To Live as Christ — 1 John 2

0:00 Dear heavenly father, Lord, we praise your name. We thank you for Jesus, our savior and redeemer and our friend. We thank you that he is the power that we need to live for you, Lord. We thank you for your grace that is sufficient for us and perfect in our weakness. God, we pray, would you be with us now?

0:27 Point us to nothing else but Jesus alone. His name alone, Lord. We stand on nothing else but him. So God, may his glory be known now. We pray this in Jesus name.

0:41 Amen. The more I read God's word, the more I'm convinced that if you just sum up everything, what is proclaiming is we've received the grace of God, and we receive it through faith in Jesus Christ alone. I thought I was gonna be clever and try to not share the key points of the message and just wait till, you know, the natural climax and be like, okay, here's here's the takeaway. But since the Holy Spirit's already kind of led us to the key point, I'm just gonna share it right out. Kinda spoiled it, but we're just gonna go for it.

1:17 So the key point for this message is the only way to live Christ. The only way to live the the life that Jesus has for us is by faith in the power of Jesus, by by faith in the power of Christ living in us. So looking back at Brian's message from from last week, I just wanna give a little warning. So Brian did not endorse the message that I'm giving. So if there's anything that you know he's disagreeing with this is this is what I'm saying.

1:46 But I kind of see this message as a part two from what Brian was saying. So Brian's message the focus was to live as Christ and the key verse that that he was illustrating was Philippians one twenty one which says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And he said you can you can take out the is from there. He says, for me to live Christ and to die gain. And I wanted to highlight two two points that Brian made.

2:18 In kind of a summary, Brian said, to live as Christ is to remember Christ and to participate in the things that Christ did. Being that he obeyed God, he humbled himself, he gave his life for others, and he suffered. Another thing that Brian said was, we should be in practice what we are in position. That is a quote from Brian, I guess, who was formerly attributed to Bill McDonald, but that's Brian's. So now we're gonna look at first John one...

2:49 Or sorry, first John two, which will be our passage. So first John two... Can we get the... I think there's supposed to be a slide. Can we get the slide up?

3:01 So first John two starting in verse 12. I write to you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write to you fathers because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you little children because you have known the father.

3:33 I've written to you fathers because you have known him who is from the beginning. I've written to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one. So looking at these verses we kind of see a picture of spiritual maturity or what it looks like to move from one stage you might say of spiritual growth to the next. And, these are not my words but some... Someone said that John when he's writing this epistle he's kind of using these broad strokes.

4:08 He's painting in these broad pictures and showing us the marks of what Christian maturity of what our faith looks like as we grow. So you might feel like, okay, maybe I feel kind of immature here. I feel mature here. But what John is giving us is what is the marks of our faith and what is the marks of what it looks like when we grow. And when I was reading these verses it's a little bit confusing.

5:02 And John uses that word earlier on in the chapter. In chapter two, he starts by saying, my little children. So when he's using this word of little children, he's not addressing the spiritually immature, but he's addressing all believers. So in the Greek, this word little children, it's a diminutive term meaning that it's like my dear children. Like, kinda like like little boy or little girl, it's like my dear children.

5:28 He's showing his affection for the believers. And what he's saying refers to all believers. And he says, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. And we'll look at, what these different things that are attributed to the groups, what they mean. And now this next group is, we see in verse 13 where it says, I write to you little children.

5:52 Now this word that's used for that is paideia, if I'm saying that correctly. It's p a I d I a as you'll see up there so you can pronounce it however you like. I don't really care. But what that means is an infant and this actually means the immature of the faith. Those that are immature or ignorant and you see an emphasis of they're they're vulnerable and they need guidance and care.

6:17 So that's the other group. And the thing that's attributed to this group is because you have known the father. Because you have known the father. And now this other group that's shown is the spiritually maturing and it says the young men, and we'll see that, twice. We'll see that in verse 13, I write to you young men.

6:37 And then the the statements attributed to this group is, you have overcome the wicked one. This is emphasized twice. And then it also says, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you. And a note I'll make is, when we see young men and fathers, I might be saying young men and fathers, but understand that this is talking to all men and women... Or sorry.

