1 John 3
NKJV
by Bo Sullivan
1 John 3:1
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
We hardly understand the "manner of love" of our heavenly Father. We, as fathers and mothers, invest our time, money and resources raising our children. We watch them grow year by year. We take them out to the fence row and show them the boundaries of safety. We teach them about the hostile environment outside the sanctuary. Yet one day, in spite of all that we’ve done, our child jumps fence and runs away. We go to the place where they crossed the fence and look out with longing eyes and aching hearts hoping that they are alright. We stand helpless wishing for their safe return.
God’s heart breaks just like ours when His children run away from him. Sometimes love hurts. And yes, it’s worth the investment, because the soul that’s afraid of dying never learns to live. And the heart afraid of breaking never learns to love. True love gives. Love gives energy to a relationship. Love is not afraid of investing in a relationship. God is love. God is a giver. God gives into a relationship until there’s nothing else to give or until we don’t want it anymore.
God invests in us by making us His own children! We belong to Him because He bought us for a price. Yes, God had to pay a high price for us. That price was His own life’s blood. That’s right friend, we are expensive. We cost God a lot of pain and suffering, we did not come free or cheap. God looked at us, then looked at the price it would cost Him to purchase us out of sin and said, "they are worth it!" Hallelujah! Therefore, He is happy to heap treasures on our heads. He is making us joint-heirs with Jesus Christ His only begotten son. He has given us ownership of this world, all that’s within it, and the world to come.
I sometimes wonder why God constantly refers to us as "children?" Some of us are full grown adults, yet He calls us children. I think God knows us better than we know ourselves. We act like children so much of the time that the title fits us well. We cry for our way many times just like our own children do.
Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Look at verse 13. Make no mistake about it, the sinful world is alienated from God and does not understand you! They don’t know what it is that makes you tick. Believers are dancing to the beat of a strange and different drum as for as the world is concerned.
When the world is going in one direction, Spirit lead believers are usually going in the opposite direction. Always in direct opposition to the spirit of the age.
He came to His own and His own did not know him. How much more will they not know us. His own people misunderstood Him. They couldn’t figure out what made Him work. It is possible to KNOW the force that drives God’s people. But it is foreign to the world and the worldly minded. The way to understand this driving force that makes believers tick is to know Him! The world is not interested in knowing Him intimately. Worldly people look at a situation and ask, "What’s in this for me? What can I take from this person?" Born again believers should look at a situation and ask, "What can I do to help?" "Can I be of service?"
Make no mistake about it, you and I are a misunderstood people. The world lives by different standards and does not understand us. Don’t go around with your head buried in the sand expecting everybody to agree with you and like you just because you name the name of Christ. For the most part, this will be enough to drive wedges between you and worldly minded people. So you might as well expect it. Don’t let it shock you. Don’t let it discourage you. Keep your head up and keep reminding yourself, "if they knew Him, they would know you."
1 John 3:2
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
Be-loved. He has titled you as Be-loved. You are being loved present tense by God and His associates. The word "beloved" speaks volumes to us. Some people were once loved but have lost that love. Others have never been loved nor have they loved others, love is foreign to them.
NOW we are children of God! He didn’t say we used to be children, not we are going to be children, but we ARE, present tense, children of God. Being a child of God brings with it many benefits. One of the perks will be our transformation into the image of Christ.
We can see through this glass dimly, in other words, we have only a partial knowledge of our future with Christ. Our complete transformation will not be fully revealed until the resurrection. With this in mind, let me set you up and say, "If we can’t know the full revelation yet, but we can know all the things I’m about to reveal to you from the Scripture, this is going to be an awesome experience."
Joel 2:1-11.
Revelation 1:12-16 gives us a vivid description of Jesus. We are destined to become like He is. Jesus and the whole spirit realm travels faster than the speed of light. Let’s prove it. You might ask, "why prove this, why should we study and think about how fast we will travel?" See, we are a people in need of speed. Vacations to far away places make us wish for faster and more comfortable ways of travel.
We can get more done in a shorter amount of time the faster we are able to travel.
Light moves at 186,000 miles per second. That’s circling our earth 7.5 times each second. Our Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light-years across. A light-year is the distance one can travel in one year moving at the speed of light. It takes our sun 250,000,000 years to travel once around the center of our galaxy. It has been estimated that it’s 2.2 million light-years to the nearest galaxy. Isaiah 14:13 tells us that heaven is located in the north part of the universe. Scientist tell us that there is not anything very close to us in the north parts. In other words, heaven is in the quadrant that’s the very farthest away from earth. That puts heaven much further away from us than the other galaxies. In other words, it would take billions of years to travel to heaven at the speed of light.
People have traveled to and from heaven and earth quicker than the speed of light. Remember the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9:28-36) when God sent Elijah who was in the flesh to Jesus? Elijah had been carried to the third heaven in a chariot of fire 1535 years earlier. He had only 1535 years to make the journey to heaven and back to earth for this event. Even at the speed of light that’s not enough time to make it there one-way. So this proves he was moving faster than light. The question is, "did he make it?" Yes he did according to Zechariah 4:14. Here he is seen as one of two olive trees standing before God in heaven. Revelation 11:4 reveal that these two olive trees will be His two witnesses in the tribulation period. Genesis 5:24 and Hebrews 11:5 tell us Enoch never died and 2 Kings 2:11 tell us Elijah never died. Hebrews 9:27 tells us that it’s appointed unto men once to die. These two witnesses will meet that appointment and be killed in the tribulation (Rev. 11).
Remember Jacob’s ladder? He dreamed in Genesis 28:12 that angels were ascending and descending from heaven to earth on this ladder. This proves beyond any shadow of doubt that they were moving faster than light. Remember all the times certain spirits appeared before God and had came from roaming to and fro in earth (Job 1:7; 2 Chron. 18:21; Zechariah 1:10,11; 6:5-8)? This also proves they are traveling at a velocity faster than light.
There’s only one thing faster than light and it’s our thoughts. The spirit realm is traveling at the speed of thought. They think the third heaven and BAAM!, there they are. We too will adopt the ability to travel at this speed in the resurrection.
When we see Him we shall be transformed instantly into what He is. One look at Jesus will have a transforming affect on us. The very sight of Jesus in all His glory changes people eternally. All God has to do is allow people to see Jesus in order to change them forever. That’s powerful friend. That’s power we’ve not been exposed to yet, but it’s coming.
