Welcome to Truth Matters Church. Connect with us at truthmatterschurch.org. As we continue our verse-by-verse study through the book of 1 John, today we come to Chapter 2, Verse 3, By This We Know. This verse is surprisingly deep and requires a careful contextual examination to understand the gravity of what the Apostle John was saying. We invite you to follow along in your Bible as we exposit Scripture together. Here is Pastor Alex Kataroha. So, you know, when I taught last time, we focused on propitiation, and I did want to clarify something. So, first of all, after the teaching, I always meditate on the truths that were communicated, and I did glean on this one truth, and I wanted to make sure this wasn't lost in translation, and that's this. You know, I kind of use this picture of this appease, like God's wrath and this appeasement, that kind of, with this picture, Although that's not necessarily not true. I mean, there's somewhat truth, but I did want to make sure I brought home the point on appeasement. Because we spent the whole study talking about Jesus as our propitiation. And I think behind that word of propitiation, a good way to look at it is, and this is a good analogy, if we were to look at our judicial system today, you know when someone says there's a warrant for your arrest? So let's just say it's possible where an indictment or a complaint can be filed against someone and you're not there. An example, let's just say someone was in retail and let's say they were, they stole, they stole over a thousand dollars and they have evidence, they have it on camera or whatever. Well that person's not there, let's say their person's long gone. Well, they can bring that case to a district attorney or to the sheriff's office, for example, and they can write a complaint. And based on that, they can be like, here we have proof or evidence that this person stole. So then now they can issue, there's an indictment file and there can be a warrant out for your arrest. A good way to look at, you know, propitiation and appeasing God's wrath is there is a warrant on everyone, on all human mankind from God's court. And that warrant is, you know, the wages of sin is death. not just physical death, but also in God's holiness, everyone deserves eternal death. So there's this warrant out in God's holy court on all mankind. And there's this indictment on the whole human race. And when we're saying that Jesus is our propitiation, again, it's speaking of God's wrath or his indictment on all mankind. for falling short of the glory of God. And when Jesus appeased the wrath, is he satisfied that warrant, right? So I wanted to make sure that we don't lose that. And that's the best way that I can describe it. So I know we spent a whole time on propitiation. And what we'll actually touch a little bit on John three today, and it kind of speaks on this, this is the judgment. that has come into the world, light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light. So that's speaking more of, again, God's wrath is, it's pending. And all of mankind, although they haven't been brought in God's court yet, if they don't come to Christ, then they will stand and they will receive God's wrath. But then for those of us in Christ, Jesus propitiated, He appeased the wrath because He satisfied the payment that was out for us in full. So I wanted to make sure that that wasn't lost. So now we're going to get into the second half of verse two. And this one, we're going to go on a little bit of an excursion. It's not on the deck, so just stay with me. Again, so let's reread verse two here. Again, John's writing, and it says, he himself, of course, he is speaking of Jesus, is the propitiation for our sins. And again, we got that. But he goes, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. And I wanna talk about this phrase, you know, for the whole world, because there is a lot of confusion. especially in evangelical churches. There's confusion surrounding God's love and the whole world and how that all kind of comes together. Well, first of all, you know, let's look at the Greek for the word, for the word world. And it's a familiar word. It's the Greek word cosmos. And when you see world in scripture, see, you know, for me, I can call it a cheat sheet or whatever, but in my electronic device, so if I see the word world, I can click on it, I get the Greek, and then from there I can see every use of that word throughout scripture. Very, very, very convenient. Technology is pretty cool. But whenever that Greek word is used, cosmos, you have to take it in context. So it could mean earth, just generally. It could mean creation. God's handiwork. Here's the thing, cosmos can also mean the world system, you know, the culture around us. And then also the world could mean people, you know, peoples or nations. So when we want to understand what God is, the definition of world is, we have to take it in its context. So if we were to stay in John's context, when it says Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world, what does he mean by the whole world? Well, first of all, let's look at a cross-reference here in Timothy, 1 Timothy 4, verse 10. You know, Paul writes there to Timothy, he says, General statement. Jesus is the Savior of all men. There's no other Savior, right? He's the only Savior of all men. But look, notice Paul says, especially for believers. So it's something to kind of, where I'm going with this, there is a distinction. Where I'm going with this is God's love. There is a distinction between believers and unbelievers, and we have to get that, and we're gonna get into that, and we'll look at a parallel passage for that. So John and Paul, are actually saying the same thing. So when John is saying Jesus is the propitiation for sins for the whole world, for the whole cosmos, he's saying