By This We Know We Know

1 John 3 beginning in verse 19 through chapter 4 verse 6. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything. Beloved if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. Whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him and this is his commandment that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God and him and by this we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us. Beloved do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God from 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 which you have heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children you are from God and have overcome them for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world. Therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. This is the word of the Lord. Indeed Father we do thank you for your holy word and we thank you Holy Spirit that even now as we ask you will answer the prayer of opening our eyes in our ears in our hearts and our minds to see. I believe this day you will open the eyes of those who have never seen before and you will continue to open the eyes of those who have seen before. We will see you new. Do this transforming work we pray in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Throughout this small letter John is seeking to encourage the people receiving this letter with real assurance. Not a false assurance but true assurance. In this small letter alone and in the few verses that we looked at today four times John says by this you shall know or by this you know. That phrase occurs over and over in this little letter because John wants the believers to truly have confidence in the assurance that they have in verse 5 or chapter 5 verse 13 he says I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life my desire today in fact every Sunday would be that any person who comes in would know that they have eternal life or they would know that they don't you might not you might think you do but you might not maybe this will be the day in which you say I didn't know I didn't have eternal life and others who truly have eternal life may you every Sunday you're here be reminded of what you have what you possess in Christ you see when a person knows who they are and they know what it is that they believe and they know what is inside them and they act in long to act according to all that there is deep deep security in who they are this is a really important thing for us to understand because essentially when someone knows who they are when someone knows what they believe when someone knows what's deep inside them and they act accordingly we would say that that person is mature they're maturing it really doesn't have a lot to do with age or stage alone people can be quite old and not really know who they are and not really know what they believe and not know what's deep inside them and not act accordingly certainly we see it in young people as they grow about a decade ago Dr. Chap Clark began to speak of something he was seeing in the youth culture he was seeing that there was a delayed adulthood he actually termed the phrase adult adolescence and this is what he meant by it that decades ago around the age of 18 young men and women really knew who they were they really knew what they believed they really knew what it was it was deep inside them and they were beginning to act accordingly and when they actually were received into adulthood for knowing who they were what they believed what was deep inside them and acting accordingly they essentially were adults he went on to say at his studies as he looked at young people moving into their late teens and early 20s really even in the late 20s and early 30s he said it's increasingly difficult for this generation of people to say I know who I am I know what I believe I know what's deep inside me and I'm acting accordingly and so there is that delayed acceptance that delayed maturity but it's important to note that it might not just be about a specific age certainly there are mature people in their 20s and 30s who know who they are what they believe what's inside them and they're acting accordingly and there are people much older who don't week from tomorrow 220 some high school students are going to get on a number of buses in the parking lot just north of our church I led that trip for a number of years now I have two children going on that trip and I'm delighted I'm delighted because there's going to be a man proclaiming the gospel that Jesus is Lord and there's going to be leaders from this church some covenant children in this church grown up now who know who they are what they believe what's inside them who are going to be pouring into my children's lives and the children of this church and many guests who don't attend this church but as the man speaks and his leaders pour into one another and into these students they really desire to see that the kids know who they are they really desire to see that the kids would believe the right things that they would know what it is inside them and they would act accordingly but I will tell you in many a summer camp and in many you trips that will take place beginning this week as summer starts there will be many people proclaiming a message without intending to that will not be the full gospel that will be something other than the gospel you see here's the temptation this is a temptation for church leaders a temptation for parents a temptation for preachers and that is to focus so much of our attention as it relates to discipleship on behavior we want our kids to know the right things to do and we want them to do it so many youth revivals youth camps mission trips trips like the Florida trip while people present they're talking about all the actions and all the things that students shouldn't be a part of and the Bible clearly has lots of lists of those things they shouldn't be involved in I don't want to tell you when you focus on behavior without first focusing on something else the product may create a moralistic maybe even a fair sayacle person the motives might not be