The Evidence of Obedience

Transcript

GR 1090
11/28/1982

1 John 2:3-6
Gil Rugh

I John chapter 2. I am writing these things that you might know that you have eternal life. There are demonstrable things. Things which can be seen which are evidence in the life of a child of God and where these things are lacking, a person is not a child of God no matter what they profess and what they claim. And these things works together in harmony so that it is the character of life. It is the doctrine believer. It is the relationship with other believers. That together give testimony that I am indeed a child of God.

In the opening verses of chapter 2 John has dealt with the issue of cleansing for a believer. How am I cleansed from sin in my daily walk as a child of God? I am cleansed by the present intercessory ministry of Jesus Christ. He is our high priest. He is our advocate in the presence of God in heaven. So that when I sin He is there as my representative and He in effect represents me by saying, I died for that sin. The penalty has been paid. He is forgiven. So that when I came to trust Christ as my Savior, rely upon Him and His death on my behalf, I was cleansed from all my sin and that provision was not only for all the sins I had committed to that point, but all the sins that I would ever commit. And so I have been cleansed today from sins that I commit and I will be cleansed tomorrow and that in effect, if I could put it this way, is automatic. It is done by virtue of the fact that I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and He represents me. Now that still means that God wants me to deal with the sin? What does He expect of me? He expects me to stop the sin. That's what God demands of me. There's not some form of penance. There's not some procedure that I must go through. I must stop the sin. That's what's demanded.

Now as we talked about in the Open Forum, there are consequences to sin. That are often borne even after I have recognized it, I have ceased it.
That doesn't mean that even though I am cleansed and forgiven, that does not mean that there are not consequences in this life which must be borne. But forgiveness is on the basis of the finished work of Christ.

Now with verse 3 he picks up and really is continuing the theme of how you know you are a child of God, how you know you are being continually cleansed. I mean a person might go on presumptuously and say, well, then I am being cleansed all the time—that's good. But there are evidences that you're a child of God, that this cleansing is going on on your behalf. Because we don't see the cleansing. We don't see Jesus Christ representing us. We take that by faith but there are concrete evidences that we are those whom He represents and who are experiencing the cleansing.

In verse 3 he picks up by saying one of the evidences is obedience to His commandments. Obedience to His commandments. By this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments. How do we know that we have come to know Him? We have the knowledge that we have come to know Him. You ought to note here. "By this we are knowing—present tense "that we have come to know Him." Perfect tense. And we noted, the perfect tense is key in the first epistle of John. The perfect tense denotes something that happened in the past and the results continue into the present. So we are knowing that we have come to know Him. I have come to know Him at a point in the past with the result that I know Him today. Twenty-nine years ago I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I came to know Him. The present result of that is I know Him tonight. So I would use the perfect tense. We have come to know Him and thus we have knowledge of Jesus Christ.

All right. "By this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments." There is something that we can look for. You know knowledge is rather intangible. A person says I know Jesus Christ. How do I know that I have come to know Him? What is the testimony to me as a person as well as a testimony to you that I have come to know Him? What is the evidence? If we keep His commandments. "Keep" there is in the present tense. If we are keeping His commandments. If we are obeying His Word. Present tense denotes this is the general character of our life. It does not mean that we never sin but it does mean the general character of our life is one of obedience to His Word. Now when it says we keep His commandments, this is not talking about the Ten Commandments. Not talking about the Mosaic Law with its commandments. Important to note the difference.

15 times in the Gospel of John, John refers to the Mosaic Law and all 15 times he uses a different word than he uses here. John wrote his gospel as well as this first epistle. So in the 15 times in the gospels when he refers to the Mosaic Law, he uses the word "nomos" basically get it. Here he uses another word—entolas. e-n-t-o-l-e-s. Now important about that is, its note the Mosaic Law we are talking about but its the precepts, the teachings, the Word of Christ. They are commandments, but they are not the Mosaic commandments. I mention that because some people will read this and think, Aha, keep the commandments. See—you are saved by keeping the Law or that's an evidence of your salvation. No. An evidence of your salvation is obedience to the Word of God, the teachings of Jesus Christ and that's what is contained in the Scriptures. If you are living your life in the realm of the Word of God and obedience to Him, that is a testimony, an evidence that you have come to know Jesus Christ. Now don't reverse it.

