That You May Know You Have Eternal Life

That You May Know You Have Eternal Life Devotions through 1John

Brent Kilman Covenant Presbyterian Church Cherry Hill, NJ February 2011

How to use this Devotional These devotions are designed to guide you through a daily reading of 1 John. They are designed to take about 20 minutes each. The purpose of this devotional is to draw out the major themes of 1 John and to provide you with assurance of your salvation through Jesus Christ. Often times in Christian circles when someone is doubting a believer may try to assure them with the promise that, “if you have professed faith in Jesus you are saved.” While Jesus does definitely save and does not lose any of whom the Father has given him (John 6:39), we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Could it be possible that we are clinging to hope that our lives are betraying doesn’t exist for us? We must consider how God works in the lives of all those who he has given to Jesus and ask if our life is resembling God’s works in us. This devotional is designed to help you spend time with God and to be assured of his work in you and your salvation in him.

Each devotion has 5 parts: a beginning prayer, a scripture reading, a memory verse, application paragraph and questions, and an ending prayer. To get the most out of this devotion you should try to memorize each selected verse throughout the day. There are a variety of ways to memorize and you should find the one that works best for you. I have to write it out repeatedly, so I always did my memorization on my class folders. Maybe you have to work it out piece by piece, so you can sound it out in your head throughout the day. However you choose to do it, do it! Memorizing God’s word stores it in our brains and strengthens our assurance when the enemy tempts us or attacks us.

You should make a consistent habit of doing these devotions either in the morning or in the evening. I personally prefer morning so that I have the word of God in my mind all day, but maybe you are more of a night person. Whatever you choose, make it a habit to meet with the Lord at that time and see how God blesses you in this time. If your devotion time takes less than 20 minutes, go back over it or spend some time in prayer with God. If your time takes more that 20 minutes don’t stress, but rather enjoy the time you have with God. To get the most out of this devotion you will need to: (1) have your bible open to the selected passage, (2) remove all distractions (TV, video games, phones, etc), (3) Have a pen or pencil ready to answer the questions and to write down observations God may give you through his word, (4)pray sincerely asking God to speak to you and be ready for God to show up!

Pray: Start your devotion with a time of prayer. Praise God for creating you and the world. Thank God for giving you this day and this time to be with him. Ask God to guide you and lead you through this devotion time and through this devotional.

Read: 1 John 5:13 Apply: Are you a Christian? Do you have eternal life? How sure are you of your answer? 1 John 5:13 tells us that 1 John was written, ―to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.‖ Belief can be shaky, and John is writing to believers who have seen many things that could make their faith crumble: their churches had split over doctrine, they had faced persecution, and many had already left the faith. These issues are not unlike today. The Church is more split than ever: Protestant denominations are as splintered as they have ever been, many are leaving true Christianity to follow other doctrines, and many of our brothers and sisters around the world face persecution for Christ every day. How are we to have assurance of our faith and keep our hope in Christ?

1 John gives us tools to sharpen our faith and to deepen our assurance: refine our theological understanding, sharpen our ethical rigor, and heighten our devotion to our Lord. That is, we must grow in faith, obedience, and love. The book of 1 John is written to people who call themselves Christian and is intended to give you assurance of your salvation in Jesus Christ. 1 John highlights what God the father has done in sending Jesus Christ his son, offering him up as a sacrifice for our sins, and sending for the ―word of life‖ (1 John 1:1) that is causing the darkness of the world to pass away and the true light of the kingdom of God to shine (1 John 2:8).

1. Be honest. Are you a Christian? Why do you answer the way you do? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 2. 1 John 5:13 is a summary statement for the entire epistle. Take a moment to look over 1 John 5.

What are some ―things‖ that assure us we have eternal life? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 3. How sure are you that you have eternal life through Jesus Christ? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Pray – End this time in prayer. Ask God to begin a work in your life. If you honestly say you are a Christian, ask God to grant you assurance and to grow you in the areas of faith, obedience, and love. If you honestly say that you are not a Christian, take time to consider what 1 John will have to say. Don’t give up, give God a chance to speak to you.

Pray – Spend time praising God for his love to you. What thoughts and feelings come to your mind when you think about Christian fellowship? Spend some time talking about these with God. Ask God to open your mind, heart, and soul for his teachings today.

Read – 1 John 1:1-7 Memorize: 1 John 1:5 ―This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.‖ Apply: Christians gather in fellowship halls, attend fellowship dinners and participate in activities with other Christians. But what really makes Christian fellowship? Coffee and doughnuts? Youth Group? Perhaps more than any other passage of scripture, these opening verses of 1 John show us the basis of true fellowship that Christians enjoy and experience with God and with one another. Fellowship means ―to have everything in common‖. The fellowship John desires to have with us is far greater than a quick chat on Sunday morning while trying to pick at the remains of doughnuts or juice leftover by the children before rushing into Sunday School. This fellowship is not just among people who believe their sins are forgiven by Christ. The gospel message binds its recipients to one another and to God himself. The Christian’s fellowship is not just with like minded people, but also by being like minded with God the Father and his Son. God is light, and in him is no darkness. The light of God is holiness and truth.

One way people claim to have fellowship with God and yet walk in the darkness is by serving Jesus only with their lips while living a life of hypocrisy, not living out what they claims to believe in. It is easy to say the right words without actions to back it up. It is also easy to do the right things in front of people while continuing to walk in darkness and keeping parts of one’s life unknown, hidden and unchallenged by God’s truth. People do this by keeping Christianity only to the level of comfort where religious involvement is only on Sundays, externally claiming to have fellowship with God, while living a different kind of life from Mondays through Saturdays. That is easy. It’s hard to live what you believe all the time, but an old proverb I heard once told me this: you know what you believe by what you do when no one is looking.

