How do we know that? How do I know I'm a Christian? How do I know I've crossed over into life? Because we love the brethren. There is a simple test, beloved.
Do you care about other believers? Or are you utterly crazy? Cold. Uncaring and indifferent. Or do you have a desire to reach out and meet their needs?
That's the test. Welcome to Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Standard equipment for carpenters is what's known as a trisquare. It's basically two straight edges in the shape of the letter L.
This simple device allows you quickly to try or test the edges of a wooden board to see if they're square.
Well, much more important than checking for straight woodwork is your ability to check for straight doctrine, to know if a person who claims to be speaking the true gospel really is proclaiming it. John MacArthur is going to show you why being able to discern spiritual truth is one of the keys to experiencing assurance of salvation.
Now, here's today's lesson from John's study, Myths About Salvation. How can we as believers enjoy the assurance of salvation. How can I be sure my faith is saving faith? How can I be sure my life is new life in Christ? Obviously, this is a vital matter.
for our joy and for our peace. as Christians. Let's go back to 1 John. A number of the New Testament writers, of course, are. very, very concerned about this matter of true salvation.
as was our Lord Jesus himself. And John dedicates actually the entire first epistle. to this subject. In chapter 1, for example, let me put you in touch with verse 4. John says, these things we write.
So that our joy may be made complete. He's saying the purpose of the writing of this epistle. is that together we might rejoice. Certainly, inherent in that joy is the confidence of true salvation. At the end of this epistle, chapter five and verse thirteen.
He sums it up with this very important and somewhat thematic statement. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. in order that you may know that you have eternal life.
Now there is the theme of this epistle. He started out by saying, I write in order that you might have Full joy. He ends up by saying, That full joy. is a part of confidence When you know you have eternal life. Life.
So John writes this epistle then. To give us instruction that we might know that our Salvation is genuine.
Now the epistle as such is made up of a series of tests. You often hear people say that the epistle of 1 John is basic. Almost primitive, simple, a good place for new Christians to start, and it is, but it is also a very, very deep, profound, and frequently difficult. epistle to interpret Clearly. Very challenging.
One thing, however, that is apparent throughout the epistle is that there are Clearly. Given Pests. for a person to take to verify a valid salvation. And suppose we could say fairly that if someone was questioning their spiritual condition and weren't sure whether they really possessed eternal life, this would be the place to send them.
Now, we've already considered six of those tests, and I put them in the form of questions. Are you enjoying fellowship with Christ and God? That test appears in chapter 1, verses 2 and 3, and also in chapter 5, verses 1 through 5. Secondly, John Brings another test. Are you sensitive to sin in your life?
That is also in chapter 1, verse 5 through chapter 2, verse 1. Are you sensitive to sin in your life? Three, are you obedient to God? Is it a pattern of your life to obey? That is in chapter 2, verses 3 and 4.
Four and five. Then the fourth query and test that we noted: do you reject the world? Put it another way, to use the very terminology John uses: do you love the world? Do you love the system of the world? That's chapter 2, verses 15 through 17.
The fifth test that we have examined: do you love Christ and eagerly wait for His return? Do you love Christ and eagerly wait for his return? That chapter 3, verses 1 through 3. Everyone who has this hope purifies himself. And then last time we considered number six in our little list.
Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life chapter 3, verses 5 through 10? Hand me.
So we have gone through quite a number of tests in moving through this wonderful epistle. Number seven on your list. Do you love Other Christians. Do you love other Christians. And this will move us back to the section that we Omitted one of the key sections, and that's back in chapter 2, verses 9 through 11.
Let's go back to chapter 2 and note verses 9, 10, and 11. Verse 9. The one who says He is in the light. That is the one who says he's a believer, who says he possesses eternal life, who says he knows God, who says he's saved, who says he's converted, and yet hates. His Brother.
Is in the darkness. Until now. Go back to verse 6 just to help you to understand that. The one who says he abides in him. Ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked.
Now, that says that if you're going to claim to be in Christ, your life is going to show some of the patterns of Christ, and certainly loving your brother would be one very, very basic pattern. To be in the light. to be cleansed To walk with God. To be saved, To be in fellowship with Christ. is to experience and express Love.
