1 JOHN Series, Message #5 Barry L. Cameron Pastor. HOW TO KNOW YOU RE A CHRISTIAN (Text: 1 John 2:3-11)

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1 1 JOHN Series, Message #5 Barry L. Cameron Pastor HOW TO KNOW YOU RE A CHRISTIAN (Text: 1 John 2:3-11) ILL. ANNE HATHAWAY who starred in the movie, The Devil Wears Prada, is currently starring in the movie GET SMART with Steve Carell. She plays Agent 99, his beautiful sidekick. The movie, a remake of the popular TV show from the 60 s, will go over the $100 million mark this weekend. Not long ago, Anne Hathaway was interviewed and asked about her faith. She talked about her Sunday ritual. She said, my Sundays always include going to church with my boyfriend [real estate developer Raffaello Follieri]. Sometimes we go out for Mexican afterward, so it s the perfect combination: church and margaritas. Blasphemy! Is that what REAL CHRISTIANITY looks like? APPARENTLY, SHE S NOT ALONE... ILL. A recent survey in USA TODAY said: Religion in the USA has a new anthem. No longer Give Me That Old Time Religion, now it s Don t Fence Me In. 92% overwhelmingly believe in God. 58% say they pray at least once a day. 30% have no religious affiliation at all, but sometimes go to church. 78% say there are absolute standards of right and wrong, but the majority determines those by practical experience and common sense. 70% agree that many religions can lead to eternal life. 50% say that homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society. Rice University sociologist, Michael Lindsay, said, Americans believe in everything. It s a spiritual salad bar. WHERE ARE the REAL CHRISTIANS? ILL. Back to ANNE HATHAWAY. Remember the surprising statement she made about the perfect combination of going to church and then to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas and joked it was blasphemy!? Well, Anne got her own surprise. Apparently, The Devil Does Wear Prada. Turns out her boyfriend wasn t really who he said he was. Today, he s in jail, charged by Federal Prosecutors with 11 counts of real estate and investment fraud and money laundering. His bail was set at $21 million. Fortunately, Anne broke up with her boyfriend two weeks ago. Now, maybe she ll GET SMART and discover what a REAL CHRISTIAN is, too! So, how do you know if you re really a Christian? How do you know if you re really saved? - There are all kinds of opinions about what a genuine Christian really is. 2 Timothy 4:10, Demas forsook Paul. Judas looked good, too. (At least for a while.) - But they never were genuine Christians. What about Christians who don t even know if they re saved or not? 2 Peter 1:10, Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. - Peter s talking about the confident assurance we can all have. He s not suggesting that somehow we secure our salvation. - The same grace that saves us, secures us. 2 Peter 1:5-8. Peter says, If you ll do these things, you ll know for sure. - Those things don t save you, but they are things you do if you are saved.

2 Page Two So, how do we know who s REAL? How can we tell the TRUE from the FALSE? - The POSSESSORS from the PROFESSORS. There are basically TWO AREAS that show whether we are saved or not. 1. Objective Assurance This is the firm persuasion that rests upon something OUTSIDE of us. - Specifically, the WORKS that the Spirit produces (2 Peter 1). 2. Subjective Assurance The firm persuasion that I m a Christian based on something within me. - Not the WORKS of the Spirit, but the WITNESS of the Spirit. One is INVISIBLE and the other is VISIBLE. SUBJECTIVE assurance (or INTERNAL assurance) is clarified in several passages: 2 Corinthians 1:12, Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. 1 John 5:10, Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Romans 8:14-16, The Spirit of God gives us confidence to address God, Abba Father, and the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God s children. OBJECTIVE assurance (visible or EXTERNAL assurance) is a product of the Holy Spirit. - That s the problem Peter deals with in 2 Peter. 2 Peter 1:5-8. If you don t begin to see these things in your life, then you re going to begin questioning the validity of your faith. - We should be able to see the FRUITS of salvation visible in our lives if we don t, then we re doing something wrong. That s the THEME of John s message here. - He says the way to know whether we are REAL Christians or not is the EXTERNAL TEST. Check out the external, observable character of a person s life and you ll be able to know whether or not they re truly saved. You can t know what s in someone else s heart. But you can observe what s in a person s life. Jesus said the same thing in Luke 6:43-45, No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. John presents TWO EXTERNAL TESTS: 1. A Doctrinal Test it has 2 parts: a. Do you confess Christ? (Do you say the same thing God says about Jesus?) b. Do you confess sin? (Do you say the same thing God says about sin?) 1 John 2:22, Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. - Verse 23, No one who denies the Son has the Father... Here are the right answers to the test: 1 John 4:2, This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

