A person that is properly taught
does not embrace the idea of universalism, that we are all
God's children, we just simply don't know it, and it doesn't
really matter because as long as we are under the fatherhood
of God, then we are part of the brotherhood of man. A proper
understanding of the gospel, however, will help you understand
that there is a distinction between light and darkness. and the people
of God walk in the light and the people that are not of God
walk in the darkness. This is a very clear dichotomy
that runs through the book of John. And this is something that
you come to understand the more you grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord, that there are those people who have come
to submit to God's word. And there are those people who
have yet to or maybe never will submit to God's word. That's
just going to be the case. That's the pragmatic reality
of life. Not everyone is going to believe
God. Not everyone is going to trust
his word. Not everyone is going to come to Christ. You're going
to have these two radically different worlds coexisting in the same
space. And when you and I are properly
taught of God, we accept that as hard as it may be, we accept
the fact that we're not gonna have people around us all the
time who are believers like us. That is one of those hard resolved
facts that a accurate knowledge of the gospel will result in. Notice what he goes on to say
in verse 20. And we know that the son of God is come. You guys
see that? Now, when John uses these terms,
we know, we know, we know, we know, at the top of your outline,
you already saw that he was speaking of both the apostles and then
he was also speaking of the believers in the church. We know these
are the things that we know collectively. It's not like we the apostles
know this only or just a handful of people know all believers
together collectively with God's apostles know these things. We
know that Jesus has come And watch this. We know that he has
come and he has given us an understanding. Now, notice what John does. He
attributes a right knowledge of God to Jesus. He attributes
a right knowledge of God to Christ. In other words, you and I cannot
rightly know God apart from Christ. Now, this goes back again to
the beginning of the epistle. And what I said to you last week
is that John argues in concentric circles, capturing themes and
then building on those themes and interlocking those themes
as he progresses through. the epistles, he is covering
ground that he already laid out for us earlier. And one of the
grounds he's covering now is this, no believer would ever
say that you can know God and not know Christ. No believer
would ever teach that right understanding of biblical doctrine can result
in a person saying that, well, I acknowledge the fatherhood
of God, but I don't see Jesus as God himself. I don't see him
as the savior. I don't see him as the only redeemer. I don't see him as the second
person of the blessed triune Godhead. We've got a problem
if a person assesses that they know God, but don't know Christ.
So these are some of the things that the scriptures are emphatic
on. And John is laying out for us, as we work through 1 John,
he's laying out for us things that you must know, that you
know, if you want to be sure that you are a child of God.
We'll see this when we get back again to the opening chapter.
But notice how he continues with this line of reasoning. We know
that we are of God when the whole world, and the whole world lies
in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God
has come. He has given us an understanding And here's the
reason that we may know him that is true. Christ has given us
an understanding in order that we may know the one that is true. So John already stated, we know,
we know, we know, and we know because Christ has given us an
understanding and he's given us an understanding for this
purpose that we might know him. Now that is the big statement
that Christ came into the world to do, make known God. No man has seen God at any time,
only He who is in the bosom of the Father. He has revealed Him.
And now you should hear John 17, 3 echoing in this text. and this is eternal life, that
they might know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
you have sent. And then John chapter 14, verse
six, should be emerging as well, as no one can come unto the father
but by me. If you've seen the father, you've
seen me, I am the way, the truth and the life. And what Jesus
is making very plain is, you can't know the father without
knowing the son. what we learn therefore then
is is we are on a right track of knowing something about God
when Christ becomes for us the vehicle of truth we are on a
right track of knowing something about God when Jesus becomes
for us the vehicle of truth now notice what he goes on to say
and we know that that the son of God has come and has given
us an understanding that we may know him. That is true. And we
are what in him that is true. So now he speaks to another aspect
of the gnosis or the epic gnosis. And so that's the deeper meaning
of the term to know. He says now that we have a knowledge
because we are positionally in him that intensifies the knowledge
because it profoundly speaks to the relationship dynamic. It's one thing to be on the outside
of Christ and learning things about Christ. It's another thing
to be inside the Godhead relationally and know him on a personal level.
Now we're talking about union with God. We are talking about
the very aim for which the gospel came. We are talking about the
very purpose for which Christ came. Christ in us and we in
him. a profound concept that we Treated
and worked through in our conference But it's something for you and
I to think through more fully at all times. Am I in Christ?
It's Christ in me. And what does that mean? Well
from a saving knowledge standpoint We must know that we know him
because we are in him Notice what it says and we are in him.
