If you desire to obey the word of God, If when you read it, it's the longing of your heart to do it. And if your desire is not just a legal desire out of fear, but a loving desire. Because of Christ. And if you see that desire showing up in a pattern of obedience, not perfection, but a pattern of obedience, then you are saved. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Years ago, a Bible college professor told his class that if they lack assurance of salvation, they should get themselves a small cross, then write on it the date they think they got saved, and then bury it. And then, whenever they doubt their salvation, they should dig that cross up and it will remind them that they have died with Christ and they're saved.
Well, that would be an easy cure for a lack of salvation assurance, if only it were biblical. Thankfully, the Bible gives real answers for those who struggle with assurance. Today John MacArthur looks at those answers as we continue his current series called Myths About Salvation. And now here is John with today's lesson. I want us to turn to 1 John.
Because in 1 John we have a very positive presentation. These are objective tests. To see If I'm a true Christian, and if I pass these tests, I can enjoy my eternal salvation with assurance.
So I'm going to turn them into a series of questions, all right? 11 of them. A series of questions that plunge us into the rich book and lead us to the joy of assurance. Based on the reality that we are saved. It may convince us that we are not saved.
In either case, it has done its God-ordained purpose. Question number one. And these are, I believe, what is in the heart of John as he writes. Question number one to ask yourself if you want to get in touch with the reality of your spiritual condition. Have you enjoyed?
fellowship with Christ and the Father. Second question. Are you sensitive to sin? Are you sensitive to sin? It is characteristic of an unregenerate, unbelieving person to be utterly oblivious to the condition of sin within his life.
That's what John's point is. The man in verse 6 is not confessing sin because he doesn't think it's necessary. He doesn't even recognize it. He doesn't even acknowledge it. He just walks along in the darkness thinking he's communing with God.
The man in verse 8 is not confessing sin because he thinks he's reached a state where he has no sin. The man in verse 10 is not confessing sin because he never has confessed it. or acknowledged sin. Three words describe these three viewpoints. The first word in verse 6 is darkness.
The second word in verse 8 is deceit. And the third word in verse 10 will make defamation because you make God a liar, because God says you have sinned.
So here are our people. Who claim to be Christians, but are utterly insensitive to the reality of their sinning. On the one hand, they think they can go on sinning and walk in darkness all they want and not even acknowledge it and still have fellowship with God. On the other hand, they can deny it altogether and think that they can walk and have fellowship with God. They're utterly insensitive to the reality of their condition.
And the truth is. They do not know God. They do not practice the truth. They deceive themselves. The truth is not in them.
They make God a liar, and His word is not in them. There's an unbeliever. A person who isn't sensitive to his sinful condition. That is why we always say when you preach the gospel, what do you have to preach first? Sinfulness of man.
Now on the other hand Let's go back and pick up the other verses. Verse 7. But If we walk in the light. As he himself is in the light, In other words, if we walk a virtuous walk, We have fellowship with one another. That one another, by the way, refers to God, not to other believers.
And the blood of Jesus, his Son, keeps on cleansing us from all sin. The truly saved walk as a pattern of life in the light. The truly saved, look at verse 9. Don't deny their sin. They what?
They confess it. And God is faithful and righteous to keep on forgiving it and keep on cleansing it.
So we can say the true believer is always walking in the light. and always confessing the deeds of darkness that he does in the light. He has a right sense of sin. He knows if he's going to commune with God, he has to be holy. He has to walk in the light.
He knows when sin occurs in his life, it must be confessed. Then in chapter 2, verse 1, John says, My little children, I'm writing these things to you that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Verse 1 of chapter 2 says you don't have to sin. There's a new liberty here.
He says, I'm writing to tell you you may not sin. I don't want you to sin. You don't have to do this. But if you do. There's forgiveness.
The true believer, one, recognizes that he must walk in purity if he's going to commune with God. He recognizes, too, that when he sins, he needs to confess it. He recognizes, three, that he doesn't have to sin. But when he does sin, He knows who to go to. The Advocate Jesus Christ.
The point is this: that the person who is truly saved is sensitive to the sinful realities in his life. Romans 7. Paul says. I know what's in me. There's a law working in me, and it's called the law or the principle of sin.
