Sermon Series: Gospel of John, Blessed Assurance from Beginning to End

If you’re following along with the Gospel of John series being taught at my church, here’s the second in the series. The first is here.

Here are the notes.

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This is especially timely for me, as I’m reading Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ and The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World. It’s very postmodern to focus on the journey – the pursuit of holiness – and what we must do to run the race, and not think on why we run the race, or the prize. The truth is that it’s all about God’s glory. How does (or should!) Jesus’ deity affect our lives? A very dear friend of mine who was recently saved said (before she was saved) that if it could be proved to her that Jesus really is who Christians say he is, then it would change everything. Everything about how she thinks and about how she lives her life. As she put it, “It would have to, wouldn’t it? Or I’d be a liar, because how can you believe this and NOT have it completely change your life? If you don’t change, you don’t believe.”

Although she didn’t intend them to be so, those were very convicting words. Am I living like I really believe what I say? Sometimes… and other days… not so much. In my case, it’s often a matter of garbage in, garbage out. When I turn off the news I usually listen to while I work and replace it with praise music, when I put down the Tom Clancy/Harry Potter/whatever other timewasters I’m reading and select something educational or edifying instead, it makes a huge difference.

Please don’t misunderstand – I don’t think my salvation is dependent upon any action I take, and in fact I’m Calvinistic enough to believe that I was plucked out of the fire, and that I didn’t “come to Jesus” based on any good impulse of my own. Nor is the sanctification process something for which I should receive credit. At most, I’m cooperating with what the Holy Spirit is doing, and often enough actively hindering that work. But I’ve been pondering my friend’s words on several levels as I listen to this sermon series.

If you don’t change, you don’t believe.