In Steve Hopkins' sermon at Burnet Bible Church, he explores the themes of faith and assurance of salvation as presented in 1 John 5:13. The sermon emphasizes three main purposes of the epistle: it is addressed to believers, aims to assure them of eternal life, and encourages them to strengthen their faith. Hopkins discusses the concept of tests of faith, which serve to confirm true believers and expose false ones. He references 2 Corinthians 13:5 and James 4:14 to stress the importance of self-examination given the brevity and unpredictability of life. The sermon identifies two types of unbelievers: those who knowingly reject God and those who falsely believe they are saved. Furthermore, it distinguishes between true believers who are assured of their salvation and those who are not yet assured but are nonetheless saved. Hopkins warns against self-deception and highlights the significance of living a life consistent with God's commands. He challenges listeners to reflect on their spiritual state, emphasizing that while works do not save, they are evidence of salvation. The sermon concludes with a call for repentance and faith, urging individuals to seek assurance and transformation through Christ.

Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins gives his sermon from the first book of John, Tests of Faith and assurance of salvation. Turn with me in your Bibles if you would to the book of 1st John, the fifth chapter, and the 13th verse. If you would stand with me for the reading of the Word of the Lord. Let's read together verse 13, 1 John 5 13.

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we acknowledge, Lord, our unworthiness to receive even the least of all of the mercies and all of the truth that you've shown your people. And God, we ask that you would show us more mercy and open our understanding to more truth this afternoon as we open your word and seek you, God.

O, may you send your spirit to do a mighty work in the heart of every person here for we ask it in Jesus name Amen. Let's be seated. Our text this afternoon tells us three things. If you look at the passage, three things are communicated to us in this passage. First, it tells us who the letter of 1 John is addressed to.

The intended addressee of this letter are believers. I have written unto those who believe. I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Second, the passage tells us the purpose for which John the apostle has written this letter to you who believe on the name of the Son of God. The purpose is that you might know, that you might know, That you may know that you have eternal life That is that you might have assurance that you have eternal life and Third the third thing we see him say is that you might believe on the name of the Son of God, which seems somewhat peculiar because that's how he began.

What does he mean? John is writing to people that believe on the name of Christ already. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God." Why does he add those words again, and that you might believe on the name of the Son of God? In short, he's writing to believers that they might know, that they might come to the place where they have assurance that they believe, and that being assured they might be further strengthened in their faith. And we need to understand something going forward this afternoon.

1st John is a letter filled with tests of true and saving faith. It's a letter filled with tests of true and saving faith. 1st John provides those who believe themselves to be saved with tests to find out if they are truly saved. Tests that will lead to assurance of salvation in those who truly believe but tests that will also explode the false assurance of those who do not. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 13, if you want to turn there with me briefly, 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5, the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth in that first letter to the church of the Corinthians and he says, examine yourselves, examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves.

And I beg of you this afternoon to heed the call of the Apostle of our Lord examine yourselves Examine yourselves Eternity is just around the corner. The half-brother of our Lord, James, the apostle, wrote in James 414, Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow, that is, seeing that you have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow, consider what is your life. It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. This life is short. This life is fleeting.

Eternity is just around the corner. And every one of us has an appointment with death and it's an appointment that every one of us is going to keep. We may miss some earthly appointments that we make, but our appointment with death we will not miss. It is an appointment we will keep. Hebrews 9 and verse 27 says, it is appointed unto every man wants to die.

It is appointed unto every man wants to die. But after that, the judgment. But after this the judgment. Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith. You understand that there are two types of unbelievers in the world at any given time.

There are unbelievers in the world who know that they are unbelievers. They don't want anything to do with God or God's Son. As soon as they hear the name of Jesus or the message of the gospel, they either turn around and run in the opposite direction with their fingers in their ears or they immediately begin mocking him and his claims. But there's also a second type of unbeliever in the world that we see mentioned in Scripture, and this is the frightening one. There are unbelievers in the world, and yes, even in our churches, who believe themselves to be true believers, but who are desperately lost and woefully deceived.

Jesus spoke of them in Matthew chapter 7 in verse 23. He said, there's a people who call me Lord. In fact, they'll call Jesus their Lord right up until the time they are standing before his judgment seat. They will believe themselves to be saved and they will call Jesus their Lord even unto their dying day. But on that day they will be undeceived Because though they profess Jesus as theirs, Jesus doesn't profess them as his on that day.

