02 Aug ‘Dear John’ | Part 4 ‘The Assurance We Need for Anxious Times’

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Key Verse: 1 John 3 ESV

These are anxious times.  People are scared.  There are 24-hour news networks streaming potential disasters.  We have gone through a series of crises like never before.  It feels like the rug has been pulled out from under all of us: a pandemic that could kill us, a spirit of division in our country, and global anxiety.

Not much has changed since John wrote 1 John.  He was writing to a church that was anxious and worried. False teachers were coming in and the New Testament was not written yet.

How does a Christian KNOW they are SAVED?

The book of 1 John was written to give us assurance.

Q. How is the Church today much like the Church to which John was writing to (what kinds of false teachings have you witnessed, what worries and anxieties do you face today)?

The book of 1 John is written to give us assurance

1 John 2:28–29 (ESV)

If we want confidence that we are saved, then we must abide in Jesus.

Abide: to stay, remain in place, spend time in.  If we do this, we will have confidence when He comes.  Jesus is coming.  We shrink back when there is a crisis, but it is imperative we do the things that turn our hearts back to God.

Select one or both questions:

QA. Have you ever lacked confidence that you were saved and why?

QB. How do you need to change your daily routine so you do not lack confidence when Jesus returns?

When you live in CHRIST no CRISIS can live in your heart.

1 John 5:13 (ESV)

We can know we have eternal life.

4 Signs of our Assurance IN Christ:

Signs point us to a location but stop upon arrival.  Signs show us the way we are headed and remind us that we are not there yet, otherwise, we would not need the sign.  We are not ‘there’ yet.  If we were, we would not need the sign.  1 John 3 is a sign we are headed to heaven but we are not there yet.  John is providing assurance to the saints.

Sign #1. STRANGE to this WORLD.

Within our hearts is a growing sense that we don’t belong here. That this is not our home. We feel at odds with the way of the world.  We get frustrated and angry but it is a sign we are not home, it is a sign we belong to a world yet to come.

1 John 3:1 (ESV)

We are children of God, we are loved by God. The world does not know Him. If we are in Christ we are citizens of heaven.

1 John 3:13-16 (ESV)

Q. What things in your day to day life remind you that you are at odds with this world and how does that give you the assurance you don’t belong here (i.e. what do you get frustrated about, what relationships are threatened due to your relationship with Christ, how do you interact with non-Christian friends, etc.)?

1 Peter 2:11 (ESV)

We are traveling through.  We know we are Christians because we feel strange to this world.

Sign #2. UNSATISFIED by SIN.

1 John 3:4-10 ESV

On the surface, it looks like John is saying if we sin we are not Christian, but that is not what he is saying – John 1:8-10. John is not going to contradict himself.  Christians do sin.  Jesus said pray daily, forgive us our sins. We daily need forgiveness because we daily sin, James 3:2,  Romans 7:13-20.

John is talking about our relationship toward sin.

1: A Christian doesn’t PRACTICE SIN.

1 John 3:4 (ESV)

We practice things we want to get good at.  We should not want to get good at sin.   Our relationship to sin is such that we don’t want to do it better or more.

Q. What are some habits you need to take a look at more closely to ensure you are not ‘practicing’ them as John talks about?

2: A Christian believes JESUS DIED for sins.

1 John 3:5 (ESV)

Jesus went to the cross for our sins, why would we want to do something that cost Jesus His life?  We sin because of the evil human nature we inherited.  Jesus came to go to the cross and wipe out our sins so we can be accepted by God.

Q. What do you find difficult to understand about your sin being wiped out?

3: A Christian knows that sin ORIGINATES from the DEVIL.

1 John 3:8 (ESV)

Before Adam and Eve sinned, Satan sinned in heaven when he rebelled against God.  The devil has been sinning since the beginning, it is the expression of his nature. It is the exact opposite of what God wants him to do.  We don’t live like this.  When a Christian is confronted by sin we say we got to get rid of this.

4: A Christian grows less and less INVOLVED with sin.