What I will present this morning is controversial and confronting but I hope it will encourage you to get into God’s Word. Don’t take my word as Gospel or anyone else’s but read the Bible for yourself!
People throughout the world are able to view great athletic competitions. The most notable are the Olympic games. I enjoyed watching the skill of the All Blacks at Suncorp Stadium last Friday night.
We’re amazed that the human body
is capable of accomplishing the extraordinary feats those Olympic athletes
do. We’ve learned there is a strict
code of conduct associated with those games.
Performance enhancing drugs are forbidden. Each sport has exacting rules by which it is run or played. Anyone who violates those rules is penalized
or disqualified.
The Apostle Paul said there is a
parallel between the conduct of sports and living the Christian life: “If anyone competes as an athlete, he does
not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules” (2
Timothy 2:5). We will see in this
article that true Christianity has many rules that must be followed or one will
be disqualified from the race whose prize is eternal life. This kind of thinking is almost foreign to
the present Christian culture, particularly in America, but it is not foreign
to Scripture. It is the message of
Scripture.
Speaking of America in
particular, there seems to be great complacency on the part of those who call
themselves Christians. Though they may
appear little different from those in the world who claim no faith,
nevertheless they are confident that they are part of those who will be saved
and go to heaven. I suspect part of
that is because of ignorance of what Scripture says are the requirements (the
rules) of a saving faith.[i][2]
In this article, we will discuss
first the tests for salvation set forth by the Apostle John in his first
epistle. Then we will examine the tests
(I sometimes call them elements of a saving faith) set forth by Jesus and the
other Apostles. These tests will
rapidly help people determine if they are presently bound for heaven or on
their way to hell. The purpose of this
article is to help those who fail the tests to re-examine their “faith” and
help them come to a true and saving faith, one that will cause them to pass
these tests and have assurance of salvation based on truth.
Again, limiting my comments to
America, it seems most churches presume most of those attending are going to
heaven. They use inclusive language. There seems to be little or no teaching on
the requirements (the rules) God has specified for those who will have eternal
life. Jesus warned: “Enter through the narrow gate. For
wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many
enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow
the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew
7:13-14). Jesus was speaking to
religious Jews as he said that, not to a crowd of unbelievers who had no
knowledge of God.
There seems to be a feeling that
God grades on the curve. The person
attending church presumes he must be in better standing before God than the
person who does not. As he looks around
his community, he may believe he is living a better life than most. Therefore he believes he can have confidence
he is going to heaven. But is that what
Scripture says? Does God compare my
life and your life with others who are wicked and say, “You are less wicked,
and therefore you can go to heaven?”
Not according to Scripture! We
will see that Scripture is unequivocal in many of the tests (and elements of a
saving faith) that we will examine. You
either satisfy the condition or you do not.
Those who do will be saved; those who do not will be condemned. I know that may sound very harsh, as it is a
far cry from what seems to be preached in many pulpits, but that is what
Scripture says. Let’s see if you agree
after we test ourselves to see if we are in the faith.
There seems to be a need on the
part of many to have assurance of salvation.
I have never felt that need because I know that if my faith remains
strong, I will be saved. Scripture says
so. Others feel insecure, asking their
pastors and teachers to assure them that they are saved and will be going to
heaven when they die.
Some reasons for such insecurity
may be that such people know they are not living as Jesus would have them
live. Nevertheless, they sit under
teaching and preaching that assures them they have assurance of their
salvation. In my experience, such
teachers and preachers often point to 1 John 5:13 which says, “I write these
things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know
that you have eternal life.” Then they may say to the person, “Do you believe
in Jesus?” The answer is likely, “Yes,
of course!” They respond, “Then be
assured you have eternal life.”
Is that what this passage is
saying? Or is that an extreme example
of taking Scripture out of context? How
do “these things” (that John is writing to them) relate to assurance of
salvation? And what does it mean to
believe in the name of the Son of God?
As good Berean’s, let’s see what Scripture says!
Do you suppose in the Apostle
John’s time people were also asking questions about how they could be assured
they will be saved? Or was John very
concerned that people thought they were saved but weren’t acting as if they
were part of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus?
Either or both of those could be true.
