In Steve Hopkins' sermon, he reflects on a video by John MacArthur discussing the evidences of a transformed Christian life. The first evidence is love, which is a fundamental aspect of Christian life, manifesting as love for God, fellow believers, and others. The second is humility, which stems from an understanding of personal sinfulness and the grace received through Jesus Christ. The third evidence is obedience, characterized not by perfection but by a genuine desire to follow God's commands. The final evidence is the endurance of faith through trials, which tests the authenticity of one's faith, as exemplified by the biblical figure Job. Hopkins emphasizes that these traits are crucial indicators of true Christian transformation and faith.

I was watching a John MacArthur video clip this past week where he was talking about evidences of a transformed life. That is, evidences in the life of a true Christian. It was so good. Number one, he said, is love. Oh, brothers and sisters, number one is love.

The number one evidence of a truly transformed life is that the person now is a person who knows how to love. God is love and they are now one who loves others and those in the world, but especially love for other believers. It's a mark of a true believer, as MacArthur said, evidence of a transformed life. And you know when you hear the true children of God speak and you watch them and you watch their manner of life and you look at the way they engage with others and talk with others, you see that love for others just comes out. They cannot hide it.

And you see love as the motivating factor for all that they're doing and saying when they are engaging with other people. It's an evidence of a transformed life. And without it, there's no evidence of a transformed life. And then MacArthur says number two is humility. Love and humility.

We've been talking about this in our family lately. True Christians are a humble people and they are a humbled people. How could they not be? How could we not be? Jesus died for us and we didn't deserve it.

There is a sense, this is a quote says MacArthur, in which you are aware of your sinfulness and you never really get over this incredible grace that's been given to you to save you. Can you identify with that? Never quite get over this incredible grace. But how could we? And so We now live a life of humility, not just once broken over our sin, but forever broken, humbled, grateful for God's grace and mercy.

These are my words now. Psalm, in Psalm 51, David humbled for his sin, says in verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. That's the way that we live from the moment that we surrender to the Jesus who died for our sins. James says in James 4-6, God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble. Amen?

Humility is a mark of a true believer and evidence of a transformed life. The third evidence says MacArthur is obedience, not perfect obedience, not a perfect obedience, but it is a longing in your heart to obey your Lord. I just want to obey my Lord. He saved me. He died for my sins.

Now I just want to obey him." So in the words of MacArthur, So love, humility, and obedience. And then the fourth thing is this, the single most validating reality in the life for your faith is not some idea in your head. It's trial. It's what can your faith survive? People will say, well, I believe in the Lord and something goes wrong in their life and they walk out.

Well, that's not saving faith, says MacArthur. That's not a faith that is a gift from God, because that faith that is a gift from God lasts. He goes on, so you take Job for an illustration, devastation, just devastation every way you can cut it, And he says, what? What does Job say? Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

So when you go through a trial, like Arthur says, maybe your mother gets cancer, maybe your dad dies, maybe some horrible thing happens, maybe someone walks away from you in one of your relationships, a close relationship, or whatever the issue is, maybe you get an illness, does your faith stay intact through that trial? And I just thought these insights from MacArthur were so helpful. A few years ago I took our sons to California to see John MacArthur because I said, you know, I want you to see him in person before he's taken from us. And that could be any day, any week now, you know. And I remember going to see Dr.

Sproul in Houston many years ago, and I know I've said it before, he put his hand on Michael's head, put his hand on Michael's head. And it's just, and I don't know if he blessed him or not, but, and the other, some of these other younger guys were there as well. But those things were just so helpful to me and I wanted to share them with you all.