And I'm very, very aware of it. Does that describe you? Are you sensitive to sin? Are you very much aware of the spiritual battle? Do you realize very, very clearly that in order to have true communion with God, you have to live a holy life and walk in the light?
You can't walk in the darkness and claim fellowship with Him. Are you willing to acknowledge the sinfulness as a reality in your life and confess it? Do you realize you don't have to sin, but if you do, you go to the advocate Jesus Christ? Are you sensitive to that like Paul in Romans? Do you sometimes cry out, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?
Because you're so weary of the burden of sin in your flesh. If that describes you, then you have a salvation that is forever. And if you have that salvation that is forever, you're secure, so you might as well enjoy it. And be assured. Question number three.
Are you obedient to God's word? Are you obedient to God's word? Chapter 2, verse 3. And by this we know that we have come to know him. If we what?
Keep His commandments.
Now that could not be clearer. By this We know. We perceive By experience. That seems to be the force of GNOSCO, the verb. By this, we experimentally, experientially know.
We know what. That we have come to know him. What's that? Salvation. How do we know we're saved?
By this, by what? If we Keep. His commandments. If you want to know whether you're a true Christian, ask yourself whether you obey the commandments of the Word of God. Disciples were sent out with a great commission going to all the world.
Make disciples and Jesus said, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Obedience to the commands of God produces assurance. The word cheap here is a word of observant obedience. Watchful, careful, thoughtful obedience. It involves not only the act of obedience, but what I like to call the spirit of obedience, the willingness.
Habitual safeguarding of the word. Not in letter, but in spirit. The commandments here, by the way, are not namas, not the typical word for law. John uses that word 15 times in his gospel. But here it's the word entalay, which he uses 14 times for the precepts of Christ.
And so commandments here is really precepts. Orders. Standards. From Christ. And he's calling for more than a legal obedience.
Out of a works covenant, he's calling for a gracious obedience out of a grace covenant. Legal obedience, by the way. demanded perfection. or penalty. Gracious obedience.
accepts failure without penalty. Because of Jesus Christ. Understood?
So it is that gracious obedience. That he is calling for. If you want to know whether you're a Christian, look at your life. Do you safeguard? The commandments So that you might obey them.
Follow verse 4. The one who says I have come to know him. It's a claim. You say so, huh? But the one who says that, I have come to know him.
and does not keep his commandments is a Liar. And the truth is not in him. It is a false claim. It is a false claim. Verse five.
But whoever keeps his word In Him, the love of God has truly been perfected. By this, we know that we are in Him. By what? keeping his word. Again, habitual Obedience.
It means the love of God has moved into him and pulled him toward obedience. How can you tell a true Christian? Not by sentiment. not by mystical feeling. But by Obedience.
If you desire to obey the word of God, If when you read it, it's the longing of your heart to do it. And if your desire is not just a legal desire out of fear, but a loving desire. Because of Christ. And if you see that desire showing up in a pattern of obedience. Not perfection, but a pattern of obedience.
then you are saved. And if you are saved at all, you are saved forever. And if you have a secure eternal salvation, you might as well enjoy it. A fourth question. Ask yourself this.
Do you reject the world? Do you reject the world? The system Chapter 2 verse 15. Do not love the world. nor the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, The love of the Father. is not In Him. And when he uses the term love here, he's talking about our deepest constraints. Our most driving, compelling Pulling Emotion and purpose. And he frankly says Christians don't feel that Toward Satan's system.
The cosmos. It is impossible. For a Christian. To love Satan's system. It is as impossible as for light to dwell with darkness.
It is impossible for love for God to coexist with love for the world. When we talk about the world, we're talking about all of its evil. All the stuff that's in it. Go back to. Verse 13.
I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is. been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young man, because you have overcome the evil one. I've written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who has been from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Twice there referring to the evil one. The evil one has designed a system which the Bible calls the world. the cosmos, the order, the system of Satan. It encompasses false religion.
It encompasses crime. It encompasses godless philosophies. It encompasses godless living, sexual sin, drunkenness, materialism, and on and on. And when you become a Christian, you don't love that. You really hate that.