It's a frightening passage. It's a terrifying passage. Though they profess Jesus as theirs, Jesus doesn't profess them as his. He says in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 23, I will profess unto them, I never knew you. They profess me as Lord, but I will profess I never knew you.

Depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Iniquity is lawlessness. And I want you to keep those last four words of Jesus in mind as we go forward. Ye that work iniquity. Because John's tests of faith expose these false professors as workers of iniquity, by their style of life, and by their daily walk. And John's tests of faith should explode their false assurance if they would only read them and consider them.

But just as there are two types of unbelievers in the world. There are also two types of true believers in the world. And maybe you're one of these. There are those who are believers, whose hope is in Christ and his work alone, who know they believe, who examine themselves in the light of God's Word and they're assured of their standing in Christ. Like John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace, they know they are not what they should be.

And they know that they are not what they one day will be in glory. But by God's grace they know that they are not what they once were. They know that they are not what they once were. These things are written unto you that you might know that you have eternal life. Then there is that second category of true believers.

There are those believers who truly believe whose hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, yet though they be truly saved, they are not yet assured of their salvation. They're in Christ, but they've not yet come to the place where they are assured that they are in Christ. And that's okay. It's okay. And John's test of faith may be just the thing God uses to help any of those here today who are in that category gain assurance.

The late R.C. Sproul preached a sermon many years ago entitled, Four Kinds of People, that deals with these same categories. But brothers and sisters, every one of us in this church house this afternoon should seriously consider where we fall at this time in these biblical categories. Where do you fall in these biblical categories? The two categories of believers and the two categories of unbelievers.

And every one of us should examine our lives. That's my prayer that we'll examine our lives under the microscope of Scripture, and specifically the tests of faith that are laid down here in 1 John. Are we in that category of unbelievers who are not saved and know it? You hate God and you want nothing to do with God's Son. Are you among those, or in that category of those who are not saved and yet believe themselves to be saved?

Are you among those who are truly saved and are assured of it? You're saved and you know it. Say amen. Or are you among those who are truly saved but you lack assurance? John's tests of faith are revealing and his tests of faith are written for the good of God's people.

Because again, remember the address on the envelope is to you who believe. That's the address on the envelope. To you who believe that you might have assurance that you believe, that you might know that you have eternal life, and that your faith might be further strengthened. Chapter 1, as we jump into it, verse three, tells us that the true believer has fellowship with the Father and the Son. Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, amen?

And if you profess to have fellowship with God through Christ, this is the message, he says in verse five. Here's the message, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. God has given us a revelation of Himself. And that revelation is that He is sinless, holy, that His, quote, nature is absolute and infinite righteousness, as the note says in my Bible. So that if you claim that you have fellowship with Him, with God, but walk in darkness, you need to understand something.

You need to understand that you are living a lie. If you claim that you have fellowship with the living God who is light and in whom there is no darkness at all, but you walk in the darkness of sin, You lie and you're not the truth. You're living a lie and you are self-deceived. Now the essence of deception, of course, is the person who's deceived doesn't realize he's deceived, right? That's the essence of deception.

If you knew you were deceived, you wouldn't be deceived. It's my prayer this afternoon that if there's anyone in this congregation who is living in self-deception, who is deceived and does not know it, who is walking in darkness but thinks that he's walking in light and claims that he's walking in the light, that if that's any one of you, by God's grace, your eyes will be opened, your heart made willing to examine yourself in the light of this passage, and that you might be undeceived. May God in His mercy open the eyes of those that do not see and who are walking in darkness in a manner and style of life that is not in accord with God's revelation in Scripture of Himself. Jesus said, Be ye holy, for I am holy. To walk in darkness is to walk contrary to God's revelation of Himself and what He commands in His Word.

His revelation of Himself as light, absolute and infinite righteousness, as holy. A person may say, I'm Christian. Oh yeah, I'm Christian. People all over America can knock the doors. Oh yeah, I'm Christian.

Yeah, I vote Republican. Or whatever. Yeah, I'm a Christian. I'm Christian. But if he's walking in the darkness of habitual, unrepentant sin, he lies and does not the truth.

