1 John 3 FSI - HEAR, O EARTH

> [!title|noicon] **1 John 3 Notes** > [[1 John 2 FSI|<Prev]]   [[1 John 4 FSI|Next>]] > [[1 John 3|Verse list view]] > [1 John 3:1](1%20John%203.md#^1) note > > “Behold!” God is calling our attention here. He wants us to pay close attention, because this is what God has declared. What manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. That is to say, what kind or degree of love He has freely given to His children. > > Because of His great love, we can be called His children; His sons and daughters. This is the love that God has given to us. This is the greatest love God could show to us. We are poor, miserable sinners, deserving of death. And yet God in His infinite love and mercy has adopted us to be His sons and made us part of His family. He has given us the greatest honor by adopting as His children, in spite of our sinful nature. > > We can read more about this adoption in [Romans 8:14](Romans%208.md#^14), [15](Romans%208.md#^15), [16](Romans%208.md#^16), where God declared these wonderful words: > > *For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.* > > But the unbelieving world cannot begin to comprehend this much love. They do not have a relationship with Christ or with God the Father, so they do not know Him. Consequently they cannot know the true believers. They do not know us; they do not understand us. There is a vast cleavage between the true believers and those who cannot understand this concept at all. > > In the viewpoint of the world, the Christians are to be pitied. Most people think that Christians really miss out on all the worldly pleasures. But these people cannot understand the godly standards that Christians follow that bring tremendous joy and happiness to the true believers. They do not understand that the source of joy for the child of God is Christ Himself and the Word of God, and not the pleasures of this world. > > For the true believer, there is no greater joy than to know that we are a child of God. It is a different joy than the world can present. We can address God as our Heavenly Father. We are part of the family of God, and everything that goes along with that. ^1jn3-1 > [1 John 3:2](1%20John%203.md#^2) note > > Although we are still living on this sinful earth in our sinful bodies, we are already the sons of God if He has saved us. We are beloved by God. In His great love He has called us His children. He is our Father. That is wonderful in itself, already. We have a Father/son relationship that already exists, and will be there in the future. > > But there is more! God is letting us know that we will be changed into something even better someday, for He states, “it does not yet appear what we shall be.” We will be like Him – like Christ. What can that mean? > > Let’s see if we can get some assistance from the Bible. In [Philippians 3:20](Philippians%203.md#^20) - [21](Philippians%203.md#^21) God declares: “the Lord Jesus Christ…shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.” > > No matter how physically beautiful and perfect we may appear to be, our body is vile in comparison with the enormously beautiful, glorious body that God has appointed for us when we shall be changed, and shall be like Christ. When will this happen? We read in [1 Corinthians 15:51](1%20Corinthians%2015.md#^51), [52](1%20Corinthians%2015.md#^52), [53](1%20Corinthians%2015.md#^53),: > > *Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on in corruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.* > > In other words, God will give us a new perfect body of some sort, because we are going to live with Christ for eternity. This change will take place at the time of Christ’s return, when He gathers all His elect together. The elect includes each and every person who has become saved, and therefore is going to spend eternity with the Lord Jesus. > > When Christ shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We don’t understand the fullness of that statement, but it surely is glorious beyond measure, from the moment that He appears. > > The day when Christ shall appear to us has to refer to the coming of Christ at the end of time. We can know a little bit about this, and it is a good idea to read these Scripture passages to see what information God, in His wisdom, has given us. > > We read in [1 Corinthians 13:12](1%20Corinthians%2013.md#^12): “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” > > Right now we cannot see Christ. We know a lot about Him through His Word. But we still walk by faith, not by sight. But the day will come when we will be face to face with Christ. Then we shall see Him as He is, and we will know Him perfectly. That will be the glorious day when we will be with Him. Rejoice! > > We cannot understand these things. We read about them and we say our wondering words, but the fact is, it is all going to happen as God has declared it. For God has given us these glorious promises that every true believer can hold on to. > > All the true believers who have died are already in Heaven with Christ. The Bible tells us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord ([2 Cor 5:8](2%20Corinthians%205.md#^8)). What a comfort that is! You have loved ones who have died. Where are they? If they were true believers, they are with Christ right now enjoying all these blessings we are talking about. When Christ returns, then every believer will see Him this way. But when will Christ return to gather all of His elect? That’s a question that rings all the time in our minds. That part we cannot know, nor do we need to know. Leave it with the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows what He is doing! It will be when He is completely ready. Let’s wait upon the Lord, because it is so marvelous to know that He is in charge – both of the act itself as well as the timing of the act. It is much better for us to just wait upon God. But we do know it will be something super glorious! Anything we thought was glorious in the past is nothing at all compared with the glory of seeing Christ as He is, and this is coming in the future. > > We might think we are entitled to know because we are God’s elect. There was a time when I believed very strongly that we would know the date of Christ’s return. But I was wrong, as were a lot of other people. We were demanding too much from God. We needed for God to humble us and bring us back down to size because we still are living in this world. We can be thankful that what we know is enough for any human being to know. > > God has a timetable that is perfect, that will take place. It is enough to know that. As a child of God, I, too, can wait for Him to come, and He always keeps His promises, so we know He will come. We know He will carry out His promises and we don’t have to ask for more. We should thank God for His promises, and patiently wait, as we revel in the wonder of being a child of God. Oh, to be one of God’s elect! > > In Matthew 24, for example, God declares several times that we will not know the time of His return. In [Matthew 24:36](Matthew%2024.md#^36) He states: “But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” > > And in [verse 44](Matthew%2024.md#^44) we read, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man comes.” Our