Jesus is the propitiation for the sins for the whole world, but really John is emphasizing especially for believers. So Jesus is the Savior for all men. Jesus is the propitiation for all men. There's no other No one, there's no other Savior. There's no one who appeased God's wrath. It's only Jesus Christ. But I do want here, you know, I do want to take a little bit of excursion and go over a very familiar passage because There's a lot of confusion, again, about God's love. And a lot of churches, you can say, maybe get this out of balance. It's not in biblical balance. And when we talk about God's love, and one very, very familiar passage to all of us is John chapter three. where, you know, when we get into verse 16, for God so loved the world. And we're all, we all know the context here, right? So we have Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, and he came, so he was a ruler of the Jews, and he came to Jesus by night, and let's pick it up in verse two, and he says, you know, rabbi calling, acknowledging Jesus as a teacher, and he goes, We know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one else can do these signs you do unless God is with them. So Nicodemus has just been observing Jesus and him teaching and what he's doing. And again, he's of the elite. He is a Pharisee. He is on top of the religious social scale. But then he acknowledges that Jesus is from God because he said, no one can do these signs, you know, the miracles that Jesus is doing, unless God is with him. And then Jesus gets right to the heart. He goes, Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So just right there, we get insight. You know, Jesus has a way when you come to him, he goes right to the heart. So he knows that Nicodemus wants to see the kingdom of God. He's waiting for the kingdom of God. He knows that's why he's here. He's coming to ask questions because he wants to see and enter the kingdom of God. He goes right to the heart. It's kind of similar to the rich man, you know, who came before Jesus and also called him good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And what does Jesus do? He gets right to the heart. First of all, he goes, he knows what boxes he's checked off. You know, he obeyed the commandments, but then he got right to the heart and he saw that, you know, that that rich man loved his riches more than anything, more than God himself. And that's what Jesus says to him, you know, sell your, you know, sell all you have, give it to the poor, you'll have treasures in heaven and come follow me. And we know the story, that man went away sad. But that's kind of an example when Jesus, when people approach Jesus, he comes and he goes right to the heart and he talks to him. And that's what he did with Nicodemus here. But let's keep reading. Verse four, so Nicodemus said to him, okay, how can a man be born again when he is old? So Nicodemus is processing. what Jesus just said, and he goes, he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? And Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now here is interesting, I've read commentaries, it's very, very interesting, when you go, what does it mean, unless one is born of spirit and water? And they're all over the place. You know, some say, you know, A common one is speaking about a spiritual renewal or birth because they had rites and rituals of cleansing. Some said, oh, you have to be born of water from the womb, some crazy stuff. And then if you have to be born physically first in order to be born spiritually second, it's all over the map. You know what the best way to interpret scripture is? Keep reading. And actually, what's interesting is, Jesus has a talk with the Samaritan woman in chapter four, and I just wanna kind of jump there really quick, and I'm not gonna give us all the details here, but there was a Samaritan woman, and Jesus was by the well, and she was going to draw water, and I wanna pick up in verse seven, chapter four, verse seven. Then came a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus said to her, give me a drink. And then for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore, the Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you being a Jew ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman? So that kind of gives us an indication. There were some cultural considerations here where the Samaritans, which were half Jews or half breeds were looked negatively upon by the Jews. So, and on top of that, the Jews didn't talk to the women. So here we kind of get an insight there, but let's keep going. Jesus answered and said to her, again, verse 10, if you knew the gift of God and who has said to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you what? living water, so let's keep reading. She said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep, and where do you get that living water? He goes, you're not greater than our father Jacob, are you? Again, remember they're half Jews. Who gave us the well? and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle. And Jesus answered and said to her, here it is, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again from the well. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him, what does it say? Shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him will become in him a well of water springing to eternal life. And then what does the woman say to him? Verse 15, sir, give me this water. And then Jesus answered and said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. Again, he's saying if you drink of that water in the well, you're gonna get thirsty again. But what does he say? He goes, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him, Right? Shall never thirst, but the water I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. So, you know, if we go back to, again, Nicodemus' conversation, when Jesus said, you know, truly, truly, it's into you, unless one is born of water, Again, staying even within the author here and just keep reading, you can read this and say, unless one is born of the water that I give, is what Jesus is saying. The Spirit, the living water. The water, of course, and that's pointing to Christ and the Spirit. He cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. I'm getting to verse 16 because that's a big one that's, again, it's just misbalanced. Oftentimes when John 3.16 is taught, it's not taught in biblical balance, in biblical perspective, in context. Again, Jesus is conversing with Nicodemus, and let's continue in verse nine. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Again, Pharisees were experts of the law. So, you know, if anyone were gonna know scripture, And the law, it would be the Pharisees. They're experts of that. So he's saying, you know, you're the teacher of Israel and you don't understand what I'm telling you. And he goes again, verse 11, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen and you do not accept our testimony. I don't want to get into who's the we and our. It can go two ways. Jesus could be referring to him in the spirit because that's in context. But it also could also mean, you know, we as in the disciples who are also, you know, chosen of God and shown, you know, really the signs and miracles of Jesus. And to see, you know, leading unto salvation, right? And that was obviously the Father's doing. But let's keep reading. Verse 12, if I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the son of man. And here again in context, Jesus is saying, Look, I have my testimony. And again, you can say the Father is testifying for him. You can also say the Holy Spirit is the testimony. And no one can speak of the things that God has seen unless God himself were to come down from heaven, the Son of Man. So Jesus is saying no one can testify to the spiritual things other than God himself who has come down on earth, the Son of Man. That's what he's telling Nicodemus. He's saying, I've come from heaven. and I'm here and I'm telling you of spiritual things. And in verse 14, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. Here's where, again, I really wanna get to verse 16. For God so loved the world, for God so loved the cosmos, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. You know, a lot of churches and a lot of evangelism techniques or approaches or whatever, they'll say, see, for God to love the world, God loves everybody. Just like that. You know, God loves you, come as you are. I'm not saying that there's not some truth behind that. But if you're taking that from this verse, what is being communicated here? And we have to get into, again, we're looking at a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. And remember, Nicodemus is a Pharisee and a Jew. He's Orthodox. They won't even go into the house of Gentiles. And we know that story when Peter, right, when God gave Peter the vision when he was in a trance on the roof. and brought before Peter a tray of unclean animals or foods. And they're like, you know, Peter, kill and eat. And he's like, far be it from you, Lord. Remember, he goes, I'm kosher. I'm a Jew. And I don't even I don't touch that stuff. I won't do it. It happened three times. But God was teaching Peter because, remember, his thought was I'm a son of Abraham, I'm a Jew, I don't associate, first of all, I don't eat anything unclean, and that would include, I would not even go into a Gentile's home. That's how Jews thought. So when Jesus said, for God so loved the world, he's talking to that mindset. Peter came out of that teaching and that theology. He's saying, for God so loved the world, wait a minute, Nicodemus, God doesn't just love the Jews. God loves the cosmos. It's beyond the Jews. That's kind of where he's getting at here. For God to love the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him, again, that's Jesus, shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. So here, he's teaching Nicodemus that God doesn't just love the Jews, that there are sheep outside of the Jews, right? And we know that in the parable of the good shepherd in John chapter 10. He goes, I have sheep that are not of this fold, Jesus said. Again, he's teaching that I have sheep that are outside of the people of Israel. So this statement here, for God so loved the world, does that mean that God loves everybody without exception? I mean, that's gonna be a stretch. And here's another stretch. If you're gonna say, well, God loves a believer and unbeliever the same, what do you mean? Are you telling me the same love that God has for believers is the same love that God loves the unbeliever the same? That's a little twisted. Because then why is there two different outcomes? So what I'm going at with this is, you know, God is love. God so loved the world, the cosmos, but you gotta keep reading and read it in context. Let's pick it up again in verse 18. He who believes in him is not judged, but he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So here it is, here's just kind of putting it in practical terms. So let's say you wanted to evangelize someone and you wanted to stay true to scripture. Say God loves you. God died for your sins, but if you don't believe, you will be judged. That's a fair balance representation. But if you say God loves you, period, no call for repentance, you better turn from your ways. You know what, the path that you're going, and if you don't turn from that and turn towards God, you're judged already, God's wrath remains on you. That's the gospel. So I'm just saying that to say, again, there's this imbalanced, and I think we've seen it, or been participating in it, where there's just like, God is a touchy-feely