1 John 2:3-6
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Turn your Bibles to . We are going to be looking at verses 3-6 this morning. Last week we saw that Jesus Christ is our advocate and in these days that was understood as a friend who stood speaking up for the accused. So Christ our Savior is also our Friend who speaks to the Father on our behalf, He is our advocate.
We also learned that he is our ‘Propitiation’ … that Christ’s death on the Cross actually, not potentially, but actually paid a price for our sins and that God’s Just Wrath was appeased, was satisfied with that sacrifice. Im going to say this again because it is very important to understand the Atonement of Christ. Jesus actually bought something on the cross and what He paid for He is going to get. We learned that the Jewish person who was reading this epistle from John understood what atonement meant. They grew up in a religion, Judaism, that had been practicing The Day of Atonement since ! Remember, two goats, blood was splattered on the mercy seat…one was sacrificed for the sins of Israel and the other was let go as the scapegoat into the desert? So when John says in verse 2, “HE is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world”, John is letting them know that this atonement is not a goat just for the people of Israel but the is the Precious Lamb of God for those who trust in him who are Jewish and those who trust in Him from every tribe, tongue and nation.
And now we find ourselves with our text today, lets stand together and read from God’s Word. Follow along in your Bible or on the screen above me:
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
1 John 2:
Lets pray:
Now when we read this at first glance it seems pretty self explanatory doesn’t it? Look at verse 3 again.
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
First what does he mean by “we have come to know”?
Look at how culture, how history repeats itself. The anctient Greeks believed they came to know God through logic and reason…that repeated itself in Modernity around the Enlightenment period. Then during the Hellenistic Period 300BC — 300AD) people thought they could come to know God through secret knowledge and mystery religions. Thats the Post-Modern World, this is where we find ourselves again today. This is what has crept into our churches today. This is The Emergent Church Philosophy.
The Emergent Church — Elevates mystery over God’s Word. They say things like, “well, we cant be sure about this or that”… When asked a question they respond with, “I don’t want to debate, I don’t want to argue, we just need to love people because we can’t really know...” “Its all about relationships”
But you know how Jerusalem always believed the way someone came to know God? By the revealed Word of God, by revelation.
Just remember this: Athens says “Reason” and Jerusalem says “Revelation”
So how can we know that we know? First John starts the Epistle out by saying…believe what I, John, an eyewitness, told you and now he gives us things to build on that foundation
And thats what we are looking at this morning. It seems simple and obvious…but hopefully it will be clearer to us when we are done this morning.
But it is not just a merely head knowledge of “knowing” Jesus but also an intimate “knowing”.
John says here, “by this we KNOW that we have come to KNOW him…if we keep his commandments.
Only if we
Lets read verses 4-5 now...
He says,...
Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
Ok…first read…sounds obvious…we get it.
And let me just read you the first part of verse 5 to add on to this th
So lets start in the shallow end...
What is the text telling us?
Ok…first read…sounds obvious…we get it.
If you want to know if you are in Christ and not deceived do you “KEEP” his commandments? Think about that.
If you say, If I say, If ‘WE’ say, “I know him” but don’t keep his commandments your’e a liar and the truth is not in you. Thats a little blunt isn’t it…I mean…thats tuff right there. AND THEN IT GOES ON TO SAY...
“but whoever “keeps” his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.”
So you want to know if you are truly a Christian or if you are truly deceived?
the text is simple… “DO YOU KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS”?
Do you “keep” them fully? So if you don’t keep them fully are you not “fully” his?
Isn’t this how we read the Bible so many times? Martin Luther said, and you have heard me say this over and over but it is so good I dont want you to forget it and I dont want to forget it. He said that he has to remind his congregation every week of the gospel of Jesus Christ but he has to remind himself everyday.
Why?
Because we are all prone to works based religion.
We read texts like this so many times and say… “what do I need to DO and I’ll DO it!” and we really think we will. We at least really believe we will TRY our best…but we don’t…and we can’t. We are broken people ya’ll.
We read this text and we just wade in the shallow end and we are like… “what the mess? And we struggle with it and we try to run past it as fast as we can so it doesn’t haunt us.
