“Just Pray This Prayer…”

Posted on May 31, 2021 by russellmckinney

1 John series: (post #7)

We are now halfway through the list of ten evidences of salvation that are described in the book of 1 John. So, with this post, I thought it would be good if I pulled over here for a quick break and said a word about what is known as “easy believism.”

“Just pray this prayer with me: ‘Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I know that you died on the cross for my sins. Right now I accept you as my Savior and ask you to forgive me of all my sins. Thank you for saving me, Jesus. Amen.'”

How many times have you heard a pastor in a church service or a preacher on t.v., the radio, or the internet say this kind of thing at the close of a service or a broadcast? I’ll admit that I myself have made such statements many times during my own ministry. Over the years, however, I have become increasingly aware of the problems that are associated with this type of invitation.

First and foremost, such prayers say little to nothing of major points of doctrine such as: Christ’s divinity, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His resurrection, His ascension, and His current place at the right hand of God the Father. Instead, the whole focus is upon His crucifixion. You might ask, “But what’s wrong with focusing upon His crucifixion?” Well, nothing is wrong with it, but it would be really helpful if the person praying the prayer understood all the following about the Jesus that he or she is asking to save them:

  • He is God the Son and has eternally existed.
  • He voluntarily left heaven, came down to the earth, and was conceived in the womb of a virgin and born to her.
  • The fact that He was conceived in the womb of a virgin and born to her allowed Him to bypass the sinful nature of Adam with which all humans are conceived and born as part of Adam’s reproductive line.
  • Him being divine and not having Adam’s nature of sin allowed Him to live a sinless life.
  • He performed many miracles in His life as a way of verifying His divinity.
  • The fact that He lived a totally sinless life qualified Him to die as the substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of the entire human race.
  • He died on the cross as that sacrifice, shedding His blood as the payment for each and every sin that mankind had ever and would ever commit.
  • He was buried but arose from the dead in a glorified body on the third day afterward.
  • In His resurrected, glorified body, He made periodic appearances to His followers over the course of the next forty days, thus fully verifying that He had indeed arisen from the dead.
  • At the end of the forty days, He ascended back up to heaven and took His place once again at the right hand of God the Father.
  • He now grants salvation (the forgiveness of all sin, the guarantee of heaven) to every person who believes in Him as Savior.
  • He sends God the Holy Spirit to take up residence inside the body of each believer, and God the Holy Spirit immediately creates a spiritual rebirth (the “born again” experience) inside the believer.
  • Anyone who dies without having believed in Him as Savior will spend all eternity making their own payment for their sins by forevermore remaining cut off from God in flame, torment, and suffering.

Can you imagine a preacher, one who has about sixty seconds in which give an invitation, attempting to elaborate on all these doctrinal points with a lost person who stands ready to believe in Jesus? Can you imagine a pastor trying to explain them to a nine-year-old who attends a night of Bible school and says he wants to get saved? Can you imagine a chaplain trying to work through them all with a soldier who is lying near death from a battlefield injury? No, you can’t. That’s why the so-called “prayer of salvation” or “sinner’s prayer” usually gets reduced to two simplistic basics: Jesus dying on the cross for the individual’s sins and the individual believing in Him as Savior.

The good news is that millions of people throughout history have understood enough about who they were as sinners and who Jesus is as a Savior to pray such a prayer and through it legitimately get saved. The bad news is that millions of others have gained a false hope of salvation simply because they “prayed the prayer.” These false converts are the victims of what has come to be called “easy believism” or “quick prayerism.”

These false converts are why critics of such prayers say, “Merely praying a prayer makes it too easy to get saved.” While this criticism does hold some validity, the pushback is to ask the critic, “Just how hard do you want to make it to get saved?” Remember, the Bible speaks of the simplicity, not the complexity, that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3).

The thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43) certainly didn’t have time to get baptized and prove his salvation by performing a list of good works, did he? The Ethiopian eunuch only received one fairly quick scriptural lesson from Philip before getting saved, baptized, and never seeing Philip again (Acts 8:26-40). When the jailor in Philippi asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” they responded, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household (meaning that each member of the household could also be saved by believing).” That, you see, is a far cry from requiring the man and his family to pass a course in Christian apologetics before attempting to believe.

What we must always keep in mind about “praying a prayer” is that the prayer itself isn’t what produces the salvation. What produces the salvation is the voluntary, deliberate, inner decision to place one’s belief in Jesus as Savior. The prayer is nothing more than the vehicle through which the decision gets expressed. Truth be told, if a person has the inner belief, the prayer isn’t even necessary.

Those who would disagree with that last sentence would point to Romans 10:9-10 as proof that the literal mouthing of words is necessary. Those verses say: “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (N.K.J.V.). Similarly, Romans 10:13 says: “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (N.K.J.V.). But there are literally hundreds of other passages that teach that it is the belief (or faith, as that word is used synonymously with belief) that produces the salvation. One prime example of these passages is John 3:16, the most famous verse in the Bible.