instruction is to be ready for the return of Christ. How can we be ready? We are to live out our life on this earth in a way that is pleasing to God, aware that someday every true believer will be with Him for eternity. What could be more glorious than that! The future is glorious, that is, for the true believer, who can look forward to seeing our Savior, Jesus Christ, face to face. > > So with that future ahead of us, we know we have hope. ^1jn3-2 > [1 John 3:3](1%20John%203.md#^3) note > > This verse isn’t saying “every man that has this hope in *himself*,” but rather, every man that has this hope in *him*. This hope is in Him – in *Christ*. We have hope first of all in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is always our Hope ([1 Ti 1:1](1%20Timothy%201.md#^1)). But because a hope is provided to be within us, that expands the hope beyond what we had expected. It is a reality within our life. That is where the hope is expressed in us; that we have hope to be as pure as Christ, because we have become His children. We are born of Him spiritually ([Jn 3:3](John%203.md#^3)). Christ is the ultimate Source for purification; the Cause of our purification. Everyone who has been adopted into the family of God is a son of God, and therefore wants to be as pure as Christ. Christ is the ultimate Source for purification. > > The child of God looks forward to having the glory of Christ in eternity, but right now he lives in hope. But we want the glory of Christ to begin to show in our present life. We have come under the care and watchful eye of our Savior Jesus Himself. Our hope is in the promises of Christ, and consequently we have tremendous encouragement to cry out to God. When we are able to cry out to God freely, we are going to find in our lives that God will provide for us and help us to become pure as Christ is pure. > > Christ has given us the glorious promise that we will be like Him when He shall appear. But while we’re waiting for that blessed, awesome day, we want to be as much like Christ as possible. That’s the nature of a child of God. We want to be more like our Master; more like our Savior, so that Christ might be seen in us. We want the purity of Christ to be seen in us. And when we talk about the purity of Christ, we are talking about every aspect of His life. We want that to overflow into our lives. That is the intense desire of every child of God. > > But when we talk about striving after Christ’s purity, we are faced with the ugly picture of sin, as we read on in the next verse. ^1jn3-3 > [1 John 3:4](1%20John%203.md#^4) note > > Whosoever commits sin? Does that statement include me? Do I live sinlessly? Any one of us knows that we have to go constantly to our Savior and pray for forgiveness. That’s every one of us. Sin always surrounds us and is baiting us. We are always troubled a little bit by sin, and we don’t want to be. > > We are all sinners, aren’t we? No one can make a claim that sin is good. We all have to face the fact that sin is couching at our door, ready to grab hold of us. So we pray constantly: “Oh Lord, keep me from sin.” Sin is the transgression of the law of God, so therefore I should make it a habit to go constantly to the law of God to understand it. I don’t want sin to cling to me or be in evidence in me. I want my sin to be gone. And the more I live for Christ, the more I have a tremendous desire to do God’s will, and the less sin will be seen in me. As the old Chorus goes: “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.” That should be our desire. > > In [Romans 3:20](Romans%203.md#^20) God declares that by the law is the knowledge of sin. This is, of course, talking about the Law of God, the Bible, which is God’s law book. And when we look at God’s law book carefully, with a (spiritually) open heart and mind (opened by God) and an open desire to be more like the Master, then we see the Law. We see that God is talking about me, and I don’t want any sin in my life. So I can and must go constantly to my Savior that I might walk more faithfully. > > Not only that, but in [James 2:10](James%202.md#^10) we read: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” That sounds hopeless – who can keep the whole law perfectly? Nobody can. By that definition, every one of us is guilty of breaking the whole law of God. How are we to understand that? But really what God is doing is reminding us of our need to go to Christ. We live in a sinful world, and we should not be surprised if we get caught up in it from time to time. So that is why it is so wonderful that every time, every hour of the day that we feel guilty before God, we can cry to Him for forgiveness again. And we can know that sin is forgiven. We can know that Christ has mercy on sinners, and He will help us keep the law of God more perfectly. > > We want to be as much like Christ as possible. But we cannot live sinlessly without the help of Christ. We can know that Christ is always present with us, and we can thank Him for helping us to walk in a way that is more like Him. He helps us; He strengthens us. We need Christ! That’s where prayer enters in. We should never hesitate to pray, and we never want to pray in a lofty way. We pray humbly, asking for mercy again and again. It is the Lord Jesus, who is eternal God, that is able to help us, and will help us, to walk in a way that is truly pleasing to God. That we can be assured of. > > So we are reminded of our need to go to Christ to plead for removal of our guilt, and for new strength to walk in a way that is altogether pleasing to God Himself. These verses that speak of this give us assurance that we must go to Christ. We never should get the idea that we can come up with the strength we need. No, we keep going to Christ because we need His help, and we will receive His help. We cannot possibly remove our own guilt of sin. Christ must be there. > > What assurance that gives us! Christ will never leave us nor forsake us ([Heb 13:5](Hebrews%2013.md#^5)). When we cry out to Him in desperation, He is there to help us. This is so wonderful and makes such a difference in our lives. > > Christ is the only remedy for the final removal of sin. He helps us to live in a way that is pleasing to God. He is our Savior, so to go to Him is the logical solution, and is a wonderful solution to our sin problem. When we learn to do that and do it without any hesitation, we just pour out our need to Christ and He is there to help us, and to strengthen us again and again. We plead with Him for forgiveness and for His righteousness. > > The Bible directs us where to go – to the feet of Christ to plead for mercy. Christ is the giver of wonderful mercy. That is clear when we go on to the next verse. ^1jn3-4 > [1 John 3:5](1%20John%203.md#^5) note > > According to God’s own program, Christ, our blessed Savior, is the only Source of Salvation. God says that He; that is, Christ, was manifested to take away our sins. God outlined His salvation program in His Word, the Bible. > > We never want to forget the wonder of God’s love in providing salvation for any one of us. If we are not going to depend upon Christ, we are wiped out. We are going to remain sinners. But we go to Him with a broken and a contrite heart. We acknowledge that we do not deserve salvation