Willow Ridge Sermons

Sunday, February 5th • Beau Bradberry

"Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us." — 1 John 3:24

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Show Notes

February 5th, 2023 • "Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us." — 1 John 3:24

–
Podcast: https://pod.link/willowridgechurch
Website: https://willowridgechurch.org
Instagram: https://instagram.com/willowridgechurch
Facebook: https://facebook.com/willowridgechurch
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@willowridgechurch

Creators and Guests

Host

Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

What is Willow Ridge Sermons?

Sermon audio from Sunday services at Willow Ridge Church.

Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons.

We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear

the latest message.

Thanks for listening.

Well, good morning.

Again, if you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to 1 John chapter 3.

We'll start looking at verse 24 here in just a moment.

If you're a first-time guest, I want to say thank you for joining us today.

It is a special day.

Maybe you came here not knowing anybody, but you're here with us.

We're so glad that you were here and that you were worshiping with us today.

We would love to know that you were here.

That would bless us greatly if we could know that.

So you'll see on the end of the rows that you're seated on, there will be—there's some cards

there, and if you wouldn't mind filling that out.

And at the end of the service, you can either drop that in the offering basket back here

at our exit sign, or you can bring that to me back here at the left.

I'll be at the welcome table greeting first-time guest as well.

We'd love to meet you, learn your name, and thank you for being here.

We are going to take the Lord's Supper at the very end of the service today.

And so if you did not grab the Lord's Supper cup on your way in, we want to invite you

to.

You do not have to be a church member of Willow Ridge in order to partake in the Lord's Supper

with us.

You do not have to be a part of our denomination, which is Baptist, in order to partake with

us.

The only thing that we ask is that you be a follower of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

in order to participate with us, and we'll lead through that at the end of the service.

And so if you've come here as a guest from another denomination, we love the fact that

you're here and would invite you to partake in the Lord's Supper with us here in just

a moment.

I will say this because there's some questions from time to time about baptism.

We do tentatively schedule baptism for us as a staff to work through the first Sunday

of every month.

Pastor Dave leads baptism classes.

I know Dawn has had conversations with individuals, especially kids, about baptism.

Pastor Joel has had a lot of conversations with our youth, and then I've had conversations

from time to time as well with individuals who would like to get baptized.

And so if you're a follower of Jesus Christ and you haven't followed through in believer's

baptism, we want to encourage you to do that.

Make us aware so we can sit down and have a conversation.

Or maybe you're somebody and you're like, oh, I don't even know that I'm a believer.

I'm not a believer, and I'm definitely not going to get baptized, but I am curious.

Like, what is that whole thing about?

I would love to sit down with you and have a fuller explanation of why we do what we do.

And so we welcome that and would love to have you engage in that conversation with us.

Well, with that said, we're going to continue on in our series on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.

We're cranking through as we start off this new year with looking at these three letters, right?

The first letter is going to take the majority of our time, and then 2nd John, and then 3rd John.

We'll do each one of those in a week.

But last week, we were going to connect to this week as John was affirming to the readers of the letter

to abide in him, not in John, but abide in Christ so that when he appears,

that's what he says, that we may have confidence and not shrink from him and shame at his coming.

And so what John wants in the heart of followers of Christ is a layer of confidence in their life.

Yes, at the second coming of Christ, he wants that there.

But what we've seen is it's not just there, but it's in every day that we stand in the confidence that we are his and that he is ours.

It's one of the biggest struggles that we see people walk through.

And then when the conflict of sin enters in and continues to battle in our life, what begins to come from that oftentimes is shame.

And so instead of waiting for the return of Christ with eager anticipation, we're those hiding on the sidelines afraid that we're caught.

And John doesn't want that.

John wants us to live in the confidence of who we are in Christ.

So we're going to continue on in that theme.

And so let's look at 1 John 3, just verse 24.

He says,

And so when we see there's been this continual emphasis on obedience, and it's what we continue to see.

Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him, and by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us.

And so what we're going to see, what we're going to work through in this first section is what I'm going to call the testimony of the Spirit.

The apostle Paul also writes about this and says in Romans 8 that there's this testimony of the Spirit that assures us that we belong to God,

that God is in us, and that he is working through us.

That this is what God gives believers, this testimony, this assurance of the Spirit.

So some questions come from this as we walk through this.

What is that testimony?

How does the Holy Spirit show that evidence to us, to our conscience within us?

And then how does the Holy Spirit show that evidence to others?

Because we see this.

So what is this testimony?

