Tag Archives: Salvation

Nov 22 2008

How to know you have eternal life from 1st John


Right from the start John makes clear that Jesus Christ himself is eternal life and life is only found in him. This was no theological theory with John. This fact was as real as anything could possibly be.

                                    “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us” (1 John 1:1,2)

John and the others were eye witnesses to the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Christianity is not knowing facts about Christ, or doing the right things, but rather Christianity is centered in the person, Jesus Christ. John starts the book with Jesus, and to put the icing on the cake, he says in the last chapter these words.

                                    “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life”. (1 John 5:11-13)

These are absolute, clear, and unmistakable statements of truth. They are not easily misunderstood if one only reads the text. Sandwiched between the first and fifth chapters is a series of markers, or characteristics that we may use to see if we indeed have Jesus Christ, who is himself eternal life. Many have mistakenly used much of this book to teach salvation by works, which is unfortunate because the clarity of the book is so obvious. Those who have Christ will look like him. A watching world will see one who has the aroma of Christ when they see one who has truly been born from above.

Now what does that person look like, how does he live in a world controlled by the evil one?

1.      He walks in the light. (1 John 1:7) Jesus said those who come to the light have nothing to hide but those who do not come to the light do not because their deeds are evil. A person who is in fact one of God’s own will live in the full light of day. That is he will not hide his sin but will rather confess it and receive God’s cleansing. If you either say you have no sin, or try to hide it by living away from God’s light you are not a child of God. (1 John 1:5-10 )

2.      He keeps His commandments. (1 John 2:3) Those who are genuine children of God have a built in desire to obey what Christ taught. Those who do not obey are not saved. This is easy stuff to understand. The person who says “I know Him”, or “I am a Christian” and shows by his life no desire to please God is a liar and there is no truth in him. (1 John 2:4)

3.      He loves his brother. (1 John 2:10) There is a song that says simply, “If you don’t love your brother you don’t love God”, how very true. Love is not an emotion, love is action, it is only love when it is demonstrated in loving acts. A person who does not act in loving ways toward his brother “still walks in darkness”, still lost. (1 John 2:11)

4.      He does not love the world. ( 1 John 2:15,16 ) A person whose life is marked by a pattern of satisfying the desires of his flesh (sexual immorality, drunkenness, gluttony, etc.) and polishing his ego (bigger houses, more expensive cars, more, more, more) by an unhealthy desire for what the world has to offer is not a child of God.

5.      His life will be marked by generosity. ( 1 John 3:16-18 ) One who has been born again by the Spirit of God will not withhold necessities from those in need. One who does so “closes his heart against him”. An uncaring, stingy person, and at the same time has the love of God in him? Hardly! Christ’s disciples are called to not only talk the talk but also to walk the walk. (1 John 3:18 )

6.      He listens to the word of God. (1 John 4:5,6 ) One way to know who is of “The Truth” and who is not is how they respond to biblical teaching. Those who refuse to hear it (and abide by it) are “not from God”. It is unthinkable that a person would love God and have the love of God in him and not love God’s word.

7.      He has overcome the world. (1 John 5:4,5 ) “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

In the final analysis it is the obedience of faith that distinguishes a child of God from an unbeliever. (Romans 1:17, 4:22, 5:1, 10:14-17) We can know for sure that Christ is in us and that we are in him if these markers in 1st John are evidences seen in our lives.

The truth sets men free.

Royce Ogle

 

 

 

Nov 12 2008

Is Truth absolute? And, can I present it effectively?


Every person who is serious about their personal faith in God, and sharing that faith with others will be blessed by seeing this video. It addresses many questions facing the church today in clear, logical, objective language that will help us have our feet on solid ground as we present truth to others.

I hope you are blessed as I have been by this excellent presentation. Follow this link: GodTube

Comments?

His Peace,
Royce

Oct 19 2008

God is able, is He willing?


The following verses all say that God is “able“. He is “able” to do anything because He is God. Most believers embrace this idea of God’s ability in their personal belief system. Many of us however are not sure He is willing as we live our lives day by day.

Consider these verses and comments.

Romans 14:4
“Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” God can keep His own from falling, will He?

