Last week, as we were considering 1 John chapter 5, I had said that I'd reserved verse 13 for this week. So, verse 13 of 1 John chapter 5 is the text for this week's sermon. And I ask that you turn with me, in connection with that, to John chapter 17, the Gospel of John chapter 17, that which we call the High Priestly Prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 17. Beginning at verse 1, hear now the Word of God. After Jesus said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed, Father, the time has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those you have given Him. Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began. I have revealed You to those whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours. You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your Word. Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You, for I gave them the words You gave Me. And they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You. And they believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours. All I have is Yours. And all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world. And I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent me. I have given them the glory that You gave me that they may be one as we are one. I in them and You in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You and they know that You have sent Me. And I have made You known to them and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them. Turning to 1 John 5, verse 13. Last week we considered the testimony or witness of God. The truth of that testimony. Verse 13 says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, last week as we noted briefly that John is echoing somewhat here. He is echoing what he had said toward the end of his Gospel. We read that verse, John 20, verse 31, last week again. It says, But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. These are written that you may believe And then the text for tonight, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. In John 20, verse 31, his prayer is that some who do not yet believe will be brought to faith and life in Christ Jesus because of the Word of God that has been written. And now in this text, he is writing to those who already believe in Jesus Christ that they may know that they have eternal life. Notice from this that the Word of God and the preaching of His Word is not only for the unbeliever, but also for the continued growth of those who already believe by God's grace. And John is specific here about what you and I as believers can and must know. And that is that we have eternal life. He's talking here about true assurance of eternal life and about having that assurance. Of course, the doctrine of eternal life is not new. It's not something that's unfamiliar to you and me. Eternal life for those who believe in Jesus Christ is recorded and taught all throughout Scripture and it is taught especially in 44 verses of the New Testament using the very words, eternal life. Not to mention all the other places. We just sang from Psalm 73. If you notice, there too, there is the comfort of eternal glory. And John himself speaks six times in these five chapters of this letter about eternal life. Eternal life is that reward for God's people earned by Jesus Christ and His saving sacrifice. Now, not only is it life without the limits of time, so that we can sing in confidence when we've been there 10,000 years, bright, shining as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. But the quality of that life is that it is life with God. It is life in His very presence. In fact, as our Lord says it in His prayer, verse 3, now this is eternal life that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. And the Bible teaches that eternal life means that we shall always be with the Lord and He always dwelling with His people. Revelation teaches us that eternal life will be without all of the difficulties that we experience here on earth, especially without sin and evil, temptation and the devil and death. Instead, it will be the presence of glory, splendor, light, and the never-ending worship of our God. And there's so much that we can say from Scripture with regard to eternal life and the character of eternal life. There's much that we can glean, but that's not our point tonight because that's not John's point in this text. His point is that the believer can and must have true assurance of having, of possessing, of owning as his very own eternal life. Not someday in the future, but right now for those who believe. That's what many of those 44 verses of Scripture in the New Testament talk about. They connect belief in Christ with having already today in this life, eternal life. But sadly, there are many confessing believers who don't have this assurance. They doubt, even if it's only a little bit of doubt. They doubt God's promise. I know some, even a segment of Reformed believers, I've spoken with some, and maybe some of you have spoken with some of them as well, who when asked, are you confident of your eternal home? They will answer, oh, I hope so. I hope so. But you see, that's not humility. That's not piety. That's a sad answer. And often they will add, I'm such a sinner. How could God ever love one such as me? And of course, congregation, we all have to say that, don't we? But if that's your attitude, you are looking more at your sin and the power of your sin than you are looking at Jesus Christ and the power of His blood. God's Word. His testimony, which we said last week, which John says, is greater than the testimony of man teaches that believers can and must have assurance of their salvation. Beloved, we want the assurance of forgiveness. We pray daily for the assurance of forgiveness, which is indeed a wonderful gift. But along with that is the assurance of God's most amazing gift, eternal life. And first of all, we want to consider the reality of possessing this assurance. That it is to be a real thing. Now, boys and girls, if your parents promise to take you to Boomers