God, Dwelling in Us

Introduction

Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 John 3. This morning we are going to finish chapter 3. As you are turning there, let me ask you a question. How close to you feel to God? Right at this moment. Do you feel as though God is with you right now? How about on your way here? What about last night? Do you ever feel as though God is far away?

As you ponder these things in your heart, I want us to consider what I have titled “God, Dwelling in us.” Brothers, God is with us at this very moment. Why? Because God dwells with you. In fact, he resides in you. We have come to the end of chapter 3 and we are going to look at something new this morning that we find in verse 24 and that is that the Spirit is given to us. This is a wonderful capstone to chapter 3.

We have seen many dos and don’ts. We have seen how we love one another. We have seen that we are to not love the world system and that we are to walk in the light. As we think on these things we see all of it come together in the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

I want us to see God, dwelling in us in three ways which we find sequentially in verses 23 and 24 1. Because we believe in Jesus Christ (v.23a), 2. Because we love one another (v.23b), and 3. Because we have the Spirit (v.24). Let’s read verses 23 and 24.

1. Because we believe in Jesus Christ (v.23a)

We begin our time together in verse 23. I want us to see that God dwells in us because we believe in Jesus Christ. John continues with what we saw last week about the keeping of God’s commandments. John brings us into a more narrow focus of what the keeping of the commandments looks like by telling it is. One observation is that this commandment is of Christ. Notice the ‘his’ before the commandment. This commandment then, does not come from John or any other apostolic source. Therefore, we can follow this commandment in the full authority of Christ.

Verse 23 tells us two different commands. We are to believe in Christ and love one another. However, I want us to see these two commands as one in unity. Because these commands are given by the authority of Christ, any command that we would be encouraged to keep by a brother must be measured with the authority of Christ. Any command that is given regarding ecclesiastical matters that is not of Christ must be discarded.

Now, this command is nothing new to us. As we have seen in chapter 2, the purpose of commands is to bring forth the reality of living in the light. On the flip side, the commands are to show us if there is any living that is taking place in the darkness (1 John 2:9-11).

What is interesting about commands that are given in the Bible is that they are not always a directive. They can also be a charge. In Matthew 16:24 Jesus gives the command that those who would follow him must be those who would deny themselves. In other words, live unselfishly. However, this is also a charge. When Jesus says that those who follow him must take up their cross daily, he charges us with the task to die to self and live for Christ. So yes, Jesus commands us in this verse, but he also charges us. He charges us to live like he did. A charge is a means of encouragement. Jesus commands because he deserves to be listened to, I mean he is God! But he commands so that his people would be obedient to follow him. Just like a commander in an army who boosts the morale of his soldiers with a charge, so Jesus does as the God-warrior charge us as well!

It is appropriate that Jesus would be the one to charge us to believe in him. That was his cry throughout his ministry. As we heard earlier, long before his ministry began, Moses spoke of Christ and the authority that he was going to demand in Deuteronomy 18. When Jesus came, there was no mistaking his mission and authority. In response to the crowds that had just been fed, ask how they can do the works of God? Jesus answers them in John 6:29, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” The same was true when Jesus went to heal Jairus’s daughter. Amidst the large crowd, Jesus comforts Jairus as he sees his daughter lying down dead to believe. Now Matthew 6:36 does not tell us specifically that Jesus told Jairus to believe in him, but we can gather from reading the rest of the chapter that Jesus did tell Jairus to believe in he (Jesus) who was going to heal his daughter.

The clearest verse that shows Jesus’s authority in charging mankind to believe in him comes to us from John 3. Turn with me there and let us see this clarity in verses 16-21. There is no mistaking the popularity of John 3:16 and we see why, but I want us to look down at verse 18. Do you see the clarity with which Jesus speaks regarding the believing in his name? There are only two results that come with the belief in Jesus’ name. Either you do or you don’t and the consequences of that are life changing. Not only in this life, but for the life to come. The belief in the name of Jesus is crucial! Put it this way believing in Jesus’ name results in eternal life, but not believing in his name brings condemnation, being damned, being punished, being sentenced to eternal torment. Now, I don’t bring this forth for any reason other than if there are people here who do not believe in the name of Jesus Christ, THIS IS YOU!

But not to worry, there is still time, for Jesus calls all men everywhere to repent and trust in him, would you do that this day? Turn with me back to 1 John 3.

I do not want us to stick all of our eggs in the believing Jesus basket and then, just, go on with our lives. You know what I am talking about. Someone who says that they believe in Jesus and then go on with their lives as though there has been no change at all. It also doesn’t mean that all we have to do is love one another to show our belief in Christ. What many people don’t understand is that the Christian life is hard! It is not an easy road to travel. That is why 1 Timothy 4:1 and Matthew 24:10 say that there will be many people who fall away from the faith (Luke 8:13, 1 Timothy 1:18-20, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Hebrews 3:12).

