Devotional: Keeping His Commands (1 John 3:24)
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Introduction
Introduction
Good Evening.
Thank you for allowing me to fellowship with you.
And thank you for allowing me to open up God’s perfect Word.
Tonight I want to share with you some truth found in 1 John.
So please turn your copies of God’s Word to 1 John and we will start with chapter 3 and verse 24.
The devotional for tonight is called “Keeping His Commands.”
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we dive into the text...Please join me in prayer before we start
Text: 1 John 3:24
Text: 1 John 3:24
1 John 3:24 (ESV)
24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
Keeping God’s Commands Is Not Optional
Keeping God’s Commands Is Not Optional
Verse 24 (a): Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him.
The text makes it clear that keeping God’s command is not something optional for a follower of Christ.
Some believe that you can be a believer and live a life of carnality.
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That is simply a contradiction and not at all what is found in the Word of God.
In fact, the whole epistle of 1 John keeps repeating this point.
There is no such thing a cheap grace.
Having an intellectual knowledge of God does not make one a believer.
Saying a prayer or walking down the aisle does not make one a Christian.
It takes God opening your eyes and believing with your mind and your heart.
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That means that any true profession of faith will result in a process of sanctification.
That is growing to be more Christ like over time.
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That also means we will live a life that follows the commands of Christ if we had a genuine born again experience.
Just look at what John said in 1 John 1:6:
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
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We have to ask ourselves...
What does our walk look like.
Are we walking in light or in darkness?
Do we look like the world?
Do we act like the world?
Do we associate ourselves with the people of the world?
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Or…Do we look like Christ?
Do we act as Christ?
Who do we yoke ourselves to?
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Do your friends see Christ in you?
Do your enemies see Christ in you?
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Is our life light or darkness?
The answer to that is do we truly follow God’s commands or the noise of the world?
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Consider what is says in 1 John 2:4:
4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
Do you claim to know Him?
If you do then attached to that is the fact that you are obedient to His commands.
This can’t be separated.
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It is true that good works don’t save.
But good works must be a part of your life after regeneration.
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If not, then by the authority of the Word of God, you are a liar.
More than that, the truth is not in you.
Meaning the Holy Spirit is not in you.
Because if God was in you then you would follow His commands.
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It is true that you won’t be perfect...
But you will not habitually practice sin.
Just take a look at 1 John 3:4-10:
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
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Again let me be clear John in the same letter said if you claim to have not sinned you make God out to be a liar.
This is not about perfection.
This is about what you practice.
This is about what occupies your mind.
This is about what drives you.
This is about what you spend your money on.
This is about what you spend your time on.
This is about what you passionately and actively working towards.
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In this fallen world and while we have not yet received resurrected bodies, we will still battle the flesh.
For example a person of the opposite sex may lead you to think lustfully but by the power that lives in you even if there is a struggle the righteous one will take that thought captive.
They will confess their sin and hate it and be disgusted by it.
However, someone who practices lawlessness will habitually watch porn or the filth that Hollywood produces like Game of Thrones.
They will practice day in and day out, even finding ways to justify their actions.
This is not to be with a person who has surrendered their life to the Lord.
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This is not to great a thing to believe
With the Holy Spirit God’s commands are not burdensome.
Just look at what is says in 1 John 5:2-3:
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
If we truly love God then we will keep His commandments.
And if we genuinely keep His commandments then their will be proof as a by product.
And that takes us to the second half of the verse we are studying:
The Holy Spirit is Proof of a Regeneration
The Holy Spirit is Proof of a Regeneration
Verses (b): And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
The Holy Spirit is the proof that we are truly born again.
That means a life of practicing righteousness.
That means a life of following God’s commands...
Not our of duty or obligation but instead out of a love for Him.
The love we have for God is a by produce of the love He first had for us.
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So, that love we have from Him means that we will be equipped to love others.
To do contrary would be to reveal a major deficient we have.
It wold reveal that we don’t really have the Holy Spirit in us and that we never experienced the light...
For once you experience the light you can never go back to darkness.
Look with me at 1 John 2:9:
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
Notice that John says “still” in the darkness.
We are all born as children of wrath and start out in darkness.
Only God can open our eyes and our hearts to His truth and His light.
Once we experience light we will never go back to darkness.
Again, let us see what John says in 1 John 5:18:
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
By the authority of the Word of God, the one who is born again will no longer live a life of habitual sin.
You can’t be born of God and keep on sinning...
The two cannot exist at the same time.
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This is why it is so important to truly understand what a regenerated person looks like.
This is why it is so important to truly understand what it means to be born again.
This is why it is so important to truly understand the Gospel.
The Gospel
The Gospel
We often take the Gospel for granted.
Many claim to know the Gospel but in fact teach and believe something totally different.
