007 The Pathway to Assurance

1 John 2:3-6

January 30, 2022

This morning we are going to approach what is yet again

A very POWERFUL and CLEAR and NEEDED TRUTH

From the apostle John to the church.

As you know, John began by dealing with the ISSUE OF FELLOWSHIP.

I love that title for the church.

I love that title for what believers actually are.

· Those who believe in the true Jesus who is God and who became man that He

might save sinners.

· Those who don’t deny our sin or hide our sin, but who confess it and repent of it

and find forgiveness in Jesus.

· Those who walk in light and not darkness.

That is a great way to describe what the church is.

So much is made today of liturgical categories or denominations

And too often those things are used to define if you are in the church.

BUT AT ITS CORE THE CHURCH IS merely those who have repented of their sin and have believed in Christ and thus been rescued from the darkness and transferred into the light so that they now can enjoy fellowship with God.

THAT IS THE CHURCH.

· If you don’t believe in Christ you aren’t in the church.

· If you haven’t repented of your sin you aren’t in the church.

· If you walk in darkness…

· If you say you have no sin…

· If you say you have not sinned…

You aren’t in the church.

It really is basic Christianity 101.

But there is a reason why John is drawing this line in the sand.

(In fact there are 2)

ON ONE HAND certainly there is the motive of enlightening those who are deceived.

· It is a horrible thing to allow a man who is lost go on believing he is saved.

· John’s letter here would certainly come with the purpose of showing that false believer the truth about his counterfeit Christianity.

That is needed.

BUT THE OTHER REASON is because John also wants those who are truly saved to know that they are truly saved.

We call it: ASSURANCE

When we sing about it we call it “Blessed Assurance” and it certainly is.

And this is perhaps the MAIN REASON John wrote.

1 John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

In addition to that real summary verse

We also see the two times John states it in our text this morning.

(3) “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.”

(5) “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:”

And at other times in the book we read:

1 John 3:19 “We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him”

1 John 3:24 “The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”

1 John 4:13 “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”

In fact, the word “know” is used 40 times in this book.

IT REALLY IS ALL ABOUT ASSURANCE.

If you aren’t saved

John wants you to know that and he wants you to be saved.

But if you are saved John wants you to know that too

And to enjoy the assurance of your salvation.

ASSURANCE IS AN UNBELIEVABLE MERCY OF GOD.

It is one of the many ways in which we see illustrated that

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s ways are not our ways.

It is not a human mentality to offer and promote assurance.

From a human standpoint we think that assurance leads to apathy and laziness and even corruption.

· When I was in college there was no doubt that often times the worst professors I had were those who had been tenured and could not be fired.

· When you listen to coaches, the last thing they want is for their players to have assurance of their role, but they are always trying to promote competition and to leave that lingering fear that if you don’t perform your job will be taken away and given to someone else.

· Even in man-made religion the leaders love to hold that fear of losing salvation or losing blessing over a person’s head.

The human mindset says that fear and uncertainty are great motivators

To get people to perform the way you want them to perform.

And from that perspective it seems to us that

Giving assurance is not a good tactic for producing obedience.

BUT GOD GIVES ASSURANCE.

That is actually one of the chief ROLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT whom God gives to believers.

Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,”

· That is God Himself giving assurance of salvation.

God even commands that we pursue assurance of our salvation.

2 Peter 1:10 “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;”

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”

· Peter and Paul both there command us to grab hold of assurance.

· Don’t just assume you are saved, you need to push forward and know that you

are saved.

NOW DON’T CONFUSE ASSURANCE WITH SECURITY.

It is of absolute doctrinal certainty

That those who are in Christ are eternally secure.

(We don’t have time to go bear all that out, but Scripture is clear.)

Go read Romans 5, Romans 8, and Hebrews 7 if you need to grasp it.

BUT WE HAVE

· A God who willed to save us when we were enemies.

· A Christ who paid our debt in full.

· A Christ who now serves as our great High Priest to intercede.

· A Spirit who seals us for the day of redemption.

How many times in Scripture do we hear Jesus promise “eternal life”?

· He didn’t promise tentative life

· He didn’t promise possible life

· He promised eternal life.

· He said, “they will never perish”

· He said, “I will raise them up on the last day”

· He said, “no one can snatch them out of My hand”

That is security of the believer or preservation of the saints.

Those whom God saves through Christ He saves forever.

They cannot lose it.

