{"id":19139,"date":"2017-02-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-12T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-048\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:17:27","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:17:27","slug":"soteriology-048","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-048\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 048"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[107],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19139","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-john","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 048","sermon_date":"20170212","sermon_month":"2","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":20054,"sermon_slides":20055,"sermon_mp3":20056,"sermon_id":"212171118482","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":107,"chapter_and_verse":"2:3","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 48, 1 John 2:3\n\nFebruary 12, 2017\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for today, a day that\u2019s unique, we\u2019ve never seen one like it before and we\u2019ll never see one like it since, so we just rejoice in today, Father, that You woke us up and brought us here and You have a blessing in store for us as we get into Your Word and be around Your people.\u00a0 We thank the Lord for the visitors that are here and I pray that what is spoken in Sunday School and in the main service would be something that they need and all of needs for our lives as we seek to be fed this morning from Your Scripture.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll be careful to give you all of the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We lift these things up in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.\n\nIf we could open our Bibles to the book of 1 John, chapter 2 and verse 3.\u00a0 What we\u2019ve been doing in this Sunday School class, we\u2019ve been talking about the doctrine of eternal security.\u00a0 Eternal security means those that are saved by God\u2019s grace are kept by the same grace that saved them.\u00a0 So good works didn\u2019t get me in the door and praise the Lord good works don\u2019t keep me in the door because my salvation is a work of grace from beginning to end.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a nice belief but is it biblical and we\u2019ve gone through, I can\u2019t remember how many arguments it was, 12 or 13 arguments, something like that, defending the doctrine of the security of the believer.\u00a0 And most studies that you get on this in the modern church stop right there but we\u2019re trying to go a step further and actually interact with the passages that people use quite regularly to deny the security of the believer.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why this series is going on longer than most series do on the doctrine of eternal security.\n\nWe\u2019re in a section where we\u2019re looking at the passages in the general letters, that would be going to the book of Hebrews and hanging a right basically, and in Revelation having interacted with all of the problem passages elsewhere in the Bible but now we\u2019re in general epistles through Revelation and just picking out some selected passages that people use to deny the security of the believer.\n\nAnd we come to the book of 1 John, which I believe is one of the most misinterpreted and misunderstood books today and the reason it\u2019s misunderstood or misinterpreted is because people really don\u2019t lay a background for you.\u00a0 If you understand the background then the verses start to fall into place but if you just kind of leap into a verse without a background you\u2019ll end up probably misinterpreting it.\u00a0 There are probably at least four verses in 1 John which deny the security of the believer: 1 John 2:3, which we\u2019re going to look at today, a big one, 1 John 3:9, I don\u2019t know how deep we\u2019ll get into that, I may introduce it; 1 John 3:15 and then 1 John 5:16.\n\nSo notice if you will 1 John 2:3, it says this: \u201cBy this we know that we have come to know Him, if <\/u>we keep His commandments.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Now you look at that at first glance and it says well, what if I am not keeping His commandments, or what if I failed this week in keeping one of His commandments.\u00a0 People come back and say well, that means you don\u2019t know Him.\u00a0 The Reformed tradition says you never knew Him, so whatever salvation experience you think\u00a0 you\u2019ve had is really a fake salvation experience, so you need to really get serious this time and yield and submit and throw in a few crocodile tears and really come to saving faith in Christ.\n\nAnother tradition, the Arminian tradition says \u201cif we keep His commandments\u201d means that you once knew Him but guess what?\u00a0 You broke one of His commandments or more than one so what happened to your salvation?\u00a0 You lost it.\u00a0 So both views, the Reformed view and the Arminian view are basically denying the assurance of salvation and we\u2019ve seen from the promises of God that one of the rights of the child of God is to know with no ambiguity whatsoever that should you die you\u2019re going to heaven.\n\nHow then if once saved always saved and all these things are true that we\u2019ve been arguing how in the world would we explain 1 John 2:3. \u00a0Now this kind of dials back into what we started talking about last time, and the first question you need to ask yourself when you get into a book like 1 John and this pattern should sound familiar to you because I showed you this same pattern in the book of Hebrews which has, as we\u2019ve talked about, five troubling passages in it.\u00a0 The way to navigate your way through those passages is to figure out who is the audience, don\u2019t waste your time on who wrote the book of Hebrews, I don\u2019t have any idea who it was, and I don\u2019t think I need to know and the author, whoever he was leaves his work anonymous so I respect his anonymity.\u00a0 So pouring a bunch of energy into who wrote the book of Hebrews is almost\u2026 is a waste of time.