clear though the behavior is good so there's something else that must be spoken of passionately first and it's belief you see belief in the right things belief in the right person belief is what motivates the right behavior is young people mature as all people mature certainly at a young age you talk about behavior if my child begins to ride her bike towards the street I don't say she better believe the right thing about cars traveling I scold her and say you don't go past this but as they go I've witnessed so many parents in so much discipleship really being about behavior without dealing with what it is people believe you see the proper belief in the person of Christ is more than just having the right ideas it's realizing that you can only believe the right things if someone bigger than you and greater than you is working behind the scenes and in you and this is the person of the Holy Spirit and if our students and if we as God's people could see that it's a profound reality that the Holy Spirit is in us let's look at behavior and believe together for a minute go back to verse 23 a first John 3 John says this and this is the commandment that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and then behavior and love one another just as he has commanded us you have seen over and over again in this letter love it's going to come again next week it is an important aspect of John's message why because Jesus told him a new commandment I give you love one another as I have loved you so you must love one another all men will know you are my disciples if you love one another but in order to really love that way and in order to obey any of the commandments we must be motivated by the right belief and how would John summarize that this is it the right belief is to believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ that's what we want the second or last night or second to the last night this Florida trip that's coming students will be sent out on the beach to spend 20 to 30 minutes in total silence the desire is that for hearing a speaker speak and preach all week about who Jesus is believing the right things is that students who have known Christ will come back and say again I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of who he is and what he means in my life for others we hope that they will come in and say for the first time I believe in the name of Jesus Christ meaning I believe in the person and the work of Jesus Christ that's the first step then we begin to talk about what does it mean as a believer to walk according to the ways of God but the right belief is ultimate but how do we have the right belief my first sermon on first John I spoke about the power of what it means to be in the fellowship of God flip over in your Bible again to chapter one verse three John says this that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you two may have fellowship with us that's fellowship with John but he goes on to say and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ that's powerful that means again if you shook someone's hand today and they're truly a believer in Christ that means they're a person that is in fellowship with the father and his son Jesus Christ but a careful reader would look at this and say where's the Holy Spirit well why did John leave the Holy Spirit out and I said back then he doesn't he's doing this for a purpose perhaps to elevate the person of Christ against a group of separatists that were denying that Jesus was fully God fully man but do you now see in the third chapter near its end and moving into the fourth chapter he's all about the Holy Spirit and why because the role the Holy Spirit plays in the life of every believer last Sunday was what what did we celebrate somebody shouted out pinnacost pinnacost how many of you had a lunch celebration following where people dressed up because pinnacost is significant how many of you others expected a little bit more of something in the worship service because it's pinnacost brothers and sisters we need to really think about the way in which we think about pinnacost here's why it's not a celebration that is set apart for one denomination within the Christian church pinnacost was the outpouring of the same Holy Spirit that's in you if you're a true believer two thousand plus years ago on that day as Christ said he would pinnacost is not something that we simply note it's everything for example some of you still have your Easter crosses the white crosses that say he's risen in your front yard that's great some people don't take them down ever that's powerful too others take them down the week or two after a month or two after I still have mine in my front yard I'm not sure when I will take it down but let me explain something yes the cross and the fact that Jesus isn't haunted anymore is everything I mean that's where our atonement took place his blood poured out for our sins it's where Jesus conquered death it's amazing and we can never forget the cross but let me explain something to you if it's your hope and prayer that someone might see that cross and begin to ask questions about Jesus begin to wonder about Jesus that will never happen unless the Holy Spirit opens their eyes to see it and their mind to think it and their heart to feel it in other words behind the scenes of every Christian conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit and so we should regularly celebrate pinnacost we should regularly celebrate the reality that God is living in us and so John begins to powerfully communicate that there is an assurance that you can possess and this assurance is the Holy Spirit let's talk about it verse 4 the role of the Holy Spirit who's in us if your true believer is illumination now illumination means that he sheds light on the word if here I mean capital W Jesus John 1 his gospel in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God I don't know how many of you remember reading that for the first time but I do it was June 23rd 1982 I had just been given that brown pew Bible which I've shown you in the children before and my young