The Command Of God (1 John 3:23-24)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:04.000 Please remain standing if you're able to, and let's give our attention now to 2 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:18.070 first John, Chapter Three. First John Three, I'm going to be preaching 3 00:00:18.670 --> 00:00:28.219 particularly on versus nineteen through twenty four, maybe even especially twenty one through twenty 4 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:33.060 four, but I want to begin back in a verse eleven and read to 5 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:36.049 the end of the chapter. So let's do that now. Let's give our 6 00:00:36.049 --> 00:00:42.929 attention to God's holy and inspired word, for this is the message that you 7 00:00:43.009 --> 00:00:47.929 have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should 8 00:00:47.929 --> 00:00:51.119 not be like Kane, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. 9 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:55.079 Why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his 10 00:00:55.159 --> 00:00:59.240 brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 11 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:03.120 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love 12 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:08.750 the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his 13 00:01:08.989 --> 00:01:14.269 brother is a murderer, and you know that a murderer has eternal life, 14 00:01:14.269 --> 00:01:19.700 or no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this, we know 15 00:01:19.939 --> 00:01:25.739 love, that he laid his life foot down for us, and we ought 16 00:01:25.739 --> 00:01:29.859 to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's 17 00:01:29.900 --> 00:01:33.849 goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him. 18 00:01:33.930 --> 00:01:38.849 How does God's love abide in him? Little Children, let us not love 19 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:45.129 in word or talk, but indeed and in truth. By this we shall 20 00:01:45.209 --> 00:01:49.480 know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him, for 21 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:53.640 whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows 22 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:59.239 everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence 23 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:02.950 before God, and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep 24 00:02:02.989 --> 00:02:08.030 his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment that we 25 00:02:08.270 --> 00:02:15.110 believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another, just 26 00:02:15.349 --> 00:02:20.780 as he commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in 27 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:24.580 Him, and by this we know that he abides in us, by the 28 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:30.849 spirit whom he has given us. Praise be to God. Please be seated. 29 00:02:38.090 --> 00:02:43.889 So here, at the end of our passage, we have this simple, 30 00:02:44.250 --> 00:02:53.080 simple expression of really Christianity. What does it mean to be a Christian? 31 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:57.639 Does it mean to follow after Jesus? Well, it means obeying his 32 00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:00.949 commandment. And what is his commandment? In Verse Twenty Three, we read 33 00:03:00.789 --> 00:03:05.990 that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ and love one 34 00:03:06.030 --> 00:03:13.379 another, just as he commanded us. When we sometimes think about what it 35 00:03:13.539 --> 00:03:16.699 means to live the Christian life or what are those things that mark a Christian, 36 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:23.379 what is it marks someone who's following Jesus? Sometimes we human beings have 37 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:30.090 been tempted to create all kinds of elaborate schemes and plans. We write a 38 00:03:30.370 --> 00:03:39.889 complicated books and and sometimes create unnecessary systems and disciplines and all kinds of things 39 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:47.000 and tell people this is how you follow Christ. Now, to be sure, 40 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:51.960 in any aspect of our faith we can go very deep and we can 41 00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:55.590 learn more and more and more and grow more and more, and presumably we 42 00:03:55.669 --> 00:04:00.030 can write those things down as well. So nothing against books, but there 43 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:09.830 is sometimes an unnecessary complicating that happens when we think about our faith. Sometimes 44 00:04:09.870 --> 00:04:14.460 we complicate things, I think, as an excuse. We make things sort 45 00:04:14.460 --> 00:04:19.019 of so difficult and so challenging that we then excuse ourselves from really doing it. 46 00:04:19.180 --> 00:04:24.290 Well, who could really know wisdom is so challenging? How could I 47 00:04:24.410 --> 00:04:30.009 possibly