The enemy loves to attack your faith! He wants you to live in a perpetual state of doubt.
Have you ever stopped and wondered, Am I really saved? Maybe you’ve had one of those days where the flesh seems to win, your thoughts are all over the place, and you begin questioning your relationship with God. You’re not alone. Even Paul cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24, NKJV). The enemy loves to use our failures and emotions to fill us with doubt, but God doesn’t leave us guessing. In 1 John 2, He gives us three simple evidences of genuine salvation.
First, do you keep His Word? John writes, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3, NKJV). This isn’t about perfect obedience. None of us obey perfectly. It’s about a heart that wants to obey. Before Christ, God’s Word had little place in your life. After salvation, the Holy Spirit gives you a hunger for Scripture and a desire to please the Lord.
Second, do you follow the example of Jesus? “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:6, NKJV). Your life begins to change. You won’t be sinless, but you won’t be the same person you used to be.
Finally, do you love the brethren? John says, “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now” (1 John 2:9, NKJV). God’s love changes the way we see and treat people. Instead of holding on to bitterness, we learn to forgive because we’ve been forgiven. These things don’t save us, but they are evidence that Christ is at work within us. So if you’re struggling with assurance today, don’t only look at your failures. Look for His work in your life, thank Him for what He’s doing, and keep walking with Jesus.
FULL Unedited Transcription #16209 1 John 2:3-11
Open your Bibles to 1 John chapter 2. We’re going to pick up where we left off last time. 1 John chapter 2, there in verse 3, and the title of our Bible study is three questions, three questions. When you doubt your salvation. Three questions when you doubt your salvation.
How do you know the Lord? That’s an important question to ask. How do I know that I’m saved? Many people ask that question as well. The enemy of our souls would love to confuse you about your own salvation, to cause you to doubt that you’re really saved, that the finished work of Jesus Christ applies to you. He wants you to doubt it, to make us believe ultimately that we’re not saved.
Looking at our behavior, looking at our thought patterns, knowing that we confessed our sins, that we repented, that we are born again, but then in the up and down of life, there are those moments where you’re just like, what is happening? Paul had one. You can write it down in Romans chapter seven. He’s wrestling with his own life, the confessions of a struggling Christian. But you could also say the confessions of a struggling pastor, one that’s battling.
Remember, we learn with struggling, there’s two types. There’s the struggle for life, good struggle. But then there’s that time where we just say struggle and we’re giving up. He’s talking about his fight against sin, in a fight against this flesh. And he goes, who’s gonna deliver me from this body of death? I thank God. I thank Christ who saved me and changed me. Romans chapter seven.
This was happening in the first century. False teachings to cause you to doubt your salvation. The Gnostics were throwing off the believers with their teachings that were leading away from Christ. And it’s happening today. False teachers and cults wanting to confuse you. You don’t know enough. You don’t do enough. You’re not thinking this way. You’re not a part of us.
And as John continues chapter two here, he’s going to give us three questions. So that moment you begin to doubt, that moment that you begin to wonder, the moment that the attack comes, you know how 2 Corinthians 10 says we’re to learn to take every thought into captivity of Christ. So on the one hand, you’re going to take that thought, captivity to Christ. And on the other hand, you can look at some of these things that Paul says.
He goes, pay attention to these three things. And they’re not surprising. They won’t be surprising. They won’t be a shock to you, but it’s good to revisit. And this Bible study could easily be a series. I’m sure we could find 10 or 11 things, but these were the three things that John gave to the believers. So this is God’s will for us.
It’s one of the things I love about our church and the way we were discipled in our church family, and that is we stay tethered to the text. We need to let, I know we could find 11 or 12 different things and that may be appropriate in some seasons. But when we’re going through the Bible, we’re going to pause and we’re like, oh no, this is the three. This is the three on the backdrop of these false teachers, the Gnostics. And as you’ll see, we’ll develop it.
Pick up with me in chapter two, verse three: “Now by this, we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a”—what church?—“Liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected,” or that word could also be translated completed, “in him. By this, we know that we are in him.”
Here’s question number one. Do I keep his word? And if you want to summarize that in just one word, obedience. Am I obedient? That’s a sign of a born-again believer. I’m obedient to God as he speaks in his word.
The phrase we know there in verse 1 or in verse 3 is repeated two times. I know is used in another place. The word know is interesting. In the Hebrew, no reflected the most intimate relationship between a husband and a wife. This no is so important as it reflects closeness and intimacy.