\u00a0 The energy should be spent on figuring out who the audience is; is the audience saved or unsaved or some combination thereof because once you come to a satisfactory conviction and conclusion on that then the warning passages start to fall into place.\n\nAnd it\u2019s the same with 1 John; the first thing you need to figure out is who is this book written to.\u00a0 And I took you through a lot of passages last time that clearly show, and it isn\u2019t a matter of my personal taste or opinion, that the Bible indicates that these people are regenerated.\u00a0 So we believe he wrote the Gospel of John primarily for the purpose of evangelizing, getting folks saved.\u00a0 We know that from John 20:30-31, which indicates that these things are written that you may have life by believing.\u00a0 [John 20:30, \u201cTherefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; [31] but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.\u201d] Which seems to indicate that his audience didn\u2019t have life yet because they hadn\u2019t believed yet.\n\nThen he moves into 1 John, 2 John, 3 John where he\u2019s no longer trying to get folks saved or justified, he\u2019s trying to help them grow.\u00a0 So John is an evangelist and he\u2019s also a pastor.\u00a0 So in the Gospel of John he\u2019s functioning in his role as an evangelist; you get into 1, 2 and 3 John he\u2019s functioning as a role of pastor.\u00a0 We might even call John a bishop in the sense that he had influence over multiple churches and being the last living eyewitness to the things of Jesus Christ, which transpired 60 years earlier John has a lot of authority to address these issues.\u00a0 So John, at this time in his life, towards the end of the first century, is almost like a rock star (if I can use that expression) in Christendom because he\u2019s the last living guy that saw the resurrected Christ.\u00a0 Everybody else has been martyred.\n\nAnd by the way, they\u2019re going to try to martyr John; they\u2019re going to try to boil him in oil, we know from extra-biblical writings, and the son of a gun would not die.\u00a0 And why didn\u2019t he die like everybody else had died?\u00a0 Because God had a purpose for him and it was God\u2019s purpose for John to be marooned on the island of Patmos to receive his final vision that we call the book of Revelation.\u00a0 So when John writes these three epistles, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, it\u2019s probably after he wrote his gospel but before he was marooned on Patmos.\u00a0 He\u2019s probably in Ephesus at the time and he\u2019s the last living apostle and he\u2019s exercising bishop authority over multiple churches.\n\nAnd he\u2019s sort of bothered by the fact that something is rolling into Asia Minor where John was at this time, Ephesus is in Asia Minor, something called insipient Gnosticism and once you believe insipient Gnosticism your doctrine of Christ gets distorted, and this was affecting the churches.\u00a0 And John understands that if they move into this false belief system it\u2019s going to affect, not their salvation, because a believer can be deceived\u2026 did you all know that?\u00a0 If you don\u2019t believe\u00a0 you as a Christian can be deceived then you already are deceived.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the Bible tells us to put on the belt of truth.\u00a0 The statement makes no sense if I didn\u2019t have an ability to be deceived as a Christian.\u00a0 So if you become deceived as a Christian and you fall under false teaching then what gets damaged is your moment by moment fellowship with God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what John\u2019s trying to protect here in the book.\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice that he has expressed his desire concerning their loss of joy and I have all the verses there where you can look those up and we went through all these last time.\u00a0 He uses the expression \u201cwe\u201d quite frequently, meaning he\u2019s identifying with the audience, just as John was saved so were those he is writing to.\u00a0 He calls his audience \u201cchildren of God.\u201d\u00a0 In verses 12-14 he gives eight descriptions that could only apply to a believer.\u00a0 He says they have the Spirit\u2019s anointing, he\u2019s worried not about hell for these folk, he\u2019s worried about loss of rewards.\u00a0 He says one day we\u2019re going to be like Jesus.\u00a0 He calls them beloved ones in the faith, he keeps referring to his audience as \u201cmy brothers.\u201d\u00a0 He indicates that they\u2019ve been born of God. He indicates that they possess the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 It sounds like they\u2019re believers, doesn\u2019t it.\n\nNow this becomes a big deal because what John does in this book is he gives seven tests.\u00a0 We went through these last time but just by way of review, 1 John 1:6 says, \u201cIf we say that we have fellowship with Him we walk in darkness and we lie,\u201d so that\u2019s a test of false fellowship.\u00a0 1 John 1:8 says, \u201cIf we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a test of false sanctity.\u00a0 Then you\u2019ll have in verse 10 a test of false righteousness, \u201cIf we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us,\u201d false righteousness.\u00a0 1 John 2:14, a test of false allegiance, [\u201cHe that saith I know Him and keepeth not His commandments is a liar.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a test of false allegiance.]\u00a0 \u00a01 John 2:6, a test of false behavior, [He that saith he abideth in Him ought to walk even as He walked.\u201d\u00a0 1 John 2:9, \u00a0a test of false spirituality, [\u201cHe that saith he is in the light yet hateth his brother is in the darkness.\u201d]\u00a0 1 John 4:20, a test of false love; if I say I love God and hate my brother then I\u2019m a liar.\u00a0 [1 John 4:20, \u201cIf someone says, \u2018I love God,\u2019 and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.\u201d]\n\nSo the big issue becomes what if you flunk one of these tests?\u00a0 Could you guys pass all those tests perfectly?\u00a0 I mean, I don\u2019t think anybody does, even as Christians we fall short, don\u2019t we.