Assurance Of Our Salvation
1 John 1.5-10 5.13 5.1-5 4.7-12 & 5.20-21
We've come to the end of our study in the Life and Letters of the Apostle John.
This morning... Our focus is from First John 5.13... I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
John says.... The purpose of this letter is to move us from doubt to certainty about our forgiveness and eternal salvation.
Assurance of our salvation is a Bible Doctrine... John testifies to this to this fact...
John says... We don't have to wander... Don't have to die with our fingers crossed.
We don't have to play ping-pong religion... Saved/Lost... Saved/Lost.
We can know... More importantly… God wants us to know!
Mankind has always needed to know we are safe... We need assurance that all is OK in life.
Years ago Billy Graham was told by the head of a London Mental Hospital… That over half of their patients could be released today if somehow they could be convinced that they were forgiven people... Heaven bound people... We need assurance!
A careful reading of John's writings proves
We can know… We can b sure of eternal life…
First... If we are going to be sure of our salvation... We must know that Jesus is the only means of obtaining this forgiveness and eternal life.
John writes...
• Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God...
• Everyone who loves the Father loves his child as well.
• Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the
world, even our faith.
• Whoever has the Son… Has life… Whoever does not have the Son of God does
not have life.
• We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may
know him who is true. And we are in him... In his Son Jesus Christ... He is the true
God and eternal life.
God wants us to know him
John 17.3 has Jesus saying... This is eternal life... What is eternal life?... That we may know HIM... The only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
Underline the word know... Here Jesus uses Ginosko... It speaks of a relationship...
• It can be and is translated Recognize seven times in Scripture...
• It's translated understood or understand seventeen times.
Do we know God... Really...
• Do we have a relationship with Him?
• Do we recognize Him as the One and Only God?...
• Do we understand that there is no other gods before Him?
There's a vast difference in knowing about God and... knowing Him... Ginoskoing Him.
We're to be like Paul in Philippians 3.8... Count all things... HOW MANY THINGS CHURCH:?... ALL THINGS to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.
Paul knew a lot about God... But he didn't know God personally... Didn't have a salvational relationship with Him until...
• Until he came to faith in Jesus Christ.
• Until he understood that Jesus was the only answer to his sin problem...
• Until he recognized Jesus as the only means to his salvation.
Do we know God personally?...
Do we know that our salvation is only possible through Jesus Christ?
Listen church... There is no list of works we can do to merit forgiveness or eternal life.
The Prophet tells us all our good deeds are as filthy rags in God's sight... Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us of sin and make possible our salvation.
Nor are there any sins we as believers can commit which will cause us to lose our salvation.
Our forgiveness and eternal life is based upon Jesus... And Him crucified.
Galatian 3.26 has Paul saying… We are children of God by FAITH in Jesus Christ.
At it's heart... Christianity is based upon our Faith... knowing… Ginoskoing God & His Son personally.
You see...
• If we know Him... GINOSKO... We are Christian...
• If we don't know Him we are not...
No matter how correct our doctrine or how faithful our church attendance... If Jesus is not… The center… The essence… Of our life... There is no forgiveness... No eternal life.
Second... Salvational assurance is ours when we live in obedience to His Word... Keep His commands
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Underline the words... These Things... John is speaking of the things he has mentioned previously in these letters.
It's interesting to note that John doesn't write linearly... He writes cyclically...
John mentions the same thing over and over and over...
For instance... In these three short Epistles
• He speaks of our being obedient to God's commandments eight times...
• If I counted correctly... He uses the word love forty-plus times... As he mentions
the love we should have for God and one another.
Listen to these verses that have to do with our keeping His commandments...
2.3... By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
2.4... Saying I know God," but not keeping His commands makes us a liar...
3.24... Those who obey His commands live in Him... And He in them.
5.3...This is love for God... That we obey His commands.
Now Church... We must be careful to not to reverse the order... We are not saved by keeping God's commandments. We are saved by faith… And faith alone… If… IF… We understand that Genuine Biblical faith always results in a life of obedience.
Hebrews chapter eleven affirms this.
The Hebrews' Writer tells us that… Simple Belief... Mental Assent… Is not Biblical Faith...
• Able offered...
• Enoch walked
• Noah built...
• Abraham went...
Obedience!!
Even the Old Testament testifies against Mental Assent... Deuteronomy 10.12-13 has Moses saying... Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you?... To fear the Lord your God... To walk in all His ways... To love Him... To serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul... and to keep the Lord's commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today.
Faith must Prompt Obedience or it is not Biblical Faith.
Paul says we are children of God by faith… But the very next verse tells us when… AT OBEDIENCE… For as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ... Have been clothed with Christ.
There is no doubt that... Behind our text... In John's mind were Jesus' words in the Upper Room.
Where twice Jesus says... If you love Me... You will keep my commandments... And we... The Father and I... Will come make our abode in your heart.
Church... Eternal life is our keeping-on-keeping-on...
