Dealing with Doubt | Part 2

Is your salvation marked by religion hasn't changed your life, you need to change your religion. In part one of today's program, we learned that as Christians, we have the opportunity to know without a doubt that we have eternal life, but we can also be saved and doubted. 1 John 5 is written for those who wrestle with doubt so that we may be saved and know it. If you have your Bible, turn there now as Adrian Rogers concludes this powerful message on dealing with doubt.

1 John 5 and verse 13, where the apostle John says, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know, K-N-O-W, ifs, ands, and buts, and maybes about it, that ye may know that you have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. Now doubts are not good, but there's even a bright side to doubt. You see, doubt is to your spirit what pain is to your body. If you're feeling a pain right now, does that mean you're dead? It means you're alive. You see, you couldn't feel pain unless you had life.

Now, pain is a signal there's something wrong in your body. Doubt is a signal that there's something wrong in your spirit. Doubt is to the spirit what pain is to the body. Now, I'm not trying to say that doubt is good anymore than I'm trying to say that pain is good, but pain is good when it becomes a warning signal and doubt is good when it becomes a warning signal. You see, to tell us that we need to deal with that doubt. And so I want to show you how to deal with doubt today. Now, it is possible to be saved and to doubt. As a matter of fact, let's find out how many of you, after you were saved, ever at least one time had a doubt about your salvation? Let me see your hand. Almost all of us, right?

Okay. So we have doubted our salvation. A woman told the great evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, she said, I've been saved. I've been saved 25 years and I've never had one single doubt. He said, madam, I doubt you've been saved. That'd be like someone saying, we've been married 50 years and never had an argument.

I'd say, I doubt you've been married. Now, folks, I'm not trying to say that arguments are good. I'm not trying to say that pain is good. I'm not trying to say that doubts are good, but I'm saying that they're facts of life. And when John said, I have written a book that you might know that you're saved, that is, it is possible to be saved and have doubts about your salvation. And what John was trying to do was to clear up those doubts because he was writing to Christians, okay? And so what John is giving us here is a way that we can say, praise God, I know that I know that I know that my sins are forgiven.

Christ is in my heart and heaven is my home because that is very important. It is important in service. It is important in soul winning.

That's so important in service. There's some people who say, oh, you ought not to give people the assurance of their salvation. Give them the assurance of their salvation, then they'll get relaxed. No.

Folks, that's crazy. The assurance of your salvation is the base that you work from. You see, when I know that my future is secure, then I can concentrate on the present.

See? And it's so important to salvation, I mean, to soul winning. What kind of a soul winner would a person be who did not have the assurance of his own salvation? A person who says, you come follow me. I don't know where I'm going.

No, listen. We want to follow people who would say with the apostle Paul, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. John says, I wrote this book that you might have assurance that you might K-N-O-W, not hope, think, wish, surmise, but that you might know that you have eternal life. And then John gives us three tests. And I want to show you those tests.

They're in this book. And what I've done is to try to take the book and almost condense the book of 1 John and extract out of it the three major tests that John gives that we might know that we have eternal life. And he tells us before each of these tests that this is a test that is a benchmark or a birthmark, as it were, of salvation.

So I want us to look at these tests. The first test I'm going to call the commandment test. Look with me in 1 John chapter 2 and we begin in verse 3.

All right? 1 John chapter 2 and verse 3. Now, just underscore that, then put a mark by it somewhere if you are one who likes to mark your Bible. And don't be afraid to wear out a Bible. If you wear out a Bible, say, praise God, and get you another one.

Amen? Somebody said, if you have a Bible that's falling apart, you probably have a life that's not. Hereby do we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar. I wonder why John doesn't just say what he thinks.

Why does he beat around a bush like that? He says the truth is not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. You have the idea that John had been in some kind of a Baptist testimonial meeting where a man stood up and talked about his salvation, how glad he was to be saved, and old John wants to say, liar, I know the way you live. And you say that you know him, you don't keep his commandments. You're lying.

You're lying. Listen. He goes on in verse 5, but whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk as he walked. That is, John's logic here is impeccable. If I'm in Christ and Christ is in me, then I'm going to be walking like Jesus walks. And Jesus, of course, keeps the command of God. A person who says that he's saved who doesn't keep the commandments of God is lying.

That's what John says. I don't care whose church he's a member of. I don't care how much theology he has in his head. I don't care what kind of experience he had at an altar. John says, if you're not keeping the commandments of God, you say that you know him, you're lying.

Well, let me ask a question now. How many ever since you've been saved have kept every command of God, never broken to one? None of us.

Well, now, wait a minute. Does that mean that none of us are saved? Well, John says if we know him, we're going to keep his commandments. The key is in this word keep. You see, John is not talking about sinless perfection here.

The Bible does not teach sinless perfection, but the Bible does teach that we have no right to call ourselves children of God if we do not care for God's commandments, if we don't order our lives by God's commandments. I tell you folks, there are people who walk down the aisle of churches and shake hands with preachers and join churches like they're joining a country club. There's no change of heart. There's no change of life. They don't change their lifestyle. They live the same ungodly lives. Those people have no reason whatsoever to think that they're going to heaven. I've said it before.

I'll say it again. If your religion hadn't changed your life, you better change your religion. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. We're not talking about sinless perfection, but I'm trying to tell you, my dear friend, that the goal, the aim of your life will be to live according to the Word of God and the commandments of this Book. And hereby do we know that we know him if we keep his commandments, if we chart our course by the Word of God. We're talking about knowing that we've been saved because we keep his commandments.

There is no way that we know him. Here's the commandment test. That's the first one. I want to give you another test. Not only the commandment test, but the companion test, the companion test. I want you to look here now, 1 John 3 and verse 14. We know that we pass from death unto life because we love the brethren.

Again, he's telling us how to know it, isn't he? We know that we pass from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Turn over to chapter 4 and look in verse 20 now. If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also. He that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. It's very clear that another birthmark of the believer is love for the brethren. We know that we're of him because we love the brethren.

You see, when I'm saved, I want to be right with my brothers and I want to be with my brothers. Have you ever heard anybody say you don't have to go to church to worship God? That's true. But have you ever heard anybody say you can worship God just as well without going to church? That's false.

That's false. The Bible says forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. We ought to pray for these who are sick and shut in, who cannot be here. Even watching by television, listening by radio or tape is no substitute for being with the saints. For you see, listen, Jesus said we're two or three together together in my name. There am I in the midst of them. There's a very special way in which our Lord is present when the saints join together to worship the Lord together.

As a matter of fact, did you know I found out recently something very interesting? The word saint is never used in the singular in the New Testament. It's always the saints. The saints. You see, God blesses the saints. Even Jesus, when he taught us to pray, taught us to pray, our Father, not my Father, but our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Dear friend, there is the companion test. If you love Jesus, you're going to love the church.

And I'll tell you why. Listen, it is because of the nature of the Christian and the nature of the church. What is the nature of the Christian? Well, the nature of the Christian is the nature of God.

Let me show you here how John points it out. Would you look with me, for example, in 1 John, chapter 4, verse 7? Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God, and he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. Now, if you wanted to tell somebody what God is like, you'd have to say God is love, right? God is love.

Notice John's logic. God is love, all right? We are born of God. That is, we have the nature of God. Now, if God is love, and I have the nature of God, then I'm going to have love in me. If I don't have love in me, I don't have the nature of God. If I don't have the nature of God, I haven't been born of God.

That's what John is saying. You see, one reason that you'll love the Brethren is because of what you are as a Christian. Another reason you'll love the Brethren is because of what they are. The Bible describes the church two ways. The church, number one, is called the body of Christ.

Number two, the church is called the bride of Christ. Now, the church is the body of Christ. He's the head, and we are the members of that mystical body. The church and Jesus Christ are not identical, but they are inseparable. If you take the head from the body, what do you have?

Death. Don't be so silly as to say, I love Jesus, but I don't love the church. Or you say, I love Adrian Rogers, I just don't love his body, only his head.

