Ron Dunn Podcast - First John Part Six

Episode Date: March 9, 2022

Ron Dunn continues his sermon series from First John`

I'd like for you to open your Bibles now again to the first epistle of John, 1 John, chapter 5, and I'm going to read just one verse in this fifth verse. In the fifth chapter, I'll get it straight before the service is over, I hope. 1 John, chapter 5, verse 13. 1 John chapter 5, verse 13. I'm going to read just this one verse at the outset, but I'm going to preach all the way through the epistle, in a sense. And in this 13th verse, we come to the third reason for which John writes this epistle. In previous services, we have looked at the other two reasons. In chapter 1 and verse 3, or verse 4, he says that these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. And so the first reason for 1 John being in the Bible is that we as believers

might experience a fullness of joy. And then in the second chapter and verse 1, he gives us the second reason for writing, My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. And so the second reason you find 1 John in the Bible is so that believers will know what is to be their attitude towards sin. And then we come to this third reason found in the 13th verse of the 5th chapter. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that The middle phrase in that 13th verse, that you may know that you have eternal life.

Well, that's a good thing to know. I would hate to have it and not know it. You would say, well, how could you have something so tremendous as eternal life and not know it? Well, the fact is there does exist that possibility of a believer going through periods of doubt and uncertainty. Else, this verse would not be in the Bible. And God is simply anticipating a problem that can arise in the life of a believer. And so he says, one reason that I am writing. And when you see these three purposes for writing,

you can turn them around and see there are three problems in the life of a believer that we all experience. Problem number one is an absence of joy. Problem number two is a wrong attitude towards sin. And I doubt if there's anything that is more needful in the believer's life than to understand his proper attitude and relationship to sin. And then the third problem is there are those times, as I've already mentioned, there are those times when we go through periods of doubt,

periods of uncertainty. It has been said that a doubting Christian is a defeated Christian, and in a very real sense that is a true statement. And so John is saying, I am writing these things to you who believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And so that would lead me to say that this matter of assurance is the birthright of every believer and that it is God's will that he have absolute assurance because the word translated know in verse 13 is that word that indicates absolute certainty, absolute certainty, absolute certainty, and it precludes any doubt.

It leaves no room for any uncertainty. He says it is possible that the believer, when he rightly understands a number of things, it is possible for him to know with absolute certainty, not just feel like he's saved, not just hope that he is, but to know with absolute certainty that he is saved. Now, the book of 1 John is filled with evidences and other things whereby he is endeavoring to impart to us this assurance. But there is a special characteristic,

a particular characteristic of this epistle that I want to share with you this assurance. But there is a special characteristic, a particular characteristic of this epistle that I want to share with you this morning. 1 John is a kind of spiritual polygraph test. It's a kind of religious lie detector. And you'll find throughout this epistle John using phrases like this, He that says, He that says, He that says. In other words, John is approaching this from a different standpoint. He is saying there are a lot of you who profess to know Him,

who profess to have eternal life, who profess to be saved. He said, now I want to put your profession under the microscope and examine it, and I want to give you some tests to see if what you really claim is really so. And that's the way I want us to look at it this morning. And if you want a title for the message, it would be Testing Our Testimony. Testing Our Testimony. And that's what 1 John is a great deal about, is testing our testimony. And these evidences that we're going to look at this morning are practical evidences.

Now there are internal evidences that we've seen in previous messages. There are a number of ways whereby a believer can know for certain that he is saved. But this morning, we're going to look at the manifestations of that salvation. We're going to look at that eternal life as it manifests itself. We're going to look at the fruit of that life, and if it's a real apple tree, it'll be producing apples. We're going to look at the evidences, and we're going to test our testimony. And my testimony this morning is, I have eternal life. My testimony is, I do know him. My testimony

is, I do abide in Jesus. And so John rushes up with his little lie detector, and he straps me in, and he says, all right, let's test it and see. Because, you see, the Bible assumes that the minute you open your mouth, you've got to prove what you say. And that our words obligate us. And the very moment I testify to something, I am obligated to give concrete, tangible, irrefutable evidence that my testimony is true. And so there are three tests that John wants to put us through this morning

to examine our testimony, to see if we really have eternal life. These things, he says, I am writing that you may know from a certainty that you have eternal life. These things, he says, I am writing that you may know from a certainty that you have eternal life. Now before we get into these three tests, let me just back up a moment and refresh your minds about what we talked earlier on this matter of eternal life. And if you understand what eternal life is, then you'll understand why the Bible tests our eternal life in the way it does. You remember that we've said that eternal life is not living forever only. That's included, but that's not the basic. Eternal life is simply God's life. It is God's life. Salvation is God imparting to me his very nature. And what has happened in that moment of salvation is I have been taken over by a new nature.

