Assurance Of Eternal Life 1 John 5:1-13

LIFE ASSURANCE

1Jn 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

1Jn 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

1Jn 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

1Jn 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.

1Jn 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

1Jn 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

1Jn 5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.

1Jn 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

1Jn 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

1Jn 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

1Jn 5:13 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.

John opens chapter 5 once again with the reminder of loving the family of God. With this assurance that we belong to God's family increases as we demonstrate love for others and keep God's commandments as he has written the words of Christ back in his record of the gospel. As well Joh emphasizes that the Holy Spirit assures us of eternal life.

We are all familiar with Stonewall Jackson well him and his sister were crossing below the torrents at the bottom of the Niagra Falls and as the boat tossed and rocked his sister became terrified and to reassure her Jackson took hold of her to comfort her. He looked at one of the boatmen rowing the boat and asked these questions and with the boatman's replies:

How often have you crossed here before?

Continually sir for the past twelve years

Did you ever have an accident?

Never sir

Never capsized? Never lost a life?

Nothing of the kind sir

With this Jackson turned to his terrified sister and stated. "You heard what the boatman said. Unless you can take the oars and row better than he does, just sit still and trust him.

On the same note the writer John is telling us as the believers to do the same. Just sit back and trust Jesus. Because of his personal relationship with Jesus when He was alive on earth by walking and talking with Him.

1-THE PROOF OF THE SAINTS WALK VS. 1-5

The question that we get alot when out on visitation and even us personally Is "How can we know or have the assurance of Eternal life?" Well the writer John starts off with the very answer to that question and identified the basis on which one becomes a child of God "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" Those who have trully put their trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior are the born ones of God. We have used John 3:3 & 7 alot recently in our preaching and teaching YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN!. To accept Jesus as Saviour is to trust HIM as the one who died for our sins and arose on that first Easter Morning. It means to depend exclusively on Him for Salvation.

One of the main characteristics of being a Child of God is our LOVE for the family of God and John makes this important fact known quite often and chapter 5 is no exception as we see in VS. 2. Our love for God spreads over in to the love of the family. The more we love God the more we love the family. This is even more so for me as pastor as to what happened this week.

Secondly obedience is also a characteristic of God's children. We keep our heavenly Father's commandments and we find that His commandments are not heavy burdens as we see in VS. 3. We want to obey Him and His commandments much like we wanted to obey our parents. The Apostle Paul wrote it like this to the church at Phillipi, Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.  

The fact we have overcome the world through Jesus is more evidence of our new birth as we see in VS. 4. As well we become those overcomers by our faith in Jesus as John wrote in VS, 5. That faith is as small as the mustard seed and God will test our faith by putting mountains in our paths and we must put our faith in Him because He is bigger than that mountain. Calmer of that storm and stronger than any giant that comes up against us.

To briefly summarize John's teaching about assurance reaveals two essential facts:

1-When a Christian loves other believers he demonstrates a desire to obey the Father's Commandments.

2-He no longer maintains sinfu associations with the family he belonged to. His attention is focused on the new relationship he has in Jesus.

2-THE PROOF OF THE SPIRITS WITNESS VS. 6-13

In addition to the external proof from the believer's walk there is the internal proof of the Spirit's witness. After we get saved and we come in contact with other memebers of the Family of God the Spirit bears witness one with another. Also we have a power that radiates from deep within us. To me personally when I witness to someone or pray with them out in public I almost feel like a supernatural super power coming out. Just as Jesus said we must be born of the water and blood so was He. Even though His birth was supernatural through the power of the Holy Spirit He was still born through the water His birth of the Virgin Mary and through the blood when He was crucified on the cross of Calvary.

When acknowledge that Christ is truly God's Son just as Peter did when he was asked of the Lord. the Holy Spirit confirms that truth to our hearts as we see in VS. 10. If we refuse the testimony of human that God gave His Son, we call Him a liar.

Finally to close out our message today John puts it in black and white, where the rubber meets the road. He reminds us of everything he wrote here in his epistle as well previously over in his gospel.

How gloriously does VS. 13 come alive when we read just like over in John 3:16 John 10:27-30!!!! Do you have the proof in your today? Let this be the day of salvation for you. Christian do you have the evidence of the Spirit living in you by your love for the brethren and obeying God's commandments.