Intro

The 5^th chapter of 1^st John has shown that “our faith” is based upon “a single fact  that Jesus is God the Son and that trusting in Him alone comes with “four assurances” that when trusted continually by the believer will cause “four consequences” in our life:  

1. THE FACT: Vs. 6-10 Jesus is God the Son
2. The Consequences: Vs. 11-21 
   • Vs. 11-13 Confidence in this truth will give us: Assurance of “Eternal life” which will produce the consequence of a change in our destiny
   • Vs. 14-15 Confidence in this truth will give us an: Assurance of “Answered prayer” which will produce a consequence of a in change our communication.
   • Vs. 16-19 Confidence in this truth will give us an: Assurance of “Continued transformation.” Which will produce the consequence of a change in our direction.
   • Vs. 20-21 Confidence in this truth will give us an: Assurance of the “Completion of our race.” Which will produce the consequence of a change in our confidence.

When we last left our study we examined the first of  these four assurances: The Assurance of “Eternal life”. There we took note that John emphasized, “Four truths about our Eternal Life” based upon Four Words that John uses in these verses.

1. Vs. 11 GIVEN: We read that, “God has given US eternal life”: Eternal life is a gift that even before we are given the understanding of it, the reader can BEST understand it by knowing Who gave it. “Eternal Life” is qualified by the phrase “and this life is in His Son”. Furthermore, we see that Eternal Life is not just a “Present” it is a present that is a “Person, Jesus Christ”! The last thing I notice is the two-letter word “US”. 
2. Vs. 12 HAS: The second thing John reveals about “Eternal Life” is that it has two amazing features that are both explained by this one word HAS. This first quality of Eternal life is found in the “Present tense”, which describes the enjoyment can START NOW and doesn’t have to wait until the future! It is stated by John in the negative so that the believer in Jesus as the Son of Good can KNOW NOW that they will enjoy eternal life and not have to wait AND SEE!
3. Vs. 13a BELIEVE: “John writes this letter so that the reader can make sure that we are Children of God. What God GIVES we can only obtain by FAITH that God Himself has bestowed that we can believe. Faith is the key to receiving, possessing, and knowing! To not believe is to make God a liar but to believe will lead to a greater and growing in God’s abundant grace.
4. Vs. 13b KNOW: The knowledge that is revered too here is “absolute” knowledge. Oh what “blessed assurance” of the blessings that God has granted us because our faith in the Son. All such failures in our life come from the lack of confidence in the unsearchable treasures that are already ours in Christ! We all have a continual need to know that we are and will always be long to God.

Vs. 14-15 Change our communication … Answered prayer

Vs. 14-15 We can now take up the second of the four assurances”; that when trusted continually by the believer, will cause “four consequences” in our life. The first thing of note is the difference between the “absolute” knowledge in verse 13 and what it produces in the believer in verse 14 which is “confidence”. In the Greek the word in verse 14 “confidence” is “free and fearless confidence”. What makes this amazing is found when we consider both aspects of our communication: Ourselves and to Whom this free and fearless confidence in communication is with”. It is then that the greatness of this gift is realized. We mortals struggle in our “communication” it is what often leads to our disagreements as we lack the “confidence” to speak our heart for fear of being rejected. Oh, but dear saint think of this great gift as we have been granted “confidence” to speak our heart to the ONLY ONE who fully knows our hearts!! The “assurance” is NOT first that God guarantees our request but that our “Heavenly Father” HEARS us!! The Greek word “ask” is to ask for something to be given. What is even more blessed is the phrase “anything according to His will”. This is NOT a  condition but a PROMISE; that before we ask if we allow Him He will FIRST transform our request from what we THINK we need to what ONLY GOD KNOWS WE NEED! Thus, guaranteeing the promise of verse 15 “That whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” That is the assurance in our communication that it if we allow Him to rein in our hearts He will start with changing our heart bending it to His which is always in our best interest and for His glory. Prayer NO LONGER needs to be in uncertainty if we first allow God to transform our hearts as we can pray in Confidence and assurance! Prayer in the heart of this kind of saint is a mighty instrument “not for getting my will done in heaven, but for getting God’s will done on earth”. The Apostle John reveals here that Prayer (our communication with God) is NOT overcoming God’s reluctance and instead is laying hold of God’s willingness! Prayer is God’s ordained way of communication to give His children WHAT they need. He ordains the “means” and guarantees the “end”. It is this communication that is the true “thermometer” of our relationship that keeps us in close contact with Him daily. It was writer Shakespeare that wrote, “We, ignorant of ourselves, beg often for our own harms, which God denies us for our good, thus we find profit in our not receiving what we ask in prayers.” When we learn to ask what God wants we will always receive what He has!   

Vs. 16-19 Change in our direction… Continued transformation

Vs. 16-19 This third assurance comes with a difficult passage that we will need to address first so we can enjoy the gift that the apostle brings to his readers. First we will need to start our examination of this passage by ASKING the right questions as well as carefully noticing Johns words as it relates to the answers.

1. First Question: What is the sin that leads to death?
2. Second question: Why is it ineffective to pray for a person who has committed a sin that leads to death.   

What we know based upon this from John’s words:

1. Vs. 16a Describes a Believers sin as John refers to this type of sin as “his brother” and furthermore describes it as “visible” as Johns says that we will “see” this. John says that praying for this kind of believers’ sin is effective as God will grant life for this person.
2. Vs.16b-17 Describes the ineffectiveness of prayer in the specific case when of a person who has sin leading to death and it is differentiated by the phrase: “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death”. Sin by its definition causes separation and is against all that is right. But John is clear here that in a specific condition it is ill reversable by prayer. The question is what is this specific condition?     
3. Vs. 18 Seems to offer clarification that the person of verse 16 who is a believing brother “born of God” is NOT the person that is the specific case of verse 16b-17. Simply put the true believer is CAN NOT commit the sin that leads to death, but they can clearly commit sin that is unrighteousness that leads to separation from experiencing the benefits of our relationship with God.

The Apostle’s point in writing was to cause the reader to make certain that they had truly experienced the transformative encounter with the Living God through God the Son. As noted there were among the first century church that denied the divinity of Christ and had no relationship with Jesus of the Bible but instead one of their own imaginations. In Mark 3:28-29 we read Jesus words, “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is subject to eternal condemnation.” And it seems that this is what John is referring too here. This “Unpardonable sin” is die apart from receiving Christ. This is further brought out in the writer of Hebrews in 6:4-6 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” The specific person that the apostle John speaks of here that Jesus mentioned, and Hebrews further explained is the person who has experienced the revelation of the Holy Spirit with regards to the true identity of Jesus as not only being the Messiah but being the God the Son. This person problem is not ignorance of the revelation but rather rejection of the revelation and willful disobedience and prayer cannot reverse this as they already have all they need for faith and if continued in this hardened heart condition will lead to eternal separation from the truth!

            So, what is the “assurance”? It is that even if true believer sins it need not be a permanent condition and is reversable by those of us praying for them. It is essentially what wrote about in his letter to the Philippians in 1:6 where we read: “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”. Satan, the world system our flesh cannot permanently disrupt the fellowship of the believer. God offers the believer an intersession from each of us if we notice a fellow believer astray from fellowship! Peter’s courage failed and His faith dimmed but it didn’t fail as the Lord prayed for him. We are in the Lord’s keeping and Jesus said to the Father in John 18:9 that “Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none”. We may wonder from time to time, but we will NEVER BE LOST as He will always find us and be faithful to bring us back to Himself.

Vs. 20-21 Change in our confidence…Completion of our race

Vs. 20-21 The fourth and final assurance is NOT based upon mere intellectual agreement but proven transformative relational knowledge. The Christian life is NOT a theological THEROY but instead it is personal growing intimate relationship with God through the finished work of Jesus. Here the assurance is NOT that we have a hold of Him who alone is eternal life which is the point above but even greater is that our relationship is with HIM who will never let us God, never leave us or forsake us. As much as we long to be with Him, God is infinitely more desiring to be with us. He proved this while we were yet sinners but sending His only Son to make it possible. Every other pursuit is an empty idol that is lifeless and only in a relationship with God will we ever find what we have always longed for!    

