Knowing the Truth Part Two
Knowing the Truth Part Two
John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
· As we learned last week, all truth has Jesus at the center of it.
· Without Jesus in the center of our lives, we cannot know truth.
· And without Jesus in the center of our lives, we cannot know the Father or “receive from” the Father.
· Here is a foundational truth of the Christian faith; God can be known as “Father” and this knowing can only come through His Son.
· Jesus came to reveal the Lord God as our “Father” and that we may become “His children,” “sons of God” born again of Him.
· And now, we can know Him as our Heavenly Dad.
· Galatians 4:6: And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
· This is the truth, and we all need better understanding. Let’s look a little closer:
Hebrews 12:9: Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
· The Bible says that God is the “Father of spirits.”
· The Father made us from dirt, with a body and soul…just like the animals, but these could not fellowship with Him; so He also breathed into us a spirit; a part of Himself was given to us to allow us to respond to Him!
· Mankind was made in the image of God; he was created in purity, and walked with God in fellowship.
· Sin polluted our spirits and made our spirits “unresponsive,” or dead. Death is the “absence of life.” A dead body does not respond to any outside stimulus, it is unresponsive.
· Therefore, in our “fallen condition” we cannot respond to the Father, or even understand His Fatherhood or His heart for us, or receive from the Father!
· And no human philosophy can help man’s condition because our fallen minds “cannot respond” to the Father; and our spirits are “unresponsive” to these intellectual pursuits of truth…not solving man’s basic problem.
1 John 2:23: Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
· The one thing the dead spirit needs is “life.” You must be born again of the Spirit in “new life.” And this life is in the Son and only in the Son.
· And when the “spirit is made alive” by receiving the Son… then God may be known as the Father. Our ability to respond to Him is restored.
· Therefore, He who confesses the Son has the Father also, but without the Son… man remains “spiritually unresponsive,” spiritually dead.
· Now that John has led us to this truth, he gives us some very practical information on “how to experience” the Father. Because it’s one thing to know you have the Father, but it’s another to know the Father.
· Here’s the process:
1 John 2:24a: Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning.
· What is it that we have heard from the beginning?
· John 1:1-3: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
· We cannot separate Jesus from the word. He is the Word! He is God!
· The word includes all that He came to “manifest” to us about God and about man—and all the words and deeds of Christ are truth.
· If we are going to believe Him, then we need to believe everything He says about every subject.
· We can’t pick and choose the things we like and the things we don’t like depending on what the culture believes.
· I’ve heard some people say, we don’t follow the Bible—we follow Christ.
· The person who doesn’t believe the word does not know Christ and therefore does not know the Father.
· If you do not believe the words of Jesus, then you do not believe the words of the Father, therefore, you cannot know the Father.
· The Father wants us to know Him! He delights in His children being in fellowship with Him.
· And John wants us to know the Father and all things the Father provides for us—and it is written in His word, this is the “word of life:” “We can now experience the Father as His sons!”
· This word of life is written to us so that we may know Him…and knowing Him is life--for without Him there is no life. Here’s how to know the Father:
1 John 2:24b: If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
· If you want to know the Father—you must abide in the Son and in the Father – and the word you hear must abide in us.
· To have the word abide in us is more than just hearing and reading it occasionally… it means that the word “remains” in us or it is “possessed” by us, and is at “home” in us.
· We say, “Mi casa is su casa” but we don’t really mean it, because that would mean someone could come into our house and take it over. It would mean you can “go anywhere and do anything you like” in my home.
· Feel free to clean out the closet and rearrange the furniture. My house is now your house.
· When we read the word, it’s more than an intellectual exercise or an emotional event—there’s going to be some house cleansing!
· We must meditate on the word, and hide it in our heart.
· If we look at the Bible as just pretty words that make us feel good, then when we go our way nothing has really changed, we live as we have always lived. We must take in the word eat it and digest it, not just snack on it.
· When we allow the word to grip us or possess us then we will respond to it and obey it.
· Yes… it will affect our emotions, yes it will confront us mentally, and yes… it will affect our choices.
John 14:23-24: Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
· Jesus is saying that He and the Father will be with us when we work, and will be with us at home, and in our relationships with others, and in our problems and in our joys!
