assurance in First John pt.2
How do you know that you are saved? It is time to ignore the taunts of the enemy and turn to the Word of God.
In the previous article, we explored how the apostle John debunked the Gnostic infection that was troubling the early church. Such heretical beliefs resurface periodically to trouble believers, and we need to be sure of what we believe and sure of our status before our Lord. We answered from 1 John two hugely important questions “How can I be sure I know God?” The questions for this second article are profound, and we want to set out some scriptures that will help us.
In 1 John 1 verse 7 there is a very profound statement. The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin – not just some sins, but all sins. Some years ago, I heard a tape of a sermon on 1 John. The speaker recounted an anecdote. A well known Christian cleric (I forget who it was) was travelling on an aircraft and had the misfortune to sit next to a lady who complained incessantly about everything. In the end he was given real discernment into her problem and he began to talk with her. He asked her to read 1 John 1 verses 5 to 7. When she had read the last line (“the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin”) he stopped her and said “no I think you have misread that, it says the blood of Jesus purifies us from some sins”. She protested that she had read the verse correctly, so he asked her to read it again. The next time she read the verse he again challenged her and said the verse claims that Jesus blood purifies us from some sins. This exchange went on for several more readings until suddenly the penny dropped and the lady said “O yes, now I see it clearly. The blood of Jesus purifies us from ALL sins”. This was a revelation to her and opened up a way for a much deeper conversation, addressing the lady’s real need which was selfunforgiveness that manifested itself in constant complaining about other people.
We need to grasp hold of this. The matter is settled. Once we come to Jesus in faith and true repentance, his blood washes away all sins. The devil will keep trying to dig up old sins and fill us with regrets or even suggest we have not been forgiven. But this is simply not so. The matter of forgiveness is not open for debate. Once we have been forgiven we are ‘justified’ before God. As one commentator once said, ‘justified’ is like saying its “just as if I’d” never sinned in the first place. The Lord takes our sins and casts them as far as the east is from the west. Forgiveness is a settled matter for the true penitent.
Sadly that does not stop us from sinning in the future. Being saved does not make us sinless. But, by God’s grace we do sin less, and God slowly but surely makes us more and more like His Son. We in turn must continue to repent of known sins and to continue to struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil. But if, perchance, there are issues that just won’t go away, in your conscience, perhaps that is the time to share the matter with a trusted Christian friend. A problem shared is a problem halved, don’t they say?Mutual prayer and counselling can be such a great help. Never be shy about sharing problems and insecurities with a trusted and mature brother or sister (preferably brothers with brothers and sisters with sisters! )
Are there conditions to our forgiveness?
Yes, actually there are. We must confess our sins to God. Go back to 1 John 1 and verse 9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Confession is the first condition. Let’s not be like those Gnostics who kidded themselves that they had no sin (verse 8). James 5:16 tells us that there will be times when we must confess to each other. The Holy Spirit will prompt us as to when those times are – they may be when we have wronged a brother or sister and must make our peace directly with them. The third condition is that we must forgive others. Remember what the Lord Jesus taught in the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18). “This said Jesus, is how my heavenly father will treat you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” But lay hold on this; once the Lord Jesus has forgiven us we are forgiven. The matter cannot be reopened. You are justified. It’s ‘just as if I’d never sinned’. God graciously forgets. We must put these matters firmly behind us.
Can I be sure I will go to heaven?
We will only touch lightly on this challenging subject. The resurrection of our Lord is the great guarantee of our own bodily resurrection. In 1 Peter 1, the apostle invites us to join in praise to God for a living hope:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time”.
Again the matter is settled. The devil will from time to time try and persuade us that we are unsaved and so will not go to heaven, or that we can lose our salvation, even if we once had hold of it. But the matter is settled.
If we know God, if we are forgiven by God, then he promises to take us to be with Him forever. Hallelujah, Praise God. There’s a useful old saying. It is not Scripture but it is helpful nevertheless: “It is not I who have hold on Christ, but Christ who has hold on me”. There is a real sense in which this is true. Christ has made it His business to secure our Salvation and the evidence of this is sanctification. Now this is a huge subject and not one that will be settled by a Sword article! But we need to grab hold of this: If we have new birth then we are in Christ. In turn there is no longer any condemnation for us. We have a living hope because He, Jesus, is alive! And we have a glorious inheritance.
There is a Roman Catholic doctrine that says you can lose your salvation, a doctrine that has been inherited by Protestantism via the Calvinists. To me the Lord’s words in John 6: verses 37-9 and John 10:28 seem conclusive:
“Whoever comes to me I will never drive away ……. This is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of those He has given me, but raise them up at the last day”.
“I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”
The whole of Romans 8 is a very good foundation in this area. Readers may want to prayerfully read through this after this article, whilst it is still fresh in their minds.
We recognise of course that this is a difficult theological area and we are well aware that Catholic and Calvinist teaching suggests otherwise. Whilst we can be sure that no one can snatch a Believer from the hand of God, of course there is a possibility under freewill that a Believer can simply choose to walk away from the Lord Jesus. We have all known Christians, sometimes even those who seemed to be going on well with the journey of sanctification, who suddenly decide that they are going in a different direction. A friend of mine tells me there was in his church, once, a young-ish woman who seemed to be on fire for the Lord over a number of years. Then she met a Muslim, “fell” in love and converted to Islam. This raises difficult questions for which we will not supply trite or simplistic answers. Rather we need to ensure that we stay close to our Lord and do not treat as a light thing, His precious blood.
We must also not give room to the devil who will constantly try to persuade us that we are in fact unsaved. That is one of his principal tricks. I do not see how someone can be saved in 2018 but not saved in 2028. God who is God of time sees the future as well as the present simultaneously. If someone is not saved in 2028, it follows that they are not saved in 2018, no matter how compelling their feelings on the subject may be. We may well ask, what of very serious backsliders, (as above) surely they are not saved? Most Protestants believe that where this happens (and sometimes it does) then this is not an indication that they have lost their salvation, it is rather an evidence that they were never truly saved in the first place.
Time demands that we draw this subject to a close. We will close, then, with the words of our Lord Himself: John 14:2 “In my father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me.”
Praise be to Him! Amen.
Note that for concerned readers there are a number of helpful Bible studies freely available via the Christian Publications International website. www.christian-publications-int.com/
We recommend in particular numbers (13) Assurance (12) Eternal Life (17) Sanctification and (36) Doubt.