How Do I Know I'm A Christian?

We know statements in just these few verses.

If you look down at verse 13, as I just read, he says, uh he uses the statement that we may know that we have eternal life.

In verse 15, he says, and if we know that he hears, he says, if you're in Christ, we we know that God listens to our prayers and does something in light of our requests.

In verse 18 and 19, he uses the statement, verse 18, we know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin.

In verse 19, we know that we are of God.

And in verse 20, similar, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding.

So John is saying, there are a lot of things if you are in Christ that you can know with confidence if you are in Christ.

So John is essentially giving us guidance.

If you think about the Gospel of John, for example, the term he uses most often to describe Jesus' miracles is he refers to them as signs.

And in his gospel, he's trying to show these signs are meant to authenticate Jesus' message, that he has ushered in the kingdom of God and he is the Son of God.

And here in 1 John, he is right in giving us guidance so that we can know, have confidence that we are truly born of God.

Guidance is important, isn't it?

We should be appreciative that the Father has given us guidance to know the things that he desires for us to know.

Some of you are of a younger demographic where you don't know what it's like to have to go somewhere you've never been before, and you have to go to this website called mapquest.com, type in the address, and you have to print out physical directions and follow them to a T.

And there is no, if you make a wrong turn, oh, it's just going to recalibrate.

Nope.

Trust God and hope you make it.

But God is gracious.

He doesn't send his children on some kind of spiritual scavenger hunt in the Christian life to figure out how we can know some of these important things about our Christian faith.

Like, how can we with confidence know we are in Christ?

Who is Christ?

How can I be reconciled back to God through the forgiveness of my sins?

And so the main question I want us to address this morning is how do I know that I'm a Christian?

How do I know that I am a Christian?

So underneath that is discussing the doctrine of assurance.

I love how theologian Luke Stamps defines assurance.

He says, assurance of salvation is a God-given confidence for every true believer in Christ of their present approval and future acceptance by their father.

Assurance of salvation is a God-given confidence for every true believer in Christ of their present approval and future acceptance by their father.

Now, there is a lot going on in just these few concluding verses.

He talks about, for example, in verse 14, effective or efficacious prayer.

The fact that if you, this is a wonderful reality, Christian, this morning, if you're in Christ, to know that because you are in Christ, you can confidently go to the Father in prayer, and He delights to listen to you and He will give you what you ask.

But there's a condition, isn't there?

God's not a genie in the sky, He's not a spiritual vending machine.

He will give you in accordance with His will.

But then we also get this language about, you know, if anyone sees a fellow believer committing a sin, that we, uh church members, church family, when we see that person, our prayers are so effective that we can pray on their behalf and God will answer that prayer to redeem or restore that brother, so to speak, to bring them to repentance and draw him back or her back to himself.

But John also makes some odd, maybe uncomfortable statements, doesn't he?

Because he says essentially, if you're in Christ, you don't sin, my paraphrase.

Now you might read that and be like, oh snaps, I'm in trouble then.

Because I know for a fact I sinned on the way to church this morning.

But John is not talking about, again, we want to keep everything in context.

You want to be a good Bible student.

What has John been saying throughout this whole letter?

And we know that he's been making a clear argument for those who have an ongoing pattern of habitual sin that they do not repent of, should not, those types of people should not have confidence that they are truly born again.

So again, this whole letter is John helping these Christians answer that question: how can they have confidence that they are a Christian?

And I have beaten this like a dead horse, but John gives these three tests, these three means in which you can examine yourself and have confidence whether or not you should have assurance.

And those three tests, you guys should be able to recite them back to me by now.

Belief in Jesus, obedience to Jesus, and loving Jesus' people.

That is that is that that is John's argument to a T.

Belief, right belief in Jesus, obedience to Jesus, and loving Jesus' people.

So let me let me qualify these.

When John is talking about belief in Jesus, he's not talking about like a kind, respectful, honorable nod to Jesus.

I think you know I'm still getting used to living in the quote unquote Bible belt here in the South.

But here we have a lot of nominal Christianity where there's a lot of people who have like, you know, affinity for Jesus, but they they're not truly trusting in Jesus as the object of their salvation.

He is not Lord over their lives.

So when John talks about believing in Jesus, he's not talking about just having a general heart posture of like, I'm pro-Jesus.

