55
John 8:31-32 A
TEST OF GENUINE DISCIPLESHIP
Introduction:
The setting
for this text takes place on the special
sabbath which always follows The Feast of Tabernacles.
Jesus had returned to the temple and had proceeded to
teach
a large crowd of people.
A group of
Pharisees interrupted His teaching by
bringing to Him a woman who had been caught in the act of
adultery. After
dealing with that situation Jesus continued
to teach and proclaimed Himself to be the Light of The
World. He was challenged
by the Pharisees and His response
was to tell them that unless they would believe in Him
they
would die in their sins.
They would not make it to heaven.
He again reminded them that He was not of this world,
that
He was sent from heaven to the earth and that God the
Father
sent Him. He also
reminded them that God the Father was His
witness that He is who He claimed to be. The Father bore
witness of Him through the mighty miracles which He
performed.
John, the
writer of the book, tells us at this point
that many people out of this great crowd believed on Him.
That is, they accepted the idea that He is the Christ and
that God had sent Him into the world. That is, they, at
least, professed to believe that He is the Christ and
that
God had sent Him into the world. Note verses 30.
In our text
today, Jesus puts these professed believers
to the test. The
test is designed to show whether or not
their profession of faith is really genuine.
I. The reason
their profession of faith was tested
The reason for
giving such a test is obvious. Some of
them were believers in word only. Some had not really
trusted in Jesus.
Some had been caught up in the emotional
enthusiasm of this great crowd who so eagerly praised
Jesus.
It is true that the Pharisees had been critical of Him,
but
the great masses of people in this crowd had been highly
enthusiastic about Him.
When Jesus claimed to be The Light
of The World and talked about God the Father sending Him
from heaven and supporting His ministry by the great
miracles which many of them had witnessed that crowd
became
highly emotionally charged. There is little doubt that many
of them, perhaps even most of them, truly believed that
Jesus is the Christ.
But under those emotional conditions
it was easy for some who did not genuinely believe in Him
to
say, "Yes, that's right. We, too, agree that He is the
Christ. We believe
that."
We have seen
this happen even in our day. We have
seen
preaching services become highly emotional and when the
invitation one or more step forward professing Jesus as
Savior and join the church. Then somebody else come just be
cause the others had come. It was not because they were
genuinely persuaded by the truth. It was just that they got
emotional and mistook their emotional state for genuine
faith in Jesus.
There may be
other factors involved which help to cause
and unsaved person to make a false profession of
faith. I
have known of children being approached in a church
service
by some adult who would say, "Don't you think it is
about
time you joined the church?" When a child is approached by
an adult during a highly emotional service in that
manner,
the child will usually join the church whether he is
saved
or not. In my earlier
ministry I knew of a woman in one
church who specialized in persuading young people to join
the church with such tactics.
Even some
preachers deliberately use great emotionalism
to persuade more people to make professions of faith
under
their preaching. I
saw one evangelist in a revival meeting
walk almost to the rear of the building during an
invitation, then step down between the pews and catch a
young man by the arm and bring him down the aisle. He got a
profession of faith, but I question whether it was
genuine.
Sometimes a
family member will join the church just in
order to get some other family member off his back. When I
lived in Jacksonville I worked with a man who was a
member
of a Missionary Baptist Church. He told me, "Harold, I know
that if I were to die, I would go straight to hell. I knew
when I joined the church that I was not saved." I asked
him, "Since you knew you were unsaved, why did you
join the
church?" He
said, "To keep my wife from worrying about me."
He said, "I would wake up in the night and find her
crying
because I was unsaved.
I joined to keep her from worrying
about me."
For whatever
reason, there are many people who join
churches unsaved.
Some few join when they know they are
lost. But I fear
that the majority think that because they
walk an aisle, join a church and get baptized that they
will
make it to heaven.
We have had
people right here at Pleasant Hill to come
forward and say, "I was not saved when I joined, but
I am
now."
II. The test which
Jesus gave
Here is the
test which Jesus gave to those people to
help them determine whether they were save or lost. V. 31,
"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on
him, If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed."
Now let me
call to your attention that Jesus did not
say, "If ye continue in the church, then ye are my
disciples
indeed."
