How We Know

 During the French Revolution, people were determined to abolish Christianity. One fine, clear night an atheist loudly proclaimed his doctrine to poor Francois. "We'll remove everything religious! We'll abolish churches, Bibles, clergymen, even the word God. " Francois started laughing. "Why do you laugh?" asked the atheist. Francois pointed to the stars. "How will you & your crew get those down?" Even the heavens bear witness to God. Still, by itself, belief in God won't save us. Only trust in Jesus can save us. We think we believe. How can we know? Let's look at 1 Jn 5:1-6. 1aEveryone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. This is the only basis for salvation. Stop trying to save ourselves. Stop trusting anything or anyone else to save us. Believe that Jesus is the Anointed One. The Christ. The one anointed by God to save us all. Trust only what He did on the cross to make atonement for sin. Trust. Saving belief. Faith. That's the entry point to regeneration & the KoG. Are we regenerated? Do our lives show it? That's how we know we're saved. The proof? Love God & love others, just as Jesus commanded us. Agape love. Sacrificial love that puts others first. That brings us back to how we know if we're saved. Do we love God? If so, 1bEveryone who loves the father loves his child as well. Love isn't optional. What did Jesus say love for God looks like? Look at Jn 14:15, 21, 23-24, 15:10. (When God repeats Himself, could be important.) Jesus speaks His Father's words. So, love God? Want to remain in His love? Obey. What did He tell us to do? Love God. And love others-starting with His adopted children. But continuing to His natural children who aren't yet saved. 2aHow do we know we love God's children? We think it starts with how we treat them. Putting them first. That is what love does. But that isn't how agape for others starts. How so? We can do all those loving things without agape. We can act loving to gain others' respect or admiration. Acting that way for personal gain. If we're doing it for us, it isn't agape. So, how we treat others can't be the start of agape love. How does agape start? 2bBy loving God & carrying out his commands. How's that? Remember: from last week, God is love. Pure agape love. The point? If it's agape, it comes from God. He's its only source. All agape. Everything about God is agape love. Especially God's commands. He gave The Law for us. It's a loving fence that protects us from His holiness & His righteous judgment. All unconfessed sin is judged. And Heb 10:30 warns it's a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. In grace, God gives us a remedy to prevent that. We just have to use it! (Receive Christ. Confess the sin. Receive forgiveness. Give thanks. Turn toward Jesus. Let Him help us obey the Father.) The Son loves the Father & always obeys Him. In the Son, we too love the Father & obey. Thus, 3aThis is love for God: obey his commands. What commands? In Mt 5:17-19, Jesus says moral law still stands. We still have the 10 commandments. And in Mt 22:37-40, Jesus helps us understand what they always meant. All The Law hangs on two commandments. Love God, & love neighbor as yourself. Jesus gave His disciples only two other commands (baptism & communion). Both are included in moral law. (Both are about love. Baptism loves others by including them. Communion loves God by remembering what He's done for us.) All God's commands are agape love! God has always been about love! 3bAnd his commands aren't burdensome. Why? Mt 11:28-30. If we're in Christ, we take His yoke. The instant we do, He does in us what we can't. On our own, we can't love. But if we're in Christ, His Spirit is in us. His love flows in us & overflows through us. His commands become easy in His yoke. He carries the greater part of the load. That's why 4aEveryone born of God overcomes the world. As David told his Goliath in 1 Sam 17:47, the battle is the Lord's. That's still true. And guess what? If we're in Christ, His Spirit is in us. The battle we face to become loving? He's never lost a battle. Never will. The battle is His. The point? What's the only issue in every battle? Are we on the Lord's side?! He'll win even our battle to love others as He loves them. All creation-except humanity-obeys God's will. In Ps 148:8, Lightning & hail, snow, & clouds, & stormy winds obey. In Jonah's story, the winds, waves, & even the fish, obey God. Only Jonah keeps disobeying. And disobeying God is rebellion. A tragedy. But not the only tragedy. Reluctant, grudging obedience is also a tragedy. God doesn't want us to disobey. But God doesn't want us to obey out of fear or compulsion, either. Paul could've written in 2 Co 9:7 (about giving) just as easily about obedience. Obey not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful "obeyer." What's the secret of obeying joyfully? Realize that obedience isn't about rules. Obeying is a family matter. We obey a loving Father. We love & help brothers & sisters in Christ. We're His children. We love our Abba (Papa) God. We love God's children. We also love those God wants as His children. (Not sure? Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan. Who was neighbor to the Jew who got hurt? The Samaritan. A neighbor is anyone who helps (loves) the one in need. No matter what we think of them. No matter what they think of us.) We love God by keeping His commandments. And His commandments are always about love! Always have been. How can we love others with agape love? It's easier when we feel loving. But agape love is sacrificial love. That means loving even when we don't feel like it. It's loving others even if they aren't lovable. On our own, we'll lose the battle to live a life of agape love every time. How then can we? Remember Jn 16:33. Jesus Christ has overcome the world. We need to enter into His victory. How? 4bThis is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. We enter His victory by faith. We're saved by faith through grace. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. As Jesus says in Jn 14:6, He's the way, truth, & life. No one comes to the Father-is saved-except through Him. 6aHe's the one who came by water & blood-Jesus Christ. He was water-baptized as one of us. And for us, He shed His blood on the cross. 6bHe didn't come by water only, but by water & blood. Two witnesses alone would be legal & eternal. But there's a 3rd. 6cAnd it's the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. He's Jesus' Spirit, because Jesus is the Truth (Jn 14:6, as we saw). And the Spirit also testifies to the truth that Jesus came to save us. By water, He identified with one of us so He could offer His life in our place as a sacrifice to pay for our sin. By His perfect life & by His blood, He's overcome the world. And we can enter that victory by faith-trust-in Him (alone) for our salvation. Let's wrap it up. How can we know if we're saved? Have we entered His victory? Are free to live an overcoming life? If so, how do we know if we're living it? It all comes back to love. Agape love. Have we experienced God's agape love? His joy, & peace that passes understanding? In His love, do we practice loving God with all our heart, soul, & mind? Do we practice by obeying His commands? Do we see that His commandments are all about HOW to love others? Has that knowledge moved from our heads to our hearts? Are we living a life of love? Do we love God 1st? In His love, are we then loving others (brethren or not)? That's how we know. We know if we practice, just as toddlers learn to walk. Like toddlers, we stumble. But, like toddlers, as we practice, we get better at it. Are we getting better at loving God & others? That's how we know we're saved. How We Know - 1 John 5:1-6 Page 1 of 1