Loving in Deed and in Truth — 1 John 1-3

0:02 Good afternoon, everybody. Alright. I'm gonna... I'm setting a stopwatch on my phone because I can't read that clock back there. We need a bigger clock.

0:13 But anyways, so as everybody pretty much knows, and if you don't know, we've been going through first John and we've gotten through first John one, two, and part of three, and I'm doing the second part of three, which is pretty dense, so I'm going to cover a lot of ground, but I recommend that you go back and you reread it and maybe evaluate some of the things I said and see if it's true or not for yourself. So we can just start off by reading one John three ten-twenty two. And that's what I'll be covering today. And twenty three and twenty four, I'll leave it I'll I'll quickly cover it and I'll leave that for next week because it kind of segues into the following week. So I'll start from verse 10.

1:03 It says, let me find it. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.

1:27 And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds are evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised brothers that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

1:42 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has a world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. By this, we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him.

2:14 For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God and whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. Before we get to looking at the text, let's just have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for a wonderful day, Lord. Thanks for allowing us to have the opportunity to be able to worship your name and think of you and think of the cross and the great gift of grace and eternal life that you have given us and the suffering that it took to achieve and the gravity of that, Lord.

2:58 And we're grateful that we're able to just freely come into your presence right now and talk to you as a friend. And we're grateful that you've given us this living word before us, and we know that you... This is... This word is alive and it's real and it's a a sword for us, and please allow us to be able to receive it and understand it and to just look at it and to know what you are telling us, Lord, and and what you tell us alone. We thank you once again for all that you've done for us.

3:28 In your name we pray. Amen. Okay. So before I get into it, I wanted to just roughly go through the previous chapters and also the overall concept of John's writings. And I have three points specifically from this section that I'm gonna read...

3:54 That I'm gonna tell you guys right now, and then we'll go through the background. So I have point number one that I'm... That we learn here is that we know that we are of God by our love for one another. So that's point number one. We know that we're of God.

4:10 Point number two is that we know how to love one another. And point number three is that we know that we have confidence to come before him, to come into his presence. So we know that we are of God, we know how to love one another, and we have confidence to come... We know that we have confidence to come before him. So if you don't know, and we've said this pretty much every message I would say, but if you don't know, John...

4:38 The gospel of John and first John are very different, and there are two key verses that I'll just tell you guys again. In John, the gospel of John, John is writing, there's this key verse, John 20 verse 31. I'll just read it. It says, for these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. So John is specifically written so that you may believe.

5:05 It's written... Sorry. Written to the unbeliever so that they may believe, whereas first John has a key verse. First John five thirteen and mister Bingham last week talked about this as well. It says, I want you to...

5:21 It says, these things are written to you that you may believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God. So first John in contrast is more about continuing to believe knowing that he is the son of God and continuing to believe the truth. So we have those two distinct things. John is towards... The gospel of John is towards the unbeliever, and first John is towards the believer and encouraging the believer to continue in the faith.

6:40 I'm just a kid though, so I don't really care about that as much. I care about the lake though. But we get to our hotel and we get there in the evening and my dad has planned like everything about this trip, what we're going to do pretty much every single day and what the game plan is. So that night, our game plan was to get to the hotel, get ready, and at night go to this opera, which... Okay.

7:02 I think that's pretty cool. Like, we're going to go to opera, see all these... We're going to see this orchestra there and... I don't know if that's the right term, if there's a whole orchestra, but anyways. So we're going to go there, we're going to see all this and it's going to be great.

7:16 So my brother, sister, I, we get to the room, we get ready pretty fast, and my parents still have to get ready, so they need some time. So we go up to my parents and ask if we can just go check out the lake. Right? And my parents look at us and they say, yeah, of course, but don't go near the water. Okay?

7:34 Don't go by the water. So we were like, yeah, yeah, whatever. We'll go to the lake. We go to this lake and we're just chilling out by this lake walking around. And in my brilliant mind, I think, okay, I can go kind of close to the water.

7:48 I won't go near too close, but I'll go a little bit closer than my brother and sister are going. So I go pretty close to this water and then I'm walking around and I see like this huge log in like just in the water and I think to myself, oh, what? That's awesome. I want to go check it out. So I jump on top of this log and my brother and my sister are looking at me and they're just snickering.

8:11 They're just laughing at me, but I'm just laughing and having fun and then I'm walking along this log and because it's been in the water for so long, it's super slippery. So I take a step and my foot slips and my entire foot shoe and my pant leg slides into the water, and then I lose my balance and my other foot slips, and that shoe and pant leg slides into the water. So now I'm standing in this water, and then my brother and sister obviously run back to my parents to tell on me, And then I have to do... Yeah. I have to do the walk of shame back too.

8:45 So I tell you the story because in first John, we come to this... At the very beginning, we come to this concept that we have... Because of Jesus Christ on the cross, we have fellowship with the father. And I wanted to tell you this story because I feel like it kind of explains what fellowship means. It's more than just knowing the father because the father...

9:09 We learn in first John one that the father is light and the father in him is no darkness at all. So when I consider light, I I know it means good and I know that it means he's righteous and holy and all those things, but I also know that it means he can see, you know. He actually has a vision to be able to see what's around him and what's in the future, and he actually also has a game plan for where we're going and what we're gonna do, and this is what we need to do in order to get there. So the father has that, and he's considering all of that as we, the children, navigate through this life. So he considers that, and then he also knows consequences if we don't do what we need to do in order to get there.

9:51 So I go back to my dad and and my mom, and I tell them... I show them what happened, and obviously there are consequences for what happened. So the consequence was I only had one pair of dress shoes and I can't wear sandals to the opera, so I had to sit there with a blow dryer, try to dry out my shoes and there wasn't enough time for it to dry. So I had to wear partially wet shoes to this two hour opera and I had to sit there and wallow in my guilt and my shame, you know. So only my dad...

10:23 Only if I trusted my dad and I knew he knows what he's doing, he knows where he's... Where we need to go and what we need to do to get there, that would have been... Everything would have been perfect. Right? So we see that in first John chapter one.

11:11 It shows us how to do it and it explains to us how we know that it's actually happening, that we're actually abiding in Christ. So we have the three points of we know that we are we know that we are of God, we know how to love, and we know that we have confidence to come before him. So the first point here starts off in first John chapter... Or chapter three verse 10 to 15. It...

11:41 This one is gonna be the deepest of all the points because there's a lot of information that's thrown around in these five verses. But I'll do my best to disseminate that information. So the first point is we know that we are of God and right off the bat in verse... In in the... Right off the bat in the the very first verse of that section in verse 10, we read, by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

12:14 And that really, like, clearly tells us that we know who you are identified with. By this, whatever this is, we know who you are identified with. And it goes on, the verse goes on, the text goes on to explain that the this is those that practice sin are of the devil and those that practice righteousness are of Christ. So those that... So we clearly are identified by what we practice.

12:43 And last week, we talked about this. Mister Bingham talked about it, and he was saying he really took out this keyword from that and the word is the word practice. Right? So the word practice is equivalent to having a strong desire or devotion or having intentional thought towards something and also action towards that. So if your desire and your devotion and your life is towards sin and your action is towards sin, then obviously you're of the devil.

13:15 But if your life and your desire and your devotion is towards righteousness, you're of Christ, God. So to better explain that, I thought of it more and we also say it in the terms of habitual patterns or habitual sin versus habitual righteousness. You're intentionally doing it. But I also consider it in terms of second Corinthians five fourteen, which we all know this verse, but I consider it as being constrained. So if you're being constrained by sin, if you're being compelled by sin, you are of the devil.

13:50 But if you're being compelled by love by God, you're of God. And by second Corinthians five fourteen, we know for sure that if you're a believer, it says, for the love of Christ controls us, and that word controls is also said in some versions as constrains us and compels us. So for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died and he died for all and those who live might no longer that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. So we see this clearly that we're being controlled and constrained by love. So to better explain that, I was...

15:18 It simply says, and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit. So early on in in my walk, I always thought this was a very interesting word... Verse from the bible, especially when I was in college and drinking was a huge thing. I would really meditate on this verse and try to understand what it meant because it's essentially contrasting drink... Getting drunk with being filled with the spirit.

15:45 So that's a big concept there, you know. So the Lord revealed that this idea of practicing righteousness is is pretty close or almost equivalent to the concept of an alcoholic versus a sober minded person. So an alcoholic is really constrained and controlled and compelled by the desire to get drunk. An alcoholic seeks after that and desires to do that and goes after that and it takes a considerable effort in order for him to or her to stop that that habitual pattern and to to be sober. You know?

16:26 So a sober person isn't constrained or compelled or controlled by that desire to get drunk. A sober person is free of that. And in the same way, as a sober person... As a as a Christian, we're free of any constraint towards sin. We have no desire towards sin, We have no devotion towards sin.

