Does your life reflect the things you say you believe? Since the early Church there have been those who have professed faith in Jesus and yet maintained sinful lifestyles. Often their lives are indistinguishable from people in the broader culture. Today on Truth for Life, Alastair Begg considers the Apostle John's test of genuine faith. I invite you to take your Bibles and we'll turn again to.
One John And the second chapter Our focus this evening is on the portion that was read for us from the third to the eleventh verse. of the second chapter. We should keep in mind all the way through our study that just as John is very clear as to his evangelistic purpose in his gospel, and he's equally clear concerning the purpose in this letter. And it's in the thirteenth verse of the fifth chapter. Where he says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
So as he writes his gospel, he is writing that men and women might come to discover eternal life. And as he writes these letters, he is writing in the realm of assurance. But the very obvious Thought which follows in John's exposition here. It's simply this, if it is possible To make claims about knowing God which are invalid. Then how may we be sure that we know him at all?
If it is possible to make invalid claims about knowing him, Spurious claims. that may pass the superficial tests of those who look from the outside, but do not pass the test of the all surpassing gaze of God, then is it possible for us to be assured of a knowledge of Him at all?
Now, to state it in those terms is to immediately remind one another that we're not dealing here, therefore, in the realm of superficial theory. We're actually talking about a matter of life and death. We're talking about the difference between spending eternity in heaven or spending eternity in hell. We're talking about the difference between living in communion and fellowship with God through Jesus Christ or living in ignorance of Him and in the darkness of our own meanderings.
So it is not that we're engaged in some theological exercise in dipping into one John that is a kind of rarefied treat for those who may be tuned in to such matters. No. We're dealing in a realm that is vital to our physical and spiritual well-being.
Now, we need always to be reminding ourselves again of the context in which John is writing these words. And some of the people who were the heretical teachers whom John is addressing, the individuals who were coming with their spurious claims, were speaking of a knowledge of God that was primarily. One or two conceptions. Either, and some spoke of a knowledge of God which was simply an intellectual awareness. That somehow God could be known by a process of logical thought.
And if one was bright and able enough to think logically through certain premises and sub-premises, then they would be able to arrive at this knowledge. On the other hand, and within the all and overarching Gnostic notion, some were teaching that a knowledge of God was really just a mystical or an emotional experience. That your awareness of God somehow came as a result of managing to clear yourself and to divest yourself of all these different things and kind of transcendentally tune in to God. The interesting thing is that in both cases, they were absent one vital characteristic, and it was this. That while some said knowledge of God is akin to an intellectual awareness, and others said knowledge of God is akin to an emotional experience, both said.
That either of those knowledges Maybe Known and experienced by individuals while at the same time being separated from. Moral consequences at all. In other words, it is possible to know God and to live as you like.
Now, when we think about that for a moment or two, we realize that it has strong parallels with our day. Because if we go out and hit the streets, there are tons of people who will speak about a knowledge of God. There are people all across our nation who are unashamed about saying that they know God. But of course, what they mean by the statement, I know God. May be very, very different from the knowledge which John is about to introduce us to here.
They may simply be talking about the fact that they have responded to the apologetic arguments of the truth of the gospel.
Someone has said, you know, have you considered this and this and this and this? And they said, oh yes, that seems eminently sensible to me. Or perhaps somebody took them along to a meeting somewhere and they got really hyped up. And their spirits got all kind of stoked, and they got emotionally charged. let us be in no doubt at all to night.
That there is a knowledge of God which is enjoyed by the demonic powers in our universe. They believe in God. But they're not saved. They believe in God. but they're never going to be in heaven.
And it is possible for people to have a knowledge of God which is no different than the knowledge which demons have. which is an awareness that truth is true. but it has never transformed their lives. That's why you see it's so very very important.
Now, in the remainder of the whole of 1 John, John is going to draw his arguments around these three tests. And you'll find that this book, as you've been reading it, is fairly repetitive, and it virtually defies one's ability to break it down and move it on. And it's as if he just He just weaves again and again back around these things. The three tests which he provides, we've noted before, and let me reiterate them for us: is first of all the moral test. Or if you like, the obedience factor.
The second test is the social test or the love factor, and the third test is the doctrinal test, or the belief factor.
Now he deals with the first two of these in the verses before us, and it is to these two tests that we're going to give our minds in the remainder of our time tonight. First of all then, test number one is the moral test or the test of true obedience. Verse 3. We know that we have come to know him, If We obey. His Commands.
Now, the Bible teaches that no one has ever come to know God by means of human speculation nor as a result of investigation. but rather as a result of revelation. John's Gospel chapter 1. And that word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. And that, of course, was the opening section of 1 John, as we noted here.
So the believer Looking back on the events of his life, When the Spirit of God started to stir within him, and the Word of God was quickened to him, and he realized, or she realized, that she was sinful, he was sinful and in need of a Savior. And they look back to that event which has abiding consequences and significance for today. We know, he says, that we have come to know him. We know that the event at that time when we placed our faith and trust in Jesus Christ was a reality and not a sham. We may know that to be true.
