1 John 2:3-6 "The Expedience of Obedience"

um yeah we've got uh a great study we've been off for the last two weeks so thank you for being so faithful to be back here and we'll be here next week uh next thursday so we're we're going to continue to go through the book of first john together which is a great book four's back there yawning so uh um so i do need to say this the second this is over i've got to immediately dash and head to the airport you can pray for me i'm preaching this afternoon to 7 000 people and john mcarthur is there and i'm preaching on the cross and john 19 and a walk through the survey of the cross and so and then i'll preach saturday um afternoon be the closing speaker for the conference on the resurrection of christ and so it's it really isn't extraordinary opportunity and to preach the word of god and then i head to the airport and fly to charlotte and then from charlotte to cleveland and we'll preach a couple more times there but i'll be back in time for our bible study and uh so luke thank you so much no problem this is luke steinbach ladies and gentlemen working his way through college bring us herbs house coffee so yeah and people ask me as i travel around so where does herb live [Music] how would i find herb's house so we are just for point of clarification we are in herb's house for those of you watching wherever you are it is a coffee shop here in dallas and we're very close about a block away from the bush presidential library and very close to smu and so you're welcome to come to the study you know whenever you can we've got a room packed full of high-powered theologians in this room right now for this bible study and i'm eager to to dig into the scripture with you so i wish i could stay afterwards and be able to talk with you but we'll do that next week okay so let's just dive right into this and i need to begin in a word of prayer so father as we come to your word we ask that you would renew our minds that you would ignite our hearts for you that you would capture our wills and direct our steps uh teach us this day the truth of your word i pray for these men who have gathered here with me they've becomes such a integral part of my life and a blessing to me i just ask that you would multiply your your grace in their lives as a result of this time together so we pray this in jesus name amen okay we're in 1st john chapter 2 and today we're going to look at verses 3 through 6 and we'll see if we can get through this because there's really a lot of truth and it's i really want us to grasp what john is presenting to us the title of this is the expedience of obedience or it could be titled obedience is not optional so i want to begin by by reading these verses beginning in verse 3 by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments the one who says i've come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word in him the love of god has truly been perfected in this we know that we are in him the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked in these verses we see the third test for true assurance of salvation we have already seen the first two the first one was that you have come to put your faith and trust in the true christ the christ who was from the beginning eternal god the christ who became man that we heard and saw and touched that you have believed not in a christ of your own imagination not in a christ that paul calls in galatians one a false christ but that you have come to believe in the one true christ sent by the father into this world born of a virgin who lived a sinless and perfect life went to the cross died bearing the sins of his people was buried raised from the dead has ascended to the right hand of god the father and whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved that christ so to believe in any other christ is to have a false hope so that's the first test that we saw that was in chapter one verses one through four the second test was in chapter one verse five through chapter two verse two and it is that you confess your sins to god uh you're not in us an an excuse machine making excuses for mistakes in your life but that you realize that you have sinned and you are grieved about your sin and you bring your sin to god and you acknowledge your sin and you do so at the point of entrance into the kingdom and you do so as you continue to live the christian life there is a heightened sense of sin in your life and it doesn't go away in fact the longer you walk with the lord the the greater is your sensitivity to sin in your life because you are growing closer to the one who is the light and as you are growing closer to the one who is the light you see the moral imperfections in your life with a greater sensitivity so that's the second uh test that john gives so we now come to the third test and in the book of first john there is a a series of of tests uh some eight or nine depending upon how you you break it up that will be will be realized in the life of everyone who is truly born again um ultimately the greatest assurance of salvation comes from your seeing a changed life in you a life that only god could change that you know that god is at work in your life because you see how you are being conformed into the image of jesus christ you can fake walking denial you can fake praying a prayer you can fake joining a church you can fake being baptized you cannot fake a changed life from the inside out and so that's the case that john is making wherever there is the the root of regeneration and when we say regeneration we mean the new birth wherever there is the root of regeneration there will be by necessity the fruit of sanctification which is growing