FORGIVENESS: 7 Why You Can Be Certain You Are Forgiven Forever

Chapter 1.7

Why You Can Be Certain You Are

Forgiven Forever

1 John 4:13

Week 3

► After reading this chapter, answer the following questions:

1) Why do we say that becoming a Christian is not merely making a decision? What do you think?

2) How does God’s Spirit enable us to be certain we have eternal life and forgiveness?

3) What place do feelings have in knowing if you are a Christian?

4) What is the consequence of a Christian “quenching the Spirit”?

5) What was most meaningful to you in this chapter? Why?

God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. (1 John 4:13).

You read in the previous chapter that God wants you to be certain your sins are completely and forever forgiven and you possess eternal life. But how can you be certain? The primary point of this chapter is:

God’s Spirit lives inside every real Christian and the effects will prove they are forgiven forever.

A) God’s Spirit indwells the Christian and seals and guarantees their salvation

In chapter 1.5 (section D) you read:

Any human can logically understand what the Bible says about Jesus Christ. But it requires a MIRACLE from God to enable you to personally trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and love Him as your King. This is the kind of believing that saves you from God’s punishment for your sins. The Bible says that humans are not naturally born with the ability to trust and love Christ in this way.

Therefore, it is important to understand that becoming a Christian is not merely making a decision. It is not choosing to change religions or join a group. It is not choosing to change certain bad habits. Likewise, being born into a Christian family does not make you a Christian either.

So what does God do to make you a Christian? Jesus explained:

I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, “You must be born again.” (John 3:5-7)

You read in chapter 1.2 Jesus’ famous statement in John 3:16 which says, “This is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” But just a few verses earlier in John 3:5-7 Jesus said, “you must be born again” by “the Holy Spirit” to “enter the Kingdom of God.” These two things must be put together to truly understand how someone becomes a Christian. Everyone who truly trusts God the Son to pay for their sins will also “be born again” by “the Holy Spirit.” There are no exceptions. ^[1]

God’s Spirit indwells every person who has real faith in Christ. The Bible says:

When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7)

If a person is indwelled with God’s Spirit, they have eternal life and will always be indwelled with God’s Spirit. The Apostle Paul wrote:

And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. ¹⁴ The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. (Eph 1:13-14)

This is a repeated promise throughout the NT (cf. John 6:27; 2 Cor 1:22; Eph 4:30). The word “identified” comes from a Greek word meaning “to seal.” ^[2] It is the same word used to describe the sealing of Christ’s tomb (cf. Matt 27:66) or the sealing of Satan in prison by the Angel of God (cf. Rev 20:3). It means a sealing and security guaranteed by God.

Therefore, the key to being certain you are a Christian and forgiven forever is to know if you possess God’s Spirit in you. This is why the Bible says, “God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us” (1 John 4:13). God’s Spirit lives inside every real Christian and the effects will prove they are forgiven forever.

B) God’s Spirit living in you will have powerful affects

God’s Spirit lives inside every real Christian and the effects will prove they are a Christian. How do you know if you have sincerely trusted in Christ and been “born again” by God’s Spirit? The Spirit of God will live in you and give you new spiritual life. Again, becoming a Christian is not just making a decision or changing your life. It is about God radically changing your life. God has given this amazing promise to all who truly trust in Christ:

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. (Ezek 36:26-27) ^[3]

The invasion of God’s Spirit into your spirit will have immediate and obvious effects. He “will give you a new heart, and . . . a new spirit.” Did you used to live in sin and even loved it? Do you now greatly desire to be free of sin and please the Lord? That is the Holy Spirit living in you. Were you once rather confident that your own good deeds were good enough to gain God’s forgiveness? Do you now understand that you are a sinner deserving punishment? That is the Holy Spirit working in you. Did you use to feel like God was distant and uncaring about you? Were you trying to hide from Him? Do you now feel like God is real and He loves you? That is the Holy Spirit indwelling you.

Some real Christians doubt their forever forgiveness because they cannot remember when they became a Christian. But it does not matter if you cannot pinpoint the exact moment when the Holy Spirit indwelled you. It is sufficient to look back and evaluate how the Holy Spirit has changed you. The Holy Spirit only and always indwells real Christians. His influence in your life will be the proof that you have been forgiven forever by God.