at all. We never want to forget that the wonder of God’s love is providing salvation and forgiveness for any one of us. We can’t understand it, but we know Christ came to save us. He is the Savior, and there is no other. > > Christ is the only One who can take away our sins, because He is the sinless One. The love of Christ for His own people is incredibly awesome. We cannot understand it, but we discover that when we are the recipients of His love, it changes our life in every way. We are a new creature in Christ. > > Christ is our great Hope when we find we have committed sins in spite of our quest for purity. We want to be pure, and only because we can go to Christ can we expect to have that purity from Him. We lay everything at His feet and cling to His promises, and know that He has forgiven our sins. > > As we go on in our examination of 1 John 3, we will read some very surprising words in the next few verses that we must look at very carefully. ^1jn3-5 > [1 John 3:6](1%20John%203.md#^6) and [9](1%20John%203.md#^9) note > > This note is for 1 John 3:6 **and** 9. > > Now, I read these two verses because verses 6 and 9 both seem to indicate that if you abide in Christ, you are no longer a sinner. That is, you no longer commit any sin after you are saved. That is what we read in these verses at face value. > > But we know right away that cannot be the right explanation of these verses. Any one of us who claims to be a Christian cannot look at himself or herself honestly and say, “Yes, I am sinless. I no longer sin now that I am a Christian.” We all see sin in our lives, or in the lives of other Christians. Therefore there must be a different explanation. > > A true believer has a loving relationship with Christ and with his Heavenly Father. He knows Christ and is known by Him very intimately. Not only that, but if we are saved, we are not going to be judged for our sins, because they have been paid for. Our sins have all been covered by Christ’s blood. We are no longer in bondage to sin, because we are servants of God. > > But does that mean we do not and cannot commit sin? Sin is the thing we are constantly on guard against. We hate to see sin in our lives, but it keeps cropping up. It is a daily battle. What is the answer to these difficult verses? > > We must understand that we are two parts: body and soul. When God saves us, He gives us a new, resurrected soul, His Spirit dwells within us. That means we have a new soul that is perfect and sinless. Something wonderful – something eternal - has happened in my life. Something has happened that is way beyond any human understanding, and we praise God because we know it could only come from God. > > Sometimes God calls this our soul, sometimes our heart, as we read in the book of Ezekiel, where God describes salvation in [Ezekiel 36:26](Ezekiel%2036.md#^26) - [27](Ezekiel%2036.md#^27). We read there: > > *A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.* > > God here is describing a spiritual act. He is speaking about replacing our old sinful heart with a new heart. He has put His Spirit within us at the moment of salvation. That is, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We call this being born again, or born of God. It is not something we can see or notice, because it is a spiritual act performed by God. But we will see the results in our life as we begin to live for Christ. > > This new resurrected soul is a living soul that has eternal life. It will never die. So in our soul existence, we can say that our soul is perfect and sinless. In our new soul, we will not and cannot commit sin. We dare to say this only because of what we have been reading in the Bible, God’s Book. We did not read it in a commentary or in some person’s idea about salvation; we read it in the Bible. > > But this soul is still part of an earthly body that is not perfect. When we come to Truth, we must always give the whole Truth, and therefore there are things said that we don’t really like to say, but they are still true and must be said. So we say this soul is still part of an earthly body. We will not be in a situation where we absolutely cannot sin. Our body cannot become perfect as long as we are living on this sinful earth. We remain an integral part of it, and there are things we do not understand. But we do know that something has happened in our life that is super wonderful. At the moment of salvation we have been given a new, resurrected soul, although we still live on sinful earth and have a sinful body that causes us to sin. > > This is the struggle. We have a perfect, living soul, along with the indwelt Holy Spirit, that is part of a sinful body. We don’t want it to be that way, but it is the way God has left it in us. The Apostle Paul wrote about this struggle in Romans 7, where he laments the battle going on within him because of this very situation. > > We read in Romans 7:22-25: > > *For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.* > > That statement by the Apostle Paul really lays it on the line. Why do we keep struggling with sin? Why can’t we stop sinning altogether? We don’t want to sin because of our living soul, so there is really a mighty war going on within our bodies. Our body drags us down into sin. > > We are able to have victory over sin in some ways, but we cannot have total victory until we go to Heaven. When we go into Heaven our life on earth is ended, and we are able to leave our human nature behind altogether. So we walk very carefully to avoid sin and temptation, and we can avoid sin to a high degree, but over and over we fail, and it makes us feel so bad. But wonderfully we can go again and again to our Savior. > > We have hope that God will restrain sin in our lives because of His wonderful promises that we belong to Him. This is what we understand by these verses that state that we do not commit sin. This is only part of the picture. In our soul existence we do not sin because we have been given a new resurrected soul, and the Holy Spirit, at the moment of salvation. But there is still a big problem. We still have a body that has an old nature that is sinful. > > We cannot understand this issue because it is spiritual. It is a spiritual concept and God has not given us this ability to understand all spiritual things. In other words, we are still growing in grace. We are still growing in the things that Christ wants us to know about. So we walk by faith and keep our eyes fixed upon Christ, our Savior. We wait upon Christ to give us the strength; give us the rationale; give us all that is necessary so that hopefully, as time goes by, we will be walking more and more in a way that is pleasing to our blessed Savior. Now go back to 1 John 3:7. ^1jn3-6-9 > [1 John 3:7](1%20John%203.md#^7) note > > God first of all is putting us in our proper category: “Little children.” We are not professors of knowledge who know everything. We are little children in God’s sight. When your 3-year-old child comes to you with a question, he does not come full of knowledge; he comes asking very simple questions about things. You normally are giving him very simple answers because you know his mind is still very small, and you want him to understand some of what you tell him. > > When we talk about Christ coming to help