Sometimes you are lured into it. But it isn't what you love, it's what you hate. That's why it's so amazing that a Christian can do what he hates and not do what he loves. That's Romans 7 again, isn't it? What I hate, I do.
New life in Christ. plants within us. Loves. For God. All that is in the world, he says in verse 16.
Can be summed up as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. It's not from the Father, it's from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts. But the one who does the will of God abides forever. The world is there.
But the true believer who has eternal life and will abide forever isn't involved in it. He may get sucked in now and then, lured in from time to time, but his love is toward God. Do you reject the world? Do you reject it? Do you reject its False religions?
It's crimes. It's godless philosophies, its godless living, its sexual sin, its drunkenness, its materialism, all of its false and damning ideologies. Do you reject all those things? And do you love God and love His truth and love His kingdom and love what He stands for? You don't do that.
Normally. You don't do that naturally. Naturally, men love Darkness. And they follow their father the devil.
So ask yourself: do you reject the world if you reject the world? That's indication of new life in Christ. And since the new life in Christ is forever, if you have salvation, you have a forever salvation, you might as well enjoy it. Number five. And this is an equally important question.
Do you love Christ?
so that you eagerly await his coming. Do you love Christ so that you eagerly await his coming? Chapter 3, verse 2. Beloved.
Now we are children of God. And it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that. When he appears. We shall be like him.
because we shall see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope. fixed on him. purifies himself just as he is pure. Then, on the other hand, there are the people who practice sin and lawlessness.
So what is John saying? He's saying if you're a true Christian You will have a hope in your heart. And your hope will be fixed on Christ. And that hope in the coming of Christ. will purify your life.
Do you love Christ?
So that You eagerly await his coming? That when he appears You can be like him. This is the blessed hope. This is our supreme joy. Paul says in Romans 8, the whole creation groans, waiting for this.
Glorious manifestation of the children of God. Three things John says, he appears. We see him, we're like him. Is that your hope? Are you like the Apostle Paul?
Do you say I'm waiting. Eagerly. Philippians 3.20. I'm waiting eagerly. For a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.
Are you waiting for that? Do you despise the sin and the fallen flesh and long to be like Jesus Christ? Can you Feel The thrill of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:49. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Can you identify and hope with the words of Paul to Titus?
Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. You love Christ.
So that you eagerly await his coming. And that that eager hope has an ethical power. It purifies you. And I don't mean an inordinate kind of anticipation where you are irresponsible. But when you find yourself longing for the coming of Jesus Christ, that's evidence of salvation.
That's evidence of a new nature. When you find yourself longing to be delivered from the body of sin and be made like the perfect Christ. That's the evidence of salvation. And if you have salvation, You have it forever.
So you might as well enjoy it. Let me review what I've said. Question number one. Have you enjoyed fellowship with Christ and the Father? Question number two.
Are you sensitive to sin in your life? Three. Are you as a pattern of life? Obedient to God's word. Question number four.
Do you reject the world system? Question number five. Do you love Christ?
So that You eagerly, anxiously wait. For his coming. If you pass those tests, That's evidence. That you have salvation. And since salvation is secure, You should possess.
Assurance. John wrote these things. to give us Confidence. Look at chapter 3, verse 21. Let me stop at that point.
John says, Beloved. If our heart does not condemn us, We have what? Confidence before God. John wants us to do an inventory. And if you've asked yourself these five questions.
without even asking the six remaining ones. And your heart does not condemn you. You can have confidence. before God. If you can say, Yes, I have enjoyed sweet fellowship with Christ.
Yes, I have enjoyed it. Fellowship with God. I'm very much aware. that I cannot walk with God. And have sin in my life.
Yes, I acknowledge and confess my sin. Yes, I turn to the advocate Jesus Christ the righteous. If you could say, yes, I have a desire deep within my heart to obey the word of God. I don't always do what I ought to do, but that's my heart passion. Yes, I reject the world system.
I hate what the world stands for. I resent what it stands for. And yes, I love Christ. and long for the day when I see him and can be made like him. If you pass those tests Your heart does not condemn you.
