GPS when driving. 2 Cor 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (See Romans 1:18-32; 13:13; Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 21:8 for the nature of a lost person) 

“¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1-3) Verses 4-6 says “But God…loved us...made us alive...with Christ...by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”

Notice all of the past tense verbs. The Greek word for “saved” is σεσῳσμένοι (Strong’s G4982) It is Perfect Passive Participle, Nominative case, and Plural in number. What does that mean?

Perfect “In Greek corresponds to the perfect tense in English, and describes an action which is viewed as having been completed in the past, once and for all, not needing to be repeated. Jesus' last cry from the cross, TETELESTAI (‘It is finished!’) is a good example of the perfect tense used in this sense."

Passive means the subject, “we”, are the recipients of the action. Plural, further shows the verb is referring to “we”. This verb tense shows that salvation is a once and for all done deal not ever needing repeating. If you are really saved, you will always be saved. Once saved, always saved, but be sure of the once! (2 Cor 13:5)

 Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Who is it that began the good work of salvation in you? John 6:44 answers that with Jesus saying, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” 

If You Came to Christ, It is not Because You Were First Looking for Him.

“¹⁰ as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks for God. ¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’ ¹³ ‘Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.’ ‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’ ¹⁴ ‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’ ¹⁵ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ in their paths are ruin and misery, ¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known.’ ¹⁸ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’” Romans 3:10-18 

This is the description of the lost person who is in his wickedness and sin – not looking for God. 

How Then Did You Come to Know Him?

Something happened to change your natural rejection of God. John 16:8 says that the Holy Spirit convicts a lost man of “sin, and righteousness and judgment.” Jesus called you and opened your eyes!

“³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:3-6 

Notice these past tense verbs. It has already happened! “has blessed” is Aorist tense. That is it “Is characterized by its emphasis on punctiliar action; that is, the concept of the verb is considered without regard for past, present, or future time” This means it is a done deal from eternity without regard to time. “chose” and “predestined” are the same verb form. And notice that was “before the foundation of the world.”

Paul continues...

“¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:11-14 

Notice again all of the past tense. If you have ever really been saved, it is because of God. And you “were sealed” by the Holy Spirit “the guarantee of our inheritance.” God put His forever mark on you and sealed you with the Holy Spirit which is an irrevocable promise to the bride, like an engagement ring from a groom who is incapable of reneging on His promise to follow through with the marriage. (Romans 11:29) 

Romans 8:16 confirms this by saying “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” So if you really know Christ, you will know that the Holy Spirit lives within you, is changing you, convicts you, and is the mark of God guaranteeing by the God who cannot lie and does not change His mind. (Numbers 23:19) It goes on to say “Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” The implied answer is No! He always keeps His promises! 

“we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” 1 John 3:24; “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” 1 John 4:13

Claiming to Be Sinless

“⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us...¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:8, 10 

Those who claim to have no sin, are lost! Consider the rich young ruler in Mark 10. In verse 19 Jesus tells him the commandments. In verse 20, he says, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” In verse 21 Jesus lovingly showed him that he was deceived and it was not true. He had broken the first commandment and loved possessions and money more than God! Breaking one is the same as breaking them all! It means we are imperfect. Only perfection enters Heaven! That rules us out, unless we accept what Jesus did and His perfection into our account! It is why we need a Savior! The man claimed sinlessness and was lost.

Keeping His Commandments

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” 1 John 2:3 

Since none of us is perfect and none can fully keep the 10 commandments—that is why Jesus came—I believe this means, as a general rule, a Christian is someone who wants to do God’s will, obey Him, follow Him, and generally tries to do what He says, even though failing a lot. A lost man has no desire to do this whatsoever! (See also verses 3 and 4) 

What is God’s commandment? “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” 1 John 3:23 

Walking Like Jesus

“whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” 1 John 2:6 

We should be like Jesus, smell like Jesus, love like Jesus, and people should be able to tell that we are His.