"By this we know that we have come to know Him if we are keeping His commandments." Now you do not come to know Him by keeping His commandments for the difference. But the evidence that you know Him is that you keep His commandments. Important difference. I have come to know Him. The evidence is I am presently keeping His commandments. But the knowledge goes back into the past when I trusted Jesus Christ. But the evidence is my present life. It's lived in harmony with the Word of God. I say, well, what is harmony with the Word of God. I take it from the moment we trust Christ there is a change brought about in our lives and our lives are different from that point on. Now I realize its a process of growing more and more like Jesus Christ but it's just like a birth of a baby into the human realm. At that birth there are some immediate things that happen. Now the process of maturing takes time but the evidences and the characteristics of humanity are all present from that point on. It's a development. So I take it that's true for us as believers as well. So keeping His commandments is obedience to His Word.

All right. Verse 4 and you note the same pattern being followed as we had in chapter 1. The one who says, "I have come to know Him." Here's one who is making a claim—present tense. He is saying—"I have come to know Him." Again, that I have come to know Him is the perfect tense. I have come to trust Him in the past, to know Him in the past with the present situation being now that I know Him, His personal testimony is I am one who has come to know Christ. I have come to believe in Him. He is my Savior and does not keep His commandments. Present tense. Is not keeping His commandments, is not obeying the Word of God. Living his life in submission to the teachings of Christ, the Word of God. This person is a liar. Now what does he lie? He says he knows Christ but he doesn't. So you see what John says? A person claims to know Christ but doesn't obey His Word. John is very blunt about it. He says, well, look, you can't see the heart so you just take him at his word. You know what John says? Liar, liar. Don't believe you. You're a liar. Oh, that's not very Christian. Well, it's biblical, so I take it it's Christian. If you don't keep the Word of God. You don't live your life in the realm of the Word of God and you claim to know Christ, you're a liar. The truth is not in him.

Now we saw these statements. Look over in chapter 1, verse 8. "If we say that we have no sin we are deceiving ourselves, the truth is not in us. Verse 10. "If we say we have not sinned we make Him a liar. His Word is not in us." Now up here you say you know Him, you don't keep His commandments, you're a liar. The truth is not in you.

Jump back to John 8. Realize we have done this but repetition is good. John chapter 8 verse 44. You are of your father the devil. Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders of His day. You want to do the desires of your father; he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies. Note. There is the character of the devil. He is a liar. He has no truth in him.

Jesus says to the religious leaders of His day. You're just like your father, the devil. He's a liar. He has no truth in him. Now back over to I John. This becomes key because I take it John is just picking up and developing the teaching of Christ. Over in I John 3:10. Verse 7. Verse 8. What he does, pick up with verse 7 down through verse 10, is talk about the children of God and the children of the devil. "little children" verse 7, let no one deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous just as He is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil for the devil is sin from the beginning.

Verse 10. "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. The one who does not practice righteousness is not of God nor the one who does not love his brother." So you see what he is doing. The same thing Jesus did in John chapter 8. Here is the character of the devil.
Now you're manifesting that character. Therefore, you're of the devil. Here's the character of God. Now you're manifesting God's character. You're of God. So it's not so difficult. John says that the children bear the character of the father, the parent. Here is the character of God. Here is the character of the devil. So he's just picking up what Jesus did in John chapter 8. So Wien he says in I John chapter 2 verse 4 that he is a liar and the truth is not in him. That's just what Jesus said about the devil in John 8:44. So I take it we have an unbeliever here.

The other side of that. Verse 5. "But whoever keeps His word in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him." The one who is keeping His Word or living in conformity with the Word of Christ has the evidence of his testimony, this testimony, that his statement that he knows Christ is true.

Note what he says here. The love of Christ, the love of God, has truly been perfected. The word means to bring to completion. Now what is the intention of the love of God? God's love provides redemption. Here is the great demonstration of God's love Romans 5:8 "In that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

So. God's love in providing His Son was for the purpose of securing our redemption. And for the person who comes to believe in Jesus Christ and thus experiences the perfecting work of Christ's redemption, the work of God's love has been brought to completion in Him. The great demonstration of God's love has reached its fulfillment in that person. Its purpose has been accomplished. Right? So God's love has been perfected in that person.

