11 Biblical Tests of Genuine Salvation: Test #2

People get all tangled up on the predestination thing. Ephesians and Romans both indicate predestination but that does not exempt salvation by grace through faith and in no way changes the gospel of grace. It simply means, “No man can come to me (Jesus) except the Father draw him” (John 6:44). In other words, God does it all - we can’t take credit for anything. He gives us the desire to call on him and gives us the faith to believe (“by faith OF Jesus Christ” Romans 3:22).

The text of Romans 6 when the 1st question about sinning is asked:

Ro 6: What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

So, we both have sin in our lives.

The only real questions should be, (1) Are we happy with that or are we not?, and (2) Are we proud those sins hung Christ on the cross, or do we lament that evil we had done?, and (3) What does it mean if we take his grace for granted?, and, finally, (4) Does not caring about our sin mean we might have missed the boat?

Look at your questions. They're all about YOU. You're looking at YOU. The devil wants you to look at YOU. YOU will never be perfect.

What is the basis of our hope and salvation? Does it have anything to do with ourselves? No. "Having begun in the Spirit are we now made perfect by the flesh?" Galatians 3:3. Our hope and salvation has everything and only to do with Jesus and what he did. God isn't looking at YOU. He's looking at his perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Because His sacrifice was perfect, you are perfect. "As he is, so are we in this world." 1 John 4:17. Stop looking at YOU. "Look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Heb 12:2.

The shadow of Jesus was the animal sacrifice in the old testament. The priest, the judge of the sacrifice, never inspected the one bringing the sacrifice. But the priest very carefully inspected the animal that was to be sacrificed to see if it was perfect. God doesn't look at you. He looks at the perfect Lamb of God, His Son, and is perfectly satisfied. You and I are therefore free.

It's like you're coming to the priest and wanting him to notice how sorry you are for your sins and all the things you're doing to show your sincerity. But God never ordained the priest to inspect the one for whom the sacrifice was being made, only the sacrifice itself. In the same way, God doesn't inspect you as you, he inspects Jesus as you. We are accepted by grace though faith in his Son, nothing else. Adding your little bit is bringing in "another gospel" which scripture curses TWICE (Galatians 1:8-9) and calls "falling from grace" (Galatians 5:4). So to allow the blood of Jesus its effective work and grace to flow in your life, we must relinquish self-righteousness and self effort.

Care should be taken not to mistakenly identify any spirit which convicts us of our sin as not being righteous.

God the Holy Spirit interrupts us when we sin, but also deceiving spirits will accuse us of our sins.

When in fellowship after we return to fellowship by 1st John 1:9, we may continue to grow in Him and we likely will not be preoccupied with our past failings, but as we grow, we also will be better able to identify in ourselves how we have scarred our souls from worldly and carnal thinking which is not by His Plan.

In spiritual warfare, fallen angels have more than accusation as weapons against believers.

Our souls are scarred by many worldly and carnal temptations which demonic influence may attempt to thwart our operations and growth in Him.

True, if we remain in faith in Christ, we can persevere and there is no temptation greater than that which may be resisted, but we are frequently tested before we continue to advance.

Actually, God the Holy Spirit shows us Jesus who died for us when we sin. That's my experience and that's God's Word (Romans 5:8). I have been a born-again Christian for over 40 years. I have sinned many times. My experience is God just keeps loving me and is closer to me than ever as a Friend and helps me. He has NEVER "convicted" me of sin and has never condemned me. I've condemned myself. Man has condemned me. And the Devil does nothing but condemn. But God has never "reminded" me of my sin or anything close to that. With God, it is as though I have never sinned. That's what the New Covenant declares (Heb 8:12)

And that's what "justification" is. "Just-as-if" I never sinned. That's how effective His one-time sacrifice and His blood is.

If you let the Holy Spirit take you down to the deepest root of any issue that you might have, I believe deeper than guilt, fear, stress, or shame, you'll find condemnation. Being set free from condemnation truly sets us free (Romans 8:1). In my own life, I have found that basically the source of Satan's weaponry against me is condemnation (manifested by all kinds of other things like fear or guilt, etc.). I've seen this with others as well.

In my 40+ years of being a believer, I've never known the victory and freedom I know now by refusing to allow condemnation, because God accepts me and will never condemn me.

Look at your questions. They're all about YOU. You're looking at YOU. The devil wants you to look at YOU. YOU will never be perfect.

Of course it's looking at me. The Apostle Paul instructs us to examine OURSELVES. He doesn't ask me to examine YOU.

This is what Paul says:

• 2 Cor 13:5 (NASB) "TEST YOURSELVES to see if you are IN the FAITH; EXAMINE YOURSELVES! Or do you NOT recognize this about yourselves, that JESUS CHRIST is in you—unless indeed you FAIL the TEST?"

"Unless indeed you fail the test" is evidence that the Apostle believed it was possible to fail the test of having a genuine faith.

So, for you to look at you is entirely biblical.

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