Chapter Four
Final Exam
ON a hot May afternoon in 1943, Jimmie Johnson and I sat side by side taking our comprehensive examinations. Four years of hard work were to be summed up in a four-hour exam. If we failed, we would never receive our degrees from Wheaton College. We had crammed for days. So many figures and statistics were looming up in my mind that I could hardly think straight. All around I could hear groans or grunts and exclamations giving evidence that the professor had asked the wrong or the right question. If we came to a question we were not quite sure of, the best thing to do was to write a lengthy epistle and hope that somehow we could bluff through, which is next to impossible at Wheaton College. Would we pass? If we didn't, the consequences were no degree, no graduation and another year or two of hard work. Had we been conscientious? Did we really know our subject? This examination would tell.
I heard once of a boy who went into a drugstore telephone booth to call a well-known
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business establishment and ask for a job. He was refused. He came out, and his pearly white teeth gave evidence that he was extremely happy. The drugstore proprietor, having overheard the conversation, asked, "How can you be so cheerful when you have just been refused a job?" The boy replied, "Sir, that was my boss that I was talking to. I was just checking up on myself."
I want each one of you to check up on yourself. Let's see if you can pass the examination God gives in First John.
The Gospel of John speaks of eternal life as manifested in the Son of God: "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20:31).
The Gospel of John was written in order that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ. The First Epistle of John was written to people who believe that Jesus is the Christ but who have never come into full assurance of their present position or of the possession of eternal life. "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 continue to believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:13). If you have any doubt concerning the atoning death of Christ or about His deity, read the Gospel of John, but if you have believed the message of the Gospel and you are still perplexed as to the question of assurance, read the First Epistle of John.
Everywhere I go people come to me and ask me how they may know.
A young fellow came to me one night in Brussels and said, "I have done everything I know to do, but I still have no assurance." I find that is true of hundreds of young people. They have believed; they have accepted; they have done the best they know how; but somehow they are lacking in assurance. They are bewildered and perplexed.
There are other thousands of young people who think
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they are saved but in reality, when they take the acid test, they find they have never been born again of the Spirit of God. If they died they would never go to heaven. So let us take the test. Let us examine ourselves. Let us check and see how we stand in the light of God's Word. Are you ready? Here goes!
I. DO YOU BELIEVE ON THE SON?
"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," and His commandment is that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him" (1 John 5:1).
Have you really, truly and definitely accepted Christ as your Saviour? Has there come a period in your life when you were convicted of the Holy Spirit and you confessed Christ, not only as Saviour, but as Lord? The word "believe" means to have trust in and to lean upon Christ, to confess Him as the Lord of your life and the Saviour of your soul.
The greatest difficulty I have in dealing with young people is to get them to rest upon the facts of the Word of God. So many rest upon their feelings or upon the church or upon morality, or they try to follow the teachings of Jesus, or perhaps they say, "Christ and . . ." "Sacrament and . . ." or something else. No, it is Christ, and Christ alone. His answer to Thomas was: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
It was night. The dungeon was cold, damp and rodent-infested. Grunts and groans could be heard everywhere. Then, from somewhere, came a strange noise. It sounded like singing! Paul and Silas were having a song and praise service at midnight in a Philippian jail. God, looking
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over the battlements of heaven, said "Amen" so loudly that the prison walls shook on their foundations and crumbled. The warden of the jail was about to fall upon his sword and commit suicide. In the excitement of the moment, Paul glanced in the warden's direction. "Don't kill yourself; we are still here," he shouted above the din and the noise. The warden glanced with frightened eyes toward these two strange prisoners that he had scourged and locked up a few hours earlier.
Having already heard their testimony in song and word, he fell upon his face and said, "Sir, what must I do to be saved?" Paul answered, "Join the church and thou shalt be saved." Oh, no! "Live the best you can and thou shalt be saved." Oh, no! "Get baptized and thou shalt be saved." Oh, no! The answer which rang through the crumbled Philippian jail that night and answer that has been ringing down through the centuries is the same yesterday, today and forever: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." All the evangelical values are in that. The infinite music of the Gospel is thrilling through it like an anthem. That is the first question! Do you pass?
II. WHAT IS YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD SIN?
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (1 John 1:8-10).