After Peter had preached on the Day of Pentecost, he didn’t ask his audience to pray anything (Acts 2:14-39). And yet some 3,000 of them still managed to get saved. When Jesus met the spiritually lost Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road and Saul asked him, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”, Jesus didn’t say, “Pray this prayer with me” (Acts 9:1-9). And yet Saul still managed to get saved during that encounter. When Peter was preaching to a group of lost Gentiles and it became obvious that those Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit (which was clear evidence of their salvation), Peter didn’t say to them, “Wait a minute, you can’t get saved yet because I haven’t led you in the prayer” (Acts 10:44-48).

Since the evangelistic efforts that are described in the book of Acts were oftentimes done outdoors, and since the early church congregations met in homes that didn’t have aisles or altars, a new believer did not publicly showcase his or her salvation by coming down an aisle, kneeling in an altar, and praying a prayer. Instead, it was done by way of a public baptism. That’s why the book of Acts emphasizes baptism so much. Baptism was an outward object lesson that showed what had happened on the inside of the individual. It was an outer profession, one without words, of inner belief. For that matter, it still is.

One problem with asking someone to pray a “sinner’s prayer” is the fact that there is no standardized version of such a prayer. This allows for tons of leeway as the prayers some preachers recite might include sections about Christ’s virgin birth and His resurrection while the prayers of other preachers might stick strictly with Christ’s crucifixion and the sinner’s need for forgiveness. While all this diversity might seem harmless enough, it can become a problem when a person begins to doubt his salvation and thinks to himself, “Maybe I didn’t really get saved because I didn’t say the right words when I prayed.” Do you see how that could become an issue if the person focuses more on the prayer that he prayed than the belief he expressed?

Still, though, with all this understood, I don’t want you to think that I’m against preachers asking people to, “Pray like this…” or “Repeat after me…” Like I said, I myself have done this kind of thing many times in my ministry. People being people, most of them do have a desire to vocally convey the inner decision they are making to believe in Jesus. And if the spoken words accurately describe the inner belief, there can’t possibly be anything wrong with saying them. For that matter, speaking the words out loud can even help the person in regards to feeling assured about the salvation.

At the end of the day, there is no magic formula that can ever allow us to be 100% effective in weeding out false converts from bona-fide salvation experiences. That’s why I’m glad that God is not only the one who does the saving but is also the final Judge in these matters. Our job is simply to present the gospel and let Him do the work of convicting and saving.

Thankfully, we can take great encouragement from the fact that each individual case of salvation has already been settled by God in eternity past. We know this because Revelation 13:8, Revelation 17:8, and Luke 10:20 all teach that the names of saved believers were written in God’s Book of Life “from the foundation of the world.” That doesn’t mean that God forces those people to get saved so that He can keep His Book of Life in order, but it does mean that He knew, by way of His perfect foreknowledge (Isaiah 46:9-10), from eternity past which individuals would voluntarily choose to get saved by believing.

As I once heard a Sunday School teacher say, “God will see to it that no one ends up in heaven who shouldn’t be there, and no one ends up in hell who shouldn’t be there.” That little piece of homespun theology has always helped me immensely, and it continues to help me anytime I sail into the murky waters of “easy believism” and “quick prayerism.” I don’t suppose that I will ever completely master the navigation of those waters, but if I faithfully do my best to share the gospel and try to lead folks to Christ, that’s all that God will ever ask of me. And if that includes me saying to someone, “Pray this prayer…” or “Repeat after me…”, so be it. If God knows that I’m sincere in what I’m doing and the other person is sincere in what he or she is doing, He will make sure that the salvation experience is legitimate. That, when all the dust has settled, will be good enough to get the job done.

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Belief, Children, Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Christ's Miracles, Church, Conviction, Election, Eternal Security, Eternity, Evangelism, Faith, God's Omnipotence, God's Foreknowledge, God's Sovereignty, God's Work, Grace, Heaven, Hell, Ministry, Missions, Pastors, Personal, Prayer, Preaching, Salvation, Series: "1 John", Sunday School, The Gospel, Trusting In God, Witnessing, Youth | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Not Loving the World

Posted on May 28, 2021 by russellmckinney

1 John series: (post #6)

Up until this point in our series on 1 John’s evidences of salvation, we’ve named things the genuine Christian will do. He or she will desire to fellowship with other Christians, will walk in the light of Christ’s teachings, will keep Christ’s commandments, and will love their fellow Christians. Now, for the first time, let’s name something the genuine Christian won’t do: he or she won’t love the world.

Here’s what John has to say on the subject (all of these references from the N.K.J.V.):

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. (1 John 3:1)

Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. (1 John 3:13)

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5)

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. (1 John 5:19)

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5:21)

The word “world” in each of these passages translates the Greek word kosmos. This word can refer to this ball of rock that we call planet Earth (Acts 17:24; Romans 1:20) or it can refer to all the people who live on this planet (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2). Most frequently, however, the New Testament writers use it in reference to the world “system” that dominates life on this planet.

