The Nature of Saving Faith - Part 2

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Well, I do invite you to turn to 1 John, chapter 5. As we continue to study this amazing chapter, we're focusing on “The Nature of Saving Faith,” and that's important because as we learned at the beginning of last week, there are other kinds of faith that are not true saving faith. In fact, there's an entire book of the New Testament meant to warn us of this; it's the book of James. The theme of James’s epistle is “The Effects of True Saving Faith.” James was concerned about the fact that there are these other kinds of faith that people might inadvertently embrace that don't save.

And so, he writes his letter, and he focuses in one section, James 2, verses 14 to 26, on that issue directly. And in that paragraph in James 2, he concludes that in the church, there are two kinds of faith–there is a real saving faith and there is a deceiving dead faith that actually damns. And the danger is that people demonstrating these two kinds of faith have so many things in common. They all claim to be Christians. More than that, they're all convinced that they're Christians. They all embrace the same biblical doctrine. They all claim to believe in the same biblical Jesus and the same biblical gospel. Both kinds of people were in the churches, who received James’s original letter, and both kinds, sadly, are here in this church this morning and in most churches across our world. That's why Paul calls us at the end of 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 5, to examine ourselves, or to test ourselves to see if we're truly in the faith.

So, how exactly do you identify dead, non-saving faith? How do you know if your faith is not the kind that saves? Well, James puts it this way in James 2:26, “…just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” That's how you identify dead non-saving faith? Is it the kind of faith that says, “I believe in Jesus, I believe in the gospel,” but there are no works that follow after it? You see, we're not saved by works; but we are saved unto good works, Ephesians 2:10 says. And so, wherever there is true saving faith, there will be the expression of it.

So how do you identify, then, real living saving faith? James, in his letter, answers that question in a series of very specific practical ways. As James walks through his letter, he says, “You want to know whether your faith is real? Well, how do you respond to trials? How do you respond to temptation? How do you respond to the Scripture? How do you respond to other believers in different socio-economic positions? How do you use your tongue,” (Summary paraphrase.) and so forth through his letter? In our text here, in 1 John 5, John is making exactly the same point, real saving faith always produces certain results. And you can know that your faith is real, that it's true saving faith, because when you examine yourself, you see those results.

We're studying 1 John 5, verses 1 to 13, and for the third and last time, we're looking at the test of “Faith in Jesus Christ and His Gospel.” Let's read it together, 1 John 5, verses 1 to 13.

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. “

As I noted for you last week, the theme of this paragraph is that the one who believes God's testimony about the biblical Jesus and the biblical gospel, that believer has been born of God and has eternal life.

In this paragraph, John explains four key elements of saving faith. First of all, and let me just remind you of where we're going, kind of a roadmap. First of all, in the first half of verse 1, we have “The Cause of Saving Faith.” From the middle of verse 1, down through verse 5, there are “The Results of Saving Faith.” Verses 6 through 12, “The Object of Saving Faith;” and verse 13, “The Assurance of Saving Faith.”

Last time, we considered just the first of those key elements, The Cause of Saving Faith.” Look at the first half of verse 1, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Now, I noted for you last time that, literally, the Greek text reads this way, “The one believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born out of God.” You can go back and listen if you weren't here; it's a really important truth with major ramifications and implications, and I tried to point those out. But the point of verse 1, the first half, is that our faith is not because of the new birth, but the consequence of it. In other words, you didn't believe and therefore we're born again. God found you, who were dead in your trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2, and He made you alive, and because He made you alive, you believed.

Today, we discover a second key element of faith, and that is, “The Results of Saving Faith.” This is the argument of the Apostle John from the middle of verse 1 down through verse 5. And it's important because there is such a thing as dead, non-saving faith. That means it's important to have an objective standard to evaluate our faith to see if it's truly genuine. And John does just that here, he identifies several guaranteed results, guaranteed results that are always found in the life of a person with true saving faith. Now, three of these results of saving faith, you're going to find are very familiar. In fact, they're part of the three tests of eternal life that we've seen throughout this letter. But it's really unusual in the passage we come to today to find all three of them, faith, love, and obedience, in just three verses. Really the first time so clearly, John has brought all three together in just one short passage.

