To Walk as He Walked — 1 John 1-2

0:00 Good morning. Good morning. It's a privilege and a blessing to be here with you. Such a warm assembly, and it's always a nice time to be here at Westlake. We are going to continue on in first John.

0:17 So I invite you to turn to chapter two. He was crushed. He gazed down at the dinner table, lost in disbelief. Had bet it all. And it seemed like he was about to lose.

0:47 He had bet his family, his business. Other people thought he was crazy, but he went all in. And now he feared that maybe he had made the wrong decision. And he looked around the room and he saw his coworkers, his friends, with the same look on their faces. It was not so much with their plans, it wasn't so much that their plans had failed them, nor their needless sacrifices.

1:22 But they had left everything for him. A charismatic prophet like teacher. Other people said that he was like a cult leader, a deceiver, a fraud. But for those in the room, he really seemed like the real deal. And not only had they bet everything because of their belief in this man, they had come to love him.

1:51 They come to see him as a real friend, and they were intensely devoted to him. Everything depended on him. And on the sad night, it seemed like he was giving up on them. He announced that he was leaving. How could he leave?

2:16 What would happen to the small band of disciples? Peter, James, John, Andrew, Matthew, all the 12, we're nothing without Jesus. What would happen if Jesus left them? It was unbelievable. It was crushing.

2:40 This is the ethos, the the aura that's in the room at the event that we call the Last Supper. We read in the Gospel of John that, they their hearts were filled with grief because he said he was leaving them. And in the farewell discourse, is traditionally John 14 through 16, maybe before maybe 13 can be included and also 17. Jesus exhorts his disciples, do not let your hearts be troubled. Neither let it be afraid.

3:18 You believe in god, believe also in me and he went on to announce that although he was leaving, he would return and they would be together again. But sadly, there would be this interval in between in which he would have to be gone. When John first heard these words, he was a young man. As a much older man, he now realized that that interval lasted a whole lot longer than he initially thought of when Jesus, his master and teacher had been gone. But in this farewell discourse, Jesus went on to say that although he was leaving them as tragic and as confusing as that was, in some incredible way, they should rejoice and be glad.

4:15 Because although he was leaving them, he would still be with them. And in fact, their responsibility in this interval was to abide in him, was to stick with him. And through the coming of the spirit, it would be possible for the band of disciples to continue on in their fellowship, in their relationship with Jesus, their teacher and master. And one of the other incredible blessings of Jesus is going away would be that this intimate relationship of being with the Messiah would no longer be geographically restricted to a certain place and time. It wouldn't be restricted to only a few.

5:48 This is the way First John should be understood. There are many references in First John back to that farewell discourse. In fact, we could put for a subheading underneath the Epistle to First John, the Farewell Discourse applied. It's been well argued that, first John is a reflection or an application of the farewell discourse. Many of the key ideas in this epistle can be traced back there.

6:21 It's where John gets his phrase, my little children. It's where, well, in the beginning, where he says, that which we have surned, seen, and heard, we declare to you, we testify to you. The lord Jesus told his disciples in that upper room, you will testify of me because you have been with me from the beginning. Is where Jesus gave the famous new commandment that John will talk about later. Is where John gets his theologically robust idea of knowing God and about abiding in God and about abiding in the Messiah and the importance of keeping his commandments.

6:55 How to have a personal relationship, a personal walk with Jesus is what first shot is all about. Last week, I listened to the message online. Thank you for that. Last week, chapter one, you were introduced to some principles, some basic principles of having a healthy walk with the Lord Jesus. And one of the things that God places an absolute priority on is honesty and openness.

7:30 As with any other relationship, he says, walking in the light, part of that involves confessing our sin. And we can't have fellowship with god if in our relationship, in our day to day walk with him, we try to cover up or make excuses for our sin. Those are the two alternatives that are drawn for us in chapter one. We either walk in light or we walk in darkness. We either confess our sin or we say we have no sin.

