Are you really saved?

Good Morning

It is good to be back

I got to be honest

I am surprised to see this many people here

We have people everywhere once again

As a matter of fact

I want to open this morning with a special prayer

For the 902nd

As they head up north

So if we could please bow your heads

Let’s just ask for God’s protection

God’s sovereignty

Pray for the families left behind

Well, so we are now in chapter 5

If your not paying attention

this is the final chapter

So we are getting close to completing this book

So I guess my next task is to find a new book to preach out of

If you all have any suggestions

Maybe there is a book you’ve always wanted to study

I’m open to suggestions

You know as i was studying for this sermon

I ran across a quote

That I got to be honest bothered me a bit

But at the same time

I’ve heard people say something along these lines several times

So how many of us in here have heard of a man by the name of

Mahatma Gandhi

For those of us that don’t know who this man was

He was a very very influential figure

Within India for a while

He was one of the main voices in speaking out against

British rule within India

Among other things,

To say the least he was extremely influential

But while this man was respected and revered amongst many

It was what he said about Christianity

That I think will echo on for generations

And he was by no means a Christian in fact he was Hindu

But he was quoted as stating this

"I like your Christ, but not your Christianity."

He went on to say,

"I believe in the teachings of Christ, but you on the other side of the world do not, I read the Bible faithfully and see little in Christendom that those who profess faith pretend to see. "The Christians above all others are seeking after wealth. Their aim is to be rich at the expense of their neighbors. They come among aliens to exploit them for their own good and cheat them to do so. Their prosperity is far more essential to them than the life, liberty, and happiness of others.”

Those are powerful words

Extremely powerful

Not only because they are hurt

Not only because they poke at how we view ourselves

But maybe because their is a bit of truth to them

And please don’t get me wrong,

I’m not trying to start a war on Christianity

I’m not trying to start a fight,

But what I am saying,

Is that when the world looks at us

This is what some of them see

Not everyone

But some

To be honest this stings a bit

Because this is a direct punch to my own idea of how I see myself

To my own idea of how I am seen to the world.

It’s also an eye opener when it comes down to realizing

That as a Christian

As a child of God

You’re under a microscope

At all times

The world will look to you

In everything

They will sit there and measure you against Christ

They will look at you and measure everything about you

Against the one you call master

They will measure how we behave

How we spend money

How we treat people

And as a Christian John here in chapter 5

And throughout this book

Tells us over and over again

That if you are a christian

There ought to be a something

Anything

Telling you and the world

That you’re different

I like how one pastor put it

There should be a visible birth mark

That you are a born again child of God

And that there is something alive in you

Something unique about you

That screams love and kindness,

That screams the cross.

Until we wake up

As a church

And start looking outwards

Start looking at sharing the Gospel

Not focusing only on our own salvation

But focusing on the Gospel

Focusing on sharing the Gospel

Until we wake up to the reality

That love is an action

The world will never see the truth of Jesus

Men like Gandhi will never see the truth of real live discipleship

So I entitled this sermon

Are you really saved

Because I want to ask the question

And I want us to do a great deal of self reflection today

Does your life,

Does your behavior

Does everything about you scream Jesus

Or are you only in it for the fringe benefits

And I know we’ve hit on this topic several times

But it makes you wonder why is John so adamant

So determined in making sure we are mature in the faith

Because believe it or not

It’s not my own personal desire to hit on this topic over and over again

This is how the book lines up

And it makes you wonder why is John repeating himself

Over and over

Perhaps there’s a deeper meaning to it all

Maybe just maybe John is trying to get our attention

So this morning I want to go over three things

I want us to understand our calling to love others along with our examples to the world

I want us to understand our calling to love our family in Christ

And I want us to understand what defeating sin truly looks like

If you would open your Bibles to 1 John

1 John 4:19–5:5 NLT

We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

I’m not sure if you’re paying attention to current events

But I mean is it just me

Or does it feel like things are spinning out of control?

We have one nation invading another

We have Christians being persecuted

Killed

Displaced

at a rate that is just incredible in Nigeria

We have truckers protesting throughout north America

We have variants of covid popping up nearly everywhere

We have wars throughout the world

Causing chaos in places most of us have never even heard of

We have private citizens slapping each other on tv

We have the glorification of open marriages

Glorification Deviant life styles

The full and complete acceptance of anything ungodly

It almost feels as though the world is falling apart

It almost feels as though the world is stained

Tainted

cursed

with sin

with anything and everything meant to hurt and harm us

And yet within this darkness

within this world of what feels like pure evil

Within this world where sin reigns free

There is light

There is hope

There is goodness

There is love

And believe me I get what I’m saying

It almost sounds like a movie

But what I’m trying to get you all to understand

Is that if you are a true believer

If you are a bonefied follower of Christ

Then you are that light shining in the darkness

You have that hope inside of you

That love

That compassion

You have the heart and mind of Jesus within you

As a matter of fact Paul tells us 2 Corinthians 5

You have been called to be ambassadors to the darkness

You have been called to be the light

Amongst those determined to live in darkness

And we are commanded to share this good news

The story of Jesus with the rest of the world

Because this world

Is completely and totally bent on destroying itself with sin

But it is also desperate for what you have

Anyone remember that song we used to sing in Bible school

This little light of mine

I’m gonna let it shine

And its that light that the world so desperately needs

Its that wisdom

That compassion

That love that comes from the Father

That the world so desperately needs.

And that’s what I truly want to talk to you about today

Because I look around us

And I see a world that needs love

That needs the truth

A world that looks to you and I as the prime example of what a Christian ought to be.

But with that realization comes a responsibility

Ask yourself today,

When the world looks at me what do they see?

