Month: April 2022

1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

It is a promise and a privilege to be called the children of God. We Re brought into the family of God when are given a new life through faith in Christ. We are adopted as princes and princesses of the king of the eternal kingdom of God. This status gives us rights and privileges, particularly as heirs of the Kingdom.

When God called us His children He made Himself responsible for our life, health and wellbeing. He sets us free to be children while He blesses us with every good thing. For all which it is my duty to ”thank and to praise, to serve and obey Him.” As children of a good and responsible Father we don’t have a worry in the world. Oh, to be aware of our calling and status as children of the king!

Children in a healthy family normally have no responsibilities other than to obey their parents. They are free to play and to go to school. This is what God wants for His children: trust the Lord and enjoy life.

This promise makes us strangers to the world, for the world does know the Father, that is, it does enjoy the relationship that we do.

1 John 2:25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.

The promise of all promises, the promise underlying all the promises of God to us is this: we have eternal life. The life of God and life with God is not only something we are hoping for in the future, in the not yet, but it is also something we have now already and are enjoying in the present here and now. ”Whosoever believes in him has eternal life.” Note He does not say will have.

God shares His Life with us, and this life is by nature eternal. And naturally it is unaffected by sin, death, and misery. It is pure joy, happy bliss, perfect peace, and absolute love. The problem is that this life is clouded over and defiled by our temporal, fleshly, sinful, and worldly life. These two lives are presently at war with each other within us, until One Day the final victory of the cross and the empty tomb is realized, seen, and experienced in pure joy forever. Then the Old Life under sin, death, and the power of the devil is no more. This is the sure promise of the Easter Gospel. This is the guaranteed hope that we enjoy today. We have eternal life now. Believe the promise He promised us.

Which one is winning at any given moment? Flesh or Spirit? Death or Life? Sin or Forgiveness? Old Man or New Man? That mostly depends on which one we are feeding.

1 John 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

If you acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God then you have the Father. “To have the Father” is the same as having access to God, going to heaven, being saved, being forgiven, being justified, having eternal life, having God the Holy Spirit dwell in us, and enjoying the life and love of God always and ever.

The if condition for this promise is ”acknowledging the Son.” If you acknowledge the Son (believe in Jesus), then you have the Father also. Conversely, if you deny the Son, then you do not have the Father. “No one comes to the Father but by me.” God is in the baptized believer, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We belong to Him and He belongs to us. He is living and active inside the heart affecting the soul. We do not always feel the presence of God, but we can always believe it. And in the day of trouble we may call upon Him.

Jesus is the dividing line between life and death, the difference between living and dying. Acknowledging Jesus in every issue brings God’s love, power, and wisdom to bear on any problem. He is always there to work out all things together for good.

1 John 2:20 But you have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

According to God’s word and promise “you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” The unction, or anointing, is the indwelling presence of the promised Holy Spirit, who enters into those who believe and are baptized. The promise is given so that we may believe that we have the knowledge of salvation by Christ and justification through faith.

”The Spirit of Truth guides us into all truth.” The truth is that we have been saved by grace, forgiven of all sins, cleansed by Jesus’ blood, and given eternal life. This we know. The Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel and enlightened us with His gifts. We know the Truth, and the truth sets us free from Sin, eternal Death, and the Devil. We are empowered to overcome the lies of the devil, the world, and the flesh. The Salvation to the uttermost, granted by the Indwelling Spirit of God to our spirit, is the knowledge that overcomes the lies, the victory that defeats the enemies of the soul, and the power that lifts us up to the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

We have been promised this anointing through the gospel for the times when we have doubts of faith, fears of failure, frustrations of living, and worries and cares of the world. We admit we feel all these issues from time to time, but we also believe we can call upon the Lord to overcome and grant victory. For we already have the sure Word of God, the power of the Gospel, and the indwelling anointing of the Spirit. We only need reminders, so that we may employ the power we have been promised. For this reason we go to church weekly, repent daily, and call upon Him in the day of trouble.

1 John 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Eternal Life is a common Scriptural promise. Here living forever is contrasted to the world and its lusts, which will pass away. ”Heaven and earth will pass away.” Everything we presently know about the universe in which we live will be gone, for the sentence of death has been passed upon it all. In other words, do not place your trust, your hope, and your future on anything that you see, for nothing lasts and it will soon be gone.

However, God made a way for His believing children to escape the Judgment on the corrupt world with all its sin, evil, and death. He sent His Son, so that the one who believes in Him will not perish. We have been graced with a new life, a different life, a spiritual life, an eternal life, a perfect life that never ends. Therefore, “we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal [2 Corinthians 4:18].” The key action here is ”look to.” What are we orienting our lives around? Where is our trust and hope? What lasts?

The Kingdom of God, the Word of God, the Love of God, the Life of God endures forever and will never pass away. And we who believe Him abide forever: ”he who does the will of God.” The will of God is that we believe His Son and have life now and forever, world without end. Yes, we will abide forever.

1 John 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

The promise to be believed is that the darkness in the soul is past and the true light is now shining. Therefore, the new commandment (to love one another) is activated and alive and true in Him and in you. Jesus (the Light of the world) lives in you and so makes you the light of the world. Now ”let your light so shine.” The light pushes back the darkness of sin and evil and the darkness cannot not overcome it. The light looks like Love, and love is the strongest force in the universe.

