Provoking Thoughts From 1 John (14 Of 16)

What surprises us about these folks, when we do come into contact with them, is that they will take God's name in vain, using His name when they curse. If they believe there is no God, why bother using His name like that, or at all?

We may not know why they use God's name along with curse words, but we do know why they deny the existence of God.

The Bible says, "...The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good."

That is, they are trying to fool themselves into thinking there is no God.

Illus: We have now heard that the atheists have their own “Dial-A-Prayer." You dial 0, and no one answers!

Illus: Evangelist Ding Teuling makes a very interesting statement. He says that there is NO SUCH THING as a TRUE ATHEIST. He then goes on to say why he makes such a statement. He says, “For a person to be a true atheist he would have to know everything there is to know about everything there is to know about and NO MAN CAN MAKE THAT CLAIM.”

The person who would make that claim would have to be a fool to do so!

Again, very seldom do we meet people who are so foolish as to say, "I do not believe there is a God.” The fact is, almost everyone believes there is a God!

Now we find people have different ideas about God.

Illus: A minister was witnessing to a man he considered to be a lost man. This man's life certainly reflected that he did not know the Lord as his personal Savior. But once the minister began to witness to him, the man reached over and slightly grabbed his arm and said, “Preacher I know God! I know, I do not attend church, read my Bible, and give to the church as I should. And I know, I drink and cuss and do things I shouldn’t do, but God and I have this little agreement with each other. I know God.”

I can not find anywhere in this Bible where God says He has made any little side agreements with people.

People who live in sin yet claim to know the Lord make it clear, by the fruit they bear, that they do not really know the God of this Bible. The Bible makes it clear that once we have been saved by the marvelous grace of God the OLD LIFE OF SIN passes away. We become NEW CREATURES IN CHRIST! We then work for the Lord. Our works do not save us, we work for the Lord because we are saved!

Often we wonder about some people who claim to know the Lord. We should not have to wonder.

Illus: If someone asked you if you knew (select a person from your congregation) you might say, "Yes, I know ____ ______.

• He is about six feet tall.

• He has beautiful blue eyes.

• He has curly hair.

• He is very handsome.

• He is very distinguished looking.

• He is very wealthy.

• All the women in the county and the next think he is

a living doll!

Yea! I know _________ ________”

WHY ARE SOME OF YOU FOLKS LAUGHING?

I know why. It is because the description I just gave is not the description of the ______ ______ that we know.

Many today who are living in sin, yet claim they know the Lord Jesus as their Savior, make you wonder if they even know of Him.

It is obvious as we look at God's Word that the savior they know is not the Savior of the Bible that we know.

In 1 John 5, the apostle John gives us FIVE TESTS to take to determine if we truly know the God of the Bible.

I. THE FIRST TEST WE ARE TO TAKE IS TO SEE IF OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD HAS CHANGED

That is, if we have been born of God, then our attitude toward God has changed.

Look at verse 1. We read, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God...”

The word translated "believeth" is from the Greek word, "pisteuo, which means: "To entrust, to commit.”

Salvation comes as a result of a person being enlightened by the Spirit of God that he is lost and can not save himself and his committing his life to the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, having trusted Him for salvation..

Illus: People who recognize this are like the man in a burning building. He sees flames about to engulf him and the firemen below are dying out to him, “Jump, we will save you!" This man has to decide. He may think, “My life is at stake. If I stay here I will surely be burned alive. They are telling me to jump. They say they will catch me. CAN I BELIEVE what they say?" If he believes, his belief does not come into existence when he says, “I believe." His belief comes into existence when he acts on his belief. He says, “I believe they will catch me," and he leaps into space and commits himself to the air. Once he has done this, there is no turning back. He has totally committed himself!