1. Intro

As we are nearing the end of this letter John revisits the truths that were placed upon his heart by the Holy Spirit. The point of the letter was to convey the greatest event that can happen upon any individual in life….that they can enter through New Birth a sphere by which they can enjoy “Fellowship with God”. Humanity was designed for this encounter but lost it at the fall. It is not reinstated by humanities quest through the means of education, environment, or effort. NO, a person becomes a Christian only by being BORN of GOD. This supernatural encounter is not invisible; instead, it is visible as they show up in our TRANSFORMATION! This is noticeable in what a person who is enjoying fellowship with God love’s as well as how they love. Another characteristic that the apostle John pointed out was a simple observation that the Christian just lives victoriously. Though not immune to the difficulties and adversities of life they nonetheless live a joy filled life. Furthermore, this isn’t necessitated upon avoidance to adversity neither is it accomplished through favorable outcomes. Instead, the victorious life comes about due to three truths:

1. The understanding that NOTHING will ever be successful in separating us from the only PERSON we MUST have, our Lord Jesus, whom we are told will Never Leave Us nor forsake us!
2. The victory also comes by the truth that these trials are not “Random Attacks” instead they are “Planed Acts” to which we CAN “rejoice in the beauty they will produce”!
3. Lastly, the truth that the three things that hinder us: The Devil, the world system, and our fleshly old nature, will be defeat once for all.

The question that John addresses in the final verses of this letter is: “How can a person be confident in this conviction that they have fellowship with God?” Humanity has always strived after “certainty”. People are always looking for something or someone that will establish “confidence” that the course in life that they have chosen is the right one. Such a quest has produced numerous counterfeits like: 

• Astrology, (confidence in the stars)
• Tarot Cards, (confidence in the cards)
• Palm Readers, (confidence in our hands)
• Fortune Tellers, (confidence in those who have died).

Unfortunately, these “counterfeits to confidence” have also found the same opportunity within the walls of the church in the form of “personal prophecies” these false prophets inevitably blame the person they offered their “false assurances” too when what they “named and claimed” that was to cause confidence, NOW only brings about calamity.      

How wonderful it is that God understands our need for confident in our conviction  and gives us His “Divine certainty”. His answer towards our FAITH is that our assurance is based upon a FACT! As we look out through the rest of the 5^th chapter of 1^st John we will see that our confidence….or “our faith” is based upon “a single fact”! Furthermore this “Fact” will produces “four assurances”! In other words, our “Confidence in this FACT will cause four consequences” in our life:  

1. THE FACT: Vs. 6-10 Jesus is God the Son
   1. The Consequences: Vs. 11-21 
2. Vs. 11-13 Confidence in this truth will change our destiny.. Assurance of “Eternal life”.
3. Vs. 14-15 Confidence in this truth will change our communication. Assurance of “Answered prayer”.
4. Vs. 16-19 Confidence in this truth will change our direction. Assurance of “Continued transformation.”
5. Vs. 20-21 Confidence in this truth will change our confidence. Assurance of the “Completion of our race.”

Those blessed assurances are all built upon the ONE FACT, the “Divine Certainty” that is wrapped up NOT in a principal but in a “Person” Jesus Christ who is in FACT the Son of God. It is “this fact” that will examine this morning before we look at the assurances that our confidence in this fact produces.

1. Vs. 6 The Spirt is truth

Vs. 6 This verse starts with the words “This is He” and that must cause the reader to ask, “Who is He”? And the answer to that is to be found in verse 5 where the Apostle John tied the victorious Christian life is dependent upon our faith being only in the Son of God! And as I said this is only as secure as the truth that it is dependent upon. The Christian’s confidence is NOT based upon a person’s opinion or testimony as John will point out in verse 9. People will believe what others tell them all the time. So, what John offers the Christian is Someone far more reliable to establish our confidence as he reminds his readers of “Three Witness” that testified to the Deity of Jesus at his incarnation. This is why John will contrast this testimony to the testimony of the false teachers in verse 9. In this verse John uses words that were designed to counter the Cerinthian Gnostic heresy that was popular at this time. These false teachers taught that was “Only a person, only human and not God the Son. Their teaching was that the divine element the CHRIST came upon a normal human at his baptism and this divine element left Jesus before his death upon the cross.” To counter this false teaching John presents THESE truths. There are three words used here that state the truth that we need to be aware of in this verse: “This is HE WHO CAME by water and blood—-JESUS CHRIST.” Most people would focus upon the statement “by water and blood” and miss what John says in the words “HE WHO CAME—-JESUS CHRIST”. The words HE WHO CAME identify Jesus as the same person who John calls the Son of God in verse 5 and says that This “Jesus, the Son of God CAME INTO TIME AND SPACE THAT WAY!” This is further strengthened by the use of the words “Jesus Christ” which as you know is not His first and last name and instead link together the person with His purpose and having said that Jesus came into His purpose already being God the Son and it was NOT bestowed upon Him at His baptism as these false teachers claimed.

            Now we examine the words “by water and blood” as we now understand the context of this passage being to bring in the truth to the Cerinthian Gnostic heresy of the divine element the CHRIST came upon a normal human at his baptism and this divine element left Jesus before his death upon the cross makes the interpretation a bit more obvious as John goes right after their false claim by mentioning “WATER” which these false teachers claimed that the divine element came upon him at “baptism”. Thus the “BLOOD” refers to Jesus bloody “death upon the cross”, where the false teachers claimed the divine element left Jesus. What John points out in verse 9 was that there were many professing Christians who were quick to trust the testimony of false teachers with regards to the identity of Jesus while not believing the God’s own testimony! We only need to read the gospel accounts to find out what the truth: There are three times that God the Father gave His testimony of His Son’s identity, and they are at the beginning of Jesus earthly ministry at His baptism, then in the middle of His ministry at Jesus transfiguration and lastly on the cross. For purpose of the text, we will look at the one that isn’t referenced in this passage first:

1. Matthew 17: 5 God the Father spoke up on behalf of His Son saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” As you go back to this passage you are at once taken back by the simplicity BUT profound words Matthew writes with when he tells what transpired, “He was transfigured before them..” The word “transfigured” is the word metamorphosized in the Greek and is the same word that describes what happens to caterpillar inside a cocoon. This word describes a change on the outside that comes from the inside. What this means is extremely important as it relates to the text in 1^st John and that is that Jesus’ glory was NOT reflective it was radiant. We are further told that His face shown like the sun. Again, Matthew is NOT describing something that was like a spotlight on Him; instead, Matthew proclaims that the light was not shining upon HIM it was come from within HIM! In verse 3 we are told that Moses also appeared to the three and you bible students will remember that Moses had prayed in Ex. 33:18 “Please, show me Your glory.” To Which in the 20 verse God replies, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” Well here Moses’ request is granted to these three. The miracle of the transfiguration was not this moment rather it was that He did not radiate this glory all the time. John spoke of this moment in his life in John 1:14 where he wrote, “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” It is interesting whom God brought along to witness to the three: Moses who represented the law and Elijah who represented the prophets. In other words, the sum of O.T. revelation comes to meet Jesus as He was transfigured. That is the testimony given us in Heb. 1:1-3 where we are told that, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Moses is seen as a guy that dies and goes to glory.” I’m sure that Peter did not mean to say that all three of these guys were on the same level but that is what he said and because of this with have God the Father’s correction in verse 5 “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, Hear Him!” The God the Father breaks through everything and reaffirms the truth of His Son. You cannot put anything or any anyone on the same plain as Jesus. Peter would some time latter say that there is no other name under heaven whereby men might be saved. Jesus is the final authority; He is the Alpha and Omega of revelation. It is not Jesus plus the law or works. It is not Jesus plus my experience. It is Jesus as seen in the word of God.    

Next week we will jump back into this passage and examine more in detail the other two testimonies of God concerning His Son and why this fact produces confidence that will have great consequences in our lives!

Intro

The apostle John throughout this letter has established what he believed to be the most important truth in life the possibility of: Fellowship with God!!! John described this in an encounter that had happened to him as a young man some 70 years prior, but he says that he had enjoyed the lasting effects throughout his life! Even though he had lived in Judaism throughout his young life prior to his encounter with God; the religion that had been created by the leaders had obscured the truth of the revelation of God that the Word had revealed. But that encounter with Jesus that day by the Sea of Galilee changed his life forever. The Light of the world, the Word of God became visible and dwelt among those disciples for 3 ½ years! As we close this letter, it is clear that John didn’t want people to miss the single most important thing for all humanity…fellowship with the Living God. John understood this not to be religious instead relational. To aide in this desire John wrote of three tests that the professing believer could take to determine if they were indeed a true follower of Christ. Interesting enough these three tests didn’t test a person’s knowledge or intellect instead they tested a person’s change of behavior, their transformation.

