If you desire to obey the Word of God, if when you read it, it's the longing of your heart

to do it, and if your desire is not just a legal desire out of fear, but a loving desire

because of Christ, and if you see that desire showing up in a pattern of obedience, not

perfection, but a pattern of obedience, then you are saved.

Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson.

Years ago, a Bible college professor told his class that if they

lack assurance of salvation, they should get themselves a small cross, then write on it the date

they think they got saved, and then bury it. And then whenever they doubt their salvation,

they should dig that cross up, and it will remind them that they have died with Christ

and they're saved. Well, that would be an easy cure for a lack of salvation assurance, if only it

were biblical. Thankfully, the Bible gives real answers for those who struggle with assurance.

Today, John MacArthur looks at those answers as we continue his current series

called Myths About Salvation. And now here is John with today's lesson. I want us to turn to

First John, because in First John, we have very positive presentation. These are objective

tests to see if I'm a true Christian.

And if I pass these tests, I can enjoy my eternal salvation with assurance.

So I'm going to turn them into a series of questions, all right?

Eleven of them.

A series of questions that plunge us into the

rich book and lead us to the joy of assurance based on the reality that we are saved. Or

it may convince us that we are not saved. In either case, it has done its God-ordained purpose.

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