us, we should be thanking Him in our soul that He treated us as children, because we don’t know anything in ourselves. It must come from the Lord Jesus, and he teaches us bit by bit ([Is 28:10](Isaiah%2028.md#^10)). We are little children, and that is the way we should want Jesus to teach us. No matter what we do as an adult, we still are a little child in Christ’s sight. We should react to Him very humbly and listen humbly and not take on any airs of pride when we are taught the Word of God in any of its aspects. We must listen carefully. > > Humility is the first step. Once we learn to be humble – and it is a learning process – so that we are able to sort out truth from error, we will begin to learn. This is where we begin to have spiritual learning. > > We are all spiritually destitute by nature. That means we have no knowledge in ourselves. We all should be ready to learn. So many people say they are ready to learn, but deep down they really want to tell others all that they know about Jesus. Our attitude should be: I want to know everything possible about Jesus. He is all important. Spiritually, when we come to such an important subject as the Lord Jesus, I am a little child. > > This is the time when I must practice humility. By nature none of us are humble. We all think we are something, but really we aren’t. We are waiting to be taught. We must go to the Bible; we must read it more carefully; more patiently; more often. It must be my guide, and I have to listen to what I am reading very carefully. That is a good place to begin. > > The real news is in the Bible and it comes to us as we listen to the Word of God. So we must listen to it more and more. We have to get rid of the idea that because I have read the Bible so often, I don’t have to be told any more from the Bible. But we can never listen to the Word of God too often. It is God who has something to say to us. > > So the first thing we know we must do is to examine our lives. Do I see sin in my life? I would be astounded if anyone could look at his life and not see some sin. Sin is always couching at the door, waiting to jump in and create a problem in our life. So we should never hesitate to call again and again upon God. I hope this is true of you – that no man can deceive you because you only want to listen to the Lord Jesus, and the best place to listen to Him is right from the Bible. > > Many people go around bragging that they do everything God’s way because they read the Bible all the time and therefore don’t sin very much. But is that true? I must look at my life honestly and examine myself carefully. We must ask God to strengthen us; we cannot be used of God unless we are prepared by Him. That is the beginning point. We plead for God’s mercy so that we can do it His way altogether. There is no short cut of any kind. > > Let’s go on in our study to 1 John 3:8. At first reading this verse will seem very straightforward, but we have learned that the Bible is sometimes very complex. ^1jn3-7 > [1 John 3:8](1%20John%203.md#^8) note > > Now, we are all familiar with who the devil is. The Bible calls him the devil, or Satan, or the wicked one, or the evil one. He is sometimes referred to as a great dragon or a serpent. Without question, the devil is the spiritual being that brought sin into the world back in the Garden of Eden. He is the great adversary of God, and the Bible has a lot to say about him. > > In this verse, God states that the devil sinned from the beginning. We do not know exactly when Satan rebelled against God along with some of his fellow angels. But wicked Satan came into the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the world, and deceived Adam and Eve with his lies. And then for His own purposes, God gave Satan the rule over this sin-cursed earth. > > In [John 12:31](John%2012.md#^31), God called Satan the prince of this world, and in [2 Corinthians 4:4](2%20Corinthians%204.md#^4) he is called the god of this world. God, in His infinite wisdom, has allowed Satan to operate in this world within the boundaries God has set for him, as God’s election plan was carried out for humanity. > > We know that Satan rules over the unbelievers therefore, but does he have any power over the true believers? A true believer belongs to the Kingdom of God, after all. Because a true believer no longer serves Satan, what about when he falls into a sin? We have the righteousness of Christ, don’t we? Can we possibly be trapped by the devil? > > As a matter of fact, God warns the true believers to watch out for Satan! We may not think we are at risk once God saves us. However, God gives us a strong warning in Ephesians 6, where He instructs us to put on the whole armor of God. > > In [Ephesians 6:11](Ephesians%206.md#^11), God instructs us to “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” The word ‘wiles’ means deceitfulness or trickery. The devil is the great deceiver and a liar. Don’t ever take him as an incidental enemy. > > God goes on in [Ephesians 6:12](Ephesians%206.md#^12): “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” God is talking about the power of the devil. And then [verse 16](Ephesians%206.md#^16) talks about quenching “the fiery darts of the wicked.” > > God is certainly warning us against Satan! God is telling us we need the armor of God in order to withstand Satan’s power. This is an important warning; one that we want to be totally aware of, because we can be tricked and coerced by Satan. Satan is a real wicked foe. > > The idea of armor suggests *warfare*. There is a war going on – against the rulers of the darkness of this world. This is not a simple skirmish or something we can dismiss. It is very deceptive, and we do not want to be tricked by Satan. We want to stand tall and strong with our eyes on Christ, solid in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The armor of God includes Truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. > > God is telling us how to withstand Satan; how to use great care as we live in this world, because Satan is powerful. He is deceptive; he is a crooked enemy. But wonderfully he is under the power of God’s might. He cannot go outside of that power; therefore we know he has limitations. But we have to steadfastly and patiently wait for God to help us and warn us. God is so good to us, and He does help us. > > So in other words, we do need to be concerned about Satan, because he is very active and very deceptive, and we do not want to be deceived. Of course, if we belong to Christ, Satan cannot ultimately have victory over us. But until Satan is put under the power of God completely, he is a very formidable foe. He is alive and he does exist. The Bible makes that very clear. > > Satan may try to tempt us in every way to sin, and we are not strong against temptation in ourselves. We know that is true. We need Christ to be our strength! With Christ’s help we will have victory over Satan and over sin every time Satan comes against us. But we must recognize that Satan is our enemy if we belong to Christ. And therefore that quest of Satan to get victory over us can be expected at any time. Satan is the enemy of Christ and therefore of ourselves. > > We read in 1 John 3:8, the second part of this verse, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” When Christ Jesus came to earth, Satan tried very hard to destroy Him. We read in [Luke 22:3](Luke%2022.md#^3) that Satan entered into Judas, one of Christ’s disciples, and caused him to betray Jesus to the chief priests in order to bring about His death. Satan surely thought he had victory over Christ. > > Jesus allowed this to happen, of course, because He had a master plan that included His death and resurrection. Christ had paid for sin before the foundations of the world. How He did that, we do not know. But He came to this earth to show the world His sovereignty, His mercy, His glory, His victory over death, His victory over Satan – all those things. It was a tremendous demonstration! Christ was showing us His power over Satan. Christ was the ultimate and final victor. > > We know that Jesus Christ destroys the works of the devil. Christ is the deliverer of fallen man from the power of Satan. He rescues souls out of Satan’s hands. The unbelieving world follows after Satan and continues to be deceived by him. But not so the true believers. They are rescued by Christ. He does indeed rescue us. It is so wonderful to read about these things, because if we are true believers we need God’s power to stay free of Satan’s deceptive wiles. Only Christ can deliver us. > > But ultimately God will destroy this corrupt world and all its wickedness, including Satan. > > But the true believers belong to Christ forever, throughout eternity future. What can be better than to know that? So we continue working for Christ knowing we have to remain patient. We are going to see Satan winning again and again, but that does not mean for a moment that this is pointing to an ultimate win of Satan. Satan is the loser because he is against God. His time will definitely come to an end. ^1jn3-8 > [1 John 3:10](1%20John%203.md#^10), [11](1%20John%203.md#^11), [12](1%20John%203.md#^12) note > > There we have the beginning of grievous sin. God has been talking about righteousness. Back in [1 John 3:7](1%20John%203.md#^7) we had read, “He that does righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.” We had seen that verse to mean that a saved person has the righteousness of Christ, and it should become a part of his personality. > > In contrast, verse 10 says that “whosoever does not *do* righteousness is not of God…” > > In other words, only the child of God can do righteousness. Only the child of God can be considered to be righteous, because of the righteousness of Christ. The unbelievers cannot be righteous because they do not belong to Christ. > > Verse 10 contrasts the children of God and the children of the devil. Those are the two categories of people. The righteousness and love for one’s brother are manifest; that is, clearly visible. That is God’s declaration. > > God’s message to us is that we should love one another. And then God calls our attention to Cain, who slew his brother Abel. We can read that account back in the fourth chapter of Genesis. > > Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam and Eve, each brought an offering to the Lord. God accepted Abel’s offering, but rejected Cain’s offering. As a result, Cain killed his brother Abel. > > God states plainly here in 1 John 3 that Cain belonged to the wicked one, who is Satan, and that Cain killed Abel because of Abel’s righteousness. God is using Cain and Abel as a prime example of righteousness versus unrighteousness. The spiritual state of their hearts was evident by their actions. Cain did not love his brother at all, and his hatred or jealousy caused him to commit murder. > > God declares that Cain killed Abel because Cain’s works were evil, and Abel’s works were righteous. God reports this to us so that we can know these things. God is showing us the kind of righteousness a true believer should have. > > On the surface, Cain’s offering to God may have looked just as good as Abel’s offering, but God looked upon their hearts. He would have seen that there was something terribly wrong with Cain’s offering, because there was something terribly wrong with Cain’s heart. He knew that Cain’s heart was evil, just as He knew that Abel’s heart was righteous. > > Cain and Abel belonged to the first family that lived on this earth. When sin came into this perfect world, the impact was immediate and tremendous. And when Cain murdered Abel, it set the stage for how humanity was going to turn out because of sin. > > Murder was not just a passing phenomenon. It continued throughout the Bible and throughout history, right up until our day. Because the world is under the power of sin and Satan’s wickedness, the world is full of murder, which really demonstrates how wicked the heart of humanity has grown. > > This earth is an arena that is possessed with sin - sin of the most terrible nature. One of the leading sins we see everywhere is the terrible sin of murder: humanity killing humanity. Therefore as we see the grievous nature of sin, we see that death is the ultimate end. We can also see why there is a terrible penalty for sin. > > We all can see how terrible this is. The same hatred shows up today as it showed up in the heart of Cain. Man today is as sinful as ever. > > If we did not have the Bible, and did not know about the victory of Christ, we might assume there would never be victory over sin. The whole world would be lost if it were not for the Lord Jesus. But because God enters into the picture, sin loses its power in the lives of the true believers. Sin has no power over Christ and His people. Christ came to give us victory over sin. > > Victory over sin is possible through Christ alone. It does not come from our resolve or strength. The victory comes because of Christ. Christ has done everything necessary to give us this tremendous victory. > > God commands us to love one another. The heart of a true believer should be filled with love for his fellow man. As Christ loves us, so we should love one another. We are able to do this because we have the Spirit of Christ if He has saved us. He puts the love in our hearts that He requires. All the activity is Christ’s activity. It isn’t because of us; it is because Christ has taken possession of our life. So we are finally able to live a life that is pleasing to Christ. > > Yet the thoughts of sin and its consequences can really weigh us down. But because we have the Bible, and we know it is completely true and trustworthy, we know that there is something better that is guaranteed to come. > > The children of God are able to look forward to living in the new heaven and the new earth that God has promised, where there will be no sin at all. There will only be perfection with Christ, forever and ever. Knowing this, the true believers should be living with rapturous joy, even though we live in a very sinful world. What a glorious future awaits the child of God! ^1jn3-10-12 > [1 John 3:13](1%20John%203.md#^13) note > > In other words, if you are a true believer, you can expect the unbelieving people of the world to hate you. Why would that be? To give us an idea, we can read [John 15:18](John%2015.md#^18) - [19](John%2015.md#^19). We read these words that Jesus spoke: > > *If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.