7:59 And again, this is a regular day to day sort of action. Abe did a good job of explaining how metaphor of walk is a continual thing every day. Oh, by the first century, people didn't think of actually walking, was a, well, it's called a dead metaphor. The idea is it's your regular everyday conduct of being in the light. So God places an emphasis on being open about our sin.

8:33 In first John two verses one through six, which is what we're gonna consider this morning, we're gonna learn three more aspects of fellowship with God. And they conveniently fall into three sets of two. So let's read this. Starting in verse one. My little children, these things I write to you so you may not sin.

8:59 And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but also for the whole world. And by this, we know that we know him. If we keep his commandments, he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

9:28 But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this, we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. As many have sadly done, Christians might conceive of their walk with God, their relationship as an agreement with God. His part is the forgiving, my part is the sinning.

10:08 What fun would this be if he didn't have any sin to forgive? And I know how he loves to forgive. My job is to contribute the sin. His job is to contribute the forgiveness. And basically, all that he asks of me is that I don't try to fake that, and I acknowledge it.

10:25 It is possible with a superficial reading to read first John chapter one and come to that conclusion. And so John stopped right there, and he says, now, I'm writing all of these things to you. Walking in the light, yes, it involves being honest about our sin and bringing our sin into the light but it doesn't mean that we make excuses for it and that we still live in it. I'm writing these things to you so that you don't sin. It is important that we take sin incredibly seriously.

11:48 I need to just come right out in the open and say, I was wrong. I was selfish, would you please forgive me? And the only thing that she would need to forgive me, the only basis required would be her kindness. And she would say, I love you, so I freely grant you forgiveness. If we were gonna be really formal about it, that's what she would say.

12:14 But not so with God. As Christians, we believe that God can't do that, that he doesn't do that. That he needs a righteous basis for forgiving our sin. That he can't just look down into his kindness and say, it was bad. But what the heck?

12:38 Sin must be paid for. Now, he's briefly referred to that in chapter one. He says, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He says that the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. So, the first couple verses describe the basis of our forgiveness.

13:08 On our part, what's required for us to be forgiven is just confession But that's not the only ingredient. From God's perspective, the thing that's required is Jesus Christ. And we can only be forgiven on the basis of who he is. And if these two verses, he's given three titles or descriptions. The first one is advocate.

13:35 He says, and if anyone sins, and the King James, the new King James has, is following the Latin advocate. I don't know if you have a different translation here, comforter, helper. This is an interesting word, and it makes for a fascinating word study if you're into that sort of thing. If you ever hear somebody talk about the Paraclete, that's what this is, the Paraclete. It's an exciting word.

14:11 Unfortunately, sometimes people's imaginations get the better of them and they see things that aren't really there. Unfortunately, the idea of a lawyer or a heavenly defense attorney who defends our case when Satan, accuser of the brethren points out as to why we should not be saved, really isn't there in that word. That's not a sense that it is attested to at this time. Instead, the word is helper. Paraclete means a supporter, come from the word to encourage or to exhort.

14:51 This particular form of the word, a helper or a comforter or an advocate, occurs four other times in the Bible, and they're all in one context. If you didn't know and you had to guess based on what I've already said, could you give a good stab in the dark as to where that might be? John chapter 14 through 16, and the thing called the farewell discourse. Now, that fact in and of itself doesn't amount to a hill of beans, Just kind of interesting trivia but the fact that so much throughout first John, John keeps referring back to that those few chapters and the fact that in the upper room discourse or the fell word discourse, Jesus says, I will pray the father and he will send you another comforter. Now, you don't need to be a linguist or a rocket scientist to think that well, if there's another comforter, there must be a first one.

15:48 There's gotta be more than one if he's another one. It kind of opens the question, well, who is this other comforter? Again, the lord Jesus in the upper room discourse is saying that I am going to the father And here we we we have an advocate, a helper, a comforter, who is to the father. He is with the father. But then, I will send you another one who will be with you right now.

