A Call to Abide in Perfect Love

This is the message I preached in Kolhapur Bible Church on 07/10/2012. May God bless you as you go through it. 

The book of 1 John is filled with many tests and many calls. And when we think of the call to love one another; it is a never ending topic. We cannot stop talking about love; because it’s limitless, has no limit to it. I remember in our Book Club we were going through the book named: Leading with Love. In this book the author gave an illustration of a pastor. This pastor arranged for a revival meeting in his Church. The revival meeting lasted for one week. The author tells us that during those 7+ days; the preacher preached about nothing except love of God. The messages were well received by the belivers in the Church. And the pastor himself was so thrilled by those messages preached by the preacher; that that pastor actually started preaching about love for the next 5 years in his Church every Sunday. By this illustration you can understand how important is the topic of love is. And it is so because John says, not that we loved God but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. No wonder that John uses this word ‘love’ for 43 times in his epistle. Because that is what sums up a Christian life.

So, once again I want to call you attention to the title of our sermon is:

“A Call to Abide in Perfect Love”

1. The Basis (paayaa) of Perfect Love: vs. 14-16

·        The Testimony (saaXa) of Perfect Love: vs. 14a

·        The Confession (kxbaUlaI) of Perfect Love: vs. 15

·        The Belief (ivaEvaasa) in Perfect Love: vs. 16

2. The Purpose ({d\d\oSa) of Perfect Love: vs. 17 

·         The Function (kxaya-) of Perfect Love: vs. 18

3. The Initiation (pauZakxar) of Perfect Love: vs. 19
4. The Obligation (kxta-vya) of Perfect Love: vs. 20-21

1. The Basis of Perfect Love: vs. 14-16

Last week we saw that the meaning of vs. 12 & 13 is; the evidence of a believer’s life in God is the existence of the Holy Spirit in that person. And we also saw the evidence of having the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Another important thing we need to notice is: from vs. 12 to vs. 16 John uses the word ‘abide’ for 6 times. Last week we saw that the word ‘abide’ means to stay in all conditions. To be present for a long time no matter whatever kinds of situations arise. Therefore we must understand what John was communicating to his readers.

That you have to love one another, and then you have to exibit your love for one another in giving yourself for one another as Christ gave Himself for us.

Then from vs. 14 onwards John is writing to his readers that you cannot love in that way if you do not abide (means to live) in such a kind of love. And therefore he gives them 3 Basis of such love to his readers. The first basis is found in vs. 14.

The Testimony of Perfect Love

Notice vs. 14, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.”

In these words John draws his reader’s attention to the basis of Perfect Love. Because he says God sending His Son was the highest act of His Love. Because the Father gave His Son to be the Savior of the world. We need to understand that the word Savior has in itself the idea of being rescued. Savior and Redeemer are two similar words. It has the concept of buying back the prisoners of war by paying a ransome. To be precise Jesus paid that ransome to redeem us from the eternal judgment to come.

But we need to notice that John’s idea of love is not based on his emotions. Because whatever he was says was based upon what he had seen with his own physical eyes. And here he is testifying, that truth and calling his readers to abide or to live in that perfect love. That is what he said in the 1^st chapter vs. 1-2, “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life.”

The second basis that John gives is

The Confession of Perfect Love

And that is found; in vs. 15 Notice this vs. “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”

Now, when I first looked at that verse I thought John was offering this verse as a password to heaven for his readers. What does he mean by saying those words? “Whoever confesses...” anybody can confess that Jesus is the Son of God.

Even Paul in Romans 10:9, “That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Well if you examine those verses we find that anybody can confess that Jesus is the Son of God when they find themselves in trouble and reject him when they are not in trouble.

E.g. when we were children we were told some stories about ghosts. So many times we were asked, “What you would do if the ghost comes before you and tries to take your life. Then we would say that I will make a sign of a Cross with my fingers and the ghost will run for his life.  So our answers were based on what we were taught.

The question is, are John & Paul trying to promote a superstitious kind of faith in their readers? The answer is of course NO!!! Because John says in chapter 5:4-5, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” The key phrase in this verse is overcomes the world. So what John and Paul mean to say that whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, and overcomes the world, or is being sanctified, God abides in him.”

Because James says, “Even demons belive that Jesus is the Son of God.” (James 2:19). But God does not abide in them.

You know this is important to understand. Because many pastor and preachers are promoting a superstitious faith. They ask questions like, “Do you believe in Jesus Christ?”And who doesn’t want to believe in Jesus Christ when he is going to give you health, wealth and prosperity? The point is they depend upon a mere verbal confession, not that they should not but that verbal confession should be backed up with a life transforming process called SANCTIFICATION. John is not promoting a faith based upon some superstition; or he is not promoting a faith based upon a lucky charm.

The next thing John does is, he draws his reader’s attention about is the

·         Belief in Perfect Love

Notice vs. 16, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

Now what does it mean to have come to know and believe the love that God has for us? To answer this question, we need to go to the Gospel according to John 6:67-69 because in this verse we find the similar claim of Peter about coming to know and belive in Jesus as the Son of God. “So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Somon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy one of God.”

In this verse John is making an affirmation that both he and his readers have come to know and believe the love that God has for them. And then he adds those three wonderful words, ‘God is Love...’what it means is: when God revealed Jesus Christ to the world He revealed His Love towards the world (i.e. the people in the world). So Jesus Himself is God’s manifestation of Love.

That’s whay John says in the next sentence, whoever abides in love (i.e. whoever abides in Christ) abides in God and God abides in him.

Application:

As we bring this point to application. We need to consider 3 areas of our lives. Our testimony, our confession and our belief.

We need to ask ourselves: what is my testimony among the unbelievers? Do they know me as a Christian? And if they know me that I am a Christian do they really see Christ in me? Because we may be confessing Christian and our lives may be completely contradictory to our confession. And if that’s the case we need to examine our lives.

E.g. If you say that your doctor is very good surgeon. And if you are on a death bed dying and if your doctor fails to do his job. Who is to be blamed? The doctor.

