Sixteen Signs Of A True Believer Part 8 Series

Series: Things That Accompany Salvation

Hebrews 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

Message 12: Sixteen Signs of a True Believer (Part VIII)

(2 Cor. 5:14; 13:5; 1 Jn. 4:16-21)

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

• “Examine” - peirazo = to test, to scrutinize.

• We are to examine our faith.

• But with what are we to test it?

• We are to examine ourselves by the revealed word of God.

• 28 times in 23 verses John tells us that we can “KNOW” that we are saved!

• We cannot afford to ignore what John, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is telling us!

• There is the danger that we may be “reprobates.”

“reprobate” - to be tested by God and rejected as unapproved, found to be worthless and cast away.

ILLUS: These are the gauges on the dash of your life!

NOTE: These tests are not for you to judge your fellow church member’s salvation. They are to be applied by each person to himself!

REVIEW: Thus far, we have considered:

1. The Companionship Test: Do I demonstrate that I love the fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Saints?

2. The Comfort Test: Am I sensitive to sin?

3. The Cleansing Test: Have I experienced and accepted the forgiveness of God?

4. The Commandments Test: Am I keeping God’s commandments?

5. The Conformity Test: Does my life conform to the will of God?

6. The Conduct Test: Am I doing rightousness?

7. The Coming Test: Am I showing that I am looking forward to the coming of Christ by living in such a way that I would not be embarrassed by His coming? “He that hath this hope ... purifieth himself.”

8. The Conquering Test: Am I winning the battle over habitual sin?

9. The Charity Test: Am I demonstrating by my actions and attitude a genuine love for my brothers and sisters in Christ?

10. The Conscience Test: Am I free from the plague of moral guilt?

11. The Communication Test: Have I experienced true answers to prayer?

12. The Counselor Test: Do I show evidence that the Holy Spirit is present in my life?

13. The Compatibility Test: Have I heard the Word of God in the messages of men?

• TODAY: Sign # 13: The Constraint Test. Do I love God? (1 John 4:19)

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

I. The Principle of Love (4:16)

A. Love Experienced

1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.

• God loves the world.

• He sent His Son as a demonstration of His love.

• Yet that love is not unconditional.

• That love must be experienced. It must be believed. It must be accepted.

• John tells us two things:

1. He has come to know (ginosko) the love of God.

• By the time of this writing, John is the last living apostle.

• He has been at this Christian walk for a long, long time.

• But somewhere along the way, someone reached out to John with the love of Christ.

• That someone was John the Baptist (cf. John 1)

• No doubt, John was a good man and loved God.

• But on that day, he followed Christ.

• And it was then that he “came to know” the love of Christ!

• It was this same John that wrote what theologians call the gospel of belief.

John 20:30-3130 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

2. He has come to believe the love of God

• How many times have I led a child or an adult to Romans 10!

• It has worked every time the sinner wanted it to work!

• It will work for you!

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.