Are You Saved? # 9

Are You Saved? # 9

Ephesians 4: 1 ‘I encourage you to live the kind of life which proves that God has called you’

Last time we were saying that following our salvation, we have a continuing responsibility to provide evidence that our salvation is real

In this Series we are learning about 5 evidences that prove that our salvation is real

Last time:

1/ Our Salvation Testimony

This time:

2/ An Obedient Life

1 John 2: 1-6

Here are 3 things we learn from this passage about the Obedient Life

Firstly, it is absolutely impossible for the unsaved to live an obedient life to God

1 John 2: 4 ‘If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth’.

This shouldn’t surprise us because the Word of God is very clear that Man(kind) in his ‘fallen’ sinful condition is in total rebellion against God

Genesis 6: 5 ‘The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and He saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil’

That means that in our ‘fallen’ sinful condition we are both unwilling to be saved and unable to save ourselves

As the great Apostle Paul said,

Romans 3: 11 ‘There is no one who seeks after God.’

Romans 8: 8b ‘those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God’

So, if ‘fallen’ sinful Man(kind) is both unwilling to be saved and unable to save himself, with the Disciples, we rightly asked of Jesus, Luke 18: 26 ‘who in the World can be saved’?

Jesus said, Luke 18: 27 “What is impossible for Man is possible with God.”

The only way we can be saved and begin to live an obedient life to God is to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

John 1: 12-13 ‘But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God’

Jesus called this miracle of salvation being ‘born again’

John 3: 3 & 6 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God...humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life”.

Secondly, an obedient life to God includes a never-ending battle against sin

1 John 2: 1-2a ‘My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins’.

When we become a Christian, our old nature continues to urge us to disobey God

And sometimes we sin unintentionally:

If we sin unintentionally then we can go to the Lord and ask His forgiveness

C.F 1 John 1:9 'if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.’

And sometimes we sin intentionally:

The Apostle John warns us not to intentionally sin

C.F 1 John 3: 9 ‘do not make a practice of sinning'

Here’s a great testimony about winning the battle against intentional sin:

Many years ago, I heard a great testimony about a Christian man who was tempted to intentionally sin.

One evening he went to another woman’s home intending to start an affair with her. He went into her house and stood in the lounge room as the woman went off down the darkened hallway to the bedroom.

He was battling the urge to sin against God but at that moment he sensed the Holy Spirit speak to him and say, “stay in the light”. He also realized that he was standing under the central ceiling light in the lounge room. As he stood there under the light, he won the battle against intentional sin and walked out the door and went back to his own home and his wife.

Yes, sometimes we sin unintentionally, but let’s not intentionally sin against God - let’s ‘stay in the light’, let’s live an obedient life and let’s bring honor to the Name of Jesus and glory to the Lord

Let me remind you that as ‘the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life’, the Holy Spirit also helps us to win the battle against the inner urge to sin

Ephesians 4:22-24 ‘throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy’.

Thirdly, an obedient life to God is modelled upon the example of Jesus

1 John 2: 3, 5-6

Jesus modelled the obedient life towards His earthly parents

Luke 2: 51 ‘He returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them’.

Jesus modelled the obedient life towards the Word of God

Matthew 5: 17 “Don’t think that I have come to destroy the Law of Moses or the teaching of the prophets. I have come not to destroy their teachings but to give full meaning to them”.

Jesus modelled the obedient life towards God the Father

John 8: 29 “For I always do what pleases Him.”

And of course, Jesus pleased the Father by willing dying on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins so that we would be saved

C.F Isaiah 50: 5 ‘The Sovereign Lord has spoken to Me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away’

Isaiah 53: 6b ‘the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all’; Isaiah 53: 11b ‘(He) will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for He will bear all their sins’

Ephesians 1: 7 ‘He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins’.

In the same way, as we live an obedient life towards the Father as Jesus did, the Father will love us too

John 14: 23a ‘Jesus replied, “All who love Me will do what I say. My Father will love them”