Do you hate sin as God hates it? Do you detest it? Is it loathsome, filthy, ugly to you? When you stumble and fall or yield to Satan's temptation in a moment of weakness, do you immediately confess?
Do you hate covetousness, jealousy, gossip, deceitfulness, malice, hypocrisy, intemperance? The Scripture says, "If
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we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If you are really born again of the Spirit of God, immediately upon yielding to Satan you will realize your sin and you will immediately confess it. God will graciously forgive and pardon.
That is the second question! How do you stand? Do you pass?
III. ARE YOU AN OBEDIENT SERVANT?
"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments" (1 John 2:3). The next verse says, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Do we say that we are Christians? Do we maintain that we are God's children? Then we must prove it by our lives! The law had said concerning the man who keeps His commandments, "Which if a man do, he shall live in them." But under Christ the man who lives by faith will do His commandments. The person who is born of the Spirit will delight in obedience to the will of God. This doesn't mean that you are obedient in everything all the time! You should be, but in reality there is only one who can say, "I do always those things that please him." The one who knows Christ as Saviour will find springing up within him a glorious love to do the will of God.
John uses the strongest language. He says, "If you don't like to do the will of God, if you don't like to obey His commandments, that is a good sign that you are not a Christian." "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar."
There are certain relationships in life that require from the parties involved only moderate degrees of devotion. A certain degree of reserve and distance seems to be suitable in such relations as these, but there are other relationships in life where all this is changed when friendship becomes love. Two hearts give themselves to each
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other to be no longer two but one. A union takes place which makes the property of one the property of the other. Instead of being separated, their interest and paths are now together. The reserve and the distance suitable to mere friendship become fatal in love. Love gives all and must have all in return. The wishes of the other party become binding obligations, and the deepest desire of each heart is that it may know every secret wish and longing of the other in order that it may do all in its power to gratify those desires.
Listen, young fellow, if you have ever known love like this, even though it is puppy love, you know that sacrifice and service on the part of the fair young maiden is a joy. We usually laugh at a young fellow in love and say that it is "puppy love," but always remember that it is real to the pup. If a wholehearted abandonment of your will to the will of another person has ever been your privilege as a sweet reality, then by all the tender, longing love of your Heavenly Lover would I beg of you to let it be so toward Christ. He loves you with more than the love of friendship.
As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so He rejoices over you. He has given you all, and He asks all in return. The slightest reserve will grieve Him to the heart. Be glad and eager to throw yourself unreservedly into His loving arms and to hand over the reins of government to Him. Give up forever everything that has separated you from Him. Let Him make all the choices. When this happens you will not want to go where He cannot go with you. You will not want to read that which He cannot read with you. You will not want to have friendship that He cannot enjoy. Your hands will never touch that which His hands cannot touch. Your eyes will never look where His eyes cannot look. Your love makes necessary a separation from the world of which a low type of love could not conceive. He claims from you because of your union with Him
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far more than He does from anyone else. Are you obedient in all the things that He calls upon you to do? Do you talk about Him to other people?
It was a cool spring afternoon when Johnnie Streater introduced me to a beautiful young campus queen. Our eyes met for the first time. I was impressed, timid and bashful, but something went straight to my heart that I could never describe. The love bug had bitten me. A new faraway expression came into my eyes. Her every wish was a command to me from that moment on. Classes and studies were forgotten when I thought or talked about her. Her letters were read scores of times. The slightest little indication that she was returning my love thrilled me from head to toe, and though we have been married for many months, yet we are sweethearts still.
Is that the kind of love, affection and obedience you have for Christ? If not, the Scripture indicates that you can put a big question mark over whether you have ever really been born again. Do you pass?
IV. ARE YOU SEPARATED FROM THE WORLD?
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (1 John 2:15-17).
God calls us to be a separated people. "Come out from among them, and be ye separate." We are a peculiar people — not, however, in the sense that we dress strangely or are eccentric. We are a chosen group. The moment you came to Christ you were adopted into the family of God. The old things you used to love you now hate. Things you used to hate you now love.
The world consists of:
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1. Lust of the flesh. This means a strange urge to gratify your own desires, not only sensual desires, but all types of fleshly lusts.