So it is not the people who claim to be Christians. But it is the people who love The brothers. Followed into verse 10. The one who loves his brother. abides in the light.
And there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and doesn't know where he's going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. In other words, if you claim to be a Christian, but Do not love. Your brothers and sisters in Christ, your claim is a sham. To illustrate it a little bit further, Let me have you turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
And listen to how Paul very clearly delineates this matter of love. Verse 9. He says to the Thessalonian believers, Now. As to the love of the brethren, Same idea as John. As to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you.
Why? Why? For you yourselves are taught by God to do what? to love one another. What Paul is saying there is that it is inherent or implicit.
In Salvation and the granting of the new nature and the Holy Spirit. That you will be taught by God to love one another. Whoever loves God, loves whom God begets. John says in 1 John 5.1. If you love God, you love his children.
That's just basic. And then in verse 10 of 1 Thessalonians 4, he adds, For indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia, but we urge you, brethren, to what? Excel still more. You haven't loved as fully as you ought to love. But you have loved.
And you don't need to be taught to love, it's instinctive. It's implicit. It's inherent. It's an element. within The new nature.
To show you further that Clearly in Scripture. Look at Romans 5. In Romans 5. We have here a catalog of the things that are ours in justification by faith. Verse 1 says that.
Since we have been justified by faith, there are a number of things which we have received. We have peace. With God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's a settled peace forever with God.
Furthermore, We have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. Salvation brings us peace with God and standing in grace. We are literally engulfed by grace, which continues to be greater than our sin. and to cleanse us. Then he says, We also rejoice in hope.
The hope of the glory of God someday to be glorified in His presence. Not only this, we rejoice in our tribulations. Why? Tribulation brings perseverance, perseverance, proven character, proven character, hope. and hope does not disappoint.
And then he adds, Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us. It is characteristic of a believer to have peace with God. to stand in grace, to rejoice in hope. and to experience love for God. And not only love for God.
But the love of God. Poured in us. is expressed not only to God. but to all who are gods. Other believers.
Jesus went so far as to say this in John 13:34: By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have what? Love for one another. John 13, 34 and 35.
So, it is basic to our Christian life that we have a capacity and a capability to love each other.
Now, we don't need to beg that issue because you're familiar with what the scripture teaches about it, but suffice it to say for the moment. That loving one another means serving one another in humility. It is not primarily an emotion, it is not primarily a feeling, it is primarily a sense of dutiful responsibility, sacrificial service. Humble. sensitive, caring.
So, you have to ask yourself the question: to be faithful to John here, if you characteristically love other believers. If you claim to be a Christian and you have no love for them or no sacrificial love for them, no dutiful, humble, caring love for them, then John says you may say you're in the light, but the truth is you're in the darkness. Love is the test of divine life. Love in your life means you have crossed over. You have crossed over into Divine Life.
Let's go to chapter 3, verse 14. And we'll see it right here. He uses the very Greek term crossed over. Verse 14, we know that we have crossed over from death into life. How do we know that?
How do I know I'm a Christian? How do I know I've crossed over into life? Verse 14, because we love the brethren. There is a simple test, beloved. Do you care about other believers?
Or are you utterly crazy? Cold. Uncaring. and indifferent. Or do you have a desire to reach out and meet their needs?
That's the test. Verse 14 further says, He who does not love abides in death. He hasn't crossed over. into new life. Verse 15.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. People who are characterized by continual hatred, which could be translated not so much in a vitriolic, vengeful, angry hostility as in an utter, self-consuming, self-centered, selfish approach to life. Do not know God. People who continually Focus on themselves and could care less what happens to anybody else, no matter what they claim, are the children of the devil, characterized by murder, characterized by hatred, and they abide in spiritual death.
Verse 16. He says it again. We know love by this. that He laid down His life for us, And we ought to lay down our lives for ourselves. For the brethren.
Somebody's going to say, well, okay, you're talking about this love. What do you mean?
