If one is to have the fullest measure of joy and power in Christian service, he must know that his sins are forgiven, that he is a child of God, and that he has eternal life. It is the believer’s privilege to know that he has eternal life. John says in 1 John 5: 13, R. V., “These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.” John wrote this first epistle for the express purpose that any one who believes on the name of the Son of God might know that he has eternal life.

There are those who tell us that no one can know that he has eternal life until he is dead and has been before the judgment seat of God, but God Himself tells us that we may know. To deny the possibility of the believer’s knowing that he has eternal life is to say that the First Epistle of John was written in vain, and it is to insult the Holy Spirit who is its real author. Again Paul tells us in Acts 13: 39, R. V., “By Him (that is by Christ) every one that believeth is justified from all things.” So every one that believeth in Jesus may know that he is justified from all things. He may know it because the Word of God says so. Again John tells us in John 1: 12, R. V., “But as many as received Him (that is Jesus Christ) to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Here is a definite and unmistakable declaration that every one who receives Jesus becomes a child of God. Therefore every believer in Jesus may know that he is a child of God. He may know it on the surest of all grounds, i. e., because the Word of God asserts that he is a child of God.

But how may any individual know that he has eternal life? He may know it on the very best ground of knowledge, that is through the testimony of God Himself as given in the Bible. The testimony of Scripture is the testimony of God. What the Scriptures say is absolutely sure. What the Scriptures say God says. Now in John 3: 36 the Scriptures say, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” Any one of us may know whether we believe on the Son or not. Whether we have that real faith in Christ that leads us to receive Him. If we have this faith in Christ we have God’s own written testimony that we have eternal life, that our sins are forgiven, that we are the children of God. We may feel forgiven, or we may not feel forgiven, but that does not matter. It is not a question of what we feel but of what God says. God’s Word is always to be believed. Our own feelings are oftentimes to be doubted. There are many who are led to doubt their sins are forgiven, to doubt that they have everlasting life, to doubt that they are saved, because they do not feel forgiven, or do not feel that they have everlasting life, or do not feel that they are saved. Because you do not feel it is no reason why you should doubt it.

Suppose that you were sentenced to imprisonment and that your friends secured a pardon for you. The legal document announcing your pardon is brought to you. You read it and know you are pardoned because the legal document says so, but the news is so good and so sudden that you are dazed by it. You do not realize that you are pardoned. Some one comes to you and says, “Are you pardoned?” What would you reply? You would say, “Yes, I am pardoned.” Then he asks, “Do you feel pardoned?” You reply, “No, I do not feel pardoned. It is so sudden, it is so wonderful, I cannot realize it.” Then he says to you, “But how can you know that you are pardoned if you do not feel it?” You would hold out the document and you would say, “This says so.” The time would come, after you had read the document over and over again and believed it, when you would not only know you were pardoned because the document said so but you would feel it. Now the Bible is God’s authoritative document declaring that every one that believeth in Jesus is justified; declaring that every one that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; declaring that every one who receives Jesus is a child of God. If any one asks you if your sins are all forgiven, reply, “Yes, I know they are because God says so.” If they ask you if you know that you are a child of God, reply, “Yes, I know I am a child of God because God says so.” If they ask you if you have everlasting life, reply, “Yes, I know I have everlasting life because God says so. God says, ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.’ I know I believe on the Son, and therefore I know I have eternal life—because God says so.” You may not feel it yet but if you will keep meditating upon God’s statement and believing what God says, the time will come when you will feel it.

For one who believes on the Son of God to doubt that he has eternal life is for him to make God a liar. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him. He that believeth not God, hath made Him a liar because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning His Son and the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath the life: he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life” (1 John 5: 10-12, R. V.). Any one who does not believe God’s testimony that He has given unto us eternal life and that this life is in His Son and that he that hath the Son hath the life, makes God a liar.

It is sometimes said “it is presumption for any one to say that he knows he is saved, or to say that he knows that he has eternal life.” But is it presumption to believe God? Is it not rather presumption not to believe God, to make God a liar? When you who believe on the Son of God and yet doubt that you have eternal life, you make God a liar. When Jesus said to the woman who was a sinner, “Thy sins are forgiven” (Luke 7: 48), was it presumption for her to go out and say, “I know my sins are all forgiven”? Would it not have been presumption for her to have doubted for a moment that her sins were all forgiven? Jesus had said that they were forgiven. For her to doubt it would have been for her to give the lie to Jesus. Is it then any more presumption for the believer to-day to say, “My sins are all forgiven, I have eternal life,” when God says in His written testimony to every one that believeth, “You are justified from all things” (Acts 13: 39), “You have eternal life” (John 3: 36; 1 John 5: 13)?

Be very sure first of all that you really do believe on the name of the Son of God; that you really have received Jesus. If you are sure of this then never doubt for a moment that your sins are all forgiven, never doubt for a moment that you are a child of God, never doubt for a moment that you have everlasting life. If Satan comes and whispers, “Your sins are not forgiven,” point Satan to the Word of God and say, “God says my sins are forgiven and I know they are.” If Satan whispers, “Well perhaps you don’t believe on Him,” then say, “Well if I never did before I will now.” And then go out rejoicing, knowing that your sins are forgiven, knowing that you are a child of God, knowing that you have everlasting life.

There are doubtless many who say they know they have eternal life who really do not believe on the name of the Son of God, who have not really received Jesus. This is not true assurance. It has no sure foundation in the Word of God who cannot lie. If we wish to get assurance of salvation we must first get saved. The reason why many have not the assurance that they are saved is because they are not saved. They ought not to have assurance. What they need first is salvation. But if you have received Jesus in the way described in the first chapter, YOU ARE SAVED, you are a child of God, your sins are forgiven. Believe it, know it. Rejoice in it.

Having settled it, let it remain settled. Never doubt it. You may make mistakes, you may stumble, you may fall, but even if you do, if you have really received Jesus, know that your sins are forgiven and rise from your fall and go forward in the glad assurance that there is nothing between you and God.