Sermon Preached at Grace Community Church (EPC)
Sun City Grand, Surprise, AZ
Sunday, June 14, 2015
by the Reverend Cooper McWhirter
The Doctrine of Assurance: “Caught Between Two Worlds” [Part Three]
1 John 4:1-6
On numerous occasions you’ve heard me speak fondly of our spiritual mother, Swann Bates, who once told Sammie, “Honey, you can’t have a foot in both worlds!” Now what on earth did she mean by that? In due course we discovered precisely what she meant!
In his book, The Doctrine of Assurance, A. W. Tozer wrote (paraphrasing): “One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace…is the all too common habit of dividing our lives into two arenas: the ‘sacred and the secular’ ”
In our walk of faith, Sammie and I learned that these two worlds are diametrically opposed to each another. Put simply, these two worlds are ‘worlds apart’. They are morally and spiritually incompatible! Too often we find ourselves crossing back and forth from one world to the other. Tozer goes on to say, “This is the old ‘sacred-secular’ antithesis in which many Christians are caught up in its tentacles…they find themselves walking a tight rope between these two kingdoms; finding no peace in either.”
You’ve heard it said: “Oil and water do not mix.” Similarly, neither can the natural man (born of flesh) co-habit, or mingle with, what is born of the Spirit! In this passage, the apostle John speaks about the wide expanse that separates these two contrasting worlds.
Scripture reminds us: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh"; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” [John 3:6]. In his book, According to Promise, Spurgeon posed this question: “Is the life that is within you the result of the fermentation of your own natural desires? Or, is it a new element, infused, imparted, implanted from above?”
So, John explains how we can avoid being misled by placing our confidence in “easy believeism” which, in theological jargon, is called
“antinomianism” meaning “cheap grace”.
The Holy Spirit induced this apostle to devote an entire epistle (1st John) where he speaks of the assurance of the believer’s salvation. Clearly, John was addressing his letter to God’s sovereign elect where he distinguishes between the sacred and the secular.
So, we’ll begin by turning our attention to: THE WORLD OF THE SACRED (repeat)
Aiden Wilson Tozer became a distinguished pastor, preacher, and author. This in spite of his humble origin. His parents were impoverished. They made a meager living in a rural farming community in upstate Pennsylvania. Tozer was unable to attend either high school, or college; so he taught himself. Later, he was bestowed with two honorary doctorate degrees from Wheaton College. And although he lacked formal credentials, Tozer became a highly-respected “man of the cloth”; his peers came to recognize him as a remarkably insightful scholar.
He asserted that: “Christians today haven’t the faintest idea of what it means to be saved. First, in order to be saved one must first have a longing desire to be saved from the ‘love of sin’. For the heart of the natural man is wedded to everything that is opposed to God. He may not acknowledge it, or even be aware of it. Secondly, to be saved from our sins means to be delivered from the ‘temptation of sin’…third and finally, to be saved from our sins means being delivered from the ‘reigning power of sin’.”
This ties in with one of the ‘five principles’ of Reformed theology which came to be known as “TULIP”. The fifth principle has to do with the “Perseverance of the Saints.” In step with this principle, Tozer writes: Perseverance is a willful refusal of the things God hates by choosing the things in which He delights. It is the yielding of my will to His which is a ‘life-long process’ of conformity to God’s holy nature.”
Holy assurance delivers the ‘legitimate’ Christian from any and all doubts and fears which can rob the believer of experiencing true joy and peace. This becomes evident where Paul writes: “For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father” [Romans 8:15]. The believer is adopted into the family of God; thus, he becomes an “heir of hope”!
One way to seize, or to lay hold of, this assurance is by “testing” the spirits! Our passage begins where John writes: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,…” [1 John 4:1, 2]. But why must we confess that Christ came in the ‘flesh’? Simply because if Christ did not come in the flesh, then we are still dead in our trespasses! To cleanse us of our sins, God required a ‘blood sacrifice’ as an atonement for sin [Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22].
By Christ’s atoning sacrifice two criteria were accomplished: first, Jesus’ death appeased God’s wrath for sin. This is known as “propitiation” which means “appeasement”. In other words, God was fully satisfied by His Son’s sacrificial offering of Himself. Secondly, Jesus’ death on the cross accomplished something for us. He took upon Himself our sins, and thus He became the “sin-bearer”. This is called “expiation”; meaning something that He did for us. A once and for all-time atoning sacrifice!