Ephesians 3:20
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” Abundantly more than we ask or think! It’s hard to take in. The context is very personal, “according to the power at work in us“. The Holy Spirit, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, is the power we have at the ready to do in us and through us what will glorify God. God is very able but is He willing?

2 Timothy 1:12
“..which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.” What had Paul committed to the Lord? His soul, his future, his hope, his life, all that he was had been given over to the One who is able. He was able to guard what was entrusted to Him until the Day of the Lord. Did He? More than that, will He guard what you have entrusted to Him? He is able, is He willing?

Perhaps the answers are found in these next several verses. God is faithful! Praise His name, I can trust Him completely to do what I am not able to do. He is able, and He is faithful.

Romans 3:3
“What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?”

1 Corinthians 1:9
“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Our calling into the fellowship of Jesus Christ depends upon the faithfulness of God. If it depends on me I’m in a very dangerous position. He is perfectly faithful even though you and I are not perfectly faithful. (Rom 3:3 above)

1 Corinthians 10:13
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Temptations are common to us all. When they come, and they surely will, what assurance do we have that we can avoid falling into sin? The faithfulness of God! He knows each of us so intimately that He will allow temptation just short of our ability to resist. He will always provide a way of escape. Were it not for God’s faithfulness we would be overwhelmed by the temptation to fall into grievous sin often and we would not be able to resist. Let no man claim that he had no choice, no way out, God always provides a way of escape.

1 Thessalonians 5:24
“He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” Do what? This verse is immediately preceded by verse 23 which says “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ“. God will sanctify (set you apart for Himself) you completely (there is no room for failure), and your whole person will be kept blameless until Jesus comes. Not only will you be blameless then, your are now blameless, and will stay blameless because God is faithful and He will surely do it.

2 Timothy 2:13
“if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.” At some time every person living in sinful flesh is less than faithful, but while we disappoint even ourselves, God is faithful on our behalf. He cannot be otherwise and be God.

Hebrews 7:25
“Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” I doubt that any of us are capable of grasping the depth and breadth of this promise. One thing is for sure, those who have put their confidence in Jesus and are resting completely upon Him are safe. Saved, being saved, and will be saved in the end is the promise to all who come to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 10:23
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” What a wonderfully powerful challenge and promise! Do you expect the sun to shine tomorrow? It very likely will. There are no rainy days in God’s faithfulness. He is always, eternally, faithful and because of that truth we who are His are at rest.

Galatians 5:22
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness”  God the Holy Spirit is at work in each believer forming us into the likeness of Christ. One of the ways He is doing that is to produce in our lives faithfulness. Faithfulness is one way we are like our Father.

God is not only able, but faithful. Amen.

Standing in grace,
Royce

Sep 30 2008

“….from the mouths of the Restoration fathers”


I first posted the following quotes in April of last year. As I read them again this morning I was compelled to publish them again. They represent the heart of good, godly men, and the heart of the foundation of the Restoration Movement. I can only imagine what angst these good men would know if they could see one group of church of Christ folks branding another group “lost” because of how they worship God. And just as dissapointing, the common teaching that only church of Christ folks are saved.

After carefully reading the following quotes, a few things come to mind. First, these men, like you and me, were not infallible. Each of them spoke for themselves, and none of them should be given the level of trust we give God’s word. However, these statements were made by good, proven men, who refelct lives given completely to God and to the good news about Jesus. The point of this post is not an attempt to make a case for a particular doctrine, or for or against a coC distinctive. My purpose is to remind by dear friends and brothers that when we appeal to the history and tradition of the Resotration Movement for some of what divides us we are sorely wrong.

The fathers speak:

THOMAS CAMPBELL wrote: “We speak to all our Christian brethren, however diversified by professional epithets, those accidental distinctions which have happily and unscripturally diversified the professing world. By our Christian brethren, then, we mean . . . ‘All that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, throughout the churches.’ ” (Millennial Harbinger, Series 1, May 1844, p. 199.)

