Walk like Jesus (1 John 2:3-6)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:04.400 Let's read now. I remain standing. If you are able, please and 2 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:09.230 will read together first John A, chapter two. Just a few verses there, 3 00:00:10.589 --> 00:00:16.829 continuing to preach through first John, First John Chapter two, verse three. 4 00:00:17.149 --> 00:00:24.579 I'm going to read verses three through six. And by this we know 5 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:30.179 that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says 6 00:00:30.579 --> 00:00:35.539 I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth 7 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:40.210 is not in him. But whoever keeps his word in him truly the love 8 00:00:40.250 --> 00:00:44.130 of God is perfected. By this, we may know that we are in 9 00:00:44.289 --> 00:00:50.119 him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way 10 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:55.719 in which he walked. My God bless his word to us. He may 11 00:00:55.759 --> 00:01:23.980 be seated. So here in First John, John Addresses this really important question 12 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:29.500 about how can we know that we know God? How can we know that 13 00:01:29.659 --> 00:01:36.769 we know God? That's a very, very important question. But we have 14 00:01:36.930 --> 00:01:42.930 to start by thinking about what does it mean to know him? What does 15 00:01:42.969 --> 00:01:47.519 it mean? What kind of knowledge is John Talking about? And then we'll 16 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:53.400 get to the test. There's different kinds of knowledge. There is a kind 17 00:01:53.480 --> 00:02:00.120 of sometimes we say head knowledge. There's also an experiential knowledge and knowledge which 18 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:04.189 is sort of deep down in US and which we don't just know something, 19 00:02:04.310 --> 00:02:09.550 but we know something. So, for example, let's say there's a little 20 00:02:09.550 --> 00:02:15.469 boy, we'll call him Jose, and Jose gets a bike for his birthday 21 00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:20.300 and he's really excited about his bike, but he's a little nervous about it 22 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:22.699 too. He's going to learn to ride it for the first time. So 23 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:25.860 what does he do? He goes to the library and he picks up books 24 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:31.250 on the inner ear so that he can learn about all the little ventibular systems 25 00:02:31.409 --> 00:02:36.370 that help a person keep his balance right, and then he after he reads 26 00:02:36.409 --> 00:02:38.289 a book on that, then he goes and he learns about Kinetic Energy, 27 00:02:38.689 --> 00:02:43.169 and the next week he goes and he learns about aerodynamics, and the next 28 00:02:43.169 --> 00:02:46.360 week he goes and he learns, week after week, learning more and more 29 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:53.120 about how one rides a bike. But of course he's never going to learn 30 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:54.960 is he was. You can read all the books in the world, he 31 00:02:55.039 --> 00:03:00.430 can become a very smart person in a way, but he'll never know what 32 00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:02.590 it means to ride a bike, even if he understands all the workings of 33 00:03:02.870 --> 00:03:07.789 the inner ear and how Balance Works, even if he understands physics very well 34 00:03:08.710 --> 00:03:14.780 until it gets on the bike and pushes the pedal and starts to feel what 35 00:03:14.900 --> 00:03:17.620 it feels like to go this way and overcorrect and go this way and overcorrect 36 00:03:17.659 --> 00:03:25.099 and find that place. His knowledge will be good and true, but limited 37 00:03:27.569 --> 00:03:30.689 and limited in the thing he really wants to do, which is to know 38 00:03:30.849 --> 00:03:36.129 how to ride a bike. He can't go to his friends and say I 39 00:03:36.250 --> 00:03:38.129 know how to ride a bike, or he can't go on a bike ride 40 00:03:38.129 --> 00:03:42.039 and say I want to go on a bike ride. Let's enjoy this together. 41 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:46.080 As long as it's only these facts, only this sort of head knowledge, 42 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:53.360 it's like that here as well, and it's true of people as well. 43 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:57.830 Just to use one of the most famous people now, Donald Trump. 44 00:03:58.150 --> 00:04:00.830 Let's say you are to ask me, pastor, do you know Donald Trump? 45 00:04:01.389 --> 00:04:05.189 I would have to say no, I don't know him, and then 46 00:04:05.229 --> 00:04:09.229 I would use other words right. I would say I know about him, 47 00:04:09.270 --> 00:04:12.620 I know of him, I know who he is, but I don't know 48 00:04:13.139 --> 00:04:18.500 him. And it's in that sense that knowledge, whether it's a personal knowledge 49 00:04:18.540 --> 00:04:25.250 from one person to another, knowledge of a of an expert, a task 50 00:04:25.370 --> 00:04:30.889 or a thing that you might do, it's that kind of experiential knowledge that 51 00:04:30.970 --> 00:04:35.649 John Talks about here when he says, and by this we know that we 52 00:04:35.769 --> 00:04:44.079 have come to know him if we keep his commandments. That's what it means, 53 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:47.399 then, to know God. It's not just to know about God or 54 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:53.550 to know of God or to know things about God or who he is, 55 00:04:53.870 --> 00:05:00.790 but it is to know him, to experience him, to understand him. 56 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:05.750 Even as you might understand or know a family member or a friend. You 57 00:05:05.790 --> 00:05:11.060 don't just know their hight and their weight or some the things that they like 58 00:05:11.339 --> 00:05:18.060 or enjoy, but you know them. Do you know God? Do you 59 00:05:18.180 --> 00:05:21.009 know the father? Do you know the son? Do you know the spirit? 60 00:05:21.170 --> 00:05:26.529 In this way, in this personal way, in this friendship way, 61 00:05:26.730 --> 00:05:36.040 in a family way? If this is a very important question, because there's 62 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:43.399 no hire, no better, no more wonderful thing to know than God. 63 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:49.629 Nothing's more wonderful, more beautiful, more important. God is the source of 64 00:05:49.870 --> 00:05:56.350 life, of a holder of all things, the King of Heaven and earth. 65 00:05:57.670 --> 00:06:00.709 He's the judge of the world, he is your maker, he is 66 00:06:00.790 --> 00:06:06.500 the one who keeps you alive, who sovereignly oversees every aspect of your life, 67 00:06:08.220 --> 00:06:16.500 every running knows every job change, every trip you make. You ought 68 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:25.689 to know him, especially since he has made himself known to you. Though 69 00:06:25.769 --> 00:06:29.689 many people don't know God and the way first, the way John is talking 70 00:06:29.769 --> 00:06:36.000 about, he certainly knows them. He is intimately and personally aware of everything 71 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:41.879 in your life. He knows every thought, every word, every deed. 72 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:48.629 He knows you. He knows you better than you know yourself. This means 73 00:06:48.750 --> 00:06:55.949 that he will ultimately hold each of us accountable for our lives, but it 74 00:06:56.069 --> 00:07:00.740 also means that he holds the key to salvation, so the forgiveness of our 75 00:07:00.860 --> 00:07:09.220 sins and eternal life of knowing him, of being intimately connected and loving and 76 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:15.730 being with him. Some people don't want to know God, even though they 77 00:07:15.810 --> 00:07:20.250 know of him or about him, for maybe the sound of the same reasons 78 00:07:20.329 --> 00:07:25.209 that are little boy Jose doesn't want to ride his bike, even though he 79 00:07:25.250 --> 00:07:30.240 wants to ride his bike. He's afraid. Sometimes we accumulate knowledge or, 80 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:38.839 as John Calvin puts it, we empty prattle, vain speculations. We pile 81 00:07:39.079 --> 00:07:42.959 on things. Even true knowledge, we might say, has a kind of 82 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:46.149 vanity to it when it's ultimately keeping us from the thing that we ought to 83 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:54.589 really know in a personal way. Some people do lots and lots of study 84 00:07:54.750 --> 00:08:00.579 and learning and go into all kinds of experiences and retreats and they read books 85 00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:05.180 and they think a lot about God, but they do it so they can 86 00:08:05.180 --> 00:08:13.810 avoid knowing God. Don't be that person. Don't be a person who avoids 87 00:08:15.129 --> 00:08:20.930 the most wonderful, the wonderful, most wonderful God and your maker. Don't 88 00:08:20.970 --> 00:08:26.319 be the person who avoids the one who holds the keys to life and death, 89 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:33.360 to heaven and to Hell. So how can we know which kind of 90 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:39.759 knowledge of God we have? How can we know whether or not we merely 91 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:45.429 know about God or of God or whether we really know God? Well, 92 00:08:45.470 --> 00:08:50.909 John's answer, writing, by the very power and will of God, is 93 00:08:50.029 --> 00:08:56.460 very simple. If we keep his commandments, if we keep his commandments, 94 00:08:56.500 --> 00:09:01.940 that's how we know that we've come to know him. That's exactly what John 95 00:09:01.100 --> 00:09:05.220 says, and he says it's several times and he'll say it in other ways. 96 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:09.179 In fact, the Bible says this over and over and over in many 97 00:09:09.299 --> 00:09:16.330 places and in many ways. John says the opposite thing or the corresponding opposite 98 00:09:16.370 --> 00:09:22.210 in verse four. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments 99 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:28.919 is a liar. That person who says this thing, but does this thing. 100 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:35.559 The truth is not in him. And then he repeats in Verse Five. 101 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:41.509 But whoever keeps his word in truly in him. Truly, the love 102 00:09:41.509 --> 00:09:46.590 of God is perfected, or we might translate it, God's love for him 103 00:09:46.629 --> 00:09:52.470 is perfected. There's various ways there, but he continues on. By this 104 00:09:52.669 --> 00:09:56.019 way, we know that we are in him. Colon, whoever says he 105 00:09:56.259 --> 00:10:01.700 abides in him ought to walk in the same way and he which he walked. 106 00:10:03.019 --> 00:10:05.740 These two phrases, walking in the way in which he walked and keeping 107 00:10:05.899 --> 00:10:11.250 his commandments are just two ways of saying the same thing. We use this 108 00:10:11.370 --> 00:10:15.690 kind of language all the time. In English we talked about I'm on the 109 00:10:15.730 --> 00:10:20.610 right path, meaning to say we're going the right direction, we're headed the 110 00:10:20.690 --> 00:10:26.120 right way. We use this language of walking is to describe a way of 111 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:33.840 life. What's your walk? What's your line of work? That's we talked 112 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:37.909 about it in terms of our faith sometimes. How is your walk with Christ 113 00:10:37.070 --> 00:10:43.990 going? How's your walk going? It's a way of describing a trajectory, 114 00:10:43.029 --> 00:10:48.110 a pattern, and that's true here. John, of course, isn't saying 115 00:10:48.470 --> 00:10:56.539 that we must keep every single commandment and every part of our lives to have 116 00:10:56.820 --> 00:11:03.460 certainty whether or not we know God. John's not talking about perfection here. 117 00:11:03.500 --> 00:11:07.970 He's talking about habits, he's talking about ways of life we know. He's 118 00:11:09.009 --> 00:11:13.090 talking about perforce. He's not talking about perfection, because just in the verse 119 00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:16.809 is previous to this, he said. But if anyone does sin, we 120 00:11:16.929 --> 00:11:22.120 have an advocate with the father. This is verse one, then verse two. 121 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:26.279 He, that is Jesus Christ, the righteous, is the propitiation for 122 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:31.720 our sins. John knows that we sin, our sins are sins that Jesus 123 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:37.470 has died for and that we belong to him, that he that he is 124 00:11:37.590 --> 00:11:43.029 in us and that we abide in him. But what he's saying here is 125 00:11:43.149 --> 00:11:46.980 that that manifest itself in a kind of evidence. There's fruit that's born from 126 00:11:48.059 --> 00:11:52.539 that relationship. So for a let me give you another example. If I 127 00:11:52.659 --> 00:12:00.659 tell you, if I tell somebody I'm the pastor of Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 128 00:12:01.570 --> 00:12:03.850 okay, they may or may