The Certainty of Salvation

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Lord's Day message from March 17th, 2024 -Biblical Text: 1 John 5:9-21

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Good morning! 1
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John chapter 5, starting in verse 9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.
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For this is the witness of God, which he has testified of his Son. He who believes in the
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Son of God has the witness in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given of his
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Son. And this is the testimony, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his
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Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the
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Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the
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Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the
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Son of God. Now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
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And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him.
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If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and he will give him life for those who commit the sin not leading to death.
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There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that ye should pray about that.
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All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.
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We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
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We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
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And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding that we may know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his
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Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
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Little children, keep yourselves from idols. And all God's people said, thank you.
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Thank you, Mark. If somebody asked you a question, if you died today, do you know that you would go to heaven?
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If somebody asked you that, what would you say? Do you know? And I'm talking about knowing and not hoping, not, you know, maybe,
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I hope so, I think so. I'm saying, do you know that you would go to heaven?
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Can you know that you're on your way to heaven? So this morning's message from 1
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John chapter 5 is titled, The Certainty of Salvation.
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The Certainty of Salvation. The most important thing for a believer to know, the most important thing is to know that you know.
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You know what I mean? To know that you know, that you know. To have that confidence that you are a child of God, and if you, and whenever you die, or if the
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Lord returns, that you just know that you're on your way to heaven. You see, there's all sorts of people today living the
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Christian life. They're in church. They believe in Jesus. They hope they're going to heaven. They think they're going to heaven. But a lot of people don't have that assurance.
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And this is really what we're talking about this morning. The assurance of salvation.
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I think I preached a message, if I'm remembering correctly, the last time I preached on the assurance of salvation was during 2020.
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And I remember it because I was preaching to an empty church. I was, at that time,
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I was recording the messages and there was nobody here. And I had the camera, and that was really weird. I didn't like it at all.
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So I'd record it here, and then we started doing it outside and all the rest. But for people watching, we never actually shut down, but we did meet outside.
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But I just remember that, well, it's been four years. Can you believe it's been four years since all that started?
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Time flies, but it's worth repeating. It's an important thing to know that you're saved.
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So let's just start with a question. Can somebody know? Because there are churches, religious groups, that would say that you can't know.
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They would say it's a sin to even presume to know. Well, what does the Bible say?
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1 John 5, verse 13. This is the verse that we're going to be focusing on.
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Everything's revolving around this. What does John say? These things I have written to you, who believe in the name of the
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Son of God, that you may, what? That you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the
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Son of God. So we're talking about the certainty of salvation. Just one comment about John's writings, and I appreciate
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John for this, that he actually comes right out and makes it clear that you can know that you're saved, beyond any shadow of a doubt.
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But going back to, you don't have to turn to his gospel, but those of you who are aware of the gospel of John and the purpose of why
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John wrote it, just make a note of this, John chapter 20. So this is his gospel.
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Gospel of John chapter 20, verse 31. He says, but these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the
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Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name.
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So he wrote his gospel so that people would believe in Jesus, that they would believe he is the
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Christ. So if John wrote his gospel so that people would believe, I believe he wrote this epistle so that believers would have assurance that they really are saved.
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So one book is to get people saved. The other is to reassure those who are saved that you really are and you can know and you can walk in full assurance of your salvation.
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Because here's the thing, and you know this, there's a lot of people that believe you can lose your salvation.
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Here's the thing, if that were true, if a person could lose their salvation, yeah, how could you have assurance?
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Because you could be saved today and lost tomorrow. We don't believe that you can lose your salvation because if you could, here's the thing, if you could lose it, you would.
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Because if it depended on you and what you did, well, if I just commit this really serious sin or if I just commit any sin, depending on who you're listening to, that you can lose salvation or if it's really dependent upon you and your performance.
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I don't know about you, but I look in the mirror and I think if salvation is all dependent upon me and my performance,
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I'm in big trouble because I know myself better than anybody and I don't live up to God's perfect standard.
