Knowing Him

1 John 2 and the Call to Sanctification

I'm gonna ask you to please turn in your Bibles to 1st John in chapter 2. We are in the midst of covenant renewal and we are in the consecration portion of our liturgy. We consider now 1st John in chapter 2.

This is God's holy and infallible word. My little children, these things I write 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 the.

Whole world.

Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.

By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him ought to himself walk also just as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.

The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, that which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

May the Lord be pleased with our consideration of his most excellent word. Please pray with me now. O Lord, we cry out to you as a people filled with gratitude for the great works you have done in Christ.

We rejoice that in your mercy and love you have accepted sinners to be part of your family.

And kingdom.

O Lord, I pray that today in the power of your spirit you would sharpen us, that you would purify and sanctify us, and that all of this would be to your glory and for our.

Good.

We ask all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Please be seated. Today we will be considering the first four verses of chapter two. The title of the message is Knowing Him. For those of you who have need of an outline, I have something to help you.

Who You Are and What You Are to Do

The first one is I want you to notice who you are by extension of John's address to the original audience. Who you are. Second, I want you to look for what you are to do. What you are to do. Who you are.

What you are to do. Third, I would like you to consider and meditate upon who Christ is. Fourth, what Christ does. And finally, what you are to do as those in Christ in light of what Christ has done and who he is.

So who you are, who Christ is, what Christ does, what you ought to do. John is eager to bring sanctification and a pure view of the gospel life for the Christian in his epistle. He started with that grand theme of the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity and he's taught us that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

He is a holy God, a pure God, and he brings light into the darkness. Today, the focus is a very simple concept. You could preach on this every week. Do not sin. Keep his commandments. But there is some nuance and some depth of consideration that we must consider.

There is a danger of taking sin lightly. This seems to be a concern for John in this epistle. It's certainly an issue in our time, and I'm sure in every time in which the church has. But in existence, the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ, so free, so liberating can cause us to view sin lightly.

It could even lead us to license. After all, we're all doing it. We're all sinning and God has forgiven us. So we could take a more antinomian approach and take sin to be light and not of such great consequence.

Today, we're going to get some insight into why we have to abandon that notion. Why a practical holiness is necessary for the people of God and why it's so costly to bring sinners into the kingdom. So costly that it requires the death of the righteous one, the Lord Jesus Christ.

John’s Affection for the Church and His Purpose in Writing

Well, let's consider the exposition by understanding what is being said here. Look at verse one of chapter two. My little children. I think about John and his now probably more aged state. He's not a young man anymore.

He was the youngest of the disciples, but now he is a fatherly figure in the church. And this statement reveals a couple of things. First is his apostolic authority. He calls his hearers little children.

But maybe even more importantly, it is a term of affection. John views these people as dear to him. They are not just mere audience members. These are people for whom John deeply loves. Whenever in Greek the diminutive form little is put, it is a usually a term of endearment.

And what I love most about this idea for John to say my little children, he's saying that you are those whom I deeply love. We think about our little children. I looked and just saw the Lemkes, the little children in their family.

See how affection and how we look upon them, not only in their family as a church, how we look upon the little children that the Lord has in our congregation. And our hearts are melted within us. We are moved with affection and love for these little ones.

And John, that great apostle, views the church in this way. I had a thought of this. I believe it was last evening. I always thought it was interesting that John in his gospel called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved.

So that's a little arrogant, isn't it? He runs faster than Peter. He outruns Peter in his accounting. A resurrection warning. And as I thought about it in relation to this text, I wonder if Jesus loved John in this intense and special way that John would transmit that love to the church.

John is very taken with the idea of Christian love, as we've talked about already in this epistle. And if you read the gospels and all of his writings, it is central to his doctrine. John, as one who was the object of Jesus' affection, someone who was deeply loved by Christ, he has now turned and he deeply loves his people.

