Sermon Tone Analysis

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:

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.

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,...

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:

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 ...

1 John 2:

Keeping His commandments is keeping his Word.

Look up here at what Jesus says to the Apostles in

John 14:

John 13:

This is what it is saying in the first part of verse 5: