1 John 2 - The Evidence of True Faith
Tom Shrader examines John's tests for authentic Christianity from 1 John 2:1-11. He explains that while believers have the power not to sin through Christ's advocacy, genuine faith will inevitably produce two evidences: a desire to obey God's commandments and love for other believers. Shrader emphasizes that changed behavior flows from a changed heart, and that love is a commitment rather than just a feeling.
“Changed behavior will not change the heart, but a changed heart will change behavior.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 1 John
Recorded: January 26, 1989
Duration: 44 min
Themes: sin, obedience, love, faith, forgiveness, advocacy, commandments, authenticity, struggling with sin, questioning salvation, new believer, doubting faith, seeking assurance, pastor, mentor, spiritual counselor
Scripture: 1 John 2:1-11, 1 John 1:8, 1 John 1:10, Philippians 2:5-8, Philippians 2:12-13, Revelation 12, 2 Corinthians 13:5, 1 John 2:22, 1 John 4:2, 1 John 5:1, 1 Corinthians 15, John 6:38, John 8:29, Romans 13:8
Theological Themes: sanctification, propitiation, justification, assurance of salvation, biblical authority, christian living, spiritual growth, advocate
Full Transcript
A little book in the back of the Bible, 1 John. We spent some time there last week, finishing the first chapter of 1 John. Just by way of a two-second introduction, John is writing a first-hand account of the person of Jesus Christ. In addition to his gospel, it's a follow-up written about sixty years after Christ died. It's written to a church that's having some problems, especially with some false teaching. John writes to counteract those problems.
He said last week, in a very direct, blunt form, in chapter 1, verse 8, and again in chapter 1, verse 10, something about the S-word, sin. He said this: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." John comes at it from two different angles.
The Ultimate Self-Deception
He says this first: look, if you don't think you've sinned, you're kidding yourself. I don't know if there's anybody or any situation, any predicament that I've been in, observing people, that isn't really more pathetic than somebody who's just kidding themselves.
You ever been around somebody like that? Maybe in the world of sports. You see a guy and he's in single-A baseball and he's barely hitting his weight, but somehow he really thinks he's going to be there the next year. Maybe in business. We used to see it all the time. A guy would come in and he'd go to work and it would just become clear. There's no way of telling. You can do all the psychological testing in the world and everybody can interview him and say he's got it, but it becomes clear after about six months that this guy's just not going to make it. Then to see him drive and drive and maybe he says, "Here's what's wrong, I'll work harder," and he kicks it into overdrive and all of his world begins to shatter and he's just kidding himself. He's the wrong guy in the wrong place.
There is nothing more sickening, more pathetic, than somebody who's kidding themselves. Here's the ultimate act of kidding yourself. Verse 8: if you think you haven't sinned, you're absolutely pulling your own chain. You're kidding yourself because God says you've all sinned. Verse 10: that's exactly what he said. He said, if you're saying you haven't sinned, you're making God out to be a liar. God said clearly in His word, we're all sinners. We tried to spend some time last week establishing that fact. All of us have sinned. All fall short of the glory of God.
The Good News of Victory Over Sin
John comes with what I think is some pretty good news in chapter 2, verse 1. He says this: "My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."
Man, one of the best comments, one of the things that makes me feel the best when a study's over, when guys are leaving, or somebody says, "You know, I've been to your study or I've heard about your study," when they use the word relevant, that's the thing that does the most for me. They'll say, "You know, it was really relevant. It was really practical. It was something that I could take back to the office. It wasn't just listening to some Bible story. It absolutely was something I could walk out of here and put into practice right now." Boy, I love that.
Guys, we're going to talk about something that is more relevant than anything we could ever talk about today, because it for sure affects all of you. We're going to talk about this whole idea of sin and forgiveness of sin and a brand new life. There's some great news right there in verse one. He said, look, you do not need to sin.
I don't know how many of you have ever been around the book of Romans, but in the book of Romans, Paul writes the first three chapters just so you and I will beat ourselves up and come to the realization that we're sinners and that there's nothing we can do to reach a holy God as a sinful man. Then he says this: but here's the good news. You can have peace with God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Then he says something really good. He said, now you're no longer a slave to sin.
The Power to Stop Sinning
He said, I want you to know something. Verse one: don't sin. Stop it. Whatever it is, just stop it. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 15: "Be sober minded as you ought and stop sinning." Paul writes to Titus: "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age."