May that be true for us. Who you are is those who are deeply loved by God. And this should cause our shoulders to drop and our anxieties to diminish a bit. The Christian is a darling of God, and these Christians are the darlings of the Apostle John.

My little children, these things I write to you. Now, several times in the epistle, John says, and we're not going to go over all of those, but he says, these things I write to you. Those are clues to us, giving us more detail about what he is intending to convey.

What is the message of John's epistle? Well, look at the rest of the end of the first sentence. It says, so that you may not sin. Seems very basic, doesn't it? The gospel of grace in Christ has come and he has come and he's paid the penalty for sin.

And it follows that the people of God should themselves not sin. So why does John have to do this? Why does he have to teach this? Well, as we learned earlier in our study of 1 John, there was a strain within the church that said obedience isn't that important.

Incipient antinomianism. It doesn't really matter. Jesus has forgiven us all of our sins. So here's the first idea. Do not sin. Now, when you hear that, I think there's a question that immediately comes to mind, particularly for this early original audience.

But I've already sinned. You've called me not to sin, John. The Holy Spirit has inscripturated this word that that I should not sin, but but I have sinned. And I know that I was forgiven by Christ when I trusted in him.

But what about my sin now? What becomes of my sin now? And John, anticipating that question in a very incredible way, says, continue looking at verse one. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

Christ Our Advocate and Propitiation

The sum of God's perfections is his holiness. We serve a holy God and we take sin lightly and we think it's no big deal. But God never has that opinion of sin. Never. We waver. We compromise. We give a little ground.

But God is unwavering. He's immutable. He's unchanging. He has a very stern view of sin. He has a very stern view of your sin. Not just sin categorically, but your own personal sin. Your sin is a big deal.

Don't treat it lightly. He also introduces something to us that's very powerful. It's called a prolepsis. I don't know if you've ever heard of that term, but it comes from classic rhetoric. It seems that John employs this here.

And there's other places in Scripture we'll see in just a moment. It also happens. What is a prolepsis? Well, it's the anticipation and answering of possible objections. John has posited, he has in the imperative, he is commanding his hearers and us to not sin.

And that question arises, but what about my sin? What can I do about them? The prolepsis gives us something that's very important. It answers the possible objections. It anticipates them before they can be given.

And, maybe more powerfully, it is the representation of a thing as existing before it actually comes into being or does so. John teaches that Christ deals with future sins. He talks about it as if it were in the past tense.

This is very powerful, maybe the most striking. I am going to ask you to turn one place today. Turn to Romans chapter 4. The things that are exciting to you and to me may be different, but I find this very exciting because it unlocks a world of revelation in the Scripture to us when we think about it.

Romans chapter 4. I want to begin reading in verse 13. I want you to think about the progression here and the idea of prolepsis. The anticipation and answering of possible objections. And, representing something as if it's already happened, which it hasn't happened yet.

It's something yet future. That sounds a little complicated. It will make more sense in just a moment. Our lives as Christians, we live in a redemptive prolepsis. Things are future for us that are spoken of as our present possession.

We will one day have glorified bodies and we walk around in these bodies. But, we have a promise and it's written in such a way. We will have a bodily resurrection from the dead. It's certain. It hasn't happened yet.

We're here. We haven't degraded in the grave yet. Let's look at Romans 4. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

For those who are of the law are heirs. Faith is made void and the promise made of no effect. Because the law brings about wrath for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace.

So that the promise might be sure to all the seed not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all. Now, quoting Genesis 17. Prior to God's fulfillment and accomplishment of these things, this is what he says to Abraham.

This is prolepsis.

Are you ready?

As it is written, this is something yet future he speaks of in the past tense. I have made you a father of many nations. Abraham is old and the scripture says as good as dead. Abraham's wife is old and barren.

She cannot have children. And God with certainty says the promise of the future. And we know that promise includes not just land promises and the establishment of the Jewish people in Canaan and all of those things.