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What are some things that come to your mind when you think of Christian fellowship? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ John provides a test for us so that we can tell if we have fellowship with God (v. 5-10). The first part of John’s test is the way we live, or ―walk‖ (v.6-7). What is the relationship between our life conduct and our claim to have fellowship with God? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ Does this test strengthen or weaken your assurance of fellowship with God? Explain. ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ How can you have a greater fellowship with God? How can you have a greater fellowship with other Christians? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray – Pray that the level of fellowship in your church would be deepened and enriched by each Christian’s conduct walking in his ―light‖, reflecting God’s perfection in holiness and truth. How can you start today to deepen and enrich your church’s fellowship?

Pray Praise God for his truthfulness. Thank God for his honesty and his grace in dealing with our dishonesty. Ask God to bless your time in his word this morning. What do you do when you’ve sinned?

Read: 1 John 1:5-2:2 Memorize: 1 John 1:9, ―If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.‖ Apply: If you have been going to church very long you have probably heard a lot of theories about what you should do about sin. 1 John 1:5-2:2 is the most important text in all of scripture teaching Christians about what to do with sin. Read through these verses two more times before continuing on with this devotion. As you read, ask the Lord to help you answer this critical question: ―What do I do when I sin?‖ Yesterday we looked at the true meaning and nature of fellowship. Fellowship means to share life with God in a deep, intimate way. That fellowship is broken by our sin. Many times we claim to have fellowship with God because of their busyness in church activities, yet our busyness keeps us from stopping and dealing with sins that God is prompting in our minds and or hearts. It’s easy to trick ourselves into thinking we have fellowship with God by keeping busy, doing church related things: reading our bible, praying, going to church, going to youth group, going on mission trips, etc. However, until we get on the same page with God and confess our sins, we are really not being any help to God or to the church. In fact, we are hindering the church by holding onto our sins. If we do not let God’s word expose the darkness in our own lives and then deal with it, we are deceiving ourselves and we may not be Christians!

It’s hard to confess when you are wrong. There is always that awkward moment where you don’t know how the other person is going to react. I remember one time I got real mad at my brother, thinking he had stolen one of my CD’s. I accused him of horrible things and then… I found my CD. I was apprehensive of how he would react when I told him I was wrong. Eventually I went to him and confessed I had found the CD and was sorry for all the things I had said. He forgave me and all that tension I was holding onto released. When we deal honestly and confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jesus already paid the price for all your sins you will ever commit. He stands before God making the case for you to be forgiven because of his work. Why hold onto sin and let it disrupt your fellowship with God? Confess your sins and know that Jesus Christ, your advocate holds your forgiveness in his nail pierced hands.

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What does our denial or confession of sin reveal about the reality of our relationship with God? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ Based on your study these past two days, what does it mean to have fellowship with God – and with each other? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ How does the realization that Jesus speaks ―in our defense‖ provide comfort and assurance to you when you confess your sins? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray Do you have sin that you need to confess to God now? Take some time and honestly come clean with God. Jesus already paid the penalty so give him your baggage.

Pray Praise God for his consistency. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17). How amazing is it that our God is the same all the time. The Greeks feared their gods’ emotional whims. Muslims follow a rigorous pattern of life for fear of offending Allah. Christians have assurance of a God who never changes! God has made it clear what he requires of his people, there is no changing of his desires. When have you been impacted by someone saying one thing and doing another? Ask God to open your mind and your heart to what He has to say today, knowing it will be the same tomorrow, and forever.

Read 1 John 2:3-6 Memorize 1 John 2:3, ―We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.‖ Apply: ―By this we know‖. It seems today that everything we know is being called into question. How do you know that the history you are learning in school is not just your teacher’s (or your textbook’s) interpretation? How do you know the Phillies are going to make the playoffs next summer? How do you know that you are a Christian and have eternal life? ―By this we know‖. Assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ is possible. Even when the world around us tells us nothing is sure, we can know that we have forgiveness of sins and salvation through Jesus Christ. 1 John gives us many tests to self diagnose whether we are Christian or not.

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1 John 1:7 – If we walk in the light of God. 1 John 2:3 – If we keep his commandments.

1 John 3:14 – because we love the brothers (other Christians) 1 John 4:13 – because he has given us his Spirit 1 John 5:2 – because we love God and obey his commandments.

In 1 John 2 our assurance is put to the ethics test. Do we have a changed life and keep the Lord’s commandments?

Not only do we obey God, but do we delight in obeying God? Obedience does not bring salvation, only faith given by the grace of God can do that, but obedience, and cheerful obedience at that, as a pattern of life gives evidence that we are truly ―born again‖ and have assurance of salvation. To truly know Jesus involves not religious duty, but a personal relationship that requires practical behavior.

One of the most common areas of tension for teenagers and parents is in this area of obedience. Teens are almost grown up, but not yet. There is still some finishing to do around the edges of your life. Your parents are given responsibility to see that you are trained up and released as a responsible and mature adult. Until then, we are told to ―obey our parents in the Lord‖ (Ephesians 6:1, Proverbs 1:8). Jesus was a teenager, and a son. He was God’s son, and he obeyed his father. Obedience to his father led to his death on the cross. Christians are obedient to Christ, even though it means death to our own desires and subordination to God’s will. Christians find joy in obeying God’s commands in the same way Jesus our Lord did. Do you? After all, ―What good is having someone who can walk on water if you don't follow in his footsteps?‖ 1.

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According to John, how can we tell whether we truly know Christ or merely claim to know him? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ what does it mean for you to ―walk as Jesus did‖ in your life (v.6)? Why is this hard? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ How does this passage encourage you to obey Jesus Christ? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray Ask God to make your life reflect the obedience and integrity of Christ.

