Examine Yourselves.

2 Corinthians 13:5 (New International Version)

⁵Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

I shutter to think about how long an "Eternity" really is. I can't imagine spending it separated from God.

I fear that so many American's feel a false since of security about their Salvation based on a false teachings and watered down Gospel's from the pulpit. Salvation is not "Repeat this prayer" and "Get Baptized" and then go live like the world cause your Saved! Scripture tells us that we are to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. But what I've seen in my life is that if you drove down to the roughest bar in town and asked every drunk man in the building about their salvation, you'll find that they're all saved because at one point or another they prayed a prayer. Yet they can drink down SIN like it was water! It breaks my heart. Test yourself! Look at your family members! What fruit do they bare? This is serious.

In 1st John, John gives us some Gospel truths about what a Christian looks like. Now, this is not by any means the only text you should examine, but I have found it be an extremely good text to examine my own self against.

Why is John writing to those who believe in the name of the Son of God? He answers in chapter 5:13, which is why I've chosen this book.

1 John 5:13

¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

A "Test"

1 John 1:5

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

1 John 1:8

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1 John 2:3

³We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. ⁴The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1 John 2:5-6

⁵But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

1 John 2:9

⁹Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

1 John 2:15-17

¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 3:9

⁹No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

1 John 3:17

¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

1 John 4:8

⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 5:1-3

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ²This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome...