That we might live

“By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.”

We cannot live in our spiritual life without the Lord. We cannot truly love the Lord and other people unless we are alive to God. Love is not naturally part of our behaviour, for we are selfish and must be taught love as we grow up. Some lose all sense of love and become totally taken up with themselves and their own agenda in life. The love of God is revealed to us, we must see it demonstrated if we are to know it or be it.

God has to show us what love is really like. He shows it to us daily through all the provision and blessings in our lives, mostly unnoticed and taken for granted. We all have a strong sense of entitlement, and don’t recognise our indebtedness to our Lord and God. Once we were taught to thank God for daily food and provision, but we are not encouraged to do that anymore. We should live in a mindset of thankfulness and be daily praying our gratitude to the Lord.

But it goes deeper than this. God sent Jesus as our Saviour to pay the terrible price for our sin, and even then we rejected Him. The human mind and heart are so opposed to God and we are so reticent to give our whole self back to Him and accept Jesus as our rightful God and Lord. We think we have self control and self fulfilment, but in reality we have nothing, and without the necessary repentance we live under condemnation.

“For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.”

John 3:17

It doesn’t have to be that way of condemnation, for the love of God is extraordinary in its scope and depth. God accepts all who come in repentance and faith and is willing to forgive all sin. Once we realise that and bow ourselves before Him, we get liberty and become part of His family! As we put our faith in Him, we are changed from dead souls to living souls.

God gives us spiritual life, which is a life that can relate to Him and makes us capable of loving God and other people. Without the change of heart, we do not have that gracious, sacrificial love for God or others. It is possible for humans to love like God, but we must give up ourselves and our sin to get it. Sometimes we can show the love of God and at times we revert to our selfish self. We must ask for this love, seek its likeness in our life and conform ourselves to God. It is a most treasured possession and the defining mark of someone in the family of God. Christians should be known as the most loving of people and people who are kind, generous and giving. Lack of love makes us small and mean and not like our Father in heaven.

Let us look to our Saviour and His attitude towards us while we were still sinners, He gave His life for us and suffered so deeply that we might be rescued from our sin and guilt. Should not we also lay down our life for His sake?

This is how God’s love is revealed in sinful people like us and turns us around and makes us loving and good.

God is love

“He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.”

True love for God and other people is the defining feature of our Christian life. It is the outward sign that we belong to the household of faith, that we regard God first and top priority in our life and serve others also.

God is love. He is love in His nature and all His practice. Love for righteousness and justice are the foundations of His throne and all evil will be dealt with by Him. Everything God does is love and He has demonstrated the greatest witness to that love. He has sent His dearest Son, who is with Him through all the eternal ages, to pay a dreadful price for those who are His enemies. He has given up all, that sinful people, creatures that He has made and have rebelled, might find peace with Him, and experience that love for themselves. This is the pattern of the love of God.

God is accused by unbelievers of all kinds of cruelty and unloving deeds. He is blamed for sorrow, pain, disappointment and death, and we easily and conveniently forget the state of our sinful hearts and ways, indeed to accuse God of misdeeds or wrong judgment condemns us to rank rebellion and blasphemy. We imagine we have the right to all good things, and we refuse to accept our deserving of death and hell. Therefore when things go wrong for us, we immediately assign it to God.

God allows much disappointment and suffering, but this should lead us to His mercy, if our hearts are right with Him and we are humble enough to accept our position before Him. The truth is that we do not deserve our life, nor any good thing in it. Our life is a gift from God and He will require fruit from our life in the end. We live in a world that propagates the idea that we have rights and deservings, and in human society we do have rights and privileges, but before a holy God we have nothing at all!

“God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, backbites, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;”

Romans 1:28-31

This is God’s view of us as a race of His creatures. It is not the same as we think of ourselves, for we flatter ourselves that we are not as bad as others we see. God sees all our heart and all our intentions and He is not impressed. Yet still, He bears with us, gives us life and undeserved blessings and holds out the offer of free and full pardon for all our misdeeds. Still we do not respond. We excuse ourselves, fail to see our great need because of our own corruptions, and rebelliously think we can please Him by our efforts. God will have none of it. He requires holiness and obedience, which are two states opposed to our natural state, and therefore uncomfortable to us. The bottom line is that we don’t want Him, no matter how loving and kind He is to us, we refuse to see His work in our life.