How do you know the Lord? How do you know you’re in relationship with him? Do you keep his word? That’s a life-changing word. Question, very important.
The Gnostics, this false teaching group that was there in the first century, they taught that you couldn’t know God outside of their secret religion. We still have people doing that today. Here you see you carrying a Bible, see you praying at a restaurant, see you just going to the mall shopping, and you become the target. And the target will be to undo what you believe and join their group.
Why? Because they believe they’re the only group that’s saved on the planet Earth. They’re unique, special people, cultic group, and it’s very confusing when you give them an audience. If you don’t know your word, you have to understand the cults are designed and trained to confuse you. The first thing they want to get from you is what’s your religious background? Because as soon as you get your religious background, you know which angle to take, and to confuse you and to ask some hard question.
Theologians have been arguing for 2,000 years over the question and you’re supposed to answer it at the Aurora Mall, you know, with a slushie in your hand. They’re designed to get you into a place of confusion so that they can invite you to another discussion and another Bible study. And it’s really not a Bible study as much as it is a cultic instruction of their false theology. Confusion comes through false teaching.
You remember Jesus said in John chapter 17 in verse three, when you ask yourself the question, how do I know that I know God? This is what Jesus said in John 17:3: “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
And throughout the ages, there’s been different angles and paths to attempt to know God. The Greeks, they were very much into the mind and the emotions. The Hebrews emphasize deep study, but you remember the Hebrews in their emphasis of study caused the religious rulers to value study over relationship. Here it says in John 5, verse 39, Jesus says, “You search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life. And these are they which testify of me.”
You see, we don’t worship the Bible. We worship Jesus. We don’t worship theology, the knowledge of God. We worship God. And it’s through that devotion to God that we gain knowledge. You never want to get it. You never want to flip it around so that you become more loyal and devoted to the Bible than you are God.
Now, of course, it’s a very close relationship, God in the Bible, because God reveals himself in the word. So you need to know the word because this is how God reveals himself. But the word is never above. You know, in John chapter one, we see that Jesus, he is the word. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
So one of the questions you have to ask yourself is, do I obey? Now, of course, if you’re going through a difficult time, one of the ways you answer this, well, no, I’m actually asking the question right now because I’m in a season of disobedience. And so if you’re not careful, you’re like, well, do I obey? And you’re looking at some instant mistake. You go, oh, no, I’m not obeying at all. Therefore, I must not be a believer.
No, you’re looking for steady obedience, not perfect obedience. Nobody can provide perfect obedience, right? We all sin. We learn that in chapter one. Come back to chapter one with us. It says in verse 10, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.”
This isn’t perfect obedience, but understand the question. Do I obey God through his word? So there’s two parts to that. Are you a man or a woman that now wants to read the Bible? Because before you were saved, you didn’t care much about the Bible unless you got in trouble. I mean, if you’re in crisis, pull the Bible out, pull the Bible, send me a Bible. I need a Bible. And then once you get out of the crisis, whatever else you want to read, it’s not the Bible, but it’s not that kind of, it’s are you a man or a woman that’s hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of Christ?
Like that’s your desire. You could say, yeah, that’s why I’m here. I’m rearranging my whole life in midweek so I can have more of Bible study, so I can pray with the brothers, so I can be in a place of refuge. Yes, yes, yes. So then now when you read the Bible, do you obey it? Not perfect obedience, but do I obey it?
You see, the Bible says that if you say you’re a believer, I know him, and do not keep his commandments, then that’s dishonest. That’s what a liar is. He’s dishonest. She’s dishonest. So when you see a rebellious person fighting against the things of the Lord, at first glance, we don’t know whether they’re saved or not, but we can’t speak to the disobedience to God’s word and start there.
Like a liar, you know, just a known liar. And you call them out on their lies. I’m not lying. You’re lying right now, bro, because you’re lying about lying. Well, you know, I’m a Christian. I make mistakes sometimes. But do you care that you’re a liar? I’m not a liar.
Well, you know, I really can’t be the judge of whether someone’s saved or not. That’s going to be between you. But I can reveal the evidence to you. And if you are a liar today and that’s what you live in, you should really, really go back to the word of God and ask yourself, do I obey the word of God? It is not okay to lie. That’s a serious one, isn’t it, lying? It’s in the top 10. It’s in the top 10 commandments not to lie.
