A KNOW-SO SALVATION
1 John 5:10-13
When a person’s life is filled with fear and doubts it is difficult for that person to live a happy and productive life. The fear and doubt stymie the individual. This is especially true when it comes to one’s spirituality. When asked if a person has a 100% certainty that have been saved and that they know for beyond all doubt that they are going to heaven, the replies often are: I believe so, I think so, I hope so. 39 times John uses the word “know” in his first letter, to addresses this matter of uncertainty and to declare that you and I can have a “know so” salvation. “Knowing once and for all whether or now you’re going to heaven is one of those milestones that every Christian needs to pass if they are going to grow and be effective in their Christian life.” (copied)
I. How does one receive salvation?
A. Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
B. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
C. Salvation is an act of God that is received by faith not by any works that you do.
D. The Holy Spirit begins by revealing to you that you have violated God’s law and you see and acknowledge your sinfulness. John 16:8 tells us that the Holy Spirit “convicts the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
E. God’s Spirit further shows you that your sin has separated you from God and apart from any divine intervention you are on a path of spiritual self-destruction that leads to an eternity of punishment in hell. Without His salvation you are hopelessly, spiritually dead. The first three verses of Ephesians 2, tells us that we are “dead in trespasses and sins” and “by nature are children of wrath” “subject to God’s anger”.
F. The Holy Spirit then enables you to see and understand that Jesus went to the cross of Calvary for you, dying in your place, bearing your sin and pouring out His precious blood as the redemption price for your eternal salvation. 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Isaiah 53:5 states that Christ was wounded for your transgressions, He was bruised for your iniquities; the chastisement for your peace was upon Him. His resurrection attests to the acceptance of that offering to God, the Father and of the reality of the eternal life that He secured.
G. By faith salvation is procured when under the Holy Spirit’s leading you confess your being a sinner, acknowledge Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour turning from your life of self and sin to Christ trusting only in Him and His shed blood for forgiveness and salvation.
II. How can one know for sure they have been saved?
A. The Testimony of God’s Word
1. 1 John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
2. The Bible is the inspired written word of God. It is unchanging truth. Whatever is written in its pages can be accepted and relied upon as truth. God cannot lie.
3. John 20:31 “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
4. We should find assurance of our salvation in the objective truth of God’s Word. We should have confident trust that we are saved based on the promises God has declared.
5. J. Wilbur Chapman tells the following true story of how D.L. Moody used John 5:24 to help him gain assurance of salvation: I was studying for the ministry, and I heard that D.L. Moody was to preach in Chicago. I went to hear him. Finally I got into his after-meeting. I shall never forget the thrill that went through me when he came and sat down beside me as an inquirer.
He asked me if I was a Christian. I said, “Mr. Moody, I am not sure whether I am a Christian or not.’
He very kindly took his Bible and opened it to the fifth chapter of John, and the twenty-fourth verse, which reads as follows: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.”
Suppose you had read it through for the first time, wouldn’t you think it was wonderful? I read it through, and he said, “Do you believe it?”
I said, “Yes.”
“Do you accept it?”
I said, “Yes.”
“Well, are you a Christian?”
“Mr. Moody, I sometimes think I am, and sometimes I am afraid I am not.”
He very kindly said, “Read it again.”
So I read it again, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.”
Then he said, “Do you believe it?”
I said, “Yes.”
“Do you receive Him?”
I said, “Yes.”
“Well,” he said, “are you a Christian?”
I just started to say over again that sometimes I was afraid I was not, when the only time in all the years I knew him and loved him, he was sharp with me. He turned on me with his eyes flashing and said, “See here, whom you are doubting?”
Then I saw it for the first time, that when I was afraid I was not a Christian I was doubting God’s Word. I read it again with my eyes overflowing with tears. Since that day I have had many sorrows and many joys, but never have I doubted for a moment that I was a Christian, because God said it.
Assurance of salvation is based on God’s promises in Scripture that those who believe in Jesus will receive eternal life.
6. Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
B. The Testimony of God’s Holy Spirit
1. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the reality of one’s salvation.
2. Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
3. Ephesians 1:13-14 (ESV) “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
4. The presence and work of the Holy Spirit in one’s life is proof that he is a true Christian
5. 1 John 4:13 “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”
6. Romans 8.14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
7. The work of the Holy Spirit is seen in conviction of sin and motivation to live holy lives.
8. 1 John 3:24 “And he that keeps his commandments dwells in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”
C. The Testimony of a Changed Life
1. 1 John 2:3-4 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
2. One way that I can know that I have come to know Christ, that I have received His grace and been redeemed, that I am a child of God is by my having a sense of responsibility along with the desire and willingness to obey God’s commandments.
3. 1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
4. Christ-like behavior is an evidence of genuine fellowship and that a person has truly been redeemed
5. 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature..."
6. This transformation produces such a change in the believers life that they will naturally begin to do the things that are the outworking of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
7. A number of years ago in a certain village, there was a very mean man who sold wood to his neighbors, and who always took advantage of them by cutting his logs a few inches under the required four feet. One day the report was circulated that the wood¬chopper had been converted. Nobody believed the report, for they all declared that he was beyond being reached. One man, however, slipped quietly out of the grocery store where the "conversion" was being discussed and soon came running back in excitement and shouted: "It's so! He has been!" They all asked: "How do you know?" "Why, I have been over and measured the wood that he cut yesterday. It is good four feet long!" That testimony convinced the crowd. While this may seem like a simple incident, it brings out the important truth that the person who accepts Christ must first of all become a new man—his new faith must make a difference in his life.—Rufus M. Jones.
8. Someone has said that there are four basic categories of people:
a. Those who think they are saved, but aren't. Matthew 7:21-3
b. Those we think are saved, but aren't. 1 John 2:18-19
c. Those who are saved, but don't act like it: Corinthians.
d. Those who are saved, know they are saved, and act like it.
Do you have a “know so” salvation? Can you cling to the promises of the Word of God? Do you have the witness of the Spirit at work in your heart? Has your life been transformed by Christ? Do you have a desire to live for Him/ Can you say with Paul: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12)
