Turn your Bibles, please, to 1 John, chapter 4. 1 John, chapter 4. Let me read a few verses here, beginning at verse 7 of 1 John 4. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. Let's pray. Dear Father, again, we come to You believing, again, even the words that we have just read, that You are love, that You love us, You've always loved us. It's a love that was so wonderfully made manifest on that place called Golgotha, where You sent Your Son to die on our behalf. And Lord, again, as we come tonight to hear Your Word, we pray that You would grant to us what we always need. We need Your Holy Spirit. We need supernatural help. And so we cry to you, we cry with the voice of faith, believing again that your ear is always open to our cry. Come and bless, come and own, and continue to work in us. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Dr. Steve Lawson, in a book titled Absolutely Sure, and talks about some of the biggest problems that plagued the professed church of Jesus Christ. And he tells the story through the lens, or this problem, through the lens of the Titanic. You know that it was the largest ship of its time. It had three football fields. It reached 11 stories in height. It weighed 46,000 tons. It was called the crown jewel of the British White Star Line, the largest moving object ever created. And the great boast was that it was unsinkable, but on its maiden voyage across the North Atlantic it hit an iceberg. And apparently it had received several warnings about a heavy ice pack and a number of large icebergs in that particular area. But no one bothered to wake the captain. Why should they? They believed it was unsinkable. But it sank. And most people lost their lives. Over 1,500. 700 approximately were saved. But it's obvious that most were oblivious to the danger with the false sense of security. It's an apt illustration of how most people live in the world today. Oblivious to the dangers of death, judgment, and divine wrath. And despite the warnings, they go on They go on as though everything is okay. How is that possible? Well, the big reason is that most people, 99%, I'm told, believe they are on their way to heaven. 99% of Americans. But the problem doesn't line up with the Bible, does it? That perspective, because Jesus even tells us in that last chapter of Matthew 7, the Sermon on the Mount, that there are going to be lots and lots of people who will be deceived. Even on Judgment Day, they still have a false confidence and security. And Jesus says, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons? Did we not do many mighty works in your name? And Jesus says, I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me. They thought they were safe, but they weren't. And we can't miss the fact that those folk did some pretty incredible thing. They cast out demons. They performed miracles. And yet, in spite of all of those incredible things, they were still dead in their trespasses and sins, despite their self-confidence or what we could call false assurance. That's certainly one great danger that plagues the professed church of today. It always has. People foolishly think they are safe and secure no matter how they live. But there's another danger that we face in terms of the church today. There are some who struggle with false assurance, but there are some who fail to enjoy real assurance. And they are plagued with chronic doubts, and they question whether they are Christians. They live with a constant uncertainty. And let me just say this, that it's possible, that's quite normal, in fact, for Christians to have doubts about their salvation. In fact, I would worry if you never had a doubt. Spurgeon spoke of his own struggle with assurance. He says, at one point in his life, he said, I began to doubt in my own mind whether I really enjoyed the things I preached to others. Spurgeon also said that he only met one or two saints who had never doubted their interest in Christ, but they were the exception, not the rule. So, yes, most of us In the course of life, living the Christian life, we'll have doubts and questions sometimes on the front end, sometimes even at the back end of our lives. But we should realize this as well, that God wants every child of God, every Christian, to enjoy full assurance. In fact, that's one of the reasons why John writes his epistles, for that very reason that you may know you have eternal life. And the writer of Hebrews had that same burden and concern. He said, let us draw near with a full assurance of faith. So here's the question for all of us. How can I be sure that I am a Christian? How can I be sure, absolutely sure, that I am a Christian? When it comes to this matter of assurance, the best place, at least in my mind, to go to settle that question of eternal life and to be absolutely sure is to Jesus Christ Himself and your relationship with Him. And so here are the questions that I would ask if I was seeking to answer that bigger question. Am I a Christian? How can I be sure that I am a true believer? Well, here are four follow-up questions. Number one, are you trusting in Christ? Number two, are you fellowshipping with Christ? Number three, are you enjoying victory in Christ? And number four, are you loving like Christ? Let's ask those questions and try to answer them from our Bibles. First question, when it comes to assurance, how can I know, be sure that I'm a Christian? Are you trusting in Christ? Every Christian has a life that has a starting point. And if you were to go to the ultimate starting point, you start with God himself. None of us would be saved unless God took the initiative. And if you're a Christian, God graciously did. Remember how Jesus illustrates that in the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin and the lost son. It's very clear from those parables, at least the first two, the lost coin and the lost sheep, that God is the initiator. And Jesus even defines his mission, does he