Spurgeon explained the need of salvation this way (paraphrasing): “...salvation would be sadly incomplete if it did not deal with our need and our longing to be both purified as well as pardoned. Justification without sanctification would not be salvation at all. It would declare the leper clean, yet leave him to die of his disease; it would forgive the rebellion but allow the rebel to remain an enemy of the King. It would remove the consequences but overlook the cause; leaving us with an endless and hopeless task before us.”
But now let us temporary crossover from the world of the sacred to: THE WORLD OF THE SECULAR (repeat).
While in seminary I read a fascinating book by the late John R. W. Stott, titled, Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century. Stott was the longtime Rector at All Souls Church, in London, England. During the latter half of the twentieth century, he became a world renown evangelical preacher; especially for his missionary zeal.
In this book, Stott recounts a time when he spoke with two university students who were brothers; one was attending Oxford University while the other was a student at Edinburgh. Both brothers were brought up in a traditional Christian home. But once they entered their respective universities they summarily renounced their parent’s faith and dismissed their Christian upbringing. One brother became an atheist; while the other preferred to call himself an agnostic. ‘What has happened?’ Stott asked them. ‘Do you no longer believe Christianity to be true?’ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘that’s not the problem.’ We’re not really interested to know whether Christianity is true or not.’ Puzzled by this, Stott asked inquisitively, ‘Then what is your problem?’ ‘What we want to know is not whether Christianity is true, but whether it is… relevant’. They went on to say, ‘What possible relevance could a primitive Palestinian religion have for us in today’s world?’
Stott concluded by saying, ‘Nothing was brought home to me more forcefully than to acknowledge the gulf which people perceive between the Bible and themselves, and thus the challenge confronting Christian preachers today.’ The secular world could ‘care less’ about what Christians believe. And, until and unless their hearts and minds are transformed, they will remain…careless!
With respect to ‘testing the spirits,’ John goes on to say, “…and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.” There are deceiving spirits where by many people are being duped into believing what is clearly not of God.
In yet another classic work titled, The Doctrine of Assurance, Arthur W. Pink, a staunch English Calvinist from a bygone era, made this sharp distinction between the unbeliever from the believer where he wrote: “Unbelief is far more than an ‘error of judgment’ by which an honest mind may fall; it proceeds from a ‘heart-enmity’ against God.”
Yes, dear ones, a war is raging between people of two vastly different worlds! And this war has been raging since Cain slew his brother Abel. It’s a war where there can be no bystanders. No one can sit on the sidelines declaring himself to be a “fence sitter”!
John continues his discourse: “Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them. We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
Spurgeon once asked this diagnostic question: “If you are not lost, what do you want with a Savior? Should the shepherd go after those who never went astray? Why should the woman sweep her house for the bits of money that were never out of her purse? No, the medicine is for the diseased; the quickening is for the dead; the pardon is for the guilty; liberation is for those who are bound: the opening of eyes is for those who are blind.”
If we’re brutally honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that we have all gone astray. We were born into this world as ‘children of wrath’. From the moment of birth nursing infants are demanding; they are utterly helpless and needy. And the same holds true for adults, too!
Just as there are ‘two worlds’ in this world; so, too, there are two worlds in the world to come! An often asked question voiced by skeptics and naysayers is this: “How could a loving God send people to hell?” In his devotional, Grace for the Moment, Max Lucado responses by saying: “The question itself reveals a couple of misconceptions. God does not send people to hell. He simply honors their choice. Hell is the ultimate expression of God’s high regard for the dignity of man. He never forces us to choose Him, even when that means we would choose hell. Neither does He send people to hell. The word “people” is neutral; it implies innocence. Nowhere does Scripture teach that innocent people are condemned. People do not go to hell. Sinners do! The rebellious do! The self-centered do! So how could a loving God send people to hell? He doesn’t. He simply honors the choice of sinners.”
So, in some respects, the choice is left up to us. What world do you hang your allegiance to here on earth? And, as a consequence of your choice, what world are you prepared to dwell for all eternity?
Let us pray…
