“UNDERSTANDING THE EPISTLE OF FIRST JOHN
Sermon 2: ‘THAT WE MAY KNOW!’”
INTRODUCTION:
Last November and December, I asked if anyone in the Church had suggestions as to what I should preach about beginning the New Year. I was given several suggestions and so far, I have preached on the Names of GOD, the Names of Jesus, the Names of the Holy Spirit. Angels, Did GOD Die, and today we come to the second of several sermons taken from The Epistle of First John.
Last week, I began this series by giving my personal testimony since the LORD used This Book to bring me to saving faith in Jesus!
As you know, my practice over the past twenty years or so has been to simply preach through the text of the Bible Book by Book, Chapter by Chapter, Verse by Verse, and sometimes Word by Word.
As I began my study of First John, I was quite taken with the fact that John uses so many repetitive words through this Epistle!
First John IS NOT a collection of proverbial sayings like The Book of Proverbs, but like The Book of Proverbs, The Epistle First John is focused on several key words that are repeated over and over and over again for emphasis.
For example, “know” appears 25 times, “abide” appears 25 times, “love” appears 16 times, “sin” appears 16 times, “Jesus” appears 11 times, “Father” appears 11 times, “Brother” appears 13 times, “Practice” appears 7 times, “eternal life” appears 6 times, and “fellowship” appears 3 times!
I am not yet sure if I will take a whole sermon for each of these ten key words, but I will certainly do so for most of them… and maybe for all ten of them.
For today, let’s look at the word “know” which John uses 25 times and which certainly is one of the key foci of this Epistle!
“know” as used in First John, is from the Greek “eido” which means, “be aware” “behold” or to “perceive”. It basically means to understand to the point of certainty!
EXPOSITION:
FIRST, we can know that the reality of knowing Jesus is demonstrated in the practice of obeying Jesus!
(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…”
1st John 2:29 “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.”
1st John 3:6 “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.”
1st John 3:24 “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”
1st John 3:5 “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”
1st John 4:2 “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God”
1st John 5:2 “2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”
1st John 5:18 “18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”
SECOND, As we see the fulfillment of biblical prophecies, we can know that GOD will fulfill the promises of the return of Jesus Christ!
1st John 2:18 “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.”
1st John 3:2 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
THIRD, Because believers have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we can know the spiritual truth revealed in the Bible!
1st John 2:20 “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.”
1st John 2:21 “I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.”
Cf. 1st Corinthians 2:12-16
(12) “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
(13) And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
(14) The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (15) The spiritual person judges all things but is himself to be judged by no one. (16) “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
FOURTH, Because GOD loves us, we can know that HE has birthed us into HIS Family, adopted us into HIS Family, and someday HE will marry us into HIS Family!
1st John 3:1 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
We are BORN into GOD’s Family!
John 3:3 “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:7 “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
1st Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”
We are ADOPTED into GOD’s Family!
Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Galatians 4:4-5
(4) “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, (5) to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Ephesians 1:5 ““In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…”
One day we will be MARRIED into GOD’s Family! 2nd Cor. 11:1-2
(1) “I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! (2) For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ…”
Revelation 19:7 “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready…”
FIFTH, We can know that we know Jesus and thereby have assurance of our salvation!
1st John 3:19-20
(19) “By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him, (20) for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”
1st John 3:14 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.”
1st John 5:12-13
(12) “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (13) I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”
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