1 John 2:3-14
Morning Greeting:
(Terry Handles)
Announcements:
- Describe Basic Details of December 16 Service
- Sheron needs help getting boxes into car
Introduction:
*Describe Initial Struggles with Assurance of Salvation*
Sometimes I prayed “Just in case Lord – I trust in Jesus”
Ever done that or similar?
Assurance came for me by:
Realizing He is faithful and true and my feelings are not.
Understanding that I truly had been changed after faith in Jesus.
Link: This message can help you with the second point. It can also help you gauge your maturity.
Text: 1 John 2:3-14
Theme: Evaluating Your Faith – True or False? Mature or Not?
Verses 3-6
These verses describe a way that believers can have assurance of their salvation. The assurance is attained through seeing fruit in your life.
Notice that the words do not say “by this we come to know God – if we keep his commandments.” It says “by this we know that we have come to know him – if we keep his commandments.”
The difference is very important. You do not come to know God through good works. You come to know God through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.” And Hebrews 11:6 says “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” You come to know God by faith.
But the evidence that your faith is genuine is found in keeping his commandments. Anyone can say “I am a Christian” or “I have faith.” That can be a true claim or a false claim. If you make that claim and then look at your life and say “I am walking like Jesus walked and keeping his commandments,” then you can say “there is the evidence that God has saved me from my sins. I know that I have come to know him.” But if you make the claim that you know God, and yet do not keep his commandments, then John says that you are a liar and the truth is not in you.
I think so much confusion comes from people not realizing that being saved doesn’t just mean that you are saved from hell. It also means that you have been saved from sin’s rule over your life. You’ve been rescued from the evil masters of sin, and Satan, and death, and you’ve been delivered over to the good master – Jesus Christ. And you are no longer dead in your sins, you are a new creation. And there are other blessings that come with salvation: the Holy Spirit, access to the Father through prayer, the fruit of the spirit, and so on.
So when someone makes the claim “I have been saved.” They aren’t just saying “I won’t be going to hell.” The claim is far bigger than just that. That is usually all we hear and all that we think about. But whether we realize it actively or not, “I have been saved” also means “I have been saved from sin’s rule over me.” The statement “I have been saved” simply isn’t true if you don’t obey God.
Now, since we all have sinned, and since we all have sinned after becoming Christians, hearing those words can very naturally make us uncomfortable. You might be thinking “Well I’ve said I am a Christian, but yesterday I told a lie – so am I really a Christian?” Sometimes people who should not question their salvation do question their salvation, because we all make mistakes from time to time. I myself was really insecure about my salvation for at least the first year, probably the first two.
Let me remind you that the verses last week told us that believers can and do still sin. When believers do sin, their fellowship – not salvation – with God is broken and is restored through confession to God.
How do we know the difference? It is all about your walk. Verse 6 says “whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” “Walk” is the Bible’s way of saying “lifestyle” or “pattern.” Your lifestyle or pattern ought to be keeping God’s commandments. And it ought to be trying to walk like Jesus walked. But since we are imperfect and sinful humans, that walk, lifestyle, or pattern will be broken – even frequently.
Here’s maybe some more grounded examples along those lines: If you care about following the Bible and care about God’s opinion of you and you care when you sin and you want to make it right – that is strong evidence that you are saved. That kind of a heart comes from being born again and having the Holy Spirit in us. The very fact that you know that you lied yesterday and you care about that and want to be right with God is strong evidence that His Holy Spirit lives in you. You are sensitive about sin. You don’t want to sin. You want to be with God. Those things come from God.
If you don’t care about following the Bible, don’t care about God’s opinion of you, and don’t care when you sin. And God says “forgive” and you say “I will not.” And God says “all have sinned” and you say “I have not.” – That is strong evidence that you are not saved. Because that is what it looks like to be dead in our sins. That is the kind of walk that salvation saves you from.
Link: Another evidence of salvation has to do with how we treat other believers.
Verses 7-11
So, first, what’s John talking about when he says this is not a new commandment, it’s an old one, but actually it is a new commandment?
On the one hand, it is an old commandment because it has been here from the beginning. The commandment to love others was in the Mosaic Law. It says in Leviticus 19:18 “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Which Jesus later said that, along with the commandment to love God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength – summed up the whole law and the prophets.
And you could make a very strong case that the first two sins were in large part due to a lack of love for God and one’s neighbor. Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They chose not to love God. And Cain murdered Abel – he chose not to love his brother.
They had heard that word before, probably many times growing up, I am sure.
So, loving your brother is not a new commandment.
But there is a sense in which it is new because of the fact that the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. When Jesus defeated sin, death, and Satan by His loving sacrifice on the cross, love was displayed in its truest light. And people began to be saved out of darkness. Jesus’ loving death for our salvation was far new and brighter than a commandment graven on stone could ever be.
It is like this: the command was from of old – but the weight and depth and beauty of it was that of a diminished light. But through what Jesus has done, that light grew bright and fresh and anew, and the darkness is beginning to dissipate as the light shines.
Notice that John says this is true in Christ and is also true in you – in believers. If it is true that believers love their brothers, then what is false of believers? That they hate their brothers. And that’s where John goes in verses 9-11.
“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.” This verse is a little difficult to interpret. The difficulty is that John is saying, more literally, that the one who hates his brother is still now in darkness. That implies that they have never been in the light, that they aren’t saved.
But on the other hand, how can an unsaved person have a spiritual brother? Our spiritual brothers and sisters are our fellow Christians. If someone is not a Christian, then how can a Christian be their brother?