God will try to attract our attention by sending troubles of various sorts, to try to impress on us our vulnerability and need of Him. Many still resist Him and accuse the Lord of injustice and unkindness. The love of God stands firm, and the softened heart responds in seeking the Lord and finding forgiveness and a new life in Christ. God expresses His love in the salvation of souls and brings them into His family as friends. He delights to turn us around and convert our souls to Himself. He will lovingly lead His people and bring them safe to the heavenly kingdom. Gods love extends to the least and the lowest and can lift us up our of our misery and grief by His amazing grace. The grace of God is the practical outworking of that mighty love which we must not ignore. Without the love of God there is really no love at all. All who are the recipients of it are deeply blessed.

“But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

Love is of God

“Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”

The outcome of sound doctrine and following Christ will be the life of love. We are constrained to love each other, because love is from God who visits us with this mark of the Christian. We love because God imparts the gift of love to us His family.

It is tempting to think that doctrine is dry and will quench the spirit of love in the heart of the Christian. It can seem this way, as often Christians can get into arguments and debate about doctrinal issues and end up with schism and bad feelings. This is not the way of Christ. Doctrine that is false will lead to lack of love, but sound doctrine will build the Christian’s character and mind so that we can be receptive to the love of God.

“The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.”

Malachi 2:6

When the truth and righteousness of God infiltrates our character and behaviour, we walk in peace and love towards the Lord and our fellow human beings, particularly the people of God. We are constrained to love each other because we have been born again into the family of God and are now peaceable towards our fellow family members. This is the confirmation that we are in the family of God, that we love the Christ-likenesses in our sisters and brothers in Christ and seek to be like our Saviour too. It is the family resemblance that holds us together in the bonds of family love.

We also love the outsiders and seek to bring them the good news about forgiveness and the salvation of God,so that they can come into the family as well. The love of God extends to the weak and the spiritually poor and seeks such to come to Him and be in His kingdom.

“Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?”

James 2:5

The love of God is extraordinary and extends to the least and the lowest, and this should be our attitude to other people. Our love should be our defining feature in our lives and we should be known for our kindness and compassion. This is the love of God and how we know we are of the household of faith.

Spirit of truth

“We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”

The Apostle John makes a claim for himself and the other early church Apostles, appointed by Christ, by affirming that they are from God. They have seen the face and works of Christ and have been called by God through the work of the Holy Spirit to preach and teach the whole council of God and write the very words of Scripture. The doctrines of the church are taught in their writings and recorded for us in the Bible text, in these early days of the kingdom of God. This is crucial, for many falsehoods and heresies were to infiltrate the church and the thinking of Christians even in those early days. We see some of these falsehoods being addressed already in the Epistles to the churches and even in the first Century, the pure message of the gospel was being sullied.

In our day, false teachers and faulty teaching are everywhere. The assault on the doctrines of the faith and the inerrancy of the Word of God is fierce, as we live through these last days of this world. Satan has falsehoods everywhere, and there are so many voices that do not hold to the teaching of Scripture and go their own way. We are told this will happen. People are following the light of their own faulty understanding and leading many astray.

“Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray. Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.”

Matthew 24:10-12

The Apostle says that these voices with their strange doctrine are not from God, because they do not listen to the teaching of the Scripture and have deviated from the truth of God revealed there. Those who do not stick to the truth of Scripture and have so little regard for it, are not of God. In these last times it will get worse and worse and all kinds of unrighteousness will abound in the name of God. We see this clearly today as corruption and error are infiltrating the teachings of the Word of God.

The lifestyles of Christian people are now no different from the people of this world. Worldliness has so infiltrated the psyche of the church that anything goes. Christians are imbibing things they should not and involving themselves with luxury and ungodly living to satisfy their craven desires. The flesh is not resisted and many are led astray by the god of this world.

