ResponsiveReiding

Why go to Church? Part 2

April 19th, 2019

Why go to Church? Pt. 2

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

Last time, we began to look at this question by exploring the nature of all Believers being a Priesthood unto God. And we looked at it mainly in the context of gathered public worship. That we get together like this on a Sunday to indulge in our Priestly privileges: Especially by preserving the right worship of the One True God in society.

We gather to take in the nourishment of the sincere milk of God’s Word; to offer up spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving; and to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

But there is much more for us to explore on this topic. And part of that exploration is necessary due to 2 common misunderstandings. And so I want to work from 1 key text this morning: Acts 2:42-47

Acts 2:42–47 ESV / And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Narrative texts always call for special attention. Just because an event is recorded doesn’t mean it’s necessarily good. That Judas went and hanged himself is not meant to be a paradigm for us. But when events coincide with other Biblical teaching, and, as in this case – we see how the Church drew from it historically – we have a good level of confidence. There are 3 elements I want to touch on in this text as displaying what the early Church looked like under the direct supervision of the Apostles.

1. The DEVOTION of the Believers

The Believers did not simply attend services, they were a group DEVOTED to some specific things. One lexicon defines this word “devoted” as: “to persist in adherence to a thing; to be intently engaged in, attend constantly to.” Serving Christ together was not a passing part of life – it became the hub around which their lives now revolved. But what was it specifically they devoted themselves to? 4 things. Acts 2:42

Acts 2:42 ESV / And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

a. The apostle’s teaching: Literally, to the Apostles themselves teaching – not just to a body of truth. We know from the different words the Bible uses there were basically 4 kinds of preaching. We can’t explore those now, but they devoted themselves to having the Word of God expounded and applied to their lives. They were devoted to Biblical preaching.

b. The Fellowship: Involvement in each other’s lives. Knowing each other’s needs. It is why the word gets translated in another place as “partnership.” They joined as partners in the cause of Christ. This gets characterized a few verses later as doing whatever it took – even selling property or goods to see each other were cared for. We’ll come back to this.

c. The Breaking of bread: Shared meals which always included a reference to the idea of communion or the Lord’s Table. Eventually it became a technical term just for the Lord’s Supper.

d. The Prayers: They were a praying Church.

So we note first how Christians were marked out by how they were devoted to: The teaching of the Apostles; The Fellowship of Believers; The Breaking of Bread; and The Prayers. Devotion to these things speaks to us especially in our day where Christians face the twin giant enemies of: Distraction and Apathy.

The distraction of a 24 hour news cycle that incessantly cries out for our attention to all sorts of things – most of which we can do little if anything about – except be occupied with. Sports and other activities also vie for the Sunday time slot.

But then there is spiritual apathy: A loss of urgency and importance regarding the state of health and growth of one’s soul in the image of Christ. A willingness to be content with what we might call a bare salvation instead of a commitment to be actively engaged in what we know is the goal of Scripture for us as stated in places like Ephesians 4:11–14 ESV / And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

1. DEVOTION

2. INVESTMENT

We see the nature of this investment in vss. 44 &45

Acts 2:44–45 ESV / And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Here is another common misunderstanding we need to address. Some have thought these verses teach that there was some form of communism or socialism afoot here. But that is to ignore the balance of Scripture. e.g. When we get to Ch.5 we read of the account of Ananias and Sapphira and how they claimed to have sold a piece of property for a certain amount of money to give to the Apostles to meet the needs of the needy. But Peter plainly reminds them that when they owned the property it was theirs to do with as they pleased, as were the proceeds of the sale. These didn’t automatically become communal property.

The early Church did not have all their goods in common as though private ownership disappeared. This was a voluntary giving up of some things so that those among them who were truly in need were provided for. They had all things in common in this sense: They shared common concern for one another’s welfare so that what they had was to be employed to meet one another’s needs.

But if we imagine this to be merely a financial or material concern – we completely miss the balance of Scripture. As we’ll see in a minute, if we do not have a burden for the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ – and ESPECIALLY for their spiritual needs, we cannot carry out the most vital aspects of being committed to one another – of being invested in the lives of some group or body of Believers. They had a common faith which led to common goals and therefore common concerns for one another in concert with those goals. Above all, the goal of growing together into the image of Christ – taking on His character in spiritual growth.

Which brings us to the 3rd consideration here:

1. Devotion

2. Investment

3. Commitment

And this commitment showed itself in a very specific way: Acts 2:46–47 ESV / And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Once again we are into some serious myth-busting. It surrounds the ideas of commitment to a particular group of Believers. And I know this is an area of disagreement among true and sincere Christ followers.

There are those who object to a worship service like we’re a part of this morning, since, (as the argument goes) the early Church didn’t meet in Church buildings, they met in homes. So this whole coming to a Church building thing is an invention of organized religion. So they reject the need for gathering together as we do today as an invention. Then, there are those who will argue that coming together for gathered worship is really the whole shebang of being “Church”. That once they’ve performed their holy duty for the week – they want to be left alone. Church is a once a week meeting. Been there, done, that, got the T-shirt, see you next week. That is their entire conception of “Church.”

But Scripture challenges both of those ideas.

How it does, and how that is confirmed in history is important to investigate. But in doing so, I want to rephrase our original question. The title so far has been Why go to Church? I’m going to switch that to: Why BE the Church? The reason for the change should be obvious to most of you – I hope. Church is NOT a building or an organization. It is because the Church is not this building – or any building for that matter. The Church is the people who meet here. Believers gathering, THAT, is Church.

Under the Old Covenant, the Mosaic and Jewish order, God’s presence dwelt in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple, within the Holy of Holies – the inner most part that God had commanded be fabricated as a place for His presence to be among His people. That economy was one of types and shadows – not the final form of what God was after. Now, under the New Covenant, we have an entirely new arrangement.

Paul spells it out in Ephesians 2:18–22 ESV / For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

We meet here in what we can call a Church building, but it’s merely a meeting place – it is NOT “the Church.” We, indeed all those who believe in Jesus Christ are “the Church.” We as a people are now His dwelling place. So we do not in truth gather to come TO Church as much as we gather to BE the Church. To be the public gathering of those who are God’s people: Christ’s Congregation.

But what about the way we gather? Is it Biblical?

Why “going to Church” looks the way it does.

As I mentioned above, some people object to the need for this kind of weekly gathering arguing that the early Church didn’t do this, they just met in homes. Didn’t they? Well, no. As our text notes: Day by day they attended the Temple together AND, they broke bread in their homes. It was not an either/or construct – it was a both/and. And to be honest with you, I never saw the true importance of the 2nd idea here – in terms of meeting in the homes until the last couple of years.

Now for those who object to needing to gather in the larger context we need to look at some Scriptural evidence. 1st we need to remember that when Jesus was here, He did the majority of His teaching and preaching in the Synagogue and not outdoors or in homes. Luke 4:14–16 ESV / And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.

When Jesus was being tried and questioned by the High Priest He responded: John 18:20 ESV / Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.

On the Day of Pentecost, there were 120 gathered in the “upper room.” A facility about this size. When Paul was booted out of the Synagogue in Corinth, he found a new meeting place – renting the “hall of Tyrannus” for 2 years. With all of Jesus’ disciples being Jews, the “church” format they would be most familiar with was the weekly Synagogue service. This proves to be the pattern the early Church followed.

Acts 15:21 tells us the basics.

Acts 15:21 ESV / For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

And historians tell us what that looked like in full. Their Sabbath gathering had 5 elements.

a. The Shema was read: A prayer that included Deut. 6:4-9; 11:13-21; Numb. 15:37-41.

b. There were special synagogue prayers recited – most often a collection called the “18 Benedictions.”

c. Then the reading of the Law: The 1st 5 books of the Bible divided up into 3 year cycle that took them through all 5.

d. Then a selection by the Prophets was read. This portion was what the sermon was about with an explanation of the text and an exhortation to apply it to your life.

e. Then a closing benediction.

That’s what it looked like when Jesus “went to Church.” It is not surprising then that the earliest Christian church services followed that pattern pretty closely.

We get a fascinating testimony to this from an unexpected secular source – Pliny Secundus – or Pliny Jr. in around 110 C.E. He was the Roman governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor and often tried, tortured and executed Christians.

In one of his letters to the Emperor Trajan he wrote this about what he knew of Christians:

The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ Pliny the Younger – They (the Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food—but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.

His reference to “innocent” food was in dispelling the rumour by enemies that Christians were cannibals.

He also noted they were from all strata of society. But rising before dawn to meet, showed an accommodation so slaves could be there without neglecting their duties, and the rich would go out of their way to join them.

Christian apologist Justin Martyr wrote down what he observed in the Church. This is around 140 C.E.:

Ante-Nicene Fathers 1: The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Chapter LXVII / And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability,2 and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows, and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.

But then, as our text says, they also broke bread in their homes. They were committed to this dual pattern – why?

Because, only meeting in the larger setting – we cannot truly invest in one another’s lives as we saw in our 2nd point. We can’t love one another as Christ has loved us.

Unless we meet in smaller, more intimate and personal ways, we cannot carry out the “one anothers” of Scripture in any meaningful or complete way. This becomes the role of what we call “small groups.”

What does that look like? Let’s do a whirlwind tour of some passages to get a bit of that picture.

Romans 12:10 ESV / Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Where in the world can we show brotherly affection to one another and strive to outdo each other in showing honor – unless we are TOGETHER? We can’t.

