1 John 5:11-13
~19 min read
TRANSCRIPT
We are living in a world of uncertainties. Every day we are faced with unstable times and circumstances. We are uncertain about the economic situation because it is so unpredictable, especially with the Middle East crisis. We are uncertain about our employment. We have never been faced with the fear of terrorism as of today. We are uncertain whether our children will be safe in school. And very often the future seems so gloomy and bleak.
We want assurances. We want to be guaranteed for almost everything. When you buy a car, you want the warranty to last for as long as it can be. When you buy a house, you want the insurance to cover everything. We do not mind spending thousands of dollars on health products just to make sure that we have some sort of medical protection in the event of illnesses or diseases. We are uncertain of the people we are marrying. That is why today people have premarital agreements and contracts, something unheard of decades ago.
None of us can be certain about the future. We cannot depend on things material or physical. We cannot depend on the people. There's no guarantee how our children, our parents, or our spouses are going to treat us in the future. We have no absolute answers to all these issues of life. The best we can do is perhaps to speculate about these things. But there is something we are 100% certain of, and that is death. When there is life, there will be death.
I had my first experience with death at the age of seven. And there was a lovely old woman who was my neighbour. She loved me so much, and I would go to her every day, and she would give me candies. One afternoon, I ran into her room. Instead of seeing her lying on her bed, I saw her lying in a box.
So, I asked my mother, “Why is grand auntie lying in that strange-looking box?”
My mother was in tears, and she said, “She has passed away.”
Ever since then, this question has never stopped bothering me, “Where does a person go when he or she dies?”
The Bible tells us our soul will go to either one of these two places, heaven or hell. If a man has such a deep hunger for the assurance of things physical, how much more for things eternal and spiritual? We want to be certain where we would be going after we die.
The title of our message is “The Ultimate Certainty”. And our text is taken from 1 John 5:11-13. Allow me to read for you: “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God”. The Lord bless the reading of his holy and sacred word.
I. The Essential Knowledge Of Our Salvation
Our first point is “The Essential Knowledge Of Our Salvation. Eternal life means everlasting life, a life that will last forever and ever. The assurance of our salvation is a very important subject. Actually, there are four possible situations regarding the assurance of our salvation.
Firstly, a person can be lost, and he knows that he is lost.
Secondly, a person can be lost, and yet he thinks he is saved. In other words, he is deceiving himself.
Thirdly, a person can be saved, and yet not be sure that he is saved, like our Arminian friends.
Finally, a person can be saved and knows for sure that he has the biblical assurances of his salvation. And this is the very thing that we hope every one of us would have—a solid biblical assurance of our salvation.
God has given to us the Bible, which is filled with absolute certainties. We know for certain that God has created the universe. We are certain that God had created Adam and Eve. And everything was good in the beginning. God commanded Adam and Eve that of every tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:16–17). So, in the Garden of Eden, it was truly paradise on Earth. If Adam were to obey God and eat of the tree of life, then he would have gained eternal life and remained in the perfect garden.
But, we all know the story. How Adam and Eve disobeyed God, took and ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. And what God had said must come to pass with absolute certainty. “Thou shalt surely die.” So, ever since then, every man or woman born to this world is a sinner. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). “There is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:11). And there is a penalty for sin. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
Hebrews 9:27 tells us, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” . We often said that in life, we have many meetings and appointments. Some of those meetings and appointments we are able to attend, others we may not. But, there is an appointment that none of us can escape and all of us must meet, unless our Lord Jesus comes for us in the rapture. And that is death. But, death is not the end of everything because the Bible said, after this, the judgment. When we are found guilty, we have to face the punishment. We will be sent to eternal damnation forever and ever, eternally.
If you have been arrested for murder and they brought you to court, you stand before the judge. Can you defend yourself by pointing to all those people whom you have not murdered? Most certainly not. The question is not all the people in this world whom you have not murdered, but the very crime that you have committed. If you have committed the crime, you are guilty. That's it.
So, when it comes to the laws of God, there may be occasions whereby you have not broken those laws. But, that is not the question. The question is, have you broken God's laws? If you have, you are guilty. And the wages of sin is death. Not just this physical death, but an eternal death. For all eternity, you will be separated from God. Spiritually, you are dead.
