Epistles of John

So, we'll go back to 1 John chapter 3, and here we have him speaking of the children of God in the early verses, and he also is giving us an outstanding definition of sin. Sin is the transgression of the law, or sin is lawlessness. And again, let's remember here he's writing many decades down the line, and he had battle that was ongoing with those who were preaching and teaching. The law was done away with. The law didn't matter, and yet here we have in the biblical record, in the 80s, the 90s, probably the early 90s, AD, here John continues to speak of the law and speak of obedience. And so, surely if God had nailed the law to the cross, it would have been evident, but it's evidence that he's preaching that we better live by it. So, in 1 John 3, verse 1, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. And so, here as we look at this, there's no greater love than that which the Father pours out, that He has a plan by which we'll enter the very family of God. But it says here, God is our Father, calls Him Father. And as we know, the Church is our Mother. And we'll see this little word, Ganahoe, that's translated begotten in this book. We are like a fetus that is growing within the Mother's womb, waiting a time of going full term and being born into the very family of God. But as He said here, the world does not understand what God is building and doing through us. 1 Peter 1, verse 4, I'll just, I think to save time, I'll just give you some scriptures in passing. But 2 Peter 1, verse 4, when we went through that, Peter referred to how we become partakers of the divine nature. And God through His Spirit does that for us. The world does not know that because they do not comprehend what God is creating in us. And our very presence serves as a conscience or a condemnation for the world, making them uncomfortable. Verse 2, Beloved, now we are children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. So even now, we are the children of God. And as you know, and thankfully, somebody asked about my new grandson earlier. I appreciate that, always do. But not that long ago, our daughter had this little life growing within her. And you ladies probably have been through that, and you know what it's all about. And there's no doubt in a mother's mind that there is a life within her. And so here again, He speaks of that, that even now, even though we're not full-term in the sense of being born of the very spirit essence of God, we now are the very children of God. But John here harkens back to creation. And we can't go back to creation without remembering that scripture in the first chapter of Genesis, verse 26, that we are in the likeness, the image and likeness of God. And that speaks of God's plan, the spiritual creation, where He's building His family. Here are some scriptures to tie in with, verse 2, Psalm 17, verse 15. Psalm 17, verse 15, and that's the Psalm of David. And David said, he spoke of the time when he would awake with your likeness. And of course, death is likened to being asleep. But the time would come when he would awaken with the likeness of God. We also have in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, verse 8. Matthew 5, verse 8. And Jesus said there that the pure in heart will see God. And here John says we will see Him as He is. We could also tie in Revelation 1, verses 13 through 16.

Revelation 1, verses 13 through 16. And in those verses, it describes John and vision as seeing Christ in His glory, His face shining like the sun. And so the time comes when, as the eternal spiritual children of God will see God as He is in a way that, you remember, Moses asked God or asked the God of the Old Testament if He could see Him. But He recognized He, you know, if He'd see God in His glory, He wouldn't survive.

But God put Him back in the cleft of the rock and held His hand and let Him see a part of His back as He passed by. And then even then, Moses came off the mountain and the Israelites were spooked because He was glowing from being in the presence of God.

Verse 3, and everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself just as He is pure. And so, you know, the more as we progress in our Christian college, the more we have this focus on the future and where God's plan is leading, the more we realize there is that day when we will see God as He is, then that compels us to maintain the struggle to stay in there or, as it said, to purify Himself because God is pure. And it's a process of putting off the old, putting on the new, and continually being transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Verse 4, whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And I still like the old King James on that one where it says, "...whosoever committed sin transgresseth also the law." For sin is the transgression of the law. So to transgress a speeding law, to transgress any kind of law, is to break it, to step outside the bounds.

And sin is stepping outside the boundaries of the law of God. And so, yes, it is lawlessness. And again, you had those of John's day who were teaching. You had some of the Gnostics and those related, like some who were of the, called the Docetists, and they were preaching, doing away with the law. So that's one of the better definitions that we have.

We could tie in Romans 14 verse 23. It adds a little bit more, Romans 14 verse 23, where it says that whatever is not of faith is sin. And so whatever we do, there are situations we all face. And the Bible may not explicitly say, this is what you do in this situation. And we have to take the law and apply it to that given situation the best we possibly can.

And if we come to a peace about it, then we can step and do that. But if it bothers us, if it's not of faith, I think God through His Spirit is trying to tell us something. That no, we're getting close to the line. We're going to miss the mark. And we want to hold back from stepping over that line. All right, verse 5. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. And so here this, He capitalized, it refers to Jesus Christ. He came to bear away the sins of the world, as we can read in John 1 verse 29.

John 1 verse 29, that's when John the Baptist, at one point, saw Jesus, and he said, Behold the Lamb of God who bears away the sins of the world. And that is the reason Jesus came to the earth. Another scripture, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. And there it speaks about how He became sin for us. The sins of humanity were placed on Jesus, Jesus Christ, there on the cross, the time of the darkness, and He bore away the sins of the world.

And then I think one other scripture that's important to add there is Hebrews 4 verse 15. Hebrews 4 verse 15, because it speaks of this great high priest that we have, but it says He was tempted in all points as we are yet without sin. And no human being, none of us, can make that claim. Only the Son of Man who came. Verse 6, Whoever abides in him does not sin, for whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him. Now, we're going to start getting into an area where it seems to me that John will make a statement, and then he'll come back and look at it from a different angle, and he'll make the same exact point, and then he'll look at it differently.

And as I mentioned last time, there's just something about John. His mind thinks differently than mine, and I really sometimes he'll throw these things out, and I really have to chew on it. And there's lots to ponder, lots to consider, and it's all there for a purpose. That's why God used 40 different people to write what we have as the Bible. Everyone is going to have a little different appeal or strengths or different approach. Kind of like a paradox, huh? Sometimes it is. It is like a paradox, yeah. So, if, from what we just read here in verse 6, if we, as we walk with Christ and as we strive to pattern our life after Him, I'd say to the degree we do pattern our life after Him, we can't sin.

Now, we also know there's reality. Reality is, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And earlier in this book, like chapter 1 verse 9, he said, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forget. So, he's not saying that we in the flesh reach a point where we can't sin, but certainly there's the, oh, what is the word? There's the target we shoot at, and that is the life of Christ. And the closer we get to it, then the less room for sin.

Intent, attitude, all of these are important. As long as we get up, when we make a mistake, repent, go to God, ask forgiveness, He will forgive, He will strengthen us. Verse 7, little children. Now, we've already seen that phrase, and again, remember, here's a man who's way up in years, and he's writing to the church he's given his life for, and so certainly he writes as a kind of a spiritual grandfather type. Let no one deceive you.

He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. So, here we are, and he continues to warn the church brethren about the danger of being deceived. Jesus did that in the Olivet prophecy. He mentioned even a time, if it were possible, the very elect would be deceived.

Men will try to trip you up. And we saw that in the early century of the church, and we see it to this very day. People will become enthralled with a human being, and if we put our eyes on humans, a human being is going to let us down somewhere along the line. We have to keep our eyes on Christ, his example, and our noses in the Word of God.

And then we're on thick enough ice, as long as we keep looking to God and following. Verse 8, he who sins is of the devil. So, here he begins bringing in the aspect of the the origin of sin. For the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of Man was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. So, here we have a number of scriptures we could tie in, and one would be John 8, verse 44. And that's where Jesus mentioned that, as far as Satan, the devil being a murderer from the beginning, being a liar from the beginning, and he told them of that time, you're of your father the devil.

So, if we walk the path of sin, we're learning that from the one who is the father of sin. Sin originated with Satan. You can make a note of the verses in Ezekiel 28, verses 15 through 17. Ezekiel 28, verses 15 through 17. And that's where you've got the king of tire being written about, but he's a type of Satan the devil, and it mentions about, you know, you walked among the precious stones the sound of your musical instruments.

You were perfect in the day you were created until iniquity was found in you. Then it says you were lifted up, and you did sin, and you would, and then God would destroy, and the word means the cast away from God's presence. So, it began in the universe, of course, with God and the Word, there was no sin.