7:00 All young men and young women, that spiritual age, whatever. And then the fathers and mothers as well. Sorry. Pardon my jumble right now. But I might be saying young men, but I need young men and women.

7:13 And then this last group is the spiritually mature being the fathers, and then the emphasis in the Greek is the roles of authority and leadership. And then the phrase attributed to this group is because you have known him who is from the beginning. Now we'll look at each group and see what the what what the word of God is teaching us. So now looking at all believers, this this phrase technia, the word technia, it says, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. So this is a truth that applies to every believer that we have peace with God, that we are reconciled with God.

7:51 And how is this accomplished? Because of what he has done. It says, for your name's sake referring to Jesus when it says his name. Because of what Jesus has done alone, we have peace with God. It's not obtained or maintained by our obedience, but it's by the faithfulness of Jesus alone.

8:12 And we see that that is true of all believers. These next three groups that are written, this is attributed to all of them when he's addressing, my dear children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. And now we see this next group, the spiritually immature, the pedia. And the phrase that it's it's given for this group is because you have known the father. Because you have known the father.

8:58 They might not have learned what it means to walk in the faith or to work out their salvation, but at a base level they know the Father. They have a relationship with him. Romans eight verses fifteen and sixteen says, for you do not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And this bearing witness work of the spirit is done from the moment we enter in to our new life in Christ.

9:36 It isn't something that we have to grow and then attain at at a further level of maturity, but when we enter into a relationship with God the Holy Spirit is indwelt, indwelt in us. We have the Holy Spirit Christ in us And the Holy Spirit confirms in our heart that we belong to God as sons and daughters. That's the relationship that we have. And because we have a relationship with God, that means that we can experience rich fellowship with him. We can experience the joy and peace that is found only in fellowship with him.

10:14 So we see that this group, they have the spirit of God, yet they have not learned to consistently walk in the spirit. Because they have the holy spirit, the holy spirit has given them new desires to obey God and live as Christ, but they often walk in the flesh. And we describe that as being carnal or the old man, the old nature. So remember the Greek thing that was, that was given for this definition. There's ignorance not knowing the truth that the gospel not only affects our eternity, but it affects us right now.

10:57 And also vulnerable and need care and guidance that they must be taught the truth. Looking at first Corinthians three verses one through three, and just one note, I'll be bringing up a lot of scriptures so you can just listen because otherwise, we'll just be going back and forth. You'll get lost. I'm getting lost. So first Corinthians three verses one through three says, and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

11:27 I fed you with milk and not with solid food. For until now, you were not able to receive it, and even now you're not able for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? So these two groups that we see in this in this verse, it's the spiritual and the carnal. And I'll define this the spiritual meaning walking in the spirit, carnal walking in the flesh.

11:56 And it's even described as behaving like mere men. What does this teach us? When we're walking in the flesh, we are walking in the nature of man without Christ in us. So listen here. The...

12:11 These peep... We... They have the Holy Spirit in them. They have the new life in them. They have Christ in them.

12:16 Yet when they walk in the flesh, they're not living out that new life and they're living just as those without the spirit of God. This is kind of... This is a heavy thought to think that we can be redeemed and saved and our our actions are... We're we're capable in our flesh to do the exact same deeds as those that are unsaved. Just because you're saved doesn't mean that your flesh is incapable of unrighteousness.

12:51 In our flesh, we are capable of all means of unrighteousness. Ephesians four verse 22 says, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust. I want us to understand this, just because we've been in the faith for a certain amount of time or we've grown or learned more about God, that does not mean that our flesh is somehow incapable of sinning like the craziest sins we can think of. That is possible in our flesh. And I think that is supposed to be a humbling thought that this is what is possible if we do not walk in the spirit.

14:07 And I think how I describe this group is the war has begun. The struggle has begun. And what does that mean? Does that mean that for the spiritually immature that there is no spiritual warfare going on? The difference is those that are spiritually maturing they start struggling against the flesh.

14:29 The struggle begins. The war begins. And like I said earlier, these are broad strokes painted over the passage. All of us can can experience different parts of this at at each stage of our life, but we're just painting broad strokes of the passage. So the war has begun in this group, this spiritually maturing and this struggle against the flesh.