And so as you look at your life and you go, wait a minute, you know what? I’m not lying as much as I used to. Ah, that’s progress. That’s progress. Like, you might find yourself like, not only am I not lying as much as I used to, but I feel really bad when I do. Ah, that’s really good progress. You know what feeling really bad when I do is? The conviction of the Holy Spirit. God is inside of you as a born again believer, reminding you of what you already know to be true in his word, and then reveals to you that you’re not obeying.
It’s important to stand back and ask yourself, am I obeying the word of God? Jesus lays great emphasis on obedience. In John chapter 14 and verse 15, Jesus said, “If you love me, you’ll”—what?—“keep my commandments.”
To some, after our study through Galatians and the entirety of the scriptures, some might respond at this time, maybe listening on the radio right now, you go, wait a minute, pastor, I thought we were saved by grace and not works, not works of obedience, to which I would say, you’re right. You are saved by grace through faith. It is not of works, lest any man should boast. However, we are not saved by works, but we are saved for good works.
The evidence, one of the many evidences in a born again believer’s life is works of obedience. They come not to earn anything, but because you’re saved. You live differently. It is like two single people getting married. When two single people get married, one thing will be an evidence of that marriage. At least one thing. There’s a lot of things. But one thing will be an evidence of that marriage. And that is this. You ready? They will no longer live like singles.
They will no longer live in two places. They will no longer live the single life. You move into the same house and combine all your, you know, look at this, we’re married. Where are you going, honey? Hey, I’m going out looking for a chick. That’s not a married guy. Or looking for a guy. That’s not a married woman. That’s not consistent with your changed life. That’s not consistent.
Because you might have a past and you have these temptations, that’s different. But then now you’re married and you’re working through them and you’re confessing and you’re living in the newness of relationship. It’s true in your relationship with God. You will see many things change in you. But one thing you will see right away, you become a woman and a man of obedience. Obedience. That becomes very important to you.
You’re not trying to please a church or trying to please a pastor or trying to please your grandmother. You’re really reflecting, if I love Christ and I do, then I’m going to obey him. You’ll sit through a Bible study and you’ll hear something and the Holy Spirit says, that’s for you. That’s for you. And you’re like, oh, that is for me. And then you’ll start saying, I don’t really want to do that. But I have to do that. I don’t really want to do that. That’s going to be painful. I’m not sure.
But that very wrestling is evidence of the Holy Spirit. You’re getting there. You may not be so quick to obey. Some things are easier. Some things are more challenging. But John says, you want to know if you’re saved? It’s not by joining some secret religion or being in a church building. You’re saved by asking the question, do I keep his commandments?
Verse five, “Whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is complete in him. By this we know that we are in him.” Verse six, come to the second question: “He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk as he walked.”
Let me give you a second question, word here, a second question to ask when you’re doubting your salvation. Number one, am I obeying, how do I keep his word as obedience? The second word is example. Do I follow the example of Christ? There’s a question that preludes that and that is, do I even know the example of Christ?
Do I read the Bible in such a way where I’m learning from Jesus how he lived, God in human flesh, how he lived, how he dealt with people, how he wants to add into my life? Do I follow his example?
Notice he uses the word, verse six, abides. The Greek word, ameno, M-E-N-O. It means to stay put, to remain. So many today walk around with a, a profession of faith without true possession. They say that they’re Christians, but their lifestyle says something completely different. And that needs to be investigated and challenged with the people that are close to you. Not challenged like in a bad way, but really questioned.
Hey, you say you’re a believer, but your behavior and your lifestyle, the example of your life does not reflect Jesus. Things change when you’re born again. You are a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
There is an old Ed, a before Christ Ed, and a new believer or a believing Ed in Christ. There is the old you. They often refer to that as the BC days before Christ. And there are a new you. And sometimes it gets confusing because the thing is, the old you still hangs around because you have the same physical brain. And with the same physical brain that you developed all those sinful habits with, those sinful habits tempt you and draw you away from living a life that pleases God.
The flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. Jesus is our model. He walked by faith, in the leading of the Holy Spirit, in continual contact with the Father, in self-surrender. He lays down his life for others. He controlled his temper and his tongue. He leaved to please the Father.
Now, some of you are too young to remember this, but it wasn’t too long ago where they had this slogan, WWJD. Do you remember that? Super popular, had the little wristbands. And then it just took off. And it was a great idea. It was a reminder of these little wristbands to ask the question in moments, what would Jesus do? What would Jesus do? What would he do in this situation? How would he have me to respond?