Man, if you've placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you have the power to not sin. You didn't before. You would always sin, the Bible says. Not by your actions, but by your heart condition. Your heart was turned against God. But if you've come to Christ, you have the ability now to not sin, to do the right thing for the right reason. John gives us some really good instruction. He says, just do it.
But he's also a pragmatist. Verse one again: "If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father." Advocate is a legal term. It means literally someone who comes alongside to help. In fact, the word advocate is translated in John's gospel in the 15th chapter as the word helper. It's used to speak of the Holy Spirit. An advocate is one who is your defense attorney.
Our Advocate Before the Father
Here's the situation. Revelation chapter 12 says Satan is there before God, accusing you and accusing me. He's saying to God, "Look at Tom, look at him sin. Look at him go." Jesus is there as the defense attorney saying, "That's right. He's guilty. There's no question that he's guilty, but I've paid the price for that sin."
That's that $64,000 word there in the second verse. He is the propitiation. That's one of those words that you read and say, "Well, that's..."
The Meaning of Redemption
It's a real easy word to understand. It simply means to satisfy. Jesus Christ redeemed us. Have you ever been in a situation, some of you might even be in it now, where you visit a pawn shop? You go in and you take that $8,000 watch and he says, "Well, I'd give you $110 for it." You say, "Fine, that's all I've got." You take it and you come back knowing full well that you can redeem that with a little user factor on there. You go back and you pay and you get that watch back. You have redeemed the watch.
Jesus Christ redeemed you and me. You and I were gone into sin. We had really been sold into sin. We had decided ourselves to go there and Jesus Christ comes and He is the propitiation. That means He satisfies the debt. Last week, we said there's three words we use for sin. We call sin, sin, which is a good one. We call it sin, transgression, and we call sin debt.
You and I have a debt because we sin. The wages of sin is debt. And that debt is something we can never pay. But Jesus Christ comes and pays that debt for us. What a beautiful story.
The Logical Questions About Salvation
But let me be a realist myself. Let me ask the question that at least some of you are saying. Let me make sure I understand this, Tom. If I come to Christ and confess Him as Lord and Savior, I'm saved forever. Is that right? And I would answer to you, absolutely, that's right.
Well, let me ask a follow-up. The follow-up is this. Every sin that I commit is forgiven. Is that right? Absolutely, it's right. Well, if you think like I do, you are in the process of planning the largest party of all time because there are no consequences.
Well, I'm saved forever and every sin. John said, but there's something else that happens. We don't think like that any longer. Look at verse 3. "By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments."
Two Tests of True Faith
I want to get as serious as I can get for just a second. Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 13:5. He said, "Check up on yourself. Are you really a Christian? Do you pass the test?" John said there's two tests to see if you're a Christian, an internal test and an external test.
He said, here's the internal test. Look at verse 22 of chapter 2. "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, and the one who confesses the Son has the Father."
In chapter 4, verse 2, he says essentially the same thing. "By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." Chapter 5, verse 1, he says it again, if we missed it. "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."
The Doctrinal Test
John says this. Here's the doctrinal test. What do you do with the person of Jesus Christ? Who is Jesus Christ to you? If He's not God come in the flesh to die on the cross for your sin, John said, you fail the doctrinal test.
There's a second part to it, and it's the part we looked at last week. I confess Him as Lord, I confess Him as Savior, and I confess that I've sinned. And all that word confess means is, "God, I agree with you. I've sinned. Jesus Christ is God. He paid the price." John said, there's the doctrinal test. If you want to know if a person is a Christian internally, doctrinally, that's the doctrinal test.
The Moral Test
But now it's going to exhibit itself. John says, here's the moral test. Verse 3, you will keep my commandments. You cannot go on living the same life. Charles Spurgeon said it this way, "An unchanged life is the sign of an unclenched heart."
I like that, so I said it this way. You won't want to write down the Spurgeon quote, but you'll want this one. Changed behavior will not change the heart, but a changed heart will change behavior. He's saying this. If I've come to Christ in repentance and faith, my life is going to be different.
And let me say what John says. If you say you're a Christian and your life is the same, John says, there's absolutely no way. There's no way. There's no way that it can be. He said, here's what you're going to want to do. You're going to want to know that you know Him.
Understanding True Knowledge of God
Now, for you Greek scholars, where are the Greek scholars, by the way? They're sleeping right now. For you Greek scholars, the word know is in the perfect present tense. It means literally this, "by this we are continually knowing that we have already come to know him." I say that so you and I will understand. John says, you'll know Him. It's an ongoing process.
