1. “We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers” (1 John 3:14).
God is love, and since we have received His life, we surely have His heart of love. Moreover, because we were begotten of Him, we love all those born of Him (5:1). When a saved one sees a brother in the Lord, he feels an indescribable joy and an inexplicable love. Therefore, love for our brothers in the Lord is also a proof that we are saved. This can be called the proof of love. Faith in the Lord gives us life and causes us to pass out of death into life, but our love for the brothers lets us know that we have life and that we have passed out of death into life.
By the feeling in our spirit, by the clear word of the Bible, and by the fact of our loving heart, we can know that we are saved. Even if we do not remember the exact day of our salvation, the fact of our salvation can be known by these three proofs. There may be some who have believed in the Lord but do not know that they are saved. By these proofs, however, they can know. By the living feeling in our spirit, by the Lord’s clear word in the Scriptures, and by the fact of our love in our living, we can know assuredly with definite proof that we are saved.
Many have believed in the Lord but do not love Him. Many pursue Him but do not seek to live an overcoming life. There are many reasons for this, but for some the main reason is that they do not know that they are saved. If they knew assuredly that they had received the Lord’s salvation, obtained His life, and belonged to the Lord, they would zealously love the Lord, pursue Him, and earnestly desire to live a holy life.
1. “Therefore also we are determined...to gain the honor of being well pleasing to Him” (2 Cor. 5:9).
The apostle said that we are determined to be well pleasing to the Lord because we know that we will obtain a building from God, eternal, in the heavens, that is, because we know that we are saved and will see the Lord in the heavens and enjoy His presence. Since we know this, we spontaneously make a determination to please Him.
2. “The love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised” (2 Cor. 5:14-15).
Knowing that we have received the Lord’s salvation makes us thankful for the Lord’s love, and this love constrains us to love the Lord and to live to Him.
3. “For our commonwealth exists in the heavens, from which also we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).
If we know that we are saved, heavenly citizens, we will wait for the Lord’s coming and for our being received into the heavens. Our living of awaiting the Lord comes from knowing that we are saved ones whose commonwealth is in the heavens.
4. “We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is. And everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).
Since we know that we are saved, we know that we will be like Him when He returns because we will see Him as He is. This causes us to purify ourselves as we set our hope on Him and wait for Him. Therefore, knowing we will see the Lord and be like Him causes us to live a life that is purified from sin, a holy life that is like the Lord’s.