A past event with abiding consequences, if We Obey his commands.
Now, flip it around and understand it. If we do not obey his commands. then we bear no testimony in our lives That would give Credence to the fact that whatever happened in the past was in fact. reality.
So that the abiding consequences of the Spirit's work within us. gives credence and reality and hope. to the professions that we have made.
Now we will return to this, but let us notice for the moment that the first indicator of it all lies in obedience. J.B. Phillips paraphrases it in this way: It is only when we obey God's laws that we can be quite sure that we really know Him.
Now that is a word for our generation, loved ones. It's an unspoken word, it's an unheard notion. Because we are consumed with the idea that anybody knows God anyway, anytime, anyhow. And as long as they have said something or done something, they must know him. John says, no, no.
Hold up, he says. Take test one. You may know That you have come to know him. If You rest fully in his saving work. and display it fully in the abiding life.
You see, the absence of a knowledge of God in a generation or in a nation or in a life. won't be made obvious by the absence of verbal testimony. It will be made obvious by the absence of the moral characteristics Which accompany a knowledge of God. Let me illustrate it from the Old Testament again. It's somewhere in Hosea: there is no knowledge of God in the land.
Only cursing Lying murder, stealing and adultery. They break all bounds and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Okay, so how do we know that there is a knowledge of God in the land? It is as a result of the moral fortitude of those who name his name. And the Israelites claim to know God. And God, by his prophet, says, You think you know me? I want you to know you don't.
There is no knowledge of me in the land. And I'll tell you why I know. Because instead of the land being marked by righteousness, it is marked by rebellion, marked by cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. The kind of things that sell magazines and make television programs and movies number one hits.
So let's face the facts about our land, loved ones. Let's be honest about where we are. There is an absence of a knowledge of God. in our land. There's not an absence of people talking about God in our land.
There is not an absence of people claiming to know God in our land. I'm telling you, there is an absence of a knowledge of God in our land. It's the same absence as was true in the day to which Hosea spoke prophetically.
So, for John's readers and for us, the truth comes home with great conviction. It is only as we obey him that we can claim to know him. Because he says, the man who makes the claim, I know him, but does not do what he commands, is a liar. And the truth is not in him. In other words, verbal profession Minus moral persistence.
is self-delusion. That's what John is saying here. This is the Apostle of Love. And this ought to correct once and for all the notion that pervades many of our minds that somehow loving and being loving and speaking loving is telling everybody that everything's great. John is the apostle of love, and he speaks so clearly, it chills your back.
The man who says I know him But doesn't do what he commands. is a downright liar. And the truth isn't in here. Isn't that exactly what Jesus said? Turn to John 15 for a moment, John 14.
You see, the real test of the apostles was that they were reiterating the ministry of Christ.
So we need to go back to the Gospels and find out if what's written in the epistles. Correlates.
Well, let's just listen to Jesus, John 14, 15. If you love me. You will obey. What I command.
Sounds the same, doesn't it? Verse 21: Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one. Who loves me? Verse 23, if anyone loves me, He will obey my teaching. And then he goes on to make this tremendous statement: My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
You want to live with Jesus? Do you want to drive in your car with Jesus? Do you want to know that He loves you with an everlasting love? Here it is. The man who loves me obeys my teaching.
And the father loves him for doing what I said, and me and my dad are going to come and live with that man. The ground of our salvation Is the atoning work of Jesus on the cross? 1 John 2.2. The evidence of our salvation. Lies in our obedient lives.
That is why, when we are being disobedient as believers, we don't have a strong assurance in our hearts. We shouldn't. We shouldn't. It's kind of like a thing going off in your body to tell you you need to take your medicine or something, or to tell you you need to go to the doctor for an examination. It's like a toothache that sends you to the dentist.
It's good that it hurts. It hurts so that you may be healed. And when we are disobedient, those of us who are truly in Christ, we don't have a strong assurance, do we? Yeah. Because we know that obedience is correlative to love.
That the man who loves Jesus. Passes. this moral test.
Now the proof of love then is loyalty.
Well, you say to me, dear me, I got a problem here, Alistair, because I'll tell you, there's a couple of his commands I looked fool in the face this week and I didn't do them. Does that mean I'm a liar? Yeah. Because obviously, John here is not talking about a hundred percent success. He's not talking about men and women coming into a state of sinless perfection.
If he were, he would already be contradicting himself in the first 12 verses or so that we've looked at, because he's already said: if you start going around saying that you don't sin, you're a liar as well.
So don't go around saying that you're sinless, either in your pre-converted state or in your post-converted state. Because the only day you'll be sinless is when you je see Jesus, you're made like him, and you're removed from the realm of sin.
So in other words, it is about the disposition of our hearts. The man who says, I know him, but doesn't give a rip for his commands, doesn't follow after him, doesn't have a watchful, obedient disposition to Jesus Christ, is just a liar. Those of us who are walking out, desiring to be obedient to Jesus Christ, know that we're not scoring 100% every day we live our lives. Know what it is for the clouds to come down and mar our fellowship. Know what it is for us to have to get back on our knees and redress and regroup and get up and go on.
