The Word of Life- Part 2

Introduction- I John 2:1-6

Last week we considered the testimony of John as an eyewitness of the ministry of Jesus Christ.

John spoke as one who had heard, seen, and even touched the Lord Jesus and who had also experienced personally the salvation which is found in Him.

John testifies of his own experience with a view to encouraging others to enter into fellowship with he and those who have also believed and who now enjoy fellowship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

He also spoke in chapter one of the importance of walking in the light of God’s presence so that you may enjoy continued fellowship with Him.

Though we may sin against Him, if we will but confess our sins to Him, He has promised that He will forgive and cleanse and that we can enjoy restored fellowship with Him as a result.

The passage before us today reminds us that we have an advocate with our heavenly Father (Jesus Christ) and that He is the propitiation for ours sin as well as that of the entire world.

This passage also indicates the importance of obedience to Christ’s commandments as the means to assurance of salvation and as the evidence of a genuine relationship with Him.

We Have an Advocate (Vs. 1)

The first two verses of this passage connect back to the closing verses of chapter one—where the prescription for ongoing fellowship with God is given.

You and I must confess our sin and if we will do so God has promised that He will forgive and cleanse us so that we can enjoy continued fellowship with one another and with Him.

This chapter opens with an indication as to one reason that this passage was written— “that ye sin not.”

There are many believers in our world today who excuse sin as though it is something which we cannot hope to avoid or win victory over.

Yet this passage challenges believers to abstain from sin—so long as we act in the flesh this is an impossibility, but through the power of God’s Spirit it is possible to walk in victory.

Galatians 5:16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

Romans 6:11–14 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

You and I who know Jesus Christ as Savior may look to Him in times of temptation and He is able to deliver us from sinning.

In too many cases believers live in defeat under the assumption that they simply cannot overcome sin and that there is no hope of living in victory—this is not true!

Jesus Christ will enable us to live in victory if we will but yield ourselves to His control.

This does not mean however that we will be perfectly free from sin for each of us still wrestle against the world the flesh and the devil and at times we fail to look to the Lord and thus we commit sin.

It should be the case that the Christian lives in a state of victory where sin is not the ordinary pattern but is the exception—rather than that he should live in sin and defeat where victory is not the ordinary pattern but is a rare exception.

Following this challenge to abstain from sin, the scripture reminds us that we do however have an advocate with the Father for those times where we fall to the temptation to sin.

Our advocate of course is the Lord Jesus Christ—the word advocate speak of one who comes alongside and is the same word which is used to describe in a sense the ministry of the Holy Spirit and is often translated comforter.

However in this particular context the word advocate is appropriate because this passage speaks of His approach to the Father on the behalf of those who have committed sin.

It is no accident that Jesus is here referred to as “Jesus Christ the righteous”—it is His righteousness which allows Him to stand as our advocate before the Father.

He intercedes on our behalf attributing his righteousness to our account because of our faith in Him.

He does not act as a lawyer may in this world proclaiming the innocency of the one he represents—Jesus admits our guilt, but pleads our case before the Father on the basis of His own sacrifice and our reception, by faith, of Him as our Savior.

His advocacy on our behalf represents our defense against the just wrath of God directed towards sin.

Satan is declared in the scripture to be the “accuser of the brethren” where Christ is declared to be our “advocate” these being exactly opposite roles.

Revelation 12:10 “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”

The point being made in this first verse is that Jesus can keep us from sin, but that if we should commit sin He also acts as our advocate before the Father as well.

Propitiation (Vs. 2)

The word propitiation is one that typically needs some explanation—it essentially means in this context one who appeases wrath and secures the favor of one who has been offended.

Jesus is here said to be the propitiation for our sins—what this means is that you and I have sinned against God and as such we have been the just target of His wrath—yet Jesus has appeased His wrath and has secured His favor on our behalf.

This propitiation is the direct result of Christ’s finished work in taking upon Himself the sin of humanity bearing the just penalty for sin on our behalf.

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.”

Through His suffering and death Jesus has secured for those who will believe on Him forgiveness and favor—His sacrifice has appeased the wrath of God and has secured His favor toward those who will receive Him as Savior.

The only hope that you and I have of being in right relationship to God and avoiding His just wrath directed toward our sin is to receive Jesus Christ as Savior.

Yet Jesus is not the propitiation for our sin alone—here it is plainly stated that Jesus stands as the propitiation for the sins of the whole of humanity (what is meant by the “whole world).

Hebrews 7:25 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

There are many in our world today who have somehow suggested the idea of a limited atonement—that Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient to save a certain segment of humanity and yet the scripture plainly states that His sacrifice is sufficient for the salvation of all mankind.

