The Distinctive Qualities of the True Christian, Part 3 B

You can have a past spiritual event, you can live a moral, ethical life, you can know the gospel in your mind, you can even believe that it's true, you can be dutiful in your religious ceremonies, you can go to church, get baptized, take communion, and you can even render service to Christ, preaching, teaching if need be, and still not be a true Christian. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. You live by the golden rule. You have an excellent work ethic. You're committed to raising your kids to respect God and the law and others. And you're available to serve in your church and your community. That sounds like the kind of lifestyle that people would applaud.

How could you not respect that way of living? Well, you know, there are people who are leading what appear to be exemplary lifestyles, and they have confidence that they're going to heaven, but sadly, they're actually on the road to nowhere. To see if that describes you, stay here as John MacArthur continues a study designed to help you understand what makes a person a Christian and what doesn't. So now join John in Philippians chapter 3 as he begins today's lesson. I want to give to you some characteristics that do not verify your salvation.

All right? Some characteristics that do not verify the reality of your salvation. You can't look at these.

These are not appropriate tests, and I think you will be surprised. Number one, the first inappropriate non-proof of salvation is a past conversion or supposed...say it this way...a past supposed conversion event. A past supposed conversion event.

Let me give you a classic illustration. Turn in your Bible to Acts chapter 8, verse 9. By the way, let me say this while you're turning to Acts 8. There are conversions that do occur at an event.

That's not what I'm saying. But that's not the proof of the conversion. Look at chapter 8, verse 9. There was a certain man named Simon, must have been a Jew since that is a Jewish name. He formerly was practicing magic in the city. He was in Samaria and astonishing the people of Samaria claiming to be someone great. Now magic would be probably some demon activity. He may have been a clever deceiver, but I think he was involved in some satanic activity that his magic was demonic. And everybody from the smallest to the greatest, verse 10, were giving attention to him saying, this man is what is called the great power of God.

That's typical of the world. They've got it exactly backwards, right? They think he's of God, he's actually of Satan. But he had some tremendous satanic, demonic power. And they were, verse 11, giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts. Now when Philip arrives, now you've got a true man of God. Now the man of Satan is going to be exposed.

So you've got a true man of God and the comparison is going to be clear. So they believe Philip preaching the good news about the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. Philip was having this tremendous, tremendous response.

Now watch verse 13. And even Simon himself...what? Believed he had an event. Sometimes, someplace, Philip preaching, Philip preached, he responded. I don't know how the format worked, but he had his event. And he was baptized. So Simon could look back and say, I remember the day Philip preached, and I remember the day I heard the message, and I remember the day I prayed the prayer, and I remember the day I was baptized, right? He had his event.

That was his event. And not only that, he continued on with Philip. He followed him. Philip was continuing to preach, and not only that, he was doing signs and great miracles. And Simon was observing those, and he was constantly amazed.

You say, why was he amazed? Because the power of God is infinitely greater than the power of Simon or the power of Satan. And what he was seeing was not the blunted, depraved wonders of a vile being, Satan and his demons, but the pure, unadulterated, majestic power of the living God flowing through Philip.

And the level of achievement was way beyond anything Simon had ever experienced or accomplished. Now, go down to verse 18. The apostles lay hands on these people that believe, and they received the Holy Spirit. And Simon, verse 18, saw that the Spirit was bestowed to the laying on of the hands of the apostles. He offered them money. And he said, give me this authority or power as well so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. I want that. Man, can I get rich with that. That's the greatest trick I've ever seen.

Why? Well, what happened was the apostles were laying hands on these new believers and I am convinced without any equivocation that they began to speak in languages, just like they did on the Day of Pentecost because that was the whole point, to associate them with the same church that was born on Pentecost. These were half-breed Samaritans and they were one with the Jews in Christ. And so when they began to do this miraculous speaking of languages and this phenomenon occurred there, and it may have even been a phenomenon like Acts 2, we don't know, with the Spirit descending in that kind of manner. It doesn't say that, but there was enough there to convince Simon that this was some kind of power. And so he said, I'll pay anything for that power.

I'll pay anything for that power. Now it becomes apparent to us that the reason Simon had an event was because he wanted to be able to do bigger tricks, right? He wanted the magic.

The motive was wrong. Now look what happens. Peter is a very confrontive guy. Peter looks at him, verse 20, and says, May your silver perish with you. Now what does that tell you?

Where was Simon headed? What does perish imply? Hell, your money perish with you. Follow this, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.

You have no part or portion in this matter. Your heart is not right before God. Repent of the wickedness.

Pray the Lord, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see you are in the gall of bitterness, you are in the bondage of iniquity. Now there's a spiritual characterization of Simon.