So there is some evidence that it’s saying the person who hates other Christians is not saved. And there is some evidence that the person who hates other Christians is saved.
Well, here it is helpful that John repeats himself a lot in this book. If you’ve ever read this book through on your own, you’ve probably noticed John repeats himself a lot in it. That can actually be helpful to us as we interpret it.
So let’s look at what he says in 1 John 3:10 “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.” So that’s quite a bit more direct isn’t it? If you don’t practice righteousness and don’t love your brother, then you are not a child of God you are a child of the devil. Here’s some more clearer verses: 1 John 3:14 “we know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.” And in 15 “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Now that is fairly clear isn’t it! If A = B. and B = C. Then A = C. The one who hates his brother does not have eternal life abiding in him.
And then there is 1 John 4:7 “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:20 “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
So here is the profile of a person who hates his brother: They are not a child of God. They are a child of the devil. They are still in the darkness. They are abiding in death. They are a murderer. They don’t have eternal life in them. They don’t know God. They are a liar. And they don’t love God. I would say the evidence is so strong that there really isn’t any room left for argument. The person who hates his brother is not a Christian.
What to do with the statement then that it is “their” brother? I would say that he is using that term like this because these people are a part of the local church. They are hanging out with Christians, identifying with Christians, claiming to be Christians. I call everyone here my brother and sister, and I assume and hope that is true. Nobody has given me reason to think otherwise, and even if they did I’d probably still call them brother because God knows the heart better than I. He’s the one who decides if someone is saved or not, not me. And I hope you call me your brother too. But it doesn’t necessarily make it true in the eternal sense.
It could also be possible that John is using “brother” in the sense of the brotherhood of mankind – although I would say that one is less likely. But it’s possible.
Going back to 1 John 2:9.
If it’s true of believers that they love fellow Christians, and if those who hate other Christians are still in darkness and don’t have eternal life abiding in them, then you have here one of the clearest tests to know whether you truly have eternal life or not. Do you love other Christians or do you hate them?
Have you ever heard someone say “I love Jesus, but I can’t stand His people?” I hear it all the time. And it is such an alarming thing to hear when you read through 1 John. How can people read through the book of 1 John which has all these very alarming things to say about the one who hates his brother, and then still say something like that? Very worrisome.
Oh, you had better be careful if you feel that way. Are you sure you love Jesus then? Because Jesus loves the church. Jesus died for the church. Who are you to hate what Jesus loves? And are you sure you understand what He did for you? You were by no means worthy of the saving grace of God. On what grounds do you consider yourself better than other sinners who are also saved by grace?
Oh, I know other believers can frustrate us from time to time, even make us angry. Just as we frustrate others and make them angry. But hate is a strong word. We shouldn’t hate anybody.
Hate, just like love, is more than a feeling, it is an action. Hate is a very strong word. Getting frustrated or upset with other Christians, even angry with them, is not the same thing as hating them. Hating them is seeking harm for them, even trying to do things to harm them in some way. Hate is trying to harm their life in some way – maybe slandering them, attacking their reputation, destroying their property, stealing from them, physically harming them.
It’s wishing ill will upon someone, even doing things here and there to try to orchestrate ill for someone. That kind of behavior simply should not be true of people who understand that all of their sins have been forgiven in mercy and grace by a loving God. And if that is true of you, you need to read through the book of 1 John and reevaluate your relationship with Jesus.
Link: So, two ways to evaluate yourself to see if you are genuinely in the faith or not: do you keep God’s commandments? And do you love other Christians? Verses 12-14 give us encouraging reminders to those who are in the faith!
Verses 12-14
Here we get several statements that are true of believers. The usage of children, young men, and fathers is about spiritual maturity. Some are new in the faith, some are grounded, and some are mature.
Of children in the faith, we find the statement that their sins are forgiven. The sins of all believers, all of the sins, have been forgiven for Jesus’ name sake. And all Christians know the Father, regardless of maturity level. I think that is great news! You might be here today and maybe not feeling the most mature or maybe you are new in the faith. Let me tell you, all of your sins have been forgiven and you know God. You might not be all you want to be right now, but it’s OK and will all be OK in the end. You’re forgiven and clean. That’s the best thing.
Now the mature Christian life is more rich and peaceful than the immature one, but if you’ve trusted in Jesus for salvation, then you’ve had your sins forgiven and that gives your future such an indescribably bright hope! One day you will be given a new, perfect sinless body in heaven and will feel no more pain or sadness anymore, only gladness with God.
To the grounded Christians, the “young men,” John says that they have overcome the evil one, that they are strong, and that God’s word abides in them. This is a good way to know if you are still a babe in Christ or if you have reached some measure of maturity – does God’s word abide in you? Are you strong? Have you overcome the evil one? It’s much better to be a young adult in the faith than a child – you will experience less frustration and defeat this way. Nobody likes feeling defeated by sin. Victory comes through God’s word abiding in us and growing in maturity!
To the fathers of the faith, he repeats that they “know him who is from the beginning.” How is this different from the children who know the Father? Well, I would say it is indicating a longer and more intimate knowledge of God. Because of their maturity in the faith, they understand the eternality of God and His greatness in a way that children do not yet understand.
This is of course the best place to be. In addition to maturity, you have a history knowing God and a very intimate and familiar relationship with Him.
Application:
- In the faith? – Walk as He walked. Love the Brethren. == If not – Trust Christ!
- Mature? – Abide in His Word. Overcome the evil one. == If not – Grow through His Word!
- To all believers – Your sins have been forgiven! You have eternal life! You know the Father!