know what to do in a situation with so many variables, again, 48 00:04:30.089 --> 00:04:33.370 not discounting wisdom, but I just want to point the finger for a moment 49 00:04:33.970 --> 00:04:40.120 at some of the excuses that we make when we think about how we are 50 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:46.839 to follow Jesus. Calvin says, God does by no means lead us through 51 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:51.600 long labyrinths, but simply and shortly sets before us what is right and what 52 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:57.470 he approves. Believe in the saying leave, believe in the name of the 53 00:04:57.589 --> 00:05:02.230 sun and love one another. It's pretty simple, isn't it? Faith and 54 00:05:03.230 --> 00:05:09.699 love. This is not me simplifying things and dumbing it down. I'm just 55 00:05:10.459 --> 00:05:14.939 reading the word of God and this is the commandment that we believe in the 56 00:05:15.060 --> 00:05:20.769 name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another. Calvin goes on. 57 00:05:20.930 --> 00:05:27.410 He says the beginning and the end of a life rightly formed. This is 58 00:05:27.529 --> 00:05:31.529 what God expresses in these simple, short words. The beginning and the end 59 00:05:31.649 --> 00:05:38.040 of a right light, of a life rightly formed. Is What faith and 60 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:45.480 love, faith in love. John is bringing this up, you remember, 61 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:50.870 because there's this question in the minds of the people he's addressing as what is 62 00:05:50.949 --> 00:05:56.350 it that marks a Christian? How do we know who belongs to the body 63 00:05:56.389 --> 00:06:00.230 of Christ who doesn't belong to the body of Christ? Do I belong to 64 00:06:00.350 --> 00:06:04.620 Christ am. I following after him and as you we read through this, 65 00:06:04.660 --> 00:06:10.779 this is what he's addressing, and this is very important to know, because 66 00:06:10.819 --> 00:06:16.139 he's not telling us how it is we become Christians. The cause of our 67 00:06:16.259 --> 00:06:24.449 salvation, he's saying. He's telling us the marks of our salvation. Look 68 00:06:24.490 --> 00:06:28.769 at verse fourteen. We know that we have passed out of death and into 69 00:06:28.850 --> 00:06:34.279 life because we love the brothers. This is a sign that this other thing 70 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:44.639 is true. Sometimes we use because a causal word to describe the grounds or 71 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:49.389 the means of something happening. Right, the light turned on because I flipped 72 00:06:49.470 --> 00:06:55.990 the switch, but sometimes we use the language of because to talk about the 73 00:06:56.189 --> 00:07:00.980 conditions how we know certain things. Well, the lights turned on because it's 74 00:07:01.019 --> 00:07:06.100 shining in here. Right, it's not shining in here, that the shining 75 00:07:06.259 --> 00:07:12.579 didn't flip the switch. But it's still necessary, isn't it, in order 76 00:07:12.620 --> 00:07:18.970 for us to know about what happened. Or imagine and you are at work 77 00:07:19.529 --> 00:07:25.889 and security comes in and says you need to leave with us, you don't 78 00:07:25.930 --> 00:07:28.730 belong here. You say, of course I belong here. Look, here's 79 00:07:28.730 --> 00:07:31.439 my security card, this is my desk. That's my boss over there. 80 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:35.800 Right. You use these signs to say, look, these are the reasons 81 00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:42.199 why I belong here. But of course your security card didn't get you the 82 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:46.310 job. Your desk didn't get you the job. The fact that your boss 83 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:49.069 happens to be over there and knows your name, that didn't get you the 84 00:07:49.149 --> 00:07:54.269 job. Something else happened. Right, you filled out an application and so 85 00:07:54.430 --> 00:07:57.269 on and so forth. So you see how there are these different ways that 86 00:07:57.310 --> 00:08:01.060 we can talk about things, and that's what's it's so important to note that 87 00:08:01.300 --> 00:08:05.540 here, because some people want to mix up all of our salvation by saying 88 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:11.779 that if we simply love other people, God will save us. But that's 89 00:08:11.379 --> 00:08:16.850 messed up from all kinds of angles. First of all, the Scriptures so 90 00:08:16.170 --> 00:08:22.050 plain and so clear that it's not we who first loved, but God who 91 00:08:22.250 --> 00:08:26.759 first loved us. Or we can just examine our own hearts. Who of 92 00:08:28.040 --> 00:08:33.720 us is willing to stand up and say I can examine my life, every 93 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:37.399 part, every thought, every action, and I can stand before you all 94 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:43.509 here today and before God in Heaven and say I have loved well enough to 95 00:08:43.789 --> 00:08:50.830 deserve heaven, which is perfect in every way, in which no evil or 96 00:08:50.870 --> 00:08:56.299 impurity can be a part of in any way in which the thrice holy God 97 00:08:56.340 --> 00:09:01.259 dwells, Father, son and Holy Spirit. Can any of US stand before 98 00:09:01.379 --> 00:09:07.220 God and say, yes, I have loved as I ought to have loved? 