Romans 12:16 ESV / Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

We often prefer to live in harmony apart from one another – which is an oxymoron. To harmonize with those who strike different notes. To associate with those who don’t come up to our standard. Humble ourselves. These can only be done in relationships, not as passing ships on a Sunday morning.

Romans 15:7 ESV / Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Romans 16:16 ESV / Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

2 Corinthians 13:11 ESV / Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Restoring broken relationships is up close and personal – it is not done in public worship. Comforting one another is intensely personal – as is living in peace with those you may disagree with in areas.

Galatians 5:13 ESV / For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Galatians 6:2 ESV / Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Bearing one another’s burdens again is something best carried out in smaller, closer groups.

Ephesians 4:2 ESV / with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

Gentleness, patience bearing with each other are only done in close personal frameworks.

Ephesians 4:32 ESV / Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Forgiveness is ALWAYS personal.

Ephesians 5:19 ESV / addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

Ephesians 5:21 ESV / submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Colossians 3:16 ESV / Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV / Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Hebrews 3:13 ESV / But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

It is one thing for us to gather and be exhorted to keep from letting sin harden our hearts from the pulpit – but this is a call to do this personally. One on one.

Hebrews 10:24 ESV / And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

James 5:16 ESV / Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

1 Peter 4:9 ESV / Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Is there a sum to all of this? Indeed. Scripture not only calls us to love one another, it uses these passages and more to show us HOW to love one another.

“For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Gal. 5:14

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jn 13:34–35.

The simple truth is, this kind of love cannot possibly be lived out in a once a week meeting nor even just in our own families. It will require getting together with other saints within contexts where we know each other, know our lives, confidentially share our sins and weaknesses, and burdens and draw from each other. Where we love each other. When this is not a part of life with this or some other congregation, we are more like consumers, but not true members of each other. This requires a true commitment to be growing in Christ and advancing His kingdom in partnership.

Some may come to Church like they go to their favorite restaurant. It is where you get the food you want. But no one has a commitment to a restaurant to see it though good and bad, highs and lows, to better the other patrons and preserve its service in the community and beyond.

And so we have to ask ourselves, is this somewhat similar to how I respond to the preached Word of God from week to week? I go. I listen. I like to hear it done well or at least pleasingly. But that’s where it ends?

To use another analogy, some treat commitment to a Church pretty much the way I do my gym membership: I can go there when I want; and I always want it to be there (that’s why I pay my dues). I’ll complain if the equipment needs repair or the help doesn’t treat me well – but I have no real commitment to it. No commitment to the others there and their health or progress. If I don’t like something, I’ll just move on. I mean just having something that says I belong there makes me feel healthier, even if I don’t go – right?

Beloved, that may be going to church for some, but it is far, far different than BEING Church. In fact, this is the basis for why we have something called church “membership.” No, the word isn’t in the Bible but the concept sure is. It’s purpose is to establish groups committed to carrying out the Biblical paradigm of a people devoted to the Apostle’s teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers together. Committed to meeting the common needs of some group of Believers both materially and spiritually in both contexts of public worship and breaking bread in our homes.

I know some object to the term “membership” – that’s fine. But without question Scripture presents us with a commitment – by whatever name you wish to give it – to this Biblical pattern and its goals. The very synagogue model Jesus and the Apostles functioned in and, that the early Church was built upon – was this one of being committed members of a particular synagogue and group. Not one of being mere attendees with no lasting commitment if things don’t meet their particular preferences.

Both testaments portray this formal kind of relationship as truly important.

In the Old Testament – the ultimate act of discipline in Jewish society was for one to be “cut off” from God’s people. The 1st of about 40 times this phrase is used in the 5 books of Moses is in Genesis 17:14 ESV / Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

In some cases the phrase clearly means capital punishment. But the most common use meant that the person could no longer live as an accepted member of the community of God’s people. The worst thing that could happen to you was that you lost your identification as one of God’s people. “Cut off.”

When we come to the NT we have the very same concept. So what happens in 1 Cor. 5 when there is a man in the Church who will not repent of his sexual immorality? 1 Corinthians 5:11–13 ESV /
But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

“Purge the evil person from among you.” Let him not be identified with the People of God. Identify him as an unbeliever – which would mean barring him from the Lord’s table – the most potent symbol of being joined to the Church.

Now in our culture, should this happen, most would barely care since they take such a low view of the Lord’s Table to begin with. It isn’t a matter of “if I can’t” but “if and when I want to” – when Paul calls being debarred from the table being delivered over to Satan in vs. 5. If membership has no importance, such a thing makes no sense. And in truth, to many of us today, it doesn’t to us either. “So I’m not identified with God’s people in this place – I’ll just go where it doesn’t matter.”

I will grant you that Church membership is not identical to a marriage – but they do share the common feature of formal commitment. Couples who merely live together, no matter how much they share, tend to one another and maybe even own together – have nevertheless said in effect – in remaining unmarried – “I’m here, only until I’m not. I have no true obligation to you.”

And so it is with many in the Church. They may work and serve and attend and for what it is, that is great. But if there is no obligation, no commitment beyond “I’m here, only until I’m not” – then there will be precious little true investment in other’s spiritual welfare, for in the final analysis, their own welfare comes first. There is no obligation to love the others. And love, always includes obligation on some level. Always.

For the early Church, membership was simple: When someone believed the Gospel and was baptized, they were now considered members of that band of Believers. It was seamless. Not so today. And I think we’ve lost something powerfully significant here.

Well, where does all this take us? Let me just cite 3 things. Why COME to Church? Why BE the Church?

a. Because it is the Church that Jesus died for, not only for individuals. Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV / Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

We can forget that Christ’s salvific work has both an individual and a corporate aspect. We must embrace both. Our salvation unites us to Christ, but also to His Body.

b. Because the Biblical model is one of committing ourselves to other Believers in some formal fashion. We see this very clearly in Paul. Acts 9:26 ESV / And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.

The idea behind the word join in this passage carries more than the idea of mere association – it is to associate with some form of bond. Paul wanted to be recognized as part of them in some formal capacity – so that he could serve and fully enter in with their approval. It is even used by Paul of someone consorting with a prostitute – so that the bond is more than a handshake. It is more than a passing association. And such is the nature of Paul’s converted soul, that he desires more than just being born again and part of the universal church, he desires to be bound to these believers he has found – not just to know them but to “join” them, to enter into a bond with them.

In 1 Cor. 6:17 it is the same word used for the Believer who is joined to Christ in one Spirit. This is more than a mere associative relationship. And joining the Believers in any place is much more than just showing up among them as one sees fit. As I said above, it is analogous to (while not identical with) a marriage. And bears some of those characteristics.

In Galatians 2:9 Paul mentions being given “the right hand of fellowship” or partnership by James & John in Jerusalem. Craig Evens notes in his commentary – in Roman culture such a handshake was considered a pledge between honorable persons. It wasn’t just politeness. But among the Jews it was not just symbol of agreement, but of a sacred covenant.

The Biblical model is one of formally joining ourselves and committing to some group of believers. Whatever we call it.

Have you made such a sacred covenant with some body of Believers?

c. Because we are called to minister to one another in ways that only a deep commitment to some particular persons can be carried out. Earlier we looked at 17 specific “one another” passages. There are at least 13 more we didn’t cite. The cumulative message is unmistakable: We cannot carry out these exhortations, these true obligations to our brothers and sisters in Christ without being in a committed relationship with a number of them. It is impossible. Christ has died for His Church, not just for me or you as individuals. And I cannot love Him, without loving the object of His love. To love Him, I must “be Church” with His Church.

Beloved, don’t just come to Church, BE the Church.
Conference on Suffering

April 5th, 2019

I was privileged to participate in this conference along with 2 dear brothers – Tony Bartolucci and Josh Kosiorek, both of whom have lost children.

Here is the link to the audio of the 3 messages. I pray they are a blessing to you.

Conference Audio
The Doctrine of Assurance Pt. 9 – Conclusion

April 5th, 2019

Audio for this Sermon can be found here

After a good many weeks, we’ve finally come to our last installment in investigating the doctrine of the Believer’s assurance of salvation out of the letter of 1 John.

And we have seen over and over that such assurance can be well established by examining our relationship to certain things John has put our eyes upon.

Perhaps it is clearer to say that assurance can be established by the change in certain relationships.

This grows out of a backdrop the Bible introduces us to throughout. One often neglected. Here’s but 2 references:

Colossians 1:13 reminds us:

Colossians 1:13 ESV

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

As Philippians 3:20 does

Philippians 3:20 ESV

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

The genuine Christian has had a spiritual change of citizenship which radically alters the key relationships we’ve been looking at.

When my Dad gave up his Canadian citizenship and became a naturalized citizen of the United states – his relationship to both nations changed radically.

He gained certain rights and privileges here, and gave up certain rights and privileges there.

And so it is for the Christian. Formerly we related to this present world a certain way, and to the things of God a certain way – until we were born again – adopted into God’s family and received citizenship in the Heavenly city to come – the New Jerusalem.

It brought us into a host of new relationships – some of which we are more aware of or take more advantage of than others.

Nevertheless, it is this fundamental change in these relationships which serve to give us a full assurance of our new status in Christ.

So far we’ve examined 7 of those relationships, and this morning we’ll look at the 8th.

Where once we saw the Bible as perhaps interesting or even holy literature – now, we treasure it and receive it truly as God’s Word to us – inerrant and authoritative.

