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I’d like to begin this morning by reading a passage from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, a verse he wrote near the end of a long letter to a church struggling with immorality, immaturity, and all sorts of issues:

2 Corinthians 13:5 - Examine 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

We live in a country where, according to a recent Pew Report, 78% of people consider themselves Christian, or “in the faith” as Paul put it.  And, according to a recent ABC News Poll, 89% believe in heaven and 85% think they will go there.  So 85% of people think they have done whatever is necessary to be accepted by God and go to heaven. 

Of course, the pollsters don’t ask the follow-up question:  Why?  Why do you call yourself a Christian?  And why do you think you’re going to heaven?  And that is what Paul is telling the Corinthians to do:  don’t just call yourself a believer, but test yourself to see whether you are truly in the faith.

This morning begins a 5 week series I will be doing dealing with just those questions.  How can you be sure you really know God?  How do you know that what you call belief, what you call faith, is actually saving faith?  Why are you so confident that on the day of judgment, that Jesus would say “well done, good and faithful servant”, and not “depart from me, I never knew you.”

What is your evidence?  Think of all the possible things people might say.  I live a good life.  I go to church.  I prayed the sinner’s prayer.  I have done all the sacraments.  I believe in God.  I pray.  I feel God close to me.  I believe Jesus died for my sins.  I accepted Him as my personal Savior.  I speak in tongues.  I have been baptized.  I’ve experienced supernatural healing.  I raised my hand at an evangelistic conference.  What is YOUR evidence?  How do you know that what you call “belief” is really saving faith?

I don’t think there is a more important series I could preach, especially in the light of the last series on the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus than this one.  Okay – so he died and rose again to save sinners.  How do I enter into that saving relationship?  How do I know that I have eternal life, that I have been reconciled to God?  There are many important sermon series I could be doing on issues like money, love, relationships, family.  But think of what a tragedy it would be to come, to learn how to handle your money God’s way, how to love people & have a great marriage, and how to discover your gifts and serve in them, and all the while never even know God, and to get to the end of your life and find that you had gained the whole world and forfeited your very soul.  So over the next five weeks, I want to do what Paul said, and examine ourselves to see whether we are really in the faith.  For some of you, this will mean great assurance and confidence that you do know God.  For others, it may mean fear and trembling as you examine yourselves in the light of what the Bible has to say about true faith, true belief.  But this is all done out of love, a deep desire for you to know God, to have eternal life.

We’ll be using 1 John as the base from which we answer this question, because in 1 John 5:13 he writes ‘I 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.’  He writes the letter to those who claim to be Christians, so that they might know whether or not they have eternal life, whether or not they really know God.  

Let me give a brief historical background to this letter.  John was a founder of the church and an overseer from a distance.  In this church, there were false teachers who had seceded from the church to form a rival church and were trying to draw people away.  They believed that salvation came through a special knowledge, spiritual revelations that came directly from God, and therefore it was not necessary to know Jesus or accept his death on the cross as payment for sins.  Because of this special revelation, they could live however they want and it would be considered righteous.  Like most false teachings, this would be very attractive, not to have to worry about forgiveness, obeying commands, or anything like that.