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Test #1 of Series: 11 Biblical Tests of Genuine Salvation: Test #1 - Do you enjoy Fellowship with God and Christ? Is It Real? 11 Biblical Tests of Genuine Salvation by John MacArthur - 11 Questions to help one see if they are Biblically Saved. Helps to Examine Their Faith with God's Word (2 Cor 13:5) to see if one is Biblically Saved. How Can I Know I Am Saved 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...

11 Biblical Tests of Genuine Salvation - In 1746, about six years after the Great Awakening, in which Jonathan Edwards was the primary instrument of God to preach the gospel and bring about the greatest revival in American history thus far, Edwards wrote A Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections. He wrote it to deal with a problem not unlike one we face today: the matter of evidence for true conversion. Many people want the blessings of salvation, especially eternal security, but no more. In the explosive drama of the Great Awakening, it seemed as though conversions were occurring in great...

"These things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:13). When the Apostle John penned these words centuries ago, he did so to encourage faith in Christ, and to encourage those who do believe. The times were tough for believers, and they would get tougher. To follow the rabbi from Nazareth meant paying a high price, and many were inclined to turn back when they encountered adversity. John's...

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.(Romans 5:6-10)I have come to...

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.(Romans 5:6-10) I have come...

This is a video of a missionary who is truly preaching the Truth and ought to cause everyone, through his message of the Word, to repent. (See 2 Corinthians 13:5) Watch this video which someone took an made it a music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY6F0...eature=related Full Message: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8 He is the director of HeartCry Missionary Society (http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/co...page/Itemid,1/). When you watch it make sure you have the time to sit down like you would a church service get out a pen and your bible and follow along. If you’re a leader in the church whether it be a youth worker, Bible teacher, greeter...

Assurance Versus Security Security When we trust in Jesus Christ, our eternal security in Christ becomes a spiritual reality whether we understand it or believe it. Ones belief in security in Christ does not make it true or false. If we have trusted in the person and work of Christ for personal salvation, security is a fact.Assurance Assurance is the confident realization of that security. It is the realization of what we have in Christ such as eternal life, forgiveness of sin, and being the object of God’s personal care as his children. Assurance has to do with our...

UP TO THIS POINT our interest has been in coming to Christ. We have considered our lost condition by nature, our need of a Saviour, and Christ’s remarkable qualifications for that role, and the way by which we are persuaded of it. But now we address ourselves to the question of how we know that we have truly come to Christ, or how we know that we truly know Christ. Conceivably a person could come to Christ without being certain that he is actually united to him. Presumably, a person could think that he had come to Christ without really...

Along with the many freedoms we enjoy in America, many citizens have come to expect to be able to exercise their Christianity for nothing. That is, to accept Jesus, be forgiven your sins, and go to heaven at no cost to themselves. That is the concept embraced at least by so-called "gay evangelicals," who with special vision see a "just can't help it" exception in the Christian Guidebook that authorizes them to continue in homosexuality, free of judgment. The New York Times, in an article Tuesday datelined near my hometown (Raleigh), discussed sympathetically this growing segment of evangelicalism as though...

What Happens When I Doubt? by Juan de Valdes (1498-1541) Juan de Valdes fled the Spanish Inquisition in 1531 and led a reform movement in Italy. The following is a short extract from his larger work titled, The Benefit of Christ.The above title is not found in the original text but was created for this online edtion which was made available by Shane Rosenthal for Reformation Ink. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amongst those who bear the name Christian, I know that there are two classes of men. One finds it extremely easy to believe all that is said to them in matters of...

Does Assurance Belong to the Essence of Faith? Joel R. Beeke The contemporary church stands in great need of refocusing on the doctrine of assurance if the desirable fruit of Christian living is to abound. A relevant issue in church history centers in whether or not the Calvinists differed from Calvin himself regarding the relationship between faith and assurance. The difference between the two was quantitative and methodological, not qualitative or substantial. Calvin himself distinguished between the definition of faith and the reality of faith in the believer's experience. Alexander Comrie, a representative of the Dutch Second Reformation, held essentially...

No Condemnation: A New Theology of Assurance. Michael Eaton. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995. 261 pp. Paper, $16.99. In a postscript to his commentary, Ecclesiastes (IVP), Eaton concluded by citing the words of Luke in Acts 17:32-34: Some . . . sneered . . . others said, 'We want to hear you again,' . . . A few . . . believed. I believe the responses to his new book will draw the same diversity. Many will sneer, others will want to know more and still others will consider the evidence and believe, as a scholar from the Reformed...

Doctrinal Déjà Vu An Old Issue: Faith and Assurance By Zane C. Hodges "What goes around, comes around," people often say. And though they rarely do so, they could say it about theological controversy, too! Recently my attention was called to a hundred year old book entitled, Discussions by Robert L. Dabney, D.D., L.L.D., Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Texas, and for Many Years Professor in Union Theological Seminary in Virginia.2 (I'm not kidding-all of that was part of the title!) The particular discussion I have in mind was one called "Theology of the Plymouth Brethren"...

Dynamic SalvationBlessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Our God is the God of salvation; And to GOD the Lord belong escapes from death. (Psalm 68:19-20) Static SalvationConsider a typical inquirer who attends a Billy Graham Crusade. The message strikes several responsive cords in the man's heart. Graham's analysis of life makes sense. The news that all of us are sinners comes as no big surprise really. The offer of God's love and forgiveness sounds too good to be true, but suppose it is all true? What does a man have to...