But the realization and revelation the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is promised to Abraham in the impossibility of his circumstances. I have already made you a father of many nations. In the presence of him whom he believed God.

Listen carefully. Who gives life to the dead. And here it is. And calls those things which do not exist as though they did. That is the essence of this prolepsis. John in his epistle anticipates future sins being committed by the holy righteous people of God.

And he says Jesus Christ is going to be your advocate and your propitiation for those sins yet future. It's already determined. And in this we rejoice. And sing hallelujah. Adam is a man who's going to be the father of all the living.

Right.

And he doesn't even have a wife. Moses is going to tell slaves who gather straw to make bricks under heavy burdens that they're going to be freed and delivered. By their God. Future promises spoken of in present and past tense as work already accomplished.

Very amazing stuff. Let's go back to our text now. And if anyone sins the last part of verse one. We have an advocate. We have a paraclete. We have a legal advocate. Someone to come alongside us. In the old days in the old court martial court of the military.

I love this illustration. The defense counsel is called of the accused the friend of the accused.

The lawyer.

You're going to come and you're going to be the advocate and you're going to plead his cause. Justice demands it. So here's the progression. John has called us not to sin. The question inevitably is raised.

What about our sin? We're going to sin in the future. We're called to this holiness. God is holy. He's uncompromising. What will become of us? What about our sin? If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ.

The righteous. In my picture of this courtroom, this divine courthouse. I imagine the tribunal of God, the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. And I imagine the charges of you, the sinner, brought before them.

And I imagine the Lord Jesus Christ stepping off the bench and coming alongside you. And putting his arm around you and saying, Oh, father. Oh, Holy Spirit. Remember that I went and I accomplished the work of salvation.

Your guilty verdict, your punishment, your justice has been meted out upon me. Ask you a Lord. I beseech you. Forgive them their sins. This is a powerful incentive to living a holy and pure Christian life.

Because we have a savior.

An advocate.

The king himself, the Lord and master. The righteous one. He's the one who comes as our paraclete. Our advocate. And he gives evidence to the court. That stands. So remember, father, you purpose that their sins would fall upon me.

The only declaration can be their sins are forgiven. If we have this kind of advocate. With the father. The Lord Jesus Christ. Back to the light sin. You and I have to be extremely careful that we do not trivialize or minimize the significance of Christ's work for us.

The costly work for us on the cross. If we do not have crisis, our advocate, we do not have salvation. We do not have forgiveness. We only have the justice of God. Little people of God. We do have an advocate.

We do have a savior who is Christ the Lord and. Because of this, we have the forgiveness. Of sins. Another thing I'd like us to focus on in this description of who Jesus is. Notice the description, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

He's freed from sin. He's obeyed the command to keep the commandments and to not sin negatively, positively. He has accomplished this work in himself. And this idea of righteousness is it is someone who perfectly conforms to the will and mind and purposes and teaching of God.

That takes us back to chapter one with. John's idea that in the beginning. Was the word. The word of life. The Lord Jesus Christ has been manifested. We've seen we bear witness. We declare that eternal life, which has come from the father and is now manifested to us.

That you might have fellowship with us and with one another and. Our fellowship was with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. We write these things. That your joy may be full. Not only do we need Christ for.

Justification, the declaration of our righteousness, but we need Christ for our sanctification. We need the righteousness of Christ applied to us, not only at our conversion, not only in our childhood, but but as we grow and mature until the last day we're on Earth, we need him and and we need him more still when we get to heaven because he's our only advocate.

Jesus Christ himself is the only capital are righteous one and the one who conforms perfectly to God because he himself is God in the flesh. Revealed in these last times for our salvation and the salvation of the world.

Christ’s Propitiation for the Whole World

What takes us to the second verse in our section? It says he himself is the propitiation for our sins. This word is is complex. And the ancient Greek, it meant an appeasement of an offended God. And that is really a perfect description of what has happened here.