When we lived in Peña Blanca, Honduras, we rented a house that had grapefruit-sized royal lemons on a tree in the back. Before the lemons came, I noticed thorns on it. To my surprise, when I broke off a thorn it smelled like lemon! We got a whole cup of juice from one lemon! We made lemonade. It was delicious! What is the point? Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Picture Jesus as the lemon tree and us as the branches. The branches themselves, if they stay connected to the tree, smell like lemon and eventually produce fruit! Do you ever smell like Jesus? Do people spontaneously apologize for their language in front of you? Do they come to you for ministry because they see something – Him? Are you producing any fruit? Ever? If not, you should check to see if you really know Him.

Loving Your Brother (Loving the Church)

“⁹ Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. ¹⁰ Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. ¹¹ 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 

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8 

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20 

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” 1 John 5:1

 Do you show love to people? Do you care about people, their pain, and their souls? Do you love those in His church and want to be around them? (Your brothers & sisters) If you meet another Christian anywhere in the world, do you recognize God’s Spirit upon them and immediately have that familial connection to them?

Do You Hate This World System?

“¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ 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. 1 John 2:15-16 

This doesn’t mean do you love the beauty of God’s world, His creation (the animals, birds, trees, stars, sky, etc.) It means do you despise the greedy, lying cheating, Christ-hating, corrupt, wicked, manipulating, underhanded, controlling, selfish, godlessness of this world system? Do you hate their denying God, teaching evolution, promotion of perverse deviant behavior, targeting of children in gross ways, using of people in sex trafficking as if they were toilet paper—something quickly used, of little lasting value and then discarded carelessly as having no worth, etc.? If you are fine with all of these things instead of longing for home, i. e. Heaven, and “...looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10) then you should be checking to see if you really know Jesus. If you know Him, you grow more weary of this world and more longing of His Kingdom and Him.

But Can’t People Be Lost Again? I Knew Someone Who Came To Church as a “Good Christian” and Then Abandoned It All. Didn’t They Lose Their Salvation?

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” 1 John 2:19

 Here John says, the reason they left the church and Christ, is because they were never really His. By leaving they proved the reality of their relationship with Him and in this case the lack thereof.

Practicing Righteousness

“If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” 1 John 2:29 

“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” 1 John 3:6 

“⁸ Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:8-10 

“We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” 1 John 5:18

 Sinners, don’t really long to do good, or be good—not in God’s terms of goodness. They may follow their God-given conscience to some extent, but when they think no one sees, they may enjoy porn, have immoral relationships with one person after another, be totally given over to addiction, and pursue sin with all of their zeal. Christians can and do sin from time to time, but not as a lifestyle pattern. They may take the bait that looks good here and there, but they immediately feel conviction and seek restoration of fellowship with the LORD (1 John 1:9). The lost simply enjoy sinning. 

The World Hates You

“Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.” 1 John 3:13 

Lost people hate Christians. The media wants to silence them. Hollywood wants to ridicule them or portray them as hypocritical, weak, secretly sinful idiots, and in ways that are not fair. Many governments and other religions want to exterminate them. Those doing evil and celebrating wicked things attack, persecute, and hate Christians who tell them the truth and preach the gospel to them. “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26) Are there people who hate you or really can’t stand you because you give off the “smell” of Jesus?

Does Your Faith Take Action?

“¹⁷ But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹ By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;” (1 John 3:17-19)

Action, i. e. works, do not save you (See Ephesians 2:8-9), but real faith is shown to be genuine by actions. You can say that you believe a chair will hold you, but unless you are willing to sit in it, your belief isn’t worth a lot. When you do sit in it, you prove you have faith that it will hold you.

 Do You Truly Believe and Confess That Jesus Is God’s Son, Lived a Perfect Life, Died For Your Sins, Rose From The Grave, and Is Coming Back?

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” 1 John 4:15;  “¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:10-12 “ ⁹ 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. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." Romans 10:9-11

 If you do not believe this, you are surely lost. If you only believe it mentally, you are lost. If you are willing to confess publicly before the church that you believe Jesus is the Christ, and

Do you really know Jesus? You can know!