Please turn in your Bibles this morning to I John chapter 2 as we continue to look at this litmus test that John gives to us to see if we truly know Christ. Last week we looked at the first point that John made in regards to seeing if our profession of faith matches our practice of faith. John tells us that the litmus test for knowing Christ is by keeping His commandments and we looked at that in I John 2:3-5. You see, if your passion is to disobey God, to do your own thing, to live the way you want, then John says you are deceiving yourself, you are not saved. Jesus said in John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Now please understand that none of us are perfect, but as I said, is the passion of your heart to sin or obey God? If it is to sin John tells us, “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” I John 2:5. I think that is clear, keeping His commandments is a sign that you not only love the Lord, but you are a child of His and even though you are not perfect, you desire to do those things that please Him!
This morning we are going to look at the last two points that John makes regarding our ability to know we are saved. First of all we will look at, BY WALKING IN HIS FOOTSTEPS in I John 2:6. And then we will conclude by looking at, BY THE FRUIT THAT IS MANIFESTED IN OUR LIVES and we will see that in I John 2:7-11.
Before we get to our text this morning, let me share with you this story that will help set the stage for what we will be studying this morning. We are told:
The Christian Herald once carried an article about a senior executive of one of the largest banks in New York City. He told how he had risen to a place of prominence and influence. At first he served as an office boy. Then one day the president of the company called him aside and said, “I want you to come into my office and be with me each day.” The young man replied, “But what could I do to help you, sir? I don’t know anything about finances.”
“Never mind that! You will learn what I want to teach you a lot faster if you just stay by my side and keep your eyes and ears open!” “That was the most significant experience of my life,” said the now famous banker. “Being with that wise man made me just like him. I began to do things the way he did, and that accounts for what I am today.”
- Our Daily Bread
Folks, that is the key for us, to stay close to Jesus, to abide with Him and as we do He will teach us what we need to grow by. He will guide us in our walk with Him. Peter tells us, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” II Peter 1:2-4
You see, God has given to us all that we need to grow by, all we must do is abide in Him, dwell with Him. Think about it, you can get all you need to have a healthy garden, to see your garden grow, but unless you let the water, the nutrients touch the plants, they will not grow, they will dry out, be barren and die. The same is true with us if we remove ourselves from the true Vine, Jesus Christ, the giver and sustainer of life! With that said, let’s begin reading in I John chapter 2, starting in verse 3 and see what the Lord has for us this morning in regards to the litmus test to see if we are saved.
Remember the three points we are looking at regarding this litmus test of our salvation. The first we covered last week and we will finish up the last two points this morning. These three points are as follows:
So let’s dig into these last two points and see what the Lord has for us in regards to knowing if we are saved.
2. BY WALKING IN HIS FOOTSTEPS – I
JOHN 2:6
Notice the point that John is making here. He is telling us that if we abide in Christ then our lives should reflect that relationship. That word “abide” is the Greek word MENO and a great way to remember this is, ME NO! You see, it is Christ, yes, we need to abide with the Lord or to dwell with Him, remain with Him, to continue or to settle down and allow the Lord to be at home in our lives! Do you feel comfortable in Christ or living apart from Him? Now if you are uncomfortable with some of the things you are doing, that is good! You see, the Holy Spirit is convicting you, not condemning you because there is no condemnation for those that are IN Christ! The idea is restoration not destruction for your life, that is what the Lord wants! He wants to purge that garbage from your life, to get rid of those skeletons that are in your closet you might say. Now you can listen and obey the Lord or you can reject what He is showing you, the changes that you need to make in your life, but that is very dangerous!
As Christians we are not to be conformed to this world but we are to be transformed by the working of God in our lives. Thus, we are called to imitate Jesus, to walk as He walked – a life of obedience and fellowship with the Father. Of this Boice tells us, “The point here is that the one who knows God will increasingly lead a righteous life, for God is righteous. It does not mean that he will be sinless; John has already shown that anyone who claims this is lying. It simply means that he will be moving in a direction marked out by the righteousness of God. If he does not do this, if he is not increasingly dissatisfied with and distressed by sin, he is not God’s child.”
You see, it is as John told us, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” I John 2:6. Where are you walking, in the light where God dwells or in the darkness apart from him? You see, there really are only those two options, and if you are not walking in the light where God dwells, then you are walking in the darkness where He doesn’t dwell. Think about it like this. Remember when you were young and your parents would tell you not to hang out with those kids because they were trouble. Why did they tell you that? Because they knew if you walked where they were walking, if you walked with them, then you would be doing the things they were doing!
I think David makes that perfectly clear as he tells us starting in verse 1 of Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Psalm 1:1-6.
In other words, don’t follow the ways of the wicked, don’t walk in their footsteps, but follow the ways of the Lord, walk in His footsteps because that is where abundant life is found. The life apart from Christ is dry, it won’t last. Tragically, many follow the ways of the ungodly and walk in darkness instead of the light and they perish! You know how it is when you get up at night and you don’t want to turn on the light and wake up your spouse, so you walk in darkness and bang into things, stub your toe and you make more noise and wake up your spouse anyway! But the point being, it is not good to walk in darkness because you can’t see where you are going. Walk in the light as He is in the light!