\u00a0 Does anybody hate his brother?\u00a0 Been on social media lately, all the nasty things being said between supposed Christians, particularly when election cycles roll around.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to get angry with people and frustrated and even develop hatred.\u00a0 And what happens when I get like that?\u00a0 Well, the test of life view says you were never saved to begin with.\u00a0 So the tests are a test of your justification.\u00a0 And to be honest with you that\u2019s the only view I ever knew\u00a0for years and years of my Christian life and I was delighted to discover that that view is actually a view which at one time was a majority view. It\u2019s a minority view today but at one time it was a majority view I should say.\n\nSo the second view is these tests are there to determine fellowship.\u00a0 They\u2019re not there to figure out am I a Christian or not a Christian.\u00a0 Why would I say that?\u00a0 Because of the way the audience is described.\u00a0 The audience analysis drives my conclusion concerning are we talking about tests of life or test of fellowship.\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t be testing whether these people are saved because he assumes their salvation and describes them as saved people all the way through.\u00a0 So therefore what John is doing is he\u2019s using these tests as a test of fellowship\u2014am I really walking in fellowship with God because as a Christian I can fall out of fellowship with God.\u00a0 Anybody see a parallel here with marriage\u2026 So you can do something, you can commit sin against your spouse, say something unkind, or not sensitive or whatever and what happens?\u00a0 We don\u2019t stop being married, right?\u00a0 I mean I hope you won\u2019t divorce me for that.\u00a0 But what\u2019s happened is there\u2019s tension in our marriage until I apologize for what I\u2019ve done.\u00a0 So what\u2019s happened is my position as a married man hasn\u2019t been altered but my moment by moment enjoyment of my wife, fellowship with her, has been altered until I confess that sin.\u00a0 See that.\n\nSo I think the right way to understand this is he\u2019s not testing life, he\u2019s testing fellowship.\u00a0 And so many people want to make these tests a test to determine your justification.\u00a0 And this is why I find a lot of the teachings of Dr. John MacArthur problematic because what happens is people come to a Bible church like this and they really have heard a favorite Bible expositor on the radio and they come to a church like this and they think we\u2019re going to have the exact same views as Dr. John MacArthur and that\u2019s about as deep as their thinking goes.\u00a0 So he teaches the Bible, you teach the Bible, therefore John MacArthur equals Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 And when people come in with that mindset I\u2019m always a little bit nervous because it\u2019s just a matter of time before they hear something that doesn\u2019t fit with what John MacArthur is saying.\n\nI like a lot of the things John MacArthur has to say but I think he\u2019s brought in a lot of confusion into the body of Christ related to his handling of 1 John and other passages.\u00a0 So he dogmatically takes these seven tests as tests of life.\u00a0 John MacArthur claims that John wrote his epistle to provide eleven tests, now he\u2019s got eleven tests, I only have seven, of genuine saving faith.\u00a0 These include such subjective questions as do you obey God\u2019s Word?\u00a0 Do you reject this evil world?\u00a0 Do you eagerly await Christs return?\u00a0 Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in\u00a0 your life?\u00a0 How do you objectively quantify whether all that is true or not?\u00a0 The bottom line is you can\u2019t objectively quantify\u00a0 it and so if you fall under the test of life view then you start to have question marks in your mind about whether you\u2019re saved at all and in the process you\u2019re being deprived of one of the greatest rights you have as a child of God, which is the assurance of salvation.\n\nAnd of course this thinking really starts at the scholarly level. Christopher Bass says we must remember that the first letter of John is taken with various sets of criteria or tests by which its readers are to evaluate their religious claims in the light of the way they conduct their lives.\u00a0 The believer\u2019s lifestyle therefore serves as either a vital support to his assurance or as evidence that he has never really passed from death to life.\u00a0 So what view is he taking there?\u00a0 Not test of fellowship but test of life?\u00a0 A better understanding of this is to not interpret these tests as tests to determine whether you\u2019re justified before God but these are tests to determine whether you\u2019re being progressively what?\u00a0 Sanctified.\u00a0 So how are you doing in the middle tense of your salvation is what the tests are there for, because we as Christians can make great strides through God\u2019s power, in the middle tense of our salvation and we could also suffer tremendous setbacks.\u00a0 So while your salvation is never in doubt the tests are there to determine are you really walking in fellowship with God or not.\n\nSo\u00a0 you might remember last time that I had the test of life view on the left column and the test of fellowship view on the right hand column and what we discover is both views are taking the same terminology in 1 John but giving a different meaning to it. So we walked through that, fellowship or abiding, test of life view says that\u2019s being in union with God; test of fellowship view says no, that\u2019s being in communion with God.\u00a0 Same with the expressions knowing God, eternal life, light or darkness, all of those expressions, particularly light or darkness, test of life view says you\u2019re saved or not; test of fellowship view says you can be saved but you can actually walk in darkness because you\u2019re out of fellowship with God.\n\nI mean, was David saved?