I. "IF OR SINCE YOU KNOW THAT HE IS RIGHTEOUS."
A. The Greek word know is the word oidas that we spoke about which is an intuitive knowledge.
1. The writer of Hebrews quoting from
Psa 45:6 and 7 declared;
HEB 1:8 But unto the Son [he saith], Thy throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of thy kingdom.
HEB 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
2. Isaiah in prophesying of the Messiah said:
ISA 32:1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.
3. Jeremiah prophesying of the Messiah said:
JER 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
JER 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this [is] his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
B. I trust that you know that He is righteous.
1. I think that it is the height of blasphemy to try to impinge the character of Jesus Christ.
2. There are those who suggested that he was involved in an immoral relationship with Mary and Martha. Others have sought to link Him immorally with Mary Magdalene. They are of those of whom Peter declared, "Whose damnation slumbereth not."
II. "YOU KNOW THAT EVERYONE THAT DOETH RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BORN OF HIM."
A. This Greek word (know) is the other Greek word which is know by experience.
B. If you see a person that is living an immoral life in sin, you know that they are not born again.
1. In 3:10 John declares,
1JO 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
2. In the fifth chapter John will tell us,
1JO 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth him, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
3. Jesus said to the Pharisees, "You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father will you do."
4. What a person is, is demonstrated by what a person does. We do righteousness or we do unrighteousness, Jesus said:
MAT 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
5. In a few verses John will warn us:
1JO 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
C. There are many who talk the right talk, they can say the right things with great conviction. It is not what I say that counts, the real issue is what am I doing?
1. As James told us, "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves."
2. Jesus said, "Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of the Father."
3. Jesus said that the wise man was the one who not only heard His word, but did it.
4. Again Jesus said,
LUK 12:47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not [himself], neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many [stripes].
5. Again in
John 13, He said, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them."
6. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
1CO 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
7. He wrote to the Romans,
ROM 2:13 (For not the hearers of the law [are] just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
8. God questioned Elijah as he hid in the cave at Sinai, "What are you doing?"
9. Just what are you doing? I am not asking what are you saying? You may very well be saying the right thing.
D. Doing righteousness is related to being born of Him.
III. BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE THE FATHER HATH BESTOWED UPON US THAT WE SHOULD BE CALLED THE SONS OF GOD.
A. In the gospel of John he tells us,
JOH 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
B. In explaining to Nicodemus on how to be born again, Jesus said,
JOH 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
C. Behold what manner of love.
1. The breadth of it, so loved the world.
2. The depth, "He gave His only begotten Son."
3. The scope of it, "That whosoever." Who does that include?
4. The desire behind it, "Should not perish, but have everlasting life."
5. John is asking you to look at this love.
D. How was this love demonstrated to us?
1. Jesus said,
JOH 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
2. Paul wrote,
ROM 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
3. In our epistle John said,
1JO 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us:
1JO 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
1JO 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.
4. This love is demonstrated in the fact that God was willing to take us who by nature were children of wrath even as others, and adopt us to be His own dear children.
JOH 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
2CO 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
GAL 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
GAL 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
ROM 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and jointheirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together.
IV. THEREFORE THE WORLD KNOWETH US NOT.
A. Jesus said,
JOH 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before [it hated] you.
JOH 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
JOH 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
JOH 15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
B. The natural man knoweth not the things of the Spirit neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. He that is spiritual understandeth all things yet he is not understood.
C. The world just doesn't understand you because it does not understand our Lord.
1. The world may sing about "Doin what comes naturally." But we have been born of the Spirit through Jesus Christ and we do what comes supernaturally. Don't expect the world to understand that.
2. You cannot be a friend of the world and a friend of God at the same time.
JAM 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
D. Why doesn't the world know or understand us?
1. Because they do not know or understand our Lord.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
