The Test

          How many things to you know? I mentioned before that we used to take a test at the end of each school year to determine our grade level on certain subjects that would perhaps reveal just how much we knew about those things. I am pretty sure that I know that the world is round and not flat. After all, I have seen pictures sent from satellites that show the shape of the earth and although I did not personally take the picture, I assume that it is true. I know that if I jump off of the garage roof, I will fall to the ground because I did it with an umbrellas which did not help the landing at all. I know that if I plant a kernel of corn in the ground that a corn stalk will soon come up providing the bugs didn't eat it and it got sufficient water. I know things that I have experienced. You can list a lot of things that you know just based upon your own knowledge of things that you have done and seen for yourself. One of the most important questions however, is do you know you are going to heaven? How do you know that there even is a heaven and a hell? Basically, our answers come from the only thing we can trust in this present age, the Bible. First John 5:11-13 says,"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 

         John spent a lot of time in this epistle explaining the things that we should know in connection with God, His plan for your life and His plan for your arrival and stay in heaven. In this little epistle, John gave us about sixteen different “tests” that examine our knowledge of certain facts involved with our Christian life and the life we will spend in eternity. An interesting note is that everyone is going to spend eternity somewhere and according to the Bible there are only two choices. Since the Bible is our only source of real truth, then those two choices are either heaven or hell. We will either end up eternally with God or eternally without God. Your choice determines the condition in which you will spend that eternity and that choice must be made on this side of death and not after death. After death, it will be too late to change your mind as you will have already sealed your fate. I plead for all to examine every word of the three verses mentioned in today's text for they are all important. The simple answer is that if you possess Christ, or to put it another way, if you have “believed” on Christ, then you have the Son. If you have not, then you don't have the Son and therefore, you don't have life. This is the most simple of tests that we have. Either you have Him or you don't have Him. It is as simple as that. People however have added much more to the process resulting in man made religions that have forgotten the basic test for eternity with God. Praise God that the Apostle John said that we can KNOW that we have eternal life.