However, there must be a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, concerning the Philippian jailer, he believed in Christ, which is another way to say that he submitted his life before Christ (Acts 16:31). Thus, it is a complete surrender to Christ that comes out of believing in him. Galatians 2:20 is Paul’s confession, but the same is true for every believer in Christ including the jailer. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

John writes the same way in verse 23 as we saw last week in verse 19. Remember, without the truth what can we be reassured in? This time, John tells us that, first, we must believe in the name of Jesus Christ.

2. Because we love one another (v.23b)

We move on to the second half of verse 23. Look with me at the second part of this united commandment. John starts us off on the necessity of believing in the name of Jesus Christ and moves to a familiar topic, loving one another.

I want us to see this by looking at loving one another as a manifestation of our belief in Jesus Christ. We have seen that Christians must love one another; it is not optional. In an effort to not regurgitate what we have seen before, let us look at the love that disciples of Jesus had for one another.

Acts 2, turn there with me. Might we remove the blinders called familiarity and see this text afresh this morning. I want to note two things out of this text. 1. They devoted themselves and 2. They had all things in common.

To be devoted in the first church meant to persevere with one another. What were they devoted to? They were devoted to the teaching of the Word. This led them to a devotion to one another in fellowship, taking communion, and praying with one another. Could it have been said that the first church had God dwelling in them? Yes. Now, this may have been more obvious with the Spirit descending upon them. The truth is the same that God dwelt with the first church, and he did with the believers in John’s day, and he continues to do so with us today. It should be joyous to us that we have such rich church history seeing that God continually dwells within his people.

Because they were devoted to one another this brought forth a commonality among the brothers. In other words, the body of believers’ love for one another intensified as they spent time together. What does time spent together look like in this church? For the early church ideas like companionship and being beside one another was the idea. Did they ask how one another was doing? Yes. Were there questions about any needs that were present at the time? Yes. The core of there coming together comes to us in verse 47. They were “praising God.” This tells us that the bond of love that the early church had for one another went beyond emotional affection. It led them to a commonality of praising the God of the Bible. The early church loved to spend time together fellowshipping with one another. What drove them though, was a togetherness in praising the Lord.

Romans 16 is another example of what loving one another looks like. Turn there with me. As you turn there, I want us to see the many people that were involved in Paul’s life living out a love for him and a love for one another. I am going to read the first 23 verses. This section of Scripture is lengthy, but we see from it the vast number of people that were influential in one another’s lives. Did you notice that not every person listed was from the church at Antioch or the churches in Asia? What does that mean for you and me? That means that there are brothers in the Lord Jesus that we are to love that are not members of Zionsville Bible Fellowship Church. Now, I have said before that we should not hold grudges against people that may have left this church. I would like to go further as John does and say that we are called to love them.

So, that tells us that there are believers in other churches. We would say that believers are in Baptist and Presbyterian churches. But what about Lutheran and Methodist churches, many that have gone far to the left, are we to love them? Well, we are to love the brothers! Which means we distinguish those who are believers in Christ and those who are not. And we do that by seeing what they believe about the Bible and Christ. We do that by engaging with people. When the opportunities arise that we can speak with them, we do. See, we are commanded to love one another in a very special way. It is what brings us together in unity. Not only this, but we are assured that God is dwelling within us.

I would like to make an observation at the end of verse 23. Look with me there. Notice that John says that we believe in Jesus Christ and love one another “just as he commanded us.” This is crucial for us to understand as we cross the bridge to verse 24. It helps us to see how these two verses blend together. You and I must understand this morning that God has commanded us to keep the commandments of God. Why is it a command to believe in Christ? Let me read for you John 17:3. “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” We have seen in past sermons that Jesus is eternal life, thus we MUST believe in him. How important is it to love one another? 1 Peter 4:8 lists it in an exalted away. Peter proclaims that above all the ways of Christian living he lists in verses 1-7 loving one another takes greater importance. Let us now, cross the bridge and see the blessing of keeping these commandments.

3. Because we have the Spirit (v.24)

The third way that we see God dwelling in us is through the promised Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Verse 24 is interesting because it ties the two verses together. At the beginning of verse 24, John tells us that those who keep the commandments of God abide in God, and God abides in the believer who keeps the commandments. In other words, God is with the believer who obeys him.

The Lord knew that this would not be sufficient though. And what I mean by that is in his kindness to us, he wants us to be assured that we are in Christ, and he is in us, and he does that by giving us the Holy Spirit. John 14 and 16 are the two chapters that are most clear about the work of the Holy Spirit. We must take these into consideration, now we are not going to read both chapters, but they do give us clarity as to why John writes that the Holy Spirit does, indeed, dwell in believers.

I want to point out a few things from those chapters. Turn with me to John 14. I want us to see how this chapter and our text in 1 John 3 come together. Look with me in verse 15, where he starts the section on the Holy Spirit, which extends to verse 26, with the familiar words, “you will keep my commandments.” This is in context of our love being shown to God. We show God that we love him when we keep his commandments.

Verse 16 is where chapter 14 and 1 John 3 come together beautifully. What does verse 16 tell us? It tells us that the Father will give us the Holy Spirit, known here as the Helper.

Jesus knew that his disciples were going to struggle being separated from him, promised them that they would never be alone. And in fact, the Spirit would come upon all the believers (v.17)! Remember, Jesus in his human form was not everywhere physically at the same time. He still had to travel from place to place. Verse 20 speaks of the day of Pentecost. “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” This is Pentecost. John, years later, I am sure reflected on that moment as he penned that the Spirit would be in those whom God abided in.

The beauty of Scripture is that it keeps the human element. We can relate with John as he remembers this momentous event. As the Spirit ushers him to pen that he will reside in believers, I am sure that John said, THAT’S RIGHT, as he was a living example of the Spirit residing in a believer of Christ.

As we put these two chapters next to each other, Jesus tells us in chapter 14 says that the Spirit will be given. In 1 John 3:24, John tells us that the Spirit has been given to us. Does the Bible keep its promises? You better believe it does! That is why this quote from Dustin Benge is not far-fetched “Disagree with the Bible all you want. It’s still right and you’re still wrong.” As the Bible keeps promise after promise, we see the authority that it has and that it demands. Yes, the Spirit is in us as we abide in Christ, and he abides in us. What great hope that we have, that the very creator of the universe resides within us!

If you look with me in verse 26, the Spirit “will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” We know this to mean all that Jesus had said to the disciples. But what does that mean for us today, since we did not hear Jesus speak as the disciples did? God speaks to us today through his Word! It is this book that we go through week in and week out. We hear God speak as we read the Bible.

If you would jump over to John 16 and look with me at verse 13. Here, we hear a wonderful promise. Jesus promises us that the Spirit “will guide you into all the truth.” Why is this important? Simply, it is important because we know that the Spirit will only lead us into the truth. Therefore, if we have moments of straying, we know that it is not the Spirit, but us who have gone astray. The Spirit is powerful as we discern our lives in light of the glorious gospel of Christ. How kind of God to give us the Spirit so we can know how to live as believers.

I promise that the intent of flipping back and forth, looking at many text was not in vain. My hope for us jumping around as we did was to see how the Scripture comes together beautifully in speaking about the Holy Spirit and the work that he does. It is a most important work. It is a work that seals us in Christ, it is a work that reassures us that we are in Christ, and he is in us. As we take a break to enter the Christmas season, may we our attention be focused on the Son of the living God born for us. But might our attention be focused on the Spirit. Listen to his wondrous work. “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called Holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

Conclusion

In conclusion, when we say that God is everywhere, the easiest way to support that statement is by the Holy Spirit residing in each one of us. God is present on this earth as he governs creation, as he works through governments, and as he does life-changing work in human beings.

Does God exist? The answer is seen in the radical change that takes place at conversion. God proves his existence in many ways, but it is most impactful when his people believe in him and love one another while being led by the Holy Spirit. There are many arguments against creation and for evolution, but there is no argument against the person who lives his/her life on fire for the will of the Lord.

I leave with you with three things to ponder this morning.

1. Living the Christian life means that we believe in Jesus Christ. This means we believe in his promises no matter the circumstance. It means that we believe in Christ when he seems to be leading us to a place that we might be uncomfortable with. We believe in Christ when he says that he will provide our needs. We believe in Christ when life seems futile. In every season of our lives, we believe in Christ! It means that when we are attacked by the evil one and his lies, we believe in Christ. When the person comes up to us full of hate for the Lord Jesus, we believe in Christ!
2. Because our hearts are set firmly upon believing in Christ, we must love one another. John has reiterated this point for us this morning not by accident. Loving one another was a crucial part of Jesus’ ministry as it was for John. Therefore, it must be crucial for us as well. May we not be people that are bitter and unloving toward one another, but show that God dwells IN his people for the sake of unity.
3. Be encouraged that the Spirit dwells within you. Heed his warnings to you, listen to your conscience, pray to the Father, Son, AND Holy Spirit. For the Spirit is your guide here on earth and his goal is to keep you until the day of Christ’s appearing. So, brothers, do not fret about the things in this world or waver in your faith for we have the very Spirit of God who is in us and who is for us.