And with them the creation of the angelic sons of God, there was a period of time where there was no sin until one, you know, if we use the old Star Wars analogy, one turned to the dark side. And it began a process that continues to this day, but as we read, the Son of God came to destroy all the works of the devil. You know, ultimately, as we read in 2 Peter, there would be a purging of the very earth itself by fire to completely destroy all the fingerprints of Satan and of sin that has resulted.

Okay, verse 9. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. All right, now this one is getting to be kind of challenging the way it's written there. But again, one of the great rules of Bible study is we always have to consider it within the context of the overall Bible. Jesus said the scripture cannot be broken, and so we have to take it as an entire unit. But certainly the Spirit of God we could consider as that seed that he gives to us and is in us.

There are a couple of places in the scripture where it talks about the Word of God could be considered that seed that lives in us. But because of the guidance, because of the life of Christ within us through that Holy Spirit, because of the influence of the Spirit, we strive with God's help to walk within the realm of the commandments that define what is love, that define what God's intent is for us.

Anyone who abides in God cannot continue as a deliberate sinner. Now, we're all going to make mistakes. That's a given. But I think it gets back to what John's talking about here is the intention behind it. The intent cannot be to deliberately go against God because then that would step into the topic of the unpardonable sin like Peter referred to in his second letter.

Okay. You know, quite often, I think that's a good possibility. I think John writes things, and in his mind, it's the way things will. So yeah, like a future tense, there is a time when we cannot sin because we're born of God. Now we have God's Spirit, and we are God's children, but we still have this flesh and blood that pulls us in the wrong way. So that's a good point.

William Barclay on page 79 wants to see if there's something.

Again, remember in the introduction we talked about Gnosticism, some of their teachings, and some of the things John was combatting like the spirit of Antichrist. Gnostics said Jesus didn't come as a flesh and blood human being. He simply merely came in the spirit. So a number of places, and he'll come back to that topic yet before this book is over. But William Barclay says that some Gnostic said that the man's body was material and hence evil, but into somebody's wisdom secretly sowed seeds, and the truly spiritual men have these seeds of God for souls. Well, no, I'm not going to read further there, but he said from John's words it means that every reborn, I think by that reborn, everyone who has been forgiven or received God's Spirit, has the seed of God living in him.

And he sums it up by saying that the Christian is preserved from sin by the indwelling power of the Word of God. Okay, that was verse 9. Okay, verse 10. In this, okay, let me pause right there. Those early verses were focusing on where the children of God and defining sin. Now we're going to start shifting into, especially with verses 11 through 18, shifting into a section where he focuses on obedience, but also love for one another. But verse 10, in this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. They're obvious. They're evident. Now again, remember John, how he started out. John and James, Jesus said, you know, they wanted to call down fire from heaven, all these people. The sons of thunder. John, as he writes, it's black or it's white. There's nothing in between. And it's right or it's wrong, it's good or it's evil. And here it is either your child of God or your child of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. So here we're shifting into a section where he's going to talk about how to love one another because that is really one of the great bottom lines for us. This truly identifies the children of God. If we have love, one for another. So in verse 11, for this is a message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Now the beginning of humanity would take us all the way back to Genesis 1. Surely Adam and Eve were instructed to have love, although the Bible doesn't fill in all those details. Surely Cain and Abel would have been taught respect and love for one another, but we don't have all the details. We can look in some cases at their works, and obviously that's what he's going to be going to hear. Cain, we know from his words, he hated his brother. From the beginning, now all the way back to Leviticus 19 verse 18.

