Work Out Your Salvation

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
1 John 2:3-4

Just mention the word commands in our society and watch what happens. Some people bristle and the rest squirm. Sadly, that attitude permeates not only the world but also the church. But the apostle John regards obedience to God’s commands as a good way to judge whether we know Christ.

John wrote this letter to refute the Gnostic heresy that matter was evil and thus Jesus could not have come in the flesh. John also wrote to correct another Gnostic error: licentiousness. Their reasoning went like this: If evil is in matter, rather than in breaking God’s law, then breaking God’s law is not evil. You can imagine what kind of wickedness followed.

Shouldn’t the Christian want to obey God? Listen to Bishop Ryle.

WALK WITH J. C. RYLE
“Believers are eminently and peculiarly under a special obligation to live holy lives. They are not dead, blind and unrenewed; they are alive unto God, enlightened, and have a new principle within them. Whose fault is it if they are not holy? On whom can they throw the blame if they are not sanctified? God, who has given them a new heart and a new nature, has deprived them of all excuse if they do not live for his praise.

“This is a point which is far too much forgotten. A man who professes to sanctification (if indeed any at all), and coolly tells you he ‘can do nothing,’ is a very pitiable sight and a very ignorant man. Against this delusion let us be on our guard. If the Savior of sinners gives us renewing grace, and calls us by his Spirit, we may be sure that he expects us not to go to sleep.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
John says God’s commands distinguish love from sin and are not burdensome (see 1 John 3:4; 5:3). The world says God’s commands are chains to be broken and shackles to be thrown off (see Psalm 2:3). Which attitude characterizes you?