Similarly, when we fail to reflect a Christlikeness we are claiming that our Christ does not save souls.  

"A Christian baroness, living in the highlands of Nairobi, Kenya, told of a young national who was employed as her houseboy. After three months he asked the baroness to give him a letter of reference to a friendly sheik some miles away.  The baroness, not wishing the houseboy to leave just when he had learned the routine of the household, offered to increase his pay.  The lad replied that he was not leaving for higher pay. Rather, he had decided he would become either a Christian or a Mohammedan.  This was why he had come to work for the baroness for three months.  He had wished to see how Christians acted.  Now he wanted to work for three months for the sheik to observe the ways of the Mohammedans.  Then he would decide which way of life he would follow.  The baroness was stunned as she recalled her many blemishes in her dealings with the houseboy.  She could only exclaim, 'Why didn't you tell me at the beginning!'"

 The question that comes out of that story; has our belief transformed our behaviour?

However, the other side of the story is: Many people blame the Church for being filled with hypocrites. I must say that if you are looking out for a perfect Church there isn’t any. Many people abstain from coming to the Church because they think that the Church is a place of hypocrites. Well if that’s the case you also should abstain from going to the work. Because you find those hypocrites there as well.

Let me ask you brethren. Are you resisting Christ because there are no perfect followers out in the world? You won’t find any perfect follower of Christ. Let me ask you a question: Are you born again? Have you repented of your sins? Have you asked God to forgive you of your sins? Have you asked Him to take control of your life?

A Call to Discernment

Hello Dear brethren , this is the message that I preached yesterday at the Church. May the Lord bless you as you go through it.

If we examine the aspect of Truth, we come to understand that Truth is always painful. It is painful because it seperates falsehood. So truth is like a magnet, when you throw down on the land it attracts the iron ore it does not attract the dust itself. At the same time Truth is like a fish by the name of Salmon that swims upstream. Meaning this fish swims against the force of the flow. I watched some videos on the Youtube and they are really good and I could see how this fish swims upstream; goes against the current of the water.

And I believe God has called us to be swimmers upstream. The Salmon fish always swims upstream; i.e. it swims against the current. It swims against the flow. And that is what God has called us to do as Christians. We are to be the people who swim upstream. Like Salmon we are to swim against the flow of the false teaching that is going on around us.

Speaking about John and his readers; they also were surrounded by such a people that were professing to be Christians but did not reflect in their lifestyle. John’s readers could see that the world was going in one direction and they were going in exactly the opposite direction. The world around them was full of immorality and evil; but John was telling his followers to swim opposite to the current. He was telling his readers to swim opposite to the flow of the world.

Therefore the messages that we have so far heard are all about swimming opposite to the current. Because the call for discernment is not just so that we would become good Biblical Discerners but so that we would follow where ever the discernment leads us. So, once again the title for today’s message is.

A Call for Discernment Part-IV

• The Origin of Truth Teachers: vs. 6a 

• Their Audience: vs. 6b

• Their Opponents: vs. 6c

The Origin of Truth Teachers: vs. 6a
As we begin this message let me give you a recap of the last Sunday’s message. So that we understand the context in which John was writing this letter.

Last Sunday we examined vs. 5. In this verse we looked at 3 aspects of the false teachers that John told his readers to be aware of. Those 3 aspects were; 1. The origin of false teachers; 2. The origin of their message;

3. Their Audience.
In verse 6 John gives the opposite aspects of what he had given in vs. 5.

Notice verse 6, “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.”

Again, if we compare vs. 6 with vs. 5; John is giving the similar aspects of those people who are of the Truth. In the sense that they also had origin and they also had the audience.

So the first aspect John gives about the Truth teachers is, “Their Origin.” Notice John’s words in the first sentence of the verse, he says, “We are from God...” in the first part of vs. 5 he said, “They are from the world...” the word ‘they’ in vs. 5 refers to the false teachers and in vs. 6 the word ‘we’ refers to John himself, the other apostles and his readers. Because one verse earlier in vs. 4 he did the same thing. He assured his readers that, “...you are from God.”

A couple of Sundays we have explained to you what it means to be from God. But let me do that once again; to have a better understanding of that phrase. To be ‘from God’ means to be ‘born of God.’ To be ‘from God’ means to ‘belong to the family of God.’ To be ‘from God’ means to have the ‘Spirit of God’ in a particular person, who is a believer. To be from God means to have a personal and intimate relationship with God.

We need to notice John’s words carefully because he refers to himself as ‘we’. It is because, so that his readers would understand that John was not the only one who was preaching and teaching the Truth. But there were many other who had gone ahead of him. There were other apostles who preached and taught the same thing John was doing.

Now we need to understand what John is not saying. He is not saying that we are from God because we preach and teach the truth. But we teach the Truth because we are from God.

With all of this information in our mind we need to ask a question. Why was John telling his readers that he and the other apostles were from God? Because by writing these words John was drawing a line of distinction between truth and falsehood. Another reason could be that his readers would not fall into the same trap once again. We have heard about that last Sunday. However, what is important for us to see is what other apostles had to say about it?

I am sure more than any other apostle Paul had a lot to say about the false doctrine than anybody else. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:21, “Examine everything, and hold fast to what is good.” In other words Paul told his followers to test everything. And to this test John was calling his reader’s attention. Again In Ephesians 4:14 Paul says, “that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the viles of error.”

So the reason why John was writing these things to his readers was; that they had been tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine.

And by these words John was establishing the truth that his teaching was from God. “We are from God...” John said.
The second aspect of the Truth teachers John was laying down was: 

Their Audience: vs 6b
Notice the second part of the verse. “Whoever knows God listens to us...” once again if you compare vs. 5 with vs. 6 John is saying the same thing. But this time it’s in relation to the Truth teachers.

However, the important words in this verse we need to consider are the words ‘knowing’ & ‘listening.’
Meaning of the word ‘knowing’ in Greek language is: Ginosko. To be aware of something, or to feel something, to perceive, to be sure, or to understand. So what’s important about this word is it has understanding in it. You canno know something unless you understand something or someone.