That means that every genuine believer is in fact secure for all eternity.

The tragedy is that it is possible for a believer

To be secure and not know it, or to not enjoy it.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT ASSURANCE REALLY IS?

· Assurance is the enjoyment of your salvation.

· Assurance can look like “peace that surpasses all comprehension”

· Assurance can look like “fullness of joy”

· Assurance can look like “rest”

· Assurance can look like “worship & gratitude”

Think about some pictures of it for a moment.

Psalms 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

· That is assurance.

· It is the absence of anxiety even when facing death.

Acts 18:9-11 “And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”

Acts 27:21-26 “When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss. “Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. “For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ “Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. “But we must run aground on a certain island.”

Do you see the assurance there?

· It was a man who was in stressful circumstances but he was safe.

· But it was more than just being safe, he knew he was safe.

· That is assurance.

Now certainly THERE IS such a thing as FALSE ASSURANCE which is when people claim to enjoy a salvation they don’t actually possess.

That is a problem.

They aren’t saved but they think they are.

CERTAINLY THAT IS A DECEPTION THAT MUST BE CORRECTED.

However, it is equally regrettable

To have one who is genuinely saved

And who does not enjoy it because they have no assurance.

Well here’s a question for this morning.

HOW DO I GET ASSURANCE?

· I would like that peace…

· I would like that rest…

· I would like to know that I’m saved…

Well that is what John is about to pour out for you.

How can I know if I have fellowship with God?

How can I know if I am in the light?

There has to be some sort of criteria by which that is validated.

There has to be some litmus test that will tell you if you are saved or not.

And there most certainly is.

Are you ready for it? OBEDIENCE

Obedience is the criteria by which we measure genuine salvation

And therefore obedience is the pathway to obtaining assurance.

Now, what we’re going to do is look at these 4 verses in 1 John 2

And I’m going to prove that statement to you.

I’m going to show you why obedience is the pathway to assurance.

We’re going to kind of dance all over this text, and not always in order,

But I’m going to show you this morning why obedience is the pathway to assurance.

Why this morning you can know if you are saved

Or if you are lost simply by looking at your obedience.

So let’s start, and this is a journey, each point builds to the next.

#1 OBEDIENCE PROVES SALVATOIN

1 John 2:3-6

I really just want you to take a Bird’s Eye View of these 4 verses

And see that there is but one overarching absolute main point.

The main point is found in each of these 4 verses and that is that “Obedience Proves Salvation”

· (3) “we know we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments”

· (4) “the one who…does not keep His commandments is a liar”

· (5) “whoever keeps His word, in him, the love of God has truly been perfected”

· (6) “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

While there are distinctions that can be made in each of those verses,

At their core they all stand on the same foundation.

And that foundation is that you know if a person is saved or not

By examining their obedience.

I can be direct this morning because John is direct, but listen to me.

If you are not obedient to the commandments of God you are not saved.

Listen to Jesus here.

John 8:31-32 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

That’s straightforward isn’t it?

· You can claim to believe if you want, but it will be your obedience to My word that will validate your salvation.

This is John the Baptist

John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

I show you that one because I want you to see that John uses two words there almost interchangeably.

Every evangelical gets the first part of that verse.

· “He who believes in the Son has eternal life”

· I mean we’ve said that for years.

· Believe in Jesus.

But notice what John says next.

(or perhaps what he doesn’t say)

He DOESN’T SAY, “but he who does not believe will not see life”

What does John say?

“but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

See in John’s mind belief and obedience go hand in hand.

If you don’t have one you don’t have the other.

James follows this theme.

James 2:14 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?”

· The answer there is – NO!

· You can say you believe all day long but if you don’t obey, you are not really saved.

James 2:17 “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

Martin Luther reminded that, “We are saved by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone.”

In other words if your faith doesn’t produce obedience

Then it isn’t saving faith.

OBEDIENCE PROVES SALVATION.

That is the premise that John bases these 4 verses on.

But more than just a premise, John actually tells you why this is so.

So I tell you that obedience proves salvation and you ask, “Why do you say that?”

#2 OBEDIENCE DEMONSTRATES LOVE

1 John 2:5a

“but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.”

Here again we run right up against obvious Christianity.

If I ask you what is the greatest commandment, what do you say?

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Jesus Himself said that is the great and foremost commandment.

If I ask you what is the goal of your Christian life, what do you say?

