Assurance of Salvation (Part 6)

John penned the letter in 1 John with important and clear words of how we can assess our spiritual life. Recap Test 1 - am I walking in light or darkness? Jesus said I am the light of the world whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but in light John said the light has come to the world but darkness cannot comprehend it. Winners without Christ cannot help but have darken mind and heart of a sinner Jesus says if we follow him we will have eternal life. Jesus is the light and if we follow him we become beacon of light. Shine the light. When people come into our path we shine the light Test 2 - do I believe that I no longer sin because I am a Christian ? Christians sometimes beleive they are perfect and above board. John denounces this and says as we are still in this body we are not perfect. We are not perfect but we need god's grace. Everyday we do the things we shouldn't Test 3 - Do I confess my sins before the lord? Some Christians will say they only need to confess the first time they are saved. But we should confess our sins, repent and apologise when we do wrong. Humble down, come before Him and ask for forgiveness and transformation.

Part of obedience is to say sorry and confess before God. If we confess our sins we are turning to God Test 4. Do I believe that I have never sinned before in my life? If Jesus died for our sin and said he did not come to destroy but to fulfill The Lord.

Jesus said if we love him, we will obey his commandments. What god came to do is for Jesus died for us so that our old man is dead and we obey god 1 John 1:10 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. There are some people who say they have not done anything wrong. We don't have to correct injustice and be angry if we think we have not sinned. Test 5 - Do I keep God's commandments and words? 'Most people want others to obey them but they don't want to obey. Just like a boss wants his employees to obey them but when it comes to government he don't want to obey. As Christians the word obedience is just like Jesus' obedience and we obey God.

The word obedience is all the way from Old Testament to New Testament. God wants us to obey him. Test 6 - Do I practice love or hatred? Bible says we either love or hate. There is no in-between. Bible does not recognize sitting on the fence. The scripture says if someone has need and we don't supply that need, how can god's love be on us? James said if a brother or sister come to us with their need, we are called to help and love. Help him out. The story of good Samaritans is a story of what we must be. John tells us christ sacrifice himself for us, we are to be lovers of God and man. Test 7 - do I love the world or God? This is a struggle for many everyday cos this God has many good things for us to love. The danger is putting the enjoyment of this world more than loving God. God does not want us to take the extreme. Not want us to do the extreme by gong hard on ourselves. God has no problem giving us things to enjoy in this world.

Lot his wife and daughters packed and go. Lot's wife because she loves the world and looked back when God was destroying the place. She longed for the place and why God was destroying it. Sometimes this hard cos we don't know ourselves. We want to love God more than the things of the world Test 8 - do I do the will of God? Many times Christians pray for they own will not god's will. They pray their will be done for them by God.

Praying god's will - all our great plans for our life we out down and ask what is god's will for us? We are telling God what is the will for our life and ask God to do it for us. If god's will for our life is his will for our life but if we want to contravene and hope God will change his mind and do our will for us, it wil not work.

At first glance what happen to us may not seem to be what we wanted, we have to trust and obey God for the will he has for us.

God is the one who close and open doors for us. We do have desires but we should ask God what is his will for us. Test 9 - Do I deny Jesus in the way I live? Denying Jesus is my life is completely shifted. Whether we are Christians or non Christians we have to live our life like what Jesus is.

Whether we are with Christians or non Christians we have to behave and talk the same way We have to influence people around us and not the non Christians influence us away from God. The world is very alluring and exciting. But there is only one road and way to heaven Test 10 - Do I abide in God's word? We live and abide in it, not only for a while. We have to read the bible to secure our faith.

The truth sets us free. We have to read the word ourselves so that it can sink into us. There is fellowship with God. Test 11 - if I am born again, I will practice righteousness Born again - spiritually new heart. Ezekiel - The old has gone and new has come When Jesus spoke to Nikadimus that he has to be born again to go heaven. Test 12- if I hope in Christ I am being purified Whatever we greatly hope will also be what we becomes If a person drinks a lot, he hope what the eine can do for him - he hope to be high and the drink is the vehicle for that.

A person who hope in Christ, his desire his thoughts will be more and more like him. Ask ourselves - what we spent most of our time doing and thinking? When we hope in doe thing for too long and it gets entrenched in us, If we hope in Christ we become Christlike 1 John 3:3 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. To place our eternal hope in Christ. Jesus says seek him first and his kingdom and all these will be done for us. Jesus said to Matrha not to be busy doing other things but be like Mary seeking him, pouring her heart out and receive him. There is no need to impress Jesus by doing all the things that Martha is doing as he died for us. Many times we are like Martha Test 13 - Is my heart confident in God or self condemned? We have different gifts we are confident about. Just like cooking - a wife may have the skill. We are confident in what we can do. Is our heart confident in God? Do we know God enough to be confident? 1 John 3:19-20 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. If we feel guilty as a non christian for having done something wrong to someone, we may fight guilt and shame by covering with fig leaves we created for ourselves just like what Adam and Eve did after they sinned against God. For Christians, what covers guilt and shame is not therapy spa holiday, only the blood of Christ can cover us. The centurion men, the soldiers who led Jesus at the cross, Jesus was pinned down with 3 nails. The centurion man supervised and the soldiers held Jesus up. Jesus died within 6-9 hours. The centurion man stood there and saw the whole process. If the roman soldiers go away there was high chance other people will take Jesus away. The roman centurion stood in sentry on duty to look at Jesus. The centurion was one of the few who understood all that happened that surely Jesus was son of God. The centurion guilt was exchanged on the cross. He was caught in the spirit and went to praise God Judas was different. He bore his own guilt and shame by killing himself. Jesus did not die for him. Over time we may feel less and less guilty over and sin we do. John says if our heart condemns us we must know God is greater than our heart so we can have our heart at the right place. All of a sudden someone may come to us telling they had been hurt by us years ago. 1 John 3:21 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. Test 14 - Do I confess that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 4:2-3 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. A person who is not christian will see Jesus just like they see any other idols. Jesus came fully God yet fully man. It requires faith to do that. When the Jews heard that Jesus is messiah, some came and saw what Jesus did. If a messiah comes he is going to destroy Roman towers and Jews will be number 1 again. Then Jesus died on the cross.

The messiah is to come and Romans thought they will be number 1 again but Jesus died. Heaven is his Kingdom not the earth. He did not come to conquer land but came to conquer our hearts. Jesus is son of God and he would die a criminal's death and rescue us from our sins. The primary reason Christ came to earth is to satisfy the rave of God abd redeems us from our sins. He is king of heaven criminal on earth. Conclusion

These test are to strengthen our faith.

When we are faced with any problem, we should seek God from his words than seek man or pastors of a church.

We do not want our heart to be bitter or hardened. Ask ourselves where are we before the lord?

We have to give an account for our life when we see God face to face.

Sermon note recorded by Veron from Ps Pacer's sermon on 26.10.2014

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