You want to know what he's like? Here's his spiritual condition. He was going to perish. He thought he could buy the gift of God with money.

He had no part and no portion in the true coming of the Holy Spirit. His heart was not right before God. He was wicked and needed to repent. The intent of his heart was wicked and needed to be forgiven. He was in the gall of bitterness and he was a slave of iniquity. Now you tell me, was he a Christian? No way. Did he have an event?

Yes. The event in isolation from the life proves nothing. That is why I say it is no proof that a man is not a Christian because he can't point to an event, nor is it a proof that a man is a Christian because he had an event. And yet, I tell you, the church is filled with people who are banking salvation on a past event.

Let me give you a second. Non-proof, living by a moral code...living by a moral code. People say, oh, so-and-so must be a good Christian, very, very moral person. Listen, many people are moral, many people. Many people live by high standards of honesty, charity, kindness, morality, ethics. Many people, very ethical on the surface, very moral, very charitable, very kind, very honest ostensibly.

A lot of people like that. There are a lot of unsaved people in liberal churches who are very compassionate, very ethical. They are set to live according to the Ten Commandments, many of them trying to live according to the Sermon on the Mount, live out the quote-unquote golden rule. Many ethical people living by a moral code, that in itself does not verify salvation because you can subscribe yourself to a moral code for a multiplicity of reasons, right?

Fear. Some people live by a moral code because they're afraid of God. They're afraid of God. Some people live by a moral code because they want to please their parents and it's very important that their parents be pleased because they're under their parents. There are some people who live by a moral code because they believe that if they do, that will get them to heaven. Or they believe if they do, God will reward them somehow in this life by making them rich or famous or successful. There are some people who live by a moral code just to avoid a dirty conscience and guilt. I mean, there could be a lot of reasons for that. But that is not synonymous with salvation because there are so many reasons why people could live and do live by a moral code.

Let me give you an illustration of that. Go back to Matthew chapter 19 and here you meet a very familiar personality. In Matthew chapter 19 and verse 16, here comes a rich young ruler as we know him and he says in verse 16, "'Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?'" Now the guy confesses, I don't have eternal life. I don't have any hope for the future. I'm worried about dying.

I don't know where I'm going. He was not secure. He was afraid of the future.

I want eternal life. Now mark it in your mind, he knew he didn't have eternal life. The point is this, he hadn't attained what he wanted. He hadn't yet attained what he wanted.

How had he been trying to attain it? Well Jesus brings that out because Jesus says to him, if you want to enter into life in verse 17, keep the commandments. In other words, if you want to do it the way you're trying to do it, then just keep the commandments. He says, "'Which ones?' Jesus said, you shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And the young man said to him, all these things I have kept, what am I still lacking?"

Is that amazing? What are you saying is this, I never murdered anybody? I never committed adultery with anybody? I never stole from anyone? I have not purposely borne false witness against someone? I have done my best to honor my father and my mother? And I have tried to love my neighbor as myself? I've done all those things.

Mark it in your mind. He had done all those things, at least to the level that he assessed them, which would not be a true level. He hadn't truly done them, but his deceitful heart would lie to him about what he'd done. But he thought he'd kept it all. That was his goal, keep the Ten Commandments, keep the Ten Commandments. So here he's got a life of keeping the Ten Commandments. He comes to Jesus and says, all this keeping of the Ten Commandments and I'm telling you I don't have what?

Eternal life. Because eternal life is not the product of that. Sure, he hadn't kept them in their fullness. Jesus said that when I said you shall not commit murder, I meant you shouldn't hate either.

That's behind the murder. And when I said you shouldn't commit adultery, I meant that you shouldn't even look on a woman to lust after her, you have committed murder in your heart. No, he hadn't fully kept those things, but on the surface he had done his best to keep them all. But he knew he still didn't have eternal life. The point is this, you can live by the highest ethical code, the one given in Exodus 20, the very Ten Commandments of God and still not have eternal life because the one does not necessarily mean the other. A moral life didn't save him and yet he was trying to live a moral life in order to get eternal life. So a past event doesn't assure your salvation and neither does living by a moral code because you could do that for a lot of reasons.

A lot of people do. Thirdly, another I think misconception, another element of this negative approach, what does not verify salvation, is knowledge of the truth...knowledge of the truth. We used to call it head knowledge.

You ever heard that phrase? Head knowledge instead of heart knowledge? There are a lot of people who know the facts about Christ. They know the facts about God. They know God is God.