That is true. Even in his son Jesus Christ
now, here's how he He concludes, this is the true God and eternal
life. You guys see that? So here's
what John does. John is emphatic about calling
Christ God. He says that we know God. We
know that he has come because Jesus has come and given us an
understanding of who God is. Not only do we have an understanding,
we are in him, that is true. Even in his son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. For John, Jesus was God. John settled it in his soul that
to talk seriously about knowing God, you have to understand that
God can only be known in Christ. Again, John chapter one is echoing
all through this, is it not? And the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God. And the same
was in the beginning with God. And there was nothing that was
made that the word did not make because the word is God. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and
truth. And what John does in his prologue
and his writings is to help us understand that the medium by
which we know God is also God himself. The mechanism by which
we come to know God is God himself. And that mechanism is Christ.
Go back with me to our opening chapters now so we can go through
this a bit more. 1 John 2, and let's work through
this because now what John is doing is he's taking the claims
of the heretics who have assumed that they've known God And we've
just worked through some of the implications of what it means
to know God. And now we're getting ready to work through our outline
a little bit more on what it means to know God. Now, notice
what he says in 1 John 2. I'm going to read verses 3 through
7, and we're going to come back and unpack it. Hereby do we know
that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith I
know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the
truth is not in him. But whosoever keeps his word
in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby we know
that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him
ought himself also to walk even as he walked, brethren, I write
no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which
you have heard from the beginning. The old commandment is the word
which you have heard from the beginning. And again, a new commandment
I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because
the darkness has passed and the true light now shines. See what
John does is John starts with knowledge And then he talks about
the the ethical response to that knowledge. He talks about commandments. He says, if you know God, then
it's going to result in you keeping God's commandments. Then he says
over in verse three and following, if you say, you know, God, and
you don't keep his commandments, you are a liar the truth is not
in you but whosoever keepeth his word in him verily is the
the next thing he talks about is the love of God the love of
God we're going to tie all this together here in a moment because
John is stacking his argument for what it means to credibly
know God whosoever keeps his word in him verily is the love
of God perfected. Hereby do we know that we are
in him. He that saith he abideth in him. That's the next term that the
heretics talked about abiding in God. He who says he abides
in God ought also to walk even as he walked. John is dealing with the claim
of the heretics who say they know God. So follow me through
your outline. This will work fairly easy under in your outline. You can start at the disclaimer.
This will be the easiest way for us to work through this.
Verse four, the proposition is disobedience to the gospel makes
your claim of knowing him bogus. Do you guys see that? Disobedience
to the gospel makes your claim of knowing him bogus, false claims. Number, the fourth false claim
is where we are. A reinforcement of the previous
conclusion. If the actions do not change,
then neither does the conclusion. If in the prior arguments that
the heretics have raised and John said, your arguments are
invalid, your assumptions are invalid because what you do doesn't
correspond with what you say. Here, another argument is raised
by the heretics and what John is saying is, My conclusion is
the same. If you say you know him, but
you don't keep his commandments, you're still affecting a false
claim. So I stand against you who say
you know God, when in fact of matter, you don't know him at
all. So we go on to read in verse
five. Here's one of the arguments that
John raises about knowing God. Here it is. Whosoever keepeth
his word, him verily is the love of God what perfected so John
says if a person says he knows God he's gonna keep God's Word
that's the same as keeping the commandment by the way we talked
about the spectrum of synonymous terms that are used in the writings
of John and you need to be careful about that sometimes depending
upon your own experience, your own church background, either
the accuracy and orthodoxy of the experience or the heretical
and legalistic experience of a church you may have been a
part of. When the word commandment comes up, you can struggle with
the word commandment because you can view the word commandment
in a hard, wooden, legalistic sense of keeping the Ten Commandments. Well, for John and for Jesus,
The idea of keeping commandments is keeping the word of God in
total as it relates to the person and work of Jesus Christ. We
learned this last week in first John chapter 3 verse 23. I want
you to go back there and look once again. What does it mean
to keep his commandments notice what it says first John 3 verse
23 and this is his what that we should believe on the
name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he what?
Now, mark what John did for those of us who are hypersensitive
and afraid of the word obedience and commandment. He said that
commandment keeping in the New Testament sense is believing
on Christ and loving your neighbor. Commandment keeping in the New
Testament sense is believing the gospel and out of believing
the gospel, loving your brother. You guys got that? And what he
did was, and we're going to see this when we get down to John's
statement, I'm not giving you an old commandment, a new commandment,
but the old. And then again, I am actually
giving you a new commandment, but it's not new in the sense
that it's brand new. It's only new in the sense that
the very commandments that God had given us in Moses, that God
had given us in all the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament,
that came all the way up through history, all the way to the person
of Christ. All those commandments are given
to us by God and they are summed up in Christ so that, now mark
this now, if a person were to obey everything from Genesis
to Malachi, but then disobeyed the revelation of God in Christ
in the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they would not
be keeping God's commandments. So let me make sure you understand
that. To keep God's commandment is to keep all of God's word. because God's commandments are
part of his revelation of himself and his revelation is progressive.
