Let us turn once again to the
Word of God and turning to the chapter we were considering this
morning there in the first epistle general of John chapter 2 we
read and consider as our text the first two verses of this
chapter but turning now to the following verses from verse 3
through to verse 6 in 1st John 3 verses 3 to 6 and hereby we
do know that we know him if we keep his commandments he that
saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar
and the truth is not in him but who so keepeth his word in him
verily is the love of God perfected Hereby know we that we are in
him. He that saith he abideth in him
ought himself also so to walk even as he walks. Observe what he says here then
at the beginning of the third verse. Hereby we do know that
we know him. And the hymn he is speaking of
is that person, of course, spoken of previously, Jesus Christ,
the righteous, our advocate with the Father and the propitiation
for our sins. Hereby we do know that we know
him. Remember the words of the Lord
Jesus in his high priestly prayer when he says to the father this
is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And so the knowledge that is
being spoken of is that saving knowledge of Christ and to know
in some measure his work as a high priest. And that's what we were
really considering this morning. We spoke of his sacrifice, the
propitiation, for our sins, and remarked on the significance
of this word. A technical word, yes, a theological
term, but a very important word because it teaches us something
concerning the atoning sacrifice of Christ. It reminds us of the
Godhood aspect. Our God, who is holy, righteous,
just, and good, is angry with the wicked. There is a wrath
of God and that wrath was visited upon the person of God's Son
here in His love. Not that we love God but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. How the Father is that one who
is Holy Father, Righteous Father. These are the terms that the
Lord uses in his prayer there in John 17 as he addresses the
Father in heaven, Holy Father, Righteous Father. And therefore
as that one who is holy and righteous all his justice must be satisfied
and has been satisfied in that sacrifice. And what a knowledge
it is when we know that our sins are forgiven and we can enjoy
peace with God through the sacrifice, the bloodshedding of our Lord
Jesus Christ but then we also thought of Christ as an advocate
with the Father and we said then that the word is so interesting
this word that's rendered advocate it rendered comfort in Those
chapters in John, we read chapter 14 where the Lord is speaking
of the promised coming of the Holy Spirit and in chapters 14,
15 and 16 repeatedly He is referred to as the Comforter. And I said
this morning that the word that we have there, the Greek word
in the original is brought over into our own language in transliteration
by the word Paraclete. a paraclete, one who stands by
another and pleads for him. Very much the work of an advocate. And that's the work of the Lord
Jesus and He is Jesus Christ the righteous. I said this morning
that the advocate, his moral character might not be good at
all. He might be a bad man in many
respects. But he's not speaking on his
own account. He's speaking on the account
of another. But the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Advocate, for there's no moral deficiency in Him, He is the
Righteous One. Jesus Christ, the Righteous. And though He pleads the cause
of the sinner, as we were saying this morning, those spoken of
at the end of chapter 1, Those who are not deceiving themselves,
those who acknowledge that they are sinners, they don't call
God a liar. They say, yeah, let God be true, and every man a
liar. They know they are sinners, but they have an advocate who
is able to plead for them, because he's more than an advocate. He's
also that one who is their shorty, their saviour, who has come to
be their substitute, to die in their room and in their stead.
These then are some of those things that we were considering
in the morning hour. But now I want us to turn to
these words that follow in these verses, these four verses from
verse 3 through to 6. And to say something now of assurance,
because that really is the knowledge that's being spoken of. The knowledge
of assurance. then is the theme that I want
to try to take up for a little while with the Lord's help. Hereby we do know that we know
him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him. But whoso keepeth his word in
him, verily, is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that
we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him,
ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Now, just
two things from the text. First of all, is he not speaking
of those who might have a false assurance? In the words that we have here
at verse 4, He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments,
is a liar. He might profess to know Christ,
to believe in Christ, but he's a liar, and the truth is not
in him. There is that one who has what
we might term a false assurance. But then he goes on to speak
of the other who has a true assurance of his faith. in verses 5 and
6, who so keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God
perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
him. He that saith he abideth in him
ought himself also so to walk even as he walked. This truth
and this doctrine of assurance and there are some who are favoured
with that full assurance of faith and there are some who in many
ways are beset by doubts and fears and uncertainty with regards
to the reality of their faith and some are so fearful of presumption
they don't want to presume so they elevate the idea of doubts
we can maybe think of some that we know they make a virtue really
even of doubt they like to speak as if they're humble people because
they're not going to presume with the Lord God but you know
when we analyze it what is doubt? doubt is really the sin of unbelief
and it is that sin that so easily besets us And so the subject
matter surely is of some importance. We should desire that we might
have an assurance of our faith. But first of all I want to say
something with regards to what is spoken of in verse 4. This
person who has a false assurance. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not
in Him. His life is that that betrays
Him. His religion is nothing but talk,
empty talk, no big words of ready talkers, no didoctrine will suffice. Broken hearts and humble walkers,
these are dear in Jesus' eyes. How true are the words of the
hymn writer. Remember how James speaks of
that man who beholds himself in a glass. He's speaking of
the Word of God, and speaking of God's Word as a mirror. God's
Word is a revelation of God. So we find God in the Scriptures. But in a sense it's also a revelation
of man and his condition because God made man after his image
in his likeness. And as we come to the mirror
of God's Word we might expect to see that likeness reflected
back to us. But what do we see? We only witness
the awful solemn truth of our fall in Adam. and how that image
is now so defaced and so disfigured by nature with those dead in
trespasses and sins. But see how the Apostle James
makes mention of these things there in the opening chapter
of his epistle at verse 22. He says, Be ye doers of the word,
and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves, For if any be
a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man
beholding his natural face in a glass, in a mirror. For he
beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgeteth
what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in
his day. and so he goes on in the second chapter also and
there at verse 17 even so faith he says if it hath not works
he's dead being alone yea a man may say thou hast faith and I
have works show me thy faith without thy works and I will
show thee my faith by my works O wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead? Faith without works is dead.