The Apostle John wrote: “We know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us” (1 John 3:24). Likewise, John also wrote the primary text for this chapter: “God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us” (1 John 4:13). God’s Spirit lives inside every real Christian and the effects will prove they are forgiven forever.

C) The indwelling of God’s Spirit will change your desires, lifestyle and feelings

What will be the obvious effects of the Spirit of God indwelling you? New and holy desires, habits, and feelings. In other words, the Holy Spirit will begin to make you holy.

First, He will give you DESIRES to obey God and love people. You will never do these perfectly, especially as a young Christian. But your ATTITUDE toward God, sin, and people will be radically and instantly changed. A DESIRE to please God and love people will immediately become the greatest desires you have. You might struggle to follow those desires, but they will be there like never before.

It can be helpful to compare your new desires to those you had before trusting in Christ. Also, compare your desires to those that do not have Christ in their life. If you are spiritually born again by the Holy Spirit you will recognize a hatred for sin and love for God that you did not have before, or that non-Christians do not have.

Some Christians doubt their relationship with God because they struggle with sin. But this may actually be evidence they are a Christian. People without the Holy Spirit usually pursue the pleasures of sin rather than resisting sin. The Bible describes Christians in this way: “The Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other” (Gal 5:17). A Christian’s struggle against sinful habits and desires is evidence they are a Christian. So it is important to look at your victories over sin, instead of just focus on your failures.

Secondly, the holy desires of a real Christian will result in a new LIFESTYLE. The Apostle John writes:

Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. (1 John 3:9)

This verse is saying that those who are born again by God’s Spirit will not live a lifestyle of sin “because God’s life is in them.” The word “life” comes from a Greek word meaning “seed.” When a certain kind of seed is planted in the ground and grows, it produces a certain kind of life. Likewise, when a person is born of God by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God’s “seed” lives in them. That “seed” of the Holy Spirit will grow into an increasing LIFESTYLE of holiness in the born again (John 3:7) Christian.

The Bible says: “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23). These virtues will begin operating in a person’s life when “the Holy Spirit” indwells them at the time they truly trust in Christ.

If a person claims they are a Christian, but continues to demonstrate a LIFESTYLE of selfishness, fear, harshness, stinginess, arrogance, and a lack of control over their sinful emotions and actions, they probably do not have the Spirit of God living in them and are not a real Christian. Again, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will produce immediate and radical effects in the person’s life.

This does not mean that real Christians will not sin. John wrote in the same letter: “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth” (1 John 1:8). But the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will not allow the Christian to have a LIFESTYLE of sin. A new hatred for sin and love for God will ensure this. People who claim to be Christians but are addicted to sinful and destructive behavior need to seriously question if they are a Christian. The Bible says:

Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor 6:9-11)

Again, real Christians will struggle with sin. But they will not live a LIFESTYLE of the sins listed above or others.

Another sign of the indwelling of God’s Spirit is spiritual growth. Everything that is alive also grows. Because of the indwelling of God’s Spirit, a real Christian has spiritual life. A lack of spiritual growth is an indication of spiritual death and the absence of the Spirit in a person’s life. Therefore, an inability to overcome sinful habits is a sign that a person does not have God’s Spirit in them.

Christians have a unique power and ability to permanently change sinful habits and behavior in their life. To “be transformed by the renewing of [their] mind” (Rom 12:2 NIV). This is because the indwelling of the Holy Spirit has dethroned the distorting sinful nature in them so they can now correctly understand, value, and trust the word of God that changes them. God’s word will not change the character of someone who does not have God’s Spirit. As we quoted the Bible earlier in chapter 1.5:

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (1 Cor 2:14 NIV)

The power of God’s Spirit and God’s word will continue to enable a real Christian to overcome sinful habits and change their behavior to become more like Christ who lives in them. A false Christian will lack the power to change sinful habits, even the ones they desire to change.