life leader Tom Miller said start reading the book of John and I did he said take a pencil and put question marks by things you don't understand underlying things you like or questions you want to ask I didn't know you could do that in a Bible but I did and I'll never forget setting on my bunk in that cabin going in the beginning was the word first thought why is that capitalized the word was with God and the word was God what does that mean I stopped and I went and found my young life leader and I said look I don't understand I think he was already sensing he might be exhausted by me because something happened the Holy Spirit had entered me the Holy Spirit had worked behind the scenes to make my blind I see my deaf ears here my clouded mind think correctly and my dead heart beat for God and so the Holy Spirit illuminates the word it says so right here and John look with me at verse two 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 people confess things about Jesus if you believe the spirits that confess that Jesus is who he said he was he's 100% God 100% man then that means the Holy Spirit is the one at work in you and you see praise God if you don't believe that if you don't believe there will be a day when every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord because you don't believe that he's Lord well that's the spirit smallest of the world and that's what you believe it's what we all once believed but then he moves the spirit capital S and we see he illuminates our understanding of the word capital W but also the Holy Spirit illuminates this the Holy Word of God right now I'm not sure if this is true but it probably is close to being true that every Sunday I pray before I preach publicly that the Holy Spirit would do this work why because he's the only one who can no matter how eloquent how gifted how bright how passionate the man is that stands here and preaches to you only the Holy Spirit can illuminate your heart and praise God if he's done that well my father who died about six and a half years ago loved flashlights for Father's Day the five of us kids would often get him the same gifts similar gifts we didn't put Jim we just would get him similar things it was never ties he really wore one puzzles he loved puzzles he loved pocket knives and he loved flashlights I hated him because flashlights were simply a tool that he put in my hand to hold while he worked on whatever it was he felt the need to work on my father was one of those men who really thought he knew who he was he really thought he knew what he believed he really thought what was deep inside of him and he acted that way and he wanted me to be like him and he sought to teach me what it means to be a Davis not the the broad popular name but specific to this one clan he taught me how to work hard and work and labor that I hated somebody I guess my wife yesterday actually said when did you have your first job I said I think when I was in second grade I started mowing yards he was like did your dad make you yes he made me and I turned most of the money over to him he really had a pretty good scheme going Saturday mornings my dad would often wake me up and say come on come with me and we would go wouldn't always throw in a football hitting a baseball or going fishing it often was to work on his car or a cabinet or the roof or something in the house and usually all I did was hold a light and that gets tiring and it gets shaky and you move like this and eventually you get a bad attitude which in my day meant they corrected the attitude right then and you held a flashlight still that's the way it was when black and decker came out with a flashlight called the snake I think my dad received five of those that year for Father's Day and he would use all five of them at once but even as they're glaring down illuminating whatever it was he was working on a transmission or a leak in the roof or repairing a cabinet he still needed an extra light and it was usually me shining it right on the spot holy spirit is the light that God himself the holy spirit uses to illuminate the light the light of the world Jesus and he doesn't and it works and what he's interested in it first is the right belief about the person Jesus and so for any man woman or child no matter what your age is this day if you've believed in Jesus that he is the son of God who he said he was you need to praise God the Holy Spirit for the work of illumination he doesn't fail and what happens is when he illuminates the person the word Jesus you see as you've never seen before as he's illuminating the word the holy book of God you see as you've never seen before and what happens to every believer is that they find that which the Holy Spirit is illuminating irresistible it's called irresistible grace and you see it and you can't not want it that's why it's irresistible and like me on June 23rd 1982 and like many of you on another specific date or a season of life you can testify to that work which only he could do the Holy Spirit is interested in us believing the right thing and so John ends this section of four six by saying by this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error the spirit of truth is the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit is not just interested in our behavior he is also interested in the I'm sorry belief but also in the right behavior that's why John says it so well in verse 23 again and this is his commandment that we believe in the name of the son Jesus Christ and love one another obeying his commands in John the gospel 15 Jesus says these words it is to my father's glory to his powerful presence his perfect presence his perfect weight his transcendence his honor all that is his alone it is to my father's glory that you Christians bear much fruit so proving to be my disciples you know what that means that when we believe the right things about our Savior like in John 15 apart from me you can do nothing you cannot bear fruit on your own when we believe those things which the Holy Spirit is revealed to us are true there is fruit being born in our life and