INTRODUCTION
• Have you ever felt like you were just holding on for dear life with your faith? You feel like you have been struggling so much that you are just glad to make it through the day with your faith in tack?
• SLIDE #2 You felt like you were dangling over a cliff
• Last week we looked at those who would try to get us to forsake the truth for something that is not true.
• Each day we have to make decisions concerning our faith, will we stand strong or will we give up ground?
SLIDE #3
• As we try to grow in our faith, it is important for us to realize there are some things we need to hold on to if we are going to have a strong faith. There are going to be some things we need to hold tightly to if we are going to have a real relationship with God.
• For those who have been with Jesus a long time, it does us well to remember these things we must hold on to. When things get tough, what are we anchoring our hopes upon?
• When you get to where life seems to be a struggle, I hope you will focus in on these four areas that will help keep you faithful and strong. Last week we looked at not letting people trick you into quitting your faith, or letting them convince you that what you believe is unbelievable.
• Let us look at 1 John 2:24-29 together this morning.
SLIDE #4
SERMON
I. HOLD ON TO THE TRUTH YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN. VERSE 24
After talking about the antichrists who will try to come in and disrupt your faith, John now starts off in verse 24 with a reminder that they were not a part of those who are a denier of Jesus and with such being the case, their response needs to be different that one who would follow the false teachers.
One of the reasons we need to hold on to the truth we have been give is because: SLIDE #5
1. Salvation is conditional
• This thought seems contrary to what we hear a lot of folks espouse these days concerning the issue of salvation.
• Notice what John encourages us to do. He tells us we must let that abide in us that we heard from the beginning.
• God has always to my knowledge made faithful a condition to be able to enjoy His promises and blessings.
• Once again, I do not know where Christianity ever got the idea that God did not require faithfulness on the part of His children.
• This is one of the things that God the Nation of Israel in trouble with God so many times through out their history.
• There is a BIG little word “IF” in this verse concerning our relationship with Jesus. We cannot believe what EVER we want to be in a good relationship with Him. SLIDE #6
• 2 John 1:9
• Notice he says that “if what your heard…abides in you…you will abide in the Son and Father. SLIDE #7
2. For one to be saved they must abide in the Son and the Father.
• If we do not abide in the Father and Son, we do have a relationship with Him, and without a relationship wit Him, we cannot be saved. SLIDE #8
• Jesus tells us further in John 14:6 that the only way to the Father is through Him. This implies a relationship with Him. SLIDE #9
• In John 10:30 Jesus reminds us that He and the Father are one. SLIDE #10
3. To abide means: to “settle down within”, or to “remain in”.
• If what we heard from the beginning abides in us, we abide in the Father and Son!
• For the Word to abide in us, it takes more than just hearing it, it must be given a vital place in one’s life, it has to have an affect on us, it should make us different.
• This is a process that takes time and effort on our part.
• The next thing we need to do is: SLIDE #11
II. HOLD ON TO THE PROMISE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN. VERSE 25
• When we are tempted to forsake what we believe, when we are tempted to fall away from what we have in Christ, we need to ask ourselves what has been promised to us.
• If you fall away from God, what assurances or promises can you count on from the place you are going to?
• In the latter part of John 6, Jesus was popular, the disciples seemed to enjoy some notoriety. Then Jesus started to teach some things that were difficult for the followers to handle.
• In verse 66, we are told that many of His disciples quit following Him.
• Jesus turned to Peter in verse 67 and asked Peter if He was going to leave also. SLIDE #12
• In verse 68 we have Peter’s response. John 6:68
SLIDE #13
1. We have been promised eternal life.
• Jesus has promised those who are faithful to Him that they will have eternal life.
• Some passages tell us we possess eternal life now! John 6:47 SLIDE #14
• Eternal life is something that Christians possess now, but there will be more to come after Jesus returns. Eternal means “everlasting”, it will never end!
