Mensa Otabil - Assurance of Salvation
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We’re back to our study of First John, and we’re in Chapter Two. To encourage you, First John is a very important writing for us to mature as Christians. If you want to grow in your Christian faith, it’s a book that you need to spend time with and study.
We look at Chapter Two of First John, verse 12. «I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.» The Apostle John was one of the last surviving apostles of Jesus Christ. He probably lived the longest of all the apostles, and by the time he was getting to the end of his life, Christians were departing from the truth. Much of what John writes is to assure them of what the Christian faith is about and what Christ has done for them.
So, he is an old man writing to Christians, and he addresses them here as little children. He doesn’t do that to belittle them or to show that they are immature; rather, he is affirming a relationship they must have with God. Just as a child looks to his father for assurance, they must also look to God for assurance, and the assurance they must look to God for here is the assurance that their sins have been forgiven.We normally call it the assurance of salvation-knowing for sure, knowing with certainty that you are a child of God, that you belong to God.
Many times, Christians are not sure whether God loves them, whether they belong to Him, or whether God thinks about them. John says, «Rest assured, your sins have been forgiven.» God does forgive our sins when we come to Him and confess our sins, and we are genuinely sorry for them. As grievous as our sins are, as bad as they may sound, God’s faithfulness does not look at how intense or how less intense our sins are; it looks at how intense the sacrifice of Christ is. The sacrifice of Christ, His shed blood, is sufficient and efficient to take care of our sins when we come to the Lord.
So, John says the reason why we should be assured of God’s forgiveness is not because of us, but he says, «Your sins are forgiven for His name’s sake.» In other words, God forgives us of our sins for His own benefit, not for our good. If God were to only consider our sake, our sins might not be forgiven. But God does it because that is what He wants to do, that is what He chooses to do, that is what He has determined to do. Just as God created us for Himself without us asking to be created, He also forgives us for His own sake. When we are sorry, He forgives us.
Now, human beings don’t do that; they forgive for the sake of the person, but God forgives us for His own sake. We can be assured that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. If you’re going to live the Christian life and live it well, this foundation must be firm in your heart: assurance of salvation, that God loves you, that God thinks about you, that God forgives your sins, and that God is able to give you a new beginning in life. It is that assurance that enables us to live the Christian life, and may the Lord give us that blessed assurance that we are God’s, we are Christ’s, and He is ours.
Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, I am fully assured that You have forgiven me of my sins. Thank You for making me Your child. In Jesus' name, Amen.» I just want your faith to rest on this fact: that God loves you and He has forgiven you if you have repented of your sins. I’ll catch you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.