We do this same kind of thing with our language today. When we talk about “the world of finance,” we aren’t talking about just one bank or one banker, are we? No, we are talking about a system of banking that covers the entire planet. When we talk about the world of fashion, we aren’t talking about just one designer or one store, are we? No, we are talking about a system of fashion (the garment industry) that covers the entire planet. When we talk about the world of sports, we aren’t talking about just one player, one coach, one team, or even one sport, are we? No, we are talking about a system of athletics that covers the entire planet.

So, in these passages from 1 John, John isn’t saying that the Christian should hate God’s created planet or God’s created people; he’s saying the Christian should hate the societal system that reaches to all parts of the globe and drives human civilization onward. And what is this system? It is Satan’s system for opposing God’s work upon the earth.

Did you know that Jesus called lost people “the children of this world” (Luke 16:18)? Obviously, He wasn’t talking about lost people merely being inhabitants of planet earth. He was, instead, talking about them being the children of the Satanic system that opposes God’s work upon the earth.

As the children of this world, unsaved people are out there right now doing Satan’s bidding (either unknowingly or knowingly) in the realms of banking, fashion, sports, politics, entertainment, advertising, technology, etc., etc., etc. And since all of these realms are woven together to create the matrix of what we can call the world system, it isn’t hard to figure out who the ruler of it all is. It is Satan. This explains why Jesus called Satan “the ruler of this world” (referring to the world system) in John 12:31. It also explains why 1 John 5:19 says the whole world (the world system) lies under the sway of the wicked one.

It is this Satanically inspired and Satanically energized system that John says the authentic Christian will hate. The Christian will hate the system because the system hates the Christian (1 John 3:13). And why does Satan’s world system hate the Christian? It’s because it recognizes that the Christian isn’t a part of it. As John says of Christians, “…the world does not know us, because it did not know Him (Jesus).

As we’ve seen with some of John’s other quotes from 1 John, all he did with that one was play off something that he’d once heard Jesus say. In John 15:18-19, Jesus says to His apostles, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (N.K.J.V.). John was personally present to hear Jesus say that, and so, years later, writing under the inspiration of God, he picked up on that theme and ran with it.

I trust we can all agree that the case John presents for the legitimate Christian not loving the world system is a solid one. First, everything that is part of the world system can fit into one of three categories — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life — and nothing from any of those categories is of God (2:15-16). Second, the world system, complete with all its lusts and pride, is always passing away and never destined for eternal permanence (2:17). Third, the world system didn’t know (understand, acknowledge) Jesus and doesn’t treat His followers (Christians) any better (3:1). Fourth, rather than know (understand, acknowledge) Christians, the world system literally hates them (3:13). Fifth, rather than embrace the world system, the Christian will see it as something to be overcome by walking in faith in the midst of it (5:4-5).

By the way, you might have noticed that I included 1 John 5:21 on my list of references even though that verse doesn’t specifically use the word “world.” In that verse, rather than mention the “world,” John says, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (N.K.J.V.). I included that verse because an idol is very much a thing of the world system, whether that idol be a graven image in ancient Israel or a house, a car, a job, a sports team, or even a person in modern-day America. The bottom line is that if you are practicing some form of idolatry, you are unquestionably practicing a version of worldliness.

So, in closing, what have we learned in this post? We’ve learned that even though God remains sovereign over every nut and bolt of His creation, for now Satan’s work is humming along upon planet Earth by way of the Satanic world system that dominates all the various realms of civilization. This world system inherently hates Christians, and Christians will inherently hate it right back. We’re talking oil and water here, two separate entities that can never and will never jive. True Christians will always view the world system as something to be overcome on the way to heaven, but thankfully they can rest in the promise that their overcoming is guaranteed to happen through their saving faith/belief in Jesus. Remember that Christians are born again through Jesus Christ (John 3:1-8), and John says in 1 John 5:4, “…whatever is born of God overcomes the world.”

Posted in Belief, Faith, Lust, Pride, Salvation, Satan, Series: "1 John", The Devil | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Loving Your Fellow Christians

Posted on May 26, 2021 by russellmckinney

1 John series: (post #5)

In 2nd Corinthians 13:5, the apostle Paul says to the Christians of Corinth, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you — unless, of course, you fail the test?” (N.I.V.). In light of Paul’s suggestion, I submit that doing such an examination is a good idea for anyone who professes to be a Christian. I myself can truthfully say that I don’t doubt my salvation, but that doesn’t mean that I’m opposed to putting it under the microscope of God’s written word, the Bible. I mean, if there is one thing that I am absolutely, positively sure about it’s the fact that I don’t want to die and go to hell!

But where do we go in the Bible to find a good test regarding salvation? I can’t think of any better place than the book of 1 John. That’s because John says in 1 John 5:13, “These things (the entirety of the book) I have written to you (Christians) who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”

And so, under the inspiration of God, John wrote this book that gives us at least ten reliable evidences that mark a true salvation experience. Thus far in this series we have covered three of those ten. Those were: you have a desire to fellowship with other Christians; you walk in the light of Christ’s teachings; and you keep Christ’s commandments. Now we are ready to cover a fourth piece of evidence. I’ll call this one “loving your fellow Christians.”