16:47 We have no intentional thought towards sin. But, of course, in in this very same chapter, we see the verses regarding our fleshly bodies. As long as we're on this earth, we do continue to live in this fleshly body and we do continue to struggle and have this battle. So as I as I meditated on Ephesians five eighteen in my past, I realized that it really establishes this battle of the spirit versus the flesh and how the spirit really frees us from sin and the flesh puts us under the bondage of sin. And we know we know that very same battle as as we talked about last week in Romans chapter seven where it reads in verse 18.

17:35 It says, for I know that nothing good... Paul Paul is saying this, for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, in his mind he has the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. So we see here that the key is that he wants to do something specifically and what he wants is good.

18:05 Whether or not he's able to achieve it or he does achieve it, the fact that he wants good rather than evil is a clear indication of his sober mindedness. So as long as we're in this fleshly body, we will still have this battle against sin. And we see that this concept of spirit versus flesh and life versus death starts to come out in first John three in John's writing. Good versus... It's it's it's described in many different ways.

19:33 The gospel of John that we are to love others as well, all others, our neighbors. And we... In verse 14, it says that he who does not love abides in death. So again, it's reiterated the battle between life and death that we represent by our love. We represent life.

19:54 We represent God. We are of God. And those who do not love others and those who do not love are of are of death or of the devil. And as we continue in that relationship in this in this world, we we clearly become an example of Jesus Christ and when we're an example of Jesus Christ and we're an example of life, we see in verse we see in verse 12 that the reason that Cain murdered Abel was not because of there was no reason actually. The the the basis of his his his sin was simply because his deeds were evil and Abel's was righteous.

20:41 So again, the the good versus evil is set up and we, as we do righteous deeds on this earth, the world is going to hate us in that same way, in the same way that Cain hated Abel just because we are we are at odds with each other because they are not they are not the same. Sorry. So the world will hate us and we were even reminded of that in John chapter 15 where the world hated Christ not because of any evil that he did, but because simply because he represented good, represented life. We're at odds with the world. So just to sum up this this this was a really long point, but just to sum up this one point, we we learned that as believers we cannot be constrained by sin any longer.

21:35 It's not possible for us to be constrained by sin. We may fall to sin as long as we're in this fleshly body, but it doesn't compel us. We're not devoted to it. We're not... We don't desire to sin anymore, any longer.

21:49 And as we live sober minded and free because of Christ's work on the cross, we're really free to pursue righteousness. We're free to practice righteousness, and we're free to have intimacy with the father and have true fellowship with the father. And then... And there's kind of a a side note to this too is is when we say practice righteousness, the caveat is that righteousness isn't defined by the world. Right?

22:18 Righteousness is defined by the father and Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross. So you'll see many people in the world that are good people. Right? That aren't Christian. Like Mahatma Gandhi was...

22:29 He was a really great person. Everybody agrees that he did a lot of great... A lot of good, right, but he was not Christian. So when we when we consider that in regards to a believer versus a non believer, the truth is that the standard of righteousness is Jesus Christ. So if your standard doesn't meet meet that...

22:51 Or if your righteousness doesn't meet that standard, then it's all null and void. It doesn't mean anything. You know? So if you're not looking at this word to describe your righteousness or to live out your life, then it's a completely different story. That's just a side note.

23:09 But anyway, so we're sober minded and we're able to pursue true intimacy with the Lord because of that, because we have vision and we we walk in the light just as he is in the light, and we're able to practice righteousness by following his commandments, and that leads to the next point where it tells us to love one another and that's how you practice righteousness, and in the next few verses, it explains how you actually love and what that should look like on this earth. So... And we clearly know this. The next the next verses are a little bit more clear than the previous because we all know the verse. Verse 18 tells us that, little children let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

24:25 Or indeed in truth, this action is most perfectly represented, of course, by what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. And he's pretty much teaching us to practice what we preach. So what I thought was really cool was there's like a literal analogy in John chapter one verse 14 to this. Jesus Christ is himself is considered the word. Right?

24:52 And in John one fourteen, it literally says, and the word became flesh. So he didn't... The word itself became action. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as only... As of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth.

25:12 So the word the word became flesh, literally became action before us, right, which is pretty cool. So in the same way, we're to go out into this world and practice what we preach and have this action. So John continues in this text and he says an example, a practical example of if you see... If if anyone has a world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? So John has this clear description of if you see somebody in need, you should you should provide for him if you have the ability to, you know.

25:54 So I... And and that's very clear. But as an example, April is back and she's been gone for the last month and you guys... Many of you probably know... Knew that if not all of you, but April is a really great example of that.