Why has he done that? I think John Stott is right when he writes:

What John is at pains to show is the essential unity of his threefold thesis. He has not chosen three tests arbitrarily or at random and stuck them together artificially. On the contrary, he shows that they are so closely woven together into a single coherent fabric, that it's difficult to unpick and disentangle the threads.

These three tests are so interwoven with each other, that you can't separate them and that's why they are three wonderful tests because they interrelate and interconnect and confirm each other. So, let's consider then “The Results of True Saving Faith.”

The first result, where there is true saving faith in the heart, if you have saving faith, the first result is “Love for God,” love for God. This point is obvious, and John already stated it in the last part of chapter 4. So, here he doesn't state it explicitly, but it's clearly implied. Look at verse 1, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father…” You'll notice the point he makes here is that whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ and has been born of God also loves the Father. “Whoever believes (Literally, “the one believing.” It's personal–includes every single believer, every true Christian, in other words, one who's been born again, one who believes in Jesus Christ, every true Christian.) is continually loving the Father.” (Paraphrase.)

John has already made this clear, go back to chapter 4, verse 19. He says, “We love, (And in context, we discovered he means here, “We love God.”) because He first loved us.” The believer knows of God's love. You go back chapter 4, verses 9 and 10, “God so loved this world that God sent His Son into the world, the love of God was manifested in that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world.” (Paraphrase.) Verse 10, not only this but, “…He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The believer knows that, and he knows that because of that love of God, he has been born again, he has been forgiven, he's been made right with God, as a result of that, he loves the One who gave him life. You just can't help yourself. If you have come to know God's love. If you really understand what God has done for you, you can't help yourself but respond in love and gratitude. This is understandable, even at a human level. I mean, if you had some terrible problem with your body, a disease or some malformation, and there was only one doctor in the country that could perform that surgery and you searched high and low, and you found that doctor, and he or she performed that surgery and gave you life, physically, you couldn't help yourself, your heart would overflow with gratitude, appreciation, even love for that person. How much more when we have been redeemed from our sins and eternal hell. David Jackman writes, “As soon as we realize what has happened to us through the new birth, our response is one of gratitude and love to God, He has now become our Father.”

Note this, true saving faith always produces love for God. But of course, that raises another question and that is, “How do I know that I love God because there are a lot of people walking around in our world who claim to love God and who will not be in heaven? So, how can I know if I love God?” And John answers that question as he explains a second result of real saving faith. The second result is “Love for Other Believers,” love for other believers. True Christians love other believers; we've seen this again and again in this letter. And this doesn't come naturally. This is something the Holy Spirit has to produce; it can even be a challenge for us as believers. As the poet put it:

To live above with saints in love,

that will indeed be glory.

To live below with saints we know,

is quite another story.

But true believers love other believers. Look at verse 1, “…whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.” Now, as you can see from the marginal readings in your NAS or other translation, in Greek, the statement is a little different. Let me read it for you literally. Literally, it reads this way, “The one loving the One who begats (Meaning the Father–the One who causes the new birth.) is loving the one begotten of Him. The one who loves the One who begats loves the one begotten of Him.”

Now here, John doesn't mean, as Agustine taught, that Christians love Jesus, God's only begotten Son though of course that's true; we do love Jesus. In fact, 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, verse 22, says, “If anyone does not love the Lord (meaning the Lord Jesus) he is to be (damned).” If you're here this morning and you don't love Jesus Christ, your eternity is currently settled unless you repent and believe. On the other hand, Ephesians 6:24 says, “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.” So, a Christian is marked by love for Jesus Christ, but that's not what is being said here. Believers do love God's only begotten Son, Jesus, but here instead, as verse 2 is going to make clear, John means that Christians love every true child of God; every true child of God who, like us, has been born of God. Now this again, is obvious and self-evident, even on a human level. If I really love someone, then I have a special affection for an interest in their children. In the same way, it is impossible to love God without loving His children.