This particular evidence is a big one with John, and he hits upon it in at least six passages in 1 John. Here they are (all from the N.K.J.V.):

He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:9-11)

In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10)

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love not his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. (1 John 3:14-19)

And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. (1 John 3:23)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12)

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. (1 John 4:16-21)

It isn’t hard to understand the idea that is being hammered home in these passages, is it? In John’s way of thinking, the true Christian will show a true love for his or her fellow Christians. While this evidence of salvation is similar to the first one we named in this series — having a desire to fellowship with other Christians — it runs much deeper than mere fellowship. You see, it’s possible to fellowship with someone without actually loving them.

Of course, this notion of Christians loving their fellow Christians wasn’t original with John. He himself had personally heard Jesus say the words that are recorded in chapter 13, verses 34 and 35, of John’s gospel. There, Jesus says to His apostles, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (N.K.J.V.).

Logically speaking, it does make perfect sense that Christians should love their fellow brethren. Christians are, after all, members of the same eternal family and all have God the Father as their heavenly Father. Furthermore, they are also all part of the same bride, the bride of Christ (the church). So, why shouldn’t they love one another?

The fact is, though, that there are many times when professing Christians don’t exhibit a love for one another. When we hear about church fights, church splits, denominational wars, and Christians just not getting along in general we have to wonder where the love is. These reports didn’t just start recently, either. In 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, we find that the early church’s Christians of Corinth were having so many problems among themselves that they were actually suing one another in the public courts of Corinth. Paul was just flabbergasted that they would do such a thing and said to them, “Do you not know that the saints (Christians) will judge the world?…Do you not know that we shall judge angels (referring to fallen angels)?….But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!”

At this point I should probably mention that Christians loving fellow Christians doesn’t mean that we must accept sin, tolerate what is wrong, or promote what is ungodly in the lives of professing Christians. The reality is that rebuking error can be an act of love if it is done in the right spirit. Jesus often rebuked people, including His own disciples, and yet He always loved them. Likewise, Paul loved those Christians of Corinth even as he was rebuking them. It is only our undiscerning society that has created the wrong idea that factually calling someone’s behavior “sinful” can’t possibly convey love.

Getting back to our text passages, we find that John mentions certain things that happen when the Christian shows love toward his fellow Christians. First, that Christian will create within himself no cause for stumbling (2:10). Second, he will assure his own heart before God (3:19). Third, he will have boldness in the day of judgment (4:17). These benefits are all in addition to the primary benefit, which is that his life will provide definite evidence of salvation. So, to use the reasoning that John uses in 1 John 3:14, how can we know that we have passed from spiritual death (Ephesians 2:1) to spiritual life? The answer is simple: We love the brethren. That’s as good a piece of evidence as there is.

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Church, God's Love, Reconciliation, Salvation, Series: "1 John" | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Keeping Christ’s Commandments

Posted on May 24, 2021 by russellmckinney

1 John series: (post #4)

By the apostle John’s own admission, he wrote the book (epistle, letter) of 1 John to help Christians have full assurance regarding their salvation (1 John 5:13). He said this assurance can be achieved by way of the professing Christian taking a self-examination. That examination centers around a list of ten practical evidences that John says will mark the life of the true Christian. Thus far in this series we have dealt with the two of these evidences. Those were enjoying fellowshipping with other Christians and walking in the spiritual light of Jesus’ teachings. Now let’s get to a third evidence, one John calls “keeping Christ’s commandments.”

Consider the following three passages from 1 John (each from the N.K.J.V.):

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1 John 2:1-6)

Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. (1 John 3:24)

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:2-3)

In these passages, John uses various types of terminology to describe the lifestyle of keeping Christ’s commandments. He refers to it as keeping Christ’s word (2:5), having the love of God perfected in the person (2:5), abiding in Christ (2:6; 3:24), walking just as Jesus walked (2:6), and exhibiting the love of God (5:3). This lifestyle doesn’t produce salvation — no lifestyle can — but it does showcase it. As John says, “Now by this we know that we know Him…” (2:3), and, “By this we know that we are in Him” (2:5).

While keeping Christ’s commandments is closely related to walking in the light of His teachings, it is slightly different in that keeping a commandment carries more force than walking in light. Admittedly, sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between a teaching and a commandment, but it can be done. For example, in Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus says to His followers, “Beware of false prophets.” That can be classified as a commandment. But then He follows up that command by saying of false prophets, “You will know them by their fruits.” That can be classified as a teaching. For the most part, Christ’s Sermon on the Mount consists of commandments while His parables consist of teachings. His Olivet Discourse (Matthew chapters 24 and 25) is also by in large a teaching, His most extensive one on prophecy.

It is surely no coincidence that John, in his gospel, quotes Jesus as saying to His disciples, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15, N.K.J.V.). It isn’t hard to imagine John thinking back upon that quote as he penned the words of our three text passages. To John, claiming to love Jesus but not keeping His commandments was a ludicrous contradiction. Not only is keeping Christ’s commandments proof of an individual’s love for Christ, it is also proof of that individual’s salvation if he or she claims to be a Christian.