You've got the second great commandment all the way back in the Pentateuch, Leviticus 19, 18, where it speaks about where to love one another. You know, Jesus was asking, he gave the two great commandments. Okay, verse 11. No, we just read that. Verse 12, not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. So Cain reflected the mind of the influence of Satan the devil. Cain attacked Abel and murdered him because he was the one who was guilty of disobeying what God had to have instructed them. Again, the Bible only gives us the high points back in especially the pre-flood age. But obviously God had to have instructed them how to approach God to bring from the flock. Abel did that and it was honored. Cain took what was, he was a farmer, he took the fruit of the ground. God rejected it. God, as you go back to Genesis 4, God went to him and spoke to him. If you do not do well, sin lies at the door, God told him. And of course he continued in that way and under the influence of Satan. And why did he murder him? Because his Cain's works were evil and his brother's, Abel's, righteous. Now, you know, this is an interesting insight into human nature. You know, when God calls to the church, we became students of human nature and we continue to watch that. Oftentimes, humans attack others because of their own guilt. They know that they are wrong in the way they're living. They see someone who is imperfect but striving to do what is right and it becomes a threat to them. Evil instinctively hates those who strive to follow God. A righteous person then will be a walking, talking, living testimony, a rebuke against those who are walking the path of evil. The world then looks at a person who tries to do what is right and they are condemned by the very presence of those who are trying to live by every word of God.

I remember with Joe Lieberman, you know, senator for years, oh, I'm drawing a blank, Connecticut? Is that right? I think it's Connecticut, but they called him the conscience of the Senate and a Jewish. Of course, he was then the running mate of Al Gore, I guess it was, years ago. But we might not agree with his politics, but as far as the character of the way he lived his life, I thought it was interesting that they called him the conscience of the Senate. And his very presence and the presence of others, men and women, who would be people of character, would hopefully lift the others to a higher level. But anyhow, that's not a topic to get off on today as we look at what is. Let's continue then verse 13. He continues the thought, Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. Well, all the way back to the story of Cain and Abel that he has been discussing. Even though there are only a few human beings on the earth, the world and the person of Cain hated Abel, the one who tried to do what was right. And he was hated without cause. Well, the same thing happened when Christ walked the earth. He said, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you. Well, a little bit later, they killed him. And Jesus said in John 15 verse 19, that since we are called out of the world, the world will hate us. And then John 1633, he said that in the world you will have tribulation. It's right there in black and white for us to... we shouldn't be shocked when all of a sudden we have persecution and we have challenges and difficulties within the family, the community, at work.

Alright, verse 14. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. Okay, we are no longer on death row, if I could use a modern term. We're no longer just merely counting time until we have to pay for our sins because God has forgiven us. The past is washed away. And when we sin, we go to Him for ongoing forgiveness. And so in that sense, we have passed to life and it is evidenced by the way we treat each other.

And you know what John is writing here is something that has to trouble every one of us, you know, in the body of Jesus Christ. Most of us have decades and decades under our belt in the body of Jesus Christ. And yet how many, many times we have, we haven't lived what we know God expects of us. Well, rather than giving up, all I know to do is just keep trying, keep going. Hold fast one to another. Love the brethren. That's the bottom line. That's something that proves to God. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Well, when Christ there in the Sermon on the Mount, when He spoke, He took several commandments. One time He said, you've heard of old that it was said you shall not kill or murder. And then He expanded that. He puts so much more into that that it involves the very attitude you have even toward those who despitefully use you. As He said later in the chapter, love your enemies or pray for those who despitefully use you. And that's a far higher level of when you consider the spirit of the law as opposed to just merely not taking someone's life. Do you say in another place that I did show? Right. John 13 verses 34 and 35 there on that Passover night after the foot washing. This is the way people will know you're my disciples if you have loved one for another. So, God help us. God help us to always be reaching for that higher standard. Verse 14, He continued there, He who does not love his brother abides in death. And I guess we already read that, but abides in death. If a person hates, if a person does not love that brother, there's certainly no eternal life in that person. The spirit of God does not lead us to hate. Verse 15, whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Let's keep going here. Verse 16, By this we know love because he, that's Christ, laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. And so here, of course, we are all familiar with John 3 verse 16. God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son.

The Father gave up his only son for humanity. Christ willingly laid down his life for us. And John is saying, if you want to prove your gods, then you need to do the same for one another. Now, there might be times, and of course across a couple thousand years of Christian experience, there have been those times when one Christian has been in a position of sacrificing a life, giving a life for to save someone else. But basically, our lives are composed of time. You know, you give somebody 15-20 minutes of your time to just give them a little support, or just let them bend your ear, just to cry on your shoulder sometimes. You are laying down your life for that person. Or for someone who has need, you know, storms come through, you know, we have trees getting knocked down, you have fences damaged, you have houses damaged, and to go over and actually help clean up and rebuild, that's laying down your life. Fellowshiping each week on the Sabbath, and at other times, and opening our homes to others, just all of this, going and seeing somebody who's laid up in the hospital. All of this equates to just the basic bottom, you know, the basics of laying down your life one for another.

