Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.--1 John 2:7-11
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
A Christian who is walking in the light (obeying God) is going to love his brother. Love is the supreme commandment. Colossians 3 says that love is the bond of perfection. 1 Corinthians 13 says if we do not have love we are nothing. Love is the key. If we miss that everything else is a waste of time and effort. 1 John 4:8 says he who does not love does not know God for God is love. Romans 13 tells us to owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Paul in Romans 13 is commenting on the second part of the law...the commandments regarding our behavior toward people. We fulfill the law in relationship to others if we love our neighbors as ourselves...Paul even gives us an easy definition of love to remember. "Love does no harm to a neighbor." Matthew 22:37-40 says love God and love your neighbor.
There is more...this could go on pretty endlessly. The commandment to love is all over the Bible. Jesus raises the bar even further. Read Matthew 5:21-32. Jesus took some of the commandments specifically and expounded on them. Speaking of the commandment not tu murder Jesus says "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raca! shall be in danger of the council But whoever says, "You fool! shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."
John is saying here in 1 John 2 that Jesus is introducing an old commandment but giving it a new twist so to speak. In John 13:34 Jesus gives us a new commandment "that you love one another; as I have loved you. Uh oh...that is pretty convicting. Jesus did not love with the kind of love most of us love others with. He loved with self sacrificing love. In fact He gave His life for each one of us and when we believe we become His brother or sister in Christ. This is what John meant in verse 8 about a new commandment...the old commandment which was from the beginning with a new twist. The old commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. (Deut 6:5, Lev 19:18) The new commandment says in addition to that we are to love each other as He has loved us. This was impossible before Jesus came. Jesus is the new standard of love...the self-sacrificing kind of love described in 1 Corinthians 13 and displayed on the cross at Calvary.
Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him. Jesus is the true light that gives light to every man coming into the world. We walk in darkness unless Christ the light of life lives inside us. Jesus fulfilled the commandment...it is true in Him.
John 1:9-13 says "that was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own,and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
His light gives light to every man coming into the world When we accept Him as our Lord and Savior and His Spirit indwells us the darkness passes away and the true light shines in our hearts. When we are in the light John says there is no cause for stumbling. There is no cause in us that make us stumble because His light is a lamp to our feet. There is also no chance of us making another stumble because our word and deed match. We are not acting hypocritically.Our profession and our practice match.
1 John 4:12 says "No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us." God is manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." We can only love this way if the love of God has been shed abroad in our heart by the Spirit of God who dwells in us upon our belief in His Son. His love is then perfected in us through Him...through our surrender and obedience to the Spirit of God inside. It is only then that we can love those that the Lord has placed in our lives with His love. He changes our hearts. If you love God, you will love your brother.
Love
Mom
1 John 3:14 says We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
1 John 4:20-21 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Showing posts with label 1 John 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1 John 2. Show all posts
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tests of Knowing Him - 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
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
A life in a relationship with Jesus looks like something. That is important, so I will say it again. A life in a relationship with Jesus looks like something. Evidence of your faith should be well...evident. Those who are truly born again have been given a new nature. This new nature will evidence itself in obedience to the Father's commands and a love for God and for one another. John wanted believers to have an assurance of their salvation and to continue in it. He did not want people to be deceived either by themselves or by others. Be warned, John presents the truths of this book in very black and white terms. Light vs dark. Truth vs error. No real gray areas. John gives us the marks of those who are truly in fellowship with Christ...who truly know Him. They should be a comfort to those who are, and to those who are not, they should be a warning to search their own hearts diligently.
The passage above gives us two ways that you know you belong to Christ - do we do what He says, and do we walk as He walked? More specifically, are we keeping His commandments? (vs 3) Are we keeping His Word? (vs 5) Are we walking as He walked? (vs 6)
Our desire should be to obey His commandments and to do always those things that would please Him. Jesus lived a life of obedience to His Father. He is our pattern. We possess the Spirit of Christ...our lives should reflect His characteristics and His nature. It is not that as a born again believer we display these characteristics faultlessly, but there should be a habitual pattern of obedience to our Heavenly Father and a love for one another manifested daily in the lives we live. The key words there being habitual and daily. If obedience to the Father, is not the general pattern and direction of your life and you say that you know Him, the Bible says you are a liar and the truth is not in you.
On the other hand, verse 5 says that if we do keep His word, then the love of God is perfected in us. I love that. The love that God has for us has reached its mark in us and accomplished what it was designed to do, if we respond by obeying His commandments. In essence our regenerated hearts say...Lord, I see that you are good and you are holy. I see the beauty, goodness and rightness of your ways. I see my own sin and selfishness and I don't want it anymore. I want to be like you. I want to do only those things that please you. The Bible says in Romans that the goodness of God leads us to repentance. .The love of God being perfected in the heart of sinner is a beautiful thing to behold and again...it most definitely looks like something.