“So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.”

Luke 21:34

The only way to discern truth for error is by the standard of the Scripture and the only way to live is to seek the spiritual and follow in the way of Christ.

“Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,”

2 Timothy 3:16

There is no other way to recognise the truth for living and finding the way to God. What we believe about the Bible is crucial, for without it we are completely at sea and have no mark of reference to guide us. The Apostle John is adamant about this and as his words are included in Scripture, so we must listen.

The world hears them

“They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.”

What is our regular, daily conversation about? What do we talk about with our friends and sisters and brothers in Christ?

It is very easy to just tune into the everyday things of life and be caught up with them, never seeing or speaking about the hand of God in circumstances and our activities. Our speaking reflects our believing and our walk with God should be reflected in our thought processes and words uttered.

People of this world are taken up with the things of this life and have little thought for God or His purposes in life. They speak only of the things pertaining to the physical life and the daily work schedule. There is no sensibility for the things of God and not interest in them either. Deeper thinkers might foray into the realms of philosophy and the meaning of life, but without the work of the Lord in the human heart, we stay away from God.

The world abounds with many religions and philosophies and there is always those who are involved in debate with them. There are plenty of interesting idea to be involved with and many of the ideas in this world are very attractive to us in our thinking and behaviour, but they tend to deflect our mind away from God, and even interest us in falsehoods.

“For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

2 Timothy 4:3-4

Our world today is full of the distractions of the evil one and minds are kept blind to the truth of God. We will be interested in just about anything but the Scripture and what it instructs us and how it encourages us to live. We should be encouraging each other in the heavenly way and provoking each other to good works and holy living. We do this thought our communication and our interactions with each other and sharing our daily walk with God.

“Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works…”

Hebrews 10:24

We will not be accepted nor heard by the people of this worldly system, because they are insensible to the ways of God and do not follow Him. Their hearts are after this life and not the spiritual life now, or to come. This world is willing and able to listen to every message from the mind of people, but not from the mind of God. We must accept this and realise we are a different sort of person, lifted to God and redeemed out of the mindset of this craven world.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:”

1 Peter 2:9

This world will not listen or hear, but we persevere in the grace of God, who will bring us safely to our final destination. Let us persevere in Christ and speak of Him when we have opportunity.

Greater is he

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.”

We would easily succumb like the rest of lost humanity, but Christians are kept in the faith by the power of God. We are yet weak and sinful and the natural person still contends with us and the flesh still has some hold, but we fight it in the power of the Holy Spirit. The beloved Apostle calls us “little children” to remind us of our vulnerability and our precarious position in this wicked world. The world has no hold on us but seeks to control and harass the children of God. We are over comers in the name of our Lord Jesus, for He has overcome the world on our behalf.

“I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

We are destined to be victorious because of who we belong to – the eternal God. Our Saviour has vanquished all foes on the cross and has set us free from the power of sin and death and all the pernicious foes of this present evil age. We cannot do these things by ourselves, for we are just “little children” and the enemy prowls to tear us apart, but Christ is able to protect and keep us safe in all circumstances.

“Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.”

1 Peter 5:8-9

We are instructed to stand steadfast in our faith in our Master and Lord and to gain encouragement from sisters and brothers who suffer similarly. We pray to be delivered from the temptations that abound and make straight paths for our feet that we will not be led astray from the narrow way that leads to life. We cannot fail if we are part of the family of God, for His grace will be sufficient for us in all circumstances. He will give us the grace to persevere under trials and bring us through them in His mighty strength. We are yet “little children” with no power of our own to withstand, but our Saviour is able.

“He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.”

2 Corinthians 12:9

We are of God, so we will not fail. Our Master has overcome the world through His obedient life and victorious death and we are safe as we shelter in Him. Only through faith in Christ can we stand as redeemed and conquering people and only in His strength can we walk through this world in holiness of life. This world should have little interest to us, as we keep our eyes fixed on Christ and the kingdom that is coming.