• Jesus has made a promise to you, you can count on this promise, can you rely on the promise of a liar? Can you rely on any promise made by someone who is trying to deceive you? SLIDE #15
2. Eternal life is conditioned on holding fast to that which we heard from the beginning.
• If we are not in fellowship with God, how can we claim any part of an inheritance from Him? SLIDE #16
• Fellowship with the Son and Father equals eternal life! 1 John 5:11-12
• Let us look at another great gift we need to cling to in order to stay strong.
SLIDE #17
III. HOLD ON TO THE ANOINTING YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN. VERSES 26-27
• In verse 26 John tells us he has written this whole letter because of those who are trying to deceive us.
• To deceive means to: “to cause one to go astray. The tense of the verb tells us that this was an action attempted on the readers but that had not yet taken place. This shows the continuing purpose of those who are trying to lead us away from God.
• We need to hold on to the anointing we have been given! SLIDE #18
1. The gift of the Holy Spirit we have been given will help protect our hearts.
• I am equating the anointing mentioned here with the gift of the Holy Spirit that all who are immersed into Christ receive.
• Verse 27 tells us we do not need anyone to teach us. This does not mean we do not need human teachers and that the Holy Spirit will miraculously teach us all we need to know.
• What John is telling us we do not need teachers who will teach falsehoods concerning Jesus.
• The context of the teaching deals with the matters at hand, how to tell truth from what is false.
• The Spirit will reveal to us what is true and what is not. For that to happen, we need to know the truth. The Spirit will call to mind what we have learned from the word. CLICK #18
2. The Spirit will bring comfort.
SLIDE 19
• Acts 9:31
• Without going into a whole sermon on the Holy Spirit, we see from the Acts passage that the Spirit will bring comfort to us. The false teachers cannot do that because God is the God of all comfort! 2 Corinthians 1:3
• SLIDE #20
3. The Spirit will help us in our prayers. Slide #21
• Romans 8:26
• This is another reason for us to hold on to the anointing we have! SLIDE #22
IV. HOLD ON TO THE HERITAGE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN. VERSE 28-29
SLIDE #23
1. We do not want to hide in shame when He returns.
• Do you remember when you did something that was wrong when you were a child and having your mother tell you, WAIT UNTIL YOUR FATHER OR MOTHER HEARS ABOUT THIS.”
• When I got in trouble, I did not look forward to my father coming home to hear about the evil I had perpetrated against humanity.
• My father could probably tell when I got in trouble because I was not running to the door to greet him when he got home.
• IF we do not hold on to the great heritage we have been given by God through the blood of Jesus, the time of His coming will not be an occasion we look forward to, we will hide in shame because of our unfaithfulness.
• This is not what God wants us to do, He wants us to be able to great Him with enthusiasm!
• Verse 27 speaks of us having confidence when He comes back.
• The word “confidence” was a word used to denote the freedom of speech that one enjoyed in the assemblies of the Greek democratic city-states. This freedom to speak was only given to those who were full citizens.
• The word denotes a fearlessness on are part at the coming of our Lord!
CLICK #23
2. Practicing righteousness shows we are born of Him.
• If we are born of Him, our lives will reflect that fact.
• IF we practice righteousness, it shows we too are born of Him since our god is righteous.
• In this verse John is not telling us HOW to be born of God, it tell us what one who is a part of God’s family does in practice.
• CLICK #23
3. The fruit does not produce the tree, the tree produces the fruit. Practicing righteousness does not save us; it is a fruit we produce because we are saved! See John 15:1-5
• Many people feel like they can work their way to God, you cannot. Salvation is a gift, it is a gift that God gives to us, but the gift is conditional, faithfulness is a condition of salvation!
CONCLUSION
• Living out our faith is not always easy to do, it requires us to make some difficult choices at times.
• At times the choices we have to make may not make much sense in the short-term to us, we may not understand what God is doing with us, we may not understand why we are facing a trial we are facing or why we have lost a loved one or why our spouse has not been faithful to us.
• We need to understand that God can take the worst of situations and make it good.
• The answer to the problem we are facing is not to run from God, it is to run to Him!
• Hold on to what you have been given; remember what God has done and has promised to do and you will be able to endure.
• Hold on to the promises of God. If you decide to stray away from God, what do you have to hold on to?
