Keep His Word (1 John 2:3-6)

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” (1 John 2:3-6 NKJV)

How do we know that we know the Lord Jesus Christ? We can know that we know Him by keeping His commandments. Jesus told his disciples in His prayer to the Father that knowing God who sent the Son is eternal life. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3 NKJV) If we say we know Him and do not keep His commandments, then we are liars and the truth is not in us.

What does it mean to know Him? It means to know that God is love now and forevermore. We may not always appreciate the way He loves us, even in the midst of tough discipline. But the Scripture puts it very clear that we shall rejoice even in the sufferings because in them the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit (Romans 5:5). Further, here is the undeniable evidence of His love by sending the begotten Son Jesus Christ when we were still in the worst surroundings and at war against Him.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:8-10 NKJV)

That is the assurance and promise of His love for us that no matter what happens nothing can separate us from the love of God, death or life, angels, principalities, or powers, things present or things to come, height or depth, or any other created thing (Romans 8:38-39). In Him there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17). How many times did Jesus Christ accept the lonely, lost, outcast, sick, adulterous, and wounded and hurt when they had come unto Him? In Him, we cannot find an iota of rejection or unwillingness to reach out His gracious and merciful hands to those who were asking for help, any help.  

How do we then know that we are in the Lord Jesus Christ? “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” John explains later what the commandments of God are. It is to love one another. When we keep His word, loving one another, the love of God is truly perfected in us. It doesn’t mean that the love of God is not perfect. Loving one another includes everyone, especially loving the unlovable and unacceptable. Is it not what our Lord Jesus Christ did first for us? He manifested His love first in public on the cross of Calvary. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10 NKJV)

Keeping His word means continually obeying it, that is, to keep on loving one another. How can we do that even if our experience says the opposite? We can keep His word by reminding the irrevocable fact that He loved us first and still loves us even when we fail terribly. In fact, we with our own might and strength cannot keep His word. But we can with His might and power. Here is the secret of new life in Jesus Christ. The one who keeps His word is not me but Him. Under the new covenant living in Christ, God not only demands His beloved children to keep on loving one another, but also provides power and strength to keep on doing it.

We are but the instruments for His every good work. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” (2 Corinthians 4:17 NKJV) Since we are born again in Jesus Christ, we do not live but Christ lives in us. “For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 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. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” (Galatians 2:19-21 NKJV)