In the world already

“… and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.”

Anyone who denies the revealed truth about Jesus Christ is actually an Anti-Christ. There are plenty of these around and they propagate the spirit of Anti-Christ and spread lies, deception and fear. This is how the enemy takes hold of the human psyche and brings it into bondage. The spirit of the Antichrist is wholly given over to this world and all its trappings. It is not just wanting the goods of this world, but imbibing it’s evil mindset and rejecting the way of God. It is an insidious hatred towards the Lord and a cold-heartedness towards to deep things of God. It is not always blatantly decrying the work of Christ, but just soft-peddling enough to render the powerful effect of it, impotent in the human life. Antichrist makes the effect of the cross weak and insufficient and down-plays the central role that the cross plays in our salvation. It undermines the person of Christ and weakens His position in the holy trinity. It is an all together evil spirit that will destroy the lives of many and bring strong delusion on this world.

Beloved, we must ensure we are of the household of faith and not just giving mental assent to a belief system. We must love God with all our being and render to Him the glory and praise which belong to Him. The cross of Christ must be central to our thinking about the Lord and ourselves.

If the spirit of Antichrist had already taken hold in the time of this writing by the Apostle John, how much more today. The whole world is morally winding down to the time of the end, and surely we are in those times.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Matthew 24:9-14

The spirit of the Antichrist will turn against the people of God and those whose allegiance is to Him. It will be a time of treachery and much falsehood. Family members will turn against Christian people and there will be discrimination against Christians as the hold of sinful lifestyles holds sway and the world runs after evil ways.

The gospel has spread through the whole world and evangelism has been effective in reaching peoples in almost every nation. The word of God is translated into many languages and there is great access through the internet. The evangelised western nations are now running backwards and the great rejection of the Christian way has been going for some time. We accept anything except the truth and so persecution is on the cards. We continue to confess the Lord Jesus and lift up the message of the gospel for His sake and the continued spread of the kingdom. We hold firm to the truth of sacred Scripture and remain loyal to Christ in the midst of this perverse time.

Jesus Christ has come in the flesh

“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,”

How are we to separate truth from error? How do we know when someone is speaking truthfully? The key is what they believe about the Lord Jesus Christ and how they accept Him for who He is. We must be clear about our doctrine of God and accept the claims that Jesus made for Himself. The way we find out is by reading the accounts of what Jesus said and the doctrines laid out for us in the Scripture. Is is good to have a reliable teacher and someone who knows the Bible really well and is in tune with the Spirit of God. This is hard to find in these days that we live in, but there are good things and true messages to be found online from preachers and teachers from the past. It is very difficult to find modern day speakers who will preach and teach from the Word and not their own ideas. Falsehood abounds.

We know who the people of God are because these people will have a right view of Christ and will live lives that show their love and devotion to Him. People who accept that Jesus is no ordinary man, but the second person of the trinity of God come in human flesh. Jesus made extraordinary claims about himself and we must accept what He said or write Him off as a liar, deluded or even to have lost touch with reality. As we read the text of Scripture we can clearly see that Jesus of Nazareth was none of these things. His words were full of wisdom and the power of God. No one has ever spoken like He has spoken and certainly no one has done such deeds as He did. Even when Jesus walked the earth there were many who doubted Him, wrote Him off as mad ( his own family did not understand Him ) and were so filled with indignation and jealousy that they wanted to kill Him.

There is no man in history that even comes close to the majesty of the Lord Jesus. Everything He did and said was perfect. When the Pharisees and Sadducees tried to trick Him and put Him on the spot, His answers were astounding. He silenced His enemies with a word and showed up the hatefulness of our human psyche and showed how much we need Him and His offer of forgiveness. Only Christ can forgive our sin and change us into the people we are supposed to be.

What we believe about Jesus is of key importance, for many worship and laud a false view of Him, one made from their own wishes and ideas, which makes Him a false Christ and therefore misplaced faith. It is really important that we trust in the Saviour Jesus as revealed in the Scripture. To find ourselves on that last day with the words “I never knew you” ringing in our ears, would be devastating.