And you'll keep His commandments. That doesn't mean you sit in fear and trembling of making a mistake. It says this, you'll have a holy desire to keep His commandments. Do you have that? Do you have that holy desire to keep the law of God?
God's Work Within Us
Keep your finger right there and turn to the left to the book of Philippians. And we're going to be in and out of Philippians a couple times today, so if you can, it would be nice to mark it. Philippians chapter 2, verse 12. Paul describes what should be going on in our mind as we deal in this area of sin, as a new creature.
Here's what he writes, Philippians chapter 2, verse 12, "My beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation in fear and trembling. For it is God who is at work within you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
The Living Bible translates that last verse this way, "For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him and then helping you do what he wants." It's the same thing that John said. Something happens to a person who gives their life to Christ. All of a sudden, those things they're involved in that are not right become clear in their mind. You cannot go on living the same kind of life. You literally become anxious to do the will of God. Can you imagine that? Anxious
to do what God wants you to do, even if it's not what in the natural you might want to do. John says this, you're going to get excited about doing it. John MacArthur says it this way: this is the habitual moment by moment safeguarding of our obedience to the word of God. That is our sign of salvation, a desire to obey God.
There's a big controversy going on now in Christian circles about whether when you become a Christian is Jesus Lord or not, or when do you follow Him and all the others. Man, if you say Jesus is your Lord, it is implied clearly that you'll be obedient to Him.
The Stark Contrast Between Truth and Deception
Here's the other side of it. John paints a beautiful contrast in verse four. "The one who said, I've come to know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar. And the truth"—Jesus said, "I'm the truth and the way and the life"—He said, "the truth isn't in him."
He said, there's the contrast. Verse five: "Whoever keeps His word in him, the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him."
The Hope Found in "Whoever"
There's a word in there that offers me a lot of hope, and it might to you too. It's the second word in verse five: "whoever." I think in the King James, it says "whosoever."
I was watching Christian television Monday and they were doing an interview with a guy who was involved in homosexuality. Let me admit my bias here. If I were to rank sins, and anytime I think somebody ranks sins, the ones they're not involved in are the ones they would rank as the grossest probably. But as I put and rank sin, I would say homosexuality would be one of those that I just can't imagine. I have to be honest with you. I can imagine myself. So I'm particularly critical of this guy.
This guy sat there and he began to talk and he described his life as a homosexual. He described how tough this was. He described how much he wanted to get out of it, how he would go out at night and meet some guy and end up in bed with him and go home and cry and cry and cry and cry because he just wanted out of it, but he couldn't get out of it. He spent years and years and years involved in that.
Then his face just—and you could almost see the pain on his face. Then his face just lit up. He said, "But one day I met a man and He changed my life. And that man was the Lord Jesus Christ." Then he said there was a struggle, but I can tell you that for four years now, I haven't been with another man.
"Whoever." I don't know what your sin is, but you're covered in that "whoever." No matter what the past is, if you come, He'll save you, cleanse you and change your life. He'll turn it right side up.
A Personal Testimony of God's Power
There's a story, and I hate to tell it publicly. I'm pretty transparent. I don't like telling this one because it always presents a problem for somebody. But eight years ago, it was March of 1980. I came to Christ in the parking lot right over here at McCormick Ranch. That following December, we were having our company Christmas party. It was at the Plaza Club downtown and it was really nice.
I had talked with a friend of mine. I said, "Look, this is one of those nights that you make sure you don't want to drink. There's lots of people here and you just don't do that." So when it was time to order dinner, I remember all of the guys, and some of them are here in the room today, all went in to eat. I snuck back in the bar and said, "I'm ordering for a table. Give me three gin and tonics and three scotch and water." Then got them and snuck around the corner and sat and had my own little dinner.
The centerpiece that year, some of you might remember it, was a donkey pulling a cart and he had cranberries for decorations. I remember the next morning when I woke up, I had cranberries in my pockets and cranberries in my shirt—I had cranberries everywhere. I think we even did the snake that night for those of you there.
I remember waking up saying, "Lord, we've got nine months of this. For nine months now, I've been trying to stop this. I know that You don't want me drunk. I'm not sure. I don't even know if You want me to drink, but I'm pretty sure You don't. But I can't stop this. I want You to take this away. You say I've got the power. I don't feel I've got the power. I'm going to trust You that I've got the power. Take it away." Men, I have not had a sip of that stuff since then.
