The Joy of Assurance | In light of love | 1 John 4:13–16 | Ep.15

Welcome to Preaching from Bryanston Bible Church, located in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa.

It is our prayer that this teaching would bless you, deepen your love for God's word, and encourage you as you follow Jesus.

And if you are not a Christian, we pray that this message would encourage you as you explore the Christian faith.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his spirit.

And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent his son to be the Savior of the world.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Well, good morning, everyone.

It's really so good to be worshiping with you today.

And just a very big thank you for all of you who got your priorities straight this morning.

That you are here and you're not at home getting ready to watch the rugby.

I don't want you to worry and check your watches.

We're on the runway, and I will have us in the parking bay in no time.

So pray with me.

Father God, thank you so much for this morning.

Thank you that we have the privilege of coming to your word now.

Thank you for this message in one John, Father God, for the great assurance that this message is to us.

Lord, we pray that you would open our ears to hear, Father God, this morning what it is you have to say to us.

Father, I pray for great boldness and confidence as I proclaim your word this morning.

Amen.

Amen.

I want to ask you to close your eyes for me for just a minute.

Don't worry, nothing's gonna happen.

Just close your eyes for me, block out the room, and just listen.

Even if you have never been on an aeroplane, I want you to imagine that you are that passenger in the cabin seat 35,000 feet above the ground.

It's late at night, you fought to stay awake through dinner, and you're finally looking forward to settling into a movie and hopefully to fall asleep.

Suddenly you hear that double ding, the passenger light, the the fasten your seatbelt light flashes on, and the captain keys his microphone with that infuriatingly calm airline voice.

Ladies and gentlemen from the flight deck, we were expecting some minor turbulence.

We ask that everyone return to their seats, fasten your seat belts, the lavatories are now closed, the flight attendants will suspend the hospital beverage service.

We'll check back with you again in a moment once we're through it.

You can open your eyes.

Now, if you're anything like me on that plane in that moment, your brain is screaming.

You'll check back with us in a moment.

We're about to hit some turbulence, and you're only gonna check back with us in a moment.

Captain, that moment may never come.

Your pulse begins to race a little bit, your hands sort of move towards the armrests, casually, of course, because you have your dignity, and you can't let the teenager in 14 B see just how terrified you are.

And then it hits.

At first, it's a little bit of sort of rumbling, shaking, a bit of noise.

People begin looking around, sort of nervously laughing.

They're quite clearly relieved that that wasn't so bad.

And then the floor falls out from under your feet.

The plane drops 20 feet into dead air, and your stomach ends up in your throat.

The overhead bins are groaning, there's stuff falling everywhere, people are gasping, there is baby crying.

You're absolutely terrified in that moment.

By this point, my dignity has completely left the aircraft.

My knuckles are drained white from trying to fuse my fingertips with the synthetic leather of the armrests.

My eyes are shut, closed, and I'm desperately negotiating with the Lord Almighty, God, if you land this Boeing, I will tithe 30%.

I will never complain about that person ever again.

And Lord, I will even adopt seven kittens.

And God, you know how I feel about cats.

Father, that's what I will do if you land this plane.

And then sort of open my eyes, I look across the aisle, and there sits this guy.

We call him passenger A.

Man, he's just sitting there, his legs are crossed, he's casually reading from his book, taking a sip out of his Coke Zero, and he's looking out of the window into the darkness of night like he's on a scenic car trip in the countryside.

My first thought as I see him casually turning another page is there is no way that that's just Coke Zero.

This guy has 100% been into the antihistamines and the mini bar because how does he stay so calm?

I mean, it even looks as if he's enjoying the flight.

Let me ask you this.

On that plane, in that moment, in my white, my panicked white-knuckled hysteria, was I in any more danger than Passenger A?

Was I even one millimeter higher in the air than what he was?

Not by a fraction.

We were on the same plane, we were under the same pilot, we were heading towards the same destination, we were both equally safe, and yet we were experiencing the flight completely differently.