for your birthday, you, of course, look forward to that. You can't wait for that day to come. You might even count down the days until your birthday. And until that time, you might be quite confident that when your birthday comes, you're going to be off to Boomers. You can't wait. But in reality, the promise is only as good as the thing promised when it has been delivered. In other words, it's only when you get to Boomers and your ticket is paid for and you're inside the door playing the games, only then that you know without a doubt that your parents' promise was good. Well, on the one hand, we know that God's promise is always good. We never have to worry about that. We never have to doubt about whether or not He will fulfill what He has said. Notice what John says. so that you may know that you have eternal life. Well, who has eternal life? You who believe in the name of the Son of God. Those who understand the person and the work of Jesus Christ and who believe in Him have eternal life. Yes, God's promise to those who will repent of their sins and believe on Him is that they will have that eternal life. But those who do believe already have eternal life already. It's their possession already now today in this life. And as Jesus says, no one will snatch them out of the hand of the Father or the Son. Scripture is abundantly clear about the fact that once you are saved by God's grace, you are always saved. And so here again, John makes it clear that those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ already have eternal life. That's the fact of the matter. It begins now when one is born again and then at death or when Jesus Christ comes again, we will enjoy that life then without a trace of sin or sins of facts. But John adds something to this fact of having eternal life. He says that you may know. That you may know that you have it. And of course, this makes sense, doesn't it? If you own a possession, you know it. You know what's yours. Those who are saved can know that they are saved, and they must know that included in this salvation is eternal life. Again, some, even in the Reformed camp, disagree with this. They say that it's impossible to have this assurance. They reject the doctrine of assurance, saying that anyone who claims to have the assurance of eternal life can't trust that assurance. Either it's faulty or it's unreliable at best. You can't be sure, they say, until you get to the other side. But you see what that means, don't you, beloved? Just like with boomers. You were saying you don't have eternal life until you get to heaven. But that's not what God says, as we've made clear. He says, you have it. It's a reality. Paul teaches the same thing in Romans 8, that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He says in 2 Timothy 1, verse 12, I know whom I have believed. Beloved, this assurance belongs to the believer by faith. And to teach or to say that faith is uncertain is to deny the teaching and to reject the testimony of God Himself who says in His Word that faith is the assurance of what we hope for. It is to be certain of things not seen. You see, in this life we are still subject to the effects of sin and the difficulties of this life. If you don't believe it, look again at the bulletin and the list of the sick and those who are in the hospital and those who are suffering from the effects of old age. And our God has given to us this precious gift of assurance to hang on to, especially during the trials of life. And many have. especially as they were at the threshold of death, hanging on to this precious assurance. He alone has given us the living hope that we will not fail. And then the reality of this assurance is possible for all of God's elect. It's not just for a few. It's not just for the elite or the intelligent or for those who seem to be a little higher up on the spiritual ladder. In fact, I have known especially one with a high IQ who has fallen away from the church and his confession of faith because he reasoned himself into atheism, at least for a time, questioning the secret things of God, which the Bible says belong only to God and therefore coming to doubt it. John says in chapter 1, verse 3, we proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We proclaim to you. John doesn't make any distinctions here. Any class distinctions or splitting up the people into any particular group. Anyone who hears and responds to the Gospel message in faith will have fellowship with God. Yet not only is this assurance to be real in the believer's life, God's people have the duty then of possessing this assurance. We've touched on this already. When I said that we must have this assurance, it's our duty. You see, the believer's knowledge of this assurance is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's testimony to his heart. And the truth is, Christ's work enables us to have the assurance of salvation. That's included in the being transformed by the renewing of your mind that Paul speaks of in Romans 12. And Jesus said that He would not cast anyone away who came to Him. as well as he said a moment ago that no one would snatch a child of God from the Heavenly Father. Paul was confident that to live is Christ and to die is gain. Really, a win-win situation, he is saying. Scripture is filled with assurance of eternal life for the believer. And therefore, it is both dishonoring to God and it cheats oneself out of such great joy in this life not to have this assurance. see we're not talking about an arrogant assurance that one might have over another boasting about having something that someone else doesn't have but we're talking about a humble assurance knowing that this gift is mine only because God is merciful and gracious again some argue that the believer is not to claim must not claim this assurance because to claim it is to make one like the Pharisees who say I thank you God that I am not like other men But again, that's false. Because eternal life is that amazing, precious gift of God, from God. How could we ever be conceited about this