· It’s going to be an abiding all the time—not just some of the time. Notice that this is a reciprocal relationship---it is fellowship!
· There is no other life like life we can experience with the Father. It’s is an adventure like no other, filled with newness and joy eternal!
· But there is a condition: Keeping his word is “obeying” His word.
· To the degree that you obey the word and act in faith is the same degree that the Father and the Son will be in you manifesting the word in you.
· This explains why there is so much difference between Christians.
· Therefore if you obey much you will receive much, but if you obey a little you will receive little.
· If God gives Himself to us as much as we give ourselves to Him, there are three conclusions:
Ø (1). You can have as much of Christ as you want. There is no limit to the degree in which you may experience Christ—if you will believe and obey Him without limit. Asking for more without obedience is useless.
Ø (2). You will have only what you are satisfied with because God will never give you more than you really want. He will never force more blessings upon you than you really want.
Ø (3). Your current experience level with God is all you really want. Therefore you cannot blame God if you are not filled with all of the blessing that God’s word promises.
Ø It is not His fault; because for one reason or another you are not willing to take all He is willing to give.
Ø And this is what He is willing to give:
1 John 2:25: And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
· The traditional view of “eternal life” is life in heaven forever and it never ends—and that is true. But it also relates to quality as much as quantity.
· It’s not just something we are going to get someday, but here right now.
· It is “divine life” sharing “God’s life” lived out in our current situation, right now, and ever increasing in joy.
· This is the message of the Bible that we need to tell others!
· In other words, John says that this eternal life is the “daily adventure” of experiencing God’s solutions in every problem we face instead of relying on our own solutions.
· That’s always the choice; His way or mine.
Isaiah 40:31: But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
· Here’s what the word promises us, for those willing to “wait on the Lord” instead of trying to do things in our own strength or understanding.
· They are expecting Him to be at work in them.
· This is the reciprocal relationship. This is abiding.
· They shall renew their strength because they are actually “exchanging” their strength for His strength, His power, and His wisdom. Then what?
· They shall mount up with wings like eagles, shall run and not be weary, and walk and not faint.
· This is a description of the mind, emotions, and will (or soul) of man.
· Their “will or choices” will be stimulated knowing that God is working in their midst. Their “seeing” will be opened up like an eagle soaring above the mountains …seeing things from His perspective instead of their own.
· They will run and not be weary—we will experience all of our emotions in such a way that they will not wear us down. We will experience joy, gladness, and relief much as Jesus did—without the fear, anxiety, and worry that is common to those without the abiding presence of the Lord.
· They will walk and not faint: we are constantly experiencing decisions, decisions, and decisions! But that is the way life is intended to be as we take each step of life.
· Each decision is a step, and each step is an opportunity for “exchanging His life for our deadness,” exchanging our weakness for His strength, and exchanging our emptiness for his fullness.
· So every decision may be a strengthening experience.
Romans 8:32: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
· Paul tells us that God causes all things to work for our good.
· Therefore, in any situation, we can say, “Okay Lord, You are in me and have come to live in me, therefore this situation is part of your planning because I wouldn’t be in it if it weren’t for you. Now Lord do through me what you want to do.”
· Then we become available to him in any situation as we discover his plans, and every difficulty becomes an opportunity to display His glory, wisdom, and power.
Ephesians 3:14-19: For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
· The Apostle Paul opens and incredible secret to us, as we bow to the Father in obedience and truth we are strengthened in the inner man.
· And as we see the width, depth and height of the love Christ has for us—we will be filled “with all the fullness of God.”
· I can experience as much as I want in this fellowship with the Father according to how much I will believe and obey, and I can do that because I know how much He loves me—and I can have all the fullness available to me. There are no limits except in my own mind.
· One more thing:
Ephesians 3:20-21: Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
· Is this really true? Will God really offer to me way above whatever I could ask or think?
· I can ask a lot out of life. I can dream and imagine a lot of great and wonderful things.
· Unfortunately I can also think of ways to tell God how to do it… and I have tried.
· But now that I look back over my life—I have messed up a lot of things, but despite my failures He has always been there.
· Even with all my failures—this promise has been true in my life.
· If we are willing to let his word abide in us, understand it and possess it; and obey it—and if we will hold tight to that which was from the beginning that abides in us—we will experience this eternal life!