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And neither do you and neither does anyone. So where do we find our assurance? Well, it's not in our performance, it's in God's promises.
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And here he has made a promise that you can know that you're saved. Just one more comment before we go through these verses because I want to look at the context.
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You can't just quote a verse and say, okay, there it is right there. You have to look at the context to make sure what he's saying.
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So just looking at all the verses in context should really reinforce this idea. But this doctrine, this belief, walking in full assurance of your salvation, this is what brings stability to the
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Christian life. Because if you're not really sure, if you're constantly living with doubts, you're going to be up and down, up and down.
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Because you're never really solid, you never really know. The enemy, what he wants to do is he wants to load people down with guilt.
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And we all know what that's like because Satan only has a few tricks up his sleeve.
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I mean, they're very effective, but it's the same tricks. And this is what he does to all of us.
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He wants to weigh us down with guilt. He wants to throw your mistakes, or to say, throw your sins back in your face.
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He wants you to get your eyes off of Jesus and to get your eyes off Christ and get them on yourself, or to get them on something else.
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And as soon as you get your focus off of Christ, yeah, you're going to lack assurance.
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And you're going to think, well, yeah, I did this, and I'm falling short here. And that's the way the enemy works, and we want to know his devices and not fall for them.
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So if we keep our eyes on the Savior and realize that our salvation comes from Christ and we can depend on it because of the promises of God, then we can have this settled hopefully once and for all.
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But let's look at verse 9 just to go back and get the context. Because to get the context of any passages or any passage, any verse, you know what you have to do?
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You have to look at the verses before and after. So John writes in verse 9, If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.
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For this is the witness of God, which he has testified of his son.
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Do you believe other people when they tell you things? Probably depends on who it is.
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We all probably grew up with that friend or that person we knew, and they're just like a habitual liar.
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And, you know, there's some people that you know you really can't trust. But generally speaking, generally speaking, if somebody tells us something, we tend to believe it.
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If somebody said, Hey, don't go this route on the way home because the bridge is out.
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You know, there's a detour. Go this way. You're probably just going to believe what people say. So that's the way it is.
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We believe people, especially if there are two or three witnesses. If there's a group of people saying something.
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What's John writing here? We receive the witness of men. If people tell us something, we believe them.
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How much more should we believe God if he tells us something? So if God's word says you can know that you're saved, why on earth wouldn't you believe it?
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Well, then it gets into what I was just talking about. The devil will weigh you down with guilt and throw things in your face and all the rest.
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But we can know. We just need to trust what God has said because it mentions here that God has testified about what is testified about his son.
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So God above has told us everything we need to know about Christ and salvation.
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It's here in God's word. And if we believe men, we should believe God again.
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If we receive the witness of men, he says the witness of God is what greater.
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And it's not just that God has spoken in the Bible, which I would say is technically enough.
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If God's word, you've heard this, right? God's word says it. I believe it. That settles it.
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Well, I mean, that's true in theory, but it's not just that the
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Bible says it. Paul wrote in Romans 8 16, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
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Sometimes you just know. I realize this is kind of a subjective thing because somebody from some other religion can say that they know for sure.
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Right? So I get it. But there is something about the internal witness of the
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Holy Spirit. Have you ever heard something? You just know it's true. If you ever had that feeling, you're led by the spirit, you know that I need to do this or I shouldn't do that.
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And this is how God works. His spirit confirms with our spirit that we are children of God.
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That's why I say, you know, you can know that you're saved and you can know that, you know, and you can know that, you know, that, you know, that that is a thing.
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So God has testified in scripture that eternal life comes by or through who?
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Jesus. It's not you. It's not how well you keep the 10 commandments. It's not because you've gone through this ritual or done so many good deeds.
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I mean, if it's about doing good deeds, how many good deeds do you need to do? This is the way, you know, this is the way most people believe.
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As long as you do good, long as there is this place, if there is this place called heaven, you'll go as long as you do good.
