Biblical Assurance
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Biblical Assurance
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Jon and Sara Shepherd built their dream home a couple of years ago on a mountain several miles north of San Francisco. Because of its remote location insurance companies wouldn’t insure it. This past week that home went up in flames when a raging fire swept through their area. They tried to flee at 1:00 a.m. Sometime later a neighbor found both Jon and Sara, who were badly burned, their teenage daughter later lost her legs because of the severe burns, and their son, unfortunately didn’t survive.
Uncertainty surrounds us. We never know what an event will bring or a tomorrow will hold. The Bible says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” ().
Sonny and Heather Melton, a couple from Big Sandy, had looked forward to the highlight of the one year marriage. They had planned for and then attended the country music festival in Las Vegas, Tennessee. But just before it ended, their dream vacation turned into a horrible nightmare. In rain of bullets, Sonny shielded his wife and it cost him his life. She returned home to Tennessee, a widow after one year of marriage.
Uncertainty surrounds us. We never know what an event will bring or a tomorrow will hold. The Bible says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” ().
There are very few things we can be certain of, but according to God, we can be certain about our salvation. We can be certain that we have Christ. We can be certain that when death takes us, or when Christ comes back to receive us, we will be safe, secure, and on our way to heaven.
But despite the clear teachings of the Bible, many Christians lack assurance, they lack confidence that heaven awaits them and death is powerless to hurt them. If this is true of you, it doesn’t have to be. So listen close and take to heart what God tells us in His Word.
But let me warn you, what God says and what a lot of people in Christian circles, including ministers have said about the assurance of salvation, are often very different. This is why I’ve titled my message, “Biblical Assurance.” For the only assurance that is certain to work is that which is based on the sure Word of God. Jesus assures us of this, for He said, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” ().
READ TEXT:
There is no clearer verse in all the Bible concerning assurance of salvation than , yet it is often the least used. Why? Because it can be measured. It can be used to determine the certainty or uncertainty of one’s salvation. Other verses can give true followers of Christ confidence of his or her salvation, but it can do the same for those who falsely believe they are saved. This is not the case with . It gives us several testing points by which to confirm our salvation. One of the big testing points is that of love; love for other believers and for God.
I. The Test of Love
We saw a month or so back that the tree of knowledge located in the center of the Garden of Eden was more of a testing tree than anything else. Adam and Eve could have anything they desired with the lone exception of that tree. But it did more than test their will power. It did more than test their degree of self-discipline. It tested their love for God. We know this because of what Jesus said in He states, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. He later said, “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me” ().
If they had loved God, they would have obeyed His commandment to not eat from the tree of knowledge.
But in our text today and in various verses throughout this small book of five chapters in First John, we see how love can give us assurance or steadfast confidence that we are saved. If we have love for other believers, we can have confidence that Christ is in us, and eternal life belongs to us.
A. A Love for Believers
One of the most outstanding characteristics of the Christian Faith is love. Jesus demonstrated it throughout His earthly ministry. The reason behind His coming into the world was to go to the cross. The reason He was focused on going to the cross was His love for humankind. tells us that love is the reason God sent Jesus into the world. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” ().
The cross was once a symbol of shame and reproach. It was once associated only with pain and punishment. But God transformed it to symbolize love, unconditional love, amazing love.
So in John’s letters he shows us that if God, who is love, dwells in us, then we will have that kind of love in us.
John is saying this love should be visible in a follower of Christ. And where better should and can we see it than in our love for other brothers and sisters of the faith.
In fact, he points out that by seeing it in our own lives we can have assurance that we are saved, that we do have the promise of eternal life He writes in , “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
The one who loves his brother is in the light, the light of Christ. But the one who doesn’t love is lost, He lives in darkness.
This love is not feelings void of actions, but love in action. He wrote these words in this same letter, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;” (1 John 3:17-19).
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
What this verse is not saying, is that we need to give to anyone who sticks a sign up along the intersection saying they’re in need. For that one, you need to pray real hard before giving, because you don’t know for sure if they are in need.
However, your brothers and sisters in the faith that you know well, that you know is actually in need, these are the ones John is talking about. They are the ones that enable us to know with certainty that we are saved, because God’s love in us motivates us to help them.
It may mean giving money, it may mean prayers, it may mean giving them a job, it may mean helping them to find a job, or finances from other sources. But this much I know it means, it means showing that your care and showing that you are there for them. It’s about making time for them. More than anything else, love is making time for those you love.
Our love for our brothers and sisters in the faith is not the only love that show us we are saved, so does our love for God.
B. A Love for God
We can worship God without loving God, but we cannot love God without worshipping Him. One of “these things” that John is referring to in verse 13 of our text is our love for God. He writes in the first part of our text in , By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
One of the greatest pieces of evidences we can have that we are saved and going to heaven, is our love for God. In this passage John describes what this love looks like. Its a love that goes beyond worship service and singing praises. It centers on overcoming the world. It centers on a transformed life. It centers on living different from the world. It centers on a love for and an obedience to God’s commandments.
C. A Love for His Commandments
But what exactly does he mean by verse four, which reads, 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
C. A Love for His Commandments
Verse three says, “for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” Our love for God motivates us to keep His commandments. Our love for God makes His commandments not seem all that difficult or restrictive to us.
