The Christian’s Assurance (1 John 5:9-15)
The title of today’s message is “The Christian’s Assurance.” The reason people cannot enjoy blessings, even after receiving salvation, is that they lack assurance. If you go into a test and you have all the knowledge, you see a question and know the answer but you’re not sure of your answer, you’re still going to tremble in fear. Until we receive that assurance, there’s a process we must go through.
Introduction
Thoughts – Me
Our thoughts are very important, people who think with great breadth is someone who is very wide; someone who thinks with great depth is very deep. In other words, your thoughts are yourself, “Whatever I’m thinking about right now, that’s me.” If you have very narrow thoughts, you are narrow-minded.
Consciousness – Other People
We also have our consciousness, and this influences other people. If someone has the ideology of communism, they will influence others. A person will change depending on what’s on their consciousness.
Subconsciousness – World
Our subconscious actually changes the world. Depending on what’s in your subconscious, the world will change.
Spirit – Throne
Finally, we have a spirit that is directly connected with the Throne of Heaven. When you have assurance, you must recognize that all four of these levels are within you. People who live their walk of faith with their brains will always tremble in front of problems, because whatever you have in knowledge in your brain should go down into your consciousness, subconsciousness, and spirit as well. This time is a time of answers, We keep thinking that answers are something physical we see with our eyes, but in order for God to give us answers, God is bringing his word into our spirit. It’s actually very difficult for people to live their walk of faith by calculating in their brain, “I know all this already,” but there is something different in that person’s spirit. There’s something different in that person’s consciousness, so they’re influenced by other people.
When we go out into the world, we should influence them, but instead, we’re being influenced because we live our walk of faith with our knowledge. “The healing evangelism message is always obvious!” That kind of person will be taken in, these are people who live their walk of faith with humanism by manipulating and calculating, they have humanism, they keep trying to measure things based on themselves. Inside of that person’s subconscious is something else, so they look down on modest times like this, and they look down on Sunday Worship.
Because they’re already so deeply rooted in humanism they think “ If I worship will this make my business better, is this going to make my studies better?” So they will always shake before problems and before people.
Assurance (Faith)
We know this but what is important is assurance, but we can also call this “faith.” When you face a problem, the way you react will be different, depending on what’s rooted inside of you. Faith pertains to faith in the complete gospel, because there are many who don’t have this; they think they receive salvation through the law, and those were the Pharisees. They thought, “Don’t you think I”ll be saved because my actions have no sin?” or, “I cannot receive salvation because my actions are sinful,” and many people think like this. That’s why in 1 John 5, John says, “Whoever has the son has the eternal life” but there are many people who say you receive salvation through the law.
There’s a question people ask when there’s a newborn baby who dies, whether that baby will go to heaven or hell, and the American seminaries teach you that the newborn baby has not had an opportunity to sin, so the newborn baby is sinless and will go to heaven when they die. But that’s not true; the moment the baby is formed in the womb, they are born inside of original sin. It’s possible that a very young child may pass away, but if they do not have Christthey do not have life, and even that life is controlled by God. Many people fight over things like this. These are conflicts and arguments that come out if you don’t have assurance of the gospel, if you do not have assurance regarding salvation and the gospel.
They think you can receive salvation by acting holy, and they think if you’re not holy, you’re not saved. Because we make a judgment of whether we’re saved or not based on our actions, a lot of people shake in their assurance of salvation. This isn’t just for you, but this must be relayed in the field as well. There are many people in the fields who know Jesus Christ and have no assurance of salvation. There’s also another sect that believes that if you’re not baptized, you’re not saved. You would know this if you went out in the field; you don’t know this because you are staying within the church, many people think they don’t receive salvation if they don’t receive baptism. Even if you do not receive baptism, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you’ll have eternal life.
The Presbyterian church is an offshoot from the Catholic Church in the middle ages, because the Catholic church became so corrupt, so they set up elders. Honestly, the Presbyterian church wouldn’t be required if the Catholic church wasn’t so corrupt. But people claiming that it must be the Presbyterian church are problematic as well. Then, there are Methodists who say you must be centered on the pastor. Then there are the congregationalists who say they don’t need a pastor, they just move according to the congregation members. This happens often in baptist churches. These are the many things that happen when you don’t have assurance regarding salvation, then, what is the basis of our assurance?
Basis
In other words, what must we be assured?