This has been said again and again; let me just highlight a couple of places. Look back in chapter 2, verse 10:

The one who loves his brother (his Christian brother or sister) abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother (And that's the only other option because if you don't love them, you're consumed with your own self and selfishness, and therefore you hate your brother. You are.) is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

Look at chapter 3, verse 14, couldn't be any clearer than this. “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.” Chapter 4, verse 20:

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

So, true believers, those who have true saving faith, love other believers. Why is that? I love the way Lloyd-Jones says it in his commentary. He says:

We see in them (That is, in other believers.) the same disposition as in ourselves. We realize that they owe everything to the grace of God just as we do. We realize that in spite of their sinfulness, God sent His Son to die for them exactly as He did for us. And we are aware of this bond. Though there may be many things about them we do not like, we say, “That is my brother, my sister,” and so we begin to love them.

You know, that that makes a great point. It's not that we find all other Christians likable, I'm sure you don't all find me likeable! You don't love me because I'm likeable; you love me because I'm your brother in Christ, and that's why we love each other. Saving faith, true living, saving faith always produces love for God and love for God's people!

There's a third result that always accompanies saving faith and that is, “Obedience to God's Word,” obedience to God's Word. John wants us to know that love, real love for God and believers, isn't just some emotion; it's not some sweet sentimentality, it's not a an emotional experience. Love is always demonstrated by obedience! Verse 2, “By this we know that we love the children of God. Now the phrase, “By this we know” tells us that John's about to explain how we can know that we love God's children. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God.” You say, “Wait a minute, you lost me; that sounds a little circular.” No, it's not circular reasoning. Here's John's point, loving God and loving our Christian brothers and sisters confirm and prove each other. You can't have one of them without the other. It's like salt and pepper, they go together. You're not going to separate them; if there's one and only one, if you say, “I only love God,” but you don't really love your Christian brothers, or you say, “I really love my Christian brothers and sisters,” but you don't really love God, then that love isn't real. That's what he's saying, it's not real.

And then John adds another test in verse 2, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love (are loving) God and observe (Are observing, literally the original language says, “doing his commandments.”)” When we are loving God and doing His commandments, when we deliberately and consistently do the commandments found in God's moral law, then we know that we love God's children.

Now, you'll notice these two tests come together; we love God, and we keep His commandments. Why do those two come together? Because loving God always expresses itself in obedience. Because we love God, we do His commandments. That's fairly obvious.

But here's the key question, “How does loving God and keeping His commandments prove that we love other believers, which is the point he's making in verse 2? How does that prove I love other believers?” Well, think about this with me. What are God's commandments to us? How would you summarize God's commandments to us? Well, I don't think you could do any better than our Lord's own summary, right? In Matthew 22, what does He say about all of God's Law and all of the Prophets? The Law and the Prophets are summarized, He said, in this, “Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.” So, what are God's commands? Love Him, and love others! And so, if we really keep those commands, and we treat one another the way He's commanded, then we are loving our brothers and sisters. This is really clear in Romans 13, turn there with me. Romans 13, and look at verse 8, he says, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” How is that true?

Well, think about it, think about the commandments, commandments like:

“YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there's any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

In other words, if you truly love someone, then you're not going to do those things that are forbidden. And if you truly love them, you're going to do what God commands you to do with reference to them. So, you see how it all interlinks.