Like I kind of like the teachings of Christ.

Uh, I appreciate some aspects of the Bible.

That's that is not belief in Jesus.

True belief is you have hung your eternity on the person and work of Jesus Christ.

He is the object of your salvation.

Uh imagine it like this.

Uh, me and my kids were just doing a study through the Gospel of Mark, and there was a funny illustration in this book we were using that talked about like a professional tightrope walker who, let's say, is performing an act between two skyscrapers.

And first he walks across the tightrope holding one of those, you know, those little balance uh beams, and then he does it again on one of those little fancy one-wheel tricycle thingies or bicycle, whatever you call it.

But then he does it again holding a big barrel over, you know, his head.

And let's say you're there observing this, you're watching the show, you're celebrating this guy, you're like, wow, this guy's a pro.

And he looks at you and says, Okay, now my final act is I'm gonna cross the typerope with a wheelbarrow and someone in it.

And he looks at you and says, Do you think I can do this?

And you're like, Well, sure.

I just watched you do it several times.

You're a professional, you do this for a living.

Yes, I believe you can do it.

And he looks at you and says, Then get in the wheelbarrow.

That'll really show in that moment, wouldn't it, whether you truly have faith in this person's abilities.

True faith in Jesus is you have clung, you have clung to him for your eternity, and your faith is in him as the object of your faith.

But John talks about that second test being obedience to Jesus, joyful obedience to the Lord, though all of us do it as flawed sinners.

No one obeys the Lord perfectly.

None of us in this room has arrived.

We are all works in progress.

This is why I think it's more helpful to think of sanctification as a trajectory more than a destination.

So some of you in this room, we are all in different stages in our sanctification.

Some of you in this room right now, you might be sprinting in the right trajectory, pursuing Jesus out of your love for him.

Others might be skipping in the right trajectory.

Some of us might be crawling on our knees in the right trajectory.

Sometimes you might be in a season where you are just sitting down, but at least you're staring in the right trajectory.

Others of us are army crawling in the right trajectory, but guess what's true of all those categories I just described?

Every last one is heading in the right trajectory.

And God is sovereign over our sanctification.

But we can't say we believe in Jesus if we don't obey Jesus.

John makes clear that is an oxymoron.

Oh, trust and obedience go hand in hand.

Your joyful obedience gives evidence to the fact that you believe in Jesus.

Thomas Watson says that sanctification is the seed, assurance is the flower which grows out of it.

He's essentially saying there, your joyful obedience to the Lord and your growth in sanctification over time should give confidence that you have assurance, that you have been born again because you are bearing fruits in keeping with repentance.

This is why it's important when John mentions this sin that leads to death.

We won't get into all the wheezy that some get all hung up on the language there.

But essentially you got to remember the context.

He is writing to a group of Christians who are spiritually struggling because they saw people who once were a part of the church community using the same Christian vocabulary they were using, saying they believed in Jesus, and now they have left the church, they have uh treated people poorly, and they are believing in a some kind of mystical.

We don't, John doesn't give us all the details, but we have some contextual clues.

But it seems that they were claiming some supernatural revelation, saying, no, we are Christians, we believe in this Jesus, but you also need to believe in this.

And John says they went out from us because they were never of us.

And he's using this language of like, hey, there is sin that leads to death, and there's sin that doesn't lead to death.

Pray for the person who might be succumbing to the sin that does not lead to death.

I think contextually what he's getting at there is uh because obviously he's writing to Christians and he's saying, pray for your brother or sister.

So these aren't people who are unbelievers.

So think about this.

We all have a ministry of prayer in this church.

If we ever see one of our brothers and sisters ensnared with temptation and sin, we have a mandate and a joyful privilege to pray on their behalf, like Lord, bring them to the end of themselves.

Help them see the emptiness of that sin and temptation that they're currently ensnared with and bring them to a place of genuine repentance and restoration to your heart.

So and he and he uses that language of but a sin leading to death.

Contextually, I would assume it seems what he's saying contextually is he's saying, and again, this isn't a I I've read some scholars who take this negatively as if John is saying, so those people who did apostasize, who left the church, don't pray for them.

I don't think that's what he's getting at.

He leaves the door open, I would say.

No, you we can pray for their salvation.

