1 John Assurance

How Do I Know if I am Saved?

Some would answer, "The Bible says, 'Once saved, always saved.' So if you believed in Jesus in the past, you have a ticket straight to heaven; you should never question your salvation."
But what does the Bible say? Does it support this statement? Consider these passages:
Matt 7:13-27
Col 1:21-23
Heb 2:13
Heb 6:4-6
Heb 10:38-39
John 8: 31-32
On the surface these passages seem to indicate that salvation depends on our continued faithfulness to Jesus.
On the other hand, consider these passages:
John 6:37-40
John 10:27-30
2 Cor 1:18-22
Eph 1:13-14
Conclusion: These passages are not in conflict. Security vs. Assurance is a question of perspective- God’s or ours.
Security describes the settled reality of salvation for those who have repented of sin and trusted in Christ alone for their salvation. Jesus knows those who are His and promises He will keep them secure. Assurance is our confident realization of our salvation in Christ. We can have a false sense of assurance if we have not been saved, or we can fail to have proper assurance although we have truly been saved.

Why do some who profess Christ lack assurance of salvation?
• Can’t remember a specific time when they received Christ
• Question the procedure they went through when they accepted Christ
• Struggles with certain sins
• Misunderstanding about the finished work of Christ
• Have not truly followed Christ and rightly have no assurance of salvation
1 John is all about assurance of salvation. In it John gives us four tests of assurance to test if our faith is genuine:
1. Is the pattern of my life one of obedience or is it one of sin? (1 John 1:6, 2:3-6, 3:3-6, 3:9, 5:18, Romans 6:2 and others)
2. Do I hold to the right doctrine about the person of Jesus? (1 John 2:22-23; 5:1,5 and others)
3. Do I love my brothers and sisters in Christ? (1 John 2:9-11; 3:11-15; 4:7-8 and others)
4. Does my desire for sin rival my desire for God? ( 1 John 2:15-17; others)
What are we assured of in Christ from 1 John?
1. Forgiveness of all sin. 1:7, 9
2. Eternal Life 2:25; 5:13
3. Propitiation (satisfaction) of sin and Justification 2:2
4. Called a child of God by faith 3:1
5. Freedom from condemnation 4:17-18
So can we ever know we are in Christ? Can we ever have assurance? Yes! That's why John wrote his first epistle! But we can never presume on past actions or past assurance to excuse or downplay present sinfulness. Scripture teaches that continuing in the faith is the mark of authentic faith.
What is the result of assurance? We understand and believe Romans 8:28-39 (this is good news to us in Christ!)
If nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, then we are free to completely trust him with our lives. This has huge implications for us individually and as a church.

What does your response need to be to the message of 1 John?