Welcome to "The Bible Breakdown," where we break down God’s Word so we can know God better. I'm your host, Brandon Cannon, and I'm here to guide you through the pages of the Bible, one day at a time.
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Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, 1 John, chapter 2, and today's title is the Key to Lasting Joy the Key to Lasting Joy. We're going to get to all that in just a moment, but if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to 1 John, chapter 2. While you're doing that, if you're new around here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. They're doing an amazing job there and, of course, as always, the more we dig, the more we find. Well, if you have your Bible, and open up with me to 1 John, 2, one of the things that I love is I love listening to old stories and I love listening to old stories and I love listening to old stories about a lot of these houses that people will go into.
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And as they go into these old houses, they will find, you know, that there are these rooms that are locked and some are unlocked, and they can't always find their way around until someone will say you know what we need, we need a skeleton key and they have no idea why they call these keys skeleton keys, but it is a universal key that, no matter what other locking mechanism is there, this key will unlock that door. It's like this one thing. Somebody once asked Jesus is there a skeleton key? Is there a universal key to unlock all the things of God? And he said of course it is to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And he says of course it is to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And he says but also you need to love your neighbor as yourself. So there was this one skeleton key.
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Well, if you look at John and in John, the overall idea, if you remember, in 1, john is sharing the fellowship of joy with one another. One of the things that John is going to say over and over again is this idea of how to have lasting joy. If you remember, we talked about yesterday that over 30 times John mentions this Greek word, ginosko, and the Greek word ginosko means to know personally, to know in a not just an acquaintance kind of way, but a true friendship kind of way, and that's what God wants for us is for us to truly know him and share in the fellowship of joy. And so in chapter two, that's what he's going to talk about. He's going to talk about what that looks like, and John gets really practical with what it looks like to share in the fellowship of joy and maybe even say a couple things to us that we don't expect. So if you're ready, let's jump into chapter 2 of 1, john, and let's see what God's word has to say to us today. He says my dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.
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Now pause Automatically. We see how John would talk to some of us today that were maybe raised in environments that says God doesn't really care about what you do and what you don't do. Once you're a Christian, it's all washed under the blood of Jesus. Now, is our sin washed away? Past, present and future? According to God's word, yes, but that doesn't mean that we keep on sinning. Because we are now Christ followers, we have the ability to not sin, and it's the idea of every single sin I committed is what put Jesus on the cross. Therefore, why would I want to continue to take the poison of sin into my life? God absolutely cares about the sin in our life. He absolutely cares about what we do, and it's got nothing to do with us being holy enough, as much as it is about us getting rid of the poison in our life. Let's continue with what he has to say.
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Verse number three or, excuse me, verse number two, it's going to be verse number two. He says he himself has a sacrifice that atones for our sins, but not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world. And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commands. Now pause again. He is saying you know how we know that we know him. It's because there is now a desire to obey his commands. He helps us to now get close. We can't follow God on our own. It's too hard. But when we have the goodness of God living within us, not only do we have the desire to follow him, but he also gives us the power to follow him as well.
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Verse four says if someone claims I know God but doesn't obey God's commands, that person is a liar man. John, tell us how you really feel and not living in the truth. But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. My dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you. Rather, it is an old one that you have heard from the very beginning. This old commandment to love one another is the same message you heard before, yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment and you also are living it, for the darkness is disappearing and the true light is already shining. If anyone claims I am living in the light but hates his fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness. If anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble, but anyone who hates a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble, but anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, but having been blinded by the darkness, pause. Wow, what an amazing challenge that John gives us.
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And he says you want to know how I can tell if somebody is truly following God. They love people. That doesn't mean that they like everything people do. It doesn't mean it's difficult. It means that God is slowly turning their hearts back to him again and again.
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I love how he says this in verse 12. He says I am writing to you who are God's children, because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus. I am writing to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I am writing to you who were young in the faith because you have won your battle with the evil one. I am writing to you who are God's children because you know the Father. I have written to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. And I am writing to you who are young in your faith because you are strong. God's word lives in your hearts and you have won your battle with the evil one. Do not love this world, nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father within you. Pause again. You notice how he is saying and this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave, but anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. Pause again. You notice how he is saying that what the world offers us is only a momentary thrill, only something that is a little bit close to what God is actually wanting to do. And so he's saying be so very careful, because it is not offering us the real thing, but only a shadow of the real thing. Let's continue and finish this up.