14:53 And now we're seeing, okay, what do we do in this struggle? What what is our hope in this struggle? This next phrase we see is, and the word of God abides in you. The word of God abides in you. Galatians five sixteen says, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

15:14 Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So what is this verse teaching? If we don't wanna walk in the flesh, the key to that is walking in the spirit. And what does that mean? To walk in the spirit is to obey God, to submit to his will.

15:30 So this teaches us that spiritual maturity is not simply knowing more of God's word, but that we know the word of God and now we obey it. So we see in the spiritually immature, there is a desire in their heart given to them by the spirit of God that I desire to obey God. And now in the spiritually maturing, there is a... Okay, not not only is there a desire, but I I... There's a necessity to obey God.

16:00 Not only do I want to obey God, but God calls me to obey him. If I want to live like Jesus is the Lord of my life, if I wanna live in accordance to that, I must obey God with my life. Let's go to first John chapter two. We're gonna be looking at verses three through nine and just doing a verse by verse through these. So starting in verse three, it says, now by this we know that we know him.

16:33 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. 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.

17:00 Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have heard, which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He who says he's in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

17:41 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I guess I read another two verses so a little bonus. So starting in in verse three it says, now 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. So as I said before, not only is there a desire that is given in our hearts by the Holy Spirit to obey God, This verse teaches us that it is a command to obey Him.

18:22 It says, this is how we know we have a relationship with God if we walk in obedience. And that means that if we do not have a pattern of obedience in our life, that means we do not know God. The truth is not in us. This verse teaches us there is a necessity to obey and those that are spiritually maturing see this necessity and have a conviction in their heart that, okay, I need to obey God. The struggle begins.

19:08 The love that God has for us. There is no other motivation that will sustain us, but the love that God has demonstrated for us in the person of Jesus. And looking at verse six, he who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. This is a crazy statement. It's saying that how Jesus walked, God is calling us in this verse to walk in that same way.

19:42 That's that's what God's word says. That that's crazy. Think about how Jesus lived. He lived and says, I I I will to do the Father's will. Like he had no will outside of the Father.

19:57 He said, I... His his very life was obedience to God even to the point of death, the death of the cross. And look at verse six it says, he who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. And that's what we learned in Brian's message. What we are called to do in our life now as believers, the children of God is to walk as Jesus walked to live Christ, which means to live in obedience to God.

20:33 And now looking at verse seven it says, brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. God's standard of righteousness has never changed. From the beginning of scripture to the end, we look at Deuteronomy six five it says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Leviticus nineteen eighteen says, you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudges against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

21:15 I am the Lord and we see Jesus. This is the same exact teaching that he taught. Love the Lord with all that you are and love other people as yourself. This is God's standard of righteousness and we we would agree and and testify that Jesus lived this standard in his life. He obeyed God by loving him completely to the point of obedience and loving us to die for us.

21:41 Jesus fulfilled this in his life. But now look at verse eight and this is the key. It says, again a new commandment I write you which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. So what is the new commandment? It seems like John is contradicting himself, but here is what is new.

22:05 What was true in Christ, God is calling us to act that out in our life. Meaning, what was true in Christ is now to be true in us. It says that because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. That means that the light was in Christ. He was obedient to God.

22:28 Now he... Now that light is in us and God is transforming us in that same way to live like Christ. And looking at verse nine it says, he who says he's in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him, but he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. And we look again at the first two verses of Deuteronomy six:five and Leviticus nineteen eighteen, we cannot separate God's standard of righteousness.

23:09 We cannot say I love God and then hate his people. That's inconsistent. It's inconsistent with what God calls us good. To profess to know and love God means that you will love your brothers and sisters. And another difficult thought to contend with is that sincerity alone is insufficient to have victory.

24:08 Why do I want to obey him? Because I love him. I want to do what pleases him. But sincerity alone isn't isn't sufficient to have victory over the evil one. And if we simply have the knowledge of what to do to obey and we simply have this desire and understand that we must obey, if we continue in the flesh, the two possible ends are our legalism and frustration.

24:44 And what is legalism? It is striving in the strength of the flesh to obey God's commandments. And let's say we're successful in that, The the end of that is just pride. And what does God say about that? God is opposed to pride.