in the grace and knowledge of the lord jesus christ to put it another way whenever you go through the narrow gate by necessity you have to go down the narrow path you cannot go through the narrow gate and then walk the broad path it's just impossible that is the theological argument that john is making faith alone saves but faith that is alone does not save saving faith will always be accompanied by good works so i hope that that i've been able to make that clear so we come now to the third test and and it's it's pretty strong so buckle your pew belt okay that this is going to be an r rated bible study r for reformed okay so here we go it is the acid test of obedience to the word of god that there is a desire in your heart to obey the word of god and if that's not there you're not saved you're just fooling yourself in the heart of every new believer and old believer is a new heart that desires to please god that desires to walk in obedience we do not walk in obedience perfectly let me just get that out on the table that's why the second test is confession of sin we wouldn't even have to confess our sin if we could obey god perfectly right so we will continue to to disobey at times we will confess it and make it right with god but this is not talking about the perfection of our life is talking about the direction of our life you're now on a new path of obedience to god and when you're not obedient you're grieved about it and when you are obedient there is a sense of pleasure that you derive from following the path that god has marked out so that's what we're talking about so as we walk through this now uh obviously i have some headings and it'll make it very simple the first is the test stated let me ask you this i did read the passage didn't i okay all right i'm still on an airplane someplace so um all right in verse 3 i want you to see the test stated let me just read it again by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments that's not hard to understand may be hard to swallow but it's not hard to understand it says what it means and it means what it says now let's just walk through this please note the first word is and that connects this with what preceded this is one more in a series of tests and by this we know i just want to remind you the word no is is the most frequently used word in the first john it's the key word it's only five chapters in first john it is used 40 times 40 times this is all about this is a book all about knowing that you know the lord this is a book about assurance the gospel of john is about how to be saved first john is how to know that you're saved okay so the two go together perfectly so verse three and we and by this we know that we have come to know him what that means is by this you have the assurance that you're a true christian by this you know that you've been born again by this you know that you are a genuine authentic follower of jesus christ and this is very important because you can't really live your christian life to any degree of effectiveness if you don't know that you know the lord you've got to know that you know the lord and you've got to have a valid means by which you know that you know the lord so he says and by this we know that we have come to know him to put it another way by this we know that we have a personal relationship with jesus christ so this is a pretty important subject we're addressing here because there are so many people in so many churches who are self-deceived into thinking that they know the lord when in reality they do not know the lord not everyone who says to me lord lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven matthew 7 verse 21 i think there are more people who are self-deceived about where they are with the lord than there are people who actually know the lord so this this is very important so here's the test now as we come to it in the middle of verse 3 if here's the condition if we keep his commandments now we do not keep his commandments in order to be saved we keep his commandments because we have been saved and it will always accompany true salvation so you can look in the mirror and look in your own life and just you ask the hard question [Music] am i living in obedience to the word of god um is it important to me to keep the commandments is this marginal and optional in my life or is this really obligatory in my life because in the heart of a true christian according to john here we will keep his commandments now let's just walk through this to keep his commandments means more than knowing his commandments it means more than memorizing his commandments it means more than studying his commandments it means more than cherishing or even witnessing and telling others about his commandments it actually means to hold on to his commandments in such a way that you live them in other words these commandments are not going in one ear and out the other that these commandments have gripped your heart and they now become the steering wheel of your life they now become the rudder of your ship the these commandments now are the gps in your spiritual life and you are tracking with with these commandments that's what the word keep means that that you that you hang on to them and that that you observe them now please note the word commandments it's not god's suggestions it's not god's preferences it's not his opinions it's not his options these are god's commandments and this word commandment i looked it up it means a charge that comes from a superior like a superior officer we are the lesser god is the greater and we are under his authority and his word comes to us as an order as as in order from the king of kings and the lord of lords