E.g. If a doctor has had the knowledge of how to treat a patient he knows how to handle a patient. But even if a doctor has a knowledge of treating a patient and if he does not practice his knowledge; nobody will know him as a doctor.

Therefore, if we ‘know’ something our behaviour needs to change by it. If our behaviour does not change by that knowledge then we have not acquired that knowledge. Therefore the knowledge that John is talking about is not just an outward knowledge of somebody or something. It is an in depth knowledge of God that John is talking about.

This tells us that the audience that John was talking about was an audience that has a deep knowledge of God. Those who have the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ.

Similar thing applies with listening. In the original Greek language the word ‘listen’ is a verb (ik`xyaapad) ‘akouo.’ Now if a word is a verb then there is some activity involved. That’s why it’s called a verb.

Imp: This tells us that the kind of listening John was talking about was active. You might say what is active listening? Active listening means listening by your ears and understanding by your mind and getting influenced in your heart and then doing according to what you have heard with your ears, understood with your hearts. This is the kind of listening John was talking about.

Example:
E.g. many years back we had a boy coming to our Church. Whenever we had teaching sessions with him; he would always nod his head in agreement at the same time he would be looking somewhere else. I was wondering if whatever was taught was understood by him or not. Because he was hearing with his ears but his mind was always wandering. One day it was clear to us when he told us that he wanted to leave the Church.

In John’s words he is saying that whoever knows God not only listens outwardly but understands inwardly and then does accordingly. That is active listening. So this makes us to examine our own listening to the messages at Kolhapur Bible Church. Is it just about listening by our ears or understanding with our hearts? Therefore our prayers have always been that we would not only become hearers of the Word but the doers of the Word as well.

Just to give some more examples about knowing and listening. Matt 13:14-15, “In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, 'By hearing you will hear, And will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, And will in no way perceive: For this people's heart has grown callous, Their ears are dull of hearing, They have closed their eyes; Or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their heart, And should turn again; And I would heal them.'

So in the end what John is saying is: whoever knows God listens to God or listens to His people. And John was the one who had seen Jesus Christ face to face; therefore he had the first hand knowledge about who God is. And he had not only known Jesus Christ but he had experienced His power in his own life. And then he had listened to His words face to face.

The third thing that John lays out about the Truth teachers is:
Their Opponents: vs. 6c
Notice the next sentence in that verse, John says, “...whoever does not know God does not listen to us...”
To give a simple description of this sentence. It’s everything opposite to what John had said in the previous sentence. “...whoever does not know God does not listen to us...”

When Jesus was confronting the Jews and the Pharisees in John 8:47 He also said the similar words. He said, “Whoever is of God (meaning, who knows God) hears the Words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God (meaning, you do not know God).”

Now there words of Jesus to Pharisees and the Jews were a slap on their face. Because all their lives they had claimed to have known God through Abraham. It was too much for them to face this.

At the same time Jesus said something very important about listening, when he was brought to Pontius Pilate; he asked Jesus the question about the Truth. John 18:37, “Then Pilate said to Him, “so you are a King? Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world- to bear witness to the Truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

In conclusion what John was saying in his letter was: those who do not know God will not hear the Words of God. The reason why many people do not listen to the Word of God is because Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “Now the natural man doesn't receive the things of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can't know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Speaking about the people who were causing confusion in the Church. John says they are doing what they are doing because they do not know God. That’s why he says if they knew God then they would listen to God and His apostles.

And that’s the detection; that is the measuring scale that those who do not listen to God are not from God and if they are not of God then they are of the devil.

Application:
As I bring this message to conclusion I remember a story of two men. They had an argument. To settle the matter, they went to a Sufi judge for arbitration. The plaintiff made his case. He was very eloquent and persuasive in his reasoning. When he finished, the judge nodded in approval and said, "That's right, that's right."

On hearing this, the defendant jumped up and said, "Wait a second, judge, you haven't even heard my side of the case yet." So the judge told the defendant to state his case. And he, too, was very persuasive and eloquent. When he finished, the judge said, "That's right, that's right."

When the clerk of court heard this, he jumped up and said, "Judge, they both can't be right." The judge looked at the clerk of court and said, "That's right, that's right."

Now, my question to is: what are you going to do with the truth that you have received today? You cannot be like that judge saying that both the parties are right just because both sound convincing. You have to discern the Truth.

You cannot serve the world and Jesus at the same time. The truth that you have heard here must be understood by you. It must be applied by you to your own life.

To do that you must be born again. Have you been born again? Have you given your life to Jesus Christ? Have you repented of your sins and pleaded for forgiveness to Jesus Christ?

God's Sovereing Hand in Persecution

This is one of the messages that I preached at Kolhapur Bible Church. May God be praised as you go through it and may you know of His Sovereign Hand if you are going through suffering and pain.

Introduction:

This morning again we are going to look at the Gospel according to John chapter 15:21-25. A couple of weeks ago we finished at verses 20. This morning we will be looking at vs. 21-25.

Before we begin the message I want to give you an illustration of a real story that took place in Manoharpur, Orissa. You might have heard about the story of the missionary Dr. Graham Steins and his two sons, Philip & Timothy. All 3 of them were burnt alive while they were sleeping in the car at night. Some Hindu fundamentalists came in and poured petrol on the car and other inflammatory liquids and set the car on fire. Inside the car Dr. Graham Steins along with his two sons were sleeping inside were burnt alive. The reason for that was Dr. Graham Steins was preaching the gospel and leading many people to Christ. He was a medical missionary who was involved in the medical missions he was doing the work of medical missions in the people who were affected and infected by Leprosy.

What happened after that was: when Mrs. Gladys Steins was asked about her response about her husband’s killing by those Hindu fundamentalists. She calmly replied that, “she forgave the killers of her husband.” What was so unique about Mrs. Gladys steins response towards the killers of her husband? She was not surprised about such a terrible act. She knew those things will come and she will have to stand the test of time. 

So I invite you to please open your Bibles to John chapter 15:21-25. In these 5 verses again we see that Jesus was giving warnings to His disciples.

