Obedience 2 - The Basis for Assurance.

As I sat thinking about writing another blog - I couldn't help but refer back to the testimonies I've heard these past few weeks of how the last post "Obedience" was helpful to some of you. It's refreshing to know I'm not the only one that gets something from these posts.

In preparing for this next topic, I felt it necessary to tie the two into one; After all according to 1 John 2:3-6, Obedience = The Basis for Assurance.

1 John 2:3-6
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

According to the Apostle, we can know and have assurance that we're in Christ when we're in obedience and compliance to His ways and commands. So how do we do this?

In short it’s only achievable when we are clothed in Christ. Over and over again in the Bible we are told to put on Jesus; we are told to clothe ourselves with Christ and His righteousness (Galatians 3:27; Romans 13:14; Luke 24:49; Ephesians 4:24). Romans 13:14 is my favorite “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires”

Does this require us to become perfect? No. To say otherwise would be heresy. The point however is that there is a standard, God’s holy standard, which is met naturally by the believer as fruits flow from his/her new life. As we put on Christ we indulge in our sinful nature less and less, allowing the Holy Spirit to shape and form us more and more. Hence I say the Apostle John calls obedience the basis for our assurance.

When our lives reflect Christ and His goodness then we can be sure that we’ve come to know Him(1 John 2:3-6) and knowing Him is eternal life (John. 17:3). If we therefore have eternal life then we can be sure of our salvation since the promise of it is eternal. This is why the Doctrine of The Perseverance of the Saints, when taught correctly, is nicknamed Eternal Security.

Eternal Security

or Perseverance of the Saints, states that all who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given faith by the Spirit are eternally saved. They are kept in faith by the power of God and persevere to the end. (John 3:36, 5:24, 6:37-40, Ephesians 1:11-14, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, 2 Corinthians 1:22, Philippians 1:6, Hebrews 10:14, 1 Peter 1:3-5, 1 John 2:19, 1 John 3:9, Jude 1, 24).

This doctrine does not mean that all those who merely appear to have faith (i.e., said a certain prayer, walked down the church isle, joined a church, were baptized, etc.) will be kept by God and will therefore persevere to the end. As stated in the Regeneration blog there are many people who profess to be believers but then later fall away. Instead, Perseverance of the Saints means that all those who have a genuine faith in Christ will be kept by God forever and will persevere to the end. There are many professing Christians who trust in their own works, goodness, merits for their salvation. These people are trusting in their own righteousness, instead of Jesus' blood, and do not have true faith in Jesus Christ.

Another important point that must be made is that contrary to what some believe, the doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints in no way permits believers to live a lazy and rebellious Christian life. That's why I titled this blog Obedience - The Basis for Assurance.

Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

Since the Christian is born again by the Holy Spirit, he loves Jesus and so naturally desires to keep His commandments. The change of heart that the Holy Spirit makes in regeneration, as well as the indwelling presence of the Spirit in the believer, ensures that the believer will continue to love Christ. True believers strive each and every day to please Him, this is not done in order to obtain salvation, or even to maintain salvation, because that would turn salvation by grace into salvation by works. Rather, Christians keep His commandments out of love and gratitude.

Saying that we must do the right things and obey all the rules in order to rather than in appreciation of (big difference) would be as a friend said today, putting the cart before the horse. The sustaining power in our salvation comes completely from The LORD. Grace, forgiveness, a new heart, His Spirit placed in us, and reverent fear of Him, are all given to us freely at The Father's will. Read Jeremiah 32:36-41. He does it all.

Now lets look a little closer at two of Jesus' statements:

Jesus said in John 6:39-40, "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." Here we are told that the Father's will for the Son is that the Son lose none of those that were chosen and given to Him. So in order for an elect person to be lost, the Son would either have to disobey the Father's will, or be impotent in His power to prevent the loss of those given to Him by the Father. Put plainly the only way a believer could be lost is for the Son of God to sin or be powerless to keep them. Needless to say, that will never happen.

In John 10:27-29 Jesus says about the elect sheep in verse 27, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;". Notice that it is the nature of sheep to follow the Shepherd. If anyone fails to follow the Shepherd, that person was never really a sheep. In the verses 28-29 He continues, "And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." It is sometimes argued that although nothing can take a believer out of the Father's hand, a person might take himself out of the Father's hand. However, Jesus does not say that the believer is holding tightly to the Father's hand. He says that the Father is holding tightly to the believer. Another thing to consider is who's doing the saving? We're talking about the Almighty God here... who is "greater than all". Hence "no one" means no one!

Be sure

Now that we're clear on what it actually means to have "eternal" life, let's get back to our assurance in the matter. We know that we have come to know Him when we love him and in His own words loving him is keeping His commands. Jesus' infamous 'you will know them by their fruits' statement in Matthew 7 is a very real life example.

From the time I can remember, my mother has had a lemon tree in her backyard. In due season it produces bright yellow, juicy, and very aromatic lemons. Just recently some of them started tasting different. They were no longer sour but instead had a sweet taste to them. After 1-2 tastes we'd all been convinced that somehow the fruits of the tree had changed. What we were eating was undoubtedly grapefruit. It wasn't until about a month ago that my step-dad went back to prune the tree and lo and behold there was a separate trunk that had grown up right beside the original one and indeed was a grapefruit tree. But think about it, we knew that before it was proven, and how... by the fruit it had been bearing! In the same way you know a person by their fruit. Jesus went on to say a good tree cannot produce bad fruit and a bad tree cannot produce good. Just like that lemon tree cannot produce grapefruit and visa versa (even though it had us fooled for a while...which.... wow! that could start a whole nother blog!!!).

So what fruit or evidence is growing from your life? Jesus' commandments were only two. Love God with all you've got, and love your neighbor as yourself. This is the fulfillment of the whole Law and the prophets. As we read in Romans 13:

8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Is this what hangs from your tree? Habitual obedience to the whole law and the prophets because you love God and others, and more importantly because God has so changed you from the inside out? Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith, ... you do not know whether you are, unless you pass the test. A good place to start is the book of 1st John.

Remember this is simply, but importantly, the evidence that you have come to know Him; that these things flow naturally from your life. We truly are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, for it is the gift of God, lest anyone should boast. We have no reason to boast about anything. Not even for making a decision for Christ. We serve a gracious and merciful God who chose us before the foundation of the world; who shed His precious blood which covered our sins; who changed our hearts so that we would willingly serve Him for all of eternity; who gave us the faith we need to do so; and who holds us in His hand now and forever. To Him and Him alone be all glory (soli deo gloria) and praise forever and ever!

grace & peace,

Da Sciple