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Salvation,
Part 3, How Can I Know I Am Saved?
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For the past three weeks we've been
talking about salvation.
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We have looked at what salvation is;
we have seen that Jesus Christ is the source of salvation; and we have looked
at how to be saved.
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Today, were going to explore how we
can know that we are saved.
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In other words, how can I have
assurance that I am saved?
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Knowing that you are truly saved is
not easy because we cannot anchor our salvation in our feelings.
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Salvation is not based on feelings but
upon God's word.
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If I just go based upon my feelings,
then my faith will be shaken because my faith must not be in how I feel or how
others make me feel. My faith must be in Jesus Christ alone.
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In the letter of 1 John, the apostle
gives three tests that show whether or not I am saved.
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Now, all of us will fall short of
passing these tests many times in our lives.
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Christians are sinners on the
journey to becoming perfect saints, and none of us reach perfection in this
life, which is why John reminds us that we must not take our salvation too
lightly.
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As Paul wrote in Philippians 2:12,
we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
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Let's take a look at the first test, The Test of
Obedience.
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The first part of the test of obedience
is: Assurance Comes from Obeying the Lord's Commands.
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1John
2:3-5 say, "And we can be sure that we know him
if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, 'I know God,' but doesn't obey
God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But
those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. That is how
we know we are living in him." (NLT)
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The evidence that we know God is
that we obey his commands.
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But we don't get to know God by
obeying, rather we obey because we know God.
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The root of new life is knowing God,
while the fruit of new life (at least in part) is obeying God.
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Why is obedience evidence that we
know God? It's because living an obedient life is unnatural.
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What is natural for a sinful person
is to lead a sinful life.
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So, when we see someone living
obediently, it is evidence that the obedient person knows God and that God is
at work changing his or her life.
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What about those who claim to be
Christians but have no desire to obey God's word? John says such people are not
being honest with themselves.
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Saved people have the Holy Spirit
living within them, convicting them of sin when they disobey God.
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We know that we are in Christ and
belong to him when we obey his word.
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When we obey God, we know that God
is maturing our love for him.
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The second part of the test of
obedience is: We Obey Because We Love God.
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John 5:2-3 say, "We know we love God's
children if we love God and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his
commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome." (NLT)
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Loving God is not just a feeling,
rather loving God creates action.
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Saying that we love God without
action to back it up is not saying much, but actions that prove our love for
God make a difference.
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The evidence of salvation is in the
reality that the believer desires to obey God's word.
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Will we obey perfectly? No, we will
fail; we will sin, but we will also be convicted when we do because we desire
to obey God's word.
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The unsaved may try to obey God, but
their obedience does not come from loving God. Their obedience comes from
guilt, fear, a desire to look good to others, and the like.
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That brings us to our second test, The Test of Love.
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The first part of the test of love
is negative, Love Not the World.
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John 2:15-17 say, "Do not love the world or
the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is
not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the
desires of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the
world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does
the will of God abides forever." (ESV)
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The true believer is not to love the
world because the love of the Father and the love of the world cannot be in the
believer at the same time.
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But what is the "world"
that Christians are not to love?
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It's not God's creation because God
has commanded us to enjoy his creation and to look after it.
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It's not sinful people because God
has commanded us to love them and point them to Christ.
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So what is the "world" we
are not to love? It is the world system which rebels against and opposes God.
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So what does it mean to be worldly?
People have a natural tendency toward labeling things, objects, or activities
as worldly.
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Now while some things are definitely
sinful, others are not.
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Therefore, to be worldly is not
something outside us, rather it is something within us; to be worldly is how we
respond and react to the world in which we live.
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Things do not sin; people sin.
Televisions, computers, bank accounts, music, books, magazines, etc., do not
sin.
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Only you and I sin, and that sin or
worldliness happens when we relate to the world in a sinful way.
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Worldliness is how we respond inside
to the world outside us.