Right. Good point there at the latter part of Matthew 25, as far as separating, you know, the nations and then to the left and the right, the right and the left hand. Those on the right were welcomed to the kingdom. They had sacrificed one for another, and Christ said, it's as though you did it to me. Okay, verse 17, but whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother need and shuts up his heart for him, how does the love of God abide in him? Let's go ahead and read verse 18 along with that thought. My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. So these what may seem to be such small sacrifices of life serve to demonstrate or to prove the love we have one for another. Okay, now in the rest of the chapter 19 through 24, John speaks of the confidence, the reassurance, the assurance we should have in God's salvation. So verse 19, and by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. So any, you know, any human being is bound to feel doubts on occasion. We get discouraged. There are times when we just, life clouds up and storms all over us. Sometimes it seems like, you know, somebody dies and then, and then, you know, your spouse is in an accident and gets hurt or you're a child is sick or I mean, just one traumatic thing after another. And humanly, we tend to think, well, why has God upset with me? But, you know, he told us from the beginning, you're going to have trials and tests. You're going to be purified. I'm going to turn the heat up to purify you. I'm going to apply the pressure to find out what you're made of. But any human being is likely, kind of like with Job. I think Job, a little bit within that book of Job, he's wanting to know, God, you know, do you still love me or are you still working in my life? And John the Baptist, you know, early on there in John chapter 1, he said, well, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But later on, when he's cooling his heels in prison, he sends a couple of disciples saying, go and ask him, are you the one we look for? Or are we looking for another one? So it's almost like maybe there's a little, you know, little bit of dip in his faith for a while. But the Spirit of God is there to provide us confidence. In fact, it's very presence reassures us that we're on track and that we're headed the right direction. The presence of love for one another proves that God works in us. Verse 20, For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

If our heart condemns us. We have scriptural examples.

Well, in John 8, I didn't write down the verses, but John 8, the woman caught in the act of adultery in the early part of that chapter. Obviously, if she was caught in the act, there was a man who was not caught in the act of adultery. Or they owed him money and they let him go. Or maybe it was a political, maybe it was a powerful political figure and they let him go. But the religious leaders, they brought the woman to Christ. And you remember the story and how they wanted him to commit to casting stones or ordering the execution, the stoning. And he wrote on the ground. And from the eldest to youngest, they saw what he had written. And that's one of those great unanswered questions of the Bible. I want to know what he wrote.

Did he write the man's name? The man who was in the act of adultery? Did he write some of their sins? I mean, there's all kinds of possibilities, but whatever it was, it smote them in the heart and they kept on moving. But finally, there was a woman standing there, a sinner, caught in the act.

No reason to deny it. And he asked, where are your accusers? Who has condemned you? No man, Lord. And he said, neither do I. Go and sin no more. And he says that to us. And there are times, yes, we're going to do things. We're going to miss the mark. Our heart may condemn us. But God's looking at eternity. God is in the business of forgiving. Maybe we as humans ought to be in the business of forgiving a bit more quickly and easily than we do. It is more difficult to forgive ourselves than any other person. Verse 21, Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And I think here it talks about the conscience. And a conscience needs to be trained. And we train that conscience by studying God's Word because if we don't know what's in the Word of God, if we aren't continually reminding ourselves, we're going to lose what we had. And then also not just by studying, but by doing.

