Watch our Livestream 10am Sundays at 10am on Sundays Give Online
There are many things in life that are meant to be enjoyed together and not be separated. To separate them feels out of place or even wrong.
examples:
More significant examples
Today, I want to persuade you that assurance belongs with salvation, and you can actually have it. This is one of the reasons that the Apostle John wrote his first letter. He wanted the believers in his church community to enjoy the full benefits of their salvation, including assurance.
This does not mean that assurance and belief in the gospel are the exact same thing, or that they are experienced at exactly the same time or in the same way. But, they are vitally connected.
This is our final sermon in our series, “That You May Know.” We will cover a lot of the material in Chapter 5, but the sermon will be structured more like a final summary of our exploration into the assurance of salvation in 1 John.
Assurance is one of the goods of the Gospel graciously made available to us today.
Our sermon today will begin with some historical theology, then move to our Biblical text, then to some practical application.
I’d like to begin this morning by doing a very brief survey of some different approaches to assurance—a few theological approaches, and a few street-level ones.
I’ll say at the outset that I found the survey of this material very helpful from That You May Know by Christopher Bass, published by B&H Publishing.
Gregory the Great (d. 604)… clearly denied that there could be any assurance of salvation for the believer… Gregory believed and taught that “constant anxiety is the only safe attitude until life is over and temptation past. Assurance of salvation and the feeling of safety engendered by it are dangerous for anybody and would not be desirable even if possible.”
- Christopher David Bass, That You May Know (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2008), 7–8.
The Council of Trent in 1547 fundamentally maintained this view that no believer outside of special revelation can possibly know if he is part of God’s elect. This was one of the disagreements with Luther’s view of justification.
Luther’s view of assurance is much more tethered to the Gospel and justification by faith alone. In Luther’s view, sin is not a serious threat to assurance.
But if we cling to the Word that has been made known, we have this treasure, which is the blood of Christ. If we are beset by sins, no harm is done. The blood of Christ was not shed for the devil or the angels; it was shed for sinners. Accordingly, when I feel sin, why should I despair, and why should I not believe that it has been forgiven. For the blood of Christ washes sins away. The main thing is that we cling simply to the Word. Then there is no trouble.
- Luther, Lectures on the First Epistle of John, 228.
Luther did have a category for what we’ve called the tests of 1 John, though he held a bit more tension between those tests and assurance proper. In his comments on 1 John 3:20 Luthers said, “it is through works that we learn that our faith is true” (ibid, p. 264).
Calvin had a very similar approach to Luther, though some of his later followers went a slightly different direction.
Calvin included assurance as an integral part of saving faith.
Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
- John Calvin, Institutes, 551.
You can see in his definition that certainty was included in saving faith. But, this certainty also depended heavily upon the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit to us. Calvin also had a place for the role of the tests in 1 John.
Nor do we deny that newness of life, as it is the effect of divine adoption, serves to confirm confidence, as a prop, so to speak, of the second order; but in the meantime we ought to have our foundation on grace alone.
- John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles, 246.
The later Calvinists seem to have departed somewhat from Calvin’s statement of assurance as having the essence of saving faith, treating the three separate grounds of assurance as being of equal weight.
The Trinity Confession of Faith, Chapter 20, is nearly exactly out of the Westminster Confession (and the London Baptist Confession). It is a very robust and edifying few paragraphs, and I would encourage you to read it. You can find it at cornerstoneapex.org/confession
I won’t spend much time on the Arminian or Wesleyan view, other than to acknowledge that in this view, one could have a present assurance of present salvation, but not of a final salvation, since in this view one can lose his salvation (see Bass, p. 19).
One final mention here of a small, but pervasive approach among some evangelical churches. The Grace Movement “Free grace” (perhaps popularized by Zane Hodges at Dallas Theological Seminary) places assurance TOTALLY in the realm of one’s belief or confession of faith, with no relationship whatsoever to how one lives. The claim is that assurance must be totally based on the promises of God and the work of Christ, and not at all related to works.
Hodges even taught that repentance was not a necessary component of conversion.
John MacArthur wrote several books refuting this “cheap grace” message and advocating for “Lordship Salvation.”
We just blew through quite a few centuries of historical theology. It’s much more likely that you’ve encountered a more street-level approach to assurance. Here are a few you may have encountered or practiced yourself.
This is a baptist favorite. I heard it hundreds of times growing up. The basic idea is that if you ever had a sinner’s prayer moment, when you felt bad about your sin, or were afraid of going to hell, or when you said you wanted Jesus to come into your heart—from that moment you are saved. Perhaps you were even encouraged to go home and drive a nail into a fencepost or a stake into the ground and mark that as the day you became certain of your salvation.