Finally, in verse 6, it says, if we say we abide in Him, we should walk as He walked. Jesus' life is our pattern. His obedience to the Father is the standard. All questions girls about how to live are answered in the study of Jesus' life. We have His Spirit, His power and His presence. We can walk as He walked.
John 6:38 says this:
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Jesus had no hidden agendas. No secret motives or plans. Jesus' purpose was to do the will of His Father in heaven. If we walk as He walked, this should be our purpose also.
Love
Mom
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
A life in a relationship with Jesus looks like something. That is important, so I will say it again. A life in a relationship with Jesus looks like something. Evidence of your faith should be well...evident. Those who are truly born again have been given a new nature. This new nature will evidence itself in obedience to the Father's commands and a love for God and for one another. John wanted believers to have an assurance of their salvation and to continue in it. He did not want people to be deceived either by themselves or by others. Be warned, John presents the truths of this book in very black and white terms. Light vs dark. Truth vs error. No real gray areas. John gives us the marks of those who are truly in fellowship with Christ...who truly know Him. They should be a comfort to those who are, and to those who are not, they should be a warning to search their own hearts diligently.
The passage above gives us two ways that you know you belong to Christ - do we do what He says, and do we walk as He walked? More specifically, are we keeping His commandments? (vs 3) Are we keeping His Word? (vs 5) Are we walking as He walked? (vs 6)
Our desire should be to obey His commandments and to do always those things that would please Him. Jesus lived a life of obedience to His Father. He is our pattern. We possess the Spirit of Christ...our lives should reflect His characteristics and His nature. It is not that as a born again believer we display these characteristics faultlessly, but there should be a habitual pattern of obedience to our Heavenly Father and a love for one another manifested daily in the lives we live. The key words there being habitual and daily. If obedience to the Father, is not the general pattern and direction of your life and you say that you know Him, the Bible says you are a liar and the truth is not in you.
On the other hand, verse 5 says that if we do keep His word, then the love of God is perfected in us. I love that. The love that God has for us has reached its mark in us and accomplished what it was designed to do, if we respond by obeying His commandments. In essence our regenerated hearts say...Lord, I see that you are good and you are holy. I see the beauty, goodness and rightness of your ways. I see my own sin and selfishness and I don't want it anymore. I want to be like you. I want to do only those things that please you. The Bible says in Romans that the goodness of God leads us to repentance. .The love of God being perfected in the heart of sinner is a beautiful thing to behold and again...it most definitely looks like something.
Finally, in verse 6, it says, if we say we abide in Him, we should walk as He walked. Jesus' life is our pattern. His obedience to the Father is the standard. All questions girls about how to live are answered in the study of Jesus' life. We have His Spirit, His power and His presence. We can walk as He walked.
John 6:38 says this:
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Jesus had no hidden agendas. No secret motives or plans. Jesus' purpose was to do the will of His Father in heaven. If we walk as He walked, this should be our purpose also.
Love
Mom
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Someone On Our Side...
My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.--1 John 2:1-2
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
It is night time and it is snowing hard outside. Mikayla is right next to me in bed reading. Rebecca is in bed and Anna is in her room writing and listening to music. Suzanne is happy and safe at her house watching Ramona and Beezus with her family. It is a cozy night for everyone. How good our God is!
We are looking at the first two verses of 1 John, Chapter 2 for this study.
John who is probably close to 100 writing this calls us his little children. I love that. One of his reasons he says for writing is so that we may not sin. I am pretty sure John knows we are going to sin. God's standard, however, is perfection....Sin is, sadly, a fact of life for the born again believer. (See 1 John 1:8) John also makes it clear that there is forgiveness when we sin. (1 John 1:9) One of the differences between a believer and a non believer is that a believer admits and confesses sin. They have a settled understanding that they are sinners in need of forgiveness. A believer also has the power not to sin. We can surrender to the Spirit of God who dwells within us and obey Him instead of our own desires and lust. We are free to obey God. Christ died both to sin's penalty and to its power. His death will never need repeating. He forever paid the penalty and forever broke sin's power over those who belong to Him.
Romans 6:6-11" knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord"
Unbelievers are slaves to sin...believers have been set free from the power and the penalty of sin. They live unto God. As believers, we can now choose to obey God by surrendering to the Spirit of God who dwells within us. If we sin, John tells us we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He Himself is the propitiation for not only our sins but the sins of the whole world.
