Bible Assurance 1 Jn 3:23-24

1 John 3:23-24
Biblical Assurance of Salvation

Introductory Thoughts

· The state of morals in the professing church is abysmal
· Millions imagine that they are on their way to Heaven, yet there is no evidence of salvation in their lives.
· Discipleship is taken to be an option at best.
· Many professing believers desire to be like the world—they want to walk, talk, act, and smell like the world, yet they speak confidently of their salvation—does this bear any resemblance at all to Biblical Salvation?


1. The One Command of the Christian Faith—23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

a. Language notes

(1) This is His command…
(a) “This” is emphatic
(b) “is”—present tense—it is always and continually His command
(c) One command, two parts

(i) Faith in Christ
(ii) Love for the brothers and sisters in Christ

(2) That we should believe—Aorist—saving faith, through which we are justified
(3) (that) we shall love—present tense, the ongoing love for the brethren.
(4) Just as He gave commandment to us—repeated for emphasis

b. To believe and to live for Christ is one unified command—it is not separable. Jesus is your Lord and Savior; He must be both, or He is neither.
c. This is a major problem area for today’s professing Christians, because there is so much said which is wrong about salvation.

d. The Carnal Christian Theory

(1) It is a theory invented in the late 19th century by C. I. Scofield, based on a misinterpretation of one and only one passage: 1 Cor 3:1-4 "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal?"

(2) I want to hasten to add that I have the utmost of respect for Scofield in some areas, when he is good, he is very good. However, when Scofield is bad, he is very, very, bad, and this is one instance.

(3) The Theory Stated:

(a) There are two levels of Christians, carnal and spiritual
(b) Carnal Christians are saved, but show little or no evidence of that salvation. They have accepted Christ as Savior, but not as Lord, and they walk totally and completely as unsaved men and women.
(c) Spiritual Christians have accepted Christ as the Lord of their life, and show evidence of conversion in their life.
(d) If true, this theory denies everything that the Lord and His apostles taught about discipleship!
(e) The most modern version of this heresy is that a truly saved person, even a “spiritual Christian,” can fall to the extent that they totally deny the faith, and still be considered saved.

(4) Is this what Paul was saying in 1 Cor 3:1-4?

e. The Carnal Christian Theory refuted: First, what was Paul talking about in 1 Cor 3?

(1) Context—the Church in Corinth had a lot of major problems. The one Paul deals with first is the problem of contentiousness, division, and strife.
(2) However, before dealing with that problem, Paul said some other things about the Corinthians.

1 Cor 1:1-7 "Paul,… 2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, …4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

(3) These are the same people Paul refers to as “carnal” and “babes” in 1 Cor 3! Paul is not, therefore, speaking of people who “walk as men” in every area of their life and who show no evidence of salvation in their life! Paul is speaking of those who have a good testimony of faith, and who live the faith in many, perhaps most, areas of their life. They have particular areas of carnality, as do all Christians, and the one which Paul is speaking of in Chapter 3 is their contentiousness, and their party spirit, their tendency to follow men instead of Christ. The Christians at Corinth have a lot of things to fix, but they are NOT “carnal Christians” in the “Scofield” sense of the word.

f. Basic observations:

Our text in Romans says that you must confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus—if He is not your Lord, He is not your Savior.

True salvation involves commitment, discipleship, and a changed life!

Mat 16:24 "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."

John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

John 10:27 "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:"

Jesus never told the church to make converts—He told us to make disciples—Mat 28:18-20

g. True Salvation involves Fruit

(a) The Fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh are opposites! Gal 5:19-24—which one describes your life?
(b) False believers will be seen by their fruit—Mat 7:15-20
Christians are not to walk as the world walks—

(i) Eph 5:1-8

(ii) 1 Cor 6:9-11

Faith without works is dead—that is, it is not real saving faith— James 2:17-20 "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?"

This does not mean that we earn salvation by our works, but Biblically, true salvation is always accompanied by the evidence of a changed life.

(i) Gal 2:20,
(ii) 2 Cor 5:17
(iii) Eph 2:10

h. How does the Bible address professing Christians who show bad fruit or no fruit?

2 Cor 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Gal 4:9-11 "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain."

1 Tim 1:18-20 "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; 19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme."

2. The Relationship Aspect of Christianity—24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.

a. Language Notes

(1) “…He who keeps…” is a present active participle—“…the one who is in the habit of keeping…”
(2) “…abides…” is present active—the mutual relationship of our abiding in Christ and Him abiding in us through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

b. Keeps His commandments—

(1) Again, not salvation by works, but a salvation that works—Eph 2:10

(2) The evidence of our salvation is our walk. If we have a relationship with Christ, there will be evidence of that relationship. These words seem revolutionary, but that is only because the state of Biblical ignorance in our time is so acute! People are given every excuse, and they will grasp at any straw, to maintain the fiction that they can consistently live like the Devil and still belong to the Lord. However, the consistent teaching of the Bible is that we will serve in eternity the one we serve in this life!

(3) The one who is in the habit of living for Christ is the one who is abiding in Christ.

c. Relationship—

(1) John 10:27
(2) John 15

3. The Indwelling Holy Spirit— And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us."

a. Language notes

(1) “…by this we know…” or “…this is how we know…” “Know…” is ginosko, and it is present active—by this we know continually and by experience…”
(2) “…That He abides in us…”—abides is also present tense…
(3) “…By the Spirit whom He has given us…”—“…has given…” is aorist, looking to a point in time.

b. I know continually and by experience that Jesus lives in my heart through the Holy Spirit whom He has given me, because the evidence is in my life. This is the only way I or anyone else can have any degree of assurance.

c. Romans 8:1-17!