How Will We Respond When He Appears?: 1st John Lesson 13

1 John 2:28

 We are studying the book of First John. We are at the end of the second chapter. In this section of 1 John we have been learning about abiding. I framed this in the context of our duty as followers of Christ. We are to abide in Jesus.

We looked at John 15:1-11 where Jesus taught extensively about abiding in Him and He abiding in us. He is the Vine. We are the branches. We cannot bear fruit unless we abide in Him. If we abide in Him, and He abides in us, we will bear much fruit and prove to be His disciples. It is in our fruit bearing that God is glorified. 

Abiding in Jesus is illustrated by the vine and branches and I want you to think about that with me a little more. Picture a vine with branches growing from it. What is branch but an extension of the vine? The same substance making up the vine is the same substance making up the branch. The branch looks like the vine on the outside and it is the same on the inside. What flows through the branch is what comes from the vine. There is unity, consistency, oneness, and likeness.

Abiding in Jesus Christ means we are one with Him. We are unified with Him. We are one with Him. We are like Him. We think like Jesus thinks. We love what EJsus loves. We do what Jesus would do. When we think like Jesus thinks, love like Jesus loves, and do the will of Jesus, God is glorified. This is how genuine fruit is produced. Abiding in Christ results in much fruit.

We learned last week from verses 24-27 that to abide in Jesus is synonymous with abiding in His word. Abiding in Jesus means He and I are one and the same in heart, mind, and will. Abiding in Jesus means that our minds think like His mind, our hearts love what He loves, our wills are set on doing His will. This is the essence of abiding in Him. We are of one heart, one mind, and one will with Jesus.

 It is the fruit which results from abiding in Him that provides the evidence of genuine salvation. It is never what we say that makes us true followers of Christ. Many will say to Jesus on the day of judgment, “Lord, Lord, did we not…” and they prophesied, and they cast out demons, and they performed many miracles, but Jesus sent them away because He did not know them. John writes these things to those who believe in the name of the Son of God so they might know they have eternal life.

 Satan’s favorite tactic is deception. He loves to help people believe they are Christians when they are not. He is really good at this. He is the enemy of Christ and his favorite thing is to sow tares among the wheat. In fact, that parable has so much relevance to what we are looking at today we must go look at it together as part of our introduction. 

 Turn to Matthew 13. Read verses 24-30 and 36-43. Tares look just like wheat. 

The difference is the fruit produced. Tares bear no fruit. They have nothing. They look good, but they are empty. My friends, that is a valid description of so many in the church today. Many in the church are those who look good, but bear no fruit. Within the church there are many tares and much wheat. From what we read in Matthew’s gospel, when Jesus comes again and sends His angels to separate tares from the wheat, the difference will be obvious, the consequences devastating, especially to the tares.

 Look now at verse 28 of 1 John 2. “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” John says “Now, little children, abide in Him…” We saw last week that this is an imperative command. Abiding in Him is not optional. It is not optional because unless we abide in Him we can do nothing. Unless we abide in Him we cannot bear fruit.

 The word “now” is added for emphasis. John has given the command to abide in Jesus and he says, “now” abide in Him, meaning that this should be done now, at once, on the spot. Don’t wait. Don’t assume there will be time for abiding in Jesus later. Take this command seriously and do it now. Don’t be like those unfaithful servants who thought they had plenty of time. Their lamps were without oil and they missed the wedding.

 John emphasizes the need to abide now because of the certainty of the appearing of Jesus. John says “Now, little children, abiding in Him, so that when He appears…” John does not say “if He appears.” John knew for certain Jesus was coming back. He had been an eyewitness to everything Jesus promised. Jesus had a really good track record of keeping His promises. Jesus prophesied His own death and resurrection – and it came to pass. Jesus predicted His own ascension in to heaven, and it came to pass. Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit and He showed up right on schedule. Jesus had promised in John 14:3, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

 John had learned something every believer better understand. If Jesus tells you something is going to happen, it is going to happen. Nothing He promises can fail to come to pass. He promised that He would come again, and He will. John knew the return of Jesus was certain. This is why he urged his spiritual descendants to abide in Him.

 John also emphasized the importance of abiding in Jesus because he believed in the imminent return of Jesus. He was looking for the return of Jesus at any time. So should we. There is nothing that keeps Him from coming for His church today. It is impossible to read your New Testament and miss the emphasis on living in such a way so as to be ready when He does appear.

 Col. 3:4 “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” That is the thing about the revelation of Jesus Christ. He will be revealed, but so will the truth about everyone else. The truth about whether or not we are abiding in Him will be revealed when He is revealed.

 1 Thess 5:23-24, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and my your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”

 Paul told Timothy in 1 Tim. 6:13-14, “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time…”

 Near the end of his life Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4 of “the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and to only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” No one who does not abide in Jesus Christ will love His appearing. They will be ashamed and shrink back in fear at His appearing if they do not abide in Him.