Pray Praise God for giving you other believers around you. How have you been encouraged by other believers this week? How have you been discouraged? Ask God to open your eyes and your heart to see and be changed by his truth for you today.

Read 1 John 2:7-11 Memorize: 1 John 2:10, ―whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.‖ Apply: This section could be confusing. After yesterday’s devotion, today we are more than ever determined to be obedient to Christ. Yet John is confusing us already on what obedience means. How can he be writing an old command and a new command at the same time? The old command is very old, it is love for God and love for others, both of which are commanded by God in the Old Testament (Letviticus 19:18, Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus confirmed and renewed these teachings in John 13:34, so they also now constitute a new command, which is what the apostles were given ―from the beginning‖ (1 John 3:11). So, the old command which has been around since the beginning has been reexplained and can be taken in a new way: no longer is our brother only a Jew, but our brother is anyone who believes Jesus, regardless of race, gender, class, or other dividing hostility. John 13:34-35 tells us how we are to be obedient to God’s command. Jesus says, ―A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are by disciples, if you have love for one another.‖ In light of Jesus’ death, ―just as‖ makes us take pause and wonder, what real love looks like. 1 John 4:18 tells us ―perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.‖ Yet often in loving our brother there is much fear. I often find myself asking, questions like―How much should I love?‖, ―How often should I forgive?‖, ―When do I get to stand up for myself?‖ If I am honest, the command to love is frightening to me, because often I don’t have love for my brother, but hate.

Master Yoda says ―hate leads to the dark side‖ and in our lives that is often the case. We can hold onto hate and allow it to turn us into bitter, angry, unloving shells of people, or we can walk in the light of God and love our brother as Jesus loved us, and offer forgiveness in our lives.

1 John 2:8-11 paints the command to love in terms of darkness and light, a motif John used in his gospel and also often in his epistles. John reminds us that though we live in a time of great darkness with sin, hate, and rejection of God all around us, we also live in the promise of God’s light that has ―overcome the world‖(John 16:33). We reflect the ―light‖ of God in this dark, evil age as we obey God’s command to love one another.

1. John focuses in on one of the practical commands of God. How can this command be both ―old‖ and ―new‖? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ 2.

True Christians are marked by the ability to forgive anyone despite how they feel. Do you need your eyes opened so we can willingly escape the grip of unforgiveness? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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What are some ways you can reflect the light of God in this dark, evil age by loving your neighbor today? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray Lord, I pray that Your love might be made known in and through me, not because I am trying so

hard, but because I know You, and You have loved me and come to live Your life through me.

Pray Praise God for choosing to use you to make his name known in the world. Ask God to teach you and lead you today to give him the honor he deserves.

Read 1 John 2:12-14 Memorize: 1 John 2:14, ―I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.‖ Apply: John writes to his readers to give them confidence in their struggle against the darkness around them. John knows his message is greater than the sinister realities of the world, the flesh, and the devil which he warns about.

He knows the flesh will tempt his readers who are young in their Christian life to sin and feel guilty again (v.12). He knows the world will cause older believers to despair (v.13). He knows the Devil will cause great trial and temptation to come to young men (and women) (v. 13). But he also knows the one who is greater than all three of these. He has already described these young men as those who have overcome the evil one. He repeats that again, but he adds this explanation: You are strong, and the word of God lives in you. He put that last because here is revealed the secret of growth. What makes one who is a spiritual child become a spiritual young man? The Word of God abiding in him! What makes a young man become a father? The Word of God abiding in him! That is the secret of growth. That is what will move him from one stage to another until at last he becomes a father, able to reproduce himself in others.

Here is God’s designed instrument of growth: the Word of God. It is absolutely impossible to grow up as a Christian, or as a real man or woman, unless the Word of God abides in you. This is why the devil fights this whole matter of Bible study, the building of your life around the centrality of the Scriptures, and why it is so hard to get time to be in the Word of God. The enemy unleashes a constant barrage of attack at this level. It is the most important thing to move us into maturity. Though the devil cannot stop us from being Christians, he can certainly keep us from becoming strong Christians, and this is exactly the way he does it. He puts things that are enticing to our eyes in our path so that we are diverted from God. Have you ever been distracted from spending time with God by video games, texting, facebook, or friends? How difficult was it to sit down and have this time with God? The enemy is very real, and is very actively pursuing a strategy to keep us in our spiritual cribs! God desires that we grow up and become mature Christians who can reproduce Christians. We do this by remaining in God and knowing his word. His word gives us our assurance: that our sins have been forgiven on account of Jesus’ name, that we know God who is from the beginning, that we have overcome the evil one through Jesus, that we are strong and the word of God lives in us!

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Who is represented by the three groups being addressed in v. 12-14 (children, young men, fathers)? How is this an analogy of the Christian life? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ What is the source of our victory over the evil one? (v. 13-14) ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ How does this passage help you to have a better understanding of the spiritual battle you face every day?

How are you better prepared to overcome the tactics and schemes of Satan? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________

Pray Have you overcome temptation or struggle recently? Praise God for giving you the strength you need to overcome the evil one. Have you fallen into temptation or struggle recently? Ask God to remind you of the power you have in Jesus to overcome temptation and to stand in full assurance of salvation.

Pray Praise God for giving you the strength you need to overcome the evil one and to grow you into a mature, competent Christian.

Read

1 John 2:15-17

Memorize 1 John 2:17, ―The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.‖ Apply Puritan John Bunyan wrote an amazing story called The Pilgrims Progress. You should check it out sometimes. In the Pilgrim’s Progress we follow Christian who escapes from the City of Destruction and is heading toward the Heavenly City. His journey will seem familiar to you because many any Christian who sincerely desires to reach the Heavenly City of God will be able to identify with many of the challenges Christian encounters along the way. In the Valley of Humiliation Christian battles with Apollyon, his greatest enemy. At the Hill of Difficulty he meets Adam – the – first and his three daughters: Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the eyes, and Pride of life. In the town of Folly he narrowly escapes its greatest attraction, Vanity Fair. These encounters are John Bunyan’s descriptions of the three arenas of conflict in the Christian life – the world, the flesh, and the devil. They are the same three foes that bring battle to Christians in 1 John and in our lives.