* > > The idea, then, is that the people of the world love their own kind. They do not love Christ or His followers. The Christian who lives a godly life is very different from a worldly person who follows the world’s standards of living. He is viewed by the world as very strict, very narrow, and perhaps very judgmental, just because of his godly standards. He consequently is shunned by what he would call worldly people, who care nothing for God or the Bible. There is a vast difference between God’s standards set forth in the Bible, and the way most people choose to live. God does not allow any lying or cheating, for example. He does not allow divorce for any reason, or remarriage after divorce. These are harsh standards for most people. > > True believers know they must live by the standards set forth in the Bible. They must follow God’s standards for living and not the world’s standards. God knows people’s hearts, and therefore He tells the children of God: “Marvel not my brethren if the world hate you.” ^1jn3-13 > [1 John 3:14](1%20John%203.md#^14) - [15](1%20John%203.md#^15) note > > When we become born again, God states that we have passed from death into life. We have come out of the kingdom of Satan, and into the kingdom of God. We now possess eternal life. > > One indication that this has happened is that we love the brethren. God expects us to love others, and He helps us in this regard. He declares that if we don’t love our brother, we still abide in death. That is, we still are not saved. > > In verse 15 God equates hatred with murder. That seems rather extreme, doesn’t it? To feel hatred for someone is certainly not as bad as taking his life. But the point is this, that the sin of hatred is just as bad as murder from God’s viewpoint. This is a sin that shows we are not saved. > > We know that a true child of God should not be a murderer. His heart should be filled with love for his fellow man; not with hatred of any kind. It seems logical for us to love our brethren. The brethren would include all these who profess Christ as their Savior. So naturally we would love them. > > But we don’t always feel love as we should. God is telling us in these verses that a lack of love for our fellow Christians is an indication that we may not be saved. We need to look at our heart very honestly. If there is any hatred we should be crying out to God for mercy. How do we view our brethren? Always with love? That is what God requires of the believers. We are to love our brethren as God loves us. That is, we are to show the love of God for our brethren in Christ at all times. > > As we have gone through the book of 1 John, God has been teaching us about some of the differences between the true believers and the unbelievers. Our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ is one evidence of the fact that God has saved us. > > As we go on in 1 John 3 we will see more evidence of the impact of God’s salvation. ^1jn3-14-15 > [1 John 3:16](1%20John%203.md#^16) note > > It is the Lord Jesus Christ who laid down His life for us. That is a fact we know very well. Christ gave His life for the sake of the elect, and thereby sets a terrific example for all of us who are believers. > > Christ took upon Himself all of our dirty, rotten sins, so that we could have eternal life. The terms “dirty, rotten sins” makes us recoil, but that is the truth about the nature of sin. We need to remember that all the time – sin is rotten. Yet Jesus paid the full price for the sins of His elect people in order to give us the marvelous gift of salvation. > > Now God is telling us here, in this verse we just read, that the true believers should also be willing to lay down their lives for the brethren. We should be ready to put our love into action without any hesitation. > > He is showing us what true love for the brethren is, illustrated by the love of Christ for us. It isn’t just a nice thought or conversation; it requires action. We could say that we have arrived at the knowledge of what true Christian love is. It requires action. > > Now, the question is, how do we lay down our lives? Christ literally laid down His life for us. We are told we that we all should lay down our lives for the brethren. This applies to all of the true believers. What is God asking of us? How can we give up our life for someone? How do we lay our lives down on the altar of service to our fellow man? > > One way we can do that is to give generously of our time, our care, our labors, our substance, and our prayers. All of these things enter into action as we are trying to faithfully live our lives in a way that is pleasing unto God. > > In other words, we should be willing to do anything necessary to help one of our brothers or sisters in Christ, to the glory of God. That is, if any one of our brothers or sisters in Christ has a need that we recognize, we should immediately become available to assist that individual. This is a beginning point for Christian service. > > Our life should not be dearer to us than God’s own Son was to Him. How dear was Jesus the Son of God to His heavenly Father? We know from the Bible that He was extremely dear to God, and yet He was given up to be our sin-bearer. > > God goes on in the next verse to expand on this idea of giving of ourselves to the brethren. ^1jn3-16 > [1 John 3:17](1%20John%203.md#^17) - [18](1%20John%203.md#^18) note > > God is instructing us that we are to show our love for the brethren by our actions. The word “bowels” indicates one’s very essence - their very being. We don’t just talk about our love; we demonstrate that love with generosity. Love with generosity is the key. How much loving service do we give sometimes and do not do it in truth? We may want it to look like service for God, but our heart is not in it. This is not the way to give Christian service. > > If someone has a physical need, and we have the means to help out, then we should do so willingly and unselfishly. We are to show compassion and caring. These actions should come from our heart, a heart of love. > > For example, let’s suppose you have a friend who is elderly, and her husband dies, and she has no other family. Without financial assistance, she will die of hunger. You have some money. You were going to use it to pay bills or buy some things. But this lady is desperate for help. We should be ready to give help as quickly as possible when we sense a need. > > Will you wait to first see if anyone else will help her out? Or will you immediately step forward and give her the money she needs? This is an opportunity for you to lay down your life for her, by putting her needs ahead of your own. > > So we should always consider the needs of others first, even ahead of our own needs. This is the normal reaction of a true child of God. This is what we should expect of a Christian, without any question. This is what God expects of us. > > It is so easy to talk about our love and our care for others. That sounds nice and kind and thoughtful. But God is putting us to the test. He is calling us to action. Our good works are an outpouring of our faith in Christ. Good works are not a requirement for salvation, but rather they are evidence that God has worked in our heart and life. > > Instead of being self-centered, we should have become centered on God and others