 Titus 2:11-13 says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”

 1 Peter 1;7 speaks of our proven faith which is more precious than gold, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

 1 Peter 5:4 speaks of an unfading crown of glory we receive when the Chief Shepherd appears. This is promised to those who shepherd the flock of God faithfully.

 Has it been a long time? Yes it has. We don’t know how much longer it will be. It may be today. It might not be for another thousand years. We don’t know. Turn to 2 Peter 3:4-12 and let’s read what we do know.

 So, we abide in Him. We continually abide in Him. Because we abide in Him and our lives bear the fruit which results from abiding in Him, when He appears “we may have confidence.” Confidence is “parresia” in the Greek. (paray-see-a) The word literally means freedom or frankness in speaking. This is the same word Paul used in Ephesians 6:19 when he asked the Ephesians to pray for him that he would be bold so as to speak what he ought to speak. In Phil 1:20 Paul’s desire was that he would not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”

 Do you want to have confidence, boldness, and courage when Jesus returns, or do you want to shrink away from Him in shame? John tells us that we will either have confidence at His coming, or we will shrink away from him in shame. The idea conveyed here is of being disgraced. Those who do not abide in Christ will have their fruitlessness exposed and they will be revealed as frauds. If we are not abiding in Him we are not bearing fruit and a fruitless life will produce shame at His coming.

 So John urges us to abide in Christ. John wants us to have confidence, boldness, and courage when Jesus appears. He commands us to abide because abiding in Christ gives us the basis upon which our confidence is built. This confidence must be built upon the evidence of a fruitful life. Fruitful lives are the result of abiding in Christ.

 John is big on knowing for certain about the issue of salvation. John wants us to have confidence. Let me show you another example of this in chapter 3. Look at verse 18. “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” Loving with our words is easy. It is easy to say we love someone. Real love loves in deed. Real love is demonstrated by actions. Real love loves according to truth. In other words, be real. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on 1 John is entitled “Be Real.” That is the theme of this book. John writes all this to show us who and what is real.

 John goes on to say in verse 19, “We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our hearts before Him.” Loving in deed and truth produces assurance that we are of the truth. John makes a very important point here. He says this will assure our hearts “before Him.”

 I talk to a lot of people who call themselves Christians who have assurance. When they stand and look at themselves in the mirror, they are assured of their salvation. Before themselves they have confidence. They look at themselves and they say, “I’m not a bad person, and I believe in Jesus. I must be ok.” When they stand before other people they have assurance. They have this assurance because they consider themselves better than those other sinners. Listen to me. It doesn’t matter how much assurance you have when you stand before yourself. It doesn’t matter how much assurance you have when you stand among a bunch of other fruitless people. What matters is how much assurance you have when you stand before Him.

 When He comes again, we will all stand before Him. We will be assured and have confidence, or we will be ashamed and disgraced. If we abide in Him, and He abides in us, and we bear fruit that glorifies God, we will have assurance even as we stand before Him.

 Look at another verse ahead of us in 1 John 4:16-17. John again shows us the connection between abiding and confidence in judgment. The reason for this confidence in the day of judgment is simple. “As He is, so also are we in this world.

 How does a follower of Christ come to be “as He is” in this world? If you can’t answer that you are going to force me to preach the last two messages all over again. We become as He is by abiding in Him, and He abides in us, and we abide in His truth.

 If we are to be as He is in the world, we will abide in Him. Our minds will be as His mind. Our hearts will be as His heart. Our will shall be as His will. As He is, so also are we in this world.

 In a short time we will come to 1 John 3:2. “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is.” The more we abide in Him, the more we will be like Him now. 

 I am growing in my appreciation of John as we study this letter. As a pastor I can see what John is doing. John is determined to communicate the truth in such a way so as to confront those with a false sense of security and confirm those who are genuine. This should be what every shepherd and teacher of God’s word should want to do. I don’t want anyone here falling short because you have been allowed to grow confident without the evidence of a transformed life. If you abide in Him you can look at your life and tell it. If you don’t abide in Him, you should be able to look at your life and tell it. We are told to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 13:5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you – unless indeed you fail the test?”

 Unless you are abiding in Christ you will not see the evidence that Christ is in you. If you are connected to the Vine, His life is flowing through you. If you don’t see that Christ is in you, you fail the test. 

 So many have a confident assurance because they say they “believe” in Jesus. James tells us that even the demons believe, and they tremble. Every demon Jesus confronted knew who He was. They all believed in Him. This does not mean they were saved.

 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” The wheat will stand when Jesus appears and sends His angels. The tares will be uprooted and gathered and thrown into the fire of judgment.

 Will we be confident when He appears, or will we shrink back in shame? 

Let’s pray.