Do they see Christ?

Do they see sin?

Do they see a struggling Christian?

What do they see?

Because what John is saying here is that a true born again Christian

A child of God

A member of the family

Ought to have certain character traits that are obvious to anyone of us.

As I was doing my diligence on this passage I ran across a list that I thought

Hit the nail on the head

Because as a Christian

There ought to be something different about you

There ought to be something driving you

That leads others to ask

What makes you different

Something that screams the truth of verses 4- 5

1 John 5:4–5 NLT

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

You see according to the book of John there are certain character traits

That are seemingly required of a person who is considered a true believer

Certain character traits that ought to be

That visible birth mark of someone who is a true follower of Christ

And I want to spend just a moment here

As a point of review and clarity

on What John is talking about

Number one

They practice righteousness (2:29)

In other words Christianity and obedience to God

Is your way of life, its who you are.

Its your identity.

So that when you look at this world

You don’t identify with this world

In other-words your like a foreigner

You’re not home

You don’t match

In fact arguably the world makes uncomfortable

Which leads me to number 2

They do not practice sin (3:9)

Keep in mind I’m not saying you’re never going to struggle

But your life should not look like the world.

You cannot come to church on Sunday

Expecting forgiveness after a weekend of debauchery

After a weekend of living like the world

And expecting God to turn the blind eye

That’s not how it works

So many of us look at God as if He is blind to our ways

How many passages tell us He sees all and knows all

God is not stupid

God will not be mocked

Number 3 and one of the hardest

They visibly love other Christians (4:7)

I like how one pastor put it,

I don’t have to like you, I don’t have to agree with everything you say

But I do have to love you, care for you, want the best for you

We have heard several passages on this,

Loving other Christians is a sign of your salvation

Loving other members of the family is a sign that you are a child of God.

Number 4

They overcome the world (5:4)

In other-words you are no longer controlled by the world

I’m not sure if you recall but we talked on this one

1 John 2:15–17 NLT

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

I would argue this is perhaps one of the hardest things to do

Because everything in this world is meant to tempt you

Entice you

But throughout the power of the Holy Spirit

You have that ability to overcome

AMEN!!!

Number 5

They keep themselves from Satan (5:18)

And this is a big one

Does the bible ever state you will defeat Satan

No, but it is clear you can resist Satan

You have weapons to battle Satan, Ephesians 5

and As a matter of fact in 1 Corinthians 10:13

1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

A true believer won’t lose control all the time

A true believer will in fact be miserable in their sin

Miserable to the point of repentance

It’s like I’ve always said, the most miserable people in the world

Is a Christian with one foot in the world and the other in Christ

Chose a side

But you know what

You know what I love about this list is that there is a certain reality to it

That just screams, I need Jesus

You know

Thats one thing I absolutely love about John’s letter here

Its the encouragement in the correction that he is giving to the church. Why?

Because it tells me that I’m not the only person that struggles

As a matter of fact chapter 1 and 2

Help me understand that I will always struggle with sin

That I will always struggle with living right

And that i will always need Jesus

And it also tells me that I’m not the only person struggles with this list.

That i’m not the only person that wakes up on a daily basis

Looks to Christ and realizes how desperately bad I need a savior.

And when you truly get this

Once you fully embrace the reality that is you

The fact that you are a sinner

The fact that you as the individual

Need a savior

You begin to fully understand the reality of verse 19

1 John 4:19 NLT

We love each other because he loved us first.

And i love how Paul puts it

Because he adds to this line in a way John didn’t

Romans 5:8 NKJV

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And I hope you’re getting the picture

I hope I’m not confusing you

But

John is telling you throughout this letter

You’re not perfect

You were never meant to live a perfect life

To be the perfect person

But you are loved

Regardless

You are a born again

Imperfect

Child of God

Who is loved by the Father and by the Son

Who has been blessed by the Holy Spirit

And if you are a born again believer of Christ

You carry within you

The secret to all happiness

The secret to all life

And you carry within you the heart and love of God

Who gave up His only son to die on the cross for your sin

All out of love

And because of this we look at this world differently

We look at our existence

our purpose

Differently

We live to carry out his will on earth

His will which is to love each other

And to share that love with everyone we meet.

And I have to admit I love how Paul

Puts it in Romans chapter 13

Look what he says here

Romans 13:8–10 NLT

Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

Look guys once you fully embrace the cross,

Something within you changes

God’s commandments no longer become burdensome like John says in verse 2

They become a way of life

You begin to take on Christ’s commandments to love

As your identity

But Like I said at the beginning

The cross requires you to look inside

To take that self inventory of your own life

And think wow, why me, why would save me.

When I think on a mentality like this

I think some of my favorite times in ministry

And some of you know,

I used to be a counselor with a Christian AA group called celebrate recovery

I’m telling you

When you see a person that has been so entirely beaten down by the world

So entirely awake to their own sin

That when they look at the cross

They see mercy

They see forgiveness

They see love

They at Jesus as their literal savior

From everything in this world

That person is different

That person become a devoted follower of Christ in everything

And when a person has truly come to terms with the cross,

You see some of the most loving people in the world

People that will stand with you in the hardest times

People that will look at your mistakes and embrace you

Not judge you

They will love you like a Christian is supposed to love

And they will walk with you

Helping you overcome this world of sin

Through Faith in our savior

Guys like I said at the beginning

If there ever was a time to get out there and share Jesus

That time is now.

In a world that is seemingly falling apart

People are looking for answers

Share the Gospel

Love everyone

and Devote yourself entirely to Christ.

Let’s pray

Numbers 6:24–26 NLT

‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’