3 Page Three 1 John 5:1, Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Here are the wrong answers to the test: 1 John 1:6, If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 1 John 1:8, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:10, If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. CONFESSION is the KEY: Confessing our SIN. Confessing CHRIST. Not only does John present a Doctrinal Test, he also presents A Moral Test it has 2 parts: a. Obedience (1 John 2:3) b. Love (1 John 2:10) The central issue of this passage is the MORAL TEST. - John says, test people. Don t just believe their claims. Test them. The Doctrinal Test was covered in Chapter 1. The Moral Test is covered here in Chapter 2. Three things we want to notice: (1) THE PRINCIPLE - You can tell a Christian by their obedience. (2) THE PATTERN (1 John 2:6) - You can tell a Christian by the fact that they re a copy of the Lord, Jesus. (3) THE PROOF (1 John 2:7-11) - You can tell a Christian by their love. (1) THE PRINCIPLE (1 John 2:3-5) - The first way to know you re a Christian is to obey His commands. - The whole point of verses 3-5 is that Christians OBEY. Luke 3:8. John the Baptist told the crowds who d come out to hear him preach, Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. - In other words, live a life of obedience. Life change results in a changed life. 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. Luke 6:46, Jesus said, Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and not do what I say? - You and I are living in the generation that loves to say how much they love God, but doesn t do anything God says we re to do. Check out any survey and the numbers will show the vast majority of Americans believe in God. - But check out any city in America. Check out any newspaper. Check out any news program and tell me where the influence and impact of that claim is being seen. We say we believe in God yet... we butcher little babies, ordain homosexuals into the ministry, coddle criminals, promote same-sex marriages, remove prayer and Bible reading from our schools, tolerate all kinds of profanity, vulgarity and filth from Hollywood and call it entertainment, allow people like Ellen Degeneres and Don Imus and Bill Maher and Oprah Winfrey and Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger to say anything they want, but when a genuine, Bible preacher preaches the simple yet supernatural Word of God they call it hate speech!

4 Page Four John 14:15, If you love me, you will obey what I command. The PRINCIPLE is OBEDIENCE. (2) THE PATTERN(1 John 2:6) - A second way to know you re a Christian is to make sure you re a replica or a copy of Jesus. - If Jesus has changed your life you re going to begin to look like Him. - Do you look like Jesus? Do you talk like Jesus? Do you walk like Jesus? - Do you react like Jesus? Do you think like Jesus? Do you love like Jesus? Do others see Jesus in you? When they hang out with you do they glorify God or ignore Him? Yes, it s a life long process. But we ought to be making progress every day, every week, every year. Romans 8:29, Paul said that God has predestined that we might be conformed to the likeness of His Son. (In other words, we re going to be just like Him some day.) 2 Corinthians 3:18, And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 1 John 3:2, We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him... Philippians 2. Paul said our attitude should be like Christ. Be humble. Jesus humbled Himself. - Follow the pattern He gave. ILL. Tracing paper. - Just lay the tracing paper over whatever it is you want to copy. - You can trace almost anything if you re close enough to the pattern. Too many people are too far away from Jesus to come close to copying Him. 2 Corinthians 11:1, Paul said, Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. - Can you say that to others? - Can we tell your children to follow you as you follow Christ? - Can we tell your parents to follow you as you follow Christ? - Can we tell your employees to follow you as you follow Christ? Your friends? We need to learn to follow the PATTERN: JESUS! The PRINCIPLE is OBEDIENCE. The PATTERN is JESUS. (3) THE PROOF (1 John 2:10) - Jesus said, By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love on another. (John 13:35). - John expands on that in vs If you want to know if you re a genuine Christian or not, just ask yourself this question, Is my life characterized by genuine, Christ-like love for others? Romans 13:8, Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you don t need a bunch of laws. Verses 7-8. John says, I m not giving you a new command. You ve known you were supposed to love since the beginning. - But, it s a new (fresh) command because of Jesus. - He s raised the bar for all of us. And the church is to keep raising the bar of love for the world. We re to set the pace.

5 Page Five ILL. Difference between a thermostat and a thermometer. - A thermometer tells you what the temperature is. - A thermostat SETS THE TEMPERATURE. We re to SET THE STANDARD for love in the world a love that captivates their attention. Verse 9. Here come the PROFESSORS again! - Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. That CLAIM needs to be checked by their CONDUCT. - You can t say one thing and do another. Verse 10. If your life is characterized by love you ll live in the light and there won t be anything to make you stumble. Verse 11. If your life is characterized by hate, you re in the darkness and will stumble and fall all over yourself and never get where you re supposed to be because the darkness blinds you. So, if you want to know if you re really a Christian or not, here are three simple questions: 1. Do you OBEY? (That s the PRINCIPLE) 2. Are you like JESUS? (He s The PATTERN) 3. Do you LOVE? (That s the PROOF) Do you know what a church full of REAL CHRISTIANS could do in this community? - Let s find out.