“Are You Really Who You Say You Are?”

I John 2:3-11, 15-17

THE APOSTLES' CREED"I believe in God the Father Almighty.

And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son our Lord, who was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary; crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried; the third day He rose from the dead;

He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

And in the Holy Ghost; the holy Church; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; the life everlasting."

1. True followers of Christ will live a lifestyle and demonstrate a type of love that is often ridiculed by a “tolerant” and secular society.

1 John 2:3-6 (NASB) By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6

the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

IGNATIUS of ANTIOCH

“Be deaf, therefore, whenever anyone speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ … Who really was born, Who both ate and drank, Who really was persecuted under Pontius Pilate, Who really was crucified and died … Who really was raised from the dead.”

1 John 2:7-8 (NASB) Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.

2. Believers who hold on to past hurts enslave themselves and lose the ability to provide direction for the hopeless.

1 John 2:9-11 (HCSB) The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother is in the darkness until now. 10 The one who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

3. As Christians we should view our time on earth as an opportunity to make an eternal difference.

1 John 2:15-17 (NLT) 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 in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

“Only one life ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will

last.”