That you may know
Passage 1 John 5:13
Speaker Sam Griffiths
Service Evening
Series I Have Hidden Your Word in my Heart
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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.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.
Thank you, Janet, very much for reading for us. And may I add my welcome to that of Matt's earlier on this evening. Shall we pray together as we start?
Loving Father, please open our hearts and our eyes to understand more of what you would say to us tonight through your word as we look at this short verse in one John. And would we leave more confident and more assured the eternal life that we have in you, in Jesus name, amen.
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. I did look down at my notes there, but I think I could have got through it without my notes. It's a short verse, 26 words in all, that drives straight to the heart of christian assurance. And the Bible is full of statements of assurance, isn't it? God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but to have eternal life.
We go on a long time quoting phrases of assurance from the Bible. And it's better than an insurance policy, isn't it? Every Christian knows that they are safe in Christ, that they can enjoy life with him for all eternity. In a world of uncertainty, we have certainty about eternity. And yet.
And yet, so often we don't live with that certainty, do we? So often we know these things in our heads, and yet doubt can creep in. We can go to bed at night thinking, is this really true for me? On that final day when the trumpet sounds and Christ descends, will he know me? Am I authentic?
Am I real? Can I be certain? If you can relate to feelings like that, well, know that you're in good company. In fact, this very verse that we're looking at this evening, one John 513. But it shows us that actually it's normal to struggle with assurance.
John, after all, is writing to those who believe in the name of the son of God. He's writing to christians, and yet he's writing to them with one purpose, and that is that they might know that they have eternal life. You think it should be obvious, and yet we need reminding. And if you can relate to that. Well, the short answer, if you remember one thing from this evening, the best answer is to go and read one John.
That is the whole reason why he wrote this letter. We're going to spend a few minutes just unpacking that verse and the preceding verses this evening. If you find titles useful as we go through a talk, then the first title would be this. The qualification of assurance. The qualification of assurance.
Now it's important to make a distinction from the outset. This is not the qualification for salvation. It is perfectly normal, I suppose, for a Christian to be fully saved and yet struggle with that sense of assurance, that confidence in their salvation. But the qualification for assurance. Well, it's right there in our single verse that we have this evening.
It is for those who believe in the name of the son of God. That's it. It's nothing more, but it's certainly nothing less. Confident assurance is available to the Christian, the one who believes in the name of the son of God, who puts their trust in him, who acknowledges that he was not just a man who walked the earth 2000 years ago, but was God incarnate. That he died and that he rose and that he ascended into heaven and that as he did die on that cross, well, he was a living sacrifice.
For my sins, for your sins, for the sins of everybody. But that belief in him, it's not a one off thing, is it? It's not the insurance policy that you take out one Sunday evening and you put it in the bottom drawer and hope you won't need that until you're 100. It's also not an academic test. It's not a test on the life of Jesus.
And once you know enough, then you've got your assurance. The Bible paints a picture much more of a relationship, doesn't it? Not an academic conclusion, but of a marriage between Christ and his church. Lifelong commitment. If you'd like some hallmarks perhaps of somebody who believes in Jesus, well, John actually gives us some at the beginning of chapter five, chapter five, verse one.
While the one who believes in the name of the Son of God, well, they love the father and they love the Son. The second hallmark, well, they love fellow Christians, fathers and sisters in Christ. And thirdly, the third hallmark of one who believes in Jesus is that they carry out his commands. Now there's another famous verse in one John, and that is that if we claim to have no sin, then we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So it's not that we are perfect, but it's that we find joy in seeking to live for him day by day in what we do.
We love God, we love the Son, we love one another and we seek to live for him. If that's you and if that's the person that you want to be, well, we believe in the name of the son of God. That is a simple qualification for assurance.
But then we can also consider the path to that assurance. You see, for the Christian, the first step to assurance, says John, is to read the words that he has written now, taking that at face value. I think we all know that to be true, don't we? As we go day by day, reading God's word, thinking about it, talking about it, meditating upon it, well, that's when our assurance is greatest. We feel closer to the Lord.
We feel assured of his salvation. But when the Bible stays closed for too long, when we might be coming to church on a Sunday, but the words go in one ear and out of the other and we don't find we can talk to other christians about God's word, but it's almost inevitable. That's when our assurance, where our confidence in him just starts to fool that little bit. That's when the doubts can creep in.
I also wonder if it's not quite as simple as simply how much we read the Bible. If it was simply about how much we read the Bible, then you'd set the alarm the same time every day, get your fix of assurance and off we go. Happy to face the day. I was talking to somebody a couple of weeks ago, an older person who has read their Bible in and out, day in, day out, year in, year out. And they say, I still struggle with assurance.
He still struggles with the certainty of eternal life. I think we can sometimes think, well, you know, the Bible is great, but perhaps it's just the limitations by which God can talk to us today. It's just the best form of communication that he has, really. I think I'd feel a bit more assured if I had something a bit more tangible, perhaps a bit more of a feeling inside, something a bit more direct, a bit more personal for me. Sure, I can read the assurance in the Bible, but sometimes I just don't feel it.
I think there in lies the problem, doesn't it? I read that I am saved, but I can feel far from him. I read that I will spend eternity with him, but I feel anxious about that final day. I read that I am justified, but I feel guilty. I think this is where we really need to change our thinking.
And I think that John helps us to do that because we all have a tendency to attribute greater weight to our feelings than we do to God's word. When we distil it down. That's really what we're doing. And that is what can hold back our sense of assurance. In our reading today, you see John, well, he offers a far greater way, and that is changing the benchmark of assurance from how we feel to what we know.
That's the word he uses, that you may know that you have eternal life. And that's not only true, but it's also a brilliant, brilliant message. You see, God's word, well, you know, it doesn't change, does it? My feelings of assurance can wax and wane depending on my mood, my performance, energy levels, my personality. God's word is external to all of those influences.
