Do You Really Know Him?
Scripture: 1 John 1:1-6Devotional Series: The Good Shepherd
Teaching: The Good Shepherd pt. 1 (SUN_AM 2021-03-07) by Pastor Star R Scott
Do you find yourself being exclusive? Do you find yourself envying the roles of others, the positions of others? All of these are part of this secret power of lawlessness, this Antinomianism, coming against the Word. The Word is summed up in the Law and the prophets: Love God; love your neighbor. If I love God with all of my heart, then it seems that my heart, my thoughts, and my pursuit, should be stronger in that direction than in the natural. Let me remind you that the second law is like unto it: If we can’t fulfill the second law of loving our brother, it’s because we are not fulfilling the first law. Look at 1 John. Many of us will say, “Okay, I’m really going to put forth some effort and see what I can do to love my brother more, to see if I can get involved in others’ lives, and if I can stop being selfish by wanting all this recreational time and whatever free time I have for myself.” If you find yourself there, don’t get under condemnation, and certainly don’t think that you’re the only guy in here dealing with that, because virtually everybody in here deals with that on a daily basis. But if we are not fulfilling that second Law, John says this in the second chapter (look at verse 2), “He [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” That’s quite an emphatic statement, isn’t it? You don’t know God if you’re not obeying His Word, if you’re not keeping His commandments and they aren’t grievous, they aren’t hard, they aren’t burdensome, and they aren’t despised. When you love God, His commandments become that food: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart…and I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (Jeremiah 15:16, Job 23:12). The Word became more pleasant and more necessary than my normal, natural food. John goes on in this chapter and says in verse 4, “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.” This is how we know that we are abiding in Christ: “Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: and 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.” The love of God: “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” Herein is the love of God, that we love His children. Chapter 5, verse 2 says, “…that we love the children of God,” which is the fulfilling or the keeping of these commandments. These two things become synonymous, we know that we love God when we love the brethren: “He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20).
Father, we thank You for Your Word; and we ask that, as You prepare our hearts in this hour, as You work in our lives to prepare us to stand, that we would see how necessary this Word is to our lives, this Light and Lamp to our feet, that we would be open to our brothers and sisters who love us enough to bring the Word of God to us, the “Schoolmaster” that teaches us and leads us to Jesus. It’s important, Father, so open our hearts, open our minds, and prepare us to stand that, having done all in preparation, we might stand. For that, Father, we give You all the praise and all of the glory in Jesus’ name; amen.
Father, we thank You for Your Word; and we ask that, as You prepare our hearts in this hour, as You work in our lives to prepare us to stand, that we would see how necessary this Word is to our lives, this Light and Lamp to our feet, that we would be open to our brothers and sisters who love us enough to bring the Word of God to us, the “Schoolmaster” that teaches us and leads us to Jesus. It’s important, Father, so open our hearts, open our minds, and prepare us to stand that, having done all in preparation, we might stand. For that, Father, we give You all the praise and all of the glory in Jesus’ name; amen.