The Not So Secret Source of Our Joy

Paul, during his ministry, experienced horrific suffering and persecution. Yet, he wrote the book of Philippians as an encouragement to joyousness. Do you think, maybe if you were in his situation, do you think you might have thought about giving up - that you might have thought about sitting down and having a pity party? Most of us would be griping and complaining to everyone you met of your misfortunes?

And I’m not saying it to be mean – I might be right there with you. It’s just our human nature. And from watching our own reactions, we know it doesn’t take the extremes of Paul’s situation to send us into the pits of despair. It really doesn’t take much at all. Most of us can wallow in self-pity with the roses growing all around us - with hardly anything going wrong. We’re just that way.

But not Paul! Since his salvation, he had been living a life of unrelenting personal attack, of continuing tragedy and ruin. He’d lost everything that had been important to him in his former life as a rich and powerful Pharisee. Everything that the world considers important for health and happiness Paul had given up for Christ. And now he’s been arrested for preaching the Gospel of Christ, and he sits in prison waiting on the probable verdict of execution. Yet, he’s writing an epistle filled with joy. What makes him that way?

Plus, he’s writing to a church that was desperately poor and persecuted as we can see in Philippians 1:27-30. And it is a church that has relentlessly attacked by false teachers as we can read in Philippians 3:2, 18-19. And it is a church that was embroiled in a feud between two strong women as we can read in Philippians 4:2-3. It was a church that could really have been gripped in the clutches of despair and discouragement. But Paul is commanding this church to be joyful. In Philippians 4:4, he commands them and us to, “Rejoice in the Lord always! And again I say, rejoice!”

So, how could Paul demand that of them? How could Paul have joy himself? How can we in our less difficult situations find that joy?

Here is the answer: We can figure out where joy comes from if we turn to Galatians 5:22-23:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Do you see? Joy is a Fruit of the Spirit. It is something that the Holy Spirit grows within those He indwells. It is a product of the Holy Spirit working within us. We don’t manufacture joy by the grit of our teeth and the set of our jaw, the Holy Spirit grows it within us.

This is why the world can’t find real joy and why they chase after elusive happiness instead. And it is a futile chase. As Solomon might say, quoting him from Ecclesiaastes, it is “vanity and grasping for the wind.”

Happiness is always out there just beyond our grasp tempting us and tormenting us, offering those moments of fleeting exhilaration or temporary bursts that fade and fizzle. But it is never a lasting possession like joy can be. Our happiness is always frustrated by our bad marriages, by our dead-end jobs, by illness, by poverty, by debt. I didn’t make the team. Suzy didn’t notice me during break and talked with Fred. I missed that promotion at work because they gave the job to that idiot Bill. So how can you expect me to be happy about it?

The truth is, life in this cursed world isn’t designed to make us happy. Rather it is intended by God to be futile and frustrating apart from Him. It’s intended to drive us to Him as the only source of meaning and joy in this world. This world is not intended to make us happy, and happiness depends on what happens. Therefore, it is beyond our control. If good things happen, we are happy. If bad things happen, we are not. Therefore happiness always comes and goes. It is transient.

But joy is not transient, not for a believer, because joy isn’t dependent on our surroundings. Joy is dependent upon our relationship with God. It is dependent upon the work of His Holy Spirit within us.

And for a believer, that doesn’t change. We still have the power of the indwelling Spirit of God both in the good times and in the bad. God is as much with us in the crisis and failures as He is in the good times and triumphs. We have God’s promises on that.

Many times in Scripture we are given that promise: Jesus promised us this in the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:20, where He promised “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” And Jesus promised us the very same thing in Hebrews 13:5, where He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Our relationship with God remains constant in spite of the circumstance. If all is well between me and my God, I can be filled with joy. I can rejoice through the good and through the bad. My joy is not dependent upon my circumstance. My happiness doesn’t depend upon what happens. Our joy is based upon our relationship with Jesus Christ. That is true for every believer.

As Chuck Swindall has said about people who exhibit that joy: “Joy is the flag that flies above the castle of their hearts announcing that the King is in residence.” Is the King of kings in residence in your heart?

