WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.560 We are working on Sunday morning through First John, and we've done that for a few weeks now. 00:00:06.560 --> 00:00:08.120 What a letter First John is. 00:00:08.120 --> 00:00:13.640 It is a letter, and its words are actually quite simple, but its teaching is incredibly 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:15.160 profound. 00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:20.559 And today, John brings us to ask another very significant question as he's done the past 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:27.440 couple of weeks, and that's, can you know if you know, if you know that you know, can 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:30.400 you know that you know God? 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:32.880 Can you know that you know Him? 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:35.640 And how can you know that you know God? 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:39.880 In other words, how can you be assured that you have fellowship with God? 00:00:39.880 --> 00:00:45.960 John has said that the point of human existence is to be in fellowship with the living God. 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:51.760 And today he takes up that great question, do you know that you know Him? 00:00:51.760 --> 00:00:55.880 And to know Him means to have fellowship with Him, to have eternal life. 00:00:55.880 --> 00:01:01.280 And you can see it right here in verse 3, he says, by this we know that we've come to 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:02.400 know Him. 00:01:02.400 --> 00:01:08.159 And that's sort of like the newspaper headline for which verses 3-11 becomes the article. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:15.879 By this we can know that you know Him, and I'm about to tell you how, the ways, the tests 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:20.719 that you can know that you're in living relationship with the living God. 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:24.760 And so the classical word for this that Christians have used throughout the centuries in English 00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:26.280 is the word assurance. 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:31.439 We're just thinking about it, assurance is the old word that just means an inner certainty 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:36.400 in our minds and in our hearts that we really are in a relationship with God, that we've 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:39.200 been saved, that we've been forgiven. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:42.680 And so John comes to talk to us about that today. 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:50.080 Do you, the question, do you want to live your life knowing that you're safe in Christ? 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:57.599 And that's, that no matter what comes, no matter what confronts you in life, you do have life 00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:58.599 beyond death. 00:01:58.599 --> 00:02:00.239 You do have life with God. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:02.759 The very thing you were made for, do you want that? 00:02:02.759 --> 00:02:04.519 Do you want to know that? 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:05.920 And that's what John speaks about. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:12.159 So John gives us here three tests for how you can know that you know Him. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:16.199 But before that, I want to think about two other things with you. 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:23.179 And that's first, the fact of assurance, and then secondly, the gospel that assures. 00:02:23.179 --> 00:02:26.839 And then finally, we'll look at the tests that He gives us for our assurance. 00:02:26.839 --> 00:02:29.319 Okay, so first, the fact of assurance. 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:32.519 Now let me read the beginning of verse three again. 00:02:32.519 --> 00:02:39.479 It says, chapter two, verse three, it says, by this we know that we've come to know Him. 00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:42.399 To know God, we said, is very personal. 00:02:42.399 --> 00:02:43.719 It's to have fellowship with God. 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:47.120 That's when the penny drops in your life. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:51.400 And your knowledge of God is more than just intellectual. 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:52.719 It's love, it's relational. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:55.560 And it's both legal and relational. 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:00.039 It's legal in that God says, I've forgiven your sins legally. 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:01.039 That's to know God. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:02.319 But then it's relational. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:07.400 It's to respond to God's love in your life by loving Him, by being in fellowship with 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:09.479 Him throughout your life. 00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:18.560 Now John says that there are tests here for you to subjectively know that you know Him. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:24.799 But before that, before that, before that, before you, in other words, before you ask 00:03:24.799 --> 00:03:29.359 the question that you're going to ask today, that we're all going to ask today. 00:03:29.359 --> 00:03:36.039 And that is John saying that if I cannot pass these tests, I need to question whether or 00:03:36.039 --> 00:03:38.359 not I'm a Christian. 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:40.600 Before you ask that, there's something else to see here. 00:03:40.600 --> 00:03:46.200 You know, he says in verse three that you can know that you know Him if you keep His 00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:47.200 commands. 00:03:47.200 --> 00:03:51.800 And immediately we're all going to say in our hearts, is He saying that every time I 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:58.600 break one of God's commands, I need to question whether I'm actually in a relationship with 00:03:58.600 --> 00:04:02.080 God, whether I've been saved from my sins? 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:05.640 Before you ask that, I want you to see first that John is actually doing something positive 00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:08.639 here, not negative. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:10.119 That's the negative approach. 00:04:10.119 --> 00:04:14.199 That's the, and it is an important question, but the positive is to first see this. 00:04:14.199 --> 00:04:20.919 John says to you today, it is possible to know that you know God with certainty. 00:04:20.919 --> 00:04:22.240 You see what he's saying? 