We used to relate to God as an idea or perhaps as Creator, but now we are His adopted children having believed the Gospel and being reconciled to Him through the blood of Jesus.

Once we gave little thought to sin and did as we pleased. Now we recognize sin as an abhorrent offense against our Heavenly Father, and something we want to be rid of – and fight.

It used to be God’s people, those Church people – the born-againers were just a bunch of oddballs – perhaps nice, but oddballs just the same. Now, those oddballs are family – odd as they still are – and odd as I am in being linked to them.

I used to think just like the world did about money, success and happiness. Now I find a whole new set of values that aren’t dependent upon what everyone else around me places importance on. I have new treasures they know nothing about.

I used to have a certain set of beliefs and opinions, but now the Holy Spirit has birthed convictions in me regarding who and what Jesus is and what He did for me on the Cross that are as real and tangible as my own existence. I can’t shake the truth of them.

And where once I lived like this life is all there is – a new dimension has burst upon my consciousness – and I have this longing and sure hope in my own resurrection from the dead to dwell with God eternally – because Christ has been raised from the dead.

If you are one struggling with the assurance of your own salvation, I implore you to stop and consider whether some if indeed not all of these changed relationships are true for you – at least in SOME degree. Maybe none are as full as you might like, but you can detect this new reality.

These form a solid foundation for one to have a sure sense of their salvation.

But there is one more we need to look at today. One that is seemingly very subtle, and yet in truth is extremely weighty.

It is the Believer’s new relationship to prayer.

More precisely, it is the newly instilled: Instinctive recourse to prayer on behalf of the spiritual state of others, especially in regards to saving faith.

It comes to us in

1 John 5:13-16

1 John 5:13–16 ESV

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward 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 requests that we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

And as you see here – this portion has 2 parts.

The first part references prayer by itself. But the 2nd connects prayer specifically to the spiritual condition of others.

Let’s unpack them in order.

1 John 5:13-15

1 John 5:13–15 ESV

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward 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 requests that we have asked of him.

John’s 1st point here is that while he has written this letter to help Believers KNOW they have eternal life now, such an assurance leads also to confidence in prayer.

But look at the details.

a. Our confidence in prayer isn’t located in the act of prayer or in the power of prayer by itself – as though prayer has some magical force behind it.

This is the superstitious idea of prayer which is often promoted.

Jesus addressed this in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 6:7–8 ESV

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Those outside of Christ (and sadly even some who claim to know Jesus savingly) imagine that repetition of prayer and using certain phrases in prayer is the key to its effectiveness.

An example of this error gaining traction among Christians was the popularity of Bruce Wilkinson’s wildly successful book: “The Prayer of Jabez.” In the forward the author wrote: “I want to teach you how to pray a daring prayer that God always blesses…I believe it contains the key to a life of extraordinary favor with God.”

Now there is nothing inherently wrong in praying that prayer itself. The problem comes when as the book instructs, repeating it every day for 30 days (with a few other steps he requires) is the “key to a life of extraordinary favor with God.”

Now it becomes a superstitious mantra – for the Bible teaches no such thing.

I was at a conference once where someone asked Alistair Begg if he prayed the prayer of Jabez. He replied “no, and if you want to know why not, it’s because Jesus never did.”

We might ask why when Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, He taught them His prayer rather than the prayer of Jabez!

We can add to praying some formulaic prayer getting numbers of people praying as though prayer is a matter of mathematical statistics. Get enough people to pray the same thing at the same time enough times and ZOWIE! The universe answers.

No! Jesus makes the same point here John does. It isn’t the praying that is the key – it is the Father we pray to.

So back in

1 John 5:14 ESV

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

Our confidence in prayer is confidence “toward Him!” It is in the God we pray to and based upon the relationship we have to Him as His children in Christ.

Our confidence isn’t in some mystical power of prayer as an activity – but in the knowledge that having been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus – having believed the Gospel and been born again by His Spirit – we are His adopted children and He hears us due to that relationship.

b. But 2ndly, that confidence is rooted in that we grow more and more in praying “according to His will.”

Now does this mean we have to always discern God’s secret will before we can ever ask for anything?

Not at all.

It DOES mean we stop to consider if what we are asking is contrary to anything revealed in His Word. We do not want to be praying for what we know full well His Word would forbid.

But more, the idea is this: We can so trust Him to always act out of His perfect, love, wisdom and holiness on our behalf, so that after making our request known – we can leave it up to His perfect disposal.

In other words, we trust Him to know better than we do, and to answer better than we know how to ask.

That, Beloved, is praying in faith. Praying with our confidence in Him, rather than having confidence in our own defective understanding.

I can tell you from personal experience that when we begin to pray like this – we begin to see His hand working in all sorts of ways we would never have imagined. AND – we will find a willingness in Him to answer in ways that I would label more “favors” than anything else.

More and more I will pray: Heavenly Father, here is the issue, and here is what I would like to see happen. But you know better than I what will be best for me and everyone involved – so I commit it to you.

Sometimes He answers exactly as I ask. Other times He answers according to His better wisdom and more perfect love. But He always does what is best – for all involved. Always. He can be trusted.

The more we trust Him and His character with our prayers, the more we enjoy fruitful and bountiful answers to prayer.

c. And so John’s 3rd point:

1 John 5:15 ESV

And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Praying this way – we KNOW we have the requests that we’ve asked of Him.

We have this amazing new relationship to prayer.

Prayer isn’t all about cosmic arm twisting to get God to do what we want.

Let me use the right formula.

Let me get lots of people to make the case for me.

Let me chant it over and over.

Let me say it louder and louder.

Let me couple it with deal-making vows to bring Him around.

It is instead a deep and abiding confidence in the love, holiness and wisdom of the One who loves me so.

It is Romans 8:32 action:

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

But what does all of this have to do with an assurance of salvation?

2 things.

First, the more we see answered prayer, the more we grow assured of our relationship to Him.

But the main idea here is found in the 2nd part of our text – and that in a most interesting way.

1 John 5:16–17 ESV

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

The first thing to notice is how praying here is specifically tied to interceding on behalf of a brother or sister in Christ who is caught in a sinful pattern of life – and how we are encouraged both to pray for them, and to expect deliverance for them.

It is quite an unqualified guarantee isn’t it?

If you see a fellow Believer committing sin not leading to death – I’ll get back to that part in a minute – and you pray that they might be delivered: “God will give him life.”

Very few things in Scripture come with this sort of certainty when it comes to prayer.

The promise here is that intercession on behalf of fellow Believers caught in sin is uniquely effective.

I find that so encouraging and amazing. I am so grateful for this statement. And it greatly informs my prayers for others like few other things do.

John gives us a fantastic example of loving the brethren here: Praying for one another in regard to their sins. Oh what a powerful ministry. Few promises in God’s Word are so stated with such certainty of response in prayer as this. If you can’t do a single other thing to contribute to the spiritual growth and health of your brothers and sisters in Christ – you can do this: Pray for their success in their struggle against their sins. And is there anything more contrary to a condemning spirit than to take up their struggle with them in prayer?

Simply wonderful.

Now if we ask about the “sin leading to death” – there is some mystery here.

Obviously, John saw no need to elaborate on it for his first readers. He assumed they knew it without explanation.

The most common take on it is that John is referring to the unpardonable sin of Matt. 12 where Jesus makes it clear that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit unpardonable.

In the context of that passage we find out that for one to knowingly attribute the miracles of Jesus to the Devil in order to turn people away from Him, will not be forgiven.

Appropriately then John mentions here that such sin we are not to pray for since we know it is the Father’s will not to forgive it.

But all other sins? Ah, here we have a most precious and powerful ministry we can partake of. In fact every Believer can enter into this ministry, no matter how young, how old, how infirm; no matter how unable to bless the Body of Christ in any other way. Amazing.

But again, how does this apply to us gaining an assurance of our salvation?

And the answer is in this: All sorts of people pray for all kinds of things. But here, the issue is not about the activity of prayer, but about the instinct of prayer.

What is wholly unique to the Believer is this: A focus in prayer upon the spiritual needs of others above their mere circumstances.

Truth be told, those who are outside of Christ know absolutely nothing about praying either for the salvation of their loved ones, nor about their spiritual walk with Christ at all.

It simply isn’t to be found anywhere in their wheelhouse. Because they have no reality of salvation from which to draw such a concern.

Sinclair Ferguson: “The fact is that the Christian’s own spirit does display an awareness of sonship, as the rest of the New Testament makes clear, amazing though this is. The problem is that this awareness is often weakened, and God’s children may even find themselves doubting their gracious status and privileges. What Paul is saying, however, is that even in the darkest hour there is a co-operative and affirmative testimony given by the Spirit. It is found in the very fact that, although he may be broken and bruised, tossed about with fears and doubts, the child of God nevertheless in his need cries out, “Father!” as instinctively as a child who has fallen and has been hurt calls out in similar language, “Daddy, help me!” Assurance of sonship is not reserved for the highly sanctified Christian; it is the birthright of even the weakest and most oppressed believer. This is its glory.”

The point is what I stated at the outset this morning: This Instinctive recourse to prayer on behalf of the spiritual state of others, especially in regards to saving faith.

This is something only a true Child of God possesses. It cannot belong to the lost in any way since they have no reality of salvation to use as a reference point. It simply is not, cannot appear on their radar screen.