I think of uh Paul and I think it's 2 Timothy, where he gives us warning, like the man or woman of God is not to be quarrelsome, but he's specifically talking about false teachers, like how we interact with false teachers.

And he's like, be careful, because what if God grants them repentance?

So we should pray even for those we might know who walk away from the faith, embrace false teaching, we can still pray for God's kindness to lead them to repentance.

But our sanctification is a real aspect of whether or not we should have confidence that we are in Christ.

But then that third test is that we love Jesus' people.

Now, friends, we cannot look at this list John gives us and pick and choose.

Like, ah, I like the first two, but I don't really like people.

I'm not doing that one.

That's not how it works.

The whole system comes together.

You believe in Jesus, you obey Jesus, and you love Jesus' people.

So we can't play the game, you know, oh, well, you know, I'm introverted, I just really don't like people.

Okay, well then repent and change.

Love the people that God has placed in your life.

It is a marker as to whether or not you are truly born again.

And so if you are claiming the name of Jesus, that you believe in Jesus as the Son of God who died for your sins, and you're striving to obey the Lord, but you don't love Jesus' people, Jesus will look at you very confused.

And I would be concerned for your soul and ask, what do you mean by saying you're a disciple of Christ if you don't love other disciples of Christ?

And I know it's difficult, but it's just like a real family.

When you come to faith in Christ, you inherit brothers and sisters in Christ.

You didn't choose these people, you receive these people.

And every last one of them is a gift.

Just receive that.

But there are, I would say, two grounds for our assurance.

One is objective, and the other is subjective.

Now, that list I just read, these three tests that we see throughout 1 John, I would say are largely objective tests of assurance as whether or not we should have confidence.

But I do believe there is a subjective grounds, but I would say the main grounds should be objective.

So let me just unpack these.

The objective grounds is this is the part that rests entirely outside the Christian.

It is based on the promises of God and the gospel and the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross on your behalf.

That is the objective ground for your assurance.

And I think there are three main interconnected doctrines here: the doctrine of adoption.

If you are in Christ, you've been adopted into the household of God.

The doctrine of union with Christ, Romans 6, when you come to faith in Christ, you are baptized into Christ, you share in his life, death, uh, baptism, resurrection, and ascension.

And then, third, the sufficient work of Christ on the cross.

If Jesus died on your behalf, that is the grounds of your assurance, not primarily what you subjectively feel inside.

But I don't want to negate that there is a subjective grounds, but we got we got to get the objective grounds right, don't we?

What we believe theologically is very important to our Christian lives, to whether or not we have confidence that we are born again.

We should understand what it means to be justified, to be adopted, to be united to Christ.

How should I understand what Jesus accomplished in his earthly ministry, his death on the cross, and his resurrection?

How does that give me confidence as a Christian that I am truly in Christ?

But then, secondly, we have a subjective grounds for our assurance, for our confidence.

And this part is experience within the heart and mind of the believer.

It includes things like the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, testifying with your spirit that you are a child of God and the visible fruit of a changed life, such as are you seeing the fruits of the spirit?

Love, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control.

Are you seeing these things over time mature and be exuded from your life?

If so, according to the Bible, I would suggest that that is evident subjectively that you are born again.

Now I'll get in into into this in a moment.

Some some caveats about the subjective grounds, but I'm just giving a summary overhew overview here.

These are helpful when we are wrestled, because many of us in this room, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, at some point you probably have wrestled with assurance.

Should I have assurance that I'm a Christian?

Have I lost my salvation?

Have I done something to cause God to revoke his love for me?

Or maybe you look at your own sin and become less confident that you truly are born again.

Or maybe your flesh and the enemy reminds you of your sinful past before you came to faith in Christ.

And it haunts you.

And you wonder, am I truly saved?

And I'm here to say, according to 1 John, he wants you, Christian, to know that God desires for you to have confidence that you are his child.

And this isn't just my words.

Look down at verse 13 again.

I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

So, Christians, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

So if the word of God, inspired by God, says those things right there on the pages of scripture you're staring at, then the clear implication is that your heavenly father wants you to have confidence that you have eternal life.

And praise God for that.

The Baptist Catechism, question 39, says this What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?

The answer: the benefits which accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification in this life are assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

What that is saying is the benefits that you receive by way of your salvation, your adoption, your justification are assurance of God's love.

Peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance to the end until the Lord returns and glorifies his name.

