Lesson #5 Cont. Assurance of Our
Salvation (Pages 35-37A)
Lesson Text: 1 John 3: 11-24 [Love through
Actions “Charity” Actions speak louder than Words]
2: Loving in Deed (Verses 11-15)
Here
once again John writes in the present active participle in the word “hateth”. I.E. 1John 3:6 “sinneth”. He is describing
someone who is continually hating, thus John is equating someone
with an ongoing, continual, day to day hatred with a murder. To this, most
people think wait a minute, I’ve never killed anyone but I have hated a few;
I’m not a murder! That is the exact mindset to which Jesus taught on in Matt.
Chapter 5. So lets take a few moments to explore His teachings there. (Please read Matthew Chapter 5 before proceeding.)
Early in the chapter Jesus teaches
the Beatitudes or the identification of the things that will really make
someone happy and then in verse 17 He tells then that it is He who is the
fulfillment of the law and the prophets.
That is to say (to carry into effect, bring to realization, to
realize). Strongs G4737
·
1st
of matters of duty: to perform, execute
·
2nd
of sayings, promises, prophecies, to bring to pass, ratify, accomplish
·
3rd
to fulfill, i.e. to cause God’s will (as made known in the Law) to be obeyed as
it should be, and God’s promise (given through the prophets) to receive
fulfillment
Christ did not come to change (not
to add to or take away from, either one)
what God had given His people through the writings of the law or the
prophets. Christ came so that we might
better understand not just the letter of the law, but the Spirit of the law as
well.
After confirming that His intent was
not to change or destroy their God given scriptures, but rather to live them
out before them, He now begins to expose the unlawfulness of the scribes and
Pharisees interpretation of the Law.
Look carefully at verses 21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39, and
43-44. Six times Jesus repeats “Ye have
heard that it hath been said by them of old—But I say unto you! Notice how He is addressing a Old Testament
command each time yet He does not say “It is written” or “thus saith the
Lord”. Here the emphasis is not one
reading what is written, but rather on hearing what has been said. Why?
Because Jesus is addressing their oral traditions, the man-made
additions to or subtractions from the written word.
We will
not take the time to flesh out these six commandments, but rather only examine
verse 21-22, teachings about murder/judgment.
Here the sixth commandment is in view.
“Thou shalt not kill.” (Ex. 20:13, Deut. 5:17) and to this tradition has
added “whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment”. So what’s the problem? This addition sounds very much like what is
written in Numbers 35:30, “Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put
to death by the mouth of witnesses: but
one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.” The problem is that the Jewish tradition of
judgment had in view only the civil courts, not the judgment of God. This is based only upon what man can
see.
So let’s look at
Christ’s response. (vs. 22) First He
says “I say” “unto you”. “I say”
reflects His divine authority, His being the living word (John 1:1-14) (Matt.
7:29), and “unto you” being that of kingdom ethics to subjects. If Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings,
then what He says is to be our kingdom behavior as His subjects. So as we look at Christ’s correction of the
scribes and Pharisees’ understanding (vs. 22) we find that there are more
fitting implications to this sixth commandment.
Yes, we should consider the consequences of civil law and their verdict,
but we had better concern ourselves with God’s view as well. (“in danger of Hell fire”)
According to
Romans 2:16, we serve a God who looks deep into the heart and sees all its
secret intentions. The root of the crime
of murder is the human heart, but physical murder is not the only bad fruit
that the human heart produces. The words
that proceed out of our mouth can kill just as well as our hands. James 3:8, “But the tongue can no man
tame: it is an unruly evil, full of
deadly poison.”
Saying what we
ought not to say and doing what we ought not to do are both damnable offenses,
maybe not in the worlds’ courts, but certainly in the final judgment before
Jesus Christ. (Matt. 12:36-37 “But I say
unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment. For by
thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”)
Next Jesus takes the negative
command, “Thou shalt not kill” and gives it a
positive twist. (verses 23-26) The idea
is how dare on come to a loving, merciful, forgiving God in an act of worship
and yet know that there is hate in your heart towards a brother. If you can’t forgive a brother, don’t think
God will forgive you. (Matt. 6:14-15).
“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you: But if ye forgive not men
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
The problem with most of us is
rather than ask how far I can extend the reach of the commandments of God into
my life, we ask what can I get away with, what’s the absolute minimum
requirement of the command. Just how
close can I get to sin without actually sinning.