And if I might share a wonderful recent example of this in action, we had the most precious experience of it last week in our small group.

As we shared a time of prayer together, what became the focus of every prayer was this: We prayed that our loved ones would be delivered from darkness, and come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Beloved, no one who is not a child of God ever cared to pray that, and never will. They do not understand it. It makes no sense.

They might pray for deliverance from destructive lifestyle choices and decisions; for healing; for financial stability; for correcting a bad situation; for a million and one other things: But to pray that their souls would be reconciled to God through the Cross of Christ – it simply isn’t there. It can’t be.

Such concern over the spiritual state of a loved one that they might trust in Christ for salvation is the wholly and sacred domain of those who are truly Christ’s.

And the instinct to pray in this way, is proof that a genuine work of saving grace has been wrought in your heart.

If this is your burden, then you have one of the most powerful and concrete demonstrations that you are truly Christ’s that you can possibly have.

And when you add it to all the others, together they form a foundation for being assured of your saved state as can possibly be granted from the whole of Scripture.
So much wisdom in so few words.

April 4th, 2019

Sometimes the economy of words Scripture employs to communicate deep theological truth is truly staggering. Proverbs 4:24-27 is one of those places.

Let me tease out just some ideas of key importance here.

First off, note that wisdom is always far more than mere knowledge. To be truly wise, one must think of things both in their full context and with their ultimate implications. So in these few verses.

(vs. 24) Solomon begins by getting us to see how we need to listen to our own arguments for sin. Not to rationalize it by sly words, saying it isn’t really what it is or figuring out devious ways to tell yourself it is all right. Speak the truth to yourself, or you certainly won’t speak it to others. Do not justify straying from the path – in any way.

Learn to communicate always in an honest and forthright manner. The more one speaks in devious ways, the more they obscure the lines of good and evil in their own thinking. Eventually, they grow unable to distinguish between the two and compromise runs rampant. The mind must be trained to think in clear lines of careful consideration, and not allowed to blur right and wrong.

This is especially needed in prayer. Learning to be brutally honest before the Throne so that all that is wrong, all that is corrupt, all that is real in thoughts, feelings and apprehensions be brought before God so as to live in the truth at all times. He knows it all anyway. He will not be shocked or dismayed. He wants you to know what He knows so the two of you may truly walk together.

(vs. 25) Always ask: Where will this take me? What is the end of what I am contemplating? In either word or deed. If you are aiming at entering heaven, keep your eyes on that destination, and make the decisions that coincide with going there. Keep looking for the door of that Great City. Keep your eyes fixed on what you intend to do and be there – and Who you are longing to spend eternity with.

(vs. 26) Since the Wise Man is always asking: Where will this take me? What is the end result of this particular course or path? He is never aimless. He takes time to consider the consequences of his actions, decisions, attitudes and words.

Father, make me like this. Help me always to keep the destination of Heaven and your presence before me. Let me navigate life only by this star.

Note here too our responsibility not to place ourselves in the way of temptation. It is one thing to ask God to guard us from temptation – but quite another to take up our end in making the path for our own feet level.

What do we subject ourselves to that is contrary to right thoughts of God? Purity? Wisdom? Promoting godliness and thoughtfulness and right thinking?

If we are constantly immersing ourselves in unrighteous things, is it any wonder we stumble in them? And not because God does not guard us, but because we break through His cautions and expose ourselves to danger.

Lord, deliver me from this wretched tendency in myself!

So vs. 27 – Lord, keep me headed straight to the Celestial City.
The Doctrine of Assurance Pt. 8

March 26th, 2019
Audio for this Sermon can be found here

As you all know, our current series is rooted in the little letter of 1 John.

In it, John states 4 explicit reasons for writing the letter.

1 – “And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” (1 John 1:4)

2 – “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1)

3 – “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.” (1 John 2:26)

4 – “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)

While we’ve been focusing on John’s 4th reason, we see how all that he writes revolves around all 4 of these ideas.

John doesn’t consider his own joy complete or full unless Believers are: Helped to overcome sin in their lives; Are kept from the deceptions of false doctrines; And are uncertain about their salvation status.

Sin is a big deal.

Truth is a big deal.

And Assurance is a big deal.

As the Holy Spirit inspired John to write this, we see that our God is not content to let Believers live with some sort of a vague hope that one day He will receive us, but a steadfast and sure hope.

One of the passages we just had read for us makes this point exactly: 1 Peter 1:3 ESV / Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

“Bless God” Peter says: Merciful as He is, He doesn’t give us a salvation whereby we just “hope” things will work out well he calls it here a “living hope” a hope that is vibrant and that grows.

Wayne Grudem states it this way: “This hope is the eager, confident expectation of the life to come…It is ‘living’—by so describing it Peter indicates that it grows and increases in strength year by year. If such a growing hope is the expected result of being born again, then perhaps the degree to which believers have an intense, confident expectation of the life to come is one useful measure of progress toward spiritual maturity.”

You will remember last week we took time to see how the Bible uses the word faith versus the way it gets used today in popular thought – well we have the same issue here with the word hope.

HOPE

The one who has been born again by the Spirit of God does not just “hope” that someday things will work out well now that they have put their trust in Christ.

No, our hope, Biblical hope is far different than that.

I understand how most people use the word hope: I may not have any real reason for such and such to happen, but “I hope so”. It is merely the expression of a desired outcome – whether or not there is any real reason to expect that outcome.

But like Biblical faith, which is always rooted in the stated promises of God and His character, the Christian’s hope is:

HOPE: The joyful expectation of the good God has promised us to come at Jesus’ return.

It is not a vague, wish-for kind of hope.

It is based upon something. It is substantive. It has as its foundation the sure promises of God.

And one of the things which belongs to – which is the birthright of – all those who have put their trust in Jesus alone as their sin-bearer and their righteousness, is that we have a promised and therefor a sure future – one which includes our own resurrection from the dead.

And as expressed by Grudem in my earlier citation: It is a hope that can grow and increase in strength year by year.

In fact, of all the things we’ve looked at thus far as means of assurance – the knowledge and hope of the resurrection is one of two areas we can actively grow in over time.

And what are those things John has mentioned so far as contributing to our assurance? Examining our relationship to:

The Word of God’s as the inerrant and ultimate authority in our lives.

Having been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Adopted as His own.

Hating the remaining sin in us – which we also love.

An inexplicable affinity for God’s people – no matter how little else we have in common.

A rejection of the World’s values for Biblical ones.

A reliance upon the indwelling Spirit of Christ.

And this morning: Hope in the resurrection.

Here’s the question: Can I discern in myself anything of a genuine anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promises culminating in the resurrection from the dead?

And we need to note 2 things here before we come back to the text of 1 John.

1. The World has a poor and destructive counterfeit to this hope.

It is what propels suicide in many and undergirds the current rise in euthanasia.

It is not the hope of the resurrection, but the desire for a mere end to pain or discomfort.

It is in fact hopelessness.

When one can see no end to their pain, no prospect of anything changing soon – they can easily, and perhaps understandably give up on life altogether and believe the lie that death will bring the relief they seek.

And I say it is a lie because it gives no thought for what comes after death.

Among other things, this view assumes there is no afterlife where judgment for sin before a holy God still awaits.

No giving of an account of how we lived our lives.

It assumes the cessation of temporary pain is the final good, and that there can’t be anything worse after.

But this is to ignore the graphic, and in some cases terrifying revelations in the Bible of an eternal Hell to be endured by those who reject Christ and His saving work.

Jesus Himself spoke frequently and powerfully on the matter as a means of warning all who heard Him not to make life decisions based only on the here and now – but contemplating what is yet to come. John 5:25–29 ESV / “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

And beloved, without the sure hope of the resurrection sustaining us in the darkest and most difficult of times – even Believers can begin to give way to this way of thinking.

We can be robbed of our strength and courage altogether.

What could sustain Job in the midst of all of his sorrows?

Having lost all his worldly wealth, the death of his 10 children on the same day, his painful health, and the arrows of his friends as they misunderstood him and accused him of secret sins that brought his torments upon himself justly – what sustained him? How could he say “Though he slay me, I will hope in him”?

Nothing but this: Job 19:25–27a ESV / For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

No matter what happens now, and how this all ends in this life – I know the resurrection awaits. And in this body, I will see my Redeemer, my God face to face.

This time will end, and give way to that eternity with Him.

2. The Church has often neglected the resurrection.

The sad truth is, much of the blame for Christians being robbed of this aspect of assurance lays squarely in the lap of the Church in how we preach the Gospel, and what we direct people to put their hope in.

Remember what Paul said are the essential elements of the Gospel in 1 Cor. 15:1-4?

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 ESV / Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

More, in Romans 10:9-10 Paul goes on to make belief in Christ’s resurrection an absolute essential for saving faith.

Romans 10:9–10 ESV / because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

And yet the wonder and the awe of Jesus’ rising from the dead can often become a sort of an add on. He died for our sins, and that the important part.

But as 1 Corinthians 15:12-17 powerfully declares: 1 Corinthians 15:12–17 ESV / Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

Catch that. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, our faith is futile and we are still in our sins.

Wow! There is no true Gospel and no true Christianity apart from the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.

But when we add to this neglect the current trend in preaching in America and its focus upon having a healthy, wealthy and happy life NOW – without regard for our own resurrection – we have a perfect storm of deceit that robs Believers of living in the joyful expectation of the good has promised us to come at Jesus’ return.

