How to Know You Are A Christian
HOW TO KNOW YOU’RE A CHRISTIAN
There are many good, faithful churchgoers who have received Christ sometime in the past, but because of lack of adequate information, are not sure they are Christians. The term “born again” has been used loosely, and made popular by noted individuals. A lot of people are confused as to whether they are a Christian or not. The following lesson is given to help you see clearly how a person can have assurance of their salvation.
Having assurance of your salvation comes as a result of a total commitment of your life to the person of Jesus Christ. This commitment involves the intellect, the emotions, and the will.
INTELLECTUAL COMMITMENT
In order to have assurance that you are a Christian, you must have a clear understanding of what is involved.
1. What do the following verses teach about who Jesus is?
Mark 1:1 __________________________________________________________________________
John 1:1,14 ________________________________________________________________________
John 10:30 ________________________________________________________________________
John 14:6 _________________________________________________________________________
2. What has Jesus done for us that no other person could do?
1 Cor. 15:3 ________________________________________________________________________
1 Pet. 2:24 _________________________________________________________________________
3. Why is it so important to a Christian that Jesus was raised from the dead?
Rom 1:4 __________________________________________________________________________
1 Cor. 15:17 _______________________________________________________________________
1 Pet. 1:3 __________________________________________________________________________
4. Where would you be right now if Jesus had never been raised from the dead? ___________________
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5. What do the following verses say about the role of our baptism has in uniting us with the death and resurrection of Jesus?
Rom. 6:1-11 _______________________________________________________________________
1 Pet. 3:18-22 ______________________________________________________________________
Gal. 3:26-29 _______________________________________________________________________
Col. 2:11-14 _______________________________________________________________________
6. What does John 1:12 say about our response to these facts? __________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
7. What do you understand to be involved in “receiving Christ”? ________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In order to become a Christian then, you must honestly face the claims of Scripture concerning Jesus and believe that He is God, that He died for your sins, was buried, rose again, and He wants to come into your life and be your Lord and Savior.
EMOTIONAL COMMITMENT
Being sure you are a Christian definitely involves the emotions, because man is an emotional creature by nature. An emotion is a feeling or a reaction to a specific event or experience. A wrong understanding of the place of emotions in our receiving Christ has caused many people to be confused about their relationship with God. Although our emotions are involved in our commitment to Christ, we must not depend on them for our assurance of salvation.
1. How might your emotions cause you to doubt that you are a Christian? _________________________
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2. What do the following verses say about how we can have this assurance?
Rom. 10:9-10 ______________________________________________________________________
Eph. 2:8-9 _________________________________________________________________________
John 20:30-31 ______________________________________________________________________
There is a place for emotions in our Christian experience, and all will experience them in varying degrees, but we must always remember that we are to live by faith – in God and His promises – not by seeking an emotional experience.
Sometimes you will not feel as if Christ is in your life. Having Christ come into your life does not solve all your problems. So if things suddenly go badly for you, will Christ still be in your life? _______ How do you know? For the same reason as before: because He said so. He can be trusted.
This illustration of the train is helpful to think through. Draw a train engine, a coal car behind the engine, a passenger car, and then a caboose. Label the engine “fact,” the coal car “faith,” the passenger car “feeling,” and the caboose “circumstances.”
Let’s look at the “fact” first of all. Is a fact true? __________ Does a fact change?____________ If things go wrong, what happens to your emotions? __________________________________________
If your feelings go down when something goes wrong, it must mean that your feelings are controlled by your circumstances or what happens in your life.
Now, suppose you put your faith in your feelings, and your feelings go up and down, what will your faith do? _________________________________________________________________________
But if your faith is in Christ, then what? ____________________________________________________
What does Matt. 24:35 say about Jesus’ promises? ____________________________________________
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But if your faith is in the unchanging, solid truth of Christ, it will remain strong, not dependent upon circumstances or your feelings.
VOLITIONAL COMMITMENT
In addition to the intellectual and emotional commitment, becoming a Christian involves a commitment of the will…a deliberate choice of your obedience to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
1. Explain how you think a person’s self-will can keep him from a personal faith in Christ.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. How does Rev. 3:20, John 1:12 and Eph. 2:8-9 relate to a person’s commitment of their will to Christ?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What do you think it means in a very practical way, to commit your life to Christ? _______________
__________________________________________________________________________________
4. What do the following verses say are evidences of my new obedience to Christ?
Acts 16:30-31 ______________________________________________________________________
Acts 3:19 _________________________________________________________________________
Matt. 10:32-33 _____________________________________________________________________
Acts 2:38-39 _______________________________________________________________________
5. What do the following verses say about baptism and my volitional commitment?
Mark 16:16 ________________________________________________________________________
John 3:1-7 _________________________________________________________________________
6. According to these verses, how long is my volitional commitment to obedience to last?
Rev. 2:10 _________________________________________________________________________
John 8:31-32 _______________________________________________________________________
2 Cor. 5:17 ________________________________________________________________________
7. What is the possible outcome if I turn my back on my newfound Lord?
Heb. 2:1-3 ________________________________________________________________________
Heb. 6:4-8 ________________________________________________________________________
Heb. 10:23-29 _____________________________________________________________________
Rev. 2:4-5; 3:3-5 ___________________________________________________________________
SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. Whom can I trust in this world?
2. What is my real purpose in life?
3. Why can’t I have real happiness and peace?
4. How can I cope with my problems?
5. When will I find true freedom?
6. Where will I go when I die?
7. On the basis of what I’ve heard and studied, is there any reason why I wouldn’t want to receive Jesus as my Savior right now?
8. On the basis of what I’ve learned what it takes to become a Christian, what do I need to do next?
WHAT IF I REJECT CHRIST?
Not on the basis of what man says, but what God says in the Bible, what is the outcome of rejecting Christ?
2 Thess. 1:6-10 ________________________________________________________________________
1 Pet. 4:17-18 _________________________________________________________________________
1 Cor. 6:9-11 _________________________________________________________________________
Gal. 5:19-21 __________________________________________________________________________
Rev. 21:8 ____________________________________________________________________________
Rev. 20:11-15 _________________________________________________________________________
ASSURANCE THAT YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN
Jesus said that not everyone who called Him “Lord” was really a Christian (Matt. 7:21). Just because a person prayed a prayer or is active in a church does not guarantee that Christ is in their life, because a person can be deceived. God has given us some points of evaluation for ourselves. The following Scriptures tell us how we can know we are a Christian.
According to these passages in 1 John, how can we know we are a Christian?
1:6-7 ________________________________________________________________________________
2:3-4 ________________________________________________________________________________
2:5 __________________________________________________________________________________
2:15-17 ______________________________________________________________________________
2:29 _________________________________________________________________________________
3:18-19 ______________________________________________________________________________
3:24 _________________________________________________________________________________
4:8, 12 _______________________________________________________________________________
5:11-13 ______________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
Based on the preceding study, how would you say that a person could know for sure if they are a Christian? ____________________________________________________________________________
Do you personally know now that your are a Christian? __________________ What do you think God would want you to do as a result of this study? ______________________________________