The Village Church
Do you have a faith? - Audio
We have never committed, and we're saying that you're going to commit at this moment. And when you leave here, every sin you're going to commit five, ten years from now. And Jesus paid for that capital. Everyone, every single one of them. We should be filled with so much joy. Because that God no longer holds us in against you because of you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, we're going to continue in first, John. We've been there for all summer long, but we're coming to the tail end of it. We're going to start in chapter five today. And for months now, John has challenged us all. He encouraged us. He assured us. He has empowered us. He has even convicted us of different things in our life. I think through this letter, he has also strengthened us. For us believers, you know, he wants us to be assured that we are fully accepted in Jesus. Assurance. That's what his main goal is. That we know and fully understand that our status as sons and daughters of God is firm. And we can have an assurance of that. But this morning, you know, he's beginning to bring things to a close. He begins his conclusion. And what he does is that he begins to sum up everything that he's talked about in the first four chapters of the book. And he takes a different perspective, a slight different perspective this time. Do you know what it is? He read chapter five of John. Do you know what perspective he comes at this time? Our angle he has this time. Do you know his faith? He talks about faith. And so if you have your Bibles open with me to first John chapter five, beginning in verse one. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God. When we love God and obey his commands. But this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. This is God's word. Please pray with me. Father God as I always pray Lord I want you to receive glory during this time. That your word preach Lord will be convicting, encouraging and challenging and assuring. And that I don't have the power to do that. I can't even do that for my own heart. But your spirit can and he's willing. And so I pray that he Lord will come and take this word and take your truth and apply it to all of our hearts. Apply it to the area of our life. You know what we need to hear this morning. And I pray that each of us will hear those things that we need to hear through your preach word. And we will leave here, encourage, challenge, build up, filled by your spirit and your word. And Christ in my prayer, amen. Do you have a faith? Has anyone ever asked you that question? Do you have a faith? A friend of mine, he always asked that question whenever he shares the gospel with the person. He would say to them, ask them, do you have a faith? You see that's a good question because based upon how the person answers that question, you can get insight into whether you are spiritually. Based upon how they answer that. So when you leave here this afternoon and go to lunch, wherever you're going to go, and the waitress asks you, do you have a faith, sir? What would you say? What would you say? When you go back to your job tomorrow, when you go back to school tomorrow, when you see your neighbors, when you go to the ball game, when you go to the movies, or to your grocery store, gas up your car. And anyone asked you the question, do you have a faith? What are you going to say to me? How will you answer that question? For all of us who have been born from God, we do have a faith. All of us do. And all of us should be ready and eager to give an answer to that question. Are you ready? Are you eager to give an answer to that question? Do you have a faith? The Apostle John is, the Apostle John is even eager, and he wants us to be as well. So he gives us three things that we can say to anyone who asks us that question. Do we have a faith? You see that question demands more than just a yes answer. You got to give us some explanation. You can't just say, "Yeah, I got a faith," and leave it there. You got to explain what is it that you mean by that. Let's face it. We live in a time where everybody has a faith in something. And all the time it's not even in Christ. We live in a spiritualized culture, and everybody believes in something. But what? But what? John shows us the first thing we have, what kind of faith that we have, is that we have a faith that believes. Everyone born of God has a faith that believes. Look at verse 1. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Notice what John doesn't say here. He doesn't say everyone who believes in Jesus is born of God. Why is that? He says the person who has been born of God believes that Jesus is the Christ. See, John is referring to something that has happened to the person in the past. Something that has been done to the person. It's an action done to the person. And what is that action that John has in mind here? It's been born again. It's the new birth. Has been born of God as referring to the new birth, referring to being born again through God's Spirit. Those who have been born of God are the ones whose heart that used to be dead has been brought to life by God's Spirit. None of us will have ever received Jesus if God's Spirit hasn't changed your heart first, and it ordered you to receive him a saving faith. Why is that important? Because you can hear the gospel all day long. And if nothing's going on here, you ain't going to respond to it. You can hear it all day long. I can preach saving grace. I can preach free grace. I can share the gospel with you. But if the Spirit hasn't already moved your heart toward that, you will never receive it in saving faith. And none of us can change our heart that way. None of us who became believer, you didn't change your heart that way that made