2. Lust of the eye. This is a fierce passion to see and enjoy that which the flesh desires.
3. Vain glory. This means show, pomp, and is evident when you strut before your inferiors or class, when you show off or display a cocky attitude.
All of this is worldly.
Don't make a mistake, however. Don't become the victim of the unscriptural teaching of separation which Stacy Woods calls "legality in the guise of spirituality." This modern legality has placed its taboo on certain practices, while sometimes ignoring more harmful ones. We call a person "separated" if he does not attend certain places of amusement. This is one of Satan's lies and has become a great stumbling block to many young people.
What is worldliness actually?
Mr. Woods describes it very aptly: "It is the self-indulgent attitude of the heart and mind toward life . . ." It is not merely doing certain forbidden things or going to certain places. Worldliness is what we are not just what we do. It is in reality an inner attitude, for as a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." Any Christian whose interest is directed toward himself is worldly.
In Belfast, Ireland, a woman came to me one night and said, Oh, Mr. Graham, I enjoyed your message, but I lost the blessing. I asked why. She said, "I think I detected lipstick on your wife's lips." I answered, "My wife doesn't usually wear lipstick, but that is a strange place to have your blessing. Your blessing is resting on lipstick instead of on the message of the Word of God."
This poor deluded woman had been taught that the slightest bit of make-up was an evidence that a person was worldly, while in her own heart she had come to a
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place of pharisaical and religious pride, which was far worse.
In many places young people have been debarred from Christian fellowship because they did not conform to certain standards set by a local group. I find that throughout the world there are differences in custom. For example, in some places in the South they consider a person worldly if he goes swimming with a mixed group. In France even the most spiritual Christian drinks wine because of a lack of good water. In Holland the very finest Christian smokes.
You cannot set your standards by what others are doing! Do not use other people as a "canon"! Do not make your "Christianity negative! When you become a Christian, you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. You no longer live to satisfy certain appetites and desires; rather, you love to obey and follow Christ. Christ demands more than adherence to some form or standard of life. Becoming a Christian is marriage to Christ and the surrender of the right of independent thought and action.
There are certain things we know to be right. There are other things we know to be wrong. It has always been right to tell the truth, to be honest and upright. It has always been wrong to steal, lie and murder. But in between there is a "no man's land" which puzzles us. There are certain habits, friendships, amusements, sports, purposes or plans which we are not certain would be pleasing to God, things about which the Bible doesn't definitely say, "Thou shalt" or "Thou shalt not!" It is a perplexing problem!
Here are six questions you should always ask yourself as a test:
1. Does it violate any particular part of Scripture?
2. Does it take the keenness off my spirituality?
3. Can I ask God's blessing on it?
4. Will it be a stumbling block?
5. Would I like to be doing that thing when Christ returns?
6. Is it expedient?
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Have you been indulging in worldliness? John says, "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
Do you pass this test?
V. ARE YOU ANTICIPATING THE COMING OF CHRIST?
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:1-3).
The first coming of Christ is the greatest event in world history. At once it becomes the center of the two eternities; the main spring in the clock of prophecy, the pivot around which revolves all the purposes of God.
Today the world faces another crisis: Christ's second coming. This time He is coming not in humiliation but in glorification to receive from this scene His own blood-bought children. Evidences abound that the time is almost here. Since "Ascension Day" when the heavenly witnesses said "This same Jesus . . . shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go," the eyes of Christians have been turning heavenward. They look for Him and perhaps as never before expect Him at any moment. "Maranatha!" What a thrill to those who know Christ! The Lord cometh! His coming is as certain as the dawn. It is as sure as seedtime and harvest; cold and heat; summer and winter; day and night. What a moment that will be when the realms of death are invaded by the power of Christ! The dead in Christ shall rise with bodies incorruptible, finished as unto the body of our glorified Lord. Those still living will be changed next. In a moment mortality shall be
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swallowed up in life. Physical imperfection shall be put off. What a hope! How it helps us bear our difficulties, distresses, burdens, problems, crosses and infirmities.
This is the blessed hope of every person who knows Christ. Are you ready for that day? It could be as the sun is rising over the eastern horizon tomorrow morning. It could be at noonday when the sun is riding high in the sky. It could be as the evening shadows are gathering and twilight spreads itself over the land. It could be at midnight. Are you looking for that day? This hope should be constantly, moment by moment, in the heart of every Christian.