25:08 No flesh show glory in his presence and God loves us too much to allow us to continue on in this way. And the other end of this is frustration or discouragement or despair or failure. And what does this look like? A recognition of the inability in ourselves to fulfill the desire that God has placed in our heart by his spirit to please him. We're like, okay God I I want to obey you.

25:39 I know I need to obey you, but I can't reconcile it. What am I to do? And I mean like who wouldn't naturally just be in despair? That is a natural conclusion to that. That there is nothing that I can do.

25:56 But what does it describe of the young men? It says, and you have overcome the wicked one. You have victory. What then is our key to victory? Because you are strong.

26:11 And what does this mean? We've already tried being strong in the flesh and what has that profited? Nothing. Let's say we were successful in in legalism and we were successful in trying to obey God in our flesh. That just led to pride and self righteousness.

26:29 And if not, it it just led to failure. What is this strength? This strength is by trusting in God's grace alone. What is the thing I said at the beginning? It says, the only way to live Christ is by faith in the strength of Christ living in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

26:49 That is the only way. So if we're trying to obey God in the flesh, what we must do is just surrender. Say, God, I I give up trying to obey you in the flesh. That it's impossible. We can only walk in the spirit by the power of Christ in us.

27:14 Our means through which we live Christ was never meant to be through trusting in the power of the flesh And we cannot live Christ through the power of the flesh. We can only live Christ by faith in the strength that Christ supplies, by his power working in us. And I'll give you some scripture. Galatians three verse one through three says, oh foolish Gentiles, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. So there is a necessity to obey the truth.

28:21 We cannot put our faith in God for our eternity and step into this Christian life and now expect that we're to walk in the spirit and walk as Jesus walked in the power of the flesh. It's impossible. Colossians two verses six through seven says, 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 taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. So that first verse, as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.

28:56 How have we received Christ Jesus the Lord? By faith. The grace of God given to us freely to be accepted by faith alone in the power of Jesus. Philippians three verses three through 10. And this is Paul giving his case.

29:14 Let's say, okay, this is this is as good as the flesh gets. And he gives and he gives this case. It says, for we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcised the eighth day of the sock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church.

29:51 Concerning righteousness which is in the law? Blameless. But what things were gained to me? These I have counted loss for Christ. The confidence that he had in the flesh is meaningless to him.

30:07 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith that I might know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. So here is Paul giving the best case that you can for the flesh and he says, look at this, I I I had success here. I had success here in the flesh. But what does it mean to me as I walk in the spirit?

30:56 Absolutely nothing. No flesh shall glory in his presence. Having begun in the spirit shall you now continue in the flesh. Paul is contending that the only way to live for Christ is through the power that Christ supplies in us. And I don't want us to walk away without understanding what this means or how we can appropriate this in our life.

31:26 So how? By being filled with the spirit in order to walk in the spirit. And what does this mean? Does this mean that we have to receive the spirit in a way that we haven't before or that you've only been given a partial amount of the spirit. Now we need to like get this, you know, bonus package or whatever.

31:45 No. We have we have the fullness of the spirit of God dwelling in us. But to be filled in the spirit, I would contend is to surrender to the spirit constantly. Surrender to Christ working in us constantly. And there's three ways or three things I want you to remember with this.

32:08 First to confess. Confess that there is no good in the flesh. That when we walk in the flesh or get frustrated trying to obey God through the power of the flesh, it can never amount to the life that God desires for us to walk in the spirit. So first to confess that there is no good in the flesh. The second, to ask God to empower you to do what you cannot do through Christ in you through the power of the Holy Spirit.

33:12 And now you trust that God will do it, that he will accomplish it. That means that we can walk into anything that God puts before us. We can... We don't have to fear living this Christian life and be in that despair. And why?

33:29 Is it because there is power in the flesh? No. And there never will be. No flesh shall glory in the presence of God. But God has desired to magnify the name of his son in his body.

33:43 Incredible. God desires that the life that Jesus lived as he walked on this earth, he wants to work in his body, in us. He wants the church to carry out the life of Christ so we can live with confidence. Trusting that what we've asked of God that he will fill it, that he will fill us with his spirit. He will accomplish it.