Untruth (People’s Words)
No matter how much you have assurance in something that isn’t true, that’s the incorrect assurance. You must put your assurance within the basis that, without a doubt, Jesus Christ died on the cross, solved all my sins, resurrected, and he is sitting on the right hand of the throne and is with me in Spirit. If you don’t have this assurance, you’ll always be swayed by people’s words. You must surely have the assurance that Jesus Christ died for me, he resurrected, he is sitting on the throne of heaven, and is with me right now, in order for you to not be swayed by people’s words.
Satan
Without that assurance, Satan will continue to deceive you.
Yourself (Powerless, Pride)
Without the basis of assurance then you will be deceived by yourself and people’s words, you’ll be deceived by people’s words; you’ll be deceived if you’re powerless, or if you have a little power, you’ll make yourself arrogant and fool yourself again. Instead of putting the basis of assurance in salvation, you put it on yourself. In other words, people shake because they put the basis of their assurance on themselves instead of the Triune God. You must first have this certain basis for assurance.
1. The Assurance of Salvation
The title is the assurance of salvation, and we must have the assurance of a Christian in order to have the assurance of salvation, if you don’t have this, then everything will shake. In other words, in Ephesians 6, it talks about the helmet of salvation, so it protects your head and is a very important part. Without this, you lose hold of many things. Without this, you’ve been set free from slavery but you act like a slave again. If I’ve been liberated from Egypt, I should enjoy the blessings of liberation, but we are still living the life of a slave in Egypt even after receiving salvation. Simply put, Jesus Christ already paid the price for my sins, but without assurance of this, you’ll try to live your entire life, trying to pay off the debts of your sin. Satan, the conman, is constantly threatening and lying to you, “You need to pay for the debts of your sin,” but if you have received the assurance of salvation, your walk of faith begins there. The reason you are always shaking is because you lack the assurance of salvation. If someone asks, “Are you saved?” you’ll say yes, but because you don’t have something certain about this you keep on doing things you don’t have to do.
1) How can we be saved? (John 1:12)
John 1:12 says that all who believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him receive the right to become children of God. What’s important is that you believe. It’s possible for you to accept Jesus Christ with your actions even if you don’t believe, but what’s important is that you check your faith. If you tell someone to just accept Jesus Christ whether they believe it or not, the life of Jesus isn’t within them. Acceptance is important but most importantly they must believe then they become a child of God, and life comes into them.
2) What happens to you after you are saved? (John 5:24, 1 Peter 2:24-25)
In John 5:24, it says we have crossed over from death into eternal life. Someone who is spiritually dead before God, because they have received salvation, becomes alive as a child of God.
3) How can you describe the relationship between Jesus and His believers?
You can describe the relationship between Jesus and His believers like a Good Shepherd and His Sheep, John 10:27-30 Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep, and the sheep simply follows God leads us and that is our relationship now.
4) Do you have evidence of salvation? (1 John 5:11-12)
What evidence do you have? That is the passage we read today in 1 John 5:11-12, “The one who has the Son has life.” If you don’t have Christ, then you don’t have life, why? Because life is only found inside of Christ. That is why everybody needs Christ, because they have to live. Living physically is just living physically, but the Spirit inside of us must come to life. That is how we can restore our relationship with God. If your spirit is dead, it means you are dead before God.
2. Assurance of the abiding of the Holy Spirit (Guidance)
The second assurance we must have is the assurance of the abiding of the Holy Spirit , in other words, receiving guidance. If I’m truly a saved child of God, then God is with me, guiding me, and He is without a doubt guiding me with His Spirit. He is invisible to my eyes, but He is guiding me. If you know this fact, then you’re able to confirm many great blessings. He has led you here today. Do you think that God didn’t guide you here today? The Holy Spirit guided you, unseen to your eyes, why? So that today, you can have your imprint, root, nature in Christ with certainty, because depending on what is your imprint, root, nature, within you the answers will follow according to God’s time schedule, that is why the church is the place that solves the fundamental problems; in other words, He is making you root down into the fundamental things, then the fruits will naturally follow.
Those who won’t know this won’t be able to wait. “This is something I already know, why are you saying it again? If I need it I can just go to YouTube and watch it again.” If you think about your imprint, root, nature, you’ll realize your future is determined by that. If you listen ever since you’re young, then later on, you’ll receive the fruits. But if you say, “Are they really going to change?” Your life will change differently depending on what’s rooted inside of you.
