“Can I Be Certain I am a Christian?”

1 John 5:13 and selected texts

April 1, 2007

Dr. Jerry Nelson

Do you know that you are a Christian?

Are you confident that if Jesus came back to earth today he would call you one of his?

The Bible teaches there are two kinds of people in the world.

Jesus referred to them as the wheat and the weeds or the sheep and the goats, the found and the lost or those who believe and those who don’t.

John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.”

The Bible teaches that when we are conceived we are already part of the “weed-goat-lost-not believing” crowd.

In other words we start out on the wrong side.

And the major point of the Bible is that God came into our world to change our condition.

John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

It is both theologically and logically true that there must be a point in time when we change from condemned to saved, from goats to sheep, from lost to found.

John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

John 1:12 “To all who received (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

So radical is the change of status that Jesus referred to it as being “born again.”

Picking up on New Testament metaphors, the hymn writer John Newton described is as “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

The question before us today is whether I can know with certainty that I have been born again, that I am a Christian, that I am a child of God, and that I have crossed over from death to life.

Please stand for the reading of God’s Word:

1 John 5:1-13 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³ This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

^{1JN 5:6} This is the one who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷ For there are three that testify: ⁸ the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. ⁹ We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. ¹⁰ Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

^{1JN 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.

The subject today is the assurance of our relationship with God.

Quite clearly then this message is for those who are truly Christians.

The Bible says we can know we have eternal life; we can have confidence we belong to God.

But how can we know?

Isn’t it true that we sometimes doubt, at least wonder, if we are Christians?

Sometimes we doubt the very existence of God and then we wonder how we could possibly be a Christian when we can even doubt that God exists.

Sometimes we willfully do what is wrong and then we wonder how we could possibly be a Christian when we so deliberately sin against God.

Have you sometimes wondered if you have any true spiritual life at all or if you are simply fooling yourself?

I dare say almost every Christian has struggled with doubt about his or her relationship with God.

Even people who have been Christians many years will experience doubt.

That is certainly my own experience.

I take some comfort in knowing that Abraham, Job, David and others experienced doubt.

But such doubts can persist and they are painful.

What are we to make of these doubts?

If I doubt, does it mean I don’t have faith?

And since we are Christians by grace through faith, does it mean I’m not a Christian?

Among those who call themselves Christians there are really two problems.

First, and the one we are dealing with most today, is the person who truly is a child of God but doesn’t have the assurance of that relationship.

It is a painful and sad experience to live in fear.

But as terrible as that is there is another experience that is far worse.

It is the person who is NOT truly a child of God who thinks he or she is.

I’m convinced there are many such people in churches all across this country.

They are confident they have a relationship with God when they have no right to such a claim.

They live with the mistaken idea that since they believe in a God and they do the best they can in this life they are okay with God.

Or among those who were reared in Bible-teaching churches, some live with the mistaken idea that since they asked Jesus into their hearts as their personal savior they have secured a ticket to heaven when they die no matter what else they do the rest of their lives.

It’s impossible for me to talk about assurance of a relationship with God, with people who have never become Christians.

A Christian is not merely one who goes to a Christian church.

A Christian is not merely one who believes there is a God nor even merely one who believes that Jesus was a real person who died on the cross.

Listen to this description of some who became true Christians:

1 Thessalonians 1:4-7 “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction… You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit...”

First the Holy Spirit of God, using the Word of God, convicted them of their need and of Christ’s good news.

Secondly, they welcomed the message of salvation and experienced the joy of sins forgiven and a new relationship with God.

Thirdly, they followed the Lord, imitating him in their lives.

If you haven’t ever responded in faith to Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and life, if you haven’t ever intentionally turned from going your own way to following Jesus, then you won’t be able to find assurance.

You can’t expect to gain assurance of something that never happened?

You can’t expect to be assured of what you are not.

And so as you listen to me address those who truly are Christians, this is the time for you to turn to Jesus to receive the gift of forgiveness and begin to follow him.

But today, consistent with the biblical theme of the whole morning, my greatest desire is that those of you who truly are Christians would have a growing assurance of your relationship with God.

· That it would liberate you from plaguing doubt.

· That it would free you to experience the joy of your relationship with God

· And that it would energize you to follow the Lord in life and witness.

So how can my confidence that I am a Christian grow?

First of all I want to remind you that being a Christian and being confident of it are two different things.

My sister was born of my father and mother.

She was in fact a child of her and my parents.

But she tells me that when we were young I used to tell her that she wasn’t actually part of the family; that my parents found her on the doorstep and feeling sorry for her, took her in.

Apparently she worked herself into quite a state of insecurity about whether she really belonged.

She wasn’t confident she belonged even though she did in fact belong.

Just because you doubt your relationship with God doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have a relationship with him.

Being a Christian and being confident of it are two different things.

Today I want to show you three ways by which the Bible says our confidence, our assurance, can grow.