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Well, how much good do you need to do? See, there's no real, no real answer. And even if you bought into the scale of the good outweighing the bad,
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I mean, you forget things. How would you ever really know if if the good were outweighing the bad?
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Thankfully, that's not where our assurance comes from. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ.
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This is the testimony that God has given the gospel. We find the gospel message about salvation in what?
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Where do you find it? In the new, we say the
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New Testament, right? The New Testament is another word for a new, new covenant.
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What's a covenant? What is a testament? It's a binding agreement or a promise.
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So the gospel is given to us and it's in this thing called the New Testament, which is another way of saying it's
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God's promise to humanity. It's God's promise to the church that whoever calls upon the name of the
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Lord, what shall be saved. Sometimes you just need to get back to the simplicity of the gospel.
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If you believe you are saved. Here's the thing.
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I realize that there's ministries where, you know, you go and you listen to the sermon and it might even be a biblical sermon, but it sounds like the message or the pastor is trying to get people to doubt.
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And I hope you've never heard me and think that that's what I'm trying to do.
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The Bible does talk about, you know, test yourselves, whether or not you're in the faith, make your calling and election.
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Sure, we do need to evaluate ourselves because that is biblical.
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But I just want to sometimes just make a clear statement that, listen, it's as simple as this.
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If you believe you are saved, if you truly believe, because you say, well, what about people who think they're saved, but they're not?
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What about false converts? And we'll get to that in just a moment. But make no mistake about it.
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We are saved by believing and believing only. Right.
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Grace alone through faith alone. Let's go to Ephesians 2. I know we know the passage, but just to clear it up, make sure nobody has any doubt.
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Because Ephesians 2 is probably the most clear statement anywhere in the
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Bible as far as salvation by faith alone. Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9.
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And this is really the great thing about Christianity. You know, it's not complicated. Here's this man,
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Jesus, the son of God, who died on the cross, rose again. Believe in him and you will inherit eternal life.
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I mean, it really can be that simple. So simple, a 5 -year -old child can understand it.
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Pastor, do you really believe that a 5 -year -old can pray a prayer and be saved? Absolutely.
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Absolutely. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace you have been saved through faith.
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And that not of yourselves, it is what? The gift of God. A gift is free, right?
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You don't have to work for a gift. You don't have to earn a gift. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
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So we see Paul saying it's a gift. It's by faith. It's not by works.
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In other words, it's not based on you and your performance. It's not based on you and what you do.
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So this is the great thing about Christianity. It's so simple. A child can understand it. And yet the Bible is so deep, you can spend the rest of your life studying the
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Scripture and never really get beyond scratching the surface. But the gospel call is very simple.
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Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
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So I want to establish that first point before we even get into some of these other things.
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Because John is talking about this sin unto death and what is that about in light of the assurance of salvation.
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So we'll talk about that in a moment. But look at verse 12. John makes another simple, clear statement.
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He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the
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Son of God does not have life. How's that for a simple statement?
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Now what is this life? It's Jesus said, I came that they might have life and life more abundant.
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When does eternal life start? Because if you look at the New Testament, the term saved or salvation really is spoken about in three different ways.
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Saved as in past tense. Saved as in present tense. And then being saved, like we're going to be saved in the future.
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So there's like a past, present and future. So we're saved in a moment of time when we believe in Jesus.
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We are being saved in the sense that the process of sanctification and growing in grace is an ongoing thing in this life.
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And then finally, one day we will be ultimately saved when we get that new resurrected body.
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So I think the best way to explain this, we are saved from sin right now. And that if we died right now, we would go to heaven.
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Saved from sin's penalty. And of course, the Lord gives us the ability to overcome sin in our life.
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But then that gets into the process. So we're being saved. We're being conformed to the image of Christ.
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We're being saved from sin's power, right? We're first saved from sin's penalty. Right now we are being saved ongoing from sin's power.