In 1 John 2:15-17 we are told not to love the world or anything in the world. We should not read this, as some do, as a total rejection of all things in the world, but instead as a warning against following a world system that is opposed to God. Remember the ―bubbles‖ story Lawrence told you at the retreat? Following after the things of this world and placing them as a higher priority in our life than the things of God is like the children who wanted bubbles instead of the amazing snack that was offered. The world system is already passing away. Jesus has overcome the evil one, the march of God and of his light is underway, and he will not be defeated. To stop pursuing God now and pursue the dying things of the world is futile and wasteful, since it is passing away. When I was younger there was a T shirt slogan that caught my attention. It said, ―he who dies with the most toys still dies.‖ The desires of this life are powerful, but they are temporary. We should guard against ―the desire of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of possessions‖ as these are not from God the Father, but from the world which opposes God. Instead Christians ought to pursue the things of God, which are not passing away but will rule for eternity: godliness, holiness, purity, honesty, faith, love, obedience. When our desires are directed toward the things of the world they are twisted and serve to condemn us that we are not following the Lord. When our desires are directed toward God they are purified and act as assurance that we belong to God. 1.

Why can there be no middle ground between our love for God and our love for the world? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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Why are we supposed to resist temptations to love the world? Where do we get the strength to resist the world? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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How does the realization that the world is passing away lessen its appeal in your life? How can you love God and not love the world today? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ Pray Father, open my eyes to my own self. Make me to hear the probing question from the Holy

Spirit, What is your heart truly set upon? What is your true love?

Pray Praise God for his truth. Ask God to guard your heart and your mind from being deceived by half truths or lies that you may hear about Jesus, God, or yourself. Ask God to lead you by his Holy Spirit today.

Read

1 John 2:18-29

Memorize 1 John 2:20, ―But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.‖ Apply More and more Christians today, it seems, are trying to distinguish a difference from Christian teaching (theology) and Christian living. You may have heard someone say, ―I don’t want more theology, just give me Jesus.‖ But Theology is how we learn about Jesus: who he is and what he has done. How can we learn more about Jesus and become more like him if we don’t know and value theology? There is nothing more basic to Christian faith than the teaching about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Apart from understanding who Jesus is and what he has done, there can be no real Christian living and thus there is no real faith. This is why John goes to great lengths here to protect his ―dear children‖ from false views about Jesus and to instruct them to the truth.

John knows a great deal of the truth about who Jesus is and what Jesus did because John walked and talked with Jesus while he was living, and John was the only one of Jesus’ disciples who were still there when Jesus was crucified. Jesus gave John the responsibility of caring for his mother Mary. Think about that: Jesus didn’t pass on the care for his mother to his brother James, but to John (John 19:26-27). What trust and affection must Jesus have had for John! John then cared for Mary for the rest of her life. John likely wrote 1 John from Ephesus about 85 AD, and perhaps Mary was living with him then. We know from history that one of the early churches in Ephesus was called ―The Church of Mary‖ since Mary had been there. How amazing is it that John personally knew Jesus and is writing for you and I to know the truth of who Jesus is and what exactly he did!

What did Jesus do? He is the eternal son of God, begotten not made, who humbled himself to be in the likeness of a man, born of a virgin. In his life Jesus is not like other greek demi gods. He was not half man, half God. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man! I had a professor explain it this way: with Jesus 100% + 100%= 100% savior! Jesus perfectly obeyed God’s law so that he could stand before God on behalf of all who look to him for salvation. He was put to death on your behalf, taking away your sins and taking away God’s anger for your sin. He rose again 3 days later, as he had said he would, and he is coming again to judge the living and the dead and to reign forevermore.

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To deny that ―Jesus is the Christ‖ (v.22) is to deny that Jesus is the eternal, divine Christ – the God-Man. Why is John so harsh toward those who believe and teach things that deny Jesus is the Christ? How have you seen teachings that deny Jesus around you? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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Why is remaining in truth so important for your Christian life (v.24-25)? How does his instruction in verse 27 help you to understand what it means to remain in Christ? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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What does this passage teach us about the Holy Spirit’s ministry of preserving us from error? What does it teach about our responsibility to remain and persevere in the truth? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray

Thank God for the truth about Jesus. Ask God to fill your heart and mind with truth about himself today.

Pray Praise God for his grace and unmerited love for you. Thank God that He has called you his child and wants you to call him father. Ask God to teach you and lead you today through his word.

Read

1 John 3:1-10

Memorize 1 John 3:2-3, ―Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.‖ Apply Isn’t it amazing how little babies bear resemblance to their parents? In the last six months three of my friends have had babies, and three more friends have told me they are going to have a baby. It always amazes me to see how the baby resembles the physical characteristics of his or her parents. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that much, after all, they do share the same DNA traits as their parents, but that’s not all. Have your parents ever told you that your actions remind you of them at your age? We don’t only share physical characteristics with our parents, we also develop social and emotional characteristics that resemble our parents. As Christians we are called children of God. As Children of God, shouldn’t we bear resemblance to our Heavenly Father?