16:15 Putting these ideas together, we have a comforter, a helper, someone who supports us in heaven with the father, and we have somebody who helps us and supports us right here in this life. I should say fortunately, graciously, we're not left to our own devices to figure out in what way the Lord Jesus is our helper. We're not left to imagine how does he help us? We're told. He is a helper with the father.

17:19 And so that's what we're told in that famous verse, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, It's the word. He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, the fact that John describes the lord Jesus as the righteous one in context reminds us that he is righteous to forgive. He is the righteous one who does the forgiving and our part is the one who's full of all unrighteousness. He needs no forgiveness.

17:51 He is the grantor, not the receiver of forgiveness. And then we're told in verse two, that he himself, sympathetic there, he himself is the... No, don't get charismatic or carried away. But what do you have there in your violence? Propitiation?

18:20 Propitiation, anyone who would not have propitiation? There's got to be someone with the NIV, no NIV. Atoning sacrifice? Maybe you're just shy with the NIV and afraid to admit it. The NIV has the atoning sacrifice.

18:39 And if there was somebody who was really hip, the new revised standard version has the expiation of our sins. This is another really interesting word. What does this mean that he is the propitiation or the atoning sacrifice or the expiation for our sins? Well, those two words mean different things. Expiation means removal or forgiveness, and that is very clearly there.

19:12 That's the context of chapter one. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all unrighteousness. The fact that he's a propitiation that the blood that comes through that talks about the actual removal of sin and its forgiveness. That's the way John is thinking about the blood of Jesus just a few verses earlier. So the idea of expiation is clearly there.

19:39 The translation propitiation is different. It means a satisfying sacrifice. A satisfying sacrifice. We worth our time to park there and think about that a little bit. The idea of appreciation has a long history, even in the Bible.

19:59 You can see it used in the pagan religions that are around Israel. Very briefly, there was this battle in the Old Testament in second Kings in which Israel, Judah, and Syria joined forces, and they attacked the Moabites. You might remember this, and the king of Moab looks out and sees the water in the valleys, and it looks to him like blood, and so they run out to take the spoil, and then really Israel, Judah, and Syria is just waiting. Well, it's an obscure story. So, they see him coming is when the Israelites, they attack the king of Moab, and he's he's defeated.

20:40 And so in desperation, we read in second Kings that the king of Moab takes his firstborn son and he offers him as a burnt offering as a sacrifice on the wall. That's the pagan idea of propitiation that it's clear to me that the gods must be angry, I must have done something wrong. And so I give them something important. Maybe they will look kindly on me again. Hopefully, don't need to explain to you that that is not what the Bible means when it talks about the Lord Jesus being our propitiation.

21:37 Alright, chapter four verse 10, and, here in his love, not that we love god but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The idea of Jesus being our propitiation isn't that god was angry with us before but then Jesus stepped in and said, woah, you need to be, you need to cool down a little bit. I'll lie on the cross and that way, you can love people again. That's not the idea of propitiation. In fact, it is the love of God, which motivated him to send his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

22:21 He doesn't love us anymore because he's been propitiated. Instead, the idea is a satisfying sacrifice. John chapter one, we read the words of John the Baptist, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The idea is that the Lord Jesus in his death was a sacrifice which paid the price for everyone's sin. And so now God can righteously, justly forgive those, all those and only those who believe in his son for forgiveness.

23:02 Because the debt has been paid. So if the idea of forgiveness is there, it's restricted, isn't it? Not everyone is forgiven. We had just said that in chapter one, we confess our sins. He's faithful and just forgive us of our sins.

23:23 But if the idea of of payment for sin is being emphasized, then look at what we read here in chapter two, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and I can hardly think of a way for John to make it any clearer than this. And not for ours only but also for the whole world. The lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world. This is the same John who recorded the words of the lord Jesus that god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but everlasting, have everlasting life. The writer of the Hebrews put it well that he, by the grace of God, tasted death for, someone truly knows the verse.