not? In those terms, the Son of Man came to seek and save that which is lost. God sought us out, didn't He? We would never have sought Him out, left to ourselves. Our seeking God is really a response to His seeking us. He first loved us. And when God finds us, when He finds that lost sheep, or that lost coin, He does a change. There is a change that takes place. We call it regeneration. Jesus spoke of it under the image of the new birth in John chapter 3. You must be born from above. You must be born again. And when someone is born again, there will be signs of life. One of the saddest experiences for a husband and wife is to have a baby that's stillborn. To hold a baby in your arms that can't cry. that will never cry. That's one of the most grievous experiences in life. But when sinners are saved by the grace of God, when they come out of the womb of regeneration or conversion, they will always cry. There will always be signs of life. And that first cry is described by that word faith. There is this faith cry. That's the first sign of life. If you're born of God, if you're born from above, you will begin to cry. You will cry for help. A born-again person instinctively cries for mercy. And you will hear those cries. If you go through the Gospels, you can find those cries in several places or on several occasions. For instance, turn to Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5. Here's a man who comes to Jesus in rough shape physically. He has this dreaded disease of leprosy. It was something of a killer disease. It was like the cancer of the skin. It would cause grotesque deformity of hands and feet and even the face itself. But as much as this man must have possessed what you might call a dead flesh hanging on his body due to leprosy, he's alive spiritually. There are signs of life. Look here at Luke 5, verse 12. We're told that when he was in one of the cities, here comes this man full of leprosy. He's covered with this leprosy. This dreaded disease has ravaged his whole body. It's probably in its last stages, similar to five-stage cancer. He hasn't got that much more time to live. And there's nothing he can do about it. He can't heal himself. He's impotent. But he knows there's someone who can. And notice that this leper breaks what you could call the leprosy protocol. Remember what lepers were to do. They had to dress in a disheveled way, but they also had to cry out, unclean, unclean, unclean. It was sort of a way to let everybody know, get away, run away from the leper. He's an outcast, don't go near him. But this man, this leper comes close to Jesus, so close that Jesus can touch him. And it's obvious this man has faith. You can hear his faith cry. Verse 12, And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He believes that Jesus can remedy this disease. And Jesus does. There's no hesitation, no reluctance. But that is a beautiful illustration of faith in action. Faith comes with this cry. The sinner comes to Jesus crying for help, crying for mercy. Wash me, cleanse me, make me clean. I have moral leprosy. And when a sinner cries to Jesus, with that cry of faith, Jesus always, always answers. He's willing and He's able. He washes us and He cleanses us. from all our diseases. And He makes us whiter than snow. Faith is just that simple. You can hear the faith cry in Luke chapter 18, another instance. Here you have two men who go up to the temple to pray. And you know the one man strokes himself in his self-righteous pride. It's the Pharisee. But the Republican or tax collector, he makes this cry, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That is the cry of faith. And we know that it's a cry of faith because we're told that this man goes home justified. Verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. How are you justified? You're justified by faith. This man made a faith It's an evidence of life. You go right to the back end of Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 23, and here's another man who makes a faith cry. It's obvious he's been born from above because there's evidence of life. Luke chapter 23, we have this thief on the cross. Talk about a hopeless condition, this man, in terms of his past. He's probably been a rebel most of his life, something akin to a terrorist. And he's only hours from the grave. He's facing everlasting condemnation. But he's on that cross. And there's Jesus, who's also on that cross. And Jesus is in the throes of death. And Jesus is seeking the sinner. He's still the Good Shepherd. Going after that one lost sheep. And he finds him. And we know that because the man cries out in faith. Verse 42 of Luke 23, and he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. That's the language of faith. Remember me. I believe you are the king. And I believe you have an everlasting kingdom, greater than any kingdom in this world. And I want you to be my king. I want you to subdue my sins. I want you to break my chains. I want you to take me out of the kingdom of darkness and bring me into the kingdom of light. And Jesus says, I will. He says, truly, I say to you today, you'll be with me in paradise. We can tell every sinner, can't we? That Jesus can be theirs. And all that Jesus offers in his gospel can be theirs by a whimper of faith. A whimper of faith. A little cry of faith that you'll be reconciled to God, redeemed and justified and adopted. Whoever believes has eternal life. Dr. Packer says faith means letting oneself fall into His open arms. Am I a Christian? Well, answer this question. Are you trusting in Christ? And trusting in Christ alone? Are you looking to Jesus for your salvation? If you are, if you're clinging to Jesus by faith, if you're depending upon Him, trusting Him, follow your sins and give you that righteousness that you need, then heaven is yours. Second question. You can ask yourself to answer the question, am I a Christian? Am I a bona fide child of God? Will heaven be mine? Here's the second