1 John 5:1:5

[0:00] Today we're going to be looking at 1 John 5, 1-5. We'll continue our series in 1 John, which we are getting towards the conclusion of.! And the title for today's message is Delighting in God's Commands.

[0:16] Delighting in God's Commands. Again, 1 John 5, 1-5. The main idea being that Christians delight in God's commands.

[0:27] Now, what do blue cheese, coffee, and kimchi have in common?

[0:42] Blue cheese, coffee, and kimchi? Well, possibly, right? They are all acquired tastes.

[0:55] They're acquired tastes. So take coffee, for example. Do you remember the first time you had a cup of coffee? How old were you, and how did it taste?

[1:07] So I imagine if you tried coffee for the first time as a child, it was pretty bitter. You know, maybe your parents took you to Starbucks, and you got some frou-frou, creamed-up, sugared-up drink with a couple drips of coffee, and that tasted delicious, possibly.

[1:25] But I want you to think about the first time you really tried a cup of black coffee. Have that taste. Have that taste. Now, for me, I found that coffee is an acquired taste.

[1:40] It's grown to me over time. There was a time when it was bitter. There was a time when I didn't like it. I probably would have just, you know, like spit it out. But now, take me to Panera.

[1:51] Take me to Scooters. Take me to the coffee machine at work. Even, and I just, I love coffee. Even beyond the caffeine benefits, which I do benefit from the caffeine.

[2:03] But beyond that, I enjoy the flavor of coffee. But becoming a Christian, being born of God, that will come with some acquired taste.

[2:22] Before being reborn, certainly reading the Bible, at least for me, that seems strange. Singing songs of praise to God, even like raising my hand to the Lord, that was weird.

[2:40] And fellowship with God's people, that seemed boring. But, upon being reborn, isn't it amazing how our tastes can change?

[2:54] Reading God's word is just sweet. Singing songs of praise to God, soul nourishing. And fellowship with God's people, that is good.

[3:11] Today, we're going to be exploring 1 John 5, 1-5. And we're going to be relishing in the fact that Christ, that in Christ, our tastes for God's commandments have been transformed.

[3:25] For once we thought obeying God was stupid, or weird, or boring, we now delight in God's commandments. In knowing them, obeying them, sharing them with others, our taste buds have changed.

[3:44] And we've acquired a taste for God. And especially for God. And especially for His commandments. Now, maybe you're sitting in your seat today, and you're thinking, man, I've broken God's commandments recently.

[4:01] I'm not living according to God's word. Or, I'm a professing believer. Well, my taste buds for God's commandments, they feel dull.

[4:12] They're just not as sharp or as delightful as they once were. Well, today I want to refresh us.

[4:23] I want to remind us. I want us to help. I want to help us to taste and see the goodness and wisdom and sweetness of God's commandments. I want to reinvigorate a spiritual taste buds so that we not only obey God, but that we delight to obey God.

[4:43] That we would cherish God's commandments, that we would guard them in our life, because we have such a taste for them. So, some points we're going to explore this morning.

[4:55] How our reborn hearts now delight in God's commands? Why they now delight in God's commands? And how we can stoke the fire, how we can grow in our delight for God's commandments?

[5:13] I pray this morning that we be reminded and refreshed in remembering just how good God's commandments are. That our spiritual taste buds will be freshly awakened to the goodness of God's commandments.

[5:27] That we be reinvigorated in our desire to know and walk in God's commandments. Before we get too far, though, let's first read the passage. First read the passage of 1 John 5, 1-5.

[5:42] Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey His commandments.

[6:02] For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.

[6:16] And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

[6:28] God, would you bless, would you move, would you bless the preaching of your word? All right, now to start off for today, I want to explore the context of 1 John 5, 1-5.

[6:46] In many ways, 1 John 5, 1-5 is a high-level summary of the whole letter that we've read so far. So, just a quick review.

[6:58] First, as we've seen throughout the letter, John's intent in writing 1 John was to help believers test and ultimately to know that they have eternal life.