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:29.599 He's saying to you, you can actually walk through this life and know that you know God, 00:04:29.599 --> 00:04:33.560 that that's possible, that there's a way to do that. 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:37.920 There's a way to not question whether or not you know God. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:39.839 There's a way to have assurance. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:43.399 And that's the very first thing he tells us here, that you can be confident that there's 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:50.040 a way to be certain that your assurance and your relationship with God is real, and that 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:54.199 it's not going anywhere, and that it's unquestionable. 00:04:54.199 --> 00:04:56.199 And that's what he actually gives us here. 00:04:56.199 --> 00:04:57.959 It's positive before it's negative. 00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:03.279 And so John's purpose here today is not to get everybody asking, although maybe this 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:04.679 is the right question. 00:05:04.679 --> 00:05:05.679 Maybe. 00:05:05.679 --> 00:05:08.039 Am I really a Christian? 00:05:08.039 --> 00:05:09.959 Maybe, but that's not his primary work here. 00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:17.399 His primary work here is for Christians to be able to say, is to say, I know him. 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:19.279 I know him, and I'm certain about it. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:21.479 I know that I know him. 00:05:21.479 --> 00:05:23.479 So that's the first thing. 00:05:23.479 --> 00:05:26.119 Secondly, the gospel that assures. 00:05:26.119 --> 00:05:30.199 All right, we have to, when we start to talk about these three tests that he's going to 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:35.039 give us in verse four to 11, we've got to be exact, and we've got to be precise, and 00:05:35.039 --> 00:05:37.560 we've got to be careful. 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:45.120 And again, verse three, you got to be careful, because what is verse three not say? 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:47.079 That's the first question to ask. 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:53.319 It says, by this you can know that you know him, but what it does not say is, here is 00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:55.159 how you can know him. 00:05:55.159 --> 00:05:56.560 Do you hear the difference? 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:03.120 It says, by this you can know that you know him, it does not say these three tests are 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:06.720 how you can know him in the first place. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:08.959 And those are very different things. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:14.879 He's talking in the tests about a subjective certainty in your life, a way that you can 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:20.680 look at your life and say, I know him because of some of the evidence that appears. 00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:27.879 He's not at all saying this is the way to get to know God in the first place. 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:29.720 And those are very different. 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:33.720 And that's why verse three comes right after verse two. 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:35.079 Did you know that? 00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:36.439 It's just basic mathematics. 00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:41.920 Verse three comes right after verse two, and did you see what verse two says? 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:49.840 Verse two says, Jesus Christ is the propitiation of our sins, and not ours only, but also for 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:51.759 the whole world. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:57.719 And then he says, and here's some tests how you can know if Jesus is the propitiation 00:06:57.719 --> 00:06:58.719 of your sins. 00:06:58.719 --> 00:07:01.560 You see, that's a very important order. 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:06.319 In other words, we say, Derek was just talking about this, that here at St. C's we say that 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:11.959 we are a city center church committed above all else to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:18.459 And right here in the way John lays this out, he gives us verse two, the gospel before he 00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:23.120 says, now let me give you the tests of your assurance in your life. 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:24.439 The gospel always comes first. 00:07:24.439 --> 00:07:29.120 I was reading this week at breakfast. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:34.719 We often will do the children's storybook Bible with our kids. 00:07:34.719 --> 00:07:40.079 And sometimes no matter how far along you are in studying the Bible, no matter how far 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:45.959 along you are in studying theology or any of it, the best thing you can do is just read 00:07:45.959 --> 00:07:48.759 the children's storybook Bible. 00:07:48.759 --> 00:07:52.359 That happens to me all the time when I'm reading through it with my children. 00:07:52.359 --> 00:07:56.639 And this week we were reading the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:59.839 It's a hard story to talk with kids about. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:02.000 And it's from Genesis 18. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:10.199 And remember that God says to Abraham, Sodom is so wicked and evil and bent and broken 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:14.639 from top to bottom that it deserves to be punished for its crimes. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:17.599 And I'm going to judge it. 00:08:17.599 --> 00:08:24.000 But Abraham struggled with that because Lot, his nephew, lived in Sodom and he wanted Lot 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:25.000 to be rescued. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:26.639 And so remember what Abraham does? 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:32.159 He says, Lord, if there are 50 people who follow you in this city, would you save it? 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:33.439 Would you spare it? 00:08:33.439 --> 00:08:36.000 And God says, yes. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:42.559 And then Abraham says, if there are 45, God says, yes, 40, yes, 35, 30, yes, yes, yes. 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:45.119 All the way down to 10. 