The light of God’s Love is shining in our spirit where He is keeping the darkness of sin and evil at bay. And He is shining out of our spirit to positively affect our souls and bodies and to influence the world around us. God’s Light and Love and Life are in is and shining out of us. Even though we don’t often see it or feel it believe it because God promised. It matters and it makes a difference on our families, friends, neighbors, churches, communities and the world around us. This is true even when we feel the darkness within and without.

But sometimes we behold a ”God sighting,” if we are looking for it, and our strength is built up and our faith is lifted up. Look for, and expect to see the Light of Love shining in a dark world. Our has made a promise!

1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

The love of God is in the one who believes in Jesus. Faith receives the love of God, and God’s Love grows and is being perfected in us. Faith produces love and good works in outward behavior. By looking at your life you may know you are in Him. “By their fruits you shall know them.”

The promise is that if we “keep his word” then the love of God is perfected in us. We do not focus our attention on the outward life of showing love and good works, but we focus on keeping his word. When we do so, the Love of God in us works through us to love others and act kindly toward them. This is the promise: repent and believe the gospel and the fruit will follow. Jesus promises in John 15:5: ”Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (good, or loving).”

Keep the word = Abide in Jesus. Fruit (the love of God) will follow. We do not ”perfect the love.” He does. Our task is to hear the Law and repent, and to hear the Gospel and believe. When we focus our attention on Christ crucified then the love of God for us and toward others is perfected in us. Take that as a promise, and believe it. Thank God and give Him the glory!

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

John writes ”these things” (the Gospel story) that we might believe and have life. The result of believing and having life is that we may not sin. By faith in the gospel we actually become better people. We will bear fruit. The hoped-for result of faith in the Gospel, the indwelling Spirit, and Life living in us is that we will not sin. We live our lives in the expectation that we will live with less sinning.

But you know, God knows, and everyone else knows that we have not stopped sinning. Sin remains, for we still live in the flesh, in the world, and with the devil. Now here comes the promise: if we do sin, which we will, we have an Advocate with the Father. An advocate is an attorney who comes alongside, steps in between us and the Father, and pleads our case for forgiveness based on the Blood shed for all sins. And behold, God loves, accepts, forgives, and saves us for Christ’s sake.

The promised Holy Spirit is the Lawyer, ever living within, constantly and instantly pleading for us. This Advocate is always present to us even as our sin is ever before us. Thus we are living in two worlds at the same time: sin and forgiveness, judgment and mercy, Law and Gospel, flesh and Spirit. The amount of love, joy, and peace we experience depends to some extent on which we are remembering and believing. Focus in the promise: we have an advocate!

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God promises absolutely that He will most certainly forgive us all our sins and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness within. The Lord fervently desires to dwell in us and to live His life in us and through us. But He cannot live in a place that is corrupted by sin and self. So He makes a holy place inside so that He can dwell there and influence our sinful soul unto love and good works. Therefore, He forgives completely.

We may not always feel totally forgiven and thoroughly clean, but we are. The Holy Spirit creates and grows faith through the Gospel. Thus we know we are forgiven when the Lord says, ”I forgive you!” We get up and walk away clean. We believe it. We believe because God says so, and He is faithful to His Word and Promise. We can count on Him to do what He says. He is also just to forgive. It is just and right for God to forgive, for justice has been served; all our sins were totally and forever judged and punished at the cross when Jesus took our sins upon Himself, and died. God does not just overlook and ignore sin and guilt. He justly and actually forgives.

”If we confess” means repentance and faith in the gospel. We are always in a state of grace and always forgiven. But we still need reminders, so we confess daily and weekly because we live with sinful flesh in a corrupt world with an accusing Satan. And God forgives, again and again. Particularly when we feel guilty and dirty we may confess sins and receive absolution. God faithful to forgive.

1 John 1:7 Because if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

God promises to forgive all our sins. The blood of Jesus cleans every sin. The death of Christ pays for all the sins we have ever done, are doing now, or will ever do. The promise is that we always clean and continually being cleaned, because it is the sinner, the person, the whole man who is forgiven. Therefore the individual sins we commit are washed away. I believe I am forgiven, completely, not just sin by sin. The continual presence of the Blood that cleanses me washes away the particular sins for which I feel guilty.

The awesome promise says that I am holy, righteous, clean, pure, and unstained. We can live our lives in perfect peace with God. We can always enjoy the joy of the Lord. We can bask in the heavenly rays of God’s love. We can be assured that we are right with God. We are clean.

This awesome promise, however, does contain a condition: if we walk in the light, then the blood of Jesus cleanses us. ”Walking in the light” is not the cause of the cleansing, but it is the means of receiving what God does by grace. It is faith. It is faith that receives the gift. We make sure that we are in grace by weekly and daily repentance and faith in the gospel. We stay connected to Jesus; we abide in the Vine. Grace applies the blood; faith receives it.

Walking signifies living and being. We are always and continually in the light. This of daily walking is reinforced by going to church, attending Bible study, and spending time alone with God. When we feel guilty for specific sins we confess sin and confess Jesus. The sin and guilt are washed away.