[7:13] John's been mourning against teachers and teaching of people who've left the church and are seeking to lead others astray. And John wants to teach his church the true teachings of Christ and help them to know that they themselves have eternal life.

[7:30] In addition, John is taught in this letter that our faith is an ongoing belief, an ongoing faith. It's not some one-time mental assent.

[7:41] It's not some praying a prayer to get out of hell free card or evie believism, eternal fire insurance. It's not that. Instead, the Christian life is a lifetime walk.

[7:56] It's a persisting belief. one that we live out step by step throughout the rest of our lives, reflected by faith that Jesus has forgiven our sin as well as freed us to obey him step by step, daily, moment by moment, turning from sin and turning to obedience.

[8:20] And finally, third, in this letter so far, John has shown us at this letter, in this letter, that you've been born of God and have eternal life if you love the Father.

[8:34] And this love is, it's more than a mental assent, like we said, it's an affectionate love. That we love his word, that we love to sing and worship to him, that we love his people, and that we love to obey the Lord.

[8:49] That there's affection for Christ there. And it's this final point about loving to obey the Lord, that's where we're going to spend most of our time this morning, as you can see from the scripture that we read.

[9:02] So, if that's conceptual context for today's passage, let's now dig into the main idea for today, that everyone who has been born of God loves God's commands.

[9:13] I've got a bunch of points to unpack that statement, but I first want to observe where I get that those who have eternal life love God's commands.

[9:24] So, check out verse 3. Check out verse 3. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

[9:37] At first glance, you may not see a lot of delight language in that scripture, but, try out going to hear, notice in verse 3, John writes the word keep.

[9:50] We keep his commandments. This word keep, man, it is a loaded term in the Greek. It comes from the word to reo. To reo. To keep.

[10:02] And it's much more than just doing God's against, it's much more than just muscling them out, gritting your teeth, and knocking them out. It's much more than that. Truly, in the original language, this word keep, suggests loving obedience, faithful guarding, and careful attention.

[10:23] I'll say it again. To reo, keep, means loving obedience, faithful guarding, and careful attention.

[10:35] These commandments are truly something we cherish, that this keeping is a love-filled rather than grudging compliance. So unlike those videos that you watch at work, those compliance videos, you know, that you click through, right?

[10:52] And really important content. I'm not going to downplay the importance of knowing the content in those videos, but I don't know how much we delight in watching them.

[11:03] So unlike that, consider what King David says in Psalm 119. We read some of it in worship this morning. Let's look at verses 47 to 48. For I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.

[11:17] I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day.

[11:29] Verse 97. Verse 127. Therefore, I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold. So David truly finds great delight in the commandments of God.

[11:41] David is so much more than grit his teeth, roll his eyes, and obey. David loves God's commitments. He runs in the way of them. He truly keeps, to reo, keeps God's commitments.

[11:56] Faithful guarding, loving obedience, cherishing. So then the question is why? Right? Why do we love God's commands?

[12:07] That may just seem obvious, but I've got a few points to help us to think about that, to tease that out. That God's commitments are not burdensome. So first, we delight in God's commandments because God's commitments are from his mind and heart, which we love.

[12:29] Consider, I write letters to my kids on their birthdays every year. I wrote one for Annie this year on her first birthday. My wife was like, duh, you should do that.

[12:39] She can't read, but it's her first birthday, so she gave her a letter. And I put a lot of thought and energy into writing these letters and I tell them the things I love about them and respect about them and appreciate about them and then I give them instruction for the year ahead, things I think will be good for them to know and think about for the year ahead.

[13:02] And my kids, they cherish these letters. Sometimes they even last to the next year. They'll hold on to the letters until the next year.

[13:12] They'll make it the whole year. And they know my affection, my heart for them and they get instruction through them. God's commandments are a lot like these letters.

[13:28] They're an expression of our loving Heavenly Father. His guidance, His instructions, His commands for us, He teaches us how we should walk out our relationship with Him and how we can live in godly community.