Finding Joy in the Most Unlikely Places

For awhile, I am going to concentrate on the book of Philippians. Philippians is one of my favorite books of the Bible, and it is my wife’s favorite. I don’t think we are alone in this.

But why? Why do people love the book of Philippians? I think the answer is quite simple. Philippians is a book about Joy, and that is one of things sorely lacking in most people.

The word “joy” is chara in Greek. It is related to other English words like grace and love and gift. A spiritual gift is a charisma. A gifted person is charismatic. Over a dozen times in this short book, Paul uses the word “joy.” He uses the Greek noun chara and the Greek verb chairo thirteen times in Philippians and words related to joy a total of nineteen times.

It’s a theme that permeates every part of this book. R.C.H. Lenski, the great Lutheran commentator, writes,

“Joy is the music that runs through this epistle, the sunshine that spreads over all of it. The whole epistle radiates joy and happiness.”

Maybe that is the reason we love this book so much because, more than anything, we long for that joy, but so rarely ever achieve it in this life. Most people live lives of quiet desperation under a cloud of gloom and dreariness, hoping to catch a handful of happiness on the weekend with a frenzy of activity before Monday returns them to the normalcy of sadness.

Unfortunately, Joy is elusive to most of us, so we should be able to learn something from what brought Paul joy. We should be able to apply the truths he shares and come up with a little bit of this joy for ourselves. And that would make this book super good news for us, wouldn’t it, if Paul could just share that secret of joy?

So how could Paul be so filled with joy? Was he sitting on top of the world? Was everything turning up roses? Had he just won the Roman lottery or something? Had he just snagged a hot new date in one of the towns he traveled through? Had he received an award as “Apostle of the Year,” or something? Had he just had a successful evangelistic campaign with thousands saved and huge collections rolling in? Hardly! Even though stuff like that is what many of us think is necessary to be happy.

On the contrary, Paul had none of those things. Surprisingly, Paul wasn’t sitting on top of the world, he was sitting in a prison cell with the prospect of being beheaded a more likely scenario than release. And that situation only capped off a career as an apostle filled with tragedy and sorrow.

2nd Corinthians 11:23-30 is a passage in which Paul bears his soul and tells of his own personal condition in life. And when you finish reading it, I doubt if any of you will envy him. But as you read it, remember, this is written by the man telling us how to have joy.

2nd Corinthians 11:23-30

22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
30 If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.

That’s not the life experience of a man we would normally consider joyful. If anything, that biography would make us think that he should be the most miserable of men, not the man that he was, filled with joy.

So, Paul’s life should really illustrate the truth that joy comes in spite of life’s circumstances, rather than because of them. So our current condition isn’t the determining factor in whether we have joy or not.

Paul had experienced all the “good things of life,” but that was all before he met Jesus on the Damascus Road and was gloriously saved and before he had been commissioned as an apostle. Back then, before he trusted Christ, everything was coming up roses.

He told us about that too in Philippians 3:4-6:

4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Everything that a young Jewish male would dream of, Paul had and he had in abundance. He had the best of everything that being a Jew could offer. He was one of the elite in Israelite society - a real up-and-comer with a great future ahead of him. He was the envy of the masses. Yet, he gave it all up to follow Christ.

Philippians 3:7-9 records this:

7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

In our day and age, when most people who call themselves Christian won’t give up anything to follow Christ; how refreshing that is. And yet, it led only to personal hardship and suffering for Paul. But not once do we ever read that Paul lost his patience or threw a fit. He viewed every situation as an opportunity to glorify Christ, and he was content to be in the center of God’s will, even if it meant this imprisonment. Certainly, we, living in our freedom and prosperity, should be able to do the same.

But above all, Paul saw the opportunity for joy in all of this. In his soul, he was not miserable, but joyful. So the possibility for us to find joy, even in our condition, must be possible. It’s got to be within our grasp. But our perspective must be that of Paul’s

Forsaking All for Our Jealous God

We’ve been talking about the last verse of John’s first epistle: 1st John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” We’ve been making the case that anything we put before God is an idol and a violation of the greatest commandment to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Yet, people break this commandment with impunity. They put almost everything before God, and I’m talking about even most professed Christians. God is an add-on to our lives if we sometime get time in the midst of our kids little league games, vacationing, pursuing our careers, or even time in front of the television.

“Oh, God won’t mind. God is love and all that.” People use that as an excuse, as though God really doesn’t mind getting the leftovers. He wants us to enjoy life, doesn’t He?

Who said God would be satisfied with the leftovers? It wasn’t the Bible. The Bible tells us that God is a jealous God. God even admits that Himself. As a matter of fact, He makes that claim in bold statements.

In giving those first and second commandments of the Big Ten, God flat out states in Exodus 20:1-6:

And God spoke all these words, saying:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Notice that phrase in verse 5, “For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God?” Yes! God minds!

In this era of seeker friendly churches, where ease and comfort have become the norm, we’ve forgotten that it’s all about a King, a kingdom, and His glory. It’s not about us, or what we want, or our comfort. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. When He makes a commandment He expects to be obeyed.

“Do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together?” God says.

Yet we say, “But God, I work six days a week, and Sunday is the only day for me. I really need some me time, time to follow my own dreams.”

We think His commands are merely suggestions that we can pick and choose from as we see fit like we would food in a cafeteria line. And we don’t think he could really expect us to eat the spinach or the broccoli.

Oh, can’t He? Look at what He said in Luke 6:46, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” If He really is Lord of your life, you’d do what He says, wouldn’t you? But, if he isn’t your Lord, you are in sin - PERIOD! Don’t be a hypocrite and call Him Lord if you are unwilling to submit your life to Him.

John MacArthur said this:

“Too many people believe a Christian is a person who has simply ‘prayed a prayer’ and ‘decided’ for Jesus. But many such ‘Christians’ do not live as if they are under new management. They may claim that they once made a decision, but everything else in their life is unchanged.”

MacArthur is right! Conversion is not simply taking out a fire insurance policy against hell. It’s entering into a love relationship that changes everything. It changes our values, our lifestyles, and our priorities, just as getting married changed everything. You now have a new status with new responsibilities. You can’t simply do anything your little heart desires anymore. You have a higher obligation.

MacArthur again said,

“Too many people have stopped at the door that leads to conversion. The door (be it prayer, a decision, or whatever) is simply that – a door.”

We enter through the door into a new life. The old man is crucified and the new man is raised to walk in newness of life. That, according to John, is the proof of salvation - not in an experience, but in the day to day living of a new life.

There are lots of people who are convinced that Christianity is true, and even claim to be a Christian, but it doesn’t seem to have had any consequence in their life. Perhaps they’ve gotten to the door, but they haven’t gone through the door. They have never gotten up off the throne that rules their life and let Jesus sit down on that throne.

Anything less is sin. It’s a violation of the first great commandment. If we truly love God with all our heart, soul, and might, we would be willing to give Jesus total control over our lives. We would obey Jesus to the best of our abilities. We would let Him sit on the throne of our lives.

It may be an imperfect abdication on our part, but it must happen. Nothing less than abdication will do. That is what God demands. He is the rightful king.

Jesus said something really radical in Luke 14:35, “ So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

To “forsake all” - that’s what it takes to be His disciple? Will God really take away everything? NO! But He expects us to lay it all on the altar. We must sacrifice everything to His control. Then, like God did with Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, God will give us back what He wants.

But God has a habit of taking away those things we put before Him. He has a habit of smashing our idols. But not to submit is just plain crazy. Why cling to our wills, our possessions, our entertainments, in place of God? Nothing of those will last.

What will last is our heavenly rewards. 2nd Corinthians 4:18 says, “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Don’t settle for some inferior, cheap substitute just because it demands nothing of you. Settle only for the eternal. In heaven, all the universe will be ours.

Romans 8:16-17 says:

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Who would sacrifice that for the deceptive, disappointing, short lived imitations Satan offers? Let Jesus have first place -He deserves it. He is our creator and redeemer. He redeemed us with His own blood

Plus, no one will ever love you as much, know you as well, or care for you so fully. He is the only one who can control you and leave you better off because of it. Yielding to Him will leave you stronger in spirit, more mature.

Surrender your life to Him today. When Jesus says deny yourself, you deny yourself. When He says pick up your cross you pick it up. When He says follow Me, you follow – no matter the cost. The result will be glorious in your life.