1 John 3:3
And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Someone said, "I don’t think all this talk about what we’re going to become in eternity is necessary." Ignorance is a plague that kills. God said, "this hope inside a man will help him to purify himself." What is this hope if we aren’t going to discuss it? I’ll tell you one thing, someone had better elaborate on our future and cast lines of hope around ourselves and our children. In light of the next few verses we had better a find the way to purify ourselves. Without this hope living inside us we are doomed to live impure lives. A person who fights to kill this hope fights against God’s plan. This allies that person with satan. According to Titus 2:13 we are to look for that blessed hope.
See, Jesus Christ is 100% pure, we are not. We need His purity not only to cover us but to consume us. The process God appointed for this task is called, by Him, this hope. This is a living hope. In order for anyone to obtain this living hope they must put this hope inside their thoughts and heart where it will live. Since Jesus is our hope and our future we look to Him. As we look to Him, whatever He is we become.
What this shows is that we become what we see. We become what we choose to look at. This is true even in this life.
Notice how he emphasizes one purifies himself. It’s our choice in life. During times of temptation it’s our responsibility to say no to sin. We all want God to snap a finger over our heads and do away with all our temptations to sin. It simply doesn’t work this way.
Our new nature born in Christ kills the old mans desire to sin. Many times God will allow us to suffer harsh consequences resulting from sin in order to teach us what we really want in life. This is a hard way of purging us from sin.
There is an easier way of purging us from sin. It’s called this blessed hope. Hope for heaven, hope for eternity, and hope for becoming like Jesus all work together to help us purify ourselves from sin. The more we think about this hope the less we think about sin.
1 John 3:4
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
Whoever means anybody in the lot. That includes believers as well as unbelievers. When a born again believer commits sin, he is guilty. Guilt automatically induces the death penalty. This guilt is punishable by death.
Let’s go ahead and face the full facts here, "sin will send a soul to hell." Sin kills. Sin is lawlessness and transgression. Sin is a killer that we ought to treat like the bubonic plague or AIDS. Some sin we do treat this way. There is some sin we wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. There are some sins we handle like deadly diseases, we rush ourselves to the hospital for the best care available in order to remove the malignant tumor before it kills us. However, there are other sins we are drawn to like a magnet. There is a pulling, a wooing, an attraction that we can’t seem to resist. We struggle, as we do battle inside our hearts, trying steer clear on one hand yet reaching out for it with the other hand. It’s a battle that seems to be ripping us apart from the inside out.
We weave a web of lawlessness with our sin that’s not easily walked out of. When we allow our lawless heart to run rampant we weave a web of sin that entangles us and those around us. There’s nothing worse than a heart given over to lawlessness. A heart that’s not governed by any laws is a heart that will bring much hurt and pain to those touched by it. This is a heart left unto itself, a heart that will do what seems right in it’s eyes. I can’t afford to allow myself to be governed by what seems right in my eyes all the time. My own sinful deceptive heart will mislead me. The Word of God is the standard I must allow to rule my heart.
When I start arguing with the Word of God because it don’t seem right in my eyes, I start destroying the only hope I’ll ever have for true freedom.
The born again believers are in a battle to stop sinning. The world sins easily as it comes so natural. But believers repent to walk a higher path. We repent to walk an obedient path to God, for God, and with God. God, and His lovely presence, makes all the struggle worth it. There is not one thing to compare to the feeling of peace and contentment when one is listening to God’s Word and following it closely. The Word brings our hearts alive unto God. The Word is spiritual and it is powerful enough to break us out of every bondage of sin! Therefore, we must make double sure we are lining up with the Word of God in our belief systems. This brings real government to our hearts. As we allow ourselves to be governed by God personally we gain strength in our battles, strength to win by conquering our personal sin.
To commit lawlessness is to transgress against the law of God. James 2:10 says, "if we offend in one point, we are guilty of breaking all the law." This is the exact opposite of the purity talked about in verse 3. Basically we are drawn to a choice between good and evil in these verses.
1 John 3:5
And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.
The big sin question has been taken care of by Jesus Christ. Our dilemma with this entangling sin is not a hopeless situation. We can take heart and know that there is a real help available for whosoever wants it.
Jesus has no sin in Him. When we are in Him, He covers our sin as though there was no sin. God puts our sin in the sea of forgetfulness. He literally takes away our sins. This is the reason He came to earth. Talking about manifested, He was manifested for the world to mock, buffet, and crucify in our behalf so sins debt could be paid. His punishment was manifested for all the world to see. This way there will be no arguing whether or not sins debt was paid, there were too many witnesses. God did not do what He had to do behind closed doors. He didn’t keep it private, He made it public.
If we have any hope of ever being pure we’ll find it in Jesus. Living a life not plagued by constant sin is a hope found in Jesus. It is THE hope of the world, if it’s to be truly freed from its sin.
1 John 3:6
Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
Abides is the key word here. Whoever abides in sin has neither seen Him nor known Him. When we make sin our lifestyle and fail to repent it takes us out of Christ. God sees this as though we never knew Him. In Ezekiel 3:20; 18:24,26; 33:12,13,18 we find Him stating emphatically that when the righteous turn from their righteousness and do wickedness that even their righteousness would not be remembered nor mentioned. It will be written of us as though we never knew Him.
When we follow the path of sin we are not getting it from Christ. When we are looking at Him we are not being lead in a path to sin.
Of course this leads to the next question. Does one sin take a person out of Christ and make it as though they never knew Him? The answer is obvious, no it does not. If it did not one soul would be saved.
I think it’s time to add some balance here, look at chapter 1; verse 8 and 10. In light of this, we go back to 3:6 and it becomes obvious that the key word is "abide." Where you abide is where you live. You can live in Christ or you can live in sin, it’s your choice. Where you live is the lifestyle you choose to lead. This ties in closely to Jesus’ message on repentance. He said, "if we don’t repent of sin, we would not see the kingdom of God." This is talking about lifestyle! God forgives us of sin but He expects us to stop our sinning lifestyle. If you are not willing to put up a fight and at least attempt to stop, what do you have? The expression "born again" says it all, there has been a change of heart as that sinful heart has become born again. A heart born unto God desires Him and His holiness, not sin and unholiness.
The desire of our heart will change when we allow ourselves to have true encounters with God. This is why from time to time we should renew our walk with God. We should be in a constant mode of going back to our first love, going back to the cross, and renewing our relationship with God. A lot of light is shed in the next verse.
1 John 3:7
Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
Do not allow yourselves to be deceived. Sit up and pay attention. Do not sleep in Zion. Don’t be lazy and allow yourself to be duped. Don’t live in ignorance. Don’t let traditions lead you to hell when you have power to search the matter out to the end. Keep a diligent hand on your belief system and soul. Pay attention to what your doing. Keep asking yourself, "why am I doing this?"