Unlike Passenger A, who seemed to be able to enjoy the flight despite the turbulence, I was also entirely safe, but I was entirely miserable.

And I want us to carry that distinction into God's word this morning as we approach this passage before us, because I find that my experience on that plane is so often a metaphor for our lives as Christians.

We are safe in God's hands, and yet oftentimes we live our lives as if we are in danger.

We live like that terrified passenger on the plane.

And so I want to ask you if you also find that true of your life as a Christian.

You know that you are in Jesus' hands, your destination is secured, nothing can pluck you from his grip.

And yet, often we live as though grace were a thin tightrope rather than solid ground.

We have the assurance of heaven, the cross, the blood of Jesus Christ by grace through faith is what secures our eternity.

And yet, Monday through Saturday, we live in this low grade, sort of perpetual panic with white knuckles on the armrests, so to speak.

See, we have the objective knowledge, we have the knowledge of the safety of our salvation, but oftentimes we are starved of the joy of our salvation.

We don't live in the joy of our salvation.

Now, I've been through a patch of great turbulence in my life of late, and the passage that was read out for us in 1 John 4 is helping me rest in the fact that I am safe and secure in God's hands no matter what is going on in my life.

In fact, John has repeated that in his letter over and over again.

Assurance is one of the key themes of 1 John.

And so take a look with me at some of these verses that I have for us on the screen.

In chapter 2, he said this by this we may be sure that we know him.

By this we may be sure that we are in him.

In chapter 3, by this it may be seen who are the children of God.

We know that we have passed out of death into life.

By this we shall know that we are of the truth.

By this we know that he abides in us.

Chapter 4, by this you know the Spirit of God.

By this we know the Spirit of truth.

By this we know that we love the children of God.

And at the end of chapter 5, I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you might know that you have eternal life.

And so when you look at this, it's crystal clear, isn't it?

There's something John wants us to know.

What he wants us to know, what he wanted those original readers to know, is simple as this: that God abides in us and we abide in God.

He wants us to have a settled confidence that we belong to God, and in that will shape the way that we live.

This text in 1 John 4, verse 13 to 16, in a sense, the whole letter was written so that we might finally let go of those armrests.

1 John 4:13–16

God doesn't want you to white-knuckle your way to heaven.

He doesn't want us to be unsure, unsettled.

He doesn't want us to live in fear or lack confidence or be uncertain of our faith.

He wants us to trade the anxiety of I hope so, for the settled confidence of I know.

And when we know that the living God is at work in us, we can finally begin to experience the joy of that salvation that we already have.

And so take a look with me at the screen.

We're gonna read through those verses one more time.

1 John 4, verses 13 to 16 says this by this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his spirit.

1 John 4:13–16

And we've seen and testify that the Father sent his son to be the savior of the world.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

So we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Now, the main point of these verses is right up front in verse 13, when John says, By this we know we abide in him, and he and us, because he has given us of his spirit.

The Holy Spirit, John is saying, is the source of our assurance.

I'm gonna say it again because it's a very important point that he builds on this morning.

The Holy Spirit is the source of our assurance.

But a natural question then arises.

If the way we know that God lives in us is by the Holy Spirit's presence in us, what does the Holy Spirit's presence in our lives actually look like?

What does it tangibly look like?

What does it look like when the Spirit is at work in us?

John doesn't leave us guessing.

In this text in verse 14, he gives sort of his own personal testimony.

He says, We, that's the apostles, have seen and testified that the Father sent his son to be the savior of the world.

John was an eyewitness to the risen Jesus Christ.

That's part of his assurance.

Verse 15 and 16 give us ours.

Two signs, two visible signs of the Spirit's presence in our lives that any believer can look for.

What we believe about Jesus and how we love the people of Jesus.

And so we look at those two evidences this morning.

Firstly, what do we believe?

John said in verse 15 whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

It's the first piece of evidence.

The person to whom who belongs to God confesses Jesus as the Son of God.

Secondly, we look at how we love.