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We're not all there yet because you still struggle with things. One day though, we will be ultimately saved from sin's very presence.
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But that's in heaven. Now with that said, when were you saved? When you believed, right?
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At some point. So you had eternal life starting when? When you first believed.
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So do you have eternal life right now? Right? Okay. And when does that eternal life end?
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Never. Well, what about when you die? Does it end? Well, your body goes into the grave.
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You know, assuming the Lord doesn't come first. Your body goes into the ground, that's true. But where does your spirit go?
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Absent from the body, present with the Lord. So it really is true that it is life everlasting. And here's the main reason why we don't believe a person can lose their salvation.
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Because we have been given eternal life. How long does eternal life last? This isn't complicated, folks.
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If you've been given eternal life, it goes on forever. If you could lose it, it doesn't actually last forever.
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It could stop. Therefore, if you have eternal life, you can't lose it. Okay. Again, very simple.
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So to have the son, when John says in verse 12, He who has the son has life.
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If you believe in Jesus, you have eternal life right now. And I mean, no matter what happens in this world, no matter what happens in this life, worst possible thing that takes place, you know, some tragic thing.
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You die and now you're in heaven. So it's a good deal. He who has the son has life starting when you believed.
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John 1 verse 12. First, this is the gospel of John 1 12 says,
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As many as received Christ, he gave to them the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name.
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Here's another reason why I believe in the security of the believer and the assurance of salvation.
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Because our connection with God is not performance based.
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It's relationship based. So based on the gospel of John chapter 1 verse 12, what are we?
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If you believe you are a child of God. Okay. Here's the way your job works.
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Unless you got some weird contract or something, or unless you're the owner of the business. Here's the way your job works.
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You show up, you do the job, and you get paid. What happens if you don't show up?
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What happens if you maybe you show up, you just don't do anything. You might be able to get away with that for a little while.
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But if you don't show up and or you don't do your job, guess what? You're getting terminated whether you like it or not.
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That's the way the world is. This is the way a lot of people, their version of love is.
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Well, I love you and my love is unconditional until you do something that I don't like and then I don't love you anymore.
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That's not the way God is. That's not the way God is with the job situation. We are
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God's what? Children. And anyone who's a parent, you know that your love for your children, that love is unconditional.
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Because no matter what they do, I mean they might displease you and we've all displeased our parents.
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But no matter what they do, you will always love them and they will always be your children.
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Can you do anything to stop being your father's child or your mother's child?
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Can you do anything? Why do you think because God isn't our father in the sense that he gave birth to us like with human relationships?
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Why do you think he uses that analogy? If you will, that we are his children and here's our heavenly father.
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Why do you think he does that? Why is that in the Bible so that we know that we are secure in our relationship?
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So again, in the world, in your job, it's performance -based, but our connection with God is relationship -based.
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There's nothing we can do. Once we are a child of God, there is nothing we can do to change that.
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So comparing this verse of 1 John 5 .13,
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when John says, 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
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Son of God. This is the verse where we get our assurance. I mean there's other passages we can look at, but this is the most clear passage.
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But there's something that needs to be pointed out here. Because I know that there's some people, because you've been taught, hopefully you've been taught properly, and when you hear things you think, okay, yeah, but what about this?
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What about that? As I said, no matter what, if you're a child of God, no matter what, you will always be
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God's child. And someone's thinking, yeah, but what about the person who leaves the faith?
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What about the person who turns their back on Christ? I'm going to address that one second.
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Notice what John says here in verse 13. This is the key. The second half of the verse, he says that you may what?
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Continue to believe. If you look back at John's gospel, he talks about that believing you have life in his name.
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It's an ongoing thing. So you're saved once you believe. Here's the thing.
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You have to keep believing. I mean that would be the one, I don't want to say condition, but it's the one thing that brings security is the fact that God always keeps us as his child, but we continue to believe.
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So that is necessary because John's going to get into this other issue about the sin unto death.