\u00a0 I hope so, he was the second king of Israel, but he stepped out of fellowship with God, did he not, by just committing some minor sins, adultery and murder, I mean, those are pretty big sins and then he kind of swept everything under the carpet and pretend like he\u2019d never done it.\u00a0 And in the Psalms he talks about how during that time he tried to pray and the heavens became like brass and that\u2019s why in the Psalms it talks about how blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven.\u00a0 So when he tried to hide it from God he didn\u2019t lose his salvation; what he was walking in was darkness there as a man who was anointed ultimately to be the second king of Israel.\n\nSo it\u2019s the same words but they\u2019re given different meanings depending on whether you believe in the test of life view or the test of fellowship view.\u00a0 There\u2019s a broader chart that goes into more detail explaining these different words.\u00a0 So with that background in mind which we covered last time we run into 1 John 2:3, which says, \u201cBy this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.\u201d\u00a0 The test of life view comes in and says well, if you\u2019re not keeping one of the commandments of God then you\u2019re not saved, or you lost your salvation.\u00a0 The test of fellowship view says if you\u2019re failing in your daily life to keep God\u2019s commandments, in other words, you\u2019re not walking moment by moment under His guidance, direction, and empowerment, and you go back to the sin nature then you\u2019re still saved,\u00a0 you\u2019re just walking out of fellowship with God.\n\nSo one of the great battles in this whole debate between test of life and test of fellowship is where do we find the purpose statement in John\u2019s epistle? \u00a0John is pretty good in his Gospel at giving us the purpose statement of the book.\u00a0 It\u2019s in John 20:30-31.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how we know John is writing in his Gospel an evangelistic book.\u00a0 [John 20:30, \u201cTherefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;\u00a0 [31] but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.\u201d]\n\nSo if John is so good at giving us a purpose statement surely somewhere in 1 John he would give us a purpose statement.\u00a0 The test of life view says the purpose statement is found in 1 John 5:13 which says, \u201cThese things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.\u201d \u00a0And people look at that and say aha, that\u2019s the purpose statement and that purpose statement they say governs the whole book.\u00a0 The problem with that thinking is when John, in 1 John gives like a summary purpose, as you study it consistently and contextually what you\u2019ll discover is his statement of a purpose doesn\u2019t govern the whole book.\u00a0 The only thing it governs is what preceded that purpose statement immediately.\n\nFor example, look if you will at 1 John 2:1, this is a purpose statement, it says, \u201cMy little children, I am writing these things to you\u201d see he\u2019s giving a purpose statement, \u201cso that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;\u201d\u00a0 So he gives a purpose statement there.\u00a0 And what you\u2019ll discover is the purpose for which he is writing that verse, 1 John 2:1, doesn\u2019t cover the whole book; it covers the subject matter that he just rehearsed there but the subject matter is covered in the prior verses, verses 5-10.\n\nAnd then notice if you will 1 John 2:26, \u201cThese things I have written to you\u201d so again he\u2019s giving a purpose statement, \u201cconcerning those who are trying to deceive you.\u201d\u00a0 Now is that his purpose statement for the whole book?\u00a0 No, he\u2019s dealing there with antichrists and 1 John 2:16 gives us one of his sub purposes I would argue and the subject of antichrists doesn\u2019t govern the whole book.\u00a0 The subject of antichrists governs the preceding paragraph.\u00a0 So verses 18-25 you\u2019ll see him dealing with antichrists.\n\nSo both times when John says I am writing these things because, he\u2019s not making a statement about the entire book, he\u2019s making a statement about what immediately precedes.\u00a0 Do you see that?\u00a0 And that\u2019s the error of looking at 1 John 5:13, which says, \u201cThese things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 1 John 5:13 I don\u2019t think in the same way governs the entire book; I think it governs verses 1-12.\n\nTherefore, 1 John 5:13, 1 John 2:1, 1 John 2:26 are not designed to be a purpose statement for the entire five chapter book.\u00a0 Well if all of that is true 1 John 5:13 is really not the purpose statement of the book where do you think we ought to find the purpose statement of the book?\u00a0 Maybe we should look not at the end of the book but at the beginning.\u00a0 Amen!\n\nAnd when you go to 1 John 1:3-4 right out of the gate, with no information immediately preceding it other than a common greeting I think he tells us what his purpose is.\u00a0 And what does 1 John 1:3-4 say?\u00a0 \u201cwhat we have seen and heard\u201d now he\u2019s speaking there as an eyewitness to the things of Christ that happened sixty years earlier, and remember the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, is going to come to you, He said this in the Upper Room sixty years earlier, and He\u2019s going to bring to you remembrance of all the things that I have said and taught.\u00a0 And this is what\u2019s happening with John as he\u2019s ready to die, as he\u2019s writing these 1 John, 2 John and 3 John to protect the church and guard their fellowship.\n\n\u201cWhat we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have\u201d what? what does it say, \u201cfellowship\u201d it\u2019s the Greek word koinonia<\/em>, fellowship with who, \u201cwith us;\u201d who\u2019s the \u201cus\u201d?\u00a0 It\u2019s us apostles, don\u2019t fall for this gnostic teaching because once you do that you\u2019re out of fellow\u00adship with what we apostles have taught.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 and indeed our fellowship is with\u201d who, \u201cthe Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.\u201d \u00a0So we apostles have given you truth because we are walking with God the Son and God the Father.