not believe that, but there should be 129 00:12:05.129 --> 00:12:11.809 certain evidences that prove that right. Can I see a business card? Look 130 00:12:11.850 --> 00:12:16.039 at the website. Oh, he's preaching there that morning. He's caring for 131 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:20.480 the saints, whatever it is. There are these evidences that that show that 132 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:26.000 I'm being the pastor here. These evidences aren't necessarily the ground of the work. 133 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:31.029 The ground of the work is that I was called here. I didn't 134 00:12:31.070 --> 00:12:35.190 start doing these things and then somebody said, well, you must be the 135 00:12:35.230 --> 00:12:39.389 pastor, let's make him the pastor. No, I was called here to 136 00:12:39.629 --> 00:12:45.419 be the pastor and then that was evidenced in pastoral work. Or husbands and 137 00:12:45.500 --> 00:12:52.340 wives, you didn't you you got a wedding ring and you express your love 138 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:58.889 and you do various things as evidences of your relationship. It's like that here. 139 00:12:58.009 --> 00:13:05.169 He says that if we know him, then we will live for him, 140 00:13:07.330 --> 00:13:13.240 we keep his commandments. Now you might think it needs to be more 141 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:16.759 complicated than this. Or, if I might be so bold, some of 142 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:22.399 you want to make it more complicated than this because you don't want to have 143 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:28.230 to deal with the actual test John Gives, which is obedience. Some people 144 00:13:28.350 --> 00:13:31.830 think that in order to know God, they need to engage themselves with some 145 00:13:31.990 --> 00:13:37.269 kind of rich and symbolic liturgy, or they need to engage themselves into a 146 00:13:37.389 --> 00:13:43.620 sort of history, or maybe it's philosophy, or intellectually come to the highest 147 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:50.980 places about God, whether that's through any number of things, whether that's learning 148 00:13:50.059 --> 00:13:54.700 or belonging to certain churches or being in certain groups or knowing certain people or 149 00:13:54.769 --> 00:13:58.970 reading certain books. And those people who think this, that it's about sort 150 00:14:00.009 --> 00:14:05.409 of obtaining this kind of knowledge or engagement with God on this level, they'll 151 00:14:05.450 --> 00:14:09.799 go through all kinds of strange contortions in order to reach that higher place, 152 00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:16.480 all the while not doing the very things he's called them to do. Maybe 153 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:18.879 you've known people like this. They have a lot of good theology, they've 154 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:24.470 read a lot of good things, but they're just jerks. They're hard to 155 00:14:24.549 --> 00:14:28.309 deal with, their impatient, they're mean, they don't treat other people well 156 00:14:28.509 --> 00:14:35.429 and you kind of go doesn't make sense to me. Other people take a 157 00:14:35.549 --> 00:14:41.299 more mystical route. They think that knowing God is all ultimately about. Is 158 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:46.379 US ultimately tested not on knowledge but on the basis of one's mystical experiences, 159 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:52.460 the kind of transcendence they might feel in worship or in their daily lives, 160 00:14:52.409 --> 00:14:58.769 and so they're constantly trying hot to reach higher and higher levels of those feelings 161 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:03.090 and when they don't, they get discouraged, they feel they feel beat up 162 00:15:03.129 --> 00:15:11.879 and disappointed because they're trying to find their assurance on this kind of experience with 163 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:15.919 God. The more mysterious that is, the more magical it is, the 164 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.960 more transcendent is, the more meaningful it is to them, the more they 165 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:28.789 feel that they know God. These are people who go to church and they 166 00:15:28.870 --> 00:15:33.669 look very holy and they look very participate. They're participating in everything, but 167 00:15:33.750 --> 00:15:39.379 then in at home all that emotion and all of that connection sort of drains 168 00:15:39.419 --> 00:15:46.659 away and they don't follow his commandments. Now, of course, there's a 169 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:54.889 very rich body of knowledge and thoughtfulness and meditation about God. We have books 170 00:15:54.929 --> 00:15:58.049 back on the book table I would encourage you to read, and there's more 171 00:15:58.250 --> 00:16:03.919 that I would recommend. We ought to learn theology, we ought to strive 172 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:08.679 to grow in it, we ought to press onward more and more, and 173 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:15.320 the same's true with experience. One can experience more or less closeness with God. 174 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:22.710 One can feel the face of the Lord turned towards them or turned away 175 00:16:22.710 --> 00:16:27.350 from them, even as David describes in the psalms. It's not that knowledge 176 00:16:27.389 --> 00:16:34.139 or experience don't matter, but it's that we can't divorce them from obedience. 177 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:41.340 And the fact of the matter is is that John's test, the only one. 178 00:16:41.539 --> 00:16:48.009 He gives. The primary, singular test is obedience. He doesn't say 179 00:16:48.210 --> 00:16:52.450 by this we come to know him. If we come to church and we 180 00:16:52.649 --> 00:16:59.129 just feel great. Now he says if we keep his commandments. He doesn't 181 00:16:59.169 --> 00:17:02.559 say by this we have come to know him. If you've read and memorized 182 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:07.279 John Calvin's institutes, that's not what he says. It's just so simple. 183 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:14.720 Says if we keep his commandments. Now, as I see these things are 184 00:17:14.759 --> 00:17:18.789 not divorced from each other. We're they're not separated because they're very connected. 185 00:17:19.910 --> 00:17:26.430 Think about it this way. Think about someone that you admire, that you 186 00:17:26.549 --> 00:17:32.819 really respect, someone you know. That person walks like Jesus. That person 187 00:17:33.019 --> 00:17:40.819 keeps the commandments of the Lord. I would bet all kinds of money that 188 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:44.930 you would also be able to say of that person at this is a person 189 00:17:45.009 --> 00:17:52.130 who knows God's will, someone who knows God's character, God's Love, God's 190 00:17:52.210 --> 00:17:56.529 purpose. When we follow the commandments of the Lord, we come to know 191 00:17:56.809 --> 00:18:02.440 the Lord. We come to know him to have a knowledge of him. 192 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:07.200 We study him and learn about him. We go deeper and deeper into the 193 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:12.710 knowledge of God as he reveals himself to us in our obedience obedience isn't just 194 00:18:12.950 --> 00:18:21.750 about a purely following simple command. Sometimes commands are very hard to follow. 195 00:18:22.589 --> 00:18:26.750 It's difficult to know what to do, and that requires understanding God and his 196 00:18:26.869 --> 00:18:33.140 character, his will and his purpose. In history, more and more people 197 00:18:33.180 --> 00:18:37.220 who bay the Lord come to know the Lord. The same is true of 198 00:18:37.299 --> 00:18:45.730 experiencing his favor, his light, his joy. Knowledge of God comes in 199 00:18:45.970 --> 00:18:51.289 submission to God, not by standing over him as though we were scientists, 200 00:18:51.529 --> 00:19:00.240 studying him, as though he were the the pure object of us. The 201 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:07.839 sames true of experience. Experience of God, true experiential knowledge of God, 202 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:17.190 comes in submission to him. Far Too many people want knowledge or experience without 203 00:19:17.190 --> 00:19:22.750 obedience. They use these things as a way to look holy, as a 204 00:19:22.829 --> 00:19:27.339 way to pretend holiness, as a way to show a connection with God, 205 00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:34.619 when it's not true. Now, of course, there's people that also pretend 206 00:19:34.779 --> 00:19:40.049 on this final thing. They pretend to know his commandments, or they may 207 00:19:40.170 --> 00:19:44.490 even keep a measure of the commandments in their life, but ultimately don't know 208 00:19:44.730 --> 00:19:49.890 him. But just because there are people that fake