it comes to us with imperative force that grabs our conscience and it is an injunction that requires the choice of our will to follow what is set forth in in his word also please note that commandments is in the plural if we keep his commandments and the idea here is a comprehensive scope of his commandments that we can't go through and and just pick and choose which commandments i like and which ones fit me and pass on the others no no it's it's an across the board uh allegiance and loyalty to the lordship of christ to keep all his commandments and this is true for every single christian and this is nothing new jesus has already affirmed this in the great commission in matthew 28 you remember all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me verse 18 with this authority he has the authority to command us right go and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit now we come to verse 20. teaching them to observe all all that i commanded you and that's the role of the church that's the role of discipleship that's the role of the pulpit that's the role the teachers lectern to pass down all these commandments that christ gave to his disciples it it is to be like this domino effect or a relay race they are to be passed down from generation to generation and they are to come with binding force upon our lives now let me be quick to say this the greatest thing that you and i can do is to obey his commandments every commandment points us into the very epicenter of the will of god the goodness of god the kindness of god so this isn't like taking bad medicine in order to get well something i just have to put up with and do no every commandment is leading you into the abundant life that is in jesus christ and every step of disobedience is harming you and hurting you and exposing you to the world the flesh and the devil so as we think about obedience to his commandments don't think about it as a negative think about it as an an extreme positive on steroids because it is it it's pin pointing you into the center of god's will which romans 12 verse 2 says is good and acceptable and perfect you cannot improve on god's will as revealed in his commandments so let me just give you now a couple of words to help flesh out this before we move on concerning this obedience it should be number one immediate this isn't something that kicks in 10 years after you're become a christian this isn't something that starts five years after you're born again and you decide to get serious about god in your life no this happens the moment you walk through the narrow gate you were born again you can measure that by when you begin to walk in obedience to the lord i mean this this starts the second not perfectly again and you're probably gonna have to learn what all these commandments are but nevertheless that's what repentance is i mean you turned away from going your own way and going according to the course of this world and you now are on a new path headed in a new direction to follow the clear teaching of scripture so this starts immediately there is no such thing as a genuine testimony that says something like this you know i accepted jesus as savior when i was 10. but i didn't make him lord until i was 22. that that is the most bogus testimony you'll ever hear in your life number one you're not qualified to make him lord only god the father can make him lord so no one makes him lord he already is lord you recognize his lordship and you submit to his lordship second thing is lord and savior is a package deal you don't get half of jesus when you're 10 and the other installment of jesus when you become 21. that it doesn't work that way it's all or nothing jesus is lord and savior and the first step of obedience is really the first step through the narrow gate that leads you into the kingdom of god the second thing i want to tell you is not only immediately but willingly don't think that now this is being and i use the word earlier forced because it does come with powerful force but don't think that this is against your will no god's given you a new heart and he's given you a new will in fact your will is only the servant and handmaiden of your heart your will will only choose what your heart wants to do okay and so it's really a matter of the heart and you will willingly obey the lord not against your will but according to the desires of your heart um romans 6 verse 17 says you became obedient from the heart true obedience is from the heart because you desire to obey when jonathan edwards wrote what is arguably his magnum opus was called the freedom of the will his whole argument was really the bondage of the will but his old argument was your will will only choose to do what your heart wants to do so the key is your heart every decision is flowing out of your heart and so that's why we must keep our heart pure and clean so the third thing i would tell you is that this obedience is long term it it endures throughout the entirety of a christian life you don't start out for the first 10 years living in obedience and then the last 30 years you just go awol and kind of go your own way and do your own thing etc no no jesus hebrews 12 verse 2 is the author and perfecter of faith he authored saving faith and he matures and perfects the obedience of faith in you throughout the entirety of your christian life philippians 1 verse 6 he who began a good work in you shall perfect it until the day of christ jesus in philippians 2 verse 13 that god is at work within you both to will and to work for his good pleasure and in the heart and soul of everyone who is genuinely born again there is this work of god this work of christ this work of the holy spirit inside