\u00a0 So if you go into a distorted doctrine of Christ because of Gnosticism not only will you fall out of fellowship with us apostles, you\u2019re actually going to fall out fellowship with God the Father and God the Son.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say I\u2019m writing these things to you to get you people out of hell, does he?\u00a0 His whole tone as he begins the book is a fellowship tone.\n\nThen he says in verse 4, \u201cThese things we write, so that our\u201d what? \u201cjoy may be made complete.\u201d\u00a0 And when I was teaching at the Bible College and I would teach these doctrines people would say well then what does it matter, once saved always saved, what does it matter how I live?\u00a0 Well, if you have trusted in Christ it may not affect your eternal destiny but it will affect temporal issues in your life, such as joy.\u00a0 The most miserable person on the face of the earth, I believe, is an out of fellowship Christian.\u00a0 I would put Lot in that category; remember Lot in Sodom\u2026 by the way, are you a lot like Lot?\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a good sermon title, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 Lot was a believer; he\u2019s called a righteous man three times, in 2 Peter 2:7-8 and during all those years of disobedience Peter tells us that his soul was vexed.\u00a0 \u00a0And God loves us too much to see us destroy our lives in sin so He bothers us, does He not, when we step out of line.\u00a0 And \u201cwhom the Lord loves the Lord\u201d what? \u201cchastens.\u201d\u00a0 And all of things do what to your joy?\u00a0 They destroy it.\u00a0 That\u2019s what John\u2019s worried about.\n\nSo therefore 1 John 1:3-4 is what I would argue the purpose statement of the book.\u00a0 And what you have to understand is the way I am talking right now at one time within our Bible teaching Bible believing circles used to be the majority opinion.\u00a0 In fact, if you go back to the Scofield Reference Bible published in what? 1909, something like that, and it\u2019s a traditional Bible, a lot of people look at it as\u2026 I think they\u2019re going a little overboard but equal to the Apostle Paul, you know, \u201cmy hope is built on nothing less but Scofield\u2019s notes and Moody Press\u201d as the saying goes.\n\nWhat I\u2019m trying to say is it\u2019s a traditional Bible; it\u2019s got some good stuff in it and how does the Scofield Reference Bible handle 1 John?\u00a0 Did you ever ask yourself that?\u00a0 There\u2019s a heading in the Scofield Reference Bible of 1 John and the heading of the whole book in that study Bible is The tests of what?\u00a0 Fellowship, obedience and love.\u00a0 In other words the way I\u2019m talking here used to be the majority opinion and today the majority opinion, because of the influence of Reformed Theology has become the minority opinion and so we\u2019re living in a generation today where if you hold to grace doctrines you have to stand up and aggressively defend them, whereas in prior generations these doctrines that I\u2019m teaching here were assumed.\u00a0 And how is it that I can go through much of my Christian life and never hear the other view?\u00a0 That shows you the power and the ascendency of Reformed theology.\u00a0 And just because it\u2019s popular doesn\u2019t make it right.\u00a0 Amen.\n\nIn fact, in the Bible what you\u2019ll discover is the majority is usually wrong.\u00a0 Broad is the road that leads to destruction, many there are that go that way; narrow is the road that leads to life and few are they that find it.\u00a0 [Matthew 7:13, \u201cEnter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.\u00a0 [14] For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.\u201d]\n\nWhen Joshua told everybody there at Kadesh-barnea, let\u2019s get in there and take the land the majority said no.\u00a0 Only two guys assented and said the Lord is with us, let\u2019s take the land.\u00a0 And what we discover in biblical history is the majority had it wrong and those two guys had it right.\u00a0 Now I can give you many, many examples where the majority has it wrong and this was part of one of my struggles when I was going through a doctoral work is everybody is so into contemporary scholarship\u2026 well, who holds that view?\u00a0 Well, I would say John holds that view, isn\u2019t that enough?\u00a0 No, not John, what scholars hold that view?\u00a0 And you have to figure out pretty quick in your life what you\u2019re impressed by.\u00a0 I have made a decision that I\u2019m far more impressed by what the biblical text says than what scholar A, scholar B, and scholar C says.\u00a0 I have absolutely no interest in building scholarly consensus and building some kind of bridge.\n\nNow think if Martin Luther and the great church Reformers had tried to find scholarly consensus; we would never have had the Protestant Reformation, would we, because Luther, in his debate with Dr. Eck over the doctrine of grace, Eck would say well Luther, Pope A, disagrees with you, Pope B disagrees with you, Monk A disagrees with you, Monk B disagrees with you and what did Luther say?\u00a0 He says I have an authority that is greater than everybody you\u2019ve mentioned, the Apostle Paul.\u00a0 And this is why he called the Book of Galatians his wife, the German word for wife is frau<\/em>, so he called Galatians Mein Frau<\/em>, meaning my wife.\u00a0 That\u2019s how wedded he was to the typical text and that\u2019s why he stood against the Roman Catholic hierarchy when the majority in that time and in church history was all telling him he was wrong.\u00a0 So that\u2019s an example of church history where the minority has it right and the majority has it wrong.\n\nSo it really doesn\u2019t matter to me today whether the test of fellowship view is the majority view or not, I\u2019m impressed by it because it\u2019s biblical but at one time, going back a hundred years or so it was the majority view.\n\nHaving said all that let\u2019s go back to 1 John 2:3, it says, \u201cBy this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.\u201d\u00a0 How would the test of fellowship view handle a verse like that?