And it’s unfortunate it became so popular that you get bracelets and hats and socks and books and probably underwear, I don’t know, but it was just so prolific, it became a byword, it became a cliche, it was made fun of by late night comedians. But you know, it’s still a great way to live your life. It’s a great question to ask. What would Jesus do in this?
And even if you can’t answer the question, you say, what would Jesus do? And you begin to open the scriptures and ask the Lord to give you wisdom. What would he do? Not only what would he do, but God, what’s the next question? What do you want me to do? Because I want to follow your example. I want to be able to have that discernment to follow you and obey you.
How should I respond as a follower of Jesus? You used to have the privilege. You and I used to have the freedom. I wouldn’t say it was a privilege, but you and I used to have a freedom to respond any way we wanted. And that wasn’t probably even 50-50, depending on what the situation was of hitting a mark of being kind or nice or moral. But we don’t have that anymore. It’s not how should I respond, but how should I respond as a child of God?
When you don’t care about your obedience and we don’t care about the example of Christ, those are concerning things. But when you do, it’s like, I just don’t know if I’m saved. Okay, how’s your obedience? Well, you know, I’ve seen obedience in my life before. I’m just struggling with this one. Or how’s your example? Can people look at your life and go, yeah, that guy’s different? She’s changed. Or, no, that’s just the same old person using Christian language.
Whoa, Ed, yeah, that happens. Churches are filled with same old person, just got a new vocabulary. As if nobody can tell. As if nobody can tell. We’ve all been called to walk as Jesus walked, not by a list of rules and regulations, but by example. When Jesus looked at the law, he narrowed it down to just one, and that was love. Love God and love your neighbor. And this is where we’ve end today. John takes us next. Obedience, example, and the last word will be love.
Notice verse seven. Brethren… Again, verse 8. Verse 9. Verse 10. “He who says,” so you have a profession, right? Many have a profession of faith, but not a possession. So when he says, he who says that he is in the light. Now, why would anyone say that he is in the light? Well, back in chapter one, if we walk in the light as he is in the light. So, hey, we’re in the light. We walk in the light of life. He is, Jesus is our light and we are in the light. Why would you say that? Because that’s a phrase that would describe you being a believer.
He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
You’re doubting your salvation. You look at obedience. You look at example. And you also now look at love, God’s love. Do I love the brethren?
Now, the text itself can be a little confusing at first read, old commandment, new commandment, but let’s try to follow John’s train of thought here. In verse seven, it says, the commandment to love was an old commandment. You can jot it down. Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 18: “You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
So it’s not new. It’s an old commandment. Leviticus. The hearers would understand that. Most of the believers are Hebrews at this time. So they would understand this. Then in verse 8 though it says John is writing a fresh insight to the old command.
Remember at the last suffered. Jesus said this in John 13: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you’re my disciples if you have love for one another.” What was new was the concrete example of love.
Now John looks back and says, okay, we know the old commandment and we see it carrying over in a new covenant. But what’s new about this now is we see Jesus as the greatest demonstration of love. Not that just we enjoy his love and receive his love, but we actually see it in self-sacrifice. We see it in death to self. The command becomes new in the sense of the freshness and seen as the example of Jesus Christ.
So we can’t perfectly obey. I mean, none of us are gonna give that perfect example of the love of Jesus. But we’re getting there. We’re living out his love. We’re living out in the appreciation. The Bible says that we love because we were first, God first loved us. It’s such a transformative thing for many of us.
For many of us that lived outside of Christian love for so many years, maybe even had a hard heart, had an attitude of, I don’t care, or the only one I care about is myself. It truly is a transformative thing to walk in the love of God and to care about others more than you care about yourself. To help carry burdens with one another.
You might, in the past, before you were saved, you might’ve saw someone with a burden and go, well, sorry for that guy. But now your heart is pricked by the love of God. It’s like, not only am I sorry for that guy, but I’m gonna help him. Where did that come from? Well, it isn’t just a moral decision. It’s an expression of love. And he puts this expression of love in the backdrop of hatred.
This is an important topic that needs to be addressed, this issue of hatred. If you hate your brother, you’re not in the light. And let me just say at the outset, the antidote to hating your brother is forgiveness.
