Full Assurance or False Assurance: 1st John Lesson 6

 Our verse by verse study of 1 John brings us to verses 3-6 of the second chapter. Let’s read these verses together. 

 In this paragraph John is describing for us the basis by which a person can tell the difference between full assurance of salvation and a false assurance. “By this we know that we know Him...” (verse 3) “By this we know we are in Him…” (verse 5) These are the things by which we can evaluate the condition of our spiritual lives and base an unshakable confidence in our salvation. By the truths we will understand from this passage we can know that we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We won’t have to say, “I hope I know Him” or “I think I know Him,” or “I believe I know Him.” We won’t have to rely on the fact that the preacher said I would know Him if I prayed the prayer and asked Him into my heart. We can say, “I know I know Him.” We can say, “I know I am in Him.”

 I cannot emphasize enough how important these verses to be and how needed they are in today’s church. Churches are full of people who have a faulty sense of security. Many have a sense of security that is based upon something other than the evidence John describes in these verses. My friends, if our confidence in our salvation is based on anything other than the evidences outlined in the Bible, we have a faulty sense of security. An assurance not based on biblical evidence is a false assurance.

 Jesus was very clear. Jesus was very graphic in His description of the deception which will inevitably show up in the time of judgment. We are familiar with the words of the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 7:21-23. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

 It is important to understand that Jesus says that “many” are the victims of this deception which produces a false assurance. These people are deceived. They are saying the things they are supposed to say, but they are not doing the one thing they are supposed to do, the will of God the Father in heaven. John has emphasized early and often in this epistle that the proof is not in what we say. The proof is in the way we live. In this way the message of Jesus and the message of John are perfectly consistent. Jesus was clear. Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven will enter. The “many” who hear those dreadful words from Christ were deceived into a false sense of security because they believed they were doing the right things. This is a dangerous place to be spiritually. It is vitally important to know if we are in the same situation as those who hear those words from the mouth of Jesus.

 The lifestyles of those rejected by Christ should have been evident. They were rejected because they “practice lawlessness.” Their manner of living was literally “without law.” They did not keep the commandments. They did not “know” Jesus as Savior and Lord. The scary thing about this is that these people were unable to see the problem. One of the most important things an expositor of Scripture can do is to expose as false an assurance that lacks a basis. If false assurance is not exposed it cannot be fixed. Deception is powerful because a person is blind to the deception. If this were not so it would not be deception. If false assurance is exposed it can be dealt with. It can be remedied through repentance and faith. God is still in the business of opening blind eyes.

 Hebrews 10:22 says, “let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” John wants us to be able to draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. When we know that we know Him we have the full assurance of faith.

 As we work through this passage today I’m going to give you four words that are key to understanding John’s message in verses 3-6. We will examine the proof, the problem, the perfected, and the provision.

 Let’s begin with the proof. We find it in verse 3. “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” The proof is obvious. The proof which produces full assurance is that we keep His commandments. Let’s dig into this a little bit.

 The word “know” is “ginosko” in the Greek. It means “to know by experience.” We might say that we can come to know by experience that we know Him. The same word is used in both places we find the word “know” in the first part of verse 3. We “know” that we have come to “know” Him… The difference is in the tense. The first use is in the present tense. This tense implies continuous action happening at the present time. We can continuously know that we have come to know Him. It is the habitual, consistent, steadfast walk in obedience to the commands of Christ that give us this knowledge. 

The second use of the verb is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense speaks of completed action with finished results in the present time. We can have continuous assurance at the present time, all the time, because of the confidence produced by the evidence of a transformed life. If we are transformed we keep His commandments. The proof of this transformation, the proof that we know Him is that we keep His commandments.

 Think back to what we were before we were saved. What were we? We were law breakers. We were commandment breakers. We were helpless sinners. We were slaves to sin. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were the enemies of God. We formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh. We indulged the desires of the flesh. We were by nature children of wrath. Ephesians 2:4 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.”

 We were born again. We were delivered from the domain of darkness. We were saved, redeemed, delivered, and transformed. Romans 6:17-18 says, “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness.” This is a radical transformation. This is the new birth. We are changed from those who are helplessly disobedient to those who are obedient from the heart.

 God revealed to the prophet Jeremiah the reality of concept of obedience from the heart. Turn to Jeremiah 31:31-33. The people of the New Covenant of which Jeremiah spoke are those who have the law of God written on their heart. The proof that we “know” Him is that we are obedient to the law of God produced by the transformation of the heart. Our transformed hearts become hearts upon which is written the law of God.

