1 John Pt. 9: We Are Not Alone

1 John 4:1-6 (ESV)

4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
•       How do we tell the truth from the lie? John keeps it simple. He gives us the test of the Spirits. Those that confess Jesus as Lord, the savior and Christ, speaks with a godly spirit.

3b This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

•       The truth has overcome the lie. Even though we are not alone in the world, we share it with an enemy who hates us and wants to see the kingdom of God defeated. The good news is that God has overcome the enemy. WE have overcome the enemy. Jesus is greater than he who is in the world.
•       The word of God is has overcome the enemy; look how strong it is:
o       12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
•       The truth cuts through the lies. The truth does not have to keep its story straight. The world does not stand a chance against the truth. God is that truth. 
•       John 8:32 “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
•       When we abide in God’s word, when we sit under his teaching, when we soak in the word of God and let it permeate our lives, our actions, our thoughts, that is when we know the truth. This is our strength, confidence and our foundation

5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

•       We, as those who follow God, will never belong. We are not of the world and the world knows it. It can sniff us out a mile away. John has described at great length in this letter all the ways that Christians are to be recognized.
•       Do you remember what they are? What does it mean to be from God?
•       We practice righteousness. We love one another, we abide in his word. We walk in the light. We confess our sins. We share the good news with others. We do not love the things of this world.
•       Here John adds those who know God listen to us. Listen to his teaching.
•       There will be people who do not understand what you say. Who will twist your words and distort your views and convictions. They are of the world and they do not understand the way of God.


Summary

Victory in Jesus
–       God is greater than he who is in the world. What an incredible fact!
–       Are you living like a winner? Are you celebrating? Are you thankful? The victory in Jesus should inspire confidence and action.

Do not be ignorant of opposition
–       You and I have an enemy that is looking for ways to weaken us spiritually, are you aware of that, and what are you doing to protect yourself against it?

Do not neglect the support we have
–       What does your spiritual support system look like? Christian community. Are you spending time with other believers on a regular basis, or is it really just here on Sunday?
–       Who are you calling when you are struggling with sin? Who is keeping you accountable?
–       With the spirit living in us, are you attuned to it? Are you listening to the movement of the spirit in you?

Isaiah 61:1
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;”

The spirit of truth sets us free. We have a spirit of victory living in us. That is what we celebrate at the table each week.

Acts 1:8
“you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

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1 John Pt. 8: We Know!

I John 3:11-24 (ESV)

11For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

So what do “we know”?

– We have passed from death to life

– Love, because He laid down His life for us

– We are of the truth and He knows everything

– He abides in us

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1 John Pt. 7: A Procession of Righteousness

1 John 3:4-10 (ESV)

4 Themes:

1. Our allegiance is evident by what we practice

2. God is without sin and is our righteousness

3. Jesus manifested to defeat sin

4. Our life in Him is not characterized by sin

a. When we abide in God we do not live in sin

b. When we are born of God we cannot keep sinning

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 

• John’s first point is that “sin is lawlessness”. It is to disobey God and his laws. It is rebellion, obstruction and disobedience. Sin is the ugly, smug dismissal of God’s desire for how we are to live and to act as if we know better.

•Romans 3:10 is quoting the Psalms when it says that “none is righteous, no, not one”. 

•To see Jesus is supposed to change our life. If we keep on sinning, if we continue to cling to our old lives of rebellion and lawlessness, John says we certainly haven’t seen or experienced the real Jesus. The Jesus who has no sin who came to the world to take away our sins wants you to know him. Jesus wants us to abide in Him, he wants to be our shepherd and comfort. 

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 

• The Greek word teknon or teknion is a good literal translation, but some versions that are more “idea for idea” might say “dear children”

• Imagine the affection he has for all these believers as he looks around as an old man in the faith and sees the great work God is doing in the world.

• We can practice righteousness. We ourselves are not good, but we are seen as righteous because of the spirit that lives in us. His advocate that lives in us IS righteous. 

• John gives us another variation, v8 combines themes 1 and 2. Where previously sin is called lawlessness, here it is called the work of the devil.

• Being a Christian involves rebirth, dying to our old self and being raised to life with Jesus.

10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

• With all that in mind, everything he’s told us twice in the last 6 verses, he gets to his conclusion. We are to be known as Children of the perfect God by the outpouring of righteousness in our own lives.

• John writes that the same is true for us; we can recognize the children of God by the way they live, how they practice righteousness.

• We are identified by our actions. If we are full of righteousness, it is because we have been given the righteousness of Jesus. If we are still making a practice of sin, we have not been born of Him.

• Regardless of what people tell you, they reveal their beliefs by how they act. If they do not love their brother, how on earth could they be of God? If God is love, and love is not found in that person, then certainly God’s seed does not abide and is not growing in Him.

Application:

What is my practice?

24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.   Amos 5:24 (NLT)

– Am I practicing evil or practicing righteousness? 

What makes you right before God?

– Are you holding on to something that you do that makes you better than the rest of us sinners? 

What sin has Jesus defeated in my life?

– What victories are you celebrating right now? How can we celebrate with you? How can you encourage those around you of the victory you’ve seen in their life?

2 Corinthians 5:21

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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1 John Pt. 6: We Are God’s Children

I John 3:1-3 (ESV)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Takeaways:

– Are you born of God?

  – If yes, your nature will change.

  – If yes, your life will be new.

  – If yes, you will share a family resemblance to your Father and His other kids.

– Have you called on the name of the Lord?

  – Do you follow Him?

  – Is He your hope? His return?

  – His way is narrow, particular, specific.

  – Christianity is His way, His will.

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