26:09 A few months ago, we actually... She was working that Sunday, but I got a phone call after the first service on Sunday. And my sister, she was visiting Jersey and she fainted and fell and broke her jaw. And she had to go to the hospital, and some of you knew but not all, but she had to go to the hospital and she had to have emergency surgery or not emergency, but she had to have her mouth wired shut. So I got the call and then I immediately called April and I told her and April responded, she was like, alright, we got to go right after work.

26:45 So April had to work till like 08:00 or 06:00 that day and her thought was, we gotta go right now. We gotta go right after work. And we... She got out of work and we got home and we just prepared packed stuff and we drove to Jersey six hours away. So in my mind though, when I heard...

27:04 When I got the call, I mean, it's kind of bad to say, but when I got the call, was like, oh no, that's bad. I'll pray for my sister. And I and I maybe send a Getwell SIM card and I hope she gets better. But in April's mind, obviously, it was like spring into action. Let's do this.

27:23 Right? Let's take care of her and make sure she's okay. So we get to Jersey and my sister's in the hospital and she's... My family is from Texas obviously, so she didn't really have anyone there, but April goes on to... It was amazing to see because April went on to that night we got there really late and she slept at my sister's bedside so my sister wasn't alone by herself, know, because my sister, I'm sure it was traumatizing because one of her favorite things is her smile and she felt face first to the ground, know, so like some of her teeth were like were were off.

28:00 So she didn't have any family there with her really, and April decided to stay overnight at the bed. Then when we left and we took her back to somebody's house to stay there, April spent the next few days just preparing all these plans and looking up information in regards to nutritious shakes to drink because obviously she can't chew. April put together a whole list of all these things that we need to buy, like, the things that we need to do, and that's that's really awesome. Right? So just by these actions and not just by words that I wanted to use, but by action, we were able to clearly represent the love of Christ on this earth.

28:55 But when we see something, when you see a brother or sister who's struggling to have... Take care of their car and they need it to get to work or something like that, maybe you can chip in a a couple bucks in order for them to get that fix or something, you know. So... And even in grander schemes, it's it's an amazing thing. So what this really does for us as a church, it has it has two huge benefits, and one of them I obviously already talked about was the fact that the world will see the light, you know.

29:31 The world is in darkness and it cannot comprehend light and as we do these actions and these deeds, the world will see, will hear the gospel, see the gospel and it'll be true and we see that in in John chapter 13 that we talked about so long ago. It says a new commandment... Verse 34 says a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

30:05 And that's amazing. Right? Just by this, all people will know that you are my disciples. So just by what we do, all people see, all people know that we're disciples of Jesus Christ. So that's...

30:18 That in itself is great motivation for this. And the other thing that it does is the church itself will function powerfully, will function properly. And we see that in Ephesians four fifteen. Right? That rather speaking the truth and love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is ahead into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

30:50 So we we are a body and every single joint and part works perfectly together. And when it's function... When each part is functioning properly, the body functions properly and it is a mighty force on this earth for him. So those two things are achieved by by this and we know how to love because of his example and because of the example of our other brothers and sisters, which is great. So we clearly love by action and not by words and our action empowers the church and it also shines light in this dark world.

31:27 And because of our action and because of practicing righteousness, we're able to have confidence to come before him, which is the final point. So in the final point, we do these things. We know that we have to practice righteousness in order to know that we are of God, in order for us to personally know and for the world to know. And we have to practice that righteousness by loving one another, and we love one another by following his example and and sacrificially or giving sacrificially loving or giving something up as we engage with our brothers and sisters. So in point number three, after we do those things, we have confidence to come before him.

32:12 And this was a... This is a really good few verses from verse 19 to 22 because it it reveals it reveals the privilege that we have by doing this. So if you I'm sure everybody knows who LeBron James is, but he's really well known right now, right? But LeBron James has two young sons, right, and I see, I don't know their names, but I was able to go to that parade because I worked really close by after they won the championship and of course his sons are on the car and they're just talking with their dad hanging out with him. And I'm sure that even if he was at a game and he made like the game winning shot and the game was over, his sons could just run up onto the court and just jump on top of LeBron James and like hug him and say, yeah, this is awesome.

33:24 That's that's impossible. I would get stopped before I get there. And because I know that, I hesitate to do something like that. I would never do anything like that because I know I would probably get tasered or knocked out or something. So in that same way, as believers, as these sober minded people that walk in the light, we do have great confidence to to walk into the presence of God, which is cool because as a non believer, as someone that doesn't know God, you can't walk into his presence.

