#493
Satan will spoil that which he can't hinder.
1 JOHN 1
In 1st and 2nd Samuel we had heard of God choosing a king for
His people Israel, and we saw God's hand working behind the events.
King David is a picture of the blessed Man Whom God had in mind...
our Lord Jesus. A thousand years have passed between 2nd Samuel
and 1st John, and now we are reading of the Lord Jesus, having
come to this world. He has given each believer that which He is
Himself... "eternal life". It is the life which was with the
Father from a past eternity, and which is in the Son of God. It is
in this life that believers enjoy communion with God the Father
and God the Son.
So we can learn that each believer in the Lord Jesus is one of
the children in the family of God. We were born into it when we
believed in the Lord Jesus. We have eternal life... Jesus is
eternal life. He could not sin, nor can a believer in that new
life we have received from Him. Read chapter 3:9. Believe it and
you will enjoy it... live it and you will be a healthy Christian,
spiritually.
1 John 1:1-3 John wrote his Epistle long after the other
writers. Modernists of that day were saying Christianity was very
good as a foundation, but that it was growing old, and new ideas
were needed. We hear the same today. So John is showing that the
PERSON OF OUR LORD, the true manifestation of divine life itself,
cancels out all such proud thoughts.
1 John 1:4 Few of us believers know fulness of joy. Yet it is
for us all. Fulness of joy is spoken of at least four times in
Scripture. (1) Fulness of joy through obedience - John 15:9-11.
(2) Fulness of joy through prayer - John 16:24. (3) Fulness of joy
through communion - John 17:13 and (4) our verse. The Holy Spirit
is the source of the believer's thoughts in his life in Christ,
and He cannot give thoughts different from those of the Father and
the Son. God has given us the full ability to enjoy this life, but
we need to realize that it is only if we live this life daily that
we are happy in Him.
1 John 1:6-7 Every unbeliever walks in darkness, and every
believer walks in the light, so far as his position is concerned.
But a believer surely may turn his back on the light, if he is
disobedient to the Word of God. Nevertheless the light still
shines on him. God wants all believers to be in one fellowship,
but our life of obedience is what produces that fellowship.
1 John 1:8 A believer is mistaken if he says this.
1 John 1:9 The pride of our will is broken when we confess a
sin to God. (We could ask for forgiveness without the conscience
being touched; this would bring carelessness and coldness into our
life).
1 John 1:10 An unbeliever might say this, but a believer cannot.
#494
The devil never would be able to accomplish any plan in
Christendom if he could not get good people to join the bad in it.
1 JOHN 2, Verses 1-14
We have an Advocate (one who pleads for another, like a lawyer
does). The Lord Jesus takes care of our case before the Father.
Our part is to confess the sin to our Father. He owes it to His
Son to forgive us, for Jesus has died once for those sins.
Unconfessed sins on us will bring unhappiness.
1 John 2:1 The previous things were written in order that we
should not sin. But if we do sin, God has the remedy... Christ the
Advocate.
1 John 2:2 "Propitiation" means the way that God can
righteously be satisfied about sin. The words "the sins of "are in
italics. They are not in the original writings. "Sin" is the
nature, "sins" are the fruit of that nature.
1 John 2:3-6 The new nature of a believer is an obedient one.
1 John 2:7-8 These prove that the ten commandments are not
being referred to, but the Word of God.
1 John 2:9-11 Blindness and darkness both are characteristics
of the unsaved.
1 John 2:12 Does this thrill you? (In these Epistles, "little
children" are the believers of any age but who may not have known
the Lord long).
1 John 2:12-14 Three stages of growth in a believer - little
children - young men - and fathers. God does not wish us to remain
little children.
#495
When Satan succeeds in leading an individual into sin (from an
assembly), it may be observed that he also attacks the assembly to
divide us (it).
1 JOHN 2, Verses 15-29
1 John 2:15-17 "The world" is referring to the spirit of the
world, not this physical world. In this Epistle, John is writing
to us believers as being in the family of God. Every believer in
Christ is in it. How we behave is what these words are about.
1 John 2:18-19 We are hearing more and more about people who
claim to be "the Christ"... Keep as far away as possible from
them. We know that it is the "last time".
1 John 2:20 Every believer who listens to the Word of God and
bows to it hears exactly the same as every other who does
likewise. This is what brings unity among the Lord's people.
1 John 2:22-23 Two comforting views of the Lord Jesus... as the
Christ and as the Son of God. When people deny this, they lie. It
is very important to believe this.
1 John 2:28 As you read through this Epistle, you can see that
almost everything mentioned is built upon what the Lord Jesus said
on His last night on earth; John's Gospel, chapter 13, 14, 15 and
16. Read this verse and then read John 14:3. This promise banishes
all anxiety and disturbance in our life.
#496
Everything which Christ desires... Satan is out to destroy.
1 JOHN 3
1 John 3:1-2 We are NOW children of God. The next thing to
learn is that we shall be like the Lord Jesus when He comes in
glory. Every beauty, every excellence of His character will be
reproduced in each of us. But read 2 Cor. 3:18 and learn that the
more we look at Him even now, the more like Him we become!
