Follow The Line Leader

What is “for sure”? (invite responses).    I have one more…If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior you have the assurance of eternal life in heaven!  You must simply, Follow the line leader!   The line leader, the one to follow is Jesus.
At our house My granddaughter, Makiah must always be the “line leader”. If we are walking from the front to the back of the house together she quickly jumps in front and says, “follow the line leader papaw, follow the line leader”.

John’s writing 2 explain to his readers how they could be certain of their eternal security.

Last week first two verses of chapter 2.  We discovered two important truths…..Jesus Christ is our advocate who intercedes for us and he suffered our sin penalty so that we could live eternally.  We’ve got to “follow the line leader”.

Have you ever questioned your eternal destiny?  It’s quite natural, quite common to want to be sure.

Sometimes we look around at others, hear about something God is doing in their life, or see how God is blessing them, and we see that in stark contrast to our own life and start to wonder – am I really loved by God?  Is my place in heaven reserved?

Am I really one of God’s children? Do I really know Him? Sometimes those questions sneak in, often at those times when we get an honest glimpse of our sin. And we start to wonder. 

How can we truly know that we have inherited eternal life?  How can we be certain that Christ is our advocate and propitiation?  How can we know that we know?  We’ve got to follow the line leader & the line leader is our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

We can have assurance of our salvation by:

1. Being obedient to Christ’s commands
2. Loving one another
3. Following the example of Christ’s life (following the line leader)

In verse 3 John says: “we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments”. The obedience of our lives is the evidence of our relationship.

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. Note first what it is not: it is not how we feel. Our emotional realities change, and are temporary, and are influenced by all manner of external factors.

The emotional mountaintops are good, but not enough. We don’t always feel close to God, we don’t always feel loved by God, we don’t always feel like we are secure.

Our culture majors on the emotional; our Bibles on truth!

Second, assurance doesn’t come through experiences. These are good, but they’re not the evidence of our relationship with God. I believe that many non-Christians have had some sort of “experience” of God, whether they recognize it or not.

Most of us have also had times in our lives when we have experienced the powerful presence of God, and it has been wonderful. But again, those are not enough – and if we are seeking those “experiences” we are seeking the wrong thing: we need to seek not for the “experience” but rather pursue a lifetime of obedience. 

John says it’s our obedience that defines our assurance of a relationship to Christ.      “But if anyone does sin… we have Jesus.”

When the doubts come, answer them by examining your life. Are you working with God to be as obedient as possible; even though you sometimes blow it? The measure is not perfection, but the attitude of the heart. 

4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Verse 4 is rather bluntly saying that our words, if divorced from our actions, are lies. We can’t just say it, we must live it….We’ve got to follow the line leader!

The word, Commands, as used here, does not refer to the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament.

John is speaking here of the instructions, commands, charges, precepts that Jesus gave while here on earth or through his apostles in the New Testament books. 

To be obedient to those commands we must guard those commands with a consuming desire that they be honored.  This can only be done by following His example..

5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:  6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

I believe that John is teaching us that we are a people whose actions of love are evidence of a transformed heart. That gives us assurance, God’s love is “made perfect” in our obedience, that obedience is lived out in the context of our relationships with one another.

Christ is not only the Propitiation (or sacrifice) for our sins and the Advocate who represents us before God, but He is also the perfect Pattern for our daily life.  Walking in the light means living here on earth the way Jesus lived when He was here.

This has practical applications in our daily lives; believers should forgive one another; Husbands are supposed to love their wives even as Christ also loved the church And wives are to honor and obey their husbands.  No matter what area of life it may be, our responsibility is to do what Jesus would do…….we’ve got to follow the line leader!

The Apostle Paul said, “I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day”.

I Know

What wonderful Blessings overflow, When we can truely say "I Know!"                    I know in whom I have believed. I know the One I have received.                               I know His blood avails for me. I know that I was blind, but see.                                I know that my redeemer lives. I know the gift He freely gives.                                   I know He'll keep me to the end. I know He is my Faithful Friend.                             I know He's coming in the sky. I know the time is drawing nigh.