Eric Ludy wrote:

“Christianity is the most explosive, most vibrant, most beautiful, most extraordinary news the universe has ever encountered, and yet all of us Christians are trying to make it more palatable. We are downplaying God’s right to rule, overtake, and posses the lives of each and every person on this terrestrial ball. What might happen if we were to just let the gospel be what it is – a gritty, bloody, revolutionary call to die?”

Paul wrote this in Galatians 2:20:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Have you laid down your life for your King?

Chasing Every Other God but the Right One

The last verse of 1st John is this:
1st John 5:21 – “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”

John ends this book of 1st John by warning you of idolatry. This isn’t an ancient sin, but a very modern sin. This is a sin that is epidemic in the church - a sin that is rampant in even some of the most fundament of churches who claim to believe the Word, yet let other things take God’s place in their heart.

Oh, your idols may even be good things. They could be fishing, little league baseball, your career, your home, your family, or your kids. It could be prestige or power, anything that takes God’s rightful place.

There was just new study released examining the reason for the decline in American church attendance over the past decade. Do you know what they found? The study showed that the number one reason for the decline was children’s athletics. Nowadays, you can’t drive by a soccer field in the summer that isn’t filled with uniformed kids kicking balls around every Sunday morning during the season.

There was a day when no one would schedule anything on Sunday or Wednesday night because they knew none of the Christians would be there. They would be in church or prayer meeting. Not any more, as parents allow their kids to skip church for Sunday morning tournaments. And, of course, the parents have to take them and have to watch in support of their kids. But what happened to God in this equation?

Someone once said that church attendance is a pretty good barometer of a person’s spirituality. Perhaps it shows what’s first place in your life, or what you may have made into an idol.

Let’s do a case study of the rich, young ruler in Matthew 19:16-22. The parallel passage in Luke 18:18 describes him as that - a ruler. Therefore, he was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin. He was one of Israel’s best and brightest. He was looked up to and admired by his countrymen. This is who comes to Jesus with a good question , “How can I have eternal life?” Matthew 19:16-22 records the event. Let’s take it a verse at a time.

Matthew 19:16, “Now behold, one came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?’” The question is good, but it has a faulty premise. One does not do anything good thing to merit eternal life. We cannot earn salvation by our works. We receives it by faith.

Jesus responds in Matthew 19:17, “So He said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.’” I assume Jesus is trying to get him to acknowledge faith, “Yes, that’s right, you are God. I believe.” But Jesus goes on to play off his assumption that salvation is by works, “But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Wait! That’s an impossibility.

Bu the rich young ruler responds, Matthew 19:18, “Which ones?” The Pharisees taught that if you can’t keep them all, keep at least one perfectly, and God will be pleased. That’s in the Bible, right? NOT!

But Jesus gives him a list, Matthew 19:18-20, “Jesus said, ‘‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’’ The young man said to Him, ‘All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?’”

“Liar, liar!” No one can keep the commandments. Hadn’t he heard the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus told that hatred is the same as murder and lust the same as adultery? But this fine young man probably did think he had kept them quite well, at least in comparison to others. No doubt he’d done as good a job as anyone.

So Jesus gives him a test. How well do you really keep the commandments? Let’s see how well you can do with the very first commandment? Matthew 19:21-22, “Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

His things were of greater importance to him than salvation.

Now, is that really a requirement of salvation - that you have to sell off everything? NO! But this young, upwardly mobile Jew claimed to be keeping all the commandments, so Jesus tested him with the first one: “Will you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind?” His answer was, “NO!”

The same question could be asked of you. What is most important to you? What do you love most? Is it God or you? Is it God or things? With the rich, young ruler, things won out. That is a violation of the first command, that we have no other gods before the one true God. He was in violation of the first and greatest commandment.

But, what about you? Are you just as guilty? Is something else taking God’s rightful place? When we refuse to surrender our wills to His, to give up our desires to His direction and leadership, we are in sin.

Idolatry - the Most Common Sin of the Church

Following a list of things we can know with absolute certainty, John could have ended this book with 1st John 5:20. It was a high water mark - a joyous verse of triumph which says: “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” Amen!

So it is surprising, then, that John continues on with this one final warning against idols in 1st John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”

Why, we would wonder, would anyone who had this absolute knowledge of “the true God and eternal life” ever follow after idols? Who would ever follow second best, once they’ve known the best?

Most of John’s readers had known idolatry before. The Gentile church was formed out of pagan idolatry. 1st Thessalonians 1:9 shows that by saying of them, “how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” They’ve seen both, and should know the benefit, or lack of benefit, of both. No one rescued from idolatry should ever be crazy enough to think about going back.

But yet, I’m going to make a statement that may seem far-fetched to you. Idolatry is the greatest sin of the modern church and the greatest sin of most Christians. Some of you are already rejecting that without even thinking about it. You think that this warning is only historically applicable; that in modern day America, we are too sophisticated to be taken in with idols.

Oh, maybe it is a problem in the orient with their shrines and Buddhas, or in India with the multitude of Hindu gods, or in some jungle where the natives still worship the rocks and trees of nature
We don’t have any of that in our circle of friends. Oh, once in awhile, we see one of those upturned bath tubs with an idol of Mary in it. But us Protestants would never have an idol.

Oh, wouldn’t we? We so often think of idolatry only as bowing down before images, but it’s not. That is precisely why we need to spend time studying this so we can see if it’s in our lives. You need to understand the full breadth of idolatry, and how it may have even tainted you.

First, though, let’s look at the historical problem. Paul had his share of troubles from idol worshipers. You can see this in the book of Acts. Paul is in Ephesus, the home of the temple to Diana. It was the center of their culture and a mainstay of their economy. The silversmiths were making a fortune selling little miniatures of the idol. They didn’t take kindly to Paul’s preaching against them.

Acts 19:23-30 gives the account:
23 And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way. 24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen. 25 He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. 26 Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands. 27 So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.”
28 Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” 29 So the whole city was filled with confusion, and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul’s travel companions. 30 And when Paul wanted to go in to the people, the disciples would not allow him.

That’s classic idolatry. Paul continually taught that there was only one God, and all the rest were false. Worship of false gods (little “g”) through the use of images is in direct violation of the first and second commandments.

Exodus 20:1-6 lists these first two:
And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

That second command obviously addresses the classic understanding of an idol, but making idols is only a small part of violating that first commandment. As R.W. Torrey said, “An idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand.”

What modern folks don’t realize is that an idol doesn’t have to be made of wood, or stone. The first commandment says that nothing should take God’s rightful place as #1 in your life. Therefore, anything that takes the place of God in our hearts is an idol.

Paul even says something interesting in Colossians 3:5, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Obviously then, idolatry doesn’t have to involve a graven image. Covetousness, the wanting of the things of others, can be an idol.

So, you see, it’s not the image that makes an idol, but the place of that thing in the heart that is important. God must have first place in our lives. He must not be some add-on that we make a little room for on Sunday in our already crowded week.

This is re-emphasized in Deuteronomy 6:4-6:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.”


That’s not just Old Testament drivel. Jesus declared that loud and clear in the New Testament as well.

Matthew 22:35-40 declares:
Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

In other words, #1 is still in effect. That is simply another way of saying that first commandment of Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” God demands first place in your life. Anything else is sin. Anything that rises above God in your heart is an idol and it has to go. It’s hogging up space in your life that belongs only to Jesus.

You need the attitude of Ben Davenport, who cried out to God, “Strip me clean, strip me down until there is nothing left that dares to shroud Your glory.” Nothing should be above God

Don't Be Deceived By the Devil

Here is the second thing we can know from 1st John. 1st John 5:19 says, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”

Do you see that? “We are of God.” We who have trusted Jesus Christ, we are God’s special people, different from the world.

Ephesians 1:4 says:
“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” As His special people, God wants us to be different from the world.

1st Peter 2:9 says:
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

God called us for a special purpose. We are to be His special people, different from the world so we can proclaim His praises. We are God’s special people.

Now the next thing we can know from this passage in 1st John is this:
1st John 5:20 – “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”

Not only do we “know” that Jesus has come - that’s a historical fact - but we know why He came. He came with a purpose – many purposes, actually. But one of the primary purposes was to lead us to the knowledge of God.

God “has given us an understanding.” The word, understanding in verse 20, in literal Greek, is a permanent comprehension, an understanding in order that we may know in an experiential way. It is a settled truth we experience over and over again.

This is truth - Jesus came to reveal His Father. John 1:18 says, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Through Jesus, we can know the Father. We can experience the Father. We can have a personal, love relationship with Him.

This is also because Jesus leads us to eternal life. He’s the only way to know eternal life. John 14:6 says, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

All these things we can know with absolute certainty. And so verse 20 ends with this: “This is the true God and eternal life.” Amen!

That all sounds so rosy, but what hinders that knowledge? Why would any of us not believe it? Back up to 1st John 5:18. Look at the last phrase: “and the wicked one does not touch him.” Who is the wicked one? He is Satan. He is the adversary of God. He is the one we are warned about in 1st Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

The devil wants to destroy you, but the good news is, “the wicked one does not touch” you. The word “touch” means to lay hold of, to grasp. But he can’t do it, It’s impossible – not to a believer. God won’t let him. Satan can’t go beyond the limits God allows him. God is all powerful, while Satan is just a puny fallen angel next to Him. Satan is powerful, all right, and incredibly dangerous, and he leads a vast horde of wretched demons. But he doesn’t hold a candle next to God.

Remember the book of Job? Satan wanted to prove that Job would turn against God if his world was torn apart, and God let it happen. But, God set the limits. Satan could go only so far in tormenting Job. There are always limits in a believer’s life beyond which Satan cannot go. He cannot touch you in your spirit. He cannot take away your salvation. But what he can do is make you doubt God. And the way he does it is by deception.

Revelation 12:9 says of Satan,
“So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

In writing this, John makes sure that no one can doubt who he is talking about. It’s “that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan.” And what is his primary tactic? Deception! Satan is the one who “deceives the whole world.”

Interestingly, John uses his old identity from the Garden of Eden – “that serpent of old” - because that takes us back to his first deception when he appeared to Eve in the form of a serpent.

The account is given in Genesis 3:1-4:
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”

Satan begins by casting doubt on the Word of God. Anyone who casts doubt on God’s Word is acting as a tool of Satan. Then, Satan directly contradicts the Word of God: “You will not surely die.” Now, that is a bald-faced lie. That is a direct contradiction of what God had told Adam.

Why do you suppose Satan lies to them? He wants to destroy them – destroy these two beloved of God. So he strings them a plausible line. “God is holding out on you, He’s keeping back some of the best stuff for Himself.” From Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The woman believed it. She was snookered. She was deceived.

Genesis 3:6-7 continues:
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”

Their relationship with God was destroyed by sin, all because they wouldn’t believe God. And Satan led them to doubt by his deception. Satan is still trying to deceive us, but we must be on guard. Especially, we must be on guard that he doesn’t corrupt our view of the Word of God. On this book we stand, and nothing can sway us.

Keeping Ourselves From Sin

Martin Luther said, “Nothing is more familiar or characteristic among Christians than assertion. Take away assertions, and you take away Christianity.” Martin Luther must have read 1st John, because John claims we can “know” Biblical truth. And once we’re sure of our salvation, John presents three more things we can “know” for certain;

The first, from 1st John 5:18 is, “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”

We’ve covered this several times. Remember? The verb tenses indicate a habitual, continuous action. Christians can and do sin. But when we fall into sin, we can’t stay there forever. Our new birth brings new behavior.

Why is that? The answer is in the verse: “He who has been born of God keeps himself.” That puts the responsibility squarely on us. We are to keep ourselves out of sin. God expects that of us.

But, you know, even though the KJV states it this way, some of the other modern translations change the “himself” to “him,” changing it so it says that Christ keeps us. You know what? Both are true. It’s a joint effort. Which is the better translation? I don’t know.

In John 10:28, Jesus said: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Jesus is the one who keeps us.

Then, in John 10:29 he says, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” There is absolute safety in God’s hands. It isn’t up to us to keep ourselves, Jesus will do that. And yet, other places put the responsibility on us. So I guess we have to cooperate with God.