You see, that's ridiculous. Or you say, I don't love my body, I just love my head. The Bible says no man ever yet hated his own body. Now, listen, Jesus loves his body, which is the church. We are the body of Christ. It would be ridiculous, absolutely unmitigated foolishness for you to say, I love Jesus Christ, but I do not love his body, the church. If you love Christ, you're going to love Jesus. You're going to love what Christ loves, and Christ loves his church, the body of Christ. But not only is the church his body, the church is also his bride. Now, dear friend, what man doesn't love his bride?

And the church is the bride of Christ. Now, listen, if you really wanted to get my attention, there's several ways you could do it. One way, you could start harming my body. Maybe you could, my finger would be out there on a table somewhere, on a platform, and you could walk over and stand on my finger. Well, you would get my attention.

I would say, pardon me. You're standing on me. And you say, oh, no, I'm not standing on you, I'm standing on your finger. I'd say, well, call it what you will, but move it.

Because what affects my finger affects me. Now, you see, listen, we are members of the body of Christ. Remember when Saul was on the road to Damascus to persecute the church? Jesus met him, and Jesus said to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Now, Saul may have said, hey, I'm not persecuting you, I'm persecuting the church.

But do you understand what I'm saying? When you persecute the church, you persecute Jesus, because we're members of his body. When you love the church, you love Jesus. When you honor the church, you honor Jesus. When you neglect the church, you neglect Jesus. We are members of his body.

He is the head, and we're members. My intention would be to abuse my body. I'll tell you another way you could get my attention real quick, and that would be to abuse my bride. I love my wife, and I'm not as good a man as I used to be. But if you fool with my bride, God gives me the strength, I'll put you on the ground as quick as I can, if that's what it takes to make you leave her alone. Because she's my bride, and I would die for her.

I would die for her. The church is the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bought with his blood. The Bible says we are his body. We are his bride. And how dare anybody say that I am saved, born again? And I don't love the brethren. I don't love the church. Oh, I know all the brethren are not lovely. They're not all lovely. Do you ever get vexed with some of the members of your own family?

I do. Some of my family members vex me. I'm sure I never vex them. Sometimes the members of my family vex me. They upset me. They irritate me. But I love them. Church members may vex us sometimes. They irritate us.

Sometimes we have disagreements. To dwell there above with those that we love, that will be glory. But to live here below with those that we know, that's another story, isn't it? It's love. And one of the ways that I know that I'm saved is, folks, it may sound corny, but I love you.

I love the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I love all Christians everywhere that I meet them. It's one of the birthmarks of the believer. There is the commandment test. There is the companion test. I want to give you the third test that John talks about here. And it is what I want to call the commitment test. Look, if you will, now, beginning in 1 John, chapter 5, verse 10, what's the commitment test? Why didn't you call it the belief test? Because John talks about those that believe. Well, I could have called it the belief test.

But here's the reason why I didn't. Our English word, believe, is not quite as strong as the Greek word here. For example, we believe intellectually that George Washington was the father of our country, that he lived and he was a historical character. I believe in George Washington, but I'm not trusting him for anything.

I am not committed to George Washington. But when I believe in Jesus Christ, I trust him for something, and I am committed to him for something. Do you understand? And the Bible word believe here means commitment.

It means trust. Now, the question is, are you believing on Jesus Christ? Now, I want to say something here, and I want you to pay attention, because somebody's liable to misquote me or misunderstand what I'm saying, so lend me your ears and listen. Nowhere that I can find does the Bible ever tell us to look back to some experience for the assurance of our salvation. The Bible doesn't deal with what happened to you in the past for assurance. This is in the present tense. These things have I written unto you that believe, not believed, but believe, present tense.

Those who believe right now, that's the way that you can have assurance. You say, well, pastor, why are you putting it that way? Why take this time to explain that?

I'll tell you why. Listen to me, folks. Have you ever been out soul winning, going door to door, and you meet a person? That person hadn't darkened the door of a church for 40 years. They're living a lifestyle that is un-Christ-like, and you try to get them back to church in service to the Lord, and you might as well be talking to a stone wall, and you say to yourself, well, I know what this person's problem is.

They just need to be saved. And so you start to try to lead them to Christ, and they say, oh, wait a minute now, I'm saved. I was saved when I was a nine-year-old boy. I remember walking down the aisle, giving my heart to Jesus, and I got saved.

Mister, let me tell you something. Nowhere in the Bible will you ever find that thing is proof of salvation, not what you did in the past. Friend, if you did believe, you still will be believing, and if you are believing, you did believe, but the proof right now is in the present tense, and the same thing is true about commandment keeping. It doesn't say he that kept his commandment. It says he that keeps his commandment. It doesn't say he that loved the brethren. It says he that loves the brethren, and the proof, dear friend, the proof, the proof is right now. Do you have that faith in your heart? Is there that trust and that commitment to Jesus? You see, I John 5, verse 10 says, he that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself.

There's the witness, not what happened in the past. I've heard people say, well, mister, if you can't name the day, the place, and the hour where you were saved, you're not saved. Have you ever heard that?

Sure you have. I've heard it too, but I've never read it in the Bible, and neither have you. Now, if you have a day, a place, an hour where you were saved, that's fine, that's good, that's wonderful, and I want to hasten to say there was a day, there was a place, there was an hour, or you never were saved, but listen, the evidence that that happened is sitting there in that seat.

You understand what I'm saying? Now, folks, let me tell you something. The person who is here this morning is the best proof I know of whether you saved or lost. I mean, is that person sitting in that seat this morning, is he a person committed to the commandments of Jesus Christ? Is he a person whose heart is overflowing with love for Christ and his church? Is this a person who now has that confidence, that faith, that commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord of Lords and King of Kings? That's the person John says can say, I know, I know that I'm saved. Thank God for the past. Thank God for those who can name the day, the place, the hour, the point, the spot, the dirty spot on the rug where they got saved.

Wonderful. He has eternal life. I preached this message this morning for two reasons. I preached it, first of all, to help those of you who are saved but maybe have had some doubts to get it together.

But I preached it for another reason. I don't want to give false assurance to some people who've never been saved. Do you know that you're saved? Now, if you have strong reason to doubt your salvation this morning, or put it this way, if you don't have strong reason to know that you're saved, get it settled today. And friend, I want to tell you that loving the brethren and keeping the commandments are not something you do in order to get saved. There's something you do because you're saved. There are birthmarks that you've received Christ as your personal Savior. There are indications that you have been saved.

John says that's the way you can know. Because I don't think I've ever given my life to Jesus Christ. I've never begun that relationship with Him. I invite you to pray with me right now, something like this from your heart. Oh God in heaven, I know that I'm a sinner and you're holy. I'm separated from you. And I have no hope in and of myself because of my sin.

I can't work my way to you. But I believe that Jesus did the work on the cross that I can't do. He lived a perfect life. He was the perfect sacrifice for me. He died and rose again to new life so that I could have that relationship with you.

Come into my life right now. I believe that you're offering this forgiveness and your holiness, your righteousness in exchange for my sin. So I give that to you and receive your gift in faith in Jesus' name.

Amen. Welcome to God's Forever Family. We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like a copy of today's message in its entirety, you can call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD and mention the title, Dealing with Doubt. This lesson is also part of the insightful series, Getting a Handle on Your Emotions. For that complete collection, all eight powerful messages, call that number, 877-LOVE-GOD.

Memphis, Tennessee 38183. The assurance of our salvation is ongoing. It's not a past event stamped by a time, date and place. It's a present decision to trust in Jesus right now. We can trust in Him for He alone is the assurance of our salvation. We're so glad you studied in God's word with us today.

Tune in tomorrow for more from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. Here's an encouraging note we received from a listener. I have found Pastor Rogers' messages and instructions for applying the word of God to be an inimitable source of spiritual support and strength. Thank you for sharing how these messages have equipped you in these uncertain times. In this past year, we've seen through the COVID-19 pandemic, social unrest and political division that the days are growing gloriously dark. This difficult year has made people more open to the things of God. And here at Love Worth Finding, we're ready to meet them with the hope and the love of Jesus. That's why we believe this is one of the best times ever to make a difference for the kingdom. And we want to ask you to consider renewing your support with a calendar year-end gift today. Here's our number, 1877-LOVE-GOD. Or give online at lwf.org slash radio. Thank you.