You may have asked yourself at some time: “If all the unbelieving world is deceived, how may I know that I am not?”  That is a good question; and you have several very strong “pillars” to support you.  Principal among them is your Christ, the One who has united your humanity to His divinity, and who has saved you; you have your Heavenly Father, who has joyfully adopted you into His family; and you have the Holy Spirit, who lives in you, and who assures you that you are in the Truth (Jesus).

By “we” in the question (above), I specifically and exclusively mean those people on earth who believe themselves to be the blessed recipients of God’s regenerating grace, in that they sincerely trust in Jesus Christ and His sole righteousness to be their own; and, these people are members in good standing in faithful, creedal Christian churches.  So, the query is, “How do these people know that they are not deceived in their belief system; and how are they assured that what they believe about themselves, relative to their faith in Christ, is true?”

Someone might say, “Well, Pastor Mark, that is an easy one: the Bible teaches that those who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit are indeed children of God; and that they know the Truth.”  This statement is correct; and it may be verified by numerous texts, such as 1 Pet. 1:3 and 1 Jn. 2:21.

 Someone else might say, “Well, Pastor Mark, I just feel like I know the truth about my state and relationship with God. I cannot tell you why I feel this way, but I do.”

 Both of these answers have merit; and they are both a big part of the equation of the answer, as to how truly born-again saints of Christ’s church may be sure they are not deceived. . . . But, in my judgment, neither of them is the actual experiential reason (that they may know that they are not deceived in their religious belief system).

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