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How to Know That You Have Eternal Life

1 John 5:11-13 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

We see here in this passage three main points. First is that you can KNOW that you have eternal life, second is that eternal life is in God’s Son (Jesus), and third is that if you have Jesus then you have eternal life. God wants you to know that you have eternal life. In fact, he says you can know for sure without a doubt. The chances are that if you don’t know for sure that you have eternal life, it’s probably because you don’t have it.

There are two types of people: those who have Jesus, and those who do not have Jesus. The question then becomes, how does a person receive Jesus and therefore eternal life? There are many ideas about how we receive Jesus and inherit eternal life. Some say you must be baptized, that you must be a good person, or that you must be a good Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Mormon, etc. However, I am not concerned with the opinions of man, and neither should you be. Let’s look at what the Word of God says.

The first thing you must realize is that you are a sinner.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Everyone has sinned before, and looking at the Ten Commandments will illustrate this. How many lies have you told in your life? How many times have you stolen things (even small things)? Hopefully you have never murdered anyone, but the Bible says that God sees hatred in the heart as murder. How many times have you hated someone? Hopefully you’ve never committed adultery, but Jesus said if you look on someone and have lust in your heart, you commit adultery in your heart. How many times have you done that? These are only four of the ten commandments, but the point is that you are a sinner and so am I.

1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

The second thing you must realize is that sin has a penalty.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death.

Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die.

Notice it says that the SOUL that sins shall die. This is speaking of eternal damnation in what we would call hell or the lake of fire.

Luke 16:19-31 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets [the Bible]; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets [the Bible], they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” 

The third thing you must realize is that good works or being religious does not save you from this penalty.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Eternal life is found in Jesus, and having eternal life means that we are saved from our sins and the punishment of them. The above verses tell us that we are saved “not by works.” This means that you do not receive Jesus or eternal life by doing good works or religious deeds and rituals like baptism, communion/Eucharist, confession of sins to a priest, joining a church, giving money to charity, etc.

The fourth thing you must do is personally receive Jesus.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.

Now, Let’s see what the Bible says is the way we receive Jesus:

Acts 16:31 Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.

John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

John 6:40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.

John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

John 10:7-9 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

We must believe on Jesus. In today’s world, believing in God means believing he exists, but this is not what it means to believe on Jesus in the Bible. To believe in someone means to trust their abilities or their character. For example, If I said I believe in you to pick me up from school, it would mean I have faith in your abilities. In the same way, we must depend on or have faith or believe in Jesus and his ability to save us. This is another reason why good works or being religious cannot save us, because we must have faith in Jesus’ ability and not our own. If you are depending upon your own goodness to save you, then by definition you are not believing on Jesus!”

You must personally make the decision to receive Christ by placing your faith (trusting and depending) in Christ, and repenting (turning in your heart and desiring to be changed) of your sin. This is how you receive Jesus Christ. You do NOT receive Christ by being religious or “good.” Will you receive Jesus today so that you can “know that ye have eternal life”? The only way for you to know that you have eternal life is by receiving Jesus on God’s terms and not your own. It is not possible for you to know that you have eternal life if your eternal life is dependent upon your good works or how religious you are. This is not how eternal life is attained.

1 John 5:11-13 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

If you would like to receive Jesus today, will you right now pray to him, asking him to save you and change you? This is how you receive Christ. Please receive him today.

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