There’s no question of whether it was a genuine conversion, or if the seed fell on good soil. It’s all about the decision itself.
Sad though it is, this is often the thread of a hope for family members when someone who lived as a hellion their entire life dies. They’ll tell the preacher doing the funeral that “he gave his heart to Jesus when he was 6, so we know he’s in heaven.”
“Once saved always saved” sounds a lot like the Reformed doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints, but do not be fooled, it’s nothing like it.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, many seek to find certainty and assurance by looking inward. Have I obeyed enough? Have I stopped sinning enough? Do I feel enough of the right affections for God and his word? Are my motives for my good works pure enough? Are my prayers sincere enough? Are my confessions of sin thorough enough?
You get the idea. This approach to assurance is too focused on “am I enough” instead of “is Christ enough.”
Sometimes, we’re not even as sophisticated as once-saved-always-saved. We just compare ourselves to others to convince ourselves that we’re okay with God.
I don’t do the bad sins. I’m more generous than… I don’t drink as much as… I show up to homegroup more than…
These are likely legitimate acts of faithfulness, but they are not sufficient for assurance.
2 Corinthians 10:12 (ESV) — Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
I feel at peace with my conscience. I feel okay about how I’ve lived my life. We will consider the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit in a moment, but don’t confuse that for a simple feeling that “I’m okay.”
Matthew 5:48 (ESV) — You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Now that we’ve explored some historical and street-level theology, let’s now look more carefully at what the Apostle John has written in his letter to us.
Thankfully, we don’t actually have to review too much from earlier in the letter since John repeats many of the points in Chapter 5 which I’d want to make anyway.
1 John 5:1–5 (ESV)
That is a very dense, connected series of statements. Let me remind you of some of what we’ve seen in 1 John so far.
Throughout the Letter, John has given us several tests to help us evaluate our Christian identity. I think we can break all of these down basically into three kinds of evaluations—tests of belief, tests of love, and tests of obedience.
Here’s an example of each from earlier in the book.
Test of belief
1 John 4:15 (ESV) — Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Test of love
1 John 4:7 (ESV) — Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Test of obedience
1 John 2:3 (ESV) — And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
Now, let’s see each of these in our text this morning.
Test of belief
Test of love
Test of obedience
I hope that you see how entangled all of these are. They are not intended to be separate checkboxes on a form. Rather, they are evidences of something prior, inevitable effects of some change.
We briefly discussed this point last week in verse 7 of Chapter 4—“whoever loves has been born of God…”
Here is an important question for us. How could John give us these tests to evaluate our assurance without adding some requirement beyond faith for our salvation? Is John saying that in order to be saved, we must have faith PLUS obedience PLUS love? How is that not adding to the good news that Jesus came to save sinners?
The answer is here in our passage (vv. 1, 3, and 18). God acted on us first, completely out of his grace and mercy. He caused us to be born again.
Notice that in all three places, this new birth precedes and enables our actions.
This is the same new birth which John speaks about in his gospel in his prologue, and in Chapter 3 with Nicodemus.
John 1:12–13 (ESV) — But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 3:3 (ESV) — Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
(Also see 1 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 2:1-5)
The key for us to understand here is that the New Birth (Regeneration) is part of the work of God in our salvation. It comes before our obedience, our love, and even our faith (though “before” here is logical more than temporal).
Now, let me make a few summary statements about how assurance works in 1 John.
The foundation for our salvation and our assurance of it is the finished, atoning work of Christ. To use 1 John…
The more we look to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our savior, and say “he is all I need” the more we will experience gospel assurance.
When we consider how much changes when we are converted, these tests in 1 John are not particularly controversial. And remember, John wrote this to give assurance, not to take it away by our lack of perfection. He was giving these test to help them navigate and understand the departure and apostasy of some false teachers (antichrists) from within their midst.
When we are saved, we have a new family, a new Lord, a new calling. We are transferred from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Col 1:13). We are given a new heart and the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are united to Christ in his death and resurrection. The same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead dwells in us to help us defeat sin.
We remember with Luther that Christ came to save sinners. John writes so that we won’t sin, but if we do, we have an Advocate with the Father. When he appears again, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is, and therefore, we purify ourselves as he is pure. We know that our growth in holiness (sanctification) begins at conversion and lasts until the death or when the Lord returns when we are glorified.
There is so much more edifying content in our chapter today. If you remember how we began nine weeks ago, I gave a testimony about a tomato sandwich. John began his letter by giving personal testimony to the Lord whom he had looked upon and touched with his hands. John had seen him and heard him.
As John is winding down his letter, he revisits the testimony about Jesus, but he doesn’t limit it to his own experience.
1 John 5:6–10 (ESV)
It’s clear that somehow this is about the testimony of God, but what exactly are these verses saying? There are quite a few interpretations of the water and the blood. Is this your baptism and the Lord’s Supper? Does it refer to the crucifixion scene in John’s Gospel where blood and water came out of Jesus’ side when he was pierced with the soldier’s spear?
I think the most persuasive interpretation is that this is speaking of the life and ministry of Jesus. Water would then refer to Jesus’ baptism and the beginning of his public ministry, when the Holy Spirit fell on him and the Father spoke from heaven. Blood refers to the crucifixion and death of Christ. In other words, all of the ministry of Jesus is testimony that he is who John says he is.
The Spirit testifies as well. The Spirit gives our hearts eyes to see and ears to hear the truth about Jesus. The Spirit gives us new birth and confirms to us the truthfulness of scripture because the “Spirit IS truth.”
This makes unbelief a very serious sin. Rejecting the reality of the life and death of Jesus and the testimony of scripture and the Holy Spirit is no small sin. To reject this is to call God a liar. One cannot be on friendly terms with God while rejecting the truth about Jesus.
We have quoted from chapter 5 in all of our sermons on 1 John, mentioning his purpose for writing. But this purpose statement for the letter comes after John’s clearest statement—the clarion call—the crux of the matter. The paragraph break in the ESV may have obscured this connection for us.
1 John 5:11-13 (ESV)
What is “the testimony” which John has been going on and on about? It is that God gave us eternal life.
Does anything jump out as strange to you about these verses? When do we acquire this eternal life? We are so accustomed to the conception that eternal life is future, after our death or the Lord’s return. And, of course it does have an impact on the never ending aspect of life.
However, John is saying more than the fact that we will live forever. He is saying something changed qualitatively about our life when we were united to Christ by faith. “Whoever has the Son has life.” Now.
If we limit the reality of eternal life to after death, then it makes sense to be pessimistic about the hope for a changed life now. If, however, we realize that we are vitally connected to the life of Jesus through the Holy Spirit now, then even the most
In 1 John eternal life is not an unending extension of life as we know it; rather it is “having” Jesus Christ himself.
- Colin G. Kruse, Pillar, 196.
Our union with Christ is the crux.
Do you have Christ? Are you in him? If not, no amount of obedience to God’s commands will avail you; no amount of love will gain the Father’s favor. No amount of penance or prayers or self-improvement can give you life. Only turning to Christ by faith. Believe his promises to give you life.
Romans 10:9–10 (ESV)
John’s purpose is in four stages, namely that his readers may hear, hearing may believe, believing may live, and living may know.
- John R. W. Stott, Tyndale, 184–185.
Perhaps this has all felt a bit too abstract for you. Let’s look at a few practical ways that we might wrestle with our assurance. They do not all have the same root causes or the same remedies.
we expected something different than we are currently experiencing (different emotions, powers, or closeness to God)
Remember:
1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV) — For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Sometimes our struggles with our salvation and assurance is just the plain, hard Providence of suffering.
Remember:
In my experience there are two types of struggles with sin which impact our assurance, besetting sins and secret sins.
Regularly struggling against one particular sin can really work on our assurance. We too often give into temptation, then confess and repent.
Keep looking to Christ. He knows we are but dust. But, also ask for help and accountability from other brothers or sisters. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
What about secret sins? These can have a devastating impact on our assurance, and we should be glad for it.
Remember:
Another version of this secret sin is attempting to keep part of your life outside of the Lordship of Christ. Repent and surrender.
Remember that this is the exact situation in the book of 1 John. And, remember that while we have breath, we have opportunities to repent.
We experience a barrage of worldly philosophies contradicting God’s truth.
Remember: God and his truth are not fragile. They can withstand questions and scrutiny. Study hard. Ask questions. Seek the truth.
For many of us growing up in church, this is one of the most difficult. We may remember times when we felt more zeal than we do now.
Remember: our seasons change. God is still the same. Seek him, and he will be found.
Even John’s own Ephesian church had to hear this word in Revelation.
Revelation 2:4–5 (ESV) — But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
1 John 5:18–21 (ESV)
Here are some other recent messages.
We are a church built on the Bible, guided and empowered by the Spirit, striving to make disciples, and pursuing holiness in the context of robust biblical relationships.
© 2024 Cornerstone Fellowship Church of Apex