I have been taken over by a new life. And I have become a partner and a partaker in the very life of God himself. So eternal life is God's life. Now, if eternal life is God's life and I possess God's life, it's going to be obvious that there is going to be a God-likeness in my living, right? You can't have God's life and not be God-like. You just can't do it. And so these three examinations that the apostle is going to put us through are derived from the likeness and the life of God. And there are three tests. There's the test of righteousness. God is righteous.

Therefore, if God's life is in me, I'm going to be righteous. There is the test of love. God is love. Therefore, if God's life resides in me, I'm going to be loving. I'm going to be expressing this love. You can't have the God who is love living in you and not express that love in your life. The third test is the test of faith. God certainly is faithful. God certainly cannot deny himself. Therefore, if God's life is dwelling in me, then there is going to be that faith,

that belief expressed through my human personality. So that is the nature of these three tests we're going to take this morning. Now let's back up and we'll go through them one by one and we'll word them a little differently. First of all, there is the test of behavior, the test of behavior, and you'll find this test in a number of places, but we want to look this morning in the second chapter. And a few Wednesday nights ago we dealt with this passage of places, but we want to look this morning in the second chapter. And a few Wednesday nights ago, we dealt with this passage of Scripture, but we're going to look at it again in the light of the message this morning. So if you'll flip over to the second chapter of 1 John, we're going to read verses 3 through 6.

We're going to read verses 3 through 6. We're going to read verses 3 through 6. Remember a God-like life results in God-like living. Salvation is not just a 30-second experience. Salvation is an initial experience with additional results. It is an initial experience with additional results. And those results continue throughout the believer's lifetime. So here is the first test. We'll read verses 3 through 6. And hereby we do 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 whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith, there's that phrase again, he that saith, he that testifies, he abideth in Jesus, ought himself also so to walk, even as Jesus walked. Now, when Jesus was on this earth, he said to his disciples, he that has seen me has seen the Father. He that has seen me has seen the Father. And then he turned and said, As my Father has sent me, even so send I you. If the believer is living as he ought to live, he ought to be able to say, He that has seen me has seen Jesus. And just as Jesus was the truth about the Father,

you and I are supposed to be the truth about Jesus. As a matter of fact, when I call myself a Christian, I am saying that I am one of Christ's. When I say that I have eternal life, I'm saying that God's life lives in me, that I am God's child, that I am God's like, that I bear the very nature of God. Therefore, I am going to be expressing the life and the nature of God through my human personality.

Therefore, I am supposed to be expressing the life and the nature of God through my human personality. Therefore, I am supposed to be telling the truth about the Lord by the way I live. And so I could say, as Jesus said of the Father, He that has seen me has seen the Father. I ought to be able to say, He that has seen me has seen Jesus. In other words, what John is saying in this passage of Scripture is that if a man has eternal life, there is going to be the life of God expressed in his behavior, in his behavior. And so John says, let's take your testimony and examine it under the microscope of behavior. Let's look at it under the microscope of behavior. Let's look at it under the microscope of behavior.

And this is a very practical test, a very practical evidence. He that says that he knows Jesus but does not keep his commandments, John says very flatly, very dogmatically, very narrow-mindedly, he that says, I know Jesus, and does not keep his commandments, he is a liar. The truth is not in him. He's just a liar. I can't help but think that John perhaps had somebody in mind. I think he had visited some churches that maybe you and I have visited. I hope it was MacArthur Boulevard that he got his material and idea for this book from, but I think he's been in some of our services where somebody stood up and testified and said, I know Jesus. And yet John knew that in that man's behavior in his everyday life,

he was not keeping the commandments of the Lord Jesus. And John would say, that man in your fellowship who testifies to the fact he knows Jesus and yet his life contradicts it, that man is a liar. Now the word keep does not indicate sinless perfection, but it means that I am concerned about the will of God. And I'm just going to put it that way, and that will save a great deal of exegesis and explanation. And just to put it simply, it is this,

that I am concerned about the will of God. And so let me tie it together like this. If a person who claims to be saved can be as happy outside the will of God as he is inside the will of God, John says that man is a liar if he says he's saved. I'll never forget one night I made a visit. God, John says that man is a liar if he says he's saved. I'll never forget one night I made a visit. And it was in the summertime. And when the door opened, the man met me at the door.

