Assurance of True Faith
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
Several years ago one of the astronauts who walked on the moon was interviewed and asked,
“What do you think about as you stood on the moon and looked back at the earth?”
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The astronaut replied,
“I remembered how the spacecraft was built...
By the lowest bidder.”
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We as Christians can rejoice that the work of salvation did not go to the “lowest bidder”...
But was performed by an infinite God.
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There will never be a deficiency in his work.
Our salvation is as sure as the architect of that salvation,...
Almighty God.
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So, please turn your Bibles to 1 John.
We will be conducting our study in Chapter 3 and focus on verses 19 through 24.
Our message this morning is called, “Assurance of True Faith”
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Today we will be focusing on our salvation...
And how we can know if we are in right standing with God.
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Additionally, we will be answering the questions...
How may we know that we are walking in the truth?
And how do we deal with our own hearts that may be condemning us?
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Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) God Knows Everything
1) God Knows Everything
Verses 19-20: By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
The term “by this” that you will see in your copy of God’s Word refers to the love and good works we do for our brothers and sisters in Christ as a by product of genuine faith.
Previously, in our study we talked about how the attitude we hold toward others...
Especially the brothers and sisters in Christ...
That attitude reveals if our faith is true or if it is just for show.
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In order to better understand our first point would like to share how the NLT translates verse 20:
“Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.”
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You see, Church...
When you better understand God’s Word...
And realize the wickedness of your own personal sin that you commited against God...
The guilt can be crippling.
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You see, our hearts can remind of of our past...
We can be reminded of our past short comings...
Even if those have been washed by the blood of Christ...
Even if God forgave us...
We may not have forgiven ourselves...
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When those time come...
Don’t let the guilt depress you and overwhelm you.
As John has shown us there are spiritual tests to show if our faith is true.
And if all evidence points to us having genuine faith...
Then we should not be controlled by our past sins...
For we have a God who knows everything...
He knows every sin we committed and every sin we will ever commit...
And He still decided to volunteerly lay down His life for us.
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Consider this note by John MacArthur regarding the passage we are currently digging into.
He says:
“God knows those who are truly His (as it says in 2 Timothy 2:19)...
19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
MacArthur continues...
And [God] wants to assure His own of their salvation.
Although Christians may have insecurities and doubts about salvation, God does not condemn them (as it says in Romans 8:1).
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
MacArthur then concludes...
Displaying love as a pattern of life is the proof that believers stand uncondemned before God.”
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So, evaluate your life...
If is is filled with biblical love for others...
If you are practicing righteousness...
If you surrender your will and desires to our Lord...
Then, be reassured...
Your future is eternal life with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!
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Be reassured that you are a Child of the One True God of all creation!
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And be reassured that your salvation experience is genuine...
It is the real McCoy.
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Be strengthen and comforted by passages like Romans 8:14–16 which says:
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Consider too what the Expositor’s Bible commentary on 1 John says about John’s audience that he is writing this letter to:
“His readers, like all others, know how easily the conscience can render us ineffective.
Doubt, guilt, and failure are never far from any of us.
Sometimes our misgivings are the result of our own actions or inactions.
Sometimes it is the ‘accuser’ who seizes our weaknesses and shortcomings and so elevates them that we wonder whether we can really be in the truth.
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What then can we do?
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We can remember that God understands everything.
His word and his truth are greater than our feelings or our conscience.
We may rest ourselves in his love for us and live in that love and by that love.
We will not excuse ourselves of any sin, but neither will we needlessly accuse ourselves.”
This is a reminder of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:3–5 which states:
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.
4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.
Let’s now take a look at our next point.
2) Coming To God With Boldness
2) Coming To God With Boldness
Verse 21: Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
Here I would like to look to the NLT’s translation again for I believe it will be helpful to better understand what this passage is saying:
“Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.”
John is saying that it is important that we do not feel guilty and depressed due to our past sin...
If your life produces genuine loving actions....
If your life is producing good works by God’s standard...
Then we can be confident that we will not be condemned by God.
And that means we can approach God wit boldness when we life prayers to Him if we are praying in His will.
And we don’t need to fear Judgement Day for those in Christ will never be condemned.
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Additionally, the term “confidence” (par-rēs-ian in the ancient Greek) means...
A “boldness,”...
A “freedom of speech,”...
And a frankness such as that a child has in approaching his father.
It also carries the meaning of coming before someone of importance, power, and authority and feeling free to express whatever is on one’s mind.
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If our faith is genuine then that should be our feeling toward approaching God.
If the the opposite is your feeling and you are consumed by guilt and misery...
Then you will struggle to serve the Lord...
You will struggle to conversant with Him in your prayer time...
And serving the Lord and conversation with Him is a vital part of the Christian walk with the Lord.
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Remember salvation is about a relationship with God...
It is not about dead ritual or dead religion...
You see, Beloved...
Pure religion is about a relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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At the same time, the New American Commentary on the epistles of John reminds us...
“It should be remembered that the confidence and boldness expressed...contain nothing of impropriety or brashness.
It gives no license to anyone to command God to act;
It does not erase the distinction between God’s infinity and our humanity.
Our confidence rests in his mercy and love, which have been extended to us.”
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Meditate on Psalm 73:28 which says:
28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
And as you meditate on that...
Remember the promise found in Matthew 5:8:
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Let’s take a look at our third point.
3) Obedience to God
3) Obedience to God
Verse 22: And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
The ESV Study Bible says that this verse shows:
“A direct connection between obeying God and receiving answers to prayer.”