99 00:09:07.899 --> 00:09:11.690 And can any of us even say I have believed as I have ought 100 00:09:11.690 --> 00:09:16.450 to believed? My faith has been rock solid, perfect from beginning to end. 101 00:09:16.809 --> 00:09:20.409 There's not a single thing that you have ever said that I have doubted 102 00:09:20.809 --> 00:09:28.720 or misunderstood or misapplied. Of course none of us can say that. If 103 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:33.080 that's the requirement for salvation, then none of us are saved. and John's 104 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:39.269 not addressing a bunch of people who are unsaved. He's addressing us as Christians. 105 00:09:39.870 --> 00:09:43.669 By this, we know this, we believed. This is what God 106 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:50.509 has done for us. So, before we think of these marks, let's 107 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:56.539 just remind ourselves. How is it that we become children of God? How 108 00:09:56.580 --> 00:10:01.980 do we come into the House of Salvation? How is it that we come 109 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:07.610 to have the spirit? As he says, they're in in Verse Twenty Four. 110 00:10:09.370 --> 00:10:13.330 Well, what's start with verse twenty four, and by this we know 111 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:18.929 that he abides in us, by the spirit whom he has given us. 112 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:24.480 This is how it is that we have come to be saved. How it 113 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:28.480 is we come to know Jesus because we have been given something from God. 114 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:37.950 Indeed, we have give been given God himself. Or if you want another 115 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:39.470 verse, you can go instead of at the end of the chapter, you 116 00:10:39.549 --> 00:10:45.350 can go to the beginning, verse one. See what kind of love the 117 00:10:45.470 --> 00:10:50.539 father has given to us that we should be called children of God, and 118 00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:56.059 so we are. See the love. This is, by the way, 119 00:10:56.179 --> 00:11:00.659 just a wonderful thing to reflect on. We just saying, Oh the deep, 120 00:11:00.779 --> 00:11:07.009 deep love of Jesus. The love of Jesus is both the thing that 121 00:11:07.529 --> 00:11:13.289 saves us and then the thing that we are saved. Unto we, Jesus 122 00:11:13.330 --> 00:11:18.679 is the one that we are saved by, and Jesus is the one that 123 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:24.799 we are saved to. He is our salvation, both as the thing that 124 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:28.480 we enter into and the thing that causes it, or the one that causes 125 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:33.549 it. Let me explain or illustrate what I mean by reading to you the 126 00:11:33.590 --> 00:11:37.990 last verse of this Hymn. We just sang, oh all the deep, 127 00:11:39.190 --> 00:11:43.750 deep love of Jesus, love of every love, the best, Tis an 128 00:11:43.909 --> 00:11:50.860 ocean vast of blessing, Tis a haven, sweet of rest. You See, 129 00:11:50.899 --> 00:11:54.860 this is what we are saved into. We're saved into the love of 130 00:11:54.019 --> 00:12:01.769 Jesus, a haven, sweet of rest. It goes on. Oh, 131 00:12:01.889 --> 00:12:05.289 the deep, deep love of Jesus Tis a Heaven of Heavens to me, 132 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:09.690 and it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to thee. 133 00:12:11.009 --> 00:12:15.409 You see, how is it that we enter into the love of Jesus? 134 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:22.720 By the love of Jesus, which is why those those words at the 135 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:26.080 beginning of the song are so appropriate. Underneath me, all around me, 136 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:31.990 is the current of THY love. It's everywhere, it's holding us, it's 137 00:12:31.029 --> 00:12:35.789 en wrapping us. This is what God gives to us when he gives to 138 00:12:35.909 --> 00:12:43.789 us the sun. Is it by our works, are deeds, are powerful 139 00:12:43.830 --> 00:12:48.100 faith, by which we are approved before God? Or is it his love 140 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:56.340 that he freely gives to us in the sun and in the spirit? I 141 00:12:56.460 --> 00:13:01.210 want to read to you another passage, this time from the book of Ephesians, 142 00:13:03.009 --> 00:13:13.320 Little Bit from Ephesians Chapter One. In thinking about this question, how 143 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:16.960 do we become the children of God? How is it that we come to 144 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:26.080 have the spirit, to have this saving love and love of salvation? Here 145 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:31.750 verse three. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, 146 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:37.950 who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 147 00:13:37.710 --> 00:13:43.419 even as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, 148 00:13:43.899 --> 00:13:50.460 that we should be holy and blameless before him. Pause so, John, 149 00:13:50.460 --> 00:13:56.490 and talking about you are children of God and you do not walk in 150 00:13:56.570 --> 00:14:00.450 the ways of Cain and unrighteousness and all these things. You Walk in the 151 00:14:00.490 --> 00:14:03.889 ways of the spirit and of love. Why is that? Because of what 152 00:14:03.009 --> 00:14:11.799 we have here, that before the foundation of the world, before we done 153 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:16.960 anything good or evil or anything at all, that we should be holy and 154 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:22.679 blameless before him. We were chosen in him by the love of God. 155 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:31.870 Read on in love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ 156 00:14:31.990 --> 00:14:39.139 past according to what? According to the purpose of his will, to the 157 00:14:39.299 --> 00:14:45.299 praise of his glorious, glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the 158 00:14:46.299 --> 00:14:52.500 beloved love, Love, Love, Love, love. In Him we have 159 00:14:52.659 --> 00:14:58.210 redemption, how through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to 160 00:14:58.289 --> 00:15:01.250 the riches of His grace which he lavished upon us, and all wisdom and 161 00:15:01.289 --> 00:15:05.769 insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his 162 00:15:07.129 --> 00:15:11.600 purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time 163 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:16.679 to unite all things in him, things in heaven and on, things in 164 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:22.990 Annert and things on earth. We have been adopted as children, not because 165 00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:28.830 we went out and did something nice for our neighbor or we were a little 166 00:15:28.870 --> 00:15:33.629 extra honest at work, but because, in the fullness of time, he 167 00:15:33.870 --> 00:15:41.659 predestined us in love, he chose us in him, he poured out and 168 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:48.379 lavished upon us his grace. That was all in the fullness of time and 169 00:15:48.779 --> 00:15:56.370 before time. And then in time in the history, God sent his son 170 00:15:56.450 --> 00:16:03.090 into the world, who is born of a woman and under the law and 171 00:16:03.409 --> 00:16:11.000 lived a life of perfect love so that each of us could be saved and 172 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:21.149 in that, in receiving that salvation through faith in him, we as if 173 00:16:21.389 --> 00:16:23.590 we were to continue on in Ephesians, we would find out why it's so 174 00:16:23.710 --> 00:16:29.509 important, especially as we think in these first century contexts, to be called 175 00:16:29.710 --> 00:16:36.500 Sons of God, because we get an inheritance. Whether you're a son or 176 00:16:36.500 --> 00:16:38.820 daughter, you get to be a first century son, you might put it 177 00:16:38.940 --> 00:16:45.980 that way. You get to have the inheritance, whether you are a slaver 178 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:52.529 or free whether you are from the upper parts of society or the lower parts 179 00:16:52.570 --> 00:16:56.610 of society, no matter what languould you speak, no matter what color you 180 00:16:56.730 --> 00:17:00.769 are, no matter where you've come from in the world, what part of 181 00:17:00.889 --> 00:17:07.559 history you're in, if you are in Christ, you have this inheritance in 182 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:15.829 love, given to you the very hand of God. In Romans, Paul 183 00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:19.869 says this all relates to our prayers and that we have been given the spirit 184 00:17:19.990 --> 00:17:26.829 who cries out in our souls Ah, a father, even when we don't 185 00:17:26.950 --> 00:17:30.819 know when to pray and when our prayers are weak. We have been given 186 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:34.140 the spirit of God who is in us and abiding us, biding us, 187 00:17:34.180 --> 00:17:40.140 abiding in US and working in us. Romans a twenty six and twenty seven. 188 00:17:41.059 --> 00:17:48.210 We become God's children not when we do righteous things, but when he 189 00:17:48.529 --> 00:17:56.569 forgives our unrighteous things, when he covers our trespasses in his blood and he 190 00:17:56.809 --> 00:18:03.200 brings us into his family and gives us an inheritance earned for us by Christ. 