And it was dark inside the house. And he had on a pair of khaki pants, but he didn't have on a shirt. And he met me and he had a can of beer in his hand. And I gave him my name, told him I was pastor, Baptist church here, and came by to visit. He said, well, come on in. My wife's in the den. Walked in the den, and you could barely see because all the lights were off, and the only light that was on was coming from the television set. And after my eyes got adjusted to the dark, I saw the wife over in one of these strata lounger chairs, just all stretched out, had a can of beer in her hand, watching television. And he said, this is so-and-so. He's the pastor of the Baptist

Church down the street. She looked and she said, well, I'm a Baptist. And I looked at the can of beer in her hand and I thought to myself, I wish you'd have said you were a Methodist or a Presbyterian or something. She said, I'm a Baptist. I said, oh, is that right? She said, yes. She said, you know this little Baptist church? And she named a Baptist church that wasn't far away. And she said, you know when I was, and she gave an age, I think it was nine or ten.

She said, I joined that church and was baptized. And she said, I've got some Sunday school attendance pins from that church. And I began to talk with her and found out that in the past 15 years, in the past 15 years, neither she nor her husband had ever darkened the door of any church, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or what have you. And yet, as I talked to that woman, she really believed she was saved. Why? Because when she was nine or ten years old, she made a decision in a Baptist church, and she really believed she was saved. But I want to tell you something. For the past 15 years, there had been absolutely no, no evidence whatsoever in her life she knew anything

about being in Jesus. And that woman, as I talked with her, was just as happy outside the will of God as she was inside the will of God, which would make me have to say with James, if she says he's a You know, one of the things that I run into are untransplanted Baptists. And you know what an untransplanted Baptist is, don't you? It's a Baptist who, when he moves, moves everything but his letter. You know, you only move those things that are important. And I've visited with them a hundred times, and they'll say, oh yes, I'm a member of such and so Baptist church. And you know what they'll say to me more times than not? I know we ought to be in church. I know we ought to be in church. We just haven't gotten

around to it. And as I stand there and visit with these folks, I get the distinct impression as they say with a smile, I know we ought to be in church, but we just have never gotten around to it. I get the distinct impression that while they know they ought to be there, it doesn't bother them that they are not. And what I'm saying is this, not that a person who's outside the will of God is lost. I'm saying that a person who can be content and satisfied and just as happy outside the will of God as he is inside the will of God, it's all the same to him.

I'm saying that person on the authority of this book says he is a liar if he says he's saved. One of the ways I know I'm saved is the fact of the convicting of the Holy Spirit. And when I know I'm outside the will of God, I want you to know something. I do not enjoy it. And the most miserable place I've ever been on the face of this earth is that little circle right there that's marked outside God's will. And the Spirit of God, as He indwells the believer, is not going to allow a genuine believer to live his life outside the will of God without conviction.

He'll not do it. And so the first test is the test of behavior, the test of righteousness. All right, the second test is the test of brotherhood, the test of love. Now, this is found in chapter 3, verses 14 and 15 and following. We'll not read all of them. Chapter 3, beginning with verse 14.

We know, there's that word again, we know that we have passed from death unto life. How do we know that? Because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Verse 15. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer

and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Mighty strong language. He that hateth his brother. We know that we have passed from death unto life. John is saying that in salvation we have passed over

from the area, the kingdom, the climate of death, and God has passed us over and transferred us into life. And the evidence of that change is this. We love the brethren. We love the brethren. We love the brethren. There is a new fellowship born. There is a new circle of friends discovered. And there is a new attitude and affection towards God's people

and the fellowship of God's people. And that person, he says, who hates his brother, and that word hate means to cherish continually as a habit pattern, ill will, that person who cherishes ill will towards somebody is in the sight of God a murderer, and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Now, one of the first things that happens when a man is saved, he learns to love the brethren. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, makes a very tremendous statement. I believe it's in the 1 Thessalonians.