We try to say, well… “it don’t mean ‘nat” but if we read again real slowly we see that it actually says if we “keep” his commandments we are in him and if we do not “keep” his commandments but claim to know him we are a liar and the truth is not in us.
So lets face it…thats what is says, but lets go deeper to see what it is meaning.
No one is perfectly obedient!
JOHN knows that…don’t forget Chapter 1:8 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”.
The quick read is obvious. Coming to know Christ changes your life in all areas. It obviously changes your moral conduct. The person who claims to KNOW God but his conduct doesn’t reflects God is a liar. Not a true believer. I think we all get that. Thats the QUICK read.
The slower read scares the Christian because they realize that they don’t KEEP the commandments of Christ perfectly and the text doesn’t say “if we mostly keep his commandments”… it says “if we keep his commandments”.
But a deeper read gives the CHRISTIAN that “ahhh....thank you Jesus” moment when we come to understand what the text is saying.
the word “keep” here means: observe; guard; watch over.
It is telling us that we know we know him if we “keep his commandments”.
It is telling us that we know we know him if we “keep his commandments”.
Do you cherish his commandments?
Do you guard and watch over his commandments?
Does his commandments MATTER to you?
Because if you do... guess what? Those commandments will be working in your life and reflecting Him who gave you the commandments.
This same Greek Word is used in in the Great Commission:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18
If you don’t cherish, guard, love the commandments of Christ or if you do not see them working in your life and changing you then you are deceived if you are claiming to know him.
So what are His Commandments?
is it the 10 Commandments? Those would be good to keep.
If you had to sum up the whole Law what would it be?
to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself
Look again at vs. 4-5 to see if we can get a better understanding ...
Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
1 John 2:
Keeping His commandments is keeping his Word.
Look up here at what Jesus says to the Apostles in
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
John 14:
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
This is what it is saying in the first part of verse 5:
This is what it is saying in the first part of verse 5:
This is what it is saying in the first part of verse 5:
This is what it is saying in the first part of verse 5:
“but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected”.
lets look at the last part of 5 and verse 6 now:
but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
Pretty self explanatory right? It is. But I want us to see something a little deeper here because again…we are all prone to works.
Let me tell you how I use to read this...
I would read this verse and then muster up all my strength, roll up my sleeves and say, “Lets do this!” Im going to walk like Jesus walked. I wonder how he walked? The point is I would try my hardest because it depended on me.
Man I was so WRONG.
Let me tell you all the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news. But as you know Law comes before Gospel. Bad news must come before good news.
Bad News Is: You can’t do any of this that it is telling you to do. If you think you can, take that stuff somewhere else because the Christian knows they can’t do it. Now there are Christians out there and some in here that do not understand the depths of the gospel and they read texts like this and try try try…but it just wears them out to the point they want to just give up and quit. But the true Christian doesn’t quit…for some reason they keep trying and trying and trying but by God’s grace if that is you here today I hope you hear what I am saying this morning because your’e going to be like, “ahhh, thank you Jesus!”.
But you can’t do what this is telling you to do. YOU can’t do it. I can’t do it.
Here in this text it says “whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked”.
ABIDE: this is a passive word, it means to rest, to remain, to stay.
We read things like this and think there is something we must ‘DO’. No…just ABIDE…just REMAIN.
Look at the screen and now lets read it in its definition and see if it comes across to us a little differently...
Rests...
Remains...
stays...
You see how that just took the ‘WORK’ out of it…do you see the good news in that?
Just STAY IN CHRIST…REST…JUST REMAIN! He has already done all the work for you...
I want to close with another work of the same author, the Apostle John.
look up at the screen...
John 15:1
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
See…if you do not rest in Christ, Stay in Christ…you can’t do these things!
In a few weeks we are going to see what His Commandments are…if you want a preview read and the rest of . Think about what are the two greatest commandments that Jesus told us about.
But I want to encourage you today by telling you to rest in Christ and his finish work.
IF you do not know him please come find me or someone in here you may know and we would love to talk to you more about following Christ and trusting Him to be your Savior.
Lets pray.