As a boy I got saved from my sin about 101 times. Well, not really, but as a 10 or 11-year-old, I would lay awake in my bed and not ‘feel’ saved’. My lack of maturity would get the best of me and I’d want to make sure that Jesus had heard me say the ‘sinner’s prayer’- again, just to make sure of course. I don’t struggle with that issue today because my confidence is rooted in my understanding and acceptance of what Jesus has already done for me, but I run across many today who are living angst driven lives, having the same fears I did as a boy, questioning their salvation and not ‘feeling’ that they’re saved. .
Here’s the thing… God’s word has a lot to say about salvation, but nothing to say about “feeling saved.” The world we live in is a feeling-oriented society and, sadly, that has spilled over into the church. But feelings are unreliable. The fact is, God promised to save us if we come to him in faith. But he never promised that we would ‘feel’ saved.
Emotions are untrustworthy. They ebb and flow like the tides of the ocean that bring in all kinds of debris and deposit them on the shore, then go back out, eroding the ground we stand on and washing it out to sea. That’s a pretty good picture of those whose emotions rule their lives. The simplest circumstances – a headache, a cloudy day, a word thoughtlessly spoken by a friend – can erode our confidence and send us “out to sea” in a fit of despair. Doubt and discouragement, particularly about the Christian life, are the inevitable result of trying to interpret our feelings as though they were truth. They are not.
But the disciple who is forewarned and well-armed is a person not governed by feelings but by the truth she knows, not relying on feelings to prove anything. Someone who relies on feelings is someone who is so introspective that they become preoccupied with themselves, constantly analyzing their own feelings. As a result, they’ll continually question their relationship with God. “Do I really love God?” “Does he really love me?” “Am I good enough?” What we need to do is stop focusing on our feelings and instead redirect our focus to God and the truth we know about him from his Word.
The disciple’s life is about death to self and rising to “walk in the newness of life” – Romans 6:4, a life characterized by thoughts about him who saved us, not thoughts about the feelings of the dead flesh that has been crucified with Christ. When we are continually thinking about ourselves and our feelings, we are essentially obsessing about a corpse, full of rottenness and death. Not a good thing.
As I have matured in my faith I have found scripture to be an encouragement to me and have found confidence about my salvation as I’ve spent time reading the Word. More specifically, here are three assurance sign-posts of salvation from 1 John that have blessed me over the years:
Theological: 1 John 4:14-16; 5:1-13
You should have confidence if you believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” – 1 John 5:11-13
John doesn’t want people to doubt and God wants you to have assurance, to know that you have eternal life. And this is the first sign that you believe in Jesus, that you believe he is the Christ or the Messiah, “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.” – 1 John 2:22.
You believe he is the Son of God, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.” – 1 John 5:10.
And you believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” – 1 John 4:2.
One of the signs that should give you confidence before God is that you believe in his only Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Moral: John 15; Romans 6; Galatians 5
You should have confidence if you live a righteous life, “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.” “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” – 1 John 3:6-9; 3:24
Those who practice wickedness, who plunge headlong into sin, who not only stumble, but habitually walk in wickedness, should not be confident. This is no different than what Paul tells us in Romans 6 that we are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness and in Galatians 5 that those who walk in the flesh will not inherit the kingdom. This is no different than what Jesus tells us in John 15 that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
So, if you live a morally righteous life you should have confidence. And lest this standard make you despair, keep in mind that part of living a righteous life is refusing to claim that you live without sin and coming to Christ for cleansing when you do sin, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” – 1 John 1:9-10
know we have eternal life if we love Jesus, love his commands, and love his people. Social: 1 John 4:7-12, 21
You should have confidence if you love other Christians, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.” – 1 John 3:14. If you hate like Cain you do not have life. But if your heart and your wallet are open to your brothers and sisters, eternal life abides in you. One necessary sign of true spiritual life is that we love one another.
These are John’s three signposts to assure us that we are on the road that leads to eternal life. These are not three things we do to earn salvation, but three indicators that God has indeed saved us. We believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God. We live a righteous life. We are generous toward other Christians.
Or we can put it this way: we know we have eternal life if we love Jesus, love his commands, and love his people. 1 John 2:4, 6; 4:20; 5:2. No one of the three is optional. All must be present in the Christian, and all three are meant to be signs for our assurance. Of course in varying degrees as we grow and mature but there non the less.
John belabours the same points again and again. Do you love God? Do you love his commands? Do you love his people? If you don’t, it’s a sign you have death. If you do, it’s sign that you have life. And that means confidence instead of condemnation.
