This week I exhorted our church family to “examine themselves to see whether or not they are in the faith.” This sobering admonition is not original with me. In fact, it was the Apostle Paul who first asked a church with questionable character, “Do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you fail to the meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5). 

The Apostle had legitimate reasons to call into question the credibility of the professions of faith of many of the church members whom he was addressing. Their lives, attitudes, affections, values, and character simply didn’t match what they claimed to be. In every sense of the word, these people were delusional. They had false security in their standing before God. 

What about you? Are you in right standing before God? A popular evangelistic question is, “If you die today do you know you’d spend eternity in heaven?” The Bible, however, is not concerned only with what happens when we die. The focus of the Bible is as much on how we live today! Eternity doesn’t begin when we die. I am living eternal life now! Matthew’s earliest recorded words of Jesus are, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is here!” (Matthew 4:17), as opposed to “the kingdom is coming.” Certainly, I would implore every person to repent and turn to Christ with God’s imminent judgment in mind, as none of know when our last breath will be spent. But the question before us is simply, are you secure in Christ today? And if the answer is yes, my next question would be, what is the basis for such confidence? 

Do you have confidence that you are right before God and if you would answer yes, then why are you so confident? Do you base your hope on a prayer you’ve prayed or a baptism you’ve received? Do you look to your church involvement or to your perceived goodness? Does your life bear the marks of Jesus Christ and his character as the result of his indwelling presence in you? 

Do you…

1. …Love Christ (Matthew 22:37)
2. …Love God’s people (John 13:35)
3. …Love the lost (Romans 10:1; 2 Timothy 2:25-26)
4. …have an appetite for and obedience to God’s Word (1 Peter 2:2)
5. … have conviction over sin/Repentant (Romans 2:4)
6. …possess a maturing faith (Colossians 3:1-10)
7. …showcase Christ’s character (Fruit of the Spirit- Galatians 5:16-25)

The Bible leaves no room for confusion when it speaks to how a man’s salvation is secured. “For by grace are you saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Scripture is also explicit when it claims that “if a man is in Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away and all things are becoming new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). If you believe God’s Word and repent (turn from) of your sin you shall be saved. Believing is more than just believing in God’s existence, however. Believing “in Christ” is a belief that reorients every thought and action to Christ thereby altering the very values of my life. In other words, my life is transformed by what I believe to be true. 

But make no mistake, this transformation in values is brought about entirely because of the completed work of Jesus on the cross on our behalf and his sovereign grace. My new life in Christ is the result, not the cause of my salvation. “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, IN ORDER THAT, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Again, I ask you, what is the basis for your claim that you are right with God? Have you prayed as David did, “Search me, O God…and see if there be any wicked way in me…” (Psalm 139:23-24)? Are you willing to take a long, honest inward look at yourself as Paul exhorted the Corinthians to do also? Don’t allow your pride to delude you into thinking that you are right before God because of how good you think you are. Christ alone can save.