And on either side of the stage here, in these baskets on either side, are pamphlets that are free to you to take. I didn’t ask for them to put more, but if we run out, you can email me and I’ll send you a link and you can just download it. I’ll send you a link to download this. Just a simple little pamphlet on forgiveness that you can step in through obedience and follow the example of Christ and open yourself up to forgive the person that has stirred up so much hatred in you.
Remember with forgiveness, forgiveness doesn’t equal reconciliation. That’s a separate step. Many times hatred is fostered because of pain and what’s been done to you. Hatred is stirred up in you because you just replay it over and over and over again. And then hatred gets hooked to bitterness and unforgiveness. And before you know it, you’re the one that’s not walking in the light. I don’t know about the person you’re hating, but you’re not walking in the light. Every time you talk about them, every time you think about them, you’re not walking in the light.
Hatred needs to be complemented with forgiveness, which will turn into love. You’ll be released. But reconciliation doesn’t necessarily mean that’s going to happen. Because there must be repentance on the other person. Like in order to have a real relationship, you have to have repentance. And so that’s laid out for you in that pamphlet.
We also did a couple chapters in the book, Letting Go of Your Past. We talked about that with anger and like bitterness. It’s all deep, deep stuff. And so many Christians waste a portion of their life, a large portion of their life, or most of their life living in hatred, saying that they’re walking in the light. And it’s hindering you. If I hate my brother, I’m not in the light.
The transformed life lives in agape love. Notice, if you want to flip through 1 John, look at chapter 3, verse 11. It says, “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” Chapter 3, verse 23: “This is the commandment that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave commandment.” Now it’s tied to obedience. You can see how these questions wrap together.
Chapter four, verse seven: “Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. For he who does not love does not know God. For God is love.” And how was love manifested? Verse nine: “In this, the love of God was manifested that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him.”
Hatred is a very potent and dangerous emotion. It’s sort of like fire. You know, anger and frustration in its right proper context, like fire, is very healthy and warm. You shouldn’t approve of evil. You shouldn’t be happy when someone is taken advantage of. There is an emotion to hate evil, to hate what sin is doing to those lives. There is a godly form of hatred when it is turned towards sin. But it’s a very dangerous emotion like fire. When it’s out of control, it’s destructive. It will stifle a relationship with God and with others.
In Matthew chapter five, Jesus said that hatred is the equivalent of murder. Murder in the heart. Unbridled, uncontrolled, unrestricted anger is dangerous.
Coming back to the text, notice, the word hate in the original language speaks of long-lived anger. The anger of a man that nurses his anger to keep it warm, as one commentator said. Let me say that again. The anger of a man that nurses his anger to keep it warm. You know what phrase we might use today? We wouldn’t use a long sentence like that. This hatred of your brother, we might say today that you’re holding a grudge. Sounds a lot more attractive that way, doesn’t it? Just holding a grudge, brother. No, you’re not walking in the light. I’m not walking in the light when I hold a grudge. Not walking in the light when I live in hatred.
Anger is addressed in the scripture. Of course, the Bible speaks of a Christian can be angry without sinning. I’m not quite sure where that line is, but usually that phrase, the Bible says you can be angry without sin is usually reflective of someone that lost it. It usually isn’t trying to describe healthy anger, but there is an anger without sinning. There’s a righteous anger, one that protects God’s honor. And we’ll study this in depth in Ephesians chapter four, verses 26 and 27.
Jesus even demonstrated a righteous anger as the temple was being used to take advantage of his followers and to rip them off and steal from them. But too often, this is not the expression of anger, especially not the one that John is saying.
When you’re doubting your salvation and you’re wanting that assurance, you come back to the place and you check your obedience and you check your example. And you check your love. You see, you can find areas, although you might look, because you’re in such a time of doubting and confusion, you might look at things to try to disqualify yourself. But if you’re a true believer, you’re going to find areas of obedience.
Yes, I do love God. Yes, I do. I don’t know how I got here, but I do love God. I really do. And you know, I really want to please him. And you begin to dig deep in what God’s doing and then opening yourself to a fresh work of the Holy Spirit to bring you back into a relationship that’s strong and vibrant, walking in the light as he is in the light.
He says in verse 10, “He who loves his brother abides in the light.” See, love puts you in the light. Hatred puts us in the dark. And when we’re abiding, there is no cause for stumbling in him.
