Well let’s open our Bibles together to the passage that was just read, 1 John 4:13-21. The story is told about George Bernard Shaw, the great British playwright who gave a lecture on the idiosyncrasies of the English language. And Shaw said that one of the unusual things about English is that there are two English words that are pronounced “sh” but don’t have an “s-h-” at the beginning of the word. They just simply have an “s.”

A woman wrote to him and said, “Mr. Shaw you are incorrect. ‘Sugar’ is the only word in the English language that has only an ‘s’ and is pronounced ‘sh.’”

And Mr. Shaw wrote her back with a one line note that read, “Madam, are you sure?”

The title of our message today is “Our Sure Salvation.” And let me ask you today, “Are you sure?” “Madame, are you sure? Mister, are you sure?” Are you sure about your salvation? And if you’re sure, my goal today is not to make you unsure, but more sure, in light of the sureness of what John writes here. And if you’re unsure, my goal is to help you become sure and leave your unsureness behind in new assurance of salvation. And if you’re falsely sure about your sureness, my goal is to make you unsure about your sureness, so that you can be truly sure not falsely sure about your assurance. 

By now I’m pretty sure that you are ready for me to get into the text! Are you? Okay. Well let’s look at verse 13 together.  

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Look at verse 13 with me.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 

Now remember, this statement is coming on the heels of what we read last time in verse 12. Obviously every passage of Scripture has a context, so let’s keep the context of this passage in mind. John wrote in verse 12, “No one has ever seen God.” And that’s true. God is spirit. God is infinitely holy and infinitely powerful. No one can see God [not fully] and live the Bible says (Exod 33:20). 

But there is a way that we can tangibly sense him and relate to him and experience his power, even though we can’t see him. And so John writes, “If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

So as we love one another, the power of God is seen… not with our eyes… but with the eyes of our heart, you might say. And God’s love is perfected in us. Now we’ll get to brotherly love in a second, but let’s discuss this concept of God abiding in us a little further.

John writes in verse 13.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 

You might ask, “How do we know that God abides in us?” Well because God has promised his Spirit to those who are his children.

 And to that you might say, “How do we know that we are his children?” Well because you love your fellow siblings in Christ Jesus! 

And to that you might say, “How do we know that we love our fellow siblings in Christ Jesus?” And the answer to that is you are willing to do for them what Christ has done for you, that is sacrificially give of yourself for the benefit of others.  

And I realize that there is something circular going on here. I don’t think circular reasoning was an obstacle to John like it is for us. And for John it’s not so much circular, as it is a spiral. We’re drilling down on the one main thing which is assurance of salvation, and all of these issues are part of that drill bit: 1) Love for one another, 2) The presence of the Holy Spirit, 3) Doctrinal conviction, and 4) Obedience to Christ’s commands. All of these components are drilling down on the issue of assurance of salvation. 

How do you know that you are saved? Well, all these things are informing you of that fact. And one of the factors that makes us sure about our salvation is the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

Look with me also at verse 16.

16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 

There’s a statement here again about God abiding in the believer. And that statement, “God abides in him” is a reference once again to the indwelling Holy Spirit. And John is saying here, if the Holy Spirit abides within you, then you are going to love God and love God’s people because God is love.

Go ahead and write this down as the first point from the message. Let me simplify this for us. In answer to the question: “Are you sure about your salvation?” I want to give you four proofs.

Four Proofs of Your Salvation

If you are genuinely saved, these proofs are going to be real and active in your life. If you aren’t, then they aren’t. And the first proof is this:

1) The proof of the Holy Spirit (4:13, 16)

Is the Holy Spirit convicting you of sin? He should be! If he resides within you! Is the Holy Spirit leading you into greater righteousness… righteousness that you never could have achieved without the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life? Is the Holy Spirit coaching you how to love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Is the Holy Spirit gifting you to edify the local church? Is the Holy Spirit producing the fruit of the Spirit in your life (“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” – Gal 5:22-23) and mortifying the flesh (“sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” – Gal 5:19-21)?

Now some people believe that you get the Holy Spirit as installments throughout the Christian life. At salvation you get a piece of him, and then a little bit later you get another installment. And then a little bit later, if you’re a good little boy or girl, you get some more of him. 