And Jesus will one day say to that person, along with all the other unbelieving people who call him Lord even until their dying day, depart from me, ye that work iniquity Ye that work iniquity in the modern vernacular Get away from me Get out of my sight all of you who call me Lord, yet go headstrong on in sin." You might say, the pastor, Paul said, everyone has sinned and has come short of the glory of God. Romans 3.23, yes. For Satan, our text, talks about that. He says, if we say that we have no sin, we're contradicting God and what is revealed to us in His Word about us. Not only about him, but what he has revealed to us about us.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. To say that we have no sin is to call God a liar. We've all sinned and we all do sin. So what is he saying? He's not calling for sinless perfectionism.

If a person could become sinless or perfect, why would Jesus have had to come and fulfill the law and never break the law and live in sinless perfection for His people, in the place of His people. What is he saying then? The true believer does not walk in the darkness of sin as he did before God saved him. The true believer does not walk in a style of life marked by habitual sin. The Apostle Paul said in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 11 such were some of you.

Such were some of you. You used to be, and then the list goes on, fornicators, thieves, coveters, et cetera, et cetera. But you were washed. You were sanctified. That is, you were set apart by God for God, were made holy, set apart by Him.

That's what it means to be holy, is that He's set apart. And then you're made to grow in holiness and incremental conformity to Christ. You were washed by His blood. You were sanctified and set apart by God for God. And you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

You who truly believe were changed one day. You can look at your life and you can say, God changed my life. You can look back and say there was a time in my life where God made me a new creation and old things passed away and all things are became new and are becoming new And it was a work of the Spirit of God. And you can profess that that change that God did in you resulted in a different life. That you're not the person you used to be and you cannot and will not go on as though you were never washed by Jesus blood and set apart for him.

Again in the words of John Newton you know that there is a time in your life where God began a work in you. You know you're not what you ought to be. You know you're not what you will be one day in glory, but by God's grace you know you are not what you used to be. Because God saved you, and He washed you in the blood of His Son, and He put His Spirit within you. And though you still battle sin, you do not live in it.

You do not practice it. And when you do sin, you are grieved for it. And you are humbled by your failures. And you are broken deep within. And in poverty of spirit, you cry out to God to be delivered from ever falling to sin again.

And you turn to Christ and you confess your sin, looking to Christ, suffering and dying forward and rising again for your justification, and with your whole heart You forsake that sin with the intent never to return again to it. Verse 9 says, if we confess our sins, what does he mean? If we confess our sin, means that if we openly acknowledge it before God, we own our sin. And we own it as an offense to God. And we don't hide it and we bring it before God and we ask His forgiveness and we turn from it and we confess it but we also forsake it.

Look at Proverbs chapter 28 and verse 13. Proverbs 28-13, turn there with me. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Do you acknowledge and own your sin before God but refuse to forsake it? You walk in darkness and do not the truth.

True repentance involves not only a turning from sin to God with faith in Christ for the remission of that sin, but true repentance involves relinquishment of sin. And to relinquish something means to forsake it with the intent never to return to it. If in your mind you're saying, well I know I'm going to go back to it again, and God understands. God understands fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God. God understands if we walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

God understands that if we live in habitual, unrepentant sin, we are not on the road to the celestial city. American Christianity soft pedals everything. Modern American Christianity says, don't worry about it. I've seen the signs out on the highway. No rules, just Jesus.

The devil came up with that. Came up with that. He that covers his sin will not prosper. Whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy. True believers own their sin, they confess their sin as soon as they're aware of their sin because they're convicted within by the Spirit of God who indwells them.

They are brought to contrition before God because they know they've offended God and with contrite heart they are moved by God to own their sin, acknowledge their sin to God, turn from that sin, resolve to forsake it, looking to Christ in him crucified for that sin, and they are cleansed from all unrighteousness. These have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who never sinned and he was sacrificed for our sins, for the sins of everyone who will ever believe on his name, everyone for whom he died. And by his suffering and death, Jesus satisfied the justice of God we deserve. We know that. We who truly confess our sins to God and forsake them, looking to Christ in Him crucified, we understand that Jesus' death alone, what Christ did in keeping the law perfectly in our place and dying in our place on that cross 2, 000 years ago, that Jesus person in his work alone satisfied the justice of God that we deserve and appeased God's righteous anger against us, and that through His name, and in His name alone, we are saved and accepted in the sight of God.

We know that. We know that. But confession without brokenness is no true confession. A repetition of words without any Contrition and without any resolve to relinquish sin is false confession to God So on 51 17 David said The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. A broken and a contrite heart.