00:08:45.119 --> 00:08:48.559 And this is what the storybook Bible helpfully pointed out is that when you get to that point 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:53.479 and Abraham stops, you know, he stops at 10. 00:08:53.479 --> 00:08:58.039 God says, if there are 10 people who love me here, I will, I will spare this place. 00:08:58.039 --> 00:09:00.679 And then he stops and the storybook Bible said, you know what we should have said to 00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:01.679 Abraham? 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:06.119 What you should say to Abraham when you read that, you dummy. 00:09:06.119 --> 00:09:09.839 Because Abraham, do you see the pattern? 00:09:09.839 --> 00:09:12.079 Count down by fives. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:13.320 The next number is five. 00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:17.600 And then after that, God is saying to you that why don't you just say one? 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:25.000 If there is one in this city that is righteous and loves you, would you spare Sodom? 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:27.040 And God would have said what? 00:09:27.040 --> 00:09:28.040 Yes. 00:09:28.040 --> 00:09:29.040 And you see what's happening? 00:09:29.040 --> 00:09:36.600 He's saying that it is possible in the mercy of God that one righteous person can stand 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:43.720 in the place of the wicked, that just one could stand in the place of all the wicked. 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:50.240 And in verse two, it says that Jesus Christ is the propitiation of our sins. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:55.279 And that means that he, he is the answer to the problem of Sodom. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:59.040 He is the one righteous that could stand in the place of the wicked. 00:09:59.040 --> 00:10:01.000 He has propitiated our sin. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:07.279 He has so taken the sin of humanity and the world upon and in himself that he has turned 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:12.320 the wrath of God away from us and he ate it, he drank it, he was burned. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:17.200 He stood in the midst of the evil city of Sodom and he had the fire rain down upon him at 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:18.200 the cross. 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:19.200 You see? 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:21.440 That's what verse two means and that is the gospel. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:22.960 It's the beginning of the gospel. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.840 It is that the good news is that one man could do it. 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:32.080 He could stand in the place of the wicked and the pronouncement of God upon humanity 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:37.600 is God has done it in Jesus Christ and that you can have it and that that's how you enter 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:42.240 into living relationship with God, that the one man stands in your place. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:47.519 Now, receiving that, receiving that is so important. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:52.480 I like to think of receiving the gospel in this way. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:56.960 You know, you got to today, if you want to even approach the three tests that we're about 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:01.800 to unfold here in just a few minutes, if you want to even approach them, don't approach 00:11:01.800 --> 00:11:03.360 them. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:04.360 Don't approach them. 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:09.680 Don't even think about them unless you have first received the man himself, the righteous 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:12.279 one who stood in the place of the many. 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:14.480 And how do you do that? 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:15.960 I like to think of it like this. 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:21.279 Imagine that you were walking through the highlands and you get lost. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:23.559 And you get really lost. 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:28.079 And you're out there for days on days. 00:11:28.079 --> 00:11:31.399 And of course, there's always water to drink in the highlands, but you have no food. 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:33.399 You're hungry. 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:37.439 And you're weary and you're broken and you've been traveling and traveling and traveling 00:11:37.439 --> 00:11:41.879 and looking for life and looking for salvation and it's not calm. 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:45.439 And you're at the very end of your rope. 00:11:45.439 --> 00:11:50.319 And all of a sudden you cross a road and there's an end, a little bitty end. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:54.480 And out comes the endkeeper and he sees you coming from the distance and he comes out 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:58.640 and he sees you that you are broken and he comes out to you. 00:11:58.640 --> 00:12:00.080 And what do you do? 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:01.440 You can't take another step. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.760 You throw your arms over his shoulders and you hang. 00:12:05.760 --> 00:12:10.280 And he carries you back and he feeds you and he clothes you and he gives you everything 00:12:10.280 --> 00:12:11.280 you need. 00:12:11.280 --> 00:12:13.120 And you see, that's faith. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:14.280 That's what faith is like. 00:12:14.280 --> 00:12:17.280 Faith is not the power that saves you. 00:12:17.280 --> 00:12:18.600 No, not at all. 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:22.040 Only the endkeeper, only Jesus Christ saves. 00:12:22.040 --> 00:12:23.800 It's not your faith that saves you. 00:12:23.800 --> 00:12:25.560 It's not your love for God that saves you. 00:12:25.560 --> 00:12:27.040 It's not good enough. 00:12:27.040 --> 00:12:28.080 It's not powerful enough. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:31.240 It's not a work that could get you through the door. 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:32.240 Only he does it. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:34.240 He is the objective assurance. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:38.360 The only full and final assurance you can ever have is to know that he did it. 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:39.360 He did it all. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:40.360 It's completely objective. 00:12:40.360 --> 00:12:43.519 It's completely outside of you and your faith is so weak. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:46.720 It's just hanging on by a thread to him. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:50.040 And that's giving yourself and receiving his work into your life. 00:12:50.040 --> 00:12:52.840 And that's the beginning of knowing God. 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:57.080 And that's the only pathway to even think about these tests that we're about to think 00:12:57.080 --> 00:12:58.080 about. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:02.240 I saw this week the story of Shia LeBuff. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:05.720 Shia LeBuff, many of you will know, the very famous actor. 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:13.480 He starred in Transformers and other films, Transformers and also Transformers. 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:17.600 And then he did Indiana Jones 5, that was the low point. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:19.759 But then he was in Transformers again, I think. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:22.399 And however many there have been, he's been in all of them. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:30.080 And Shia, he came to faith in Christ very recently. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:32.399 And this is what I heard his testimony this week. 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:33.399 And this is what he says. 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:39.600 He says, I had shame in my life like I've never experienced before. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:41.800 I had a gun on my table. 00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:45.959 I was at the end and I wanted to not live any longer. 00:13:45.959 --> 00:13:52.479 And then I read the Gospels and I heard God say to me, let go on every page. 00:13:52.479 --> 00:13:59.359 And then God used my ego in a way I could not imagine to bring me to him. 00:13:59.359 --> 00:14:02.559 And he did away with all of my worldly desires. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:08.079 And you see, for Shia, in the past just a couple months, the penny dropped. 00:14:08.079 --> 00:14:11.359 And he threw his arms over the innkeeper. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.960 And that's faith, that's being in fellowship with God. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:16.399 That's verse 2. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.519 And that gets you to verse 3 to 11. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:22.960 Now let's think then about the tests of assurance. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:26.440 Finally, verse 4 to 11, you have the test. 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:28.639 Verse 3 is kind of the newspaper headline. 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:32.080 By this you can know if you obey his commands. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:33.159 That's general. 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:38.000 And then he's going to get specific from verse 4 to 11 in three different ways. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:44.039 Now immediately when I say there are tests by which you can know that you can have subjective 00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:48.720 certainty, evidence in your life, assurance that you're a Christian, you're going to say, 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:51.480 like me, I do not like the sound of that. 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:56.759 I don't like the sound that there's a test that I need to be looking for evidences. 00:14:56.759 --> 00:14:57.840 I don't like the sound of that. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:02.399 The first thing to say is, well, it's right here in the Bible. 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:03.799 So you don't get to like it or not. 00:15:03.799 --> 00:15:05.559 No, I'm just kidding. 00:15:05.559 --> 00:15:07.320 But partially that's true. 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:11.480 We've got to be willing to come underneath this actually, because it's right here in 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:12.480 John. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:17.000 But let me spin it a little bit and say this, that there are actually two great things about 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:18.000 it. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:23.879 One is that these three tests are actually ways of helping you find assurance. 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:28.720 It's ways of God saying, let me help you so that you can know that you know. 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:32.240 Secondly it's also a diagnostic tool. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:34.720 So when we go through these, and I'm just going to rattle through them very quickly, 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:36.440 it won't take long. 00:15:36.440 --> 00:15:43.600 But they're a way for you to actually say, I don't know how I can answer this one. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:48.760 And maybe that simply means it's a diagnostic for your life where you can say, I'm not really 00:15:48.760 --> 00:15:51.040 growing in this area. 00:15:51.040 --> 00:15:56.560 And I need to repent and I need to be obedient in this area of my life. 00:15:56.560 --> 00:15:59.040 That's what these assurances actually offer us. 00:15:59.040 --> 00:16:04.320 So first you can see them in verse four, verse six, verse nine. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:10.000 And you'll see if you look down in verse four it says, quote, whoever says. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.960 And then if you look down in verse six it says, quote, whoever says. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:18.840 And then in verse nine it begins by saying, whoever says. 00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:21.680 It's the same couple of words in Greek every time. 00:16:21.680 --> 00:16:26.760 And it's that little line that lets us know he's moving on to the next test. 00:16:26.760 --> 00:16:31.160 So test one, two, three is verse four, six, and nine. 00:16:31.160 --> 00:16:32.160 And here's the first one. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:34.039 Verse seven, verses four and five. 00:16:34.039 --> 00:16:37.039 And it has a negative aspect and a positive aspect. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:39.639 And here's the negative aspect in verse four. 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:46.759 He says, if you say I know him, but you don't keep his commandments, then that's lying. 00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:52.559 Now what he's saying there is that if you use your mouth to say publicly, I'm a Christian, 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:54.639 I'm a Christian. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:17:01.799 And then your life bears that out in no way that there's an issue there, that things are 00:17:01.799 --> 00:17:06.639 bumping up against each other, that there's something that's not true in the midst of that. 00:17:06.639 --> 00:17:15.000 Now look, every single one of us has and will fail God's commands as Christians for the 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.359 remainder of our lives. 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:22.639 John is in no way saying here that the first test is that you need to be reaching a point 00:17:22.639 --> 00:17:25.279 where you don't have sin in your life. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:28.919 Do try to reach that point, but that's not the test. 00:17:28.920 --> 00:17:34.560 Because he's just told us in verse eight, if you Christians say that you have no sin, 00:17:34.560 --> 00:17:39.680 chapter one verse eight, if you say that you're a Christian with your mouth and then you say, 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:43.600 and I'm not a sinner any longer, then you are a liar. 00:17:43.600 --> 00:17:44.880 So he's just said that. 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:47.480 And so we know that that's not what he's saying at all. 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:49.640 He can't be saying that. 00:17:49.640 --> 00:17:51.759 Instead here's what I think he's saying, the negative part. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:54.160 I think some of us maybe need to hear this today. 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:58.480 Lots of people in our world need to hear this. 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:04.840 It's that we can speak with our mouth that we're Christians, but our lives are lived 00:18:04.840 --> 00:18:12.240 out in open rebellion against God and the ways of God and the way of Christ and the moral 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:15.040 life that God expects of us. 00:18:15.040 --> 00:18:21.920 And there's been no change in any way in our desires, in the way we live, in the way we 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:28.680 act, in the way we treat the church, nothing from the time that we professed faith. 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:34.200 Then that's presumptuous, John is saying, to say that you have certainty, that there's 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:40.160 something missing there, that that is a warning signal, a danger, that if you speak with your 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:47.240 mouth but you don't walk in any way in a changed life, even in the smallest degree, that that's 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:53.480 a warning that you may not know the God that you profess with your mouth that you know. 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:59.640 Now he's speaking of a life that is basically apathetic to the things of God, even though 00:18:59.640 --> 00:19:01.359 it says otherwise. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:07.359 He's not talking to the Christian who can say today, maybe this is you, you say, I'm 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:11.559 struggling with the same exact sin that I've been struggling with since day one. 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:14.120 That's not who he's, that's not what he's talking about. 00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:18.719 Because you're saying it, you're saying I'm struggling with the same sin. 00:19:18.719 --> 00:19:24.279 I don't want it to be there, but it still comes up and I want to have victory over it. 00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:25.279 That's not what he's talking about. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.559 He's talking about something different, an open rebellion. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:33.039 But then he plays it out more in verse five, the positive side of test one. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:36.079 And this is a tricky verse to translate. 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:40.199 But let me read it and then I'll give you the clearest way I think we can say it. 00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:46.120 Whoever keeps his word in him truly the love of God is perfected. 00:19:46.120 --> 00:19:50.799 It's very tricky verse, but this is what most commentators think he means. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:51.920 And I'll put it like this. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:59.840 If you keep his word, your love for God is growing in the way it should be. 00:19:59.840 --> 00:20:05.120 So it's ambiguous there whether when he says the love of God is perfected in you, whether 00:20:05.120 --> 00:20:09.120 it's your love for God or God's love for you being perfected. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:14.919 But most New Testament scholars think it's your love for God is growing and being perfected 00:20:14.919 --> 00:20:18.479 over time if you keep his word. 00:20:18.479 --> 00:20:22.759 And so here's the positive side of test one, keep his word. 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:24.399 What does that mean? 00:20:24.399 --> 00:20:29.479 Each of these three tests is actually a quote from the Gospel of John. 00:20:29.479 --> 00:20:34.319 And so in the Gospel of John, Jesus says, keep my word. 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:35.799 And that's in John 14. 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:38.359 And in context, it's very clear what he means. 00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:39.639 And he says, keep my word. 00:20:39.639 --> 00:20:47.839 In John's Gospel, John 14, he's saying, hold fast to the confession that I am the Son 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:51.599 of God and that I am your Savior. 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:52.599 That's the first thing. 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:53.599 You see, that's the first test. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:54.599 It's that simple. 00:20:54.599 --> 00:21:01.639 It's, are you holding fast, weaken and weak out to the confession that Jesus Christ is 00:21:01.639 --> 00:21:05.159 the Son of God and that he's your Savior? 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:10.360 And that's keeping the word, keeping the profession that Jesus really is God. 00:21:10.360 --> 00:21:11.360 That's test one. 00:21:11.360 --> 00:21:13.880 In other words, we could put it very simple. 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:18.800 Do you, test one, do you have love for Jesus Christ at all? 00:21:18.800 --> 00:21:21.360 Do you love him? 00:21:21.360 --> 00:21:25.160 You are not saved by your love for Jesus because your love is up and down. 00:21:25.160 --> 00:21:27.160 It's weak and bruised. 00:21:27.160 --> 00:21:29.720 Only the cross of Christ saves. 