These are things that God wants you to have.

These are gifts from your Heavenly Father to His children.

The London Baptist Confession of Faith says this on the foundation of our assurance.

It says this certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel, and also upon the inward evidence of those graces of the Spirit unto which promises are made, and on the testimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God, and as a fruit thereof, keeping the heart both humble and holy.

Now notice how, in all those statements I'm reading, the main ground of confidence for assurance is outside the Christian, not primarily inside the Christian.

You tracking with me?

So let's apply this doctrine a little bit.

Because I there this can be a little controversial in some circles.

So for example, what we're not saying, what John is not saying, is assurance is not arrogance.

I think some ask the question like, can I a hundred percent know for a fact that I am a Christian?

And I just think that's a poorly worded question.

But rather, a better question would be things like, How can I have confidence based on what the Word of God says?

I don't think as Christians we have like some when you come to faith, God gives you like a spiritual passport.

And you can just pull it out and like, yeah, I know.

I'm a see I got a badge here, right?

It's like, no, there are seasons in our lives where maybe our confidence will ebb and flow subjectively, depending on what you're going through.

If you're suffering, if you're struggling with sin and temptation, your confidence might lessen in its in its inward power and influence.

But uh assurance is not arrogance because God wants you to know that you are in Christ, that you have eternal life.

So let's apply this a little bit as John has all throughout this letter.

So, with those three tests, here's a few applications.

Number one, we talked about this last week.

Assurance, confidence in the faith, knowing whether or not you're a Christian is a community project, isn't it?

Which is why I would encourage everyone in this room who's a member of this church, let us all find joy in a ministry of encouragement.

If you see something, say something.

If you see the redemptive, sanctifying work in the life of another member of this church, say something.

Encourage them in their walk.

Brother or sister, I see God's grace in your life.

I see the Lord helping you grow to be more patient with your family.

I see the Lord using his word to strengthen you as the leader of your home, as a wife and mother.

When we encourage one another, it is a ministry of encouragement to help people persevere in the faith.

And it could be a means of grace to help that brother or sister feel encouraged and to move forward in holiness.

And some of you, and again, this is a community project, so let's just be honest.

When we're by ourselves, we are the holiest people we've ever met.

When we're around other people, we get a more sobering, honest picture of where we're truly at.

And that is not a bad thing, that is a loving thing.

I mean, I'm sure I speak for most of the people in this room.

Before I got married and had kids, I thought I was one of the kindest, most patient, godliest people I knew.

And then you get married and add kids, and I realize I am not as patient and loving and godly as I thought.

If there is no tension, if there is no affliction, well, then there's no refining process.

And you get a jaded perspective of where you stand.

So all those difficulties you face in your marriage, all those difficulties you have in parenting or in inner, you know, in relationships within the church, brothers and sisters, that is a means of God's grace to you to mold you into the image of Jesus Christ.

Receive it, submit to it, and ask the Lord to sanctify you.

But let us take on a ministry of encouragement, building each other up in the faith.

This is even in our church covenant.

We want to stir one another up to love and good deeds.

But let me speak also to the troubled believer in the room.

Many of you sometimes you might hear what I'm saying and you agree on paper.

I agree, Cam, that's what the Bible teaches, but I don't feel saved.

I don't feel God's love.

I don't feel confident that I should have assurance of my salvation.

And I think that's this could be influenced by a few things.

I think some of us are overly introspective.

We we go looking like detectives in our own hearts for every sin imaginable.

And sometimes we see Too much sin and brokenness.

And we wallow in like this self-pity and say, Woe is me.

God can't love someone like me.

I certainly can't have assurance because I am a broken sinner.

And to you, I would just graciously say, Welcome to the club.

Every person in this room who is in Christ is still a work in progress.

We are still broken people helping other broken people find hope and help in Jesus Christ.

Holiness and assurance isn't about being perfect.

And don't hear what I'm not saying.

If you are pursuing sin and temptation with no restraint, if you're not turning from sin and turning to Jesus Christ, yeah, maybe God in his grace is removing that experiential sense of assurance to bring you to repentance.

But I'm talking about the struggling believer who just subjectively, they're they're introspectively looking at their sins and just beating themselves up saying, There's no way I'm saved because look at how broken I am, look at how weak I am, or look what I did before Jesus saved me.