you made you receive Jesus. The Spirit did it for you, and you were able to receive you. One Christian said, believing is the consequence, not the cause of the new birth. So the Spirit, he sent shock waves through our heart and made it breathe again. And then when you heard the gospel of truth, you responded to it. You responded to it. And as a blows-born of God, you now have a faith that believes. When John says everyone who believes, again, is not talking about conversion, but he's talking about what happened in the past. His aim, as one person says, is relative, indicates to you the evidence that shows that a person stands in a continual relationship with God. The evidence that shows you are in fellowship with God is that you continue to believe that Jesus is the Christ. You continue to hold firm to that. This is what it means to have a faith that believes. You continue to trust, rely, and depend upon Jesus. You don't stop doing that once you become a believer, do you? Do we? Do I receive Jesus in my heart and in my Lord and Savior, that after I receive Him, I no longer believe in Him anymore? I no longer have to trust Him and depend upon Him? No. You continue to do those things. And Jesus, he is the content of our faith. You have content to your faith. It's particular, and it's exclusive content. It's particular because those who are born in God continue to believe in Jesus. As to Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, our Redeemer. You see, Jesus is not a stepping stone that you can use and abuse to get your way, to advance your own will, to advance your own agenda. He's not a stepping stone to get your own agenda. You realize that? So when you give your, when you commit your life to Him, you are surrendering your life to Him. You understand that? He's not some pushover Redeemer. They're okay, being a Christian means. If I become a Christian then that means I can have certain privileges and certain things. So I guess I need to become a Christian so I can fit in. This is what happened, if you know anything about church history, Christianity started out as a persecuted faith. Under the Roman Empire. But guess what happened when it became the official religion of Rome? You couldn't advance in Rome if you wasn't a Christian. You couldn't advance in your political rear in Rome if you wasn't not a Christian. So what happened? Everybody was a Christian because you had to be one to advance your career. Does that sound familiar in certain parts of our country? Certain times of the year when some people want to get in certain offices, I'm a believer. I believe the Bible is true as God's Word. Jesus is not a stepping stone in order that we can advance our own will and agenda. But when we receive Him, we surrender everything to Him, our whole life, our whole being, everything. And when you have this type of faith in Jesus, you also continue to believe the right things about Him. You believe the things that are biblical. You see, it's not just particular, it's also exclusive because it's only one Christ. There's not two in three, are they? Well, I'm just going to believe in the big Jesus and y'all can have a little Jesus. That's what I'm going to believe in. It's not relative. It's not relative. What did Jesus say in John 14, 6? "I'm the way, the truth, and the life." I'm not just one way. I'm not just one way of many ways. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father itself through me. And you don't have to look at the Greek to understand what that means. No one comes to the Father itself through Jesus. Period, exclusive. I'm the only one in. I'm the only way you can get in. It's through me. That's content of exclusive. And I know for a lot of people, that's offensive. You see, we live in, John in this letter talks a lot about false teachers and false prophets. We talk a lot about that. And you see, the content is exclusive because it excludes those things about Jesus that are not true. It excludes those things about Jesus that we know can't be in the Bible. Is Jesus just a prophet? Is he just a prophet? If he's just a prophet, then all of us are going to hell. If he's just a man, just a prophet. If he did not raise from the dead, then we're still not sinned. And there's certain things about Jesus and certain hills in your Christian faith that you're going to have to take a knife for. You're going to have to die on that hill. And there's certain things you don't have to die for. But certain things, you're going to have to die for that. I'm not compromising that truth because I compromise my faith. If I do, you do. We have a faith that continues to stand firm in who Jesus is. You don't stop believing or stand. You don't become rich in why she wants you to become a Christian. You continue to grow your understanding of what it means to know Jesus and who he is as the son of God, the Messiah. That's what it means. We don't allow other things, unbiblical things to shape and understand about Jesus. Only this. Biblical truth. So that means, as I preached before, you've got to understand who you're listening to or you're reading. This week, I watched a show called Parenthood. I think it comes on NBC. But it's about the Reverman family. And they have three generations now. And the father, the patriarch of the family, in this episode, we find out that he and the wife are in marriage counseling now. And so throughout the episode, every time he gets into a conflict with a family member, every time his temper goes too high or he gets angry or he gets frustrated with a family member, he always look at that family member and say, "I hear you and I see you." Every time, when he gets into it with the wife or when he got into it with the son-in-law, or when he got into it with his daughter, trying to push his