1 Timothy 1:5 “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

It is not a difficult point to make that

The calling of Christianity is to call men back to love God.

That is what we are seeking to produce.

The clear distinction between non-believers and true believers is that

Non-believers do not love God while true believers do.

But there is a more important question to be asked.

How do you discern the genuineness of a person’s love?

Ever think about that?

· People say, “I love you” all the time in our world.

· How do you know if that love is real?

Love is an action.

Love is when you sacrifice yourself for the good of another.

It’s easy to say, “I Love You”, but walking in love is really difficult.

It is when you put yourself and your interests and your desires

Behind those of another person.

Look at Jesus here.

John 13:1 “Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

· We know the love of Jesus because He gave Himself.

· He didn’t just say that He loved, He demonstrated love.

· He proved His love was real.

Well you can SAY that you love God.

You can SING SONGS about loving God.

But how do we know if your love for God is real or just falsely stated?

Answer: OBEDIENCE DEMONSTRATES LOVE

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

John 14:30-31 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.”

It’s pretty clear again isn’t it.

And that’s what John says.

“whoever keeps His word, in him, the love of God has truly been perfected.”

If you don’t keep God’s commandments then you don’t really love God.

That’s why obedience proves salvation.

Because obedience proves that you love God.

But that’s not the only reason obedience proves salvation.

#3 OBEDIENCE DEMONSTRATES TRANSFORMATION

1 John 2:5b-6

“By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought Himself to walk in the same manner that He walked.”

We are also aware that salvation is about new life.

· Salvation is about leaving a life of sin and entering a life of righteousness.

· Salvation is to be rescued from the darkness and transferred to the light.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

But how do you know if a person is a “new creature”?

How do you measure whether or not redemption has occurred?

That’s really easy: OBEDIENCE.

(I continue to marvel at the simplicity and clarity with which John writes.)

Those who are saved are those who are said to be “in Him”

· We talk about that all the time.

· You must be “in Christ”

· You must be wrapped in His righteous robe

Well how do you know if you are “in Him”?

Those who are in Him walk like He walked.

Would you categorize Jesus life as an obedient life or a disobedient life?

Obedient (obviously)

We’ve done extensive studies about the obedience of Jesus.

· We’ve talked about ACTIVE OBEDIENCE where He perfectly fulfilled the Law.

· We’ve talked about PASSIVE OBEDIENCE where He submitted to cross.

Jesus Himself said:

John 8:29 “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.”

Jesus certainly doesn’t lead men into a life of disobedience.

So if you are following Jesus what will your life look like?

OBEDIENT

Steve Lawson said that “Assurance comes from seeing your changed life.”

Isn’t that really how you know you’ve been saved?

You are not the same person you used to be.

Well what’s different about you?

It’s that you didn’t used to obey God and now you do.

Obedience proves salvation because

Obedience demonstrates transformation.

It’s so abundantly clear.

Galatians 5:19-24 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

You know a Christian because they have crucified the flesh

And they no longer walk in all those disobedient sins.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

A Christian is recognized because they have been washed and cleansed from the sins they used to commit and now they are obedient.

Tutus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

Salvation is marked by the redemption from lawless deeds.

SO YOU UNDERSTAND THE VERY PREMISE OF THIS THING.

When I ask you are you saved and you say, “Yes, I am saved.”

And then I ask you, “How do you know?”

The answer is NOT:

· Because back at such an such a time I prayed this prayer…

· Because I walked an aisle…

· Because I got baptized…

None of those things prove anything.

Except maybe that you were emotionally coerced one time in your life.

It is obedience which proves that you’ve been saved.

· Because only obedience demonstrates love for God.

· And only obedience demonstrates the transformed life of a saved man.

And I might add, when we talk about obedience:

IMMEDIATE OBEDIENCE – it starts precisely at the moment of salvation, it doesn’t wait 10 years to activate.

WILLING OBEDIENCE – it occurs because the heart has been changed by God’s Spirit and now you long to obey God.

LASTING OBEDIENCE – it doesn’t fade out or fan out in your life. It marks your life from conversion and for the rest of eternity.

A true believer loves God

A true believer has been transformed

And so a true believer obeys God and walks like Christ in the world.

And that should not be new.

Don’t go out living in and loving your sin and then claim to be saved.

For notice what John shows us next.

#4 DISOBEDIENCE PROVES HYPOCRISY

1 John 2:4

Did you catch that?

