1st John 2:3--4:21 God Is Love

The book of 1st John is gives us 3 Definitions of God. God is Light, God is Love and God is Life. This book also tells us what a Christian life should look like. It goes right back to the basics of our faith. Being a Christian means so many different things to different people in our world today. There is much confusion about this subject. What is a Christian? I hope this study helps you to understand how God intends those that call themselves Christians to live their lives. Get our your bible and look up the scriptures but before you do that pray and ask God to reveal His truth to you. To help you understand and apply this teaching to your life.

 READ 1st John 2:3-11

Last time we talked about God being Light and how important it is for Christians to walk in the Light in order to have fellowship with God. Now we are going to talk about God being Love and how important it is that Christians walk in Love in order to have fellowship with each other.  Fellowship means having in common with or sharing with. Christian fellowship means sharing the things of Christ. Its God's desire that we have fellowship with Him and fellowship with one another in the church. Love is the main ingredient in this relationship. Remember the two greatest commandments God gave the NT church was to Love God and to Love others. Matthew 22:37.

In verse 3-4 of chapter two we are told that "we have come to know God if we obey His commandments. The man that says he knows God but does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him." In this section of scripture John is talking about assurance of salvation not security.  Assurance of your salvation comes when you keep God's commandments. He is not talking about the Law here (10 commandments of OT) He is talking about his own family commandments that you find in the NT.  The NT is full of commandments, things like carry each others burdens, rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, don't quench the Spirit,be patient,kind compassionate. ect. John is saying in order to have fellowship with God and enjoy it by having assurance in our hearts that we are his children we must keep His commandments. We do not do as we please but as Jesus commands. We know God by experience. If you walk in disobedience you do not know Him your life is a lie. Jesus said in John 8:29 that he always did what pleases the Father, Jesus always did but we don't but that should be our desire. John 3:36 says that he who believes has eternal life, but when we walk in obedience we have the assurance of that life. John 14:15 says if you love me keep my commandments. Because of our love for God we should want to go beyond the call of duty. Some people want to live as much as possible like the unsaved and still be a Christian. Often times folks ask me can I do this and still be a Christian? The question they should be asking is what can I do to please God?

What is your attitude toward sin? Do you take it lightly? I assure you God doesn't. He paid a high price so that your sins may be forgiven. When you sin do you cry out to God and ask for forgiveness? When you do God will restore your fellowship with Him and bring assurance to your heart.  If we are going to walk in the Light we must walk as Jesus did. Live according to his teaching. Jesus never messed up but we do. When we mess up...admit it and quit it. We must walk in Love. This was not something new...the church had heard this many times before (John 13:34-35, John 15:10-12) and so have you. They had forgotten? Have you?
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Take an inventory of yourself by asking yourself the following question.....Do you hate your brother? It is impossible for you to walk in the Light if you hate your brother. There is a natural darkness that we are all born into (Eph. 4:8, John 3:19)...that is what John means when he says we are walking in darkness if we hate our brother. We are not responsible for being born in darkness but we are responsible if we reject the Light that comes from the Word of God. When you walk in the Light the darkness flees. This is a test that John gives us to see if we are in darkness. John 8:12 "I am the light of the world whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life".  Have you trusted Christ as your Savior and made Him Lord so that you don't hate your brother? (Brother here means your brothers and sisters in Christ. John is talking about your church family.)

READ  1 John 2:12-17

Here John changes the subject and talks about 3 different degrees of believers.

Fathers are the saints who have known Jesus for many years and have matured in their faith. Phil. 3:10 would describe these folk.
Young Men are not as mature as the fathers because of lack of experience but they have learned the secret of overcoming the enemy by the Blood of Christ and the Word of God.(Eph. 6:17 tell us that we have to put on the armor of God in order to defeat the devil. Part of that armour is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. ) These young believers have learned how to live for God by resisting the devil.
Dear Children are those that are immature in their faith. They know they are God's child but that is all they know and some feel its all they want to know. Have you ever met someone like that? I have. They want to be saved so they don't go to hell, but they still want to do what they want to do. They are not walking in the Light nor are they walking in Love. They may or may not attend church or bible study but even if they do..they think it is enough. The Word of God is like food. You need it daily in order to become strong and to grow in your faith.

John reminds the church in v.15-17 that they are not to love the world. He is talking about the world system here. The organized system headed by Satan which leaves God out and is in opposition to him. Read John 14:30 "satan is the prince of the world" 16:11 he is referred to as "prince of the world". Eph. 2:2 refers to before we were saved we followed the ways of the world. Gal. 6:14 says we are either for one system or the other. Again John tells us not to love the world and then he tells us of three different types of sin. The Lust of the flesh(sinful desires from within) Lust of the eyes (beautiful things) and the Pride of life(what you take pride in, what makes you feel superior to someone else) Satan tempted Eve in the garden of Eden and Jesus in the wilderness in these same three areas, and today Satan tempts us in the same way. I have heard it said that every sin we can commit falls under one of these three categories. Interesting...think about that.  In verse 17 he tells us why we should not love the world...because these tings will pass away but whoever does the will of God will live forever.

