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Summary
The sermon is about knowing that you are saved, based on 1 John 5:13. It discusses the concept of assurance of salvation and how it can be applied in everyday life. The pastor emphasizes that salvation is a gift from God and that it is not dependent on human works or emotions. The sermon also touches on the idea of covenant and how it relates to salvation and marriage.
Sermon transcription
Our topic for today the first Sunday of the month of February. So time flies fast. We were looking forward to the first day of the year, then first week then first month, and now it's completed. Uh what's remaining is the first quarter till March. So anyway, our theme for this uh month of February is uh back to the basics. So these are the uh doctrines basic doctrines of salvation, repentance, uh righteousness those kind of things. And today our topic is about um assurance of salvation and I entitle this knowing that you are saved from 1 John 5:13. So let us read together our passage.
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. Praise God for the reading of his word. Father God, we thank you Lord God for the opportunity uh to receive these principles of your word that will feed our souls and strengthen us in our faith as we look forward Lord to following you and obeying you in our lives God in Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen.
Um, there are times that we have doubts and uh some sometimes people think is it normal to if I am saved or not? But this is a common question. This are a struggle that is not isolated. Many Christians go through it especially when times that you are going through uh some problems that shaken your faith or we call crisis of faith and uh and when we ask the Lord Lord where are you and seems that we don't feel the Lord it seems that the Lord is so far away from us and then we ask the question I really saved and and those kind ofs. So I hope that this will help us to uh to make sense of our experience of doubting our salvation.
So we can see here in this passage that um uh John was addressing the believers who who are struggling with their uh assurance of salvation. They might be asking if they really are in faith. Maybe they thought that um is this true what I believe in right those kind of things. So a little bit of background here. John was confronting the issue because there were a group of people in the church that are spreading different kind of doctrine. They uh later on they develop into becoming the gnostics.
So these are the early uh proponents or forefathers of those who are uh gnostics we call them. No. So part of the beliefs of the agnostics are that they do not believe that Jesus is human. And not only that, there are so many doctrines about uh the Lord Jesus Christ that they put doubt into his mission as savior of mankind. No, later on in chapter 2, if you look at your scriptures in the first the book of 1 John in chapter 2: 19 they uh ultimately they left the community but as they left the community they left the this kind of doubts in the minds of the people because if Jesus is really not the Christ then is my faith in him or I really saved? No, those kind of things. So, so Paul or John said that I I write these things so that you believe in Jesus Christ may know that you have eternal life. So that is the the assure not only assurance but establishing um people that they will be stabilized in their faith. They will not uh be bugged down by these thoughts and paralyzed by not moving forward in continuing their Christian life.
So for us maybe we do not have those kind of questions but we also sometimes entertain the thought of Lord am I really saved? No it may not be the same situation that they are but we need to hear the same message because I think the principles that applied here are also the same principles that we can apply to ourselves.
So this uh our uh our situation today people maybe even you have friends who who are shaken in their faith. They are struggling in their faith. So what can we do to encourage them? No that even though they they have doubts, it doesn't mean that they are not saved. Even Thomas doubted, right? And he was together with Jesus Christ that uh he had doubts but Jesus did not condemn him, right? Jesus honored or or validate his doubts by showing uh what he wanted to see from Jesus, you know, the evidence that Jesus is really the one. Um and I believe that in our doubts uh the Lord understands. It doesn't mean that we are not saved because we are doubting.
Um there are things that we need to understand with doubts. No, we lay the foundation of uh uh this uh assurance of our salvation. If you if you do not doubt then why or if uh Christians do not doubt then why did John to assure them those who doubt right if if doubt is not uh an issue why would John said you know I uh I want to tell you this because I want you to know that indeed you have eternal life.
John was adding those who are doubting right second John is writing to assure those who are in of their salvation um even though we doubt eventually we uh need to be stable in our faith in our belief that we indeed are saved or we indeed have eternal life. Because that's how we continue to grow or move forward in our Christian life. There are so many other things that we need to battle uh greater than the experience, right? There are greater challenges in life that we need to be ready to face them and we need to be strengthened in our faith in order to uh face our battles in life.
So yeah, we doubt uh every now and then what we need to grow out of it so that we can continue to face the greater challenges of life. Third, we only doubt what we believe in. Do you something that you do not believe in? Doesn't make sense, right? If you do not believe it, then there's no issue of doubt, right? Why do you doubt? Because you doubt something that you have or you believe in. Right? So I mean we talk about philosophical argument here. Right? So it means that you are only doubting just because you are in faith and you are doubting your faith. If you do not have that faith then there is nothing to be doubting about. Amen.