assurance when we are the ones who offended God? We could do nothing to restore our relationship with God. As we said last week, God designed eternal life. He prepared all the means necessary to bring us eternal life, particularly sending His only begotten Son to the cruel death on the cross and He prepares us for eternal life. Anyone who has conceded about this assurance really has false assurance and therefore has no assurance at all. Yet, beloved, to also piously deny having this assurance, I hope so, but how could God ever love a sinner like me is again to dishonor God and as I said, to cheat oneself out of such great joy. We can read about many martyrs who were put to death, whether being burned at the stake or torn apart by wild beasts or some other terrible form of death. We can read about the great joy that they had even as they were led away to death. Why? Because they knew in whom they believed. They were confident that their physical death only served to usher them into the presence and before the face of their Lord Jesus Christ. They might have in its fullness that which they already enjoyed as a blessed possession in this life. But also when a believer piously denies this assurance, that gives a poor witness and a poor testimony to the power of salvation, which very much includes this assurance. What a testimony God's people give to the world when they demonstrate that the joy of the Lord and His salvation is their strength. Many people have been brought to faith by the Holy Spirit through the means of observing the joy in the lives of God's people and wondering what God's people have and wanting what God's people have. Beloved, God's people have a duty to possess this assurance of eternal life. And therefore, the natural question for each of us to ask ourselves is, what about me? Do I have this assurance? But what then is the test of possessing this assurance? First of all, this assurance is not based on some sort of unusual experience like a near-death experience or even a revelation from a particular verse of Scripture. Again, there is a strain of Reformed thinking that says you've got to have that revelation from a particular verse of Scripture until God speaks to you through a verse. They don't even come to the Lord's table. It doesn't really matter what that verse says. It could be something obscure like a verse out of Numbers talking about the census of Israel that so-and-so's tribe had this many people. But if that speaks to you, if that jumps out of the page at you, that's a sign from God that you're in. The test of possessing this assurance is not based on feeling, whether I feel like I'm saved or not, because our feelings can and often do deceive us. It's not whosoever feeleth like they are saved shall be saved, but whosoever believes shall be saved. As well, this assurance is not based on being perfect or sinless. Number one, if that's the case, there's no need for a Savior. And number two, we know it's impossible, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. To claim sinlessness is to deceive ourselves. That's what John says in chapter 1, verses 8 and 10. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His Word has no place in our lives. The truth is that a real spiritual struggle is part of the evidence of having this life. Unbelievers don't have a spiritual struggle in their lives that they can recognize because they don't care about God. They don't care if they sin. But those who engage in Paul's struggle of not doing what they want to do, but Noah's right to do, but instead doing what they don't want to do and Noah's wrong to do, those who engage in that struggle, that is evidence of new life. Being concerned about and desiring eternal life in the presence of God is evidence of having eternal life. That's a part of the test of possessing this assurance. But there's more. John says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life. In other words, all throughout this letter, John has been laying out the test all along. Talking about the Christian life. Talking about Christian character. And how one might know that they have fellowship with God and walk in the light. First of all, you who believe in the name of the Son of God. This assurance is based on the truth of Jesus Christ and believing that truth. What do you believe about who He is and what He has done? As we know so well, John says Jesus is the Son of God. He is the Christ. He has come in the flesh. He is the righteous One, the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Through Him my sins are paid for. I have forgiveness and I am made forever righteous before God. Jesus Christ is my only hope. You see, to be uncertain about Jesus Christ is evidence of being without eternal life. Another part of this test has to do with God. Now, of course, we can't do complete justice to this, but what is my attitude toward God? Who is He? Do I view Him as a harsh ruler who limits my fun with His commandments, or is He my loving Father who cares for me by leading me and guiding me with His commands? Do I recognize God's love for me in Jesus Christ? Do I understand, do I see and understand that I love Him only because He first loved me? And do I actively love Him? And then there is the world. What is my view of the world? Do I see it as John describes it in chapter 2, verses 15-17, when he says, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world, For the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does comes not from the Father, but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. Do I recognize that this world is governed by sin? And do I hate the world of sin with a righteous hatred? And do I desire to be separate from the world? What do I think about and desire more? Eternity or the things of the world? As one commentator asks, do I want to cling to the world or do I want to know God whatever it may cost me? You see, beloved, Christians overcome the world in the strength of the Lord. Christians are more than conquerors over the world and have been delivered from this world