What we see in this short passage that we have read are the 3 points.

1. The Certainty of Persecution: vs. 21

·         Because of Jesus Himself

·         Because they don’t know God

2. The Certainty of Guilt: vs. 22-24
3. The Sovereignty of God: vs. 25

We see in this verse Jesus warns His disciples of the certainty of persecution. And we call this word as certainty because in the preceding verses Jesus in vs. 18 shows His disciples the possibility of being hated and persecuted. Notice the word ‘if,’ this word either means a condition or a possibility. In the context of the passage this word is used as a ‘possibility.’ But when you come down to vs. 21, notice what Jesus says, “All these things will they do to you...” in this verse the word will is the emphasis there. And if that’s the case then Jesus is warning His disciples about the ‘certainty’ of the future persecution. Now what does these things involve? 1. They will be hated 2. They will be persecuted. In the last message we saw the very thin line between these two words. Hatred is inside a person’s heart and persecution is that hatred brought in actions. So Jesus warns His disciples, “all these things will they do to you...” in the next half sentence Jesus gives them the reason why will the world would persecute His disciples?

1.                  Because of Jesus Himself:

Notice the next half of the verse. Jesus says, “All these things will they do to you for My Name sake.” What did it mean to them is that, if they have borne the name of Jesus on their lives, persecution is inevitable. Meaning it is certain. In the earlier verses Jesus gave them the reasons as to why they would be persecuted: Because they were chosen by Him out of the world. We saw the meaning of it a couple of Sunday s ago. That: since they were chosen by God out of the world they were not to walk as the world does. But contrary to the world. Because even Paul gave the reason why believers were chosen by God even before the foundation of the earth. Eph 1:4, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish before him in love; so God’s election of believers was not without any purpose but so that they would be holy and without blemish before Him in love. At the same time Paul also warned Timothy about the persecution of those people who are of Christ. 1 Timothy 3:12  “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Another reason that Jesus gives that the world will hate the disciples is.

2.                  Because of wilful denial of Jesus: vs. 21b: notice the words of Jesus in this part of the verse. He says, “Because they don’t know Him who sent me.” What It means is that: God sent Jesus but they don’t know God. But then you ask; how is it possible? The Jews in all the history in all their lives claimed to know God as their father. They worshiped Him, they gave a lot of sacrifices. The point of all their worship is that, they just had the knowledge about God but they didn’t know God. Now knowing God and knowing about God these two are different things. You may have knowledge about God but not necessarily know God Himself. What it means is that?  Knowing about God and knowing God is not similar. There is a whole wide difference between those two.

Example: Sonia Gandhi, we all know about her. But there are only a few people who are close to her, only they know her closely and intimately. However, you can get in touch of the people who are close to her and find out about her, but still you have acquired knowledge about Sonia Gandhi. You still do not know her personally. That’s exactly what happens when some people claim to know God and don’t know Jesus. Because Jesus said, no one can come to the father except through Him. On another occasion He said He who has seen Me has seen the Father. But what Jesus is bringing to His disciple’s notice is the fact that: these people have knowledge about God but they didn’t know God personally. It is only those who are close to Jesus, those that are His disciples, only they knew God. The many disciples of Jesus who were very close to Him knew God. Because only if you know Jesus you know God. If you don’t know Jesus you don’t know God.

Application:

I want to ask you the question. Do you know the God that we are talking about? I have to ask this question. Perhaps you might have been coming to the Church for a long time to hear about God; perhaps you are here this morning to gather information about God or about the Bible. But I must tell you that you can only know God if you know Jesus. Because, Jesus said that: He alone is the way the Truth and the life. He also said no one comes to the Father except through Him. Have you come to Jesus with a deepest need for forgiveness? Have you come to Him with the deepest longing to be right with God? Please understand that you are not right with God unless you ask for forgiveness for the sins you have committed. Once Aristotle the great scientist was asked about the value of education. The great scientist replied: the difference between an educated and uneducated man? It’s the same as being alive and being dead. And that’s true even about the knowledge of God. The Bible tells us that we are dead spiritually if we don’t know God. Eph 2:1. Do you know God? Do you know Jesus?

2.      The Certainty of Guilt: vs. 22- 24

Secondly, notice vs. 22, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.” Notice this verse very carefully: Jesus first introduces to them with the possibility of their sinlesness. In the sense that: they could have been without sin, “...if I had not come and spoken to them...” but since I have come to them and spoken to them they have no excuse. Understand what Jesus is saying: since I came to them and spoken to them still they did not pay heed, they did not submit themselves to me therefore, it is certain that they have no excuse for their sin. We also need to parallel vs. 22 with vs. 24, “If I hadn't done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn't have had sin. But now have they seen and also hated both me and my Father.” What it means is that: the Jews not only heard what Jesus had to say but they had also seen the works of Jesus which were extraordinary in nature. Such works that could only be done by Him who has come from God and is in constant fellowship with God. Jn 3:2. But since they were not willing to accept the claims of Jesus: he says they had no excuse for their sins. They absolutely had no regard for the Words of Christ as well as the works of Christ, therefore they not only hated Jesus Christ but they hated God the Father who sent Jesus. Ironically they claimed to know God as their Father through Abraham. That is what Jesus warned His disciples of: that people would claim to be the followers of God at the same time hate His works. In John 16:2 Jesus warned His disciples about the intensity and eventually the intensity of the persecution that, “They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.” All this will happen Jesus says is because they wilfully don’t want to know God or His purposed for their lives. Their lack of knowledge of God is wilful; their lack of knowledge of God is deliberate. And therefore they have no excuse for their sin. That’s what it means that the guilt of their sin is certain. Therefore Jesus says in vs. 23, “He, who hates me, hates my Father also.”