these things, people that 209 00:19:51.049 --> 00:19:55.480 live somewhat obedient lives but ultimately don't know God, doesn't mean that they don't 210 00:19:55.480 --> 00:20:02.519 serve as evidences, because John says that they do. They're not the ground 211 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:07.630 of our faith, but they're the evidences of our faith. We don't believe 212 00:20:07.710 --> 00:20:15.029 in Jesus because we're amazing, but because of Jesus and because of our faith 213 00:20:15.069 --> 00:20:22.099 in him, he produces amazing things in us. John says that will be 214 00:20:22.140 --> 00:20:25.900 born out in our lives, that should be borne out in our lives, 215 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:32.859 and if it's not, then we don't truly know God. If we are 216 00:20:32.900 --> 00:20:37.650 pretend ending, if we walk and live in ways of disobedience, if we 217 00:20:37.690 --> 00:20:41.930 don't care about his commandments, if we aren't trying to keep them, if 218 00:20:41.970 --> 00:20:47.289 we don't ask for forgiveness when we fail. If that's true of you, 219 00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:53.160 then you don't know God. That's the obvious application here. We are called 220 00:20:53.519 --> 00:21:00.000 to test ourselves and others, as it is necessary for fellowship and for teaching. 221 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:06.190 We are to examine our hearts and see whether or not we belong to 222 00:21:06.309 --> 00:21:11.589 him. So let me not leave that merely at the head level, but 223 00:21:11.910 --> 00:21:18.099 ask you personally again. Do you know him? Do You keep his commandments? 224 00:21:19.140 --> 00:21:23.819 Do you feel and see and know the fruit of faith being born in 225 00:21:23.940 --> 00:21:27.819 your life, as you love the Lord, as you trust in him. 226 00:21:29.339 --> 00:21:34.289 Do you experience and do you see the product of that? If you don't, 227 00:21:36.410 --> 00:21:41.210 then John says you may not know him. How do we respond to 228 00:21:41.369 --> 00:21:45.569 this kind of test on our hearts that John gives to us, that God 229 00:21:45.769 --> 00:21:52.200 gives to us here? Well, if we look at our consciences and we 230 00:21:52.359 --> 00:22:02.670 say yes, I know God, I know him intimately, I know him 231 00:22:02.670 --> 00:22:07.750 personally, I see the things that he's doing in my life. In fact, 232 00:22:07.789 --> 00:22:11.710 I see the sins in my life because of who he is, because 233 00:22:11.789 --> 00:22:17.619 of what he's doing. I see the ways in which he's producing goodness in 234 00:22:17.740 --> 00:22:21.900 me. I see the ways in which he's teaching me patience and which I'm 235 00:22:21.900 --> 00:22:26.940 learning self control, in which I'm learning forgiveness, when I strive, when 236 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:30.089 I stir up obedience, when I love, when I keep, when I 237 00:22:30.250 --> 00:22:36.809 walk, when I grow. It's not always perfect, in fact sometimes I 238 00:22:36.970 --> 00:22:42.009 failed miserably, but ultimately it's being driven by the fact that I belong to 239 00:22:42.130 --> 00:22:48.400 Jesus, that he died for me, that he's my savior and he's my 240 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:52.200 Lord and that I'm united to him, even as a vine is. You 241 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:56.799 grafted into a branch and that branch gives to that or that vine gives to 242 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:02.710 that branch. It's life, it's sap and fruit is produced. That's me. 243 00:23:07.630 --> 00:23:15.019 Then rejoice, praise the Lord and let love, the love of God 244 00:23:15.220 --> 00:23:19.259 in You, have its full effect. When you see obedience being produced. 245 00:23:19.339 --> 00:23:23.259 Give your heart with thankfulness to him. Turned to him and say, I 246 00:23:23.500 --> 00:23:30.930 see what you're doing here and it's amazing. I see that I don't walk 247 00:23:30.049 --> 00:23:34.609 as I used to walk. I see that you're changing me, you're helping 248 00:23:34.690 --> 00:23:38.930 me to grow. I feel the light of your countenance, I see your 249 00:23:40.089 --> 00:23:45.880 face, I see the amazing ways in which You keep preserving me, though 250 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:52.240 my flesh seems to be on selfdestruct mode all the time, though I sin 251 00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:56.349 again and again and again. There you are forgiving me, keeping me. 252 00:23:59.190 --> 00:24:03.630 I praise you, my Lord. I give myself over to you again, 