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But let's continue reading. First, John, I don't know where the time went. Is that clock right? Five of?
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Okay. All right. I won't worry about it. I got a word. So, um, first John five, 14 and 15.
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So along the, along the lines of assurance. Now he's talking about assurance and confidence in prayer, because if, if God is our heavenly father, we should come to him and ask him things and he should give us what we ask.
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Right? Well, again, remember the parent child relationship. Have you ever asked your parents for something and they said no, but here's why
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I bring this up. And here's why I think John brings it up. This is one reason why some people doubt because they say, you know,
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I've been praying to God. I've been asking him for this. I've been praying for this and God is not answering my prayers.
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I won't ask you to raise your hand. But who has had doubts because God doesn't seem to be answering your prayers.
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Yeah. Not going to ask for a raise of hand, but I know this. I know this is a thing. I won't tell you how
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I know. All right. But, uh, for first John five, 14 and 15, he says, now this is the confidence that we have in him.
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Then if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
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So notice it has to be according to not my will. It has to be according to God's will. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him.
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Okay. So the Lord has promised to answer the prayers of his people.
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Uh, but it has to be according to God's will. So here's the thing.
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Some of you right now, it's been going on a while. You've been praying for something and you're thinking
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God is not answering my prayers, or at least at some point in your life. You've thought that God is not answering my prayers and maybe it causes you to have doubts.
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Okay. Here's the thing. No, is still an answer. Okay. If God says no, is an answer.
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It's not the answer we want, but it is an answer. How many times have your children asked you for something and you said no more times than you can count?
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Because maybe, you know, it's not good for the family in general that you do this. Maybe, you know, if you give them, that's not good for them.
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Maybe you have something better in store. Maybe you're saying no right now, but you'll say yes later on.
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So no is still an answer. Sometimes God says no. Sometimes he says wait. Sometimes he says yes.
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Other times he answers prayer in a surprising way and he does something totally unexpected.
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But no is still an answer. But God does answer prayer. But I think this is a big reason why some people have doubts.
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Because God doesn't give us what we want. But, you know, again, as a parent, if you give your child everything they ask for,
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I mean, who does that? You might know one or two parents and you say they're bad parents and the children are spoiled and all the rest.
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So God is not going to do that to us. All right, let's get into this passage about the sin unto death.
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Because you might say this is the one wrinkle in the whole assurance of salvation thing. What about those people who leave the faith?
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You say, well, they didn't have eternal security if they believed and then they walked away. And now you're saying they're not a
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Christian anymore. Well, again, the assurance of salvation, is it real or not?
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Is it real? Okay, it's real. So let's see what John is saying here. 1 John 5, 16 and 17.
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If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask and he will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.
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There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.
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All unrighteousness is sin and there is sin not leading to death.
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This is admittedly a difficult passage. It's hard to be dogmatic on what
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John is saying. But after studying this, I feel pretty confident what he means.
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Let's establish something right up front. According to Jesus himself, there is such a thing as a false convert, right?
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For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said in Matthew 7, 21 through 23,
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Jesus said, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven.
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Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name?
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And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
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So here you have people, according to Jesus, who say they believe they're calling him
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Lord. He said, I don't even know you and depart from me. OK, so we know based on that and many other passages, there are false converts.
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Just a few observations about the statement from Jesus. Notice these people come to Christ bragging about their accomplishments.
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I've never met a true believer who thinks that when they get in the presence of God, they're going to be bragging about all the good things that they've done.
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If you think you're going to heaven based on your own works and that you're going to brag to God, I submit you don't really understand the gospel.
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Because we're saved by what? Your works? Your performance? No, saved by faith. So a true believer wouldn't do this, number one.
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We also see in that statement that Christ is holding their sins against them.
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So that's proof that they're not forgiven. They're not redeemed. Romans 3 is clear.
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I mean, we all fall short. So we have sin and Jesus doesn't hold it against us because we've been forgiven that they have not been forgiven.
