“He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
is a liar,
If we say that we fellowship with God but do not apply truth to experience, we lie. Our life is a sham of cheap claptrap. God brands us as a deceiver in this. This indicates the kind of character we carry.
and the truth is not in him
A person who claims truth but does not live up to the truth he knows does not have that truth as the principal power in his life. Chapter one made this kind of statement (1:6,8,10).
The “truth” is in the believer who walks with God daily. If we truly love God, we seek to please Him. Holiness always aligns itself with the precepts of God’s Word.
We can translate the words “in him” better as “in this one.” We can precisely define the person who does not have the truth as a vital component in his life. God’s will, as seen in His precepts, is the mainspring of Christian living. This dominates the Christian in fellowship. It constrains him to do God’s will.
PRINCIPLE:
Truth constrains the believer in fellowship.
APPLICATION:
No matter our claim, if we do not apply truth to experience, we lie to ourselves.
Often genuine fellowship and phony fellowship with God are difficult to tell apart. Just as a phony dollar bill and a genuine dollar bill are sometimes difficult to distinguish. The counterfeit appears genuine, but it always falls short of the real thing. There is a lack of true correspondence. Many Christians look like believers in fellowship, but they are as phony as a three-dollar bill.
Many try to fellowship with God by operation bootstraps. It always fails. Galatians 3 explains why. There is something inherent in us that will not allow us to live up to God’s standards. Just as we receive Christ by faith, we must live by faith.
Co 2:6, “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him…”
The order is important. We do not keep commandments to fellowship with God. We keep God’s precepts because we are in fellowship with God. First faith, then fellowship.
John 14:15, 21, 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments [precepts]… 21He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Obedience validates our love for the Lord. Knowing God is more than possessing the right information about Him; it is engaging with His will. Lack of concern for keeping God’s precepts exposes our shallow hypocrisy.
Some people can talk a good game of football, but they never played the game at all. They are puff and wind filled with hot air. All they can do is talk. They can tell you how to live the Christian life but they never live it themselves.
Some believers are armchair quarterbacks of the Christian life. Unless we can walk, we had better not talk. We must back up our talk with our walk. Life must match lip; otherwise, we make ourselves out to be a religious liar.