One of the advantages that I personally appreciate in my own walk with the Lord, when I’m reading the Bible, when I’m teaching the Bible, when I’m singing worship songs in the congregation or putting a song in the car on the way in, is in that moment of worship, I’m abiding in Christ. I might be wrestling with something, all upset about something, and whatever it might be. And I open up my Bible and begin to read whatever text it is. And automatically, I’m taken out of now, and I’m put into the place of the Spirit. I’m taken out of the human. And with my Bible open, I’m just reading about the things of God. I’m watching Jesus, whatever it is.
This morning, it was Psalm 73 for me. I’m just reading about things. This time in the life, turn over to Psalm 73. This is such a blessing of how God can calm a heart and a spirit if you just obey him and follow him. So I woke up with something on my mind and I’m just going through things. I’m overthinking it. Any overthinkers here? Nothing to amen about it, but I was just curious. You know, and you’re just, you’re going through it and you’re overthinking and you’re just, but you know, it’s legitimate. You’re not, overthinkers doesn’t mean there’s no facts attached to it, but you’re going through it.
And my devotion of all places of where I’m reading, my regular devotion from Jim Cimbala’s new Devo book that we have was today was Psalm 73. And he had a great word on it, and it caused me to do what I ask you guys to do to bless you, is just go back and read the verse, read the chapter that the verse is in. Because the Devo has no power, right? It’s the word of God that has power. So the Devo’s getting you in the thing, and you’re reading it.
So I go back to Psalm 73, and it’s a familiar passage, a Psalm of Asaph. And he’s there, he opens up in Psalm 73. And it says, “Truly God is good to Israel, to such as pure in heart.” Great beginning. Oh Lord, it’s a good day. You’re so good to us. It’s amazing. But verse two, oh no, not another but: “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled and my steps had nearly slipped.”
And then the rest of the Psalm up to the verse that we’ll get to in a moment is just an example of this brother getting his eyes off the Lord. His eyes were off the Lord. He’s seen all the people that don’t follow God being blessed and he’s struggling, maybe going through some health issues. He’s going all, his eyes are not on the Lord. It’s on the circumstances, on the people, on his neighbor, on the difficulty. And he’s just wrestling with it.
I mean, and he’s not even speaking the truth. He’s like, there’s no pangs in their death. And they don’t, they get away with everything. And you know, in your own language, you have to be careful when you start using words like never and they get away with everything. You just know that’s exaggerated. It’s not true. Nobody gets away with anything. There’s a final judgment because of the cross and the blood of Jesus Christ. Well, we’ll either forgive that sin or without the blood they’ll experience. Nobody gets away with anything, but that’s what he’s dealing with.
You know how it feels. You’ll go through that. I usually will have those moments in my car, just the windows rolled up and just dealing with whatever I’m thinking, whatever issue, just wrestling with the Lord. And he gets to the place in verse 16, where he says, “When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me.” And isn’t that the most painful place to be to try to figure out what is happening? Just to try to, what’s going, like I just got to figure this out. It’s not going to happen. It’s in the realm of the Lord. It was too painful. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t understand it. It’s not fair. It’s not right. It’s wrong. It’s unjust until—
See with verse 17, you might want to mark it, circle it, highlight it: “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood.” I understood once I was in the place of worship.
So I did my devos really quickly and I read through the chapter and I’m meditating on it. And I looked at the time and I had some extra time before we came in today. And I was going to stay home and go through the psalm again and just kind of spend about a half hour on it. But then I got the thought, no, I’m going to obey this psalm. There’s nobody at the building or very few people at the building. So I’m just gonna go to the church. I’ve got a key. I can walk in and I can come into this dark sanctuary and I can just sit in one of these chairs in the dark because I have my iPad so I could read on my, I could just sit in one of these chairs in the dark and meditate on this in the sanctuary of God so God could give me understanding.
Well, wouldn’t you know it? I come in, walk through, somebody’s at the door already. There’s already people in the building. I walk up side door, lights are on because the precious sisters are cleaning the sanctuary and straightening the chairs. I’m like, okay, that’s not going to deter me. I’m not going to go to my office. I’m not going to go downstairs.
So I went upstairs because there’s another sanctuary upstairs for the high schoolers. And they got chairs all set up and it’s dark up there too. So I go up there. One side, the light’s on. I’m like, no, no, no. But Lord, I’m just trying to obey you. But the high school was dark. So I went in. Nobody was up there because they were having problems with the fire alarm or something. Go in. And for about a half hour, I’m just like, okay, Lord, I’m in the sanctuary. And I’m seeking you for this, and I don’t understand, and I’m not sure, but your word says, your word says, and it was just a sweet, I didn’t get full understanding in the evening, or in that half hour time, but what I did get was a piece of God for a half hour.