00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:32.120 But there is evidence in your life. 00:21:32.120 --> 00:21:34.600 If you have love for Jesus, do you love him? 00:21:34.599 --> 00:21:41.159 In any way, just an inkling, then be assured that you know him. 00:21:41.159 --> 00:21:42.159 That's test number one. 00:21:42.159 --> 00:21:45.639 Test number two is in verse six. 00:21:45.639 --> 00:21:46.639 Verse six, you'll see it. 00:21:46.639 --> 00:21:48.839 Whoever says he abides in him. 00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:53.799 Now, I've just said that each of the three tests come as quotes from the Gospel of John 00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:58.000 and as soon as you read verse six, if you read the John's Gospel, you'll see that. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:00.759 Whoever says he abides in Christ. 00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:08.400 Remember in the farewell discourse, John 15, 16, 14, he says multiple times, abide in 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.920 me, abide in me, abide in me. 00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:13.599 So John here is quoting from his own Gospel. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:18.440 He's taking the test right out of the farewell discourse of John's Gospel. 00:22:18.440 --> 00:22:19.440 And here it is. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:22.319 He's saying, if you abide in me, what does he say? 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:26.519 If you abide in me, you'll walk in the same way Jesus walked. 00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:28.879 And so the second test is this. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:33.520 If you are abiding in him, knowing him in fellowship with him, then in some way you're 00:22:33.520 --> 00:22:37.320 following the example of Jesus in your life. 00:22:37.320 --> 00:22:40.040 And again, that's very specific in John's Gospel. 00:22:40.040 --> 00:22:43.440 John 14 says, abide in me. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:47.520 Here he says, abide in Jesus by following his example. 00:22:47.520 --> 00:22:51.320 And in John 13, he says something very specific. 00:22:51.320 --> 00:22:56.840 He says in John 13, I have given you an example that you should follow. 00:22:56.840 --> 00:22:57.840 That's Jesus's words. 00:22:57.840 --> 00:22:58.840 All right? 00:22:58.839 --> 00:23:00.159 He says, well, what is your example? 00:23:00.159 --> 00:23:02.959 What is the example of Jesus that we must follow? 00:23:02.959 --> 00:23:07.879 And it's the very last thing he says at the end of the episode where he washes the disciples' 00:23:07.879 --> 00:23:09.399 feet. 00:23:09.399 --> 00:23:15.399 And so what John is saying here is a second evidence, second test is, are you following 00:23:15.399 --> 00:23:19.000 the example of Jesus to wash people's feet? 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:20.759 That's what he's referring to here. 00:23:20.759 --> 00:23:23.039 Now what is that? 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:24.039 It's so many things. 00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:25.039 It's not literal. 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:26.039 Don't do it. 00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:29.559 Literally, it would be very weird today to wash people's feet. 00:23:29.559 --> 00:23:33.079 I've seen it happen a couple times in wedding ceremonies. 00:23:33.079 --> 00:23:34.079 Don't do that. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:35.599 Now if you did, it's okay. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:37.920 But that's not what he's talking about here. 00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:38.920 What's he talking about? 00:23:38.920 --> 00:23:39.920 What is washing feet? 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:45.759 Washing feet is going low and getting dirty and whatever that means in your context. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:52.519 In service for other human beings, in deep love, taking on the menial task and love for 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:53.879 somebody around you. 00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:58.240 That's what Jesus was doing when he washed the disciples' feet and that's what he means 00:23:58.240 --> 00:23:59.440 right here. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:00.640 We could put it like this. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:08.480 Are you growing in character to the point where you want to serve other people in deed 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:10.240 ministry in any way? 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:15.440 Whatever that might mean, that's a test and evidence that you know Jesus, that you followed 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:16.440 the example. 00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:20.800 Remember, he cannot be your example unless he's your savior and you can't get those 00:24:20.800 --> 00:24:22.480 flipped around. 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:25.319 He can only be your example if he is first your savior. 00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:28.519 He can never be your example in order to become your savior. 00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:31.799 But if he is your savior today, is he also your example? 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:36.839 If he is, then that's an evidence that God is working in your life, that you have fellowship 00:24:36.839 --> 00:24:37.839 with God. 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:44.720 I think there's nothing more radical in some ways today than washing feet, to put it metaphorically, 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:50.759 in the ethic of expressive individualism as it's lived out on the streets of our city. 00:24:50.759 --> 00:24:52.559 What is the ethic of the street? 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:54.839 If you commute to work, you know it. 00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:56.879 It's leave me alone. 00:24:56.879 --> 00:24:58.680 I want to be left alone. 00:24:58.680 --> 00:24:59.680 Don't talk to me. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:01.839 I have my headphones in. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:03.839 It's radical individualism. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:07.960 I don't want to engage with other people at all. 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:14.640 But washing feet says that we want to engage with other people by serving them, by loving 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:15.640 on them. 00:25:15.640 --> 00:25:17.759 And that's the example of Jesus Christ. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:19.839 And it's an evidence of real faith. 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:22.439 Now finally, test three. 00:25:22.439 --> 00:25:28.839 He says in test three, verse nine to 11, sorry, verse seven to 11, I should say. 00:25:28.839 --> 00:25:33.559 He signals it to us in verse nine, whoever says, but he starts it all the way back in 00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:34.839 verse seven. 