agenda on her, try to tell her the things she needs to do, he will say, "He will stop in his tracks. "Look at the person in the face. I hear you and I see you." And I started asking myself, "Why was he doing that?" It's because it helped him let go of trying to control everything or trying to control his family and try to be the sinner and try to be the one who makes all the decisions. So whenever he said that, he was able to see the person and hear the person, stop pushing his agenda on that person. You see, when you come to saving faith in Christ, you are saying to him, "Jesus, I see you and I hear you. "I'm laying down my will. I'm going to lay down my agenda for what I want to do. "Push my agenda on you. I want to receive your agenda, Lord. "I see you. I hear you, Lord. "Yes, Lord, I'm going to surrender this to you. "This, Lord, I'm going to follow you, Jesus, even there." It's a receiving and dependent upon Jesus forever. The cross was just the beginning. Now we live a lifestyle of that now. Now I'm going to continue to surrender my life, my finances, my relationships, my resources, all before your throne, Jesus. That's what it means. Now, so when someone asks you, "Do you have a faith?" Yes, I have a faith. It's not shallow. It's not a vague religious commitment. It's not a faith when I'm in trouble. See, we don't have a faith. If you are truly a believer, you don't have a faith that that fades quickly, like cheap jewelry from a dollar store. If you have that type of faith, man, is it really faith? Because faith in Jesus doesn't fade if you're truly known. It grows. You continue to trust in more. You continue to depend upon Him more as you grow in your faith, that you grow in your relationship with Him. And our faith isn't goable. I've preached upon this before. They will believe in and everything. But it's particular, it's exclusive. My faith continues to trust Jesus with all my heart. Is that it? Our faith continues to believe. Is that it? Is it anything else? Should we just stop, close up, shop, go home? Is that it? No. Make it verse one again. Everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know the love that we love the truth of God, when we love God and obey His commands. We not only have a faith that believes, we have a faith that loves. Those born of God will continue to love the Father, and continue to love His other children as well. And love of God, love of His kids. This is not new information. I mean, we're talking about this a lot. It's not something that we just, John is just not telling us. And we know how we ought to love one another, right? How are we to love one another? Kind of a gallery. It's sacrificial. That's how Jesus loved us. He laid down His life for us, and we are also going to do the same for other believers, other Christians. Because, you see, the affection that our Father, that we have between our Father in Heaven, we should also have that affection between one another. Just like in our human families. There's a love relationship between the parent and child, and it should also be a love relationship between the siblings. It should be. It should be. And John stopped saying this is impossible to love the children of God without loving God, as it is to love God without loving His children. It's a family relationship united in love. If you love a God, you're going to love His people as well. We are in a reconcil relationship with Him, and we are in a reconcil relationship with one another, as a body of Christ. And that does not mean just one particular denomination. This means for every Christian around the world we're a part of that body, and should love one another and pray for one another. It ain't going to be, we're not going to have a segregated Heaven, the Presbyterians over here, the Baptists over here. That's not going to be that way. It's going to be one body of Christ together in Heaven and glory. That's it. All of us, we are saved by Jesus as individuals, but saved individuals don't live individualistic lifestyles. You don't. You live a lifestyle in the body of Christ. And so that means you have to be connected to the church. His body. And those who love Jesus will also love His church, messed up as the church can be. You're not going to say, "It's just Jesus and me, and I don't need other Christians." And if that's your mindset, then you need a seriously kind of conversation with Jesus, because those two things are going to go together. They don't. They're not according to John. Those who love the Father will also love those who have also been born in the Father. And you're going to want to be with those people. Paul says in Galatians 5, "But in Jesus Christ, you need a circumcision, or a circumcision that counts for anything, but only faith working through love." Faith working through love. Faith working through love is not dead and passive faith, but it's living and active. Faith working through love is not a couch potato faith either, where you just settle down. You're fat and happy and content with just reading Christian books and listening to sermons and going to Bible studies, but you get up off the couch and you exercise it. And these are love and mercy that are also grounding in God's truth. They're grounding in His truth, grounding in His Word. You see, last year, Lincoln Village Ministries and our church, we created a partnership with Jackson Way about the church, because we want to start a tuning program at Chapman Middle School. And we didn't know how it was going to look. We didn't know what it was going to look like. We were with folks. We prayed. We talked. And eventually, about a tuning program would start with the six graders, and we're going to focus on math with them. And so we got tutors coming in, tutoring the kids once a week in math and