INTRODUCTION…

The goal of John's letter was to help people know that they have eternal life in Jesus…

[1 JN 5:13]
"I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

THERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK TODAY: Clarifying/Personal/Reflective/Honest to get to the truth…so that we really know that we know HIM

REMEMBER:
The goal is not ‘HEAVEN’ …the goal is ‘GOD’. It isn’t about just getting to Heaven but about having a real, genuine, relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

1. ARE YOU TRUSTING IN JESUS ALONE FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF YOUR SINS?

[JESUS = God’s Son/Savior]

LAST WEEK:
-- We spent a lot of time on this last week but it is so important I want to make sure it is my first point and the first question we ask again.

BAPTISMS:
-- Today we will celebrate with some who will be baptized in both gatherings. As we baptize them, we will ask them two questions...the first one is this...“are you trusting in Jesus Alone for the forgiveness of your sins”? Salvation is found only in Jesus Alone, by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone.…

FALSE FOUNDATIONS:
-- There are some false foundations that people put their trust in || These are ‘lies’ that need to be brought into the light. If you are using any of these as the foundation for your belief that you have a relationship with God, you are deceived.…(From David Platt Sermon Series in 1 John)
-- Religious Heritage: People say, “I was born a Christian. I grew up in a Christian home.” The Bible never teaches that where you were born or where you grew up is any guarantee of eternal life.
-- Church Involvement: I talk to a ton of people who say, “Yeah, I go to church every once in a while,” or every week, for that matter. While gathering with a church is essential for following Jesus, the Bible never says that going to church, by itself, is any basis for assurance of eternal life. You can go to church every single Sunday of your life and not have a relationship with Jesus.
-- Moral Lifestyle: People say, “I’m a good person. I’m kind, honest, generous—a lot more than a lot of people in the world.” The Bible teaches very clearly that a moral lifestyle does not assure anyone of eternal life. Just ask the Pharisees, who were avid law-keepers. Look at their conversations with Jesus all throughout the Bible. Jesus said they were like ‘white washed tombs’, on the outside clean and bright, but inside was full of dead men’s bones…with their mouths they praise God but in their hearts they are far from him.
-- Intellectual Knowledge: People say, “I believe Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, so I know I’m a Christian. I believe that.” Actually, that merely puts you on the same plane as the devil himself and the demons. James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe ​— ​and they shudder.” They believe Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead but they do not have eternal life. Knowledge alone is no assurance for eternal life.
-- Active Ministry and Serving: “Look at all I do in the church, for the church, for others, in this way or that way.” As soon as you say that, please hear Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:22-23 “22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name? ’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers! ’ Ladies and gentlemen, it’s possible to do all kinds of things in the church—even to be called a pastor—and not know Jesus.
-- A Guilty Conscience: People say, “Well, I feel bad when I sin, so I must be a Christian.” The reality is all kinds of people feel bad when they do wrong. That is evidence you have an awareness of your sin, but awareness isn’t repentance…Judas is a good example of that. He felt bad over what he did but he did not repent and believe in Jesus. Feeling bad about the bad things we do in and of itself is not assurance we have a relationship with Jesus.
-- Positive Thinking: “Well, I think I’m a Christian.” Based on our own feelings, but not based on what the Bible says. If that was a foundation for assurance, then no one could ever be deceived. That’s the point of deception. Think about millions of people in cults right now who claim they’re Christians when the Bible clearly teaches they are not. We want to know what God thinks, not what we think.
-- A Past Decision: I hear people say, “I know I’m a Christian because I remember when I said a prayer when I was a kid || got baptized || I want to be very careful here, because many true followers of Christ can remember the exact moment when they put their faith in Christ and their heart and life was changed forever. But at the same time, there are many people who prayed a prayer, said some words, was baptized, joined a church, but today, and for years, have not been walking with God and have no desire to walk with God. They do not have eternal life. Please hear this. The Bible does not say—you will not find one verse in 1 John that says—“As long as you said some words or got baptized or joined a church one time, you can know you have eternal life.” It isn’t just about what you did in the past…it is what is happening in your life right now || I don’t want anyone to doubt their salvation…that is not my goal…but I do want you to genuinely look at your life to assess if what you did in the past was genuine or not…so that you may KNOW that you KNOW HIM…