Verse 22, Whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments. Here's obedience coming right in there again. Here's the law of God, the need to live by it. And do those things that are pleasing in His sight. So it's not just prayer, but it's keeping and it's doing. Now, a scripture to tie in Matthew 19 verse 17. Matthew 19 verse 17. If you're going to enter in the life, keep the commandments. We pray. We ask for a right attitude. We pray to understand God's will. We pray to ask God to show us what we should do, not to try to influence God to give us what we want. I had a personal correspondence question that I was working on this morning, a lady from South Africa wrote in asking about that part of what she called the Lord's Prayer. I was explaining, well, that's a model of how to pray if you look at Luke's account. But it says, give us this day our daily bread. And I was explaining to her what all that entails. Not just the food, the water, the nourishment we need every day, day by day, but clothing and shelter and transportation and work. But also there's a spiritual aspect of that. Sometimes you ask for your daily bread, and God might answer that because He knows what is very best for us. It might be that He gives us a trial because we need to be purified a bit. As we look at this, whatever we ask we receive of Him, I was listening to Mr. Antion's class, where he covered this at a Master Bible Center. And he listed five keys to answered prayer. And I'd like to do that for you tonight right here. Five keys to answered prayer. First of all, it is seek the will of God. Seek the will of God. And a scripture for that is 1 John 5, verse 14. Because that's where it says, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. So if we're asking something that's outside the will of God, then we wouldn't expect Him to answer it in the way that we might expect. Point number two is ask in faith. Ask in faith. A scripture with that is James 1, verse 6. If we lack wisdom, we go to God, and we ask in faith, not wavering.

Number three, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ.

So to ask in the name of Christ is to ask by the authority of Christ. And that night of the Passover before He was betrayed, let me find it here, John 14, and verse 14. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now again, we have to take that in the context of all the rest of the scriptures. Just because we ask something and we say, well, I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, if we ask something that's not in God's will, then it gets trumped by the other scripture. So right here in the Word of God, we continually go, and yet, you know, we have... that's a sermon topic right there. How do you discern the will of God when it's not just answered in black and white? I think there are all kinds of things we would consider, like, you know, is it going to cause somebody to be offended? Is it going to lay a stumbling block in front of somebody? Is it good for me? Because, you know, what may be within the law and one member can handle opens the door that the next member can't close. And I would just say alcohol as an example there. Some person, you know, some can enjoy a glass of wine with dinner most nights. The next person, one sip of alcohol, and it, you know, it can open the door. It just opens a battle they don't need. So, anyhow, that's a pretty involved topic, determining the will of God. Remind me, and we'll come back to that one these days here. Okay, so that was number three, asking in Christ's name. Number four is obey. Obey 1 John 3, 22, we just read.

We keep His commandments, because we keep His commandments and do the things pleasing in His saint. And then, number five is to persevere. Persevere. And we have the story there of the widow in Luke 18 verses 1 through 7. Luke 18, 1 through 7, even the unjust judge, because she kept coming back over and over and over, even the unjust judge was moved to finally act on her behalf so she would stop worrying him out. Well, how much more quickly will our Heavenly Father hear and act? Okay, so verse 23, and this is His commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as He gave us command. Now, believe on the name of. You know, that would involve believing in the very message, the example, the nature, the character of Jesus Christ. There might be some politician, once in a while, once in a while, you might have an exceptional politician that, you know, whether it's local or state or federal, that you might really believe into that person, that man, or that woman's message. A lot of people, you know, a few years ago, Sarah Palin. You go back, you know, two to three decades ago, Ronald Reagan. A lot of people. And, of course, you can say some names. I knew people years ago, and, you know, Ross Perot, man, they were Ross Perot men and women. They got in on a movement. They got sucked into that, and human beings, you know, generally, they're going to let us down, but not Christ. Not Christ. We've got to fully be vested and believe in and invest our lives in everything that is embodied by the very life and times of Christ. And, as he said here, and love one another, you know. He went about serving, healing, feeding, teaching, and giving his life for one another, and we need to devote our lives to the same type of a selfless, sacrificial, forgiving love, just as he's given to us. 24. Now, he who keeps his commandments abides in him. Again, here we are, keeping commandments. And he in him, and by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us. So, a Christian's life is a combination of right belief that is followed by right conduct. Belief is proved by action as we allow Christ to live in us. Okay, that's chapter three. Questions or comments there? Now, in Madison last week, we've got a few verses into chapter four. Okay, let's refer here quickly to verses one through six. We've got a late start, so let's go just a few more minutes. Verses one through six of first John four is a warning against false teachers, but also here again on black and white John, he contrasts the Spirit of truth with the Spirit of error. The one is diametrically the opposite of the other one. So, in verse one, first John four, beloved do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone out into the world. So, once again, he continues to warn them there are a lot of landmines out there you can step on. You need to be discerning. One scripture that I think of is Isaiah 8 verse 16. Now, hang on, that it may be 20. Let me look that up. Isaiah 8, that much I'm sure of.

