Preserving Fellowship with God

If you knew that in fifteen minutes you would have to stand in judgment before the Holy God and learn your eternal destiny, what would your reaction be? Would you wring your hands? Would you say to yourself, "I don't know what God's going to say—will it be 'Welcome home,' or will it be 'Depart from me; I never knew you'? A central concern to each of us is our assurance of salvation. Can we know for sure that we have really received salvation? Can we know this continuously throughout the remainder of our life? These are real questions that every one of us faces during our normal Christian experience. In 1 John 5:13 John gives us a wonderful verse that explains his overall purpose for this little letter. He writes, “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.” This is the first message of a series going through the book of First John that deals with these questions: How can I know for sure that I have received salvation? How can I know that with a certainty that cannot be shaken?