So, man is under the power and penalty of sin and there's no way you and I can deliver ourselves. Our God is a holy and just God and he will by no means clear the guilty. In other words, he will not compromise our sins. As much as we like to look at God as a loving, gracious, and merciful God, full of goodness and compassion, he's also a holy and just God. And as a just God, he must punish our sins.
But, God gave us this most wonderful hope. He provided a way of escape for mankind by sending his only begotten Son to be the saviour of the world. Remember, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). For this reason, our Lord Jesus came into this world.
That was why Matthew 1:21 said, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins”. Jesus lived a perfect life, fulfilling the righteousness that was demanded of us, which you and I cannot keep. He died and shed his precious blood, a price that you and I can never pay. For without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. Jesus had no sin of his own to deserve punishment. So, when he died on the cross, he bore our punishment. He took all our sins and he shed his precious blood, which was able to wash away all our sins. It was for us that Jesus died.
That was why 2 Corinthians 5:21 said, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”. So, to believe in the name of the Son of God is to believe in who Jesus really was.
And 1 John chapter 5:11 said, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son”. Now, this is the record. This is the testimony. This is the witness that God have given to us eternal life. And this eternal life is in his Son. Which means, we have to believe what Jesus had done for us. The Son of God came for us, died, shed his precious blood to wash away our sins, rose again from the dead on the third day because of us. That is who Jesus was. And that was what he had done for us.
There may be some people who have this deep intellectual understanding of their salvation. And they are able to present the gospel in a very clear and articulate way. There are others who may not be able to do so. But, they believe Jesus Christ in their hearts. And they are still growing and developing. Just like a dear brother in Christ said to me, ‘I am just like a mustard seed. But, one day, I will grow to be like a tree.’
So, we ought to have this essential knowledge of our salvation. Knowing who we were, born in sin, condemned for eternity. But, by the grace of God, we were converted. And it was God who saved us through his only begotten Son. Through the wonder working of the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures came alive when we read about our sins and about the saviour who had come. It was a supernatural work wrought by God Himself.
However, there are all kinds of false assurances in this world, too. Some people think that they are the children of God, but they are sadly mistaken. Remember our Lord Jesus himself said, “Not every one that saith unto me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?’ And then will I profess unto them, ‘I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity’” (Matthew 7:21–23).
Allow me to just briefly explain what are some of these false assurances in this world. You know, nothing is more pathetic than this. For someone who has been convinced all his life, as he lives on this earth, thinking that he is a believer, and then he dies and stands before God on the day of judgment, and here the Lord says to him, “I never knew you.”
Some people said, “Well, I've done many wonderful works. I've attended many worship services, active in fellowship groups, given much money to the church, to charity.” It doesn't matter if those were things seem to be wonderful in the eyes of the world, but if those things were done out of a heart that is unconverted, not the result of true faith in the heart, Jesus said, ‘They are about works of iniquities.’
Some people may make decisions to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their saviour. Well, it could be because of their own human wills or efforts, or to please their unbelieving parents, or to please a believing girlfriend, or when they join a gospel rally, and they saw everyone walking down the aisles putting their hands up, they did not want to be the odd one out, so they also raised up their hands.
Yet others may say, “Well, the pastor said that I am saved. Oh, I did what the evangelist asked me to do. Kneel down and repeat this prayer after me, and you will have eternal life. You will be saved.” Salvation is a supernatural work. Through the holy Scriptures, the Holy Spirit brings about conviction, repentance, and faith. Without this, whatever a person may profess, they mean nothing.
Just as Jesus said, “Many will call me Lord, Lord.” Verse 13 said, “That ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13). The Bible did not say that you may think, or you may wish, or you may hope, but “you may know that you have eternal life”. This is the assurance that the Bible is talking about. God wants us to know.
If we understand who we really were, and by the grace of God we were convicted and converted by the working of the Holy Spirit, God wants us to know that we have eternal life. Remember, the devil is like a roaring lion, and he walketh about looking for those whom he can devour. He will try his very best to deceive us, if possible. He may try to cause us to doubt our salvation. He may try to cause us to believe that we may lose our salvation. But we all know that no true believer will ever lose his salvation.
Who said so? Well, our Lord Jesus himself said. Remember Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand” (John 10:27–29). Think about this. If a believer is given eternal life, and then along the way he loses it, it should not be called eternal life, right? It should be called temporary eternal life, which is oxymoronic in itself.
