Hereby We Know

June 5, 1988

I John 3:13-24

HEREBY WE KNOW..."

Introduction: If all goes as planned, on Wednesday, June 8, 1988, just before 9:00 p.m., Helen and I will board British Airways Flight #214 and sit back confidently expecting to arrive in London at 8 a.m. that next Thursday morning, after the shortest night you can imagine. It is amazing what we don't know, and will never know about Flight #214, if we are privileged to go. We won't know until we see the aircraft whether it is to be a 747 or an L-1011. We won't ever know anything about the pilot except his name, which we will forget. We won't know how the cockpit controls work, or what radar and vectors and ground controllers will be doing while we are airborne.

What we do know is (1) when the flight is leaving and from where; (2) where it is heading for; and (3) we will know that we have our tickets— and (4) finally— we'll make sure we actually get on board.

The rest is a matter of faith.

It is quite a bit like that on the most important journey that we shall ever take; or, more correctly— the journey into life and eternity that we are all making right now!

There are a lot of things we DON'T know, and can never understand. But on such an important journey there are SOME things of which we must be very SURE! The Bible tells us that we can have eternal life; and what is more, the Bible tells us that we can KNOW we are alive, spiritually!

I John is a little book that is big on this matter of knowing about eternal matters. John wants us to be sure about the important things that have to do with life and death and eternity.

Would you like to know HOW you can find CERTAINTY in these vital matters?

I. CERTAINTY COMES BY WAY OF GOD'S REVELATION,

[and not by other sources of knowledge.]

(2:3) And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.") "KNOWING," in matters of eternal life, is always connected to the Word of God.

  1. We can NOT look to non-Christian sources for advice on facing life and death. And as a matter of fact, there will always be some form of conflict with the 'wisdom of the world.' (verse 3:13 " Don't be surprised if the world hates you!") One would think that when a person comes to Christ everyone would rejoice. In actual fact there is always some kind of conflict! It is almost a 'witness' in itself! It is NOT by the approval and acceptance of the world that we are affirmed in our faith.

    [In Marks' gospel there is the story of the man who had a whole region terrorized— and Jesus came along and cast a legion of devils out of him, and it ruined a herd of pigs; and when the people came out of the town and saw this man who had been naked and raving mad and fearsome sitting quietly, clothed and in his right mind and listening to Jesus teach, they said to Jesus: please leave us! What a reaction!]

  2. This does not mean that everything that is not revealed in the Bible is untruth; it does not mean that Christians should only study and believe sacred facts and figures. Many things pertaining to life and living are true whether the 'believer' in them is Christian, Jew, Mohammedan or pagan.
  3. But ETERNAL LIFE COMES FROM ONLY ONE SOURCE. That Source is GOD.

    And God has revealed His LIFE in His Son, Jesus Christ, the Living Word, through His gift of revelation to us that we call the Bible, the Written Word. As we read the Holy Spirit helps us understand and believe. And as we are persuaded, and as we agree in will, and in spirit, and in beginning the necessary steps, we have the assurance that we have passed from death to life— we are on our way to heaven!

    So, CERTAINTY BEGINS WITH THE BIBLE. God said it! I accept it! I believe it! I choose to go with God! That settles it! I KNOW because of God's WORD! [But that is only ONE witness, and there are more!]

II. CERTAINTY OF SPIRITUAL LIFE IS REINFORCED BY OUR OWN KINDLING LOVE.

We become aware that something real, and personal, is happening within our own being! (3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.) The LIFE which we receive in Jesus Christ is NOT received in a vacuum. It is not received in isolation.

It is always received in a relationship; a relationship to God as Father, and a relationship to all God's children as FAMILY.

The Roman Catholics have a saying:' He who has God for his Father has the Church for his mother.' And the only thing about that saying is—it is pretty much TRUE! The LIFE we receive will manifest itself by hunger and thirst, spiritually. But also it will immediately manifest itself by a sense of family! We are BORN into God's family, the church! One of the strong proofs of spiritual life is this fact that the Church of Jesus Christ increasingly becomes our family! How do you describe being part of a "family?" What does it mean? ?

In a good family there will be a strong sense of BELONGING. That belonging is one of the strongest ties known to man! In every family there are shared values. There is an almost 'mystical' BELIEVING.

"This is what our family values! This is our family creed! This is what we believe!"

And in a good, strong family there are challenges to GREATNESS or SIGNIFICANCE of some kind that is important to that family. There is a family "BECOMING!" This is what our family counts as important! This is what OUR family achieves!

"Goals" and "achievements" seem to run in families. Somehow, this is where goals are fulfilled- great and noble goals- or unspoken and unworthy goals of pleasure, laziness, or worse. And here John tells us that a critical (if not the critical) sign of spiritual life is this family bonding. We care for each other!

III. CERTAINTY, FINALLY, IS A MATTER OF DIRECT WITNESS

3:24 And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

4:13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of His Spirit. There is a gentle persuasion that comes directly from God.

  1. I hesitate to preach "experience" as a "norm" because people get "set up" for a certain blessing or kind of "feeling." And this is usually sincerely misrepresented (as Wesley's "heart warming experience" at Aldersgate is preached without the many, many journal entries afterward that tell about his doubts and questions and his fighting through to assurance by using the Word and by prayer.)
  2. But all the same, there is this direct witness of the Holy Spirit!

    It completes the assurance, and there is no substitute for it! And it is a witness that is promised to us all. I am not sure that we should "seek" this witness— but I am sure that we should not be satisfied until and unless we have the assurance of the Holy Spirit Himself!

Conclusion: (Summary)

I don't know where you are planning to go this summer— and perhaps that isn't all that important. But what about that other journey?

Isn't it a wonderful thing that we can know what we need to know about where we are in eternal matters?

There are a lot of things we will never really know or understand: HOW salvation works! WHY Jesus should come and love us and die for us!

But we can know what is really necessary! God has given us witnesses that we are passed from death to life.

We have the threefold witness God makes available, of revelation, of belonging, of consciousness of His Presence. Or, put another way:

  1. THE WITNESS OF THE WRITTEN WORD.

    I can read and understand. I can agree with the Word, and believe that God is faithful and just, as I 'follow directions.'

  2. THE WITNESS OF MY OWN SPIRIT.

    I have responded in faith! I come to the place where I know there is nothing 'held back.' There is literally no more which I can do. I find rest in that place. It is 'believing ground.'

  3. THE DIRECT WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. IT IS, FINALLY, A PERSON TO PERSON ASSURANCE!

    (3:24 "And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.")

Every Christian is entitled to this certainty! It is remarkable what we don't know, and don't NEED to know - and how our entire life IS lived in partial understanding. But the most important things— the things which have to do with real LIFE and death and eternity— need not be left to chance. LET US PRAY: Thank You for certainty and assurance! Amen

449 I Know Whom I Have Believed