People who do good are being lead by God, people who do evil are being lead by the devil. You are listening to the influence of one camp or the other.
Jesus Christ is righteous. He practices righteousness in all His lifestyle. Look at the word "practices" (KJV - doeth).
Jesus wants you and me to practice righteousness in all things. You don’t fool God with your good and smooth words while practicing unrighteousness. He sees what you practice doing.
I am a practicing electrician. Some men practice medicine all their lives. They make a living for themselves in their practice. Practice here means what we do for a living. This goes even deeper than our lifestyle talked about earlier. What profession you choose to practice will be what makes your living through out your life. You become a professional when you are paid for services rendered.
Jesus wants you to be a professional when it comes to righteousness. Conduct yourself like the highly paid professional you really are. Some of us act like we are getting nothing in return for our investments in righteousness (doing things right).
If I hired you to help me do a job and I paid you $50 per hour for your services, would you act right? Would there be anything I could ask of you, within reason, that you wouldn’t be willing to do? Would you be willing to read some books, take some courses of study in order to fine tune your skills in that area? Would you be willing to listen to my instructions and follow them to a "T?" Would you be willing to make what sacrifices became necessary in order to make our paying client happy? For $50 an hour what changes would you make in yourself? Why do your eyes brighten up at the sound of $50 per hour?
$50 dollars per hour is nothing compared to the rewards and wages God is paying us for living for Him. God is saying, "you ought to be giving it your very best shot doing what’s right in life and living for me."
I am paying you more than you’re worth but it’s all going to be worth it in the end. Be faithful.
I know people who get paid $50 per hour and still act like their making $5.50 and hour. Their lazy, always looking for the easy way out. They expect someone to hand the world to them on the end of a stick. You have to start acting like a $100 bill where you are working now in order to rise above your present level. If you can’t excel where you are today, making $5 per hour, why should any prospective employer, paying $50 per hour, expect you to do better on his job? You never know who is looking at you on your job. They may be looking around for good quality material to hire into a growing company. They want to find industrious hard working people with good attitudes and teachable spirits. If they see you acting unprofessional, unconcerned, bitter, or right down rude you might as well forget it.
Some of us ought to be ashamed of ourselves for acting the way we have in the past. Acting right should be our top priority, but for many childish immature believers it’s never a thought.
If you are righteous it will speak for itself. You will not need a band to precede you and shout it to the city, your deeds will stand on their own merit. Practicing righteousness unleashes Gods power in ones life. It’s our practice to do what’s right in a given situation. This is how we abide in Him and do not sin.
When we throw down our defenses, and throw down our teachings, and throw down our lifestyles in Christ, we open ourselves up for verse 8.
Always remember: Sin will take you further than you wanted to go; Cost you more than you wanted to pay; and Keep you longer than you wanted to stay.
1 John 3:8
He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
There is a war raging between heaven and hell over the souls of people. In this war, the outcome of the individual battles are decided by the choices we make. The choices we make require sacrifice on our part. We cannot do anything to change the outcome of the overall war. However, we can alter the outcome of these individual battles.
The battle ground is the human mind with it’s belief systems. We forge life by the things we believe in. The things we believe are either right or wrong. Wrong beliefs cause us to make bad decisions in life which affect the battle.
In this battle there is more at stake than your own soul. Your choices will affect every soul connected to you in some way or another. We do play important roles in the war without realizing it most of the time. Your influence spreads out to every single person who has ever known you. That influence can be evil or it can be good.
Heaven will win this war in the end. Hell will lose, but in its loss there are small victories counted when it pulls another soul on board hells train. Hence, the battles continue and the war rages on.
Make no mistake about it, sin is of the devil. Sin is not O.K. We walk in league with the devil when we allow ourselves to walk in sin. We must find strength to repent of sin. We break the devils neck when we break the bondage of sin in our lives.
Are you of the devil? Our first reaction is automatic, "No we are not!" But a closer examination of this verse shows a different story. You may not be guilty of one of the big sins but you’re guilty, none the less, of sin. Even if it’s just a little slip of the tongue or temper. This makes us guilty of breaking the law of God, thus putting us in union with the devil for that frame of time. Sin needs to be repented of. If we refuse to repent of sin we are showing our willingness to be friends with sin. Then, the frame of time is expanded in our lives, as we spend more time walking in sin. However, when we truly repent we destroy the devils frame of time in our lives. Satans time frame is reduced in our lives by repentance.
With God everything is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. We walk absolutely with God or satan. It is black or white, with Him there is no gray.
The devil does have bonafide works in this earth. The devil does many exploits among us. He takes ground all the time as more and more people pile on his train. His voice gets stronger and his cause gains more momentum as people pour more and more money and support into his system.
Now I want us to focus on the purpose of Jesus Christ coming to earth. He came here, and was manifested, in order to destroy these exploits and works of satan.
He does it by the power of His own blood, which pays sins price and satisfies heavens demand for justice. This is done one soul at a time. Everything satan works for is wiped away in an instant by Jesus’ blood when a desperate soul looks to God for mercy.
Jesus goes further by delivering us from sins clutches and freeing us from its grip. This takes away satan’s effectiveness. When we are tempted to sin and through the power of Christ find the strength to say "no" to sin and "yes" to God we are in effect destroying the works of satan. It was his intention to get us to sin and invoke the judgment of God on our heads. Yes, even the heads of Gods own children incur punishment for sin. However, when we do what’s right and refuse the wrong we abrogate satans plan.
As bad as satan is we all wish he’d never been born. We all wish God would bind him up and stop him. That is what God gives us the power to do in Christ, He gives us the power to bind satan and stop the cycle of sin in our lives and maybe in the lives of others. What we want God to do He’s made provision for us to do through Christ, destroy the works of satan! Know this, it’s our choice. In every instance, in every situation, in every frame of time we choose whether or not we will follow God. Christ did all this for Himself at Calvary, but now it’s up to us to choose to follow Christ and do it for ourselves in our time. The only way Christ can destroy satans works is through people like you and me. We are His hands, feet, and mouth pieces in the earth for this period of time. If we don’t, He don’t.
When we choose the right instead of the wrong we are hitting satan with another death blow. Every time we quote him the word of God and walk away from a sinful situation we defeat him. We nullify and void all his transactions and power when we obey Gods law. Our obedience is the key to the whole thing. I believe our obedience holds sway over the entire situation. Have you been disobedient? Don’t fret, repent and ask God to forgive you, He will.