God, God is love, God is love, come as you are. And again, we wanna be fair to scripture, and we have to hold that imbalanced. You know that in the gospel message, gospel means good news, there needs to be bad news. So when we wanna share the gospel with someone, we gotta start with the bad news, really. Hey, do you know that? First of all, bring some awareness of sin and what the consequences are, then the good news is really good news. But if you don't understand your situation, your predicament, and where you would be headed without Christ, then the good news, yeah, it sounds good, I'll give it a try. And then, okay, it's not for me, kind of throw it aside. There's no really call for repentance, but let's just finish this up. And this is what I was alluding to earlier. So this is the judgment. Remember I was talking about that indictment. Here is the judgment, there's the indictment that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light for their deeds are evil. And as we've studied in our previous studies of John, when he says God is light, it's speaking about, remember, light is another word for righteousness. So when we say God is light, it's saying God is righteous. So in order to be in the light, we need to see the righteousness of God as revealed in scripture. So if you don't see God's righteousness, you're not living in the light. If you don't see God's holiness and righteousness and really who he is and his character, how are you walking in the light? You're in darkness. Whatever you know about God is imbalanced. But again, so when Jesus says here, you know, for light has come into the world, and the light, he's speaking to himself, right? He is the light of the world, and he is righteousness. Everything Jesus does and says is righteousness. And he goes, but men, right, those who reject him, love darkness rather than light for their deeds are evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. And lastly, but he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. So I went on that little excursion there because when it says, when John says this is, Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for our sins, but for the sins of the world, again, that's a general statement. And also when we say, for God so loved the world, again, that's a general statement, but if you follow, again, keep it in context and follow it, God's love and forgiveness and no judgment is tied to believers. We gotta get that. So God's love will be realized only by believers, if that makes sense. I'm talking about love where it results in salvation, obviously it results in eternal life. that God loved in that way, will receive full salvation. On the other hand, for those who reject God, then they're not gonna receive the love of God, they're gonna receive the wrath of God. So all that is to say, again, we have to take scripture in its context, and you have to, again, understand its uses, and then from there, it'll get us to the right interpretation. So if I ask you guys, does God love everyone the same equally? What's the biblical answer? No, he doesn't. But God is love, right? So he can't not love because that would be against his nature. But those who re-experience God's love is another level. And that's where, again, that's the blessed hope, you know, we're his. For those of us who are believers, we're gonna experience the love of God in its fullness. I don't know how that's gonna be. But imagine the loving God loving you, like totally, fully, unconditionally, and you in return are going to worship, love, and adore Him for all eternity. There's gonna be this mutual love in His family, and we're gonna get that. Unbelievers don't get that. They're gonna get the continual justice of God, the wrath of God. You know, when we say Jesus is our propitiation, because others didn't come to Christ for Christ to appease their sins for them, then the ongoing eternal wrath of God will fall on that person. And it's tragic. Actually, if there's any, whenever there's a Q&A session, oftentimes it's going to touch on election, right? And if at the end of the day, God is the one who chooses everybody, then The logical question is, well, God, you're loved, and why did you choose some people over others? So then, in our logical mind, we'll be like, okay, well then, possibly, we're different from believers, because we were smart enough to repent and receive Christ, right? So then God looked down time, and he saw that you were gonna choose him, so therefore, he elected you based on your choice. Again, does scripture teach us that? No. So, there's gonna be, and here's where I kind of leave it. As far as election in general, we've had conversations about this many times. You know, God has always been in the business of choosing the whole time. You know, He, for example, well, we said Noah, for example, when we start even with Noah, that he was righteous before God, and we know that he was righteous because of his faith. But I want to suggest to you that God chose Noah because if he was going to flood the earth, remember, he needed to bring Messiah. He promised that at the fall to defeat the work of Satan. So he couldn't wipe out the entire human race. So he did preserve Noah. Now the scriptures doesn't say that explicitly, but again, when you look at all of scripture, We can only conclude that God, he was elected by God. And what was proof of that is that he had saving faith. But then when you get to his call of Abram, shortly thereafter, God appeared to Abram personally. He appeared to him, he says, Abram, you can go leave your father, right, and your people, and go to a land that you don't know, and I'm gonna bless you, right? So God is the one who initiated the conversation with Abram. And he's the one who decided to enter into a covenant with Abram. And we talked about this, Fidel, last week. in