I am going to piggyback these few thoughts onto last Wednesday’s lesson. The title of our last message was: “New Testament Teaching the Old Testament Way.” I tried to apply some of the Hebrew words which speak about teaching Bible truths. This afternoon, let’s think about some of the ways in which that a Biblical education should affect us.
And the conclusion should be very simple. Three times in the three verses of our text, the Apostle John says, “We know, WE know, we KNOW.” In I John 5:3, he says – “the Son of God has given us an understanding, that we may KNOW him.” More than twenty times in these five chapters, John uses the common Greek word “gnosko.” In addition to that, more than ten times he uses the word “oida.” Both of them are translated with some form of the English word “to know.” What we learn from the Bible ought to make us say, “Now we know; now we know.”
But we are living in a day and age, when we and our children are being told that we should question everything. “Does the history book say such and such? That particular historian may have gotten the facts wrong. Or his perception of the facts may have been clouded by his race or his gender.” “Do the facts of science suggest that the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is always true? Not necessarily.” “Does your body look like that of a girl? That may not be your true gender.” “Does the Bible say that God created the universe in six literal days? What about evolution?” It seems as if no fact is sacrosanct or unimpeachable any more.
But then we come to the Bible, and for our text this afternoon, we come specifically to First John. Look at chapter 2, verse 3 – “Hereby we do KNOW that we know him…” Verse 5 – “Hereby KNOW we that we are in him.” Verses 13 and 14 – “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have KNOWN him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have KNOWN the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have KNOWN him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” Verses 20 and 21 – “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye KNOW all things. I have not written unto you because ye KNOW NOT the truth, but because ye KNOW IT, and that no lie is of the truth.”
Among others, in chapter 3 we read: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we KNOW that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” “And ye KNOW that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.” We KNOW that we have passed from death unto life…” “Hereby we KNOW that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.” “..hereby we KNOW that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”
In chapter 4 some of the verses about our knowledge include: “Hereby KNOW ye the Spirit of God…” “We are of God: he that KNOWETH God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby KNOW we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” “Hereby KNOW we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”
And chapter 5 contains some truly blessed words of knowledge: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” “And if we KNOW that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we KNOW that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
Don’t be confused by the intentionally deceitful malarkey that we can’t be SURE of anything while in this life. You can be sure that the Word of God is true, and that you should believe what it says. Yes, you can know, Christian, that when you die your soul will be escorted into heaven. Yes, you should know that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God – Jehovah. Listen to what John tells us here, and listen to Paul, to Moses, to Jeremiah and the rest of the Bible, as well. There are some fools who says we can believe what Jesus said or what Moses said, but not what Paul said If it comes from the Bible, it can be trusted, even if we can’t fully explain it.
Borrowing an outline from C.H. Spurgeon, I’d like us to briefly think about several different forms of knowledge. This is not Spurgeon’s message; just his outline. I hope that man won’t be embarrassed by my mutilation of his original thoughts. And I don’t want to be embarrassed by someone saying that I plagiarized Spurgeon’s material. I haven’t – at least not exactly.
One form of knowledge involves BASIC INSTRUCTION, and by it we are saved from ignorance.
Verse 20 says, “We KNOW that the Son of God is come, and that he hath given us an understanding…” The Bible describes the incarnation of God’s son, telling what was His purpose in coming to this earth. The Bible tells us: “God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” In chapter 4 we read, “We have KNOWN and believed the love that God hath to us.”
At some point in our lives we were taught the details of the gospel, giving us an important basic education. But billions of our fellow men have not been given this instruction and its opportunity for knowledge. And I’m not talking only about the millions in India or China. I’m talking about our own neighbors. When society is saying to us, “Yea, hath God said?” perhaps we should be turning that around. Maybe we should turn from the defensive to the offensive: “Have you heard that the Saviour has come?” “Do you know the blessed message of the gospel of the kingdom of God?” If there isn’t at least a modicum of simple Bible instruction, there won’t be any progress toward the kind of knowledge of which John is speaking.
Based on that knowledge come an APPREHENSION and UNDERSTANDING of the facts.
This kind of knowledge is beyond a mere hearing of doctrine and facts. A man may know that Christ Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross. But he may not understand the great truths of the atonement or substitution – the why of Jesus’ death. It is not necessary that a lost man know these doctrines in great detail, but there must be at least a small step beyond the bare details before he can accept God’s gracious salvation. It is to this kind of knowledge John refers in the second part of verse 20 – “We know that the Son of God is come, and that he hath given us an UNDERSTANDING, that we may KNOW HIM that is true.”
Maybe I could use the average Christmas card as an example. Millions of kids have seen Christmas cards with pictures of babies, wise men and shepherds. Millions have grown up with the facts of the incarnation – or at least the reflections of those facts. But despite rhetoric about “keeping Christ in Christmas” most of those kids know nothing about the purpose for Christ’s birth.
And speaking about Christmas: there is a certain local car dealership with a seasonal ad on the television. This guy with a big cowboy hat is asked about the meaning of Christmas – presumably by his grandson. He replies by describing the birth of God’s only son, adding that a group of wise men left their sheep to come and see the baby Jesus. When I first heard it, I thought, “Wow, here may be real Christian. Who would have guessed?” And then I heard the ad a second time and paid a little more attention. He said that the “WISE men” left their sheep in the fields to visit the new born Christ in Bethlehem. Not only does this used car dealer not understand the facts, he doesn’t even know the facts.
Sadly, understanding the facts or the truth is not the same as PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE.
