KNOWING GOD THROUGH OBEDIENCE
1 John 2:3-6
3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:
6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
There are a lot of things in this life that we have no problem doing but for the most part being obedient to anyone is not one of them.
Obey! That’s one word that is not gonna get a lot of Amen’s, AMEN!
We just don’t like to hear it.
In a society where independence, self-determination and equality are so important in our daily lives, how can something like obedience even still exist anyway!
What it comes down to is this: we have a will and it is going in this direction. If your will matches up, fine! If it doesn’t, see you later.
The problem with this is that God calls each of us to be obedient and as far as I can tell, this obedience is not conditional.
1 John 2:3
3 We know that we have come to know Him if we obey his commands.
This does not say that we have to come to know Him if we only sometimes do what He commands, or we have come to know Him if we really want to do what He commands but we just can’t seem to find the time in our life right now.
It says here that we can only know we know Him if we do what he command us to do.
It then goes on to say something else we’re probably not gonna like:
1 John 2:4
4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Here it tells us that if we fall into that group that only does part of what he commands or thinks about doing what he commands but just can’t seem to make time for but we still call ourselves a Christian, then we are a liar and the truth is not in us.
We are not called to question the command but to simply obey it.
Probably one of the best examples of obedience is Peter.
Matthew 14:22-29
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.
23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
24 but the boat was already a considerable distance[a] from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It’s a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid."
28 "Lord, if it’s you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29 "Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
Now I want to say something to you that may sound a little strange.
Peter did not walk on the water, he walked on the Word!
It was because of his obedience that he was able to step out of that boat and begin to walk toward Jesus.
Notice something else here,
30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
It was not until he began to doubt that he started having problems.
It is as if he was saying, wait a minute here, this is a little much with all these waves and wind, I am walking on water and I’m pretty sure that’s impossible.
But we fail to realize that with God, nothing is impossible:
Matthew 19:26
26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Mark 10:27
27 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
Luke 1:37
37 For nothing is impossible with God."
Luke 18:27
27 Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
It really becomes an issue with priorities.
Do we put God and what we know He wants us to do in a place of high priority in our lives or do we just put it somewhere in the back of our minds so that if we don’t have anything else to do and we are bored then we will get to what God wants?
A very good example of priorities would be Eastern Airlines Flight 401.
This flight was going from New York to Miami on it was on it’s approach to the Miami airport.
This plane was one of those that had a pilot, a co-pilot and an engineer all in the cockpit.
As they were coming in for a landing they did what all pilots do they lowered the landing gear.
Apparently when you lower the landing gear, a small indicator light will come on to let you know the gear is down.
Well on this day the light failed to come on. So they notify the tower that they are going to circle around and try to land again.
If you read the black box transcript what you see is everyone in the cockpit trying to figure out if the light is burned out or if the landing gear had actually failed to come down.
At one point you see someone tell another to just go and check to see if the gear had come down.
All the time they are trying to figure out how to get the light out of the socket to check it or to wiggle it around and then all of a sudden you read someone say, we’re still at two thousand feet right, then O No, and then the plane crashes killing the 101 passengers and crew.
While they kept fiddling with a 75 CENT lightbulb, these highly trained pilots forgot to fly the plane.
We can’t get so caught up in the little things that we forget the main thing.
We have to have our priorities in the right place and in the right order.
What is the Priority of the Church? What is the Priority of the Christian?
Luke 19:10
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
The priority of the church should be to reach the lost for the kingdom of God.
That means that we have to leave our comfort zones and get out into the world and tell people about Jesus.
We should do this both by actions and by words.
By actions through living our lives in such a way as to be the light that we are called to be and by using words in doing just that, actually opening our mouths and talking to people about Jesus Christ.
Matthew 5:15-16
15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matthew 28:19
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Any church that won’t get out and be involved with either by supporting or participating in evangelism efforts is a Church that apparently has not read these commands.
The Main Thing for the Christian is to develop a relationship with God that gets to the point that we believe God can still do the impossible.
Hebrews 11:1
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is trusting God to do what is right even when we don’t understand and without questioning Him!
Matthew 14:28-29
28 "Lord, if it’s you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29 "Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
I think too many times we try to get God to bless our plans after we’ve already made them according to what we think is best and the reason they fail is because even though it may have been a good idea, God’s ways are not always the same as our ways.
We need to allow our hearts to hear his voice talking to us. How will we ever be able to walk on the word if we do not know what that word is.
We should walk by faith not by sight!
Even though sometimes we can’t see or understand by Coming to know God and walking on the word we can do the impossible through Jesus Christ.