"Whoever keeps His Word in him the love of God has truly been perfected." That love that provided redemption has been brought to completion in him because he has experienced Christ's redemption that God provided in love. "By this we know that we are in Him." So important to see that. Verse
5. "whoever keeps His Word, in him the love of God has been perfected", been brought to completion or fulfillment. Now, note again, you don't experience the love of God and the love of God is not brought to fruition or completion in you because you keep the commandments. But the keeping the Word of God is the testimony that God's love has been brought to completion in you because if it were not for the work of God's love in redemption in your life, you would not obey His Word. I would not obey His Word. But the fact that we obey His Word is a testimony that God's love in bringing about our redemption has been accomplished in our life because if any man be in Christ he is a new creature. And for new creatures everything becomes new. All things become new. So the very fact you live a life in obedience to the Word of God is a testimony that God's love has accomplished its goal and end in you. Its not a testimony to you. It's a testimony to God and His work of redemption. A filthy vile wretch like you—like me, would be obeying the Word of God. Testimony that God's love has accomplished its goal of redemption in our lives.

Okay, so, testimony that we belong to Him is that we obey His Word. Another way of saying that is that we walk like Christ walked and we come into an important section here that I want to share some material with you on.

Look at the last statement in verse 5. "By this we know that we are in Him." Now that statement "in Him" is crucial. How do you know you are in Christ? By this we know that we are in Him, in Christ. The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
The claim to be in Christ, to abide in Christ means you should walk as Christ walked. Now that means my life evidences Christ's life, another way of saying it. His character is produced in me. His life is seen in and through me. Now the word "abide". We have to spend some time looking at. Its a key word in John's writing. Appears more often in John's writing than any other author in the New Testament. Appears 68 times in John and one more time in Revelation. 69 times really and in John's writing, 68 of those are in the gospels and the epistles. 42 times in the Gospel of John the word "abide" appears. 23 times in these five chapters, the first epistle of John, the word "abide" appears and in less than 5 chapters because they don't start until chapter 2 and there are none in chapter 5. In chapters 2,3, and 4 John will use the word "abide" 23 times. It’s a key concept. Now it means to abide, to dwell, to reside, to live, to make your dwelling someplace. Now here it says at the end of verse 5.

By this we know we are in Him, the one who says he abides in Him. To be in Him, to abide in Him is the concept. Now we're spending some time on this because there are some ideas among believers and its taught by many good Bible teachers, that there are two kinds of Christians. There are Christians who abide and there are Christians who are not abiding. Take it that's not true. Every Christian abides in Christ and if you do not abide in Christ, you are not a Christian. You are not a child of God. So the concept "to abide" denotes the reality of our relationship.

Jump back to John 15. I might as well tell you before you have to ask me. John 15 and we spent some time on this in our study of the gospel of John. So if you want to go through the details, you can get the tapes on John 15 from the tape library and there we spent much more time than we can tonight. My understanding of John 15 is that we are talking about believers and non-believers. Not two kinds of believers. Now a key verse and a key word here in verse 2. "Every branch in Me." We talked about "in Him" in I John but I take it here that every branch in Me does not have the technical sense "in Me" that that expression has after the death and resurrection of Christ, that this expression used before His death and resurrection becomes an expression that would be the same as being in the kingdom, being part of His kingdom which includes believers and non-believers Because at the Second Coming the angels will come and root out of His kingdom unbelievers. So it doesn't have the technical sense that it has later after His death and resurrection. That's not unusual. We have the expression by Jesus, "Many are called but few are chosen “but after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that word "to call" is only used of the effectual call of believers. But when Jesus used it in the gospels it was used of the general call to all men. Many are called but only few are chosen But after the death and resurrection of Christ it becomes synonymous with being chosen so there is a change.

Down in verse 4. "Abide in me." You abide in Me. I take it, it's a statement. You abide in fie and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it hides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in Him. Now note, the abiding is mutual. That's one of the problems that caused the misunderstanding. Not only do I abide in Christ, but He abides in me. And if I don't abide in Christ, He doesn't abide in me and that means you don't have salvation. I abide in Him and He abides in me. The result is much fruit. Then those who do not abide in Him are cast away and I take it it's the same picture as we have pictured elsewhere in His teachings where under different pictures. Where the unbelievers are rooted out, whether its the wheat and the tares, whether its the good fish and the bad fish, the fruitful and unfruitful branches. The same end—destruction for the unbeliever. Cast into the fire for burning.