Look back in our text back at 1 John 5, verse 3. He goes on to say this, “For (because this is an explanation of verse 2) this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments…” Now note that, star that, because that is a truly amazing statement. The connection between loving God and keeping His commandments is inexorable–it's inescapable, it's inevitable! In fact, the connection is so close that not only is obedience to God's commands the inevitable result of love for God, but obedience even defines what it means to love God. For this is the love of God, to keep His commandments. Our obedience to God's commands is not only evidence of saving faith, but it's the way we love God. You want to know how to love God? Start here, by obeying His Son, believing in His Son, we talked about that last time. and by obeying His Word. That's how you love God. If we love God, we'll keep His commandments. Verse 3 says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”

He makes the same point over in his second letter, look at 2 John; 2 John, verse 6; 2 John 6, “And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.” So, there it is, this is how we love God. David Jackman writes, and this is, stay with me, this is a quote, but I think it's worth it. Listen carefully:

Because we love God, we truly want to please Him in our thoughts, words, and actions. For us, it is no longer an external matter of moral duty in keeping a law so much as pleasing a dearly loved Father that lies at the heart of our Christian discipleship. (And then he makes it an important correction. He says.) If we judge our love purely at the emotional level (In other words, if we try to evaluate our love for God at the purely emotional level.) without any regard for the moral obedience which God's Law demands, we may well find ourselves excusing disobedience because we still feel warmly toward God. To profess love for God but to fail to obey His commands is a nonsense. It shows that we are actually thinking that God's commands are a bore, a chore, a heavy load. And what does that say in turn about our attitude toward God Himself?

This necessary connection between love for God and obedience to His Word, this is the consistent message of Scripture everywhere you go.

In fact, look for a moment at Deuteronomy. I'll just show you a couple of examples; they could be multiplied in the Old Testament. But even in the Old Testament Scriptures, this is clear. Look at Deuteronomy, chapter 5, verse 10. God says, “(I show steadfast love) to thousands, to those who love Me and keep (What?) My commandments.” Look at chapter 7, verse 9:

Know therefore that the LORD (Yahweh) your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness (steadfast love) to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.

Look at chapter 10, verse 12:

Now Israel, what does the LORD (Yahweh) your God require from you, but to fear the LORD (Yahweh) your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD’s (Yahweh’s) commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

By the way that makes an important point. God's commands are not intended to rob us of life's joys. They are for our good! Our good and All-Wise Creator understands what we need, and He has told us that in His Word. You come to the New Testament, and you see this same point. Our Lord in John 14:15 says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

Folks, these verses mean that real love for God and obedience to His Word, are inseparable. A person who claims to love God but does not obey the Scripture is self-deceived. They don't love God, they hate Him. Love for God is not merely an emotional experience; it's a moral commitment. Our world is filled with people who think they love God, but they have no commitment to obedience. Their claims are absolutely empty. If we love God, it will express itself in obedience to His commands. An emotional feeling of love for God that ignores His Law is not true love for God. Instead, it's the conscious desire and effort to obey God's revealed will in Scripture that shows and confirms that I have a genuine love for Him.

Look how John ends verse 3, “…and His commandments are not burdensome.” All major English translations use this word ‘burdensome.’ It means ‘to be a burden’ or ‘to be troublesome, to be heavy.’ God's commands are no longer a troublesome heavy burden that we try to avoid. To the genuine Christian, God's Laws are not a heavy burden; they're like wings are to a bird. There are a couple of reasons for that. The reason God's commands are no longer burdensome for us is because, at the new birth, God changed our attitude about His Word. That happened at the moment of conversion. We once distrusted God and His goodness, just like Satan tempted Eve to do, that's how we lived before Christ. Like Eve, we saw God's commands as restrictive and confining, oppressive, intended to steal the joys of our life.

But in regeneration, our view of the Father dramatically changed. Like the prodigal in the pigpen, we came to our senses, and said, “Our Father is good! We now understand that His commands reflect the loving heart of a perfectly wise Father and that He gave His commands for our good. So, our view of God's Word and His commands is radically different. It’s like the Psalmist in Psalm 19:10, “His commands are more desirable than gold, yes, then much fine gold.” To the believer now, Scripture is more valuable than life's greatest treasures. He goes on in verse 10 to say, “Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” To the believer, to the one who has experienced the new birth, Scripture is more satisfying than life's finest joys.