They know God is three-in-one. They know Christ is the Son of God. They know Christ is deity. They know Christ came into the world and did miracles. They know Christ died on the cross. They know that He died a substitutionary death. They know that He rose again the third day, that He offers salvation by grace and they know all of that in their head, but that's not synonymous with salvation. It's not what you know. In fact, the Pharisees and the scribes, like the other Jews that I've just mentioned, like Simon who was looking at an event, like the rich young ruler who was looking at a moral ethical standard, other Jews knew all about Christ from His birth on.

They knew everything about Him. That's why He says in Matthew 12, you can't be saved. You've committed an unpardonable sin.

Why? You've seen it all, you've heard it all, you've experienced it all and you won't believe. You have it all in your mind.

It's the same thing in Hebrews 6. You've been enlightened. You've tasted the heavenly gift. You've tasted the powers of the age to come. But you won't believe.

You won't receive. It is not enough to have a head knowledge. Faith without works is what?

Dead. And James 2 19, the devils believe but they tremble and they're not saved. You can believe it's all true.

I've had a friend through the years and for as long as I've known him and it's probably 25 years, he says, I believe, I believe, I believe at all but I'm not going to commit my life to it until I'm through enjoying the things that I want to enjoy. Head knowledge doesn't mean anything. The Jews had all of that.

Many people have that. The classic illustration is a man among the twelve, what's his name? Judas, what more information could that man have had in his head? He had it all. He had it all three years under the tutelage of the living Son of God. He knew it all. He saw it all. He felt it all. He experienced it all. And he never ever was saved.

He went to his own place when he committed suicide. Fourthly, this is another non-proof of salvation. Let's call it religious activity, religious activity, going to church, being baptized, taking communion or whatever, lighting candles, praying beads, doing religious pilgrimages, doing certain prayers, staying on your knees, marching here, marching there, whatever it is. Many, many people go through complex religious motions thinking that all of that religious activity equates to salvation. I think the perfect parallel of this is in Matthew 25. You remember you had the ten virgins waiting for the wedding and when the bridegroom came and went into the chamber to join the bride for all of the wonderful festivities, five of the virgins went in and five had to stay out because five had failed to put what?

Oil in their lamps. That's a very graphic picture of Israel, of the unpreparedness of Israel. And yet it's amazing that they were prepared up to a point. I mean, they were...they were from a visual viewpoint no different than the other five virgins, in their wedding garb, with the lamp in hand, in the right place at the right time, in somewhat similar character. Ten virgins assumes the characterization is somewhat the same.

But the missing factor was some had an internal quality that other didn't have. That's basically what Jesus is saying there. They had oil. Well oil some say is the Holy Spirit, some say is salvation.

What I take it as is simply that salvation, the right to enter the kingdom, which includes the Holy Spirit. Some had all the dress and all the garb and they were there in the right place at the right time but without the reality. It was external and it was not what?

Inter. So many like that. So they were left out of the kingdom. Israel was religious but shut out. Many people today, religious but shut out. There are some churches where there's reality and some churches where there's form and no reality. There are a lot of people who have very religious life, very religious.

It's a form of religion without reality. So religious activity isn't the issue. Fifthly and finally, service in the name of Christ isn't a proof of salvation. Service in the name of Christ isn't a proof of salvation. Matthew chapter 7, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? Have we not done many wonderful works? Have we not cast out demons in Your name?

And I will say, depart from you, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. Saying you represent Christ is not enough. Just because you preach Christ doesn't mean you really know Christ. There have been a lot of people, false people, preaching a true message, right?

So when you look for the verification of a person's spiritual condition, where do you look? Well Simon had an event but he wasn't saved. And the rich man had a high, high moral ethical code which he lived by, but he wasn't saved. And the Pharisees and the scribes and Judas saw everything that Christ did, heard what He said, particularly Judas, and he wasn't saved. There have been lots of people praying and fasting, giving money, going through religious motions who will never enter the kingdom because, you see, you can have a past spiritual event. You can live a moral ethical life because of peer pressure or because of some motive to gain favor or to avoid judgment. You can know the gospel in your mind.

You can even believe that it's true. You can be dutiful in your religious ceremonies. You can go to church, get baptized, take communion, and you can even render service to Christ preaching teaching if need be and still not be a true Christian and say, well what marks a true Christian? Look at it.

Three things. The true circumcision, worship in the Spirit of God. Listen, the first thing is an overflowing heart of worship. So if you want to look at your life, don't look, do I attend a service? Have I been baptized? Ask yourself, does my heart long to glorify the Lord? Do I love to praise Him and worship Him? Is it my heart's desire to serve Him? The question you want to ask is what is my attitude toward God? Because if I'm a Christian, the Spirit is in me and if the Spirit is in me, then He is prompting me to worship. And so I'll have a heart of adoration and a heart of praise and a heart that longs to serve God from the inside out.