Application:

I want you to understand. Those of you who have been baptised and want to please the Lord with their entire lives please understand that. Since Jesus was speaking in the context of Jewish community, it applies to us as well. More than from the idol worshipers, the persecution that you and I will face is from within the Christian community that is around us. But we have to persist, we have to go on knowing that He who has promised is faithful and He will not delay in keeping with His promise. Please understand that the “smooth seas don’t make skilful sailors.” Persecution will come because they don’t know God. They don’t know Him Who sent Jesus on this earth. We need to be like Mrs. Gladys Steins. She forgave the killers of her husband because the killers of her husband did not know the God that she worships or her husband worshipped and talked about.  

3.      The Sovereignty of God: vs. 25

Finally, notice vs. 25, “But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled

which was written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.”

We name this point as the Sovereignty of God is because: Jesus in this verse is letting the disciples know about the truth of the Sovereignty of God. That means though they will persecute you, it’s not something out of God’s control. They did the same thing to the prophets and priest of old. This means that: God uses persecutions and afflictions to form our character. To confirm us to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, that’s why God doesn’t remove our persecution but He lets us through the persecution and hatred. God used the crucifixion of Christ to bring about the salvation of those who would believe in Him. It was the worst persecution that our Lord went through so that God would bring about our salvation through His death, burial and resurrection. 1 Corinthians 10:13 is a wonderful comfort for those who are persecuted for their faith, who are going through affliction and trouble. “No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” The word temptation here is translated as ‘test’. It has to deal with testing time, persecution. God is sovereign and He will not let us be tested more than what we can bear.  However, the worst thing that happens to a Christian is the best thing that will happen to him. The worst is death, and what will death do to us? It will bring us to our Lord. Therefore, the worst that will happen to him will be the best for a Christian because death will bring him to his Lord. 

Application:

As we have seen in the previous message on this subject: the question is not whether we will be persecuted or not. Persecution is inevitable, but the question is: how do us response to the persecution that comes upon us. Do we respond as if it’s going to get out of God’s hands? What does your personal persecution on your job, in your family does to you? Does it lead you to respond like Mrs. Graham Steins responded? Or does it make you to respond like Jesus did on the cross? He said Father forgive them for they do not know what they do. Or does your persecution makes you to respond like Stephen did in Acts ch 7? They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit!" He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep.”

May it be Mrs. Steins may it be Jesus all of them were convinced of the Sovereign hand of God in the persecution of saints. All of them looked to God and were convinced of His Sovereignty, that He will allow them to go through it because he knows best the level of our tolerance, because He has created us.

May God bless you!!!!  

The Need for Christian Maturity- 1 John 2:12-17

This is our second study from 1st John  chapter 2:12-17. In these words John is explaining the Christian maturity. And we will learn our lesson from these verses for our spiritual benefit. But we will begin with a true story that happened nearly 4 years ago.

Story:

Once we had an opportunity to visit a family. The husband was a plumber; and it seems he had taken a lot of loan from many people and many banks. This man was a good believer; but eventually the pressure of repayment of loan started increasing. People started coming to his house and threatening him for paying back their money. And this man was under a tremendous pressure. Eventually this man committed suicide because he had no options of repaying the loan and he ended up taking his own life. The family was struggling and so was his pastor as to how he should counsel this family because; according to their understanding if a believer commits suicide he doesn’t enter into heaven but goes to hell. And we were able to encourage this family through the 1^st Epistle of John, that all the sins past, present and future sins of all the believers are forgiven because of Christ’s Sacrifice. And I still remember the glow that came on that family’s face. They were so much comforted by knowing that their father and the husband is not in hell but in heaven. Not that this was something new but it was there in the Bible but they lacked the Christian Maturity to understand it.

And John is doing exactly the same in the passage that we have read; he is making his readers understand the truth of Christian 

“The Need for Christian Maturity.” 

1. The Stages of Christian Maturity: vs. 12-14 

• ·         Childhood: vs. 12, 13b
• ·         Youth : vs. 13a, 14b
• ·         Adulthood : vs. 13a, 14a

2. The Response to Christian Maturity: vs. 15-17 

• ·         The Command not to love the world: vs. 15a 
• ·         The Consequence of loving the world: vs. 15b 
• ·        The Concept of the world: vs. 16 
• ·         The Character of the world: vs. 17 

1. The Stages of Christian Maturity: vs. 12-14 

After establishing the truth that if we obey only then we are walking in the light. Otherwise there is no use of claiming to be walking in the light while disobeying the Lord. Then John outlines the stages of Christian maturity. From vs. 14, “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.”

I want you to observe these 3 verses carefully. Because John addresses the children, youths and adults each of those two times.

At the same time John is referring back to a particular event that took place in the past in his reader’s lives. In this verse John says, “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His Name sake.” Now the reason why John mentions the same (I am writing to you, I am writing to you) over and over again and refers to the past event of his reader’s lives; is because he was so certain and confident of their forgiven state of life. 

We are told that John was writing to his spiritual children. And that’s why he refers to them as little children.

This could be a possibility that; these people had recently come to faith in Jesus Christ and they were influenced with these false teachers. And as we have already seen that these people had indulged in various sinful activities.

And they could have been convicted of their sins and after this they thought that their sins could not be forgiven and that they have lost their salvation.

So, through these words John is offering them the assurance of their sins being forgiven and he is also assuring them of their eternal security.  And we find the reason in the end of this verse. John says, “...for His Name’s sake.” 

This means if their Salvation was dependent upon their own works; they could have lost it. But the reason why John adds that important statement is so that; his readers might know that their salvation is dependent on what Christ has done; not on what they had done. Therefore they need not be worried for having lost their salvation.

Secondly, John also exhorts the other group of believers here. Those were the youths in their faith. Notice the next part of Vs. 13, “...I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.” Then you find almost the same statement in vs. 14, “...I have written you young men, because you are strong and the Word of God remains in you and you have overcome the evil one...”

This group of believers seems to be between the children and the fathers/adults. Now the reason why John is addressing these spiritual youths is because; it’s in the youth every person faces tremendous temptations and in the face of this temptation John assured the spiritual youth that they have overcome the evil. But it is interesting to notice in vs. 14 that; before John mentions this statement of overcoming evil he mention the phrase that,  “...the Word of God remains in you. And it is there for a reason. Because though these youths had a tremendous strength. It was not because of their strength they had overcome the evil but because the Word of God that remains in them.