1. Moral: Having encountered the Living God who by His very nature is Holy has our “New Birth” produce a change in what we practice morally? If there has been no change in our behavior then we have not come into a relationship with our Holy Father!
2. Social: If we have come into a relationship with God who is loving, and such love has transformed us then this love will operate through us towards others in a love that is called out from us towards others not “because of them” but instead “in spite of them”.
3. Relational: Finally, if we have come in contact with the Living God who is true; then how He has chosen to reveal Himself to us we will agree with even if it went against what our religion taught us. This related to the person and work of the Messiah, the Son of God who at His incarnation humbled Himself to dying of a cross for our sin.               

Vs. 1-5 What is a Christian?

At the close of this letter the Apostle John will again address those three tests only from a different angle this time by asking indirectly: What are the characteristics of a Christian? Look now at these five verses and note the three chorus John presents as they will provide the outline to the passage as well as John’s definition of the characteristics of a person Born of God.

1. Vs. 1, 4 Born of God: Here we note that the first and primary characteristic of  a Christian is NEW BIRTH. A Christian’s is not a person who becomes one by education, environment, or effort. John also informs his readers that a Christian is “Born that way” but not by natural means such as a person being born into the right lineage, a Christian home or nation. The only way a person becomes a Christian is by being BORN of GOD. It is supernatural! Just because it is supernatural this doesn’t mean that the characteristics are invisible; instead, it is the opposite, because since we are Born of God this New Birth is by its very nature TRANSFORMATIONAL!
2. Vs. 1-3 Loves Him/God: Here John brings up the truth that the person who has come into contact with the Living God will see a transformation in “What they love and how they love”.
   • What they love: They will awake after New Birth with a new love and that will be for the things of God and no longer a thing of the former life and world. Oh, they may stumble in the former loves as a child learns to walk but they will no longer want to live in the loves of the flesh! Their appetites will change as they mature and come to realize how great God’s love for them truly is. This will produce a security that is greater than any other thing or ant person they have ever loved. The Christian is never asked to first leave that which they have loved instead they discover that the things they have loved only to keep them from enjoying Him who has loved us in spite of us and security this alone brings.
   • How they love: It will also transform the WAY we love as we are changed by God’s love that has so loved us in spite of us and not because of us we will begin to love one another the same way. We won’t love one another in a selfish way that only precipitates love “because of how they make us feel”. Instead, we will start loving the way God loves us! This love will grow “because His love is perfected in us, and we will love in spite of who they are and because of Who God is”.       
3. Vs. 4-5 Over comes the world: The final characteristic the apostle John points out is a simple observation that the Christian just lives victoriously. The Christian does is not immune to the difficulties and adversities of life if anything they are made more difficult by their New Birth. It isn’t the avoidance nor the outcome that causes the Christian to live a victorious life. The Christian isn’t living in the prison of looking for better situations and circumstances to produce happiness. Instead, the Victorious Christian has come to realize that it isn’t the situations and circumstances that produce joy it is instead joy that changes US in the midst of adverse situations and circumstances. The victorious life comes about due to three:
   • The victory comes NOT from avoidance nor is it limited to our expectations of things working according to our plan and timing. The Victorious Christian has a victory that cannot be defeated by those limitations and instead has the understanding that NOTHING will ever be successful in separating us from the only PERSON we MUST have, our Lord whom we are told will Never Leave Us nor forsake us!
   • The victory also comes by the truth that even during adverse situations and circumstances there is a WORK in them that is perfecting us. These trials are not “Random Attacks” instead they are “Planed Acts” that are designed for our maturity and growth. Victory does not ask us to enjoy the “planned process” but to instead “rejoice in the beauty it will produce”!
   • The victory also comes by the truth that the three things that hinder us: The Devil, the world system, and our fleshly old nature, will be defeat once for all. The Victorious Christian has the hope that awaits us that all we face now that hinder us it but a blink of the eyes and that we will enter a NEW and glorious sphere where now of those three things shall ever keep us down again and will enjoy for eternity an existence that escapes earthly descriptions.

We will take up these five verses in more detail next week but as we have much to reflect upon this morning and we have communion and think this will serve as a reflective introduction as we celebrate the One our Lord Jesus who has made becoming a Christian possible!             

Intro

At the start of the 4^th chapter, I offered an outline of the chapter starting in verses 7-21 and it was all based upon repeated phrases and words that form a chorus:

1. Vs. 7-12 The exhortation to “love one another”
2. Vs. 13-16 The connection between Love and sound doctrine seen in the words “abide in Him and he in us”
3. Vs. 17-21 The perfection of love seen in the confidence of the believer before God at the judgement. And her the words repeated is “perfected love”

John’s focus over the last few weeks has been on three aspects of God’s love seen in God’s gift to fallen humanity in sending His only Son, Jesus:

1. THE GIFT: “God gave His best” First, God gave His Son Jesus.    
2. THE PURPOSE OF THE GIFT: “God gave His Son to die” Second, the measurement of this great love of God in sending God the Son as a gift is seen in Jesus’ cost to accomplish the mission for humanities reconciliation, HIS DEATH! God’s love didn’t stop at a teacher or an example in sending Jesus instead He went all the way to Jesus’ death. And not any death, a death reserved for the worst of sinners.
3. WHO THE GIFT WAS FOR: “God gave for sinners” Finally, we realize that Jesus was willing crucified for those who did all that they could to crucify Him. The measure of God love is realized in those three aspects:

• THE GIFT: “God gave His best”
• THE PURPOSE OF THE GIFT: “God gave His Son to die”
• WHO THE GIFT WAS FOR: “God gave for sinners”

These three aspects underscore the greatness of God’s love as we recognize that God’s gave His best to make the ultimate sacrifice for the worst of humanity! We saw last week that this “Love of God” has six aspects to that must find its way in our love of one another:

1. It is spontaneous in its source
2. It is universal in its scope
3. It is long-suffering in its intensity
4. It is self-sacrificing in its character
5. It is aggressive in its action
6. It is constant in its duration    

All of that brought the reader to the understanding that “loving one another” with God’s Love is far more than a mere “OBLIGATION” it is instead an expression of our DEVOTION and “APPRECIATION”. The reason for this is that as believers we have been impacted by the love of God three ways:

• God’s love has done something to us
• God’s love has done something for us
• God’s love has done something in us

And because of those facts God’s love has no choice but NOW MUST do something THROUGH US to love one another!

Vs. 13 How to know if you have received God’s gift

Vs. 13 You may recognize the words “by this we know that we abide in Him” as they were very similar to what John wrote in 3:24 where he wrote “by this we know that He abides in us..” The first time we saw this chorus it was Jesus making His home with us that John wrote about offering the assurance of this was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that was visible reality to us when we loved one another with God love! Now John’s 2^nd use of this phrase is also an assurance of our relationship with the Lord. The word “abide” in the Greek is such an intimate word as it means “to live in the home of another”. I pray that we can understand that the proof of a relationship with the Lord was not to be found first in what we intellectually know but instead it was to be found in where we LIVE! A may be a few years before a child can tell anyone where they live but their lack of being able to give their address has nothing to do with not knowing where they LIVE! Of further interest to me is that same word speaks for abide in the Greek speaks of fellowship between two or more individuals. The phrase “of His Spirit” speaks of each and every believer His gifts as John uses the word “OF” and this is evidence of the abiding relationship that the believer enjoys. The point of bring this up is to reinforce that for the Christian there must not be any separation between their inner life and their outer life. “Loving one another” WILL PRODUCE two things in the life of the believer:

1. Vs. 12 We Grow in knowledge: God’s love being perfected in us.
2. Vs. 13 We Grow in faith: Whoever lives in God’s love, will have the assurance that they have changed addresses and are indeed living with the Lord.