So in the Old Testament, God told the people of God in the
days of Adam and his son Seth and Enosh that to worship God,
you need to shed blood. So they had altars upon which
they worshiped God. That was the prescribed method
by which you came to God. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no what? But then when we get to Abraham, guess what
God tells Abraham? You've got to circumcise the
foreskin of your firstborn boys. So now, even though the people
of God worship at the altar and they shed the blood, if they
didn't circumcise their firstborn boys on the eighth day, in fact,
all their boys on the eighth day, they would be disobedient
to the gospel. They couldn't say they were keeping
God's commandments when God had given them a fresh revelation
of his Contemporary purpose in the circumcision covenant and
they didn't keep that circumcision covenant in fact with that covenant
Remember what God said whosoever does not observe this covenant
of circumcision will be cut off So you can't say I'm keeping
God's commandment because I worship on the seventh day But deny the
finished work of Christ on Calvary Street because the seven day
commandment started in Genesis two, and it culminated on Calvary,
right along with the whole Mosaic system. So if a person says,
well, I'm being obedient to God, I make sure that I worship on
the right day. But if you don't worship God
according to his revealed will, as it is centered in the person
of Christ, you're disobedient to God's commandments. I want
you to hear the intensity with which John is speaking. John
is speaking from a direct submission to the person of Christ when
he uses the term commandment or keeping his word. As we shared
last week, when you listen to John, John is merely echoing
a lot of what Jesus says. When you read the gospel of John
with the commandments that Jesus gave, verily, verily, I say unto
you, whosoever heareth my words, And believe it on him that sent
me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that keepeth my sayings, I
will abide in him and he will abide in me. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the man that keeps my commandment is the man
that loves me. This is Jesus talking. And yet
John sounds just like him, right? So I wanna help you understand
that what John is doing because he's obligated as an apostle
is to take sinners who hear the word of God and drop them at
the feet of Christ and make them to be obedient to Christ. So
when we hear the term commandment keeping, what John is saying,
the commandments are summed up in the person of Jesus Christ.
That's verse 23, look at it again, just so that we can make sure
we get that. verse 23 of chapter 3 and this is his commandment
that we should believe on the name of Jesus on the name of
his son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us commandment
in verse 24 first John 3 puts it this way too and he that keepeth
his commandment dwells in him and he in him and hereby we know
that he abides in us by the spirit which he has given us. So John's
objective when he uses the language of commandment keeping or keeping
the word going back to chapter one verse five and six is for
us to understand that all of God's word has his culmination
in the gospel and the message of redemption that's in Christ.
You and I are not going to effectively understand nor effectively obey
God if we don't understand that obedience is through the gospel.
Obedience is through a knowledge of Christ. That obedience flows
from your understanding of who Jesus Christ is. Now, marking
your outline that he says, if we keep his word, verily is the
love of God, what? Perfected. So let's work with
that for a moment because John is also bringing up another point. And basically the way John is
constructing this is saying this, and this will be for our edification
too. If we say we believe God, we say we keep his word. If we
are actually keeping his word, how is going to be determined
is by the love of God being perfected in our life, perfected. Now, how do you perfect the love
of God? What does that mean? I remember
years ago when I read that statement, Verily, the love of God perfected.
How can I perfect the love of God? How can the love of God
be perfected in me? Isn't the love of God perfect?
Well, follow your outline. It'll help. I think it'll help
a little bit. The board has to dry there. The perfecting of
God's love is the evidence that we are keeping his word. And
then you notice I use the term roots down, right? Fruit up. You guys see that? Well, because
the word perfect is not the word perfect in the sense of impeccable
perfectness. And I have to say that a lot
because I think that's often what gets put into our head. But a better word for perfect
is what? Mature or complete. Mature or complete. It is the
word telos from which we get the term teleos. from which we
get the word to fulfill or to complete or to terminate or to
accomplish. So when he uses the idea of perfecting
the love of God, what he is saying is those who have come to know
God have the love of God placed in their hearts and it comes
to maturity by how we respond. And I want you to see this in
about four passages. Now I'm gonna talk about this
on Sunday So go with me to Luke 13. I'm using the very same words
that John is using. It's gonna be troubling to us
in Luke 13 if it's troubling to us in 1 John. But if we understand
it in 1 John, then we'll understand it in Luke 13. Here's what Jesus
says, the Lord Jesus. And I want you to mark this.