TRUE FOUNDATION...
-- There is only one way to be saved…forgiven…have fellowship with God…It is only by repenting and believing in Jesus alone.
-- [1 JN 1:6] We can’t have fellowship with God if we walk in darkness, darkness is sin, it is opposed to the light, it separates us from God…it is a huge problem
-- [ROM 3:23//6:23] [1 JN 2:1-2] We are all sinners, walking in darkness, having earned death as a wage of sin…we are in desperate need of forgiveness/restoration…because God’s wrath is pointed at sinners and their sin, his wrath must be satisfied…because he is holy and just and can’t just wave his hand and dismiss it…Jesus was the solution to this problem (he is our advocate and our atoning sacrifice) and by trusting in JESUS alone, we can have forgiveness for all of our sins
-- [1 JN 1:9] If we confess our sins he is faithful and holy and righteous and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness || This is the truth. || repent, confess, believe, be forgiven, have fellowship with God… || what we will address next is how do we know that our faith is genuine? That Jesus really has forgiven us, that we have fellowship with God

John tells us here that the proof is in the way we live - OBEDIENCE…

2. ARE YOU OBEYING JESUS ALONE AS THE LORD OF YOUR LIFE?

[READ || 1 JN 2:3-6]

OBEY...
-- These verses could not be any more clear. This is not saying that we need to obey God in order to BE SAVED from our sin. That would contradict everything we see throughout the Bible. We are saved from our sin and justified before God by trusting in Jesus alone as the Son of God and our Savior. And then this is how we know that trust is real: we do what Jesus says, we obey his commands, we walk just as he walked! Why? So that we can be saved? No. We keep His commandments because we have been saved. This is how we know we’ve been justified by Jesus: we walk just like Jesus walked.

JESUS IS LORD OF OUR LIFE...
-- We trust Him with our lives, so we obey Him as the Lord of our lives. Obeying Jesus is a sign that we do know Jesus. We trust Him, so we obey Him.
-- What is a Christian/DISCIPLE? A Christian is a Disciple, same thing…and as part of our own mission statement (make disciples) we believe a disciple is a person who is ‘ABIDING IN JESUS, BEING TRANSFORMED BY JESUS AND LIVING ON MISSION WITH JESUS”.
-- So…Are you a disciple? Are you a Christian? Are you following Jesus? And if the answer to that question is no, then it doesn’t really make sense to call yourself a Christian. Are you obeying Jesus alone as the Lord of your life?

NOT PERFECTION…BUT DIRECTION...
-- Now, I want to be careful here…the picture here is definitely not HOLY PERFECTION. The whole point of [1JN 1:9-2:2] is that when you sin, you confess your sin. For the true follower of Christ, when we struggle with sin, there is confession AND repentance. There is sorrow over sin. There’s a turning from sin and a desire for change, a working by God’s grace to obey Jesus as Lord of our lives.
-- So when John is talking about obedience, he means to DESIRE OBEDIENCE . It’s not, “I have to do this.” … it’s, “I WANT to do this.” “I want to obey Jesus, because I trust Him, His Word and His ways.”

HARD QUESTION TO ASK BUT NECESSARY...
-- If you say you know Him, but you don’t keep His commandments—if you don’t even desire to keep them or you’re not working to keep them—The Bible says you’re a liar. The truth is not in you.
-- Q: are you obeying Jesus alone as the Lord of your life. Obviously not perfectly. You may have all kinds of struggles. But the closer you grow to God, the more you see your sin before Him. That struggle gets even greater in some ways. But…Is the posture of your heart and life saying, “Jesus, You are my Lord. I want to follow You. I trust Your Word is better than my ways, so I want to do whatever You want me to do. I know I still sin, but I sure want to sin less and less and less. So please help me obey You”?
-- We can’t be SINLESS, but by God’s power we can SIN-LESS

—> This is how you know you have eternal life: you’re obeying Jesus as the Lord of your life.

3. ARE YOU SHOWING THE LOVE OF JESUS TO OTHERS?

[READ || 1 JN 2:7-11]

A DESIRE TO LOVE...
-- For genuine followers of Jesus (—again, not holy perfection, but holy direction)—there has to be a desire to love.
-- OLD COMMAND VS NEW COMMAND: love your brother vs love your enemy…die to self…
-- It is work to love as Jesus loves us. If we love like Jesus loves us…it will be evident in all of our life…marriage relationships, relationship with our kids, relationships in the church and relationships with our ONE, relationships in the world.
-- The Bible says the same thing in the book of James. When professing Christians in the church were ignoring the poor among them, remember what James said? [JAMES 2:14-17]
-- In other words, people who claim to be Christians and followers of Jesus, yet ignore the poor right around them and even in the church, they are deceived.

WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?...
-- Are you so self centered that you can’t even see the needs of others?
-- What about your enemies…this is a hard one…some of you are harboring anger and even hate towards someone. This love…the love Jesus has loved us with…means you have to forgive, even if you don’t want to. We need to ask if we love like Jesus…are we really a follower of Jesus if we don’t love others?
-- It’s not that you need to start loving in order to become a Christian…It’s that you need to repent and believe in Jesus, to trust Jesus and to grow in holiness as a follower of Christ || you can’t do it in your own power, that is why he sent the Holy Spirit…you don’t need a repaired heart, you need a new one || love each other as Jesus has sacrificially loved you…

—> This leads right into the last question…

4. ARE YOU EXPERIENCING THE LOVE OF JESUS FOR YOU?

[READ || 1 JN 2:12-17]

LITTLE CHILDREN/FATHERS/YOUNG MEN...
-- Little Children (all believers, us, he is writing as a spiritual father), Fathers/Young Men…not focusing on men but on old and young... Reminding them of who they are and what God has showed to them and done in them.

“KNOW”..
-- He says over and over again that “YOU HAVE COME TO KNOW”. This isn’t just a head knowledge, a bunch of facts, this is an experience…You are walking with Jesus and you KNOW him experientially, he is actively working in your life, changing you, providing for you, giving you a new heart, an enlightened mind. A true Christian is the man or woman or student who has been forgiven by the love of God…is now experiencing the love of God…in intimate knowledge of God & fellowship with God daily.

“WHAT?”...
-- John repeats these things several times…
1. That your sins have been forgiven on account of his name
2. you have come to know the one who is from the beginning
3. you have conquered the evil one….you are strong, God’s word remains in you
-- God loves you, has revealed himself to you, you have been forgiven, God has given you his word and you are obeying it!
-- This is Fellowship with God!

ETERNAL LIFE…
-- Means we are EXPERIENCING the love of JESUS. It’s knowing it and walking in it. || It isn’t saying a few words and moving on and everything looking the same, words, deeds, thoughts…You have a relationship with God. You have knowledge of God. You have fellowship with God. You’re experiencing His love…which leads to the obvious command to follow…

“DON’T LOVE THE WORLD”...
-- Because you walk with Jesus…don’t love the world or anything in it.
-- The picture here of the WORLD is a system of thoughts, ideas, practices, patterns and pleasures that are set up against God, His Word and His ways.
-- The Bible is clearly saying that love for this system and love for God cannot coexist.
-- This system, this love of the world and its ways…is described in 3 ways...
1. The “LUST OF FLESH"
2. The "LUST OF THE EYES"
3. The "PRIDE OF POSSESSIONS”
-- It’s the desire for things we don’t have…material pleasures, material possessions, sexual pleasures, selfish pursuits, higher positions, greater luxuries, nicer comforts—and the pride in what we do have that pulls us away from God, His Word and His ways.

YOU MIGHT BE THINKING...
-- “Wait. So should I not desire a home in the world?"
-- Do you have a house? How about a spouse—should I not desire a spouse? Should I not desire a child or children? Should I not desire friends, a job and some rest on the weekend, or fun in my life, a healthy body, and a variety of other good things in the world? Should I not desire these things?”
-- And the answer is: no. — You shouldn’t
-- Unless those desires are driven first and foremost by a desire for God.
-- Do you desire a spouse merely for selfish pleasure, or do you desire a spouse so that God might be glorified in the selfless love you will show that spouse? Do you desire marriage so that you might grow to love and enjoy God more with a husband or wife as you display the gospel for the glory of God in the world? A desire for a spouse is intended to be grounded in a desire for God. So apply that to everything else. The Christian life is now a life in love with God over anything and everything in this world, which means that anything and everything in this world is simply an opportunity to know and show the love of God more.

RESPOND, REFLECT & COMMUNION

I would like to give you a chance to respond to God…

-- What did God reveal about who he is to you today in our time in God’s word?
-- What did God reveal about what he has done or is doing in our time in God’s word?
-- What did you learn about who you are as we looked at these stories today?
-- What did you learn about what you are supposed to do?

—> Let's take a minute to thank Him, respond to Him, confess our sins to Him, examine our hearts before we take communion...

—> WHAT IS JESUS SAYING TO YOU TODAY?
—> WHAT IS JESUS ASKING YOU TO DO?