Certainly he will one day, you know, take his receipt and cash in and return me, so to speak, even though he purchased me on the cross.

I think those same saints, some of you can sometimes overlook evidence of God's grace in your life.

Because you're so introspective, you're looking for brokenness that you miss out on evidence of God's sanctifying work in your life.

And that can rob God of his glory and rob you of your joy in the Lord and what he's been doing in your life.

So you can go to one end, be overly introspective, or to the other and overlook evidence of God's grace in yourself, which is why, brothers and sisters, what a privilege it is to have a ministry of encouragement, to step in the gap, so to speak, and to tell someone what they don't see in themselves.

Like, yes, I understand you're still wrestling with that same area of temptation, but since I've known you, man, I've seen the growth in your life, brother and sister, and I praise God for what he is doing and will continue to do.

Do you know how like that could just invigor somebody, just being on the receiving end of such encouragement?

So we must minister to the troubled believer.

Let me ask you a question Was it Noah's subjective emotions and feelings that saved him in the flood, or the fact that he was in the ark?

Think about that.

Imagine if Noah and his family went on the ark anxious, scared, like I don't know if this is really gonna work.

Been building this big old boat for years, but they still in faith get on the ark.

Are they not gonna be saved because oh well you weren't like you weren't powerfully believing, right?

No, no, no, no, no, no.

The ark is what saved Noah and his family, not his feelings.

I remember D.A.

Carson, one of the greatest New Testament scholars of uh our day, he was speaking at a conference and he gives this illustration of the Passover when Israel was required to sacrifice the Passover lamb and put the blood over their door, and he gave these two scenarios of two men in Israel the night before the angel of the Lord came, and both of them are obedient to the instructions they received.

They sacrifice the animal, they put the blood on the door, and one guy's like, Man, Tom, like, I don't know, man.

I'm I'm scared.

I mean, I trust God, I know what he's done in the past for our people, but I just I'm not sure about this.

But in obedience, he still puts the blood on the door.

But Tom is talking to, let's say, Jim, his buddy, and Jim's like, I ain't scared.

Bring it on.

I trust our mighty God.

And D.A.

Carson asks, So when the angel of the Lord comes that night, who will be saved?

The one who had confidence or the one who had some doubts?

And the answer is both.

Because our faith isn't determined on how strong it is, it's determined by what is the object of our faith, which is why it is important for us to understand when we talk about assurance of salvation, notice how John and not just John, but the pages of scripture primarily point us to the grounds of our salvation being objective outside of us, not subjective inside of us.

And to encourage the presumptuous professor, assurance belongs only to those who are in Christ Jesus, those who do not make peace with sin, those who do not say they love Jesus, but then continue loving their sin more than they love Jesus.

Reciting a sinner's prayer once with no ongoing faith and love for the Lord is not salvation.

That person should not have confidence in the faith.

This is why we have a meaningful church membership process at here here at Redeemer.

This is why we wouldn't just randomly say at the end of a sermon, hey, if you want to get baptized this morning, just come forward, even if we don't know you, let's get in the water.

We want to make sure those who join the church, those who go public with their faith, are truly born again, as best as we can humanly tell.

So there are presumptuous professors.

I was a presumptuous professor before I came to faith.

I named the name of Christ and would have said, I was a Christian, but I wasn't a born-again believer.

I loved my sin more than I love Jesus.

This is important because, again, all throughout this letter, John is giving clear encouragement to specifically to these group of Christians who are they are rattled to the core because of what they have seen with their own eyes.

Brothers and sisters who they knew, they shared meals with, they worshiped the Lord with, and these same saints have now walked away from the faith.

They've embraced a different gospel and they're wrestling with, well, then if they can walk away, how can we know we are truly in the faith?

And John, being a loving pastorslash apostle, is encouraging them constantly.

Verse 14, this is the confidence we have before him.

If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.

Brothers and sisters, do you know how wonderful and marvelous the gift of prayer is?

The fact that the creator of the universe listens to you.

Like, just reverse that a little bit and just ask, like, why on earth would God listen to me?

Right?

I mean, don't you got more important things to do in the universe, like sustaining the universe?

You're gonna listen to my requests.

And let me just give a quick sidebar here.

This should shape our prayers.