there's no other option do you know why because true believer the Holy Spirit is in you he's in you and so Jesus says it is to my father's glory that you bear much fruit so proving to be my disciples so now back to John first John 3 verse 24 whoever keeps his commandments abides in God remains in God and God in him and by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has what does it say given us okay just listen John the same one carried along by the Holy Spirit to write the gospel of John first second and third John to see all that he saw and then wrote cared along by the Spirit the book of Revelation John was with Jesus when Jesus said this just listen it's in verse 16 of his gospel I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you but now I'm going to him who sent me and none of you asked me where you're going but because I've said these things to you sorrow is filled your heart nevertheless I tell you the truth it is to your advantage okay listen it is to your advantage this is Jesus saying it's not just a guess it's not just a thought that it might be true Jesus is perfect in every word he says it is to your advantage that I go away they didn't know what he meant by this and then he tells them why for if I do not go away the helper capital H who is it about the Holy Spirit capital H the helper will not come to you but if I go I will send him to you and when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin because they do not believe in me concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged so when for in first John he says and by the spirit capital S whom he has given us he's speaking of this promise that John heard from the mouth of Jesus in that spirit is the spirit that's in us and as we abide in God the spirit is in us enabling us to mortify our flesh the sin that was still tangled in and the fruit is present when we say I don't want to do what I do and I do want to do what I don't want to do who said that Paul because the Holy Spirit convicted him in that near the end of his life you see the Holy Spirit illuminates and the Holy Spirit sanctifies and as he's doing his work we are being transformed and what does that mean it means that true believers know who they are John said it by this we shall know that we are on the truth true believers know who they are or better said who's they are true believers believe and know what they believe true believers know what's inside them and it's not something it's some one and true believers by his grace and for his glory act like those who know what they believe and it's Jesus and they know who's in them because they love him my father was not the man that the Holy Spirit used to illuminate God's word he was a moral man who taught me that this was a good book who for a season of our life had us in church and so about 12 years ago when my mom informed me that my dad was having heart surgery because of a bacteria in his blood that had destroyed the mitral valve of his heart we had no idea what the complications might be but we knew the risk were great and so I went to see my dad and I've shared this with some of you before and now the roles were really similar to when I was a child once again I was holding a light and the light that I was holding or may as you should say was holding me was the light of the Holy Spirit seeking to help my father understand who he really is or was what did he really believe what was inside him that mattered most how was he then living and in that moment in his hospital room the Holy Spirit using me much the way he used Tom Miller in my life my dad as I walked out of the room completely trusted in Jesus because the spirit of God at that moment illuminated the word and the word do you know who you are do you know what you believe do you know what is inside you or who is inside you are you living a life worthy of the calling you received if you do not I'm so glad you're here this might be the very day that the Holy Spirit is illuminating your heart in your mind your eyes and your ears to see Jesus for who he really is do you want to know do you want to know what you believe do you want the Holy Spirit to be in you enabling you to embrace him and live accordingly and I want to invite you to do something at this moment as I close this in prayer I want you to pray the prayer that I pray and I'm going to pray it and then when I close the prayer I want everyone to keep their eyes closed while I continue to pray and I want you to raise your hand giving testimony to this moment to honor your God I don't want people sneaking a peek I want you though if you are making that prayer this day to simply raise your hand so that I might see and give God praise as the angels celebrate in heaven if that happens to you this day I also want you to come forward that we may speak that I might help assure by the power of the spirit what has just happened in your life now for those who have already made that decision here's what I want you to pray thank you father son and Holy Spirit and tell them once again I need you I need you now as much as the day you saved me and I need you now until a day I see you face to face and if this day you are not at a place where you believe that Jesus is who He says He is you are not going to raise your hand that's okay I pray that you will leave those thinking deeply about the things that have been read and prayed and preached today I would be happy to walk with you that you might discover who he really is so now let's go to the Lord and pray Jesus this kind body of people have received these brief instructions about this season of prayer Lord I'm going to pray the prayer very similar to the one I prayed when I was 15 and a half so father any person that you are calling to yourself now through the work of the Holy Spirit I pray they would hear this prayer and pray with me dear Jesus I have learned that I am a sinner I have learned that I am in need of the cleansing blood of Jesus I ask that you would forgive me of my sins that you would call me your own that you would come into me and fill me and save me for all eternity amen