Rather Jesus said, "If you continue in My word,
then are ye my disciple indeed." If one is a genuine
believer, if he has truly been saved, then he has a
genuine
thirst for understanding the word of God. He has a desire
for the truth of God.
He will not be easily led astray from
the truth of God to false teachings. He will not be easily
offended by the truth of God. He will rejoice in hearing
and learning the truth of God. They will be inclined to
contend for the truth of God. Most of all, he will have a
burning desire to be obedient to the word of God. He will
even have a great feeling or remorse and repentance when
he
becomes aware that he has been disobedient to God' word.
Therefore,
when a professed believer finds that He does
have this great thirst for Bible understanding, when He
continues to be thrilled by the great truths of God, when
He
continues week after week, month after month and year
after
year with this undying love for the word of God he will
have
the evidence to show to himself and others that he is a
true
believer and that his profession is genuine.
On the other
hand, when one finds that he does not
really enjoy listening to the word of God, when he only
tolerates God's word, he has reason to question whether
or
not he is really saved.
It could be that he is merely a
worldly minded Christian, but it also could be that he
has
made a false profession of faith.
Likewise when
one who has made a profession of faith is
easily persuaded away from the truth of God's word into
false teaching, then this is a pretty good indication
that
he has made a false profession of faith.
III. The vital
importance of Bible truth
It is true
that one can be genuinely saved and still
mistaken on some point of doctrine. But there are some
basic Bible truths that are absolutely essential to
salvation. In
verse 32 Jesus said, "And ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Let me put it
this way. Just because a person is
mistake about "Once saved always saved" that
does not mean
that he is unsaved.
Just because one is mistaken about what
makes Scriptural baptism, that does not mean that he is
unsaved. Just
because a person is mistaken about when the
second coming of Christ will take place or who will make
up
the Glory Bride, that does not mean that he is
unsaved. But
when a person is in error about the gospel and holds to a
false gospel, he is unsaved. A false gospel will not save
anybody. It is the
true gospel that will make him free.
One must know and believe the true gospel in order to be
saved.
There are many
doctrines in the Bible in addition to the
gospel and they are all important. There is not one
doctrine in the Bible which is unimportant. But not all
doctrines of the Bible are essential to salvation.
However, the
true gospel is essential to salvation.
It
is absolutely essential.
No one can ever be saved without
accepting the true gospel message.
Yet every
doctrine is important to God. If it were
unimportant to God, it would not be in the Bible. Since it
is important to God, then it should also be important to
us.
That is why every believer should zealously study the
Bible.
He should earnestly seek to rightly divide the word of
truth. He may be
wrong about many things in the Bible, but
he should desire to never be wrong. He should desire to be
right in every thing he believes concerning the Bible.
IV. The challenge
for the professed Christian today
One of the
first challenges is to make sure that he is
saved. He can find
out by taking the test. Jesus said that
one is a genuine believer if he continues in His word. Note
that Jesus did not say that one is a genuine believer if
he
continues in the church.
A lost person can join a church
and remain an active member of that church all of his
life
and still be lost when he dies. So it is not a matter of
remaining in the church, it is a matter of remaining in
the
word of God.
One of the
first questions to ask yourself is: Have
I
genuinely repented of my sin and trusted the Lord Jesus
Christ to save my soul?
If there is serious doubt about
whether you have repented and trusted Jesus as your
Savior
then there is good reason to doubt that you are saved.
A second
question to ask yourself is: Do I have a
genuine thirst for the word of God? Do I really reading and
studying the Bible?
Do I enjoy hearing it taught and
preached or do I just tolerate it? If you just tolerate the
preaching or teaching of God's word then there is good
reason to examine further to see if you are saved. Are you
willing to change your mind about what you believe to
agree
with what the word of God teaches? If not, then you need to
check further to see if you are really saved. Do you desire
to live in obedience to the teaching of the Bible? If not,
that is a good indication that you might not be
saved. Do
you feel bad about it when you become aware that you were
disobedient to the will of God as revealed in the Bible?
Listen, if you can sin and not feel bad about it, then
something is wrong somewhere. It just might be that you
have never been saved.
Conclusion:
If you are
unsaved, would you like to be saved? Are
you
ready to get saved now?
Will you come and call upon Jesus
and ask Him to save you and trust Him to do so? If so, then
come.
If you are
saved and you need to make some move in this
service to do the will of God, then will you come?