Sermon Series: “Blessed Assurance”
Sermon #5: “Birthmarks of a Believer (D)”
Text: I John 5:13
OPENING JOKE: “Lamb’s Book of Life” On the way home from Vacation Bible School, Melissa asked her mother if they could stop by the library. The question seemed peculiar so Nora Newport asked her daughter why she was suddenly so interested in visiting the library. The little girl explained, “This morning my teacher told me that the only way we get to heaven is if our name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. I just want to make sure my name is in there!”
INTRODUCTION: Illustration: “Stop to think, or stop thinking” Ann Landers has been offering daily advice for decades. Whether it’s a marital struggle, a physical problem, or a question about human irritants, Ms. Landers readily dispenses answers. Surprisingly, a recent question left her somewhat speechless when she was asked, “Do you believe in a heaven and a hell?” Landers only replied, “It’s a subject I haven’t given much thought.”
Ann Landers’s answer speaks for many people; they haven’t given eternal life much thought. When considering the reality of eternal life and one’s need for salvation, we generally fall into one of two camps:
Those who stop to think; or those who stop thinking
Today we have reached our final week on the subject of being assured of our salvation.
NOTE: This entire series has been devoted to get you all ‘thinking’ about your eternal destiny.
My honest prayer is that throughout this study you have reflected inwardly and looked at your life and truly been honest with yourself.
And that you have seriously asked yourself the questions:
“Have I been born again?”
“Does my life show evidence of a new birth?”
“Am I a ‘true believer’ or a ‘make believer’?”
NOTE: These are not just ‘ho-hum’ questions that we can just keep putting off…these are serious questions that your eternity will be based on.
Throughout this series I have listed 9 things the Bible says WILL accompany the life of a believer.
***Today I will finish with the last 2, and then I want us to quickly review what we have learned and give ourselves a spiritual inventory.
I. Discernment of Spiritual Error
a. I John 4:1-6 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”
b. I have been preaching that our list contains many ways to ‘test’ our faith
i. This is the only time John actually uses the word “test”
ii. He says to test what we are taught to see if it really lines up with what the Bible teaches
iii. NOTE: This is called ‘spiritual discernment’
c. John emphatically said the main thing that we should concern ourselves with is what is taught about the person of Jesus Christ
i. He says that Jesus is Lord, who came in human flesh, to take away our sins
ii. He was speaking specifically to the Gnostics who taught that Jesus was only spirit, but appeared as flesh
d. Every false religion in the world VIOLATES this test
i. Illustration: “Jesus is an angel/alien/emanation” Suppose someone said, “I believe in Jesus, but I believe He is an angel. Or, “I believe He is a spiritual emanation from God”. Or, “I believe He was an alien”!
ii. Our test of faith is being able to discern between what is right about the person of Christ and what is not
e. NOTE: All of the major sects and false religions lack a commitment to one or both of John’s requirement for orthodoxy which is:
i. (1) Confession of Jesus as the divine Lord
ii. (2) Commitment to Scripture as the Divine Word
1. Example: Scientology, Mormonism, Jehovah Witness and the like all have similar patterns…they attack the person of Christ…and they change and/or add a substitute to God’s Word
2. i.e. ‘Book of Mormon’, ‘Pearl of Great Price’, ‘Science and Health with a Key to the Scriptures’
3. True discerning believers will see that these do not jive with what the Scripture teaches about Jesus or God’s Word
f. NOTE: It is good to be a believer…but it is also good to be a skeptic!
i. v.1 tells us “Do not believe every spirit”
ii. For the sake of your spiritual life and health, don’t believe everything you see, hear and read
iii. Instead ‘test’ the spirits to see if they are really of God
iv. Illustration: “The Trojan Horse” The movie Troy that came out a few years ago was a movie based on an old Greek legend. The Greek armies could not fall the city of Troy because of its massive walls. So they sailed away. But before doing so, they gave a wooden horse as a gift of peace to the people of Troy. Inside the horse were Grecian soldiers, who, in the night opened the gates and allowed their fellow soldiers in and burned the city to the ground.