So little preaching and teaching today is rooted in the old dictum: “There is a Heaven to be won and a Hell to be shunned.”

A Heaven-less and Hell-less Gospel robs us of the hope we are meant to have, and thus undermines the assurance we are meant to have in our salvation.

But for true Christians, we have an extraordinary dynamic to take advantage of.

If we are fixing our hope on a genuine and divine promise, we can grow more and more assured in it.

The principle is a simple one: The more we acquaint ourselves with and meditate on the promises of God, the more real they become and the more our anticipation of them grows.

The more an engaged Gal thinks about and prepares for her wedding day, the more real it becomes and the more her anticipation grows.

This principle functions for us as those betrothed to Christ – or at least it should.

But if we are not setting our focus upon that day, then we lose that sweet and motivating anticipation.

An anticipation which grows and excites us more and more.

This then brings us back to our text in 1 John 2:28–3:3 ESV / And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

We have 3 things here John puts in front of us which the more Believers look at and contemplate, the more anticipation and assurance grows in our hearts.

The 1st is in vs. 28. 1 John 2:28 ESV / And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

It is interesting to see here how John connects 2 things:

Abiding in Christ, and not shrinking from Him in shame when Jesus returns.

What is this all about?

The 1st part is fairly obvious: The more one abides in Jesus – remains in Him, fully puts all of their trust in His atoning sacrifice for their sins in Him alone – is unmoved from the simplicity of the Gospel – the more their confidence in His satisfaction for their sins grows.

My grandfather had a saying which my Mom passed on to me: “If you believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts, you’ll never believe your doubts or doubt your beliefs.”

There is truth in that. But it is all the more true when we are fixing our minds on things God has clearly promised in His Word.

The more I rehearse the truths of God’s Word, the surer they become to me.

I see His faithfulness to His promises played out in the lives of those recorded in Scripture.

I grow more and more familiar with the actual promises and how He states them and affirms and reaffirms them. How He verifies them in His track record and seals them by proofs – like raising Jesus from the dead.

It is why Jesus told the Disciples that when the Holy Spirit would come, He would remind them of the things Jesus had said. Because in that reminding, in that going over and over what He said, those things grow more and more concrete in the soul.

So it is for you and me today – and why we need to read, and read and re-read the Word. As we do, the things in it solidify in our souls and doubts grow dimmer and dimmer.

But then John ties this to the day of resurrection.

The reason why we “abide” in Him, why we make sure we reaffirm in our own hearts that we trust in Christ and Christ alone, is that in over time our trust and rest in His finished work grows more and more and increases our confidence in the joy we’ll have at His return – rather than doubts and fears that some sort of punishment is still due.

When we really believe He WILL return, and remain faithfully trusting His saving work on our behalf, our HOPE – our joyful expectation in Him grows. Our assurance of our saved state grows.

But wherever we doubt Him, or doubt what He has promised – like the resurrection – we injure our own assurance.

So John’s 1st point here is:
1. Refusing to stand anywhere but on the finished work of Christ on our behalf alone – makes us anticipate the resurrection with joy.
John’s 2nd point in this regard comes to us in 1 John 3:2 ESV / Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

The more one explores the doctrine of the resurrection, the more one joyfully anticipates a whole new mode of existence.

As we looked at earlier, those apart from Christ, have at best some vague hope of some nondescript something after this life.

It is a hope with no basis.

At worst, it is only the hope that whatever misery they are experiencing in this life will at least end.

But for those of us in Jesus – He holds before us the promise of an eternal life in Him that so far eclipses the very best of this one, that this life is less in comparison than a single candle to the light of 1000 suns.

We are already God’s children, but what we WILL be is beyond imagination – because we will be like Christ in some unimaginable ways!

Listen to Scripture again in 1 Corinthians 15:35–49 ESV / But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Look at some of those words: Imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual – bearing the image of Christ Himself.

Just as birds are uniquely designed to fly in the skies, and fish to live in the water and our present bodies to interact with the environment of this physical world – we shall rise to be totally redesigned to exist in the environment of the unveiled presence of the living God and to maximally know, comprehend, experience and enjoy Him.

Christian – this is the hope He has stored up for you. This is His goal for you and His promise to you. And if this is just ahead of us – what isn’t bearable to us now?

No wonder David could comfort his own heart by praying: Psalm 17:15 ESV / As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

And the amazing thing is, the more the heart is filled with this anticipation, the more your assurance of your position in Christ is buttressed.
1. Refusing to stand anywhere but on the finished work of Christ on our behalf alone – makes us anticipate the resurrection with joy.
2. Exploring the wonder of the resurrection – makes us long for the resurrection.
And John has a 3rd point in this: 1 John 3:3 ESV / And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

The principle is a simple one here, and one we do not need to draw it out at length.

It is just this: As one walks more and more in harmony with God’s Word, in purity, the more confidence they gain in their relationship to God, since they are not offending Him.

As we have discussed before, a child’s disobedience cannot alter their status as a true child of their parent – but it can greatly inhibit the intimacy of their relationship, and weaken their confidence in where they stand.

Obedience does not and cannot save us. But obedience to God IS a marker of whether or not we are really His.

Don Carson puts it this way: “Biblical Christianity never, ever suggests we attract God’s mercy by being good. It never suggests somehow we win brownie points with heaven and secure an abundant entrance by trying hard. Biblical Christianity, nevertheless, does insist on obedience.

That is, we are so changed, so transformed that the effect in our lives is to orient us toward following Jesus. Otherwise, the confession “Jesus is Lord” is meaningless. It doesn’t mean a thing. John puts it in the baldest terms. Not feeling, not sensation, not happy worship, not sensing one is particularly spiritual. But obedience, John says, is a fundamental test.”
1. A. Carson, “1 John 2:3–27,” in D. A. Carson Sermon Library (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016), 1 Jn 2:3–27.
Obedience is not everything, for sure, but it IS something.

Again, this is not to say we can set levels of performance. It IS to say that we must have a right relationship to Him in that our desire is to serve Him.

And when that desire is not present, there can be no reasonable assurance of salvation.

But when that motivation is there – when we have really believed the Gospel and factor into our living today that one day we will be resurrected to stand before Him – that His goal for us in resurrection is to be holy even as He is holy – our relationship to the resurrection informs our behavior, and in the process, reinforces our assurance of salvation.

Hence Jesus will say: Luke 6:46 ESV / “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

And so Paul would write: 2 Corinthians 5:6–9 ESV / So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
1. Refusing to stand anywhere but on the finished work of Christ on our behalf alone – makes us anticipate the resurrection with joy.
2. Exploring the wonder of the resurrection – makes us long for the resurrection.
3. Anticipating the resurrection – makes us live life today in the light of it.
Taking all of this together – we get precisely what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:13 ESV / Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

If we are to soberly and soundly face all of the trials and pains of this present life, and even to gain from them – we must set our hopes fully on the grace that will be brought to us in the resurrection.

And when this becomes a habit of thought – oh how our assurance of salvation grows.

Unless this is the case, today eclipses all.

The immediate defines everything.

But when this IS the case, it produces an ever increasing confidence, assurance and joyful anticipation.

One that will buoy you through the darkest and hardest of times.

The great Puritan Richard Baxter grew gravely ill when he was 35, and was certain he was going to die.

Wanting to prepare himself for Heaven, he began to meditate on Heaven and what it would bring – on the joys of the resurrection.

He eventually did recover, but had written so much on his meditations during that season he turned them into the massive volume “The Saint’s Everlasting Rest.”

In that book he suggests that Believers ought to meditate on Heaven 1/2 hour each day.

He said: “For want of this recourse to heaven, thy soul is as a lamp not lighted.”

Listen then to this quote from that book: The Saint’s Everlasting Rest / “It hath pleased our Father to open his counsel, and to let us know the very intent of his heart, and to acquaint us with the eternal extent of his love; and all this that our joy may be full, and we might live as the heirs of such a kingdom. And shall we now overlook all, as if he had revealed no such matter? Shall we live in earthly cares and sorrows, as if we knew of no such thing? And rejoice no more in these discoveries, than if the Lord had never written it? O that our hearts were as high as our hopes, and our hopes as high as these infallible promises!”
As I was reading today: A glad word from John Newton

March 26th, 2019

A secret dependence upon prayers, tears, resolutions, repentance, and endeavours, prevents us from looking solely and simply to the Saviour, so as to ground our whole hope for acceptance upon his obedience unto death, and his whole mediation.

John Newton and Richard Cecil, The Works of John Newton, vol. 6 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 469.
The Doctrine of Assurance Pt. 7

March 18th, 2019
Assurance and the Gospel

Audio for this sermon can be found here

We’re nearing the end of our study on the doctrine of the assurance of salvation, with just 2 more considerations out of 1 John.

You know that I prefer to be teaching systematically out of a book of the Bible at a time – but we’re taking a break from that to look at some individual topics.

As we have seen all along, John doesn’t just give us a quick and easy answer to having an assurance of salvation like, “I answered an altar call” or “once I prayed a special prayer”, or “I had this experience one time.”

John is probing much deeper.

He wants his readers to take a serious inventory of those indicators of new life in Jesus.

Anyone can ask themselves the following things reasonably:

Do I believe the Word of God is really God’s Word, and that it has ultimate authority in my life?

