Knowing that You Know Him

Is it possible to truly know God and have no life change? Adrian Rogers answered these questions this way: “Study the Bible to know about God. Obey the Bible to really know God” (Adrianisms, 33).

The apostle John would agree. John says that it is one thing to say you know God, but it is another to really know Him.

To help us know for sure that we have come to know Jesus in a saving faith, John provides for us in today's text a threefold test that he returns to again and again in this letter.

We can put them in the form of three questions.

Do I believe the right things about Jesus? We can call this the theological test.

Do I obey the commands of God? We can call this the moral test?

Do I love others? We can call this the ethical test.

Now John has already addressed the theological test in 1:5-2:2.

Now he will address the moral test in 2:3-6 and the ethical test in 2:-7-11.

His hope and aim is that you and I would live in the assurance of our salvation found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So lets look together in 2:3-6 the moral test.

I. Obey Christ’s Commands and Enjoy the Assurance of Salvation (2:3–6)

A. You will know that you know Him (2:3–4)

1 John 2:3–4 NKJV

3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

The word “keeping” conveys the idea of guarding. We should guard God’s commands as a precious treasure. And as we do, the treasure of our assurance of salvation is strengthened with it. Obedience is an important avenue of assurance. Because I know Him in all of His beauty, glory, and majesty, I delight in obeying Him. To obey Christ is not a burden. It is a blessing. It is my natural response to what He has done for me.

However, if we claim to know Him but do not guard His commands as precious (v. 4), we are liars (what we say) and the truth is not in us (who we are). We are spiritual deceivers, fakes. We claim to have something we really don’t: a true and genuine relationship with God.

The new birth (cf. John 3) that results from fleeing to Jesus as our advocate and our atonement will place a new knowledge in our minds and a new desire and passion in our hearts to obey Him. That desire to obey and our decision to obey give us a certainty that we know Him.

B. You will know His love perfectly (2:5)

1 John 2:5 NKJV

5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

Keeping the commands of God is not a condition of knowing God, but it is a clear sign and indication that we do know God. It is a life of true worship that delights in the commands of God for no other reason than it delights in the God who gives those commands. John says, “But whoever keeps [as a habit and pattern of life] His word [His commands], truly in him the love of God is perfected.” This verse is set in contrast to verse 4, and it advances the argument John is making. It also ties together the vital relationship of knowing God, loving God, and obeying God. This is a powerful triad, to say the least.

The phrase “love of God” is open to various understandings. It could mean God’s love for us, our love for God, God’s kind of love, or simply the love of God in a general sense.

I believe the context here indicates it is our love for God that is in view. As we consistently obey God, carefully guarding His Word, our love for God grows and is brought to maturity and completion.

In keeping and obeying His Word, my love for Jesus grows, matures, and is brought to its intended goal. And here is the beauty of the whole thing: the more I know Him the more I love Him, and the more I love Him the more I know Him.

The same thing happens in a godly marriage. It should be that the more a husband and wife grow to know one another, the more they love one another. And the more love they share with each other, the more they will desire to know each other.

C. You will know you are abiding in Christ (2:6)

1 John 2:6 NKJV

6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

When God saved us He did not save us simply to take us to heaven. He saved us that we might be conformed to His perfect image—that we might become like Jesus (Rom 8:29; 1 John 3:2). He saved us that we might “walk just as He walked.”

Here John speaks of our remaining, or abiding, in Him. Jesus said a lot about this in John 15. (Gk meno, translated “remain”)

Like obeying Jesus and loving Jesus, abiding in Christ is the natural outgrowth of knowing Him. The idea is one of continuing in Jesus.

To truly abide in Christ means I will live (walk) like Christ. This theme is not unique to 1 John but is repeated several times in the New Testament.

John 15:4–5 NKJV

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

1 Corinthians 11:1 NKJV

1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

Ephesians 5:1 NKJV

1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

1 Peter 2:21 NKJV

21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

II. Love One Another and Walk in the Light of Salvation (2:7–11)

John is good at simplifying the Christian life. Basically he says to know Jesus, obey God, and love others. Briefly introduced in verse 5, John will now give more intense attention to the theme of our love life. In verse 5 it was our love for God that concerned the apostle. Now in verses 7–11 he must address urgently our love for others.

A. God’s love has been with us since conversion (2:7)

1 John 2:7 NKJV

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.

I believe the Gospel of John was written before the letters of John and that the letters of John assume a knowledge of the Gospel of John. Here it is John 13:34–35

John 13:34–35 NKJV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

B. God’s love is seen most truly in Jesus and His followers (2:8)

1 John 2:8 NKJV

8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

John is saying that there is a threefold newness to this type of love that we are to show and share.

First, it is new and true in Jesus.

Second, it is true and new in us, those who “walk just as He walked” (v. 6).

Third, it is true and new in us because “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining” (cf. John 1:5, 9).

God’s love is not new but the His love on display is new. First shown to all through His Son and second now shown to other through each true saved follower and believer in Christ.

C. God’s love exposes the darkness of hatred (2:9–11)

1 John 2:9–11 NKJV

9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Verse 9 essentially says, “If you say you are in the light experiencing the life of God, yet you continually hate your brother, only one conclusion can be drawn: You are still in darkness, the realm of spiritual death and moral corruption, evil and wickedness. You still belong to the Devil.”

Verse 10 provides the contrast: “If you are consistently loving your brother, you continually abide in light and give evidence that you have the life of God in you.” Further, there is no cause for stumbling (Gk, scandalon) or offense for the one who abides in the realm of light. He truly is walking as Jesus walked (v. 6). The world of light and love always go together.

Verse 11 returns to those who are in darkness: If you continually hate your brother, four things are true for you:

First, you are in the darkness (spiritual death).

Second, you walk (live) in darkness.

Third, you do not know where you are going.

And fourth, you are blind. In the darkness of spiritual death there is the absence of love and the absence of God in our lives.

And tragically, we don’t even see it, having lived so long in the darkness. We are like blind men in a dark room who have no idea where they are or where they are going. It is a true tragedy.

Conclusion

There is an old hymn titled “Trust and Obey”

When we walk with the Lord

in the light of His Word,

what a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will,

He abides with us still,

and with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey,

for there’s no other way

to be happy in Jesus,

but to trust and obey.

I believe the apostle John would have liked this song. I believe he would have agreed with its message. You see, to trust Him, you must first know Him—

know Him as the One who has been from the beginning;

know Him as the One who is the Word of life and the eternal life;

know Him as the Son of the Father in whom there in no darkness at all; know Him as the cleanser and forgiver of sins;

know Him as your advocate and atonement.

To know Him is to trust Him, and to trust Him is to obey Him.

And when you do, you will experience a happiness in Jesus that will indeed be a glory that He will shed on your way.

(PRAYER)

INVITATION

TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS

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