Assurance 1 John 5:13-15

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 134
• Hymn — I Sing the Glorious Praises of My God
• Prayer of Invocation
• Heidelberg Catechism — Question 1
• Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 29
• Pastoral Prayer
• Hymn — He Will Hold Me Fast
• Sermon
• Hymn
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

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Sermon Title: Assurance of Salvation

Scripture: 1 John 5:13-15

I. The Experience of Assurance

A. John's purpose in writing — 1 John 5:13

1. Compare with John 20:30-31: the Gospel is written so readers might believe; the Epistle is written to believers so they might know
2. "Know" carries the sense of certainty and assurance, not merely intellectual knowledge
3. Assurance is not of the essence of faith — one can have saving faith without full assurance; assurance is an added blessing

B. Reasons our assurance is shaken (Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 18)

1. Negligence in preserving it
2. Falling into a particular sin that wounds the conscience
3. Sudden or vehement temptation
4. God withdrawing the light of his countenance

C. Application to struggling believers

1. Those swimming in unrepentant sin must turn from sin and lean on God's mercy
2. Those without assurance despite not living in gross sin are not alone — John wrote an entire epistle for such people
3. Confessing with lips and believing in the heart that Jesus Christ is Lord is sufficient ground for assurance

II. The Grounds of Assurance

A. The object of faith is always Christ — 1 John 5:13

1. Assurance does not come from looking at our faith; it comes from looking on Christ in faith
2. 1 John 5:20-21 — Christ is the true God and eternal life; run from idols

B. The error of grounding assurance in sincerity or feelings

1. Modern evangelicalism has often placed the ground of assurance on the sincerity of the sinner's prayer or emotional experience
2. Baptism rightly understood is a sign of what God does monergistically for sinners, not what we do for God

C. Illustration: Frank and Bob on Passover night (D.A. Carson)

1. The firstborn sons of Israel were spared not according to the degree of their fathers' faith, but according to the blood of the lamb on the doorpost
2. Our assurance likewise rests on the blood of the Lamb, not on the measure of our faith or feelings

III. The Blessings of Assurance

A. Assurance expressed in confident prayer — 1 John 5:14-15

1. "Confidence" in v. 14 is another word for assurance
2. "We know" in v. 15 — present tense, written as a settled fact, similar to Paul's use of the past tense for glorification in Romans 8
3. Petitions are answered when asked according to God's will

B. John moves from eternal life to prayer, not merely to confidence in death

1. Just as Christ is the ground of assurance in salvation, he is the ground of assurance in prayer
2. We no longer need an earthly priest — Christ our great High Priest has torn the curtain and opened the way to the Father
3. John Newton: He has washed us with his blood, he has brought us nigh to God

C. The error of grounding confidence in prayer on what God can do rather than what God has done

1. Staking prayer on future divine power leads to testing God and eventual dejection
2. True confidence in prayer is rooted in Christ's finished work — in him we already have every spiritual blessing and eternal life (Ephesians 1)
3. Keep eyes fixed on Christ, the ground of all assurance, in every prayer