24:28 For every man, every woman, every boy, every girl, for everyone. The apostle Paul said, god will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth, that there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. First Timothy two, four through six. He is the sacrifice not for merely believers, but for the entire world, even for those who ultimately reject And more than that, his death in some sense is, it affects something on the behalf of the entire world. It removes the sin barrier for every single person.

25:45 Well, it's like that fiery cherub has been removed. Now the way is open, and the command is whosoever will may come and take the water of life freely. Like we sometimes saying, this is now salvation's day, sin has all been put away. This is what I heard him say, oh, believe it. So John pauses before he talks about the necessity of our obedience.

26:15 You talk about our part in walking with God to say, never ever forget that this is not a relationship in which two parties are equal, and we each contribute equal parts. God has gone through incredible lengths, paid an incredible price for you to be in this relationship. He is the forgiver. He is the one who sent his son to die for you, to die for everyone. But then he moves on.

26:48 In chapter one, he had said that our part was to be open and confess our sin. And then he says, we're not supposed to keep sinning. And he continues this theme in verse three. Now by this, we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. John knows how how slippery people's logic can be.

27:14 And so he says, the reverse. He says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Walking in a relationship with God requires obedience, keeping his commandments. The Lord Jesus said, 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.

27:53 And I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words and the word which you hear is not mine, but the fathers who sent me. I didn't give the reference.

28:24 Any ideas where that's from? That's John chapter 14. The importance of keeping his commands, that's how we love the Lord. That's how we know him. And in fact, also back in that same chapter, a couple, 13 verses earlier.

28:50 The lord Jesus chastises Philip and he says, Philip, I have been with you so long that you don't know me. It's possible for a believer to not really intimately know the lord. That's really a relationship word, isn't it? I think, again, going back to the book of Genesis where we're told that Adam knew his wife, Eve, and they and she brought forth a son. It was more than a handshake.

29:14 Hi, my name is Adam. Hi, my name is Eve. It's in term of intimacy to know someone. We know that we really know God if we obey him, if we keep his commandments. And there is no way to really know him other than keeping his commandments.

30:20 I know god and really once that idea grabs a hold of you, there's nothing that can compare to knowing god. In fact, the apostle Paul said, all of the other things in my life, I count them like they're garbage. That I might know him. And the power of his resurrection. This is why we keep his commandments, and it's impossible to know him without keeping his commandments.

30:48 So the the the second aspect of our walk with God is we need to obey him. Now there is certainly a sense in which this is a commandment. God commands and we obey. That's an important aspect to the Christian life. I've learned to appreciate this a lot more.

31:10 Why should I not stick the fork in the electrical outlet, dad? Eventually, you just say, because I told you so. And there's an element to that in the Christian life, where we obey God because thus saith the Lord, and we need to obey him. Sometimes, I love the morning meeting and it is my highlight of the week. And sometimes, I get up and get dressed and get my my screaming and crying children around and drag them to the meeting because thus saith the lord, do this in remembrance of me.

31:47 He said we have to do it and so I do it. And is a blessing to me and I'm glad I did it every time that I do but I need to be reminded that he's my boss. And yet we would be wrong if we talk about this and said, you know what? Knowing god, this is what it's about. Having a walk with god, the people at church keep talking about walking with god.

32:10 So, basically, this what this means. As as long as you come to church, you pray, you don't look at pornography, you don't do drugs, you don't swear, you don't cheat on your taxes a lot, then you have a walk with God. Keeping his commandments are important. We shouldn't do any of those things but all of those things added up and put together don't mean you're walking with god. And so he goes on He says, whoever, verse five, keeps his word, truly the love of god is perfected in him.