Another quote from Jesus that John could have remembered is found in Matthew 7:21. There, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Obviously, keeping Christ’s commandments walks hand in hand with doing the will of God. Paul chimes in here as well when he speaks in Titus 1:16 of those who “…profess to know God, but in works they deny Him…” (N.K.J.V.).

Of course, the common pushback to equating keeping Christ’s commandments to authenticating salvation is the old line, “But God looks upon the heart.” Well, no one is disputing that God knows each person’s heart, but John would contend that if a person’s heart has been truly changed by the salvation offered in Jesus, that change will show up in the person’s outward conduct at some point.

John, in his typically blunt style, doesn’t mince words about this. He says, “He who says, ‘I know him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar” (2:4). Wow, John, tell us how you really feel. I dare say that if all pastors started using such dogmatic language in their sermons, many a church would be looking for a new pastor soon! Then again, maybe more of this type of language would help us identify the tares in our congregations (Matthew 13:24-30).

Lastly, it’s also important to note that John says that Christ’s commandments are actually not burdensome to the genuine Christian (5:3). Truth be told, many people, including many lost people, have enough willpower and intestinal fortitude to make themselves do certain things or keep various rules and commandments. But having to expend such effort will quickly become burdensome. By contrast, the genuine Christian, having been born again spiritually by the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, will desire to obey Christ’s commandments as a way of showing love and devotion to Him. In other words, keeping Christ’s commandments won’t be work and drudgery to the legit Christian. As Jesus Himself said concerning those who metaphorically get in yoke with Him, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30, N.K.J.V.). You see, with that being the situation, it’s no wonder that one of the practical evidences of salvation is the simple keeping of Christ’s commandments.

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Commitment, God's Will, Obedience, Salvation, Series: "1 John" | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Walking in the Light

Posted on May 21, 2021 by russellmckinney

1 John series: (post #3)

In my previous post, I cited 1 John 1:7 as evidence of the first tell-tale sign of Christianity that John names in 1 John. That sign is Christian fellowship, the Christian having a desire to fellowship with other Christians. Now, for this post, I want to use 1 John 1:7 again as evidence of a second tell-tale sign. This time the sign is what I’ll call “walking in the light.” In order to quote the verse in its context, I’ll also provide the preceding two verses. 1 John 1:5-7 says:

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (N.K.J.V.)

In Matthew 5:14, Jesus says to His followers, “You are the light of the world.” That means that Christians are spiritual lights in a spiritually dark world. The apostle Paul hit upon this same theme in Philippians 2:15 when he said that Christians are children of God who walk in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation and shine as lights in the world.

Please notice, though, that in our text John isn’t talking about Christians shining as lights. Instead, he’s talking about Christians walking in the light. So, what does it mean to walk in the light? Walking in the light is all about the Christian continually taking those spiritual truths and spiritual lessons that he or she has learned from Jesus and applying them on a situation-by-situation basis in daily life.

Many lost people spend their days consumed with worry about paying the bills, putting food on the table, etc., etc. But such a lifestyle isn’t walking in the light of Jesus. Why not? It’s because Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25, N.K.J.V.).

Many lost have a definite hatred toward their enemies. But such a lifestyle isn’t walking in the light of Jesus. Why not? It’s because Jesus said, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44, N.K.J.V.).

Many lost people spend their lives doing nothing but trying to get ahead, trying to get to the front of the line, trying to make the most money, trying to drive the nicest car, and trying to live in the finest home. But such a lifestyle isn’t walking in the light of Jesus. Why not? It’s because Jesus said, “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:11-12, N.K.J.V.).

You see, Jesus has left us with an incredible body of teachings — to say nothing of a life lived that exemplified them — that can be described as spiritual light. It is, therefore, the assignment of every Christian to get up each day and walk in all that spiritual light. Oh, and did I mention that walking in that light can be really hard? As a matter of fact, it can be hard enough to make us ask the question, “Who in the world would purposefully choose to walk in Christ’s teachings?” I’ll tell you who: the true Christian. That’s why walking in the light will always be one of the best evidences of salvation.  

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Commitment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Extending Forgiveness, Needs, Persecution, Salvation, Series: "1 John", Service | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Enjoying Christian Fellowship

Posted on May 19, 2021 by russellmckinney

1 John series: (post #2)

The Bible is clear that no brand of good works can produce salvation. Salvation is a gift by which God bestows His grace (His unmerited favor) upon the individual who has believed in Jesus as Savior. However, in the authentic salvation experience, God the Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence inside the believer’s body and creates the “born again” experience inside the person. Inevitably, then, the indwelling Holy Spirit causes certain default behavior patterns to emerge in the Christian’s daily life. In the epistle of 1 John, we find ten of these patterns, and the first one is what I’ll call “Christian fellowship.”