when we became saved. Our love for the brethren should be always in evidence by the way we live and behave ourselves in a needy world. > > As we go on in this chapter of the Bible, God will give us more instruction about how we are to live as Christians. We want to know all there is to be known about living and walking as a child of God. ^1jn3-17-18 > [1 John 3:19](1%20John%203.md#^19) note > > That is to say, when we see this love at work in our lives, we can be assured that we are of the truth. It’s a positive statement that is telling us that we indeed have found the truth, if genuine love for others is in our heart. ^1jn3-19 > [1 John 3:20](1%20John%203.md#^20) - [21](1%20John%203.md#^21) note > > If our heart condemns us, it means we are not sure of our salvation at all. But God can assure us. One of the greatest concerns of a child of God is whether or not he is truly saved. We may think we are saved, but then we have a bad day, and we are not sure. Our heart condemns us at times, as it were. That is why it is so wonderful to go back to the Bible and read it again and again. There is where our assurance comes from. > > We find we are asking, “How do I know I’m really saved? Maybe I’m not.” But we cannot rely upon our feelings, which are very untrustworthy. When we listen to our feelings we get into trouble. When we have doubts we must go back to the Word of God. What does it declare? And there is where we find our assurance. > > God is greater than our heart; He knows all things. He knows the true state of our heart in relation to Him. So we want to pray to our Lord for help, and we cannot be too proud to cry out to Him for mercy and assurance that we are His child. If we cannot get that assurance then we have to begin to pray for salvation. We have to trust the Word of God. God is the only one that can help us. > > We can know that if God is meaningful to our lives, it means that He has led us down the right path. We trust Him; we don’t trust ourselves. Our trust must be based upon the firm foundation of God’s love and faithfulness. We have to keep our eyes focused on the faithfulness of God. If I know that I have trusted Christ to be my Savior, I know I am safe with Him because of His faithfulness. > > Our foundation cannot be based upon our own feelings. That would be a very shaky foundation. We need something solid, and there is no more solid foundation upon which to entrust ourselves than upon God Himself. We cannot base our relationship with God purely on how we feel in His Presence. We know it has to be because we have learned that God is God. He is our Lord. He is absolutely trustworthy. > > As we examine our lives and our walk with Christ, we must be honest in our examination. As a child of God, we are to be obedient to God’s Word. We are to love others, as Christ loves us. We are to be ready to lay down our lives for the brethren, and so on. And the more we begin to think about these things, the more solid our trust in Christ will be. > > God has given us standards to live by that are evidence of our walk with Christ if we are really listening to them with an intense desire to be obedient. But even then, at times our feelings cause us to doubt our standing with God. We are so blessed that God is still there, because we are wavering. At times we are unsure, but that does not make a difference in what God is doing for us. He is there faithfully waiting upon us. > > God gives us some assistance with this matter in [Romans 8:16](Romans%208.md#^16), where we read: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” In other words, God will assure us that He has saved us. > > That is why we can have confidence toward God when we are in true fellowship with God, and our heart does not condemn us. We can have the confidence that God has saved us if we truly believe with all our hearts that Christ is our Savior. We have a sense of need, and we must come to Christ in total humility. > > When we have doubts, we can pray for the assurance of salvation. No matter how shaky we feel, we can start to pray. We know that our own thinking is not trustworthy, and that our knowledge of all things is very slender. But God knows all things. He is far greater than our heart. We can always cry out to God for mercy, knowing He will help us. What a wonderful God we serve! > > We trust in what God’s Word says about what it means to be saved. We cannot trust how we feel about it. God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit, and He will give us more and more trust in Him. > > God will give us the assurance we need, and thus give us confidence in our standing with Christ. We trust entirely in Christ and God’s Word. We trust in God’s promises, knowing He keeps His promises. > > We serve such a loving God, who cares so much for His children. What a blessed confidence He gives us. One of our beloved hymns declares, Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. This is the assurance God puts within our hearts when we walk in truth. God gives us assurance that we are His children as we see His love at work in our lives. ^1jn3-20-21 > [1 John 3:22](1%20John%203.md#^22) note > > The person who walks in the kind of obedience and love this passage speaks of will experience answered prayer. This does not mean that God is rewarding our obedience by giving us what we pray for. But rather, this emphasizes the fact that when we are in fellowship with God, that results in our love and obedience to be in God’s will, which is the key to answered prayer. We are in complete harmony with the will of God. This harmony is the goal of every true believer. > > In [John 15:7](John%2015.md#^7) Christ made a similar statement when He declared: “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide you, ye will ask what ye desire, and it shall be done unto you.” That is, when we are living in fellowship with Christ, we abide in Christ, and we will keep His commandments. Along with that, we will want to do God’s will, and the things we ask from God will be in accordance with His will. Those will be things we desire. We will do the things that are pleasing in God’s sight, and there will be intense harmony between ourselves and God. That is our goal in life. > > We are not in this world developing a kingdom for ourselves. We are here to develop the Kingdom of God. Therefore our number one desire will be to try to please God. The nature of true fellowship with Christ is to have an on-going desire to be pleasing to God. The wonderful effects of this desire will be that the love of God will be flowing towards us. > > God has set up a wonderful arrangement for us. As we live a godly life, we will find a growth in our desire to be pleasing to God. So we should want to be pleasing to God in everything that we do. And we will discover that as we grow in grace, our own pleasure will be less and less significant. But the pleasure of serving Christ will increasingly impact our lives. > > In fact, we will find that as we pray for God’s will to be done, and not our own will, many of the things that God desires for us will directly and personally benefit us spiritually. God’s love for us is so wonderful that we should have every desire to please Him in every aspect of our lives, and not to please ourselves. > > We should