multiplication. And so we didn't know what was going to happen. What the God was going to do with that. But what we knew is that we was trusting God to do some great things. And we were all stepping out on faith. We didn't know how it was going to be received. But we got news this last week that since we've been there, we haven't been there that long, math scores have grown up 21% in the short time that we've been there. Now, is that by accident? Or is that God working through his people? Because we stepped out on faith. And I believe God honored that. We didn't do it. I mean, we only tuned in for 30 minutes. So there's something else that's going on there. It's God doing it. But working through his body to do it. So we praise God for that. Faith that loves steps out and serves. It doesn't sit on the couch. And when you step out on your faith, what you see is that it's like things that fall into your lap when you step out on faith. That's been in my experience. This whole church here, even me being here just like it's failing to my lap, failing to my lap. Why? Because I was just, our move to Alabama was a step of faith. What was going to happen? And so it's almost like that. Things just fall into your lap. Because when you step out on faith, you get to watch and see what God does. And he will exceed your expectations when you do that. Because what did David say in some of it? It's not by our hands, Lord. Not by our hands. Not to us be the glory to you. But to you be the glory. You have all that is done. So do you have a faith? Yes. You have one that believes. You have one that loves. And thirdly, you have one that obeys. Look at verse 3 and 4. This is the love of God that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. Our obeying and keeping of God's commandments is an expression of God's love according to John. And again, this is not something new. This is something John has talked about many times in this letter. And what are the commandments that we're just supposed to obey and keep? And I believe that the commandments He has in mind here, the same ones He was talking about throughout this letter. And if you remember the sermon I preached on verse 9, 3, and in verse 23, He says, "And this is the commandment that we love, that we believe in the name of Jesus Christ His Son, and to love one another, just as He has commanded us." This is the same language He used here. "To believe in Jesus, and to love other people, the commandments of God." The law is stung up in one phrase. What is that? Love your neighbor as yourself. Two greatest commandments. Remember, love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. Faith that believes in Jesus. A faith that loves Jesus and other people is being obedient to God's commands. And this love of God, this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, that verse is actually a bridge, as one commentator says. Leading over to the main point, that main point is that His commandments are not burdensome. Wow. His commandments are not burdensome. How do you feel about that statement? Are they a burden to you? How do you view God's commandments as a Christian, as a child of God? Are they a burden to you? Are they a heavy load on your back? Man, this monkey on my back would get off. Can't do nothing right. Is that you from day to day? Is that how you feel? You see, His commandments, that they're not a taskmaster. They're not a bootcamp instructor, Lord and over you. His commandments are not, it's not like being in the rain when the M&A fighter is trying to choke you out. They're not that way. That's not their intent. You see, Jesus said that, "Take my York upon you and learn from me. Find gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, but my York is easy, and my burden is light." His commandments are not a heavy load. And you know why they're not a heavy load? Because those born of God should have a better understanding of His commandments. As F.F. Bruce says, "The new life imparts you as a believer, carers with a new desire, a new desire, and a new power." You know what that desire is? To please your daddy. Do you understand that? When you became a believer, when Jesus called you into the faith, He also gave you a desire to live for Him. Not in the sense of earning His love, but in the sense that you are already a child of God. And so you want to live for Him. You have a new desire. And everyone who has been born of God should have a desire to love God. And do what pleases Him. Every child of God should have that. That may be in different measures, but at least the desire should be there for all of us. A desire to trust Him and depend upon Him, a desire to love other people, a desire to even obey. Do you have that desire? A faith that obeys has found delight and pleasure in God's Word. His Word is not burdened to you. It's His fatherly instruction to you. You see it differently. And here's the thing. Does your child stop being your child? Is this obeige you or he disobeys you? Do you say you're no longer my child? I'm packing your bags up and seeing you to grandma's. And no good parent does that. And God doesn't do that either. He doesn't. He knows you're going to mess up. He knows you're going to fall short. He knows that. And that's why Jesus went to the cross. Because you got issues, man. You're going to always have issues. And Jesus knows that. So, you ain't got to be perfect to be a child of God, basically. You don't have to be perfect to be a child of God. You don't. You don't. It's a desire to do what pleases Him. Even though you know you're going to fail Him. Psalm 119, 47 says, "If I have found my delight in your commandments, which I love." Do you love them? Psalm 40. I delight to do your will. Oh, my God. Your law is within my heart. Your law is within