I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that’s what the Bible teaches. I believe that you get the whole of the Holy Spirit—lock stock and barrel… the whole kit and caboodle of his power and work—at conversion. In other words, you get saved, and the Holy Spirit in toto comes upon you, signed sealed and delivered. He lives inside you, he seals you with a promise, indwells you, and prepares you for eternity. You don’t get piece meal Holy Spirit. You get all of him.  

Now I will say this. You can’t get more of the Holy Spirit than you already have. But, the Holy Spirit can have less of you than he should. As Alastair Begg says, it’s not possible to have less than all of the Holy Spirit, but it is possible for the Holy Spirit to have less than all of us. That’s why Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:18, “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” So we can be filled with the Holy Spirit, and the opposite of that, as the Bible teaches, is quenching the Spirit through sin and rebellion and disobedience (1 Thess 5:19). Quenching leads to less effectiveness for God. Quenching the Spirit leads to less resourcefulness in Christian ministry. Quenching the Spirit leads to diminished assurance that we belong to God and that we are indeed his child. 

One of the most difficult things that I do as a pastor is try to help people discern the Holy Spirit’s presence in their lives and discern the Holy Spirit’s leading in their lives. And one of the reasons that it’s so difficult is because it’s not like a chemistry lab where I can conduct an experiment and the litmus test proves X, Y, and Z. These things are spiritually discerned. And one of the hardest things I have to do as a pastor is help someone discern the legitimacy of their salvation. And sometimes that boils down to whether or not the Holy Spirit is tangibly present in that person’s life. Is he even there? Are they even saved? If he is there, are they quenching the work of the Spirit through unconfessed sin or rebellion or some other manifestation of disobedience? That’s hard work. But ultimately assurance isn’t something that I can offer someone. I can’t prove or disprove the presence of the Holy Spirit in someone’s life. 

And so what I fall back on is the truth of God’s Word and my own experiences as confirmation of God’s Word. And I’ve experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. And I’ve felt his conviction, which is different than just some overdeveloped conscience inside of me. And I’ve seen him work in my life and accomplish things I know I couldn’t do on my own, in my own flesh. And also I’ve been in seasons of life where I’ve quenched the Spirit inside of me through rebellion or disobedience. But He’s always been there… always since the day that I got saved. Leading me… Prompting me… Convicting me. 

I was thinking about this the other day at Wal-Mart. Some of my best thinking I do at Wal-Mart, because I can never find the things I need there. And God brought to mind some of the ways I’ve changed. And one of the things I noticed is that I’m less annoying to myself than I used to be. I don’t put my foot in my mouth as much as I used to. I don’t hurt people like I used to. I’m more joyful. I’m more patient with people. I’m more confident in who I am in Christ. I’m more steady in my soul than I used to be. And I can’t attribute that to anything other than the Holy Spirit’s work in my life. And that’s a proof in my soul that God has saved me, and I belong to him. Can you see those things in your life? If so that’s proof that the Holy Spirit is inside of you. And that’s proof that you are indeed saved.

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So the first proof of your salvation is the Holy Spirit inside of you. And along similar lines, here’s a second proof.

2) The proof of your confession (4:14-15)

John writes in verse 14, 

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 

Now just a quick note of clarification. The “we” in verse 14 is not “we” like all Christians everywhere throughout church history. John is invoking the “apostolic we” here in reference to his first-hand knowledge of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. 

Remember 1 John 1:1? “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.” So John is saying we, the apostles, “have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” And part of John’s apostolic duty was to record that testimony here in the Scriptures so that “we” might receive it and believe it. 

And to that you might say, “Well where do I come in, Pastor Tony? If John and the Apostles are the ‘we’ of verse 14… where’s me?” “Where do I come in?”

Well you come in at verse 15. Look at verse 15. 

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 

So here’s how this works. John and the Apostles testify that Jesus is the Savior of the world. We receive it here in this Word. We believe it, and we confess him as such. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

A parallel verse to this is Romans 10:9-10. You guys have heard me recite this verse countless times before. “If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead we shall be saved.” John says essentially the same thing. Whoever confesses him… whoever confesses Jesus is the Son of God… God abides in him, and he in God. 

