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Tuesday, November 21, 2017

“This is how we know we are in Him” {1 John 2}

November 21, 2017

John is now very old, and he writes with so much love in his heart.  And the words he shares with us should help in our assurance of our salvation.  I mean we all want to ‘make sure’ we are saved, right?

How do you know?  The first answer is in verse 6.  “Whoever claims to live in Him, must live as Jesus did.”

We are surrounded by people who claim to be Christian, but simply do not have Christ in them.  These people are doing different things by being involved in the church, but they are not truly belonging to the Church.  That’s called superficial faith.  John talked about it back in his gospel (John 2:23-25).  You can believe in Jesus, but not know Jesus.

Saving faith, on the other hand, looks different.  There are multitudes of people who will one day hear Jesus say, Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matthew 7:23).

“We know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commands.” v. 3

“But if anyone obeys His word, love for God is truly made complete in them.” v. 5

“Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.” v. 6

“…, its truth is seen in Him in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.” v. 8

“Anyone who loves their brother or sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.” v. 10

“If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him.” v. 29

In order to have the assurance of our salvation, you can answer the questions John asks here.  “Who is the liar?”  It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ (v. 22-25).  We know that we’ve come to know Him if we keep His commands.  Okay, you’re thinking, but we keep sinning.  Here’s the thing – it’s not based on your performance.  It’s based on Christ’s performance in you!  That’s the mystery of our faith!  Okay, so you’ve sinned, how do you have the assurance of your salvation then?  “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  1 John 7-8

Once we’ve been born again, sin is not completely gone from our life and we are not perfect!  When we sin and we are followers of Christ, we hate that sin.  We see it for what it is, and we don’t continue to indulge ourselves in it.  We don’t continue to sin because we are in the light and the light exposes our sin, and we have an advocate who has forgiven us of our sins.

The work of Christ in your life is the assurance of your salvation.  Every time He gives you victory over sin, He reminds you “You are mine.  You have my power.”  (Isaiah 43:1)

Victory over sin

Think about it – have you ever battled a sin in your life and you tried and tried to do better only to fail over and over, or possibly felt victory because of something you choose to do differently, only to fall flat on your face and eyeball deep, face-to-face with the ugliness of your sin?  So you try one more time.  Confess.  Repent.  Breathe.  True, heart-felt sorrow for your sin.  Overwhelming sadness because of your behavior.  You hate your sin.  You never want to taste the bitterness of that sin again.  Then one day…. holy smokes…. you no longer have the urge, the slightest inclination to do ‘that’ again!  That’s all Jesus’ performance in you!  And that’s the assurance of your salvation!

The assurance of our salvation is really what we become.  We become more like Jesus.  Even the secular world tells us “you become the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” (Jim Rohn). 

A friend of mine shared how she had to recognize that a certain behavior was a sin before she could get over it and move on.  Sometimes we have been so hurt by someone, usually it’s a family member or a very close friend, and it’s usually because we are Christian and they are not.  They always claimed to follow Christ, yet lived in the world too.  Yet, until the scales fell from your eyes, you always saw this person as an equal, as a Christian.  But then, they noticed you were different, you stopped using certain words, you stopped hanging out with them, and they may even have made mocking jokes about your bible study, or church activities, or any number of things.  And you were hurt – hurt so much, and you tried to go back to them, tried to participate in your old activities or family events.  Or possibly you invited them to something new you are doing with your ‘new’ Christian friends.  They notice you are different!  And you feel fantastic for your new freedom in Christ and you want to share it!  But they become more and more hurtful towards you and say nasty things to you.  But you have that one common dominator in your life.  Typically it’s either a parent or another mutual friend that keeps bringing you together and you are going to bump into them.  This is where we have to stop being so blind (blinded by darkness) and bring the light of Christ to them!  Allow Christ to heal you from clinging to this anger you have for them not being what you thought they were or could be.  Stop expecting them to be different.  Ask Christ to remove that ugly stick in your eye and allow you to love like Him. 

Visible proof of Christ in your life is your ability to love – everyone – the assurance of your salvation is your ability to love.  Ladies, let go of what prevents you from loving your neighbor, your co-worker, your former best friend, your sister, your brother, your mother or your father.


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