You can have confidence before God. And what a joy it is to know that. God wants us to have that. God wants us, as verse 19 says of that same chapter. to be assured before him.
He wants us to assure our hearts. to have confidence. Because that brings us such joy, such peace. And thus he gives us. Very clear.
Examination questions. That we might discern our spiritual condition. And I say to you also, if your heart condemns you, and you don't have confidence. and you don't have assurance. Then give your life truly to Jesus Christ.
That you might know him. Genuinely.
Well, let's bow in prayer. Father, we thank you again for such clear instruction. We continue. Lord, to be exposed to the word that is so very clear. that we might know our spiritual condition.
Lord, you would never want there to be any doubt about that. And we would assume you would make it clear. Thank you. for the instruction that gives confidence to the saved. And gives Fear.
to the unsaved. that we who are truly saved who passed the test, might rejoice. and those who fail the test, might repent. and embrace the Savior. We pray in his name.
Amen. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. His current series is titled Myths About Salvation.
Well, friend, thinking about what John said about establishing a pattern of obedience to God's word and how that's proved. Proof, one proof of genuine salvation. I'd like to play a question we received on our QA line because it may be one you've wrestled with. You'll hear the caller, and then you'll hear how John responded to it. Hi, my name is Jesse and I want to to ask you base on people that are exhibiting good fruits in their life but they still have a desire.
for things that would be considered blatantly ungodly.
So, their desires have not been completely renewed. What would you say about the state of their salvation? Thank you very much. You know, Jesse, that's such a wonderful question. I would say this.
I would say that is great evidence that you are a true. True Christian. That's right. I don't think that's any kind of evidence that you're not a Christian. I think it's just the opposite.
If there's anything true about a Christian, It is that a Christian lives in that kind of tension all the time. Look at the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul says, I don't know anything against myself. He writes to the Corinthians. He says, I don't know anything against myself.
My conscience is clear. I have lived godly and sincerely before the Lord. and in your midst. Wow. I've lived a life, he says.
That is pure. I have not scandalized the ministry. I have been above reproach. And then he turns right around and says, I'm the chief of sinners. O wretched man that I am Things I don't want to do, I do.
Things I want to do I don't do. That kind of Ambivalence. battle. That kind of tension is the mark of a true believer. That's why 1 John 1 talks about the fact that we go on confessing our sins.
When you ever get to the point where you don't have that battle, You're in serious trouble because you've just lost touch with reality. That is indication that your heart has been transformed. A non-believer?
Well, he would cherish all the sinful things, he would pursue all the sinful things, and never flinch. But the very fact that there's fruit in your life And there's love for the Lord and a desire for things that are right. That's evidence of new Life New Creation Look, it's not the perfection. It's the direction. It's the affection the things that you really love, that mark you out as a true believer.
That's a helpful answer from John MacArthur. And friend, to grow in the affection John was talking about, your love for God's Word, your love for Christ, let me suggest a resource that can help you build a healthy habit of scripture study. It's the MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series. And just a reminder that tomorrow, Wednesday, September 10th, we will be making the complete MacArthur New Testament commentary series available at the lowest price you'll ever find anywhere.
Now remember, we are able to make this special offer only to the first 250 orders. Also, the discounted pricing is available only in Canada and the United States. To learn more about the MacArthur New Testament commentary and to listen again to today's broadcast, Get in touch today. Our web address is gty.org. You can download the lesson you heard today, along with the rest of the Myths About Salvation series, in MP3 and transcript format.
free. Our website again, gty.org. And to take advantage of the special sale on the MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series, place your order as early as you can tomorrow. You can use our website gty.org. Again, that's gty.org.
Or for phone orders, you have to call us 80055GRACE. between seven thirty AM and four o'clock p.m. Pacific time.
Now, even if you're not one of the first 250 people to order, we will still have a great deal for you. The price for the Commentary Series is going to be heavily discounted through Friday, September 12th. And if you're in Canada or the United States, be sure to take advantage of the excellent prices this week. on the MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series.
Now for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson with a question. Should you be concerned if you don't see clear outward changes after you become a Christian? Consider that tomorrow as we continue John MacArthur's study, Myths About Salvation. It's another 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time. on Grace to You.