Our God and his holiness has been offended by our sin. In a sacrifice, some appeasement, some way for God to be reconciled must be provided. And and Jesus Christ himself alone is that one who is the propitiation, the appeasement of an offended God, one who would satisfy God's wrath by the sacrifice of himself.

It is an expiation of sin. It purifies the person who is guilty. You you have been purified because of the propitiation of Christ. And God accepts. The sacrifice. As satisfaction for the injuries against his character and name that have been.

Committed against him. This is who Jesus is. This is what he does. He's the advocate. And he is the propitiation. Now, the last part of verse two is important. Look what it says. It says, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.

Now, he's not teaching a universalism. But he is teaching that Jesus Christ and his salvation has come not only for the Jews, but also for the Greeks. His salvation goes out to the ends of the earth. And no doubt, John's probably largely Jewish audience need to be reminded of this very important fact.

The salvation of Israel is the salvation of the world. Israel's Messiah is the Messiah of the world. Israel's king is the king of the universe and the king of kings. This little country in this little place.

God has brought redemption and salvation in Christ and its application and its impact touches the very ends of the earth. It also makes me think in this idea of prolepsis. The entire world being saved.

In other words, the gospel going to every tribe, tongue and nation. In Paul's day, the gospel had gone to the known world. And since that time, the gospel of Jesus Christ has been going in ever expanding concentric circles.

He says something is true that hasn't happened yet, really, in 1st John. But the ends of the earth are going to press into the kingdom of God because of Christ and his gospel. It should be a cause for our rejoicing.

Obedience as the Test of Knowing Him

Well, the good news also. Covenant promises have covenant stipulations. Let's look again at our text. Verse 3. Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. In our tradition, the Reformed Church.

The test of knowing him is the ability to articulate sound doctrine. That's certainly very important here. The test of knowing him is keeping his commandments.

Obedience.

I say, does this fly in the face of grace? Is this anti gospel in some way? It could never be. The gospel of Jesus Christ is so powerful that it transforms sinners that they may not sin and in fact can pursue and walk in righteousness.

I've said this several times. It bears repeating. I prefer the Augustinian formula and the Thomas Watson of those two. The Augustinian formula, the fourfold state of man. This is very practical and very real.

Man in his primitive integrity had the ability to sin or not sin. Think about the tree. He sinned. After the fall of man, he enters into the second fold, the twofold state of man, the second of those four folds.

And he is not able to restrain himself from sin. Now, here's the part that I want us to gather. You and I as Christians, we always say we're sinners. We stay or we talk about like we're in number two.

We're in number three. We are able not to sin. It's not sinless perfection. Don't get mixed up. But you and I have given that sin too much credit. We have downplayed the glorious work of Jesus Christ and transforming and saving sinners.

You and I must think of ourselves when it comes to sin. Sin is the anomaly. Righteousness is the rule. Sin is the anomaly. When I sin, it is out of round with my new nature in Christ. I don't think we think that way.

Just a sinner. You are just a sinner, but you've been redeemed. The test of knowing him. Again, there's a purpose here in 1 John. You can imagine. I should point this out. When you're counseling someone who is religiously prideful, I think you crush them.

You hit them hard. Jesus did. But if you have someone who is weak and says obedience doesn't matter, you have to hit them a little bit hard too. And you have to say you have to keep his commandments. If you run into someone who is striving to walk with Christ and walk in the light as he is in the light.

And they're struggling and they're humble and they're hurting. You're gentle with them. You shepherd and help them. Pick them up. John says, you're my darlings. You are people whom I deeply love. You should not be sinning.

When you sin now and in the future, you have an advocate. Christ the Lord. He is the satisfaction. He is a propitiation of God's wrath for our sins. And this gospel and this salvation goes to all the world.

But our witness and our integrity demands that we keep his commandments. What kind of priority is this comprehensive obedience in your life? Do not sin. I think about the transgression negatively, but I also think positively.