It is consistent. I write these things to you, says John. Well, what are they? What are these things? As I said at the beginning, it's the whole letter.
And do go away and read one, John. But if you would just turn in your bibles to verse nine, chapter five and verse nine, we read these words. We accept human testimony. But God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God which he has given us about his son. Whoever believes in the son of God accepts this testimony.
Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar because they have not believed in the testimony God has given about his son. And this is the testimony, says John, God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. Whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the Son does not have life.
Do you follow what John is saying there? He's saying we're more than willing to accept what people tell us. In fact, we're more than willing to accept what we say about ourselves.
Thoughts and feelings, though, are not good enough. We think to ourselves, well, why would God want me? I'm not sure that I am truly saved. But for some reason we find it harder to really grasp what God tells us about ourselves.
But did you spot what we're doing when we fail to recognise what God tells us about ourselves? It's there in verse ten. We make God out to be a liar.
Did you spot the subject of this testimony, the testimony of God that we read in his word? Verse ten. They have not believed the testimony God has given about his son. Verse eleven. This is the testimony.
God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. Verse twelve. Whoever has the son has life. Do you know the son? Do you know Jesus?
Well, you have eternal life. God's testimony, you see, is all about his son. It's nothing to do with us. It is all about his son, Jesus, to find and to keep this assurance, this confidence of our salvation. Well, hear the testimony of God about his son, Jesus Christ.
It's his life, it's his death, it's his resurrection. Know that he is the sacrifice given to cover your sin for my sin. Know that the grave could not hold him, and that he rose again. When you think that your sin is too great, well, look at Jesus on the cross. You might know the old hymn that would say, sinner.
Will this not suffice? Know that the father, he looks at you and sees his risen, perfect son, Jesus. Know that you are clothed in garments of salvation. You wear a robe of righteousness. Know that salvation and eternal life are found only, only in Jesus.
And so when you lack assurance, look to him. Think about him. Read about the father's testimony about his son in your Bible. Don't look at how you feel, but look at him. Read his word.
Read his testimony. Read one John and take a hold of it. Meditate upon it. Remember this verse. Bring it to mind.
We have to preach to ourselves. I think preaching to ourselves is perhaps a lost art these days. But you read the psalms, and the psalmist will say, my soul, why are you downcast within me? Ask yourself that question. Why are you doubting your confidence in Jesus?
And then give yourself the answer. I know the son, and so I have eternal life. Trust what you know rather than what you feel. Now, some of you might know that Martin Luther, he struggled with his assurance. I think he would carve Bible verses like this into his kitchen table.
I'm not recommending you necessarily do that at home, but I've heard that he did that. These are some words from Martin Luther that stuck in my mind when I first heard them. He said this. So when the devil throws your sins in your face, that's a nice way of putting it. When the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him I admit that I deserve death and hell.
What of it? For I know one who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the son of God. And where he is, there I will be also. He's preaching to himself, you see, it's the devil's work to make us doubt, to accuse us, to make us feel guilty.
Just as he tempted Eve in the garden, he said, did God really say you can eat the fruit for us? He says, did God really say that you have eternal life? Did he really say that you are saved? Did he really say that Jesus blood is enough? And we say, yes, by the blood of Jesus, he did.
I want to give you one more quote, and it is a bit long, so I'm sorry for that. But I remember the first time I heard this quote. I was at camp. It was in Wales. I think it was raining outside, but I remember someone reading this quote and thinking, that's it.
That's what I need to remember. And this is from John Bunyan, someone else who struggled with his assurance. I think Steve might have mentioned him a couple of weeks ago. This is what John Bunyan said. He said, one day as I was passing into the field, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul.
Thy righteousness is in heaven. And I thought I could see Jesus Christ at God's right hand. Yes, there indeed was my righteousness, so that wherever I was or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me that I did not have righteousness, for it was standing there before him. I also saw that it was not my good feelings that made me righteous, or that my bad feelings did not make my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Christ himself. The same yesterday, today, and forever.
What impact did that have on John Bunyan? Well, he said it was as if his chains fell off his legs and he was loosened from his afflictions. His temptations fled away and he went home rejoicing because of the grace and the love of God. He too stopped looking at how he felt and start looking at what he knew to be true. And it transformed his life.
We've thought about the qualification of assurance, that is, that we believe in the son of God. We've looked at the path to assurance. We must trust God's testimony about what he says about his son. And then briefly, our final point is simply eternal life. That's where this verse eternal life.
It seems all too easy to talk about eternal life as just shorthand in my experience for salvation. Do you have eternal life? Are you saved? Are you a Christian? But I think sometimes we just lose the sense of wonder about eternal life.
It doesn't end. It's everlasting, the glory, the truth of it. Life without end. I think it's hard for us to get our heads around. I'm sure it's hard for us to get our heads around.
We live with things that are temporary, but this will be for eternity. And of course, that makes a difference to us now, doesn't it? It makes all the difference in the world. It will set my priorities on a Sunday to come and meet with his people here. It will set our priorities midweek to meet with one another.
It will set my priority to read his word, to hold loose the things of this world, success, money, comfort and status. It will bring me joy as I see the brokenness of this world, conflict, climate and corruption. And to know that this is not it. This is far from it. It will give me confidence to tell others what is to come.
And when we reach the end of our earthly life, it will give us peace that this is not the end, but it is only the beginning. I write these things to you, says John, who believe in the name of the son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that through it we know that we are saved by Jesus alone. We thank you that by believing in him we have eternal life. Father, help us to take hold of this truth day by day. Help us to preach this truth to ourselves so that we might live confident lives, secure in the knowledge that we have eternal life.
Amen.