 We will come back to this word “keep” in the third point. We know it is important because John uses it three times in these four verses.

 You show me someone who has assurance of salvation without the evidence of sanctification and I will show you someone who most likely clings to a false assurance. Sanctification is instantaneous in one respect because at the time of our salvation we are “set apart” to God. Sanctification is also progressive in the longer we are Christians the more progress we are making in our struggles against our fallen flesh. Peter says in 2 Peter 1, we have been granted everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. By being born again we have become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. This is why we do our part in diligently supplying moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, and brotherly kindness and love. It is by these things that we make certain about His calling and choosing of us.

 Zero in on one more aspect of this verse before we move on. “By this we know that we have come to know Him.” Who is “Him?” It is the Lord Jesus Christ. The title “Lord” is the most common title by which Christ is named in the New Testament. If we call Him Lord, we better be doing what? If we call Him Lord we better be doing what He says. We obey His commandments.

 This obedience to His commandments is the proof that we have come to know Him. Let’s look at the problem. The problem is described in verse 4. “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” The problem is that there are some who say they know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but they do not keep His commandments. John is not worried at all about being politically correct. He calls them what they are. They are liars. They are void of the truth.

 Who would say, “I have come to know Him?” Remember, there were those in John’s day who claimed not only to know Jesus, but to have received special, unique revelation about Jesus that others did not have. They were the “special knowledge” group of self-promoted elites. Not only did they claim to “know Him” they also claimed to have a greater knowledge of Him than anyone else. The problem was that their lives did not match their claims. They were not keeping His commandments. They were living in direct contrast to His commandments. John confronts this error.

 In our day, who would say, “I have come to know Him?” There are a lot of people today who say they have come to know Him. If you don’t believe me, just go out into the streets and share the gospel. It’s hard to find many people who don’t claim to have a relationship with Christ. Everyone who has responded to an invitation, prayed a prayer asking Jesus into their heart, signed a pledge card, gotten baptized, and joined the church would say they have come to know Him. Anyone who was baptized as an infant, catechized, confirmed, and regularly takes the sacraments would say “I have come to know Him.” Many who have experienced some emotionally charged, euphoric experience, or some “miracle” would say they have come to know Him.

 Here is the problem. These things are not the evidence that genuine transformation has taken place. There are often faulty responses to the gospel. The parable of the soils makes that clear. Sometimes the seed of the gospel falls on hard soil. In that case there may be no response and soon the seed is snatched away. Sometimes the seed of the gospel falls on shallow, rocky soil. There is a response. There may be a prayer involved, a hand raised, an aisle walked, a card signed, a baptism, and a name added to a church roll. But that doesn’t mean a genuine conversion has happened. As soon as this person experiences temptations they fall away. Of course they fall victim to temptations. There was no genuine transformation that makes them obedient from the heart.

 Sometimes the seed of the gospel falls on soil that is crowded with thorns and weeds and other things that compete with the gospel for the affections of the heart. The initial response may have involved tears, joy, relief, hope, and even praise for God’s forgiveness and salvation. But then these go on their way and run into worries, and riches, and pleasures of this life and their lives bring forth no fruit, no obedience to the commands of Christ, at least not in the long term. The initial response looked good on the surface, but the long term results prove it to be a faulty response. Some people have a false assurance based on shallow soil or contaminated soil experiences.

 The seed that falls on the good soil has fallen on those who have an honest and good heart. These hold the truth fast. They bear fruit – with perseverance. This fruit includes a life of obedience to the commandments of Christ. These are the only ones who should have full assurance.

 Turn with me to Romans 2 for a moment and let’s look at what the Bible says about this problem. Read verses 12-16. These verses reveal a lot and among those things revealed, in verse 15 is that the conscience bears witness concerning the Law of God. Paul says that the conscience is bearing witness and their thoughts are alternately with accusing or defending them. On the day of judgment, when the secrets of men will be judged  through Jesus Christ, man will be held accountable for how he responds to his conscience.

 Here is what I know to be true concerning a true Christian. Disobedience, or failure to keep the commandments of Christ, will result in conviction. The Holy Spirit does that in the life of every person He indwells. The conscience will go to work. The conscience, activated by the Holy Spirit, will reveal to us when the law of God written on our hearts has been disobeyed. This disobedience, if not responded to with confession and repentance, will lead to doubts about one’s salvation. You show me a professing Christian who walks in disobedience to the revealed will of God, and yet does not have a conscience that is working, and does not doubt his salvation, and I will show you a person with a false sense of security.

