SHORTCUT TO WEEK 5: DAY 1 - DAY 2 - DAY 3 - DAY 4
Week 5 - Day 1
“If you are a believer in Christ—united to him by faith—then your salvation is not ultimately grounded in your waffling, wavering commitment to him. It’s grounded in God’s eternal, unbreakable determination to honor his Son by saving you.”
Greg Gilbert
This is a very interesting piece of Scripture. Much of what John has done up to this point is to show you how you can be sure that you are a Christian. That may sound very arrogant that you can say you are sure that you are a Christian. But what John does here is show that your assurance isn’t based on the amount of faith you have or your performance, but how serious God is about honoring his Son and saving you. It is the rock solidness of God’s work of salvation that allows you to have assurance simply by trusting.
For example, what if someone asked you, “Do you think you will fall into San Francisco Bay if you walk across the golden gate bridge?” You reply, “No.” They ask you, “How can you be so sure?” You say, “Because, I believe the bridge will hold me.” They would never accuse you of being arrogant and say, “OOOOHHHHH! OK big guy! You won’t fall because YOU believe?!?! WHOA! I see!” No, they know your belief is only as strong as and rest in the strength of the bridge. It’s not arrogant, it’s smart. The gospel is the same . It’s not arrogant to believe you are saved because your assurance isn’t based on the quality or amount of your faith but on the strength of God’s commitment to honor his Son, save you, and grow you to be like Christ.
The next step that makes sense to me today is this…how serious is God to honor his Son, save you in the process, and transform you to be like Jesus? If it’s at least as strong as the beams and steal cables of the Golden Gate Bridge, then it makes sense to believe the gospel and have assurance of salvation.
READ 1st John 5:6-8
OK. I agree. This is a weird passage. What in the world does this mean? The best way to think of this is God is building his case in court. God is calling on three witnesses/testimonies to show how serious he is about honoring his Son and saving you. At this time I’d like to call three witnesses to the stand to see how they support God’s seriousness about salvation.
1) I’d like to call Water to the stand.
READ Matthew 3:13-17.
1. What is happening to Jesus here? How is water involved?
2. What happened at this event to show how serious God is about honoring his Son?
3. What does this symbolize?
2) I’d like to call Blood to the stand.
READ Isaiah 53:4-10 & Matthew 27:45-54.
4. What’s happening here? How is blood involved?
5. What happened at this event to show how serious God is about honoring his Son and saving us?
6. How does this event display the strength of God’s commitment to salvation?
3) I’d like to call the Spirit to the stand.
READ John 14:26 & Ephesians 1:13-14.
7. What’s happening in these verses?
8. How does this show how serious God is about honoring his Son and saving us?
9. How does this show the strength of God’s commitment to salvation?
CLOSING ARGUMENTS:
READ 1st John 5:9-10.
10. How many witness are usually needed to confirm a testimony? How many did God provide?
11. Why is God please to have us believe in Jesus to obtain salvation? How does that please God?
READ 1st John 5:11-12
12. If you’ve place all your trust in Jesus, and you know you are truly a Christian, is this arrogant or smart? Explain.
13. Is salvation about performing or knowing a person? Explain.
VERDICT:
Do you find God guilty of honoring his Son and providing a trustworthy salvation for you?
How does thinking of God’s commitment to you the gospel change you view of salvation?
What was your major takeaway today?