Okay. So, we go to the uh the verses, the previous verses, verses 10 to 12 and let us read it together. The one who believes in the son of God has the testimony in himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his son. And the testimony is this that God has given us eternal life and this life is his son. The one who has the son has the life. The one who does not have the son of God does not have the life. I mean very very uh clear statement here you know that John is saying is either you have it or you do not have it. That's the issue, right?
So you you dig into your yourself and ask yourself. Look at the first uh the verse 10. The one who believes in the son of God has the testimony in himself. There is a uh translation I think the NIV Bible not the online the the uh the physical book it says there um whoever accepts the testimony in his heart in her heart in his heart it means that in your heart it testifies that you are uh follower of Jesus Christ. You are a disciple you are a believer. It is in your heart. You dig into your heart and it will testify of your identity of who you really are. It doesn't matter what you feel. It doesn't matter your circumstance. Um because it is not up to you but it is up to the one who gave you eternal life. Amen.
So it says there um whoever does not believe in God has made him out to be a liar. So look at this statement paul John was addressing the the gnostic the false teachers. because they are they do not have it the believers have it these people do not have it and the one do not who do not have are the one poisoning the minds of the believer no so so he is saying these people are trying to make god make him out to be a liar but because they do not have it so they do not believe God is what God testifies but the who believes um have it and it testifies in their heart and then in verse 11 it says and the testimony is this that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son it means that the word of God you know we we put our faith in what God says in his word there is no other uh uh source of the truth that uh testifies within us that indeed we are saved because of what we believe.
And uh there is a passage in Acts chapter 16 when Paul and Silas was uh in prison and then the guard uh was uh uh they they were preaching to the guard right and the the household of the guard. So, so after they were uh freed by the Lord from prison and the guard was shaken, then they testified to the guard and uh Paul uh was saying to the guard, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."
So in that very statement it is very we call it when you share the word of God or when you share the good news to others in a very basic way there's no explanation about justification that that will come later. There is no explanation of the blood of Christ that was our sins that will come later. here in a very broad way of saying if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that he died so that you may be saved you indeed will be saved and then he together with the guard's uh family he say he said believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you and your household all of you who believe will be saved or each one of you who believe you will be saved or meaning if you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is uh uh the Lord and confess with your mouth that is another passage Romans 10 then you will be saved that passage says again that you will be saved and you cannot pass it on to others that's something that we need affirmation Jesus chist he is he died on the cross to save us that person is saved and we acknowledge that person that that person is my brother or my sister because I also believe that I am saved.
Remember last month we have this and even last week the last day of uh the uh week of prayer for unity. So what is the basis of our unity? We have there the seven unities in Ephesians 4. The first three of this is one God, one Lord or one Christ and then one spirit. and then one baptism and I think it unifies the idea that if you believe in the message of God know the testimony of God in his word that he sent Jesus Christ on the cross to die for our sins and then the Holy Spirit will uh descend upon you because you have faith in him in in the Lord Jesus Christ then you will be saved right that's why that is the basis of our unity if if you believe that you are saved because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and nothing else there is one God one savior one Holy Spirit one salvation you cannot be saved by any other means Ephesians 2 ver 8 says for by grace you have been saved see the the continuing past continuing have been because you have believed. So you have been saved for by grace you have been saved through faith.
What is the uh what did you believe through faith? What did you believe? You believe that God sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and uh his death on the cross has forgiven washed away my sins and I am saved in Christ. That's what I believe. So and that is a gift of God. So Ephesians 28 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, it is the gift of God not of your works." Very very clear that we are only saved because of uh Jesus Christ alone. Amen. Not because of our works. Or for some uh so-called Christians they say I believe in the sacrifice and death of Jesus Christ by all I also believe in good works. No when it comes to salvation there's no such thing as good works.
That's why when we say Christian unity no we prayed uh last week about uh unity of Christians. If you believe that Jesus Christ and in him alone you find salvation then you are we are united but if you believe in another kind of salvation that we cannot be united so there is the the uh basis or the criteria of Christian unity here and this is uh the uh most uh central of our unity that we are saved in Christ alone. Amen.
And it is here very clear what John is saying that if you have faith in Christ in Christ alone then you have it. Okay. You may doubt but you have to embrace it in your life. No matter what happens, no matter your mind is doubting, you have to hold on to your faith that you are in Christ and when you are in Christ that he saved you already. Amen. So again in verse 11 it says and the testimony is this that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son very clear category. And the one who has the sun has the life. The one who does not have the sun does not have the life.
our reality and not only us we have a burden for our loved ones when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and we believe that we are secured in him and then the next thing that comes to mind what about my wife my husband my parents my children so on and so forth I I um um listen to the to a podcast by Ruth Han. Ruth Han is a therapist, Christian uh councelor and this is what she said. We are missionary to our family. Did you get that? We think of mission of going out, reaching out to people, right? But we are missionary to our family, especially to our children who has uh children here. We are you are missionary to your children every day. Amen. Can you say amen to that? Yeah. So we we do as much as we can to share to them uh the word of God uh to pray for them you know lay hands on them every day.