253 00:24:03.789 --> 00:24:10.819 my God, for watching over me, for protecting me, for continually revealing 254 00:24:10.940 --> 00:24:17.859 yourself to me in the grace and the knowledge of Christ. My heart is 255 00:24:18.059 --> 00:24:26.490 yours because you have given yourself to me. You have loved me, and 256 00:24:26.690 --> 00:24:33.569 so I love you. I praise you for it. That's what our hearts 257 00:24:33.890 --> 00:24:42.079 say when we read John's words here and we say yes, I belong to 258 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:48.119 Jesus, and we can say that the same sorts of things and give similar 259 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:52.710 kinds of praise. When we think about other people or spouses, are children, 260 00:24:53.190 --> 00:24:59.230 friends and family, when we say praise God, they know Jesus too. 261 00:25:00.190 --> 00:25:06.109 I see it in their lives. I experience the blessings of it as 262 00:25:06.230 --> 00:25:15.220 God blesses me through them whom he has known. But if you look in 263 00:25:15.339 --> 00:25:29.049 your lives and you say I'm a Faker, I'm a hypocrite, this is 264 00:25:29.369 --> 00:25:37.839 pretend. For me, I struggle and strive for a measure of morality, 265 00:25:38.279 --> 00:25:44.680 but ultimately it's not because of faith in God. I do good things, 266 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:52.309 sure, but I also love bad things. If you consider John's command and 267 00:25:52.509 --> 00:25:59.470 you think, do I walk like Jesus walked? Am I even trying to 268 00:25:59.710 --> 00:26:03.829 walk like Jesus walked? Is that something I care about? And you're answering 269 00:26:03.910 --> 00:26:11.940 no, no, no, no, then I hope that you won't answer 270 00:26:12.140 --> 00:26:19.289 that and then callously walk away and say whatever, but that you will hear 271 00:26:19.569 --> 00:26:23.490 them, that your heart will be impressed and you will say no, that's 272 00:26:23.609 --> 00:26:30.250 not true. I don't walk after him, I don't keep comes commandments, 273 00:26:30.369 --> 00:26:37.960 but I want to. Then my promise to you is the promise that God 274 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:44.559 himself gives in scripture that Jesus himself gives, and it's simply this. Seek 275 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:52.470 and you will find. Do you want to know God? Then know him, 276 00:26:52.950 --> 00:27:00.150 seek him. He is readily accessible. He has proclaimed his word and 277 00:27:00.470 --> 00:27:07.180 proclaimed that's the salvation that we have right here in the Bible. Page after 278 00:27:07.299 --> 00:27:11.019 page after page speaks to the salvation. You don't have to turn far, 279 00:27:12.619 --> 00:27:19.730 just go back one verse. He is the propitiation for our sins, and 280 00:27:19.930 --> 00:27:26.170 not only for ours only, John Speaking there of himself and his immediate audience, 281 00:27:26.289 --> 00:27:30.319 the people they're first reading the letter, but for the sins of the 282 00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:37.400 whole world. Jesus Christ came to save our sins. So when we look 283 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:41.680 at our lives and we say I don't keep his commandments and I am a 284 00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:49.990 sinner, we have a solution given by God himself. He says, come 285 00:27:51.150 --> 00:28:02.740 to me. Fruit is born from the branch of a tree because it is 286 00:28:02.940 --> 00:28:11.779 connected to the tree. Jesus says. Those that are connected to him produce 287 00:28:11.059 --> 00:28:18.049 fruit because he produces fruit, Jesus and isn't going to go and save a 288 00:28:18.170 --> 00:28:21.849 person and then go oh, I forgot about that project. I forgot that 289 00:28:21.970 --> 00:28:26.569 I loved them, I forgot that I'm going to do something wonderful and amazing 290 00:28:26.730 --> 00:28:30.839 with them. No, he does what he does and he always does it. 291 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:37.599 When he saves us, he produces that fruit. And so that means 292 00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:41.670 that if we want to be saved, we don't come to God bearing our 293 00:28:41.789 --> 00:28:47.470 fruit, are rotten fruit, are bug filled, falling apart fruit, and 294 00:28:47.509 --> 00:28:51.950 say here, save me, I'm Ti ampt I. that's my kids words. 