Over the past month I have spent time studying the book of 1 John. It is a richly encouraging and exhorting book in which we can find the assurance of our salvation; something that believers, really anyone who claims to know Him desires to posess. John states in chapter 5 that he has written these things (the book of 1 John) so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life. What an amazing Truth to cling to, the reality that you can KNOW you are His child, that you can KNOW that you will partake in His inheritance and you can KNOW that you will spend forever, eternity, with Him.
The study of this book has changed me, made me examine myself and has confirmed in my heart the deep desire I have to be a Truth bearer in the darkness and bring the Truth to help others find if they too walk in Him. Scripture makes it quite clear that there are going to be many people, according to Matthew 7, who find themselves confused, surprised, and begging on the Judgment Day as they find themselves hearing the most frightening thing, "depart from Me, I never knew you". So the reality stands that there are people walking around, those who claim Christ, who go to church, who serve, who may even stand behind pulpits or sunday school music stands, who in fact do not know Him...and many of them I would venture to say do not have that assurance John, and ultimately the Lord promises we can have as His kids. It is for this reason that the apostle Paul exhorts the believer to examine himself to see if He is in the faith (2 Cor 13:5). The book of 1 John gives some simple over arching principles that can help us examine ourselves to detect whether or not we really KNOW Him and whether or not He knows us, as His child.
No Habitual Sin"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God." -1 John 3:9
It is true that despite our regeneration and new birth in and through Him there will not be sinless children of God walking around this earth. BUT that does not negate the understanding of much of the New Testament in which believers are to be walking in light, to be practicing righteousness and to be salt in this perverse generation. There is a clear understanding that although believers will still sin they will most definitely be sinning LESS. This whole idea of a carnal Christian just isn't found in Scripture; someone cannot walk in darkness as John explains unless He is a liar. The question comes then do you walk in habitual sin, or are you repentant, fighting and seeing victory through Christ? We musn't fall prey to thinking that we are doing this for a standing of righteousness before the Holy God, but rather it will mark the true believer because the indwelling Spirit will be working to make him/her more like Christ. Are you sinning less and less as you pursue Him?
A Pursuit of Holiness"If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him." - 1 John 2:29
There is a clear desire within the truly saved for righteousness, as Christ described in the Sermon on the Mt. a thirsting after it. The believer pursues holiness, strives towards it and desires to made more and more like Christ whatever the cost BECAUSE as John explains HE LOVES GOD; whoever loves God obeys His commands and those commands are not burdensome. Do you desire holiness, are you pursuing it whole-heartedly?
Love for the Brethren"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death." -1 John 3:14
Here we find that there is an evidence of new birth in the attitude and relationships found among the brethren, there is a love that reflects that of God's love towards us (selfless and sacrificial). This love towards the brethren is seen and desired no matter who the person is or what the person has done. Do we love like Christ loved us?
We Do NOT Love This World"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." -1 John 2:15
This is clear in the way that an individual speaks, thinks, and lives. Where are the desires of the heart? Where are the affections of your heart? Is your thinking and behavior conformed to Scripture and God- glorifying or is it shaped by the world and the things of it? The truly saved one will be set apart, looking different then the world, be rejected and despised and forsaken by the world as Christ Jesus himself was. The truly saved will desire their heavenly home and their affections will be wrapped in the beauty and glory of Christ.
Charles Spurgeon sums this up quite well, "These changes are not the cause of our salvation for we are saved by faith (Eph. 2:8-9). But rather, they are the evidence that we truly have been born again. If they have not taken place in our life, then it is vital that we earnestly seek God and implore Him to regenerate us. He promises we will find Him if we seek Him with all our heart (Deut. 4:29), and the way to begin is by reading His Word. The Bible says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17)"
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Excellent piece sister! Indeed, as you closed with, the sanctification we see in our lives is the fruit, NOT the root of our Salvation! 1 John is always so convicting, and likewise such a blessing to read. I love the assurance that we can have as believers, by the grace of God, in our eternal inheritance. And it's not any type of shallow assurance because we've said the sinner's prayer or because we go to church regularly, we can KNOW when we see the regenerative, undeniable, progressive changes in ourselves. And like you said, while we do stumble and fall, when it happens now we immediately feel conviction about it and repent. The last point especially hits home for me, not being of this world, as since I've gotten saved, this world and its pursuits have become less and less appealing to me in every way. I'm "homesick" for my real home, in heaven with Abba! Praise God that he Blesses us with patience as we wait for that call home, and until then he uses us for his will here on earth every day! I will "be joyous always" until this happens! :)
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