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So all that to say this, there is such a thing as a false convert. All right, so 1
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John 5, just trying to bring this to a conclusion. What about this question about the false convert?
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Does that make the assurance of salvation impossible? No, it doesn't because if something is true, it's true despite this thing over here.
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So what is John talking about with the sin unto death? There's a lot of different views.
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I already preached on this a Sunday night a few months ago. I'm not going to go through that. But the more
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I look at this, the more I look at it in context, the people John is speaking about who commit the sin unto death.
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At this point, I believe what John is saying is he's talking about those who commit the sin that we call apostasy or falling away from the faith.
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Let's go back to chapter 2 of John's epistle, 1 John 2, verse 19, because John is dealing with all of these different subjects.
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1 John 2, 19, he says about such people who fall away from the faith. He says, they went out from us, but they were not of us.
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For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us.
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So a person who walks away from faith in Christ, according to John, they were never really a true believer to begin with.
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So what does that mean? The believer still has assurance. The person who walks away never really believed.
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And let's go back to chapter 5, 1 John chapter 5.
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And I'll try to make this clear in a moment, but 1 John 5, 13. Remember that thing that John said you have to do?
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What is it? Continue, continue to believe. So that means
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I do have to do something. Okay, let's break this down real simple. Is faith a work?
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Faith is not a work. You are saved by what? Faith.
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Grace through faith. All you have to do is keep having faith.
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That's it. Faith is not a work. So it's not based on you. You are continuing to believe.
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It has nothing to do with good works. The true believer will continue to believe. All right.
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Jesus said in John 10, 27 through 30. He said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
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And I give them eternal life. How long does eternal life last? Forever. And they shall never perish.
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Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all.
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And no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. And I and my
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Father are one. The point is, a true believer is never going to depart from the faith.
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Jesus, according to him, we are secure. Nobody can change that. Paul said in Romans 8, 38 and 39.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
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Lord. Now, do you believe that? Do you believe in Jesus? You're saved. You have eternal life.
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You will never lose it. Last time. I know I'm being repetitive.
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What about the person who walks away? Here's the thing. The person who walks away doesn't really believe that, even right now.
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They tell others they do. They might even tell themselves that at certain points, but they don't really believe.
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Because if they truly believed, they would be saved. Right? Friends, this isn't complicated.
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If you're saved. Now, if you believe in Jesus, you're saved. You'll always be saved.
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And you can walk in the full assurance of your salvation. And he goes on, just to finish the context, verse 18.
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We know that whoever is born of God does not sin. And then you say, oh no, but I've sinned.
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That must mean I'm not born of God. That's not what he's talking about. It cannot be.
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Because we've already established in John's Gospel, Romans 3, that every believer sins.
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What's he saying? The true believer doesn't commit the sin unto death. The true believer doesn't fall away from the faith.
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But he who has been born of God, John says, keeps himself. Keeps himself.
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And I would argue, based on Jesus, we're kept because Christ is. He's keeping us.
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From our vantage point, we're keeping ourselves. But Jesus is keeping us. And the wicked one does not touch him.
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Isn't that good news? Nothing. Satan can make your life difficult. I mean, that's true.
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But there's nothing he can do to separate you from the love of God. So, if you believe, you're saved.
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And if you're saved, you will always be saved. This is the confidence and the certainty that we have of our salvation.
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Amen. Let's close. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this truth that John gives in his epistle.
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One of the greatest truths that we find in the Scripture. Lord, if we walk by faith, not by sight, we can face each new day knowing that nothing can separate us from your love.
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You are our Father. We are your children. Nothing can change that. Help each and every person here to walk in the full assurance of their salvation.
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And Lord, if there's someone listening who they know in their heart they have never truly believed in the
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Gospel, I pray that your Holy Spirit would change their heart even at this very moment that they would finally come to that place where they are no longer an unbeliever but a believing one.
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And if they do that, they will be given the gift of everlasting life.