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God's word says dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already so much Antichrist have appeared, and from this we know that the last hour has come. We got to pause again. And from this we know that the last hour has come. We got to pause again. Now what he is saying is is he is saying that from the moment that Jesus rose from the dead, the quote end times has now arrived. We're living in the time of the church, with the culmination of it being with the second coming of Christ, eventually in the fullness of time. So the end times. Why don't we have some people that say that you know, after 1948, we entered into the end times, or whatever? Don't believe any of that. The moment that Jesus rose from the dead and the Holy spirit came down on the day of Pentecost. We entered into what we should call the end times. And so what he is saying is is he is saying that the antichrist is coming, other words that that season is now been put into motion, it's going to happen, words that that season has now been put into motion, it's going to happen.
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And then when he says many antichrist, it's people who operate in the deception of the antichrist to turn the hearts of the people away from God. All right, verse 19. These people left our churches because they never really belonged with us, otherwise they would have stayed with us when they left, it proved. Pause again. I'm sorry, there's so much here. This is why some people say that if you ever turn your back on God, you were never actually saved to begin with. You ever heard that before? You ever heard someone who said that once you're saved, you're always saved? And then they would say, well, what if you turn away from God? And then people would say, well, if you turned away from God, then you were never really a Christian to begin with. And they get that from this verse right here, because it says that if you had, if you ever turned away from God once you had been there, then you never actually were there to begin with. That's where that comes from. Okay, verse 20,.
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But you are not like that. The Holy One has given you His Spirit and you all know the truth. So I am writing to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know the difference between truth and lies. And who is a liar? Anyone who says Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an interchrist. Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either, but anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
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You must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning, and if you do, you will remain in the fellowship of the Son with the Father, and in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he has promised. I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true, for the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true and not a lie. So, just as he taught you, remain in the fellowship of Christ. We'll come back to that in just a second. And now, dear children, remain in the fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. For since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are children of God. Wow, john is just telling us this idea that we have to remain faithful to God, trust in him, and when we do, amazing things happen.
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And before we get into how we can apply this, let me also make sure we bring some clarity to verse 27. Because verse 27 says that you've received the Holy Spirit and so now you don't need anyone to teach you, but let the Holy Spirit teaches you. The reason why is if I can get on my soapbox for just a moment this, this verse, is a thorn in the side when, when interpreted incorrectly to every pastor because what happens is a lot of times, people will will say well, you don't need to go to church, you don't need to listen to any of those preachers. You know why? Because I've got the Holy Spirit in me, and the Holy Spirit is the one who's going to lead me into all truth. Well, what he's saying is that the Holy Spirit if you notice the context before in the context he was saying this is how you know the difference between truth and lies Is anyone who confirms that Jesus is the Christ and all this stuff. And so he's saying that the Holy Spirit reminds us of that, and the Holy Spirit is the one who shows us that it is right and it is wrong, and he helps us to discern what is true. He is not saying that the Holy Spirit teaches us, so therefore we don't need to learn anything else. So what happens is is I don't know if you've ever experienced this before.
Speaker 1:
I've been sitting in a church service before and I'm listening to the word of God preached, and as I begin to listen to the word of God, I begin to hear somebody and they start teaching something that's not in God's word. Now I know that because I feel like the Holy spirit begins to grieve my heart and I go wait a minute, that's not in the Bible, and when I start to grieve in my heart over that, the Holy Spirit is the one who is bringing that back to my attention so that I'm able to know what's going on. That's what he's talking about. We absolutely need people to teach us God's word, teach us what is right and teach us what is wrong. We just have to make sure that we're doing it in the right way so that we can identify with what God's word is saying. So now, based on what we have read, what can we apply today? And, as we've said before, so many things.
Speaker 1:
There's so much in 1, john, that it's really, really hard to find one takeaway. But if I can give you an example of one takeaway, it would be this, and that is to know what you believe. John says over and over and over again. This is how we know what is true and what is not true. This is how we tell the difference. You don't have to become a Bible scholar, but you do need to know what you believe. Which is one of the reasons why we're reading through God's word every single day is because, slowly, as we're exposed to God's word, god is teaching us through his word what is true and what is untrue. So I wanna encourage you as we're reading God's word, slow down, take it in and really realize that God wants to know you and he wants you to know the truth, so that, when something that is not true comes along, you can discern what it is and the Holy Spirit will give you that wisdom so you can walk in all truth.
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Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that there's so much in your word, there's so many good things that we can learn from and we can glean from, and that eternity doesn't start one day, but the truth of your life starts right now. I pray, god, that as we walk in your goodness and we learn about you more and more, we will walk in your light every day. Thank you, god for all things. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen, amen. Well, don't forget. God's word says in 1 John 1-4 that we are writing these things to you so that you may fully share our joy. God wants us to know him and have joy in our hearts always. I love you.
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