He uses this phrase about himself. This is what I'm saying. John
echoes the master quite frequently. In Luke chapter 13, our Lord
Jesus Christ Speaking to those who inquire of him Say this in
Luke chapter 13, I'm sorry Luke chapter 8 No, no stay at Luke
13. I'll go to Luke 8 in a minute
Luke chapter 13 verse 32 Luke 13 32 listen to this Let me start
at 31 then the same day there came of the Pharisees saying
unto him get thee out and depart from thence for Herod will kill
thee and And he said unto them, go ye and tell that fox, behold,
I cast out devils and I do cures today, tomorrow, and the third
day, and I shall be what? Perfected. You see that? So now, don't struggle with what
that means. Just understand that John was
confident and comfortable to use the same phraseology about
us that Jesus is using about himself. We're getting ready
to understand it in a moment, but go with me now in your Bible
to Hebrews chapter two, because we're going to see another commentary
about Jesus on this that may cause you to struggle too, but
we will work through this. And I hope that we'll be able
to understand what we are getting at. When we say that the love
of God in us must be perfected. If we call ourselves believers,
that's the aim of the word of God. In other words, Hebrews
chapter two, Hebrews chapter 2 now this is concerning our
Lord Jesus Christ in his priestly work and we are told in chapter
2 of Hebrews verse 10 for it became him or it was necessary
for him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and
bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their
salvation now who is the captain of their salvation now watch
this it became him that is God the Father and for whom are all
things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons unto glory
now who are those many sons we are under glory watch this to
make the captain of their salvation which is who jesus perfect through
suffering do you see once again if you and i are thinking about
perfection in the terms of an impeccable flawless state of
being, we're going to misunderstand the passage and it's going to
bring conflict to us. But if we understand the term
perfect in an organic sense, in an organic sense, in a living
sense, in a progressive way, in the sense in which something
that is designed for a purpose can only reach the perfection
of that purpose when it finally accomplishes that for which it
was made. It has to be understood in the
organic sense of a purpose accomplished. So with Hebrews chapter two,
what the Hebrew writer says is God made Christ to be the captain
of our salvation in the sense that Christ had to now bear all
the responsibility of our guilt and our sin as our substitute
on Calvary. And until Christ actually accomplished
that, his role as the captain of our salvation was not perfected. Are you with me, ladies and gentlemen?
Until he actually arrived at his destination, fulfilled his
office in that particular category of things to which he was called,
he had not yet perfected that specific objective. That's what
the Hebrew writer is saying. In fact, that's what Jesus is
saying in Luke 13. We're gonna have a fairly sound
explanation of that text on Sunday, but here's what Jesus says. I
got three more days to go before I come into my full status of
maturity as the redeemer of sinners. So the word really has to do
with maturity, maturity. Now go with me in your Bible
to Luke chapter eight. Let's work this through a little bit
more. I wanna make sure we get this before we go back so that
we can understand the implications of what John is stating when
he says, the person that keeps God's word, and it's in a continuous
verb form, the one who is keeping God's word in his life, her life,
that's John 8, verse 31 and 32. If you are my disciples, you
will continue my word, and you will know the truth, and the
truth shall set you free. Here we read concerning the sower
of the seed, the seed of the sower, What we wanted to do is
see how this idea of perfection manifests itself in this agricultural
setting. In Luke chapter eight, notice
what it says in verses 13 through 15, and we'll mark the word. We will mark the word in verse 14.
They on the rock are they which, when they hear the word, receive
the word with joy. And these have no root. which
for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. You
know people like that, right? Now, the answer to why they fall
away is because they were not rooted. They had this superficial
and ethereal response to the gospel that looked like fruit
because it sprang up. But underneath the soil, there
was no root that went down deep into the soil in order to establish
that plant. So when the trials came, that
plant withered because it wasn't rooted. And we'll talk about
what that means here in a moment, but this is the explanation that
the master gives. We read now in verse 14. And that which fell upon thorns
are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked
with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. Now,
here's our word. I want you to mark this and bring
no fruit to what? So here, if we are dealing with
the way that the agricultural analogy of the sowing of the
seed is developing in that second seed, because the first seed
was cast on the wayside, it didn't even go into the ground. It had
no possibility of doing anything. The second seed went into the
ground and it sprang up, but it didn't last because it didn't
go down. It went up, but it didn't go
down. The third seed sprang up and it appeared to go down. But
the problem is, is that over time where it should have brought
forth fruit to its full maturity. It was choked by the cares of
this life. so that it didn't do what it
was supposed to do. You guys see the progression?
Some of the word gets sewn on hearts that are so stony that
it does nothing. Other aspects of the word gets
sewn into people's lives to where they're cool as long as no trials
are in their life. But as soon as trials come, they
ask, where is God? And they are ready to depart
because they don't reconcile that trials plus God means growth. This third category of people
are the individuals who heard the word, but what they did not
take into consideration was this, that in order to seriously desire
fruit, you have to be willing to and apply yourself to removing
all of the stones and the rocks out of that garden, out of that
plant so that it can irrigate, so that it can take root, so
that it can bring forth fruit. Because why plant a garden if
the fruit doesn't come to maturity? Are you guys seeing the analogy?