I remember as a kid, when it snowed out, I would try to follow my dad’s footsteps that he left in the snow. Now why did I do that? Because I wanted to be like Him, and by following his steps, I thought I was just like him. I think that is John’s point here, if you say you abide in Christ, then the passion of your heart should be to walk as He walked! Paul said in Colossians 2:6-7, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” The Amplified Bible puts it like this, “As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him. Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving.”
I would challenge you to see if you can find a positive story in the Bible related to being stagnant, sedentary, inactive, walking backwards with God. You won’t find one, why? Because those are always dangerous places to be and if you are not moving forward with God, then you are going backwards! How does the saying go, “Idle hands are the Devil’s Workshop!”
Thus, we need to walk forward, pressing on towards that upward calling in Christ. How did Christ Walk? Let’s look at a few examples because that is how we are to walk, that is what should be manifested in our lives as we abide in Christ, as we walk in the light as He is in the light!
A. COMPASSION
As we look at the compassion of Christ, are you compassionate towards others? In Isaiah 40:11 we are told, “He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.” Do you see how compassionate the Lord is, always leading, feeding, caring for those that are in need. In Matthew 9:36 we are told of Jesus, “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”
Jesus took notice of those around Him and He saw their need, and He understood their pain, their hurting and He met them where they were at and had compassion upon them! When you look at people do you look at them with the compassion of Christ or do you look down upon them? Do you look at them and think, “Oh no, not them again”? You see, to walk as Jesus walked we need to have compassion towards others, to crawl into their skin you might say and try to understand what they are going through and then to minister to them the love of God!
B. HEART OF A SERVANT
When you look at people today, even our own lives, do we manifest the heart of a servant? Many times we don’t because we think we are deserving of this or deserving of that. Thus, we don’t serve but we order people around and get them to serve us! But listen to what we are told in Luke 17:7-10, “And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”
Now some don’t like that, “We are the Kings kids and we deserve more than that?” Really, think about this for a minute. We are told of Jesus in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” If the King of kings and Lord of lord’s, if Almighty God can be a servant, then who are we to say, “That lifestyle is not for me?” You see, if we are to walk as Jesus walked, we need to have a heart of a servant!
C. HOLINESS
There are many self-help Christian books out there and I am not that impressed. But have you ever seen one book called The Self Help Book Towards Holiness? Of course you haven’t because that is not a popular subject. And the reality is that is the problem, these issues we want to deal with on our own, “self-help” instead of bringing it to God and asking Him to help us! Peter, in I Peter 1:15-16 tells us, “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” You see, if you want to walk as Jesus walked, be holy, set apart for God. You see, if you live an unholy life, you will trip yourself up!
D. OBEDIENCE
Paul, in Philippians 2:8 tells us, “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Jesus humbled Himself and He was obedient to the Father. You see, I think humility and obedience go hand-in-hand. It is hard to be obedient when you are not humble, when you are doing your own thing! Notice what Jesus said in John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” You know what, as we humble ourselves before God, our will becomes His will for our lives and thus, obedience just flows from that. So, if you want to walk as Jesus walked, be obedient to God’s will for your life!
E. FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness is tough because it means I have to forgive someone who has wronged me and the natural man says that is not fair. And yet, as Jesus hung on the cross of Calvary for our sins, as He hung there having done nothing wrong, being sinless, He was able to say, “ . . . ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’” Luke 23:34. Paul, in Ephesians 4:32 admonishes us by saying, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” That puts this in perspective for us, doesn’t it? God has forgiven us of all our sins, now He wants us to forgive others if you want to walk as Jesus walked!
F. GENTLENESS
In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus tells us, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” When we are around people do we make them uptight, uncomfortable, weary? You see, if we want to walk as Jesus walked we need to be gentle towards people and point them to the one who can truly give them rest – JESUS! Now, I do understand that not everyone will be at ease around us, they may not receive what we have, but love them and be gentle towards them just as Jesus would, in spite of how they treat you!
G. BRING SALVATION TO
THEM
In Luke 19:10 Jesus said, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Do you look at people with the backdrop of eternity in mind? You see, apart from Christ they will die in their sins! Thus, our passion should be to bring people to Jesus. That was the heart of Jesus and thus, if we want to walk as Jesus walked, we need to go and seek and bring salvation to those that don’t know the Lord by the power of God’s Spirit. Now I do understand, not all of us are evangelists, but you can live out your faith, you can tell people what the Lord means to you, why you have the hope that is in you. God’s Spirit is working in you and all you need to do is look at the opportunities He is bringing across your path!
Now that is just a short list but I think you get the idea. You can read the Word of God and read how Jesus lived out His life and then, apply those things to your life, walk accordingly! And please understand that works don’t save us, but as we are in Christ, as we walk as He walked, they should flow from our lives. As we go out into the world may we be like Christ filled with compassion, having the heart of a servant, in holiness, being obedient, able to forgive, being gentle, and able to share our faith bringing salvation to others! You see, Jesus said in John 17:4, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” He completed the work He was sent to do!