[13:43] And because of this, we not only acknowledge them, they're from God's heart. We not only acknowledge them, we don't just comply with them, but truly, we delight in them.

[13:58] Now, another reason we delight in God's commandments is that God's commandments help us to savor God more fully and truly and deeply. The more we walk in the ways of God, the more we walk in the ways of God, the more refined our taste for the things of God become.

[14:19] The sweeter God's commandments are to us, the more they prepare us for our eternal home. And, unfortunately, we all also know the bitterness of breaking God's commandments.

[14:37] The travail of heart when we don't follow the Lord. We hate that. We want to be close to God. We want to walk faithfully with God.

[14:48] And we know that God's commandments help us to do that. And so, we delight in God's commandments. We relish them. Truly, they are not burdensome.

[15:03] Listen to how Jesus puts it in a very familiar passage. He says in Matthew 11, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[15:14] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

[15:30] So, we love God's commandments. One third reason we delight in God's commandments is as John writes, we have overcome the world. We've overcome the world.

[15:41] Check out verse 4. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.

[15:54] Now, what does it mean to overcome the world? To have victory or Nike over the world, what does that mean? Well, we've already learned about in the letter, the world is the desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and the pride of life.

[16:15] Truly, it's the fallen human order that is opposed to God that wants to dethrone God and enthrone self.

[16:29] That's the world. That's the world. And in our faith, in our ongoing, persisting, daily, moment-by-moment walk with Jesus, we've overcome this world system.

[16:47] Truly, the allures and pleasures of this world, they no longer rule us. Rather, God's beauty and honor and pleasure that's what rules us.

[17:04] So, think about this. A couple months back, I went fishing with some coworkers. We went up to Weatherby Lake in the Northlands. Went fishing. My coworkers, they manned the fishing rod and they cast out the lure.

[17:18] I had the net because I'm a very, very skilled fisherman. I had the net picking out the fish out of the water. I got one. These fish fish.

[17:30] They're just not that smart. You know, like, think about the lures. They're like, yes, they're like red and, sorry, green and brown and they kind of look like worms but man, they are, they're plastic.

[17:46] They're just dead. Like, they kind of look like a worm but they have no flavor. They're not alive and worst of all, it's connected to the hook that when they chomp down on them it's going to lead to potentially their death unless you've got a nice fisherman thrown back out.

[18:04] So, friends, before we were converted to Christ, the allures of this world, we were like those fish.

[18:16] We were chomping down on the desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. they appealed to us, they ruled us. We thought they would be delicious.

[18:30] We thought they'd give us life. We thought we should truly chomp down on them. But, they were dead pleasures and everyone in here who's been born of Christ, you've felt it, you've known it.

[18:45] They were dead pleasures. They were deceptive, they were suicidal, they were connected to a hook, they would reel us all the way to hell.

[19:03] Praise God that when he gave us faith, he woke us up to deceptive pleasures of this world.

[19:14] He showed us the lure on the hook of this world of disobeying God's commandments. He showed us that was a plastic one, and ultimately a deadly one.

[19:28] And he showed us that obeying God is just so much better. That obeying God brings life and health and peace. That obeying God fosters our walk with him, our delight in him, and brings us closer to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

[19:47] But for those reasons, because God's commandments are from his mind and heart, because his commandments refine our hearts to delight in God more, and because God has given us faith, which is victory over this world.

[20:02] Nikkei has given us faith, victory over this world. We now keep God's commandments. God's commandments are not burdensome to us, but truly, they're a delight.

[20:12] Now, let's get a little practical. Let's consider what it looks like to actually delight in God's commandments, and how can we stoke that flame in our hearts for God's commandments.

[20:30] So, first, if you're here and you're an unbeliever, and you truly have no delight in God's commandments, and you actually dislike God's commandments, like you would rather lie to your boss to get out of trouble, or you'd rather look at stuff on a screen that's not going to be good for your soul, or you'd rather, like, brag about your salary or something instead of giving humble thanks to the Lord for it.

