Letting The Gospel Remain In You Series

When we were building this sanctuary we were discussing whether to put paper towel dispensers in the new rest rooms or those hot-air hand dryers. I strongly recommended the paper towel dispensers because of a story I heard about at another church. They installed the hot-air hand dryers. The week after they were installed, some smart aleck put a note on the dryer that read, “Punch this button for a brief recorded message from our pastor.”

How do we know if we really know God? Tonight we look at the 6th test that helps to prove if you really know God. Does the gospel remain in you? Does the gospel abide in us?

How we live shows quicker than anything else whether or not we know God. If you have grasped the truth of God’s Word, and are living it out in your life, then you definitely know God. The opposite of that is true as well. If we are not living out the gospel in our lives, then we don’t truly know God. Regardless of how we feel, regardless of what we profess, regardless of what others may think about us, we really don’t know God if we are not living out the gospel in our lives.

Tonight we look at 4 verses in the 2nd chapter of 1 John—1 John 2: 24-27. In these four verses we are going to see the test, the promise, the warning, and the provision of God to protect us. READ verse 24.

The test is stated clearly. Does the gospel remain in you? Note that the word “gospel” is not used in this verse. I looked at 9 translations of this verse and not one of them used the word “gospel.” Instead John says, “what you have heard from the beginning,” see that it remains in you. What we have heard from the beginning is the gospel.

If you look back at verses 22-23 that we discussed last time, you will see that false teachers were denying that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. They were denying the gospel. So “what you have heard from the beginning” is the message of the gospel:

• The gospel of Jesus Christ.

• The gospel of salvation.

I want you to note the evidence of salvation in this verse. If the gospel continues in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. That means that we are not supposed to be carried away by false teachings, worldly pleasures or worldly possessions.

How do you know if you know God? Well, are you letting Jesus Christ live His life out in you? Does Jesus shine forth in the way that you live?

We sing the song “Just A Closer Walk With Thee.” The words of that hymn remind us that every Christian’s desire should be an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. READ THE WORDS OF THE HYMN. P. . Every Christian’s desire should be that he would have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (Eph. 4:1)

Are you living the Christian life? I think many times people become Christians, they accept Christ as Lord of their life—and yet they don’t fully realize what being a Christian means.

Has anyone ever explained to you how a Christian should live? Has anyone ever explained the Christian Life? There’s a lot to it. And I want you all to hear what Christianity is because then you won’t have an excuse for not having ever been told.

What is Christianity?

• To know God and to do His will,

• To accept gratefully what He sends us and do faithfully what He bids us,

• To pray as we would talk with a friend,

• To trust where we cannot understand,

• To believe that God is kind even in things that hurt,

• To keep unspotted toward the world’s sin and unselfish toward the world’s needs,

• To love those whom we cannot like,

• To hate no one,

• To be true when others are false,

• To be brave in the midst of cowardice,

• To be kind in return for injuries,

• To pity our enemies, to enjoy our friends,

• To serve our heavenly Father above by helping his children on earth,

• To be like Christ in love, in life, in service and sacrifice.

That is Christianity and that is the ideal toward which the Bible leads us.

So John tells us to “see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.” This is not the only time we are told in the Bible to let the gospel remain in you. Jesus said, 9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.”(John 15:9)