\u00a0 Knowing can refer to intimacy or fellowship with God rather than being born again.\u00a0 That\u2019s how you decipher this.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to show you examples in the biblical text where \u201cknowing\u201d is not talking about being saved, it\u2019s talking about fellowship.\u00a0 Now can \u201cknowing\u201d in some context refer to being justified?\u00a0 Yes it can.\u00a0 But can the word \u201cknowing\u201d, the Greek verb ginosko<\/em>, or the Greek noun gnosis<\/em>, can that word be used to describe fellowship with God also?\u00a0 Yes it can.\u00a0 So if it can be used to describe justification and if it also can be used to describe my growth in progressive sanctification and it\u2019s the same word, which meaning should I apply?\u00a0 What\u2019s the determining factor?\u00a0 Context, that\u2019s why we\u2019ve said the three rules of real estate are location, location, location; the three rules of Bible study are context, context, context.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I tried to give you the broad context of 1 John.\n\nSo out of fellowship believers sometimes are described as not knowing God, gnosis<\/em>, ginosko<\/em>.\u00a0 Now let me show you some examples where this happens.\u00a0 Take\u00a0 your Bible if you could and go back to John 14, this is Jesus interacting with Philip, now do you all think Philip was saved, one of the hand-picked disciples?\u00a0 I think he was saved.\u00a0 I also think by the time Jesus spoke these words in the Upper Room Judas, John 13, had already left the room.\u00a0 The only unsaved one in the bunch is gone and he\u2019s speaking to eleven saved people.\n\nAnd notice what he says here in John 14:7-9, \u201cIf you had\u201d what? \u201cknown Me,\u201d ginosko<\/em>, same verb, \u201cIf you had known Me you would have\u201d what? \u201cknown My Father also; from now on you\u201d what? \u201cknow Him, and have seen Him.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a perplexing statement and so, [8] \u201cPhilip said to Him, \u2018Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 And look what Jesus says to a saved man, \u201cJesus said to him, \u2018Have I been so long with you, and yet<\/em> you have not come to\u201d what? \u201cknow Me, Philip?\u201d\u00a0 Same verb.\u00a0 \u201cHe who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can<\/em> you say, \u2018Show us the Father\u2019?\u201d \u00a0In other words Philip, you\u2019re one of the disciples, you\u2019re saved, you\u2019re in the Upper Room, Jesus is going to build His church on the foundations of the apostles and yet you don\u2019t even understand that I and the Father are one when I\u2019ve been telling you this the whole time.\n\nSo Philip is stumbling, not in the first tense of his salvation but the what?\u00a0 The second tense of his salvation.\u00a0 That\u2019s what 1 John is about.\u00a0 By the way, who was in the Upper Room to hear this exchange sixty years earlier?\u00a0 John, so that\u2019s why John is amplifying these truths at the end of his life as Jesus is making good on His promise to an old man, 60 years later, about the age of 90, that the Spirit is going to come and bring these things to\u00a0 your remembrance.\n\nTake a look at 1 Corinthians 15:34.\u00a0 Now I\u2019ve tried to make the case that I think all the members of the Corinthian church were saved.\u00a0 Why would I say something like that.\u00a0 Well, you don\u2019t have to turn there but in verse 2 of chapter 1 they\u2019re called \u201csaints,\u201d can you be an unsaved saint?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so, there\u2019s no such thing as an unjustified saint.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 1:2, \u201cTo the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:\u201d]\n\nAs J. Vernon McGee said you\u2019re a saint or you\u2019re an ain\u2019t.\u00a0 And then Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:2, who \u201ccall on the name of our<\/u> Lord Jesus Christ,\u201d\u00a0 so was Paul saved?\u00a0 When he says \u201cour Lord\u201d he must be referring to the Corinthians that were saved also.\u00a0 In verse 7 he says, \u201cso that you are not lacking in any gift,\u201d sounds like they have the gifts of the Spirit, \u201cawaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 See, if you just do an audience analysis at the beginning, without getting into how they\u2019re behaving you start to figure out that these people are justified .\u00a0 They\u2019re not stumbling in the first tense of salvation, they\u2019re stumbling in the second tense of salvation.\n\nYou say well hold the phone, I mean, weren\u2019t these people sexually immoral?\u00a0 Yes they were.\u00a0 In chapter 6, verse 19, as they\u2019re sneaking out at night to visit the temple prostitutes, which in paganism was a sexual experience, Paul never says you know, if you guys are really Christians you wouldn\u2019t act this way.\u00a0 What he says is, \u201cOr do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, [whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?\u201d]\u00a0 In other words when you do this you\u2019re bringing the Holy Spirit into it, that\u2019s\u00a0 your incentive for avoiding that sin; you\u2019re grieving the heart of God who by the Spirit is permanently inside of you.\u00a0 Now having said all that,\u00a0 who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?\n\nNow having said all that look at 1 Corinthians 15:34, he says there, \u201cBecome sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no\u201d what? \u201cknowledge of God.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s gnosis <\/em>again.\n\nNow we\u2019re dealing with the same root, it\u2019s not in verbal form as it is in 1 John but it\u2019s in noun form, gnosis<\/em> \u201cI speak this to your shame.\u201d\u00a0 Now to this group he says, verse 51, \u201cBehold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,\u201d so that\u2019s what we need to put on our nursery, \u201cwe will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.\u201d\u00a0 No, he\u2019s speaking of the rapture.