question. Are you fellowshipping with Christ? You see, the Christian life begins by taking hold of Christ. That's what we call faith. is likened to a hand grasp, or is likened to an eye, or likened even to an ear that hears. But that's how the Christian life begins. When God changes our hearts by regeneration, we exercise faith. Faith is a threshold grace. It's right there on the threshold. But faith is more than that, isn't it? Faith in the Bible is more than that. Faith brings you to Jesus. Faith takes hold of Jesus. But faith in the Bible is also a controlling principle for the entire Christian life. We know that from Hebrews chapter 11. People who live by faith, David and Abraham and Moses. Faith has you constantly looking to Jesus, running to Jesus, learning of Jesus. Faith brings you into intimate fellowship with the Savior. Now, think of all of the personal illustrations that Jesus gave when it came to his relationship with his disciple friends. If you go to John chapter 15, you'll see for yourself, John chapter 15, where Jesus speaks to his disciple, on that last night before his crucifixion. Here he bears his heart to them and he uses several pictures or graphics to tell them that He wants to sustain an intimate relationship with them. That's what he believes he has with them, but he wants to sustain that relationship. He calls them his friends three times in John 15, verse 13 through 15. Three times he uses that word friend. He tells them that a friend lays down his life for his friends. He also picks up another image, we heard about that this morning in the Sunday school hour, the picture of vine and branches. Chapter 15, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser, every branch in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. He abides in me, that's the language of intimacy, that's the language of fellowship. He also puts himself under the image of a husband. Chapter 14, It's bridegroom terminology, where he says, I go to prepare a place for you. That's what the bridegroom would do. He would go prepare a place for his bride to be. Jesus is using that language. It's a picture, again, of intimacy. He's letting his disciple friends know, I love you, and I want to have fellowship with you. I'm your friend. I'm your husband. I want your relationship to me to be like a vine and branches. Who or what is a Christian? A Christian is someone who has fellowship with Jesus. He has intimate fellowship with Christ. Are you a child of God? Answer the question. Are you trusting in Christ? I hope you can say, yes, I am. Are you fellowshipping with Christ? Do you know Christ, not merely about Christ? You can know a lot about someone, but not know them, right? Do you know Him personally, experientially? Do you have ongoing communion and fellowship with Christ? Are you constantly talking to Him? Prayer, that's what prayer is. Talking to Christ, talking to God, and constantly reading His Word because you want to hear Him talk to you. That's fellowship with the living Christ. Third question you might ask or should ask to get to that answer of the big question, how can I be sure I'm a Christian Are you enjoying victory in Christ? Dr. Packer again says, the deepest division between men in this world has to do with the knowledge of sin. The biggest division in this world has to do with the knowledge of sin. The biggest division The biggest divide between men, between people in this world, has to do with the knowledge of sin. The point being that some have a knowledge of it and some do not. Do you have a personal knowledge of your sin? Your sin? I didn't ask you about someone else's sin. It's amazing how well-acquainted people can be of other people's sins, but totally ignorant of their own. I mean, the Pharisees were like that, remember? I mean, he could go in that temple and pray and look at that tax collector and say, what a scoundrel, but I'm a pretty nice guy. He didn't see his own sin. Very religious, but ignorant of his own sin. A Christian, a real Christian, becomes aware of their own sin. You hear cries like this from their hearts. Woe is me! I am a man of unclean lips, O wretched man that I am!" One of the things that every true Christian should become familiar with through the course of his life, more familiar with his Bible or her Bible, and more familiar with their hearts, and that means more familiar with their sins. He becomes more familiar with his deception, with its insidious operation. He smells his pride more. He confesses his sin more. He battles more with his sin. A Christian is not a stranger to sin. He knows on an experimental level, passages like 1 John 1, 9 apply to his own life. If we confess sin, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He knows Psalm 51. I hope Psalm 51 is smothered with your fingerprints and your tears. Psalm 51 is a penitential psalm. Have mercy upon me according to your steadfast subordinate. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. My, my, my. My sin. My transgression. He's owning his own sin. Here's the strange thing. The more you grow as a Christian, the more you will see your sin. The more you become like Jesus, more holy in all manner of life, the more you will be conscious of your sin. Jonathan Edwards said, I have had a vastly greater sense of my own wickedness and the badness of my heart than ever I had before my conversion. It is Paul at the back end of his life who said, I am the chief of sinners. Yes, the closer you get to Christ, the more you become like Christ. This is the paradox of the Christian life, one of them at least. The more you hate your sin, the more you see your sin, and the more you fight with your sin. As discouraging as that might sound, that is encouraging. A Christian will also experience victory over their sin. Jesus died on that cross. Not just to free us from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, but the presence of sin. That's why John says, no one knows God