So now the analogy is a little bit alarming if one is contemplating,
well, you know, what is that fruit to perfection that we are
looking for, because this is not a secure analogy. The secure
analogy for the believer is the fourth one, correct? Listen to
the fourth one, verse 15. But that on the good ground are
they which in an honest and a good heart, having heard the word,
now watch this next phrase, keep it. See it? Keep it. Now watch the result. Bring forth
fruit with what? There it is There it is. And this is what John is getting
at to John is really in other terminology saying If you are
keeping God's Word The love of God is gonna be on the inside
of you and it's gonna manifest itself in your life in a way
in which it will come to full fruition or full maturity The
word of God is going to manifest the fact that God loves you and
you love Christ. And it's gonna be evident in
your life because you will have kept the word of God and with
patience bore for the fruit that brings glory to God. Now, why
is it important for us to embrace this interpretation? Because
in John chapter 15, verses one through eight, and particularly
verse eight, here's what Christ said. Herein is my father glorified
that you bring forth much fruit, right? And so what you and I
want to do, no matter how difficult it may be, or even impossible
on our part, is we wanna be fruit bearing Christians, don't we?
Because, now watch this, not because somehow this honors us,
but it honors God. This is what Christ is teaching.
So stay with me, even though this makes you a little bit vulnerable.
If you go back to the John 15 text, what you will discover
is that John 15 speaks of Christ being the vine tree and the believer
being the branches and the father being the husbandman. So between
Christ being the tree, not you. And the father being the husband
and not you. There's the potential for fruit
being born, which glorifies God, which means I need God in my
life for these things to occur, right? But in the other analogies,
there is that side of our human responsibility that manifests
itself in this. It's not possible that John,
this is what John says, it's not possible for you to love
the gospel, love God's word, continuing God's word, and then
not bear fruit. That's what he's saying. It's
gonna bear fruit. God's gonna be glorified in your
life and it's gonna bear fruit. Let me see if we can work this
through with another example. Now, this one here is a little
bit more challenging. Go with me in your Bible to James
chapter two, but it's gonna serve to underscore the same point.
John is gonna bring this home in your life and in mine, not
John, but James is gonna bring this home in your life and mine
by his argument about faith. You guys have probably heard
this explained in its classical sense many times over. And all
I'm gonna do is, in light of what you and I are thinking about,
the love of God being perfected in our life, is to underscore
that James understood the necessity of the perfection of grace in
the life of the people of God as a witness to God's glory,
just like John did. So in James, what he's dealing
with are people who say, They have faith. And that's the way
you deal with that text. As John says, I'm sorry, James
says, you say you have faith, but I'm here to tell you saying
that you have faith doesn't mean you have faith. Just like we're
learning in first John, just because you say, you know, him
doesn't mean you know him. Just because you say you love
him doesn't mean you love him. Just because you say you abide
in him doesn't mean you abide in him. In other words, what
both John and James are doing is demolishing the notion that
we are a Christian because we say we are. Now, here's the reason
why the apostles must demolish that false assumption, because
the master had already told them in John chapter 15, that he has
ordained us to bear fruit. Are you hearing me? So to bear
fruit is to allow the fruit to speak for itself versus us simply
telling people we're Christians. So here James is dealing with
the same faulty assumptions that there are people going around
in the church saying that they have faith. And James says, yeah,
but to say you have faith means nothing. Not to me. not to other people, and certainly
not to God. So I'm getting ready to test
your claim that you have faith. That's what James is getting
ready to do. So we're gonna work through that too, because this
will help us understand and appreciate the aim. In James chapter two,
here's what James says, and we will start in James two at verse
20. At verse 20, but wilt thou know,
O vain man, that faith without what? is what? Now, do you believe
that? Do you really believe that? So
if we accept James's argument that real Christ-centered, God-glorifying,
cross-wrought faith is always going to have the evidence of
works supporting his claims, if we're going to accept that,
then here's what we must accept, that when a man says that he
has faith, I have the right to say show me your works because
I cannot what see your faith apart from your words. Got that
got that that's critical to the argument that John is making
critical to the argument that James is making now watch this
and we're going to do some practical stuff. before we end this tonight
to help you with this. I really, personally, I appreciate
1 John and I appreciate the book of James on this because what
they do is they hold our feet to the water, ladies and gentlemen,
to make sure that we are authentic Christians because it's so easy
to be false Christians. It was easy in the first century.