How many of your friends would say they are Christian? How many of the students in your school? How many people in the United States would say they are Christian? Several years ago there was a Newsweek magazine article on the increasing amount of Americans who are claiming to be ―Born again‖. According to a Gallup report based on personal interviews with 1,553 Americans 18 and older, half of all protestants – and 1/3 of all Americans – say they have been ―born again‖. That figure comes out to roughly 50 million adult Americans who claim to have experienced a turning point in their lives by making a commitment to living for Jesus Christ. That seems like a lot of people. How could we go about verifying this report? 1 John 3:1-10 gives us a clear diagnostic test to determine whether a person who claims to be a Christian has truly been born of God. After reading this scripture today, how can you be confident that you have been ―born again‖ of God and have assurance of salvation today?

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What is the test to determine whether or not a person has been ―born again‖ by God (1 John 2:28-29; 3:910)? Are you born again of God? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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Although Christians do sin, how does knowing Christ change our relationship to sin (v.6)? Why does the new birth in Jesus make it impossible for God’s children to have a life characterized by sin (v.9)? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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As one who has been born of God, what are some ways you see the traits of love and obedience developing in your life? In what area(s) would you like to be more obedient? Ask your parents and/or some other close Christian friends to give you honest feedback in this area today. ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray

Thank God that he has called you his child. Ask God that your life would bear your family resemblance to God and to Christ in greater ways today and every day.

Pray Praise God for his love. Thank God for sending Jesus to die for his enemies, and for now counting you among his friends. Ask God to guide you and lead you in his word today.

Read 1 John 3:11-14 Memorize 1 John 3:14, ―We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.

Whoever does not love abides in death.‖ Apply It is really interesting that the apostle John has become known as the apostle of love. If you read the gospel records of John, you will note that this is not his nature at all. He and his brother James earned from Jesus the title Sons of Thunder (Mark 3:17) because they were constantly wanting to blast back at those who opposed them. John's temperament was not naturally inclined to show love. But when he was born again, there was born into his heart the life of God, and this man began to show love.

Jacob De Shazer bombed Tokyo early in World War II. He was captured by the Japanese and put in prison. He hated his Japanese captors and was so violent and vicious that they feared him. They kept him in solitary confinement because of the hatred with which he lashed out against them. But he obtained a copy of the Bible and began to read it through. In the loneliness of his cell, he came to realize the life that is in Jesus Christ. An amazing change came over this man. His hatred of the Japanese changed completely. He began to love his captors and to show love toward them, and they were utterly astonished by what had happened to him. Instead of burning with wrath, resentment, and viciousness against them, he became the most docile of prisoners, eagerly cooperating with his captors and praying for them. Eventually, the story of his change of heart was written up in a little tract, and, after the war, it fell into the hands of a young Japanese captain, Mitsuo Fuchida, the man who led the air raid against Pearl Harbor and gave the command to drop the bombs on that fateful day of December 7, 1941. Mitsuo Fuchida was a hero in Japan after the war because of that exploit and others, but his own heart was empty. Somehow he read the tract that told the story of De Shazer's amazing change of heart. He was puzzled by the story. From somewhere he obtained a New Testament and began to read it with growing interest. At last he came to the story of the crucifixion. When he read the Lord's words from the cross, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34), his heart broke.

He realized that this one who could love his enemies and pray for those who persecuted him was showing a quality of life that no natural human being could possibly show. Mitsuo Fuchida became a Christian and an evangelist, telling the story of a love that can change human hearts.

Such love is the sign of the new life. It is a love that you not only extend toward those who love you, but toward those who do not love you. It is a love that does not depend upon a reciprocal relationship but loves the unlovely, the unqualified, the ungrateful, the selfish, and the difficult. This is the character of true love and it is always evidence that a new life has come, the life born of God. 1.

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Pray

What is the test for assurance of salvation given in 1 John 3:11-14? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ Have you ever been opposed or bullied for doing the right thing? Should you be surprised (v. 13)? Why not? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ Who do you find hard to love? Why is it important for you to love them? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ Lord, I realize that I am not to love others because they love me but because I have been loved by God, and I have in me a life that loves despite any reason to love. Teach me to let that life show through me.

Pray Praise God for Jesus, our example of love. Ask God to give you strength to follow Jesus’ example.

Read

1 John 3:14-18

Memorize 1 John 3:18, ―Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.‖ Apply Jesus gives us the greatest example of love. His example is so great as to redefine what love is. ―Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. These days it seems like this example of selfless love was intended to create heroes in the movies. I read a list of ―unnecessary movie deaths‖ recently that listed Will Smith’s character’s self sacrifice in I Am Legend. In that movie Smith plays Robert Neville, a scientist who has developed a cure for cancer which, unfortunately turns everyone into flesh hungry zombies instead. This movie is epic, it has cancer and flesh hungry zombies. Neville is immune to becoming a zombie so he locks up several zombies and experiments on them. Eventually he finds a cure for zombies, however, several flesh hungry zombies have escaped and are hungry for revenge. Neville, locked inside his home with two companions, sacrifices himself so that the other companions can get away and take the cure to humanity. The only problem is: Neville’s death was not necessary. He could have easily thrown grenades into the room, squeezed into the coal shute with his companions and escaped harm. The difference is Jesus’ death was necessary to atone for our sin and if we are to love our brothers as Jesus loved us, a true mark of assurance of salvation, it is necessary for us to die to our own desires and wants in order to serve the needs of our brothers.

It is way easier to say we want to help someone in need than to actually do it. A few years ago I was rushing into church one Sunday. I passed an elderly, dirty woman as I was walking about a block from the church. Not thinking I asked, ―how are you doing?‖ She looked up at me and replied, obviously, ―I’ve been better.‖ I walked on by without helping her. A few minutes later I was singing hymns of praise to God in worship and it hit me. I had seen a sister in need and had not had pity on her. How could the love of God be in me? I rushed immediately out of the church service to look for the woman, but could not find her. Weeks later, serving with a homeless ministry, I met Peter.