Jesus emphatically said, “They shall never perish.” So, for a believer to lose his salvation, a true believer, that would make God a liar. Because Jesus said, “No man can pluck him out of my hand. And he who believes in me shall never perish.” So, these are the essential knowledge of our salvation that we must know.
II. The Essential Evidence Of Our Salvation
Now, we come to the second point of our message, the essential evidence of our salvation. If you and I are truly saved, then we are in Christ. God is in us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. Then God must be doing something in our lives, right?
Firstly, God must justify us, as in convert us. And then he sanctifies us. So, his transforming power must be in our lives. Different. What is God doing in your life today? Have you ever paused to consider this? If God is in me, then what is he doing in and through my life?
To be born again is a supernatural work of God. Only God can make us a new creature in Jesus Christ. Only God can give us a new heart. And when God is doing his transforming work in our lives, he will give us a new desire, a new direction, and a new life. And this is something that only we ourselves can examine our own lives. Am I truly a saved person? If I'm truly a saved person, then there must be evidences of my salvation.
So, the Apostle John said, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13). “These things have I written unto you.” What had the Apostle John written? Well, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John wrote this first epistle of John. In other words, you apply what you have learned from the previous chapters, chapters 1 to 3, and then when you come to verse 13 of chapter 5, you have learned and applied all those things that were written before. Then you can have this assurance of your salvation.
Sometimes the book of 1 John is known as a book of test, a test whether a person is truly born again or not. We may not be able to examine every test, but allow me to just quote some of the examples.
1 John chapter 1 :6 said, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth”. To say that we have fellowship with God is tantamount to having salvation. So, if we say that we have salvation, we believe in God, and God lives in us, and yet we are living in habitual sin and darkness, we are a liar. The truth is not in us, no matter what we profess.
1 John 2:3 says, “And hereby we do know that we know him”. How? If we keep his commandments. Again, it does not mean that we will be able to keep every commandment of God. No person, no believer, no matter how spiritual that person is, will be able to do that. But there will always be this desire to obey the commandments of God, because we know him, and we believe these are his words, and these are his commandments. And we love his commandments. We are happy when we obey his commandments. We are grieved and troubled when we sin against his laws. That is what it means.
1 John 2:9 says, “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now”. Light and darkness again is used as references to someone who has salvation or someone who does not have salvation. No true believer should hate his brother, or for that matter, anybody. If someone claims to be a Christian and hates his brother, and he cannot let go of this vengeful spirit, this spiteful anger, not willing to forgive, no matter what, whatever reasons he may give to justify why he will not give up that anger, vengeful spirit, or unforgiving heart, the Bible says, “He is in darkness even until now.”
1 John 2:15 says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him”. The world sometimes can be a reference to this earth that God has created. Sometimes it can be referred to as humanity. At other times, it means the evil system of this world, where Satan rules as prince. Here it is a reference to the evil system of this world.
So, if you love the very things that God hates, God hates evil, the evil system of this world, then the love of the Father is not in you. It is just like me telling my wife, “I love you.” I know that she would not want me to go out and play the fool with other women. But I love to go out and play the fool with other women. And then I go back home and say, “Darling, I love you.” Is my love true and genuine? Most certainly not. It is a fake love. It is not true love. That is why God said, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). God will always be the number one in your life.
1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” . The word us is a reference to the believers. The Bible does not tell us who these people were who departed from the fellowship of the church. They were once very active, perhaps serving in the different ministries of the church, worshipping God. Then all of a sudden, they departed from the worship and fellowship of the church.
Now, we are not referring to those people who have left us, and they have joined a sound Bible-believing church. We are happy for them. Our advice to them is that you continue to worship and serve the Lord in that church. Here, it is a departure altogether. In other words, they stopped worshipping and stopped fellowshipping with the people of God. No true believer will do that.
1 John 2:29 says, “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him”. 1 John 3:9 says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God”. Again, the Bible does not teach sinless perfection. We do sin. We still struggle with sin, as long as we live in this mortal body known as the flesh. Here is a reference to habitual sins.