It was easy in the middle ages, in the dark ages. It's easy wherever
religion is prominent. To be an authentic Christian
means that you are serious about the claims of Christ and you
are serious about God working in your life because you are
serious about the glory of God. The person that is willy-nilly
and in a haphazard way calling themselves a Christian and not
serious about what it means to be a Christian, Brother Willie
does not care about the glory of God. So, but I do know that
if you've been born again, you've tasted of God's glory. And here's
the thing that you desire, that God would be glorified in your
life. Isn't that right? In fact, nothing
short of that will satisfy your soul. So listen to how James
continues to argue this through. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead. And then he uses Abraham as our
model and example. Was not Abraham our father justified
by what? And then he demonstrates by example,
his argument with the Genesis 22 account where God told Abraham,
Abraham, I want you to deliver up Isaac, your only son, Isaac,
whom you love. Are you guys following me so
far? Stay with me for a moment because,
you know, listen, without faith, it's impossible to please God.
Impossible to please God. And so here we have the father
of faith being tested by God with a gift that was given to
him and his son, Isaac. And God says, I want him. And
I want you to offer him up. on the altar and a sacrifice
of death. Now let's ask the question in
light of what James has stated as the underlying premise for
what faith is. Have Abraham said to God, you
want me to do what? Now listen, I'm believing you
for the redemption of my soul. I'm trusting you to deliver me
from my sins. I definitely want you to be my
savior. I don't want to go to hell. But
if you're asking me to do something for you of this nature, I'm not
doing it. Could we rightly say that Abraham
was not a believer? Could we rightly say that Abraham
was not a believer? What's the answer? Yes. That's
not a trick question. This is not a trick question. This is a very simple, very rational,
very logical question. Stay with me. Stay with me now. This is the problem with people
in a careless, non-comprehensive analysis of biblical concept,
even on a one-on-one level. Faith is not something that is
a shallow, flippant commodity with God. Faith is the root. It's the foundation. It's the
core. It's the ground. It's the key
from which everything else flows in the life of the believer.
Faith is the root from which every expression of love for
God manifests itself. Faith is the root. For the true
believer, we know that faith is the root that graces us to
move out in obedience towards God, whether men see it or not,
right? Faith is the root. What gave
Abraham the grace to get up that next morning without arguing
with God and take his 18 year old son and put the wood on his
shoulders and walk all the way up to the top of Mount Moriah
Tell him to put that wood down and strap him to it and raise
that knife ready to commit in other parts of the world murder. What gave him the grace to do
it? Faith. That's what the Hebrew writer
said. Are you with me so far? You know what the Hebrew writer
said? Just to help you understand how we cannot separate works
from faith. Now, it's possible for a person
to have works without faith. But it's not possible to have
faith without works. Are you following me so far?
In other words, you can have what are called in the Bible
dead works of religious ceremonialism or legalism that has no root
of faith under it. And that's that kind of work
is not acceptable before God. In fact, it's sin. It's sin to
say we did this and we did that and we did the other thing in
your name. and then not be connected to a faith, a vital faith that
trusts in Christ and relies upon Christ alone is to have works
that are dead. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? So follow the argument. If you
see somebody's works, you still have to ask the question from
whence cometh those works. Are those works coming from a
heart that is grounded in a knowledge of the person and work of Jesus
Christ and is flowing from a grace that is in their soul that's
based upon gratitude and thanksgiving because Christ has redeemed them
from all iniquity and is the consequence of God working in
them the will and to do of his good pleasure and is the fulfillment
of the covenant when God said, I'll take out the stony heart
put it in the heart of flesh. I'll write my laws on their hearts
and mine I'll place my spirit in them and cause them to do
my commandments. Are you guys following me now?
See so when we see the words, we're still asking the question.
Can I dig underneath and look and see what kind of root we
got? But if you tell me to simply accept your proposition that
you are a believer and I don't see any fruit at all I I'm hard
pressed to accept your claim. Watch this, ladies and gentlemen,
because no believer in the New Testament, none, operated out of a faith that
had no works as an evidence of their faith. Are you hearing
me? No believer. Not even our brother
that was hanging on the cross with Jesus. He had the fruit
and words of confession that he was a sinner and Christ was
the only righteous one. He had the fruit and words of
acknowledging that what Christ was experiencing, he didn't deserve,
but him and his buddy deserve precisely what they got. On the
cross, that thief who was saved was actually preaching the gospel
to the other thief and to everyone around. That the man that's in
between you and me is the only innocent person in the world
of whom I am now putting my trust. And therefore, by the way, Jesus,
when you enter into your kingdom, can I come with you? Are you
hearing me? Now watch this. He was willing
to say that to the whole world. That was grace. by faith, producing
words that honored God. You guys got that? That's critical
to the subject of faith. Now, had that other thing said,
I believe God like you. Then we would have said, no,
you don't, because if you did, you'd be saying what I'm saying. You
see what I'm getting at? Because when God plants faith
in your life, it's designed for you to glorify God. Faith really
is not for you. It's for God. You guys get that? Let me help you. I want to treat
this a little bit longer. Can I do that? Because gospel
doctrine, gospel teaching is counterintuitive to the world's
teaching because the way our world teaches us is that things
start and end with us. With gospel teaching, the way
the Bible teaches is that things start with God and they end with
God and that you and I are merely the beneficiaries. So when you
are properly taught the gospel, You're gonna be taught God's
word from the standpoint of God being the first cause, the alpha
and the what? and the Omega, not you, not us,
not the church, Christ. And so when we talk about faith,
what we are talking about is a gift that God gives to us. In other words, faith is not
indigenous to us. It's not part of our human makeup.