Are you broken over sin when you sin? Do you see it as an offense against God and you're humbled because you know you've offended God and you're saddened and you're grieved because you know that sin grieves the Spirit of God. Do you mourn for sin? And do you forsake it, with the intent never to return to it? God will not despise a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart, God will not despise.

Chapter two, verse three goes on, and this is how we know that we know Him. Hereby we know that we know him. You want to know, how do I know that I know him? Chapter 2 verse 3, hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. If our manner of life is one of commandment keeping or commandment breaking, here is evidence that we truly know Him.

We know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. Not perfectly, of course, we already saw that, right? He said, if anybody says He doesn't have any sin, He's calling God a liar. So we know He's not talking about that. But hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments, if our manner of life is one of commandment keeping or commandment breaking.

Here is evidence that we truly know him if we keep his commandments. But the passage cuts both ways. Hereby we may also know that we do not know him If we keep not His commandments. If our manner of life is one of continually departing from God and the commands of His Word. If our life is one of continual yielding to temptation, if our manner of life is one marked by continual disobedience, habitual unrepentance, and day after day, we need to fear greatly.

Because verse 4 goes on to say, He that says I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar. And the truth is not in him. Remember last week we looked at the passage in 1st John about loving the world and the things of the world and how the love of the Father is not in the one who loves the world. And we looked at the examples of Judas, the premier apostate in Scripture. And we looked at Demas who loved the world.

And we looked at Ananias and Sapphira who loved the world and the Father was not in them Well, whoever says I know him and doesn't keep his commandments The truth is not in him How can God be in Him or the truth be in Him when He's living alive? And I want you to know that the people who are typically most moved by these words are the true believers. You know that? True believers are the ones that are most affected by these words. Why?

Because they care about the Word of God. And they care about what God is saying. The unsaved and unregenerate are typically not moved at all. The true believer is sensitive to the sin that's in his life and when he looks in the pages of scripture and he sees his life under the microscope of scripture and the light of scripture, he's brought to contrition. He's sensitive to the sin in his life.

The unbeliever is not. He could care less. The true believer comes under conviction when he's outside of God's will as revealed in God's Word. The unbeliever is not concerned about it. He could sleep through the sermon.

The unbeliever is not concerned about it at all, except for maybe some earthly consequence of his sin. The unbeliever looks at the things that he's done that he knows are in violation of God's commands and he's not troubled. The true believer is troubled and turns to Christ. David said in Psalm 38 and verse 6, I am troubled. His sin troubled him.

The unregenerate are not troubled by their sin. Further on in verse 18 of Psalm 38, he says, I will declare mine iniquity. I'll acknowledge it. I'll own my sin and confess it. He doesn't hide his sin.

Remember again in our last session, Judas hides his sin, Demas hides his sin, and Ananias and Sapphira hide their sin, and they're all in hell right now. All of them lifted up their eyes in torment and in flame, and will one day be cast into the lake of fire. The true believer confesses it and forsakes it again. He is not what he once was. He's not what he ought to be.

He's not what he one day will be in glory, but he knows he's not what he used to be. God has begun a work in him. He who has begun a good work in you will continue it. He will complete it. God has begun a work in the true believer's life and what God begins, God completes.

What God begins, God completes. David goes on to say in Psalm 38 verse 18, I will be sorry for my sin. I'm troubled by it. I'm not gonna hide it. I'm gonna declare it.

I'm gonna confess it. I'm gonna be sorry for it. Jesus said, blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5 4. After Peter repeatedly denied that he even knew Jesus, he went out and wept bitterly.

Matthew 26 75. Do you mourn for your sin when you're aware of it? Do you have a heart of flesh or a heart of stone? Do you have A heart of flesh pliable in God's hands, or a heart of stone. Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

John goes on to write in 1 John 3, 6, whoever abideth in him, sinneth not. Does he have to be so point blank? It's just like in your face. Again, he's not talking about sinless perfection. He's already condemned that notion when he said earlier that anyone who says he has no sin calls God a liar, because God says we've all sinned and do sin.

But whosoever abides in him sinneth not. The tenths of the passage in the Greek is present. It means to continue in sin. Whoever continues in sin, whoever abides in Him, does not continue in sin. Talking about someone who continues in sin without repentance, someone who practices sin, someone who lives in habitual, unrepentant sin.