So we go back to John’s writings.
(vs. 15) “whoso hateth his brother is a murderer:” Hatred is an intense emotion from the
heart. This person who hates is no
different than the murderer in attitude.
The example of Cain shows us how hatred leads to the potential of murder
given opportunity. John continues this
logic—hatred is attitudinally the same as murder and no murderer has eternal
life abiding in him. So this leads us to
this conclusion—it is not so much what we did, but rather what did we want to
do and why. What would you have done if
you had been at liberty to do as you pleased without consequences? That’s what James is talking about in
2:12. He’s speaking of being judged by
the Law of liberty. This why Jesus and
John equate hatred with murder and lust with adultery. Motive is a very important issue. When Jesus judges our actions, rest assured the
motive (both good and bad) are considered at great length. If our heart is right, He is long-suffering
and merciful even when our deeds and actions are flawed. If our heart is wrong, even the best of deeds
and actions can never be pleasing to Him.
After equating hate to murder, John
reminds us that “no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him”. Once again, John is not speaking about the
occasional thought of hate, but rather is concerned about those with hate as a
settle habit of life. Remember an
assurance of being a believer is the practice of loving not hating.
Now just as a side note, we are not
told that a murderer cannot be saved.
Certainly there are plenty of people in the Biblical accounts that acted
out in murder yet believed God and were used of Him. So the issue here is not whether a murderer
can become a Christian, but whether a murderer can continually be a murderer or
hater and still be a Christian. John emphatically
says No! That individual who
lives a life of hate and murder didn’t once have eternal life and then give it
up. He never had it at all.
In verse 16 the
word “hereby” is to be understood as in this or by this while the word
“perceive” means to have an intelligent comprehension, a knowledge gained from
experience. Thus by Jesus’ crucifixion
we personally comprehend the love of God, and based on this knowledge, we
should be willing to do the same. Make
no mistake about it, no man killed Jesus.
He willingly gave His life as a substitute for mine. (John
10:11-18) Verse 18 of that passage says
“No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power
to take it up again. This commandment
have I received of my Father.”
What a
contradiction to how we live. Self
preservation is the first law of physical life, but self sacrifice is the first
law of spiritual life. We do everything
we can to make sure we live as long as we can, but if we are not doing it to be
a sacrifice, what’s the point? (Romans
12:2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.” John’s use of the
word “ought” implies that there is a moral obligation for us to be that living
sacrifice. John shows us in the
following verses that there is much more involved than dying in mind when he
says we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Consider what
Jesus taught in Luke 10:25-37 (the Good Samaritan). The question was asked “Who is my neighbor? Jesus showed us this principle when he placed
the focus on the one in need and changed the question to “To whom can I be a
neighbor?” Certainly it is possible and
does happen all too often that Christians will be called upon to give their
physical lives for others. But more
often we are called to demonstrate love in less drastic ways. Take note how John goes from plural “the
brethren” in verse 16 to the singular “Brother” in verse 17. It can be easy for us to talk about loving
the brethren, yet neglect to help a single other believer. Perhaps too many of us are like a little boy
in a crowded elevator that was overheard to say, “Mommy, I love mankind, it’s
the people I can’t stand.” Christian
love is to be personal and active.
Charity is love in action.
Here’s kind of
what I think John is saying. One doesn’t
have to murder in order to sin; hatred is equal to murder in their heart. A man doesn’t have to hate his brother to be
guilty of sin. All they have to do is
have means and opportunity to help but rather they feel indifferent towards
that need and ignore them, thus closing the door of their heart. Perhaps this too is a kind of murder.
So John’s
instruction to us is simple. We know we
are of the truth (Jesus speaks “I am the way, the truth, and the life” in John
14:6) [assurance of our salvation] if:
·
we have the means necessary to meet
the need
·
we have a knowledge of that need
·
be loving enough to meet the actual
need
In
verse 18, John says it’s not okay to just talk about a need (love in word,
neither in tongue). That is to say when
we just discuss the problem, even pray about it but never act on the problem,
our love is insincere. Genuine Biblical
love does what it can. It moves people
into action. (James 2:14-16. Here John
is encouraging us to walk the walk and stop just talking the talk. Bottom line—empty words reveal an empty
heart.
