You cannot be totally free in Christ until you realize that your position in Christ is eternal. If I must worry about my salvation I am not free. This message is a precursor to a message about “fallen from grace.” Can a person who is truly born again sin so as to lose his salvation? Can person who is born again ever be unborn? Can a saved person ultimately fall from grace and become a lost sinner again? I will show what it means to be saved, converted, changed, have new life, be born again and have eternal life.
“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,[a] and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:11-13).
“And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13 NLT).
Every believer ought to be able to say, “Glory to God, I know I'm saved!” Yet many Christians are not sure about that, they have doubts. A young man in my youth department many years ago would come forward every service for assurance of his salvation. People go around with their shoulders drooping looking as if they had lost their best friend, wondering, and worrying about their relationship with God. Instead of being shouting, praising Christians, they're doubters. Rather than having a know-so salvation, they have a hope-so salvation. Christians can know for sure that they are saved and assured of Heaven! You don’t have to settle for a hope-so, or maybe-so salvation. You can have real assurance that you are a child of God. John, under the Spirit’s inspiration wrote these words so that we could know for sure that we are saved and that we might live in triumphant assurance.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one” (John 10:27-30).
Unfortunately there are some churches that teach that you can fall from grace, and ultimately lose your salvation. That causes some doubt among those who are not taught what God’s word says about salvation.
Having doubt does not mean that you are not saved! All Christians doubt at some time or the other. Doubts, however, can be defeating and devastating to your Christian walk. Thank God, we can know! John wrote some truths that can take away our doubts and replace them with assurance.
Now I do not wish to give false security, I don’t want to persuade you that you’re saved if you’re not! I realize that some feel all is well between them and God when it isn't. They don't understand the truth about salvation and their own spiritual condition. An old spiritual put it this way, “Everybody talkin' about heaven ain't going there.” (From: Walk all over God’s heaven by Thomas A. Dorsey, sung by Mahalia Jackson).
But you can be sure! Did you ask Jesus to save you? Did you mean it? God says: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2;21). “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13 NLT). “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31).
Do you believe God? Do you believe Jesus? If you called on Him, asking Him to save you, He promises that He will give you eternal life! Jesus said: “I give them eternal life, and they will never, ever [by any means] perish; and no one will ever snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28 AMP).
Listen to God:
•Ephesians 1:13, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
•Ephesians 4:30, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
If believers did not have eternal life, the sealing could not truly be to the day of redemption, but only to the day of sinning, apostasy, or unbelief.
•Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Notice it is “He” who has begun a good work in you…” “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).
•2 Timothy 1:12, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”
•Jude 24, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”
•Galatians 3:26, “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
•Colossians 3:3, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
•Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
I wonder if we really realize what we have in Christ? God has given us everything in Christ…EVERYTHING!. “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). God gave all that He had, so we could have all that He has!
The very moment we receive Christ as Savior and Lord, amazing things began to happen to us:
We become a child of God: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
We are no longer living in darkness: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13,14).
We are completely forgiven: “To him all the prophets bear witness that every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43 NLT).
We are given eternal life: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit: “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13). “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).
We have peace with God: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
We have God’s riches: “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 NLT).
We are adopted into God’s family: “Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself (Ephesians 1:5). “To redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5).
We get to live in heavenly places in Christ: “(He) raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 4:18). That’s now, today! I can hang up my hang ups at the cross and live in heaven on the way to heaven!
We have an inheritance: “We are heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus…”(Romans 8:17). “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Galatians 3:29).
We are a new creation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15).
We are accepted: “To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6).
We get our name written in the Lamb's book of life, in heaven: “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27). “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
We have a mansion in heaven: Jesus said, “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).
We no longer have a spirit of fear: “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind’ (2 Timothy 1:7).
We become priests: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: (1 Peter 2:9).
We do not have to fear death: Matthew10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, “When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power…”
We can know without a doubt that we have eternal life: “That you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
Many Christians live with nagging doubts about their salvation. They long for some reassuring word—some evidence that they are truly saved.
An elderly man said to H. A. Ironside, “I will not go on unless I know I’m saved, or else know it’s hopeless to seek to be sure of it. I want a definite witness, something I can’t be mistaken about!” Ironside replied, “Suppose you had a vision of an angel who told you your sins were forgiven. Would that be enough to rest on?” “Yes, I think it would. An angel should be right.” Ironside continued, “But suppose on your deathbed Satan came and said, ‘I was that angel, transformed to deceive you.’ What would you say?” The man was speechless. Ironside then told him that God has given us something more dependable than the voice of an angel. He has given His Son, who died for our sins, and He has testified in His own Word that if we trust Him, all our sins are gone. Ironside read 1 John 5:13, “You may know that you have eternal life.” Then he said, “Is that not enough to rest on? It is a letter from heaven expressly to you.” God’s Spirit used that to bring assurance to the man’s heart. –D.J.D., Our Daily Bread, October 8
We will experience true joy: At the opening of this letter John said. ”These things we write to you that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:4). What is it that brings us joy? Fellowship with God and His Son and His saints! In other words it is the assurance that we possess eternal life. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
John Stott tells of an English Salvation Army drummer who was beating his drum so hard that the band leader had to tell him to pipe down a bit and not make so much noise. In his cockney accent the drummer replied, “God bless you, sir, since oi’ve been converted, oi’m so ’appy, oi could bust the bloomin’ drum!”
If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy;
Let Jesus come into your heart;
If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy;
Let Jesus come into your heart.
Your sins He'll wash away, your night He'll turn to day,
Your life He'll make it over anew;
If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy;
Let Jesus come into your heart.
– Joseph D. Carlson–
Do you have the joy of knowing you’re going to heaven? Do you know for sure that you are going to heaven?
Where did we get this eternal life? “He who has the Son has life” (1 John 5:12). “That we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). God sent His Son into the world “…that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). That's exactly what 1 John 5:13 says. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” All of God's life is in Christ and all of Christ's life is in us. It is frankly an astonishing reality. We do not await our eternal life, we have it now!
Now let me hasten to say that everyone who claims to be a Christian is not! I’m talking about true salvation, real salvation, not just a profession of faith, but a salvation that brings about real change in a person’s life. We all know people who talk the talk, but do not walk the walk. If a person claims to be a believer but never prays, never reads his Bible, never comes to church, does not participate in any Christian activities, and never says anything remotely Christian, that person is not a true believer. He has not lost his salvation, he never had it! you cannot lose something you never had! You cannot fall from grace is you have never experienced God’s grace! I have ministered in churches where some of the church leaders were probably not saved. Am I judging? No, I am a fruit inspector! The Bible ways that every believer will bring forth fruit. “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God” (Luke 3:8). “And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (Mark 4:20 NLT). “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22,23 NLT).
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (John 7:21-23).
Unless otherwise noted, the New King James Version of the Bible was used. Also The New Living Translation (NLT); The New American Standard Bible (NASB); The Message (MSG); The New Century Version (NCV); The Amplified Bible (AMP); The King James Version (KJV), The New Life Version (NLV); English Standard Version (ESV); J.B. Phillips New Testament; Easy to Read Version (ERV); Common English bible (CEB); NET Bible (NET) and The Living Bible (TLB). Contemporary English Version (CEV).