So I have to look at my heart. So when the Scripture says examine yourselves, it starts there in the heart. Oh yes, there will be a moral code by which you live and there may have been a real event. There was for all of us a time when we were saved even though we don't know it. And we do have to know the facts and service will be a part of our life, but all of that will flow from the inside because we worship God prompted by the Spirit. It's worship on a supernatural level. It's not human, it's spiritual.

It's energized by the Holy Spirit. So you ask yourself then, do I love to praise God? Do I love to talk with Him? Do I love to learn about Him in His Word?

Do I want to serve Him? Oh sure, sin gets in the way and interrupts that and confuses my mind sometimes, but isn't there something deep within me that longs to praise and worship and love God, to read His Word, to know more about Him, to serve Him with all my heart? You see, that's the evidence coming from the inside. And the second thing He says, and glory in Christ Jesus. That verb in the Greek, to glory kau kaminoi, basically means to boast. But it has the idea of a rejoicing, exultant, almost a hilarious kind of boasting. And what it's saying here is that if you're a true Christian, all your boasting, all your rejoicing is going to be in Christ because all the credit belongs to Him.

So you haven't done anything to earn it. So how do you tell a true Christian? A true Christian gives all the credit to Christ. They rejoice in Christ. They're so thankful for Christ.

Christ has done it all. Whereas the false religionist wants you and God and everybody else to appreciate what He has done. The true Christian wants everyone else to appreciate what Christ has done. And finally, not only is the true believer characterized by worship, by rejoicing in Christ, but thirdly by humility.

Humility, that is the basic attitude of a genuine believer. He puts no confidence in the flesh. Very humbled by the fallen condition of His human flesh. He doesn't trust it. He doesn't trust in it. He began in the Spirit and He will continue in the Spirit. He knows that all the good that comes to Him and through Him is by the power of God. He has no confidence in His flesh to please God.

He knows it can. So there's a humility there. There's not a pushing of one's merit, of one's achievement, but there's humility. How do you identify a true Christian? Look for one who worships from the heart. That's prompted by the Spirit. Look for one whose glory and joy and boast is all Christ.

Look for one who when viewing himself is humble. Therein are the distinctive qualities of a true Christian. That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, continuing his study from Philippians chapter 3 here on Grace to You. It's a study that can help you discover if you're on the road to heaven or the road to nowhere. John, you said today that the Holy Spirit prompts believers to worship God.

Talk about what that prompting might look like. Is it a desire to sing or to pray or to read scripture or perhaps something else? I don't know that you could sort of sort it out as if the Holy Spirit is poking us and prodding us and so we sing or poking us and prodding us and so we pray and doing the same and so we pick up a Bible and read it. I really think that the best way to understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit in prompting worship is what we hear from our Lord in the text of John chapter 14, 15, and 16 when he's with his disciples on that final night before his crucifixion on the next day and he says, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will speak to you about me.

He will take that which is mine and show it to you. In other words, I think the way to grasp that is that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to point to Christ. It is to point to the glory of Christ. He does that objectively outside of us by revealing the New Testament which contains all the glorious truth about Christ. He does that subjectively or internally inside of us by being the resident truth teacher who makes the truths about Christ come alive. He is our resident interpreter of scripture. So as we look at the scripture, as we see the glory of Christ in the scripture revealed there by the Holy Spirit, and as the glory of Christ captures our heart, the Spirit quickens that. And Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, transforms us into the very image of Christ.

That's the work of the Holy Spirit. So he shows us Christ and worship rises out of that, singing, praying, singing, corporate worship, personal worship. More about worship in the book that I've written called Worship the Ultimate Priority. I'd love to get one to you.

They're available now at a very reasonable price. And friend, this book can help you make worship a consistent way of life and not just part of your Sunday morning routine. To order John's book called Worship the Ultimate Priority, get in touch with us today. Call us weekdays from 730 to 4 o'clock Pacific time at 855 Grace, or you can visit our website, gty.org. John's book on worship costs $9.50 and shipping is free.

This book would be great to study in a midweek small group to help encourage worship as a way of life. Again, to order call 800-55-GRACE or go online to gty.org. And remember that we appreciate hearing from you.

If God is using Grace to you to help you grow, let us know. That's a great encouragement for John and for our staff. Our email address is letters at gty.org.

Once more, that's letters at gty.org. And of course, you can drop a note to Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Well John has been showing you what makes a person a Christian and what doesn't. And tomorrow he's going to tackle the subject of true worship, answering the question, how can you be sure you're worshiping God in a way that pleases Him? For John MacArthur and the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson, inviting you to join us again tomorrow for another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.