In any case, John’s first epistle addressed both those questions.
John’s statement at 1 John 5:13
said, “I write these things to you . . .” What were “these things” he
wrote to them? “These things” were
various tests that he intended his readers to use to examine themselves to
determine if they are in the family of God and have eternal life. These tests are equally applicable to each
of us today. IF we pass those tests, we
may know we have eternal life. If we do
not pass the tests, we will know we do not have eternal life and that we are on
the broad road to eternal punishment.
Let’s examine the tests proposed
by the Apostle and see how we fare. As
we go through these, we’ll relate John’s tests to teachings and commands of
Jesus and other New Testament writers.
We know that
we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I
know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the
truth is not in him (1 John 2:3-4).
John sets up a simple
contrast. Those who obey Jesus’
commands have come to know him. Those
who claim to know him but do not obey are liars. Jesus told us what happens to liars:
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the
murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters
and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur”
(Revelation 21:8). Any questions? The fiery lake of burning sulphur is
Scripture’s description of hell. Very
clearly, without ambiguity, those who claim a relationship with the Lord Jesus
but do not obey him are liars bound for hell.
In America we find tens of
millions of people in the Bible belt who claim to know Jesus. But do they obey him? According to Barna’s research most cannot be
distinguished from non-church-goers.
How would each of them fare if they were to examine themselves according
to this test? I fear many would
fail.
Is this an aberration? Is this a lone teaching by the Apostle John
not found elsewhere in Scripture? Just
the contrary. This is the dominant
theme of all Scripture – to obey God and his commandments. It is also consistent with the command Jesus
gave just before he left this earth. He
gave his church their marching orders:
“All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew
28:18-20).
Our duty is to make
disciples. To do that we are to teach
all new converts to obey everything Jesus commanded during his earthly
ministry. Are we doing it? Do the professing Christians in our churches
know what Jesus commanded? If they
don’t, how can they obey? If they don’t
obey, how can they be Jesus’ disciples?
If they’re not disciples of Jesus, can they be saved?
Would a person go to hell for
disobedience to the teachings and commands of Jesus? Paul wrote the Thessalonians, “He [the Lord Jesus] will punish
those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord
Jesus. They will be punished with
everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the
majesty of his power”
(2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). There is no
doubt that punishment and destruction is the fate of those who disobey the Lord
Jesus. That is consistent with Hebrews
5:9, “he [Jesus] became the source of salvation for all who obey him.” Note the contrast – salvation for those who
obey the Lord Jesus, but punishment and everlasting destruction for those who
disobey him.
Jesus told a parable that
illustrates the contrast between the obedient and disobedient servant:
“Who then is
the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants
in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46
It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he
returns. 47 I tell you the truth, he will put him in
charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that
servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’
49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants
and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master
of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour
he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and
assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:45-51).
The obedient servant is given
honour when his master returns. But the
servant who disobeys – beating his fellow servants and eating and drinking with
drunkards – will be severely punished, cut to pieces and assigned a place with
hypocrites (hell). Did you notice that
the punishment for the disobedient servant is greater than the punishment in
all the other parables Jesus told where the person was judged and
condemned? No other one states that he
“will cut him to pieces.”
Some may raise the argument that
we are no longer under the “Law” so therefore there is nothing we are to
obey. The Law that Paul emphasizes we
are no longer under – that we died to (Romans 7:4,6) and that was nailed to the
cross (Colossians 2:14) – is the Old Testament Law.[1][3] Paul said that he
is under Christ’s law, “To those not having the law I became like one not having the law
(though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law),
so as to win those not having the law” (1 Corinthians 9:21. Also Galatians
6:2). Note that Paul equated God’s law
with Christ’s law – one and the same for the New Testament believer. The Law of Christ is everything Jesus taught
and commanded.
How can
you know what Jesus taught and commanded if you don’t study the Word.
How do you study God’s Word?
Perhaps you could get the Bible on CD or cassette and listen to it on your walkman or in your car on the way to and from school as I do. Or even listen to Christian songs that are based strongly on Scripture, such as Keith Green’s songs many of which as almost pure scripture.
Let us close in prayer ….