It's a gift from God that comes from the outside in with the
indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter five, the fruit
of the Spirit is Faith right along with love and peace and
other attributes and characteristics so when you discover that you
are believing God's Word what you are discovering is the Indwelling
of the Holy Ghost right and he's producing faith in your life
and that faith must come up out of you and mature Because the
objective of faith in the life of the Christian is that God
would be glorified Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? That's
critical to our understanding. Critical to our understanding.
So here's what James says. James says, was not Abraham our
father justified by words when he offered Isaac his son upon
the altar? Seeing, see is thou how faith
wrought with his what? And by what? By his words was
faith made what? Do you see it? Was faith brought
to full maturity? Was faith brought to its accomplished
aim? That's the one passage for Abraham
that set Abraham up to be called the father of the faithful. He
did a number of other things that were honorable to God, but
here's the one critical act of grace in Abraham's life that
was absolutely stupendous. Let me help you with this one
too. When you and I have biblical faith in our life, Christian
faith, the faith of the gospel. Here's how this is gonna work.
You're gonna keep being you in the genuine uniqueness in which
God made you, but God is going to work in you to manifest Christ's
glory in such a way that the gospel is going to be honored.
You guys got that? God is gonna work in you to manifest
Christ's glory in a way that the gospel is gonna be honored.
Now watch how this works. Abraham offered up his darling
son, right? And that offering up of his darling
son became for us a picture of the father offering up his darling
son. So his faith points to Christ. So watch this now, when we have
true saving faith, what true saving faith does is point to
Christ. This is where you can determine
and discern the difference between religious faith that is rooted
in Look at me type of faith or a self-centered type of faith
when people talk about faith in the church today And they're
talking about all the things that they did and how God has blown
them up how they've become large and how they shining That ain't
gospel faith. Are you hearing me? That's human
faith That's a look at me type faith but gospel faith will always
take the person who has been blessed by your testimony and
run them to Christ and That's biblical faith. It will always
run them to Christ. It will always shut them up to
the grace of God in Christ. That's what it's designed to
do. The seed must give glory to the one who gave the seed.
And that's what James is arguing here with those who say they
know faith. Go back to your text. We've got five more minutes.
Go back to 1 John. Let's work through this a little
bit more. So then when John says in 1 John chapter 3 verse 5. All right, then the person in
whom the love of God dwells are the Word of God is dwelling will
bring forth our manifest the love of God in a way that is
perfect. What he's saying is it will mature
itself. It will ultimately mature itself. And again, if it's still
evading you here's how this works. What is a mature love of God
in our life is two things. It's a love for the gospel and
it's a love for people. Please capture that. A mature
understanding of faith is a love for the gospel, and it's a love
for people. When the gospel has permeated
our being enough to rest us in God with who we are, so that
we are not spending as much time with us. So I'm gonna stay right
here now for about the next five minutes, because this is important.
How, and I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago, so
this will help. How do I know that I am mature in the faith?
This is how you'll know. When the grace of God has settled
me down in Christ so much that my issues become his issues so
that his issues can become mine. How do I know I'm mature? when
I'm not always wrestling with and toiling with and stuck on
and trapped by and going around in circles over my weaknesses,
my flaws, my impediments, my difficulties, my trials, what
I don't have, what I need, what I want. Are you hearing me? And
I give all that to God and say, God, what is it that you want
from me? That's how I know I'm mature.
See, because what I'm doing is I'm trusting God with taking
care of my inadequacies and realizing that if I stay stuck on my inadequacies,
I'm not going to have time to glorify God, which is the reason
why he made me. Now I'm able to prove to myself
that I trust God to pay my bills and take care of my life and
take care of my health and take care of my family as I take care
of his business. And I've used this colloquialism long ago and
I'll just share it with you. It really is true. You'll be
tested by it, but it's true. Watch this now. If you take care
of God's business, He'll take care of your business. It's hard. This is hard. This is a hard one. But I want
you to get this now. If you take care of God's business,
He'll take care of your business. This is true. This is so true. So, you know, if we were to break
this down into categories and get into different positions
in our life, let's just say within the context of a marriage relationship
and the husband, you know, struggling with his wife. Y'all don't do
that, but I do. Y'all don't have that struggle,
but the husband is struggling with his wife. Wife got issues,
right? Tons of issues. And he's a believer in Christ.