Verse 7. "You abide in Me and My words abide in you. If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you." You ought to note over in chapter 14 of the Gospel of John, verses 12, 13, and 14 Jesus gives the same premise to those who believe in Him. If you believe in Him you can ask whatever you will and it will be given to you. Now in chapter 15 He says if you abide in Me you ask whatever you will and it will be given to you. To abide and to believe are synonymous expressions saying the same thing and so they contain the same promise. So its given to all believers, not just to a special class who abide versus those who don't. But the abiders are the believers.

Back up to John chapter 6 verse 56. The Gospel of John chapter 6 verse 56. Note—He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him. What is the requirement for abiding in Christ? Eating His flesh and drinking His blood. In the context of John 6. Again, if its difficult for you, you ought to get the tapes and work through the details. We don't have time for it, but simply it means you have come to believe in Him and thus become a partaker of Him. The issue here is spiritual as He makes clear down around verse 63 of this chapter. So if you eat His flesh and drink His blood, you partake of Him, you abide in Him and He abides in you. Now, can you talk about there being two kinds of believers? Believers who abide in Christ and believers who do not? Obviously not. Can there be a believer in Jesus Christ who is not partaken of His body and His blood? No, that's what salvation is all about. So everyone who has partaken of the body and blood of Christ, entered into that spiritual relationship with Him abides in Christ and you note the mutuality of it again. And I in Him. Not only do I abide in Christ, but He abides in me. It's a mutual abiding. Those who make a distinction between Christians who abide and don't, most of those don't want to say you lose your salvation. But when I cease to abide in Christ, He ceases to abide in me, there is no salvation. I take it I never cease to abide.

Jump over to I John. And you can do your own study. I'd encourage you to do it. Get a concordance. Look up the word "abide" and for purpose of this study, limit yourself to John. Or you can do them all. There's no problem with that. Particularly want to center in John's writing and work through them and mark out the passages that are particularly pertinent to what we are talking about. I think you'll find the pattern clear. I John chapter 3 verse 23 and I went and wrote down all 23 references in I John but we won't take time to look at them all. Verse 23.

"And this is His commandment that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments which involves believing in Jesus Christ and loving other believers abides in Him and He (Christ) in him. And we know by this that He abides in us by the Spirit which He has given us. So here you have another dimension, the indwelling Spirit is a testimony that Christ abides in us and thus we abide in Him. Because what is the requirement for abiding in Jesus Christ? Believing in Him and loving fellow believers. If you don't believe in Jesus Christ, you're not saved and if you do believe in Jesus Christ you abide in Him and He abides in you and the Spirit indwells you.

Look over in chapter 4, verse 13. "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us." Note that continued repetition. We abide in Him. He in us. It's mutual. He has given us His Spirit. Crucial. We abide in Him and He in us. How do I know? The Spirit of God indwells me. If you don't abide in Christ the Spirit of God doesn't indwell you. If you don't have the Spirit of Christ you don't belong to Him the Book of Romans tells us. If any man does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Him. I take it as a believer you abide and if you're not a believer you don't abide. Another way to say that—if you don't abide in Christ, you're not a believer in Him. You have no salvation.

Look at verse 15. "Whoever confesses" we looked at that word in chapter 1 "agrees that Jesus is the Son of God. God abides in him and he in God." You see it's a basic issue of salvation. Do you agree with God about His Son Jesus Christ. Then you abide in God and He abides in you.
If you don't agree with God about His Son Jesus Christ, you're not saved.
Thus you don't abide in Him and He doesn't abide in you.

Okay. Back up to chapter 2. Crucial. This issue of abiding that we be clear on it. Otherwise your whole concept of these basic passages will be distorted. Let me say something about John chapter 15. Some of you are going to have a problem with it yet won't take the time to listen to the tapes, I'm sure. My understanding is that every believer, everyone who abides, bears fruit. That's the same thing John is saying in his first epistle—that the children of God manifest the character of God.

So in John chapter 15 all the branches that abide bear fruit because can you be an absolutely fruitless Christian? That's like saying, can you be a human being without any evidence of humanity? No and I take it that's true in John chapter 15. The branches that do not bear fruit are not believers.

I have to show you a couple of passages. Matthew chapter 3. And I apologize that this is not perhaps as organized as you might like. It's not as organized as I might like either. Matthew chapter 3 .
The message of John the Baptist—verse 8. "Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance "and then the warning. What happened? The Pharisees came out to be baptized by John. John says you're brutal, poisonous snakes. That's no way to get converts, you wouldn't think. What does he say? There's no testimony, no fruit in your life that you've truly repented. When I see the fruit, I'll believe the testimony.