Now, I tell that story knowing full well that some of you have been through that and gone through the same experience and haven't seen that. I offer it not to say, "Boy, am I something?" Not at all. I offer that story to say that's the God that we serve. He's there with real power.
The Power Available to Every Believer
I met with a guy the other day, and he's a Christian, and it's clear, and he said, "But I don't feel any power in my life." If you don't feel power in your life, that's your fault, not God's.
Men, if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have more power than Donald Trump. Now, he's going to get better seats at the games than you do, and he's got an easier mode of transportation and all the other, but I'll tell you what, you've got more power than he does. He might be able to change a vote of the city council, but I'll tell you what, he can't change a life. He can't take somebody that's dead and make them alive.
But you have the Lord Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit living in you. You've got power to see life transformed. Donald Trump can't do that. Mikhail Gorbachev can't do that. No human being can. It's only through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Man, I want to underline, I ask you to circle that word, "whoever"—"Whosoever keeps His word in him, God lives."
The Ultimate Standard: Living Like Christ
Then as though all that's not enough, here comes verse six: "The one who says he abides in Him"—and that's Jesus Christ. "The person who said Christ abides in him ought to live in the same manner as Christ lived."
Oh, wait a minute. It was bad enough when you told me to clean up my own act, but now you're saying live like
Christ? That's my role model? Let me tell you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that each one of us get 12 disciples and move to Jerusalem and start to roam around in robes and wash each other's feet.
Here's what it means. We said we'd be back to Philippians and we are right now. Philippians chapter two becomes the evidence of what Jesus said throughout His ministry. In John 6:38, He said this: "I've come down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of Him who sent me." John 8:29, He said, "I always do the things that please God."
He said, here's your role model. Philippians chapter two, verse five: "Have this attitude"—some versions say, "have this mind in you"—"which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped. But He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in the appearance of a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
The Call to Humility and Service
Here's your role model. Back up and look at the first two verses before it, verse three and verse four. He's talking to a church in Philippi. He said this: "Don't do anything from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself. And do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interests of others."
He said this: have that kind of mind in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. When John calls upon you and I to live a Christ-like life, he's saying it's got to be a life that's hallmarked by humility, that's hallmarked by selflessness. It's got to be a characteristic of our life.
Let me tell you what humility's not. A guy's not humble when you come up and say, "Boy, that was really something," and he goes, "Oh, no, it really wasn't. I mean, shucks, I really didn't—it wasn't that big a deal." Humility is defined right there. It's me thinking more about you than I do myself. It's a life that's committed to serve others. And I guarantee you, you will not have that life apart from the person of Jesus Christ. That should be the hallmark of our life: serve, serve, serve.
The Test of Loving Your Brother
Drop down to verse 9, 10, and 11, and we'll come back and pick the other two up. He said this: "The one who says he's in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and for him there is no cause for stumbling. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he's going because the darkness has blinded his eyes."
John said, here's the test. In general, I want you to love. In general, keep my commandments. In particular, love your brother.
Understanding What Love Really Is
Let me tell you something about love. Love's an interesting thing. Every time we use the word, you kind of see all kinds of different faces. If there's women in the room, you can see their eyes kind of roll and they're thinking about something that happened probably a long time ago. And if they're guys, they're thinking about something that will happen yet tonight. And that's the way love is.
Let me tell you, love is not a feeling. Love is not some sort of mystical, emotional experience. Love is a commitment. That's what love is. It's a commitment.
I said I wouldn't use this when we tape, but she doesn't listen to the tapes anyway. So Susan is going through a thing about six months ago she started where her body's changing. She's 36, I think, years old and her body's changing. And I don't care. I mean, I'm testimony to it and all of you, most of you are. Your body changes. I don't care what you do and how much you exercise—your body changes. So you can just see that although she's gaining maybe a pound or two, literally, she is just changing and it really bothers her.
And finally one day I said, "Well, what's the problem?" And she said, "I just don't like this and I don't feel it." Well, I know. I said, "Okay, sit down. Now listen to this, Susan, because you may only hear it one time, so you better grab hold of this one. I don't care if you weigh 300 pounds, I'm going to love you. Don't test me on this though. Don't take me—don't go all the way to the math on it. Don't take my word for this, okay? But I'm telling you, my love for you is not based on how you look."
Now I've got to admit, when I first met you, it was really unimportant to me whether you had a mind or not, okay? Because when I first met you, I was attracted to you physically and that's all there was. I couldn't be attracted in any other way—we hadn't even said anything yet. But as we got to know each other, there was something beyond the physical and pretty soon all the emotional transcends the physical. Is the physical important? Absolutely. But my love is not based on the physical.