John doubles down on the issue of God’s commandments in , And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. 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.
Keeping His commandments doesn’t save us, but keeping them does show we are saved. It shows us that God’s love is real in us. And in case we missed it, John points out in verse 6, whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
The love of God that resides in every believer should motivate us, and the power that resides in every believer, should enable us to live as Christ lived. We should love as Christ loved. We should be holy as Christ was holy. We should be focused on serving others, and not on being served ourselves. Christ said He didn’t come here to be served, but to serve and give Himself a ransom for many.
John emphasizes this in verses four and five of our text, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
But what exactly does he mean by verse four, which reads, 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
Our faith enables us to overcome the world. It enables us to live in a way contrary to the principles and attitudes of the world. And it does this through our love for God and our obedience to His Word. The Word of God stands in stark contrast to the world. It did in Jesus’ day and it certainty does in the politically correct world we now live in.
But out faith in Christ is reflected in our willingness to trust Christ to protect us and provide for us as we live in obedience to His Word.
We who live in obedience to God’s Word and its principles, have the assurance of our salvation and of our eternal destination.
A life lived in obedience to God’s word out of love for God gives us multiple reasons for assurance of our salvation. John reiterates this throughout his short letter.
He writes in And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
And in , “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. “
1 ; 3:9-10
John’s short letter is filled with the things he is referring to in , the things which enable us to know with certainty that we are saved and headed to heaven.
But for those who are not sure, or maybe who are sure they’re not saved, John points out the key to our salvation.
II. The Key To Salvation
The key to the Shepherd family escaping the flaming inferno sweeping across their mountain this past week was getting the truth about the flames in time and then quickly acting on that truth. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the truth in time.
The key to our salvation, the key to escaping the flames of a ragging inferno called hell is to get the truth in time and acting on it. In this passage God gives us the truth in His testimony, the rest is up to us.
We need to look at God’s testimony or you might just call it God’s story in verses 9-10 of our text.
A. God’s Testimony
Look at verses 9-10. It reads, “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.”
Everything about God comes down to one major issue. Do we believe God? God foretold of the coming of His Son in the Old Testament. He sent word by way of His prophets. He proclaimed it as His birth by way of angels to a bunch of shepherds. He sent three wise men from the East to document it.
Later Jesus preformed 35 miracles as proof of who He was. But in the end we have to choose who to believe. Will we receive the testimony of unbelieving men, or that of God. God’s testimony is greater than that of men. We should believe God.
John the baptist heard it in the river Jordan. Peter, James, and John heard it on the mount of transfiguration. God said, “This is my beloved Son.”
Believe this truth. Receive this truth. Accept this truth. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. God’s testimony is about His Son, and the price He paid for all of us. Eternal life is in God’s Son.
B. God’s Son
B. God’s Son
B. God’s Son
Verses 11-12 state, “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
God’s story is a wonderful story for all. God has given eternal life to all that will receive it, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son will have eternal life. We don’t need wealth, health, or a life full of good deeds, we just need Jesus. But this Jesus will radically change whoever receives Him in their life.
If you don’t have Him, you can have Him. Realizing who Jesus is and what He has done for you takes you half way to Him. The rest is simply turning control of your life over to Him. It’s letting Him be your Savior and your Lord.
If you will do that, and walk as He has walk, loving the Father and His commandments, then you can have confidence in your salvation. You will no longer need to fear death. You can be like Walter Smith in 1681 when he was executed for his faith in Christ.
Conclusion: In 1681 Walter Smith, a minister of the reformed movement, was executed by the (religious establishment of that day) Catholic church for teaching and preaching reformed theology—Protestant theology, that is salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone.
His last words ring full of assurance. In the book “How the Gospel Brings Us All The Way Home, we read, “When the Covenanter Walter Smith climbed the ladder to the scaffold and death, he turned to say goodbye to his relations and friends. Then he said: “Farewell all created enjoyments, pleasures and delights: farewell, sinning and suffering; farewell praying and believing, and welcome heaven and singing. Welcome, joy in the Holy Ghost; welcome, Father, Son and Holy Ghost; into thy hands I commend my spirit” (p. 131).
His last words ring ring full of assurance. In the book “How the Gospel Brings Us All The Way Home, we read, “When the Covenanter Walter Smith climbed the ladder to the scaffold and death, he turned to say goodbye to his relations and friends. Then he said: “Farewell all created enjoyments, pleasures and delights: farewell, sinning and suffering; farewell praying and believing, and welcome heaven and singing. Welcome, joy in the Holy Ghost; welcome, Father, Son and Holy Ghost; into thy hands I commend my spirit.
When your time comes, will you be able to say similar words with confidence? Will you be able to walk bravely through death’s door? You can, if you’ve given your life to Christ and it now reflects the life of Christ in you, a life of love for God the Father, for brothers and sisters of the faith, and a desire to obey God’s Word.
Recognizing your sin, repenting of it, and putting your faith in Jesus, to such a degree that you are totally committed to Christ, will save you. But true, solid assurance of your salvation comes only by living out your salvation with the Scriptures as a backdrop—revealing the reality of the resurrected life of Christ living within you.
The key to our assurance is being able, as well as others, being able to see Jesus living out His life in us.