1 John 3 : 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
John hear is reminding us again that we need to make sure we are listening to the truth of God’s word being taught to us. We should know that are deceivers out there today in churches who are watering down the word of God just to lure people in and lead them astray. If we hold true to righteousness God has put in us we we will remain righteous as God is righteous. John goes on to tell us for those that leading people astray are of the devil and quit simply this is telling us that we serve one or the other, there is no in between. Because the devil sinned from the beginning, Jesus was sent to us to destroy the works of the devil. As we go to God’s house today, and I hope you are going, let us go with the knowledge that we are going to hear the truth of God;s word so we can seek His righteousness. Remember, seek ye first the kingdom of God all kinds of blessings will be added to you.
1 john 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
These verses help us to see how we are to live without sin. Jesus came to this earth and lived a sinless life and took our sin upon Himself on the cross. We do not have to live with sin in our life if we put Christ first in our life. We are by no means perfect like Him but we are to strive daily to live the life He would have for us. It is a commitment we have to make every day to live a sin free life and ask for repentance when we fall. For those who proclaim to be Christians but continue to commit the same sin everyday never knew Jesus to begin with and until they decide to commit their lives to Him they will never know Him. If we are striving every day to abide in Christ then He will abide with us to help us to resist sin.
1 John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
These verses show us the hope we have if we keep ourselves pure. Verse 4 reminds us that even though we are under grace the law is still the standard by which we judged. When we sin today it is because we have transgressed against the law. But again if we will strive each day to keep our life in line with the will of God we know the hope that we hold dear of being in Heaven with Him will be a reality one day. This verse also lets us know that each and every one of us is responsible for own salvation.
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.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
We see at the star of this chapter that God has bestowed upon us a divine love which makes us sons of God. Because of this the world does not know who we are because they do not know God. Even as we are the sons of God because we believe in Him we still cannot know what we will be. But when He appears we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is. So we need to keep ourselves in tune with God at all times to be ready when He does appear. even though the world is going in the other direction.
1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
Finally we see in this last verse we can know God even better if we remain in righteous with Him. Because we should know that God is righteousness, then if we are in righteousness with him, we are righteous . In another scripture we read that if we seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness all things will be added unto us. We need the righteousness of God each and every day to accomplish His will in our life each day.
1 John 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
These verses show us that we draw closer to God by simply remaining in Christ. It lets us know that there are people and preachers out there that will try to lead us in the wrong way. There are so many out there today that compromise the word of God to fit their agenda and try to lure as many people to them as they can. Because we have the anointing of God that we have though we should be able to discern when a false profit is trying to lead us astray. This will help us to stay true to the teaching of the truth and be able to abide in Christ. In doing this we will not be ashamed when He comes to call his children home.
1 John 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
These verses show us we can draw closer to God by letting Christ abide in us. They tell us in one sense to look back at our first love and let that abide in us continually and the father and the son will abide with us . The Son and the Father shall continue to dwell with us and also assure us of the promise He has promised us which is eternal life with Him. This is a daily thing we deal with every day and that is to stay true to God so as to hold on to our salvation. Let us give Him praise today as we worship Him on this which is His day and draw even closer to him.
1 john 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
These two verses show us we can be closer to God by accepting both the Father and the Son for who they are. These verses tell us that a liar is one who denies that Jesus is the Son of God and therefore is saying that there is no God. Anyone who does this is considered to be an antichrist because he denies the exorbitance of the Father and the Son. Finally it lets us know that if we acknowledge the Son then we also have the Father and with them comes the Holy Spirit. I pray that everyone who reads this has a relationship with Jesus so they can experience what the Father and Holy Spirit can do for them.
1 John 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
We see in these two verses we can know God by having the Spirit anointing and truth. The first verse says we have an anointing from the Holy Spirit which is our teacher and guide.This helps us to gain the knowledge we need to do the will of God. next it shows us that as we learn we see that the truth is the only thing we need to speak. John is only writing to the Christians so he knows they know the truth and any compromise to that is a lie. As Christians we should brave and bold enough to speak the truth in any situation even if it hurts a little bit.
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
These two verses show how we can get closer to God by being in unity. We see it begins by talking about the antichrist and how there is many of them. This refers to those christians who claim to know God but do not. It also makes reference to the last anichrist. Verse 19 goes on to says that these antichrist went out from among us because they were of us. We see this in churches today where people come and want to be all fired up to do all they can, when they are really just trying to sew seeds of doubt in the true believers, and when they see it is not working they leave. If they had been in unity with the true believers they would have never left. Because they left though people will begin to see their true nature as continue to do this. It is very important that a church be in unity, even if some have different opinions, for it to survive. A church that can work out its differences is a church that is is not only in unity but also in God’s will.
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." I John 5:7