The scripture is clear that Jesus died for all and that anyone who will place their faith in Him shall indeed be saved!

This means that no matter who you are or what you have done Jesus will save you if you will only call upon Him—this also means that we who know Christ as Savior can be confident in sharing the gospel with others know that Jesus will save anyone who will place their faith in Him.

Assurance (Vs. 3-5)

The next several verses describe how a person may be confident of their relationship with Jesus Christ—how they may know that they know Him.

The assurance of our interest in Christ is directly connected with our willingness to obey His commandments—our obedience to Him stands as the evidence of our genuine relationship with Him.

The assurance of our salvation is the product of our obedience to God’s commands—the word “keep” here does not imply absolutely perfect obedience but rather a constant and careful attention to His commandments with the intention to obey them.

On the other hand if a person says that they know Christ while at the same time refusing to keep His commandments—this person is a liar and the truth is not in him.

It is utterly ridiculous to suggest that a person may know Christ and yet have not concern or intention to adhere to His commandments.

Genuine faith in Christ will produce in us a desire to live for Him and to do what He has said—to keep His commandments—obedience is not the means of salvation but the product of it.

Many abide in constant doubt and are never fully assured of their relationship to Christ precisely because they do not demonstrate any real concern for obedience to Him.

This is not to suggest that only those who are perfectly obedient to His commandments are truly saved-rather it is to indicate that those who have little or no concern for Christ’s commandments do not genuinely know Him!

Saying that you know Him is not sufficient for salvation—genuine faith will be evidenced by a changed life and an ongoing concern and intention to adhere to Christ’s commands.

Those who keep His word—are genuinely concerned with knowing and doing what He has said—will find that in them the love of God is perfected.

The idea here is that the love of God will have its full and complete effect only in the life of those who will keep His Word—this in turn will give increasing—by this a man may know that he is actually in Him.

Those who keep His Word demonstrate their love for Him through their obedience, and in turn they shall then become increasingly aware of His love for them.

This experience then gives them increased confidence that they are in Him.

Love and obedience are clearly deeply connected—one cannot say that he loves Christ if he is unwilling to obey him and one cannot truly know the love of Christ if he refuses to submit to Him.

John 14:21 “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

Abiding in Him (Vs. 6)

This final verse brings the passage to a very fitting conclusion and is essentially a summation of what has come before.

Now we have moved beyond merely knowing Him to the point of actually abiding in Him.

Consider John 15:1-10—in relationship to this passage of scripture

The fundamental question then is how can we know that we are actually abiding in Him?

The evidence of our abiding in Him is that we walk as He walked—this means that those who are actually abiding in Christ will actually live in the same manner that He lived.

If we insist that we are abiding in Him, but our life bears little to no resemblance to His life then we can be sure that we are not actually abiding in Him.

Practically speaking this means that if we are abiding in Him we will follow the pattern of His life because He will actually be living out His life through us.

Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Abiding in Christ essentially means that we are yielded entirely to Him and that we are allowing Him to direct our lives according to His will.

This will of course result in our living a life that is modeled after His life—one of righteousness, fruitfulness, mercy and compassion, demonstrating a self-sacrificial love for others and a sincere desire to see men reconciled to God through faith in Christ.

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”

This verse provides a brief summary of what Jesus came into the world to do and thus provides a pattern which should be present in the lives of all those who are truly abiding in Him.

Those who are actually abiding in Christ will then live like Christ in this world!

Conclusion

This passage reminds us of the work of Christ in our lives and helps us to understand how we can have a confident assurance that we know and are abiding in Him.

If you are here this morning and you are struggling with doubt and fear wondering if you really do know Him there are only two explanations:

Either you do not know Him and He is today inviting you to enter into relationship with Him through receiving Him by faith as your Savior.

It may be however that you have demonstrated little concern for His commandments and thus you wrestle constantly with doubts and fears—it may be that today you should renew your commitment to keep His commandments—to live as He would have you to live and only then may you again enjoy the assurance of your relationship with Him and doubts will be removed.

If you are here today and you say that you know Him and yet you demonstrate no interest in keeping His commandments—the scripture says that you are a liar—what you need to do today is to come to Christ and receive Him as your Savior and allow Him to transform you so that you will actually want to keep His commandments and you can have the assurance that you do know Him.

Those who are confident of their personal relationship with the Savior should continue to endeavor to keep His Word as a demonstration of our love for Him so that we can then experience the depths of His love for us!

We ought each to abide in Him and show forth the evidence of our abiding through living as He lived!