191 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:11.039 So this is how we become children of God, and that thing is 192 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:19.910 so real and so powerful and so God propelled that it will and will necessarily 193 00:18:21.230 --> 00:18:30.779 and always result in fruit, and that's what John is talking about here. 194 00:18:32.740 --> 00:18:36.619 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love 195 00:18:36.779 --> 00:18:44.890 the brothers. If you are if you're outside of a house and you're cold 196 00:18:45.089 --> 00:18:48.089 and you're shivering and you knocking on the door and you come in and all 197 00:18:48.130 --> 00:18:51.609 of a sudden you're in right and you say, how do I know that 198 00:18:51.690 --> 00:18:56.640 I'm in? Well, I'm warm now, the lights are on, there's 199 00:18:56.680 --> 00:19:03.319 food on the table, I've been welcomed. These are the conditions of our 200 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:07.759 salvation, and we could talk a long time about the kind of salvation that 201 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:11.390 God gives us, even as we have already the deep, deep love of 202 00:19:11.589 --> 00:19:19.589 Jesus. But it also manifests itself in our life in loving others. We 203 00:19:19.829 --> 00:19:26.940 who used to hate others, who were motivated purely and entirely by our self 204 00:19:27.180 --> 00:19:33.259 will, by our anger, by our desire to control other people, by 205 00:19:33.299 --> 00:19:37.849 our desire to make things for us and make our situation the best it can 206 00:19:37.930 --> 00:19:45.410 possibly be. As Christians, we're freed up from all of that. We're 207 00:19:45.529 --> 00:19:51.329 free to lay down even our very lives, as Jesus laid down his life 208 00:19:51.450 --> 00:19:56.839 for us. Why? Because we have much more than this life, because 209 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:00.920 we have much more than our mo money or our things. We have more 210 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:08.069 than temporary honor and shame, all kinds of things. We've been given an 211 00:20:08.109 --> 00:20:12.990 inheritance of heaven. We've been given the very love of God. We have 212 00:20:14.230 --> 00:20:18.829 everything we could ever want. Sure you could have my blanket, sure you 213 00:20:18.910 --> 00:20:22.940 can have my money, here's my shirt. I can love you and I 214 00:20:22.980 --> 00:20:27.220 can love you freely because I don't have to protect these things any more. 215 00:20:29.779 --> 00:20:34.970 It changes us. The love of Christ changes us. Verse Sixteen, as 216 00:20:34.970 --> 00:20:38.970 I read by this, we know love that he laid down his life for 217 00:20:40.009 --> 00:20:45.210 us, and of course we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 218 00:20:45.930 --> 00:20:51.839 What does life in Christ look like then? How is it manifested? 219 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:56.720 These are the things John has been talking about. Life outside of Christ is 220 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:06.430 about practicing sin. Life in Christ is about practicing righteousness right verse four. 221 00:21:06.630 --> 00:21:10.390 Everyone who the of chapter three, everyone who makes a practice of sinning, 222 00:21:10.509 --> 00:21:17.869 also practices lawlessness. Sin Is Lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take 223 00:21:17.910 --> 00:21:21.740 away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides 224 00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:25.779 in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on no one who keeps 225 00:21:25.900 --> 00:21:30.859 on sinning has either seen him or know him. Christians are not those who 226 00:21:30.900 --> 00:21:37.849 make a practice of sinning, who live in lawlessness. Christians are those who 227 00:21:37.890 --> 00:21:44.170 make a practice of righteousness, who abide in the righteous one. or You 228 00:21:44.210 --> 00:21:47.519 could think about it in terms of the works of Satan and the works of 229 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:52.359 Cain. Those who are outside, outside the family of God, are not 230 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:57.359 his sons but, as described elsewhere in scripture, our children of Wrath and 231 00:21:57.559 --> 00:22:03.269 do wrathful things and angry things and terrible things and the works of their father, 232 00:22:03.670 --> 00:22:08.549 even the evil one. Not so for the children of God who aim 233 00:22:08.750 --> 00:22:18.980 to please our father, who are in heaven and praises hallowed name. Those 234 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:25.299 who are outside of Christ are hypocrites, verse eighteen little children. Let us 235 00:22:25.380 --> 00:22:30.009 love, not in word or talk, but indeed or in truth, and 236 00:22:30.170 --> 00:22:34.730 that's maybe one of the main things that John is impressing here. There are 237 00:22:34.890 --> 00:22:40.970 people who live their lives in a hypocrisy and there's all kinds of that. 238 00:22:41.890 --> 00:22:48.119 This pretension of following Christ, this pretend way of acting as though things are 239 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:55.240 such and such a way when they know they're really not. He is of 240 00:22:55.359 --> 00:23:00.470 the Truth and we ought to love in truth and speak in truth and not 241 00:23:00.670 --> 00:23:08.990 just have a bunch of empty words castles of air. This all