[21:00] Consider, have you truly been reconciled to God? Have you been reborn? Have you confessed your sins, repented of them, and trusted in Jesus your Lord and Savior and treasure?

[21:18] Do you truly trust in an ongoing way that your sins are forgiven, and you've been truly freed from them? If not, then I would urge you, turn to Christ.

[21:32] if, however, you are a believer, and you delight in God's commands, but you want to delight more, well, it's like building a great bonfire of delight to God's commands.

[21:46] You want to stack the wood, pour on the lighter fluid, and light the flame. You want to, by study, pray, and obey. So stack the wood, pour on the lighter fluid, and light that flame by study, pray, and obey.

[22:05] But man, I love when we have these bonfires at people's houses for the men, and I especially love when I get to see some kids getting to build those fires, and they stack the wood, and I love them spraying the letter fluid on there, and then sending a flame.

[22:22] It's really cool to see. Let's do that with God's commands. So first, stack the wood by studying God's commands. Consider spending time in passages like Romans 12 to 15, 1 Corinthians 5 to 14, Galatians 5 and 6.

[22:39] Throughout all of Paul's epistles, lots of commandments. Think of James, think of 1 and 2 Peter, all throughout the epistles, there's lots of commandments. commandments. And I don't want to divorce God's commandments from the gospel.

[22:54] Think of Romans 1 through 11, like that is a proclamation of the gospel, and then we offer our lives a living sacrifice, holy blessings to the Lord, in light of his mercies in the gospel. But it can sometimes be good to spend a little bit of time just thinking and meditating and studying God's commandments.

[23:15] Read about loving in a genuine way. Read about hating evil and loving good. Read about pursuing purity. Read about bearing one other's burdens.

[23:26] Read about giving grace to others through your speech. God's commandments are just good. They're wise. They're loving. So, stack the wood by studying God's commandments.

[23:40] Then, pour the lighter fluid, lots of lighter fluid, on the wood that you've just stacked by praying through God's commandments. Adore God.

[23:53] Praise God for the wisdom of his commandments. Confess. When you read a commandment, you think, man, I don't delight in this or I don't do it as fully as I should.

[24:03] Maybe I do it to some degree, but not as fully as I should. Confess that to the Lord. Thank him for his forgiveness. Thank him for his wisdom. And then, ask him.

[24:16] Supplication. Ask him. Help me to delight in this and help me to do it. So, adore. Confess. Thank. Ask. Supplicate. And third, light the flame of your love and delight in God's commandments by obeying them.

[24:34] And as you obey God's commandments, experience the joy of obedience, the joy of assurance. We talk a lot about assurance. As you obey God's commandments, God will grant you more and more assurance.

[24:45] And he'll give you joy in glorifying God, which is what we're ultimately all about, right? We want to see God's kingdom spread. We want to see God glorified. We want to see more people come to know Christ.

[24:57] As we obey, that'll bring God glory. So, stack the wood, pour in lighter fluid, light the flame.

[25:09] Read or study, pray, and obey God's commandments. Even a little more practically, and we're getting towards the end, but even a little more practically, for anyone here who encounters any of our kiddos, I have a special burden for them this morning, and especially for the parents in the room.

[25:33] are we teaching our children to love God's commandments? And that's a challenging question, because it's one thing to teach our kids to just, just please just do.

[25:46] But no, we want to teach them to delight in God's commandments. Look at this quote from Douglas Wilson. He says, our parental responsibility does not consist in getting young people to grit their teeth and conform to the standard.

[26:02] The task before us is to bring up our children in such a way as to love the standard. I'll read it again.

[26:13] The task before us is to bring up our children in such a way as to love the standard. And if you interact with our kiddos in any way, it's an opportunity to teach them how to love the standard.

[26:26] And how do we do this? But we model it. We teach it to them. And we hold them accountable to it. We model it. First, they need to see us studying God's commandments.

[26:41] Us praying through them. Us delighting in them. And being happy to obey the Lord. We've got to model it for them first. Then, or sorry, truly, love for God is more caught or just as much caught as taught.

