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A Scripture-Guided Self-Examination for the Believer

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” — 2 Corinthians 13:5a

Before You Begin

This page is not a test you can pass or fail. Salvation is not something you earn, achieve, or maintain by your own effort. It is a gift — freely given by God to those He has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

What follows is a series of Scripture-grounded questions designed to help you see whether the marks of that gift are present in your life. If you can honestly affirm what follows, you have every reason to take comfort in the promises of God. If you struggle with some of these, that struggle itself may be evidence of the Spirit's work in you — for the unregenerate do not wrestle with these things at all.

Take your time. Be honest. And remember: your confidence rests not in the strength of your answers, but in the strength of your Savior.

Part 1: Do You Know What You Deserve?

The gospel begins not with good news, but with the hard truth about where we stand before a holy God.

Read: Romans 3:10–12, 23

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Ask yourself:

• Do I recognize that I am a sinner — not merely that I have made mistakes, but that my very nature is inclined away from God?
• Do I understand that nothing I have done or could ever do is sufficient to make me right before a perfectly holy God?
• Have I abandoned any hope that my own goodness, morality, church attendance, or religious effort could earn me standing before Him?

If you can say yes — if you feel the weight of your own inability — then you understand the problem the gospel addresses. This is where grace begins: not with the strong, but with those who know they are helpless.

“For the wages of sin is death...” — Romans 6:23a

Part 2: Do You Know What He Did?

If the first truth is that we are sinners who deserve death, the second truth is that God did not leave us there.

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:21

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This single verse contains the heart of the gospel — what theologians call the Great Exchange. Two things happened at the cross, and both are essential:

His Righteousness Credited to You

Jesus Christ lived the perfect life that God's law demands — the life you and I could never live. Every commandment kept. Every duty fulfilled. Perfect obedience from the manger to the cross. And when you are united to Christ by faith, His perfect record becomes yours. God the Father looks at you and sees not your failures, but the spotless righteousness of His Son.

“And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” — Romans 4:5

Your Sin Credited to Him

At the same time, every sin you have ever committed and ever will commit was placed upon Christ. He bore your guilt. He carried your shame. He absorbed the full wrath of God that your sin deserved — not as a mere example, but as your substitute. Your debt was transferred to Him, and He paid it in full.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” — 1 Peter 2:24

The Debt Is Paid

His death was not a partial payment. It was not a down payment requiring your monthly installments of good behavior. When Christ cried out “It is finished” (John 19:30), the Greek word — tetelestai — was a commercial term meaning “paid in full.” The debt is cancelled. The ledger is clear. There is nothing left to pay.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” — Romans 8:1

Ask yourself:

• Do I believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who took on human flesh?
• Do I believe He lived a sinless life — and that His righteousness is credited to me, not because of anything I have done, but because of His grace?
• Do I believe that my sins — past, present, and future — were placed on Him at the cross?
• Do I believe that His death fully satisfied the justice of God on my behalf, leaving no debt remaining?
• Do I trust in His finished work alone for my right standing before God — not His work plus my effort, but His work alone?

If you can affirm these things — if your hope rests not on what you bring to God but on what Christ has done for you — then you are resting in the gospel.

Part 3: Do You Know How This Came to You?

You did not choose God on your own. You did not wake up one morning and decide to believe. Faith itself is a gift.

Read: Ephesians 2:8–9

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Salvation is God's work from beginning to end. He chose you. He called you. He gave you the faith to believe. He justified you. And He will glorify you. Not one of these steps depends on you.

“And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” — Romans 8:30

Ask yourself:

• Do I understand that even my faith is not my contribution to salvation, but God's gift to me?
• Do I recognize that I did not find God — He found me?
• Does this fill me with gratitude rather than pride?

If you find yourself marveling that God would save someone like you — that is grace at work.

Part 4: Is There Evidence of New Life?

Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone — but saving faith is never alone. Where God regenerates a heart, fruit will follow. Not perfectly. Not without struggle. But genuinely.

Read: 1 John 3:14; James 2:17; Galatians 5:22–23

The following are not the basis of your salvation. They are the evidences of it. You are not saved because of these things — but if you are saved, these things will be present in your life in increasing measure:

Ask yourself:

• Do I have a genuine love for other believers — not just people I naturally get along with, but the people of God? (1 John 3:14)
• When I sin, does it grieve me? Do I find myself wanting to repent and return to God rather than excusing my behavior? (Psalm 51:17; 1 John 1:8–9)
• Do I desire to know God more through His Word, through prayer, and through worship with His people — even when that desire feels weak? (Psalm 42:1–2)
• Is there growth — however slow — in my character? Am I more patient, more loving, more humble than I was five years ago, even if I have far to go? (Galatians 5:22–23)
• Do I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord — not merely as a historical fact, but as a reality that shapes how I live? (Romans 10:9)

If you can see even the faintest evidence of these things — take heart. Dead trees do not bear fruit, even small fruit. These are signs of life.