has a 242 00:23:10.109 --> 00:23:17.099 real, deep effect on us. It builds confidence in us. Verse Twenty 243 00:23:17.140 --> 00:23:21.539 One, Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence 244 00:23:21.660 --> 00:23:26.099 before God. Now, confidence is a funny thing. It's it's something that 245 00:23:26.210 --> 00:23:30.369 you can both have and not have at the same time, or you might 246 00:23:30.410 --> 00:23:33.369 split it this way. It's something that you can have a right to. 247 00:23:34.490 --> 00:23:41.240 It belongs to you, but yet you are not feeling it. Maybe you've 248 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:47.920 been in a situation where you're the new boss, let's say you all of 249 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:52.440 a sudden you've been promoted or something like that, and you have these people 250 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:56.750 who are under you, people that you're responsible for, and they're looking to 251 00:23:56.869 --> 00:24:02.109 you for direction and for leadership, and you're sort of feeling I don't feel 252 00:24:02.190 --> 00:24:07.990 this, I'm not comfortable giving directions, making commands, keeping people accountable and 253 00:24:07.069 --> 00:24:11.460 all the rest. You may not have that confidence, and yet, of 254 00:24:11.500 --> 00:24:15.579 course you have a right to that confidence. And so someone might say to 255 00:24:15.619 --> 00:24:21.180 you, be confident, be holy, even as you are holy, be 256 00:24:21.380 --> 00:24:26.769 confident, even as you are confident, and when you know and believe the 257 00:24:27.250 --> 00:24:33.210 thing that you have, which is confidence before God, because of what Christ 258 00:24:33.410 --> 00:24:38.200 is done, this affects us. We walk with our heads held high, 259 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:42.119 we walk with our backs up straight, knowing that we belong to him, 260 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:48.759 that were taken care of by him, that we can speak and act truthfully 261 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:55.910 and lovingly, no matter what the consequences are, and this includes our prayers. 262 00:24:56.509 --> 00:25:02.990 Whatever we ask, we receive from him. Why? Because we keep 263 00:25:03.069 --> 00:25:07.140 his commandments and do what pleases him. This, of course, doesn't mean 264 00:25:07.220 --> 00:25:11.940 that we can command God around. If you go just to the next chapter, 265 00:25:12.059 --> 00:25:15.980 of two chapters away, Chapter Five, verse fourteen, it says, 266 00:25:17.259 --> 00:25:21.180 and this confidence, same idea that we have toward him, that if we 267 00:25:21.339 --> 00:25:26.369 ask anything according to his will, he hears us, and we know that 268 00:25:26.490 --> 00:25:30.289 he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests 269 00:25:30.369 --> 00:25:36.279 that we have asked of him. That qualification there is really important and it 270 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:41.079 should be assumed whenever we think about God answering our prayers. We have confidence 271 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:45.839 before him because we are in him. We have confidence for the things that 272 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:49.509 we ask, because we ask according to his will. Will he not give 273 00:25:49.549 --> 00:25:53.670 us the very things he's promised? Will he not love us, even as 274 00:25:53.710 --> 00:25:57.190 he has promised to love us? Will he not keep us to the very 275 00:25:57.269 --> 00:26:03.190 end, even as he has promised to? He will, and when we 276 00:26:03.339 --> 00:26:08.180 take all of these things together, we loved. What do we have? 277 00:26:11.140 --> 00:26:15.539 We of lives that are changed, we find that we are in a body 278 00:26:15.660 --> 00:26:19.970 of people that is new, knit together in the spirits and in love. 279 00:26:21.130 --> 00:26:27.009 We see the Lord Jesus Christ, at work in our lives, and by 280 00:26:27.089 --> 00:26:34.079 this we have confidence. By this we know that we abide in him, 281 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:40.559 because we're in the house of salvation and all the marks of it are here. 282 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:47.230 Now, of course, life is not always perfect. The marks are 283 00:26:47.349 --> 00:26:51.109 mixed, we still sin, we don't love as we ought, but there 284 00:26:51.269 --> 00:26:56.190 is this principle in place, there's this way in which we are characterized. 285 00:26:56.269 --> 00:27:02.259 Jesus promises this. He says the world will know you by your love. 286 00:27:03.539 --> 00:27:08.980 He says it it's not me, Jesus says, this is what will happen. 