1. Since then the Trojan horse has been a sign of infiltration and deception.
2. Even computer viruses that sneak into our systems are called “Trojan Horses”
v. Throughout history the Church has had to deal with, in one form or another, Trojan horse teachings filled with false prophets
g. Satan effectively hides his men, disguised as gifts to lure people away from the truth
i. QUOTE: Today’s church is in a severe state of confusion because of weak doctrine, relativistic thinking, worldly methodology, inaccurate Scripture interpretation, lax internal discipline, and spiritual immaturity.
ii. What is needed sorely is for people to start practicing spiritual discernment
h. Illustration: “Labels” Most people are good at discernment in everyday life
i. We read nutritional labels
ii. We read the fine print in our contracts
iii. We make sure we go to the best doctors
iv. We study foreign and domestic affairs
i. And all that is fine…but can we discern spiritual truth from error?
i. You don’t have to be a seminary graduate, or an expert on cults and world religions to distinguish truth from error
ii. What you need is the Holy Spirit inside you to teach you and guide…which is promised at the New Birth
j. QUOTE: If you aren’t swayed from the basic truths of Christ’s divine person, work, and Word, that is a wonderful and powerful ‘birthmark’ of true and saving faith
II. Suffer Rejection Because of Your Faith
a. I John 3:13 “Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.”
b. This last test of true faith is painful
i. Basically the question is simple:
ii. QUESTION: Have you suffered animosity, hostility, bitterness, alienation, ostracism, prejudice or outright persecution for being a representative of Christ?
iii. If so, this is a good sign that you belong to the One who suffered the same for you
c. The Bible says that the world looks upon the Christian with disgust
i. I Corinthians 4:13 “…we have become the scum of the world, the dregs of all things”
ii. Some of you might say, “that seems a bit excessive”
iii. I don’t feel like I am looked down upon for my faith
iv. REASON: The simple reason for that could be you hang out with Christians all the time!
1. NOTE: That is one of our biggest problems in church is that we get friends here, and we forget that a whole world is dying out there!
2. We need to be close to the brethren, without CLOSING out everyone else we could be leading to Christ!
d. QUOTE: Anyone who watches the news, or keeps up with world events, sees that the ethics, morality and the mission of the church (which is to share the Gospel) is being attacked
i. Most all other religions are protected by ‘free speech’ laws
ii. But Christians have been told not to share the Gospel, because if we offend someone, we could get sued
iii. Illustration: “Threatened at Jax Beach” I was with our youth handing out tracts and doing video interviews when a man lost his cool and told me he would kill me if I didn’t listen to what he had to say. (I was ‘all ears’) And he went on to defame me, God and Christianity in general.
1. This is an extreme example, but it makes my point:
2. The Gospel is vile to those who reject it – and if you project it you will, at times, suffer rejection
3. But this rejection can do your heart good, if you understand that God’s Word promises that it can and probably will happen
e. SPECIAL NOTE: It is not considered righteous rejection, if you are rejected for being obnoxious, rude or self righteous!
i. There is absolutely no virtue in that
ii. I Peter 2:20 “For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.”
f. QUOTE: We are not told to actively seek persecution through rudeness or being obnoxious. But if we are living Christ-like in an unchristian world, the Bible says persecution will be something what we have to deal with.
g. We should let it be an encouragement to us, rather than a discouragement… understanding that persecution (while sometimes painful) is a birthmark that we can look at to help us be assured that we are really believers.
CONCLUSION: Remember these birthmarks are all to encourage you in your faith
John wrote these things that we could ‘know’ that we are saved
They are simply guidelines to look at in our lives, to see if we have really had a heart change – or if we are still living the same old life and never had a true conversion
Let’s take a survey over the past five weeks…
1. Do you enjoy fellowship with Jesus and the Father?
2. Are you sensitivity to our sin?
3. Do you live in obedience to God’s Word?
4. Do you reject the evil in the World?
5. Are you eagerly awaiting Christ’s Return?
6. Do you recognize a decreasing pattern of sin?
7. Do you honestly love other Christians?
8. Have you had the experience of answered prayer?
9. Have you had the experience of the ministry of the Holy Spirit?
10. Can you discern between spiritual truth and error?
11. Have you suffered rejection because of your faith?
While none of these save us, these all paint a portrait of what a Christian life is supposed to look like…
But of course, the most important question of all is “have you truly trusted Christ for salvation and made him the Lord of your life?”
You may say ‘yes, but why is my life not producing the fruits that John says it will?”
I encourage you; go back to that time when you believe God made a change in your life
Do you see yourself moving toward Him, or not?
Do you see your life becoming more conformed to God’s Word…or further away?
No one is perfect…I am not…you are not…
These guides are set up in God’s Word to convict us and encourage us
If you have truly come in faith, you should see your life becoming more and more Christ-like…if you haven’t truly come in faith, you won’t.
The question we all must ask ourselves is simple: Do we bear the birthmarks of a true believer?