Peter was addicted to Crack. He had lost his wife, his son, his parents, and his home due to his addiction. Through the next two years I was able to work with Peter, listening to him, sharing the gospel with him, helping him get identification and a job, and eventually Peter professed Jesus as his savior. He was baptized and is a faithful Christian today.

John Calvin writes in The Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life "whatever ability a faithful Christian may possess, he ought to possess it for his fellow believers, and he ought to make his own interest subservient to the well-being of the church in all sincerity. Let this be our rule for goodwill and helpfulness that whenever we aer able to assist others we should behave as stewards who must someday give an account of our selves, and let us remember that the distribution of profits must be determined by the law of love. For we must not first of all try to promote the good of others by seeking our own, but we must prefer the profit of others."

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How is Christ’s Death on the cross the supreme example of love? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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In verse 17 John mentions one specific way we can follow Christ’s example. How have you and those in your church sought to love those with material needs? How else might you be able to ―lay down your life‖ for others? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ Pray Ask God to give you the strength and insight necessary to love with actions and in truth today.

Pray Praise God that he has made you a member of his family. Have you ever doubted that you were a member of God’s family? Ask God to teach you and to assure you that you are his child through today’s time in his word.

Read 1 John 3:19-24 Memorize 1 John 3:19, ―By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.‖ Apply J.C. Ryle has written a classic Christian book called Holiness. In this book Ryle expresses great concern for believers who doubt their faith: ―I heartily wish that assurance was more sought after than it is. Too many among those who believe begin doubting and go on doubting, live doubting and die doubting, and go to heaven in a kind of mist‖ He goes on to say: ―doubts and fears have power to spoil much of the happiness of a true believer in Christ.

Uncertainty and suspense are bad enough in any condition – in the matter of our health, our property, our families, our affections, our earthly callings – but never so bad as in the affairs of our souls.‖ Doubts and fears have robbed many Christians of the joys of assurance of salvation. Whenever we gain conviction of a sin, our natural response is to hide it or to act like it never happened. Do this once and your faith may survive, but given enough chances your conscience will convict you, and the Devil sees that as a foothold in your life. Soon enough doubts about God’s love for you will invade your mind and fears of what God would say or do if he only knew the truth about you can poison your relationship with God. That is why this passage is so important for Christian living. This passage shows us the confidence and assurance that every member of God’s family ought to possess. When our hearts convict us of sin we should resist the urge to cover it up or keep it secret. Rather, we should confess to God, remembering 1 John 1:9 ―If we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.‖ Jesus can cleanse us and allow us to leave doubt and fear behind because he is God and God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything already!

1.

How can the assurances of verse 19-20 help us to deal with times of doubt? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

2.

Why do you think our obedience to God’s commands affect our confidence in prayer (v. 21-22)? What is the solution for doubt in prayer (v.23)? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

3.

Based on this passage, how would you counsel someone who was not sure that they were a Christian? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray

Pray about your needs, having confidence before God because of Jesus Christ.

Pray

Praise God for his truthfulness. Ask God to reveal his truth to you today.

Read 1 John 4:1-3 Memorize 1 John 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.‖ Apply A mark of maturity is unbelief as well as belief. It is as important that you do not believe certain things as it is that you do believe others. For example, it is really important that you do believe you have a math test tomorrow.

It is also important that you don’t believe your math test is to take place in your bed (unless your homeschooled).

John indicates that this is a widespread problem. Many false prophets, he says, have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1a). In Matthew's gospel, the Lord Jesus warned of this: Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves (Matthew 7:15). Here we have underlined for us the fact that we live in a world of deceit, and we are greatly pressured to conform to these things.

In John's day there were teachers going about performing certain signs, perhaps giving predictions of things to come or speaking in tongues, miracles, and other such things. It is of this that John writes and says, Do not believe these spirits—until you have tested them. Don't be gullible, don't believe just anyone who comes along. It is important to note that there is here a very clear recognition of what the Bible teaches all the way through—that behind the false prophet or false teacher is an evil spirit. There is a true Spirit, the Holy Spirit of truth, the Spirit of love, and just as He speaks through people, so evil spirits also speak through people. When you hear men and women talking about religious things or values, do not gullibly swallow everything they say. Test the spirits and learn to discern the truth of God from error.

We are in much greater danger than the ancients, because in the world of John and Paul's day there was a widespread recognition of the existence of invisible spirits. The ancient world recognized these as gods and goddesses and bowed down to them. This kind of teaching was much easier to accept in the first century than it is in our day. Now we pride ourselves upon the fact that we have grown beyond this. People are intellectually unable to accept this kind of thing today. As a result, we expose ourselves without any defense at all to the control of these evil spirits.

But if we are going to follow the words of Jesus Christ, we must accept what He says is the explanation of the power behind evil in the world. He makes clear that it comes from a host of evil spirits. Part of the blindness of our generation, resulting in chaos and anarchy, is a direct result of people in their pride saying, ―I reject the whole concept of evil spirits and demons.‖ The blindness of that attitude prevents any defense against it. If we are going to be Christians, we must look at the world as Christ sees it. We must recognize that the pronouncements of humans, whether they are teachers in school, professors in seminaries, or pastors behind pulpits are not a result of their keen logic or their academic training or their perceptive thinking alone. These people are often unaware of the twist that is given to their thinking by the activity of evil spirits, spirits of error.

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Pray

Why is there such a great need for Christians to be discerning? What test does John give us to determine whether a person’s teaching is from the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the antichrist? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ In today’s politically correct climate, discriminating discernment can be viewed as ―judgemental‖. Yet Jesus taught us ―do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment‖ (John 7:24). How can we judge with right judgment the things we are being taught? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ Ask God to give you wisdom in discerning his truth and in making right judgments about what to believe and what to reject.