Look over in Matthew chapter 7, verse 15. Jesus speaking "Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles are they? Even so every good tree bears good fruit. The rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Same thing as the branches that are unfruitful in John 15. There is no question that they are unbelievers here. It's a bad tree bearing bad fruit. It's cut down and thrown into the fire. What happens to the unfruitful branches in John 15? They are cut off and thrown into the fire. So then you will know them by their fruits. That's what John is developing in the first epistle.
You'll know them by their fruits. Not something new. It's the message that John the Baptist proclaimed. It's the message that Jesus proclaimed. It's just being developed. This concept that you can have a rotten tree with rotten fruit and it professes to belong to Christ is hogwash.

Jesus is warning here note of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing. They are professing something that is not true. They profess a relationship with Christ but their life indicates they don't have one. That's the issue. That's what is in view. Every branch in Me—in John 15. They profess a relationship with Him. They profess to belong to Him. But their lives testify differently. Every good tree bears good fruit. We're going to get to that in John 3. We read that.

The children of God cannot sin. That's the same thing as Jesus says
here. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. So it's not so complicated. It's not anything new that John is developing and there are a number of other passages. We won't take time to run through those.

All right. Come back to I John. Now I hate to leave out all this good material. I'll save it for another series. I John chapter 2. What has he said then down in verse 5. "By this we know that we are in Him, the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." My life ought to reflect the character of Christ. I live as He lived. Now there is a right and proper sense where He is our example and it's not that we're trying to pattern our lives after Him. It is a by-product just as in the human realm. I was born into my father's family. I partook of his character by birth and so I am like him in so many ways. His humanity, obviously. I mean you look and you don't wonder. Now I wonder if he had a robot for a father—no smart remarks!! Why? It' s obvious. You say, he bears the marks of humanity. That's a reflection of his father and the other characteristics as well. Now that's what John is saying. So we walk as they walk. Why? Not because we're trying to be like Christ but because we are like Him by birth. It's a natural outflowing of His character. Now that's also a process. I'm growing in the Word. I'm becoming more and more of what He wants me to be and that happens in our families as well. At birth and shortly after you may see the color of the eyes that are the same as the father. But there are other characteristics that also develop with the passing of time. We'll remark about a child and a parent. Say, boy, just like their father. Just like their mother. I'm becoming more and more just like Jesus Christ. But anyone who is a true believer will have a life like Him.

Now I realize there's degrees but everyone who is truly a believer has a life like Jesus Christ because He is our Father. Every person who has a life like their father—humanity. Every person who has experienced a divine birth in God's family manifests that character. It just happens. That's the way it is. Now I realize I'm belaboring what should be the obvious.
But I take it that's the thrust of John here.

So how do you know you have eternal life? Look at your life? Are you living a life in conformity to the Word of God? Is that the general pattern of your life? We have already dealt with the fact that there will be realms of inconsistency. Be careful—carnality does mean you don't have any evidence in your life. The Corinthians church is the church singled out of the New Testament to be declared as carnal and babies and you read the first letter to the Corinthians and it overflows with evidence of the character of God being manifested. What stands out though are some glaring inconsistencies with the character of God. But that doesn't mean there's no evidence of the character of God—it's seen everywhere. But it's these areas of inconsistency that nark them out as carnal and not as having grown as they should. That's what a carnal Christian is. These people that are running around saying, Oh, yes I've believed in Jesus Christ. This is the gospel. Christ died for my sins. I believe it. I'm saved. And their life is rubbish. John says very simply they're liars. They're liars,. They claim something which is not real because you can program a robot. You can get a little recording and put it in a doll and that little doll and some of you will give these for Christmas presents that'll talk. And you can get one that says, I am human. I am human. It wouldn't change reality one bit. You know why? There's none of the characteristics of humanity there. While somebody walks around and says I am saved. I have believed the gospel. I have believed the gospel. I am saved. There's no evidence of the divine character of God there. It's not real. It's not true.

But what God does is bring this down into the realm of the tangible and the concrete. I can know if I examine my own life. I see God working in me. I see God working through me. I see a life that is conformed to the Word of God. I see a life that is like Jesus Christ. That's not a statement of arrogance and pride because I take it that's true of everyone here who is a believer in Jesus Christ. Now none of us are all that we desire to be for Him. But praise God we're His children and His character is manifest.

Let's pray together