There is a rite of passage for fifteen-year-olds in the
United States of America. These aspiring young men and women are allowed the
precious gift of a driver’s learning permit. It is a terrifying and an
exhilarating experience for a family. I remember teaching a teenager to drive a
few years ago. We got into my car and she looked at me and said, “Which one is
the brake again?” I realized she did not have the necessary knowledge to get
behind the wheel. We had a long way to go before she was ready to take the
wheel. One of the most important and yet often rarely taught pieces of
knowledge is car maintenance.
Every new driver needs to understand the importance of
regularly changing the oil in their car. Oil is the lifeblood of an engine. The
oil lubricates the engine maximizing its efficiency and allowing the car to run
smoothly. If the oil is not changed regularly, the engine will eventually shut
down. Of course, the car will work for a while before any problems are seen.
Fuel costs will start to increase as the engine has to work harder. There will
begin to be odd noises and the car will become sluggish. Eventually, if one
does not abide in the knowledge of regular oil changes, the engine will die. It
is only a matter of time.
As oil is an engine, the
abiding knowledge of God is essential for our spiritual vitality. We may be
able to run a long term without abiding with God, but eventually our spiritual
engine will shut down. We must abide in the knowledge of God. The resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ provides essential knowledge which we must live our
lives by. If we do not abide in the knowledge of the resurrection, we will
eventually shut down. Amos 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge.” In Apostle John’s first epistle to the church, he exhorts the
church to abide in the knowledge of Christ. Almost half of the uses of the
abide in the New Testament, are used in the book of 1 John. Abide means to
remain, stay with or continue. John encourages the people to remain in the
knowledge of the gospel. To remain or abide is not some mystical idea, but to
govern one’s life on the knowledge of God. A car owner should abide in the
knowledge of the importance of oil changes as a Christian should abide in the
knowledge of the resurrection of Christ. There are five aspects of knowledge
that John encourages the church to abide in through his epistle.
Abide in the
Knowledge that the Resurrection Shows Eternal Light
One of the key themes in 1 John is the use of light and darkness. The
resurrection of Jesus Christ shows that He is the divine light of the world.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) God manifested his
light through the Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:5, “This is the message we have
heard from him, and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no
darkness at all.” Again in 1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light as he is in
the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son
cleanses us from all sin.” Later, in 1 John 2:7, “At the same time, a new
commandment I give to you, because the darkness is passing away and the true
light is already shining.” In the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Son,
we know that Jesus Christ is the eternal light of the world.
Jesus being the light of
the world always gives us a clear example of which to follow. If we are ever
confused on how to live, all we must do is look to Christ. How much confusion
could be avoided if we simply looked to Christ? Without light, we cannot know
where to go. Have you ever had to get up early and didn’t want to wake anyone
in the house up so while you tried to get ready in the dark? It may work once
or even twice, but eventually you are going to hurt yourself. We need light. We
cannot properly function in the darkness. The light of Jesus shows us how to
live, but it does not show us merely how to live, but how to live eternally.
“Jesus is the true God and eternal life.” 1 John 5:20
Abide in the Knowledge that the
Resurrection Supplies Eternal Life
We must also abide in the knowledge that God sent the Son to supply us
eternal life. Jesus was sent to save us. 1 John 2:1, “My little children, I am
writing these things to you that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin we
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He is the
propitiation for our sins, but not ours only, but the sins of the whole world.”
Again in 1 John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he
loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And later in 1
John 4:14, “We have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son to be the
Savior of the World.
We are sinners and
sinners have no claim on eternal life. Our sin has separated us from God. Our
sin deserves to be punished and must be punished if God is just. All human
beings are under God’s wrath. And yet, the Father sent the Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Propitiation means an atoning sacrifice or an act of
appeasement to God. God anger is appeased or satisfied or placated. God’s anger
no longer rests on us because it was taken on by Christ. The act of
propitiation changes God from being at enmity with us to being for us[1]. We have moved from an
enemy to a beloved child. The Son is the Savior of sinners by being numbered as
a sinner for our salvation.
In World War
2, Ernest Gordon was a British captive in a Japanese prison camp by the River
Kwai in Burma, where the POWs were forced to build a 'railroad of death' for
transporting Japanese troops to the battlefront. They were tortured, starved,
and worked to the point of exhaustion. Nearly 16,000 died.
Gordon survived
the horrors of that experience and wrote about….one occasion when, at the end
of a workday, the tools were being counted before the prisoners returned to
their quarters. A guard declared that a shovel was missing. He began to rant
and rave, demanding to know which prisoner had stolen it. Working himself into
a paranoid fury, he ordered whoever was guilty to step forward and take his
punishment. No one did. 'All die!' the guard shrieked. 'All die!"