And this is the same point, really, that John is making. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, he's a liar, and the truth is
not in him. Now, we're not to imagine for
a moment that these words of John or the words in James are
contradicting what Paul says. Paul is so clear, isn't he, with
regards to justification and justifying faith. A man is not
justified by the law, says Paul, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. A man is not justified by the
law in the sense that he is not justified by his own doing of
the law, by his own keeping of the commandments. The only way
of justification is by faith in Jesus Christ who is the Lord
our righteousness but James doesn't contradict Paul he really is
speaking of those works those necessary works that show the
man's profession of faith to be something genuine good works
could never go before faith There can be no good works without
faith, without saving faith, without justifying faith. Without
faith it is impossible to please God. Whatsoever is not of faith
is sin. There are no good works then
that go before that faith that justifies. It's not by works
of righteousness which we have done. But we have to remember
the words of the Lord Jesus Himself in the course of His preaching.
Those words that He spoke in the Sermon on the Mount, for
example, there in Matthew 7. And verse 16, the Lord says, "...ye
shall know them by their fruits." Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore,
by their fruits ye shall know them. says the Lord, let your
light so shine before men that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Those are the works,
the keeping of the commandments that show that the faith is a
genuine faith. He that saith I know him and
keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not
in him. But we know that if a man is
in Christ Jesus he is a new creation. All things are passed away and
behold all things are become new. Oh what is that that faith that
justifies, that faith that is saving faith, it is faith which
worketh by love. And even when he writes to the
Galatians, and in that Galatian epistle Paul is very much concerned
to answer those legalists, those false teachers who had crept
into the churches of Galatia and were trying to bring those
Gentile believers under the law requiring that they should be
circumcised. And he tells them quite plainly
that if a man is circumcised he is debted to the whole of
the law of God. But even as Paul is spelling
out the truth that it is the faith of Jesus Christ that justifies,
he does also speak of the necessity of the fruit of the Spirit. there in the fifth chapter of
Galatians and he draws that contrast between the deeds of the flesh
and the fruit of the spirits. In verse 19 of that chapter,
the works of the flesh are manifest, he says, which are these, adultery. fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like. What a list! What a list! Of
the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time
past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of Oh, there are good works that must follow justifying
faith. Without faith none can please
God, but where there is that faith there will be the fruit
of the Spirit. And he goes on, the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law,
and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the
affections of lust. If we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit. And so these, you see, who make
a profession, a bold profession, I know him, but they have no
regard for his commandments, no regard for the precepts of
the Gospel. What are they? Where are they?
Or are they not utterly and completely undone? Theirs is a false profession. Theirs is a false profession.
