4th March 2024

4th March 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read - (1 John 5:13)


Message (Alan Burke) 


How can I know? Am I really saved? Has God forgiven me? If you have asked those things to yourself or something like them or even asked someone else then you are not alone, doubts come to even the most mature in faith. We approach the end of this epistle John now makes it clear why he has written this letter to the church and it I soo that they may know they have eternal life. John wants his readers to know that they have eternal life, to know and not to question, he wants them to have assurance of their salvation. Assurance is one of those things that some churches will teach you that you can never have but the Lord through John is telling you that you can have assurance, you can know that you are a child of God, that you have eternal life. 


This week we are slowing down and we are taking one verse and working though it, you might think that we’ve been taking 1 John far too slowly but there is much packed into it and there is so much in this verse that can help us with our assurance of salvation, that we may know we have eternal life. Throughout this letter John’s pastoral heart is evident and all because he wanted to help them in the midst of what they faced to know the hope that they had because they believed in the Son of God. He wanted to dispel their doubts, he wanted them to know who they were in Christ and the hope that they had. 


Notice to whom John writes to here in v13 to you who believe. We have already touched on this, the importance of belief, of believing in Jesus Christ because belief in him directly impacts how we live. What we believe about God impacts how we live in response. If you have faith in Jesus Christ, then that faith will directly impact how you behave, it will be demonstrated in tangible ways, ways that are evident for others to see, it should be quantifiable for ourselves and others. 


And this is important for us to understand as we move on because if you want to flick back to Matthew’s gospel, Jesus in Matthew 7 in the sermon on the mount gave a warning in comes in verse 21-23, before it he tells us that we will recognise people from their fruit and in v21-23 Jesus says; 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Mt 7:21-23). 


There are some who might say that they are the Lord’s, that they are Christians and they are not and there are others who wrongly are filled with doubt to whether they are Christians, asking themselves am I really a Christian. So how do we know? Well John has given us signposts, yardsticks, ways that we know we are Christians. Those things John has repeatedly told us throughout this letter and they are; obedience, transformation, righteousness and love. For those who believe they should see in their lives a desire for obedience, there should have been a transformation in us, we should lead us to live righteously in a way that pleases God and we should be characterised by love. We will work our way through these things in the coming days. But for now I’ll leave you with this as John says so succinctly; …believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q 84 What doth every sin deserve?
Every sin deserveth God’ s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come. (Eph. 5:6, Gal. 3:10, Lam. 3:39, Matt. 25:41)
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