1st John 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
The Epistle of 1st John was not just written to give believer's joy, but also to help us individually determine if we are saved. Here is Pastor Matthew Stuckey making a total fool of himself, denying that the Epistle of 1st John was given to us by God so that we can “KNOW” we are saved. Stuckey says the epistle was only intended to give us Christian joy. ...
IFB Book Review | Evidences of Salvation by Jack Trieber
I humbly think the epistle's key verse is 1st John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” The acid test is whether or not we have the indwelling Holy Spirit; and that is what 1st John helps us determine, individually—if we have the Holy Spirit.
If we hate a Christian without cause, we may not have the Holy Spirit, and thus are not saved (1st John 2:9-11). If we can sin without any conviction whatsoever from the Holy Spirit, then something is very wrong, and we may not have the Holy Spirit, and are not saved (Hebrews 12:6-8). John is NOT saying that we are unsaved if our life is filled with sin; but rather, if we can live like the Devil without being chastised by God, then we may not have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Hebrews 12:6-8 plainly calls someone a "bastard" who is never scourged and chastised by God for our sin. Anyone who does not have the Holy Spirit (i.e., the Spirit of Christ) is unsaved (Romans 8:9).
We have to be very careful when interpreting the Scripture to rightly divide it. Many people read 1st John 2:4 that you are not saved if you don't keep God's commandments. They assume that this means keeping all of God's commandments, but John plainly writes in 1st John 3:23, “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”
So, you are not saved if you don't believe on Christ. That is God's commandment. We know from umpteen other Scripture passages that works are not allowed or necessary to get to Heaven (John 6:28-29; Romans 3:20; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 5:4). So, we know that John is not teaching that you must keep God's law to be saved. The ONLY commandment that you must keep to be saved is to BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, which the dear Savior Himself confirmed in John 6:28-29. Many Bible students get 1st John wrong.
1st John 3:9 simply means that the indwelling Holy Spirit cannot sin. The Bible does not say that we won't practice sinning as the new corrupt Bible versions read, it says the man who walks in the Spirit "cannot sin." It means when we sin, we do so in the flesh. When we walk in the Spirit we cannot sin (Galatians 5:16). But we all walk in the flesh every day by default, because we are all carnal sinners by old nature. I reject the heresy that when a person gets saved, they only have a new nature and the old nature is gone. No, we still have the old flesh to contend with. The Apostle Paul makes this clear in Romans 7:14-25.
This is mostly an excellent and needful video by Pastor Stuckey, but he is wrong that 1st John was ~not~ written so that believers can KNOW we are saved.
The day I got saved, the preacher said that if you can commit sin without any conviction whatsoever from the Holy Spirit, you are not saved. I knew that I didn't have the Holy Spirit, because I had never felt bad about my sinning. When I look back now in my mind, before I got saved at age 13 there is only a blank in my mind concerning God. I was spiritually dead. But from the day I got saved until today I have felt the presence of God's blessed Holy Spirit in my life: convicting, comforting, guiding, rebuking and teaching me as His child.
The day I got saved was like a light switch being turned on in my soul. For the first time in my life I heard an inaudible small voice in my soul convicting me about sassing my mother. I started reading my King James Bible in Genesis through Leviticus, and then I jumped to the New Testament like most believers do...lol. There was a change in my life. I remember my mother saying to me one evening, "You've changed." In hindsight, that is a beautiful confirmation of God's Holy Spirit in my life. I had been born again!
To clarify, I do not believe in Lordship Salvation. I do NOT believe that a changed life proves anything, because the false prophets in Matthew 7:21-23 lived a changed life, doing many wonderful works and they followed Jesus while calling Him: "Lord, Lord," yet they were hellbound sinners. They were living the Christian life without ever having been born again. That is Satan's favorite weapon!
There is only one thing that the unsaved person cannot have, and that is the blessed indwelling Holy Spirit, and that is why 1st John was written, to give us the joy of knowing that we are truly saved.
I have heard Benny Hinn preach different plans of salvation to various audiences. When he was in Colorado speaking to Catholics, Hinn praised the Virgin Mary and presented a Catholic plan of salvation. When in Israel, he preached a different gospel. But when I heard him preach in Tennessee, he preached a free grace gospel, which confused me. I had to give it some thought but eventually figured out what he was doing. Benny Hinn is a chameleon, changing colors to appease different crowds to get their money (2nd Peter 2:1-3).
Even though I heard Benny Hinn preach a free grace gospel, I realized that he doesn't believe a word of what he is saying. So, to me, that helps understand why God gave us the Epistle of 1st John.
Pastor Jack Trieber is definitely wrong in his errant views put forth in his book; but this video also needs to be corrected, because the Apostle John did write his epistle to help the Christian KNOW that we are saved according to 1st John 5:13. 1st John 3:24 plainly teaches that we KNOW we are saved by the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, by which we were "sealed" the moment we trusted Christ to be saved (Ephesians 5:13-14).
One of the reasons for which God gives us His indwelling Spirit is “๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ป๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ป๐๐ถ๐น ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป” (๐๐ฝ๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ญ:๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ). The Holy Spirit is God's downpayment on His child. No preacher is perfect. I didn't post these comments to shed a bad light on Pastor Stuckey; but rather, to contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 1:3b).
As a result of this article, which I had previously posted on Facebook, Pastor Steven Anderson has unfriended and blocked me. Real nice guy, huh? You see, in the NIFB you are not allowed to express your own contrary opinion. Steven Anderson is a hypocrite! He preached a sermon titled, "Only One Viewpoint Is Allowed," and yet that is exactly what he does to people. It's his way or the highway, which is why his four oldest children have turned against him, accusing him of physically abusing his own family for decades. Ask Steven's older brother Clint Anderson and his wife, who harbored his daughter Miriam from his abuse, what they think about Steven Anderson. This is your NIFB's cult leader!
Matthew Stuckey, like all of your incompetent NIFB pastors, have never attended any Bible college. They are a bunch of rogue wannabe theologians who have no formal training. I spent eight long tiresome year at Hyles-Anderson College (1985-1993) earning my degree in Pastoral Theology. That is why, unlike the NIFB pastors who butcher and wrongly divide God's Word, I preach the truth.
