Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
I John 5:13 & other verses
I am asking you to think this morning as I always do, but I am also reminding you that hearing and concentrating on the word of the Lord is your highest form of devotion and worship of God. Worship the Lord by offering your attention to his words this morning. We worship God with song and prayers and our financial giving and our spiritual unity here, but we really put our worship of God at its ultimate level when we give our minds and our hearts to his precious truths. Dedicate this next hour to the Lord. Cast all your cares on the Lord. Forget about your Christmas shopping and your busy schedules and hear the word of the Lord.
So what does the Bible say about being saved? How do those who say they have been saved know they are saved? There is a lot to be said of the old saying, “the proof is in the pudding”.
I John 5:13 read...
1. The Christian will not practice sin as a habit of life, I Jn.3:9
A believer can practice sin for a period of time if he chooses, but the teaching here shows us the distinction between the lawless sinner and the life of the believer. The difference gives evidence of our true relationship to God. Rom.12:9...
After sinning for so long the conscience of the unsaved becomes cauterized and desensitized.
However, when the believer in Christ sins it grieves not only his conscience, but it also grieves the indwelling Holy Spirit. The inner distress of unconfessed sin remains until confession is made. When fellowship is restored then peace returns. You are not being born again; again, you are simply being restored to fellowship with God. Your relationship with God as his child never changes after you are born again. You cannot be unborn spiritually no more than you can be unborn physically. God never lets go of your hand even when you and I sin. God knew what he was getting into when he saved each one of us. He has given us to His Son as a gift, and our Father does not take His Son’s gifts away from him.
2. The Christian is disciplined by the heavenly Father, Heb.12:7-11 read...
Most believers will eventually confess their sin. The grief is removed because they have been cleansed.
There is a movement in Christian teaching today that says you do not need confession of sin after salvation because all of your sins were paid for on the cross and you received a full pardoned at the moment of your salvation. They say God doesn’t discipline you because the sin in your life has been pardoned. They confuse positional sanctification with practicing sanctification. Positional sanctification (which is an instantaneous work of God at the moment of salvation is eternal in scope, Phil.1:6). But practicing sanctification is a moment by moment choice the believer makes to live within the righteous guidelines found in our salvation.
The Bible says if you are not disciplined by the Father in heaven when you sin, then you are not a child of God. This is not just a Church age doctrine. God has chastened his wayward children with various stages of personal grief in every dispensation beginning with Adam and Eve, through Noah, then Moses, King David and so on.
3. The Christian will love other Christians, I Jn.3:10, 14 read...
Another evidence that brings about greater assurance that you are saved is your love for fellow believers. When you love God’s people you show your love for God and your spiritual kinship to them. I Jn.3:14 “We know we have passed [perf. active indicative] from death unto life, because we love [present active indicative of agape] the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth [present active indicative] in death.”
This is a constant virtue love, not simple emotional affection. This love must be developed as noted in I Cor.13. It is developed by the inhale of Bible doctrine and it is tested through his/her fellowship with other believers. And only when God’s love is shown has it come full circle. To say you love God and that the love of God is in you is easy, but can you bear the idiosyncrasies and imperfections of other believers?
These passages not only demonstrate to the believer, Christian evidences, they also are a part of the believer developing their right spiritual relationship with God, I Jn.2:5-11.
According to John’s passage here our love for God,v.5. is matured through our intake and acceptance of God’s word. The evidence that this is taking place in our lives is noted in how we think and how we treat other believers.
4. The Christian will desire spiritual food and he is willing to sit under the authority of a God appointed called equipped pastor-teacher to get it. If he is not he will not grow any where. Jesus Christ told Peter if your love me you will feed my sheep, he didn’t say if you love me you will give them whatever they want. And likewise Jesus Christ the Lord has said in Jn.15:14 if you love him you will obey his word.
To be continued next week..