The Assurance of Salvation

In today’s world, many think to be a Christian is simply knowing about the Christian faith, some think that since they were born into a Christian family that they a Christian by proxy, and worse yet, some people think they are a Christian because they know the truth, they say all the right things, even play the part pretty well, but living lives that tell a different story.

We can see this in churches, in congregations, we see it in our circle of friends. Actually, I don’t even like the term Christian anymore, because this day in age, to be a Christian means just about anything, it’s been hi-jacked by world. So, I like the term we have adopted here, Born Againy. But just because a person thinks they are a Born Againy doesn’t mean they are.

In Christ said:

22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

This is one verse that should give a lot people concern. Because someone can look like their saved, they can even act like their saved, they can serve in the church, they can go through the motions fooling everybody,

So what does a Born-Againy look like? How do we know we are a Born-Againy?

Tonight, John will lay out 3 tests that give the assurance of our salvation. Please read with me in 1 John chapter 2, verses 3-6: Read-

I. The Test of Obedience

In verse 3, John begins by saying “by this we know that…”

He is saying “this is how you know without a shadow of a doubt.” To know here isn’t just to understand something through being taught. It is to know through experience, through observation and by the verification of the senses.

It’s not knowing like a student knows his or her multiplication tables, it’s having knowledge through the experience of living it.

John says:

3 And by this we know that we have come to know him,

He is telling the recipients of this letter, he is telling us, “this is how we know, this is the evidence that we have come to know Christ”

So, what is it to know Christ?

It’s more than just an affirmation of the facts of the life, crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Him. It’s more than having an intellectual knowledge of His person and work here on earth.

How many people that we have and still interact with do we say we know? I mean, we know their name, we might know quite a bit about them. Where they went to school, where they work, some of them where they live, but do we know them?

We can know a lot of facts about people, but there are very few that we actually really know. To know someone requires a relationship with them.

So, to know Christ:

Is not just knowing of Him

It’s to have a personal relationship with Him. It’s to give ourselves completely to Him, because He gave Himself for us on the cross.

“to come to know” here is in the perfect tense in the Greek meaning: “we gained this knowledge in the past and we still do know Him”

And John says “By this”

What is “this” that he is talking about?

We will see him show us 3 progressive tests of certainty that will show the believer’s fellowship with God.

1. In the last part of verse 3, John shows us the first test:

a. John says we know that we have come to know Him “if we keep his commandments.”

· A saving relationship with Jesus Christ begins with obedience

· To completely submit to the command of and conform to the practice of the will of Christ

· And this should be evident, not only to oneself, but to those around them

· Obedience reveals a commitment to Christ, and according to John here, it is the initial test of a person’s relationship with Him.

b. But John also says it’s equally as evident if one does not truly know Christ

· He writes (v.4) “Whoever” [anybody] who says that “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is:

1) “a liar”-

In the sense that they not only falsely confess Christ with their lips and their lives, but also in a deeper sense. In the 1st century, this word carried the meaning of not only a matter of untrue words or actions, but a person’s direct opposition to God.

2) “and the truth is not in him”-

The truth John is speaking of is the “good news”, the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it conforms to and answers the nature of reality

i. There are 4,200 religions worldwide that make exclusive truth claims. But there can only be one truth.

ii. Only one that has verifiable historic evidence, both internal (in Scripture) and external (secular historic record)

iii. The Word of God contains detailed hygienic, medical, and scientific facts thousands of years before they were discovered by the secular scientific community

iv. The revelation of Jesus Christ was empirically verified, meaning it was observed by sight, sound and touch, over a period more than 3 years by multitudes of eyewitnesses

· John is saying that those who claim to know Christ and don’t keep His commandments are hypocrites. A person can’t have an authentic relationship with Christ when their actions are in complete opposition to His commandments.

And while a true intimate relationship with Christ begins with obedience, John shows us the second test in verse 5:

II. The Test of Transformation

5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.

2. To keep His word goes beyond the submission to and the observation of Christ’s commandments.

a. It goes much deeper than that:

· His word is:

1) The Law

2) His testimony

3) His precepts

4) His commandments

5) His rule

· To keep His word is not just to submit and to conform, it’s to have the burning desire, to yearn to live a life of reverence for God.

· To do all that is done for His glory, for the exaltation of the name of Jesus Christ.

· It’s giving all that we are and all that we have completely to the Lord

· To actively strive to live to further His purpose and remain in His will,

b. But it’s also to put complete trust in His word and His promises

· And probably one of the best examples we see in Scripture is found in Genesis

· Abraham is the portrait of what it is to keep the Word of God

· He left the land of his father, his home, taking with him only his family and belongings,

· He went where the Lord guided him, completely living out his life under God’s directive and holding unwavering faith in God’s promise to him

· And in , we see Abraham live this out in live action, when the Lord commands him to sacrifice his only son Isaac, the means from which God’s promise was to come from

· He did not hesitate, he didn’t argue, he obeyed, having the faith that no matter what happened, the Lord would keep His promise

· On the way to the appointed place of sacrifice Isaac asked his father “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

· Trusting completely in the Lord, the author of Hebrews tells us “19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”

· And God provided the sacrifice. Abraham held nothing back, he gave all that he was and all that he had to the Lord, the Lord truly blessed him and all the nations of the earth in his offspring through Jesus Christ, some 2000 years later, when God once again provided the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, for the sins of mankind.