 Saying I know Him does not make it so. There are some who say they know Him but they are, in fact, liars, and the truth is not in them. I heard Chuck Swindoll quote Abraham Lincoln this week. Swindoll said that Lincoln said, “Calling a tail a dog don’t make a tail a dog.” I researched this quote and what Lincoln actually said was, “If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have? Five? No. Calling a tail a leg don’t make it a leg.” The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Saying, “I have come to know Him” don’t make it so.

 We have seen the proof. We have examined the problem. Let’s look at the word “perfected.” We find it in verse 5. Here we find my favorite word in the Bible again. “But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.”

 In the one who keeps the commandments of Christ, the love of God has “truly” been perfected. This word conveys the idea of certainty. The word “perfected” or “teleioo” in the Greek means “to complete, to make perfect by reaching its intended goal, to bring to a full end or completion, to finish a work. What is it that has been perfected? It is the love of God. What is the goal of the love of God? It is fair to say that the goal of God’s love is to transform those who were the enemies of God into those who love God. The goal of God’s love is to make us lovers of God. We love Him because He first loved us. And Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)

 John says in our text, “Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.” What does it mean to “keep” His word? Keeps stresses the idea of watchful, careful, observant obedience. Remember, it is obedience from the heart. I think it is to have a Psalm 119 attitude toward the commandments of God. As we have read Psalm 119 for our call to worship, I hope you have recognized the heart of the Psalmist and his desire to genuinely walk according to God’s truth.

 Too often we think we are keeping God’s commandments as long as we are not outright breaking or violating the commandments. We simply understand them in the negative sense. “Have no other God’s before Me.” What is the real purpose for that commandment? To understand the real purpose you should state it in the positive. Jesus did that for us didn’t He? How did Jesus summarize the commandments? “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.” That is what it means to “have no other God’s before me.” That is the real heart of the matter. If the love of God has been perfected in us, we won’t just seek to avoid violating God’s commandment, we will seek to obey from the heart the full intent of the commandment.

 Here is another example. Do not covet. We tend to think that we have not violated that commandment as long as we don’t wish we had something that belongs to someone else. But what is the real meaning behind “do not covet?” Be content. That sheds a little more light on the meaning of “do not covet.” The motive for coveting is discontent. If we are to obey the commandment from the heart, we will be content. If the love of God has been perfected in us, we will seek to obey the commandment from the heart.

 Finally, we come to the provision. We have seen the proof. The proof is obedience to the commandments. We have seen the problem. Some claim to know Him but do not keep His commandments. We have seen the word “perfected” to understand what real obedience looks like. Where does this leave us? It leaves me knowing that I need help. I don’t have what it takes to obey perfectly. I don’t have the resources to keep His commandments the way I should. If this is dependent upon me, there will always be the manifestation of weakness, the evidence of failure. 

 This is why we need the provision. We could have called this the power source. John tells us about this beginning with the last part of verse 5. “By this we know we are in Him: the one who says He abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” If we are in Christ, and He abides in us, we have the provision, or the power to walk as He walked. We have the resource we need to please Him by keeping His commandments from the heart. This is what Paul described as it being no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. (Gal. 2:20)

 When we consider what it is to be “in Him” and to have Him abide in us, we must consider the truth of John 15. Let’s turn there as we close. Verse 4-5 read, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

 When John uses the word “abide” in relation to our connection with Christ, he is describing a union with Christ wherein we are of one heart, one mind, and one will with Him. It is His heart, His mind, His will that is manifesting itself in and through us. This is what it means to have the Vine flowing through the branches. This is how we walk in the same manner as He walked.

 If we are honest we have to admit that walking in obedience to the commandments of Christ is far too difficult a task to be accomplished in our own strength. We need the provision of the power that comes from abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us. We need His heart, His mind, His will manifesting in us. We need to be filled with His Spirit in order to walk in a manner worthy of Him.

 We need an honest and careful self-assessment at this point. Is my life, is your life manifesting proof or a problem? Has the love of God truly been perfected in my life and your life? Do I genuinely desire to obey the commandments of my Lord from the heart? Is my life revealing that the power source, the Provision is flowing through me?

 Let’s pray.