sf1008 - Real Assurance (1 John 5 13)
1 John 5:13
Introduction
Can you be certain you have eternal life?
How can you know for sure?
Sources of false assurance:
To be declared righteous by a minister or praying a prayer is no assurance of salvation.
Ø Many believe they are saved yet they have no concern for God, do not seek Him.
Ø No concern for the things of God, do not read His Word.
Ø Love the world and the things of the world.
Biblical security does not come from looking back at some time when you prayed a prayer.
Ø It comes for an examination of your life today from Scripture.
Ø If you have no concern for God or godliness you should tremble in fear.
Spurgeon’s Advise to Young Preachers
If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord’s will, but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumptions, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God-glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply “accepting Christ” as their Savior, while they are wedded to idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so, I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel, insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness (gross sexual sin).
Evidence of genuine conversion
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Much is said today about salvation, God has saved me. But not much is said about conversion; God has and is changing me.
You cannot have salvation without conversion.
Ø Salvation changes you from an enemy and rebel to a lover and follower of God.
A Christian will only live carnally for a short time (Hebrews 12:5-6).
Ø Those who have lived in a constant state of carnality are not saved.
Ø The evidence that you have been saved is that you are being changed into the likeness of Christ!
Ø When you step out of God’s will you will be disciplined, this is the strongest indication of true conversion.
Ø If you can sin and not be bothered you are lost!
Ø If you want to know if you are saved or not run from God as fast as you can and if you escape you never belonged to Him.
The overwhelming fact of salvation
You cannot be converted and not know it. It is like being ran over a logging truck you will know it and it will change your life forever.
What shall you do?
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith...
Five Tests found in 1 John
1A. The Sin Test (1 John 1:5-6)
1B. Our response to sin is an indication of our true relationship with God.
Ø “Darkness” – Sin, or it can refer to revelation of a man’s character.
Ø If you live in sin you are in darkness.
Ø If you are struggling with sin you are not in darkness, this means you are living in it and loving it.
2B. The born-again person has such a hatred of sin that when the Light reveals sin, it must be confessed (1:9).
Ø Lost people are not concerned about sin.
Ø But the Christian is broken by His sin.
The word confess in the Greek is homologeo.
Ø Homo means “same as” and logeo means “to say: or “to speak.”
Ø To confess sin then is to say the same thing about sin that God says about it.
Confession admits sin’s seriousness, acknowledges it before God, and turns away from it.
2A. The Lordship Test (2:3-5)
1B. Obedience is not the way of salvation; it is the witness of salvation.
“Keep; obey” = tereo, to guard (from loss or injury, prop. by keeping the eye upon
2B. For the Christian obedience is not an option to be considered, it is a mandate to be completed.
Luke 6:46 "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?"
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
3A. The Values Test (1 John 2:15)
1B. What does it mean to love the world?
“Love” and “loves” mean both a “direction of the will” and “finding one's joy in something.”
These verbs are both in the present tense in the original language. One who has the love of the Father in him is a true Christian.
2B. What is the world?
It is a value system
Ø A value system that leaves God out
Ø It is actively involved in an effort to subvert God’s plan
Ø To destroy His creation
Ø It is controlled by a powerful enemy of God. (John 12:31, Ephesians 2:2, 1 John 5:19, and Luke 16:8)
How does a love for the world manifest itself?
Ø When a person has an approach to life that leaves God out, his lifestyle is one of loving the world.
Ø That person who, as a lifestyle, loves the world cannot be a born-again person who has the love of the Father in him.
4A. The Fellowship Test (2:19)
Our relationship with Christ is...
1B. Validated by our fellowship with His people
1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
This fellowship is rooted in our love for Christ
1 John 4:7 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."
This fellowship is a result of our love for Christ
1 John 5:1 "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him."
2B. Demonstrated by our relationship with His church
Our relationship with the church reflects our relationship with Christ.
The church is the body of Christ
Ø You cannot love the head and hate the body.
The church is the bride of Christ
Ø You cannot love the groom and not love his bride
The church is the building of Christ
Ø Christ is the foundation upon which we are built.
5A. The Love/Hate Test (3:14-15)
1B. A pattern of love. (3:14)
This same test is stated from the positive angle in 1 John 4:7. Literally we read,
"Beloved, let us continually love one another, for love comes from God and everyone who has a life characterized by loving is born of God (a true Christian!).
2B. The absence of settled hatred (3:15)
The heart of a true Christian cannot be a permanent dwelling place of hate. “Hates” in 1 John 3:15 is used in the present tense.
It is not referring to a momentary flare-up of emotion against someone who has wronged another.
It is a settled, long-term lifestyle of hatred. Whoever is guilty of continuing hatred is a murderer in God's eyes (see also Matthew 5:22-26).
Is there any person or group for whom you have a settled abiding hatred?
Anyone who has a settled abiding hate has not been born of God.
Application
If God comes into your life He changes your life and continues to change your life.
Are you like the world?
Does the word of God have a place in your life?
Go home today and think on these things!
Cry out to God for mercy and salvation!