287 00:27:11.740 --> 00:27:17.490 I will love you in such a way that you will love others and 288 00:27:17.769 --> 00:27:22.690 they will know that you belong to me. I look like my dad, 289 00:27:25.289 --> 00:27:30.440 you probably look like your dad. I look like my mom, you probably 290 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:36.599 look like your mom. It's the same with us as Christians. When our 291 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:41.720 heavenly father adopts us and make us his own, he changes us in such 292 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:52.470 a way that people recognize him in us and US in him. Well, 293 00:27:52.509 --> 00:27:56.309 what do we do with all of this? I've been trying to impress this 294 00:27:56.670 --> 00:28:02.539 doctrine on you, these truths about who God is and what he has done 295 00:28:03.420 --> 00:28:07.500 for us, and if your eyes are opening up to this thing, if 296 00:28:07.579 --> 00:28:12.730 your eyes are starting to see the manifestation of God in the lives of his 297 00:28:12.890 --> 00:28:17.849 people, okay, that's good. Right too, thumbs up. Now what 298 00:28:18.849 --> 00:28:22.690 what do you do with that? There's all kinds of things we might say. 299 00:28:25.289 --> 00:28:30.759 Do we mention a few, and I'll go through these relatively quickly, 300 00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:36.000 but I I hope you'll hear them nevertheless. For one, it is a 301 00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:44.750 test. Marks of believers and unbelievers do allow us to make distinctions. This 302 00:28:44.910 --> 00:28:49.829 is what we do on the session when we interview or talk with or, 303 00:28:49.869 --> 00:28:52.829 however, what a verb you want to use when we meet with people for 304 00:28:52.990 --> 00:28:59.059 membership. What do we want to determine an order for you to be a 305 00:28:59.259 --> 00:29:03.579 member of this church? We want to know that you are following the Lord, 306 00:29:04.299 --> 00:29:07.099 that you have the marks of a Christian. Is that something that we 307 00:29:07.180 --> 00:29:12.730 can determine infallibly? Of course not, is it? Can we know the 308 00:29:12.890 --> 00:29:18.369 heart of every single individual person and the way that God knows it? No, 309 00:29:18.769 --> 00:29:22.450 what do we do then? We use the instructions God has given us. 310 00:29:22.490 --> 00:29:26.799 By this, you will know them. Do they love? Do they 311 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:30.440 follow after me? Do they believe in the name of the Sun, and 312 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:36.279 do they love one another? This is what these is God's given prescription of 313 00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:41.109 how we ought to live life in the church. It allows us to test, 314 00:29:41.549 --> 00:29:48.750 by the Authority of God, the genuineness of what people say. There 315 00:29:48.750 --> 00:29:53.819 are people we read back in Verse Nineteen of Chapter Two. I'll read it 316 00:29:53.900 --> 00:29:56.460 to you. They went out from us, but they were not of us, 317 00:29:57.339 --> 00:30:00.700 for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. 318 00:30:00.740 --> 00:30:06.700 John is recognizing that there was a situation where there were people in the 319 00:30:07.170 --> 00:30:11.650 church who said they belong to Christ and yet didn't. How do we know? 320 00:30:14.450 --> 00:30:18.049 These tests, these marks, these identifications, they help us know. 321 00:30:19.890 --> 00:30:22.799 One of the things God's word does here. One of the things that these 322 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:29.119 signs do is they put a little pressure on the hypocrite. Maybe they're putting 323 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:36.789 a little pressure on you, Godlee, pressure on your heart, a testing 324 00:30:37.029 --> 00:30:48.349 pressure to see is this true or not? Sometimes God does this thing in 325 00:30:48.509 --> 00:30:53.980 our lives we're after a period of blindness. He helps us to wake up 326 00:30:55.500 --> 00:31:00.339 and see our situation as it really is. Maybe this is something God is 327 00:31:00.420 --> 00:31:06.809 doing in your life right now. I know a couple stories. I won't 328 00:31:06.849 --> 00:31:11.650 tell you who they are, but I know a couple stories about people falling 329 00:31:11.730 --> 00:31:14.930 asleep on buses. I don't know if this has ever happened to you, 330 00:31:15.329 --> 00:31:22.599 but a person a falls asleep on a bus, travels to the end of 331 00:31:22.680 --> 00:31:27.960 the Stop, wakes up, looks around and realizes where they are. Panic 332 00:31:30.119 --> 00:31:33.990 right, this is not my stop, this is not my city. In 333 00:31:33.190 --> 00:31:40.950 one case this is not my country. It's a scary situation to look around 334 00:31:40.990 --> 00:31:52.339 and realize what really is going on. These soldiers are here and they shouldn't 335 00:31:52.380 --> 00:32:02.609 be here. Sometimes God does this. He wakes us up. He uses 336 00:32:02.690 --> 00:32:06.809 his words as a mean to say wake up, look around you, look 337 00:32:06.849 --> 00:32:10.490 at the signs. Are you where you think you are? And maybe you 338 00:32:10.569 --> 00:32:15.880 will look around and you'll say, yes, I am, praise God to 339 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:21.440 whom all blessings flow. Or maybe you'll wake up and you'll say this is 340 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:25.000 not where I thought I've been going, this is not where I thought I 341 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:32.230 should be or where I was. This is one reason these marks are very 342 00:32:32.349 --> 