How To KNOW You've Been Born Again

          The Bible tells us we can KNOW that we've been saved or regenerated
     (born again), and that Jesus Christ lives in us.
         
          The Apostle John wrote in 1 John, that there are five ways we can know
     if we have been reconciled with God and know Jesus Christ as our Savior.


          1. Obey.
           "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
     The man who says 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar,
     and the truth is not in him.  But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly
     made complete in him'" (1 John 2:3-5a).

          2. Walk as Jesus walked.
           "This is how we know we are in him:  Whoever claims to live in him
     must walk as Jesus did" (1 John 2:5b-6).

          3. Abide in Him.
              "No one who denies the Son has the Father;  whoever acknowledges
     the Son has the Father also.  See that what you have heard from the beginning
     remains in the Son and the Father" (1 John 2:23-24).

          4. Sensitive to sin.
              "Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has
     been sinning from the beginning.  The reason the Son of God appeared was to
     destroy the works of the devil.  No one born of God makes a practice of sinning,
     for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been
     born of God.  By this is is evident who are the children of God, and who are the
     children of the devil;  whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God,
     nor is the one who does not love his brother" (1 John 3:8-10).

          5. We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
              "Whoever keeps the commandments abides in God, and God in him.
     And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us"
     (1 John 3:24).
             "By this you know the Spirit of God:  every spirit that confesses that Jesus
     Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess
     Jesus is not from God" (1 John 4:2-3).

            "By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given
     us of his spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to
     be the Savior of the world."
           "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he
     in God.  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
     God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him"
     (1 John 4:13-16).


            *******************************************************

          Next time - the conclusion of  'How to Know You've Been Born Again.'