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We can’t forget that our Triune God, that is the three persons of the Trinity, who are all equal, and are one being, created man in His image as it says in Genesis 1:27
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Adam and Eve had paradise and were created good.
But the prince of lies, Satan, deceived Eve, promising her the ability to be like God as it says in Genesis 3:4-5
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
And Adam failed as the head of his household and followed her into sin as it says in Genesis 3:6
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
God had previously warned them that the cost of sinning against an absolute Holy and Perfect God was an act of war; a horrible act of treason.
The penalty of this mutiny was death.
Death for Adam and Eve and all there decedents...
That would be us.
Yes, we humans are guilty of sin, too.
Adam was our federal head and he failed us...
He represented us and by this one man all are set to perish as it says in Romans 5:12
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
On top of that we too have all sinned and fall miserably short of the glory of God as it says in Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
All hope for mankind seemed lost except for a promise found amongst the cure to Satan in Genesis 3:15
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Who was this that would crush the head of Satan?
Who was this that could give mankind any hope?
Who is the promised Messiah?
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Yes!
It is Jesus Christ!
You see, God loved His own.
Those whom He foreknew with an everlasting love before the foundations of the world.
So, God sent His Son into our broken world as it says in John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
You see Jesus is our only hope as it says in John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So we must put our faith in the life of obedience Jesus lived and the perfect and completed work He did on the Cross which cleansed us from sin as it says in Isaiah 53:4-5
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
So, we must follow Jesus’ instructions as it says in Mark 1:14-15
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Yes, we must repent and believe in the completed work of Christ...
The work Jesus completed on Calvary
Because, God in His grace and mercy and love sent His Son to be a sacrifice.
Evil men did evil things.
Jesus was betrayed, beaten, humiliated, blooded, and murdered on a cruel cross.
This crucifixion of Jesus Christ was the greatest act of sin by us.
You and me.
We did that.
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You don’t believe me.
Look at your whole life.
Those sins that you made...
Those sins that I made...
They are the nails that dug into our Saviors hands and feet.
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Jesus lived a sinless life.
He didn’t deserve to die like a common criminal.
But you deserve death...
I deserve death...
And He knew this.
For Jesus knew what was in the heart of man.
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And He still did it
He still volunteered to give His life for us.
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I can’t sugar coat this for you.
Because this is part of the Good News.
Because the story does not end at Calvary.
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Three days passed, Church...
Three days passed and our Savior was raised from the dead by the Father...
Through the power of the Holy Spirit.
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His resurrection means that His perfect work on the cross was accepted by the Father.
And you must believe that our Lord was resurrected to prove that the Father accepted His perfect and complete work...
But this belief can’t just be head knowledge.
We must believe with both our mind and heart as it says in Romans 10:9-10
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
To believe that Jesus is truly Lord in my life means we must surrender to Him as it says in Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
This is the hope we now have.
This is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ!
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Village Missions
Village Missions
And it is the Gospel that is the reason my wife and I have joined the mission organization, Village Missions.
You see, I grew up in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
I grew up for 30 years never hearing the Gospel message.
I thought I was a Christian…but I wan’t…I was a lair.
I served my self, not the Lord.
It wan’t until I surrendered my life to Him, after hearing the Gospel, that I was truly born again.
That’s why Village Missions grabbed my attention.
That’s why in a few week I am heading to New York where I will serve as a full-time missionary pastor.
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Village Missions is an organization that helps churches in rural North America thrive.
In many remote places of our country, communities cannot afford a full-time pastor, and church doors are closing every day, most never to open again.
Many churches in these situations contact Village Missions to send them a full-time missionary pastor, who will lead the church and also minister to that community by being the hands and feet of Jesus.
There is a great need so Village Missions only partners with churches where if that church closed down there would be no Gospel witness in the area.
That is why Village Missions is located all through our Canada and America with the exception being the Bible Belt.
The reason being that nearly all churches hear that are at a risk of closing down usually have another church in the same area that at least teaches the Gospel.
That luxury is not found in the rural areas of the rest of America and Canada.
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Village Missions has a heart for country churches and has been helping them thrive since 1948.
They share the same burden that Mercy and I have for sharing the Gospel message with those who desperately need to hear it.
They are sending us to Gorham, NY, where biblical teaching is scarce.
In fact, Bethel Baptist Church, the church we are being sent to is the only Gospel witness in the area.
Other “church” include Amish and Mennonite “churches” and the United Methodist “church” that only reaches a social just type of “gospel” and not the one true Gospel found in the Word of God.
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If you are interested I can send you our newsletter, our giving sheet, and some additional information below about this opportunity.
Just get with me afterwards of reach out to Joshua who can forward you contact info to me.
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I ask that you pray and seek the Lord’s direction to see if He is leading you to partner with us.
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Before we close in prayer...
Please let me know if you have and questions about our devotional or questions about Village Missions.
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Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Please join me one more time in prayer.