On to verses
19-20. A condemning heart is one that
robs a believer of their peace. This is
equivalent to an accusing conscience.
The prophet Jeremiah makes an insightful observation concerning the
human heart and then asks a riveting question.
(Jer. 17:19 “The heart is deceitful above all thins, and desperately
wicked: who can know it?”). The Lord answered that question in verse 10,
“I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according
to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings”. Aren’t you glad God knows us better than we
know ourselves.
The
word “hereby” that John uses is to be understood in the light of what he just
taught (lay down your life for a brother, living in truth and deed not just
empty platitudes). Because of these
actions w know we are of the “truth”.
When we truly love our brothers in Christ, we know the “truth” is in
us. The only reason we can love is
because Christ first loved us. It is
only by these means that we assure our hearts before Him. The word “assure” means to persuade or
convince. Whenever we put the love of
God into action and demonstrate His love towards our brothers, we have the
evidence we need to assure or persuade ourselves of God’s salvation. These good deeds and generosity provide
evidence of the love of God dwelling within us.
So then is our heart or conscience condemns us (that is to say to blame
or find fault), God is greater than our heart.
He truly knows the truth. Rest
assured there will be time in which we find fault with what or how we did
something. There will be times when the
Holy Spirit will correct the believer for things like quenching or grieving
Him. There will also be times when the
accuser of the brethren will make an attempt to rob you of your assurance. Whatever or whenever any of these arise,
don’t worry. God is greater than our
hearts. He absolutely knows the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
He knows who belongs to Him and who doesn’t and He assures us that when
we demonstrate love through actions, it is strong evidence that you belong to
God. Even if you have judged yourself
harder than necessary, thank God that He will never make that mistake. God never judges wrongly because He and He
alone knows all things.
Never
allow Satan to rob you. Once you have
confessed your sin, God is faithful and just to forgive. Don’t allow that to accuse you any
longer. The Holy Spirit of God will lead
us unto the right paths, but we must remain in fellowship and allow Him His
rightful place in our hearts.
One
last thought, back in Matt. 5 and the six lessons based on commandments. We already talked somewhat about Christ
exposing the unlawfulness of the scribes and Pharisees interpretation of the
Law. I would like for us to consider one
last aspect of these teachings. In verse
3, Jesus says “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.” What exactly that means is hard
to find words to explain, but the best way I understand this is to allow the
school master of the Law, the weight and magnitude of my sinfulness to make me
realize how holy God is and to completely and wholly humble me in light of the
extent He went to, and continues to go to express His undying love for me. In His teachings on these six commandments,
Christ is bringing too light that the law truly guides us to a deep
understanding of ourselves so that we might actually recognize the extreme
depth of our sins and then contrast that with the depth of God’s love that He
offers to sinners through Jesus despite our natural hate for all that He stands
for. This idea of the complete holiness
of God and His perfect law ought to make us completely humbled and dependent
upon God for every single second of every single day.
Lesson #5 cont. Assurance of Our
Salvation (Page 37-39)
3.
Confidence in Prayer 1 John
3:21-29
Verses 21-22
As
we’ve already discussed, the heart (conscience) is deceitful and desperately
wicked. It can and will lie to us, yet
the same passage reassures us that the Lord searches the heart. He knows the truth about all of us. After John confirms for us in verse 20 that
God is greater than our heart, he now reminds us how a clear conscience
provides confidence to approach God at any time in prayer and worship. This word “heart” refers to mind and
conscience, the seat of our affections as well as our emotions and will. Part of being a new creation upon salvation
is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit which often times works in us
through our heart. In light of this our
conscience must be properly schooled in the truth of God’s word in order to
function as God has intended. As
Christians, our conscience now has a new set of standards as to right and
wrong, acceptable or rejectable. We
should now have a greater sense of sin, seeing wrong in things that were once
alright. In all this, conscience, left
to itself is not an adequate guide. We
must turn to God and His word, for He knows everything. He is omniscient. Since God is greater than our accusing
conscience in the sense that He has greater knowledge of it than we do, we can
have confidence that He understands our weaknesses and loves us in spite of
them. Our conscience is not the last
word on the subject, God is. He is the
final judge.
