1 JohnEverlasting Mercy Fellowship

1st John 2:3-6

1st John 2:3-6 3 And by this we know that we

have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

The Big Idea: Theology of Propitiation

Last week we looked at John’s analogy of Propitiation. Let’s recap a bit...

Sin brought death… Genesis 2:16-17

▪ 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.“

Ezekiel 18:20▪ 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for

the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

The Big Idea: Theology of Propitiation

God satisfied the penalty of sin once and for all by coming into human history as the God-Man, Jesus Christ and making propitiation for our sin.

John 3:16-21▪ 16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

The Big Idea: Propitiation happened on the cross

Question of the day: Who is this?

Prove it

How do I know I’m a Christian?

Here’s the big idea: Christians do what God says. We obey His word (see 1st John 2:4-5)

1st John 5:3▪ 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his

commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Romans 6:16▪ 16Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone

as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

John 3:36▪ 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever

does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

How do I know that the bible is God’s word?

Jesus taught… Its entirety. The whole of the Bible is

inspired (see Matthew 4:4; 5:17-18). In Matthew 4:4, Jesus responds to Satan’s temptation by affirming verbal plenary inspiration when He said, man is to live by every word (plenary) that proceeds out of the mouth of God (inspiration). In Matthew 5:17-18, Christ promised that the entire Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets, would be fulfilled, not abolished. In fact, He declared that not even the smallest Hebrew letter, the yodh, which looks like an apostrophe (‘), or stroke of a letter, a small distinguishing extension or protrusion of several Hebrews letters (cf. the extension on the letter R with it absence on the letter P), would pass away until all is fulfilled. Christ’s point is that it is all inspired and true and will be fulfilled.

2 Its historicity; He spoke of the Old Testament in terms of actual history. Adam and Eve were two human beings, created by God in the beginning, who lived and acted in certain ways (Matt. 19:3-5; Mark 10:6-8). He spoke of Jonah and his experience in the belly of the great fish as an historical event (Matt. 12:40). He also verified the events of the flood in Noah’s day along with the ark (Matt. 24:38-39; Luke 17:26-27). He verified God’s destruction of Sodom and the historicity of Lot and his wife (Matt. 10:15; Luke 17:28-29). These are only a few illustrations; many others exist.

3 Its reliability; because it is God’s word, the Scripture must be fulfilled (Matt. 26:54).

4 Its sufficiency; it is sufficient to witness to the truth of God and His salvation (Luke 16:31).

5 Its indestructibility; heaven and earth will not pass away until it is all fulfilled. Nothing can stop its fulfillment (Matt. 5:17-18).

6 Its unity; the whole of the Bible speaks and witnesses to the person and work of Christ (Luke 24:27, 44).

7 Its inerrancy; men are often in error, but the Bible is not; it is truth (Matt. 22:29; John 17:17).

8 Its infallibility; the Bible cannot be broken, it always stands the test (John 10:35).

How do I know I’m a Christian?

Obey His word (see 1st John 2:4-5)

Live like He lived (see 1st John 2:5-6)