READ   1 John 2:18-29

Remember in the church at that time false teachers had come in and the people were getting confused. There are false teachers in the church today that do the same. That is why it is so important that you study God's word so you know false teaching when you hear it.

When John refers to "dear children" he is referring to all of God's family. The last hour has been going on ever since Jesus left this earth. Anti-christ means either "against" or "an imitation". Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ, God in flesh, is the antichrist. John is saying in v. 19 that these people were people that were in the church professing to be Christians, they were baptized, took communion had all the outward signs. How can you tell if a person is really not a child of God? John says here that one way is they will eventually leave the assembly of believers and go right back into the world system. (2 Pet. 2:22) Even among the 12 disciples that followed Jesus and sat under his teaching was a traitor..a hypocrite.( Someone pretending to be something they are not.) His name was Judas. He was at the first communion service when Jesus washed the disciples feet. Jesus calls him a "devil" in John 6:70. See you can fool people sometimes but you can't fool God. He knows your every thought and your every intention. The bible says "be sure your sins will find you out".  In John 3:3 Jesus told Nicodemos that if you want to have eternal life...you must be "born again". Are you born again? What does that mean anyhow?

Ask yourself the following questons:

1. Have you faced up to your sins in the light of the cross of Jesus Christ?
2. Have you come to God in repentance, acknowledging your sin? (repentance means turn from)
3. Have you cast yourself to Jesus and Jesus only for salvation? (you cannot ever be good enough without Jesus)
4. Is there evidence in your life that you are born again? (that your old sinful way of living, has died and now you live a new life in Christ) Gal. 6:15
5. Do you love the word of God, do you hunger for it as food?
6. Do you love the church (God's people)?
7. Do you love the Lord Jesus?

2 Corinthians 6:15 tells us to examine ourselves. I'm not talking about whether or not you commit a sin but what you do after you sin. Do you continue?  We can have fellowship with God in spite of the fact that we are weak, and we have fallin short because of the blood of Jesus, God's son keeps cleansing us from sin. (1 John 1:9) He is our advocate. He is on our side. We can have fellowship with each other when we walk in Love. We must recognize that we are called to live differently than the world. We now live for God. Obedience is the test of life. We know whether we have eternal life or not if we keep His commandments.
We are not under the Law (OT) but under Grace (NT) God's Riches At Christs Expense is my favorite defination of grace.
Law says: If a man does he shall live
Grace says: If a man lives he will do.
God does it to you before He does it through you. We obey God because we are saved not because we want to be saved. You have to have a life from God before you can live for God.
You cannot have fellowship with God and other believers if you are living in sin. Proverbs 28:13. John said in John 10:27-28 "My sheep (children) know my voice and listen. We follow Him. He gives us eternal life and no one can snatch them out of his hand". I believe in the security of the believer, but I also believe in the insecurity of the make-believer.

John proceeds to tell the church that they (the true believers) have an annointing from the Holy One (Holy Spirit) and they know the truth. He proceeds to tell them to stick with the truth. To let it remain in them. Not to be decieved by false teachers. If you want to know if someone is teaching a false doctrine. Ask them who is Jesus Christ? If they say he is anyone other than God who came in flesh, as His only begotton Son...they are teaching a false doctrine. John is saying  KNOW JESUS, KNOW GOD, NO JESUS, NO GOD. He proceeds to tell them that because they have the Holy Spirit they do not need anyone to teach them. John is not saying that we should not have teachers. Everyone needs to sit under good teachers. The Bible teaches in Ephesians that God gives the gift of teaching to certain people so they can teach. He is saying that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. (John 14:26) The Holy Spirit will also remind them of what Jesus said (1 Cor. 2:14) The man w/o the Spirit will not understand the things of God they are foolishness to him..  We study and the Holy Spirit teaches. We need to know if what we hear/read is truth. (John 10:27) We need to test every teacher you hear or sit under, including me. Ask God is Robin teaching the truth? I have mentioned before that I enjoy J. Vernon McGee's teaching and often share with others what he teaches. When I read his commentary, the Spirit within me confirms his teaching and gives me understanding. If I don't agree with it or understand it, I don't repeat it. I depend on the Holy Spirit to confirm what to share and what not to share.

v. 28 Says that we are to abide in Him. To abide in Him means to walk in the Light and walk in Love because God is Light and God is Love.. Live like Christ is returning today so you will not be ashamed if he should. 2 Cor. 5:10 "says we shall stand in the presence of God someday and give account of our works here on earth". 

It is one thing to testify that we know Christ and are in Him, it is another to have a life that reveals that he is our righteousness. John is telling us in v. 29 that the way we recognize other believers is by their lives not their lips. Righteousness is a family trait of the Father and His Children. Gods children take after their Father.

*Righteousness is someone in a right relationship with God through Christ that results in doing what is right.

I do hope you find my this blog helpful. If you have any questions feel free to comment or contact me at robinmartin3@hotmail.com.

And as always if you are interested in a Ladies Bible Study class, please join us on Tuesday evenings at Media Church in Oxford @7PM. All ladies are welcome. Check us out at http://www.mmchurch.org/ 
August 2nd I will be finishing the study on 1st John 5 - God is Life