The more we grow in the love for God, the more we will understand the Love of God. And the more we understand the Love of God, the easier we will find it will be trust God. Which is what John well say in 4:18 as he says that “perfect love casts our fear”. Experiencing God’s love destroys our insecurities: When we know Jesus intimately, we will love Him sincerely and that will cause us to put all our confidence in Him supremely! The negative of this is that if a person speaks of experiencing the Love of God and yet remains bound in their own insecurities it is obvious that they have not spent enough time in His Love and instead being living in their own self love! Because God IS love, we CAN love. His love is NOT PAST history, its PRESENT REALITY. This is why “love one another”:

• Began as a COMMANDMENT in verse 7
• Grows into a PRIVILEGE in verse 11
• But becomes a CONSQUENCE in verse 12 as “loving one another” isn’t something that we “ought to do” or “must do” it is instead something that we “want to do”!         

Vs. 14-15 Knowing and loving

Vs. 14-15 At the time John wrote this a phrase like “the Father sent the Son as Savior of the world” instead of the Emperor of Rome was a capital offence punishable by death. The Christian would have been called an “atheist”. It would be good to realize this today as the world is religious, worshipping themselves and it is the Christian that is the “atheist” as we are against worshipping the religions of the world and have instead worshipped THE ONLY true and living God. John wants the reader to understand that “Love and Truth” are not to separate things they are connected. The more we live our God’s Love the more we will grow in our comprehension of God. Biblical knowledge is not obtained in a “classroom” it is instead gained by personal encounter with God who is by His very nature, Love. Any “personal devotion” with God that doesn’t make us behave more like God suggests that we have spent time in only an action instead of an encounter. The phrase in verse 15 that we must agree with is that “Jesus is THE Son of God and as such God the Son…very God of very God”. This is confession of the deity of Jesus the Messiah and implies surrender and obedience to Him and not just lip service. This was being said to a culture that understood a mere mortal being worshipped as a god in the Emperor and Joh is declaring that Jesus is NOT a merely a “good man”, “created teach” “prophet” etc. No Jesus is God the Son!   

The Bible’s revelation of God’s love MUST cause in us not only a better understanding of God’s love, but it also MUST make it easier to obey His word to love one another. The Christian can NOT fall into the false view that our “WITNESS” is only “verbal”! Without LOVE demonstrated our words are useless. Jesus demonstrated what he declared and that is how the gospel will be effective today when what we declare is demonstrated. The gospel must be an expression of love. I think it is for this reason that God allows the world to hate Christians, so that we might return God’s love for the worlds hate! Our confession of Jesus as God the Son is not mere lips service or an intellectual theory, instead it is a personal and spiritual truth to where I agree with God as to God the Son coming in the flesh! The result of this is that we have a “reciprocal relationship” with the Lord where we live together in mutual love for each other.

Vs. 16 Growing more in love

Vs. 16 John speaks of the Love of God as something that the Christian has experienced personally and is not just a theological point but instead of reality that they have enjoyed! This is further brought out in the words “Known” and “believed” as those words suggest both “recognition” as well as “persuasion” of this love! John starts that this experience is grounded in the truth that God as to His very nature is LOVE and this love is active and cause us to change our address back to Living with Him and enjoying this relationship!

Intro

We are still examining God’s love in 1^st John chapter 4:7-21 and specifically the exhortation to love one another. The apostle’s style of writing was very lyrical as he repeated words and phrases like a song writer would repeat a chorus and that is what we have been studying in the three-time repeated chorus: “LOVE ONE ANOTHER”, where what changes in the chorus is the three reasons for the command to “love one another” which is seen in the words:

• Vs. 7-10 “Let us love one another”: The first point we examined is in the two words “let us” and it is that since we have been born again and LOVE is God’s own nature we must exhibit that same nature of God’s love to each other. 

Now this week we will move on to the next two parts of this repeated chorus:

• Vs. 11 “We also ought to love one another”: Since LOVE is God’s gift to His children than we must be sharing that gift with each other.
• Vs. 12 “If we love one another”: Since God’s LOVE is God’s currant activity in and through His children than it must be our activity.

As it related to the first phrase “Let us” in the Greek is literally “Let us be HABITUALLY loving one another.” This along with the Greek words “one another” indicate the practice of exchanging LOVE with others for mutual benefit. Last week we finished our study through verse 10 where we specifically looked at the two phrases: “for love is of God” and verse 8 “God is love” as John stated two truths:

1. First, Vs. 7 “For love is of God”: The source of Love is God, and the only true definition of what love is and behaves like. And in that we noted that love’s “source” is the Divine nature. And because it is a part of God’s Divine nature this Love of God is transformative: According to verse 8 the absence of God’s love in the life of a person who professes to have been in contact with the love of God indicates the absence of the knowledge of God, as verse 8 in the Greek reads, “The person who does not love with this kind of love has NEVER known God.” This reveals to the reader that to experience God’s love through faith is transformative! To have experienced the love of God that changes us through New Birth WILL cause that person to exhibit that which they have come into contact with the love of GOD, with others!
2. Second, Vs. 8 “God is love”: John is NOT declaring the worldly definition that ALL “LOVE IS.. GOD”. John makes two points are made in this verse. In the Greek the article is placed on the word God and NOT on the word love which means that these two words are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. A proper translation of this phrase would be “God, as to His nature is love and because of this it is always His nature to be loving.” The second point John makes is that you cannot sperate His nature from other aspects of His nature! God’s word reveals to us even in First John that God is also Holy. What this indicates is that God’s love is always a Holy Love and that His Holiness is always loving! Vs. 7-8 The definition to God’s Love is from the vantage point of God the Father.

The final aspect of God’s love that we examined was in verses 9-10 where the focus was on “What God did”. The point was because God is love, He communicates not only in words but in action. Our attention was upon the atonement as the greatest demonstration of God’s love towards humanity as we noted three aspects of God’s love seen in God’s gift to fallen humanity in sending His only Son Jesus:

1. THE GIFT: “God gave His best” First, God gave His Son Jesus. That is the best there is to give as nothing could ever come close to the Gift of God the Son. Paul said it this way in 2 Corinth 9:15 “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift”.    
2. THE PURPOSE OF THE GIFT: “God gave His Son to die” Second, the measurement of this great love of God in sending God the Son as a gift is seen in Jesus’ cost to accomplish the mission for humanities reconciliation, HIS DEATH! God’s love didn’t stop at a teacher or an example in sending Jesus instead He went all the way to Jesus’ death. And not any death, a death reserved for the worst of sinners. It is this truth that Paul writes of his confidence in found in Roman’s 8:31-39 why he bold proclaims that “Nothing can separate us from the love of God”.        
3. WHO THE GIFT WAS FOR: “God gave for sinners” Finally, we realize that Jesus was willing crucified for those who did all that they could to crucify Him. God demonstrate His love for ALL of humanity who were not lovely “good people” but instead the most file of all people. The measure of God love is realized in those three aspects:

• THE GIFT: “God gave His best”
• THE PURPOSE OF THE GIFT: “God gave His Son to die”
• WHO THE GIFT WAS FOR: “God gave for sinners”

Vs. 11 Since God so loved us

Vs. 11 It is now that the Apostle moves further into the commandment. The word “IF” is an unfortunate translation as it would be better “SINCE” as the word reaches back to the act of the Father in sending His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins. This is the “chief cornerstone” on the building that expresses God’s nature of  love. The heart of God the Father is in view who sent His Son and placed Him upon the cross and it was His holiness that demanded what only His love could satisfy as He abandoned fellowship as our sin was placed upon His Son. Because of God’s action if we have truly been impacted by this love towards us we an obligation to be constantly loving one another with God’s love which is NOT a love that is called forth by the virtues in another but is spontaneously the initiator in loving one another! There are six truths with regards to God’s love towards one another:

1. It is spontaneous in its source
2. It is universal in its scope
3. It is long-suffering in its intensity
4. It is self-sacrificing in its character
5. It is aggressive in its action
6. It is constant in its duration    

With this as the context of the definition of the love of God comes the action required by God to those to whom have experienced this love; “We ought to love one another”. Based upon what God has done for us comes the increasing and permanent obligation that comes from being a recipient of God’s love, we are to love one another the way that He has demonstrated His love towards us in the above six ways! Our loving one another must never be seen as a mere “OBLIGATION” but rather as an expression of our devotion and “APPRECIATION” of having been recipients who continually enjoy that same love! Paul wrote of this “APPRECIATION” in Romans 13:8 when he wrote “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law”. Such love must be as John has already wrote of in 3:18 not in “word or tongue but is deed and in truth”. Not just with the words that can be empty “love you” as “sentiment is feeling without responsibility”. Instead:

• The MIND must understand the truth
• The HEART must appreciate the truth
• The WILL must act upon the truth

The greater we abide in God’s love and do what Paul wrote of in Eph 3:18-19 where he said that being rooted and grounded in God’s love would cause us to “comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” As this takes place the natural outcome is that we will love greater one another!

