The Real thing or a Counterfit?

Good morning. My name is Brian Young for those of you who may not know me. It is a pleasure to be here and to open God’s word with you this morning. Before we dive into our text today, i want to start by asking all of you a question. Is there someone in your life who says that they are a Christian, but their actions may say different? Unfortunately there may be too many of us who can think of at least one person in our lives that fits that description. I can share a personal example and this isn’t me trying to be mean. My mother was a person who thought she was a Christian for years. She was caught up the the Prosperity Gospel movement that teaches that God wants you to live your best life here on earth. She It wasn’t until a documentary called the American Gospel, that shared the true Gospel of the Bible that she had her eyes opened by the Holy Spirit and fell under the weight of her sin and turned to Christ as her savior. Now what is the difference you might ask? Now my mother has a desire to love God with her life and obey out of love His Word. So how do we know if we are truly Christians? Can we say that we are truly following after Christ’s example? Turn with me to 1 John 2:3-6 as we continue our study of the book of first John to see what God has to say concerning true faith.

1 John 2:3–6 (ESV)

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.

In this text, the apostle John conveys this theme of knowing and keeping. We see the words know and keep repeated multiple times. There is a natural progression of those who know God, who truly know God will keep his commandments. And those who think that they know God but truly do not know him will not keep his commandments. So our first point will be focused on what does it mean that a Christian may know God?

The Gift of Knowing we are in Christ.

Take a look again with me at verse 3.

1 John 2:3 ESV

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

The this this that John points to in this sentence is if we keep his commandments but he says we may know that we have come to know Him, if we keep his commandments. So we as Christians are able to know that we are in God if we keep his commandments. Now I know what you might be thinking. Brian, isn’t it by grace that we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. And I would say AMEN and AMEN. Yes that is right. We will flush out what kind of obedience John is talking about here but I will save that for point 2. For a Christian who truly knows God There should be a natural progression as they grow in their faith, (the Bible calls that sanctification) that they should be able to look back at their life and see their love for God and the things of God grow in their life. Look witch me at verse 5.

1 John 2:5 ESV

but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

The spiritual growth of loving God and wanting to obey his word is an objective factor that a Christian can look at and know themselves that they are in Christ. Give some examples maybe.

Sweet time in Scripture

Being convicted of sin

Asking for forgiveness

How can we know this? Look at verse 4.

”Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him”.

I want to read this quote from John MacArthur because I think paints a clear picture of the two kinds of people that the apostle John writes about in these verses. John MacArthur is talking about isn’t it sad when Buddhists or Muslims go to hell because they believed in the wrong religion? He says of course it is tragic,

“But it seems to me that the tragedy of all tragedies is the oft repeated Judas tragedy, where you hang around Jesus, but end up belonging to Satan”

We live in a world today where there may be more Judas like people than ever before. There is a slew of so called pastors preaching things that are completely counterproductive to the teachings of the Bible and people are looking at them and saying “That is Christianity“. If you were interviewed people at random and ask them what it means to be a Christian, you are probably likely to get answers that vary drastically from each other. Some people might say that i am a Christian because i go to church or i am a Christian because i try to do good things and be a good person. The list can go on and on. There has to be a distinguishing factor among those who are truly believers in Christ and those who like John says and lying to themselves that they are really saved when they are not. That distinguishing factor in these verses is a true obedience to God’s Word. There are other marks of true salvation In a believers life, but as we see in this passage obedience to God’s Word is a distinguishing fact that separates the believer from the false convert.

Our second point is focused on John‘s emphasis on keeping The commandments. Obedience rooted in love for Christ.

I want to make a quick point because i think it is really important to understand what John is not saying in these verses. John is not saying that you are a Christian if you just obey God’s word. If that were true, the Pharisees in Jesus’s time would have been best friends with Jesus because they were the ones who prided themselves on keeping the Law. But what were some of Jesus’s words to them? He called them a brood of vipers, white washed tombs and hypocrites. So it can’t be keep the commandments and you are a Christian. It is the opposite, that is why John introduces us to the One in the first chapter of this book. He starts with saying that we testify that we have seen, touched, and heard Jesus Christ and have fellowship with him and that we can as well. So if obedience is not the root, meaning that obedience to God’s law is not what it means t o be a Christian, what does it mean for it to be the fruit?