But when we have said that, it has not denuded the force of what John is saying here. True love for God, as it is for one another, as we'll see in a moment, is not sentimental language. It isn't mystical or emotional experience. It is moral obedience. And you know, a lot of us have been really suckered into assessing our Christian lives by wrong things.
Some of us go through dreadful times in a week because we vacillate on our feelings all the time. I don't know if I feel really, really Christian today. I don't know if I feel saved today. I don't know. I think I need to sing 10 choruses in a row.
Then I'll get back to that feeling again, that saved feeling.
Well, let me ask you, men, how many of you wake up on a Monday morning and Hit the jolly little alarm clock on the right-hand side and go, Yeah, I do. I feel married this morning.
Well, whether you do or you don't, I got news for you. You are married. And how you feel about it, and how you don't feel about it, and how it ebbs and flows, and wings and wongs, and ups and downs is not the issue. You're married. And the test of your marriage is in your obedience to the commitments that you've made, not the fluctuating feelings of your moods.
And it's the same in the life of Christ. Don't let's assess ourselves. Don't let's be taking our pulses all the time. Find out if we're alive. It's Tuesday.
I wonder if I'm still. Saved? No, here's a good test. Are you doing it? Are you saying no to ungodliness and yes to righteousness?
Are you walking in the light as he is in the light? Are you obeying the truth? Do you have an inner disposition to say, Jesus said it and I'm going to do it? Are you running around making up big, elaborate excuses as to why you shouldn't be baptized? If a man loves me, he will do what I command.
End of story. And that which is plain and obvious and is set aside in our lives. will have vast ramifications. for many other arenas. which are unseen.
By the watching world.
Now look at verse 5. If anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him.
Some have used this, Wesley was one of them, to teach perfection in this life. And there have been disciples of Wesley since, and some are lingering today. And they teach that this notion, God's love being made truly complete in us, means that we come to Him complete and entire sanctification, that sin is eradicated and we don't have to deal with anything anymore.
Well, we can have a kind of seminar on that one night. I'm not going to camp on it at the moment. Let us just say what John 5 is laying out, and it is this. that believing in him and belonging to him is vitally linked to behaving like him.
Okay. Believing in Him, belonging to Him means behaving like Him. That's my own paraphrase of verses 5 and 6. Whoever claims to live in him must walk. as Jesus did.
How do I know tonight that I am in Christ? 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come, or the old has passed away, and all things have been made new. And we know that verse, and we say that's ours. How do we know that's true?
How do we know tonight that we are in Christ? That's what John is getting at here. And again, I want to say to you that many of the things that we've used as criteria of assessment are actually unhelpful rather than helpful.
Some of us are saying, I know Christ tonight because I prayed the prayer.
Well, I've read my Bible through and through, and I didn't find it, Jesus gave the prayer.
Some are saying, I am in Christ tonight because I went at a meeting and I went somewhere or I did something or I have a card somewhere in my Bible and I know that it says, If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation, and I am in Christ because I have a card in my Bible.
Well, I'm glad you have a card in your Bible. But John never said anything about a card in your Bible. He never said anything about praying a prayer. He never said anything about walking an aisle. He said, Here's how you'll know that you're in Christ if you keep His commands.
That's it. Whether you're a pastor, a priest, a prophet, an elder, a deacon, a singer, a testifier, a speaker at women's clubs, I don't care who you are, here's the test. The moral test of the radical claims of Jesus Christ. And I say again, we've soft-soaked the gospel to such a degree that every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Mary that is found trundling along somewhere in a vast cavernous gap somewhere behind Jesus Christ is swept into his life.
Well, we made a new gospel. Certainly, not the gospel of Jesus, nor the gospel of John, nor what he is driving home here. The relevance or the irrelevance of what happened in the past needs to be assessed. In light of what is going on in the present, this is how we know we are in Him. Whoever claims to live in him.
Must walk. As Jesus did. You're listening to Truth for Life. With Alistair Begg. If you've listened to Truth for Life for any length of time, you know we recommend books each month, and I hope you take advantage of these recommendations.
We select these books to give you a deeper understanding of God and His Word.
Now a great way for you to get twenty four books each year is to become one of our Monthly Truth Partners. A commitment to give twenty dollars or more each month is all it takes for you to be able to request the books we make available. You don't have to give an extra gift. Just go online, ask for your books to be sent to you. And of course there are more benefits to being a monthly truth partner.
When you sign up we'll send you a hard cover copy of the Truth for Life devotional as our way of saying thank you, and you'll also have access to a special monthly message from Alastair that is not featured on our website. Best of all, your monthly giving is what makes it possible for listeners all around the world to hear solid Bible teaching every day on Truth for Life. Sign up online at truthforlife dot org slash truthpartner or call us at eight eight eight five eight eight seven eight eight four. Thanks for joining us today. Tomorrow we'll learn about the social test that reveals the reality of our relationship with God.
The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