1 John 3:9
Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
Luke 8:11 tells us the seed is the word of God. 1 Peter 1:23 tells us we are born again by the seed of Gods word. The key in this verse is found in this statement, "His seed remains in him." We must keep Gods word in us and make sure it remains in us to do this work. This work of keeping us from willfully sinning is wrapped in His seed. He unwraps this seed inside the human heart to unleash its powers of life. The power unleashed brings life and liberty to the one who receives it. We make the decision whether or not to receive it.
One cannot remain in the Word if one does not fall in love with that Word. A love affair must develop between the human heart and the Word of God. Without it one is doomed to stay at arms length to the Word. A person will not devour words over and over again without a deep love for those words. A person will not stay in the Word long enough to assimilate them into their system if they don’t love them with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. The Word of God must be assimilated into our belief system. Our belief system must center around the words of God.
There is a people who try to walk with God while ignoring His Word. They try to maintain what I call a long distance relationship. They seem to be in it but they are not in it. They keep the Word of God at arms length or further. Their excuses run fast and furious but none of them hold the water. They have refused to sellout to God.
Whoever has been born of God does not sin. He does not live a lifestyle of sin any longer. The sinful lifestyle has been broken by the power of Christ. A sinning lifestyle tells us that the heart has not been truly born again. When we wake up to realize we are trapped in a sinning lifestyle we should shake ourselves awake and run to the cross for mercy. You shake yourself!
We know this verse is talking about a sinful lifestyle that’s not being repented of in light of chapter 1:8. Because even those of us who have repented do fall sway to temptation from time to time and commit occasional sins. These sins are just as bad as any other sins and must be handled in the same way as the others. The difference is in lifestyle. What do you practice? What are your habits? If the sin becomes habit, deal with it properly at the foot of Calvary’s cross. Don’t play with it. Don’t fool yourself into believing a lie. Sin will send your soul to hell!
You have a weak spot in your soul. You know this weak spot very well. When temptation surrounds this particular weak spot you easily fall sway to sin. You may be in denial and not realize it fully, but none the less, it’s there. If you are not able to say no to this sin at anytime you are in bondage to it. If, however, you can say not to this sin at anytime it shows you have power in Christ over the sin. If time passes and many temptations come and go with you winning victory over them then you are not practicing sin. This is not your lifestyle, it’s just your weak spot.
A born again soul cannot live in open unrepented of sin without conviction. The mark of the born again is conviction over sin. Most sinners feel no conviction. They fight this conviction calling it everything in the book. They even pass laws trying to avoid conviction.
Once convicted, the soul that’s born of God will turn from the sinning lifestyle. Each time the soul is hit with temptation to sin it offers that soul another opportunity to use God’s seed (word) to fight sin. The key is allowing and using God’s word to root out sin in our hearts. As long as that battle rages in your soul you are at least on the right path. When the battle stops you’ll know you’re off the path that leads to life.
1 John 3:10
In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
It is evident who is who. We all like to play the mind games, and out of fear not call those who are the children of the devil what they really are. God don’t beat around the bush. He fears no one. Gods word will manifest which side each of us is on. It’s this manifestation of ourselves we hate so much. Evil people will kill over being manifested in our world today.
They don’t want others to see them for who they really are.
Notice how the verse only allows you to be a child of one of two individuals, God or satan. There are no in between’s. You belong to one camp or the other. There are those who think they are in neutral, this group is children of the devil (Luke 11:23).
If you are not practicing righteousness and loving your brother you are not of God. God made simple guidelines for us to follow. He drew very simple lines in the sand so we could all see who was who. Jesus even said we would know a tree by its fruit in Matthew 7:20. As I have said earlier, practicing righteousness is a lifestyle of right doing when tempted to do wrong. All you have to do is watch a person. Each one of us reveals himself as life unfolds in each circumstance.
Unrighteous people are children of the devil. Unloving people are children of the devil. Were you raised in an unloving home? Have you gone through severe hardships in life? Have these experiences left you hard, bitter, and alone? Do you feel like the product of something bigger than you are? Then you need to wake up and realize, hell tried to spawn you through these unfair circumstances into a child of satan. Are you going to let satan win? He wants you to use these as excuses to act bad and ugly in life so he can have your soul in hell.
1 John 3:11
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
The gospel message begins and ends with one fine note, "love." God is love. Love reflects God. Love reflects who God is. God began His creative work with love, for love, by love, and on love. It was love that moved Him in the first place. Love brought about planet earth. Love began what we know as time. Love began what we know as life. Now we’ve learned that life is love. It was love that began our life. Without life we would not know or feel love. In the beginning, life was intended to be an expression of love. That was Gods message. He preached His message of love with creative life all around us. Even today, under the curse of sin and the law, we find creation stamped with love letters from God, the Creator.
God culminated His total message of love in the person of Jesus Christ. He was the total expression of Gods love in human form. Jesus came preaching a message of love. Jesus came living a life of love. He showed a love power that never hesitated to show us our wrongs. This is where the enemy confuses us. He uses our feelings to cloud what God is trying to do for us when He’s rebuking us. We let the devil dupe us into believing that anytime someone disagrees with us they are evil. The deceived soul says, "any disagreement is conflict and conflict is evil." God says, "when you walk contrary to My truth you are walking in disagreement, thus making yourself conflict with my Word. If you love Me, repent yourself." This will in effect put a stop to the conflict.
All conflict is not evil. All disagreement is not evil. We, as children of God, should disagree with evil, and we should hold conflicting views with evil.
Loving one another is the test to see if we are authentic or not. Are we real or not. 1 John 4:20 says, "If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" God is not the least bit impressed with our attempts at being super-spiritual. What He wants to see is us getting down to the nitty gritty loving each other. He wants to see us aspire to higher levels of spirituality by learning to love the unlovable. God says, "So, you want to be spiritual? Alright then, love your enemy. How are you going to do this? When someone hurts you will you hurt them back? I am watching how you treat that person who hurt you, I am also listening to what you say about them. I want you to go out and find the least esteemed people in your neighborhood and love them." Read Matthew 25:40,45. The test is to see if we can look at every human being as though they were God and treat them as such. Listen to Philippians 2:3, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
1 John 3:12
not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Even before the New Testament, back in the very beginning of time we see Cain being of the wicked satan. He was a child of the devil long before the law of God was written. His evil works paled in comparison to Abel’s righteous works. Pride caused him to rise up and stamp out the icon that out stole the show. Abel’s righteousness thundered through the realm, Cain wanted that thunder, so he took it. To this day, jealous men will destroy the source that out does them and makes them look inferior or bad.