be praying constantly for God’s direction and guidance in order to be in His will, and thus please Him with our actions. When we go through an hour or an afternoon of time, and look back and see that during that time period we had an intense desire to be pleasing to God, and that we carried out this goal - what a delight! That is our goal because we love Him more and more. > > God is the Author of all goodness, and when we experience it in our lives, we are filled with joy. This results in an even better relationship with God. In other words, all we are doing is helping ourselves to do what God wants us to do. > > Another aspect of this relationship is seen in the next verse in this passage. ^1jn3-22 > [1 John 3:23](1%20John%203.md#^23) note > > To believe on the name of Christ is not talking about intellectual knowledge. It does not mean to merely believe that Jesus exists. Rather, to believe on His name means putting our whole trust and confidence in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. It means to hold Him in the highest regard. No one in this world should be more desirable than Christ as the recipient of our praise and glory and obedience. > > And we are commanded to love one another. This is not optional. It is a command, and requires an action of our will. It is a firm command from God which we must follow, but only will follow if He has inclined our will and our heart. > > Jesus had given us this commandment to love also in [John 15:12](John%2015.md#^12), where He declared: “This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.” This is the standard for our love for others. God in His kindness has given us a wonderful standard to follow. > > We must always remember that any and all commands given by Christ are of the utmost importance. Therefore it is very desirable for us to follow His commandments and obey them with our whole being. > > We must understand that our obedience to Christ is a result of the fact that God is already dong a work of grace and mercy in our lives. > > It is only because Christ has saved us that we are capable of believing and loving as He requires us to do, as His children. And our understanding of this gives us the assurance that we belong to Christ. > > How wonderful it is to know that as we live our lives in obedience to Christ and His commandments, we are walking closer and closer to Him. It makes us have a greater and greater desire to be obedient to our precious Lord. Obedience to His Word is a prime desire of true children of God. We love others as He loves us, and we love Christ above all. ^1jn3-23 > [1 John 3:24](1%20John%203.md#^24) note > > In order to help us understand all the pronouns in this verse, let’s clarify this a little bit with some explanation: “and he [the true believer] that keeps His commandments [that is, Christ’s commandments], dwells in Him [in Christ]; and He [Christ] in him [in the true believer]. And hereby we know that He [Christ] abides in us, by the Spirit which He [Christ] has given us.” > > This verse really summarizes all that we have been talking about in the past few studies. These are the things God has been teaching us about our life as a child of God. > > To say that someone dwells in Christ, or abides in Christ, is a beautiful testimony of our true relationship with Christ after He saves us. This relationship will cause us to want to keep God’s commandments. What could be more wonderful than to dwell in Christ? As a true believer, your dwelling place – your home - is in Christ. > > We have read in [Romans 8:16](Romans%208.md#^16), “the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” And [Romans 8:9](Romans%208.md#^9) - [10](Romans%208.md#^10) tells us that anyone who belongs to Christ has the Spirit of God in him. The indwelling Holy Spirit gives us assurance. We read there: > > *But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.* > > Therefore God could declare in 1 John 3:24, “and hereby we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us.” We cannot be abiding in Christ and not know this is true. God has given us His Spirit, and He abides in us. How can we possibly understand these things? We can’t. It is way beyond our comprehension. But we know it is all true, because God wrote these things in His Word, the Bible. We have the confidence that these things are true, because this is what God tells us about the true believers and His relationship with them. And we know that God is the essence of Truth. > > The person who does not keep God’s commandments does not have the confidence that he abides in Christ. Nor does he or she have the assurance of the Holy Spirit’s Presence in their life. > > God has already given us one basis for this assurance – if we love one another. This love for the brethren is evidence of God’s work of love in us. > > So we have learned that, first of all, when God saves someone, the Holy Spirit indwells that person. In addition, Christ abides in him and he abides in Christ. As a result of this new spiritual relationship, you will love your brothers and sisters in Christ, and you will keep God’s commandments. > > Although your body is still dead in sin because of your old nature, you have a new resurrected soul that is perfect. As we read in [Romans 8:10](Romans%208.md#^10), the spirit is life because of righteousness. Whose righteousness – ours? No, it is because of Christ’s righteousness. It is Christ that makes all the difference in our lives. > > The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit, the Bible tells us. That is, the Holy Spirit uses the Bible to bring about salvation. Therefore, one evidence of salvation is a delight in the teachings of the Bible, so that there is a strong, on-going desire to do the will of God; that is, to be obedient to the Bible both in doctrine and in practice. Practice has to do with the way we conduct ourselves because we have read the Bible. > > A saved person has become a citizen of God’s kingdom. He has become indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. He has received a new resurrected soul in which he never wants to sin again. > > Therefore we would expect that such a person would have a great preoccupation with the Bible, which tells him about his Savior and about salvation. The Bible is the rule book God has given us. When we are ruled by the Bible, then every one of our actions is going to be in accordance with the Word of God. > > Over and over in 1 John, God has told us that if we know Him we will keep His commandments. If we do not find in our life an on going desire to be obedient to the Word of God, then in all likelihood we are not saved. Of course when we have doubts of our salvation, the wonderful fact is that we can always go to God and plead for His mercy. > > When we see that our faith is weak, this may indicate that we are not yet saved, though not necessarily. But it is always right to pray to God for His mercy if we are not saved, or if we have already become saved and we do fall again spiritually. We should never hesitate to cry to our blessed Lord for forgiveness. > > If I am truly saved, nothing I can do can endanger my salvation. I have been given eternal life. Praise God for His marvelous love and mercy! ^1jn3-24 Tags: #New_Testament #1John #Gods_love #FSI