Um and then uh but salvation is uh personal uh encounter. We cannot have proxy. So the people who say you know I am a Christian because I am born into a Christian family. It doesn't work that way right you have to make the decision for yourself. Someone would say, "I am a Christian because my parents uh baptized me when I was a baby." It doesn't work that way. You have to decide uh to uh express your faith in the Lord and and you will receive the gift that that what you call that divine exchange. You know what divine exchange is? God gives us a gift and we receive it. That's the exchange. Without the exchange, you will not have it. You can only have the gift if you receive it to yourself. If you reject the gift naturally you will not have the eternal life as gift towards you. Amen.
So every person has to have that divine exchange. You have that divine exchange for yourself. Your wife may be have that divine exchange for herself. Your children have to have that divine exchange each one of them. When I was uh a young pastor and we have our son, we always pray for him uh lay hands on him, share the gospel to him uh make sure that he is in the children's ministry or the youth ministry. I mean we always want him to be surrounded by uh people who are who we lead him to the right uh and godly environment and and right direction na because of the people that are believers. Amen.
But eventually we cannot um be proxy like Lord akin to ha because he is with me. You know it should be individual. So I praise God eventually you know my son uh put his faith in the Lord and acknowledge uh Jesus in his life. So I pray for for that for all of our children you know but it will be them that will make that uh decision to give their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot um make that in their behalf. All we can do for our loved ones, for our family members is to continue to pray for them and continue to share our life and our words of uh having the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives and in our hands.
Lastly, and this is a practical tip. I was uh listening to a podcast and the title of the podcast is how do you know that you are marrying the right person? I mean this is February. So let us put a love element into our topic today. How do you know that you are marrying the right person? And the podcast was about a Christian relationship. Because naturally if you say Lord how will I know that I'm marrying the right person? If the person is not in Christ then it it doesn't make sense if the person is right because that person won't acknowledge God in your in who is your God who is your savior.
It has to be the context of your salvation. I I'm connecting here salvation, right? Um to have assurance that you are going to be married to the right person. Yeah. So I I'm giving you the tip now. No. Um it doesn't it doesn't depend on us. We thought that it is us who are going to look for the person who is a potential potential partner in life. Right? But actually it is God who gives that uh decision.
Remember in Genesis chapter 2 um it says there um and the man shall leave his mother and father and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh. And then Jesus said in Matthew chapter 19 the same thing uh quoting uh Genesis chapter 2 and he added in that um in that quotation his uh commentary. What God has put together let no man separate. Did you did you realize that what God has put together it is God. It is he is the one who created this marriage. We are not the one who make this. We are not the one who make this choice. It is God who put two persons together. He orchestrated this relationship and call it marriage and and that in itself have answered the question if uh am I marrying the right person?
First the answer is is this relationship uh God given to you? Right? Because if it is God given to to you you are entering into this covenant we call it covenant marriage covenant it is not marriage we call it marriage contract right because we sign a contract but actually it's marriage covenant and what covenant means it is god who made a covenant between two person and making them one and the two shall become one it is god who made this miracle of one fles is mir but is aen of god calling if you are married you are covenanted person and then you are called it is not uh we say do you have a calling it is not you are called to be a pastor or no our calling everyone of us including myself is to be a child of god that is our calling right and because We are called as children of God, as sons and daughters of God that God called us. He is also the one who calls us into marriage.
So that makes it uh clearer all the doubts no uh it the doubt of if I'm marrying the right person is rooted from fear that I might be married to the wrong person. right or wrong? Right? It is rooted in the fear. I might be marrying the wrong person. But if you are covenanting yourself with God is not it does not depend on you but you place your marriage in the hands of God who you believe is the one who made that covenant for you and him and together with your spouse. Amen.
Now I miss my wife but he she's coming in two weeks. So okay I have two more weeks to go. We h we celebrated last year our 32nd year anniversary and uh yeah this is what I always counsel those who want to get married. Well if you are already married you sign the covenant there's no more asking if you are married to the right person you already signed the covenant it's already sealed done. There's no turning back but we need to we need to um encourage because it's a very difficult world that we live in. marriages are failing. We know that real talk marriages are are broken and if we are not careful we could be uh part of that statistics of broken marriages and I pray that it will not happen to you that will you will last for a lifetime of marriage.