In verse 16, John says, Whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

It's the second piece of evidence.

The person who belongs to God loves the people that God loves.

And so we look at those evidences, belief and love, and then we'll ask ourselves the question that takes us back to the plane.

What difference does the assurance that comes from these things make?

What difference does it make when we hit times of turbulence in our lives?

How do we move past simply settling for the safety of salvation?

And how do we begin experiencing the joy of salvation?

So then let's look firstly at how the Spirit is seen in what we believe.

The very fact that we are able to genuinely confess that Jesus is the Son of God is evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in us.

Now there are various points in this letter thus far where John assumes that his original readers were familiar with his writing.

Not only his writing in this letter, but also his writing in the Gospel of John, in his gospel account.

And so this morning it's helpful for us to go back and look at John's Gospel, where he specifically speaks about our believing and the Holy Spirit's role in that.

And so in John chapter 3, we are we read the account of a man named Nicodemus.

John 3 · chapter mention

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, he would have been a brilliant theological mind, he was a moral heavyweight, he was a teacher in the nation of Israel.

And yet in John 3, we we read that he came to Jesus in the dark of night.

John often writes with symbolism in the gospel.

And so the fact that Nicodemus came to Jesus in the dark of night was symbolic of the fact that he was spiritually blind.

He was in spiritual darkness and he had to come into the light of Jesus' presence.

Nicodemus spent his whole life trying to earn his assurance.

He tried to earn his place in God's kingdom through religious discipline.

But instead of being certain that he was a part of the kingdom of God, Nicodemus would have been like a blind man groping around in the dark, unable to find God's kingdom, and therefore unable to be certain that he was a child of God, part of God's kingdom.

And Jesus in John 3 said to Nicodemus, he would never have true assurance.

He would never see the kingdom of God unless he was born from above of the Spirit.

See, Jesus' teaching is that without the Holy Spirit, just like Nicodemus, every one of us is spiritually blind.

We are in spiritual darkness.

Now you cannot command a blind person to see simply by switching on the lights.

You cannot study your way into spiritual sight.

And so what is it that Nicodemus needed that every one of us need?

He needed the Holy Spirit to open his eyes so that he might see the Son of God, believe in him, and live.

Nicodemus needed the Spirit of God to open his eyes so that he might look on Jesus and see who he truly is.

Not simply a good moral teacher, not a life coach, not an impossible judge keeping score, but the savior of the world sent by God so that we might have life.

He takes people who are utterly uncertain where they stand in relation to God, he opens their eyes so that they are able to see.

If the Holy Spirit is the one who opens our eyes so that we might believe, if we believe at all, it's evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in us.

That's why John so quickly connects the Spirit in verse 13 to what we believe in verse 15.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

This morning I want us, however, to bring this into our own seats, right where you are sitting this morning.

Because when the turbulence of life hits, and it will, you may be in the midst of that turbulence right now.

The thing that will get tested is what you believe about Jesus Christ.

Will you still be able to believe He is who He says he is, the Savior of the world, sent by God that we might have life, sovereign over even what it is that you are facing?

Or when suffering blindsides you?

You receive that unexpected diagnosis, that job falls through, the bank account empties.

In those moments, do you find yourself not just grieving the difficulty, but do you find yourself wondering where God is at all?

In those moments, do you interpret pain as divine punishment or abandonment?

Do you ask questions like, God, if you loved me, why would you allow this to happen to me?

When someone wounds you or betrays you, you've taken a step out in costly obedience to love, to serve, to forgive, to reconcile with that person, and they take advantage of you.

They say something bad about you, they break your trust.

In that moment, you immediately go to your defensive self and ask, Well, God, what was the point of living in a godly way anyway?

What did it get me?

And when you are in a season where it feels like you are in the in the spiritual desert, praying to God feels like you are talking to an empty ceiling, reading the word feels like you are eating dry cardboard.

In those moments, do you trust the pilot?

Or do you find yourself asking, you know, God, is any of this even worth it?