John speaks of this Christian fellowship in two places. First, there is 1 John 1:3, where he says concerning himself and the other apostles:

that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (N.K.J.V.)

Second, there is 1 John 1:7, where he says:

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (N.K.J.V.)

You’ll notice that in the first reference John speaks of the fellowship the Christian has with God the Father and God the Son (Jesus), and in both references he speaks of the fellowship the Christian has with other Christians. Basically, in the two verses, John is saying to his readers: “I and my fellow apostles have a fellowship with God the Father and God the Son, and this fellowship provides the basis upon which we have fellowship with one another. We now walk in the light, and the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from our sins, and you too have this fellowship with us if you have been cleansed by Christ’s blood and are walking in His light.” The point is that the true Christian innately has a fellowship with not only God the Father and God the Son but also other Christians, and this fellowship will naturally work its way out in everyday situations in regards to those with whom the Christian chooses to align.

This doesn’t mean that the Christian will never talk to an unbeliever or be on the same ball team as an unbeliever. It doesn’t mean that he or she won’t have an unbeliever as a friend, either. But it does mean that the Christian, if presented with a choice, would rather hang around brothers and sisters in Christ than hang around lost people. This makes perfect sense because, after all, Christians fellowshipping with lost people is like light fellowshipping with darkness. It’s the children of God walking with the children of the devil, and that just can’t work long term.

As for where the fellowshipping between Christians take place, the list has to start with church services. Many people, even some professing Christians, have denounced church services, but that doesn’t change the fact that the New Testament heavily endorses such services. For example, Hebrews 10:25 tells us Christians not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Likewise, Acts 2:42 says of the early Christians in Jerusalem: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (N.K.J.V.). So, mark it down: A great place for the Christian to experience fellowship with his or her fellow Christians on a weekly, consistent basis is the local church.

Of course not every Christian attends church, and I’m aware of the reasons why. I understand about Christian shut-ins, bed-ridden Christians, and those Christians who have to work on Sunday just to hold down their jobs. I also understand about Christians who have had bad experiences in churches. Furthermore, I know that you can hear good preaching and singing on t.v., radio, and the internet. What you can’t get, though, at home or at work on Sunday is the fellowship that comes with engaging in corporate worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ at your local church.

Someone asks, “But is a church service the only place that Christian fellowship can occur?” No, it isn’t. Christian fellowship can take place during Christian retreats, Christian camps, in-home visits, hospital visits, or nursing home visits. It can happen when one Christian unexpectedly runs into another Christian at the store. It can happen when a Christian has a conversation with his Christian neighbor over the hedge that separates their lawns. It can happen when Christians sit next to each other at a ball game. It can happen at the workplace when two Christians have a moment to talk.

In all of these instances, as well as others that could be named, what differentiates mere human interaction from actual Christian fellowship is the emphasis upon spiritual matters. Once two Christians turn their conversation and their focus toward the spiritual (i.e., talking about God the Father, Jesus, God the Holy Spirit, the Bible, prayer, worship, church, God’s will, prophecy, etc.), they begin to fellowship in a way that only Christians can. In other words, two Christians sitting beside one another at a football game and talking about how talented the other’s team quarterback is doesn’t constitute Christian fellowship. On the other hand, if those same two Christians sitting at that same game start talking about their Sunday School lesson from the previous week or how Romans chapter 11 should be interpreted, they begin to engage in Christian fellowship.

The Greek word translated in the New Testament as “fellowship” is koinonia. It’s a word that comes from another Greek word, koinos, which means “common.” As such, koinonia can be defined as “a sharing in common.” This sharing is much more than mere friendship, tolerance, or acceptance. It is a community in which the participants share fundamental spiritual commonalities.

With this in mind, what each supposed Christian should do, by way of personal examination, is ask himself or herself: “Do I enjoy being around Christians or do I enjoy being around lost people? Would I rather work beside a Christian or a lost person? Would I rather sit at a ballgame next to a Christian or a lost person? Would I rather live beside a Christian or a lost person? If I have to get in a car and take a road trip, would I rather be in there with a carload of Christians or a carload of lost people?” John says, “If you are a legitimate Christian, you’ll have a desire to fellowship with other Christians.” This fellowship isn’t the only evidence of salvation, but it’s certainly a good place to start.

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Church, Church Attendance, Salvation, Series: "1 John", Sunday School, Worship | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

A “Know So” Salvation

Posted on May 17, 2021 by russellmckinney

1 John series: (post #1)

Perhaps you’ve heard that God wants you to be saved from the eternal penalty of your sins by believing in Jesus, God the Son, as your personal Savior. But have you also heard that God wants you to live out your days knowing for certain that you have been saved? Just how serious is God about this matter of you having a “know so” salvation as opposed to a “hope so” one? He’s serious enough about it to have inspired one of His choice servants to devote an entire book of the Bible to the topic. That book is the one we call 1 John.

The same man who wrote 1 John also wrote the books of 2 John, 3 John, The Revelation, and the gospel of John. Who was the writer of these five books? It was John the apostle, one of Jesus’ chosen 12 apostles. As for what John’s God-inspired purpose was in writing 1 John, we don’t have to guess. In some of his closing words from the book, he says the following:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:13, N.K.J.V.)