“The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him;”

I know that is direct but if there was ever a day when direct was needed

It is today.

· If you do not love to obey God…

· If obeying God is not your driving focus…

· If obeying God is not the practice of your life…

Then don’t kid yourself – you are not saved.

I don’t know who told you that you were, but it wasn’t the Bible.

Remember this sermon?

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”

· It’s NOT those who say the right thing but those who “does the will of My Father”

Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

· There again it’s NOT their words that prove their salvation it’s their works.

NOW YOU KNOW, BUT WE MUST ALWAYS SAY IT.

You know that you cannot be saved through your obedience.

You cannot do enough to earn salvation.

Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone.

But once you’ve been saved obedience will definitely, absolutely,

Without exception, but the chief demonstration of your life.

NOW, I’M NOT SAYING that means you will never sin again or never disobey.

· Clearly you will for John already taught us that another mark of a believer is that when they sin they confess it so they might be forgiven and cleansed.

· I’m not saying you’ll never fail.

But what I am saying is that IT IS NEVER OK with you when you do.

Obedience proves salvation and disobedience proves hypocrisy.

That’s just abundantly clear.

THEREFORE

And now we finally get to the point we have been driving at.

#5 OBEDIENCE PRODUCES ASSURANCE

1 John 2:3,5b

· (3) “By this we know…”

· (5b) “By this we know…”

Assurance is not measured MYSTICALLY

· That is to say, you don’t know you are saved because you’ve had some vision or dream or esoteric experience.

· There were plenty of people who saw Jesus in the flesh who were not saved.

Assurance is not measured EMOTIONALLY

· It’s not because you cried that one time in that emotional service.

· It’s not because you really “felt” something the night you were saved.

I remember going through evangelism training one time and the course taught that after you led someone to pray a prayer of salvation you were supposed to ask them, “Do you feel any different?”

As though genuine conversion was measured by feelings.

IT IS NOT.

There are plenty of lost people who feel saved

And there are saved people who feel lost.

Assurance IS measured PRACTICALLY

You know you are saved when you live an obedient life.

Take the apostle John for a minute, I love this.

· We’ve all read Luke 15 and those wonderful parables about the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son.

· And we’ve all read how “there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.”

And many times I have been at rally’s or camps or events where large groups of people walked the aisle and then a few minutes later someone would come up and quote that verse and talk about how we all ought to be rejoicing.

I’m going to be honest, I don’t, I never do.

I never rejoice at watching a multitude of people walk an aisle.

· (And I used to think there was something wrong with me)

· (Actually most of the time I’m skeptical)

And you’d say, “What you don’t rejoice in salvation?”

No, I absolutely rejoice at salvation.

It’s just that there’s no way I can know if salvation is really occurring

Just by watching a group of people walk an aisle.

(Heaven can rejoice because heaven sees the heart, but I can’t)

But I love what John says.

3 John 4 “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”

Why?

Because that’s when John knew they were saved.

· I DON’T immediately rejoice when people walk an aisle here.

· I DON’T immediately rejoice when people pray a prayer in my office.

· I rejoice when I watch them resist temptation…

· I rejoice when I watch them choose Christ over their culture…

· I rejoice when I watch them die to self and obey when it’s hard…

It is obedience that proves salvation occurred.

AND SO HERE YOU GO CHURCH.

Do you want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are saved?

Do you want to know that you are among the redeemed?

Do you want to know that should you die today you will definitely go to heaven?

Well here it is.

DO YOU OBEY GOD?

Is it the ambition of your heart to be obedient?

Are you a doer of the word?

I’m not asking if you know God’s word.

I’m not asking if you love God’s word.

I’m not asking if you preach God’s word.

I’m asking if you obey God’s word.

And if you do then be at peace, you are saved.

· And you can know that you are saved.

· And you can enjoy that you are saved.

· And you can rejoice in your salvation.

· And you can bank on your salvation.

Because if you are obedient it is obvious

That Christ has performed a saving work in your life.

· He has pulled you out of the darkness and put you in the light.

· He has taken your heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh.

· He has poured the love of God into your heart.

· He has transformed you from an enemy to a son.

If He hadn’t done all that you wouldn’t be obedient.

So your obedience produces assurance.

This morning I simply want you to know if you are saved

And then enjoy it.

And if you have been shown that you are not obedient,

Then this morning stop deceiving yourself

And call upon Christ that you might be saved.