And what I mean is, uh I think it's clear all throughout John, we're not like Christians, we should never approach God as if, you know, I just want stuff from you.

And so I'm gonna ask for stuff.

And if you don't give me what I want, then you don't really love me, that's a whole nother sermon.

That's not what John is talking about here.

But I do think this understanding of assurance, this understanding of our right standing with God, being at peace with God, having access to God in prayer, this should shape our prayers.

Now, I'm not trying to nitpick here, but for example, like we've all at some point, I'm sure, been a part of a Bible study, a small group meeting, and you ask everyone, like, hey, does anyone have some prayer requests?

And what happens sometimes?

Well, can you pray for my neighbor's toe surgery kind of a thing, right?

And don't get me wrong, does God care about your neighbor's toe surgery?

Absolutely, right?

But you know what's interesting?

When you survey, uh, speaking of D.8 Carson, he wrote a book called Praying with Paul, in which he surveys some of Paul's main prayers.

You know what's really interesting about Paul's prayers?

His prayers are typically primarily other-centered, and it's about other people's growth in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians is a wonderful example where he's essentially writing in his letter, hey, Ephesus, church in Ephesus, I'm praying for you guys.

As a matter of fact, this is exactly what I'm praying.

I pray that you guys would grow and your experiential knowledge of exactly how much God the Father loves you.

How often do we pray like that?

Pray for the spiritual growth of other saints.

Those are the types of prayers that are in alignment with God's will, and we should have confidence that he will answer because it pleases his name.

But in verse 18, he makes it clear we know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin.

But the one who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

Oh man, hold on, John.

What do you mean those who are born of God do not sin?

This is just again, this is in step with what the language he's been using throughout.

He's referring to the people that have left the church.

They are living in habitual sin and rejection of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And he's making it clear, a black and white statement, you can't say you're born of God and continue in sin.

That is not becoming of those who are truly born of God.

But friends, be encouraged.

Verse 19.

We know that we are of God and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

And all the church of God said, Amen.

We know.

You don't need to convince us, John.

The culture doesn't even know what a woman is nowadays.

The whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

Should that terrify you?

Should we all cower in the corner now?

The whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

Well, greater is he who is in you than he was in the world.

What did we learn last week?

If you are in Christ, you are an overcomer.

I still love that phrase.

That is dope.

You are an overcomer.

Not because you're great, but because he who is in you is great.

Though the whole world is under the sway of the evil one, the evil one is under the sway of the great one, isn't he?

The enemy can only do what God permits him to do.

So we gotta be careful when we look at the world and all the brokenness around us and we get terrified and we think all the you know the devil's winning and all that.

It's like, come on, bro, read your Bible.

The devil can only do what God has divinely decreed for him to do.

Look at the book of Job.

Yes, Satan got to run amok and do quite a bit of damage, but he could only do what God constrained him to do, which means Satan is doing the purpose of God.

Think about that.

So we shouldn't stop at verse uh 19 and get terrified because the world is under the sway of the evil one, because verse 20 tells us, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one.

We are in the true one.

That is, in his son, Jesus Christ, he is the true God and eternal life.

What John is saying there, yes, the whole world is under the sway of the of the evil one, but guess what?

Jesus has showed up.

Jesus has entered into human history, the sovereign ruler of the universe, the one whom for everything was created for him to by him and for him, he has stepped on the scene, he holds the last word, and we know that Jesus on the day of judgment will have his angels take Satan and his fallen angels and cast them into the lake of fire for all eternity.

So, no, we should not fear, but we also should be alert and wise and understand we are exiled.

This is not our home.

This world is under the sway of the evil one, therefore we should make sure it his sway is not over us, but we are swayed by God's word, by God's spirit, shouldn't we?

So again, that was just a quick sidebar, just one of the highlights that spiritual warfare is a real category, but greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

Now, I I do want to address something that John addresses.

So we saw this a couple weeks ago when he uses this phrase about these false teachers who were propagating a different gospel and left the church.

He says, Hey, they they went out from us to show that they were never truly of us.

I love how John Piper once said, you know, so a man who has pastored for over like 40 years, has written several books and done all these great things for the Lord.

I remember years ago in a sermon, he told his congregation when he was still pastoring, if it came out next week that I have cheated on my wife Noel and have renounced the faith and walk away and don't return, you have absolutely no reason to believe that I was ever truly born again.