Finally, many Christians claim that FEELINGS are not a good indication of your true spiritual state. But this is unbiblical. As noted above, “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace” (Gal 5:22). Love, joy, and peace certainly include FEELINGS. In fact, how you feel is a vital measure of whether or not you are a born again Christian. A lack of FEELING compassion, joy, and peace, and a constant and controlling FEELING of anger, discouragement, depression, and worry are signs that a person is not indwelled with God’s Spirit.

Many people have been fooled into thinking they are a Christian because they simply attend church or do church activities. But if they do these things out of a sense of guilt or duty, instead of the genuine love and joy of God’s Spirit, they probably are not a Christian. Remember, a real Christian does things because they know God loves them and they want to love God back. A false Christian does Christian things because they believe they still need to earn God’s love and forgiveness. Their motivation for serving God is fear and guilt or wanting people to like and accept them.

That is not the love, joy, and peace of God’s Spirit. Many people are trying to live the “Christian” life in their own will power, often feeling like they need to force themselves to have love, joy, and peace. If these things constantly feel hard to do, then it may be an indication that you do not have the Holy Spirit and are not a real Christian.

The fruit of God’s Spirit in your life is the proof of your complete and forever forgiveness. This is one reason why the Bible says: “Do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live” (Eph 4:30).

Unfortunately, a real Christian can grieve or “quench the Spirit” (1 Thess 5:19 NIV) in their life. When they do, they are not experiencing the love, joy, and peace of God’s Spirit. This can cause them to doubt their relationship with God. And if an absence of the Spirit’s love, joy, and peace persists, they should have doubts. Sin will never cause the real Christian to lose their relationship with God. But especially powerful and persistent sin can and should cause a real Christian to lose their confidence in their relationship with God. This is why the Bible says, “Work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen” (2 Pet 1:10).

The Bible says: “God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us” (1 John 4:13). God’s Spirit lives inside every real Christian and the effects will prove they are forgiven forever.

D) False signs of the Spirit

It is important to understand the real effects of God’s Spirit in the born again Christian’s life. This is because many claim to have God’s Spirit but do not. As mentioned in the previous chapter, Jesus warned that “many,” not just a few, of those who claim revelations from God, cast out demons, and even perform miracles, even using the name of Jesus, do it all without God’s Spirit and are not Christians (cf. Matt 7:22-23)! Likewise, the Apostle Paul warned of fake Christians who, “will act as if they serve God but will not have his power. Stay away from those people” (2 Tim 3:5). So again, you must clearly understand what the true effects of being born again by the Holy Spirit are.

As noted above, lasting and consistent feelings of compassion, joy, and peace are important results of God’s Spirit living in us. But temporary emotions can be deceiving. Jesus warned there will be “those who hear the message [about Jesus Christ] and immediately receive it with joy. . . But they don’t last long [and] fall away” (Matt 13:20-21).

Many people have been fooled into thinking that because they experience high emotions in a church worship service or “revival” meeting that this is evidence of the Holy Spirit in their life. The Holy Spirit certainly wants to affect our emotions in a positive way. But being excited by stimulating music or a charismatic speaker in an enthusiastic crowd of people can easily happen without the Holy Spirit or real conversion to saving faith. Usually the false Christians who attend such meetings do not demonstrate the true signs of a Christian in the rest of their life. The born again experience will produce a lasting and durable love, joy, and peace, not merely fleeting emotional highs coming from emotional stimulation.

“God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us” (1 John 4:13). God’s Spirit lives inside every real Christian and the effects will prove they are forgiven forever.

► Return to the beginning and answer the questions there.

1. NT scholar John Stott writes regarding the Apostle John’s teaching on the Spirit’s work in Christian conversion:

   It is only if God has given us His Spirit that we are able to believe, love, and obey God (1 John 3:24; 4:13). So everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, and loves and does right gives evidence that they “have been born of God” (cf. 2:29; 4:7; 5:1). (1 John, 53). ↑

2. See endnote above. ↑

3. Ezekiel 36:26-27 is an OT promise that has been fulfilled in Christians during the Church Age. This is common in the NT. For example, when Christians were first indwelled by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter told the crowd: “what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel” who said, “’In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people’” (Acts 2:16-17). ↑