Do you pass this question?
VI. DO YOU LOVE THE BRETHREN?
"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death" (1 John 3:14).
Lord Nelson stood on board his ship. His fleet was drawn up in battle array. The Dutch fleet was over the horizon. He saw two English officers quarreling. He stood at attention and sternly pointed to the ships of Holland as he said, "Gentlemen, there are your enemies!" The greatest need among professing Christians today is love. The one great command that is laid upon us by Jesus Christ is that we love one another; not that we should love another as a husband loves his wife or as a mother loves her child; oh, no, far deeper than that. Our love for each other should be comparable to God's love for us. Is your love like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal? You may know Greek and Hebrew. You may know church history, physiology and philosophy, but if you have not love, it profiteth you nothing. The kind of love that suffers, that is kind, that never envies, that does not puff itself up, that never seeks its own, that is not easily provoked, that never does evil, that never takes joy in sin, that is
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always happy and thrilled when the truth is presented, that endures everything — is this the kind of love you have?
I know men in Christian work who are great theologians and preachers but they seem hard, cold and unapproachable. The kind of love John is talking about is warm, tender, gracious, courteous, approachable. We profess love for each other, but many times behind each other's backs we cut like the point of a rapier. I wonder if we should not go to the quietness of our rooms and pray, "Oh, God, You know I was selfish. I was not considerate. I didn't act in love. I didn't manifest the spirit of Christ." Then if our hearts condemn us not, we have confidence toward God.
The great commandment that Jesus left was that we should love one another. Check up on your love life. Are you really in love — desperately in love — with Him and those around you?
VII. DO YOU PRACTICE SIN?
"We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not" (1 John 5:18).
Now, don't get alarmed! This verse should never have been translated as it is in the King James Version. Look at the words "sinneth not." The verse should read: "Whosoever is born of God doth not practice sin." In other words, if I see a man going on in sin after he has professed conversion, I have a right to doubt that man's salvation. He may stumble and fall. He may even yield to Satan and commit a sin in a moment of weakness, but he will immediately right himself and ask God for strength to be an overcomer. If a man tells me that he has quit drinking whiskey and I see him drunk every Saturday night for a month, I certainly have a right to doubt that the man has reformed. If you are continuing in your old sins and no change took place when you professed conversion and you continue to slip into the old mud holes, then you
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should certainly search your heart and see if you have been born again of the Spirit of God.
As Gavin Hamilton says, "There is an infinite difference between the professor and the actual possessor of Christianity." Peter's Second Epistle makes this crystal clear. In chapter 1:3-4 he says, "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
Here we have a description of the man who is truly born again and who escapes the corruption that is in the world through lust. It is a positive and eternal deliverance.
On the other hand, in the second chapter the apostle deliberates upon those that have made a profession of Christianity but do not have actual possession. Here are his words: "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (2 Peter 2:20-22).
Again, in 1 John 2:19, John says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
He that is born of God does not practice sin.
Do you pass this question?
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We have given you seven questions. What is your score? I trust you made a hundred and are a hundred percent out and out for God.
Jim Johnson and I were excited when the examination was over. "Let's go and celebrate," I said. Then we began to think. What if we had failed! It would shame us before our fellow students and our families. For the next four days we were in agony. We could hardly sleep or eat. We were very quiet and prayerful. We were hoping against hope that somehow the heart of the professor would be touched or that we had managed to get the right answers to the questions.
I will never forget when he called us in and smiled as we entered the door. We felt a tremendous relief, but unless he experiences it, no one will ever know the joy and the satisfaction of a young student who has worked hard and hears from his or her professor the words "well done." We received our papers and went into a state of hilarious ecstasy when we saw the grades written thereon. We were thrilled, overcome and overjoyed.
The examination was over and we had not only passed but had exceeded our expectation and had heard the professor say, "Well done."
How will it be when we stand before the great judgment seat of Christ? The various points of our lives will be scrutinized; the examination will be given. The most glorious hope within my breast is that someday I will hear the words of the Great Professor after the examination is over: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Chapter Five || Table of Contents