This same spirit is very much alive in our world today. One example is with a God anointed preacher. When God raises up a man and anoints him to serve people, evil spirits root out people to find fault with him, any fault to use against him. Even righteousness is perceived as wrong when the temperature is right. This is how Cain felt toward Abel’s righteousness! People are interested in only one thing, see the man fall. Kill the preacher. He’s stupid, he’s evil, he’s not right and we hate him. Kill him.
It’s a spirit. This is a wicked spirit. This wicked spirit leads to murder. Cain murdered Abel. Evil people say, "kill anyone who tries to do good and makes a bobble! Kill anyone who out does me and makes me look bad. I hate this man, he is trying to be a goody two shoes."
You will know worldly music when you hear it. Listen to the music sometimes.
The music says, "Hate! Hate the system. Hate authority. Hate the right. Kill them all. Kill what’s right." This is the same wicked spirit Cain followed. Note, this spirit is loose in our world today. Can you identify it? Have you ever followed it? Have you ever followed a milder version of this wicked spirit? It comes in so many flavors you may very well like one of them.
Do not be as Cain.
1 John 3:13
Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.
The way of Cain is also the way of the world. The world spirit is set against God and all that belong to Him.
Here is an example: "When we don’t go along with this worlds spirit of hatred against people of a different race or color, they turn on us and hate us too." The world argues that it doesn’t hate the people, but! But they! But they do this! But they are! All these are excuses to justify true hatefulness by shrouding it. We shroud our hate by justifying it. We justify it by showing how wrong some people were one time and look at the color of their skin, that proves they are all evil. We judge the whole race to be inferior because of certain criteria we create. If they don’t add up to our standards, we snub them.
There is not one human being of any skin color that was not created by God and we all belong to him. Our evil and our wrong is in making distinctions between people based on skin color. We have failed to learn how to properly deal with people who are wrong. Instead of leaning on Gods Word for answers we formed our own. We make ourselves evil by dealing with people who disagree with us or have hurt us by our own belief systems instead of Gods system. God says, "love your enemy. Do good to them who hurt you."
Make no mistake about it, if you are following Christ you are destined to be hated by worldly people. Don’t let this rattle your cage and get you stirred up. We are guilty many times of looking at the hatefulness and allowing ourselves to sit in bewilderment. The Lord warned us about this beforehand. His word to us was, "do not marvel." Look at the word "brethren." You are not alone, you are not in the boat alone, you have companions riding the storm with you.
I like the word "if." If means it don’t have to be the way of hate but it may develop beyond our control. Sometimes we create our own problems with the outside world. This is something we can control; our mouth’s, our actions, our reactions, our attitudes, our spirit’s. If we would watch ourselves hate may never develop.
1 John 3:14
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
The opposite of love is hate, and hate produces death. Hate will cause people to do mean things to each other, even kill each other. One of the marks of a true born again experience is laying down hate and bottled up anger. These things have a strange way of disappearing in the presence of Jesus Christ. You know you’ve plugged into something powerful beyond this world when you find a fresh new love for former enemies. This is the mark of Christ. Christ produces love. Christ produces life. When Christ is the love of our life we somehow fall in love with life and appreciate all of it. We start seeing life in little things that were once hidden from us. We begin to notice how life works for different people and things. When we detect life in another we hold it in high esteem and cherish it.
Now there are mean people who don’t see it this way. They seem to fight against the life Christ’s given you. They seem to strive to take away the life you’ve been given. They are not in tune with God when this fruit grows in their life. They’ve missed the seeds of God. Hence, they minister death with their words, actions, and religions.
Don’t focus on how wrong they are. Focus on how right Christ is. Make yourself go back to your first-love when these people brush against you.
1 John 3:15
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Hate comes in many forms. Every form of hate leads to murder of one kind or another. We can murder our brothers reputation with malicious backbiting. We can murder his influence. We can murder his work by sabotaging it. We like to think ourselves as free of guilt of murder because we’ve never killed anyone. Yet God seems to see it differently.
We’ve got people who will not hesitate to murder innocent unborn babies because their birth in life will put a crimp in their lifestyle. We’ve got people who will murder marriages. We call them marriage wrecker’s. In politics, when we disagree with another’s views we speak in terms of death over our opponents. Americans must learn to stand on their convictions and views without killing those who don’t stand with them. We must learn how to defeat our opponents in government and live together afterwards. I don’t believe in throwing down our beliefs in order to look like we’re getting along. Stand without hating is the key.
We’re looking for eternal life. You can’t promote eternal life while harboring hate in your heart. What is abiding in the heart? Life or death? If death is in the heart then one is not equipped to comprehend the light. Darkness cannot comprehend the Light. It bewilders him. Murderer’s can’t comprehend the ramification of their actions because their attention in on me, me, me. I want everyone to realize the Word of God says, "murderer’s have no eternal life abiding in him." He may look at eternal life. He may wish for eternal life. He may even think he has eternal life but that don’t make it so. God says who has life or not. God will pronounce life or death sentences on all of us in the end. So get ready, things are going to happen. Murderer’s will not justify their sins.
1 John 3:16
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
The whole world can quote John 3:16, but what about 1 John 3:16? We all want John 3:16, we find it too easy to ignore 1 John 3:16. This passage ties right in with John 3:16. If you want eternal life you had better be willing to lay down your life for your fellowman, just like Jesus. We must follow His example. He laid down His life for us, now we should do it for others.
He has shown us love, and now we have no excuse for not knowing love. Do you know Him? You know love if you know Him. We, the believers in God, ought to know God’s ways of life. His ways are better than ours.
We’re bad about harboring selfish motives. Selfishness must disappear in order for us to be able to die for another man. A selfish person who is looking for what’s in it for me will not be able to die for another. This is a test. John 15:13 tells us that the highest form of love is willing to lay down his life for his friends. Romans 5:6-8 sheds more light on this subject.
A milder form of this kind of sacrifice is found in our willingness to work to help the less fortunate people around us. Working for people who can’t pay you back shows this spirit. It’s a willingness to work for free. This is the ultimate spirit of giving. We give our time to feed the poor, clothe the naked, and help heal the sick. The ultimate sacrifice is to be willing to let their hostile enemies kill you for your relief work.
Go ahead and extend your helping hand when and where you can not allowing hostile hateful people stop you, even if it means dying for it. Listen, you have people right here in your own neighborhood of a different skin color. If you are seen going to them too much, or reaching out to them too much, or being too friendly, or even inviting them over too much, you’ll be ostracized by your own family and friends! The question is will you lay down your reputation and sacrifice it for them? If the people you are helping spurned you in the end would you still be willing to do it? Jesus was.
