THE BELIEVER'S ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

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Topic 10: The Believer's Privilege of Having Assurance, or Knowing that He Has Eternal Life.

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POINT 10: John wrote his first Epistle to those who believe in the name of the Son of God, for the express purpose that they may know that they have eternal life. Anyone who believes in the name of the Son of God may know that he has eternal life.

1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

To deny the possibility of the believer's knowing that he has eternal life, is to say that the first Epistle of John was written in vain, and is to insult the Holy Spirit, who is its real author.

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POINT 20: The believer may know that he is justified from all things; for the Word of God says so.

Acts 13:39 Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

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POINT 30: The believer may know that he is a child of God; for the Word of God says that he is.

John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

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Topic 20: How We may Know that We have Eternal Life.

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POINT 10: We may know that we have eternal life through what is written -- through the testimony of God Himself in the Bible, especially in the first Epistle of John.

1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

The testimony of Scripture is the testimony of God. This is widely questioned today, even by professing Christians. It is nonetheless true. Many of us know it to be true; all may know it to be true. What doe the Scriptures say about the believer's having salvation and eternal life?

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

John 5:24 I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

John 6:47 I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.

Acts 10:43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

Acts 13:38-39 [38] "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. [39] Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

Now we know whether we believe or not, whether we have that real faith in Christ that leads us to receive Him. If we have this faith in Christ we have God's own written testimony that we have eternal life, that our sins are forgiven, that we are children of god. The word "know" (a translation of two different Greek words) is found twenty-seven times in the first Epistle of John.

1 John 5:10-12 [10] Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. [11] And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Anyone who does not believe God's testimony that He has given us eternal life, and that this life is in His Son, and that he who has the Son has the life, makes God a liar. It is sometimes said, "It is presumption for anyone to say he knows he is saved, or to say he knows he has eternal life." Is it presumption to believe God? Is it not rather presumption not to believe God, to "make God a liar?" When Jesus said to the one who was a sinner "Your sins are forgiven" (Luke 7:48), was it presumption for her to go out and say "I know my sins are forgiven?" Is it any more presumption for a believer today to say "My sins are forgiven, I have eternal life," when God says in His permanent, written testimony to "everyone who believes " "you are justified from all things" (Acts 13:39), "you have eternal life"? (John 3:36; 1 John 5:13) It is the blood of Christ that makes us safe, it is the word of God that makes us sure. (Exodus 12:13)

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POINT 20: We know that we have passed out of death into life from the testimony of the life itself.

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

A man who is physically alive knows it from the consciousness of the life itself that is coursing through his veins. Men may try to convince him that he is dead but he knows he is alive. Just so spiritually. The life of love is the life of God, is eternal life. (1 John 4:7, 16) Selfishness is death. Therefore, he who really loves his brethren, knows that he has passed "out of death into life." He knows it by the testimony of the life itself.

NOTE: It is important to notice, however, what God's tests of love are. They are given in the immediately following verses:

1 John 4:16-18 [16] And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. [17] In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. [18] There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Laying down our life for those we love is the supreme test. This may be done by actually dying in their stead when there is a call for that, as there often is. It may also be done by putting our life at their disposal and using it for them. There is always call for this. The everyday test of love is, giving what you have of this world's good to meet the known need of others. The one who knows a brother who has need while he himself has that which will meet this need, and does not give it; such a one cannot say he has love for the brethren, and cannot know that he has passed out of death into life by the evidence of the life itself. How much more practical and searching are the Bible tests of love of the brethren than those we hear so much in modern prayer meetings -- e.g., "I love the brethren, I love to meet with them and hear their testimony. No place is so precious to me as the gathering together of God's people." Are you laying down your life for the brethren? Are you giving what you have to meet the need of others?

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POINT 30: We know that we are the children of God because the Spirit Himself bears witnesses together with our spirit that we are.

Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

QUESTION: What is the testimony of the Spirit?

ANSWER:

Galatians 4:6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."

When we have accepted Christ and come out from under the bondage of the law into sonship, and thus become sons, God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts as a personal presence, and this Spirit of the Son in our hearts cries "Abba, Father." He thus bears witness along with our spirit to our sonship. This comes after faith, resting upon the bare word of God. Many are looking for the testimony of the Spirit before they will accept the testimony of God's written word. This is the inversion of God's order.

See also Ephesians 1:13-14 [13] And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession -- to the praise of his glory.

We have, then, a threefold ground of assurance: the testimony of God in the written Word, the testimony of the life itself, the testimony of the Spirit. The testimony of the Word alone is sufficient, and we must accept the testimony of the bare Word to start with. Then we get also the testimony of the life and, to crown all, the testimony of the Spirit. With this threefold ground of assurance, is it presumption to say "I know I am a child of God, I know I have eternal life?"

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Topic 30: How to Obtain Assurance.

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POINT 10: In order to have well-grounded assurance of eternal life we must "believe in the name of the Son of God.""

1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

There are doubtless many who say they know they have eternal life who do not really believe in the name of the Son of God. This is not true assurance. It has no sure foundation in the word of Him who cannot lie. If we wish to get assurance of salvation we must first get saved. The reason why many do not have assurance that they are saved is because they are not saved. They should't have assurance. What they need first is salvation. Many workers in dealing with others make the great mistake of trying to press them to the point of saying they know they are saved before it is clear that they are saved.

(b) We obtain assurance of eternal life through what is "written," therefore in order to obtain assurance we should study the Word. The assurance that rests upon our states of feeling will come and go as those states vary. But the assurance that rests upon the unchanging Word of God will be intelligent and steadfast. Ignorance of the Word of God is one of the greatest sources of the lack of assurance.

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POINT 20: We obtain assurance by believing God's testimony.

Merely studying the word will not bring assurance. We must believe it as well as studying it.

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POINT 30: In order to have assurance we should live out a life of love; love not merely in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:14-20 [14] We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. [15] Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. [16] This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. [17] If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? [18] Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. [19] This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence [20] whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

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POINT 40: In order to obtain the witness of the Spirit together with that of our spirit we should give ourselves up to be led by the Spirit.

Verse 16 in Romans 8 is clearly dependent upon verse 14, and it is only those who know verse 14 as a personal experience who can expect to know verse as a personal experience. It is also clearly implied by the connection with verse 17, that it is in suffering together with Christ that we especially enjoy the assurance of sonship by the Spirit's testimony and the assurance that we shall be glorified together with Him.

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