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:37.759 He says, beloved, I'm writing to you, no new commandment. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:42.599 He says, beloved, or dear friends is another way to translate that. 00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:44.000 Now let me say this about it. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:49.279 He says, dear friend, I'm about to give you the third test, dear friend, beloved. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:53.799 And that means that what John is saying is I'm not here to say gotcha. 00:25:53.799 --> 00:25:58.799 I'm not here to give you tests that are meant to trip you up, to make you confused, to make 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:00.359 you feel weak and hopeless. 00:26:00.359 --> 00:26:06.240 I'm here to say to you, my beloved, my dear friends, here's a way that you can know that 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:07.240 you know. 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:10.920 And these work, these three tests as a crescendo. 00:26:10.920 --> 00:26:14.279 The third one is the most specific. 00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:18.879 And here it comes to us in starting in verse nine, starting in verse seven. 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:22.920 I'm writing to you, no new commandment, but an old commandment. 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:26.840 And then in verse nine, whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still 00:26:26.840 --> 00:26:27.840 in the darkness. 00:26:27.840 --> 00:26:29.520 Here's the third test. 00:26:29.520 --> 00:26:30.840 It's not a new commandment. 00:26:30.840 --> 00:26:31.840 It's an old commandment. 00:26:31.840 --> 00:26:34.640 But at the same time, it's also a new commandment. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:35.640 That's what he says. 00:26:35.640 --> 00:26:36.640 That's the third test. 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:37.640 This commandment. 00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:39.520 Now, have you heard that before? 00:26:39.520 --> 00:26:44.320 If you read John's gospel, that is a direct quote from the gospel of John when Jesus said, 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:50.159 very explicitly in John 13, 34, I'm leaving you with a new commandment, but it's also 00:26:50.159 --> 00:26:51.720 an old commandment. 00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:56.919 And what was it that you love one another as I have loved you? 00:26:56.919 --> 00:27:01.919 And he's talking in John 13 about the same thing John talks about here. 00:27:01.919 --> 00:27:03.119 Love one another. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:08.679 Love verse nine, your brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:15.320 So the very specific test here is that we follow the command of Jesus to love Christian 00:27:15.320 --> 00:27:19.120 people as he loves the church. 00:27:19.120 --> 00:27:23.840 And it's an old commandment because it shows up all the way back in Leviticus 19, Anoddronomy 00:27:23.840 --> 00:27:28.480 6, when God says, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:30.560 But then he repeats it and he makes it new. 00:27:30.560 --> 00:27:32.360 How does he make it new? 00:27:32.360 --> 00:27:38.560 Because now this commandment to love the people of God is made new because it's the love 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:42.200 of the cross itself for people. 00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:45.879 What's new about it is that the cross has happened. 00:27:45.879 --> 00:27:51.079 And to see the love of Jesus that he has for the church is to look at the cross itself 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:57.039 and to see this is how much Jesus loves the brothers and sisters in Christ, the church. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:03.679 And now John is saying, here's an evidence that you know him, that you love the church, 00:28:03.679 --> 00:28:08.240 that you love the brothers and sisters, that you don't hate them, but you love them in 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:10.440 a cruciform way. 00:28:10.440 --> 00:28:13.960 Like Jesus went to the cross for them, that you have love for them. 00:28:13.960 --> 00:28:22.000 It's the kind of love in the Prodigal Son story when the Father sees his wayward son 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:26.559 out on the horizon on the hill and his son has wasted his inheritance. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:29.319 He's done everything to shame his father. 00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:36.599 And yet the dad rolls his robe up and runs out to the hill and the son tries to speak. 00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:41.480 He tries to say, dad forgive me, but the dad won't even let him. 00:28:41.480 --> 00:28:46.919 He just hugs him and grips him and grabs him up and it's unconditional love. 00:28:46.919 --> 00:28:50.759 It's love that says, I'm not even going to let you ask for forgiveness before I say 00:28:50.759 --> 00:28:53.480 to you, I love you and you're forgiven. 00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:55.000 That's the love of Christ on the cross. 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:58.639 He actually, you know what God did in Sodom and Gomorrah? 00:28:58.639 --> 00:29:00.959 Lot did not want to leave. 00:29:00.959 --> 00:29:04.679 And so he snatched him out to save him. 00:29:04.679 --> 00:29:06.359 And that's the love of Jesus. 00:29:06.359 --> 00:29:09.519 He loves you even before you ever asked for forgiveness. 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:13.159 And the third test is, do you love the people of God like that? 00:29:13.159 --> 00:29:17.639 Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ like that? 00:29:17.639 --> 00:29:21.759 The last thing is this, he uses a metaphor to describe it. 00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:26.799 He says that the world is full of darkness, but loving the church like Jesus loves, his 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:31.919 church is like bringing light into the midst of a dark cavern. 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:37.880 One of my favorite moments in the hobbit, Tolkien's the hobbit, is when the dwarves 00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:41.800 in the hobbit, Bilbo, have gotten themselves in quite a mess. 00:29:41.800 --> 00:29:47.240 They are wrapped up and ready for mountain trolls stew. 00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:51.480 The mountain trolls have captured them and they've shaken salt and pepper all over their 00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:56.840 bodies and they're about to dip them one at a time into the mountain troll stew. 00:29:56.840 --> 00:30:00.160 But the thing about the trolls is that they hate the light. 