“Need to Know”
1John
Introduction
Today we will finish our study of John’s letter. I contemplated any number of ways to summarize John’s letter. I thought about going back over his specific statements regarding the purpose of his writing. John was very specific about his reasons for writing this letter.
“I have written…”
1. That we might have fellowship with God and each other. 1:3
2. That we might have complete joy 1:4
3. That we might not sin 2:1
4. That we might not be deceived by false teachers 2:26
5. That we might be assured of eternal life 5:13
I considered reviewing the obvious themes of John’s letter. John interwoven a number of specific beings throughout the whole letter. God is light. God sent his perfect son to take on flesh in order to deal with the issues that separate the God of light and the children of darkness.
Through faith in his son Jesus Christ we can become children of light. As children of light we need to walk in the light as he is in the light. God’s children of light no longer practice sin to confess their sin. God’s children obey God’s commandments.
God is also love. We are his children because of his great love. Because of his love we will be like him one day. Since we are children of love we need to love God and love others.
We cannot love God and hate people. These themes appear frequently throughout the whole letter.
Then I realized that John uses a particular term all through his letter. It appears in every chapter except the first one. Even the first chapter implies this word. It appears 38 times in 30 verses.
There are barely over 100 verses in the whole letter.
It is the term “to know”. The Greeks had two words for “to know”.
The first indicated a knowledge or perception that was complete.
The second indicated the knowledge that came through experience and could therefore increase.
The difference between the two could be illustrated in this way. I may “know” your name instantly and finally, but I still don’t really know you as a person.
The second term has to do with relationship and experience. It is this word that John uses throughout his letter. Our culture puts great emphasis on knowledge, education and experience.
Knowledge is power. Scriptures also put a great deal of emphasis on this experiential knowledge. The key is the source of that knowledge and the object of that knowledge.
Jesus summarized it very clearly in his grand prayer recorded in John 17.
"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:3
Peter indicated that we need to protect ourselves by a growing knowledge.
but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18
The foundation of Christian maturity comes through the renewing of our thinking.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2
The more we come to the knowledge of the truth the more we will walk in freedom. Only the true renewing of our thinking according to Scripture will transform our living. The whole Bible really is about information that we need to know. John’s whole letter is information that we need to know and live. As a means of summarizing John’s letter, I want to focus mainly on those 30 verses in his letter that actually use the word know. I have tried to categorize them and put them in some sort of logical order for our discussion and encouragement.
I. Know God and the word of life
Although the word “know” does not appear in the first chapter, it is obvious that John is writing so that we can know God. John testifies and proclaims the reality of Jesus Christ to be calls the “Word of Life” sent by the father to bear witness of the father. John writes as an eyewitness.
He reminds his readers that he saw in touched the word of life come from the father.
He wrote so they could know that they too could have relationship with the father and the son.
what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:3
John obviously writes this letter after the ascension of Christ and yet he speaks in terms of a profound current relationship not only with Jesus Christ but with the father. He wants to know that his readers could also enter into that kind of fellowship. John wrote to all maturity levels.
He indicates that knowing God at both ends of the maturity scale.
I am writing to you, fathers, because you KNOW Him who has been from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I have written to you, children, because you KNOW the Father. 1 John 2:13-14
A. What did John want us to know about God?
1. God is light
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5
Of course the means to that fellowship and relationship with the father is true belief in Christ.
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6
2. God is righteous
If you KNOW that He is righteous, you KNOW that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 John 2:29
You KNOW that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 1 John 3:5
3. God is true
And we KNOW that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may KNOW Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:20
We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we KNOW the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:6
4. God is love
We have come to KNOW and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16
We KNOW love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16
See (KNOW) how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. 1 John 3:1
By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10
Do you know God loves you?
5. God hears us when we pray
And if we KNOW that He hears us in whatever we ask, we KNOW that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 1 John 5:15
B. How do we come to know God?
It is through Jesus Christ that we come to know the father. Not only does he give us a tangible picture of the father but he is the means by which we can restore fellowship with the father.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 1 John 4:15
what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:3
And we KNOW that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may KNOW Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:20
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. John 1:18
Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 2:23-24
C. How do we know we know and love God?
1. By walking in the light
but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
2. By keeping his commandments
By this we KNOW that we have come to KNOW Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we KNOW that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:3-6
3. By reflecting His love
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and KNOWS God. 1 John 4:7
No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:12
4. By not loving the world
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15
5. By the witness of the Holy Spirit
The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We KNOW by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. 1 John 3:24
By this we KNOW that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 1 John 4:13
How passionately do you want to know God? Intimate relationships don’t come easy. If you really want to know someone that takes work. All relationships take time and energy.
Great relationships take more time and energy. There is no substitute for time and communication. We can’t expect to really know God if we don’t take the time.
Listen to Paul’s passion to know Christ more intimately.
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:7-14
The passion of John’s heart in writing this letter is that we might have intimate fellowship with other believers and with the Father and with the Son. The whole concept of abiding has to do with close relationship and intimacy.
"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:20-21
II. Know you are God’s child
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. 3:1
A. Know God kids don’t practice sin
Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you KNOW that He is righteous, you KNOW that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 John 2:28-29
We KNOW that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 1 John 5:18
(KNOW that) No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:6-8
B. Know we will be like Christ when He returns
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We KNOW that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 1 John 3:2
C. Know we bear his seed
No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 1 John 3:9
III. Know the truth
A. Through the Spirit’s anointing
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 1 John 2:20-21
B. By loving one another
Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will KNOW by this (our active love) that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 1 John 3:18-19
C. By listening to the word
We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this (listening to the truth) we KNOW the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:6
I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 1 John 2:14
As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning (The Word). If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 1 John 2:24
IV. Know you have eternal life
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13
We KNOW that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. 1 John 3:14
V. Know your sins are forgiven
You KNOW that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 1 John 3:5
We have seen and testify (we know) that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 1 John 4:14
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 1 John 2:1-2
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
VI. Know you must love one another
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7
This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 1 John 3:23
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 1 John 5:2
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11
VII. Know your enemy
A. The world is ruled by Satan (for now)
We KNOW that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 1 John 5:19
B. The antichrist is already at work
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we KNOW that it is the last hour. 1 John 2:18
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you KNOW the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 1 John 4:1-3
C. Jesus came to defeat the enemy
the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8
D. We have God’s protection and victory
We KNOW that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 1 John 5:18
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:4-5
E. The world doesn’t know us or God
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 1 John 3:1
CONCLUSION
Do you really know God?
Does your life demonstrate any of the signs of someone who really knows God?
Does your life demonstrate the characteristics of a child of God?
Are you struggling with the assurance of eternal life?
Do you struggle with the assurance of forgiveness of sin?
Jesus came to give you understanding so that you could truly know God.
I am here to proclaim to you today that you can know God.
You can know the God who is the light.
You know the God who is absolutely righteous.
You can know the God of truth.
You can know the God who loves you beyond imagination.
The enemy wants to keep you in darkness.
Jesus came to bring your light.
Trust him today.
