I John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
Those who are saved are children of God. Not all people are children of God. All are held accountable to God, but all are not His children. Those who are true children of God need to understand that we are little children. We are fully dependent upon God. If we seek to strike out on our own we will fail. In verse 1 we are reminded that God does not want His children to sin. God gave Adam all the tools he needed to avoid sin. Adam chose not to use those tools and chose to follow his own way. He failed miserably. God has provided all that is needed for His children now not to sin. We have been give the power to be called sons of God. We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. We are also reminded in this verse that God’s children will sin. We are reminded again here, how to deal with that. Sin is the transgression of God’s law. We cannot come before God on our own. We need Someone who can intervene on our behalf. That Someone is Jesus Christ. He is the advocate with the Father. This “advocate” is an “intercessor”. He stands before the Father and speaks on behalf of the saved person who has sinned. Notice here as well that Jesus Christ is “the righteous”. He is without sin. Unlike human lawyers who are often liars, Jesus Christ does not twist the facts. He does not look for a loophole. He does not try to deceive the Father. He pleads the case of the sinning child of God. He understands that the true child of God is seeking forgiveness of sin and He pleads that case with His blood. In verse 2 we read that He is the “propitiation” for our sins. The Greek word translated as “propitiation” means “expiator”. We do not normally use these words. It means to appease the judge. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Those who are saved do not need to find a lamb or a bullock or some other sacrifice to bring to a priest to sacrifice for his sin. Jesus Christ paid for sin once for all. His blood is able to continue to satisfy the righteous demands of His Father on behalf of those who are His children and who need to be forgiven. Jesus Christ did not shed His blood for just a few people. The Calvinist teaches that Jesus Christ only died for the “elect”. This verse, as many others, teaches that Jesus Christ shed His blood for the whole world. It does not say the world of the elect. The ungodly will be without excuse because they could have been saved but they refused to be saved. Those who are saved have no excuse for harbouring sin because they could be forgiven at any moment by confessing their sin to God. Those who are saved must keep a clean slate before God. We have already been reminded that we cannot claim sinless perfection. The solution is to come before God in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ the righteous, and have Him plead our case before the Father. In verse 3 we have another opportunity to examine our hearts. This is not about law keeping. It is about:
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
The evidence that we are children of God is that we keep His commandments. When a true child of God breaks one of God’s commandments, he desires to be forgiven and restored to right fellowship. The fact that the love of God indwells the true child of God will motivate him to keep His commandments. We want to please our God and Saviour. In verse 4 we are again reminded that truth is important. If a child of God claims to know Him, and does not keep His commandments, he is a liar. The Greek word translated as “keepeth” means “to attend to carefully”. The true child of God wants to please his heavenly Father. He does not want to bring shame to His holy name. He does not live in sin. John was told to remind us that the person who wants to sin and defend his sin, yet claim to be saved, is a liar. God says the truth is not in that person. That person is not a saved person. God does not want lost people to follow the wrong person. God wants His children to walk in the truth. He wants His children to know whom they can follow. Any pastor who stands in the pulpit and protects sin, is sinning against God. Some years ago a man was seeking to defend the use of CCM music in his church. I knew the man well and I stated that if his pastor was a God-fearing man, he would not allow that type of music to be used in his church. The man I spoke with tried to defend the pastor, even though he knew he was in the wrong. A godly pastor cannot defend sin. Using the world’s music and the world’s manners in music is sin. The godly pastor would reject that and not allow it in his church. The same goes for godly church members. They would not allow that type of music to be used in their church. If the church wants to defend that junk, then the wise godly person will find a true church that will honour God and be a help to him rather than a stumblingblock. That is just one example of many that could be used. The point is that a true child of God desires truth in his heart. He does not defend sin. He loves the truth. In verse 5 we read that the person who keeps God’s Word, will see the love of God perfected in him. That person will grow in the Lord. He will become a stronger child of God. True Christians can identify other true Christians by how they live. True Christians will reflect the truth of God in their hearts and lives. This will be seen by the fact that they keep God’s commandments. We do not make up some artificial standard of righteousness. We study and learn God’s commandments and we understand that they are His requirements for His child. We, those who are truly saved, can identify a tree by its fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. There is no need for the corruption that has taken over most religious groups today. We have the truth, and we can examine our own hearts by the truth and we should expect other true saints to examine our lives by our fruit. If the fruit does not look like the fruit that God says we should produce, we are motivated by the love of God to speak to the person about their waning fruit. We love God and we love the saint enough to desire to help him to grow in the Lord as he also needs to help us to grow in the Lord. Today is the Lord’s Day. It is the first day of the week. Jesus Christ rose the first day of the week. He appeared with His disciples many times on the first day of the week. The early churches met on the first day of the week. We are reminded and commanded to meet together more as we see the day approaching. How can any true born again Christian defend sitting at home on the first day of the week, rather than obeying God’s command to assemble together? I just read this morning that France has arrested the founder of Telegram. The governments of the world are working hard to silence free speech. That means they want to stop the proclamation of God’s Word. The internet is a wonderful tool. It cannot replace God’s design to meet in person with other saints. Be sure you are obedient to God’s commands if you are one of His “little children”. Pastor Bartel
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