You know what he's doing? While he is not mature, he's
wrestling to get her to act right all the time. You got me? You with me so far? Because her
acting right reflects on him. He really is self-conscious of
his own inadequacies, and her not acting right exacerbates
them. But now when he matures, what
he'll learn to do is take his wife to Calvary and drop her
off there and pray for her and keep rolling with the business
that God called him to realizing that God gave her to him. God
can take care of that woman. We're not going to both fail
to glorify God. by being stuck in opining and
grinding through our own issues as if this is about us. Somebody's
got to be about the master's business. Am I telling the truth? So I heard my sisters go, Ooh,
yeah. Now let me turn that around right quick. Let me, let me turn
this around right quick. Cause it's the same thing on
the other side of the equation. Am I telling the truth? The same
thing is okay, Lord, I'm gonna drop this brother off at you,
and I'm gonna leave him with you, and I'm gonna work on me
being able to glorify you, because that's what you made me for.
You gave him to me, so fix him while I glorify you. That's called
maturity. When we grow up in Christ, we
learn that, don't we? We learn that we don't have to wait on
our spouse to grow up to be like us, to do what we're doing. They'll
get there when they get there. Do you believe that? They'll
get there when they get there. I'm trusting God for her, just
like I'm trusting God for me. And then I'm gonna go on about
my business. And this would be the case with the single person
too. Let's say you single moms, you've
got all these knucklehead kids and all of our kids are knuckleheads.
Am I telling the truth? And we, you know, you wrestle
with them, you toil with them, you talk to them until you blew
in the face. You know, when you African-American,
that's hard to do, but you can do it sometime. You know when
you're dark-skinned brother you You know now but now you wrestling
with them you're wrestling you having nightmares and and sweats
cuz they're not doing right and You're afraid that they gonna
peep your game by how bad they acted See how silent they got right
there see how quick they got see no, here's how this works.
I You really do want your kids to act right because it makes
you look good. Am I telling the truth? Doesn't
it make you look good? I mean, it's nice. My kids were
growing up, I would get the accolades from everybody. How is it that
your kids just sit there on the pews for those two hours all
nice and neat? They don't fidget, they don't
budge. You got little angels. I said to myself, those folk
have no idea They are clueless about these kids. Clueless. And you just hope that they don't
break out of form. You hope. Now, you know why you're
doing that? Because you have vicariously
staked your honor on their obedience. You get that? And that sets you
up. Because listen, because once
the kids find out they got that much power over you and you make
them mad, they're going to dishonor you. And now all of a sudden
you are struggling with how to manage your kids in light of
the fact that you put so much of your honor in their behavior. When what you have to do with
your kids is the same thing you have to do with your spouse.
And that is to put your kids at the cross and leave them there
with God. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? You got to leave them with God. And then you got to believe
God will take care of your kids. Am I telling the truth, Elder?
You got to believe God will get ahold of your kids one at a time
in his own season. You got to lock those kids up
to Christ and continue your own obedience to God. And they will
thank you for that, too, because your kids knew way before you
did that you were not their savior. They knew it way before you did.
You're trying to save your kids. Am I telling you the truth? You're
trying to save your kids. And they know you, you didn't
already preach the gospel to us, mom and daddy. Y'all can't
save us. We held back and we're going to act like fools until
God saves us. And here you are trying to save us. You can't
save us. You barely doing all right yourself. You better take
care of yourself. I mean, if they can talk to you, you better
take care of yourself. Look at you trying to save us. Bringing forth fruit to maturity
is our ability to prioritize God's honor by taking everything
that he has given us including ourselves and Give it to God
and ask God to help us to prioritize him See that is Matthew 6 33
First seek ye the kingdom of God and all of his righteousness
and everything else will take care of itself Now, why did God
give us that formula? He gave us that formula so that
we wouldn't be stretched in 50 different directions trying to
handle all these fires in our home when we weren't made for
it. That's what he did that for.
He did that so that you could spend your time honoring God
and let God honor his own word in your life. with your kids.
Let's stand for prayer. I know you guys are tired. We're
gonna pray and go home and then we'll see you guys on Sunday.
Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for your word. Thank you for your servant John
and your servant James which encourages us to stay on this
concept of faith teaching us to be patient to wait on you.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for and so we gotta wait
and faith is the evidence of things not seen. So we have to
believe you give us grace to do that today Tomorrow and the
next day until you are pleased to manifest your glory in in
our lives not only in our lives But the lives of our children
and our children's children and our children's children Unto
the third and fourth generation of those that love you and father.
We love you because you first loved us We pray these things
in Jesus name. Amen