1) It is necessary to remember (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Not depending on yourself means you reject yourself and you’re releying and believing in ChristYou must not depend on yourself, you cannot follow the Lord if you hold onto yourself, so you must reject and lay down your things. You must acknowledge the One Who is complete and perfect in order to receive guidance. If you have a problem, how can you receive guidance? You must acknowledge and give it all to the One Who is perfect and complete to receive His guidance, but if you’re holding firmly onto your thoughts and your problem, and you know God is alive, then you will not receive God’s guidance.
People who have a lot of thoughts will ask, “How does God work?” God will give you a circumstance which makes you confess, “Even to myself, my thoughts are useless.” Because you keep holding onto your own thoughts, God will put you into a situation where you hit rock bottom and realize, “My thoughts won’t cut it.” If He gives you a severe cancer and malignant tumors, even the doctors give up on you and you give up on your own thoughts then you have no choice but to rely entirely on God. God will work even to that extent.
So, if we are to believe and rely on only God in our everyday lives, it means to reject the things of yourself. There are times when God gives you a big problem so He can call you away, but there are many more times so that you may give everything to God and only rely only on Him. God is with me, He is with us. You must believe that. If you believe that God is with you, but you don’t believe God is with that person, you will not be able to receive God’s guidance. God is with us, God is with the church, and God is with you in a specific way, through His Word, and that’s how you receive His guidance. God isn’t guiding in a vague way, but He is guiding in a detailed way through HIs Word, and that’s why God is with us with you with his word and with me, too, and He is with my family.
3. Assurance of answers to prayer
1) Jeremiah 33:1-3 “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Jeremiah is actually locked up in prison at this time, but God comes to Jeremiah with the Word and says to call out to Him. He says, “To whatever problem or circumstance you are facing now, ask the Lord and God will tell you.” “I will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” about the things to come, so in the midst of your problems, cry out to the Lord Who is with you, and God will answer you about things you do not know. God will reveal to you great and unsearchable things. You must have certainty in answers to prayer. It’s not that you receive answers because you’re great; if you face a crisis, I hope you will pray to God, then without a doubt, God is answering.
Don’t pray for silly and useless things, but we have the right and the ability to receive answers to prayer. Pray until you receive an answer. What happens if it’s not God’s will? Then God will make it so that you stop praying about it. So there’s no need to calculate so much; you just keep praying, and as you keep on praying, if it is not God’s will then God will make you stop praying for it. So, have assurance of answers to prayer and keep praying.
2) Revelation 8:3-5 God’s angels offer incense together with the prayers of the saints to God.
So have assurance of answers to prayer and keep on praying, in Revelations 8:3-5 The angels will bring our prayers up to God and God gives us answers through the angels, transcending time and space. Our prayers transcend time and space. Do you think that’s better or do you think it’s better not to pray at all? After receiving salvation, the most foolish person is the one who doesn’t pray and doesn’t receive answers. Then, the only works that will arise are the things they can do with their two feet and their own two hands. Before you go to work, you must have already prayed and go confirm the answers God has given you in advance. The people who have ability don’t pray because they’re already good at doing things with their own power.
4. Assurance of the forgiveness of sins
We must have the assurance of forgiveness of sins, in other words, assurance of forgiveness, a lot of people who have lived their walk of faith a long time are so oppressed by guilt. I think this is especially strong for parents, “It’s my fault, there’s no God, it’s just my fault.” They don’t have assurance; they don’t believe in God. It’s possible that people will sin, but Satan continues to press you with that burden of guilt. Therefore, you need to have the assurance of the forgiveness of sins.
1) Mark 10:45
In Mark 10:45 it says that God has taken out burnden upon Himself, and He says He has forgiven all of our sins from the past, present, and future on the cross in advance. Even still, we keep sinning; then what happens?
2) 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Do not hold onto your own guilt from your sins, but confess to God and receive forgiveness quickly. “Jesus Christ already finished my problems of the past, present, and future; why do I have to receive forgiveness again?” I think this is important because sin is a channel of Satan, and if I keep on winning without knowing then I’ll be oppressed by Satan and will be dragged backwards. Of course, the Holy Spirit within me will reveal things to me, but it’s important to quickly give this back to God and quickly re-enter into the covenant.
If you go to the mental hospitals, many people are like this. Their characteristic is that they’re very kind and naive, and because they’re so nice, they have so much pressure and guilt on their hearts. There are actually very few people who have cold, shrewd hearts that do not feel any kind of remorse. We can be without shame because we believed that Jesus Christ finished my sins on the cross and if I sin again, I can simply confess it to the Lord and put it before the cross to receive forgiveness again. It’s also important to go up to people and ask forgiveness from them as well.