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL wrote: “But who is a Christian? I answer, every one that believes in his heart that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God; repents of his sins, and obeys him in all things according to his measure of knowledge of his will. . . . I cannot make any one duty the standard of Christian state or character, not even immersion into the name of Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and [cannot] in my heart regard all that have been sprinkled in infancy without their own knowledge and consent, as aliens from Christ and the well-grounded hope of heaven. Should I find a Pedobaptist [one baptized as an infant] more intelligent in the Christian Scriptures, more spiritually-minded and more devoted to the Lord than a Baptist, or one immersed on a profession of the ancient faith, I could not hesitate a moment in giving the preference of my heart to him that loveth most. Did I act otherwise, I would be a pure sectarian, a Pharisee among Christians.” (Millennial Harbinger, 1837, p. 411-412.)

Again, ALEXANDER CAMPBELL wrote: “The case is this: When I see a person who would die for Christ: whose brotherly kindness, sympathy, and active benevolence knows no bounds but his circumstances: whose seat in the Christian assembly is never empty; whose inward piety and devotion are attested by punctual obedience to every known duty; whose family is educated in the fear of the Lord; whose constant companion is the Bible; I say, when I see such a one ranked amongst heathen men and publicans, because he never happened to inquire, but always took it for granted that he had been scripturally baptized, and that [ranking] too, by one greatly destitute of all these public and private virtues, whose chief or exclusive recommendation is that he has been immersed, and that he holds a scriptural theory of the gospel, I feel no disposition to flatter such a one, but rather to disabuse him of his error. And while I would not lead the most excellent professor in any sect to disparage the least of all the commandments of Jesus, I would say to my immersed brother as Paul said to his Jewish brother who gloried in a system which he did not adorn: ‘Sir, will not his uncircumcision, or unbaptism, be counted to him for baptism? and will he not condemn you, who, though having the literal and true baptism, yet dost transgress or neglect the statues of your King?’” (Millennial Harbinger, 1837, p. 565.)

BARTON W. STONE wrote: “My opinion is that immersion is the only baptism. But shall I therefore make my opinion a term of Christian fellowship? If in this case I thus act, where shall I cease from making my opinions terms of fellowship? I confess I see no end. . . . Let us still acknowledge all to be brethren, who believe in the Lord Jesus, and humbly and honestly obey him, as far as they know his will, and their duty.” (Christian Messenger, 1831, p. 19, 21.)

WALTER SCOTT wrote: “Christians who have not been baptized for the remission of their sins! Strange! Whoever read of such Christians in God’s Word? But the times are peculiar, and as faith does purify the life of a man, and as the man of pure life and pure heart is accepted of God and may receive the Spirit, therefore we must allow, that there are now a days Christians in heart and life who have not been baptized for the remission of their sins. What evidences, then, have they for themselves and others, that they are possessed of the Spirit? None but the moral graces which have already been quoted, viz: love, joy etc.; they don’t need to depend upon an opinion; they feel within themselves and show to those without them by their fruits, that they have been made partakers of the Spirit of Christ.” (The Evangelist, No. 2, Vol. 2, Feb 4, 1833, p. 49.)

ISAAC ERRETT wrote: “There are myriads of godly people, who are in error on baptism, of whom, nevertheless, we are compelled to say, ‘They are not of the world.’ To urge against these a strict and literal application of passages which are meant to mark the distinction between the church and the world, and thus to attempt to thrust them out from our Christian love, among heathens and reprobates, is, in our view, a grievous wrong. As it is a question growing out of the times — a question not directly known in form in the Scriptures, it must be settled in the light of well-established Christian principles, and not by a severly literal construction of Scripture language, spoken with reference to other classes of persons, and another condition of things.
The saints were carried captive into Babylon and remained there a long time. The church lost her primitive purity and excellency. . . . Yet God had a people in Babylon. . . . Now our good brethren may be able to prove to their own satisfaction that all these people of God in Babylon were immersed believers; and they may point, here and there, to bands of religionists, who kept up a protest against the corruptions of Rome. But it strikes us that a people could not come out of Babylon who were not in Babylon; and immersed believers, walking in the light, would have been hard to find within Babylon’s limits! But there was a people of God in Babylon. We incline to the opinion that most of them were unimmersed. They were in many respects an erring people — in regard to baptism they certainly were in great error; but they ‘feared God and wrought righteousness’ and, — what seems as great a stumbling block to many good men now as it was to Peter, until the trammels of sectarianism were knocked off — ‘in every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him.’” (Millennial Harbinger, 1862, p.120.)