I'm actively striving to keep his commandments. This is all possible because I've entered into that third of the fourfold state of man. And by prolepsis, there's going to be a day when I will no longer sin.

It's glorification. So follow the progression again. The ability to sin or not sin. The inability to not sin is the second one. In other words, you're given over to sin. The lost world is in two. They never get out of two.

Both now and eternity. The redeemed world is now able not to sin. And in the future, there's going to be a day where it will be impossible for us, the people of God, to sin. That's rejoicing. That's a cause of our hallelujahs and our amens.

If we really love Christ, we want to be done with the sin. If this isn't important to you, I question your intimate knowledge of Christ. If you know Him, you don't want to sin. You want to set this sin aside.

Well, this test of knowing Him is to know through personal experience. It's used of the language of Adam in the marriage act with his wife Eve. He knew her and she conceived a son, Cain. The intimate knowledge and communing with God causes us to not take sin lightly.

We are not keeping His commandments that we might earn His favor. We keep His commandments because it's our possession. Very important. You are loved of God. You're the little children. You are the objects of His affection.

You are secure. You are free. You are set free from all of that bondage. Now, walking in righteousness, this is fit for me in Christ. This accords with my new nature in Him. Well, fourth, it says in verse four, He who says, I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar and His truth is not in Him.

To know Him intimately in a one-flesh union, to know His forgiveness, to know His salvation, to know communion with God and His people, to know that sense of unburdening and the forgiveness of sin, that sense of consecration and washing that He has provided for us.

He's made us righteous in Him. For me to say, I know Him and give little regard to His commandments gives you the right to say He's a liar and the truth is not in Him. I want to speak the truth. I want to speak the truth about being one of God's little children, one of His deeply loved ones.

I want to be speaking the truth that in my sin, I have and you have an advocate with the Father, the righteous one, the Lord Himself, Jesus Christ. I want to speak the truth that He really is the propitiation for your sin and my sin.

His propitiation, His advocacy, His salvation goes to the ends of the earth. To keep going with that same level of zeal and profession, I have to say I'm eager and earnest and desiring to keep His commandments.

Otherwise, I make myself to be a liar.

The truth is not in me.

So who are you? At all the steps today, you have been affirmed to be a child of God. Live as the people of God. What are you to do? You are to adore and to praise and honor and magnify the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But you're also commanded to flee from sin. Today, I urge you to wage war to fight the good warfare against your sin. As we said in the last couple weeks, those particular sins that you're committing.

And today, oh people of God, when we sing in just a few moments, will you cry out with joy and thanksgiving that you have an advocate? A perfect advocate. The only mediator between God and men, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The righteous one, the perfect one. He is your defense counsel. And He says to the Father in that holy legal tribunal, I myself am the propitiation for all of their sins. It seems fitting for us that we, if we know Him, we would keep His commands.

Do you agree?

Let's pray together now. Oh Lord, we give thanks to you for loving us. For standing as our friend in the law court. But even more so, Lord, that you have taken us to be your holy bride. And you love us in that way.

Oh Lord, I pray that we would be the people who recognize we have victory over sin and that we would walk in it. And oh Lord, when we fall into sin and unbelief and disobedience, we would be reminded that you said that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

What a mighty, loving God we serve, who not only declares us righteous, but continues to make us righteous even unto glorification. Oh Lord, we thank you for the promises that seem like yet future, but are present and a reality for the people of God.

Even now, your kingship and lordship is expanding all over the earth and the world. And oh Lord, we may have cause for discouragement, but we know that every tongue will confess and every knee will bow.

And the righteousness of your kingdom will stretch to every place that there is dirt and sand and sea and where the sun shines. And in that day, oh Lord, that you will yourself be the light. We'll have no need of the sun because of the brightness of your glory.

And oh Lord, we say, make that which is future present and in the past tense for us today. And we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.