And I would agree with that statement.

And John addresses this, right?

When these these dissenters, these false teachers leave, he says, brothers and sisters, be encouraged.

They went out from us to make evident that they were never truly of us.

Which, fair question, many people wrestle with and have.

So what do we do with people like that?

When someone walks away from the faith, supposedly, what about the warning passages in scripture that warn us not to fall away?

That if you do, you are an apostate.

Well, again, I think it should be addressed.

In short, I would say though, when that happens, when someone names the name of Jesus and externally looks like a genuine Christian, they use the vernacular, they attend church, they go to Bible studies, they even pray.

Friends, that's not a guarantee that they're in Christ.

The guarantee is that they persevere and finish to the end.

Therefore, if they don't, they're giving evidence that they never were truly of the Lord.

The Bible doesn't only promise that God will keep us, it also warns us, though, to continue in the faith, doesn't it?

Jesus says, the one who overcomes will be saved.

The apostle Paul says, We'll be presented holy to God if indeed you continue in the faith in Colossians 1 23.

And Hebrews 6 gives one of the most sobering warnings in Scripture about those who fall away.

So how do we hold that tension together with the promise that God keeps his people?

But then there's these warning passages in the New Testament about not turning away from the faith.

I can't spend a whole lot of time on this, but I think two things help.

First, the warning passages are written to the whole church.

So think about Hebrews, for example.

The warning, the whole letter of Hebrews is written to a church community.

So that's important contextually.

And every church has people who look like believers but have never truly trusted in Christ.

Just read the gospels.

Jesus gives the parable of the wheats and the tares, doesn't he?

There are those who are the sheep and the goats, but they're all together.

So the warnings are real and they are meant to, I would say, wake those people up.

I tell myself prayerfully every Sunday, there are typically in churches across the globe, three people in the room: those who are truly born again and love the Lord Jesus, those who are not believers and they know it, and those who profess faith but are not truly born again.

That is a biblical category.

And I think some of those warning passages are meant to wake those people up to come to the reality you have yet truly embraced salvation.

But second, I think God uses the warning passages to keep true children on the path of righteousness.

They're like guardrails on a mountainous road.

So I'm from California.

I'm used to there are you can go to the mountains, and when you drive down, it is like a life or death experience because it's like a one-lane road all the way down.

You're super high up, and there's these guardrails, obviously, to keep you safe so you don't fly off the side of the mountain.

Now, the guardrails being present doesn't guarantee you're going to fly off the mountain, does it?

It's meant as a warning to keep you in the right lane for your own safety.

So the guardrail doesn't mean you're going over the edge.

It's just one of the ways you're kept from going over the edge.

And that's how I see the warning passages of scripture.

The warning passages are a gift of God's grace meant to keep you on the path of righteousness.

And notice that right after the warning in Hebrew 6, for example, the author of Hebrew says, In your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things.

He's writing to Christians, he's saying, I'm not worried about this in your case, beloved, because you're in Christ.

But these passages are meant to keep you in the faith.

Okay, Cam, I'm rocking with you, but what about the people who they seem to truly believe and then they walk away?

Like what's going on in 1 John?

How should we think about this?

Well, Jesus told us to expect this, didn't he?

In the parable of the sower, as I mentioned, some, and this is Matthew 13, don't you have to turn there, but I would encourage you to read that later on.

But in Matthew 13, 20 through 21, Jesus literally addressed this scenario.

He says that in the parable of the sower, some receive the word with joy.

Okay?

They hear the word of God, they receive it, they're joyful about the things of God, but fall away when trouble comes, when suffering enters their life.

I've seen this in my own life.

I've seen people who, to me, from my human eyes, everything I could tell externally, they look like Christians for a season.

Then maybe they went through some suffering, or maybe a romantic relationship, you know, started and then they walk away.

And Jesus would say in the parable of the sower, that is evidence that they never were truly of his kingdom.

And John says, of the whole, of the, I'm sorry, of those who left the church, as I said in 1 John 2.19, they went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they have been of us, they would have continued with us.

So falling away doesn't mean a true believer, I would suggest for my understanding of scripture, those who have fallen away doesn't mean a true believer has lost their salvation.

It rather shows that their faith was never the real, lasting, persevering faith in the first place.

And I think that should humble us and comfort us at the same time.