Paul, also at the end of his life was able to say, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
II Timothy 4:6-8. May we fight the good fight, may we finish the race, may we keep the faith and complete the work that God has called us to do and hear those precious words, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord!”
3. BY THE FRUIT THAT IS MANIFESTED IN OUR LIVES
– I JOHN 2:7-11
In reading this it sounds like John is confused. It is
not a new commandment; it is a new commandment, what is he talking
about? Does he even
know what he is talking about?
It is not new in the sense of being brand new but Christ
makes the Old commandment of love fresh.
And in this I see the words of Jesus coming to life as
He said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give
to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you
also love one another. By
this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love
for one another.” You see, a characteristic
of a Christian is their unconditional love for each other, it
sets them apart from those that are not saved, at least it should.
Also, in Matthew 5:43-48 we are told by Jesus, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Jesus took this love even farther and is telling us that the love of a Christian goes far beyond just loving those that love you. You are to love those who don’t love you, who might hate you, those who might treat you unfairly. Why? Because that is the nature of God and He wants that same nature to flow from us with love!
You see, I think John is speaking of the fruit that is born in our lives or the fruit that is not born in our lives. And so in this last section we are going to break this down into two sections, THE FRUIT OF THE BELIEVER and then, THE FRUIT OF THE UNBELIEVER.
A. THE FRUIT OF THE BELIEVER
In Galatians 5:22-25 we are told, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Notice, it is the “fruit” of the Spirit and not fruits, it is singular not plural. Thus, this AGAPE love or this unconditional love, sacrificial love, this fruit of God’s Spirit working in our lives and through our lives will be manifested with joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
You see, Agape love or unconditional love is not natural, it is supernatural. The highest human love is seen in the Geek word PHILEO, which speaks of a brotherly type of love, a love that is reciprocal in nature. In other words, if you are kind to me then I will be kind to you. If you are longsuffering to me, then I will be longsuffering to you, and-so-on. But God wants us to love with His Agape love, which is unconditional love. It is a love that is not based on how you are treated, but responds in spite of how you are treated!
A great definition of this kind of love, this Agape love is given to us by Paul in I Corinthians 13:4-8a, as he tells us, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” That is God’s love for us and now He wants us to love others the same way, with that same kind of love. And like I said, it is not natural, but it is supernatural!
Now, to see how you are doing here, place your name where the word “love” would go. I will give you an example to show you what I mean by placing my name there. “Joe suffers long, and is kind, Joe does not envy, Joe does not parade himself, is not puffed up . . .” Hey, what are you laughing at, I could have used your name there! And that is the reality folks, we are still growing, maturing in the faith but don’t use that as an excuse for your behavior, for you not loving others as God has commanded you to do!
Love as God loves! It is as Paul said in Romans 5:6-8, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That is what God has done for us, when we were filthy sinners; God loved us so much that He died for us so that we may live with Him. Now He is telling us to go and love the same, not by the power that is within you, but by the power that has come upon you by the Holy Spirit! Love is that fruit that is born in our lives and it is then manifested in many different ways. If you abide in Him you will bear good fruit!
B. THE FRUIT OF THE UNBELIEVER
Folks, love is not a feeling, it is an act of your will. Yes, we do have feelings but those feelings are in a constant state of flux, they change often. “I love the Chicago Bears they just beat the Packers!” “I hate those Bears, they haven’t beaten the Packers in several games!” But God’s love towards us is constant and He wants us to love the same way! In regards to God’s love, if you are refusing to love as He has commanded, then you are not obeying Him. The reality is you are seeking your own will, doing your own thing and you end up hating those around you. And if you do, if that is the passion of your heart, then John says there is no light in you. You see, this kind of love is not taught, it is a result of being Spirit filled. But for this person who hates, he is in darkness. This person is lost!
Notice what Paul says in Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” You see, there is no fruit born in their lives, but what flows is the ugliness of the works of the flesh. They have no morals, each person does as he pleases and it is not pretty!
We see that also in Hosea 4:1-3, “Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: ‘There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.” You see, there is no desire to do the will of God but to fulfill their own lusts, their own passions. There is no room for Agape love for the Spirit is not at work in this person’s life!
And so, over the past two weeks we have looked at this litmus test to see if we know Christ. Are we keeping His commandments or are we just a person who professes Christ but doesn’t possess Him? Are we walking as He walked, following in His footsteps and manifesting the nature of Jesus or are we walking aimlessly through life and manifesting our own nature? Are we manifesting the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, that Agape love that comes from God or are we hating others for what they have done to us? In other words, so do you know Him, do you abide in Him, and is the fruit of the Spirit being produced in your life?
Folks, none of us are perfect but we need to grow in Christ, we need to be moving forward in Him. Where we are at this morning should be farther along in our walk then where we were at a week ago, a year ago, five years ago and-so-on. It is as Peter said in II Peter 3:17-18, “You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” May we do that in our lives and have that assurance of our salvation that is based solely in the Lord’s finished work and that transformed life is then manifested in the things we do and the things we say!