2 Cor 13:5 – examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.
Prove yourself; don’t tell me you are a Christian because five years ago you walked an isle. Don’t try to tell God you are a Christian because you went forward in a meeting, you went into a prayer room, you talked to a counselor, and don’t tell yourself you are a Christian because some counselor told you you were a Christian because he didn’t know either . The worst thing you can do to somebody is to talk to them about Christ and when they’ve prayed a prayer and verbally invited Christ into their life then to sit there and assure them they are really saved because you don’t have any idea whether they are. That’s the Holy Spirit’s work; He’s the one who grants assurance and He grants it by the inward testimony (Romans 8), and by the outer exhibit of works that prove it, because without works is what? Dead. The real clear proof you are saved has nothing to do with the past! It’s about the present. Are you at least more righteous than the Pharisees?
Matthew 7:21-23
“Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart..