We don't take our faith for granted, and we don't live in fear either.

Because as we saw, God wants his children to have confidence that they have eternal life.

Paul details both sides in one breath in Philippians when he says, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you.

So we strive, Christians, to continue in the faith, to continue in joyfully obeying the Lord, and it is God who sovereignly keeps us.

One of my children last night used a dope illustration.

I said, I'm using that.

A great illustration is like a parent holding their small child's hand.

That child is not safe and secure based on their grip on the parent, but rather the parent's grip on them.

If the child tries to run into the street, it's the parent who's going to yank them back to safety, not the other way around.

So we strive with God's help, brothers and sisters, to persevere to the end, but all the while our security is primarily in the hands of your heavenly father.

And praise be to Jesus that that is true.

Because I will tell you right now from this pulpit, if it was primarily based on me, Pastor Cam would not make it.

But it is God who keeps us, who empowers us to persevere.

So there are those who believe that we can lose our salvation.

And these are many faithful brothers and sisters who love the Bible, who love Jesus and take God's word seriously.

I don't want to neglect that.

But think of, think, think this through.

If I, as a born-again Christian, if you as a blood-bought born-again Christian can undo what God has done through Christ on the cross, then in the end, I would say that that means that your sin is more powerful than God's grace.

And Romans 8 just won't let us believe that.

Paul says in Romans 8, he lists everything, not a few powerful things.

He lists everything he can think of that might separate a true Christian from God's love.

And then he adds, nor anything else in all creation.

And last I checked, you and I are a part of creation.

So Paul makes it clear, nothing can separate you.

If you're truly born again, nothing, including yourself, including your foolishness, including your sin, including your past, nothing can separate you from God's love.

Jesus himself in John 10 said, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.

No one will snatch them out of my hand.

My father who has given them to me is greater than all, including you.

No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

If the blood of Christ can save me, can save you, but can't keep you, then your salvation finally rests on you, doesn't it?

If the blood of Christ can save me but can't keep me, then my salvation finally rests on me.

And brothers and sisters, none of us is strong enough to carry that weight.

And we should thank God that we don't have to.

Let me illustrate it this way.

In Acts 27, there's this wonderful situation where Paul is on a ship that's caught in a violent storm, and an angel appears to him and tells him that not one life on board will be lost.

And Paul delivers the message to everyone, and he's sure of it.

He says, I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.

So God gives the promise to this angel, as long as you do what I say, everyone on this ship will be saved.

But of course, what do we humans do?

But a few verses later, some sailors try to sneak off in a lifeboat, and Paul catches them and gives this warning Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.

So which is it?

Was the survival, was their survival certain, or did it depend on staying on the ship?

Was their survival certain because God promised it, or because they actually have to stay on the ship?

And I would say the answer is yes.

Both.

God's promise was certain, and the warning was one of the ways he was going to keep that promise.

By warning them to stay on the ship, they would obey and stay on the ship and therefore receive God's blessing and promise.

God's promise was certain, and the warning was one of the ways he kept it.

The soldiers heard the warning, cut the lifeboat loose, and everyone made it safely to shore.

I think that's how the warning passages in the New Testament work.

God has promised to bring every one of his children home on the last day.

And one of the ways he does this is by warning us to stay on the boat.

But in verse 21, John concludes with a rather odd, it seems at least odd and out of place statement.

There's a lot of debate as to what is John getting at here, what what why is he saying this?

It seems completely out of place.

But I think when you consider the context of this entire letter, it makes complete sense.

He's addressing the fact that these false teachers have left.

They're preaching a different gospel, which is no gospel at all, as we know, which essentially means they're embracing an idol, a different faith.

And John is encouraging them, encouraging them, and encouraging them.

And then he's concluding by saying, brothers and sisters, don't stray away.

Don't go running after idols.

Stay in the faith.

Guard yourselves from idols.

Don't accept the false teaching of those who walked away from the faith.

Remain steadfast in the true gospel that saved you, is saving you, and will help you to persevere to the end.

And we should do the same as we conclude this letter, brothers and sisters, with God's help.

Let's ask the Lord, help me use my church family to help me believe in Jesus, keep on believing in Jesus, obey Jesus joyfully from the heart as an act of love, and to love Jesus' people, whom he purchased with his own blood.

Amen?

Let's pray.