We can absolutely agree with our Lord’s statement and His invitation in Matthew 11, verses 29 and 30, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS, for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” We can, with Paul, in Romans 7:22 say, “I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man.” Or Romans 12:2, “The will of God is good and acceptable and perfect.” God's commands to the believer are no longer crushing, some sort of a crushing burden that exhausts us. Instead, we realize that God's commands are for our protection and our good, that the One who made the world and made us knows how we best function in it, and we see His commands as a way to arrive at true human thriving and flourishing. So, God changed our attitude about His Word!

But there's another reason they're no longer burdensome, that God's Laws are no longer burdensome. In the new birth, God gives us the power to obey them. In Romans, chapter 8, verse 7, talking of the unbeliever, Paul says, “The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.” No wonder it's a burden–you can't do them! But that changed with the new birth. Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 10, says that at the new birth, God put His laws into our minds and wrote them on our hearts. (Paraphrase.) And Ezekiel 36:27 says He causes us “…to walk in His commands and statutes.” So, the person with real saving faith loves God's Word now, and lives in obedience to it, not perfectly, but it's the desire, the delight of his or her life, and it's the direction of his or her life.

But don't miss the main point of these three verses. Verses 1 to 3 of 1 John 5 are not describing how a Christian should think, how he should behave, but how he does. These statements are not imperatives, but indicatives. They're not commands, but they are the characteristics of true Christians. The contrast in these verses is not between two different kinds of Christians. The contrast is between a false believer and a true believer; between a deceiving dead faith that damns and a real living faith that saves. You see, John intends that we use these three results to evaluate our faith. So, if you're here this morning, and you say, “I believe in Jesus Christ and His gospel, then let me encourage you to answer these questions in your heart, genuinely answer them in your heart.”

Number one, do you love God? Do you love God? Number two, do you love God's children? And number three, do you live consistently in obedience to His Word? If not, then let me tell you on the authority of the Apostle John and of our Lord Himself who inspired this passage, that you have never experienced the new birth, that you are dead in your sins, that your faith in Christ is not real living saving faith. Instead, it is deceiving dead damning faith. And you need, today, to truly repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ; cry out for God to save you, to change you because you've never been changed.

On the other hand, if you look at these tests and you realize that, not perfectly, but in desire and direction, you do love God, you do love His children, if you obey His Word, then you have been born again, you have the life of God pulsing through your veins, your faith is real living saving faith. And God wants you to have and enjoy real assurance that you're His.

In the Lord's table, we celebrate the object of our real living faith, and that is the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. Take a moment now and bow your head with me. As the men come, let me encourage you, if you're a Christian and intend to take the Lord's Table, to confess your sin, seek the Lord's forgiveness and worship Him in your heart.

Our Father, thank You for the clarity of Your Word. Thank You for the fact that it serves as a mirror to our souls. Lord, thank You for those of us here this morning that can look into the mirror we've just seen and say, “We are Yours; we have been born again; we do have eternal life because those tests are true in our lives.”

Lord, help us now as we prepare to take of the Lord's Table and to remember the object of our faith, the person and work of Jesus Christ. Lord, forgive us our sins. Each of us in our own hearts, Lord, confess those sins that You bring to mind, sins of commission where we have done those things contrary to Your will, in our thoughts, in our attitudes and our words and our actions. Lord, we also confess the sins of omission, the things You’ve commanded us to do that we have not done, either in our minds or in our attitudes, in our words, in our actions. Father, we are a sinful people, and we come even now, praying that You would forgive our sins, not because we in and of ourselves deserve that forgiveness, but because You are a forgiving God, and because our sins have been paid for through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Lord, forgive and cleanse us so that we can take of the Lord's table in a way that honors Him.

And I pray, at the same time, Lord, for those who are here who are not believers, who've looked in the mirror and realize they're not really Yours. They don't pass the tests. Their faith is dead. Lord, I pray that they would even now cry out to You, to change them, to change their hearts to give them life. May they believe in Your Son, repent of their sins because of Your work in their hearts. Now, Lord, receive the worship we bring through this ordinance, we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.