Are you really even there?

Do you mistake the dryness of your feelings for the absence of God?

What about when you make mistakes?

When you fall into that same sin again, you've lost your temper, you've looked at that thing you shouldn't have looked at, you've spoken that bitter word.

Are you able to run to God as your Savior, or do you run and hide?

Living with this underlying fear that God is becoming exhausted with you, that his grace is gonna run out, and that you have to work your way into his good books before you even pray again.

Do you see the pattern here?

In every one of those moments, we are that terrified passenger.

And the real issue is despite what's happening in life around us, will we be able to trust that we are safe in the Father's hands?

We are safe, but we live as though we've been abandoned.

Oftentimes we are safe, but oftentimes we live as though we have to protect ourselves.

We are safe, but we live as though God has disappeared.

We are safe, but so often we live as if God has disowned us.

But John is saying, you can know that you belong to God, you can know that you are safely in the Father's hands.

And so when that turbulence hits, what is it that your soul will cling to?

Do you look on the cross?

Do you look at Jesus Christ and say, He is my only rescue?

Lord, you have the words of eternal life.

Where else shall we go?

Do you confess Jesus as a son of God?

Do you believe in him?

And the thing is, John here is not saying that this confessing Jesus is the Son of God is simply acknowledging that God exists.

He's speaking about knowing that we are broken sinners, and it is only by the blood of Jesus Christ that we are restored to right relationship with God.

Do you see the point that he's making here?

Where do you think that that confession came from?

You didn't invent it, your fallen heart could not have manufactured it.

In fact, it's the same point that the apostle Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 3.

1 Corinthians 12:3

He says, No one can confess that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

No one can confess that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

And so your confession of that is evidence of the spirit at work in you.

We may not have all of the theological answers.

In fact, we may have many questions.

We may feel as if our faith is weak, but we can know that we abide in God.

And God abides in us because the Spirit's presence is seen in what we believe about Jesus Christ.

That's the first point.

The Spirit's presence is seen in what we believe.

But not only does the Spirit shape what we believe, we read that also the Spirit shapes how we love.

The Spirit's presence is seen in how we love.

Take a look with me at verse 16.

If you have your Bibles with you, especially the second part, it says this: whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

The way that we love is evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in us.

That we live in God, that God lives in us.

We saw that in Pastor Justin's message last week.

In fact, it's something that John has repeated in this first letter again and again and again.

Take a look at some of these verses on the screen.

In chapter two, he said, Whoever says he's in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

And then this whoever loves his brother abides in the light.

And in him there is no cause for stumbling.

In chapter three, by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God.

And here he says it, nor is the one that does not love his brother.

Later in chapter three, we know we've passed out of death to life into life because we love the brothers.

Whoever does not love abides in death.

Chapter 4, beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.

Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

As you reflect on this list of verses, does your mind also see that obvious problem?

So often, as Christians, we don't love as we ought.

And in those moments, we can tend to lose our assurance, grab onto the armrests again.

We look at our love the way we love, and we think, you know, I'm so impatient with my family.

I lost my temper again.

I hold, I'm holding a grudge.

My love is weak, it is messy.

How can God possibly abide in me?

Listen carefully.

John is not saying that our assurance rests on flawless, angelic love.

He's not saying that that whoever loves perfectly earns God's presence.

He's saying whoever abides in love abides in God and God in him.

Look at the new direction of your heart.

Not do I love perfectly, but is the Holy Spirit shaping the way that I love?

When you hurt someone, does the Holy Spirit grieve you about that in a way you never used to grieve before?

And then do you move towards that person and ask for forgiveness?

When someone hurts you, do you feel the spirit-driven sense inside of you to forgive rather than to retaliate?

Or when you look at people in your local community of faith, in this local church, people who are different from you, do you have a genuine desire for their eternal good?

And then do you move towards them in deed and in truth?

Where do you think that that love came from?

In our selfish fallen human natures, we we could not have produced it.