I’m going to reduce the three ways to three words for memory’s sake but reductionism has deficiencies so I will try to explain each carefully.

The three words are Word, Works and Witness.

A little better would be to say, “God’s Word, “God’s work in us,” and “God’s witness to us.”

So what is that first means of assurance?

It is the Word – God’s promises in the Bible.

To combat doubts and grow in our sense of assurance, the Christian does not look first to him or herself or anything they have produced but instead we look at God’s promises and God’s faithfulness.

As I said earlier, the fact of our salvation does not rest in our feelings of assurance.

The fact rests in the promises and trustworthiness of Jesus.

We don’t qualify ourselves for the gift of life, we don’t make ourselves worthy – it is all of God.

Even when we correctly view faith as the condition necessary to receive the promise, faith doesn’t bear any of the weight.

Faith simply looks to God alone as the sole source of our spiritual life.

Is Jesus trustworthy? Yes!

Does he fulfill his promises? He always has!

Has he promised you that if you will trust him you will be saved? Yes!

Do you trust HIM?

The Bible says believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

It says as many as receive Jesus, to them God gives the right to become his children.

It says repent, turn from sin to Jesus.

Many of us lack assurance of our salvation because instead of focusing on the Savior we focus on our response and ourselves.

When doubting our Christianity, we think back to when we became a Christian and wonder if we “did it right.”

We think:

· “Maybe I wasn’t sorry enough for my sins.

· “Maybe I didn’t pray the right prayer.

· “Maybe I didn’t really understand.

· “Maybe I didn’t mean it sufficiently.

· “Maybe my faith wasn’t strong enough.

Do you see how all of those concerns focus on what I did or did not do?

That is like placing faith in the quality of my faith instead of placing faith in Jesus.

Listen to this conversation:

“Do you believe Jesus will do what he says he will do?

“Yes.

Is he trustworthy?

“Yes.

“Do you believe Jesus forgives our sins (past, present and future) based solely on his grace when we believe him?

“Yes.

“Do you believe him?

“I think I do. I’m just not certain that my faith is sufficient or strong enough.

When you answer that last question that way you reveal that you still have your eyes focused on what you do instead of on Jesus and what he did.

When I was a young boy I was accidentally pushed into the deep end of the swimming pool and I began to drown.

When I came to the surface, I screamed for help.

When I came to the surface the second time, my brother had his hand out to me.

Believe me I didn’t stop and consider whether I had asked for help correctly or just how I should take hold of his hand.

I yelled and I grabbed!

And he saved me.

Don’t ask if your faith is strong enough to save you, ask if Jesus is strong enough to do so.

Let me ask you again:

“Do you believe Jesus will do what he says he will do?

“Yes.

“Is he trustworthy?

“Yes.

“Do you believe Jesus forgives our sins (past, present and future) based solely on his grace when we believe him?

“Yes.

“Do you believe him?

“Yes, I believe Jesus!

Do you see what has changed?

Your focus moved from you and you getting it right, to focusing on Jesus and him getting it right.

Theologian B.B. Warfield, a professor at Princeton Seminary at the turn of the last century, wrote, “It is not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ…It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively, not in the act of faith or the attitude of faith or the nature of faith, but in the object of faith; and in this the whole biblical representation centers, so that we could not more radically misconceive (the Bible) than by transferring to faith even the smallest fraction of that saving energy which is attributed in the Scriptures solely to Christ Himself.” (B.B Warfield, Biblical and Theological Studies, 425)

My own testimony is illustrative of this idea:

From early childhood I was taught that Jesus died for our sins and that if we believe him we would not perish but have eternal life.

Two or three times between ages 4 and 14, because of a growing understanding of sin in my life, I attempted to become a Christian.

I say, “attempted” because, within me, the emphasis was always on what I did in response to my new awareness of sin.

I would pray a prayer or I would go forward at an invitation following a sermon and I would try to make certain that I was doing it right – that I really meant it, that I was sufficiently sorry for my sins, and that I prayed the right words.

But at each new stage of maturity, I would wonder if in my previous immaturity I had done it right and so I felt the need to “do it” again.

Finally at age 17, after years of doing and then doubting, I wanted desperately to be done doubting,

It is painful to believe in God but not be certain of where you stand with him.

Though I knew the facts of the gospel, a pastor friend once again told me the basic good news – that Jesus died for my sins and that as many as receive him to them he gives the right to become the children of God.

He asked me, “Jerry, do you believe Jesus?”

That night my focus changed:

The object of my faith was no longer my faith – no longer getting it right.

But the object of my faith was now Jesus.

He had already gotten it right and I believed him.

So what is the first way whereby I may know I am a Christian?

Because GOD declares if I will trust Jesus alone to save me, he will save me and he cannot lie.

Listen to what God has promised:

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 10:27-29 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

Ephesians 1:13-14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession

Christianity is about a relationship with God.

How sad for us and for our God, if we doubt his love.