In Matthew, it says to resolve all your conflicts with people before going to worship; otherwise, it will get caught in your heart, and if something is caught in your heart then you cannot communicate with God. Because it’s a spiritual thing, it will keep pulling on your spirit. Even for kids, when they do something wrong, if they keep holding onto it themselves, they are very burdened and bruised in their heart. They should just go to their parents and ask for forgiveness immediately but they just keep it and your heart becomes bruised, and it’s because Satan uses that. It would be okay if Satan didn’t exist, but Satan uses that to continue to make me a slave, and he threatens me with that.
5. Assurance of victory
This is important. I can be victorious in anything. If you want to know about the assurance of victory, remember 1 Corinthians 10:13
1) Remember 1 Corinthians 10:13
There is no temptation that is not common to man, and God is faithful, He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. If you face a great crisis or incident, God allows it because He knows you can handle it. What happens if you don’t have assurance of victory in this? Even after receiving salvation, you have to think and act like someone who hasn’t received salvation. You even worry in advance about problems that haven’t come, but He promises that even when you’re tempted, He will provide a way out. You must have this.
Christ has already claimed victory, and whenever we face a temptation, he provides a way out of it and gives us the power to overcome it. We ourselves must have this assurance, and we need to relay this to the field as well. Most people do not have assurance of salvation, there’s actually no assurance of salvation in the Catholic church because they say you have to do a lot of good deeds and you’ll find out later on. They say there is no thing that you’ll receive eternal life by believing in Jesus Christ. They say, “Even if you believe, your fate will change based on your actions.”
There are religions that believe in a god who is not Jesus Christ. The Mormon church says you believe in Jesus Christ but you have to also believe in other God-given scriptures. There are many religions that say Jesus was just a prophet or rabbi; He is not the Messiah, He is not the Christ. But Jesus is the Christ and He has liberated us from all the forces of sin, Satan, and hell, so what is He doing now? He is sitting at the right hand of the Throne of God, but He is also with me in Spirit. Now my spiritual state is connected with the throne of heaven, meaning the throne of heaven is my background, then of course, I need to enjoy my status. Of course, He is going to guide me. Rightfully, He answers me.
Even if I fail again, even if I sin again, if I confess my sins, He will forgive me. Jesus Christ has already forgiven all of our sins by law past, present, and future by law. If a parent has a child, that parent is responsible for that child until its death. It doesn’t matter how corrupt or astray that child becomes, the parent is still the parent. In that sense, it means that no matter what problems you have in the past, present, or future, and no matter how far you stray, it doesn’t matter; you’re still God’s child. However, if you’re still so stubborn in being crooked, and not following your parents’ word it’s still a loss for you. Even if you do go astray, then quickly come back to the Father and He will accept you and forgive you just like the Prodigal Son.
Finally, the assurance of victory. Christ is victorious. Any big or small thing that God gives me, there is a way out, and God gives me the power to overcome. You must have these assurances yourself and relay them to the field, especially to new believers. If you don’t give this to them, they will shake in all five aspects. You must have their imprint, root, nature in this, so that the Word of God is in their thoughts, and the Word of God must go into your consciousness to influence others. If this goes all the way down into your subconscious, that will go as far as changing the world. When you meditate on the Word with deep meditation, it means you will take the Word deep into your imprint, root, nature, then the answers will follow you.
But instead of rooting down deeply into God’s Word, you’re trying to see the answers quickly, and that is religious life, these are the works demon-possessed people do with religions, but God doesn’t work like that, God is very scientific and even today is a time of answers. If my state works out like this, then the answers I see with my eyes will follow. If the answers are taking a very long time, it means that the time and breadth of the answers rooting down into you will be deeper because the fruits in the future will be even bigger. That is why the walk of faith isn’t something you do with your brain. Simply lay down your thoughts and make it so that the word of God will go deeply inside of you and that is why we have this time today as well.
May you have the assurance and have the blessing of relaying this to the new-believers, and the multilateral ethnic people and the shaking people in the field with these answers.
Prayer
Father God, we thank You. May this be the time where we are deeply rooted and have the nature of the Christian’s five assurances. May this be relayed certainly to the future generations, and may this be the only thing that is certainly rooted in the new believers and the church, and may we have the blessing of rooting this very certainly in the remnants in the church. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.