That impulse in our fallen nature is unnatural to us.

It is the Holy Spirit in us changing our hearts and causing us to love.

And so this morning, if you are holding on to resentment, ask yourself why.

If another Christian's pain leaves you feeling indifferent, ask yourself why.

If you cannot love beyond yourself, ask yourself why.

If forgiveness is a foreign concept to you and you sort of just speak it away saying, No, that's just how I am, John would say, take seriously the evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in your heart, in your life.

And remember, loving others is not how we save ourselves, it is evidence of the fact that we belong to God.

And so that's the second point that John makes is that the Holy Spirit's presence is seen in how we love.

And so can you see what he's done for us in these verses?

He's given us two great evidences of the Spirit at work in us belief and love.

Whoever confesses Jesus is the Son of God, whoever loves the people of God, the Holy Spirit is at work in that person.

Now remember that neither of those things, belief or love, is a condition that we have to fulfill to keep God happy.

They are evidences that we belong to the living God.

That brings us right back to verse 16, to the first part of verse 16.

John said this.

So we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us.

We have come to know and believe the love that God has for us.

You see, that is the goal of our assurance.

Not that we would have theological knowledge that God loves us, not only that, but that we would know and believe so deeply that God loves us, that we belong to Him, that we are in His hands, that it would shape the way that we live.

And so this morning, as we move to a close, I want you to reflect on your life for a moment.

Where are you still white-knuckling your salvation?

So John would say, look for this evidence of the Spirit at work in you.

Are you still able to look at the cross, confess that Jesus is Lord, that is the Spirit giving you sight?

Are you able to forgive and serve and love, even if it's imperfectly?

That is the Spirit moving your heart to love.

And the assurance that comes from those two evidences, let that assurance shape the way that you live.

Because the reason we can let go of the armrests is not because the turbulence is not real.

We let go of the armrests because we are safe in the Father's hands.

When you face suffering, you can trust God even when you don't understand everything.

And the reason that you can do that, face suffering without despair, is because the Holy Spirit has given you something that suffering can never take away.

The Holy Spirit has given you assurance that you belong to God the Father.

When that person hurts you, you can you can forgive them, you can love rather than having to get even.

And the reason that you can do that is not because it wasn't painful, it's because your security depends not on you getting even or being vindicated, it depends on God holding you in his hands.

When you stumble into that sin again, you can move towards God rather than running away from him.

And the reason you can do that is not because the sin doesn't matter, it's because your place with God rests on Jesus Christ, his blood shed for you, and not your performance.

And when God feels distant and prayer feels empty, you can continue pursuing God rather than assuming he's not there.

And the reason you can do that is because he is the unchanging God who is always, always there.

And friends, that's what it looks like to begin to embrace the joy of our salvation rather than simply settle for the safety of our salvation.

When the turbulence of life drops the floor 20 feet from under you, in those moments we feel the jolt, but we don't have to unravel.

We trust the captain, we rest.

The plane hasn't changed, the pilot hasn't changed, the destination hasn't changed.

The turbulence is real, but so is the safety.

And so, what needs to change is how we respond to the fact we are in the Father's hands.

Listen, God is not saying to you that you must hold on to him so tightly until you make it to the end of this journey.

It's the point of these verses, and a big point in this book.

God is holding on to you.

And so, in Jesus' name, would we let go of the armrests?

Would we rest assured in the love that God has for us?

And would we begin to experience the joy of our salvation?

Would you pray with me?

I'm gonna pray these words of King David in Psalm 138.

I give thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart.

I sing your praise, I bow down towards your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness.

For you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

On the day I called, you answered me.

My strength of soul, you increased.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life, you stretch out your hands against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.

Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

And Father, we rest in that this morning, that your steadfast love endures forever.

Lord, thank you that the Spirit's presence is seen in our lives as we believe in Jesus, the Son of God, and as we love our brothers and sisters of Christ, the people of God.

Father, we pray these things for your name and for your glory.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this sermon from BBC.

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God bless you.