his vision, and about the splitting of the animals. And Abram was asleep, and God was the one who, he manifested himself as a boiling pot, I believe, and he walked through the pieces. And again, you gotta go back to that ancient time, but that was a way to make a covenant back then. and God demonstrated that visibly. But the point is, God chose Abram, God told Abram to leave his people, and God entered into a covenant with Abram, and it was on God's terms. And then from there, we know the story, you know, Jacob I love, Esau I hated. And that's when you get into Romans chapter nine, we see that God chose Abram. He also chose who is going to get the promise from there. So it went from Abraham to Isaac. And we know Isaac had two sons. It was Jacob and Esau. Who did Isaac love? You guys remember? Esau. He loved Esau. If it was man's choice, who would have got the promise? Esau. I don't even want to get into Abraham and Sarah. God made a promise saying that you will have offspring and they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. And they're what, 90 and 100 respectively. They're as good as dead. They can't bury any more children. And we know this story. God, I guess, took too long to fulfill his promise, so then Sarah had the great idea, here's Hagar, my maidservant, come take her, and won't you have a baby with her? And that's gonna be the child. Again, that's man's choice. So if it was man's choice, the promise would've went to Hagar and Ishmael. But again, God says, no, no, no, no, no, not that one. It's gonna be through your own, and then came, right? So Isaac, then came Jacob and Esau. Now they're twins. Okay, who's going to get the promise? Usually the firstborn gets the promise, which is Esau. But then before they were even born and did anything good or bad, God said, the older will serve the younger. Jacob I loved, Esau I hated. God is always in the business of choosing who's going to get the promise at the end of the day. So that's not any different, and we know the story, Jacob ended up stealing the blessing from Esau, and Esau wanted to later kill him. We're not gonna get into all the Old Testament, but the point is this, the point is this. God has always chose. And it was always on God's terms. So then the logical question is, okay, if God chooses, including who's going to be His people, how the promise is going to come about, and who is going to receive those promises, then you get into the logical question in Romans chapter 9. Well then, who can find fault? Why does God still find fault, but for who can resist His will? This is what Paul's getting. He's getting to the human reasoning, because it's like, wait a minute. If it doesn't depend on man's effort, or desire, or will, there goes your will, threw it in there. God's salvation doesn't depend on you. Then why does God still find fault for who can resist His will? And I love Paul. He doesn't answer it. He goes, who are you, oh man? to talk back to God. Can that which is formed by the potter say, why have you made me like this? But then he's interesting, he goes on to use these vessels and fit it for destruction. And all I can say, Christine, is a long way to say this. The scripture upholds man's responsibility, except you repent, you shall perish. So from our vantage point, we don't know. All we know is there's this call of the gospel, there's this call to repent. That's all we know. But we know that if that call to repentance results in salvation, that was the work of God. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself is the gift of God. Then we have evidence, if God there is work in someone's life, that you have been chosen by God. And Paul writes this all over his letters. I know that God chose you, beloved, because the gospel not only came with you, right, but it didn't just come to you. What he's saying is it came to you with power. That the gospel was delivered to you. You didn't just receive it, but there was power when you received it. God started to work in you. The responsibility, as far as man's choice, is always there. So when people stand before God, it's because they rejected Jesus Christ, not because God didn't choose them. I can't reconcile that. All I know is that each man and woman will stand before God and give an account for what they've done. and including believers where the good and bad in the body will be judged, but it's a different judgment. But then unbelievers, we're gonna have to give an account and they're gonna be judged for their rejection of Christ and it's their rejection. And again, that's gonna result in eternal judgment and condemnation. So all that is to say this, all that is to say this, the scripture teaches that Those who come to faith are ultimately chose by God. It was His choice, 100%, 100. Not even .01 is us, it's 100% of God. You know, even as unbelievers stand before the judgment seat of God, no one can say, well God, you didn't, you can't, if you're gonna stand before the holy throne, and you're gonna be laid bare. What happened when Isaiah saw God, or was taken into heaven and saw his glory? He saw his sin, and he goes, I'm a man of unclean lips. And of course we know Moses can't see God, and God said to Moses, you can't see me and live, so let him see the hem of his garment. So when we stand before God, He sees right through us. And every mouth is gonna be silenced. And that argument that we can have here before judgment is not gonna even take place. But we do know when people are judged for their sin, ultimately, it is because they rejected the Savior. And that's gonna be upheld. Romans has so much there because then there's questions about, okay, well, If God knew there was gonna be evil and this is how it's gonna be, why did he allow it to happen? Why did he create Satan? Why did he allow this evil and sin enter into his creation? So you're gonna have to stay tuned for Romans for that. kind of circling back here. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. So in the Greek, we see the word know, see our English word? We only see know, K-N-O-W. Now in the Greek, there's two Greek words, and it's actually very important because one's oida and one's genosko, and they're two very different words with different emphasis. So for example, if we're talking about just all knowledge, just information and truth and knows everything, that's oida. That's, it's more of a knowledge. But when the Greek word genosko is used, it's speaking more of an experiential knowledge. It's speaking, again, it's knowledge that you've acquired by experience is a good way to say it. That's a different knowing than knowing some facts or information or things. Genosko is knowing through experience. I know this because I've experienced this. That's the word know, and that's the word here in John's, in verse 3. First of all, let's kind of break this down. When he says, by this, it's referring to commandments, his commandments. And I guess he's going to say that at the end of this verse. And then the word no there again is genosko, that's beyond general knowledge. It's an intimate knowledge through experience. Him is, of course, referring to Jesus. And here's an interesting word, when you say keep his commandments, that's, what do you mean keep his commandments? What does keep mean? Keep, keep his commandments. By this we know that we have come to know Genosco Jesus if we keep Tiro, his commandments, and that means to watch over, to guard, or to observe. So when you see the, when you see to keep his commandments, think of it as watching over, You're guarding His commandments. You're observing it too. There's this sense of protection when you guard or you keep, in this case, His commandments. It's you're watching over it, you're guarding, and you're observing. For believers, that's how we are with his word, right? We're very careful who you listen to, what you're being taught, especially when we're talking about his word and what his truth is communicating, and that's natural. I do remember, I remember this, when we used to go to Highlands and San Bruno, again, baby Christian, I didn't know Pastor Don from nothing, and I remember sitting there, I'm like, man, is he a wolf in sheep's clothing? Hmm, I'm just sitting there, in my spirit, because I'm guarding the truth I knew at that time, and what I knew, but I was skeptical. You know what? If you're like that with me, that's fine. But then take what I said, take it to the, yeah, yeah, do that. Go, hmm, is that? There's a sheep and wolves and sheep. No, for real. How will you know? What am I saying? And is what I'm saying representative of God's truth, then that'll answer the question. Because that's how you know what false teachers are, because you're like, wait a minute, you're teaching this prosperity, and that God wants your best life now, and somehow name it and claim it. Okay, well, that's what this person says, you go back to the scripture, that's not what it teaches. So that exposes that person, that's why you're false. But of course, those who are teaching sound biblical truth and doctrine, tested in the word, then you know that it's true. But the point is, in heart of believer, and that's kind of a telltale, if you don't care about your doctrine, that's a red flag. Because then how are you gonna know? How are you gonna know? How are you going to know you're safe? How are you going to have assurance if you don't know what the Bible teaches? If you're just kind of loosey-goosey with Scripture, then how are you going to know for certain that come Judgment Day you're going to be received and embraced by Christ and welcomed and hear the words, well done, good and faithful servant. How are you going to know that's going to be said to you if you don't know what He said? and you don't believe that with all your heart, and you don't guard it and keep it and watch over it and observe it, how are you gonna know? If we don't have this treasure, His Word, and we're guarding, what are we living for then? What this world has to offer? Yeah, and you know what? And you know what? Obviously, okay, let's just speak about the world in general, especially us here in the West. It's not trending in the right direction. God, if you don't have kids yet or whatever, I guess I don't want to scare you, but it's a natural feeling. Man, do I want to bring a kid into this world, right? This is a natural protective feeling, like man, yeah, you want to have a kid, but whoa, what are we bringing him into? But again, it's faith. It's trusting God, like, you know what, Lord, even though we live in this fallen world and even though it's chaotic and it's crazy and evil's running rampant, but God, you're on the throne. And I know that if I have a child, it's from you and it's a gift. So with that lens, even though I might be fearful and not want to under these circumstances, but I'm also gonna balance that and say, you know what, Lord, I'm gonna trust you and I'm gonna lift. this child to you and whatever you decide to do with this child. Again, it's your doing, but can you help me raise and nurture this child to come to know and embrace you as Savior? See, that's where the faith comes in, right? So allow me to paraphrase verse three. And we'll finish up verse three and then we'll pick up in verse four next time. Here's what John is saying, all that considered. Again, this is a paraphrase. This is how we can know that we truly experience the saving relationship with Jesus Christ. that you watch over, guard, and observe his word in your heart. So that's really what John is getting at in verse three. And again, to support this, John 14, 15, Jesus speaks to his disciples, speaking to his disciples there. He