He wants us to be assured of his love.

Does your faith waver? Do you sometimes doubt?

Then go to God’s Word and read his promises.

Nearly 400 years ago, William Spurstowe one of the authors of the Westminster Confession of Faith wrote that meditating on God’s promises is the surest way to gain the sense of assurance.

It is like first looking at the sky at night only to see one or two stars but the longer we gaze into the sky the more stars we see until we see that in fact the whole sky is filled with them.

Likewise when we first turn our attention to the promises of God, they may appear weak and they do nothing to dispel our doubts.

But as we meditate on his promises, they come into sharper focus and our hearts are filled with confidence. (In Beeke, Assurance of Faith,155)

The Word is the first means of assurance. - God’s sure promises and his faithfulness.

But I said at the beginning that there are two other means of assurance – “Works” and “Witness.”

And so secondly we think about the role of “Works.”

By “works” I mean God’s work in us, changing us.

True conversion will result in a changing life – one that is increasingly conformed to the character and conduct of Jesus.

1 John 3:1-3 “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

Do you want a greater sense of assurance that you belong to God?

Listen to the Apostle John:

1 John 2:3-6 “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

1 John 4:7-8, 12 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love… If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Jesus said it this way, Matthew 7:18-20 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Our sense of assurance grows as we see evidences of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, as we are changing.

· Do you care about your relationship with God?

· Are you sensitive to sin in your life and desire to overcome it?

· Do you obey God’s word and desire to do so more and more?

· Do you reject the false hopes and ways of the world?

· Do you look forward to seeing Jesus?

· Do you see changes in your life?

· Do you love other Christians? (See Chapter 5 Saved Without a Doubt by John MacArthur)

· Do you desire to be more like Jesus?

If any of that is true, and increasingly true, then you have reason to be assured that you belong to God.

Now remember these actions and attitudes don’t make you a Christian but they do give evidence that you are one.

Our temptation is to look at how far short we fall and then doubt our salvation.

God’s perspective is to look at how far he has brought us and to what he will yet do in us the future.

Philippians 1:6 “…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Someone might respond, “Well I see some evidence of a changing attitude and lifestyle but how do I know that guarantees I am a Christian?

It doesn’t!

The only guarantee that you are a Christian is that God has saved you by grace through faith.

But your sense of assurance grows as you see evidences of God’s work in your life.

It is not that you will see all the fruit of the Spirit manifested in your life,

Or that what fruit is manifested is manifested perfectly,

But you will see that your faith is resulting in a changing life.

The means of assurance are: Word, Work and Witness.

God’s “Word” establishes it,

God’s “work” in our lives gives evidence of it,

and now lastly, God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Romans 8:14-16 “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.”

Jesus said, John 3:8 “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

You can’t see the Holy Spirit of God but you can tell where he’s been.

You can’t see the Holy Spirit do his work but you can tell when he’s done it.

· Why do you care about being a Christian and your neighbor doesn’t?

Because of the Holy Spirit.

· Why do you desire to follow Jesus and be more like him?

Because of the Holy Spirit.

· Why are you sensitive to sin and grieve that you have hurt Jesus when you sin?

Because of the Holy Spirit.

· Why do you care about loving others?

Because of the Holy Spirit.

And it is the Holy Spirit who takes that evidence and confirms to your mind that you belong to God.

And it is the Holy Spirit who takes the promises of God and confirms to your mind that God is faithful.

Remember that any trust in Jesus, weak as it may be, and any outward evidence of true conversion resulting in a changing life is the work of the Holy Spirit and only further confirms that you have been “savingly” converted – that you are a Christian.

Assurance is not perfect in this life; it is subject to doubt and trial.

But it should nonetheless be sought after through the means of grace.

2 Peter 1:10 “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.

Assurance comes from the Holy Spirit of God through the “Word,” “Works,” and “Witness.”

Meditate on God’s promises of eternal life by grace through faith.

Ignorance of God’s promises or forgetting God’s promises are major causes of doubt.

Secondly, follow the Lord Jesus, obeying him.

Disobedience and fruitlessness will exacerbate the doubt and rightfully so.

Thirdly, invite the Spirit of God to bear witness with your spirit, you conscience, that you are his.

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.”

Prayer

Resources:

The “Westminster Confession of Faith” Chapter XVIII.

Also G.I. Wiliamson’s notes in “The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes” 1964 Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing

Assurance of Faith Calvin and English Puritanism by Joel R. Beeke (Scholarly work and thorough. See especially chapters 6 & 10)

Saved Without A Doubt by John MacArthur 1992

(Popular work. See especially chapters 2, 3 & 6

The ABCs of Assurance by John Gerstner 1991

(Popular work laid out in short 2 to 4 page articles)

Heaven on Earth A Treatise on Christian Assurance by Thomas

Brooks 1654 (Tough reading but thorough)

No Condemnation – A New Theology of Assurance by Michael Eaton