Isn’t that a gift? It’s like we come in and go, I want the peace of God for the whole day. You know, God wants to give you a half hour. You’re not happy with a half hour? And then you take it back and you come back and you take it back.
Now, you may not have the privilege of coming into a dark, empty sanctuary, but guess where you are now? The sanctuary. And guess what God is giving you now? Understanding. But you’ve got to claim it by faith, by believing the promise of God. That’s what you’re doing. Lord, you know what I’m coming to church with. I’m not just coming from a Bible study. That’s great. I’m not just coming for worship. That’s wonderful. I’m not just coming to say hi to friends. I’m coming because when I come to the sanctuary of the Lord, then I understand.
And you can create your own room as a sanctuary. It would have been just fine if I stayed home this morning. That’s not the point. The point is, it’s important that you develop. You develop a desire to seek after the Lord. The context of what we’re sharing here is hatred. You can’t dwell in the darkness of hatred. It’s important that you forgive.
We murder people in our heart when our hearts are unforgiving. Jesus in his teaching in Matthew chapter five said not to call anyone raka. Remember that? Raka. I always remember that. I try to say it. Raka. Everybody today is listening to me. You’re on the radio. I don’t call anybody raka. I don’t know what that word is. It means raka. Well, some translations translate it fool, raka, fool. They go together there in Matthew 5.
But let me give you the modern day word that maybe has been in your head or your mouth from time to time. When you don’t say raka to someone, but you say, you idiot. Yeah. Whatever the situation was or whatever the difficulty was, flipped you from being a person expressing the love of Christ to judging a person with a name like Raka or idiot. These are all these little areas where the Lord’s showing us to come back to him.
Like the psalmist. Psalm 73 could be the psalm of the week for you. Where you’re surveying and watching the news and your insta feed or your twitter feed or x whatever they’re calling it these days is just feeding you all this stuff, feeding you all this stuff. It’s just feeding you and you’re just seeing all the evil in the world and you’re hearing all the evil, we’re in everyone’s opinion on all that, and you’re like, I don’t get it, I don’t like it, I can’t understand it. And you’ve got to come back to the sanctuary. The truth is not on Twitter. The truth is in the sanctuary of the Lord. It’s in his word.
Am I saved? Am I saved, Lord? Well, do I obey? Yeah, I obey. Do I live with a, like not only is my example, but do I think of being an example for you? Does that cross my mind that I’m living not just for myself, but I’m also living for you? I wanna be a good example. All of us are examples, you know that, right? The only difference is we’re either a good example or a bad example, but we’re all examples, our lifestyles.
I know that people need to get their eyes on the Lord. I teach it all the time, but sometimes their eyes are on you. There’s not much you can do about it. Their eyes are on you. And you’re going to help them get their eyes back on the Lord, but right now they’re on you. And are you in the light? Are you walking in love?
It’s one of the things that I do appreciate about knowing the Lord. That he would change such a hard heart, like the Bible says, and put a heart of flesh in me, put a soft, like it’s truly transformative as you look at the change that God has done in us. Hatred will destroy. So you have obedience, example, and love. Great things to look at, to substantiate. We know that we know him as we begin to see the transformative work in our lives.
Now, I don’t wanna spend a lot of time, I’m not going to, but I wanna add to this list. Okay, it’s a different Bible study. I just want to add to this list seven things that will help you see God’s work in your life as a new believer or as a believer. If you’re attacked with doubt over your salvation, these are new attributes in your life. You may see them fully. You may see a little.
But number one, a born-again believer loves God. That’s new. You love God. Number two, you long for personal communion with God. So let’s just pause for a second. We’re here on a midweek. You’re listening to Christian radio or flipping through YouTube on. You’re not watching a movie. You’re watching a church service. And you just think, I don’t know, five years ago, did you ever see yourself in a church? On Wednesday night? 10 years ago, you ever see yourself in a church on Saturday, serving on Sunday, worshiping on Wednesday? Like never in a million years.