Vs. 12 God’s love perfected in us

Vs. 12 Because of the believer being impacted by the love of God we note that He has done so:

• God’s love has done something to us
• God’s love has done something for us
• God’s love has done something in us

And because of those facts God’s love NOW MUST do something THROUGH US! There are three ways in which the revelation of God’s love is maid known to humanity:

1. God’s love is PROCLAIMED in God’s Word.
2. God’s love is PROVED at the cross.
3. God’s love is PERFECTED in the believer. 

John states the need for this perfection in the manifestation of His love through His children be reminding them that His nature is invisible to mortal eyes. How does God manifest His nature to those who are blind to Him? John says it’s through how we Christians love one another. As we demonstrate God’s love His nature becomes visible! It is made possible because John declares here that “God abodes or has made His home within us”. Finally, when we act upon what is ours through the indwelling Holy Spirit this love matures and our fellowship with God is manifested towards then world. The prof of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit isn’t in the Gifts of the Spirit but rather in the love of God being pored through the life of the believer.     

Intro

This morning we take up the antidote to the three examples in “types of human relationships” that should NOT be in the body of Christ.

1. Vs. 12 Murder
2. Vs. 13-15 Hatred
3. Vs. 16-17 Indifference

As we shall examine what abiding in Christ’s love should produce in our hearts towards each other in verses 18-24, Compassion and it is this compassion that is the antidote to the flesh. John revealed to his readers that there an unholy “trilogy of the flesh” in that we see: “Murder” starts in the flesh when “hatred” has progressed beyond the continual attitude of “indifference” towards someone in the family of God. The apostle points out in verse 13 that Christian’s should not be surprised by the attitude of the world towards us, but  the world ought to be continually surprised by our attitude and action towards them. There are certain characteristics that are mutually exclusive: Love and hate, like light and darkness, life, and death; you are either one or the other but never both at the same time! No person can maintain both residences: A person who is staying at home in the world cannot keep their home with Christ also! John will spend the bulk of this section reassuring believers on the assurances that God provides for the believer who is: Practicing righteousness and loving their brothers and sisters in Christ!

Vs. 17-18 In deed and in truth

Vs. 17-18 First John has a further clarification on the type of practical love that he is writing on. The followers of Christ need to remember that “Love is SEEN and NOT just HEARD!” Our Love for the body of Christ is the evidence of our having received the Love of God! It is the Holy Spirit speaking through the Apostle John that reminds the believer that Love can NOT be understood solely by:

• What we THINK, no matter how accurate
• What we FEEL, no matter how passionately
• What we SAY, no matter how often and eloquently    

Instead, the only genuine proof that we can offer is practical, self-sacrificing activity directed towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. The body of Christ is to be the object of our affection and it is to be seen practically and not theoretically, in reality and not profession! It is in the “small things” that are the best tests of the love that Jesus commanded the Christian to have to one another. But the negative of this also true that when the professing Christian on willing to help their brothers and sisters in need it makes it certain John says that at that moment and perhaps for certain that God’s love is not indwelling that person. There must be in every believer a “Reality of God’s Love” that is seen expressing Gods love by three things:

1. A heart that wants to help their fellow follower of Jesus
2. A heart that seeks to know others needs
3. A hear that is willing to sacrifice their comfort for the needs so others

While on a mission trip the missionary told me the story of a visitor on the foreign field that always spoke of their love for the believers in that country. They were always speaking to him with words that expressed their affection. The missionary was shocked to find out that not one time had they ever contributed anything to meet the needs of those they had said that they loved. The love they had was to be known as loving but not to be loving! The words “HAS THIS WORLDS GOODS”  with “AND SEES HIS BROTHER IN NEED” combined with the words, “AND SHUTS UP HIS HEART FROM HIM” shows the true condition of “self-love”. It is to this person that John now asks the question, “How does the love of God abide in him?” The true believer knows what “Loving in, deed and in truth” is. The comparison here is between: DEED and WORD and TRUTH and TONGUE. James in his letter wrote of this in 2:15-16 when he wrote that “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed, and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?” To love in “WORD” means that the person is only interested in “TALKING” about the need. Whereas as “IN DEED” means that the believer is doing something about it. To merely discussed a NEED or to even have prayed for a need is NOT the same as doing something about it. The love that Jesus commanded involves more than words, it calls for sacrificial deeds! To love in “TONGUE” is the opposite of to love in “TRUTH”. To love in tongue suggests an insincerity, whereas to love in truth speaks of genuine true heart! People will soon find out if a person is all talk or a person of action. A person of FAITH or a mere FRAUD!

Vs. 19-24 By this we know

Vs. 19-24 The context of this passage is found in the phrase at the start of verse 19 where John writes, “By this we know” and begs the reader to ask to question what is the “THIS” that John is writing of? The answer to that is obvious as these next verses describe three blessed assurances that God gives a true believer who practices Christian love.  

1. Vs. 19-24a Assurance of authentic relationship: In these verse John reveals 7 signs of an authentic relationship with God in three specific areas: Relationship, Prayer, and Abiding. John does this so that the believer would KNOW that they have passed from death to life:
   • Vs. 19a That we are OF THE TRUTH: Notice that John doesn’t say, “IN TRUTH”. The difference between “IN TRUTH” and “OF TRUTH” is that we are “IN MONTANA” which describes a geographical position whereas if we said we are “OF MONTANA” we are declaring that we are made up of Montana, that it is impossible to separate the two. John is declaring that the first assurance that the true believer has because they are practicing truth is that it isn’t just head knowledge if heart knowledge!
   • Vs. 19b Confident hearts in the presence of God: The true believer has no fear before the presence of God as they practice living before Him in truth. Because they practice truth they don’t have a condemning heart or accusing conscience and because of this they walk with God in love with an open heart knowing that God only disciplines those He loves.
   • Vs. 20 Freedom from condemnation and doubt of God’s love: Even if our own heart condemns us we can have the assurance that that God doesn’t condemn us. God is greater that our doubt and never judges us wrongly. Though we should never treat sin lightly we must also never be harder on ourselves than God is.       
2. Vs. 21b-22 Assurance of answered prayer: These next two both deal with our communication with God:
   • Vs. 21 We have confidence with God: The first confidence in communication to say what is really true in our hearts before God. We don’t have to pretend or be hypocritical to God. Not only is such action foolish as He is all knowing, in the believer who is practicing truth we can talk with God about whatever is on our hearts knowing that He loves us and longs to hear from us. The freedom of speech gives us greater boldness in approaching in confidence! 
   • Vs. 22 Assurance of answers: Here is that the truth that says, “If we seek to do God’s will as if it was ours than He will work through our will as if it was His.” John is not saying that somehow by doing right things we will earn answered prayer instead what John is declaring is that a “Christian who ever lives to please God will soon discover that God will always find ways to please His child.”  That is what Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”  
3. Vs. 23-24 Assurance of abiding commitment: John restates the expectation that God has for his children, but this twofold expectation is that which a relationship with Him has assured the follower of the ability to life this out. They we should trust Jesus and because of this that we should love one another. Because of this John declares that they have the assurance of a continued “abiding relationship with Christ”.
   • Vs. 24a Abides in Him: What we see in this is that such abiding relationship with Christ is reciprocal in nature. Sometimes we think that it is only as clinging to Him, and it is clearly God that we have made the daily decision to “stay at home with Jesus” nut it is even greater to understand  that He has made the decision first to stay at home with us!  
   • Vs. 24b And He in us: Tis assurance also comes with a guarantee of the continual indwelling of the Holy Spirit by which our hearts are constantly reassured of our abiding relationship. The Holy Spirit in our hearts is the guarantee of authenticity of our ongoing relationship with God. Paul wrote to the Roman believers of this in 5:5 saying that the “Love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given us.”  