• Walking in the light of His Word...
• Walking in the light of His truth...
• Obedience... For... If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son... Cleanses... Purifies... Us from all sin.
Know this church...
• Jesus didn't come to give us some helpful hints for a happy life…
• He wasn't a therapist in the sky...
He issues commandments!
Commands that we are not free to pick and choose because they happen fit our agenda.
Jesus is... Lord of Lords… King of Kings… He has the authority to command.
At the close of Matthew's Gospel we hear Him say… All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
Keeping His Commands is equal to walking in the light... And as we do... His blood continues to cleanse us from all our sins.
This is the Biblical method of keeping us... Forgiven... Saved... Assured of our salvation.
Number three... Our Assurance is based upon our loving others...
Forty times... John tells us... Our salvation demands we love God and others... All others!
Listen as I read... Chapter two... Beginning with the verse numbered seven... Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command... Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
John says there is no security in the darkness of hate... But in the light of love.
Church… A part of walking in the light is loving our brother.
Chapter four seven through reads similarly... Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God... Because God is love. Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
It was Jesus who said... The world will know that you are My disciple... That you belong to Me... When you love one another.
He was the one who said... We are to even love our enemies... Those who hate us... Abuse us... And would hurt us.
It was Paul who insisted that love of others is the most important part of our discipleship.
• Without love we are nothing... A sounding brass... A clanging symbol...
• Without love we gain nothing by our religious activity... Regardless of our dedication...
• Without love our faith is useless...
Some of us need to read First Corinthians chapter thirteen... Verses 1-3 and 13 again.
Twice in First John we're told that our conscience is an appropriate guide for determining if we are Biblically... Loving... Agaping... Others...
For instance...
• Are we holding a grudge?...
• Are we jealous or envious of anyone?...
• Is there someone we have not forgiven?
• Someone we hate?
John says until we have a genuine love for others... We can't ever be sure of our salvation.
Deep down... In our innermost self... We know if we're loving others as self... AMEN?
Than... We must walk as Jesus walked
This is John admonition in chapter two verse six... Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
To walk as Jesus walked means...
• Jesus becomes our example in all we think and do...
• Our overall aim in life will be to seek first... His kingdom... His righteousness...
• That we seek to please Him by our... Thoughts... Words... And deeds...
• In short that we ask... What would Jesus do?... And then act accordingly!...
• We are to have His... Heart... Mind... Attitude... Disposition... His Behavior.
Church... We are to become the Second Incarnation... John says plainly that God lives in us through the Spirit He gave us.
We become the Second Incarnation...
• Only when we walk as Jesus walked...
• Only if we produce the fruit of Jesus' Spirit living in us.
• Only when we have His... Heart... Mind... Disposition... And behavior.
Now... We need to understand that we will never be just like Jesus.
While we'll never perfectly walk as Jesus walked... It should be our constant aim and effort to do so.
Now know this... John lifts the burden of our failure in verse nine of chapter one... If we confess... If we acknowledge… our sins... He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Talk about...
• Forgiveness...
• Salvational security...
• Assurance of Salvation...
John wants us to know that we have eternal life when we humble ourselves... To the point of acknowledging our failures.
Listen… Here it is church… We need to stop ending our prayers with the casual memorized words… And forgive our sins…. And… Really… Really… Humble ourselves before God.
There is a vast difference between humility and casually ending a prayer without any heartfelt meaning.
Truth is… Most of us spend more time enumerating and talking about the sins of others more than our own…
Think back on this past week… How much time was spent... Thinking… Talking... Discussing... The sin failures of others… Versus our own… It may surprise us… No… Not may… It will surprise us.
Without walking in... God's light… His truth… Without our striving to keep His commandments... There can be no assurance…
However… If we will humble ourselves… Acknowledge our sin failures… He will forgive us… His shed blood will continue to cover all our sin.
We end our lesson with a quick test of assurance... Ready?...
Assurance demands the painful work of self-examination.
Second Corinthians 13.5... Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith… Examine yourselves! If you do not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you… You fail the test.
Assurance is never available in the presence of hidden sin.
David says... When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
Salvational assurance demands a continual battle.
We must fight the fight... Finish the course... Keep the faith... Faithful unto and until death.
Assurance demands... Faith... A sincere heart... A pure conscience.
The Hebrews Writer admonishes... Since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.
Security of the believer is a Gift of God.
Romans 8.16... The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.
1 John 5.10 & 11... The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself... And the testimony is this… That God has given us eternal life… And this life is in His Son.
My prayer is that we will leave this service knowing that we are... Forgiven... Heaven-bound... People.
So…
If you are not a child of God... Come in... Faith... Acknowledgment & Repentance of sin... Confession of Jesus... And New Testament baptism for... The forgiveness of sins... And the gift the Holy Spirit.
If we are His children... Our admonishment is to abide in the vine by... Keeping His commandment... Loving others... And walking as Jesus walked.
The invitation is ours as we stand and sing this song together.