34:08 And what is that trust? It's simply faith. Faith, full stop. All the scripture is, we we receive it by faith. We live by faith.

34:20 That's all there is. And if you wanna say faith goes to something, it's from faith to faith. That's it. Have faith that Christ in you, you can walk in the spirit. So to kind of sum up this big section, the way Jesus lived his life is meant to be habitually experienced by the children of God now.

34:48 And the word of God calls us to live Christ, which means to know the father, to have a relationship and rich fellowship with him, and obey his will. And the only way to live Christ is by faith in the power of Christ living in us. Now those who would identify themselves as the spiritually mature, the fathers, you thought you'd get off scot free, but no. We're gonna get through this and let's see. We're gonna get through this.

35:19 So the phrase attributed to the spiritual spiritually mature are because you have known him who is from the beginning. Don't lose sight of this. The end of our faith isn't I don't know, some Buddhist ideal of enlightenment or... I'm not even getting that. That's on my notes.

35:40 The end of our faith is to know Him. Full stop. The reason why we live our life is that we might know him. It's all about having a loving relationship with our father and experiencing joy in him that I might that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being conformed to his death. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection.

36:09 What is the power of his resurrection? That Jesus rose from the dead and had victory over death and now he says, you can have victory over the evil one. You can overcome the evil one not by the power of the flesh but by me working in you. That is what our savior provides for us. Not only will he redeem us eternally from the wrath of God, but he will sustain us.

36:33 He will enable us to live like he lives now. The end of our faith is to know him. And and that phrase have known, what does this teach us? It means that you have a testimony of God's faithfulness to you. God has seen you from the infant years of your faith to the struggle of trying to spiritually mature.

37:04 God has seen you through it. God has been faithful. He's... He hasn't been distant from you and saying, oh, look, I guess he is spiritually maturing. But he's been holding your hand and bringing you to maturity.

37:18 Carrying you in his very hand. He was with you through it all and you have this testimony that God has been with me. God has sustained me. Christ has lived in me. Christ is living in me.

37:31 He can do the same for you. A testimony bears responsibility to witness God's faithfulness to others. If you have seen the faithfulness of God in your life, can you hold it in? Can you keep it away? But the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts and that love has to go out.

37:57 And what does that mean? Hebrews five twelve, for though by this time you ought to be teachers, that means the pedia, the spiritually immature, the spiritually maturing. You come alongside them. You tell those that are spiritually immature that desire that you have. God wants you to live like Jesus is your Lord.

38:20 It is... You you need to learn to walk in the spirit And then you tell those that are spiritually maturing, those that are either puffed up in pride or those that are in the pit of despair, you tell them trust in Christ alone. And I'm not just... And you're not saying it from, oh, I've I've read this somewhere, but God has worked it out in your life. This isn't something you can proclaim from this pulpit.

38:48 It is experiential practical teaching of discipleship. The great commission making disciples starts here in the church. We want to see the children of God brought up in maturity and I want to encourage those who have seen the faithfulness of God that you pursue the little children, the young men and take a step of faith and reach out and say, you know, I want to encourage you in your faith. God has been faithful to me and I want to reach out to you and help you grow. Westlake, I want to encourage you to to see a culture of discipleship in this body.

39:32 That those that have seen the faithfulness of God wouldn't keep it to themselves, but would proclaim it to those that need to hear it. The conclusion of this is those who have received the blessing ought to share it. And JB Nicholson, he's... JB... That's his name.

40:17 It is like the dew of Hermon descending upon the Mountains Of Zion For there the Lord commanded the blessing, life forevermore. If we've seen the faithfulness of God, I exhort you, share it. Share has... How God's been faithful to you. The dews of Hermon descending from the mountains and it doesn't stop there, it flows.

40:41 Lord, we thank you for your word which teaches us of your faithfulness. That Lord, not only have you called us to obedience to walk as Jesus walked, but God you've supplied the means yourself. You've supplied your very son. That Lord, not only would we know him, but we would have him as our own. That we we would experience his life living in us.

41:12 That we would walk as he walked Lord. Lord, train our hearts to stay near to him, We thank you, Lord, for your goodness. In Jesus' name, amen.