my heart. If you can reverse engineer the human heart, then you should see, despite all of his weaknesses, a desire to live a life that pleases him to God. If you can reverse engineer my heart as a Christian, then you should be able to see that even though it's weak, even though it still sins, there should be a desire there to please God. There should be. And His Spirit has given it to me. And He should have given it to all of you, to each and every one of us. A faith that believes, a faith that continues to love, and a faith that really continues to obey. Not out of trying to earn God's favor, but because you already have it. Because you already have it. Now, what about the times when you feel the burden? Because some of us do sometimes, if you're honest. And I believe one of the things that causes God's commandments to become a burden so that someone will begin to abuse them. Using them for something they were not intended to be used for. When you have a performance-based life, a performance-centered life, what does that mean when you obey, God loves you more? Someone must live that way. I got to do this in order to get God's favor. And when you start doing that, that becomes a heavy load on your shoulders. If you think your performance is like being on the high-person job that you got to perform for it. Because you know if you don't perform, you're going to get let go. Christianity is not corporate America. It's not business. It's not basic for our performance. We perform because we're already accepted. That's why we do it. That's why we do it. You see, God is not... If any of you have been involved with Little League, baseball or anything, there's always one dad that you wish you glad he's not your dad. At those games. Because this particular dad puts so much pressure on his son. Every time the son comes up the bat, every time the son strikes out, the dad's sitting there like this. He cannot hit the ball to see this life. Come on! Stop striking out. Stop striking out. Now what's that little boy feeling? Every time he gets up the bat, he knows what his dad is doing. He knows. For every time he misses the ball, he feels disapproved every time. Every time he strikes out, my dad loves me less. My dad is embarrassed by me. My dad don't accept me because I'm not a good baseball player. Every time. What happens? What eventually happens to that little boy? He eventually going to quit playing baseball. You know why? Because baseball does not draw him closer to his dad. It draws him further from me. It just shows him how much his dad does not like him, how much his dad disapproves of him. Our god is not that way. Never that way. Never that way. He knows you're going to strike out. He knows you're going to go 4 for 80. He knows you can't hit a curve ball. He knows you can't hit a slider. He knows it. He knows you can't even bunt right. But he's still in the stands, chanting for you. You're number one cheerleader for all eternity. You're number one cheerleader. Your failures does not affect your status before dying. Never. You will always be his child because of what Jesus did on the cross. Even when you fail. And that should give you confidence. You know what? I want to please that type of dad. So I'm going to try to hit the ball next time. Not because I need him to love me because I'm already shot with his love. Who doesn't want to please a god that way? Who doesn't want to please a dad that way? You would. How much more your Heavenly Father? Because he's the best at it. You would. Not out of perfectionism again, but out of perfectionism. But out of because I'm already made right with him. That's the God that we have. And guess what? He's never embarrassed when you strike out either. You're already accepted. Now I don't know about you. That should make that makes me feel really good. But I can leave here a little more excited. A little more upping myself for the upcoming week. That my dad in heaven is never embarrassed by me when I mess up. He's never ever embarrassed by you. As one Christian said, it is the will of an all wise, all of a father who seeks a high welfare. Your high welfare, God has in mind for you. He's going to take care of you. He's going to have your back. Now that doesn't mean life is going to be easy. But it means he's going to share with the country through whatever you go through. You are fully accepted by God. God is for you when everything else can be against you. So do you have a faith? Do you know how to answer that question now? I have a faith that believes. I have a faith that loves. I have a faith that obeys because I'm already accepted so I can live that way. Because I realize when I fell in those three things, my God still loves me. My God still accepts me. My daddy still proud of me. He ain't ever going to do this to me. Understand. God never does that to you ever. Pray with me. Thank you, Father, that you are a perfect little league, Dad. And that you are never frowning on us. Because you know that we are but does. You know it. Your word says it. You know that we are but does. You are mindful of that. And while I thank you that I don't have to be perfect to be a child. Then I have to have saving faith in Jesus. Thank you for that, Lord. And I pray for my brothers and sisters here, Lord, as they go out that they will be assured of the fact that they are your children because of their faith in Jesus. And that they're going to mess up. They're going to fail. They're going to have shortcomings. Lord, that doesn't change who they are. Give them assurance of that. Give them confidence in that. Protecting them from the evil one who would seek to discourage them in that. So I pray your blessings over them and even myself in the name of your Son. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.