Remaining in Him by doing His will

1 John 2:1–11 NKJV

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 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. 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. He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 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.

Summary: The world looks for God with the natural eye, but cannot find Him that way. The genuine Christian looks for God with his heart and always finds Him. Jesus said in John

John 14:21–24 (NKJV)

He who has My commandments and keeps them( Retains Gods Words in His heart), it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

In ezekiel He wrote

Ezekiel 36:27 (NASB95)

“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

Ezekiel 36:27 NKJV

I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

Ezekiel 36:27 KJV 1900

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

So to love Jesus means to retain and do God’s words – that is to love God’s words. For Jesus, when we know Him spiritually, is the living word of God – John 1:1, 1 John 5:7, Revelation 19:13. To those who love God’s words, who love Jesus, more of God’s words, more of Jesus will be revealed to their hearts.

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest (reveal) Yourself to us, and not to the world?" The world looks for God with the natural eye, but cannot find Him that way. The genuine Christian looks for God with his heart and always finds Him. Jesus said:

Luke 17:20–24 (NASB95)

Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. “They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. “For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day.

Back in John it says “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

If I love Jesus who is the word of God I will love, be hungry for, actively seek, believe with my heart, keep from being stolen from me, and then do God’s words.

1 John 2:5–6 NASB95

but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

(In Whom there is no sin because He only ever did the will of the Father – by His Spirit so can we). 1 John 5:2-4

1 John 5:2–4 NASB95

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

John 13:17 NASB95

“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

To love God is to love His word, Jesus, and to seek His word daily and obey Him.

1 John 2:5–6 (NASB95)

but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

1 John 5:2–4 NASB95

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

Truley truley the understanding of repetition

John 13:17 (NASB95)

“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

“If “

you do

You shall be blessed

Many want a blessing but are unwilling to do unwiling to come to God as they are broken and in need of a saviour

Many think they are ok on thier own they just need a blessing to keep them going

They still want to be on thier own they want not to do the will of the father they want to do thier own will but be blessed by the father

This is not how it is people

Thise who hear His word those who love his word cherrish his word and strive to keep his word close to thier heart that they may not sin against him but instead obey him when the temptation the worries the distractions of this world come by this we know that we are his children

If you're struggling with your faith, not sure who to believe, not sure if you believe in Jesus, then you're struggling with obedience

Have you been in a situation, or a circumstance, or has something happened to you or your family and you just wonder how you’re going to get through it? I often wonder about what the followers of Jesus thought as they fled into the night when he was arrested and executed. They must have been scared and frantic. They must have worried about what was going to happen to them and their families. I can imagine that they wondered what the last three years was all about. Why follow a man who could raise the dead just to watch him die on a cross? What was that all about? Could they go back to the lives they had before? What was the future going to hold for them?

John knows Jesus better than anyone, possibly even more than his own mother did. John wrote this whole deserted on his island of exile the last of Jesus disciples to live He asks us in so many words "Who is Jesus?" John is asked. This is his testimony, "We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life."

A lawyer wants to do two things to the testimony of a witness that undermines his case. He wants to discredit the testimony as false or misleading, and he wants to attack the credibility of the witness. Sometimes he can only do one and not the other, but, if he can do both it's a bonus. This is what people do who don't want to believe the testimony of this eye witness. They cannot believe is that cannot stand for it. Remember last week we talked about how the natural man cannot discern the things of God , that they cannot endure the sound doctrines of our Lord Jesus. This is why they attack the Word they attack Paul attack John attack and try to say the bible is misleading . Its not a matter of truth. Jesus defined truth He is the truth its a matter of disobedience to that truth

If you don't want to accept what John said, then you have to discredit what he said as false. And a lot of people don't believe John because they don't have faith. The Hebrew writer says this about our faith, "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." In the same chapter in Hebrews he continues to explain, "By faith people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword."

Paul confirms this, "Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us."

If you were going to dig into the stories this Scripture refers to you would discover that people of faith accomplished these great things when they were weak, tired, worn out, and frightened. God showed up in their weakness and because of their faith achieved these incredible results. Even Jesus himself went to the cross as a weak, broken, beat up and frightened man but then accomplished the most incredible miracle in history by resurrecting Himself from the grave. The power of God does the miraculous for those who have faith and who in their weakest moment trust that God will show up.

So John is on the witness stand and the prosecutor wants to undermine his credibility. "Who is Jesus?" the lawyer asks. John tells him. But if you're an unbeliever his testimony has to be discredited. You have to make a case that his information is inaccurate, or even an outright lie.

"How do we know we can believe you?" This is the next question. How can you rely on the testimony of this witness? There were those who were false teachers during John's day who claimed that they were apostles, too, just like John. There were others who claimed that Jesus wasn't really human, he didn't really suffer and die as a human being. "So how do we know who is telling the truth, how do we know we can believe you?" John responds, "If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did."

If you want a faith that endures like the faith of Jesus, or the faith of John, or the faith of someone you know who seems to always have faith and you wonder how they do it.

Here's how you have a faith that endures.

You obey God's Word.

Faith isn't complicated. Truth is very simple. Jesus taught the truth in a succinct way that anyone who wants to can understand. This is why he told so many stories. Have you ever noticed a relationship status that says, "its complicated?" The truth is, it's NOT complicated. We make things out to be complicated when we want to justify our behavior. This is when truth gets complicated. We pervert the truth when we try to justify our sin. The simple truth is, there is no justifying sin. It is what it is. Period. We're sinners. The whole lot of us. John was a sinner, too. This is why John includes this in his testimony, "Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever."

Do you want a faith that endures? Then obey God's Word. Have you ever wondered how a follower of Jesus can hold on to faith in extreme suffering? They obey God's Word. It's a choice they make.

There are tragic days. There are days that all of us have or will have where we'll wonder how we're going to get through it. I've had days like this. I still remember the anguish I felt so many times in my life i felt no hope. There is so much pain in our world. And many times there isn't an explanation. Or one that makes any sense. Lately there have been shootings and mass killings, even here in Texas. I saw a status on facebook and the post simply read, "this doesn't happen here." But it does.

I have a choice in times like this. I can choose to blame God and walk away from my faith in Jesus, or I can choose to be obedient. I can choose to live for Jesus instead of living for the world. Even when I don't have answers. Maybe especially when I don't have answers.

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." I know I have eternal life in Jesus. That is all the assurance I need to cope with any circumstance. This is the peace of mind that God provides even in the face of suffering and pain. This is His miracle for those who have faith in His Son.

If you're struggling with your faith, not sure who to believe, not sure if you believe in Jesus, then you're struggling with obedience. John says that those who claim to know God but refuse to obey Him are liars. But for those who have a faith that endures we receive what Paul calls an "overwhelming victory through Jesus." I don't know about you, but, I think beating the snot out of death sounds pretty good.

There isn't anyone in the courtroom that can discredit the testimony or the credibility of John. He lived his life as Jesus did. Obedient. John didn't live for the world, He lived for Jesus. He had a faith that endured and he experienced an "overwhelming victory." Will you?