of you that by which you continue to pursue obedience you don't just check out for a decade and then come back no god has a way of bringing you back it's called discipline if you're a true child of god now this is what's known as the perseverance of the saints i know you've heard of that that doctrine the perseverance of the saints the perseverance of the saints means more than the eternal security of the believer once saved always saved that is true but the perseverance of the saints goes even further and it says not only will you never fall away from grace but that for the rest of your christian life you will be growing in the grace and knowledge of christ which means you will be becoming progressively being made more and more and more like christ and it's not because of you it's because of christ in you and he will never let go of you and he will continue to build up your faith and so it will be a lifelong pursuit of obedience to the will of god so that that's that's what that's what john is teaching here and and i wish i had time i've got a note card here with about literally 18 cross references to take you to the whole bible and we would never finish the book of first john if i go go off on that but the entire bible supports what i just told you now i want to i want to add a footnote right here before we move to the next verse i can hear someone say this and i hear it occasionally you're just teaching legalism obedience is legalism i'm free in christ to live however i want to live i don't know if you've heard that it's very sad it comes from untaught teachers and preachers let me define for you what legalism is it's a two-fold prong number one legalism is telling people to obey a list of rules that are not found in the bible so if you're a good christian you're going to sit on the fourth row of the church and your hair will be whatever length and your dress will be whatever length and you won't do this and you won't do that you won't do this you won't do that and if that's the case your dog spots the best christian you know because he doesn't do those things either but it is coming up with a list that has no chapter and verse for it whatsoever and it's imposed upon your christian life that's legalism the second aspect of legalism is telling people they have to keep the word of god in order to be saved and no one can be saved by their works john is not talking about either one of those he's not talking about working your way into the kingdom and he is not talking about keeping a list of rules that are not found in the bible he's talking about keeping god's commandments and that is a necessary part of every true christian's life i'll just give you one cross-reference i mean i'm just dying to give you these this list of 18 but i'm i'm not going to do it all right i know when you're laughing with me and i know when you're laughing at me okay um but john 7 21. well i mean let's just put that card on the table not everyone who says to me lord lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven did you get that jesus just defined who went through the narrow gate and who's going down the narrow path it's not the one who says lord lord lord lord it's the one who behind that profession is the possession of christ and you keep the commandments of god not because you have to because you want to now there is a sense in which you have to it's a commandment for heaven's sake it's not a pretty please it's a commandment and sometimes i hear teachers say well don't ever say that you have to do this you have to do this okay it's it's not a pretty please it's a commandment and there will be consequences for disobedience just understand that there will always be painful consequences to wrong decisions in the christian life and i don't have to time to trace all that out so just understand this is not legalism this is bible christianity that you keep his commandments okay this this this isn't a book full of lists of wishes this these are commandments now come to verse four the test failed the tests failed because not everyone who says they know the lord actually knows the lord if someone says he knows christ but fails to live a life of obedience to christ hear this this person does not know the lord i can't make that any more black and white for you because john cannot make this any more black and white for you i'm not going to have john teach you in black and white and then i relay it to you in shades of gray no it's going to be as black and white as john has written it here so look at verse four the one who says i have come to know him and does not keep his commandments you see the next three words i mean my mom would have washed my mouth out with soap to say this is a liar and the truth is a million miles away from him just not in him now this is pretty clear cut so let's walk through this the one who says now we've already been introduced to this guy he is in chapter 1 verse 6 if we say chapter 1 verse 8 if we say chapter 1 verse 10 if we say he will reappear in verse chapter 2 verse 6 the one who says here he is in verse 4 the one who says this is the bogus believer this is the counterfeit christian this is the judas disciple this is the tares among the wheat i i can't put it any plainer this is the one who professes christ but does not possess christ this is the one who is in church but he's not in christ i can't make this any clearer because john can't make it any clearer the one who says i have come to know him oh i know christ but notice the next word and okay so there's a package deal here and does not keep his commandments in other words he lives on the broad path that's headed for destruction he lives a life that marginalizes