Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we covered and we talked about why we should love one another.

And it is because God is love.

When we come to an understanding of how God loved us when we didn’t love him it blows you away.

It will fill your heart so much that you can’t help but love God and the people of God.

The love of God that he poured in you fills you so much that it flows over not only to the people of God but also your enemies.

Because remember Christs’ love for us?

He loved us when we were his enemies.

Not just loving the brothers and sisters in Christ in your own little church but the brothers and sisters in Christ in your little church, in the little church down the street, the little church over there and the brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world.

It is important for many reasons and last week we ended with one of those reasons.

And that’s not normal is it?

That is why Chapter 4 verse 7 tells us that this kind of love is not from man but from God.

That reason was because No One has ever seen God.

Look at chapter 4:12 again.

That brings us to our text this morning so open your Bibles to .

This epistle was written to give these people assurance of their salvation.

False teachers had come in and denied the deity of Christ.

The went against the apostolic teachings, they hated some in the church and more than likely they hated John.

So…John writes this letter to confront the false teachers and their false teachings and give the people here assurance of their salvation.

The main point of this letter is found in Chapter 5 verse 13.

There are some professing believers that say it would be very presumptuous to think that you could KNOW you were going to Heaven.

The reason someone would think this is because they don’t quite understand the gospel, the good news of Christ.

You can’t REALLY KNOW if you are going to Heaven until the end and then you find out.

This is a works-based understanding not a gospel centered understanding.

Im here to tell you that you can KNOW that you have eternal life…and not because there is some hidden code of Scriptures Im going to flip and turn to and then have you turn here then there…just look at the main point of this Epistle:

Now wouldn’t that be nice to know?

Wouldn’t it be nice to KNOW that you have eternal life?

Now wouldn’t that be nice to know?

Wouldn’t it be nice to KNOW that you have eternal life?

there are some Christians who worry to death if they are truly saved or not....

There are so many Christians that DON’T know they have eternal life.

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That person is probably here this morning.

And…there are people who THINK they are Christians…but TRULY are not Christian.

And it is likely that that person is here as well.

My prayer is that when we go through this we will either have confidence of our salvation or that we repent, turn to Christ and put our faith in Him Alone.

Let’s read our text and see what God says:

Lets pray:

So many times we read the Bible to find out “what do I need to do”.

We have this idea that we can do anything if we put our minds to it right?

We read the Bible and look for these boxes to check to make sure we have them all checked so we go to Heaven.

We say things like, “is this a salvation issue?” when someone tries to teach us something in God’s word.

What are we really saying when we say that?

We are saying that if it doesn’t have to do with my salvation, if it is not a box I need to check, then Im not worried about it…I don’t care about it.

All I care about is what do I need to do to go to Heaven and once we get that down lets just relax and hang out.

What did Jesus say about that?

Look at on the screen

I say all that to point out verse 13 here in .

Lets look at it and see what it says:

As I was studying this week one of the commentaries pointed this out.

This verse doesn’t say, “By this we abide in him” as if there is something WE DO that keeps us in Christ.

Many people may read it this way but that is not what it says.

Let me say that again, it doesn’t say “by this we abide in him” as if there is some box we are about to check.

That if I ‘believe and love’ then I will remain a Christian.

THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS IS SAYING.

Believing and loving are not conditions for salvation but the evidence OF your salvation.

The text says… “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”

We say we want people to know Christ, we want people to come and know the love of the Father…then let them see us love one another.

So don’t you want to know if the Spirit lives in you?

How do you really know if the Spirit of God is in you?

John gives us a few things to check in ourselves to see if we are truly a Christian or if we are truly deceived.

Do you believe in the triune God of the Bible

and do you believe that the second person of the Trinity was sent by the Father to be the savior of the world?

Do you confess that Jesus is the Son of God?

Look at verses 14 .

Verse 14 says the Father SENT his Son.

It doesn’t say that the Father sent Himself.

God the Father sent God the Son.

Do you believe that?

Verse 14 says the Father SENT his Son.

It doesn’t say that the Father sent Himself.

God the Father sent God the Son.

Do you believe that?

Look at verse 18 on the screen...

The Son of God, who is God, made the Father, who is God, known.

And guess what…when we, CHRISTIANS, love one another, God (the Holy Spirit) abides in us and his love is perfected in us (thats ).

When Christians love other Christians we make God known.

How awesome is that.

So, you want to know if you have the Spirit of God in you?

Can you testify that God the Father sent God the Son

and can you testify that God the Father sent God the Son to be the Savior of the world?

Now we are not universalists here at The Parish of the Redeemer.

We are a protestant/evangelical body of believers in Jesus Christ.

This is not saying that Jesus came and saved the whole world without exception.

We believe orthodox Christianity that Christ is the only way unto salvation and this is what John is saying here.

This text is not saying that Christ is the Savior of the world without exception.

Christ is only going to save those who believe and trust in Him.

There are exceptions to who Christ is going to save.

He will only save those who believe in Him.

John is saying that Christ came to save sinners in this world from every tribe, every tongue and every nation.

Anyone in the world wherever they are in the world…if any person in this world would put their faith and trust in Christ Jesus then they will be saved from the wrath of God at judgement.

Look at verse 15 again:

This confession is not just a tip your hat confession that Jesus is the Son of God.

It is tied into what we said earlier as to who Christ is.

Do you confess him as God, the Son of God, the God Man who came to this earth born of a virgin, lived a perfect life and was put to death under Pontius Pilot, buried and three days later rose from the grave.

He was witnessed by many people and ascended into Heaven and one day he is coming back.

Can you confess that?

IF you can truly confess that Christ, the one true Christ sent by the one true Father then God abides in you and you in God.

The physical body of Christ is no longer here but the body of Christ is…and when we, the church, love one another…people see Christ, they see the love of the Father.

Do you believe the love that God has for us?

Do you believe the love that God has for you?