Those words “These things” refer to the teachings that John has provided leading up to that point in the book, Therefore, by consulting those previous teachings, anyone can take a litmus test in order to find out whether or not he or she has experienced an authentic salvation by authentically believing in Jesus. You see, the salvation experience changes a person on the inside and that inward change will at some point show up in that person’s outward conduct. Good works don’t flow into salvation to produce it, but they do flow out of it to evidence it. So, even though John doesn’t offer a list of things that one must do in order to get saved, he does offer a list of traits that a genuine salvation experience will inevitably produce in the life of the saved person.

I might also add that John’s list is quite extensive. All told, it names no less than ten tell-tale marks of salvation. Over the course of this blog series we will examine all ten of these marks, devoting one post to each, and as we do this we will come up with a pretty thorough resource for what might be called “the assurance of salvation.” By joining me for this series you, the reader, will be able to scripturally assess whether or not you have legitimately experienced the salvation that is offered in Jesus Christ. For the record, that salvation includes you being forgiven of all your sins, being granted eternal life, and being guaranteed entrance into heaven as opposed to dying and going to hell. Needless to say, when it comes to salvation, the stakes don’t get any higher. That’s why I encourage you to get on board the train as this series is just now pulling out of the station, and let’s find out together what having a “know so” salvation really looks like.

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Belief, Eternity, Faith, Heaven, Hell, Salvation, Series: "1 John" | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

That’s Some Building

Posted on May 14, 2021 by russellmckinney

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22, N.K.J.V.)

Here in America we have church buildings galore. They come in all shapes and sizes and are found here, there, and everywhere all across the landscape. Our megachurch buildings look more like shopping malls than cathedrals, but most of our church buildings are the classic variety marked by towering steeples.

The problem with having so many church buildings is that we begin to think of a church as being a building rather than a congregation of people. That’s why we pastors must constantly remind our flocks that they are the church. Yes, our churches meet in buildings, but the buildings are just that: buildings. As someone has said, “A church are those who are left without a building after their building has burnt down.”

With this understood, what the apostle Paul does in our text passage is use the metaphor of a building to illustrate how new believers are added to what theologians refer to as “the universal church.” The universal church is simply the sum total of all of history’s Christians who get saved between the Day of Pentecost that is described in Acts 2:1-38 and the coming moment of the Rapture that is described in 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. You see, when Jesus said, “I will build My church” (Mathew 16:18) He wasn’t talking about just one congregation of believers who meet in a brick building on the corner of Maple street and Elm street. No, He was talking about each and every believer who gets saved during what we call “the church age.” Again, the two bookend events of the “church age” are the Day of Pentecost and The Rapture. Everyone who becomes a born-again Christian during that age automatically becomes a part of the “universal” church. This “universal” church is also metaphorically called “the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:12) and “the bride of Christ” Ephesians 5:27).

Someone asks, “Will people believe in Jesus and get saved after the Rapture during the seven-year Tribulation Period that is prophesied to one day play out upon the earth?” Yes, they will. But those people will not become a part of the universal church (the body of Christ, the bride of Christ). Ultimately they, along with all the believers who got saved from Adam until the Day of Pentecost, will spend eternity with the universal church in the eternal city called The New Jerusalem (Revelation chapters 21 and 22). What they will not do, though, is ever become a part of the universal church. That door of opportunity closes at the moment the Rapture occurs.

Now let me get back to the metaphor of the universal church as being a building. In ancient times workers began building a building by first laying a cornerstone. Using that cornerstone as a base square, the workers would then lay the foundation for the building. Lastly, the layers of individual stones would be systematically set in place atop that foundation. With all this in mind, let’s now walk through how Paul used this process as an illustration of how the eternal, universal church is being built. First, Jesus, by way of His virgin birth, sinless life, vicarious death, and miraculous resurrection, has become the cornerstone (Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:6-7). Second, the early church’s apostles and prophets, by way of their authoritative preaching and divinely inspired writing of scripture, began with Jesus (the cornerstone) and from Him laid the foundation of the church (Romans 15:20). Third, each Christian serves as an individual stone that helps to complete the building (the universal church) (1 Peter 2:5). As Peter figuratively describes us there in 1 Peter 2:5, we are “living stones.”

Doesn’t all of this make for a beautiful, metaphoric picture of the universal church? Not only is the Christian an integral part of Christ’s bride and body, he or she is also a part of Christ’s building. How’s that for a good Baptist preacher’s three-point alliterated outline? So, Christian, the next time you look at a church building, I hope you will recall the fact that Jesus is right now “building” His universal church, and you have the jaw-dropping privilege of being a “stone” in it. That ought to make you shout, and it ought to make you go out and serve Him all the more.

Posted in Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, Church, Grace, Salvation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trusting in People Can Make You Look Stupid

Posted on May 12, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” (John 14:1, N.K.J.V.)

