How Can We Really Know We Have Received the Grace of God?

I John 3:24: "Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."

One of the things we will find as we study through the book of I John is the distinction between mere professors of Christ (who in fact are no real followers of Christ) and those who have yielded to Christ's Lordship and follow Him in faithful obedience. John tells us in I John 1:5-6 that if we claim to have fellowship with Christ and yet walk in darkness, we are liars. He again tells us in I John 5:18 that the one born of God will not continue to sin (i.e. the continual, willful defiance to the will of God through selfish, sinful thought and action). We know that we love God if we obey His commands . . . which are not burdensome (I John 5:3). The true believer through the power of the Holy Spirit and this man's responsive faith to the Spirit's leading is able to overcome the enticements of the world, which is victory in its truest sense (I John 5:4).

The question that some will present is whether we really can know that we truly have received God's grace. Some will question their salvation, not being sure that they are under the blessing of Divine favor afforded exclusively through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. John replies by saying that we are able to "have confidence on the day of judgment" (I John 4:17). We find this confidence from the Holy Spirit testifying with our spirit that we are His children, redeemed through the precious blood of Christ (I John 3:24; Romans 8:16).

John also shares with us the further evidence that assures us of the genuineness of our faith, namely that we live like Christ in this world and we are perfected through His love. As we experience the unfathomable love of Christ and are freed from debilitating fear, we then love Him and others with the true love that lacks selfish ambition and adulation. We give to Christ the entirety of ourselves (heart, soul, mind [Matthew 22:37]) as we love Him above everything else, and we cannot wait to shower love to others in a way that would bless and benefit them above ourselves. So too, when we fall prey to sin in our lives, we come under immediate conviction from the Word of Truth shared by the Holy Spirit; and because we have this hope and appreciation in the glorious Savior, we "purify ourselves" by turning from our sin back to the path of obedience (I John 3:3).

What is rather beautiful about this condition of assurance, is that we are in such a love relationship with Christ and are so attune to obeying Him in all things, that we have "confidence in approaching God." We can ask anything in accordance to God's will (in fact, we want nothing else but God's will), and we know most assuredly that God hears us (I John 5:14-15).

Conversely, the man who by word or deed denies Jesus Christ as the Anointed One (worthy of his fullest surrender, allegiance and love) is an antichrist. This man who is consumed with himself and seeks to satisfy his selfish desires above all others is not a true follower of Christ Jesus; rather, he is against Christ and His glorious kingdom!

These are such good words for us, for so many who believe that their religious denominational affiliation somehow grants them the privilege of Divine grace are sadly mistaken. There is no atoning sacrifice for their sins because they have not yielded themselves to Jesus Christ as their LORD. They are not following Him faithfully and obediently. They are not apt to turn from sin in their lives when they are prompted by conviction. They have no love for God and others, because they are consumed with themselves.

Still, for the one who truly has surrendered himself to the Lordship of Christ, is following Him in faithful obedience, turns from sin quickly so that it does not have lingering influence, and reflects the love of God to others is assured of the genuineness of His faith through the communion of the Holy Spirit with His spirit. If we are truly yielded to Christ, let us not fall into the insecurity of uncertainty; rather, let us know the confidence of knowing that God's Spirit resides within. Let us bask in the love of God and live our lives as an extension of that love to others. And let us await that glorious day when "He appears (and) we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2).