He cocked his rifle and aimed it at the prisoners. At that moment, one man
stepped forward. Standing at attention he calmly declared, 'I did it.’ The
Japanese guard at once clubbed the man to death. As his friends carried away
his lifeless body, the shovels in the tool shed were recounted--only to reveal
that there was no missing shovel.[2]
The men
survived because the guard’s wrath was appeased. The soldier became the
propitiation that moves satisfied the guard’s anger to the rest could go free.
The reason we have hope this morning because there was a death sentence against
us. The sentence was clear, “All die.” Unlike the guard, who had no basis for
his anger, God was perfectly just in his sentence. God chose to send his Son as
our Advocate and say, “I did it,” taking the place of those who deserved to
die. Jesus Christ stepped forward and gave up his life to satisfy God’s wrath
and to save us. God has supplied eternal life through the Son.
The
Father sent Jesus to save us and now Jesus sends us to help save us. John
20:21, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
You abide in the knowledge of the resurrection when you savor the sacrifice of
Christ and share him with others. If you never share Jesus, how can others have
fellowship with us? “that which we have seen, and heard, we proclaim also to
you so that you may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with
the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3) When was the last time you
proclaimed the eternal life so that others may have forgiveness of sin and
fellowship with Father through the Son?
Abide in the
Knowledge that the Resurrection Secures Eternal Life
Jesus Christ did not only supply the means of eternal life with his
death, but secured it in his resurrection from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection is
the promise of our future resurrection. Romans 8:29 says that Jesus, “was the
firstborn among many brothers.” Jesus secured our eternal life in his
resurrection from the dead. Paul later writes in 1 Corinthians, “Christ has
been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For
as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made
alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his
coming those who belong to Christ.” Jesus was the first, but there shall be
others.
The goal of 1 John is so
that we would know that we have eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13, “And this is the
testimony, God gave us eternal life, and this life is in the Son. Whoever has
the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I am
writing these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you
may know you have eternal life.” The resurrection proved that Jesus was the Son
of God. His resurrection is now proof for us that we will also have life. What
a sweet and sure hope!
Do you ever doubt that
you are saved? Do you ever wonder if God’s resurrection power is applied to
you? Beloved, you are not alone. This letter was written to comfort and
encourage a people who doubted the goodness and power of God in salvation. 1
John 2:12-14,
I am writing to you
little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. I am
writing to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I am
writing to you young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I am writing
to you children because you know the father. I am writing to you fathers
because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you young men,
because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome
the evil one.
There are so many places in this short letter where John reminds the
people of the victory they have in Christ. Abide in the knowledge of our
victory in Christ,
1 John 2:20, “But you
have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” 1 John
2:24-25, “If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will
abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made
to us—eternal life.” 1 John 4:4, “Little children, you are from God and have
overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1
John 5:4-5, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And
this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is
it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son
of God? 1 John 5:20, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us
understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is
true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
Do not let condemnation
govern your life. For there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. We live in the sure hope of our future resurrection.
Abide in the
Knowledge that the Resurrection Supplies Eternal Living
The people of God should look different than the world. We show our faith
through our deeds. As Calvin said, “It
is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is
not alone.[3]”
Christians have always been marked by righteousness. “Whoever says they abide
in Christ, ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:6) If
Jesus is our example and our teacher, we should desire to live a life like him.
Our lives are a clear sign if we belong to God. John speaks of believers
walking in the light as Jesus is in the light. He speaks of believers
practicing righteousness as Jesus is righteous.
After my wife came to
the Lord, the first passage of Scripture I encouraged her to memorized was 1
John 2:15-17. It was an important paragraph in 2003 and maybe even more so
today,
Do not love the world
or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and
the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from
the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but
whoever does the will of God abides forever.
It is piercing passage
of Scripture that provides a powerful perspective. The church of the living God
should not look like the world, but should reflect the love of the Father. And
sadly, more and more churches are desiring to become like world to reach the
world. Friends, we are called to reach the world through the our good works and
God’s good word. Let us never try to win the world through worldly means for
world is temporary, but we who do the will of God will abide forever.
John increases the weight of his exhortation to
godliness in the main body of the letter. His longest explicit admonishment is in
1 John 3:4-10,
Everyone
who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no
sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has
either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever
practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a
practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the
beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the
devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in
him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 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.
Notice how John both gives words of encouragement to
the saints and warning to those are not living up to their faith. The one who
practices righteousness (right living) should have confidence he belongs to
God. The one who makes a practice of sinning should have no confidence before
God. They should have no security of their eternal life. The one who has been
born again lives in righteous.
This does not mean we will never fail to sin, because
even as we heard earlier, we are all sinners and have an Advocate before the
Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. We do not rest in our righteousness but in
the righteousness of Christ. And yet, our lives should look more like Jesus
than less like him. “And now little children, abide in him so that when he
appears we may have confidence and not shrink back in shame at his coming. If
you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices
righteousness has been born of him.” (1 John 2:28-29)
Fifty years ago, this Easter, one of our faithful
members repented of her sins and trust in Christ as her Savior. She has never
regretted that decision since. Maybe you need to draw a line in the sand today.