\u00a0 Does he say here that some of\u00a0 you all are going to miss the rapture should it happen in our lifetime?\u00a0 No, he says, \u201cBehold, I tell you a mystery; we will not\u201d what? \u00a0\u201call sleep, but we will\u201d what? \u201call<\/u> be changed,\u201d so what is happening in Corinth is you have saved people that are candidates for the rapture because they received that truth by grace, they\u2019re called saints, they have the Holy Spirit inside of them and Paul says you all don\u2019t have any knowledge.\n\nSo therefore lack of knowledge can refer to a saved person who is stumbling in the middle tense of their salvation. See the point?\u00a0 And how does the Apostle Peter in his little three chapter book called 2 Peter, 2 Peter 3:17, \u201cYou therefore,\u201d what\u2019s the next word, \u201cbeloved,\u201d now would you call an unsaved person \u201cbeloved?\u201d I doubt it, I mean if you study out that term it only refers to a saved person.\u00a0 \u201cYou therefore beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,\u201d we\u2019ve dealt with this verse before, it\u2019s not referring to a loss of position but a loss of growth, \u201cbut grow in the grace and\u201d what? \u201cknowledge\u201d that\u2019s gnosis<\/em> again, now does he say \u201cof your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Does he say \u201caccording to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 No, he says \u201caccording to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nSo therefore people that have Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior can walk in a lack of knowledge. \u00a0So when 1 John 2:13 says \u201cBy this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments\u201d you don\u2019t have to take that word knowledge and immediately apply it to someone who\u2019s unsaved because I\u2019ve given you three example where it can refer to people that are saved but are stumbling in the middle tense of their salvation.\u00a0 You see that?\n\nI\u2019ll just be honest with you, I got saved as a 16 year old, and I went from about age 16 to about age 22 with a highly limited shallow deficient understanding of the Scripture, believing all kinds of weird things.\u00a0 And it really was not until the age of 22 when the Lord just sidelined me with some different things He brought into my life that I really started to grow exponentially in terms of knowledge.\u00a0 So what was happening there between age 16 and age 22 is I was functioning with limited knowledge, some knowledge but not everything that the Lord had for me.\u00a0 And guess what?\u00a0 The things that I learned in 2017, I\u2019m learning in 2017, are an improvement on the things I knew in the year 2016.\u00a0 And guess what?\u00a0 Should the Lord tarry the things I\u2019m going to learn in 2017 and then 2018 are going to be an improvement on what I know today.\u00a0 So the command of the Scripture is to continue to grow.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t have the need to continue to grow in knowledge if you knew everything already.\u00a0 See that?\n\nAnd to me one of the saddest things is people that you say they\u2019ve been walking with the Lord for years, they\u2019ve even been members of Sugar Land Bible Church for years and say, we\u2019re having a series on soteriology, why don\u2019t you come, Wednesday night we\u2019re having a series on the Kingdom, why don\u2019t you come, and they say oh yes, I know all of that, I\u2019ve heard all that before, I know all that and in my heart when I hear that I say to myself, I usually don\u2019t say it back to them rudely but I say to my heart, I say Lord, please do not let me become like that; please do not let me reach a point where I think I know it all and I don\u2019t need the teaching of the Word of God anymore, because I think that the splinter full of knowledge that I have today and the splinter of knowledge that you\u00a0 have today the Lord is always going to be improving on.\n\nSo 1 John 2:13 is really understanding in that sense.\u00a0 In other words, when you break His commandments you don\u2019t stop being a Christian or it\u2019s not saying you never were a Christian.\u00a0 It breaks fellowship which breaks down the teaching process.\u00a0 You can\u2019t learn, it doesn\u2019t matter what your environment is\u00a0 you can\u2019t learn if you\u2019re in sin and haven\u2019t confessed that sin.\u00a0 That\u2019s why one of the things that I appreciated about Bob Thieme\u2019s ministry is he had a time before each teaching session where believers could confess any open sins or private sins they may have committed against God to exercise their rights under 1 John 1:9 because he knew that had people come into the sanctuary or the church in a state of broken fellowship then you can teach until the cows come home but the Holy Spirit is really not doing what He wants to do in people\u2019s lives because unconfessed sin breaks fellowship, breaks joy and shuts down the learning process.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[1 John 1:9, \u201cIf we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d]\n\nSo \u201cknowing God\u201d refers to intimacy or fellowship with God in this context; not in every context but in this context.\u00a0 Out of fellowship believers do not know God in a certain sense.\u00a0 And at the very bottom I have this little bullet point, it says, Keeping God\u2019s commandments to know God, in other words, interpreting this is as gaining or keeping salvation.\u00a0 If you start interpreting the Bible that way what doctrine have you just contradicted?\u00a0 Justification by grace alone.\u00a0 In other words, if 1 John 2:3 is saying, \u201cBy this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.\u201d\u00a0 If you interpret that as I\u2019ve got to keep commandments of God to enter into a relationship with Him that\u2019s called front loading the gospel.\u00a0 I think evangelicals by and large have rejected front loading the gospel although sometimes in our vocabulary we are sloppy.\n\nOr \u201cwe have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments,\u201d in other words, I\u2019ve got to keep His commandments to keep myself saved, that\u2019s called what?