00:32:38.349 helpful. They also cause us to press on, because they show us how 343 00:32:39.029 --> 00:32:45.339 our salvation is founded in the Lord. It begins in him. It continues 344 00:32:45.539 --> 00:32:50.859 in him and it ends in him. When we see the fruit of His 345 00:32:51.059 --> 00:32:54.099 grace in our lives, we don't have to be embarrassed about that or hide 346 00:32:54.180 --> 00:32:59.970 it or pretend it's not there. When we gain victory over sin, when 347 00:32:59.970 --> 00:33:02.849 we have even a moment of self control that we knew a week ago we 348 00:33:02.970 --> 00:33:08.529 wouldn't have or maybe an hour ago we wouldn't have, when we find patience, 349 00:33:08.690 --> 00:33:14.400 when we find love. Let's give praise to God, all right, 350 00:33:14.440 --> 00:33:20.720 let's look at him and say praise be to you, who is at work 351 00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:24.640 in my life. Remember what Paul says in Philippians one six. I am 352 00:33:24.920 --> 00:33:29.589 sure of this, confident right, I'm sure of this, that he who 353 00:33:29.710 --> 00:33:32.789 began a good work and you will bring it to completion at the day of 354 00:33:32.910 --> 00:33:39.829 Jesus Christ. Let that be your bold statement as well. When you see 355 00:33:39.869 --> 00:33:47.140 the fruit of grace in your life, even when it's tiny, it's if 356 00:33:47.180 --> 00:33:53.819 it's of God, it will become big, it will grow strong and on 357 00:33:53.900 --> 00:34:00.410 the day of Jesus Christ, even those tiny mustard seeds of faith will be 358 00:34:00.609 --> 00:34:07.929 revealed to be great giant trees, a beautiful thing that should inspire you in 359 00:34:08.050 --> 00:34:14.400 obedience, as you are rooted more and more in the God who promises these 360 00:34:14.519 --> 00:34:24.469 things and who is at work within you. So, in conclusion, John 361 00:34:24.590 --> 00:34:31.269 does not tell us here, not explicitly, what the foundation of our adoption 362 00:34:31.389 --> 00:34:36.630 is, what the cause of our adoption is. He's talking more about the 363 00:34:36.989 --> 00:34:43.219 marks of our adoption, the conditions of our adoption. He's telling us how 364 00:34:43.500 --> 00:34:47.659 we know. What do you do then, if you wake up at the 365 00:34:47.699 --> 00:34:53.050 end of the bus line and you find that these marks are missing? What 366 00:34:53.170 --> 00:34:57.610 do you do if you bake up and you find yourself in a scary place 367 00:34:57.809 --> 00:35:04.329 of lawlessness, of sin, of hatred against God and other and other people 368 00:35:04.369 --> 00:35:12.960 and people, people other than yourselves? What do you do? Will you 369 00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:20.920 go to Jesus Christ, who has commanded you to follow him? Well, 370 00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:24.710 I don't know if I'm elected, maybe I'm not predestined. Jesus doesn't say 371 00:35:24.949 --> 00:35:30.550 figure out your predestination and come follow me. He says come follow me, 372 00:35:30.670 --> 00:35:36.539 I command you, come follow me. Believe in the name of the sun 373 00:35:36.739 --> 00:35:42.900 and you will be saved. What is your warrant for belief? What right 374 00:35:43.139 --> 00:35:49.219 do you have to stand before an Almighty Holy God and say count me in? 375 00:35:51.769 --> 00:35:55.050 Nothing in yourself, but on the basis of the command of God. 376 00:35:55.769 --> 00:36:00.170 You can stand confidently in before him and say, you told me to come, 377 00:36:01.489 --> 00:36:06.840 you sent me here, you beckoned me, you said come to me, 378 00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:10.039 all who weary are in heavy laden, and I will give you wet 379 00:36:10.280 --> 00:36:15.960 rest. I got the wedding invitation in the mail. Here it is. 380 00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:21.750 And what did Jesus is parables tell us he will do. Come on in, 381 00:36:22.070 --> 00:36:25.869 come on in, come on in. Why? Because I have invited 382 00:36:25.949 --> 00:36:31.789 you. Count this, every single one of you here today, count this 383 00:36:32.059 --> 00:36:39.059 as your official invitation from God. Right now, believe in the name of 384 00:36:39.099 --> 00:36:45.980 the son of Jesus, Christ, whom God has sent, and you will 385 00:36:45.420 --> 00:36:52.730 be saved. Trust him and go on the basis of that command, on 386 00:36:52.929 --> 00:36:58.849 that invitation, on that call. And if you wake up at the end 387 00:36:58.889 --> 00:37:00.719 of the bus line and you say, well, that was a nice rest 388 00:37:00.760 --> 00:37:07.920 and here's my stop, then get off and enjoy yourself. Enjoy being found 389 00:37:08.039 --> 00:37:12.920 in the salvation and in the love of Christ, Jesus, Our Lord. 390 00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:21.110 It's deep, it's wonderful, it's overwhelming. Don't go back and follow after 391 00:37:21.150 --> 00:37:28.030 the old ways, don't go back to lawlessness, back to slavery. No, 392 00:37:28.269 --> 00:37:35.420 dwell and enjoy the love that God has given you and walk in that 393 00:37:35.659 --> 00:37:43.900 love, walk in that light. All Praise be to God. I haven 394 00:37:43.980 --> 00:37:47.690 of rest. A heaven of rest is him. Let's pray.