Fellowship with Jesus Christ is the only way a person who claims to be a Christian can obey what John is saying in verses 3-6. When you become a Christian by realizing your sin and the truth that your sin is an offense against God that you can never erase by doing good things, you turn to Jesus Christ who died on the cross for your sins and have taken your place so that you can go free by putting your faith in him and being reconciled, reunited with God because of what Jesus Christ has done, he changes you from the inside. He gives you a new heart that desires to obey him and live for him now.

I have heard it illustrated like this before. Imagine you are in a court room and you have a list of crimes that you are guilty for. The punishment is death and you are headed straight there after the trial. But just before the gavel is about to conclude the trial and condemn you, a man named Jesus enters in. Jesus says that i know this person is guilty but i will give my life up so that they can walk free. The penalty would be fulfilled and you go as a free person. Would you then go and commit more crimes or would you leave that court room, asking yourself why would i ever commit another crime again since this man just took my death penalty that i deserved. That is what Jesus has done for all true believers. He died for all of the sins, past present and future of all of his people who would and will come to put their faith in him and in him alone.

When we realize the extent to which Jesus has saved us, we can look at these verses that command us to keep his commandments with pure joy and with a grateful heart. This obedience when rightly thought about, should say Lord your way and your will be done and not mine. The reality is that even as Christians, we do not have this mindset of having a deep desire that constantly and consistently wants to obey God’s commands. We still struggle with sin. We have sinful attitudes towards work, relationships, circumstances, etc. The list can go on and on. But thank the Lord for verses like 1 John 2:1-2

1 John 2:1–2 ESV

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. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it should be an absolute joy to obey Jesus Christ. This obedience which again is rooted in a relationship with Jesus Christ is a clear distinction between a true believer and a false convert. Verse 4, Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Have you ever heard someone say I am a Christian but i do “insert sin” and they say it with such ease and without hesitation? How can someone ever say that? Again, that doesn’t mean that people who are truly Christians don’t struggle with sin, that is what John writes in the first verse but how can someone who claims the name of Christ affirm what is contrary to God’s commandments? Some common examples today can be “I am a Christian but i think it is ok to have sex outside of marriage. Or i am a Christian but i think it is ok for two people of the same gender to get married. The list can go on. That is the world we live in today and there are countless of people who call themselves Christian who are deceived and it is sad. It isn’t only sad because of where the Bible says that those who die in their sins will go, that is Hell. It is also sad because they think they know a savior who hasn’t actually saved them because they still prefer a life of sin rather than surrendering their lives to the one who truly gives life. There are only two types of faith that John gives in these verses. You are either a true believer whose faith is affirmed by how you live that faith out in your life through joyful obedience rooted in a relationship that is in Christ or you are someone who is self deceived and are not truly in Christ because your life looks completely opposite from the commands of God’s word through your actions and choices.

David Platt writes ”People who claim to be Christian’s while their lives look no different from the rest of the world are clearly not Christians.

How then do we live out these truths? Look with me at verse 6. Whoever says he abides in Him, ought to walk in the same way he walked. The word abide conveys a closeness to Christ or as he says in previous verses being “In Christ”. This isn’t like the person who in verse 4 says I know Him meaning that they might know about Christ from an intellectual standpoint but they haven’t been changed by Christ. If we say that we abide in Him, we ought to live out our lives mirroring what Christ‘s life looked like and how he commands us to live. Some practical applications of this first can be to know how Christ walked. If you feel like your spiritual life has been dry or it has been hard to keep up with that new Bible plan you are reading this year, maybe pause from where you are and go to John’s Gospel where the whole Gospel is about Jesus and how he lived. Fill your mind with the story of Christ and all of the beautiful truths written about in that book. Maybe you know are here and are a true believer but you are wrestling with a sinful habit in your life. It would be easy for you to read this and say, well I must not be a Christian because I try to obey Jesus’s commandments but I just keep wrestling with this sin issue. If that is you, look at verses 1 and 2 again. Christ is our propitiation, meaning that he died for all of your sins, past, present, and future and if you have a heart that is broken over your sin, he says he will forgive you when you repent and that your sins are cast as far as the east is from the west In God’s eyes. You are not like the person in verse 4 who pays lip service to God but then goes and willingly sins against God. So take heart and know that you are known by God and if you are trying to obey his word out of a love for Christ, again you may know that you are in Him. We can all look at this passage and take what John is saying and examine ourselves frequently to see if we are truly abiding in Christ and walking as he walked. Not doing this in a way to cause you to doubt, but doing this in a way that refreshes your mind with God’s commandments and making sure that we are walking in a manner that glorifies him! Let us pray.