Intro

The third chapter of John’s first letter is a contrast between two different groups of people the Child of God and the Child of the devil. In verse 10 John wrote, “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother”. The two primary differences between these two children is seen in both Vertical Love and Horizonal Love:

1. Vertical Love: The practice of righteousness, in the life of the Child of God and the absence of  the practice of righteousness in the child of the devil.
2. Horizonal Love:  The practice of loving his brother, in the life of the Child of God and the absence of this in the child of the devil.

John had just wrote that these differences had transpired solely because of the finished work of Jesus and that His work had destroyed the “root of sin” as well as provided His blood that will enable the born-again believer to not practice sin habitually. It is apparent that even after 70 years John saw that the work of Christ in those who received Him as Lord ought to be THE EXAMPLE of the best of human relationships and families as Jesus had said in John 13:35, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” The verses that we are examining now offer for the reader just what this looks like in verse 12-24 as we see four examples as “types of human relationships” These examples show three things that ought NOT be a part of our fellowship with each other and ONE that should:

1. Vs. 12 Murder
2. Vs. 13-15 Hatred
3. Vs. 16-17 Indifference
4. Vs. 18-24 Compassion       

Last week we focused on the first of these found in verse 12 with the example of Cain who murdered his righteous brother Jesus. Cain is an illustration of what is “self-centered love”. We discovered that the example that John uses is NOT of an atheist as Cain was a worshiper of the Living God. According to Gen 4:1-16 both he and Able shared the same family, they were brothers born of Adam and Eve. They had the same access to the instruction in righteousness, both were trained and understood the concept of stewardship that all the blessings and gifts they had received had been given to them by a gracious loving God. They attended the same religious gatherings and brought offerings that represented the understanding of their dependence upon the grace of God to enjoy life’s blessings. Furthermore, I personally believe that Cain had offered the right offering to God as Able did in times past. The point that John is bringing out is that “When Self-love comes face to face with truth and reality it has a decision: Repent and change or destroy the person exposing it!” Now we will take up the other three examples as “types of human relationships”.

1. Vs. 13-15 Hatred
2. Vs. 16-17 Indifference
3. Vs. 18-24 Compassion       

Vs. 13-15 Hatred

Vs. 13-15 The case of Cain is an extreme one that led to murder but now we see where murder came from if not dealt with. Like any infection if our immune system doesn’t deal with the infection of “hatred” early enough then it can cause death! While dealing with Donna’s cancer I learned about designer DNA that they were experimenting with that in some cancers was able to detect and attack the defective cancer cells and actually alter them or destroy them before the cancer spread. John speaks of attacking “the cancer of murder by attacking hatred and then indifference with the God given treatment of compassion”. There is a difference between taking a life and the hatred actions, but the inward intent is the same. John says that this “intent” is part of the fallen world system that comes from the “murder” satan himself. These three verses offer the difference between these two children.

A. Vs. 13 First, John wants his readers to not be surprised by the world’s hatred of us as the transformative work of Christ is being made visible in our behavior and as such it brings conviction upon the ungodly. And like I mentioned before when that happens the unrighteous has only two choices: Repent and change or destroy the person exposing it! While the Christian should not be surprised by their attitude of us the world should be surprised by our attitude and action towards them. The business of the Christian is NOT to be hated by the world; it is to commend to Jesus to the world in order so that they will be won to Him. 

B. Vs. 14 Second, as true as that reaction is in the world such hatred ought not be a part of the body of Christ and its actions towards each other. Insecurity and sin lead to bitterness and jealousy and those two leads to active hatred. When the Christian doesn’t behave like the world in its insecurity it reveals to the individual believer that they have indeed passed from death to life. So, note this professing Christian when we act like we did before we knew Jesus in gossip and backbiting we are showing that we are at that moment “abiding in death”! It is far too common toady to see the Church seeking the love and acceptance from the world while they hate their brother and sister in Christ and in so doing they reveal whose family to belong too. In Luke 6:31 Jesus gave His disciples the STANDARD in the form of a statement that each of us could easily ask ourselves before we say or act towards the family of God: Just as you want others to do to you, you also do to them likewise! Is what I’m engaged in; backbiting, gossip etc. how I want to be treated by those I call my friends and family? Oh, how better off the church in Jesus’ name would be if we simply practiced this “Golden Rule”.

C. Vs. 15 Finally, we need to understand that just like in all of nature the human heart hates a vacuum: The absence of the transformative love of Christ in a life has to be filled and in this case it will be filled with hatred! If we do not “stay at home” with Jesus we will go out with the world and that will be seen in how we walk and talk! No person can maintain both residences: A person who is staying at home in the world cannot keep their home with Christ also! The presence of jealousy and hatred in a life is an indication that the person is not staying at home with Jesus and is living in the shack of the world. The person who has abandoned brotherly love has abandoned themselves to the world. Love and hate are like light and darkness, and life and death; you are either one or the other but never both at the same time!     

Vs. 16-17 Indifference

Vs. 16-17 In the “trilogy of the flesh” we see that: “Murder” starts in the flesh with “hatred” and “hatred” begins with “indifference”! John uses Jesus as the contrast to indifference and as such we can see the difference between how a child of God handles the situation verses the child of God. The comparison is to be found in the phrase: By this we know love: Because He (Jesus) laid down His life for us. To understand this, we need to comprehend the depth of this so that we can understand the exhortation. The depth of this is that Jesus, the Holy Son of God who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). The laying down His life for us was not based upon a debt He owed, an obligation that was required instead as Heb 10:5-7 informs us of the conversation before the foundation of the world was laid as we read, “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’” Clearly John’s example of what defines “HATE” is to put a condition upon our love based what we are receiving from the object we are called to love. Jesus loving sacrifice was not given to those who had deserved His love in return but to those that didn’t deserve such a sacrifice and never will! Such love is not to be in word but also in deed as John continues to illustrate in verse 17 as he mentions the practical nature of helps with regards to those in the body of Christ in need. We are to love not just in tongue but also in truth as this is who we manifest God’s love for us as we love those whom He has loved with the love in which He has loved us. John answers the question that many in the body of Christ wants answered and that is, “How do we demonstrate our love to the individual believer in Christ?” And John answers, “Dear Children, let us not love with words and tongue alone but with actions and truth.” To not treat our brothers and sisters in Christ demonstrates that we are NOT abiding in the Love of God ourselves.    

Intro

John’s letter of 1^st John has a circular nature to it as he continues writing about “fellowship with God” from three things that are keys to maintaining it: Obedience, Love, and Truth! Each time John returns to one of these topics he does so from a different perspective. We left off with John’s words defining the two differences between the Child of God and the Child of the devil in verse 10 where he wrote, “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother”. So, the distinctions between these two children with different fathers is to be seen in both Vertical Love and Horizonal Love:

1. Vertical Love: The practice of righteousness, in the life of the Child of God and the absence of  the practice of righteousness in the child of the devil.
2. Horizonal Love:  The practice of loving his brother, in the life of the Child of God and the absence of this in the child of the devil.

John had just mentioned the differences between the child of God and the child of the devil as it relates to these three areas. As he moves back around towards writing about “love” and his perspective is not “Vertical Love” towards God but what this transformative love of God will produce through the Child of God towards God’s other children or “Horizonal Love”. There is a visible difference between the children of these two fathers and it’s the difference between love and hate. I think it’s important to realize that John’s words on “Horizonal Love” has two important points before we look at the verses:

1. First, these words come after the defining truth that as a child of God, Jesus has destroyed the “root of sin”. Jesus has changed our nature from death to life! He has broken down the walls of separation making from two one body! (Eph 2:14-18) Humanity longs for peace and the Prince of Peace having destroyed the root of sin which is our problem of getting along with our brothers and sisters has been abolished making it possible to “LOVE” our brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Second, the Greek words as well as the context, makes it clear that what John is writing is specific in relating to loving our fellow children of God and NOT a universal love of all humanity. Though that is pointed out in other places in the bible like Luke 6:27-36 where Jesus says, “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” In his gospels John had much to say on what the Love of God should change in regard to our love of those whom His love has been lavished upon:
   • In John 13:34 Jesus said to His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” There was a clear expectation that a person who has encounter God’s “Horizonal Love” will now love one another like He had loved them.
   • Then in John 15:12-17 Jesus further clarifies and defines this “love” by saying, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.”

