Things You Must Acknowledge 1 Jn 2:23 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Acknowledge means to admit to be true, to confess; to recognize the authority of. There are things in our lives that we must acknowledge if we are going to accomplish what God wants us to do as Christians.
Acknowledge the Son – 1 Jn 2:23 – for salvation. He is the true God and eternal life [1 Jn 5:20]. He has the authority to save you and he has the authority to judge you [Acts 10:42-43; Acts 16:31; Acts 17:31].
Acknowledge God – Prov 3:5-6 – for direction. You must trust the Lord with all your heart. You must not lean unto your own understanding. In all thy ways, you must acknowledge God [recognize his authority]. And if you do these things, he will direct your paths.
Acknowledge every good thing in you in Christ – Phile 6 – for the effectual communication of your faith. Read the context from Phil 4-7. Philemon loved Jesus and he loved the saints. He had faith toward Jesus [Acts 20:21] and faith toward the saints. That is, the bowels of the saints had been refreshed by Philemon because through faith he had been communicating toward them (that is he was giving to them [Phil 4:15; 1 Tim 6:18]). Paul prayed for Philemon that the communication of his faith might be effectual [produce the desired effect that God had for it], by acknowledging EVERY good thing which was in him in Christ Jesus. In other words, there was more that God could accomplish with Philemon’s faith if Philemon would recognize all the good things that were in him because he was in Jesus. He prepared Philemon for communicating his faith toward his runaway servant, Onesimus. There are many good things in you from the Lord Jesus Christ that he wants you to communicate to others. Acknowledge them and communicate them to others.
Acknowledge your sin – Ps 32:5, 51:3 – for forgiveness and cleansing. You will never get the sin out if you cannot acknowledge it before the Lord. Sin that is rooted down inside [like pride, resentment, covetousness, bitterness, envy, fear and the like] is often hard to see. Let the Lord search you and he will show it to you so that you can acknowledge it [Ps 139:23-24]. Then confess it and forsake it [Prov 28:13, 1 Jn 1:9].
Acknowledge the truth – 2 Tim 2:25-26 – for repentance and recovery from the devil. The only way to recover yourself out of the snare of the devil is to acknowledge the truth and then repent and then recover yourself. This starts with you taking the instruction from one who recognizes that you are opposing yourself. That’s hard for most people to take.
Conclusion: acknowledging these things is essential if you are going to grow and succeed in your Christian life.