We are born of God and now walk in newness of life. We are able to put off the old and put on the new. We are being renewed.
When we are in need of peace, we know Jesus gives us His peace. When we pray for the peace of Christ we will receive what we request.
The world need to hear the truth about Jesus and there is not a greater testimony about Jesus Christ than the testimony of God.
Listen, the message is still the same. Repent. If you are born of God you will repent. If you are born of God you will overcome.
John has given us the things we should be able to find in the life of every Christian. What would your spiritual apgar score be?
What is the basis for our confidence on the day of judgment? I hope that your confidence is based on the evidence of perfected love for God and others.
We can tell people that God loves them, but they need to see that God’s love is something done in us. It is something that is lived out through us.
If our love is a love that results from being born of God and knowing God, then it will be a love that meets needs, just like God met our needs.
My friends, if the message is from God, it will be consistent with the message of God as presented by those who were obviously from God.
At the heart of John’s statement that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” is the fact that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man in one person.
Paul knew that the threat of heresy would not just come from those outside the elders, but that it would also come from among this very group of men.
If there is a confidence that is not based on evidence, there is likely a person who has been deceived into believing they are a Christian.
The truth of a doctrine will not do you any good in the presence of God, unless you are of the truth. No experience will stand the test of God’s presence.
If we will make the greatest sacrifice and lay down our lives for the brethren, why would we not step in and do what is needed when far less is required?
Those who are born of God will bear the image of spiritual birth and spiritual life. We will give evidence of this and not habitually sin.
John’s emphasis makes it clear - our spiritual parentage will determine our practice. It will do so for everyone, without exception.
So many have a confident assurance because they say they “believe” in Jesus. Will we be confident when He appears, or will we shrink back in shame?
We need to be seriously committed to our duty because this is the key to a fruitful life that glorifies our Lord and Savior and our heavenly Father.
The doctrine test is important. Not only do we want to believe what is right and true concerning Christ, we want our lives to reflect a right belief.
All the things in this world are passing away - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life - so let's set our eyes on forever.
John makes it clear in this verse that the love of the world and the love of the Father cannot co-exist - the fact is they are diametrically opposed.
The spiritual birth produces spiritual life and a spiritual life should be marked by growth that produce spiritual fruit in our life.
When we love one another the way Christ loves us, we confirm that we are in the Light. This love is confirmation.
If we are honest we have to admit that walking in obedience to the commandments of Christ is too difficult a task to be accomplished in our own strength.
Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of those from every tongue, every tribe and every nation who have responded to the Gospel with repentance and faith.
God forgives sins. God cleanses us from all unrighteousness. But God does not remove the consequences. This is a good thing.
We share a common life in Christ. This forms a bond of union between us that is unlike anything we can experience in the world.
If you have any doubts about John’s understanding of who Jesus is, go read his gospel. He was God in human flesh. He was fully God and fully man.
John paints a very clear contrast between light and darkness, between the love of God and the love of the world, between Christ and the antichrist.