33:56 It's impossible. And even if you did happen to go into his presence, it would be the scariest thing of your life because there's like judgment and and like all this stuff there. It would frighten you just as Moses when he came before the burning bush fell on his face, you know. But that's what's described here in this text. This text really explains that...

34:21 Or well, we'll read Hebrews four. We read that in the meeting today, which is really great. But Hebrews four describes coming to the throne of grace because of Jesus Christ. Hebrews four fourteen says, since then we we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

34:53 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And in first John three, we really see this come to play. So we talked about before that a sinner is a sober minded person, but a sober person obviously can still get drunk, can still fall to sin. So sinner... Or a believer, sorry.

35:19 A believer is a sober minded person, but a sober minded person can still get drunk or fall to sin, but he's not compelled or controlled by it, of course. So in in first John three, there's two distinct confidences that we have. One is if our heart condemns us, if we happen to fall to sin and our heart condemns us as guilty, it clearly says here, for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. So if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and we can still boldly approach the throne of grace. And then we have a...

35:59 The second assurance is that when we are abiding in him completely and we are having this true intimate relationship with him that we can... It says, beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. We have confidence and assurance to... It says, whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. So we have confidence and assurance to approach the throne and to ask and receive from him.

36:31 And we and we know that to be true from Romans chapter seven as well. We read that and we read the struggle that Paul was going through of he was doing the things that he did not want to do, but the truth was that he he wanted to do righteousness. So his his mind was sober and clear clear to follow after righteousness. It was just the struggle was as he is in his fleshly body. And then Romans chapter seven comes to this point wherein in chapter eight we we read that there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, right?

37:06 For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. So we have confidence even though we go through the struggle, even though we may struggle, we have we have complete confidence come before him and no condemnation at all because Christ has taken that away from us, that burden away from us completely. But, of course, abiding in him perfectly allows you to have this amazing relationship where you can ask of the father and he'll give to you freely. And the caveat that I talked I talked about a long time ago in one of my messages when Devin and I spoke. The caveat is that, obviously, if you're abiding in him completely, your desires or your prayers aren't really gonna be out of line with his will.

37:50 It's gonna be in line with his will and the things that he would desire to see as well just because your relationship is so intimate. You're not gonna be asking for selfish things like big houses and cute and awesome cars, things like that. You're gonna be wanting to do what he wants to do. Right? So when we have...

38:09 And and that's reiterated in in the gospel of John as well, where it says in John 15 verse seven, it says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. So we see that... We see parallels between the Gospel of John and the book of... The letter of first John. So we have these we have these three very clear...

38:39 This three... This progression of thought in first John at the end of first John of we know that we're of the father, that we we know that we're of god because we love one another. And it's and he teaches us how to love one another on this earth, to love one another just as he loved us and just as we see the example of our brothers and sisters around us. And and when we do love one another, when we do practice this righteousness, we're able to, with confidence, come into the throne of grace, into the presence of God and ask whatever we want and he will give it to us. So as a conclusion after this, all of that, that's a lot of stuff I know.

39:26 So I really would ask you guys to go go back home and read these 12 verses. It was only 12 verses, right? So read these 12 verses over and over again. I probably read it 50 times and I don't think that was enough obviously, so you should continue to do that. But we really do have a distinct privilege to say that we walk in the light.

39:48 That's a pretty cool thing to say, that we walk in the light just as he is in the light, and that's not an easy thing. That's not an easy phrase to throw out there, you know. We get to say that because we're simply following an example of a savior who who came down and proved that to us. The word himself became flesh, became action to us. So through action, we know that we're his, and through action, we know we truly love our brothers and others, and by that action, we also have this confidence before him.

40:25 And and just to make it clear, the action is happening after we've already been saved. The condemnation has already been taken away. Action... The action doesn't... Your salvation doesn't depend on the action at all.

41:23 Want to honor the Lord and glorify the Lord for the fact that we are his disciples. Let's just close in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this opportunity to be able to learn about you Lord and we know that as long as we're on this earth, we live in these fleshly bodies and we do struggle at times, but we have complete confidence that we're released from condemnation because of your wonderful and perfect work on the cross, Lord. So as we go about this week, please give us the wisdom to focus on that, the fact that we have boldness to enter your throne of grace. We have boldness to just be a light in this world.

42:09 And although the world may hate us and and may despise that, we know that it's the truth and we we know that it'll bring glory to your name, the glory that only you deserve, Lord. We thank you so much for this time that we've had to talk about you and to think about you and we ask that you continue to allow us to do that in in in the coming days, We ask all these things in your wonderful and precious name. Amen.