Vs. 13 says, “I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning...” Thirdly, John addresses fathers in this verse; in other words he addresses the adults in faith saying that they have known Jesus Who was from the beginning. The reason is because; the false teachers taught that we need to have some sort of a secret knowledge in order to know God. And these adults were confused whether they truly had known God through Jesus or not. Because the false teachers had also taught that we cannot know God through Jesus Christ; because Jesus didn’t come into this world; since God is completely holy and man is completely sinful; therefore God cannot take the help of a sinful human being to come into this world. At the same time John is assuring them that even though they haven’t seen Jesus Christ personally they do have knowledge of Him.

But through these words John is attacking these false teachers and assuring the adults of their knowledge of God.

Application:

We all as Christians suffer the same problems devil throws at us. Particularly when we had first come to Christ we all seem to wonder whether our sins are forgiven or not. Whether will I sin or will I not sin; and if I sin will I be forgiven, will I be restored? These are all questions bother many believers to a great extent. After John Wesley had been preaching for some time, some one said to him, "Are you sure, Mr. Wesley, of your salvation?" "Well," he answered, "Jesus Christ died for the whole world." "Yes, we all believe that; but are you sure that you are saved?" Wesley replied that he was sure that provision had been made for his salvation.

"But are you sure, Wesley, that you are saved?" It went like an arrow to his heart, and he had no rest or power until that question was settled. Many men and many women go on month after month, and year after year, without power, because they do not know their standing in Christ; they are not sure of their own footing for eternity. Latimer wrote Ridley once that when he was settled and steadfast about his own salvation he was as bold as a lion, but if that hope became eclipsed he was fearful and afraid and was disqualified for service. Many are disqualified for service because they are continually doubting their own salvation.

Many people long to have some kind of a feeling of being saved, and are not willing to trust the objective word of God for the assurance of their Salvation.

2. Our Response to the Christian Maturity: vs. 15-17

After assuring the believers in vs. 12 -14 about the forgiveness of their sins, about overcoming evil and about knowing God. John calls the believers to a greater task in vs. 15-17. The whole purpose of these verses is that: if you know your sins have been forgiven then you must behave in a certain manner. If you have known God or if you have overcome evil then you must respond to it with a particular manner. And the first command John states in these words is:

• The Command not to love the world: vs. 15a

Notice vs. 15a, “Don't love the world, neither the things that are in the world...” Basically the Bible uses world in 3 different ways. 1. Physical World: it means God’s creation; the material creation of God 2. The World applied to the people living in the universe; the mankind. 3. The evil people living in the world. Those who live without any sense of morality. These people show through their lives their evil way of life.

Now basically what John is saying is: do not be worldly and claim your faith in Christ at the same time. In this verse John is commanding his readers not to love the wickedness or the evil that’s in the world. The reason why John commands this is because: Loving world and loving God at the same time is not possible. You either love God or you love the world. You cannot love both at the same time. Until then many people were living their lives in worldliness and were still calling themselves Christians.

• The Consequence of loving the world: vs. 15b

Notice the next part of the verse, “...If anyone loves the world, the Father's love isn't in him.” Vs. 15b  

In plain words this is what John is saying. If a man loves the world, it shows that he has no true love for God. If he loves the world and lives his life for it; and if the world is the ruling principle of his life it is evident that his heart was never renewed in the first place. Jesus put it very simple for us to understand in Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon.”

• The Concept of the World: vs. 16

The third thing that John does in these verses is, he gives the understanding of what the world is. In other words he gives the concept of the world. Notice vs. 16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn't the Father's, but is the world's.”

The word lust in Greek language is: (epithumeo) this word denotes both positively and negatively. In this verse it means negatively. What John is saying is those who have excessive craving for sexual desire . At the same time he is also describing the people who always seeking for such a relationship. 

And finally the pride of life. The word pride here means boasting. Boasting about having the world’s riches and then having arrogance about it.

In summary what John is saying is: all the above things do not come from the Father but they come from the world. and those people who habitually practice them never turn from them are not of the Father but are of the world.

• The Characteristic of the World: vs. 17

Notice vs. 17, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

In this verse John describes the characteristic of the evil world. And the main characteristic is that: the evil world is passing away with its desires. In other words John is saying this world is temporary in nature; it’s not going to last long. But contrary to that he who does the will of God abides forever. In other words that person lives forever. The question is: what is the will of God? We find the answer to it in 1 John 3:23, “This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.”

Application:

Everything that we have learnt so far teaches us that we should be growing Christians. When we are born again we are like babies but when we think about the babies. The babies don’t remain babies; they grow from childhood to youths and finally adulthood. This is what John is teaching us through these verses. Having said that let me remind you that maturity is not about age. You might be well advanced in age and be still a spiritual baby. Perhaps you are not very well advanced in age but be matured in your faith; this is also possible. The truth is growth is inevitable.

Let’s think about a dehydrated baby. This baby has all its body very weak and lean; but its head is very big. All I want to say to you this morning. Is the Bible teaching in the Church making you spiritually healthy people? Or are you just happy being in the chair for two hours? Are you craving for more spiritual food from the Word of God? Do you have the desire to know God deeply? Do have the desire to love Him the way He deserved to be loved?

When we are born again we are born into the family of God. We crave for pure milk as Peter tells us. But my question is have we stop growing in our spiritual lives?

A story is told about how an eagle builds the nest.

Though many of us have seen pictures of a huge eagle's nest high in the branches of a tree or in the crag of a cliff, few of us have gotten a glimpse inside. When a mother eagle builds her nest she starts with thorns, broken branches, sharp rocks, and a number of other items that seem entirely unsuitable for the project. But then she lines the nest with a thick padding of wool, feathers, and fur from animals she has killed, making it soft and comfortable for the eggs. By the time the growing birds reach flying age, the comfort of the nest and the luxury of free meals make them quite reluctant to leave. That's when the mother eagle begins "stirring up the nest." With her strong talons she begins pulling up the thick carpet of fur and feathers, bringing the sharp rocks and branches to the surface. As more of the bedding gets plucked up, the nest becomes more uncomfortable for the young eagles. Eventually, this and other urgings prompt the growing eagles to leave their once-comfortable abode and move on to more mature behaviour.