For God so loved the world, He gave His life, His Son was His life, He gave His Son. Do we understand this God love? Can we look at the created universe around us and comprehend this God and His love? A God who was willing to do everything for us and only ask for our belief and faith in return. That’s all!? That’s not hard when it’s compared to what He’s done to reach us and save us. Life is hard because sin entered into life’s equation. Now, sadly, that equation always equals death.
1 John 3:17
But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
Let’s face the facts, we are a blessed people. We have been handed this world’s goods. There are billions of people who are destined to live out their whole lives without any hope of making the kind of money we make. The passage is talking about us having enough for ourselves with excess left over. What are we doing with these left overs? After we’ve taken care of our own households He wants us to give to the less fortunate.
God don’t expect you to give what you don’t have. He doesn’t put requirements on you above what you’re able to handle. God doesn’t expect you to leave your bills unpaid in order to give to the poor. God is not pleased with people who leave their own family obligations undone in order to reach out to the world around them. Take care of the home base first, then do what you can out in the world. What you do for the world shouldn’t be sinking your ship back home. 1 Timothy 5:8 tells us if we don’t take care of our household we are worse than an infidel.
Let’s also face the fact that there are people who are less fortunate than we are all around us. Poor people are in need of the basic necessities of life. Can you see the need? Are you able to look around you and see your brother’s need? I’m not talking about lazy people who refuse to work for their living. These people are worse than infidels. It’s not our obligation to make a life for them. We’re talking about truly needy people. Jesus says, "don’t forget the poor."
It’s our responsibility to look around our community for people in need. Do they need food? Do they need clothes? Do they need shelter? Do they need a job? Can you help them find these things? We should be willing to open our hearts of compassion for people who are in need. When you see a brother’s need you will do one of two things, either open your heart’s door or shut up your heart’s door.
Hardheartedness will cause us to miss the opportunity. A hard heart builds a crust around it that doesn’t allow the needs of others to get through. It’s easy for a hard heart to say, "no," to the poor. If we’re not careful, we’ll let offenses callous our hearts over time. Don’t be guilty of shutting up your heart in the time of need. Don’t allow these golden opportunities pass you by.
To open the heart is to open the pocket book, or kitchen cabinets, or clothes closet, or house for that matter.
Do we realize this is the basic test to see if the love of God abides in us or not. We are taking the test. We are either passing or failing this test. God is asking the questions as each poor soul passes us by. God asks the question, "how does the love of God abide in a heart that’s shut up?" We all know the obvious answer to this question is, "it doesn’t. The love of God doesn’t abide in a heart that’s shut up." This means if you’re heart is closed up towards the poor then the love of God is not in you.
God’s love leads us out to find the poor and meet their needs. God’s love creates eyes that can detect a needy person a mile away. God’s love creates ears that can hear the need. God’s love will create wealth that can be shared. Satan will create wealth to be hoarded. Learn to share the wealth! Employers that learn to share the wealth are destined to draw the best workers like a magnet.
1 John 3:18
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
We must show true love by our actions, not by what we say. You don’t have to like them or trust them to love them, because love is measured by what you do for them, especially in their time of need (Luke 6:27, 28, 35). True love is never measured by what you say. Words are cheap. People say a lot of things. People will say anything to promote their agendas.
I had a preacher to tell me one time that people will do only 20% of what they say they’ll do. He said out of every 100 people who tell you they will come to church, only 20 will actually do it. His words have proven true. It’s called the 20/80 rule.
20 percent of the people, in any church, will do 80 percent of the work. 20 percent of the people will give 80 percent of the total budget. Those people who talk the most and talk the loudest, those who blow the biggest cloud of smoke, are the ones who will do the least. The people who put the least amount of money into a church will have the most to say about how the church spends its money. God is addressing this problem right here in this passage.
This is not a new problem. The problem has been around for thousand’s of years. Listen to what God told Ezekiel over 2500 years ago. Ezekiel 33:31 So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain.
Do you suppose God knows what He’s talking about?! He knows people!
God is saying, "put your money where your mouth is. Put your hands, feet, and backbone where your mouth is. Put some feet on your prayers." Don’t talk it up, work it up. Go to work.
There’s another angle found here. Listen to James 1:22, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." Now listen to 1 John 4:20, "If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" We don’t even qualify in God’s eyes until we conquer our childish immature ways of being all talk and no walk. Your own relationship with God is doomed if all you do is talk it up without deeds and truth to back it up. Do you think I’m lying to you? I’ll give you Jesus Christ’s own words out of Matthew 15:8
’These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
When the heart gets involved the feet, hands, and money gets involved. God wants to see some deeds. God wants to see some truth. God wants to see some humility! God wants to see somebody go down, go down on their knees and repent. God wants to see somebody do more than they ever said they would do.
Stop talking and start walking! Stop wishing and start doing what you can. Stop dreaming and start helping. Stop vacillating and start loving.
vac-il-late (vas’uh layt ) v.i. <-lat-ed, -lat-ing>
1. to waver in mind or opinion; be
indecisive or irresolute.
2. to sway unsteadily; totter.
3. to oscillate or fluctuate.
1 John 3:19
And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
When we do this, when we do these things, we know what we are and we know who we are. We will know beyond any shadow of a doubt that we are on His path. Because it’s by this that we judge ourselves. It’s by this word that we judge. It’s by these deeds of truth coming from within our own hearts that we can look into the mirror with full assurance. This is our concrete proof of who we are. It’s God who judges whether we’re walking in truth or in lies. We don’t need pats on the back, we don’t need people’s approval, we don’t even need people to proclaim that we are of and in the truth.
When His Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are pleasing Him, we are assured. See, we stand before God, we know He sees all and knows all. When we are finding full assurance before Him we don’t need to add anything to this. There is no comparison to finding full peace and assurance before Him. Assurance in a world that is so unsure. Assurance in the middle of uncertainty. Nothing compares to God assuring us of our position with Him. What a comfort, what a soothing. May God add this element to every heart that’s true to Him.
1 John 3:20
For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
Let us listen to the Spirit’s voice through Paul in 1 Cor. 4:4-5 "For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. [5] Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God."
When the heart and conscience of man knows the sin and failure, only condemnation awaits. When the human heart condemns us, how much more does God know about our sinful plight. He stands as the final judge, He qualifies for this position seeing how He knows all things. We know our sin very well. How much more does God know? We need to listen to the voice of our heart and take heed. Where does your heart say you are? Sometimes we earn the condemnation through hard sin or by sinning hard.
There is another angle to this.