· In &5, when the Lord passes down Abraham’s promise to Isaac, He said this concerning Abraham:

4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

· Abraham obeyed God’s voice, he kept God’s charge, His commandments, His statutes, and His Law.

· This is what it is to keep God’s word. It’s to have complete and total reverence, unwavering trust, and detailed obedience, offering oneself up as a living sacrifice.

c. And by keeping His word, John tells us “in him truly the love of God is perfected.”

· At first glance, a person could get the idea that John is speaking of the love that God has for us. We hear a lot about how much God loves us.

i. We hear it on the Christian Radio Stations, we hear it in meditations, we read it in devotional books, we hear it in songs.

ii. And there is no doubt, God does love us, He is a loving God. In fact, the very essence of love comes from Him.

iii. He shows us His love through His goodness and benevolence, all things that we can truly call pure and good we experience are handed down to us from Him by His love.

iv. He has ultimately shown us through the revelation of Jesus Christ, in His incarnation and His death on the cross, providing us what we couldn’t. So, God’s love for us has always been perfected.

· In a sense, John is referring to God’s love for us. The word perfected here literally means- brought to maturity, complete, or filled up.

· Like when a fruit tree has grown to the state of maturity when it will bear fruit, or a vessel that has been filled completely.

· John is saying by keeping His word, the love of God, His divine plan of redemptive love, is shown to be complete.

· It’s the act of God’s love becoming complete in a person-accomplishing its purpose in transforming them

· So, John here is speaking of two things here, first he is not just referring directly to God’s love for us, but for our love for God.

i. To have a loving relationship, it can’t be one-sided. God’s love for us must be reciprocated. And when we keep His word, we show our love for Him.

A person can’t truly receive the gift Christ offers if they don’t understand how precious His gift is.

In chapter 4 verse 19, John states:

19 We love because he first loved us.

And it’s through coming to know Him that we love Him. With a love that is deserved not only because He has redeemed us, but on the basis of who He is.

This love is manifested and is evident when we keep His word.

It’s only though the love of God, that we become able to truly love.

ii. Secondly, he is speaking of the love of God in us manifested outwardly, not only to our families, our friends, or our brothers and sisters in Christ ,but to all of our fellow man. And this love is expressed in 4 elements:

1) Concern- true believers genuinely care about the well-being of others, physically, emotionally, and especially in the matter of their spiritual state. Desiring that others come into an authentic relationship with Christ.

2) Self-Giving- Exhibiting humility and generosity toward others. Willing to sacrifice convenience and time for the sake of the needs of others. Giving of ourselves for the purpose and will of God.

3) Action- Expressing the love of Christ through the active engagement and interaction with others. Reaching out to those around us for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ

4) Affection- and this is really the manner in which the other three elements are to be expressed, with a warm and tender spirit of kindness and gentleness.

Love of God and love of other people are inseparably linked.

So, by keeping His commandments we have evidence of our obedience and submission to Christ, by keeping His Word, we have the evidence of God’s love truly within us, and by this we know that we have come to know Him, but now John gives us the third and final test of one’s relationship with Christ. He writes:

III. The Test of Perseverance

By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

3. Each test tonight has been a ladder rung to a full relationship with Jesus Christ, and here at the end of verse 5 and through verse 6, John lays out the third necessary condition:

a. By this we may know that we are in him:- in Christ

· Being in Christ is the absolute essence of a personal relationship to God in Christ, knowing Him (v.3), loving Him (v.5), and living in Him.

· To be in Christ is to abide in Christ, meaning to reside, continue in a state, condition or activity.

· And in the Gospel of John chapter 15, Christ gives a beautiful illustration of what it is to abide in Him.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

· As the branches we're literally drawing life from Him, He's the source of our life. If we are connected to the vine and His life flows through us.

· And if we’re truly joined to Him, abiding in Him, we will bear fruit.

· So, while obedience refers to evidence of one’s knowing Christ, and our reverent trust and desire to please Him refers to the evidence of one’s love for Christ, to abide in Him speaks of the evidence of one’s enduring, steadfast perseverance to remain in Christ.

b. And John states:

6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

· A lot of people probably think that this word “ought” means “should” or “needs to”, but this word ought literally means “to be in debt, to be bound by obligation.” This isn’t something optional or going above and beyond the call, “to walk as He walked” is a requirement.

· John is saying here, that if you say that you’re the real deal, a Born Againy, then there is going to be more than just talk going on, there is going to be evident action.

· And I love the way John states this “walk in the way He walked”

· Because Christ’s human life here on earth was a “walk”. He was always moving, His every move, His every word, His every action was for the advancement of the Kingdom.

· In the Gospel of Christ said:

38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

· He walked bringing grace, He walked in love, He walked with purpose, He walked to execute the will of Father.

· He walked in total, unrelenting, unbroken fellowship and dependence upon the activity of the Father,

· Obviously, striving to walk as He walked we achieve His perfection, but the example that He set is a perfect example of obedience and loving devotion.

· His life is our pattern. So, if we say we abide, we say we know Him, we say we're in fellowship with Him, then it's going to be evident We're going to keep His commandments, a passion and love for His word and His truth. And we're going to reach for Christ's likeness.

The Point

How do you know you're a Born Againy? You believe the gospel. You understand you're a sinner. You accept Christ as Lord and as Savior. And from the heart your deepest desires are to keep His commandments, keep His word, and to live the way He lived, to walk the way He walked. Therein lies your assurance and the assurance of your salvation to those around you.