How to be Sure You are a Christian (Part 5)
This is part 5 of a 6 part series – How to Be Sure You Are a Christian
You can be sure
1. External Witness of God’s Word
The promise of God’s Word, not your feelings, is your authority. His word is totally reliable. As a Christian you are to live by faith in the trustworthiness of God and His holy, inspired Word.
For years Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation, had attempted to earn his salvation by his dedication and good works. When he discovered that great biblical truth “The just shall live by faith,” his life was dramatically changed, and he no longer labored for the assurance of his destiny in Christ. He believed what God’s Word had to say and had assurance of his salvation.
John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, was not sure of his salvation as a young man even though he was the son of a minister, the leader of the Holy Club at Oxford and a missionary to the Indians of America. Upon his return to England, he met Jesus Christ at an Aldersgate meeting where he heard the reading of Martin Luther’s treatise on faith as a preface to the Book of Romans. Wesley explained what happened in his autobiography. “About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, and Christ alone, for my salvation – and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
Before the experience at Aldersgate, Wesley had engaged in a frenzied effort to try to earn God’s salvation by his good works. There he received the assurance of God’s salvation by faith.
1 John 5:11,12 confirm that Christ is in your life if you received Him:
This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
John 1:12,13 echo this promise:
To all who received him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
A doctor and his wife from Zurich, Switzerland, sent their son to the University of California, Los Angeles, to complete his doctoral studies in meteorology. Their son Hans received Christ at one of our meetings and wrote to his parents about his new-found faith. He mentioned my name as the one who had introduced him to our Lord. They wrote back asking if he would set up an appointment for them to see me so they might also receive Christ. At great expense the father, mother and their daughter flew all the way from Zurich to Los Angeles for the express purpose of becoming Christians.
This was at the beginning of the ministry of Campus Crusade. I never had anyone even walk around the corner to see me, yet these people were coming all the way from Switzerland. It was a dramatic moment for me when this man of great influence and means, with his wife, came into my office near the UCLA campus.
He began our meeting explaining his own spiritual journey. “I was an atheist for years,” he said, “but I found no future in atheism. So, I began to study the religions of the Orient. Again, there was no satisfaction. Then, someone told me the New Testament was where I would find my answers. I began to read it and became convinced Jesus was the one I was looking for. Then we received the letter from Hans telling us how you had helped him to become a Christian. We want you to tell us what you told Hans.”
Well, you can imagine how I felt. What a privilege it was to talk to this wonderful couple about our Savior, the living Christ.
I explained how they could receive Christ by simply inviting Him into their lives. He interrupted me. “Mr. Bright,” he said, “I’ve already done that. I receive Jesus into my life every day. On some occasions I ask Him in several times a day.”
Now I was puzzled. Relatively new in leading people to the Lord in those days, I didn’t know what to say. I prayed silently, “God, help me. What do I say now?”
There flashed on the screen in my mind Ephesians 2:8,9:
It is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
I explained it is not enough to ask Jesus into your life; you must believe He will come in as He promised. Faith says, “I know, Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Faith says, “I know Jesus died for my sins.” Faith says, “I know if I open my heart’s door to Him, He will come in.” Faith says, “When He comes in, I’ll become a child of God.” Faith says, “I know that, when I receive Jesus into my life, I will have eternal life.”
I told the couple, “God honors faith. He does not honor your invitation to Him to come in. It is your faith in Him and His promise that, if you open the door, He will come in that He honors. You can ask Jesus into your life a thousand times, and He will never come unless you believe, on the basis of His promise, that He will come. You can depend upon Him to keep His promise to come in if you ask Him in as an expression of faith.”
I suggested to them that they invite Christ into their lives one more time and that this time they believe His promises that, if they will open the door, He will come in and that “as many as received Him, to them He (God) gave the right to become children of God.”
Even before we prayed, the father’s face lit up with assurance of his salvation, and he began to laugh. He was filled with wonder, gratitude, relief, praise and thanksgiving. At last he had found the One for whom he had sought for many years.
He turned to his dear wife and spoke to her in German, telling her what I had shared with him. She began to laugh with what I discovered later was a holy laugh, a laugh of assurance. They had been looking for God, and now the light went on, and they were filled with joy.
They met the Savior, and oh, how their lives were changed. Later that night I had the privilege of praying with their daughter, who also received Christ. The entire family father, mother, brother, sister – was united in Christ. Eventually, I had the opportunity to visit them in Zurich and saw further the miracle of God’s grace in their lives.
I was telling that story later to a gathering of people at one of our training conferences. A woman came up to me afterward. She was in her eighties, her hair was snow white and her radiant face was stained with tears.
She said, “I’ve been a Sunday school teacher for more than forty years. Every day of my life, I have asked Jesus into my life, and I’ve never been sure He was there. Tonight, by faith, I asked Him in for the last time as you told the story of the man from Switzerland. Now I know He’s there because He said He would come in. He promised never to leave me nor forsake me. I’m never going to insult Him by asking Him in again. For the rest of my life, as an expression of faith, I’m going to begin every day thanking Jesus that He is with me as He promised.”
2. Internal Witness of the Holy Spirit
The apostle Paul writes, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Paul emphasized the validity of this inner source of assurance to the Thessalonian converts:
When we brought you the good news, it was not just meaningless chatter to you; no, you listened with great interest. What we told you produced a powerful effect on you, for the Holy Spirit gave you great and full assurance that what we said was true.
