S - Epistle of John Pt. 3 (1 John 2: 3-11)
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3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:
6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
I was reading a book and it asked this question:
Is it possible to know God and to live like the devil?
What do you think? I’m sure your gut response is probably to say no right? Of course you can’t and if you were to ask me I would say: No you can’t do that. Here’s what happens though, people will have head knowledge about God, but will continue to live like the devil.
I mean, it happens all the time. People know about Jesus, they might even read the Bible, but they continue to live their life as if Jesus isn’t a part of it, because Jesus is not a part of it. I want to let you in on a little secret:
Knowing ABOUT God is not the same as KNOWING God.
In other words, you can know everything the Bible says and still not be a Christian.
Let’s look at three questions that will help us better understand if we are Christians:
Do I believe the right things about God?
Do I believe the right things about God?
Do I obey God’s commands?
Do I believe the right things about God?
Do I obey God’s commands?
Do I love others?
Who is this? You might recognize him as Iron Man or by his real name, Robert Downy Jr. Well, let’s say He is Iron Man. What do you know about Iron Man? You know he’s super smart, he has an armor that protects him when he goes into battle. You know he died a few years ago in Avengers End Game. I bet there’s a lot you know about this character. But do you actually know him? Like, how many of you have gone out to eat with him? or invited him to church? or hung out with them and played fortnite with him?
I know I haven’t. I know about him and the stories about him because they are on tv. And I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed but I have watched every movie Iron Man appears in and I have general knowledge about every one of those movies.
But I don’t actually know the guy, I just know about him. There is a difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing someone. This is the word that makes a difference:
RELATIONSHIP
The best way to know some truly is to have a relationship with them. People could tell me all day long that Eyron is 12 foot tall and has blue eyes and he only speaks Spanish but I know that isn’t true because I KNOW Eyron.
Well, I want to ask you a question, read some Scripture and then, we’ll pray:
The Question I have is:
Do you KNOW God, or do you know ABOUT God?
Before we read some Scripture, I don’t want to scare anyone. I just want to be honest with you guys. Knowing about God, is not enough to get you into heaven. You need to know God personally.
3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:
6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
Last week we read some Bible verses that were very clear. But we learned about God’s relationship towards us. The Bible tells us, in regards to God’s relationship towards us, that God wants a relationship with you, He has prepared a way to have a relationship with you, but He can’t have a relationship with you if you are in a relationship with sin.
That’s God towards us, today we are going to look at our relationship towards God.
How do you know if you are in a relationship with God?
Let’s take a look at verse 3:
3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
You’ll know if you know Him, if you obey Him. You know, If you ask people if you ask 100 Christians if they know God, all 100 will raise their hands, but if you ask 100 Christians if they obey God, how many hands do you think will go up?
I mean, we can talk about how hard it is to obey God all day long, trust me I know it’s hard, but the only way to know if I have a personal relationship with Jesus is if I obey him.
This is the best way to know if you have a relationship with Jesus you ready?
Study the Bible to know about God. Obey the Bible to really know God.
At this point it probably feels like I’m hounding to just obey the Bible. See, I think the problem is the world has this idea that we should obey the bible just because it’s a bunch of good rules and that’s it. But we talked about this specifically on Wednesday.
Jesus would never ask you to do something He hasn’t already done. Jesus obeyed God so much so that He went to the cross and paid for our sins. That hurt Him a lot. More than you or I will ever know.
We don’t do good things for goodness sake friend. We do Good for a couple of reasons:
We do Good because:
Jesus did it first
It proves we have a relationship with God.
It has the potential to steer other people into a relationship with God.
See, I know I’ve done this before. Have you ever been asked to do something by an adult and when you asked them “why?” they said: Because I said so? Now don’t go looking at your house parents. Trust me, sometimes we tell you why and you don’t like our answers so sometimes we have to say: because I said so.
But what’s interesting about God is that God doesn’t do that. He doesn’t just say: go and obey me. but why God? God doesn’t just say: Because I said so. He gives us these three reasons.
The hard part about this is the next verse:
4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
You can’y say you know God and then not live like it. Even people that aren’t Christians will say: you’re lying. A real Christians wouldn’t behave that way.
5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:
6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
How do I know I’m in a relationship with Jesus? If I live like He does.
These letters from John are really close to the end of the Bible, and John knows this. He says:
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard.
8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
John says: I’m not writing anything new, this has always been in the Bible, we just forget super easily to live by it. But in verse 8 He says: I am writing this because the truth of the Bible can be seen in 2 people:
In Jesus and in you. And even though the world is dark, God’s light can shine on other people. Do you remember this list?
We do Good because:
Jesus did it first
It proves we have a relationship with God.
It has the potential to steer other people into a relationship with God.
what’s the third reason? When you obey God, and other people see you obeying God, there is a chance that other people will come to know God because of it.
How great would it be, if you were the reason other people came to church, or started a relationship with Jesus? John makes it clear, Jesus has the power to change the world, but Jesus can change the world through you!
But, the way we behave will directly impact the world around us:
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.
10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.
11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
If you have a good relationship with your brothers and sisters then you will treat them well, then everyone around you will be able to tell. And the bible tells us that that if you treat your brothers or sisters in an awful way then you can’t see where you’re going.
What does that mean? Sometimes we get so blinded by the things we want that we disregard others and God. I’m mad at my brother or sister so I’m going to react poorly, Or I’m upset with someone who was mean to me so I’m going to be mean back. And you stumble your way through your own feelings that you don’t see what you are doing.
You are hurting others and disobeying God because you’d rather be slave to your feelings.
A blind man can’t do anything for themselves friends. They need someone to help them navigate life. And blind is how we are described as before we knew Jesus. If you know who Jesus is now, then why do we behave like we’re blind sometimes?
I want you to know I’m asking myself that question. My own feelings tell me what to do sometimes and I listen. Sin is like a whole you are heading to, and this hole is deep and if you fall into it you will most certainly be stuck. If you see the hole, you won’t walk into it, but if you are blind, and you don’t see it, you will most certainly fall into it.
We’ll finish with this verse right here:
8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
Remember what we said:
We do Good because:
Jesus did it first
It proves we have a relationship with God.
It has the potential to steer other people into a relationship with God.
If we want other people to follow Jesus, we must obey God and His commands. And if we want others to see us God’s children then we must obey God as well. I firmly believe that you will practice what you believe, and if you say you believe in Jesus, we must behave like we do.
Yesterday as a joke I was messing around with Leo, Savannah and Mia and I can’t remember what was said but Mia said something to Leo and I told Leo:
You gonna let her talk to you like that? I wouldn’t let her talk to me like that. And Savannah was like:
Pastor Luis, you are supposed to be a Pastor, you can’t tell Leo to get revenge!
Now, clearly it was all in the spirit of fun in games, but there’s some truth to what Savannah said. What if I was serious? What if I was serious when I told Leo to get back at Mia? If I’m a follower of Jesus, would that have been right?
Now let me ask you this, if it’s wrong for me, as the Pastor, to say things I shouldn’t why is it ok for you to do it? What’s the difference between you and I? Well, you might say you’re a pastor, it is different. Well friends, I’m here to tell you that there is no difference between you and me. I am not closer to God that you are, we are all just as close to God as we can be.
It is not ok for ANY Christian to live like their life disobeying God.
I want to ask you, what is God asking you to do? And what is it going to take for you to do it?
And if you aren’t a Christian? Do you want to continue living blindly?