How do I know this about myself?

How do you know this about yourself?

And then how do we know this about one another?

Well, two things that we're going to look at and see that the Holy Spirit produces or what the Holy Spirit does in us.

And the first one of these is he produces love.

And this is a lot of what we talked about last week.

In fact, look back at verse 23 from last week.

And this is his commandment that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another.

Just as he commands, commanded us.

And so what we see in this, what we talked about last week, is there's this particular kind of love that we're talking about.

And we're going to end on love again today as well, all right?

So we're getting double and triple dosages of the love of God in this, right?

That he produces this love that's not worldly love.

It's not love for the world, but it's the love of God that causes us to love one another.

And it's what we see in the Spirit, that he produces this love.

But verse 23 is really interesting, right?

In verse 23, there is one commandment that is given.

One commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one another.

So that's what we looked at last week.

So what we find is that what the Spirit does is the Spirit produces love.

But the second work of the Spirit is that the Spirit produces faith.

The Spirit produces faith.

This is interesting.

I'm going to read to you Ephesians 3, 14 through 19.

Paul writes and says,

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

According to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.

So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.

And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God.

So look at what John talks about here, right?

That you may be strengthened from God with the power through his Spirit in your inner being.

So that what comes from this is that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

So there's this wonderful picture of what we begin to understand and see.

That it's the Spirit of God living in us that is continuing to work and produce things in us.

And one of the things that it's producing is faith.

It's continual faith in us of who we are in Christ, who he is, and what it means that we are saved by him.

And so John is going to talk about, in the first part of chapter 4, the work of the Spirit with faith.

Look at verses 1 through 3.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit.

So let's pause really quickly.

John is also dealing with this initial audience that's dealing with heresies and the teachings of Christ.

They're proclaiming things to be true about who Christ is that is not true about Christ.

And so John is combating them, and so he will talk about these spirits, but the Spirit that we can cling to.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Verse 2, by this you know the Spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and is now, is in the world already.

And two weeks ago, I believe, we talked about this.

John uses this little A Antichrist.

This isn't the Revelation Antichrist that we see, but there's these little Antichrists that are sent and create havoc and create chaos and create disunity and create disobedience and are false teachers.

And so John is drawing this line.

But he says that the Spirit of God is the Spirit who confesses of the truth of who Jesus is.

And that Jesus Christ has come into this world in flesh is from God.

And now what happens in you and I is that because we are in Christ, the Holy Spirit testifies to the reality of God in our lives.

And here's what the Spirit of God does by causing us to confess as well, that Jesus Christ has come in flesh.

We confess who Christ is.

So important question.

What does it mean to confess?

Does it mean just saying something?

Just saying something.

Well, if you say something that isn't true, if you say something that you don't believe, if you say something that hasn't transformed you,

if you say something that's not indwelt within you, then you're just saying something.

We're not confessing.

Emma asked me yesterday, are you going to tell any stories?

I said maybe.

Here we go.

All right.

I've got two kids.

Love them.

Turned 15 on Monday.

God has blessed us, blessed us, blessed us.

Love them.

They love the Lord.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful kids.

But they got different personalities, okay?

And one of our kids from birth has just been the easier kid.

And one of our kids from birth has been a little bit more stubborn or hard-headed kid.

And you may ask, Bo, where did that kid get that from?

I don't know.

Right?

So growing up as little kids, I had a very profound moment with one of my kids one day.

This child did something.

And I went to this child and said, did you do this?

And this child, yeah.

You shouldn't have done that.

I know.

Well, say you're sorry.

Sorry.

Let me ask you a question.

Did this child just say they were sorry?

Or did they confess it?

Just said sorry.

Didn't mean it.

Did it again.

Right?

And later, after consequences, we think minute.

But here's what I'm going to appeal to you.

Sometimes we may say Jesus is Lord, but we're just saying it.

We're just saying it.

We're not confessing it.

Earlier, I think week one, we looked at 1 John 1.9.

It was talking about sin.

It says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So let's talk about this for a second.

Every day, I can sit down with my journal before the Lord and give a list of all the sins that I've done.

Every thought that I've had, every word that I've said, every action that's taken place,

every deceitful moment, every lie, every moment of lust, every moment of pride, every moment of greed.

I can write them down.

I can say them.

I can share them with other people.

But if in who my heart is, I'm ready to go back to the next day and do it all over again

and just repeat some religious process, I'm not confessing my sin.

I'm simply saying it.