Love as Commitment in Practice
Men, love is a commitment. That's what love is. The feelings are there and they'll come and they'll go. But if love was a feeling, we'd be in trouble. I was at the Phoenix Open last Thursday—I was in and out of love about three dozen times if you were out there walking around. If love's a feeling, we're in trouble. Love is not a feeling, love is a commitment.
And that's what John says. He says, if you love me, here's what's going to happen: you'll love the brother. I say this every once in a while and I absolutely mean it. There are some of you in this room—oh let's take it outside this room—there are some that we deal with on a weekly basis that are really nice guys, that are fun to be with. And there are other guys, very candidly, that I can't stand. But I'll tell you what, I love every one of you. I love you. I'm absolutely committed to you.
There's not a guy in here who couldn't call any time, day or night, and we're there. Office hours are nine to five, but any time, day or night, and we're there and we're available. And I think
people know that and I think people sense that. And that's what love is—it's that kind of commitment. I don't love you because you're something special.
It's the same thing with forgiveness. Let me help you with this thing on forgiveness. Let's take, for example, Bruce. Let's say, for sake of argument, that Bruce is a jerk. This is purely hypothetical. And let's say that in our relationship, over a period of time, he's abused me and abused me and abused me. The scripture says, clearly, I'm to forgive him. Why? Because he deserves it? No, we've established he's a jerk. I'm to forgive him because Christ has forgiven me.
Now let me make that practical for you. If you've got somebody in your life that you're having a hard time forgiving, let me suggest to you it's probably because you don't understand how Christ forgave you. Maybe it's an ex-wife, maybe it's a business partner, maybe it's your employees right now or your employer or just a friend from college. Who knows? If you can't forgive them, it's because you're having a hard time understanding how Christ forgave you. When you understand where you've been and where you are and how He forgave you, you can't wait to forgive him.
It's the same thing with love. When you understand how much Christ loved you, to the point that He came and He died, even when you couldn't care about Him, He died for you, you're going to want to be committed to the brothers.
The Practical Test of True Fellowship
Let me say this again. Men, I think this is practical. Please don't misunderstand this. There was a fellow that we were with last week—he's been a Christian, I'm going to guess about 12 years—and he made this comment. He said, "I have a lot more fun and I enjoy being with the non-Christians more than I enjoy being with the Christians." And I know what he's saying, I guess, but let me tell you something. If you enjoy sitting around with a bunch of guys talking about Super Bowl XXIII and the golf tournament and what the commodities market's doing and the stock market and the construction business, if that's more fun than sitting down with some Christians saying, "You know, I've got a problem at work and I don't know how to handle this issue"—and with the Christians I can talk about Super Bowl XXIII too—but if I'm more comfortable with non-Christians than Christians, I think John says, you're in trouble.
Just like your reading. I mean, if your shelf is crammed with Tom Clancy and Stephen King and Peter Drucker and all these guys, and then over here somewhere there's a Swindoll book, I'm not sure. If you're more fascinated by Peter Drucker than Chuck Swindoll, watch out. Watch out. Because there's going to be a natural desire to want to know God and want to spend time with His people.
And He said we're to love one another. We're to be committed to one another. That means we're looking around. We're trying to spot the guy that's hurting and we're over there saying, "Hey, I don't want to be a jerk. Are you okay?" Let me give you the other side of that. The guy that's approached needs to say, "Hey, I am hurting and I need some help." I need to be available, but he needs to be receptive. John said, "Here's the hallmark. You're going to love one another."
The Old Commandment Made New
Back up to verse seven, because he says it again, and in fact, it's almost confusing the way that he says it in verse seven. He says this: "Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining."
You want to say, "Wait a minute, John, what is it? An old commandment, a new commandment, a new old commandment?" And that's exactly what it is. He said it's a new commandment which is true in Him and in you because the darkness is passing away and true light is shining. He said this: "You've heard in the old days"—he said, first of all, this is nothing new. He said, "This is something you've heard from day one, that you're to love God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself." But Jesus said, "I'm going to come along and write a new version of the old commandment. He said, I want you to do it, but I want you to do it as I love." There's the role model. He said, "I want you to love one another as I've loved."