Well, we know it by this: it's sacrifice. Love is defined as sacrificing for others. You get joy when you Give to the Lord's work. You get joy when you come across a person in need and you're able to give them. Money, a commodity, time, prayer, care to meet that need.
Does your heart rejoice when you are able to be with Christian people? to talk with them, to share with them, to discuss the things of God with them. to study the word, to pray. To just be together. Do you have a desire?
To take the supply and the resources God has given you and apply them to someone else? In the family of God? That's evidence of love. That's evidence of love. Are you willing to lay down your life, your goods, all you are, possess?
to meet someone else's need? It doesn't mean that all of us are Are able at this moment in time to say, well, if the hour ever came when somebody was gonna run a sword through my heart, if I didn't make a loving sacrifice. I don't know whether I'd be able to stand the test. If you're a true Christian, when the hour came, believe me, God would give you the grace to stand it, right? You don't have the grace to endure what you're not enduring.
But when it comes, you would. The question is: In the circumstance I'm in now, with the opportunity I have now, Do I express love sacrificially? Verse 17. Here he gets very particular. Whoever has the world's goods.
And here's how he defines love. It's not just giving your life. That's nice to lay down our lives for the brethren, but let's take a very simple one. You have the world's goods, that is commodities, clothing, housing, food. Sustenance.
And behold your brother in need. And you close your heart against him. John asks a simple question, how does the love of God abide in you? How could you possibly be a Christian? You see, Christians have received the love of God shed abroad in their hearts.
They don't have to be taught to love one another. They've been taught by God to do that as a part of the sanctifying influence of justification. And in that condition, they love. And one who has the resources to meet a need but closes his compassion to the one in need. May claim to be a Christian.
But John raises the question. How does the love of God abide in him?
So he says In verse 18, little children, let us not love with word or with tongue. but indeed and truth. Truth. Verse 19. We shall know by this, by what?
By love. that we are of the truth. And shall do what? Our hearts. What a statement.
You want assurance? You want assurance as you stand before him? As you stand before God, assurance that you are a Christian, a true believer, that your faith is the real thing, that assurance. Will come by your love. You will know you are of the truth and assure your hearts.
By the way, the word. Patho. Is the word assure? It means to Pacify. To Tranquilize.
To soothe it. to persuade And so you can assure your heart as you stand before God. that you're a true Christian. Under the scrutiny of divine Knowledge. You can be sure if you see love in your life.
It isn't perfect love. But it is the love of God at work in you. Loving others. Verse 20. In whatever our heart condemns us, For God is greater than our heart.
and knows all things. What does that mean? And listen to this. Your heart may put you on a guilt trip. Your heart may do its greatest effort to Make you doubt.
You see, the fallen flesh can do that. It may play games with your mind. Satan may work in you to condemn you before God. But in whatever your heart condemns you, If you see love in your life, your heart can be assured. God is greater.
Then our heart. and knows all things. Even if our heart condemns us. God knows the truth. That's good news, isn't it?
I just should add the footnote here that you may doubt your salvation, but God doesn't. If it's real, he knows. And even though your heart condemns you, God doesn't. God knows you're a true believer. You may be going through doubt.
You may be struggling with your assurance. And what the word of John is in this text is: go back to the love of your life and examine if you do not love other Christians. And it doesn't show itself or transform itself into deeds of kindness. And sacrifice. And if that's characteristic of your life, be tranquilized, be soothed.
Be pacified. For no matter what your heart may do to condemn you, if you can touch those expressions of love in your life, you can be sure of your salvation. And no matter how much condemnation rises out of your own heart, God, who is greater than your heart, doesn't condemn you. A condemning conscience can rob a Christian of assurance. Because a condemning conscience see looks only at failure.
But God is greater. than our conscience. He looks at Christ. And how can I know? by looking at my life.
See if love is there. Remember Peter? You kinda Dealt with this when he faced Jesus after he denied him three times. And what did Jesus ask him three times? Peter, do you what?
Do you love me? If you love me, then show it. By feeding my lambs, then love my lambs, love my sheep. Love my people. Finally, in some desperation, Peter says, Lord, you know I love you.