The simple test of our maturity is; if once coming to faith are we loving the world more or loving Christ more? You don’t need to tell me the answer. Let this be between you and God.

Another simple truth is: you will become mature if you are born into God’s family. If you are not born into God’s family; then you cannot become matured. Then only way to become matured is if we are born again. Have you been born again? Have you been born from above? Have you repented of your sins? If not today is the day and now is the time.

The Test of a True Believer - 1 John 2:1-2

Welcome to my very first blogg. This article is based from a sermon I preached that deals with the work that Christ accomplished on the Cross and the work that He is doing at present. I would be happy to hear all comments.

Let me begin with a story in order for us to understand Jesus’ work on the Cross and how we should respond to it.

Story:

A story is told about the founder of the Persian Empire. It is told that Cyrus once had captured a prince and his family. When they came before him, Cyrus asked the prisoner, "What will you give me if I release you?" "The half of my wealth," was his reply. "And if I release your children?" "Everything I possess." "And if I release your wife?" "Your Majesty, I will give myself." Cyrus was so moved by his devotion that he freed them all. As they returned home, the prince said to his wife, "Wasn't Cyrus a handsome man!" With a look of deep love for her husband, she said to him, "I didn't notice. I could only keep my eyes on you- -the one who was willing to give himself for me."

Like that wife of the Prince we also need to be looking at Christ our Redeemer with gratitude; who gave Himself up for the Church. Because the Bible tells us that we were by nature children of God’s wrath (Eph 2:3); that means we deserved death and hell. And only because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice we became the children of God (John 1:12).

So we will be looking at mainly 2 verses of 1 John 2:1-2.

The title for the sermon this morning is: “The Test of a True Believer.”  

The Basis of the Test: vs. 1-2

• Christ our Advocate 
• Christ our Atonement

1. The Basis of the Test: vs. 1-2

The subject we are deal with is so great that we cannot leave out anything. I believe anything that comes to our mind in order to exalt the doctrine of the Atonement of Christ is lesser compare to what He has accomplished on the Cross for us.

Last week we looked at the test of a true Christian fellowship. In that message we saw the foundation of that Christian fellowship; the application of the foundation and the clarification of that foundation.

This morning we are going to look at the basis on which a true believer can be tested. In other words we will look at the basis which determines if a person is a believer or not.

The verses we have read through, John gives us the basis of that test in the first 2 verses of the 2^nd chapter. So the first basis is:

1. Christ our Advocate: vs. 1

Notice vs. 1, John begins the second chapter by stating the purpose of his writing. “My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

It is important for us to notice how John addresses his readers. He addresses them as my little children. And he does that because he was the oldest apostle living during that time. And as an age old pastor he addresses his readers like that. The second reason could be; that even though knowing that his readers were not in a very good company he addresses them in a loving manner. They were not in a very good spiritual state. They were indulging in sinful activities; and still calling themselves as Christians. John had all the reasons to get angry at them; but he deliberately chooses to call them as ‘my little children.’ This is exactly how Jesus had treated Peter after he had denied and turned back from the Lord; and John was a witness to it.

After addressing his readers in a loving manner John states the purpose of his writing: that, ‘...I am writing these things to you so that...’ it means; everything that John has so far written; the call for fellowship with Christ and the test of true Christian fellowship, all these things John wrote so that ‘...you may not sin...’ this is a very important statement John is making here. Because John’s overflow of love does not stop in the first sentence but continues in these words also. Now before we could see what these words mean; we must first see what they do not mean.

John is not suggesting that once they had come to faith in Jesus they have become perfect. He is not suggesting them that once they had believed in the Sacrifice of Jesus they would not sin. But he is suggesting here that once they came to faith in Jesus they will sin because of the sin nature that is in them. Paul said the same thing in line with that. Galatians 5:16-17, “But I say to you walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other.”  

E.g.: one month back we gave Jonathan (my new born son) the BCG dose. And before a couple of days we realized that on his left hand where the dose was given; pus had formed. When we asked the Doctor about that he said that after the dose pus formation in that particular part is normal. The puss formation will subside and it will be clear. When he said that I was surprised.

The point is: if once any person comes in the fellowship with Christ; that person’s battle with sin is NORMAL. It’s as simple as a baby cries when he is born; and if the baby does not cry then there is some problem with the baby.

No normal Christian on this planet earth can claim that they don’t have struggle with sin. This is what John is saying here. He does not say, that: I am writing these things to you so that you CANNOT sin or you MUST NOT sin or you SHOULD NOT sin; but he says you MAY NOT sin. He does mean of course that John’s readers must not sin.

At the same time we need to understand that John is not giving his readers a license to live in gross sin; but he urged them that they must deliberately forsake sin. And this was exactly in line with what Paul said in Romans 6:1-4, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.”

Even Paul’s point was: falling into sin doesn’t condemn anybody but living in it does.

And thirdly, notice the last Part of the verse 1. John says, ‘....But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous.’

John tells his believer readers that even if anybody sins; they have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Another word for advocate is ‘comforter.’  In this verse John is using legal language. It implies that; we all stand condemned before God (the judge) and John says Jesus Christ is our Advocate He is our defender; He is our comforter. It’s as if there is a court room argument going on; and in this argument Jesus is the advocate for the criminal and Satan is the Public Prosecutor accusing the believer of his past sins and God is the Judge. The reason why John reminds his readers of Jesus’ ministry as an Advocate is; so that his readers would understand that forgiveness of sins is available for repentant sinners. And that is what he says it in vs. 9 of the 1^st chapter. “If we confess our sins; He is just and faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” John gives this assurance to the repentant sinners of his day; because most of the Christians of his day believed that their immoral actions were not sinful.

