Transcript Document

Adult Bible Study Guide
Jul • Aug • Sep 2009
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John’s Epistles
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John’s Epistles
Contents
1. Jesus and the Johannine Letters
INTRODUCTION
2. Experiencing the Word of Life
3. Walking in the Light: Turning Away From Sin
4. Walking in the Light: Keeping His Commandments
5. Walking in the Light: Renouncing Worldliness
6. Walking in the Light: Rejecting Antichrists
7. Living as Children of God
FIRST EPISTLE
8. Loving Brothers and Sisters
9. Believing in the Son of God
10. Confidence
11. Important Themes in 1 John
12. John’s Letter to the Chosen Lady SECOND EPISTLE
13. Power Struggle
THIRD EPISTLE
John’s Epistles
Our Goal {5}
The three epistles of John speak to issues
relevant for the church today.
We would do well to listen to them, because
ultimately, it is God who is speaking to us
through John’s words, the God who has
revealed to us truths about a greater and
firmer foundation upon which we can rest:
our Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
John’s Epistles
Lesson 4, July 25
Keeping His Commandments
Key Text
1 John 2:3 NKJV
“Now by this we know that we know Him,
if we keep His commandments.”
“And how can we be sure that we belong
to him? By looking within ourselves:
are we really trying to do what he wants us
to?” LB
Keeping His Commandments
Initial Words {46}
If you love someone,
you show it by your actions, by your deeds,
not just by what you say.
Anyone can say that he or she loves the Lord.
The question is, According to the Bible,
how are we to reveal that love?
Keeping His Commandments
Quick Look
1. To know God Is to Obey Him
(1 John 2:4, 5)
2. To obey God Is to Love Him
(1 John 2:5, 6)
3. To Love God Is to Love One
Another (1 John 2:7-11)
Keeping His Commandments
1. To Know God Is to Obey Him
1 John 2:4, 5 NKJV
“He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not
keep His commandments, is a liar, and the
truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of
God is perfected in him. By this we know that
we are in Him.”
1. To Know God Is to Obey Him
What Do We Know? {47}
Just what is it that Christians know?
First, that they have come to know God and
second, that they “are in Him”.
In the New Testament to know also describes
relationships. To know God means to have
an intimate relationship with Him. Obedience,
love, and staying away from sin all point to
the existence of such a relationship.
1. To Know God Is to Obey Him
What Do We Know? {47}
Knowledge (gnosis) was an important
concept in the religious world of the first
centuries. It has developed into a full-pledged
heresy among Christians called Gnosticism.
In Gnosticism, salvation is gained through
this secret knowledge rather than through a
faith relationship with the Lord.
Keeping His Commandments
2. To Obey God Is to Love Him
1 John 2:5, 6 NKJV
“But whoever keeps His
word, truly the love of God is
perfected in him. By this we
know Him. He who says he
abides in Him ought himself
also to walk just as He
walked.
2. To Obey God Is to Love Him
Keeping the Commandments {49}
The kind of knowledge of God that the Bible
talks about isn’t merely cognizance of facts.
It’s a knowledge that forms the basis of a
love relationship. You can’t truly love
someone you don’t know.
And if you love someone, you are going to
act a certain way.
2. To Obey God Is to Love Him
Keeping the Commandments {49}
Keeping the commandments is a sign that
we know God/Jesus and love Him.
Love and obedience are connected here.
First John 2:4 refer to a false claim:
you can come to know God and yet neglect
keeping the commandments. John attacks this
idea in a very strong language, calling anyone
who teaches it a liar.
Keeping His Commandments
3. To Love God Is to Love One Another
1 John 2:7-11 NKJV
“Brethren, I write no new commandment to
you, but an old commandment which you
have had from the beginning. … Again a new
commandment I write to you…..
He who says he is in the light, and hates his
brother, is in darkness … and does not know
where he is going….”
3. To Love God Is to Love One Another
The New Commandment {53}
What is this “new commandment”?
His disciples should love each other just as
Jesus loved them.
But why does he state that he is writing not a
new commandment but an old one?
That’s because the commandment of
neighborly love was already present in the
Old Testament (Lev 19:18).
3. To Love God Is to Love One Another
The New Commandment {54}
Yet, it is new because Jesus took it to new
heights. He expected that we should love
our neighbors even as He loved us, and,
as the Cross shows, He loved us to the
point of death. Further, in demanding that
we love our “neighbors,” Jesus introduced
a new definition of the word: neighbors are
everyone who is in need.
3. To Love God Is to Love One Another
Loving Others {55}
In Scripture hate stands not only for what we
may call hate today but also for preferring
one person over another or neglecting
somebody.
In other words, you don’t have to despise
someone to reveal “hate” as it’s sometimes
understood in the Bible.
Keeping His Commandments
Final Words {51}
Walking in the light and knowing God means to
be obedient. Christians who want to abide in
Him and walk in the light is called to follow
Christ’s example in living their lives.
How can they do this? They have to find out
how Jesus lived, and on a daily basis they
must compare their conduct to His.
In other words, WWJD?