Week 1: The Christian's Great Interest


Recommended Reading:
Introduction-Chapter 3 (42 pages)

Bible Study Questions
Chapter 1
  1. Read 2 Corinthians 13:1-10
  2. Why is it important for us to "examine ourselves, to see whether [we] are in the faith"? By what measure are you examining yourself?
  3. As we are all called to make disciples, do you have this much boldness to call them to examine their own hearts? Have you lacked in obedience in making disciples? Have you lacked in standing firm on the Scriptures with them, gently leading them to truth?
Chapter 2
  1. Read 2 Corinthians 7:10 and John 16:4-15
  2. Why is it so dangerous to confuse temporary convictions with true Spirit-led convictions?
  3. If the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts the world of sin, does the world need more knowledge, information, or experiences in order to learn that they are sinners?
Chapter 3
  1. Read 1 John 5:13-21
  2. What promises do you find are given to those who believe in the name of the Son of God?
  3. How can we walk with greater confidence that Paul describes as having?
Personal Reflection Questions:
Introduction
  1. What is the purpose that Guthrie writes his book?
Chapter 1
  1. What other reasons can you think of for a person to not have an interest in Christ? Which ones do you embrace/did embrace?
  2. What measures have you been using to give yourself assurance of salvation or have been causing you to question your salvation? If you fall short, what have you been doing about it?
Chapter 2
  1. Reflect on how the Lord drew you near to Him. Were you able to perceive the signs of God working in your life? Have you taken time to thank Him for this perfect work?
  2. What other ways can you think of as being differentiating factors for a person undergoing the "preparatory work of the law" versus simply having a temporary conviction of sin?
  3. What would you say to a person, perhaps even yourself, who has deceived themselves into thinking that temporary conviction is really a work of the Spirit?
Chapter 3
  1. If the Scriptures teach that a person may "know that they have eternal life", why do you think many people waver in their assurance?
  2. How have you wrongfully thought about faith and in what ways has that affected the way you live? Has your misunderstanding caused you to make concessions and compromise on living a pure and holy life that God commands?
Prayer
Father God, having been graced with the message of the Gospel I know that I stand before you as a sinner, saved only by your grace. I know that every person will either spend eternity with You or eternity apart from You and rejoice in the work of Your son to make me Your friend. Humble me and bring me to examine my life, thoughts, deeds, and motivations, so that I may find the idols in my life and remove them. I pray that in my examination of self, I not be deceived, thinking that little confessions and slight grief over temporary convictions of sin will lead to eternal life. May I cease from working, and rest in the perfect work of Your son. Grant me an assurance of my standing before you so that I will not waver between self, sin, and lusts; but so that I may continue to glory in the joy of my salvation through your Son and so that I may live a life fully devoted to You and for Your glory.

Alex's Chapter Summary:
Chapter 1
It comes as no surprise to anyone that the first chapter of the book would be contained within the first part of the book. Which means none will be shocked at the fact that the content within the first chapter is meant to support the purposes of part one, which is to help us see how a person can be a true Christian (in the book he uses the language of a person bearing a genuine, sincere saving interest in Christ) and to differentiate between pretenders and true believers. Given the preceding statements, this chapter lays out some premises that will be built upon in the chapters following and serve as presupposed foundational truths. He lists out five premises, but spends the bulk of his time on premise four. In premises one through three, he explains that our standing before God is the most important question we should answer and that Scripture is the method for how we should determine if we are in the faith, because our state is something that can be knowable. In premise five, we warns us of certain evidences or misconceptions that we may use in order to justify ourselves as believers. For example, if we want to be sure that we are of the faith, it would be a mistake to justify it based on a sinless life. Because we are still in the flesh, we will sin. Therefore, the barometer of sinless living to determine our state of salvation is a very broken one. Premise four is where Guthrie spends the most of the chapter in and in it he provides several reasons for why a person may not be saved or should not have any assurance of salvation.

Chapter 2
After having settled on certain presuppositions, Guthrie begins to explain the general (not specific and universal) way in which a person is drawn to Christ. He lays out four classes of believers with the minority classes consisting of those drawn to Christ from birth, after maturing in life by a sovereign act of God, or near death/on death bed. I think this section can be very helpful for certain people who may be struggling with assurance of their salvation. I like that he goes beyond just explaining what each category is, but elaborates on some of the signs associated with each person's conversion. The majority consists of those who were prepared for salvation by the work of the law. This section is wonderfully written and provides a pretty good pattern for the stages a person goes through. I had never really thought about this process before and Guthrie articulates it very well. It can be summarized as proceeding from being convicted by a word of truth, wrestling with various solutions for resolving this conviction even to the point of sacrifice, accepting Christ and His word, and finally walking in continuing sanctification. The last part of this question deals with a couple of objections that may be raised. Namely, how to differentiate between a person who has a temporary conviction of sin versus a legitimate preparatory work of the law and how to handle weak convictions against sin after salvation.

Chapter 3
The third chapter of this book addresses the first distinguishable mark of a person who has a true interest in Christ. This first mark is that of faith. But before he begins by elaborating on this mark, he first addresses some of the mistakes people make when they think about faith. Faith is not too difficult to understand or to find, because it is simply believing what God has said and is found in Christ as a gift from God. While there are many other doctrines of the faith and many will teach this to a person who is wanting to learn about Christianity, they can sometimes serve as barriers. In the next section he defines what true saving faith looks like. Some might think that if a person is a Christian they should look exactly the same as the other Christians, but that is not the case. Each person has been given different measures of faith and others have been granted different measures of the blessings derived from faith. A person who is experiencing many of the blessings associated with a person of faith may very well have true saving faith, but the experienced promises are not what guarantees a person has faith. A person must look to Christ in order to be guaranteed true, saving faith. And all those who do so, will inherit the promise of eternal life that comes from faith. In the final section, Guthrie raises and addresses the objection that some are so concerned that they may have deceived themselves into thinking that they have true, saving faith when they do not actually have it. Having this concern is actually a good indicator that a person may have real faith, but at the same time a hypocrite may claim true faith but their affections for Christ will never be the same as one who truly is saved. Why? Because the Scriptures clearly state that that is the case; they are not new creations and have not been given the Spirit and a new heart. This topic of hypocrites and true Christians will be elaborated on more in chapter 5 though.

Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez

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