the word of god he lives a life of disregard to the commandments of a scripture and as you look at the big picture of his life the big picture is a snapshot of disobedience to the word of god can you see this guy so what does john say he is is he saved is he just backslidden is he just a carnal christian notice what john says i didn't write this as a liar that's strong language that john intentionally is trying to jerk our bobber here on this i mean this is a sharp edge he's a liar in other words every time you tell someone you are a christian you are lying through your teeth at this strong stuff every time you sing a hymn you're lying every time you give a witness you're just lying through your teeth you don't know christ you are self-deceived and we can put it this way your testimony is a dead testimony it has no reality to it no validity to it no veracity to it just a dead testimony every time you open your mouth and tell someone you're a christian it's just a bunch of hot air it's all it is so is a liar and in case we didn't understand what that means he then adds and there's one more in this and the truth it's referring to the gospel the gospel truth it's not in him it may be in his head but it's not in his life it may be on the tip of his tongue but it's not in his heart it's certainly not in his walk the truth is nowhere in him that this this person who says but does not obey is a total contradiction in terms he is a an oxymoron he he is he claims to be following christ but goes in the opposite direction a profession of christ without obedience to christ is a fake faith it's not real we don't have time to go to james 2 14-26 but in james 2 verse 17 let me just put this one one verse up in front of you faith if it has no works is dead comma being by itself so calvin and the reformers luther put it this way faith alone saves solafide but faith that is alone is not real faith it's not saving faith so this leads us now to verse five the test passed the test passed and so in verse five it starts off with the negative conjunction but so that means sharp contrast to verse four so we're gonna go this is like a tennis match back and forth verse verse three is the true believer verse four four is the false christian now back in verse 5 to the true believer but whoever keeps his word now please note his word not not the traditions of men not the traditions of a church or denomination hardcore commandments in the bible i love what spurgeon charles had in spurgeon once said i will not believe a matter until i can put finger on chapter and verse okay so that's what his word is referring to here but whoever keeps his commandment and keeps is really a stronger word than obey it the idea is you you have a death grip on his commandments you you you have you have a grip on them and they have a grip on you and and they are rooted and grounded in you they they are anchored in you and you are keeping them you you cannot they cannot be dislodged from your life they are the compass that's directing your life these ten commandments or all and then all of the imperatives that are binding upon us but whoever keeps his commandment notice in him and we can actually put it this way to make it more emphatic in him and in him alone in him and him only now note this what follows is very important and then we're going to go to a q a the love of god has truly been perfected by this for the love of god to be perfected means that the love of god has been poured into your soul by the holy spirit that's romans 5 verse 5. and now the obedience is flowing from a heart of love god loves you you love god and it is out of this love relationship that you keep the commandments i remember when i went to college my father gave me a credit card and there basically were no stipulations to it but because of my love for my father i'm not going to abuse that credit card it's going to have to be a flat tire it's going to have to be a new set of golf no never mind no no that's the confession test okay um if you love someone that becomes the guard rails on the side of the road and that becomes the regulative principle that you will desire to please the one you love right of course that's true anyone knows that and so our obedience to his commandments is is being fueled by the love of god within us the love that he has for us in christ melts our heart down it's like high octane fuel in our heart it's what's propelling us that he loved me before i ever loved him that he gave his son to die for me how can i marginalize his commandments where he has made this sacrifice for me romans 5 verse 8 for god demonstrated his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners christ died for us my obedience is really the overflow of my ongoing realization of that i am the object of his love and have been from eternity past so verse verse 5 here is very important and he concludes by this we know that we are in him that word no is talking about assurance of salvation god wants you to have the assurance of salvation and i wish i had time to trace out the various ways but right here what is in front of in front of us is that we see a habitual lifestyle of ongoing obedience to his commandments do i fail at times yes of course i do and so do you and that's what drives us back to the previous test we confess that to the lord we're hurt by it when the spirit of god convicts us and we get up and we press on in obedience to the lord now i'm just going to finish this out verse 6 and then we're finished the test demonstrated the one who says the one who says he abides in him that that means the one who says he's a christian ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked so simple