Saying I sinned and confession of sin are different.

Confession of sin is real contrition, real regret.

It's connected to the condition of the heart.

So if confessing Christ comes from the heart, it has to be done with the connection of the heart.

It has to be done with the declaration and with brokenness of who we are.

And so to confess to Jesus is not just to say, yeah, this is who he is and he's Savior.

To confess to Jesus is to submit to Jesus, proclaim loyalty to Jesus, to trust Jesus.

And it comes from a brokenness of the spirit, of the heart, by the leading of the spirit.

And so confession is then words, but they're words from the heart that come from a heart of faith

and a heart of conviction.

That's what confessing means.

So are you just saying it?

Or are we confessing it?

Look what he continues to write, starting in verse 4.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them.

For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them.

Verse 6.

So here's what John continues to say in the difference of those who know God and those who don't.

When the gospel is spoken, when the truth of God is spoken, is it listened to?

Is it listened to?

Well, again, okay, what does it mean to listen?

What does it mean to listen?

Are you hearing me or are you listening to me?

Hearing the words of truth and listening to the words of truth are different.

And what John is saying here, it's not just paying some reverent service to the truth of God.

So we're here, we're quiet, we're paid attention, we're engaged.

But it's that the words that happen come through the ears, but they do something.

They penetrate the heart.

And by the work of the spirit of what is being done in their life, they're listened to.

Obedience begins to happen.

Repentance takes place.

There's this process of growth and of true confession and brokenness and all of this that penetrates through there to the heart.

And so in this, we see, is this a test of I'm born again?

Is this a test that Christ is my Savior?

Is this a test that the Holy Spirit is in me?

Is this the truth of God, of what I say and what I hear?

Is it more about what I say and what I hear?

Is it what I confess?

Is it what I listen to?

Is it what I surrender my life to?

And it's not based off of a pastor or a youth pastor or a small group leader or a children's minister said it to me.

It's because the spirit of God resonating inside of me, living in me, testifies to the truthfulness of it and the beauty of the conviction that it brings.

And it draws me, not into shame, but to the sweet spot of repentance where I confess these things to the Lord and plead with him to take these away from me and to change me to live for his name and for his glory.

John says, look back at verse four, little children, you are from God and have overcome them.

For he who is greater than he who is greater than he who is in the world.

This beautiful picture of he who is in you.

This is who I am.

It's not that I'm greater.

It's that he, he is greater.

And he is in me.

And if he is greater, if he is more powerful,

then the authority of power that I can live in this world,

not only in the confidence that I experience in waiting for the return of Christ,

but in the confidence and the beauty of the spirit of God who is working in me day by day to transform me.

And to who he calls me to be.

And so John continues on.

And I think this is, if you were to say like, hey, what, what is, what is first John really all about?

I mean, it's about love.

It's about God.

God is love, right?

Let's, let's, let's look at this.

Look at verses seven and eight of John, first John four.

Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God.

And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.

And so what John is doing here is he's continuing to lay down this foundation of spiritual confidence.

And the phrase that came to my mind is this, become what you are.

If you were in Christ, here's my hope for you.

The same hope for myself, the same hope for my wife, the same hope for my kids.

Don't become who you want to be, but in Christ become who you are.

And what we see in these two verses is God is fulfilling a promise through a command.

John gives a commandment to love in verse seven and then in verse eight makes the statement that anyone who does not love God does not know God.

Which means if you claim to know God, then you're already a person of love.

I cannot say that I follow Christ and then not love.

And so what John is doing here is he's appealing to the decision making of an individual.

Choose love.

But he's also explaining a theological promise, which is this, love in Christ has been embedded in you.

Choose it.

Be a person of love.

Go in love.

Love is in you.

I read in a book this week and the author said this,

Do what God is at work in you to do.

And so in this command and in this theological promise is this statement, God is love.

So I want to ask you this question, how is God love?

How is God love?

Something really cool happened.

I think it's cool.

You might not think it's cool.

I'm going to share with you anyways, right?

When I typed, and just leave this up for a while for me.

When I typed these four words on my computer this week and put a question mark on the end,

something happened on my computer screen.

It's something that I love that happens because when it happens and I'm writing a research paper,

it tells me I'm about to get points deducted, right?

Here's what happened.

Under is came these two blue lines.

And what that's telling me, my computer is telling me is this,

Bo, that's incorrect.

And in order for it to be correct, you've got to change is.

Because I'm not that smart, what I like is the fact that I can right click and it tells me what to change it to.