Part 5: What If I Still Doubt?

Doubt is not the same as unbelief. Many of the greatest saints wrestled deeply with assurance. If you are troubled by your sin, burdened by your weakness, and longing for more faith — you are in good company.

In Mark 9, a desperate father brings his afflicted child to Jesus. When Jesus tells him that all things are possible for the one who believes, the father cries out with raw honesty:

“I believe; help my unbelief!” — Mark 9:24

Notice: Jesus did not turn him away. He did not demand stronger faith before He would act. He healed the child. That desperate, trembling, half-certain plea was enough — because faith is not measured by its strength but by the One it clings to. If all you can say today is “Lord, I believe — help my unbelief,” then you are saying the same thing that moved the heart of Christ two thousand years ago.

The fact that you care is itself evidence of grace.

The person who is not saved does not lie awake wondering if they are. They do not grieve over their sin. They do not long for assurance. The very fact that you are reading this page and asking this question suggests that the Spirit of God is at work in you.

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.” — Isaiah 42:3

Understanding Where You Are in the Story

It helps to understand that salvation is not a single moment — it is a work of God that unfolds across three realities:

Justification is instant. The moment God grants you faith and unites you to Christ, you are declared righteous. Your legal standing before God changes completely and permanently. This is the Great Exchange — His righteousness credited to you, your sin credited to Him. It is finished. It cannot be undone, improved upon, or lost. You do not become more justified over time. You are as justified on your worst day as a believer as you are on your best.

Sanctification is the lifelong process by which the Holy Spirit progressively conforms you to the image of Christ. This is where the struggle lives. This is where you fight sin, grow in grace, stumble, repent, and press on. It is real and it is hard — but it is not the ground of your acceptance before God. You are not saved by your sanctification. You are being shaped by it. Some days will feel like progress. Others will feel like failure. Both are part of the journey, and neither changes your justified standing one inch.

And here is something that may surprise you: repentance is not a one-time event at the beginning of your faith — it is a constant, ongoing gift that God gives you throughout the Christian life. Many people think of repentance only as that initial gut-wrenching turn from sin at conversion. But repentance belongs to sanctification. It is the ordinary rhythm of the believer's walk — the daily turning from sin and turning back toward Christ.

Far from being a grim obligation, repentance is actually a blessing. Think of it this way: sin is a cramped box. You were never meant to live in it. Repentance is God prying the lid off and setting you free to leap out. Every act of repentance is Christ's finished work reaching into your daily life, reminding you that you are no longer enslaved to the sin you are turning from. And as God grants you repentance again and again, something remarkable happens — you begin to hate the sin you once loved. Not because you have become morally superior, but because the Spirit is showing you what sin really is in light of what Christ endured to pay for it. The more you see the cross, the more repulsive the sin becomes that nailed Him there.

“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” — 2 Corinthians 7:10

If you find yourself grieving over sin — not merely regretting its consequences, but genuinely hating that you have offended a holy God who loves you — that grief is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a sign that everything is working exactly as God intends. Repentance is the gift that keeps pointing you back to the cross, back to the finished work, back to the Christ who paid it all.

Glorification is the completion of what God began. At death — or at Christ's return — sanctification reaches its end. Every remaining sin, every lingering weakness, every broken part of you will be made whole. The work that felt so incomplete in this life will be finished perfectly. What God started, He will not leave undone.

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” — Philippians 1:6

So if you look at your life and see an incomplete work — that is exactly what you should expect to see. You are not yet glorified. You are being sanctified. But you are already justified. Your standing before God does not depend on how far along you are in the process. It depends on the finished work of the One who saved you.

Your assurance does not rest on the intensity of your feelings or the perfection of your obedience. It rests on the promises of God and the finished work of Christ.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” — John 10:27–28

Summary: The Gospel in One Breath

You are a sinner who deserves God's judgment. But God, in His mercy, sent His Son to live the life you could not live and die the death you deserved to die. Christ's perfect righteousness was credited to your account, and your sin was credited to His. He paid your debt in full at the cross. You received this gift not by your own effort, but by grace through faith — and even that faith was God's gift to you. Now, as one united to Christ, the Spirit works in you to produce fruit that confirms what God has already done. Your salvation was planned before the world began, accomplished at the cross, applied by the Spirit, and will be completed when Christ returns.

You did not save yourself. You cannot lose what you did not earn. The One who began this work will finish it.

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” — Philippians 1:6

Soli Deo Gloria