The truth is not in him. But how interesting it is, when
we go back to chapter 1, And there at verse 8, if we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Oh, we are aware, so very much
aware, if we know anything of the grace of God, aware of the
awful truth of our sinnership, and our sinful nature, and what
we are. And surely the more a man knows
the Lord, the more a man grows in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the more he appreciates
all that Christ is and all that Christ has done. You see, this
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is no license to sin. As he says at the beginning of
the chapter, My little children, these things write unto you that
you sin not, He doesn't want them to be sinning. It's interesting,
isn't it, when we compare scripture with scripture. We know that
here in the New Testament these epistles are written by different
apostles. We have these three epistles
written by John. We have two epistles written
by Peter. We have a whole series written
by Paul. but they all speak the same truth
and so what we have here in what John is saying at the beginning
of the chapter my little children these things I write unto you
that ye see not we find the same truth when Paul writes in Romans
chapter 6 and the opening verses of that chapter What shall we
say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. And shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? If we're those who are
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're those who have died to sin. And
as we've died to sin, so we are daily dying to sin, mortifying
the deeds of the body that we may live. But let us turn from
those whose life is a lie, those who know not the truth, let us
turn to that true assurance that he goes on to speak of here in
verses 5 and 6. He says, Whoso keepeth his words,
in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we
that we are in him, He that sephia abideth in him ought himself
also so to walk, even as he walked. And observe what he states. What does he say? He prefixes
a statement here in verse 5 with a verily. Concerning this man
he says, In him verily, or truly, The word is Amen, so be it. It's
a word that we're familiar with in the ministry of the Lord Jesus
because many a time he would prefix his great teaching by
saying verily and often times a double verily, verily, verily,
I say unto you. Well here is the Apostle John
and he speaks the same language as his master, verily. Is the love of God perfected? Well, what are we to understand
by this? Well, two things I want to mention. First of all, there
is the perfect love of God. And then secondly, there is the
perfect love, or rather, the mature love of the believer. The perfect love of God. Of course,
it is so obvious, only God's love is perfect love. God's love is a sovereign love.
It's an unchanging love. God's love is like unto Himself. As we said this morning, in His
very being as triune three persons in one undivided Godhead. He is love. There's a loving
relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit without
reference to any object outside of himself. God is love. And that's stated twice, isn't
it, here in chapter 4 verse 8, again at verse 16. And the prophet
Zephaniah tells us how God will rest in his love. Oh, how he
rests in his love. He rests in that perfect work
that the Lord Jesus Christ has performed here upon the earth.
God rests in that. And that's where believers are
to rest. That's what faith in Christ is,
resting in all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done. But this
love of God, how remarkable it is. Doesn't Paul speaks of the
height and the breadth and the length and the depth of that
love. As he prays for those Ephesians
at the end of the third chapter of his epistle. What is his prayer? that God would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God always speaks of them comprehending with the
saints that that is incomprehensible so vast that she may be able
to comprehend with all signs what is the breadth and length
and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge It's beyond knowledge. All this love of God, this is
a perfect love. And as God loved his people,
he has loved them, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Oh what a love, it's a sovereign
love that he sets upon his people. And as we've already heard, said
later in the epistle there in chapter 4 and verse 10 where
again he speaks of Christ and his great sin atoning sacrifice
here in his love not that we love God but that he loved us
and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins what a demonstration
that is of the love of God that he doesn't withhold his son even
his only begotten son the son of His love, the son of the Father
in truth and in love, He doesn't behold him, but delivers him
up for sinners. Oh, the love of God! What does
He say to His prophet, to Jeremiah? Yea, I have loved them with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
them. Here is that perfect love, the
love of God perfected. And that love is so perfected
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the image of the invisible
God. It's in Christ that we discover that God is love. And it's when
that love is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost that
we come into the experience of these things. And this is what it means to
know Him, of course. Hereby we do know. that we know
him, do we know him? or do we know this love, the
love of Christ Paul says constraineth me in all that he does there's
nothing of legality there, there's the constraining of that love
of God, that love of Christ that's been shed abroad in his heart
that's the knowledge that John is speaking of also but how He
is really speaking of those who have come to such an assurance
of this love, such an assurance of their salvation. He says,
"...whoso keepeth his word in him, in him verily, in him truly
is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
him, he that saith he abideth in him, brought himself also
so to walk even as he walked. What is this perfect love? Well,
I think it's best really to think of it in terms of the maturity,
the maturity of love. Think of Abraham. Abraham is
the father of all them that believe. That's how he's spoken of there
in Romans 4.11 He is that one who is to us the
great pattern of faith, of justifying faith. It's what Paul is saying
in Romans chapter 4, the faith of Abraham. He's the father of
all them that believe. And what does God say to him
in Genesis 17? Walk before me and be thou perfect. He's a justified sinner. Walk
before me and be thou perfect. The margin, the margin says walk
before me and be thou upright or be thou sincere. And so here
where we read of that that is perfected we're not to think
in terms of attaining a state of sinless perfection, it means
sincerity, maturity. That's what it really means,
walking in the light, as God himself is in the light. You
see, God's love is perfect in every sense, but the believer's
love is not altogether like God's love, is it? It can't be. God's
love is unchanging, like himself. But how Our love varies. If we're really honest with ourselves,
isn't that a truth? Our love varies. Sometimes we,
in a relationship, even husband-wife, there's those times when the
love seems to be deeper and more real. There are other times where
a couple may irritate one another. Doesn't mean they're less in
love, but we're such changeable creatures. That's the way we're
made. And of course that's the sad consequences of the fact
that we're sinful creatures. I think of the lines of dear
John Berridge concerning the believer and his life, brisk
and dull he says, brisk and dull in half an hour, hot and cold
and sweet and sour. That's how we are, isn't it?