What is an Advocate? An advocate as used in the bible is a helper or one who comes alongside. In modern terms it might be used to describe a defense attorney. Christ is our Advocate! Satan accuses us before the throne of God night and day. (See Rev 12:10) Jesus Christ, the righteous, our Advocate before the throne of God, is Himself the propitiation that appeases the wrath of God. He paid the penalty for our sin. All manner of sin is forgiven but one...that is the sin of unbelief...of blasphemy against the Spirit of God.
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.--Matthew 12:31-32
The one sin that condemns us to an eternity in hell is the refusal to listen to the Spirit of God speaking to our heart. It is the voice that tells you that you are a sinner in need of a Savior. It is the voice that says, "God's Son died for your sin...accept His free gift of salvation and live forever". You know, in rereading the words I have written, I am thinking, "wow, how gracious is our God." My Father is God, my Brother is Jesus Christ who is my Advocate before my Father. Satan accuses me and my Lord and my Brother, Jesus, says to charge it to His account. He paid the penalty for that sin and then points to His finished work on the cross. He took the wrath of My Father...His Father, upon Himself so that I could live forever with Him. I stand in awe! Read 1 John 4:10,Revelation 12:10, Romans 8:1, Romans 8:33-34 and Hebrews 7:24-25.
Rejoice...Our hope is in Him!
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
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.--Romans 8:1
Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.--Romans 8:33-34
But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.--Hebrews 7:24-25
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.--Revelation 12:10
Christ died for the sins of the whole world...I have heard it put that as far as sin extends, His propitiation extends. If you have not already done so, accept His free gift and salvation is yours...your debt will be paid and you will be free from the power of sin and death.
Love
Mom
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
It is night time and it is snowing hard outside. Mikayla is right next to me in bed reading. Rebecca is in bed and Anna is in her room writing and listening to music. Suzanne is happy and safe at her house watching Ramona and Beezus with her family. It is a cozy night for everyone. How good our God is!
We are looking at the first two verses of 1 John, Chapter 2 for this study.
John who is probably close to 100 writing this calls us his little children. I love that. One of his reasons he says for writing is so that we may not sin. I am pretty sure John knows we are going to sin. God's standard, however, is perfection....Sin is, sadly, a fact of life for the born again believer. (See 1 John 1:8) John also makes it clear that there is forgiveness when we sin. (1 John 1:9) One of the differences between a believer and a non believer is that a believer admits and confesses sin. They have a settled understanding that they are sinners in need of forgiveness. A believer also has the power not to sin. We can surrender to the Spirit of God who dwells within us and obey Him instead of our own desires and lust. We are free to obey God. Christ died both to sin's penalty and to its power. His death will never need repeating. He forever paid the penalty and forever broke sin's power over those who belong to Him.
Romans 6:6-11" knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord"
Unbelievers are slaves to sin...believers have been set free from the power and the penalty of sin. They live unto God. As believers, we can now choose to obey God by surrendering to the Spirit of God who dwells within us. If we sin, John tells us we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He Himself is the propitiation for not only our sins but the sins of the whole world.
What is an Advocate? An advocate as used in the bible is a helper or one who comes alongside. In modern terms it might be used to describe a defense attorney. Christ is our Advocate! Satan accuses us before the throne of God night and day. (See Rev 12:10) Jesus Christ, the righteous, our Advocate before the throne of God, is Himself the propitiation that appeases the wrath of God. He paid the penalty for our sin. All manner of sin is forgiven but one...that is the sin of unbelief...of blasphemy against the Spirit of God.
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.--Matthew 12:31-32
The one sin that condemns us to an eternity in hell is the refusal to listen to the Spirit of God speaking to our heart. It is the voice that tells you that you are a sinner in need of a Savior. It is the voice that says, "God's Son died for your sin...accept His free gift of salvation and live forever". You know, in rereading the words I have written, I am thinking, "wow, how gracious is our God." My Father is God, my Brother is Jesus Christ who is my Advocate before my Father. Satan accuses me and my Lord and my Brother, Jesus, says to charge it to His account. He paid the penalty for that sin and then points to His finished work on the cross. He took the wrath of My Father...His Father, upon Himself so that I could live forever with Him. I stand in awe! Read 1 John 4:10,Revelation 12:10, Romans 8:1, Romans 8:33-34 and Hebrews 7:24-25.
Rejoice...Our hope is in Him!
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
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.--Romans 8:1
Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.--Romans 8:33-34
But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.--Hebrews 7:24-25
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.--Revelation 12:10
Christ died for the sins of the whole world...I have heard it put that as far as sin extends, His propitiation extends. If you have not already done so, accept His free gift and salvation is yours...your debt will be paid and you will be free from the power of sin and death.
Love
Mom
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