over which Satan is the prince. But John gives us further testing material throughout his letter, which includes keeping God's commandments. As he said in chapter 2, verses 3 and 6, we know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. Then verse 6, whoever claims to live in Him in God must walk as Jesus did. See, beloved, salvation is a packaged deal, which includes calling, regeneration, conversion, justification, adoption, sanctification, preservation, and glorification. All of those big, beautiful theological terms that we are to hang on to and understand as best as we are able. But it also includes a response to all that God has done, including repentance, faith, good works, and obedience to God's commands. And along with all of this, the believer has the assurance that eternal life is his possession. Again, one who doesn't believe doesn't care about obeying the commands of God, but those who do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ do care about and do strive to be obedient to God's commandments. And there's one more thing in particular that John taught about, And that is love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We talked about this in connection with John's teaching on that point that Christians recognize the grace of God in the lives of other Christians. We recognize that in one another. That others enjoy the very same mercy and grace of God in being brought into the family of God. In John 17, incidentally, as I read it again tonight, I saw how much more clearly this applied to this text and what I had thought up until I got on this pulpit. I wish I had noticed it earlier. But in John 17, Jesus prays for the unity of God's people. And I don't believe that's talking about federative or denominational unity, but it's talking about the unity of true faith which we share with some who are not a part of our congregation, who are not a part of our federation, but they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. But even in this congregation, in our own congregation, beloved, Do we love each other with Christian love? Is it visible? How is it practiced? Do we as Christians want to be where God's people are gathered? Again, the test of possessing the assurance of eternal life is not based on personal experience or feeling, oh, there is experience, we know. There is a change in attitude when one is born again, that one enjoys the joy of the Lord. That one is content with his lot in life. That one trusts in the providing hand of God. But that test is based on God's Word. On His very own testimony which says, Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. He lays out the evidence for us. We are called to examine ourselves against the evidence through which He removes our doubt. We might not always feel like we are saved. In fact, there are times when we don't, isn't there? But if you can say, yes, I believe in and I belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, you can be confident of your eternal security. It's God's Word that teaches us all about salvation and the evidence of salvation. It's God's Word applied by the Holy Spirit of God that strengthens our faith and increases our assurance. And that's why we continue to be taught and to learn, especially by the preaching of the Word. A few years ago, my wife's parents were having family visitation with an elder and they were talking about things in the church. And that elder came out and said that those who have been Christians for a long time don't need to be fed from the pulpit. They can feed themselves. The sermons ought to be watered down for those who walk in off the street. How wrong. How sad. The preaching of the Word of God is not, again, just. It is, but not just, for new believers or unbelievers. But God continues to nourish and strengthen His people spiritually through faithful preaching and through faithful study of the Word of God. Beloved, we are called to take God at His Word who says whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. We are called to believe His testimony of Jesus Christ. We are called to believe His testimony of those who are in Jesus Christ. And we are called also to believe His testimony about those who reject Jesus Christ. There is no greater gift than eternal life and the assurance of having eternal life. If you don't believe in Jesus Christ, you have assurance too. Assurance that apart from Him, eternal punishment in hell is a sure thing. But still today, there is forgiveness with God that He may be feared. How wonderful. Still today, those who repent of their sins and confess the name of Jesus shall be saved. Those who enjoy that gift of assurance in Christ have the fuller assurance, the further assurance that God will never leave them or forsake them. Beloved, what a precious gift. If you struggle with this assurance, may it be that you are on your knees daily praying to God, searching His Word, that He would give you that true assurance. If that assurance is yours already now, then also that you might be on your knees daily praising God and thanking Him. For not only giving You eternal life, but making it so that You know it. You've got the assurance. Blessed assurance. There's no need to live without it. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we confess that so often our faith is weak. We tend to look more at ourselves and our sin than Jesus Christ and the power of His blood. But we thank You for Your Word which tells the truth. It is the truth and it tells the truth. That for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have already today that eternal life. Father, tonight, may it be that You would increase our joy. That that joy might fill our lives. That it might be evident in our lives. That it might be visible in our eyes. that it might be present in our thoughts, that it might be heard in our speech, that it might be seen in our actions. And all of this, O Lord, not to exalt ourselves, but to honor and to hallow Your holy name. Hear our prayer, O Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.