1 John 3:5, 6, 9, 10 The third great thing to learn... The
believer who truly is the Lord's, does not practice sin, (he does
not go on doing things which he knows to be contrary to God's
will). He has two natures, they hate each other. His new nature
cannot sin. He can say "the new nature in me". (Then he will not
feed the old nature, because he knows that God sees it as dead -
Romans 6:6).
1 John 3:14, 15, 17 We have passed from death unto life! Many
true believers do not know this. Another thing... we love other
believers. If love has replaced hatred and selfishness in my
heart, then I know I have passed out of death unto life. Read John
13:34-35. The test of love is this... if I have the means to help
others, I do.
1 John 3:19-21 The believer has confidence in God. He who does
not have a bad conscience in God's presence, can look up and speak
to God in prayer with happiness, as to a Friend with whom he is on
good terms. But if there are sins on our conscience, then we
cannot ask in confidence. We must confess them to be forgiven.
1 John 3:22 The believer has power to obtain from God by prayer
whatever he asks. But we need to read the whole verse! If God is
to listen to us, we must first listen to Him! Notice the two
different things. There are many things that it would please God
for us to do that He has not exactly told us in His book. A father
is pleased when his children do the things which they know please
him.
1 John 3:24 We have the Holy Spirit within us. Ephesians 1:13;
how rich we are!
#497
God never allows Satan to act otherwise than on the flesh; God
allows Satan to trouble the mind, and make the flesh suffer
outwardly, in order that the inner man may be kept from evil. 2
Pet. 4:1. This is always true if the Lord's hand is upon a person
until he recognizes the evil before God; and then there is
forgiveness of the iniquity.
1 JOHN 4, Verses 1-10
1 John 4:1-6 We are hearing much these days about the "spirit
world". People are rushing to hear speakers who claim supernatural
powers. A spirit-controlled person may be Satan-controlled. Never
forget there are lying spirits as well as lying people. These
verses tell us to test the spirits. False prophets are controlled
by false spirits. They are real, and from Satan himself. How are
we to test them? In this way... do they confess that Jesus is
Divine? God has told us that demons can control people. The
believer is preserved from this power to control us, but we can be
deceived if we do not use this test. This is why we are so often
warned in this Book.
1 John 4:7-10 This serious warning is followed by assurance of
God's love. We will see seven great facts about love.
1 John 4:7 The first... love is of God. Every particle of real
love that there is in the world came from God. Real love is to
delight in helping others. People talk much of love these days,
but most
of it is selfishness. Everyone who loves is born of God. Do not
confuse natural affection with God's love.
1 John 4:8 Love is what God is. See also 1:5. Light and love
are combined in God. The whole Bible rests upon these two great
pillars.
1 John 4:9-10 Jesus Christ is the supreme manifestation of the
love of God. But that is only one side- the other is that He sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. "Propitiation" means
this: God has been outraged and insulted by man's sin. But the
Lord Jesus has come to earth and has done such a work in the
sacrifice of Himself for our sins, that God is completely
satisfied and can now show mercy to us who had sinned so
dreadfully.
#498
Immediately after the believers shall be taken to glory, men
and women will be strongly religious, but utterly godless.
1 JOHN 4, Verses 11-21
1 John 4:11 This sounds simple, but is it true of us?
1 John 4:12-26 What a wonderful thought that we dwell in God
and He dwells in us.
1 John 4:17 When we stand before the Lord at the judgment seat,
we shall be perfectly at ease, for we shall be like Him! We are
like Him now! Do we live this out in our life?
1 John 4:18 To learn more of His love is to be delivered from
all fear.
1 John 4:19 Love does not begin with our loving God, but with
His loving us.
#499
Whatever enfeebles attraction to Christ destroys power. Satan
cannot find entrance into a heart which is full of Christ.
1 JOHN 5
1 John 5:1 Every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a
child of God, Who is all-wise eternal, holy, almighty. Having a
Father like this, what responsibility is ours!
1 John 5:4-5 Every true believer has gained the victory over
the world! The world is an enemy of God. It does everything it can
to drag us down to defeat. Daily faith in Christ is what enables
us to have this victory over the world.
1 John 5:6-10 Every true believer has the Holy Spirit in him.
The Spirit is truth, and He is a witness to us of truth. Strong
words!
1 John 5:11-13 Every true believer has eternal life (13th
verse).
1 John 5:14-15 Every true believer has confidence in God, so
that whatever we ask of God, if it is according to His will, He
hears
us. We know if it is according to His will by paying attention
to, and obeying His Word.
1 John 5:16-17 Every true believer has power in prayer, for
himself, and for others. The latter part of the verse could refer
to a believer who continues on in a life of disobedience... it may
end in the Lord taking that person away. Of course they are saved
-1 Cor. 11:30.
1 John 5:18 Every true believer has this perfect security.
1 John 5:20 Every true believer has "God-given" knowledge. He
knows God! Great scientists may be able to put a man on the moon,
but he cannot put the knowledge of God in a man! |