That's where it says, to the law and to the Isaiah 8 verse 20, to the law and to the testimony. And then it says, if they don't speak according to the Word, there's no light in them. You have chapters back in the Old Testament that warned about some dreamer of dreams coming along. You've got Deuteronomy 13 verses 1 through 5. You've got Deuteronomy 18, 20 through 22. You're going to have somebody's going to come along with some new idea, and we always have to be on guard. That's what John's telling them. It must be according to God's Word. No true teacher is going to speak or teach you or try to lead you in a direction that is contrary to what we find in the inspired Word of God. So we always have to have the heresy detectors up. We can't ever let them down, because a lot of people had their guard down 20 years ago and bought a bill of goods. Verse 20. Verse 20. Verse 2. Verse 2. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Well, to be of God, then that Spirit, that attitude, that teaching must acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah and that He literally came in the flesh. Again, the Gnostics denied that He was a flesh and blood human being. If He did not come in the flesh, of course the Scripture tells us He did, then He can't be our example. He can't be our high priest. He can't be our Savior. And if He can't be that, we have no salvation. But the truth is He came flesh and blood. John 1 verse 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among men. And so He has been here. He can be our high priest. He can intercede. He does understand, because He has gone through it. He was tempted in all points, as we are yet without sin. Verse 3. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. Again, going back to that Spirit of Antichrist, Antichrist is just the opponents of Christ. And this is the Spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world. And so this term, Antichrist, now you and I will hear that. There are churches. There are those who dabble in prophecy, and they'll use Antichrist to refer to the end-time beast and or false prophet. Well, by John's usage, it is an attitude. It is a false teaching, a teaching that Jesus didn't come in the flesh. It's really a misnomer to apply it to the beast or the false prophet. That's why in the church we use the terms from Revelation, the beast or the false prophet. But it's not a battle to pick. If somebody wants to refer to the Antichrist coming and they're talking about the end-time beast system, then it's probably not a line to draw on the sand there. But the term that's translated Antichrist literally means the opponents of Christ, teachings that denied that Jesus had come in the flesh. Verse 4, you are of God little children and have overcome them. The them, I think again, looking at it from John's day and age and the conditions of that time, the Gnostics, the Docetists who denied Christ because He who is in you is greater than He who is in the world. When I read that, it reminds me back to the days of Elisha.

Elisha and his servant were in the city of Dothan. During the night the Syrian army surrounded the city. The servant saw that, panicked. You know the story. And Elisha prayed that God would open His eyes. He could see. And behold, the whole mountain around was filled with chariots of fire. And of course, smitten with blindness and they walked out through the midst. They, excuse me, He who is in you is greater than He who is in the world. And that's good for us to remember. We don't have to fear Satan. All we need to respect Him, we need to always be on guard. But we serve a God and we have the Spirit of the God living within us. It's far greater. They are of the world. Therefore, they speak as of the world and the world hears them. Their attitudes are revealed by their words. From the abundance of the heart, the mount speaks. The world is on the same wavelength as these false teachers of John's day. The world knows its own. But you know, when Christ spoke, when He was written of there in John 10, He made the statement that, My sheep hear My voice. And so we need to be tuned into that. And we do it through prayer and Bible study and meditation. It's the basics of day by day renewing the Christian life. Okay, verse 6. We are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know, and notice here again, the contrast, the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. It's one or the other. There's nothing in between. The carnal mind is anti-God, anti-law.

All right. That's probably because verse 7 begins getting into a little different section, emphasizing that God is love. So I think that's probably, we've actually been going right at an hour, which is what I shoot for. So why don't we just wrap it up there through verse 6, and we'll pick it up there when we come back next month.