295 00:28:52.230 --> 00:29:00.500 Aren't I amazing amped? We don't bring him our dirty dead works and 296 00:29:00.619 --> 00:29:06.059 say aren't I amazing right. Who's going to be impressed with that? Here's 297 00:29:06.140 --> 00:29:14.130 my failure to keep your commandments. Be impressed. We can't be saved that 298 00:29:14.369 --> 00:29:17.930 way. The wrath of God is not going to be turned away from our 299 00:29:18.009 --> 00:29:23.170 dead works by US presenting them to him as though they were acceptable. Now 300 00:29:23.289 --> 00:29:30.160 the wrath of God has turned away. That propitiation happens when God himself comes 301 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:36.480 and saves us, when we go to him, when we find ourselves in 302 00:29:36.599 --> 00:29:41.589 him. We're not even saved when we bear it, when we bring forth 303 00:29:41.789 --> 00:29:45.230 his fruit produced in US and say look, see what you're doing. Will 304 00:29:45.269 --> 00:29:49.829 you now save me? No, we're safe purely on the righteousness of Christ 305 00:29:49.869 --> 00:29:59.099 alone, by his good works, by his walking. We Jesus doesn't walk 306 00:29:59.140 --> 00:30:02.819 in the way in which we walked. We walk in the way in which 307 00:30:02.859 --> 00:30:08.490 he walked. We follow after him, we live and walk and abide in 308 00:30:08.849 --> 00:30:18.529 his righteousness. So if your heart con vix you and you say I'm a 309 00:30:18.849 --> 00:30:25.799 sinner in need of God's grace, I'm someone who needs to have his eyes 310 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:33.920 diverted away from my terrible fruit, my breaking of his commandments, so that 311 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:40.309 he might accept me because of Jesus, will then do that. Put Your 312 00:30:40.430 --> 00:30:45.150 faith in him. Put Your trust in him and as you do so, 313 00:30:45.670 --> 00:30:52.299 as Paul says, as you received him. So walk in him. The 314 00:30:52.460 --> 00:30:56.980 faith in which we believe, the faith the faith in which the faith which 315 00:30:56.980 --> 00:31:00.539 we exercise, in the faith which we receive all of God's blessings and the 316 00:31:00.619 --> 00:31:07.450 salvation is not just about the beginning. Jesus is work for us. is 317 00:31:07.529 --> 00:31:11.930 also in the middle, in the sanctification, in the fruit bearing years, 318 00:31:11.529 --> 00:31:17.569 in the walking, in the ways in which he walked, ears and it's 319 00:31:17.569 --> 00:31:22.480 a way that will move, a salvation that will go all the way to 320 00:31:22.519 --> 00:31:29.519 the very end. As many of you know from an email that went out 321 00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:34.269 this week, Dwayne vetters, I'm died suddenly, brain aneurysm. He was 322 00:31:34.349 --> 00:31:40.549 helping his daughter, was something and in a matter of moments he was gone. 323 00:31:41.910 --> 00:31:47.859 None of us got to say goodbye, none of us got to wish 324 00:31:47.859 --> 00:31:55.500 him well or say some last thoughts or anything. WHO's just gone. We 325 00:31:55.619 --> 00:32:02.250 don't have time to play around with tests like this, to come up with 326 00:32:02.369 --> 00:32:07.849 our own means of assurance, to find other ways of knowing God, to 327 00:32:07.930 --> 00:32:12.369 come up with our own philosophies and ideas. We don't have time. We 328 00:32:12.450 --> 00:32:16.519 don't have muth know how much time we have. What we have, what 329 00:32:16.759 --> 00:32:22.279 each and every one of you has here today, is a word from Jesus 330 00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:27.599 that tells you that he will save you if you trust in him, not 331 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:30.029 just at the beginning of your life, not just in a in, not 332 00:32:30.190 --> 00:32:36.589 just in the in being regenerated, but a continual renewal of your life so 333 00:32:36.710 --> 00:32:46.420 that you will walk in him. Dwayne experience that. This week he came 334 00:32:46.779 --> 00:32:58.339 to a new experience that's even close the right word of sanctification. He came 335 00:32:58.569 --> 00:33:05.730 into glory knowing Jesus, knowing that Jesus, who is there for him at 336 00:33:05.730 --> 00:33:08.849 the beginning and through the middle of his life, is now there at the 337 00:33:08.930 --> 00:33:15.519 end and will be there with him forever. This is a promise that Jesus 338 00:33:15.559 --> 00:33:20.960 has kept for Dwayne, and it's a promise that Jesus keeps for all of 339 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:28.869 us who trust in him. So hear his word, beloved, test your 340 00:33:29.069 --> 00:33:37.950 hearts and cling to the only one who has the ability to save you and 341 00:33:37.150 --> 00:33:44.619 to keep you walking in the way in which he walked. Let us pray