Sword & Trowel 2017: Issue 1
salvation, we need to consider that something very extraordinary and dramatic has happened within us. We have acknowledged ourselves to be sinners, and unsaved people do not generally act or think like that. When we tell unsaved people they
are lost sinners they protest that this is an unfair and extreme charge. They acknowledge that they sin, but insist they are not so bad as to be designated ‘sinners’. They object to the idea that you are either a sinner or you are saved. They do wrong, they agree, but would never accept the idea that they are entirely unfi t for God, and due for condemna- tion and rejection. The apostle John declares that the person who has been amazingly humbled so that he acknowledges his hopeless sinfulness does so, normally, only through a work of God in his life. If we say, ‘I am a fallen sinner, and I cannot help myself. I never saw it before but have discovered what a selfi sh creature I am, what a self- centred creature I am, how bad- tempered I am, how cruel I can be, how covetous and greedy, and how dishonest I can be – and other sins besides’ – then we very probably have a work of salvation proceeding in the heart. By nature, the proud human heart will only accept ‘I am sometimes a sinner,’ or ‘I am a bit of a sinner.’ But as soon as we truly (and painfully) acknowledge sin and repent, the evi- dence is in place that salvation is in process. You are one of us, says the apostle John, in effect. You are in the family. You have a new attitude to sin. You
page 10 The Dissolving of Doubts
make no excuses. Your self-righteous- ness has been broken. You cried out in repentance, and long for some to- ken of acceptance, but you probably have it already, and should marvel and thank your Saviour with wonder and praise.
3 SIN HAS ACQUIRED CONSEQUENCES
A third assurance of salvation is enshrined in 1 John 3.6-9, but at fi rst sight it appears to dash the hopes of a seeker for salvation. It reads: ‘Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little chil- dren, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sin- neth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifest- ed, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.’ How can the apostle say this? He has just taught that if we say we have no sin then we are most certainly not saved, and now he seems to say the opposite, that if we are saved we cannot sin. There is no contradiction however, for he obviously means that the born-again person cannot sin comfortably or easily. He cannot sin without consequences for his spiritual peace. He is no longer a natural or an easy sinner. Yes, he still sins, and is guilty before God, but now it strikes
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