We're not stable like God if we're not unchanging, wider love
of Christ is an unchangeable love. It's the same yesterday,
today and forever, but we surely would never claim that we can
attain that sort of love. We desire to be mature. We desire
to be those who are sincere. We want to be those who are not
deceiving ourselves. We're not living a lie. There is, of course, with regards
to assurance, and the Puritan Thomas Goodwin emphasizes this,
there is that assurance that comes by an immediate witness
of the Spirit. The Spirit witnessing with our
spirit that we are the children of God. That's a remarkable thing,
isn't it? He says here in chapter 5, and
verse 10, He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. Oh, there is that inward witness
that comes from the Spirit of God. What a fiver! What a blessing! The Spirit bearing
witness with our spirit. But there is also an assurance
that can be deduced. And I would say that John speaks
very much of that sort of assurance, that our faith is a genuine faith,
that our love is a real love to God. How is it demonstrated? Well, he makes the point here,
doesn't he? who so keepeth his word in him
verily is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in
him he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so
to walk even as he walked think of the words of the Lord Jesus
that we were reading just now There, in that 14th chapter of
John, he says to his disciples, if you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. Again, he says, if a man love
me, he will keep my words. Here is something then that we
can deduce. Are we those who are keeping
his words, abiding by his sayings, walking in accordance with his
commandments. Again, look at what he says here
in chapter 5 and verse 10. He that believeth on the Son of
God hath to witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. And then previous to that in
verse 3, For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments,
and his commandments are not grievous. We delight in his commandments. We embrace his commandments as
much as we would take hold of His promises. We don't want to
be those who are too partial in the Word of God. We want to
take God's Word in its totality, all of it. Again, He goes on to say here
in this second chapter, verse 10, He that loveth his brother
abideth in the light. and there is none occasion of
stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother
is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither
he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his heart." Well,
how solemn these things are. We see quite clearly then how
we are to demonstrate something of our faith in Christ, our love
to God. It's the way in which we behave. It's the way in which we conduct
ourselves. Again, if we go over into the
third chapter, what does he say? Verse 14, we know, we know that
we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. And again, verse 18, my little
children, He says, Let us not love in word, neither in tongue,
but in deed, and in truth. Hereby we know that we are of
the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. We are to show our love to God,
our faith in Christ, by the love of the brethren. by the love of the brethren.
That's the amazing truth. And, I don't know, maybe you
go into your little study at home and you see the books there
on the shelves and we're so favoured, we have all those wonderful writings
of the science of old, we can read some of the writings of
the great protestant reformers, we can read the works of the
puritans and you never look at those books and think well I
so love that man because you've read something of his works and
they've so ministered to you and that's the communion of science
isn't it? That's the communion of saints.
It's not just loving those saints who are living with us here and
now. It's loving the people of God, even those who have gone
before. And there is something that we can
make use of to deduce that we do have a genuine faith. We love the people of God. we love the word of God we love
the precepts of God as well as the promises of God and we are
those then who are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ as he
goes on to say here in verse 6 he that saith he abideth in
him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked All were
to be followers of the Lord Jesus. Paul says to the Corinthians,
Be ye followers of me, even as I am a follower of Christ. If
ye keep my commandments, the Lord says, ye shall abide in
my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and
abide in His love. It's only as we're able to abide
in the Lord Jesus Christ that we will love. His commandments,
and love to walk in the same path as He walks in. What can
we do apart from Him? Without Me, He says, ye can do
nothing. From Me is thy fruit found. All were to be those then who
would desire that we might have this blessed assurance that our
sins are forgiven, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
we give every evidence of having a genuine faith in Him, because
we heed His Word. Hereby we do know that we know
Him. If we keep His commandments,
He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments,
is a liar, and the truth is not in Him, but do so keepeth His
Word. In Him verily is the love of
God perfected. hereby know we that we are in
him. He that safely abideth in him
ought himself also so to walk, even as he walks. And what does the Apostle say
as he comes to the end of this chapter? He says, Now, little
children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have
confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If
you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of Him. O God, grant that we might bear
the marks, bear the marks of those who are favored with a
true assurance of their faith, that we're not those who are
guilty of the awful deception, He speaks much of those that
deceive themselves. He speaks much of those who make
God a liar, because they're living a life that is a lie. Oh God, preserve us then from
these things and grant to us that faith, that assurance of
faith, even that full assurance of faith, and that we might live
to God's glory. even by our good works, expressing
our thanks and our gratitude to God for all that He is and
all that He has done for us in the person and work of Christ. May the Lord bless His word to
us. Amen.