So, How do we know if we really know God?
The truth be known, people are not overly concerned with knowing God.
Their work, family, bank accounts, newly purchased recreational vehicle and their upcoming vacation, have taken all the space in their minds. There is hardly any room for knowing God.
If we are to ever to know God, then God would have to enter the physical world and reveal Himself to man.
This is exactly what God did when He sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world.
John 1:18
18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
Now the (Has made Him known) in the KJV is (hath declared).
For those of you with a Strong’s, If you look at the Strong’s (1834) for this you will see that the original Greek was translated; to unfold or declare.
This means to give us an exact interpretation of the Father in Himself."
Look with me:
John 12:45
45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me.
John 14:7
7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
Colossians 2:9
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
Hebrews 1:3
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
When Jesus said He was the Way, the Truth and the Life, His claim excludes all other "ways" to God, and all other "claimed" truths as well.
There is only one way, and that Way is Jesus Christ. To know God is to know Jesus Christ.
If we know Jesus then we know God. But do not be confused here, this is not the most important thing, Knowing Jesus.
The real question is does Jesus Know you?
Anyone can say that they know Jesus.
Mark 1:24
24 "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
Just because we say we know who Jesus is does not mean that He knows who we are.
I can say with all honesty that I know who President Bush is.
I met him right after Hurricane Ivan while I was working for the Fire Department.
I got to meet him, shake his hand and look him in the eyes, but I can guarantee you that he has no idea who I am.
With all the people that he has met and still to this day meets, I can assure you that if I went to the white house and knocked on the door and said it’s o.k. you can let me in I know George, that would be as far as I would go.
President Bush would have to come out and say yes, I know Bro. Marty you can let him in before I could take another step.
It is the same with Jesus.
Just because we say that we know Him does not mean that we are 100% certain of having eternal life.
Matthew 7:23
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
This is an event that is going to happen in the future. This is what an undetermined amount of people are going to hear on their day of judgment.
These people obviously knew Jesus or who he was.
Look what it says before this verse:
Matthew 7:22
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
The thing to notice here is the fact that Jesus will tell them, I Never Knew You.
Not I used to know you, or I knew you but you back in high school but you fell away or I knew you but you decided to leave me and go back into the world.
He will say I NEVER KNEW YOU!
This means that there was never a time that there was a relationship. Both parties have to know each other for a personal relationship to exist.
How do we know that we know God? We Take a test!
2 Corinthians 13:5
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
Do we obey God’s commands?
Have we truly repented of our sins?
Have we put our faith in Jesus?
Has our life changed?
No matter what we may say, we do not know God if we have never repented of our sins and put our Faith in Jesus Christ.
We do not know God if we commit adultery, kill, steal, lie, covet create false gods or do anything else against not only our brother but remember the commandments, these things we just mentioned, these actually show that our sin is really against God.
Some people seek to know God, but they seek after God in the wrong way.
Some speculate about God, and create an "image" of God according to their own understanding.
Some try to seek and to know God by mystical or emotional experiences. They seek and search for God through astrology, palm readers, spiritists, seances, magic and all kinds of other mystical experiences.
Did you know that the third step of Alcoholics Anonymous encourages one to "make a decision to turn their life over to the care of God as ’’THEY UNDERSTAND HIM TO BE."
This in fact is creating a false god. They are making up a god to suit themselves and that is a sin.
People continue to search for a God of comfort only, one that makes little or no demands.
They want a god that will serve them, rather than one that deserves to be served by us.
The point is this: If a person says that he knows God and does not keep God’s commands, he is a liar.
The only way a person can know God is to follow Jesus Christ, and to walk in fellowship with the Father as Jesus did.
Jesus believed, trusted, worshiped, prayed, fellowshipped, gave, sacrificed, taught, loved and obeyed all of God’s commands.
And Guess what:
1 John 2:6
6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
To live this way is confirmation or proof that we do indeed know God.
CONCLUSION:
Is it possible to walk around in one hundred percent obedience with out ever sinning again? Absolutely not.
But we should strive to. We will always come up short and we will always struggle with falling down.
It is not a matter of how we fall down, but how God continues to pick us up.
If we are truly saved and we truly have that personal relationship with Jesus Christ then when we do fall, the Holy Spirit will convict us. And when the Holy Spirit Convicts we will continue to repent.
Have you fallen down lately? Have you been questioning your relationship with God? Have you even doubted your salvation?
Well then, listen real closely. He is calling you right now:
If you will repent and put your faith in Jesus he will save you.
Jesus says, "If you love me, you will obey me."