It's in verse 19 of one of those chapters. You'll have to excuse me. I believe it's chapter 1, 2, 3, one of those. But I think it's verse 19. Anyway, it's in 1 Thessalonians. Forget it. But here's what he says. He says, and as touching brotherly love.

Well, you need to do a little bit of studying on your own. I'm not going to do it all for you. He says, and as touching brotherly love, ye have no need for me to write unto you. He said, there's no need for me to say anything to you about brotherly love, for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Isn't that tremendous?

You yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Paul says, I don't need to tell you to love one another. He said, if you're saved, God himself teaches you that. Well, the first response, natural or supernatural response of a man who's saved is this. He loves. He cannot help it. He just can't help it.

He loves. One of my seminary professors gave this illustration. I'd never forgotten it. We were in New Testament class and he was commenting on that verse of Scripture and he said some years before,

he was, I believe, was in and he said some years before he was I believe is in the hills of Tennessee he was in a little revival meeting up in one of these mountain churches there was a man in that little rural community who was just mean and cussed and had more enemies than anybody could ever hope to gain in a lifetime. Everybody. He had just offended and hurt and bullied everybody. He said one night in a meeting, he walked down the aisle and trusted Christ as his Savior. He was saved. He said the next day,

he and the pastor went out to try to visit this man, and they couldn't find him. He wasn't at home. They looked all over that little community for him, and they couldn't find him. He wasn't at home. They looked all over that little community for him, and they couldn't find him. And the professor said that night as we came up to the service, there he was sitting on the front porch of that little country church. The pastor went over to him and said,

We've been looking for you all day. He said, Where in the world have you been? He said, Well, I got up early this morning. And he said, All day long, all day long. He said, I've been going all over, making things right with people that I've hated. And the pastor said, Who told you to do that? This fellow had no instruction, you see.

He had received no instruction. He said, All day long I've been going all through these hills, all through these mountains, making things right with my enemies. And the pastor said, Who told you to do that? He said, I don't know. He said, The Lord just told me to do it. That's what Paul was talking about.

You have no need touching brotherly love that I need right unto you for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another and to love one another as you can read in this third chapter and we do not have the time to read it

is not simply an attitude that you have towards somebody but it is an activity that you have towards somebody, but it is an activity that you express towards others. Let's read on. We'll just read these verses and not make comments on them so much. But in verse 17, But whoso hath this world's good,

and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? How dwelleth the love of God in him? How dwelleth the love of God in him? Look over in the fourth chapter, verse 20. If a man say, I love God, and cherishes ill will towards his brother, he is a liar.

For he that loveth his brother whom he hath not seen. How can he love God whom he hath not seen? If he does not love his brother whom he has seen, how in the world can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God loveth his brother also. Now look in verse 1 of chapter 5. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is

born of God, and everyone that loveth him that beget loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. Do you see how he's tying it all together? We keep God's commandments. We love God. That's how we know we love God's people. That's how we know we love God's people. If I have been born of God, if there has had a supernatural occurrence take place in my life, he said, I'm going to love the brethren. And I will love them not only in attitude, which indicates forgiveness, refusing to cherish hard feelings and ill will towards anybody, but I will love them in action by sharing with them as they have need the things that God has placed with me as a stewardship. Test of brotherhood.

Test of brotherhood. I tell you, I have a hard time. I have a hard time resting in the salvation of those who had rather be with the devil's people than with God's people. When a man chooses those close and most intimate friends and relationships from the world and spurns those close relationships with God's people, I have a hard time feeling good about that man's relationship to God.

The immediate response to being passed from death in the life, he says, is what? We love the brethren. Now the last test is found in chapter 5. It is the test of belief. And by the way, this is the last test is found in chapter 5. It is the test of belief. And by the way, this is the acid test. This is the one you have to pass or you flunk the whole course. You see, there are times when my behavior isn't as it ought to be.

