"This Upper Room", words and music by Paul Hayden JOHN 14.21: Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him". (ESV) In the upper room where Jesus spent his final time with his disciples, as recorded in chapters 13-17 of the Gospel of John, Jesus teaches and re-emphasizes the truths that they need to understand the most. Jesus does so with love in his heart for them, and he clearly establishes that he himself is the only way to God the Father and eternal life. This blog will always hold to the doctrine that it is by faith in Christ, not by our actions and works, that we receive the gift of salvation and eternal life. Ephesians 2.8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, (9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (ESV) And for those who assert that you have to do something together with your faith to be saved or keep yourself saved, what they are getting at is they think that there is a standard of salvation beyond the verses in Ephesians above. And since they can't point to such a standard defined in the New Testament, they take people to a place of being uncertain of the outcome and result of their salvation experience. I believe the issue can only be resolved by who is sincere or who is not sincere when he or she prays to accept Jesus as Savior. A person really has to be sincere. Otherwise it is not truly a "commitment". And he or she knows if they are or not. Only God and the person praying the prayer knows the answer of sincerity. And this is resolved in our private moments with God. Do we desire to know what the commandments of Christ are as they are revealed in the New Testament? And furthermore, do we desire from our personal nature which has been rescued from sin, to seek to live in a way pleasing to Jesus? That is, do we genuinely desire to live willfully obeying Jesus? Does the full picture of our life, witnessed by others externally and known by ourselves internally, consistently indicate that we love Jesus and we desire to be pleasing to him? And that all of this behavior is motivated by our love of Christ? Attempting to obey Jesus' commands will never get anyone saved. But willingly obeying Jesus – taking into consideration that we are not perfect and we do sin – will indicate to our inner hearts where our faith and trust actually reside. And this desire to obey is a true indicator of our love for him. And if the full course of our life were to indicate that we truly don't love him, how could we say that we ever committed ourself to him? When the disciples left the upper room with Jesus and went to the garden, they were all put to the test. The disciples scattered for a few short hours, but with the exception of Judas Iscariot, they were restored to Jesus.