How Do I Know

How Do I Know

1 John 2:1-11 (NLT)

Intro: How many have seen the new 100 Dollar bill. It looks like monopoly money doesn’t it? In the past few years, it seems that the government is coming out with new designs for our US currency. I have watched for years as the people who take my money at stores take a special pen and mark on the bill; or they would take it and hold it up to the light. When I saw this new 100 dollar bill, my curiosity got the best of me and I asked the teller at the bank what they were looking for when they did this. She gave me a quick lesson on how to tell if a bill is genuine or not. I have forgotten what she told me but as I was reading in first John and studying for this message, it seems to me that in order for you to know if your faith is genuine or not counterfeit, there are some things that you need to examine.

How do you know that you are a Christian.

. Do you know Jesus or do you just know about him. This is a theme that we have been talking about for several months now. Do you really know Jesus.

. How many here this morning have heard of the band The Beatles?

. It seems that everybody here has. If we were having a conversation and I looked at you and said, you know the Beatles, you would probably say that yes you know them.

. My guess is that no one here this morning actually knows Paul Mcartney, or Ringo Starr or knew John Lennon or George Harrison.

. You know about them but you do not know them personally.

. I believe that is the case with many who profess to know Jesus.

. They have heard about him but they have never come to know him personally.

. There is absolutely no evidence in their lives that they have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

. As we look at our scripture this morning, John will help us understand what it is like to truly know Jesus.

. How do I know that I know him.

. Lets read our scripture. 1 John 2:1-11

. 1My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

2He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

3And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments.

4If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.

5But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.

6Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

7Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before.

8Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.

9If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness.

10Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble.

11But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.

. The first step in knowing is this.

. You Trust In What Jesus Did For Your Salvation

. Look at verses 1&2 again;

. 1My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

2He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

. John says that as Christians, remember he is writing to people who claim to have faith, you should try not to sin.

. If you do though, remember what Jesus did for you, he has already died for your sins,

. Don’t spend your life worrying about if you are good enough or if you commit a sin then you are bound for hell.