Our son Ryan played on the high school basketball team. Each summer the head coach would organize and run a travel-ball tournament as a way of raising money for his program. Teams from neighboring counties would send their summer teams to compete in the tournament, with teams from multiple age groups playing in various gyms located around our county. Like all the other parents of the players on our high school team, Tonya and I were expected to volunteer our services in some capacity to help make the tournament happen.

We signed up to run the scoreboard and keep the scorer’s book at one of the high school level games that was played at the high school gym. One of those teams had a superstar guard who was an awesome player. Unfortunately for him, though, he picked up two quick fouls early in that game and was subsequently benched. In case you don’t know much about basketball, high school players are only allowed five fouls per game, which means that committing three in the first of two halves forces a kid to play cautiously for the entirety of the closing half lest he foul out completely.

Well, the kid sat the bench for most of the first half, and everybody was assuming that he wouldn’t get back into the game until the start of the second half. But very late in the first half his coach decided to take a risk. The game was tight, and he really needed that kid’s talent on the floor. So, with the chances being relatively low that the kid would pick up his third foul in the limited time that remained, the coach put him back into the game. As the kid came to the scorer’s table to await the next stoppage of play so that he could be reinserted, I heard the coach say to him, “Don’t make me look stupid.”

You can guess what happened next. It took the kid about twenty seconds to commit his third foul. As soon as it happened, the coach sent another player to the scorer’s table to replace him. I blew the horn to signal to the refs that a player was being substituted, and the superstar guard began his long walk back to the bench. As his luck would have it that game, he had to walk right past his coach to get there. Instead of ranting and raving at the kid, the coach just glared at him with a death stare from the moment the foul occurred until the moment the kid walked past him. Needless to say, that kid had made him look stupid for putting him back into the game.

The spiritual lesson you can learn from this story is that people will let you down. Whether they do it accidently or on purpose, they will disappoint you. That’s why you should reserve your ultimate trust for Jesus Christ. Trust in Him to eternally save you. Trust in Him to meet your daily needs. Trust in Him to answer your prayers. Trust in Him to guide you. He is the one who loved you enough to die so that all your sins might be forgiven, and He is the one who, when all the dust is settled and all the accounts are finalized, will never leave you looking stupid.

Posted in Belief, Disappointment, God's Provision, Needs, Personal, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Let Your Fire Burn Off Your Ropes

Posted on May 10, 2021 by russellmckinney

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he arose in haste and spoke, saying, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” (Daniel 3:24-25, N.K.J.V.)

George Matheson, the great Scottish preacher, gleaned an interesting thought from this passage. Rather than focusing upon the fourth man’s miraculous protection of the three Hebrew boys in the fire, Matheson honed in on those words “walking in the midst of the fire.” He said:

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the furnace, the fire did not stop them from moving, for they were seen “walking around.” Actually, the fire was one of the streets they traveled to their destination. The comfort we have from Christ’s revealed truth is not that it teaches us freedom from sorrow, but that it teaches us freedom through sorrow.

What gave Matheson’s take on the passage even more depth was the fact that he himself was blind. He wasn’t born blind, but his eyesight began deteriorating only a few months after his birth, and by the time he was eighteen years old it was so bad that he needed assistance to complete his schoolwork. He spent the decades of his ministry in physical darkness, using memorization to recite not only his sermons but also the hymns and scripture readings for each service. Despite his physical impairment, he still managed to become one of Scotland’s most famous and accomplished pastors.

Actually, Matheson’s friends claimed that his blindness was his own type of fire, one that burned off some of his ropes in regards to spiritual insight and discernment. As Warren Wiersbe, in his book, Living With the Giants, says of Matheson:

He was not deceived or distracted by the surface things of life. He had the ability to penetrate deeper even though he could not see. A presbyterian council heard him preach once and responded: “The Council all feel that God has closed your eyes only to open other eyes, which have made you one of the guides of men.”

Surely it was Matheson’s unique take that allowed him to note how even our times of fire, when they are given over fully to the Lord, can produce a freedom for us that can’t be gained any other way. Like Nebuchadnezzar’s fire burning those ropes off Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the fires that you and I must sometimes endure can free us from our worries and doubts. Think about the perspective those three Hebrew youths had after their experience in Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace. Whenever some sort of trouble arose for any one of them over the course of the rest of his life, he could truthfully say, “Well, the Lord kept me safe in the fiery furnace, and what I’m going through now isn’t nearly as bad as that.” What inner peace and confidence that must have given each one of them!

This is the type of thing that George Matheson called “freedom through (by way of, because of) sorrow.” And it’s a freedom that you and I can gain as well if we will put our trust in the Lord when the flames are roaring all around us. You see, the truth is, there are lessons that can only be learned in the fire, and the child of God who has learned them there is indeed much better off than the one who hasn’t. Therefore, if you are currently having to endure one of life’s engulfing fires, just stick with Jesus through it and let Him use the heat to burn some ropes of bondage off you and create a special kind of freedom that you will be able to enjoy the rest of your days.

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