Most of John’s second chapter highlights this kind of knowledge. “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have KNOWN him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have KNOWN the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have KNOWN him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”
Let’s say someone asks me about a particular Christian author. “Do you know so and so?” Once in a while I can answer that I have read one of his books, or I might say, “The name sounds familiar.” But the question was: “Do you KNOW him?” “Well, I know that he is a Baptist preacher, but I don’t know all that he believes or what he loves.” I may know OF the man, and I may even appreciate what he has written, but I don’t really know him. There is a higher degree of knowledge than to have simply read his name on the dust cover of a book.
The Bible says, “No man hath seen God at any time.” And I am reasonably sure that if we met Jesus at Walmart, we’d not recognize Him. Is Christ Jesus as tall as you picture Him? How dark was His skin? How did He comb His hair? Did He have a beard, and if so was it like mine or Brother Miller’s? Would you recognize the voice of your Saviour if it wasn’t from Heaven and it didn’t say, “Come hither?” Despite not knowing most of the details, there is a sense in which the Christian can not only say, “I know what I believe about Christ,” but also “I know HIM.” And the longer we live the Christian life – the more we mature in the Lord – the better we should know the Lord Jesus. And the fact is, we will be learning more of Him throughout eternity. Christians aspire to take what they know of Christ and cultivate that into a growing personal knowledge.
Another aspect of knowledge could be labeled “CERTAINTY.”
Without implying there will come a point in your Christian life when every question will be answered and every doubt will be magically erased… The more we know of the Bible and the Saviour, the higher degree of certainty we will have of our Spiritual blessings. Each of John’s “we know, we know” could have been preceded by other peoples’ questions and doubts. All of these “we knows” could have been answers to the needs of others. Sure, John was a very special apostle, but there is a sense in which he was still just one of us. It wasn’t because of his office that he could reply to doubts and questions with this degree of certainty. We don’t need to be apostles before we can tell a confused and doubting society, “I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.”
Adam knew God, and he knew the truth, but after his fall, humanity began to question and eliminate the truth that had been created into their hearts. After several generations and several centuries, God destroyed that unbelieving and truth-rejecting society. Starting over again with Noah and his family, the fallen nature of man instantly began its descent into denial and unbelief once again. So we aren’t surprised that the decline of “certainty” continues generation after generation – it is a natural part of the curse. But we don’t have to join our neighbors in this. We have new natures with new hearts and regenerated minds. We can fight against our own native propensity toward decline, and we determine to trust the Lord.
Our mission is to go into the world with a knowledge of God and with an assurance of the gospel. Our commission hasn’t been: “Go ye into all the world and adapt the gospel to people’s doubts.” We are to preach the same gospel of which John had complete assurance. I don’t care if people call me antiquated, out of date or a religious dinosaur – “Old-fashioned Oldfield.” To some degree I know what John knew, and he shared what he knew with people who had confidence enough to share those things with me. Those who have been justified by faith, have no reason to doubt justification. Those who are sanctified and have been made saints of God, will confidently more forward in holiness. Those who have been born again, have every reason to be sure they will live forever in the presence of their Creator and Saviour.
I suppose another word for “CERTAINTY” might be “ASSURANCE.”
How many people are there today who say, “I HOPE I’m going to Heaven?” I even wonder how many Christians use the word “hope” in inappropriate ways? I John 3:14 is a wonderful verse of certainty and assurance – “We KNOW that we have passed from death unto life.” The problem for many people lays in next part of the verse – “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” So many people create their own problems and doubts, because they make so little progress in their spiritual lives. They fall out of bed because they went to sleep on the edge and not in the middle, under all the covers. “Hereby we do KNOW that we know him – if (or BECAUSE) we keep his commandments.” Part of our education should be seen in the putting into practice what we have been taught. It ought to be the desire of every one us to know that we are saved. And that should mean the discovery of the evidences of eternal life in our daily life.
If I remember correctly, Brother Wayne takes his grandchildren out for a meal, or to the store, to celebrate their birthdays. I would imagine that the next time he tells one of them that this next Saturday he will take him or her out, that little eight-year-old will begin to make plans. Why? It is not just because grandpa has made a promise, although that is important. It is that he took her out last year for her birthday, and he has taken several of her brothers and sisters out earlier this year. There is not only the word of promise, there is the completion of earlier promises. That building of point upon point is a part of the education process.
We were all born slaves to sin, but God loved us and Christ saved us. And in that salvation we have begun to taste one of the glorious meals upon which we will feast for eternity. Doesn’t that taste give you assurance that there will be more? Brother Ken Carter sent around a quote from Spurgeon the other day: “My testimony is that if I had to die like a dog; if this life were all and there were no hereafter – I would still prefer to be a Christian for the joy and peace which, in this present life, godliness will afford.” But the truth is, today Christians are enjoying little more than the fragrance from the kitchen of eternity. The right kind of Biblical education, empowered by the Holy Spirit should give certainty and assurance.
And I’ll close with one more quick point: the highest of all knowledge ends in indefatigable FAITH.
John said, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we KNOW that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Why didn’t John speak about the hope of Christ’s return? That is a Biblical subject. He didn’t refer to hope, because at this point, Christ’s return is not a doctrinal matter, but a big chunk of the Christian’s expectant faith. He didn’t say, “We TRUST that when Christ shall appear things will be better.” That is certainly true. But faith reckons – the things that are not as yet – as though they already are.
One of Spurgeon’s devotional books is called “Faith’s Checkbook.” Every one of the Lord’s promises is like a check ready to be cashed. In fact, every one of the Lord’s checks is better than cash; they are as good as gold.
A good Biblical education should provide us with eternal material – facts – not simply that we might be aware of those facts. No, a good Biblical education should give us joy and expectation, because we know that every line and every promise in the Book will be fulfilled. A good Biblical education should teach us, ground us, thrill us and pull us closer to our Redeemer.