The Difference A Savior Makes
1 John 2:1-6
Sheep and cows get lost easily while eating.
I. The payment for sins.
1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Verse 1 is a continuation of the thought in chapter 1. God has restored fellowship. We need Him to overcome sin in our lives. We need to live in continual dependence of Him to have victory over sin. When we fail and sin, we have a path of restoration.
John uses the diminutive phrase for children, little children. This expresses his love (little children) and authority (my). It can be translated "Little darlings of mine". It is rather unique in its usage here. It also highlights the importance of what he is about to say.
Verse one as two halves. First, John's desire is that we live on the higher road. He writes these things so that we can find victory over sin. However, he understood that living in a world filled with trials, temptation and subtle deception, we will sin.
His first goal is to strengthen us more and more against sin. Sin separates mankind from God.
And his second goal is for us to understand that after we sin, there is a proper route to return to God. Jesus has closed separation. When we fall, there is no need to run from the Father. John's desire is that when we sin, we respond by running TO the Father.
God is never pleased with our sins. He is neither pleased with our hiding from Him after sinning. When we fall, we have an advocate (parakletos; helper, advocate in the narrower sense) with the Father. This word is used to describe the Holy Spirit in many passages and is most commonly translated as comforter. It was also used as a legal representative to protect the interests of a citizen in a court of law.
This is the accepted application to the use of parakletos in this passage. Our advocate does not seek a loophole in the law to wiggle us out of separation from the Father. Our advocate insists on full payment of the law, with no loopholes.
However, our advocate has made the full payment, pending our acceptance. Please notice the distance references in Ephesians 2:13-16. "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. "
This is also expressed in our text......1 John 2:2 "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."
We don't just have an advocate begging the mercy of the judge. The word rendered "propitiation" is used in this form only here in the Bible. It is used in other forms of the word in other places, such as, Rom 3:25 "...whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins."
The corresponding Hebrew word means "atoning sacrifice". In pagan religions, man had to appease the gods to win favor. That is the reason for human sacrifices and offerings. These efforts to appease the gods were called hilaskomai, or propitiations.
However, in the Bible, this word is never used for an act of man to appease God. It is God's act of hilaskomai that brings peace between the one true God and man. Only in Christianity does a God offer Himself for a debt owned to Himself by mankind.
Our advocate calls for justice. He personally paid the debt of our sin in full. His payment was such that it is sufficient to cover the all sins of the whole world. But it is only offered to those who come to Him.
II. The Proof of sanctification.
1 John 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
John, without addressing the evils or perils of gnosticism, shatters the concept with these connecting thoughts. The gnostics taught that you could only know God and be known of Him by entering to His world of knowledge. The more you know about the world and its knowledge, the more you are like God. The more you are like God, the more you are known by God and know God, they concluded.
The Garden of Eden should be lesson enough that just knowing stuff is not enough. It was the tree of "knowledge of good and evil" that was the temptation away from God. Those who pour themselves into the books and teachings of known knowledge could be exposed to every truth of God and still miss God. They would still be captive to their baser elements. They would still be slaves to their flesh.
Knowledge can not satisfy the thirsty soul and longing heart. There may be freedom from some habit or sin, but only because some other sin has replaced it, such as pride, self-sufficiency or bitterness.
But those who have forgiveness through Christ and fellowship with God have a supernatural power released in them to please God. There is a capability, given by the Spirit, to love God above all and their neighbors as themselves. This, alone, according to John, is the greatest assurance of His forgiveness and salvation.
III. The production of salvation.
1 John 2:4 Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
What should salvation do for a person who has been forgiven? It should change your life.
H. A. Ironside said, "He is not speaking from a legal standpoint; it is not, as of old, that the commandments of God are presented to us with a view of obtaining life. But here, under grace, it is the opposite, the man who lives by faith will do His commandments."
If one can say that they have been saved but it has no impact on how they choose to live their lives, they are a liar and are denying the truth."
If one can say they love God, but hate the things of God and loves the things God hates, there is much untruth in him. A person either loves God or does not love God. The Bible offers no degrees of loving God.
Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."
Look at the progression of verses 4-5. Knowing Him will push you to obey Him. Obeying Him will grow your love. Growing love grows your assurance of salvation.
"...whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."
How did Jesus walk. Do we take this literally?
1. He walked in sandals and wore a robe.
2. He walked to and from Jerusalem, Damascus, Caesaria Phillipi.
3. He owned no house, vehicle (donkey or camel).
4. He had no family, wife, children, etc..... He remained single.
This is not talking about these ways of walking.
1) He walked in complete dependence of the Father.
2) He walked in obedience to the Father.
3) He loved God fully and mankind completely.
4. He loved in complete expectancy of the Father supplying His every need.
We are called to walk like Jesus walked, in dependence, obedience, love and expectancy.
How do we define Victory in the Christian life?
Ill. Thousands of Chinese Christians were killed during the Boxer Rebellion—a nationwide effort to snuff out any foreign influences in China that were political, cultural, economic, or religious. Though the rebellion was relatively short, the intense persecution it started persisted for years—most notably under the later Communist leadership of Mao Zedong.
A Christian evangelist who called himself Epaphras was a young man during the early years of Chairman Mao's reign. He refused to sing the Communist Party songs, salute the Chairman's picture, or show his allegiance to any leader other than Christ.
Epaphras was soon arrested and sentenced to life in prison. A guard asked him why he was so happy all the time. Flashing his characteristic grin, Epaphras said, "Didn't the Lord tell me from the beginning to give up everything and carry the cross to follow him? This is the Lord's way. I am following him on the same path. Why should I be upset? Why should I complain? This is my biggest blessing."
Eleven years after Chairman Mao died, Epaphras, then 62, was surprised when prison officials agreed to set him free. He soon discovered the reason for his sudden release: "The court cheated me," he said, "by changing my record to show I had recanted my belief in Jesus."
In response, Epaphras rented a cell-like room just outside the prison gates and kept himself under house arrest. "If I stay in jail," he insisted, "they will know I haven't recanted."
Epaphras went one step further to show how serious he was about not recanting—he fasted five days a week. Ever-smiling, he would say, "If I die from fasting and living under house arrest, then I die as a criminal just like my Lord Jesus Christ!"
After 15 years of fasting, Epaphras died at the age of 78, having made an emphatic, brave statement that true freedom is found in Christ alone. Believers all across China celebrated his life and mourned his death.