Let us trust in the living Lord Jesus, the only Saviour of the world and the King above all Kings. Let us bow to Him and eagerly listen to His word that we might love and learn.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.”

John 14:6

Test the spirits

“Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Here, fellow believers, is a word for today, a cogent word in every generation of the people of God. Surely there has never been a time where there has been such a plethora of false teachers, prophets and the like, and the attendant false doctrine that goes with them. The media; the society we live in; and the pulpits; are full of them. They all sound plausible and speak seemingly reasonable words to our untrained ears, for the teaching of the Scripture has been disregarded and left undone for so many generations that the truth is almost lost. It has passed out of our social conscience and our collective psyche and we are left spiritually destitute. Many of those false people have huge followings and mighty church structures and systems behind them, so they appear successful and blessed by God. However, the success is worldly success and the blessing is not from God. Many line their own pockets with the proceeds of other peoples labours, to their everlasting shame.

We are warned here in this verse by the loving Apostle, to be very circumspect about who we listen to and trust. We are to inwardly question everything that is said and done and sort out truth from error. We cannot do this alone, for we do not have total insight or complete wisdom, but our guide is the reliability of the Holy Scripture which we have in our possession and can access every day. This is our wisdom and the source of our insight, if we would but use it.

Too many have left off even reading the eternal Word, never mind studying it deeply for protracted periods of time. We skate over favoured passages as comfort and support, but never really come to grips with the message and the doctrine of the faith that are taught to us there. We drink the milk and never eat the strong meat of the Scripture.

How are we to test the falsehood and false spirits that are in the world, if we don’t even know the Word of God? Surely we will be taken in with the superficial religion that is everywhere and find ourselves grieving the precious Holy Spirit in embracing this false religion and teachings?

“… who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Romans 1:25

So many religious leaders and teachers are looking for a niche market to peddle their new spiritual approach or ideas about God. This is instantly a bad idea for it undermines the truth of the Bible and creates a false God. The truth about God is clearly seen in the revealed Word, and no one needs to embellish it or present it more clearly than God already has. God has ordained the seeming foolishness of preaching to spread the gospel and the truth from the Word He has written for us.

Beloved, we need to be careful about who we listen to and pray that God will give us insight to decipher where speakers are coming from and what their motivations are.

“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.”

Ephesians 1:17-19

By the Spirit

“He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.”

The person who is a stickler for doing the right thing has regard for the commandments of God. We are not normally or naturally inclined to love the law of God, but we have been changed into the likeness of Christ through faith and are therefore tuned into doing right. As Christ kept the law of God perfectly, on our behalf, so we emulate Him by keeping the commands of the Lord. The moral law in the form of the Ten Commandments is not defunct or out of practice in the daily living of our life. We are bound to keep them according to the will of God. As children of God we love His commands and seek to run in them and obey them. All rebellion has gone and we are seeking to please our Father and bring joy to Him.

“Therefore you shall keep my commandments, and do them. I am the Lord.”

Leviticus 22:31

There are some who will give a carte-blanch to the bevaviour of Christian people, teaching that we are not under law but under grace. The Apostle Paul teaches us that we keep the commands of the Lord for they are the road to righteousness that we have in Christ. The Christian has the inclination and power to keep these commands and as we walk in their light we gain increasing righteousness before the Lord and become more like Him.

If we keep the commandments we remain in God and God remains in us. We know this because the Holy Spirit will be in our life and lead us in His everlasting way of holiness and righteous living. It is the Spirit within who teaches us all things and gives us the motivation to do right and the power to discipline ourselves to do right. We do not do it ourselves and can therefore take no praise for our righteousness. Righteousness is given by God and we praise Him name for giving it to us. We remain in that righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let us remain in God and stay close to the goodness He looks for in our life and in all our motivations. Let us not be argumentative and recalcitrant children who always seek their own way and stubbornly refuse their Master and God. Let us eagerly pursue holiness of life and daily walk with God in all activities and thought processes.

“He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the Lord require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:8