From Thunder to Beloved
There's hope in verse seven again, and it's so subtle that I can't let it pass. It's the first word he writes: "beloved." I mean, if you're some guy that's in here today, maybe you're not a Christian, maybe you're a new Christian and you're thinking all these Christians are kind of meek, mousy little people anyway—look at this little guy writing "beloved"—who writes "beloved"?
It's important to know something about John because there was a time in John's life when he and his brother James were called the sons of thunder. Remember when they were coming along and there were some people that weren't cooperating with Jesus' program, and John said this to Jesus: "Jesus, sick Him, send some lightning down on these guys, get them, Jesus." See that's part of the "whosoever." This "sick Jesus" guy becomes a guy that says "beloved." The Lord softens his heart. He says to you and me, it's time to reach out and to love one another.
Romans 13:8 says this: "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." He said, I want you to see the love of your neighbor as a debt. Something you owe them.
Love as a Debt
Have you ever been in a situation where you had somebody and you owed them money? Maybe you borrowed 20 bucks from them or maybe you borrowed 150 bucks from them and you can't quite get it back to them and you see them all the time. And every time you see them, what do you think of? If I owe Mark $150, every time I see him, there's only one thing I'm going to think of. Why doesn't he forgive that debt? No, I'm going to think of one thing. I owe this guy $150.
don't believe that it works two ways. Every time Mark sees me, he's thinking, "Where's the 150 bucks?" And if the guy's got any class, he'll put a little interest with it. But if I owe him $150, every time I see him, all I see is the $150.
Paul said, "That's the attitude I want you to have with regard to love with your neighbor. Just pretend that you owe that neighbor love." Every time you see him, all you're thinking about is, "I owe this guy love. I need to be committed to him."
John says it as straightforwardly as he possibly can. He said, "Look, if you hate your brother," and let me tell you what hate is. That doesn't mean you're dragging the guy out in the alley and beating him up. If love is committed to him and meeting his needs, then hate is just the opposite. The opposite of love is not hate—it's apathy. It's doing nothing. If you can hear of a real need that you have the ability to meet, and you don't want to go and meet it, you better watch out, because love is going to meet that need.
The Two Tests of True Faith
John closes this section of the book, and he says, "Let me give you two tests." He said, "First, I want to ask you the most important question in the history of mankind. Are you a Christian?" Man, there's no question more important than that one.
I'm convinced that right now, Ronald Reagan is sitting in Bel Air, California, and he's got a few more years to live, however many it is. Someday he's going to stand before God, and God doesn't care about Reykjavik, He doesn't care about passing the torch to a new generation, He doesn't care about what he did with taxes, He doesn't care about his relationship with Margaret Thatcher, He doesn't care about how he handled his kids. He's going to ask him one question: "What did you do with the person of Jesus Christ?" Then He'll deal with all those others. But if the answer to that is, "I denied Him," God's going to say, "I'm sorry, you're going to spend eternity separated from Me in hell."
That's the doctrinal test. John said, "Here's the first test. Do you acknowledge Jesus and acknowledge your sin and trust Him?" When we use the word "believe," biblical belief has with it the idea of trust. You and I believe a lot of things. I believe this is the worst cup of coffee I've ever had. I believe this is a nice watch. I believe it's going to rain. We use that word so freely.
Biblical Belief Means Trust
In the biblical sense, when we say "believe," implied with it is trust and act upon it. I have to believe that I'm a sinner in Christ as a Savior. I trust Him. And John said, "Now comes the real test. Are you living it? Is your life hallmarked by the characteristic of love?"
Next week when we get together, John takes an interesting turn. He's going to talk to us about a kind of love that God hates. Is that possible? That's right. Next week, a love that you and I can have that God hates.
Let's pray. Father, thanks for Your Word. Thank You for John and that straightforward approach. We appreciate it so much. He doesn't mess around with words and try to cover the truth. Father, thank You that He just deals with us straight and firm.
Lord, we thank You for what You're doing in this room. Thank You for each one of the men in this room. And Father, we just ask You to soften our hearts. Some of us really are sons of thunder in our own way. Father, make us men of love. These that are committed to one another, it will take an extra 15 or 20 minutes if it's necessary just to find out what the other guy is doing, where he's at. Spend some time with the people around us. A desire to do Your Word. I really want to find out what Your Word's got to say and then God, a holy desire to do it. That's what we want to do.
Father, too, we thank You for what You're doing in this group. Help us grow, not only in numbers, but effectiveness. Father, thank You for the changed lives that are represented here today. Lord, more than anything, we thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, and it's in His name we pray. Amen.