32:55 That's interesting, isn't it? Oh boy, alright, six minutes. The love of God is perfected in him. Keeping God's commandments, John is saying, is the product, it is the consequence of God's love having his way in our lives. It is perfected.

33:17 That means to reach the intended goal. It is the end result of a loving relationship with God. So, there's there's this cycle in which in order to know god, I keep his commandments but the more that I know god, the more I want to keep his commandments and the more I keep his commandments, the more I know him, the more intimately I understand him and the more intimately I understand him and I'm in relationship with him, the more I care and guard and keep what he has told me to do. The end result of all of this, he says in verse six, he who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. Fascinating.

34:55 What I mean by that is, the goal of the Christian life is not so that we can fit in with the established values of our family, with the established values of our assembly, or so that we could be good republicans, or sorry for that. It is that way we can walk even as he walked. And that is a challenge. It is interesting, since I said the r word there, to to think about the goal that we're to walk as he walked. It's fascinating to me that so many different groups really around the world tried to claim the Lord Jesus on their side.

35:43 You know I'm talking about? He's a communist, he's a feminist, he's all these other things. Now, one perspective, we could just dismiss that as whether he's trying to gain his support. But it's worth thinking about. The Lord Jesus really defies any box we might put him in.

36:08 He is not one group, he is not a person that easily falls into any group that I see on this planet. And no matter what group or people that you hang with, the circles that you or authors that you read, they get certain things right about the lord Jesus. The more I know him, I think, yeah, but you're you're missing another part. And if our goal is not just to fit in with other people to put but to be conformed to his character, we should be sensitive to those things. Some groups major on something better than other groups.

36:46 But our goal is ultimately to be more like him. Should we be concerned about people's souls and try to share the gospel? Well, he says he abides in him must walk as he walked. We share the gospel because he shared the gospel. Are we people who are concerned about holiness?

37:06 We should because he was. Are we people who are concerned about the poor? Does that matter to you, the oppressed, the underprivileged, the underrepresented? It should because it mattered to him. He was sent to preach good news to the poor.

37:29 And any group or theological system that misses that is missing walking as he walked. Should we be concerned about those who have been struggling with addictions and a sinful lifestyle. Any group of Christians that never really ever come to cross someone who is a prostitute is missing something. We should walk even as he walked. This is our goal, and not simply to fit in to avoid certain sins, but to be more like Jesus Christ.

38:12 And if those things aren't important to you, if you say, well, really my desire is just that I would fit in and not stick out like a sore thumb. My advice to you is the advice that I give to myself, is spend more time knowing Jesus. The more you get to know him, the more you walk with him, the more you obey him, I am persuaded that you will be won over by his magnetic personality. The more you come to see life, see the world through his perspective, and see things the way he did. Confessing your own sin, confessing your own shortcomings, acknowledging, I acknowledge that there's too much in my life that reeks of Bruce Henning, and not enough that speaks of the Lord Jesus.

39:11 But the more I know him, the more I want to obey him and have that desire that I want to see the love of God perfected in my life. What attitudes, what actions, what habits, what thoughts are not Christ like. To confess them and to be transformed into his image. Let's close in prayer. Our father, we are so thankful for this great one, the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

39:52 He is gone and we eagerly await his return. We acknowledge that he is the Lord, that he is the Messiah, that he is the truth, that he is the life. He is the king of Israel. We thank you that he is our friend, he is our savior. He wants us to know him even as he knows us.

41:13 And we pray that as we keep your commands, as we grow in holiness, that we would fall deeper and deeper in love with who you are, the love of God would be perfected in us. It's our desire that we would be more like Jesus, and less like ourselves. That we would walk as he walked. We pray that you would do this great miracle by your powerful Holy Spirit. Apart from your son, we can do nothing.

42:01 But if we abide in him, we will bear much fruit. Thank you, Lord, for this gracious offer. It's all important command. It's not an option. You tell us that we must.

42:19 We ask for your grace in keeping your commands. We commit ourselves to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.