Maybe you need to turn from your sins and trust in Christ to save you. Who
knows, maybe fifty years from now you will think back to today when Christ
changed your life forever. Friend, do not be deceived. Followers of Christ will
look like Christ.
Come to the light. If you confess your sins, God is
faithful and just to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all
unrighteousness. Do not stay in darkness. Come to the light. Everyone who
trusts in Jesus purifies himself as he is pure. Allow Jesus to cleanse you from
all your sin. The Father sent the Son to satisfy his wrath and to fill your
need. Come to the light.
Beloved, if you are striving to live righteously, take
comfort today that the Lord is pleased with you. There are always days that we
can live better, but we should not always live feeling like we do nothing
right. God is pleased when we keep his commandments. God is pleased when we
live to please him. This side of heaven our good deeds will never be perfect,
but that does not mean God is not pleased with us. Take heart, you are God’s
children. You belong to him and he loves you.
Abide in the
Knowledge that the Resurrection Shapes Eternal Love
Lastly, we abide in the knowledge of the resurrection when we love our
brothers and sisters in Christ. When we are born of God, we will love with his
eternal love. Our love should no longer be marked by self-interest and
self-glorification, but self-sacrifice. There is no book in the New Testament
that is so focused on loving the family of God. It is powerful reminder of what
God has done for us in Christ. Jesus died on the cross, was buried, was raised
from the dead, seated on the right hand of God, and sent his Spirit so that we
can live through him. When we love our brothers and sisters in the faith, we
are manifesting his love to the world. Hear the Elder John’s exhortation to
love each other,
1 John 2:10, “Whoever
loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for
stumbling. 1 John 3:11, “For this is the message that you have heard from the
beginning, that we should love one another.” 1 John 3:14, “We know that we have
passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” 1 John 3:16, “By
this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down
our lives for the brothers.” 1 John 3:23, “And this is his commandment, that we
believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he
has commanded us.”
The sheer volume of exhortations to love one another is so striking when
you read the book in one sitting. The most concentration paragraph is 1 John
4:7-12,
Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and
knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God
is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his
only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love,
not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love
one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us
and his love is perfected in us.
Love is a badge of the redeemed. As love identifies the
saints, hate is a marker of the world. John warns of the hate towards the
brothers almost as much as he encourages love. One of the clearest warning he
makes is referring to those who leave the fellowship of the saints as those who
are anti-Christs. 1 John 2:18-19,
Children, it is the
last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many
antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went
out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would
have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they
all are not of us.
It would have been
shocking to John for someone to say they had fellowship with Jesus and not
gather with the saints. The communion with the saints was a mark of having
communion with God.
Praise God for how often
I have witnessed the eternal love of God through how you care for each other.
How you sacrifice time with your families to visit the sick. How you open your
homes to fellowship around the Word of God. How you wake up early and stay up
late to study the Bible together. How you pray tirelessly for each other. How
you check up on each other when we are gone. How you love to spend time
together after services talking about what God is doing with each other. How
often I hear of you sharing meals together. I pray that we would be known more
and more for how we love one another.
Abiding in the knowledge
of the resurrection is essential for our spiritual lives. Beholding and
marveling at the beauty of gospel of the glorious resurrection of the Savior is
something we do not do once a year, but every day. We must grow closer to Christ.
Puritan John Flavel writes of how abiding Christ only magnifies his beauty,
When the saints shall
have fed their eyes upon [Christ] in heaven, thousands and millions of years,
he shall be as fresh, beautiful, and orient as at the beginning. Others beauties
have their prime, and their fading time; but Christ abides eternally. Our
delight in creatures is often most at first acquaintance; when we come nearer
to them, and see more of them, the edge of our delight is abated: but the
longer you know Christ, and the nearer you come to him, still the more do you
see of his glory. Every farther prospect of Christ entertains the mind with a
fresh delight. He is as it were a new Christ everyday, and yet the same Christ
still.[4]
Beloved, we never outgrow our need for Christ but his beauty only widens
and deepens in time.[5] Let us abide with him
because He is our Light, our Love, the true God, our eternal life, our
propitiation and the Savior of the world. Behold all the many angles of Christ
and feast on His majesty.
(www.davekiehn.com)
[1]
RC Sproul, What do expiation and Propitiation mean? http://www.ligonier.org/blog/two-important-words-good-friday-expiation-and-propitiation/
accessed 4.15.17
[3]
John Calvin's Antidote
to the Council of Trent (1547). Answering Cannon 11 of the Council of
Trent.
[4] Flavel, J. (1820). The Whole Works of the Reverend John Flavel (Vol. 1, p. 270).
London; Edinburgh; Dublin: W. Baynes and Son; Waugh and Innes; M. Keene.
[5]
Modified quote from Spurgeon.
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