\u00a0 Back loading the gospel\u00a0 You go into front loading or you go into back loading and\u00a0 you don\u2019t interpret this according to its context as a fellowship verse then you have contradicted the greatest doctrine, probably taught in the whole Bible, salvation by grace alone.\u00a0 What is grace?\u00a0 Grace is unmerited what? favor.\u00a0 And you look at all these things that God has given us and you say wow, I sure don\u2019t deserve these.\u00a0 That\u2019s right, neither do I, nor does any fallen human being.\u00a0 But these things have accrued to our bank account because God has chosen to deal with us on the basis of\u00a0 unmerited favor.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why He\u2019s set up salvation in such a way that the only way you can receive it is by faith because in the mind of God, Romans 4:4-5, anything that is not received by faith becomes a work.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 [Romans 4:4-5, \u201cNow to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.\u00a0 [5] But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,\u201d]\n\nSo it\u2019s a big deal then if I interpret 1 John 2:3 that I\u2019ve got to keep His commandments to know Him, front loading the gospel, or keep His commandments to retain knowing Him, back loading the gospel.\u00a0 If I interpret it that way oh my goodness, I\u2019ve just contradicted Ephesians 2:8-9, which says, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through\u201d what? keeping His commandments?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that, \u201cthrough faith, and that it is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God\u201d now we\u2019ve studied how faith in context is not the gift of God, the gift of God is salvation, the gift is access by faith so the Spirit of God, Jesus says, would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment and it goes on in John 16:7-11 and defines what sin is.\u00a0 Sin singular is unbelief.\n\n[John 16:7-11, \u201cBut I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. [8] And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; [9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; [10] and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; [11] concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.\u201d]\n\nSo the Spirit of God is at work in the world convicting people of their need to believe in Christ and His finished work.\u00a0 And then once you respond to that conviction through your own volition\u2026 God is not overriding your volition.\u00a0 If He were to override your volition He would not be respecting how He made\u00a0 you.\u00a0 We are made in who\u2019s image?\u00a0 God\u2019s, and so the most powerful aspect of how we\u2019re made is the capacity for choice.\u00a0 So God is not going to haul you into salvation against your will.\u00a0 He will bother you and show you your need for salvation but whether you respond in faith or not, which is the only way you can receive a gift from God, is really up to the individual.\n\n\u201c\u2026it is the gift of God,\u201d faith isn\u2019t the gift, salvation is the gift, \u201cit is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may\u201d what? \u201cboast.\u201d\u00a0 You know God hates bragging.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to read about today in Daniel, a guy named Nebuchadnezzar woke up one day and said is this not the great Babylonian Empire which I have built with my own hands?\u00a0 Whoops, I shouldn\u2019t have said that, and he lost his kingdom for seven years, becoming an insane man for seven years.\n\nSo God hates boasting and if God hates boasting doesn\u2019t it stand to reason that He would design salvation in such a way that it excludes human boasting totally?\u00a0 No one can strut into heaven as proud as a peacock, look at what I\u2019ve done, look at what I\u2019ve accomplished.\u00a0 And if you interpret 1 John 2:3 differently then you just contradicted salvation by faith alone.\u00a0 So frontloading is I\u2019ve got to do X, Y and Z to get saved; back loading is I\u2019ve got to do X, Y and Z to stay saved.\u00a0\u00a0 Either approach you go denies grace.\n\nMy daughter just turned 10, she\u2019s going on 11, coming up in a couple of months here, so on her 16th<\/sup> birthday I buy her a red BMW (now I\u2019m speaking hypothetically) and I put a great big bow around it, put it in the driveway, and I say to my daughter on her 16th<\/sup> birthday, I guess she needs to pass her driver\u2019s license test first, so 16th<\/sup> birthday and passing the driver\u2019s license test, I say Sarah, here\u2019s a gift from mom and dad.\u00a0 And then I say now you can start making your payments next month.\u00a0 I\u2019ve just taken away what by demanding payments?\u00a0 It\u2019s not a gift any more, it doesn\u2019t matter what kind of a costume or what color it is.\u00a0 And see, this is the problem of saying I\u2019ve got to keep doing this, keep doing this, keep doing that to keep myself saved, you\u2019re no longer in the doctrine of grace any more, you\u2019re in the doctrine of working out your salvation through human power.\u00a0 Do you follow that?\n\nAnd I\u2019m arriving at the conclusion I\u2019m arriving at in 1 John 2:3 because of my audience analysis of 1 John and I\u2019m not wanting to contradict other things in the Bible that are crystal clear, that we\u2019re saved and kept by God\u2019s grace.\u00a0 Do you follow what I\u2019m doing here?\u00a0 So what\u2019s important to me is you understand the method that I\u2019m using because if you can understand the method you can interpret anything in the Bible correctly.\u00a0 But if you just spit back at me my conclusions without understanding the method then the lesson is only as good as the latest conclusion.\u00a0 What I want to do is equip you so you can navigate your way through the whole Bible correctly.\n\nAnyway, that\u2019s my take\u2026 it\u2019s just not my take, it\u2019s the Lord\u2019s take on 1 John 2:3.\u00a0 And 1 John 3:9 we\u2019ll start next time.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll close.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t