Pray

Praise God for his love for you, enabling you to overcome the evil one. Ask God to teach you today.

Read 1 John 4:1-6 Memorize 1 John 4:4, ―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.‖ Apply What is most important in this verse is to note the ground of our victory. How was it that we overcome error?

If there is any way that you and I can escape the extreme pressures of theological error today, it will be by this same way. We understand this way of overcoming not so much by observing what John says as what he does not say.

These dear children who are from God did not overcome the false teachers with all their subtle, dangerous error so beautifully and attractively presented because they had a superior intelligence. There is none of this. John says, ―You overcame them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.‖ In other words, it was not anything these Christians had that delivered them; it was the one who dwelt within them. It was the greatness of God that kept them straight. This is what will keep us straight today.

When you look around at the success of evil in history, and especially in our day, you can see that the enemy has great power. Think of our world and all that it is going through in terms of agony, struggle, evil, violence, and heartache, with confusion abounding on every side. When we think of the violence, the passion, the tears, and the death with which our world is characterized, we can see something of the greatness of the power of the enemy.

Though we are told that God is winning and the darkness is losing, it often looks as if the darkness is really winning.

But it isn't—despite all the appearances. God is greater than the power of the enemy. In fact, it is almost ludicrous to put it that way. God is so incomparably greater that there is no contest whatsoever. This is where the eye of faith must always turn in hours of darkness, discomfort, or despair; turn to what the Scriptures reveal as the truth about God and how incomparably greater He is than anything that is present among or behind humans.

In writing his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul considered Corinth, that beautiful city of culture and refinement with its love of wisdom and the great thinkers of the golden age of Greece, and he abandoned every approach on the basis of human wisdom and said, For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). The reason he gave was that the weakness of God is stronger than the strength of humans, and the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of humans. That is the greatness of God. 1.

How can we overcome the doctrinal errors that often confront us in other belief systems, and even in the guise of ―Christianity‖ at times? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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How does the power of God assure you of your salvation in Jesus? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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What danger is there in rejecting ―sound doctrine‖ (v.6, cross reference 1 Corinthians 2:14)? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray

Ask God to give you conviction and strength to discern truth from error and to be sure of your salvation in Jesus.

Pray

Praise God for his great love. Thank him for his son, Jesus. Ask him to make Jesus known through you.

Read 1 John 4:7-12 Memorize 1 John 4:10, ―In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.‖ Apply God is love. It means that at the root all God does is love. No matter how difficult it may appear to us, the fountain from which all God's activity stems is this kind of self-giving love. Even His judgments, His condemnations, arrive from love. Judgment is not something separate from love. If you convince me that a holy, loving God cannot judge a sinful person, then you will also convince me that He cannot love a sinful person.

Inherent in the quality of love is an antagonism toward anything that opposes the object of love. Also, inherent in it is the quality of judgment. God is a purifying fire, consuming and burning away the dross in order that He might preserve the gold. That, incidentally, is how the book of Hebrews describes Him. Our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). Love is not always easy to live with because of that very quality, yet it is the most wonderful thing in the world because of its warmth and its all-embracing inclusiveness that takes in all kinds and all conditions, without looking for merit on the part of the object loved. That is the love of God. A woman came to a famous preacher and said, ―I don't have any use for the Bible and for all this Christian superstition. It's enough for me to know that God is love.‖ He said to her, ―Well, do you know that?‖ She said, ―Of course I know that, I've known it all my life.‖ ―Well‖, he said, ―do you think that everyone knows that?‖ ―Oh, yes‖, she said, ―everyone knows God is love.‖ ―Well‖, he said, ―do you think that woman over in India, who is persuaded by her religion to take her little child and throw it into the river as an offering to the crocodiles, has any concept or idea that God is love?‖ She said, ―Well, no, but that's mere superstition.‖ ―Do you think that the person in Africa, bowing down to his idols of wood and stone, trembling with fear lest they should strike back at him and destroy his crops and take away his children and even injure his own person, do you think he has any idea that God is love?‖ he asked. She said, ―No, but in every civilized country we know that God is love.‖ ―Well‖, he said, ―how do we know that? How do we know that God is love? Do the ancients teach this? Do the other religions of earth teach and show that God is love? Do you know that the only reason we know that God is love is because He sent His Son and manifested Himself as love? The book that tells about the Lord Jesus Christ is the only book in the world that contains the idea that the God behind all created matter is a God of love. Creation reveals His power, His greatness, and His might, but there is nothing in nature that says, 'God is love.' The only way we know this is that God shows us His love in the giving of His Son,‖ 1.

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Pray

Why must we love one another? How does our love for one another make the invisible God visible? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ How does God’s love for you motivate you to love others (v.11)? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ What are some practical ways you can show love this week to a brother or sister in Christ? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ Ask God to fill you with love.

Pray Praise God for his Holy Spirit that dwells in believers. Thank God for his guidance. Ask God to guide and lead you today.

Read 1 John 4:13-16 Memorize 1 John 4:15, ―Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.‖ Apply Jesus is the Son of God. He is 100% human (1 John 4:2) and 100% God (1 John 4:15). This confession that Jesus is the Son of God is not a confession that Jesus is ―a son of God‖ as you and I are through faith in Jesus, but that Jesus is ―the son of God‖ in a unique way. Jesus is divine and shares fully every attribute of God. Whoever confesses this truth, God comes and lives in him and he is taken to live in God. How does this happen? It happens because God has given us his Spirit (1 John 4:13) to live in us.