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:04.720 Their evil creatures created, and I won't get into it, but Morgoth and all these other 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:08.279 beings from the past, they came about through evil and they're evil creatures and they 00:30:08.279 --> 00:30:10.759 cannot handle the light. 00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:12.279 They only are fit for darkness. 00:30:12.279 --> 00:30:17.640 And so they're standing behind a massive boulder because the sun is coming up, but they're 00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:19.320 hidden in the shadows. 00:30:19.320 --> 00:30:21.960 And what does Gandalf the great wizard do? 00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:27.640 He takes his staff and he cracks the rock and the light pours forth just enough in the 00:30:27.640 --> 00:30:30.920 midst of this little cavern that the dwarves are struck. 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:36.280 The evil is struck by the light and it turns into stone in the hobbit and the dwarves are 00:30:36.280 --> 00:30:37.280 saved. 00:30:37.280 --> 00:30:45.000 And John says that when you love the people of God in a small way like Jesus loved them 00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.840 when he went to the cross for them, that you are shining a light through the crack of the 00:30:49.840 --> 00:30:53.840 rock into the midst of a dark world. 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:58.480 Just like light penetrating a dark cavern that it is light, it is witness to the world. 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:02.439 Now that means here's the diagnostic questions to end on. 00:31:02.439 --> 00:31:06.359 Do you have good Christian relationships amongst the people of God? 00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:11.799 Do you have relationships that you would not have except for the gospel? 00:31:11.799 --> 00:31:15.079 That there are people here that you have friendships with that you would have never in a thousand 00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:20.959 years imagined you would be friends with but for Jesus because of Jesus' work in your life? 00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:24.640 Are you staying reconciled with people here? 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:29.120 Do you keep short accounts when you're sinned against and when you sin against people in 00:31:29.120 --> 00:31:30.799 the church, do you keep short accounts? 00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:33.680 Do you ask for forgiveness and give that forgiveness? 00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:39.440 Do you have relationships with other Christians that are hard to love because boy, the church 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:43.160 attracts people that are hard to love and you're one of them. 00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:44.160 You know that? 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:45.480 Me too. 00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:51.680 That some of us are harder to love than others and do you have relationships because of Jesus 00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:56.120 with people in the church that are hard to love? 00:31:56.120 --> 00:31:57.440 This is walking in the light. 00:31:57.440 --> 00:31:59.279 Do you love Jesus? 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:01.480 Do you follow his example? 00:32:01.480 --> 00:32:03.640 Do you love the brothers and sisters? 00:32:03.640 --> 00:32:06.640 These are evidences that you know the living God. 00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:10.640 They're not the way Jesus is the way but they're evidences. 00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:15.400 Now today if you say, and this is my last word, if you say today, I'm not sure that 00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:18.360 I can say yes to these things. 00:32:18.360 --> 00:32:20.960 I'm not sure that I do have love for Jesus. 00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:24.680 I'm not sure that I follow his example in any way. 00:32:24.680 --> 00:32:27.440 I'm not sure that I love the people of God. 00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:29.880 That's not there. 00:32:29.880 --> 00:32:34.040 Number one, it's not necessary for you to immediately say, well, I'm not a Christian. 00:32:34.040 --> 00:32:39.920 Instead, the first step is to say this is a diagnostic, a calling that maybe you're in 00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:44.040 a season where your heart is hard and today is the day where you can just come and say, 00:32:44.039 --> 00:32:50.759 I need to repent, I need to grow, I need to be reignited in love for Jesus Christ. 00:32:50.759 --> 00:32:58.000 Maybe that's all you need today or maybe it is to say simply this, throw your arms over 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:04.599 the innkeeper today and then you cling to Jesus by faith today and you don't have to 00:33:04.599 --> 00:33:06.440 not know. 00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:07.799 You can have him. 00:33:07.799 --> 00:33:11.399 You can have his salvation today. 00:33:11.400 --> 00:33:16.200 And if you can say yes in the smallest way to these questions, the smallest way, then 00:33:16.200 --> 00:33:22.400 there is evidence today that you can say with certainty, I know that I know him. 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:28.320 And walk into this world with confidence that God has kept you and you're safe. 00:33:28.320 --> 00:33:32.240 Not that you're perfect, not that you have a life without sin, not at all, but that in 00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:36.400 the midst of your sinfulness, in the midst of your failures that you have in some way 00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:42.200 desire to conform to Jesus Christ, then you can hear today that Jesus Christ is yours 00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:43.920 and you are his. 00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:44.920 Let's pray. 00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:50.280 Father, we ask that you would strengthen our assurance today. 00:33:50.280 --> 00:33:51.840 Give us more love for you. 00:33:51.840 --> 00:33:53.880 Give us more love for people. 00:33:53.880 --> 00:33:57.840 Give us more love for the brothers and sisters of the church. 00:33:57.840 --> 00:34:03.040 And in that, give us certainty that we are safe in Jesus. 00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:06.920 And for those who don't know what to say about it, God, I pray that you would be at work 00:34:06.920 --> 00:34:14.559 in their lives, that you would use your words here to help them see hope in Christ. 00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:16.559 And so we pray these things now in Jesus' name. 00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:35.559 Amen.