Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Tuesday, 13 August 2024 09:05

That We May Know Him
by Sarah Wootten Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols,” (1 John 5:20-21, ESV).
After nine months in the letter of 1 John, we have finally come full circle. We end this journey with a reminder of why John wrote the letter in the first place – so that we may have assurance of the salvation that is only found in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Every time we’ve talked about the necessity of obedience, loving God, loving others, the lies that surround us, and the truth of the gospel, it’s been, in large part, so that we would prayerfully examine our lives and know if we truly have been given eternal life in Him.

But there’s a truth in these last two verses that I don’t want us to miss. It’s the fact that all of salvation is based upon God’s grace. Look at the first sentence in 1 John 5:20. Where does our comprehension of the gospel come from? Certainly, it’s not from within ourselves. All unbelievers have a darkened understanding (Ephesians 4:17-18). And if understanding does not come from within ourselves, then it has to come from without. Jesus, the Son of God, came to give us understanding of the truth so that we may be found in Him who is true and be given eternal life. Even our understanding of the gospel is a marvelous gift of God’s grace! Our salvation from the beginning and through all of eternity is of God’s grace.

As you read through 1 John these past several months, you may have thought at times that John is calling us to good works in order to earn salvation. I’ll be the first to admit that some of John’s sentences taken out of context do make me raise an eyebrow. But that’s not the message of 1 John. John has always been about explaining the evidence that someone has truly come to know Christ. It’s impossible to experience God’s saving grace, and your life not be changed. Jesus described salvation as a new birth, and Paul said that people become new creations. You can’t undergo that type of experience and remain unchanged. That is why John can confidently write, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love,” (1 John 4:8, ESV).

Some believers may read that verse and tremble because you are reminded of all the ways you have failed to love those around you this week. I get it, and so did John. I’m convinced that that’s why he reminds us of repentance and the forgiveness found in Christ at the beginning of this letter and why he spends so much time intertwining glorious truths with exhortations to obey. For example, John could have said in 3:17 that Christians are to be generous people and left it at that. But that’s not what he did. Instead, John reminded us of the generosity we experienced in our time of need when Jesus gave up His very life on our behalf. Then John asks how can we not be generous towards those in need after Christ was so generous to us? All these truths we’ve talked about – adoption as children, confidence on the day of Christ, being cleansed from all unrighteousness, standing firm in the truth, and more – are meant to spur us on to obey God’s commands.

Even then, we can’t do it apart from Him. Remember that word “abide”? It showed up 16 times in this letter. Oftentimes, abiding was directly connected to obedience. So even after salvation, we can’t obey God if it wasn’t for God abiding in us and us abiding in Him. We can’t do any of this on our own. Knowing the gospel, receiving salvation, obeying God’s commands – it’s all of God and His grace towards us.

Yet, John can faithfully tell us to examine our lives to see if we truly believe. So, if you see evidence of God’s salvific grace working in your life, then be encouraged and strive all the more to glorify Christ with your life. You’re not perfect yet, and neither am I, but we look forward to the day when we will be like Him (3:2).