Do I know what the Gospel is, and have I believed it? Believed it such that I’m aware the Bible says whoever DOES believe it and trusts Christ alone for their salvation – IS reconciled to God?

Has my relationship to sin changed such that I now mourn and struggle against the very sins I still love in some way?

Have I come to see that I have an almost inexplicable affinity for God’s people – whether we share anything else in common or not?

Have a new set of values invaded my thinking so that the emptiness of what the World prizes grows stranger, and new things in Christ grow dearer?

Has the Spirit of God opened my eyes so that the reality of who and what Jesus Christ is and what He has done is simply a part of the fabric of what I KNOW, not simply think or believe? A true inward conviction.

This morning I had planned to go on and explore the question of whether or not I genuinely believe in, and am looking forward to the coming resurrection of the saints.

But before we dive into that concept allow me to look briefly at 3 vitally important things. A bit of an excursus if you will – but central to everything we’re considering.

And in light of the past few weeks, I will not keep you long this morning.
1. I am repeating a lot because I know how the one struggling with assurance needs to hear these truths over and over and over.
Please do not be insulted if you think this is too elementary for you.

We never get away from the basics.

Of all the books that have ever been and ever will be written in the English language, all of them will use the very same 26 letters.

Of all the music written in the history of mankind (with slight consideration for quarter-tones), essentially all of it falls within the 12 note scale of the perfect octave.

But when you consider the noetic effects of the Fall on the human mind, and how since the Fall we have trouble retaining sound doctrinal truth in our everyday consciousness – you see how going over and over and over the rudiments becomes absolutely necessary.

It is why we not only meet here each Sunday for worship where were rehearse these truths in song and prayer and preaching – but why we have small groups, Wednesday night Bible study – and encourage you to be reading the Word on your own continually.

Add to that an active Enemy of our souls who seeks to undermine the truth of the Gospel whenever possible, and the endless distractions of the world, and you see why this is necessary for all of us.

Musicians practice their scales over and over and over. No matter how trained, or how long they’ve played.

And Christians need to do no less if we are to live in a living and vivid reality of Biblical truth.

Deuteronomy 11:18-20 Isn’t just a good suggestion, it is God addressing us with the knowledge of how these things escape us so easily.

Deuteronomy 11:18–20 ESV/ “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

And this gets repeated over and over:

Proverbs 3:3 ESV / Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 6:21 ESV / Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck.

Proverbs 7:3 ESV / bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
1. Remember that in each of these, John isn’t asking about levels of performance or feelings – but whether or not something of these is PRESENT within us.
A few weeks ago I mentioned how medical science looks for 4 basic things to determine life in a human being: Respiration, Pulse, Blood Pressure and Body Temperature.

Now those alone can’t tell you how healthy the individual is – but they can and DO indicate the presence of life.

And that is what we are doing in this study – what John has been giving us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

In each case we are looking at the question of where I stand in relationship to these various things.

And in some there might be a more pronounced reality than others.

It isn’t how much of the Bible I know and understand, but what place of authority for truth it holds.

Is sin troubling to me? At all? Simply because it is sin and offends my God?

Am I learning the difference between the World’s values and the Bible’s and seeking to love what God values more? etc.
1. But lastly I want to revisit the nature of what it means to believe the Gospel.
I know we’ve covered this numerous times before but bear with me.

This is truly central to everything we’ve covered so far, and will cover.

It is absolutely central to your life and identity as a Christian.

Now the older theologians used to think of Biblical faith in 3 parts:

Notitia – Content

Assensus – Agreement

Fiducia – Committal

Notitia – Do I know what the Gospel actually is?

Faith relies upon certain information. We do not just “believe” – we believe or disbelieve some particular information.

Biblical faith is always – without exception – rooted in some information communicated by God.

Biblical faith is: Believing what God has said is true, and acting on it appropriately.

It is vitally important we know how the Bible uses certain words, in order to understand the Gospel as God has given it, as opposed to how people have messed it up.

Scripture has no other category for faith. It never exists in a vacuum, is plucked out of mid-air, or is the fruit of my baseless belief.

So it is with the Gospel.

It is staggering to realize how often the Gospel is held out in terms of: Jesus made up the gap between your best efforts and what is required to be accepted by God.

Or that Jesus has come to say “clean up your act, and I’ll help you get to Heaven.”

Go to the right Church.

Do enough good things.

Stop doing too many bad things.

Be religious – and I’ll save you.

NO!

The Gospel is about Jesus coming to a totally lost and condemned human race – to pay the penalty for our sins in His own body on the Cross, because we have absolutely nothing we can offer to God to make ourselves acceptable under any conditions.

The Bible tells us that we all sinned in Adam, and are enemies of God the moment we come into this world.

Ephesians describes our condition in graphic detail: Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV / And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Ephesians 2:12 ESV / remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

And so, John 3:36 ESV / Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Now having been made in the image of God as Genesis tells us – the truth is that even if we were to perfectly obey God in every thought, action and attitude, we would only be doing what was expected of us, what we were made for.

That couldn’t possibly earn us anything.

And if that were true before the Fall – how much more after?

We couldn’t earn or contribute to eternal life in any way since we are already condemned.

So even if we lived every moment for Him for the rest of our lives, we’d only be doing our duty – and still have no way to pay for our past sins!

But then comes Jesus.

And the Gospel about Him.

NOT a Gospel about giving us some sort of mythical second chance to do our best.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 ESV / Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

Jesus Christ died for OUR sins.

He did so fulfilling God’s plan – it was according to the Scriptures.

He was buried, and He was resurrected the 3rd day – also according to the Scriptures – according to God’s plan.

That is the Gospel – the GOOD NEWS.

God has dealt with our sin problem in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is all about who Jesus is and what He has done.

It is not about what we can do either in ourselves, or even because of Him.

We absolutely must have this clear in our hearts and minds.

The Gospel is about Jesus’ rescue mission, not about a religious self-help scheme.

This is why the Apostle Paul had to come to grips with how his own life as a profoundly religious and upright man was totally insufficient to save even him.

Listen to how he goes through it in Philippians: Philippians 3:3–9 ESV / For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

All of which he summarizes so wonderfully in – 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This beloved is the Gospel. So do you know it?

Do you know it is not about your being good, or making up for past sins or anything else you can contribute?

Do you know it is about who Jesus is and what He has done?

How He died for YOUR sins, and was raised up again for YOUR justification – the declaration before God that you are righteous IN HIM!

And that He has sent His Spirit to indwell and empower you to persevere to the end – when He will raise you up from the dead as well.

This is GOOD NEWS! This is the Gospel.

But there is more to saving faith than just knowing the Gospel.

Notitia – Content

Assensus – Agreement

Fiducia – Committal

Knowing the content of the Gospel, I now have to ask – do I agree that this is the truth?

Do I believe this?

Do I believe this really happened and that this is what God was doing in sending Jesus?

Has Jesus died for our sins? For MY sin? For YOUR sin?

DO I believe this – what seems to be – TOO good to be believed news?

Do I give my assent to the Gospel that it is true?

This is the 2nd part.

If I don’t know what the Gospel is, then I can’t believe it. Some sort of disconnected faith or belief the Bible knows nothing about.

But having heard and understood it – do I believe it is the truth?

Do I really believe John 3:16? NET / “For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NET)

But then there is a 3rd aspect to saving faith:

Notitia – Content

Assensus – Agreement

Fiducia – Committal

Fiducia – Will I commit myself to trusting this Gospel reality as all I need to be reconciled to the Father?

Do I take Jesus as the full satisfaction for my sin before God, so that I am wholly accepted and loved by Him because of Jesus?

This is the $50,000 question as they used to say.

In truth, it is a question beyond worth in asking and answering.

James Montgomery Boice used to use this illustration of marriage to try and bring all of this home.

Let’s consider a young man and a young woman.

In the process of time, old fashioned as he is, the young man gets down on one knee and asks: “Will you marry me?”

This is Notitia: The gentleman made a genuine proposal of marriage. He has asked the question.

So the gal must ask: Is that what I understand? Is that what he said? Was the content of his proposal that he asked me to marry him?

Have I understood him correctly?

2ndly, Assensus: Have I believed that he wants to marry me and that we should be husband and wife, and HAVE I SAID YES!?

Have I assented? If I haven’t said yes – I believe you really asked me to marry you but haven’t said yes – everything comes to a grinding halt.

But if I have said yes, there is still one more thing to round out the entire scenario.

3rd. Fiducia: We aren’t married until we’ve walked the aisle and said: “I do.”

So let’s roll this back.

Here’s the question beloved:

Have I said “I do” to Jesus’ proposal to be the complete satisfaction for my sins – to be all of my righteousness, and for me to be His bride?

Have I consummated that by continually trusting Him in that way? By ceasing to look to anything else.

By forsaking all others, and cleaving only to Him.

This is what saving faith looks like.

And it is not hard to determine if this has been your experience.

And if so, then you don’t need to “feel” like your married.

You don’t need to keep repeating the wedding vows.

You don’t need to guess whether or not you’re good enough, since that was never a part of the equation to begin with – the Gospel being rooted in our salvation being totally dependent upon HIS being good enough.

Now, you need to live in the reality of it. To truly trust Him in all that He promised.

And so as Jesus says in John 17:3 ESV / And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

And then Jesus goes on to pray about all who believe in Him: John 17:20–24 ESV / “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

And so I want us to close just here this morning.

I want us to take some time to wait before the Lord to search our own hearts to see if this is the case with each one of us here.