That is also my uh my uh desire for myself, for my marriage. Um why am I talking about this marriage? You know, because of that doubt am I marrying the right person? I'm saying that when you are doubting your salvation, you have a covenant. Go back to the covenant. That is the practical tip here. The practical tip is you are covenanted. You may be doubting but you are in a covenant and it is not up to you because you you are not the one who created the covenant to make you a child of God. who did our heavenly father who made you his child because you have faith in the lord jesus christ and the lord is in you amen so yeah we go back to our covenant we go back to our calling lord you called me so am i doubting now but lord you called me i am your son i am your daughter i am your child hallelujah amen so you we go back to our covenant and covenant cannot be broken because god will be true to his promise to carry us uh for eternity. Amen.
So uh just remember the indicators that you are saved. You have faith in God through his word. In this passage it says testimony. God testimony of his word is planted in our hearts that deep in our hearts belong to Christ because we put our faith in him. Second indicator is we have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Amen. We have a relationship with the Lord.
There are people who who says you know they deconstruct it means they used to be Christians and now they they are no more. They are not Christians anymore. What happen to their salvation? I think the indicator there you look at those people who says they used to be Christians. What is the reason they are not Christian anymore? They say ah because of the church, because of the pastor, because of this doctrine, they always say something but they are not saying I used to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. They don't say that. Why? Because in the first place they did not have that relationship with Christ.
you see indicator so remember that you are in Christ and Jesus is your Lord and he is your savior amen the third indicator is the presence of the holy spirit in you he is your witness that you are indeed a child of God that you are indeed uh you belong uh to Christ and then and that you are saved. Amen.
And lastly, I would like to leave you with this passage in Isaiah chapter 55 verse 11. Isaiah 55: 11 it says so is my word that goes out from my mouth it will not return to me empty but it will accomplish what I desire says the lord and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Amen.
Salvation is a um a plan and desire of God for you and me and he will accomplish it. He will see it through to its completion. Remember that song he who began a good work in you shall be able to complete it until the end. God when he uh spread out his word into the hearts of man he will accomplish it. That's why for parents who are agonizing with children who says I don't believe in in the Lord Jesus Christ uh the word of God is planted in their hearts.
All we can do as parents is to believe in faith that what God has planted in their hearts, it will accomplish to its uh desire and purpose for which God has sent it to them. Amen. You have love loved ones you are praying for. Maybe you have uh someone who is struggling in their faith and doubting their salvation. Maybe this will help you uh to encourage them, give them hope. And for those who are praying for your loved ones, for their salvation, don't lose hope because we believe God will accomplish his purpose in the lives of the people that he loves. Amen.
We pray. Father God, we thank you Lord for such a uh comforting encouraging words. Thank you Lord that you strengthened our faith, my faith, the faith of my brothers and sisters. But there are times Lord when we are weakened for whatever reason we are shaken in our faith. There are times Lord that we doubt and even doubt our salvation and we ask for your forgiveness but we thank you Lord that it does not depend on us it does not depend on our weakness it does not depend on our doubts. does not depend on our circumstances. It does not depend Lord God on the emotions that are uh unstable Lord in our hearts.
It is because you covenanted with us Lord that you made us your children that you made us to be part of your kingdom. You called us Lord to be your sons and daughters that is who we are and we express our faith in you no matter what happens because it is your gift for us and we receive it in our hearts by faith. We thank you Lord. Thank you for ministering to us.
We pray for those who are struggling in their faith Lord our friends, our loved ones Lord who are shaken in their faith in you. We pray Lord that you strengthen their faith. Allow them to overcome Lord whatever it is that they are struggling right now. We lift them up into your throne of grace and we hold on Lord God to the assurance that indeed we have eternal life that indeed we belong to you Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen. Halleluah.
Father God, we thank you Lord for your word and part of our response. Lord, as we embrace the truth of this uh wonderful passage is the giving of our tights and offerings. We pray Lord that it will be used wisely for your purpose for our church and for the glory of your holy name. In Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen.
Take-aways
- Salvation is a gift from God and it is not dependent on human works or emotions.
- The assurance of salvation is based on the testimony of God's word and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
- Doubting our salvation is a common struggle that many Christians face, but it does not mean that we are not saved.
- Having a relationship with Jesus Christ is an indicator that we are saved, and it is something that we need to nurture and grow in.
- God's covenant with us is a promise that He will always be true to, and it is not dependent on our weaknesses or doubts.
Food for thought
- What are some common doubts that you have about your salvation, and how can you overcome them?
- How can you nurture your relationship with Jesus Christ and grow in your faith?
- What does it mean to be covenanted with God, and how can you apply this concept to your life?
- How can you encourage others who are struggling with doubts about their salvation?
- What are some practical ways that you can apply the concept of assurance of salvation to your everyday life?