We are in a struggle with sin and temptation everyday. In our battles, we get so involved and weighed down that we sometimes lose track of exactly where we are. When we lose our focus it’s easy to feel condemned just because we’re under temptation.
During times like this it’s assuring to know God is greater than our feelings. He is greater than our heart. I’m glad I’m not judged by the feeling in my heart.
This comes into better focus in light of our struggles. The word struggle signifies a series of ups and downs. We try and try, we fight and fight the battle. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. Sometimes we’re strong, sometimes we’re weak. It’s not that we’re practicing sin, nor that we are abiding in sin, but we are caught up in a battle with sin. It’s called temptation. When we are losing the battle it don’t feel too good when we go before a holy God. Our heart naturally condemns us. I thank God He doesn’t deal with us in natural terms, He deals in spiritual terms that’s greater than the natural.
The spiritual realm is powerful enough to nullify the natural realm. The spirit realm has created a power that can wipe away sinful actions in the natural realm as though they never happened. God has a power that’s greater than our sin. That power is called grace. God’s power even transcends the condemnation of the heart.
God’s knowledge is power. The things He knows has the capability of altering one’s destiny. He knows how to handle the tough things in life and death. There is nothing He doesn’t know. He even has the perfect solution to every problem you face! Glory!
1 John 3:21
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
There’s nothing like standing before God without condemnation in the way. Sin in the heart brings on condemnation. A clean pure heart has nothing to condemn. We can live free of condemnation if we would keep our heart clean. A heart free of sin is a heart free of condemnation. A heart plagued with sin is a heart plagued with condemnation.
Sin is a heart problem. Conquer the heart and you conquer sin. Conquer the heart and you conquer the person.
Confidence towards God comes at a price. The price is called "right living." If you want to live right, then do what God said. Obedience towards God brings confidence towards God.
We find it easier to stand before man and lie about the truth. We find it hard to stand before God and lie, because there’s no doubt in our heart He can see all and He knows all.
When God built us He installed a conscience in our framework. The conscience is the inner voice that tells us when something is right or wrong. When we disobey that inner voice we can’t stand with confidence. This design was built into our framework on purpose. It helps keep us transparent before God and man. This is how we say, "you can be sure your sin will find you out."
Our bold confidence comes when we obey the inner voice of our conscience. Obedience is the key. Deep down we know when we’re wrong about something. Lack of confidence reveals uncertainty. We are uncertain about ourselves anytime we base our reactions to situations on anything but God’s word.
God is trying to draw you into a close relationship with Himself. This can’t happen if there’s no hope of you standing before Him in confidence. This goal is achievable or else it wouldn’t have made it on the page of Holy Writ. God don’t dangle meat in front of our face knowing He’ll never give it to us. He don’t manipulate us into doing things then refuse us the reward. Man may do this to you, but not God. He’ll do just what He said He would do.
1 John 3:22
And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
This verse reveals one key in having our prayers answered, it’s called "right living." The word "whatever" does not mean we can run a muck and fly off course asking for childish things and expect to receive them. It does mean that God is interested in every single aspect of our lives. There is not one area of life He’s not interested in. Are you buying a car? He’s willing to help His obedient children. He’s even watching over the food you buy. He wants to get involved in every feeling you’ve got.
I know people who talk to God as though He were a person. (He really is a person, and a whole lot more.) There are some people who can talk with God and leave no doubt that God is listening intently. I know people who pray and get answers. If answers didn’t come we would lose interest in prayer. Because answers do come, we all are intrigued with prayer.
Prayer is spiritual. It’s a spiritual exercise. It’s our direct and immediate line of communication with heaven and the God of heaven. Prayer is God’s down payment on a personal relationship, eye to eye, in the eternal future to come.
God likes to receive invitations. He is the gentleman that will not barge in on the party unasked. He waits for the invite, without it He stays home. If you’re not asking God to come into every zone of your life you don’t have to worry. He’ll stay out where He’s not wanted or welcomed. God is the most powerful force in the entire universe and God is not a bully. He is gentle and courteous unlike a lot of people we know.
Obedience is the key to having prayers answered. We must obey His commandments if we expect Him to hear us when we pray. Stop condemning yourself over yesterday’s sin! Obedience can start this very moment! In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, you can make a decision to keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight! After all, this has to start somewhere in your life. It might as well be right here and right now. Repent and obey.
However, make no mistake about it, disobedience cuts us off from the flow of answered prayer. Many times our prayers go unanswered due to our displeasing God. We displease Him when we don’t do what’s right. God is pleased when we act in love towards our brethren. God takes great pleasure in seeing us act right. When we please God, God is pleased to bless us with answers.
Look at the phrase, "pleasing in His sight." You are in His sight when you are being watched by other people. I know He sees you in every private moment as well, but I’m talking about the public’s view being His eyes. What they see in you is what He sees in you. When you are doing it to the least of these, His brethren, you are doing it to Him. As for as God is concerned they are God to you. When the least of these, His brethren, are watching you act up and be ugly, it’s as though they are His eyes.
When you are pleasing God you are pleasing those who are of God. It’s a good thing for God to be pleased with you. He said He would be pleased when we do right things.
1 John 3:23
And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
This is His commandment. This is not my commandment nor is it man’s commandment. His commandments we should listen to and adhere to. God attempts to make a plain statement. He is trying to reveal the crux of the matter. This is His one commandment that precedes them all. This is the big one. This is the one commandment that He expects every born again soul to get right. This is the commandment!
The first thing we should do is repent of our own belief systems and adhere to Jesus Christ’s belief system. "Name your God," He is saying. Believe on the God you name. Believe on His name as though it was the name of God. Stop naming Jesus Christ as your God if you don’t believe in what He has said. If you can’t adhere to what He’s taught, don’t go around blabbing about how He’s your God.
God has named His choice for president of the universe, it’s Jesus Christ. He is wanting everyone to come over here and get under His umbrella. This is His umbrella of choice. He has chosen Jesus Christ, and He wants you and I to believe on Him. God is wanting you to bank your eternal life on the name of His Son. He is wanting to see you put all your eggs in one basket, Jesus’ basket.
The name of Jesus Christ carries clout. His name carries power. This power, when used right, transcends the natural realm we live in. All demons must bow the knee to the authority of His name. (Matthew 10:1; Mark 6:7; Mark 16:17; Luke 10:19; James 2:19) This is the spirit realm I’m talking about. All spirit’s acknowledge the power of the name of Jesus. Now God wants you to do the same. God is interested in seeing how you will thinkof Jesus’ name. He is watching to see how you will use His name. This reveals the central core of your belief system for Him and all the world to see.