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"Looking out for number one,"
"if it feels good do it," and "more is better" are worldly
values.
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Those values include "the
desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life," as
John called them.
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John was pointing out that all kinds
of sinful cravings, greedy desires and the attitude of self-sufficiency and boastful
arrogance that come from sin are from loving the world, not from loving God.
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We can try to make a checklist of
worldly things that we should not do, but the problem with checklists is this:
when keeping the list is what's important, then we don't keep our hearts.
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When keeping the list is what's
important, then we don't keep our hearts.
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Worldliness is a matter of our
hearts' desires. Will we center our heart's desire on God who is eternal, or
will we focus our hearts' desires on the things of the world that will one day
be destroyed?
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The second part of the test of love
is: Love the Brothers and Sisters.
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1
John 3:14 says, "If we love our Christian brothers
and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who
has no love is still dead." (NLT)
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First, John told us not to love the
world, now John tells us who we are to love, our Christian brothers and
sisters.
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True Christians love other
believers. We can live for the things the world loves, or we can love God and
love his people.
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Love for our brothers and sisters in
Christ shows that we belong to the family of God.
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The third part of the test of love
is: Love God.
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John 4:8, 20-21 say, "But anyone who does not
love does not know God, for God is love." & "If someone says, ' I
love God,' but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for
if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their
Christian brothers and sisters." (NLT)
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Real Christians love each other
because they love God. And the only reason we can love God is because God loved
us first (1John 4:19).
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How do we know if we really love
God? We know that we really love God not merely by what we say but by what we
do.
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The way we show we love God is by
loving others.
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When we serve others based on God's
love for us, then we know we love God.
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The third test is: The Test of Belief.
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The test of belief is focused on who
Jesus is.
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The first part of the test of belief
is: Jesus Came in a Real Body.
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John 4:2-3 say, "This is how we know if
they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges
that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But
if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about
Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the
Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already
here." (NLT)
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The Bible says that there are two
"spirits" in the world: the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of
Antichrist.
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Those led by the Spirit of Christ
will profess that Jesus Christ came in a real body.
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When we believe that Christ came in
a real body as the historical person, Jesus of Nazareth, and that he was the true
Messiah of Israel and the Son of God, it shows that our faith in him is real.
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The second part of the test belief
is: Jesus is the Christ.
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John 5:1 says, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is
the Christ has become a child of God. Everyone who loves the Father loves his
children, too." (NLT)
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Those who truly are God's children
are those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, and that Jesus is
who he said he was and that he can do what he said, which is, take away our
sins and give eternal life by restoring our relationship with God.
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Jesus said, "And this is
eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you
have sent." (John 17:3, ESV)
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The third part of the test of belief
is: Jesus Is the Son of God.
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John 5:10 says, "All who believe in the Son of God
know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don't believe this
are actually calling God a liar because they don't believe what God has
testified about his Son." (NLT)
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The only way we can claim to be
children of God is if we believe what God has revealed about his Son, Jesus
Christ.
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Jesus is not just a man. Jesus is
the resurrected and glorified Son of God.
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If we reject the Lord Jesus and
refuse to believe in him, that is the same as calling God a liar, and God has
told us who Jesus is and instructed us to believe in him.
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Let's go back to our question for
today: How can I know I am saved?
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What have we learned?
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I
can know I am saved when I obey, love, and believe Jesus Christ.
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Let's look at two short passages
from this letter of 1 John that summarize what we learned today.
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John 3:22-23, "And we will receive from him
whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. And this
is his commandment: we must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and
love one another, just as he commanded us." (NLT)
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And 1 John 5:1-3, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ
has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his
children, too. We know we love God's children if we love God and obey his
commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments
are not burdensome." (NLT)
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In both of these passages, we see
all three tests: the test of obedience, the test of love, and the test of
belief.
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How can I know I am saved?
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I
can know I am saved when I obey, love, and believe Jesus Christ.