It tells me that, nah, that's not the correct spelling, you know?

And so I right clicked.

And you know what word came up?

Does.

So the computer wants me to say, how does God love?

But that's not what the Bible says.

That's not what John said.

John said, God is love.

But grammatically, my computer wants me to do oftentimes what we want to do.

Which is just, tell me how to do this.

How does God love?

Can you open up the Bible and see actions of God loving?

Absolutely.

From Genesis to Revelation, filled in over and over and over again.

We can look at actions.

But what John does is he takes love beyond simply the actions of God.

And he places love at the very center of who God is.

And so God is love.

Which means this.

Everything about God is love.

Every word of truth.

Every action.

Everything.

Is love.

Look at verse 9 and 10.

In this, the love of God was made manifest among us.

That God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him.

In this is love.

Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us.

And sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

So we ask this grammatically incorrect question again.

How is God love?

John tells us.

Here's how he's love.

Here's his actions that are going to point to something.

He showed us his love.

John just said, made manifest among us.

Which means you could see his love.

We see that God is love because God's love is with mission.

He sent his only son into the world.

It's to go and do something.

It's to go and fight for something.

It's to go and work.

He sent love with a mission.

We see that God's love is saving.

So that we might live eternally through him.

So that we're saved.

We're redeemed.

That death is merely a moment for us.

But that also that God's love is empowering.

That just so that we might live through him eternally.

That we might live in him now.

Empowered by the spirit of God.

We see that God's love is first.

Not that he loved God.

But that we loved God.

But that he loved us.

You see, he's the pursuer.

He's the lover.

Long before we are.

And that it's.

God's love is everlasting.

And he sent his son.

To be.

The propitiation.

For our sins.

Sins past.

Sins present.

Sins future.

All of it.

What does it mean.

That God.

Is.

Love.

It's Jesus.

And so we can't just say, what does it mean that God loves, and take one moment and isolate it.

And say, well, here's this person's love, and here's this person's love, so look at this action, and look at this action, and look at this action, and look at this action, and look at this action.

But we take all that is love, and we say, it is Jesus, made manifest, and dwelt among us.

And through him, we have life, and we have life alone.

Let's finish, read verses 11 through 16.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever seen God.

If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Verse 13, by this we know that we abide in him, and he in us, because he has given us his spirit.

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

And all throughout this book, all throughout this letter, John's been giving us this goal of what he's working toward,

of what he longs for the believers and the individuals who read this to resonate.

Do you stand in hope and in confidence?

And he's been making phrases like this.

In chapter 2, verse 3, he says,

By this we may be sure that we know him.

In verse 5, by this we may be sure that we are in him.

In chapter 3, verse 10, by this it may be seen who are the children of God.

Verse 14, we know that we have passed out of life into death.

Verse 19, by this we shall know that we are of the truth.

Verse 24, by this we will know that he abides in us.

Chapter 4, verse 2, by this you know the Spirit of God.

Verse 6, by this we know the Spirit of truth.

Chapter 5, verse 2, by this we know that we love the children of God.

Chapter 5, verse 13, I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,

God, that you might know that you have eternal life.

All through this, John says, I want you to have confidence.

So abide.

Abide in him.

Remain in him.

When your heart, and it is, just like mine, is prone to wander,

don't wander.

Rest.

Come back.

Cling to.

Dive in.

Fight for.

Abide in him.

He says, confess.

Confess.

The declaration of the broken heart over our sin.

And the declaration of the redeemed spirit due to his grace.

Confess.

Confess that Jesus is Lord.

Let that be the truth that we operate from.

Let it be not just what we say, but what we live, what we mean, what we wrestle with,

what we celebrate, what we share.

Confess.

And then in this, we know.

We know.

What does Satan do when you've been bought by the blood of the Lamb?

What does he do with that?

He is more powerful.

He is greater than he who is in the world.

So what does he do with that?

Well, he says, if I can't have you, then what I want you to live in,

what I'm going to attack with you at is the shame.

What I'm going to attack with you is the uncertainty.

And so that you don't live your life in the eager, confident expectation of the return of the Lord.

But instead, you live your life like a kid hiding from his parents because of the shame of what he's done.

And that's not who God is.

Abide in him.

Confess him.

And know him.

Would you pray with me?

God, we come to you.

Lord, thanking you for the work that you've done, not only for us, Lord, but in us.

Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church Weekly Podcast.

We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message.

If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources,

visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com

or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram.

We'll see you next time.

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