SPIRIT, BLOOD AND WATER
I JOHN 5:1-2 Test 7
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I. Overcoming the World in Christ
A. Let’s be careful that we love those who have been born of God. (v. 1)
B. Being born of God involves obeying the commandments of God (v. 2)
C. When we’ve been born of God, it’s not burdensome to do what he has asked (v. 3)
D. When we’ve been born of God we’ve overcome everything that could ever threaten us (v. 4)
E. The confession that Jesus is Christ is at the center of the church universal (v. 5)
II. Receiving the Testimony of God
A. Three elements—water, blood and spirit (v. 6)
B. The three testify, or speak! (v. 7)
C. The three speak in agreement (v. 8)
D. Receiving the testimony/evidence given by God (v. 9)
E. We either have this testimony in us, or we have made him a liar (v. 10)
F. God gave us his eternal life in his Son (v. 11)
G. No life outside the Son (v. 12)
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October 11, 2020
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TEST 8: THE REMADE LIFE
I. The Purpose of Writing (v. 13-15)
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Purpose of the letter is to give knowledge of eternal life (v. 13)
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Our confidence (hope) indicated by our relationship to him (v. 14)
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When we ask God for something, we should believe as though he has already given it (v. 15)
II. Sin Leading to Death (v. 16-17)
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When we see sin in our brothers our first response should be prayer (16, a)
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We don’t pray that people continue in sin, though or make sin their continual practice (16, b)
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It’s not that the occasional misstep of a Christian is better intrinsically, but that we remain on the path toward renewal in Christ despite sin because of the relationship we have with him. (v. 17)
III. Test: Cease from Sin (v. 18-19)
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Jesus doesn’t just change your mind, he changes your way of living (v. 18)
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With Christ, we can have confidence and peace while the world crumbles. (v. 19)B. W
IV. True Knowledge (v. 20-21)
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Christ bridged the gap between God and man and has given us eternal life. (v. 20)
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Don’t be knocked off the path! (v. 21)
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October 18, 2020
IMPATIANCE FOR HIS RETURN
James 5:7-11
We as Christians know that the Christ was God come to earth in the person of Jesus, the Son of God. But what I’m afraid we don’t think about often enough is the beautiful, glorious, and comforting fact that he is coming again, and not only is he coming again, he will return in a way that we do not fully understand, in a presence or in a body that is unlike the one he came to earth in long ago. We look forward to this one thing that remains, cosmologically, for God to accomplish—that is, his return to bring every work into judgement, whether good or evil, and to take those faithful to be caught up with him and remain with him and in him eternally. In James 5:7, James says it is important to be patient in waiting for the coming of our Christ. That’s a verse that should stop you cold, at least if you are like me. Because, be honest, when was the last time you genuinely had the thought: “Man, I wish Jesus would hurry up and come already and make all of this right.” I’ve had that though at times, and I hope to have it more and more all the time, but I would be lying if I said that my impatience for Christ’s coming was a major problem in my faith. No, a bigger problem for me is forgetting that Jesus is coming at all, or perhaps even imagining his coming with dread. So how do we get faith and HOPE in his coming, like the Christians that James was addressing seemed to have. And how did we lose it in the first place? This is what I want to consider this morning.
I. Our Great Hope in Christ
A. One of the reasons why many have difficulty accepting the claims of the Christian faith, is that the Christian faith makes some quite incredible claims.
B. Many might accurately point out that these biblical ideas are either unnatural or supernatural, in that they do not conform with anything we know about the natural laws of our existence.
C. I believe our knowledge of our coming end has to do with more than just scientific knowledge, although that can certainly play a role here.
D. I also think, although the Scripture is of upmost importance to the guiding of our lives, there is more to this than even Scriptural knowledge, although everything of value we can a affirmatively know on this subject we can find in these pages.
E. What I’m saying is, this is expectation of the coming judgement is something we know in many ways, and one of them is that it is engrained in us, by God.
F. So for the Christian, scripture, and the church is where our material needs and natures and our deep- seeded, beyond-nature spiritual longings meet. The convergence of these two parts of us, flesh and spirit, through Christ, gives our lives meaning and balance.
G. But our lives are not just this here and now, these few years we get on this rock.
H. How do we channel this vague desire for more into a real confidence and joy in Christ’s coming?
I. How do we first get Impatient for Christ, that is highly expectant and confident in and excited about his coming?
II. Impatience for Christ
A. The value which we place morally on patience is again, not entirely consistent with human nature. I know because I am one of the most impatient people I know!
B. The people who tend to need patience the most are people who have not yet achieved their goals or ambitions in a given area.
C. When you are trying to learn some technically complicated skill, the accomplished people teaching you are always the ones telling you to be patient.
D. Patience also implies some level of passivity and we don’t like that; we don’t want to be passive.
E. We tend to have more urbanized mindsets and so this picture James paints is hard for us to see (early and late rain?)
F. So what is the fruit? What is this harvest in a spiritual sense?
E. When we embrace the full glory and hope of the bold things promised to us by God, and when we dwell on them continually, we begin to get impatient with the conditions of this life, and what we see around us in this world.
F. So when we’ve awoken our understanding and expectation of Christ’s return (gotten impatient), how do we have patience in the face of all the awful things that we observe in this material existence?
III. Patience for Christ
A. Firstly we should affirm that this life is joyous and we should take joy in it, for it is a gift from God, this season of planting and watering that we live in.
B. And we should state that we, like the farmer, should be working.
C. But the farmer does not get so caught up in the beauty of the natural process that fails to lose sight of the harvest, the fruit.
D. So what are we striving for when we aim toward the goal of patience for the coming of the Lord?
E. We look to God.
F. But the Lord’s coming is at hand (or near).
E. You were not made to be dried grass, some dead thing. You were meant to be a fruitful harvest unto yourself, a new creature teeming with infinite life. If you believe, come and claim that life which Christ offers you.