goes, if you will love Agapao, me, there it is, you will keep You will guard, you will watch over, you will observe my commandments. See, there's a connection. If we say we love Jesus, but don't guard, watch over, and observe his word, then what you just said is words. They come together. Jesus is the word of God. So if you say you love Jesus, you love his word. And you know that when Jesus says, man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So that's a telltale. If we don't care about his word, we kind of like it, but it's not. It's not a priority, it's not the priority. See, then again, based on John, and he's very, very clear, then that's a sign, that's a warning sign about, okay, maybe your faith isn't the real thing. And there's still hope though, there's still hope. And then John, let's read John 14, verses 23 and 24. Said to him, and he's speaking to Judas here, not Iscariot, if anyone loves Agapaomi, he will keep my word, saying the same thing, and my father will love Agapaohim, and we, right, the father and the son, will come to him and make our abode with him, here it is, he who does not love Agapaomi, does not keep my words, and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father who sent me." Here you go. If you don't love the word, you don't love scripture, you don't love Jesus, then you don't love Him. But if you do love His word, you do love Jesus, you do love His commands, commandments, then you love Him. See, what's interesting is, He's saying that if we love, guard over, and treasure his word, he says we, the Father and the Son, will come and make our abode with him. It's this mutual love relationship, and we know it starts from the Father and the Son, right? We know it starts from God, and it's obviously brought upon in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That starts first, and then it reciprocates back to him. So if there's no reciprocation of love in your heart for God, then that's a telltale that you don't love Him and that you're not His, at least right now. That doesn't mean that you won't love Him. tomorrow, or next week, next month, next year, or whatever. Again, that's all in God's plan, but just know that at least if we're speaking about today, if you don't reciprocate that love back to God by loving His word, guarding His word, observing His word, then it's just lip service at the end of the day. That's what, when I'm reading John, and we're gonna get into it, we'll close up here. I'm telling you, he's very, when, He's like this. He's very harsh. I'm like, John, you're gonna offend some people here, man. When this gets read, people are gonna be exposed, because it ruffles some feathers. And you know what? Also, again, if it's the word that's being preached, we should get poked, right? It should admonish us. It should encourage us. That's how we know we're hearing the truth, and it's doing something in our heart. And again, we have to test it. Is that really the truth? It is. repent and humble ourselves and receive that truth. And then that's where God will continue his work in us. And we'll end with these truths. And then we'll pick up in verse four. And here's the truth again by expositing 1 John 2, verse three. Believers hear their good shepherd. And I talk a little bit about election. Another way you know that you've been chosen by God is that you heard Jesus. Now, I want to be careful because I'm not talking about anything mystical here. I'm talking about His Spirit with our spirit testifies. There's this testimony that you are His children, right? Again, Romans. Romans is an awesome book. Romans, um, So His Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are His children. So if you hear Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and you know that the biblical Jesus is the Savior, is the light of the world, is the Son of God, is the propitiation for our sin, is our advocate, all those good things, you hear that loud and clear, that's good. Salvation is yours because that's again, that's walking in light of that truth, believing in that truth. Here's another thing. Believers run from false shepherds. If someone is a believer, a true believer, a true regenerate, God has really started to work in that person's heart. If that really happened and they're on their quote unquote, Christian walker journey. If they find themselves in the false teaching, if the Holy Spirit's in them, they will run from a false shepherd. You're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So here's an example. Let's say you heard the gospel, you heard the truth, and God started to work in your heart. You go to a Mormon church, I'm just throwing one of these false religions out there. When I'm saying false, again, in light of Scripture, the God of Scripture says there's only one true religion, there's only one man appointed as judge over all mankind, there's only one man who is Savior of the world, there's only one way to heaven, and that is through the Son of God, Jesus Christ. All other religions that deviate from that are false religions. So if God started to work and you were to find yourselves, let's say, in a Mormon church, and you're hearing that Jesus is Lucifer's half-brother and things like that, some other crazy, crazy stuff, and you read your Bible, and you're like, where is that? And the Holy Spirit, I mean, He's our comfort, but He's also, He's our protector. He who began that good work will see it to completion. He can't bring salvation to full completion in false teaching, in false doctrine. So a tell-tale is Again, if you have the work of God in you and you're exposed to false teaching, or shallow teaching is another thing, too. That's a good tell-tale. Okay, let's say you're not quite a false teacher, but, man, I've been going to church and I'm not getting fed. Like, I'm starving, I'm hungry. That's