But now my life is planned around the gatherings of the saints. I mean, it was from the very beginning. I probably went a little overboard and I was at the church as much as the doors were open. And I was a little lopsided not being home. You got to put that together. You need to be home, take your spouse with you. You don’t be at church and leave everyone behind all the time. But hey, I had a desire. I had to learn. I had to learn.
Number three. A believer loves what God loves. And number four is with it, you hate what God hates. You allow his righteous anger for his glory be your righteous anger. You love what God loves. You love salvation and you love change and you love giving and you love generosity on and on.
Number five, this is a big one. You love the people that God loves. You love the people that God loves. Number six, a brand new thing that happens in the born again believer. You are looking for and wanting the soon return of Jesus. I mean, who talked like that before you got saved? Especially if you weren’t raised in a church. Who talked about the rapture of the church? Like, who talked about Maranatha? And you’re like, what, Arthur? Like, what is that? Maranatha is a one-time word in the Bible and it means even so, Lord, come quickly. Come quickly. Come quickly.
And part of it could be, you know, like, whenever we think about the rapture of the church and the coming of the Lord, it’s always bittersweet, isn’t it? Because we want him to come now, but at the same time, we’re like, but my uncle’s not saved yet. So can you just get him saved, then come now? Maybe he’s the last Gentile, but we want you to come, Lord, but also have this life, and it’s a battle of being in heaven and earth at the same time.
But you are talking about and you desire it. As we’ll see later on in 1 John, your desire for the soon return of Jesus develops holiness in you and hope. And then number seven, mark of the believer, the born-again believer, is you have a desire to forgive and reconcile with others. It is challenging when you have broken relationships. That’s not something that you value. It’s just something the Lord does in your life. God is a reconciling God. He’s given us the ministry of reconciliation. And so it’s hard when the other party or the other, it just doesn’t reconcile. You carry a burden. Your prayer life changes.
And so, Father, I pray for those that wrestle with doubt, doubt of their salvation. I know more of the letter speaks to this truth, but we thank you, God, for the stable, factual insights that you give us that will help us plow through the doubts. I pray over our church today, just those that are just dealing with the obedience. There was a word for them today. I pray for those that are dealing with the example, especially among the littles, those that are looking up, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles.
I pray God for love, which is pretty much for all of us, that we might be more filled with love, as an example. And like John, just keep our eyes on you, like the psalmist, until I almost stumbled, because I just took my eyes off of you. But when I came into the sanctuary of God, I began to gain understanding.
I thank you for the 90 minutes of understanding tonight, just to get our eyes on you, to reorient ourselves. To cast our cares upon you. To obey. Some are here tonight of obedience. They made a commitment, but then they didn’t really want to come. But they’re here because they made a commitment. They’re obedient in the new year. Others are here because they wanted to pray. Others are here because they wanted to sing. Others are here because their kids need to be here. And we’re so grateful, God, that you don’t leave or forsake us. You don’t give up on us.
Before we leave, I just want to give you a chance. If you’re not born again today, you want to give your life to Jesus. Would you just stand up? I want to pray with you. That you know that you’ve sinned against God and that he loves you. God’s sin is only begotten son to die for you. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Anyone here today? This is the moment.
I love Wednesday night invitations because I got saved on a Wednesday night, a Wednesday night service, strolling in after work, hearing a guy talk about the Bible. But all the while, Holy Spirit drawing me just like he’s drawing you near and far. I know sometimes I forget about you guys in the cafe or in the agape room, but you’re not forgotten. God sees and God knows.
You guys on the radio or on YouTube or Facebook, wherever you’re watching this, you’re seen, you’re known. But here in the room, we get to see it with our own eyes. So anyone here that would say, I want to choose, God bless you in the back. I want to choose to follow Christ today. Today is the day. What a great angle with that area back there, sister. You’re going to be a new sister in just a moment. I got saved on that back row over there so many years ago. The Lord is moving, church. He’s moving in our community. He’s moving in our church. He’s moving in your family.
Even when I don’t see it, I believe it with the eyes of faith that God is moving upon the hearts of people, our prodigals that we’re praying for, all those, and just trust God. Don’t give up on him. Cling to him. Don’t give up on those you love.
And so for you that responded today, just pray with me, talking to God. This is your confession to God. You can say, God, I accept your forgiveness for my sin. And I believe Jesus died for me and rose again to save my life, to save my soul. And I choose to turn away from my sin tonight and I choose to follow you. Help me, God, to live a life that pleases you. And I pray that in Jesus’ name. Amen.