And when you can know Your love for God and Christ. When you can see expressions of your love for other believers. No matter how your heart condemns you because of sin, no matter how your conscience condemns you. God is greater than your heart and doesn't condemn you. Your heart and your conscience, as I said, looks only at the failure.
God looks at the work of Christ.
So Ask yourself the question: do I love other Christians? Number eight. in John's list of tests. Do you experience answered prayer? Do you experience answered prayer?
Chapter 3, while we're there, look at verse 22. And whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.
Now, what he's saying here in verse twenty-two. Is that You can know you're a believer. When you begin to receive what you ask. Because the only way that you could receive what you ask is if you do what? Keep his commandments.
And verse 24 says, the one who keeps his commandments abides in him.
So let's start from the end. If you abide in him and he abides in you, you keep his commandments. If you keep his commandments, he'll answer your prayers. If he answers your prayers, guess what? You belong to him.
That's what John is saying. We can We can have confidence before God. The end of verse 21. Even though our heart condemns us. We can have confidence before God and whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
And that is evidence that He abides in us and we in Him. Go over to chapter 5. Verse 14. John says, this is the confidence which we have before him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from him. If you belong to him, He'll answer your prayers. Answer prayer. is a sign You are his child. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.
Today's lesson is part of John's current series titled Myths About Salvation.
Now, you know, over the years, we have heard from people who had never experienced assurance of salvation until they saw what the Bible has to say on the subject. And when asked why it is that believers may find assurance hard to come by, this is what John MacArthur said. People struggle with assurance of salvation for a lot of reasons, but the foundation of assurance is to understand the doctrine of salvation. The foundation of your assurance is to know the truth about your salvation. Obviously, if you were raised in a church where you were told that you could lose your salvation, that you could stop believing, that you could do some sins and do them repeatedly, and therefore forfeit your salvation, if you were raised to think you could lose your salvation, you're going to live virtually your whole Christian life in a certain kind of fear and lack of confidence and lack of assurance.
But there are other people who weren't taught that you could lose your salvation. They just sort of assume it. They just look at themselves and say, boy, I'm not what I should be. I see sin in my life. And maybe the Lord doesn't love me anymore.
Maybe it's all an illusion. Maybe I'm not who I think I am. Those basic attitudes toward the issue of salvation take you back to the foundation of understanding the nature of true salvation. It has to start with theology. You might doubt your salvation because there is sin in your life.
You might doubt your salvation because you're being tempted to doubt it. But there's no reason to have a bad theology about salvation that inevitably will produce doubt.
So let me suggest something that will help you greatly. I want to offer you a free booklet. The scripture makes much of the fact that we need to be sure our salvation is real. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said. How can you be sure you're not one of those self-deceived people?
How can you be sure your faith is the real thing? This booklet will show you scripture and what scripture says about the evidences of a real enduring. Salvation Faith. That's right. And again, the name of that booklet is Unshakable Assurance.
To take advantage of this offer, email us or call us today and ask for the booklet titled Unshakable Assurance. We'll send it to you free of charge. All you have to do is ask for it. Request your copy when you contact us today. You can call us at 80055 GRACE.
Again, that's 800-55GRACE. Or you can send an email to letters at gty.org.
However you get in touch, request your free booklet and the title again, Unshakable Assurance.
Now again, this is a great resource if you've ever wondered Am I really saved? It will show you from Scripture how to have confidence in Christ's saving work. To request your free booklet, just send an email to letters at gty.org. or you can call us at 800-55 GRACE. And don't forget.
Today is the last day you can get the MacArthur New Testament commentary series at a special reduced price. The sale ends tonight at 11.59 p.m.
So go online today and take advantage of this great offer. Our web address, gty.org. Again, that's gty.org. And now for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Remember to watch Grace to U television this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378.
And then be here next week as we continue John MacArthur's study, Myths About Salvation, with a look at what you can do right now to bolster your assurance of salvation. It's another half hour of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time. On Mondays, grace to you.