Have you heard and do you know the Gospel, as Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:15 ESV / The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Do you BELIEVE the Gospel? Do believe this is true?

Romans 10:9 ESV / because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Do you put the responsibility for the whole of your salvation into His hands today?

Romans 6:23 ESV / For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The free gift of God.

Eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In this, the whole of our assurance of salvation lies.

Jesus Christ has died. And those who trust in Him, are saved forevermore.
As I was Reading Today

March 14th, 2019

What an expression of His personal grief over the ravages of sin in the human race.

I wonder if we share the same when we see such suffering?

But we need to drill down and really grasp what grieves Him so. He tells us plainly: Unbelief. That men are faithless, denying God, refusing to believe His truth and the Gospel of the Kingdom.

I fear that we are (I am) more grieved by the results of faithlessness (like what produces such aberrations as demon possession, war, rape, murder etc.) than we are by faithlessness itself.

As long as faithless people don’t bother us, we don’t seem to mind their faithlessness. We ignore the most tragic part of their condition – while He grieved it above all else.

What does He call this condition? Twisted or perverse. Because to be oriented this way is to be upside down from the heart and mind of God.

Oh Father, make me grieve the unbelief of men more than the mere acts which vex me most. Give me your heart and mind. For it will drive my energies to see the Gospel is preached more than any other approach to society’s ills. Yes, Jesus healed the boy, but what of those around? And what is healing if we are left in eternal darkness from the face of God in Jesus Christ. Keep us from putting temporal band-aids on the eternally terminal cancer of the soul. Let your glory in Jesus be known. Let your Gospel be preached. Let me be a messenger who boldly, clearly and endlessly proclaims the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name – and reconciliation to you through the Cross.
The Doctrine of Assurance Pt. 6

March 13th, 2019
Doctrine of Assurance Pt. 6

Reid A Ferguson

1 Corinthians 2:9–16; John 16:1–15; 1 John 2:18–27

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

As most of you know, we’ve been working through this little letter of 1st John in an effort to get a firm handle on John’s assertion that he had written it, at least in part, to give certainty to believers that they really are saved – now!

1 John 5:13

1 John 5:13 ESV

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

How can I know that I know that I know, that I am in right relationship with God?

That my sins are forgiven; that I am already received as one of God’s own children; that when I die, I will immediately go to be in the presence of the God who loves me and sent His Son to die for me for all eternity?

While not everyone struggles with this question in a deep way – many do and all should.

For some, they question it because they simply have never heard or believed the Gospel: The Gospel that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

They know the world is a pretty broken place, but they don’t know why.

They’ve never heard the Biblical explanation that all pain, sickness, disease, war, heartache and misery are part of the human condition because back when God created us in His image – we rebelled against Him.

How we wanted, and STILL want the right to govern ourselves as we see fit. To name right and wrong for ourselves. And to live for ourselves, rather than for the One who made us for Himself.

They’ve never known that God loved us so even in our rebellion, that He devised a way to remain absolutely holy and not compromise His justice, and still buy us back to Himself from our ruin.

And that plan was to send His own perfect Son – Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, to live a life that completely fulfilled all that God could demand of us, and, be our substitute on the Cross, enduring the just wrath of God against our rebellion and sin. This is so that all who put their trust in Him as their sin-bearer, might be forgiven, reconciled to Him and granted eternal life.

They have not heard that is the state of affairs in this world as God has made it known. Or they’ve heard some other, some false Gospel.

Others, have fully believed that Gospel. They know the truth of all this and have come to Christ for forgiveness and salvation from the judgment of God – and yet still – for reasons unknown to themselves, cannot find complete rest in it.

They are plagued, tormented by thoughts that somehow, they will still be damned. That they are not in right relationship with Him. They fear to trust fully: Perhaps because of some failure they imagine is outside the sufficiency of Christ’s blood, or because they do not “feel” it so, or maybe because they think they’ve just not been good enough since believing.

Sadly, even some Christian traditions have (for whatever reasons) taught people that they cannot really know that they are already in a right relationship with God.

They’ve have been told that such an assurance of actually “being” saved, of being in an irreversible right relationship with God is unknowable. That you might have some reason to hope it is so – but might be lost again tomorrow.

Or that there may be this endless cycle of being saved, then lost, saved again and lost again – and that no one can ever truly rest in the finished work of Christ on their behalf.

He’s done His part, but if you fail to do yours, all of it is out the window.

John wants all of those who might read this letter to come to a place of assurance before the throne of God.

If that lack of certainty is because you need to hear and believe the Gospel – because you never have – then we invite you to listen really hard this morning.

You really can be born again – become a new creation in Jesus and be fully and finally reconciled to the living God.

Or maybe your assurance has been wounded by errant teaching, or some cause unknown to you.

Of all the things we’ve examined in this regard so far – none of them John has brought forward to date carries as much weight as this one does.

And it is captured in one very simple but eternally profound phrase: 1 John 5:10a

1 John 5:10a ESV

Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.

Whoever believes in the Son of God, has the testimony IN himself.

That is what by God’s help I hope to unpack for you this morning.

Now by way of the very briefest of review – so far John has been building his foundation for certainty regarding our salvation by getting us to look at our relationship to some key things:

The Word of God: Is it divinely authoritative for us?

God Himself: Is my relationship to Him based upon actually having believed the Gospel?

Sin: Do you hate your love of it.

Christ’s People (the Church): Do you have a unique affinity for them?

World’s Values: Are you rejecting them in favor of the Bible’s revelation of what has true value?

This morning – What is my relationship to The Holy Spirit: Do you know the reality of Spirit given conviction over mere facts or unbelief?

Let’s look at how John addresses this in 4 key passages.
1. 1 John 2:18-27
1 John 2:18–27 ESV

Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

Let’s take this in 3 sections.
1. 1 John 2:18-19
1 John 2:18–19 ESV

Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

We’ve discussed the historical situation behind his words here earlier – so I won’t spend a lot of time on it.

Simply, there was a thought system invading the Church at this time, called Gnosticism. And part of the teaching of the Gnostics was that all physical or material matter is inherently evil. Therefore, they said Jesus could not have been God in the flesh, since God could not inhabit evil matter. So Jesus must have only “appeared” to be human. Or that the Holy Spirit came upon Him at His baptism, but left before His crucifixion.

And once you got this secret knowledge of theirs about who and what Jesus REALLY was – then you could become part of the spiritual elite they imagined themselves to be.

But it was all centered around errant views of Jesus Christ.

You will recall John’s opening to this letter is all about establishing that Jesus was in fact God’s Son and that He really was in a human body – very God and very man as the early Church would come to phrase it.

So when these Gnostics left the Church because their doctrine was rejected – it caused a stir. And they tried to get others to go with them.

John says look – the truth is this – if they had really been true Christians to begin with, they would have stayed with us. But the fact they split off shows you they were never really Christians as the Bible defines it.

BUT! b. 1 John 2:20-25

1 John 2:20–25 ESV

But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

You don’t need this supposed secret knowledge this group claimed. Why? Because you have “been anointed by the Holy One, and you all HAVE knowledge.”

The truth is – John says – Jesus Himself has given something to you, which in the giving makes you KNOW for certain these guys are dead wrong about Jesus.

John calls this an “anointing.”

Now anointing in the Bible was always a means, usually by smearing oil on someone, to show that they were fitted for an office in serving God. So prophets, priests, kings – and in some cases even objects were “anointed.”

This anointing was always symbolic of the Holy Spirit being the one who equipped the individual for that service. We can’t develop that fully here but 2 passages may be useful in grasping what John is after.

In Luke’s Gospel we’re told Jesus went into the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth one sabbath, and opened the scroll to Isaiah and read this: Luke 4:18

Luke 4:18 ESV

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

What is this “anointing” here? The text is clear – it is nothing other then the Holy Spirit Himself.

We see this again in Acts 10:37-38

Acts 10:37–38 ESV

you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

Now why would John use that anointing language when it comes to Believers?

Quite simply because it is Jesus Himself who spent a whole lot of time in the Gospel of John getting the Disciples ready for that same Holy Spirit He and the Father would send to Believers after His ascension. That He would baptize or anoint Believers with His Holy Spirit

John 14:16-17

John 14:16–17 ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

And what will The Spirit do when He comes? Tons! but let’s look at 2 just briefly.

John 16:8

John 16:8 ESV

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

Don’t miss that word CONVICT. Convict, utterly convince us inwardly of our sinfulness; that our righteousness is not sufficient to please God; and that we then stand in fear of judgment. Bring inward conviction of these things so that we must act on them.

John 15:26-27

John 15:26–27 ESV

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

We could build our case with dozens more passages but the idea here is plain: The key work of the Holy Spirit, is to bear witness about who Jesus is – directly to the soul.

To bring an inward conviction of the truth about Jesus.

Remember the verse I cited at the beginning?

1 John 5:10a

1 John 5:10a ESV

Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.

So John’s 3rd point comes clear:
1. 1 John 2:27-28
1 John 2:27–28 ESV

But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

What is he saying? That by virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit, every genuine child of God has this:

A Conviction that Jesus is the Son of God incarnate.

John will build on this but let me get this point cemented so we grasp it well.

Knowledge come in different forms.

I believe that on average the moon is about 238,855 miles away.

I believe it because I’ve been taught it. And because I believe there are those who, with the means and methods requisite, have worked out those calculations.