The believer who is born of God, the believer who knoweth that his God is righteous, he will not dwell in habitual sin. Why? Because the Holy Spirit will not allow him to continue to do so habitually. Remember, the true believer will have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. There will be this conviction. And he will turn in repentance and in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You will also increase in your prayer life. If you are not a child of God, you will not approach the throne of God confidently. If you do not know for sure that God is your heavenly Father and you do not know that you have the right to approach his throne, you will find that prayer is a meaningless exercise. That is why some people feel that, why must I pray? Because they do not understand that they are actually communicating with their heavenly Father.’
But the true believer knows that, the true believer knows that every word he or she speaks, the heavenly Father will hear. And he will answer according to his sovereign time, will, and purpose, simply because you are a child of God.
You will also increase in your service to God. It is really hard to persevere in serving God, to be effective and efficient in the Lord's work. There will be trials, difficulties, oppositions, troubles of all sorts. It is easier to throw in the towel than to continue and persevere. But the true believer who is saved by the love, grace, and mercy of God knows that this physical body does not really belong to him but to God. And he knows that, as long as I have breath in my lungs, I will serve my almighty God, no matter what happens.
And that believer will be blessed by God. Not physically, though sometimes, yes, there may be physical blessings, but spiritual blessings. There will be strength that God will give to the believer to persevere and serve with great effectiveness and efficiencies. So the true believer will increase in his service to the Lord.
Dear friend, how can you be sure that you are 100% saved?
First, there must be this essential knowledge of your salvation. You were born a sinner, doomed for eternal damnation. But by the grace and mercy of God, you were converted through the Holy Spirit, using the word of God to touch your hearts.
And then there would be these evidences of your salvation. There will be this new life, this new creature, this new passion, this new direction, and this new desire to serve God. You'll be more prayerful because you know that it is not by strength nor by might, but by the almighty God's power. You will love the brethren more and more. You'll be forgiving, loving. You will be prayerful, always praying for the Lord's work to flourish.
Dear friends, I pray that all of us who truly profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are true believers. But the reality is that, in a local church, there will always be sheep and goats, wheat and tares. We hope everyone is a sheep and is a wheat. That is why we continuously must preach the word of God.
If you have forgotten whatever I've said, remember these two very important things we must have if we want to be 100% certain that we are truly saved. We must have the essential knowledge of our salvation, knowing who Jesus was and what he had done for us on the cross of Calvary. And following that, there must be essential evidences of our salvation. If God is in us, then he must be doing something in our lives.
May the Lord continue to work in each and every one of our lives.
Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, we are so thankful that thou hast given us the opportunity to consider thy holy Scriptures, the Word of God. We need thy word, for Thy Word giveth life. It is through Thy Word that we are saved, and it is also through Thy Word that we are sanctified.
And we pray that, as Thou hast taught us, in life there are so many things we want to have guarantees, we want to have assurances. But none of us can be 100% certain about the future. All we can do is but speculate. But there's one thing we all do know and is 100% certain, and that is death. When there is life, there will be death. And we want to be 100% certain where we would go after we die.
And Thou hast taught us and reminded us about the essential knowledge of our salvation. It is founded in who our Lord Jesus was and what he had done for us on the cross of Calvary. And Thou hast reminded us of the evidences of our salvation. If Thou hast saved us and the Holy Spirit indwells in us, then Thou art doing something in our lives.
And we need to constantly ask ourselves what is the almighty God asking me to do, and what I ought to do, and what I ought not to do. And may we live our lives with this full assurance of our eternal life, not just to have this confidence in having heaven as our eternal home, but most importantly for the glory of God, that Thou hast a purpose in all things, even in the evidences of our salvation.
Thou wantest us to glorify thee, and this is how we want to live our lives. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
THE BOOK OF 1 JOHNThe Benefits Of PrayerThe Benefits Of PrayerSelected Scriptures
Message 5: To Fight the Good Fight of Faith is to Hate the WorldMessage 5: To Fight the Good Fight of Faith is to Hate the World1 John 2:15-17
Message 8 – Asking and ReceivingMessage 8 – Asking and Receiving1 John 3:20-24
Keeping God’s CommandmentsKeeping God’s Commandments1 John 5:3
The Ultimate CertaintyThe Ultimate Certainty1 John 5:11-13
Message 9: Our Confidence in PrayerMessage 9: Our Confidence in Prayer1 John 5:14-15
Message 10: To Pray or Not to PrayMessage 10: To Pray or Not to Pray1 John 5:16-17