and practices sin. He can't continue in it. He can't embrace it like he once did. There might be those momentary moments where he enjoys it or he takes pleasure in it, but it doesn't last very long. And the more he sees his sin, the more he grieves over this sin, the more he fights his sin, the more he prays and watches over his sin. He looks at sin like a motion sensor grenade. I don't play with it. According to the book of Revelation, a Christian is someone who overcomes sin by the blood of the Lamb. Sins that in your pre-conversion days, maybe even in your early conversion days that seem to dominate you, are going to be weakened and diminished. By the Spirit of God, we put to death the deeds of the flesh, Romans 8.30. Now, that doesn't mean we completely eradicate sin, but there should be a lessening in terms of its power, a diminishing in terms of its strength. That's a picture of a Christian. Am I a Christian? Have I been regenerated? We'll answer these questions. Are you trusting in Christ? Have you put your faith in Christ? Are you fellowshipping with Christ? Do you enjoy intimacy with Christ? Is He your friend? Is He your husband? Are you enjoying victory in Christ? Are you grieving, confessing, fighting and overcoming your sin? And the fourth question is this. Are you loving like Christ? If there's one grace, that wonderfully captures who God is and who Christ is, is love. God is love. Jesus is God. Jesus is love. And that's the point that John makes in his epistles more than any other point. This matter of love, the evidence of love in our lives, he hammers that. He hammers it. 1 John 2, 1 John 3, 1 John 4, in all of those chapters, he bangs in that nail not just once, but two times, sometimes three times. That word love pops up again and again and again. He establishes that God is love. That's where it all starts, at the ultimate source of love. We can't love unless we know God, who is love. And there should be no question in our minds, brethren, that God is love. And if you want to see God's love manifested in its ultimate expression, where do you go? John says you go to the cross. That's where you see it. He sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And then John says, love has a logic to it. If you love God, you will love what God loves. And who does God love? He loves His church. He loves His people. 1 John 3, 4, we know that we've passed out of life. out of life, out of death, because we love the brethren. 1 John 4.8, the one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. If anyone says, I love God, hates his brother, he's a liar. True believers love. And that's the difference between a counterfeit Christian How will that love display itself? Well, perhaps the best place to go to learn how that love will display itself is 1 Corinthians 13. That portion that our brother Mark read earlier. I don't know if the Lord's trying to teach me a lesson about love because my wife bought a wooden plaque that she put over the fireplace is first Corinthians 13 and it has be a lot love never fails but it's first Corinthians 13 when I was in Washington this past week there's a little apartment they give to you they stock the refrigerator they treat you like a king in terms of food anyways I could have come away from that 15 pounds more but in the apartment there was this wooden plaque on the floor first Corinthians 13 Every morning I got up and they faced me. 1 Corinthians 13. That's probably why I'm preaching the sermon. And it was in the version of the NIV. I checked it up on my iPad to be sure I was right. And just worded it a little differently. But you know, you know that wonderful hymn. It's called the Hymn of Love. It begins with two positive statements. Love is patient. Love is kind. And then it's followed by a series of negatives. Love does not envy. Love is not boastful. Love is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It's not irritable, resentful, does not rejoice at wrongdoing. And then it concludes with these catch-all expressions. Love believes all things. Love bears all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. It wouldn't be a bad idea to stand in front of that mirror every day and pray it in. I know a man, a godly man, who's going through a rough time in his marriage. He said, every day I get up and pray in 1 Corinthians 13 so I can love my wife. like 1 Corinthians 13. It really is a portrait of Jesus. That's how he loved. That's how he loved. And that's how he loved you. That's how he loves me. He continually loves us 1 Corinthians 13 way. When we come to the table tonight, brethren, we're going to remind ourselves again how much He loved us. And He wants us to make His love obvious to others, even to the world. He says, so they will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another. Why is this love so scarce in the world today? Unregenerate people can't do it. Only a Christian can. Not perfectly. None of us will ever do it perfectly. But only a Christian can. And only a Christian must. He must. By God's grace. We are to love. That is the supreme grace of the Christian. May, brethren, we leave tonight more determined to be like our Savior, who loved us when there was nothing to love about us. I hope you can say tonight, I am a Christian. I am a Christian. Because of the grace of God, I have trusted in Jesus Christ. I am fellowshipping with Jesus Christ. I am having victory over my sin. in Jesus Christ. And I am loving like Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you for your Word, etched upon our hearts. May we be like the psalmist who could say, I have hid your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you. And we could even say that I might not sin against you and sin against others. I your word in our hearts. And we certainly plead, Lord, for forgiveness, wash us, cleanse us from our sin. Help us tonight to come to this table again rejoicing in our Savior. And we pray this in his name. Amen.