Application:

The fact that Jesus is interceding for us; tells us that; no matter whatever kind of sin happens from me I am not going to lose my salvation. That’s true you will not lose your salvation; IF YOU ARE SAVED. Because if you are saved you will not live in sin but will flee from it. Separating oneself from sin is the first sign of a Christian believer. This is the first test to know if a person is a true Christian believer. He does not like to indulge in sin. That’s the first sign of a believer.

Jesus’ ministry of intercession for believers must not give a license to sin but give hatred towards sin. And the reason is; OUR sin killed Jesus; even though we were not present there. Each time we choose to sin we violate God’s moral law.

For Example:

The 10 commandments. We all know we are not saved by obeying the Moral Law of God but once we come to know Jesus as our Savior and Lord we obey those 10 commandments as a fruit of our salvation. But if we examine ourselves; can we always obey them? No! Even when we have become believers we do sin; and therefore what a great comfort it is to know that Jesus is interceding He is advocating on our behalf with the Father for our forgiveness. I believe we should be always grateful to Jesus our Advocate/ our comforter.

2. Christ our Atonement: vs. 2

Secondly, John gives another basis of the test of a true believer. To put it in simple words: a believer is forgiven on the basis of Christ’s Atonement.

Notice vs. 2, “And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” In plain words Jesus’ atoning Sacrifice is the basis of the forgiveness of believer. The word ‘Atonement’ is a legal word. I looked in the dictionary for definition of this word and I found out that atonement means; Reconciliation of man with God through the life, suffering and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. The word Atonement also means: to satisfy or to appease, or to calm. So, in the light of the meaning of the word; Jesus Christ appeased, He calmed or satisfied the wrath of God by bearing the punishment of our sins on the Cross. God’s anger was hurling against us He would have been right in pouring down that wrath upon us; but in His mercy He provided the atonement in Jesus Christ; and poured His Holy Wrath on Him so that we might be forgiven.

We must ask a question as to why did Christ paid for our sins? The answer is. Jesus paid the price of our sins in order to serve the justice of God and to demonstrate the love of God. 2 verses should come in our mind when we think of Christ’s atonement. John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Rom 3:25, “whom God set forth to be an atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God's forbearance.” Through this verse Paul explains to us that God could not accept us into His fellowship with himself unless the penalty of our sin was paid. That is God’s justice. Jesus paid that penalty for us so that we could be accepted by God in his fellowship.

But the problem comes when we read the next half of the verse.

Notice the next half of the verse, “...and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The simple meaning of this verse says that Jesus’ atonement was not only for the believers but for unbelievers as well. But that is not what this verse means. In order to understand the meaning of this verse we need to understand the meaning of the word ‘world.’ The Greek word for World is ‘cosmos.’  Similarly the world in John 3:16 also means ‘cosmos.’  And the word ‘cosmos’ means cultural groups. It means people of different tongues and tribes. It doesn’t mean for all individuals all persons. This verse does not teach that the atonement of Jesus is automatically applicable to all individuals; repentant and unrepentant sinners alike. However, it means that the blood of Jesus is capable of saving all men of all tongues and all individuals. But His blood is only profitable for repentant sinners; not for unrepentant sinners.

Application:

Let me bring this point to conclusion. The atonement of Christ teaches us that all sins (past, present & future) of all the believers are forgiven because of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross.

How should we respond to the atonement of Christ? I heard John Piper in one of his messages, he said: “Do we prize the grace of God in the Atonement of Christ, or do we prostitute the grace of God because of the Atonement of Christ?”

What a comfort it is to know that our sins are already paid for; they have already been forgiven, and that we don’t have to pay for it at all. I feel this is important to say because we live in an idolatrous culture; wherein people do have the idea of our sins being paid for. They are willing to go to a great extent in order to pay for their own sins. They trust their own works in order for their sins to be forgiven.

One such story is told of a woman by the name of Alila. Alila stood on the beach holding her tiny infant son close to her heart. Tears welled in her eyes as she began slowly walking toward the river's edge. She stepped into the water, silently making her way out until she was waist deep, the water gently lapping at the sleeping baby's feet. She stood there for a long time holding the child tightly as she stared out across the river. Then all of a sudden in one quick movement she threw the six month old baby to his watery death. Native missionary M.V. Varghese often witnesses among the crowds who gather at the River Ganga. It was he who came upon Alila that day kneeling in the sand crying uncontrollably and beating her breast. With compassion he knelt down next to her and asked her what was wrong.

Through her sobs she told him, "The problems in my home are too many and my sins are heavy on my heart, so I offered the best I have to the goddess Ganges, my first born son." Brother Varghese's heart ached for the desperate woman. As she wept he gently began to tell her about the love of Jesus and that through Him her sins could be forgiven. She looked at him strangely. "I have never heard that before," she replied through her tears. "Why couldn't you have come thirty minutes earlier? If you did, my child would not have had to die."

Each year millions of people come to the holy Indian city of Hardwar to bathe in the River Ganges. These multitudes come believing this Hindu ritual will wash their sins away. For many people like Alila, many Christians are arriving too late, simply because there aren't enough of these faithful brothers and sisters on the mission field.

How do we respond to the atonement of Christ? Are we just happy to keep this glorious truth to ourselves or like John we are making this a subject of our daily conversation? What is it that charms us the most? Does the gospel of Christ charm you or does it put you off? You see, you will always speak about that which is very close to your heart. Is the gospel of Christ dear to your heart? Have you embraced Him as your Lord and Savior? Have your repented of your sins? Have you been born again?

No one who enjoys the forgiveness of Jesus can be content to keep it for himself. He is not the propitiation for our sins only. There are other sheep that are scattered throughout the whole world. Their sins, too, are covered. And the last commandment of Jesus was, "Go make disciples out of them from every people."

In summary, John's message to us today is: Don't sin! It is tremendously and terribly serious. But if you do sin, don't despair because your attorney is the Son of the Judge. He is righteous and he makes his case for you not on the basis of your perfection but his propitiation. Be of good courage, don't keep Jesus for yourself alone, go and make disciples.