2 Corinthians 13:5 '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!'

The apostle Paul said this to the church of Corinth. Paul was having a lot of trouble with the Christians there who were still sinful. Look at what he says to them in the opening lines of chapter 13:

2 Corinthians 13:1-2 'This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them'

What is interesting here is that Paul was talking to Christians. They all believed, and they must have all said a prayer at some point in there lives repenting and asking Jesus to come into their heart.

But clearly, Paul is teaching that just because you believe (even satan believes!) and you said a prayer one time, it doesnt necessarily mean that you are saved! Read chapter 13 vs 5 again: 'Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves....' Paul is telling them that they must test themselves (present tense) to see if they are in the faith (i.e. saved).

Test yourselves how? How do you test yourself to see if you are saved? Ask almost any Christian how they know they are saved, and they will say something like 'I just know that I am saved'. But Proverbs 14:12 says 'There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.' Or, they might say 'I just know in my heart that I am saved', but Jeremiah 17:9 says 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?'.

We need to test ourselves against the SCRIPTURE. We need to compare ourselves to the Bible. Too many Christians compare themselves with others who call themselves Christians who compare themselves with others who call themselves Christians. It's like: 'Well so and so in my church does it so it must be right.' We need to compare ourselves with the WORD OF GOD.

Now listen to me: Jesus Christ said in Matthew 7:21 '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.'

The significance of Jesus saying the word 'Lord' twice is important to understand here. Jesus was not refering to somebody who calls out to the Lord for the first time on his death bed. The significance of Jesus saying it twice was to show that He was talking about somebody who emphatically and regularly declares that Jesus is Lord.

And Jesus is saying that not everybody who declares 'Lord, Lord' is saved. But the ones who do the will of the Father ARE saved! WE OUGHT TO FIND OUT WHAT THE WILL OF THE FATHER IS AND OBEY!

Right, down to the business end. Grab your bibles and turn to the book of 1 John...

In his first epistle, John outlines several tests that we can take to see if we are saved. Let us take a look at them. Note that nowhere in the letter does John say that a past experience of faith constitutes an assurance or guarantee of salvation. To assume that we possess eternal life based purely on a past experience is a grave error.

TEST 1: We have assurance of salvation if we believe, accept and remain in the 'Word of Life' i.e. the living Christ and in the original message of Christ (Gospel) and the NT apostles.

1 John 1:1-2 'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life - the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us'

TEST 2: We have assurance of salvation if we habitually and persistently practice righteousness rather than sin.

1 John 1:5-7 ' This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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 2:29 'If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.'

1 John 3:7-10 'Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 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. 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. 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.'

TEST 3: We can have assurance of salvation if we confess our sins and repent

1 John 1:8-10 'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.'