Scripture
gives us a glimpse of this in John chapter 21 beginning in verse 14-18. After Peter’s denial of Christ, Jesus asks
Peter the third time “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” Look at Peter’s response. There is no doubt that Peter had regrets
about his denial. No doubt his
conscience bothered him, yet with great confidence, Peter says, “Lord, thou
knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” We can rest in God’s love and forgiveness for
the worst of our actions. Our conscience
can be at ease. We have “confidence
towards God”. We can speak freely, open
up to God about anything, and ask Him for whatever it is we stand in need of.
Next
John tells us that we have confidence that we will receive what we ask for
based on two things. First, keep His
commandments. In vs. 23 John describes
for us what He is talking about. First
one must be born again to expect God to honor their requests. But being saved is not all God requires. John also says to love one another as He gave
us commandment. When the commandments of
God are mentioned most of us automatically go in our minds to the Ten
Commandments, however, there are numerous commandments found throughout both
the Old and New Testaments in addition to the Ten Commandments. In fact there are so many commandments within
the books of the law that the Rabbis had divided them into classifications and
argued as to which were the greatest.
When asked, Jesus gives us the answer to this dilemma. In Matt. 22:37-40 Jesus answers “Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all they soul, and with all
thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto
it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” So to fulfill the requirements as John gives
pertaining to confidence in answered prayer, we must conclude that one must
first be saved (John 6:40) and second we must be that loving people John has
been encouraging us to be. This makes me
think about something. When I examine
who I am and who God is, what I’ve done to Him and what He’s done for me, I
can’t help but have a sense of duty towards God. The idea is that I must obey, but here John
reaffirms what the word of God teaches throughout, that love rather than duty
is our real motivation to obey Gods commands.
Faith
toward God and love toward man is a good summary of a Christian’s
obligation. According to Gal. 5:6,
Christianity is faith which worketh by love.
Faith towards God and love towards men are the two sides of the same
coin. We can’t be guilty of emphasizing
faith yet neglecting love. Nor can we
love but be doctrinally incorrect. There
must be a proper balance. Both are of
the utmost importance for the Christian to maintain proper fellowship between
both God and man.
As
we look at this statement from John, “Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him”, it,
like all scripture must be understood in light of its context. This is not saying we have carte blanche to
get anything we want, just simply by making requests through prayer. James rebuked his readers for this type of
mindset in James 4:3. “Ye ask, and
receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” John’s point is that as we live in obedience
to the will and word of God, our prayers will be reflections of His will from
His Word and this will be readily answered.
This same truth is found in Psalm 37:4.
“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of
thine heart.”
In
verse 24, the last verse of chapter 3, we find two means by which we can be
assured of God’s salvation. First John
reminds us that our obedience is proof of our being saved. (And he that keepeth His commandments
dwelleth in Him). In John 14:23, Jesus
speaking says “If a man love me, he will keep my words: (commandments)
and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our
abode with him.”
Second, only the saved have the indwelling
presence of the Holy Spirit. (Hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the
Spirit which He hath given us.) “Abiding” in Christ is key for any believer who
wants confidence or assurance toward God.
Romans
8:9b says “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he in none of His.” Christ in the upper room (John 15:1-14)
illustrates for us what it is to abide in Christ. In that teaching Jesus compares the believers
to branches on a vine. As long as the
branches are attached to the vine, they draw life from that vine and the vine
produces fruit which the branches bear. But if and when the branch is separated, it withers
and dies. Don’t miss Christ’s
point. He is not talking about your
salvation, but rather fellowship and fruit bearing. The very moment a sinner trusts Christ, that
person enters into communion with Christ, but maintaining that communion is a
moment-to-moment responsibility. Our
abiding depends on our obeying His word.
The benefits of a clear conscience are
confidence before God and confidence that our prayers will be answered. Every one of us faces the challenge of a
condemning conscience from time to time as well as the challenge of imperfect
obedience. We also are aware that our
love for the brethern at times is far from perfect. Bottom line is that without the abiding
presence of the Holy Spirit, this Christian life is impossible. It is the Holy Spirit of God indwelling every
believer that turns the impossible into the dream come true. Remember, your conscience knows things about
you that others don’t’, but none of those are unknown to your heavenly
Father. Let John’s words be a comfort to
you. God knows the depth and sincerity
of our love and obedience we have for Him and others, even imperfect as it is,
God still welcomes us to fellowship with Him, which is evidence of His saving
grace giving us eternal life.
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