good. And then when you hear the word, you're like, there it is. That's what I needed to hear. I, my soul is now satisfied. That's a telltale that again, the work of God is in you and whether it's a false teaching or a really watered down gospel or teaching, that's not enough. You're like, no, I need more than this. There's gotta be more than this. And then again, God being our faithful and good shepherd, he will guide you and he'll put, His people are in front of you, and then He will feed your soul. Remember, what did Jesus tell Peter when He asked him three times? Because Peter denied Him three times. He goes, you know, Peter, do you love me? What'd He say? Take care of my sheep, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. Feed, feed, feed. What do you feed the sheep? His word, His word, His word. So Peter was like, if you love me, Here's how you're gonna make it up for me. And that's what I love about Jesus. He gives you a chance to make it up. He really did. He did that with Peter. He's like, you did that to me three times, you're gonna affirm me three times. And you know what? You're now gonna go and you're gonna feed my sheep, and on top of that, guess what, Peter, you're gonna be taking places where you don't wanna go, and ultimately, pretty much let them know the writing's on the wall, you're gonna get killed. And he goes, hey, what about John? He goes, it's not for you to know. And we know through church history that John was the only one of the apostles that wasn't martyred, of the original 12. Well, less Judas, take Judas out, the 11. That it was only John that lived, right, that he was exiled, but he lived out his days versus getting martyred. But again, here's the truth. These are all the truths just from this one verse that we're kind of unpacking here. Again, believers guard the truth and hopefully we got that. We guard the truth, guard it. Your life, your salvation, your soul, it depends on it. And then here's a last telltale. You love and obey Jesus' commands. Now, I wanna be careful there. Of course, do we obey it perfectly? Gosh, no. Because we still have sin. We have this body of death, Romans chapter seven. So, as you see, I love Romans, by the way. Romans is amazing, amazing, amazing. Because a lot of it, you know, it hits at home. But again, these are all truths that God has did a work in our heart. And you probably look into them, but don't cheat. We're gonna do a spiritual test later. We're gonna do an examination. And I got this from the word, you know what I mean? Like, okay, now that we're, I'm like, all right, John. So here's me. I'm just like, all right, John. this is pretty heavy because then you're having me question myself, right? Which is good. Like, you know, am I in the faith? You know, am I, do I love Jesus? Um, do I desire to, you know, love and honor him and all those things. And that's what the word does. Again, it, it, it, it's, um, it's sharper than any two edged sword, right? And it pierces, I mean, the word really exposes us. And that's why I think I've shared this with you before. You know, when I've done sermon prep, If you can see me spiritually, I'm all cut up, like bleeding, spiritually, because I'm like, it's like, man, I thought I was not so bad. But man, oh man, the more and more I learn about His truth and I learn about the depths of my sin and how I fall short. And just when I thought I was that much of a sinner, I'm like dang, I'm that much more and I'm that much more. And you know how that goes. But what's good about John is he does challenge our faith. And we're gonna get into, we're gonna get a little bit into, you know, really the true faith versus the false faith and, you know, true conversion versus false conversion, you know, really saving faith versus non-saving faith. And we'll get into that next time. So let's close in prayer. Oh, Heavenly Father, as we close in prayer, Lord, we've, we've tried to, you know, talk through your word. We spoke on some truths and some are, are difficult to understand. But Lord, what is clear in your word, crystal clear, and we just need to trust and accept it by faith, and that is your good, and that you alone are true, you alone are righteous. And Lord, your word is crystal clear that salvation began with your terms and ends with your terms. And we know that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. So Lord, we thank you for the privilege, really, to come together to be exposed to your word. Lord, my prayer is that your truth has done its work in our hearts that we take our faith, we don't take it for granted, our salvation, and that instead of taking it for granted, Lord, that we do use the opportunities that you've laid out before us to love and obey you and to fulfill your will in our lives. And Lord, as we continue in our study, Lord, continue to Expose our hearts. Lord, challenge us with the goal, Lord, that our faith, which is more precious than gold or silver or any precious metal on this earth, would withstand it so that we know that we have the real thing and that is you in our hearts. So we look forward to getting to know you more in this epistle. And we look forward to you continuing to refine us, mold us, and shape us into the image of Christ. In whose name we pray and everyone said, amen, amen. Thank you so much for listening to the Truth Matters Church podcast today. We invite you to subscribe to us through Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or simply like us as a favorite on Sermon Audio. Truth Matters Church is dedicated to the careful teaching of God's Word, and if the Lord has placed it on your heart to support our ministry, you can do so at truthmatterschurch.org. A gift of any amount is sincerely appreciated. Please join us again next time as we contend for the faith, one verse at a time, here at Truth Matters Church.