1 John 2:1-11

What happens when we do sin if we are saved?

As Christians we should be striving to refrain from sinning but that is not going to happen! Tonight we are going to continue on diving into the question “How do you know if you are saved?” We are going to continue looking through the book of 1 John.

1 John 2:1–11 ESV

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1. Sin should be the exception and not the rule!

1 John 2:1–3 ESV

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

Nobody is going to be perfect once they are saved. You are still living in your human flesh but you are renewed through the Holy Spirit. We are called to be walking in a way in which sin does not control our lives due to our LOVE for God. Sin in a Christians life should be the exception and not the rule. But when we do sin then we have and advocate in Christ.

An advocate is a person who is called to the stand in court in order to plea a case for the guilty. Everybody is considered guilty due to everybody being under sin. Those who have placed their faith in Christ have an advocate in front of the Father. This advocate is Christ. Christ pleas our innocence due to his death in our place.

Jesus paid for the whole world’s sins, but not everybody will be saved. There are people who willingly will not accept Christ as our advocate and those people are condemned due to them being found guilty and not having someone plea for their innocence.

A way that we know if we are saved is by how we keep the commandments. Are we ever going to keep the commandments fully? Absolutely not but as a Christian we should strive to become more like Christ everyday and thus by becoming like Christ we must keep in fellowship with the Father. Whenever we are living in sin and disobeying God’s Commands then we are breaking our fellowship with God.

Christians should be striving to keep the commandments in order to be in the light of God. What is the commandments of God? That is the Bible. God calls us to keep his word. God also calls us to live a life worthy of His calling. We should be living a life the is glorifying to God himself. We should do this because of what Christ has done for us. We should keep His commands due to love for HIM because HE gave us what we do not deserve.

2. We need to walk in Christ.

1 John 2:4–6 ESV

4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Christians should be living their lives in a way that is glorifying Christ. Those people that say that they know Christ but do not keep his commandments are a liar.

Everybody knows of someone who claims to be a christian in name but not in action. We typically call these people hypocrites. There are so many people who claim to be Christians because it is the common things to do. If you ask anybody in Winona about 80 to 90 percent of them will say that they are a Christian. However, if you watched them for a full day you can realize that they were all talk.

This is not saying that those who are having a bad day and everything seems to be against them, then they are not saved. But if a person can continue in sin everyday without remorse or conviction, then there is a good chance that they are lost.

A Christian should be noticeably different than the world because we have the love of Christ inside of us. When we are saved we are in Christ. When we are in Christ we should begin imitating Christ.

Children imitate their parents. When we are saved we are adopted into the family of God thus our Father is God. We should be imitating our Father.

Remember, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words!”

3. One aspect of a Christian

1 John 2:7–11 ESV

7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

We have all heard to love your brother. This is an old commandment but John states that the Newness of this commandment comes from the Cross. Through salvation our love for other naturally grows through our love for Christ.

A christian is living in the light and is always shining in their lives. A christian may be living in darkness for a little while but the light is always shining through. A christian cannot live in darkness for an extended period of time because they will truly be miserable. When a Christian begins to walk in the darkness they are convicted because of the Holy Spirit living inside of them.

An aspect of a Christian is love for one another. A Christians should love others because Christ first loved us. Love should be the tell tell sign of a Christian because the love of Christ should be exploding from us.

When we are saved we experience a love that passes all common sense. The closer we walk with God then we begin to see the world differently. We should look at the world as a group of people that need a savior.

Closing

Someone who is saved should have aspects of Christ. IF there is someone who just hopes that they are saved rather than knowing that Christ has saved you from your sin then you need to honestly pray that God will give you assurance of your salvation.

Pray that God will show you if you are saved or lost. God is not going to leave you in the unknown.

When people doubt who are saved it is typically due to them living in sin. When someone is living in Sin they are not in fellowship with God and the light is trying to outshine the darkness. This makes Christians miserable.

For those who are saved and want to walk the life in Which Christ has called us too. You must look at Christ through the eyes of a Sinner who is in need of a savior each and everyday. Once you are saved you are saved through grace and through Christ. We must pray thankfully that Christ has saved us when we don’t deserve it. We must also pray that we will continue to grow closer to Christ.