Jesus said himself, “everyone who [confesses] me before men, I also will [confess] before my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 10:32). How many of you think that’s a good deal right there? We confess Jesus. Jesus confesses us before the Father. I’m all in on that. Sign me up for that! 

And by the way, that’s that same Greek word from 1 John 4:15, ὁμολογέω. “So everyone who [ὁμολογέω] me before men, I also will [ὁμολογέω] before my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 10:32). That’s the same word in Romans 10:9. “If we [ὁμολογέω] with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead we shall be saved.” John says here in 4:15, “Whoever [ὁμολογέω] that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” Confessing means more than just talking, but it doesn’t mean less than talking.

I remember a time in my life when I was a little more hush-hush about my faith in Christ. I look back on that time with shame. I actually thought I was doing God a favor by being stealthy with my faith. “I’ll be a secret Christian, and then I’ll when people to Christ that way.” 

And shamefully I used to look down on people who were outspoken with their faith. There was a time in my life where I used to be like “Shhhh, let’s be a little more discreet.” And I would frame it as a way to be more effective with evangelism by not being so overt. But in reality, I was scared. I didn’t want some people to know that Jesus was the most important thing in my life. I didn’t want people to label me or stigmatize me or cancel me. 

Can I just tell you how I feel now? I don’t care anymore. I refuse to be quiet! Why would we be secretive about the good news of Jesus Christ and the truth that can save people from sin! And besides that, whose opinion do we care about… Jesus or the World. Jesus said, “everyone who [confesses] me before men, I also will [confess] before my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 10:32). I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: There’s no such thing as a secret Christian. Secret Christians and unicorns—those are in the same category. They don’t exist. You’ve got to confess [ὁμολογέω] your affiliation with Christ. 

Now let’s be careful here. There are some who would openly confess their “belief in Christ” and maybe even say “O Yeah, Jesus is the Son of God… and so is Buddha and Krishna and Confucius and every other spiritual leader out there.” Is John okay with that? Does that mean that person’s saved? No! Their confession needs to be anchored to the truth of the gospel. 

And what’s the truth of the gospel? The truth is this—you are a sinner who is separated from God, and by repenting of your sins and embracing by faith Jesus Christ, the Son of God as your Savior, believing in his death as a payment for your sins and believing in his resurrection, you can be saved. That’s the gospel. That’s what your confession has to be. Not some nebulous, ambiguous assertion of your admiration for Jesus.

I heard a pastor tell the story of when he was once interviewed by a reporter. And this reporter was supposed to be a Christian reporter, but in the course of the interview it became evident that this person had no knowledge of what the Bible teaches about Christianity. And so, in a break off the air, the pastor turned to the reporter and said, “May I ask you a question? How did you become a Christian?” 

And the reporter responded, “Well one day I got Jesus’s phone number and we’ve been connected ever since.” And the pastor said, “Could you say that again?”

“Yeah, one day I got Jesus’s phone number and we've been connected ever since.” 

The pastor said, “Well what do you mean by that?”

And the reporter said, “What do you mean what do I mean by that?” “If someone asked you how you became a Christian, what would you say?”

And so the pastor launched into an explanation of the gospel. And after he was done the reporter said, “Oh come on, you don’t have to go through all of that, do you?”

I wonder sometimes how many of our churches are full of false converts who walked an aisle, prayed a prayer, went through some rote superstitious process of supposed conversion, and yet they never repented of their sins. They never genuinely exercised their faith in the Jesus Christ of the Bible who died for them. They just went through the motions. They just got maybe emotionally manipulated by the situation. 

Yes, we need to confess Christ! But we need to confess the truth about Christ, and not the Christ of our own invention. If that’s you today or if you are unsure about your salvation, let me help you clear up that confusing matter in your heart. You need to acknowledge your sinfulness before a righteous God. Acknowledge your sin and turn from your sin, and by faith say, “Lord, I’m a sinner. But I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. Save me, Jesus. I believe that Jesus died and was resurrected from the dead. I confess him as my Lord and Savior.” Let me recite Romans 10:9 again. “If we [ὁμολογέω] with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead we shall be saved.”

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So once again, the first proof of your salvation is the Holy Spirit living inside of you. The second proof is your confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and the Lord of your life. The third proof that John gives us here goes in a different direction. 

Write this down #3.

3) The proof of increasing fearlessness (4:17-18)

Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). 

John writes in verse 17.

17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. 

Tell me if you’ve heard this before, church.

No guilt in life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life's first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny 

What heights of love; what depths of peace

When fears are stilled; when strivings cease

My Comforter; my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand 

That’s Keith Getty’s “In Christ Alone.” What’s that song talking about? It’s talking about a kind of fearlessness that we have as part of our assurance of salvation. 

One of the proofs of saving faith is “fearlessness.” Now just to be clear, this is a certain kind of fearlessness. This is not a reckless, fearless desire to go bungee jump off a bridge. You should be fearful of doing that! Neither does this have to do with a healthy fear of God. You should be fearful and awestruck by the power of God. The book of Proverbs emphasizes the “fear of the Lord” as the beginning of wisdom (1:7; 9:10). But this instead has to do with a fearlessness regarding life after death. This has to do with no fear of punishment as we see in verse 18.

18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 

We’ll talk more about love in a second, but what John is saying here is that love is perfected in us because God lives in us. So assurance comes because God lives in us, and we love God, and we love others who belong to God. This is part of that spiral—that bit that we’re using to drill assurance into our lives. 

John calls this assurance, “confidence.” It’s the Greek word παρρησία which is often translated “boldness.” And according to verse 17, we have that confidence, that παρρησία, on…

 the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 

In other words, we belong to Christ, so whatever happened to Christ will happen to us. He gets a resurrection body and goes on to live with the Father forever in eternal bliss. We get resurrection bodies too and go on to live with the Father forever in eternal bliss. “As he is so also are we!”

Let’s keep going. Look at verse 18. This is an interesting verse. 

18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. 

This is a passage that gets quoted out of context a lot by well-meaning Christians. In fact this is a passage that gets quoted out of context a lot by Christ who are dating. For instance, when Sanja and I were dating, I remember her saying that she had some fear about getting married, and she was concerned whether I was the right one for her. And I remember saying to her so confidently and obliviously, “Sanja, perfect love casts out fear.” 

And it never even occurred to me that my love for Sanja wasn’t perfect. And it never occurred to me that the fear that this passage talks about is not fear of marriage, but fear of punishment in the afterlife. Aren’t you glad that God forgives us for taking the Bible out of context? Incidentally that’s not an admonition, that’s a comfort. 

But this passage here has to do with fear of punishment. The Greek word for “fear” in verse 18 is φόβος. We derive our “fear words” our “phobias” from this Greek word φόβος. But John’s not talking about generic fears. He’s not talking about arachnophobia, acrophobia, or agoraphobia. He’s talking about what some people call mastigophobia—the fear of punishment. 

And what John is saying is that God’s love for us is perfected inside of us so that confidence increases and “fear of punishment” decreases. As faith grows, as love grows, as obedience grows inside of us and changes are wrought inside our souls, we know that we know that we know that we belong to Christ, and we have confidence for the day of judgment.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t fear God. We do fear God! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But we don’t fear God’s wrath. We don’t fear God’s vengeance. We don’t fear that God will hold our sins against us.

And there’s some parallel here to parenting on earth. I knew as a kid, I feared my father, and I feared my mother. I feared displeasing them. And I feared disappointing them. And I feared disobeying them. But I never feared their rejection. I never feared permanent separation from them. I feared their discipline and their judgment, but I didn’t fear that they would disown me or ship me off to the orphanage. 

Maybe you didn’t have that experience with your parents as a child. So let me just say that those who are in Christ Jesus will never be separated from him. For, as Paul says, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:37-39). That’s where this fearlessness comes from. Do you have it? Are you afraid of God’s judgment? Or do you rest in the finished work of Christ Jesus? Christ’s perfect love, if you’ve experienced it, if you know it, it drives out fear. It casts out fear.

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Finally, one last proof. There’s the proof of the Holy Spirit. There’s the proof of confession and the proof of increasing fearlessness. And then there’s #4.

4) The proof of brotherly love (4:19-21)

John writes in verse 19.

19 We love because he first loved us. 

I heard this last week that 1 John 4:19 was William Tyndale’s favorite passage of Scripture. William Tyndale, the great Bible scholar who translated Scriptures into English, and got strangled and burned at the stake for his troubles, loved this verse.  

