This We Know: Week 4 - Obedience: The Assurance of Knowledge

Week 4: Obedience: The Assurance of Knowledge 1 John 2:1-6 Let’s open our Bibles together. 

We are on week 4 of our study through the book of 1 John called, This We Know. John wrote this book so that we could know some things. We live in a culture that rejects truth and knowledge based on absolute truth, but God has not lost one second of peace or one inch of his kingdom because of this culture’s rejection of His truth! 

We believe that we can know God, His truth, and His will for our lives. He reveals this to us in the pages of our Bibles. 
 Week 1: Scripture: The Foundation of Knowledge (1)
 Week 2: God: The Source of Knowledge (2-4)
Week 3: Light: The Application of Knowledge (5-10)
 Last week, Matt Carlisle did an excellent job of teaching verses 5-10. Summary: 1. It all starts with God! Who He is and what He did. 
God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all. 2. Relationship with God changes us! If we say we have fellowship with Him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (Faith without works is dead) 3. A changed life is powerful. If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with Him and one another. 4. Christ’s blood cleanses us from all sin. (not works) 5. Sound doctrine matters! We must believe and teach God’s truth! If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us / we make Him a liar and His word is not in us 6. Repentance is necessary and effective. If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. Luther 95 Theses) If this was all God gave us in the Bible, we would have enough to celebrate for all eternity. Our very identity was changed and we are not who we used to be. We are called to walk in the light and if we do, we will be blessed. Once we learn about God, we can be transformed by His light and truth. Everything that we are and believe is based on who He is! The Gospel starts with God. He is the good news. This week, we are moving to chapter 2:1-6 and we are going to talk about, Obedience: The Assurance of Knowledge. In the late 1800’s the first bulletproof vest was invented and many people saw the potential to get wealthy off of the invention. The problem was that people were not willing to trust their lives to a salesman’s word. But something happened that changed the public perception of this invention. In 1901, William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was assassinated by being shot at close range. This opened the door for mass sales of bulletproof vests, but the salesmen continued facing challenges proving their product would work. So, they began performing demonstrations. (Pictures)
They put on a vest and allowed their potential customers to shoot them at close range. It’s one thing to claim your vest can save someone’s life, but it’s another thing to put on the vest and take a bullet. One traveling salesman claimed he was shot over 4,000 times in his career. Today the body armor market size is valued at over 2.3 billion dollars. Today, over 2 billion people claim to be Christians. They believe their faith, breastplate of righteousness, can save them from more than a bullet… they believe it can save them from eternal punishment in Hell. The stakes are high. One day, every single person who claims to be a follower of Christ will stand before Him and be judged. They will have to wear their faith as body armor and the muzzle of God’s justice will be aimed at them and all of creation will find out if they are truly what they claimed to be or if they are a fraud. How can we know that our faith will stand?  1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. PRAYER: Obedience: The Assurance of Knowledge 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. 1. Obedience requires clear instruction - God has given us clear instruction in Scripture. - He hasn’t hidden His will. - “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand” -Mark Twain - God has gone to great lengths to reveal His will in Scripture. - The Holy Spirit indwells believers: Helper, Teacher, Convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. - God has given us Pastors, deacons, authors, friends, and family to help us. - John was an Apostle and Shepherd. He loved his people and called them, “My little children”. - Sin is clearly defined in Scripture. Sin is forbidden. We must not justify our sin. We must not accept our sin. We must put it to death. We must crucify ourselves. - Christians must avoid sin. 






But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 2. Obedience requires and Advocate - We can not obey… in the right way… from the heart… without being saved. - As a Christian, No one perfectly obeys God or the Bible. - We have to consider… Willful sin. Ignorant sin. Omission. Commission. Attitude. Action. Thoughts. Deeds. Passion. Premeditated. - Advocate - one who pleads another's cause before a judge, counsel for defense, an intercessor

Translated as “Comforter” in John - The one who pleads our cause, gives us counsel, prays for us, and comforts us is Jesus Christ: - The Righteous (Sinless, Perfect, fulfilled the law, pleased the father, worthy) - The Propitiation for our sins: Propitiation is the act of removing the wrath of God against sinners. This act was accomplished by Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross. He paid the price for my sin so that I could be forgiven. The ultimate problem that every human being has is that God's all powerful wrath is against them. We are God’s enemies and deserve His wrath. 


The ultimate good news is that God Himself made a way for this wrath to be removed from us.

John 3:36 "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him." If God’s wrath is not dealt with, it will result in eternal torment (Revelation 14:9–11). That's how serious sin is viewed by a holy God. John repeats the good news in 1 John 4:10 "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Jesus removed God’s wrath from us by dying for us. He became a curse for us. Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” "God put him forward as a propitiation by his blood" 
(Romans 3:25). Christ endured the wrath of God in our place and our sins are no longer counted against us. He took our sin. We get His righteousness.

Present tense - Jesus is continually the propitiation. ...

not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world

. What does this mean? Propitiation means removing God’s wrath. It is a part of Salvation. What does it mean that Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world? 

Will the whole world be saved? NO. That’s called universalism… The belief that everyone will be saved. It is “FOR” them in the sense that the Gospel is to be proclaimed to all the world. It is the only remedy for sin. Not all will believe. It is offered to all. It is sufficient for all. All who believe will be saved. (Not by works, but by His sacrificial death) 
 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 3. Obedience results in Confidence - We can KNOW that we are saved. - We are not saved by obedience, but we find assurance through obedience. - We are only able to walk in obedience because of the Holy Spirit. - The proof of our conversion is life transformation. - Obedience grows into the love of God perfected. - By this we know that we are in Him. - Our walk should match our talk. - We should walk as Christ walked. 

 Application: 1. Do you understand God’s word? We know football stats, stock market performance, movie trivia, music, politics… do we know the Bible? 2. Do you realize the power that lives within you? In Christ! 
God the Father is pleased with you, Jesus is praying for you, the Holy Spirit is empowering you!!!
 3. Are you confident in your walk? You know your walk. I know mine. We can try to fool others, but we know what we are behind closed doors. (So does God) 

Do you know that you know Him? 

 Gospel: God, Sin, Christ, Response