I believe it has a solid, iron rich core, a fluid outer core of primarily liquid iron around the core and a partially molten boundary layer.

I believe all that. and I can see it every night so I know it is there. But I don’t know it the way those who walked on its surface do. They have a realization of the moon I will never have.

And, if some of those things I believe about the moon were to be altered later due to more investigation – so what?

And for many, knowledge of Jesus falls into similar category.

They believe what they’ve been taught. Trusting that those who taught them knew what they were talking about. But know it? Know it like they know sunlight when they see it each day? Nope.

They are Christians in name only.

Christians because that is how they were raised or taught.

Christians because they aren’t Muslims or Jews or adherents of some other belief system.

But not Christians by the conviction induced directly in the soul by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

But this is the thing which is indispensible to the genuine Christian – the one who has been born of God by the Spirit – they KNOW who and what Jesus is as really and as truly as if they had walked the shores of Galilee with Him.

The Spirit has given them an inner reality of Him which they can no more deny than they can deny their own existence.

They do not just believe it – they know it. Supernaturally.

Now that is John’s starting point. It is the common experience of all those born again by the Spirit of Christ – that the reality of His incarnation is indisputable fact, that nothing can take away from them.

And this is surprisingly true for the genuine believer who is struggling with assurance.

If this is you today, you really need to lean into this beloved: You know full well that no matter how you feel, no matter how down, depressed, despairing, confused or distracted you are at any given time, nevertheless you cannot get away from the fact that the Son of God is real, and that He came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.

Get this – the very source of your misery is that Jesus is real to your soul. For if He were not so real to your soul, you could just give up believing instead of wrestling as you do.

No, your very wrestling IS incontrovertible proof that you indwelt by His Spirit. So, as Paul says

Romans 8:9

Romans 8:9b ESV

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

What is the first thing the indwelling Spirit bears witness to in the soul of Believers only?

An absolute CONVICTION that Jesus is the Son of God incarnate.

John was telling his readers that no one could bring them some new or secret knowledge about Jesus that was in any way superior to the Witness that was already in them – which showed them that any other teaching about Jesus was antichrist.

But John isn’t done yet.

1 John 3:24b-4:6

1 John 3:24b–4:6 ESV

Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

John’s 2nd point is that the indwelling Spirit of Christ brings another conviction with Him:

Conviction that the Apostolic witness is true.

Because we’ve spent much time already on the subject of the Believer’s relationship to the Word of God – I will not press this point here more than note that when one is indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, all questions about whether or not God’s Word is true and authoritative end.

It doesn’t mean one might not have questions about how to interpret, understand or apply various parts of the Word.

What it DOES mean – as in the text: We know the Spirit of God and of Truth as opposed by the spirit of error, by whether or not one “listens” to what the Apostles taught and preached and wrote.

The anointing that abides in the Believer brings an undeniable conviction regarding the Word of God AS the Word of God given to us by the Apostles.

Paul says this is why he had confidence that the Thessalonians he preached to were genuinely saved:

1 Thessalonians 2:13

1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

If you are one of the struggle-rs here today, let this stand to give you an assurance like nothing else can – if you have that deep seated, Spirit wrought conviction that the Word of God is just that, even if you are battling with understanding some things it teaches aright – that conviction is a work of the Spirit alone.

Some may say they believe it, but deep down never tremble at it, never search it out, never let it search them out.

But the one anointed by the Spirit knows that they know that they know that this is God’s Word. And nothing can shake them from that reality. For it is a reality, and not a mere belief.

Building upon the previous 2, John then multiplies his case:

1 John 4:13-19

1 John 4:13–19 ESV

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.

Here, John reiterates his 1st point – Jesus’ Spirit within us makes US testify, bear witness that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

But more.

By that same Spirit we have come to know and believe the love God has for us.

You see the mounting argument. If we share the Spirit’s conviction of who and what Jesus is, and that He came to save – then in His saving act we come face to face with the reality of His love for us. We come face to face with it in a way that is unlike anything else.

We can complain that we do not feel His love. We might say that we even doubt His love. But what we cannot deny is that He tells us we know His love for us by the fact that He died for us on the Cross.

In other words, the Spirit grants –

A Conviction that God’s love toward us is absolutely proven in sending His Son to die for our sins.

This beloved is the very essence of true saving faith.

1 John 4:15-16

1 John 4:15–16 ESV

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

If I know the witness of the Spirit within granting a powerful conviction regarding the incarnation and His death on Calvary – then knowing that, I must also concede – incontrovertibly, the love that God has for me.

John Calvin put it this way: “We shall now have a full definition of faith if we say that it is a firm and sure knowledge of the divine favor toward us, founded on the truth of a free promise in Christ, and revealed to our minds, and sealed on our hearts, by the Holy Spirit.”

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 1997).

You see how these work together. The Spirit gives us a deep conviction that Christ has come, that the Word about Him is true, and that His death on the Cross is His testimony regarding His toward me, whatever I may or may not think or feel. I must concede what His Word teaches.

So my problem of assurance may be that I am unwilling to accept the proof that He says is the best proof of His love.

It may be a faith issue after all.

But there is a last work of the Spirit in the soul that John has yet to bring before us.

1 John 5:6-12

1 John 5:6–12 ESV

This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

To be sure this is a somewhat complex passage, but the basic ideas most commentators agree upon:

1st. The testimony of the water, is a reference to Jesus being baptized.

And it was in His baptism that He most identified Himself with us – we in our sinful fallen state. Though He was not sinful, He joined Himself to us in that outward visible demonstration. It is a testimony to His being physically among us. Contra the Gnostics.

2nd. His blood bears witness – that He really and truly died for our sins on the Cross. He was no mere apparition, and this was no myth. He died in a Roman crucifixion, as a sinner in our place. Also contra the Gnostics.

And to this the Spirit bears witness yet again. How?

Romans 1:1-4

Romans 1:1–4 ESV

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

He was raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit – who in doing so, declared Him to be the Son of God in power.

These 3 bear a unified witness about Him: The Water, the Blood and the Spirit.

The same Spirit who indwells all His own. That Spirit which brings:

A Conviction that Jesus really came, really died, really rose from the dead – and that believing in Him IS the conferral of eternal life.

1 John 5:11

1 John 5:11 ESV

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

Conviction that Jesus is the Son of God incarnate.

Conviction that the Apostolic witness is true.

Conviction that God’s love toward us is absolutely proven in sending His Son to die for our sins.

Conviction that Jesus really came, really died, really rose from the dead – and that believing in Him IS the conferral of eternal life.

In closing let me bring us to 3 takeaways. Each for a different group.
1. The one who says they are a Christian – but for whom these absolute convictions are not your experience.
Call on Him today. Ask God to open your heart and mind – to send the Holy Spirit to birth new life in you and make these things more than mere speculations or beliefs – but transforming realities.

To reveal Christ to you in all of His saving power in His substitutionary death on the Cross. Ask Him to give you this new life in Jesus.

The promise of His Word is that those who come to Him, He will not turn away. Come to Him today. This very moment.
1. My dear brother or sister who is struggling with assurance.
Stop and consider that even in your worst moments of doubt and torment – that you cannot escape the reality of these truths. They are burned into your soul.

You need to let those convictions fill the role they are intended to have – to be tokens of the Anointing which indwells you – The presence of the Holy Spirit. And that this belongs only to those who are Christ’s.

The reason why you cannot be at peace, is because this witness continually confronts you in every frame of mind. And this is God’s own proof that you are His.
1. The Compromising Christian. The reason you are so miserable here today, is because you cannot get this monkey of the reality of who and what Christ is – and what He has called you to – off your back.
And you will never be at peace, never be able to live with Christ in assurance until you yield to what you know to be the truth. You are in a most mysterious and dangerous place. You know the truth, and yet you are trying to live apart from it. Repent. For if you do not, you will find in the end that you had no real conviction, but mere knowledge. And knowledge will not save you – only Christ can.
As I was Reading Today

March 13th, 2019
Three things to note here:
1. Clearly, the idea of abundance is meant to be demonstrated. When God meets the need, He does more than meet it barely. He is a God of abundance and there was enough left over here to feed many, many more.
2. How quickly we are satisfied – when He has provided so much more. We stop receiving from Him when our immediate pinch is met, and not according to all He has made available for us. May we become voracious consumers of all He has provided, and not just triflers at His provision.
3. Why did not those who partook, take more with them to take to others? Why was so much left over? They consumed what they had an appetite for themselves, but thought nothing of taking what Christ had blessed for them to others who might be hungry too.
Father, open my eyes to your great, abundant provision for my soul and life in Jesus. Give me a ravenous appetite for your provision – hunger for your Word and the truth of Christ that gobbles up everything thing I can. And let me take what you have broken, and not let a crumb of it be left behind, but carry it to others who need the Bread of Life that only you can, and have so graciously supplied.

Why go to Church? Pt. 2

HOPE

HOPE: The joyful expectation of the good God has promised us to come at Jesus’ return.

1. The World has a poor and destructive counterfeit to this hope.

2. The Church has often neglected the resurrection.

A Conviction that Jesus is the Son of God incarnate.

An absolute CONVICTION that Jesus is the Son of God incarnate.

Conviction that the Apostolic witness is true.

A Conviction that God’s love toward us is absolutely proven in sending His Son to die for our sins.

A Conviction that Jesus really came, really died, really rose from the dead – and that believing in Him IS the conferral of eternal life.