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar;

There’s your unicorn, again. “Oh, Oh, I love God, it’s just I hate Christians.” “Oh, Oh, I love God. But I hate your guts, Christian!” Really. Is that possible scripturally? What would John say about that?

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. 

That last verse reminds me of the following satirical poem:

To dwell above with the saints we love, that will be grace and glory. 

But to dwell below with the saints we know, well that’s another story.

We could talk at length at this point about how to love our brothers in Christ. We’ve covered that in the previous weeks. But the question here is not so much, “How should you love your brother and sister in Christ?” But “Do you love your brother and sister in Christ?” 

Because, according to John, that’s not an optional thing for Christians. John says, “whoever loves God must also love his brother.” And not only is it not optional…let me say it stronger than that… according to John it’s not possible to love God and not love your brother. In other words, love for your brother is a natural outflowing of what it means to be a child of God. This is the inevitable result of being born-again, namely that you will love other born-again believers.

Like I’ve said before, “Imputed righteousness inevitably produces empirical righteousness” and one evidence of empirical righteousness in the life of a believer is a growing love for other believers.

Edgar Guest wrote the following poem entitled, “Sermons we See.”

I’d rather see a sermon, than hear one any day;

I’d rather one should walk with me, than merely tell the way.

The eye’s a better pupil, and more willing than the ear,

Fine counsel is confusing, but example’s always clear;

And the best of all preachers, are the men who live their creeds,

For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.

This is essentially what John is saying here. He’s saying that your love for one another is the best evidence that God lives inside of you. And it’s the best testimony of your faith in Christ. Not that we want to create a false dichotomy between what we say and what we do. Real Christianity is going to speak and live out the truths of Scripture. Your walk and your talk will both honor Christ. But there is a sense in which actions speak louder than words. Let me say it this way: “Your talk talks and your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.” 

David Allen says also, “Your spiritual maturity is not measured by your age, how long you have been a Christian, how long you have been a church member, how much Bible knowledge you have, or your level of service in the church. It is measured by your love. ‘By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another,’ said Jesus (John 13:35).”

And what John is saying here is your Christian faith is evidenced by visible demonstrations of love one to another in the body of Christ Jesus. That’s proof of conversion. That’s proof of conversion to the watching world. That’s proof of conversion to fellow Christians in the church. But you know what else? That’s proof of conversion to yourself. How do I know I have saving faith? How can I be sure that I’m a Christian? Well do you love your brothers? Do you really love them? Do you love when it’s hard to love them? Do you have a growing love for them?

You might say, “Well before, Pastor Tony, there was this Christian out there that used to make me so mad. I couldn’t stand being around that person. In fact I had an attitude bordering on hate towards that person. But God’s been working on me. And now it’s as if my hate has turned to compassion. And my anger towards them has turned to love. Not perfectly. Not all the time. But God has grown in me a desire to help them and love them and walk with them and minister to them. And forgive them. And empathize with them. And I don’t know where that came from!”

I’ll tell you where that came from. That came from the Holy Spirit that lives inside you that forced the issue of love in your life. And the Holy Spirit brought about something that you couldn’t do yourself and that this world doesn’t encourage. And that’s love. Real love.

And why do we do that? Why do we love one another like that? Verse 19?

19 We love because he first loved us.  

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Let’s close, if we could, with a meditation on that statement. We love because he first loved us. He first loved us! Charles Spurgeon captures the beauty of this perfectly. I’ll give him the last words of this sermon. “What is it we have been talking about? It is God’s love to us. Get the thought into your head a minute: ‘God loves me’—not merely bears with me, thinks of me, feeds me, but loves me. Oh, it is a very sweet thing to feel that we have the love of a dear wife, or a kind husband; and there is much sweetness in the love of a fond child, or a tender mother; but to think that God loves me, this is infinitely better! Who is it that loves you? God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Almighty, All in all, does He love me? Even He? If all men, and all angels, and all the living creatures that are before the throne loved me, it were nothing to this—the Infinite loves me! And who is it that He loves? Me. The text saith, ‘us.’ ‘We love Him because He first loved us.’ But this is the personal point—He loves me, an insignificant nobody, full of sin—who deserved to be in hell; who loves Him so little in return—God loves ME.”