It is apparent that John wants his readers to know exactly what Jesus had told him 70 years earlier in John 13:35, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John had remembered the type of love that Jesus had in mind when he said that Jesus was the example and definition of this love that had as its traits: “lay down one’s life for his friends”.

Vs. 11 Transformed by love

Vs. 11 The words in 1^st John aren’t new as I just said by quoting the above verses which shows that those who have been transformed by God’s love can understand that all that was expected of the Child of God has not changed, it did not need an advanced course, it did need to be rekindled and remembered as the expectation had NOT changed in 70 years and it won’t in 70,000 years if Jesus should tarry. The Christian life and profession carries with it the action to love God’s fellow Christians as He has loved us. If the Child of God doesn’t love one another, as defined by Jesus’ example towards us, then we “cannot walk in the light as He is in the light” no matter what their profession is!

As we see after the command is remembered it is now given 12-24 four clear examples the remainder of this section verses 12-24. We could refer to these four examples as “types of human relationships”. But as we look at them it is clear from the examples that only one of these is compatible to the example laid forth by Jesus towards us. The four examples are:

1. Vs. 12 Murder
2. Vs. 13-15 Hatred
3. Vs. 16-17 Indifference
4. Vs. 18-24 Compassion       

Though not given the first three can be looked at as defining what ought not be seen in the commandment of Jesus for the child of God. For instance, Cain murdered his righteous brother Jesus laid down His life for those who were His murders; and in this we can see the contrast even better.  

Vs. 12 Self-centered love

Vs. 12 Murder: Cain is used as an illustration of what can be defined as a “self-centered love”. This is how the children of the devil loves! The murder shows the outcome of such “self-centered love” but the motive behind it was clearly that Cain was more in love with himself then he was with anyone else. What is even more important to realize is that the example that John uses is NOT of an atheist as Cain was a worshiper. According to Gen 4:1-16 both he and able shared the same family, they were brothers born of Adam and Eve. They had the same access to the instruction in righteousness, both were trained and understood the concept of stewardship that all the blessings and gifts they had received had been given to them by a gracious loving God. They attended the same religious gatherings and brought offerings that represented the understanding of their dependence upon the grace of God to enjoy life’s blessings. And personally believe that Cain had most likely offered the right gifts to God as Able did in times past. But all that he had done in the past couldn’t mask what Cain was as the proof  was in his actions of hatred and murder of his brother Able. Cain’s attitude revealed his heart which look more like the devil. The difference between the gift showed that as well as Able offered in accordance with obedience and faith where Cain offered what to offer in accordance with his work and effort. Offering in faith is always based upon the revelation that God has given, and God had given clear instructions that Cain at this time refused to obey and even when given the opportunity to get it right chose to kill his brother instead. Cain rejected God’s word and worshiped in his own way. Able left the altar of God with the peace and presence of God in his heart and Cain went away angry and disappointed and was even warned that if he didn’t deal with his own heart sin was crouching at the door ready to strike. But even after the mercy of warning and the opportunity to offer again so that he too could enjoy the peace that Able had Cain chose to listen to his father’s voice the devil and kill his brothers. Cain proved what angered him that he was evil, and his brother was righteous and instead of repenting he chose to kill his brother. When Self-love comes face to face with truth and reality it has a decision: Repent and change or destroy the person exposing it! Far too often even in the Church people try to cover up their true nature with religious activity. But their hatred of their fellow brothers and sisters reveals that they are not children of God. It never ceases to amaze me how folks do this as I hear them say things like: “Now, don’t say anything to so and so but….” These folks fail to realize that true brothers and sisters don’t do that, they also fail to realize that those conversations and gossip in which mean hateful and hurtful things are that said inevitably get back to the person they are attacking behind their back. That is what children of the devil do they are accusers of the brethren just like their father the devil does. This kind of stuff should not be tolerated in the body of Christ, and it is an indication that the person who practices such things is not a Child of God. If this brings conviction to you then you should hear the words of God towards Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

            We will take up the other three examples as “types of human relationships”.

1. Vs. 13-15 Hatred
2. Vs. 16-17 Indifference
3. Vs. 18-24 Compassion       

Next week as we continue to examine the difference between the child of God and the child of the devil.

Intro

To take our study of 1^st John starting from verses 3:4-12 would be unfair to the heart in which the Holy Spirit wanted to communicate through John. John made certain that what he was about to say about SIN was coming from the amazing reality of the “Love of the Father” that was lavished upon the Child of God, (3:1-3). In so doing John is not speaking from a judgmental point of view but rather from the point of view that sin separates the believer from being able to fully enjoy the fellowship with their Heavenly Father. The perspective isn’t fear of retaliation but fear of our loss of love that of God that has been graciously given us. “We aren’t afraid of our Father hurting us, we are afraid that our actions would hurt Him and that the love that we’ve enjoyed wouldn’t be experienced.” In verse 4 John made it clear that he wasn’t talking about the occasional falling into sins but rather the “ROOT” of the person who is practicing sin and not the individual “FRUITS” that are being produced by that root! He further describes this person as the person who doesn’t think that the “moral law” applies to them. To further clarify why the “Child of God” would NOT be the person that “practices sin”, John reminds his readers that one of the reasons why Jesus came was to destroy the “sin-root” of fallen humanity and that by His blood we have be transfused with Jesus’ “sinless blood”. So, there is not a possibility that once the “sin-root” has been destroyed and we have Jesus “sinless blood” running through our spiritual immune system us that we would continue to “practices sin”. On a physical plane this is what is behind immunotherapy and stem cell transplants. The first thing that has to be accomplished is that the roots of the blood cancer has to be destroyed. As the cancer is in the blood that means that the stem cells which are produced in the bone marrow have to all be killed so that the New doners cells can produce the healthy stem cells that would provide the immunotherapy that will attack the cancer cells. The spiritual illustration is that if a person claims that they have had the “sin-root” destroyed by Jesus who in turn has supplied the Child of God with His “sinless blood” and yet is still continuing to “practice sin” then something is very wrong. It means that the “sin-root” wasn’t destroyed or that the “sinless blood” isn’t able to cleanse the believer. John says that is impossible as that means that Jesus’ sacrifice isn’t enough or that His blood isn’t able to cure us. The only other possibility is that the person who is claiming that they have had the “sin-root” destroyed by Jesus and have been supplied with His “sinless blood” is not telling the truth!           

Vs.7-8 Fruit determines root

Vs. 7-8 John will state what he just wrote above in the positive in verse 7 and in the negative in verse 8.

1. Vs. 7 Positive: This starts with John’s statement as who he is addressing is the true “Child of God” as in verse 7 he address them as “little children” or “dearly loved ones”. John after addressing them this way, tells them that the reason for this communication is clarification as he didn’t want anyone to be able to “deceive” them. There were some false teachers that were trying to say that continuing to “practice sin” was completely normal for the Child of God. Instead, John doubles down and says the opposite as he says: “He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He (Jesus) is righteous”. Practicing sin is completely inconsistent with the transformative work of Christ in the life of the believer. I can’t help but notice as well that the Child of God that is practicing righteousness is doing so completely based upon the Jesus’ work of both destruction of the sin-root of fallen humanity as well as the continual supply of the sin immunotherapy of Jesus’ blood. Jesus is the ONLY ORIGN of Righteousness available to humanity. They cannot achieve this by proper diet or vigorous exercise. The only way to become righteous is by NEW BIRTH in Christ!
2. Vs. 8 Negative: John writes about the true condition of the person who is “practicing sin” and that is that they are still under the influence of the devil and the fallen nature. Simple put they are still rooted and grounded in sin. John lets his readers in on the “root” of practicing sin being that of the devil whom John declares has sinned from the beginning. The root nature of sin in humanity was originally external and the biblical record it’s entrance into humanity in Genesis. What we don’t have is all the information as to its entrance into the universe. That being said John does tells us that it was in the personality of satan long before it entered humanity. We have this testimony of Jesus in Luke 10:18 where He said to His disciples “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Jesus may have been describing what Isa 14:12-14 prophesied where we are told that, “Howyou are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’” The prophet Ezekiel in 28:12-15 also seem to describe his fall saying, “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.  “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.” What John does let his readers know is that SIN has its origins in the devil and affects the root of humanity and causes the fruits of rebellion. It causes the person to go against the design of their Creator and act out against the morality that God placed in His likeness. As bad as the “Sin Root” is John want sus to know that Jesus “destroyed” its works into those who have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior. The word “destroyed” doesn’t mean “annihilate” but instead means to “render inoperative, or to rob of its power”.

Vs. 9-10 Born of God

Vs. 9-10 As a result of this fact John continues to share the glorious truth that though a Christian can sin he declares emphatically that true Child of God can NOT LIVE IN SIN! The person who can enjoy deliberate sin and doesn’t see or feel conviction or the need to repentant needs to examine themselves to determine if they really are a Child of God. Again, John states this truth: “Whoever is born of God does not practice sin..” The reason for this is what I stated above God’s seed remains in that person and God has changed the root of sin into the root of righteousness. John states this in a way that is practical not theological. True Children of God can make no excuses for practicing sin, nor can they make any allowances for such a life! The Child of God has been given three things by trusting in Jesus that makes it impossible for the believer to practice sin:

• Justification: A new standing before God
• Sanctification: Set apart to God for His work
• Regeneration: A new Christlike nature        

Physical life can only produce a physical controlled life; but a spiritual life produces a spiritually controlled life. Jesus said this in John 3:6 “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit”. Peter said in 1 Peter 1:23 that the true Child of God has been born again “not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever.” There is a sharp and visible contrast between the Child of God and child of the devil: The person will always look like their father! Moral wickedness, hatred, lies, pride are all what a child of the devil looks like. They will oppose the character and nature of God in their actions and words. They will oppose the work of Christ and believe that they need to mature and grow in Christ but have already arrived. They won’t love their brother in Christ. They will “profess” one thing while “practicing” another making themselves like their father the devil who is a liar. The true Child of God overcomes the stubborn flesh by yielding their will and life daily to God as a living sacrifice. They spend time with their father and feed their new nature. They seek to daily communicate with their Father agreeing with Him concerning areas that need to mature and grow closer to God. The true Child of God does not practice sin; a counterfeit believer cannot help but practice sin because the root of sin has not been broken and they haven’t been given a new nature.      

Intro

The start of chapter 3 makes it abundantly clear that John is address the true child of God who is enjoying the benefits of their relationship with God. As we noted last week in 2:28 John used    three words that spoke of the advantages of the Child of God: ABIDE, APPEARS, and ASHAMED!

ABIDE: Is John’s primary exhortation to believers, “stay where you are at”! The believer’s calling in maturity, their advancement is to “STAY PUT”. “Stay put”, in believing truth, stay put in living that truth out towards others in love, stay put in obey the truth by dying to self-centeredness.

APPEARS: Next John wrote, “WHEN, He appears” not “IF, He appears”. John states the return of Christ as a FACT, a certain expectation. This reminds the believer that any such test taken now is to make certain that you will PASS the FINAL EXAM! It is clear that John wanted this exhortation of Jesus soon return to produce, “confidence” in the present!

ASHAMED: The final word John used was “Ashamed” and in context speaks of the “sorrow at our unfaithfulness” is related to His coming! John is NOT speaking to the loss of salvation instead it speaks of the LOSS of joy that a groom or bride may feel at their wedding knowing that they have been unfaithful to the love of their life! In the first three verses of chapter three John’s focus was:

1. Vs. 1 What we are
2. Vs. 2 What we shall be
3. Vs. 3 What we should be

Now as we move onto this section John moves back to “What we are NOW”. His words are to remind the believer of the transformation granted the person of faith because Jesus was “manifested to take away our sins”. Our fellowship with God that John wrote of in the first three verses of chapter three where God’s love was bestowed upon us, transforming us into the children of God also took away our sins making this fellowship possible. Sin separates us from enjoying this fellowship, it disengages us from the benefits of God’s bestowed LOVE! The true Child of God will NEVER want that to remain for any length of time. Our obedience to God is not because we are afraid of Him it’s because we LOVE Him because He first loved us. I remember hearing a story of a young boy who had been adopted. He had come from a very abusive home and had also been abandoned and left to fend for himself. When he was rescued he was placed in an emotionally cold orphanage where he remained for several years. One day he was told that he had a visitor who wanted to meet him, he had gone through this before only to be rejected. But when he meet this man he saw someone that wanted him, was interested in him. The papers were signed, and he left to live with this man and his wife, he never knew what LOVE was until he went to live with this new family, and it didn’t take long for him to grow in love with them because they had first loved him. It wasn’t but a few years when he was in high school that the true value of this relationship was put to a test. He had been invited to a party and didn’t know that they would have alcohol drinks and drugs. His friends invited him to enjoy the party, but he refused to participate. This made his friends uncomfortable who continued to encourage and even make fun of him for not doing what they were doing. Finally, someone asked why he wouldn’t get drunk and smoke pot. And He told them, “My mother father wouldn’t approve of this!” The friends misunderstood his fear, as they thought it was that he was afraid of his father hurting him, but he corrected them when they suggested this and instead said, “Oh I’m NOT afraid of my father hurting me, I’m afraid that my actions would hurt him and love that I’ve enjoyed these last few years and I don’t want to ever be apart from their love.” That’s the point of John’s words now!

Vs. 4 John takes up the issue of what separates us from enjoying God’s love and that is our sin. Notice in verse 4 that John defines two things about sin:

1. Vs 4 Whoever commits sin: First John describes sin as an action as he uses the word “commits” and in the Greek means a completed action. This word speaks of “practicing sin”. In using this word, it speaks of a person whose behavior has a disregard to the moral law thinking that it doesn’t apply to them. Secondly, John uses the word “SIN” and not “SINS”. John’s point of view in this is the “ROOT” of the person who is practicing sin and not the individual “FRUITS” that are being produced by that root! In other words, the person that John is addressing is practicing sin at the root of their life as the “root always determines the fruit”.        
2. Vs. 4 Sin is lawlessness: Next John connects this action of practicing sin to living a life that doesn’t think that the “moral law” applies to them. They may hold others to a moral standard but don’t believe they are under the same obligation. This person isn’t ignorant of the truth instead they just don’t believe that this truth applies to them. To which John declares that it doesn’t matter if they “think” it doesn’t apply to them, they will be held accountable.

Vs. 5 To make matters worse such a condition need not be the Child of God’s experience as we are told in verse 5 that one of the reasons for Jesus’ “manifestation” was to eliminate this condition from those that believe in Him. Practicing sin at the root of our life should never be admitted into our Christian life as Jesus came to destroy “sin” at the very root! Furthermore, since Jesus has destroyed the “root” of sin and has given us a new nature then we shoot no longer of the “root of sin”. Oh, we may very well still have some branches and leaves, but we need to recon them dead in Christ. Since Jesus has dealt with the root then there ought not be any fruit of sin being continually harvested in our lives! Notice that such work of Jesus is completed as we. Are told in verse 8 that part of the purpose of Jesus was to “destroy the works of the devil”. As children of God, those who have experienced His love lavished upon us doesn’t mean that God now has “no rules” instead it means as a part of His family we have a higher standard than the law as our motive is Love and not fear! Since we have been transformed SIN is a matter of the will now. When we assert our will above God’s Word then we are in rebellion and this rebellion is at the root of all sin, believing that our way is better than God’s! We can be outwardly compliant but inwardly still be rebellious to God. There was a child riding with her father who refused to put her seatbelt on, the discussion continued until the dad told his daughter if she didn’t comply he would pull over and spank her for her disobedience. She believed him and put on her seatbelt but about 5 minutes later she turned to her dad and said, “Papa, I just want to let you know that inside I’m still standing up!” Vs. 6 John connects the work of Jesus at removing the root of sin within us with our “staying at home with him”. If we have truly united our hearts with Jesus then we won’t want to be anywhere that He isn’t. A man can get married to a woman but then not stay at home and be out with our women, now they may say that they are married but the “root of their behavior” shows that they are not! That’s John’s point in verse 6. It seems as though there were some in the church that said that as long as you said I do to Jesus it didn’t matter if you didn’t act as if you were married to Him. John says that when we said yes to Jesus we said no to all others, and we will stay at home with Him and not practice sin anymore. The whole work of the Cross of Christ is denied when a professing Christian practices to deliberately sin. The person who deliberately and habitually practices sin is proving that the root of sin remains intact and either does not know Christ or at very least are not abiding in Christ!