question how did jesus walk he walked in obedience the the sinless obedience of the lord jesus christ theologians referred to his active obedience and his passive obedience his whole life he lived in perfect obedience to the will of god and if you if you know christ you're following christ and christ is walked in obedience therefore we will walk in obedience if we are following christ or we're not following christ he he will never lead us into disobedience he will only lead us into obedience and even not only by his teaching but by the example of his life well i want to make sure that we have time to talk about this i i think by way of application this should be very obvious we need to examine ourselves whether we be in the faith i've told you before let me say it again i've pastored for almost 35 years and i've seen hundreds of people converted to christ i would say 19 out of 20 were church members who thought they were saved until they began to see the real test of what it is to be a christian it it wasn't so much just bums walking in off the street who were derelict and alcoholics and and you know and they're radically converted it's it's sunday school teachers it's elders wives it's rank and file church members when they finally see what it is to be a christian when they finally see what is the basis of true salvation they suddenly are awakened to the realization my god i've never been born again i remember once i had a deacon converted in a deacon's meeting he was sitting right next to me so this is very important so examine yourself do you see a pattern of obedience to the word of god in in your life is it motivated by the love of god is is there a desire to please god in in your life there is in the heart and soul of everyone who is born again and today so many sermons and preachers just want to talk about their struggles and let's just all kind of bond together over our struggles and we do struggle i don't want to diminish that but john is setting the bar where god set the bar here where god said it and we we need to understand what accompanies true conversion to christ so let me just stop here i need to give us more time to talk about these things so i don't know where the traveling microphone is back there i see a hand over here have you got it i don't have a microphone okay who's got the microphone yeah hit me dr lawson uh i'd love to hear your thoughts on um as far as i mean obviously this is the we're stepping into kind of the lordship debate here right oh yeah absolutely and uh and so it's when we're interacting with those who are of the no lordship position free grace antinomian whatever we want to call it particularly considering where we live in the dallas area how would you respond to a theologian who says it like this that this profession and view in verse 4 of chapter 2 in light of the context is evidently another claim to having a close relationship with god not a claim to being saved he's just bringing his presuppositions and imposing it uh upon the text and i wish i could go through these 18 verses that i that i wrote out here and i would say this there is one of the key principles of interpreting scripture is what we call the analogia scriptura which is latin for the analogy of scripture which means you never interpret the whole rest of the bible in light of one verse it's the total opposite you bring the whole rest of the bible to bear upon this one verse when you study the whole rest of the bible it becomes abundantly clear that obedience is a necessary distinguishing mark of true conversion the other interpretive principle that would have to be brought to bear is context and if and and i remember because i went to that seminary um two professors having this debate in front of the class as to which way the wind was blowing and what i remember was a very profound insight from the professor who was correct is that there is this back and forth nature in first john 1 and 2 between the one who says and the one who does the one who says and the one who does and and if you don't recognize a sharp contrast the one who says is a liar and the truth is not in him i i'm sorry but that's an unbeliever in fact i'm not sorry that that is an unbeliever it's not a christian and and you you are just paving the road to hell for for a lot of people and giving people an assurance of a salvation they do not possess and they're going to go to the last day thinking they're going to get a warm reception when in reality they're going to be in for the shock of their life and there's no time to to make it right so um yes i'm very aware of that of which you speak and i am i i have both feet in the bible would you say that the uh the biggest problem with the no lordship position is what you just mentioned that you're handing out false assurance like like candy yeah absolutely and you you are a hindrance to the work of evangelism um i think there are people who are converted i think there are people saved who are part of that movement just like i mean you could be a roman catholic and be saved just can't believe what your church teaches um i mean you can be in the building but you would have to deny what comes from the pulpit are there some people like that yeah sure it it's it's a theological it's it's a theological misunderstanding of of just basic bible doctrine really and um i i i'm right now flashing in my mind is the great quote by b.b warfield benjamin breckenridge warfield christianity needs reformed theology christianity is always the strongest when it holds to reformed theology and every step away from reformed theology as a step onto a slippery slope that given enough time will descend downward to armenianism to liberalism