[27:00] Love for God just as much caught as taught. So let's model love for God and his commandments to our children. Second, we need to instruct them in God's commandments. We need to connect the dots for them and help them to see how good God is and how good his commandments are for us.

[27:16] And help them to see that. And third, we need to hold them accountable to obeying God's commandments with joy. This is not something probably new, but they need to obey right away, all the way, with a joyful heart.

[27:38] And every time they disobey, or they obey with a sulking attitude, that's an opportunity to preach the gospel to them.

[27:50] To hold them to God's standard. To help them to confess their sin. And then, help them to trust in Christ, both for forgiveness for their sulking obedience or for their delayed obedience.

[28:05] They can receive God's forgiveness as well as the freedom and the power through the gospel, through Christ, to obey. And to obey joyfully. So, parents, model this, teach it, hold your kids accountable to it, and remind them that Christ died to forgive them, as well as free them to love God's commandments.

[28:28] Remind them of that as much as possible. All right, well, it has been really wonderful studying God's word with you this morning.

[28:38] As we wrap up, I'm going to remember a few things. First, remember that John wrote his letter that we would know that we have eternal life.

[28:53] Remember that at one time we had no delight in God's commandments, but now you keep them, Toreo, you cherish them, you delight in them, and you obey them.

[29:09] Remember that at one time God's commandments seemed burdensome, but now they're the way to know God better, to cherish and experience more of the Lord.

[29:22] And remember, your faith has overcome the world. You no longer need to be attracted by the allurements of the flesh or the world or the pride of life or the eyes.

[29:37] but it said we can avoid sin and obey our Heavenly Father in all His love and wisdom. So in the same way that coffee now brings delight to our taste buds, having born again, we now can have a great delight and taste for God's commandments.

[29:58] And as you do that, may the flame of your love for God Himself, God the person, God our Father. May that flame of our love only grow more and more and may we see and taste His goodness more and more for His glory and for our joy.

[30:23] For truly, Christians delight in God's commandments. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we just praise You because You are God and You are so good.

[30:44] Lord, we were dead in our sin, but You rescued us. You made us alive in You so that we could know Your approval and acceptance and forgiveness and so we could walk with You in a persisting faith all of our lives.

[31:01] So, would You strengthen us? Would You fill us even now with Your Holy Spirit so that we can delight in You and delight in Your commandments more and more? We praise You and we thank You.

[31:14] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Now, for communion this morning, unremind us of the source of our victory over the world, the source of our faith and the source of our joy in God's commandments, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[31:36] So, maybe you've been sitting in this message and thinking, man, my love for God's commandments, we talk about this, they once were aflame, but now it just feels dull or cold. Well, take hold of 1 John 1.9.

[31:50] If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I'll say it again. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[32:12] Remember, this verse is only possible because Jesus is our propitiatory sacrifice. that Jesus took all of our sin, all of my sin, all of your sin, on Himself, on the cross when He hung on the cross and He bore the great weight of God's wrath against all of our sin.

[32:36] He satisfied it. He drank it. He finished it. So there would only be love and affection and God's fatherly care for us.

[32:54] So this morning, before coming up for communion, if your love for God's commandments is warm, praise and thank God.

[33:05] Praise and thank God. This is a sign that you are alive to God, which is a direct result of Jesus hang on that cross for us.

[33:21] However, if you feel cold to God's commands, take this as an opportunity to confess that to the Lord. Bring it to Him. Freshly receive His forgiveness and freshly turn towards Him.

[33:39] remember 1 John 1-9. He's given His word that He will forgive us and that He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[33:52] He will wash us fully clean. So this morning, confess and repent and cast aside all fear and doubt and come to the table in full faith, not in ourselves, not even in our repentance, but come to the table of faith in Him, in His life, in His death, in His resurrection, knowing that His mercy and that His grace has been pursuing you all morning and is truly pursuing you every day of your life.

[34:36] for a second