Over the previous six weeks the students have been looking at the doctrines of grace and how they came to be clearly articulated in the early 1600’s in the Canons of Dort. These are amazing truths that hold high God’s sovereign hand in all things, including man’s salvation, showing Him to be worthy of all praise and glory.  Perhaps the one doctrine that is the most comforting of the five is the doctrine of God’s preserving grace.

This doctrine teaches that “all those who are truly ‘born again’ will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly ‘born again” (Grudem, Systematic Theology, page 1251).  Put simply, all those who are truly Christians will remain as such until the end of their lives because of God’s preserving grace.  There is nothing a Christian can do to lose his salvation since God keeps all those that are truly His.

Am I Really A Christian?

This truth is very comforting and confidence inspiring.  Yet, it also begs a question that requires a measure of introspection in order to arrive at the correct answer.  Parents can prove very helpful in this process with their children.  The question is, “Am I really a Christian?”  When I was a child, this is something that I struggled with often and I recall praying ‘the prayer’ many times to help bolster my confidence that I was truly a Christian.

Parents, as you are given the opportunities by God to discuss topics like this with your children, or even as you consider your own salvation, it is imperative that we look to Christ! And there are some diagnostic questions that we can use in our self-examination and in helping our kids examine themselves.  As Paul says, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves” (2 Cor 13:5).

What About Today?

The first diagnostic question is to ask whether you or you child are trusting in Christ today.  Don’t look back to a prayer or a decision that may have been made years ago.  Rather, look to how you view Christ today.  Are you trusting Him for your salvation now?  Is He your hope now? Paul tells the church in Colossae that they will be saved on that last day “if indeed they continue in the faith, stable and steadfast,  not shifting form the hope of the gospel which they heard” (Col 1:23).

Is There Evidence?

The second diagnostic question is to ask if there is evidence of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in you or your child.  Since a Christian is someone who is a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) who has died to the old ways (Rom 6:6), there should be a general trajectory towards life and holiness and away from death and sin.  This will ebb and flow during different seasons in one’s life, but, a genuine Christian should generally manifest evidence of the Holy Spirit working in their life.  One of the ways this is evidenced is through a repentant heart that is saddened by its own sin. Parents, you can be very helpful in pointing out how your child is (or isn’t) showing this as you have a much better perspective on their life and its general trajectory.

What’s The Big Picture?

The third diagnostic question is to ask if a long-term pattern of spiritual growth is visible in you or your child. Peter tells us that we will “never fall” in making our calling and election sure if we continue in our knowledge of Christ which will lead to different fruits of the Spirit such as self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love (2 Peter 1:3-10).  Again, parents, your longer term perspective will prove very helpful in assisting your child to discern this pattern in his or her life.

The doctrine of God’s preserving grace is extremely confronting to the Christian!  And, parents, you can be an effective means of the Lord in helping your child or student examine their lives to see if they really are in the faith and, if so, then a beneficiary of God’s great preserving grace.  May we all honestly examine our own lives to test ourselves to see if we really are in the faith.