CONFIDENCE IN A CHAOTIC WORLD
(Proof of Salvation - July 11, 2021)
Series Big Idea: "Close fellowship with Christ silences the destructive beliefs and behaviors of this world"
Sermon Big Idea: "Salvation will reveal itself in a person's life in obedience to God and love for fellow believers"
Key Scripture (1 John 2:3-11)
(1 John 2:3-11)
3 This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: 6 The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked. 7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother is in the darkness until now. 10 The one who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Have you ever doubted your salvation in Christ? Those of us who claim to know Christ and posess salvation in Him can have assurance that we really do know Him. In other words, we can be sure of our salvation. Isn't that a powerful and encouraging statement? How is this possible? This assurance comes to us by us keeping His commands. But John says there are people who confess with their mouths that they know Christ but don’t keep His commands. He says this kind of person is lying about knowing Him because the truth is not in him
John changes phrases in verse 5 by replacing the word "commands" with "word." The phrase "keeps His Word" is used to encompass ALL of God's commands and injunctions. He says that this person is truly in Christ and the love of God is perfected. The perfect ideal of God's love requires two parties. The love of God is perfected or completed in a Christian's life when the person loves God back. So, whoever keeps God's Word or commands (His entire eternal message) will realize the perfect relation of love. It is proof that the person is remaining in the Lord.
He goes on to say that if we say we are remaining in Him or abiding in Christ, we should walk just like Christ. Abiding means not only knowledge of Christ but fellowship and consistency. In a nutshell, if we say we are abiding and are truly abiding in Christ, we will not sin.
The command John is talking about is not new. The Church has known it from the OT. It is the commandment to love. Yes it is old in the fact that the people he was writing to had heard and taught it from the beginning. But it is new in the sense that now because of Christians being in Christ, there is new power, new meaning, and new obligation because there is a person (Christ) in whom it is revealed. The entire Christian experience is wrapped up in Christ! He is the true Light and He is shinning!
CONCLUSION
But there is an ingredient that must not be overlooked. If we are walking in the light of Christ we must love our fellow Christian brother and sister. John says the person that claims he is in Christ's light but hates his fellow brother and sister, that person is still walking in darkness. He says the one who genuinely remains in the light of Christ will have nothing to make him stumble because he is in the light. But the one who is still in darkness has occasion to stumble because he can't see where he is going. The darkness blinds him.
Commentator and pastor John MacArthur states it this way, "In our every act either we are loving others or we are sinning against them. We are either relating to them rightly as God would want us to or we are not. When we do not love others by doing right by them, we become a stumbling block to their relationship with God. When our example or our words influence others away from obedience to God in Christ, we are in that moment part of the darkness that Christ came to dispel.
You and I must guard ourselves from walking in the darkness. We need Christ's light to sustain life. My prayer is that we all make the decision today to either begin walking in Christ's light for the first time or choose to come back to Christ's light.
Pastor Beaver's thoughts and ideals for this message, are inspired by:
Holman Christian Standard Bible
English Standard Version Bible
King James Version Bible
Christian Standard Bible
The Bible Knowledge Commentary by John F. Walvoord/Roy B. Zuck
The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge by Jerome H. Smith
Water, Mark, ed. Encyclopedia of Bible Facts. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2004. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Barry, John D. et al. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016. Print.
NIV, Archaeological Study Bible, eBook: An Illustrated Walk Through Biblical History and Culture
Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Duane Garrett, and Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
NIV, First-Century Study Bible, eBook: Explore Scripture in Its Jewish and Early Christian Context
Zondervan, Kent Dobson, and Ed Dobson
Hughes, Robert B. and J. Carl Laney. Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1990. WORDsearch CROSS e-book. Revised edition of New Bible Companion.
Vincent, Marvin Richardson. Word Studies in the New Testament. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887. Print.
Robertson, A.T. Word Pictures in the New Testament. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933. Print.
MacArthur, John F., Jr. The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006. Print.
Walls, David, and Max Anders. I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude. Vol. 11. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999. Print. Holman New Testament Commentary.
Burge, Gary M. Letters of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996. Print. The NIV Application Commentary.
Jobes, Karen H. 1, 2, & 3 John. Ed. Clinton E. Arnold. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Print. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament.
Blum, Edwin A., and Trevin Wax, eds. CSB Study Bible: Notes. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017. Print.
Vaughan, Curtis. 1, 2, 3 John. Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2011. Print. Founders Study Guide Commentary.
Akin, Daniel L. 1, 2, 3 John. Vol. 38. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001. Print. The New American Commentary.
Osborne, Grant, Philip W. Comfort. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 13: John and 1, 2, and 3 John. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007. Print.
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