There are times when my love towards others is inadequate. But I must always, I must always pass this test. It is the acid test of my relationship to God. Verse 10, He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his

Son. He that believeth, verse 10, on the Son of God. Now I want to say just two things about this matter of faith. Number one, and listen very carefully, the existence of faith is the evidence of salvation. The present tense existence of faith is the evidence of salvation. Notice it doesn't say he that believed, but he that believeth. And let me encourage you and exhort you

never, never to base your assurance of salvation on anything in the past. By the way, have you noticed that every one of these tests that we've looked at have all been in the present tense? Did you notice that? It didn't say he that used to keep his commandments or he that used to walk. It says that he that keepeth his commandments and he that walketh. It didn't say he that at one time has loved the brethren. It says because we love. Every test has been a present tense test. Never, never get the basis of your assurance on anything that's happened in the past. Never say, well, I know I must be saved because when I was 10 years old, I was baptized.

Never, never do that because the Bible doesn't. You see, if it was a genuine experience, if it was a genuine experience that happened way back yonder, it will always have additional continuing results. I like what Paul says in Colossians chapter 1, where he says that one day God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is going to present us before him blameless and faultless. And then he comes and says, if, if we continue in the faith and be not moved away from the gospel which we've heard. That's a big if.

If we continue in the faith, you're saying, is he indicating there that we're saved by continuing? No. What he's saying is this, that the saved will continue. You see, the saved will always continue. I heard a fellow say not long ago, a faith that fizzles was faulty at the start. A faith that fizzles in the end was faulty at the start.

That's what he said. And I think that's true. If you continue in the faith, and the testimony of Scripture is this, that saving faith, genuine God-given faith, is enduring faith, is continuing faith, is abiding faith. All of the parables, for instance,

the parables in Matthew 13, those parables, that particular one of the sower and the seed and the soil, indicates this, that a real, genuine, authentic work of God always lasts. Jesus said in John 15, I have sent you that you may go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should what? Remain. Fruit that does not last was not God's fruit to begin with.

It is the presence of faith that gives me the evidence of my salvation. This is why, this is why I always say to somebody, as I've indicated earlier, if they're doubting their salvation, I ask them,

are you right now at this present moment trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? You see, John 6, 47, he that believeth, present tense again, on him hath everlasting life.

Now, the second thing I want to say about this faith is, what is this faith? What is this faith? I think I don't have to try to labor this point that it is not intellectual assent. It is not believing something intellectually as a fact just the way I believe George Washington was the first president of the United States, I do believe that.

But I am not committing my life to George Washington. You see, there's the difference. I'm afraid a great many people today believe that Jesus is the Son of God just like they believe George Washington was the first president. That's not the belief of the Bible. I wish someday somebody would translate the New Testament and translate that word believe the way it ought to be translated, commit or trust or rely upon. Now, they've never done it yet. I guess I'll have to do it if it's going to be done.

But every time you find the word believe, that word always indicates and ought to be, ought to be translated, rely upon, commit yourself to, trust in. You see, that's different than just intellectually believing something as a historical fact. Now, you have to believe it as a historical fact to be sure,

but it goes beyond that to not only believing it as a historical fact, but committing yourself to that living Lord. Saving faith is this faith that commits itself to the Lord Jesus, that leaves where it is in its sin and its selfishness, and goes over to where Jesus is, and commits itself and

submits itself to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Now, every believer, every believer will pass that test because he is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing in my hand I bring, center to thy cross I cling. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save

and thou alone. It is always Jesus, not the church. A girl told me not long ago, I asked her what she was trusting in to save her. She said, I'm trusting in the waters of baptism. You don't trust in an experience. You don't trust in baptism. You don't trust in an experience. You don't trust in baptism.

You don't trust in church membership. You don't even trust in your belief in this Bible. Some people either say simply because they're fundamental, orthodox. No, it's trust in Jesus. It's trust in him. And knowing that it is Jesus Christ as he died on the cross,

as he shed his blood to wash away my sins, as he was delivered up from my offenses, and as he was raised again for my justification. And when I stand in the presence of the Father and he were to ask me that question, by what right should I allow you to enter into my heaven? My only answer can be because Jesus Christ died for me and I'm trusting in him

to be my entrance into heaven. And these are the evidences, the practical, manifested, obvious evidences that a man has eternal life abiding in him. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondon.com.