And then we go on to chapter 3 and verse 8, and he just keeps upping the ante. The pressure just keeps building when he says in chapter 3 verse 8, he that committeth sin is of the devil. What? He that continues in sin even though he professes to walk in the light, even though he professes me as Lord, he who continues to live in sin, habitual sin, unrepentant sin, is of the devil. Jesus said the same thing to the religious people in his day in John 844.

He said, you are of your father the devil. We're the guides to the blind. We're the teachers of babes. We show people the way to God. You're of your father the devil.

How do you know? Because the lust of your father you do. You're of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do. That's what John's talking about here. Examine yourselves.

In all the world, there are only two fathers. In the history of the world, all the history of the world, there's only been two fathers. Our father, which art in heaven, and the devil. And everyone who has ever lived or ever will live is a son or daughter of the one or the other. Examine yourself.

Verse 10, in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whoever doeth not righteousness is not of God. That's the pattern of his life. And he goes on to say, neither that he loveth not his brother, which is where we're going next week in the second part of this message. But Jesus told the religious people of his day that they were in reality sons of Satan.

Not sons of his father in heaven, but sons of their father, the devil. There's only two fathers and everyone on earth who has ever lived or ever will live as a child of the one or of the other. Examine yourselves. There are no non-children on earth. Everyone has a father in heaven or a father on earth.

You're either children of God or sons of Satan. Well, nobody preaches that anymore. Yes, and look at the churches of our land filled with law breaking, filled with unrepentant sinners who say, Lord, Lord, with deceived people who will one day sadly be undeceived when they stand at the judgment seat of Christ. We live in frightening times in a church age where the church is not obedient to God and acting like the people of God, afraid to confront sin, afraid to say that the tree really is known by its fruit. I said in the Father's Day message, parents, truly Christian parents are more interested in what's going on inside their children than what's going on outside of them.

Amen? We desire to see our children change on the inside by a work of God on their hearts, and we're not satisfied if they're merely conforming to our rules and principles externally, outwardly. In the same way pastors, your pastors, care more about what's going on inside of you than external conformities, far more. But I said also in the message on apostasy last week that what's in the well eventually comes up in the bucket, remember, and the dye that's put into the water of the flowers goes through the roots and ends up in the petals and in the leaves. It's eventually manifested.

Well, in the same way Jesus said the tree is known by its fruit. The tree is known by its fruit. The tree is known by its fruit. He says you will know them by their fruit. You will know them by their fruit.

And this is very important because they were closed. I don't want anyone to misunderstand. Children listen to me. Young people listen to me. The tree is not saved by its fruit.

Understand that? The tree is known by its fruit. The tree is known by its fruit. Your works do not save you. They condemn you.

All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The best of our works are nothing more than a pile of filthy rags before God to merit a salvation. All we merit by boasting of works or listing our works is God's wrath, is more wrath. Our works do not save us, but they are evidence that God has saved us. Do you understand what I'm saying?

That's what John's been saying. Our works do not save us, but they are evidence that God has saved us. Our works manifest God's work within us. So you can't walk away from here today saying, well, if I don't walk in the darkness and if I keep God's commandments then God will save me no no the trees not saved by his fruit the fruit hanging on the tree just identifies what kind of tree is standing before you God must change you and he does so in regeneration. He does so in the new birth.

You must be born again. And being born again you will truly repent and truly believe. If your life is marked, not by habitual sin, unrepentant sin, but if it's marked by continuance in faith and repentance, it's because God is continuing the work He began in you. If you leave here today and say, you know, I know God has begun a work in me, and I can see that He's continuing that work in me. Praise Him.

Thank Him. If you can look at your life back at your life you say I know like John Newton I'm not what I ought to be I'm not what I want to be. I'm not what I will be one day in glory, but I know I'm not what I used to be. Am that by God's grace? I know that by God's grace, I am not what I used to be.

God has begun a work in me, and He's continuing it. He's continuing it. If that's you, to God be the glory, great things He has done. He's continuing to do in me the work that He began. If he's not, if that work has never begun, repent and believe for the first time in your life.

Repent and believe. Only God can give you the grace to do that. Only God can work in you to do that. Only God can make you sensitive to sin and turn you to his Son. I hope that he does today if you are not truly in Christ.

Let's pray.