That You May Know

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:58

The title of my sermon today is That You May Know. Let's read 1 John chapter 5, verse 13, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. God wants us to know beyond all shadow of doubt that we have eternal life. First, let's define eternal life. It's not just life after death, but life as God intended as a result of a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. It's a life marked with peace, joy, and purpose. Now today we're going to look at three things to help us know that we have eternal life. Number one, the word of the Father. The Bible tells us that we know that we have eternal life because of the promises in God's Word. Look at 1 John chapter 5, verse 13 again. Here, John the Apostle says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Our faith must be in God's Word, the things that are written, not in our feelings or our circumstances. We get our assurance and evidence that we have eternal life from the Bible. The Bible is our evidence. God has given to us this promise in writing, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and we can build our faith and our confidence in our relationship with God based on the promises that we see in God's Word. There's also evidence that we have eternal life and that we are followers of Jesus if we keep his commandments. Let's look at 1 John chapter 2, verse 3 to verse 6. It says, And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, I know him, but doesn't keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. So the first thing we've seen today that gives us evidence and assurance that we have eternal life is the word of the Father. God's Word, the Bible. What a wonderful thing we have. That we have promises from God that we can refer to, that we can read, we can build our faith and our hope upon the promises of God's word. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God's word will remain forever. And we have this wonderful promise, the word of the Father. Number two, we have the assurance of the work of Jesus Christ. Let's first of all look at why did Jesus come? What was his mission? What was he seeking to do? Now we read in Luke chapter 19, verse 10, Jesus said, referring to himself as the Son of Man and His mission. He said, For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. And we know this to be a Greek word which means paid in full. On the cross, Jesus paid in full for our sin. Now this word that we we translate in our Bibles, it is finished or paid in full, is the Greek word tetalesti, which was used when a debt was fully paid or a prison sentence was fully served. And that individual, having paid their debt to the people they owed money to, or perhaps their debt to society, was released free to be able to become a fully functioning member of society again. And Jesus on the cross made it possible for us to be restored into a right relationship with God, saved from sin to righteousness, so that we can grow in our relationship with Him. I love the way Hebrews chapter 10 verse 12 explains how Jesus paid for our sin once and for all time. Let's read it. Hebrews 10 verse 12 from the English Standard Version says, But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. So we've seen in our second point that we have as our assurance the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, paid in full. Jesus said it is finished. Jesus said the debt has been cancelled. Whatever you did in the past, Jesus has forgiven you of that. Whatever you did 10 minutes ago, Jesus can forgive you if you come and you confess your sin to Him and ask Him for His forgiveness. He cleanses us from our sin and brings us back into a complete right relationship with God. Now we need to understand we don't stand by our own works, we stand by the work of Jesus on the cross. He paid the price for us and we receive that by grace through faith in Him. What a wonderful thing to have our Lord and Savior say, I have paid the price in full for you. Number three, we have the witness of the Holy Spirit. We know because we have received the Holy Spirit. Let's look at 1 John chapter 4 and verse 13. He says, By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit. The evidence of a relationship with God is that we have the Holy Spirit in us. We've been born of the Spirit, we live by the Spirit, we walk in the Spirit, we led by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is available to each and every single one of us. There is the birth, the new birth, being born again by the Holy Spirit, which brings us into a living relationship with God. And the Holy Spirit reveals the Father and the Son to us in wonderful ways. Now we need both the internal and the external witness of the Holy Spirit. The internal witness of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit in our hearts, reminding us that we are children of God. Let's look at Romans chapter 8 and verse 16. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. Wonderful. You are a child of God, accepted by Him, and you can come boldly to the throne of grace to receive help and mercy whenever you need it. You're welcome in the Father's presence, and the Holy Spirit makes this possible as he reminds us that we are indeed children of God. The second witness is the external witness of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Here we see the character and the conduct of our lives changing because of the residence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And there should be change in our lives where our lives should bear fruit. Like Jesus often said to people go, your sins are forgiven. Go and bear fruit of your repentance, fruit of turning from sin to a Christ-centered life. Let's read this in Galatians chapter 5, verse 22 to 23. It says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. What a wonderful thing to see our lives change because we have the witness of the Holy Spirit in our lives internally, knowing we're children of God, but also externally evidence to others, the world around us, that the King is in residence here. And what we need to do is we need to be sure that we are spending time in his presence through worship, through prayer, through times in the word, so that the Holy Spirit starts to overflow through our lives through that fruit of the external witness of the Holy Spirit. So we've seen finally in our third point that we have the witness of the Holy Spirit showing us that we have eternal life. So, in summary, we've seen that we know that we have eternal life because of three things. Number one, the word of the Father, number two, the work of Jesus Christ, and number three, the witness of the Holy Spirit. We're gonna pray together, and there's two things I'd like to pray over. First of all, I would like us to pray for those who would like to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If you haven't done it, then I invite you to pray this prayer with me, and you will be inviting Jesus to become Lord of your life, you'll be surrendering to Him as your Savior, and you will start a relationship with Him. The second prayer I'd like to pray is for us to be able to pray for family and friends who do not yet know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We want them to experience the same peace, joy, and purpose that we have in life because Jesus Christ is the Lord of our lives. So let's pray. If you would like to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please pray this prayer. Father God, I want to give my life to you. I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness. I believe in my heart and I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord. I make a decision today to turn from sin and to follow Jesus. Thank you that I now belong to Jesus. Thank you for your forgiveness. In Jesus' name. Amen. Secondly, if you would like to pray for family and friends who do not yet know Jesus as Lord and Savior, then I invite you to pray this prayer with me. Father God, thank you. It is your will that everyone experiences salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Today I pray for, and I'd like you to say the name or names of those you're praying for today. I'll pause for a moment so you can do that. Let's continue praying. I ask that you would either give me an opportunity to share the gospel with them, or set up a divine appointment where they would hear and respond to the gospel. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.