Keeping God’s command and doing the things that please Him is another sign one’s faith is genuine.
And this is not just something you do one or for a season.
John’s use of present-tense forms of the verbs “keep” and “do,” indicate that the action he has in mind is ongoing.
So, our life need to model a pattern of obedience to God’s commands and desiring to please our Lord with our daily actions.
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This makes sense since this is the model the Lord gave to us in regards to His obedience to the Father.
Look with me at John 8:28–29:
28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.
29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
Imagine reminding ourselves of this before we engage in our actions throughout the day...
Remind yourself that you should do nothing of your own authority...
But instead speak as the Word of God speaks and has taught us.
Follow God’s lead and be sent to where He is calling you to serve...
You will never be alone...
If what you do are the things that are pleasing to God.
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Remember whom the eyes of the Lord are towards....
Remember what is says in Psalm 34:15–16:
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
And John will reiterate the confidence we have when we pray to God as he says in 1 John 5:14:
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
So, Church...
Make your requests to the Lord...
And ask Him anything according to His will...
And it will be answered.
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Pray that God gives you wisdom...
Pray that God gives you boldness to always do what is righteous...
Pray that God gives you a pure heart...
Pray that God gives you clear direction for the calling He put on your life...
Pray that God gives you a better understanding of His Word.
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These prayers and all others that are done in His will are guaranteed to be provided to you...
You just have to ask...
You just have to have the boldness to ask...
And that is why a genuine believer distracted by crippling guilt may lose focus on what they should be doing...
Approaching God with boldness in our prayers and seeking to be better servants for Him.
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Now let’s look at our next point.
4) Following His Commands
4) Following His Commands
Verse 23: And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
Looking at this verse I am reminded of Matthew 22:36-40 which says:
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
This same truth is found in verse 23 that we are studying.
First, we must believe in the only name that saves...
We must believe in Jesus Christ.
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And then we are to love one another...
These two commands represent everything commanded in Scripture in both the Old and New Testament...
We even see that with the 10 commandments...
The first few commands are about loving God and the second half is about loving your neighbor...
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It seems like it should be more complicated but God has made it simple for us...
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So, if these two commands define your life...
Then be reassured of your faith...
And remember 1 Peter 1:22:
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
Love your neighbors with a sacrificial love...
Love your neighbors with a biblical love...
Love your neighbors with a forgiving heart...
Love your neighbors with a love that is the result of an outpouring of God’s love for you.
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Colossians 3:13–14 describes what that kind of love looks like:
13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And now this takes us to our final point.
5) Sealed With the Spirit
5) Sealed With the Spirit
Verse 24: Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
It is not a mystery if one is a follower of Christ...
For God set up many signs within our daily lives to reveal if one’s faith is true.
One of those signs are about wither we hear the Word’s of God and obey it.
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Remember from one of Jesus’ parables the story of the builders...
One built his home on sand and the other on rock...
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Remember to always build on the rock, church...
Always build on the Word of God as it says in Matthew 7:24–25:
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
By building your life on the Word of God it means you will be able to follow God’s command...
For without a knowledge of the Word of God how can one know what God commands...
So, build your life on the Scriptures...
And meditate on them day and night...
Obeying it’s truths...
And this will act as a sign that you are a true born-again believer.
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James 1:25 also talks about not just being a hearer but a doer of the Word of God.
25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
But that is not all.
John in his Gospel account says in John 15:10:
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.
There is always the same correlation...
If you keep God’s command it is a sign that He abides in you and you abide in Him.
For if we did not have fellowship with Him...
If we did not abide in Him...
We could do nothing of true value.
Jesus even says in John 15:4:
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.
And that abiding we have with God provides us yet another sign that our faith is true...
All who abide in Him receive the promised Holy Spirit which is our seal and guarantee of future glory with the Lord in eternity.
Ephesians 1:13–14 confirms all this:
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
As this message comes to a close, I want to share this tale with you in light of the holiday on Monday...
Not Halloween...
I don’t care much for that at all...
October 31 is the day of another holiday of much greater value and meaning...
You see, Church...
On October 31 in 1517 a German monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg.
Many regarded this as the start of the Reformation.
Thus to many we celebrate this day as Reformation Day...
Maybe next year we will have a Reformation Day event at the church if that is something you would all like too.
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So, there is a commonly known story that comes from the life of Martin Luther.
It is said that the devil approached Luther one day and tried to use the fact that every person is fallible.
He presented the Reformer with a long list of sins of which he was guilty.
When he had finished reading, Luther said to Satan, “Think a little harder; you must have forgotten some.”
This the devil did and added other sins to the list.
At the conclusion of this exchange, Martin Luther simply said, “That’s fine.’
Now write across that list in red ink, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
There was nothing the devil could say to that.
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So, Beloved...
If you have been faithful and evaluated your life and it reveals your faith is genuine...
Know this...
You can’t be condemned if you are Christ’s.
He already paid all your debt...
You are paid in full brothers and sisters...
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You are no longer who you were...
But you are now a brand new creation...
And you have the ability to now approach our Lord in a bold manner...
And you can pray powerful prayers according to His will.
And those kind of prayers are guaranteed to be answered.
But that is not your only guarantee.
All believes are guaranteed to be sealed with the Holy Spirit...
And once we are saved then we know where we are going...
We know where all the Children of God go...
To eternal life with our precious Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.
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