God is not pleased to see us use His name flippantly. He doesn’t like to see us throw it around mindlessly. He likes to see us act on purpose with His name. He likes to see some forethought go into the use of His name. God will even help you lay the plan carefully. He’ll help you plan strategy for your next move. He likes to see us ponder how we should be acting in certain situations. Acting right speaks Jesus’ name louder than any words we could ever speak. Acting right points to belief in Jesus Christ stronger than anything else.
Look back at verse 23 and stare at three words, "love one another." Such small words to reveal such a huge order to fill. The whole thing hinges on whether or not you get this right. Hating one another does not cut the cake with God. There are people, naming the name of Christ, who can’t get along with much of anybody. This reveals a problem. This problem is serious with God. He judges each person’s case on the premise of love.
Love may not like what they do. Love may not agree with what they do. Love may not aid them in their wrong doings. But love will bend. Love will bend over backwards to give to them. Love will find ways to give. Love will give them time. Love will give them care and attention. Love will stop its agenda to get involved. Love sees past the offense’s. Love can’t see the offense because it’s looking past them, beyond them, over and around them. Love looks deep into the situation for answers. Love searches for open doors of opportunity. Love longs to take a journey deep into the heart and soul of the individual. Many people will never know the joy and thrill of touching another person in depths that no one else has ever touched them before. So much is missed because we settle for second and third best. So much is missed because many of us are so closed up on the inside. I have known the magic of walking in territory no one has ever touched before. It creates a comradery and connection with that person that’s not easily broken. This is not sensual or sexual, it is spiritual.
Love seeks these things out in other people. Love makes a way. Love is willing to pay the price to dig through the dirt to find the treasure. Love is willing to embark on a dangerous journey that’s proven to be hard and many times unprofitable. Unprofitable because the object of our affection does not return it and slams the door shut in our face. Love knows the price is high, but love is willing to pay it. Love takes a chance with no guarantees. Love is willing to get hurt in order to find the prize.
If you can’t learn to love the unlovable, you’re not fit for heaven. If all you can love are the people who are lovable it shows your childishness. This reveals your level of maturity. Immature people can love only those people who are lovable. It takes a much more mature person to love someone who is unlovable.
This is His commandment! That’s such a strong word. You are commanded to comply! You are commanded to learn to love. You are commanded to crawl up here and make yourself learn how. You are not left with a choice. If you refuse, you are wrong. You will not be blessed in your wrong. Refusal will send your soul to hell.
If you wake up in time and realize your fault, He wants you to come here, to this place, and park your car. He wants you stay here and discover the secrets to successful living, and don’t leave until you do. He wants you to stay here until you learn how to love. He wants you to learn how let someone else love you first, then how to love others.
When true love is able to reach out and touch another soul it is a high. It’s a high in life that’s not achieved any other way. You will become addicted to this high. The high will drive you into action, time and time again. This high is achieved by experiencing the joy and ultimate pleasure derived from making a difference in someone else’s life. To watch the power of love change that person. To watch that person become better and stronger as a direct result of their relationship with you. To watch them laugh. To watch them become free of former bondage’s. To watch them crawl out of their shell. To watch them heal from old wounds. To watch them go on to touch others. To watch it become their religion. To watch them live their religion day to day in this power. This is power. This is a powerful high that’s very addictive. This is a power that conquers sin and evil.
He started and ended this verse on a commandment. He said it twice. He said it first thing and He said it last thing so we wouldn’t forget it, so we wouldn’t miss it. He repeated Himself because He knew how easy it is for us to miss this. He wanted to make sure we were left without excuse before Him. He will have the upper hand in judgment, especially when He opens our own Bible and shows it to us. He’ll ask, "how did you miss this? I gave you this commandment over and over. I made it plain. I lived it."
1 John 3:24
Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
There are two key words found here, and they are, "keeps and abides." Those who want to abide in Him must walk the road of obedience. Keeping His commandments is the requirement. One must listen to every word God has ever spoken in order to have a chance at keeping it. You can’t keep words you don’t know. You have to study commandments in order to know them.
It takes a sold out heart to find the willingness to obey God. A sold out heart may be found in the fire of His presence. In His presence, He stands a chance at burning out the sinful desires. In His presence we are fed things that call us back time and time again. We start desiring Him more than the old familiar sin that has plagued us. Our desire for Him may very well over power and conquer our desire for sin. The first thing you know we find ourselves abiding in His presence more and more. We are abiding in Him so deep we don’t seem to have time for worldly pursuits. It’s possible for any or all of us to achieve this place in our walk with in Him. I believe it’s possible for this church to find such a place in Him.
God is willing to abide in us. He returns the favor by living and abiding inside us to a degree that we take Him every where we go. The key to getting God to abide in a human vessel is obedience. God cannot dwell in an unclean temple. Now He can clean it all up. He can cover it with the blood of Jesus. He’ll wash it and clean it as white as snow if we’ll invite Him. However, new sin taints the heart again, and the process must be repeated. It’s up to us, God will abide in the heart that keeps His commandments.
God has given us a down payment on an eternal existence with Him in the person of the Holy Spirit. When He abides in us, it’s through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All that He does in the earth is through the third person of the godhead, the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we know for certain He abides in us. The reason I know for certain is because of the indwelling presence of the Spirit. I am a marked man. Once touched by the Spirit a soul is ruined for the world. You’ll never be the same again. You may sin, but it’s never the same. Conviction will weigh heavier than before. The wooing of the Spirit will wake you at midnight. He pours over your soul like a mother hen brooding over her eggs. He constantly seeks inroads into your soul.
God has given us the Spirit! I can’t understand anymore how entire denominations rally millions of people under banners and flags in order to brag about not being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Man, in his religion, has the power to reject the very Spirit God’s given him.
God’s not given us a bad thing in the Holy Spirit. He plans to live a rich life through the willing and obedient. He knows how to take us to those deep places in God. He knows how to teach us to open up and love other people correctly. He alone creates a people who stand heads and shoulders above the rest in spiritual things. He molds our minds so that we reflect God with our lips. When we allow Him in and begin to work with Him, He creates qualities in us that draw other people to us like magnets.
His people are a marked people. His people are a desirable people. His people are wanted and loved by others. Many may not understand why, but they love and adore God’s special child. The reason is because God’s special child is going about doing good and acting right with the people around them. They treat their family right. They treat their co-workers right. They treat their boss right. They treat government right. They treat everybody right. This right treatment makes a soul popular. Popularity by way of the Spirit is proper and most powerful. So powerful that one word breaks the backs of a thousand demons.