to ecumenicalism to socialism to agnosticism ultimately to atheism and the high ground is reformed theology and reformed theology rightly divides the word of truth so thank you for the question and yeah all right luke you got a new ball cap there luke yeah there we go set a quick question around um this idea of ascertaining salvation and yourself i think is you know it's obviously a great test but i've noticed a lot of times people will take that kind of measurement to other people's lives and be like so and so is a believer or so and so is not a believer yeah and um you you even mentioned people you knew in your own life who were the sunday school teachers and who were kind of the the best of us so to speak and i'm even thinking as someone who's interested in apologetics you know the late and great like ravi zacharias and kind of the how we we glorify people and incorrectly ascertain their salvation um and so i guess from your perspective what's the place of of even attempting to try to try to say i believe this person's saved or not and how do we go about that in a way that's not spiritually prideful and also uh with the knowledge that christ knows the heart and we don't yeah sure yeah man looks on the outward appearance but god looks on the heart but that's the point man does look on the outward appearance and we are to be fruit inspectors and every parent should have discernment with their children as to whether or not they're in the faith or not in the faith every sunday school teacher should have discernment with his or her class whether they are in the faith or not i mean every pastor every elder should exercise discernment and as we are witnessing to people and meeting people the most loving thing that i can do for him it's not pride i need to know are you my mission field or or are you a fellow worker in the in the mission field with me and and so um it's not prideful jesus said you will know them by their fruit so you will know them by their fruit now there are other passages that would talk about that only god knows and yes that that is true so i i can't be absolutely certain and many times some of the people that have been converted under my preaching some of them would be the last person i would have thought needed to be converted because they were so morally polished on the outside i didn't know their heart and and so there will be those um but there will be others that i have very good reason and i'll give you another example back when i was a pastor i i had to interview new members to come into the church and i would have them write out their testimony your life before christ your life when you came to know christ your life since coming to know christ and i would listen to those testimonies and i would have to make some very hard decisions do i let this person into the church or not and i'm going to give them a margin of error and i'm going to lean on the side of grace but but if you come out with some hair brain testimony that that's not judgmental i'm doing my duty i'm doing i'm being a shepherd among the flock and i need to now sit down with you and explain the gospel of christ and i'll give you another example i was once asked to perform a wedding between the richest man in southern alabama and the woman who had been married to one of the richest men in south alabama and this was going to be more of a merger than a marriage and i remember she had been on the pulpit committee that brought me there and the airport's named after her husband and this man who came to me is who she now wanted to marry her husband had passed away uh the college was named for him in town okay so this was you know kind of a high profile marriage to be so i i had to ask him give me your testimony when did you come to know christ in the back of my mind i can only marry two christians so he gave me probably the worst testimony i've ever heard in my life and telling me you have to be baptized in order to be saved to have your sins forgiven to be and he began to tell me how much money he gave to the church began to tell me about all of his good works etc and i just said sir let me let me just tell you lovingly you're not a christian well no one's ever manned up to him and told him that because they all wanted his money i said sir you're not you're not a christian and i can only marry two christians he blew up who are you to tell me i'm not a christian um i am a messenger of the bible and according to scripture you have not come all the way to saving faith in jesus christ you've put one little toe in the baptistry but that's not going to get you to heaven and neither will your money get you to heaven so to to to function as a christian you you have to exercise some discernment and yes being a pastor and a preacher i'm in a more visible position so i i have to scrutinize i have to scrutinize are you qualified to be an elder are you qualified to be a deacon that that's not judgmental that that is exercising discernment for the good of the church and for other people so as you are talking to people and meeting people i do believe as best you can without being judgmental but to to understand what we're going through here that that not everyone who says i know him knows him and if you detect or discern that that person doesn't know the lord the kindest thing you can do is figure out a way how to build a bridge to them to keep talking about the gospel and what a true christian is would it be possible yes i've known some people that go too far in a direction and they they can almost see an e on everyone's forehead who's elect and and and and it's just like well i can't see it you know uh have gone too far in their certainty that they know who's saved and not saved i mean you you need to to to not push that too far and um luke i really appreciate the question because that's kind of where the rubber meets the road you know who else back there toss it to grant yeah you got it doctor there are a wide variety of people listening um could you differentiate clearly between the law of moses the law given to moses by god and the commandments of christ yeah the law given to moses was given at mount sinai and what we need to know is that it's broken out into a three-fold division there's the moral law the center of that is the ten commandments there is the ceremonial law which is the priesthood the sacrifices that were to be brought and then there is the civil law which is how the nation of israel was to function as a nation with laws and punishments we need to understand that the ceremonial law was fulfilled in the death of christ he was the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world he has become our great high priest so that is all in that is fulfilled it is annulled there is no more ceremonial law the civil law gives us insight into justice and jurisprudence though it doesn't all automatically carry over to a nation for example their the death penalty came for children who disrespected their parents well that would wipe out an entire uh country right there and and so however many things there were for the death penalty all of those i don't think carry forward to today there has been much grace given even divorce and remarriage for adultery in the new testament now instead of stoning the adulterer the there is there is grace given to allow to remarry the the innocent party can remarry that's a grace of god because you could remarry in the old testament because we just stoned your adulterous husband to death okay so now you're free to remarry now we just don't have to kill him though you may want to at the heart of that is an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth which only means the punishment should fit the crime now there's the moral law the moral law is transcendent the moral law was already in effect before it was given the moral law is in effect in the new testament nine out of ten of the new of the of the moral of the ten commandments are repeated in the new testament so the moral law is is still in effect i i debated really for this study through first john the only other thing that was pulling at my heart was to lead us through a study of the ten commandments and and how relevant and practical they are for today to guide our christian life and and i would love to do the ten commandments with you and they're still on the books and paul's still quoting them in in romans in ephesians etc so it would be a hyper dispensational approach to say the ten commandments are no longer in effect now as it relates to the commandments of christ i think he is fleshing out with greater amplification the moral law that was originally given there's nothing that contradicts and in fact in the in the sermon on the mount in matthew 5 when jesus said you have heard that it was said but i say unto you and he says you know if you hate someone you've committed murder if you lust after a woman you've committed adultery that was nothing new it was a heart religion to begin with all jesus is being here as the great expositor and the great interpreter of the moral law it's not like oh okay it's okay to lust in your heart in the old testament and now it's not okay in the new testament or it was okay to hate someone's guts in the old testament but now jesus is up the ante no that that's the true interpretation from the very beginning you should love the lord your god with all your heart and soul and mind and strength it was it was a heart religion from the beginning the pharisees externalized it and the pharisees made it legalism by adding their own rules they added some six to eight i can't remember the exact number six to eight hundred extra rules and then also you've gotta work your way into the kingdom that's legalism but obedience to the moral law of god that's not legalism that's just christianity 101. so grant that's the best i can do as i'm looking at the clock and knowing that i board on an airplane at dfw in an hour so i'm going to have to to to dash i love you but not that much okay so no thank you for the question and we will pursue this uh further we'll be we're going to be here next thursday and there's a building argument to this and and i want you guys to to be caught up in the steamrolling argument that's going to this thing's going to continue to build in first john and he's going to put more tent pegs in front of us like if you're really a christian this is going to be true in your life and it's not a multiple choice you get to pick you know three out of the nine four out of the night no it's a package deal it's all or nothing you're gonna see every single one of these evidenced in your life if you have received a new heart and a new life from god that's the miracle okay let me close this in word of prayer thanks for being here today i'm always concerned when we don't meet for a couple weeks will anybody even remember herb's house so i'm glad you still do father thank you for this study thank you for these men bless them immeasurably today in their walk with you bring your commandments to bear upon their life for their good and for your glory in christ's name amen okay thank you i miss you good friend you [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: OnePassionMinistries

Views: 2,341

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: bQzij3MDR7Y

Length: 65min 41sec (3941 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 30 2021