How do you know God’s Holy Spirit is living in you? 1 John 4:14 says ―we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be Savior of the world.‖ This means that we have conviction that Jesus is the only savior for all the world, and that we testify that Jesus is the savior of the world. We testify through our words and through our lives. Your life is a reflection of what you truly believe about God and whether what you believe about God is correct or not. Assurance of salvation can become a confident, settled state of mind for a Christian because the Holy Spirit lives in us and makes his presence known through us. He makes his presence known in our lives and we receive the blessings. The blessings we receive through God’s Spirit are: assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance in faith to the end of life. Daily this works itself out in the showing of the ―fruits of the Spirit‖ (Galatians 5:22-25).

1. What three tests does John give for determining whether ―we live in him and he in us‖ (v.13-16)? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ________________________ 2. How is our experience of God’s love related to our ability to love others (v.16)? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ________________________ 3. How does the presence of God’s Holy Spirit strengthen your assurance of salvation in Jesus?

How have you seen God’s Holy Spirit at work in your life recently? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ________________________ Pray

Ask God to make his Spirit’s presence in your life shown in and through you.

Pray Praise God that he has made himself approachable through Jesus’ sacrifice. Ask God to lead you in this time in his word.

Read 1 John 4:16-18 Memorize 1 John 4:18, ―There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.‖ Apply Remember a few days ago I mentioned Puritan author John Bunyan and his work Pilgrim’s Progress? John Bunyan wrote a sequel to Pilgrims Progress and in the sequel, Mr. Great-Heart and father Honest engage in a conversation about an old friend, Mr. Fearing. At one point in the conversation Mr. Fearing is described as, ―a man that had the root of the matter in him, but he was one of the most troublesome pilgrims that I ever met with in all my days.‖ That is Bunyan’s way of describing many of us who are on the road to the Heavenly City of God: thoroughly sincere (the root of the matter is in them) yet so overloaded with doubts and fears that their pilgrimage through this life is ―troublesome‖ indeed. How is Mr. Fearing to fare in this life? How does he, and how do we, overcome the fears and doubts that come up? Where is our confidence in Jesus when he returns?

Either eternal life or eternal punishment awaits every man, woman, and child who has ever lived on planet earth.

Therefore, is there not a question in each heart now: When I stand before Him like that, will I pass the test? Am I recognizing these situations now? John says it is love perfected that gives us confidence in the day of judgment.

Love that is perfected is love that is made visible in deeds. Therefore, note what John is saying: If you want to have confidence in the day of judgment, then let love express itself, let it be perfected, because it is when love is perfected with us that we have confidence for the day of judgment.

Now you can see what confidence this gives in the day of judgment. If He is going to look at my life and see the activity of Himself in me, then He will not deny Himself at the day of judgment. I know that what I am doing, if it stems from this source, is wholly acceptable to Him. God’s love supplies a sure, confident hope for those who trust in him to save them. This assurance and confident hope works itself out in believers so that we live as Jesus lived.

Just as the Son was and is present in the world in a loving way that displayed holiness and godliness, attracting no Godly displeasure, so do we live in Him. The love that Jesus Christ embodied and lived out among believers is our confident hope in the day of judgment.

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What does verse 18 say about why we sometimes fear God and other people? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

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How does the principle that ―perfect love drives out fear‖ help you overcome your fears? How can this passage strengthen your confidence before God? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

3.

What are you afraid of? Be honest with God and ask him to drive out your fears and replace them with assurance and confidence in Jesus. ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray

Reflect on your life in the past week. How have you lived out the love of God? Thank God for the assurance he gives through showing himself through you. Ask God to show himself through you more.

Pray

Praise God for his great love. Ask God to pour out his love to you today.

Read 1 John 4:19-21 Memorize 1 John 4:19, ―We love because he first loved us.‖ Apply A few years ago Juli and I had a discussion about goodness. Is it possible to be good without God? Many ethicists and philosophers and theologians are having this debate today. The atheist philosophers want to say it is possible to be good without God and they cite the many acts of charity done by those who do not believe in God. They also cite basic human instinct to gather into societies and make laws for right behavior. However, the truth is that Christians give above and beyond in great numbers more to charity than our non believing neighbors. Further, beliefs that there is no God has led to the greatest and most deadly wars in human history (WWII, and Communist rule in Russia under Stalin and China under Mao). The truth is that we do need God in order to be good. You can be good according to some human standards, but in order to be truly good, to be ―righteous‖ and ―holy‖, you need God. You need God because all humans have sinned and not one of us does right in the eyes of the Lord. You need God because God sets the bar for what goodness is and what love is. 1 John 4:19 tells us we love because He first loved us. That is a powerful statement. Love is a gift from God, demonstrated most supremely in the cross (romans 5:8).

God’s love always takes the initiative, and the love of Christians is an act of response to God’s love. Likewise, all morally good human actions are good not because they conform to some arbitrary social standard of good but because they are rooted in imitation of the morally perfect character of God and conform to God’s commands, even if their bearer rejects God. You cannot love God and not love humanity. 1 John tells us if we claim to love God but hate our brother we are a liar. How can you love someone you have not seen and hate someone you have seen? It is impossible. God has given us the command to love him with all our being, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We must love, because God has first loved.

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Why is it impossible to love God and yet hate one of the members of his family? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

2.

Who is it hard for you to love? Why must you love them? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

3.

How can you love someone who doesn’t know God? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray

Ask God to fill you with love for someone whom you find difficult to love.

Pray Praise God for his faithfulness through the times of life. Consider: what spiritual battles are you fighting currently?

Read

1 John 5:1-5

Memorize 1 John 5:3-4, ―For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.‖ Apply Consider what is involved in this phrase the world. Think of the moral pressures that we face in the world today, the outlook and standards of the godless society that is surrounding us, constantly intruding upon our consciousness with tremendous pressure to make us conform to these attitudes and standards of life. Think of the temptation to cheat and lie; to get ahead at all costs; to be dishonest. Another common pressure that comes upon us from the world is to be sexually immoral, which is especially evident among the young and the unmarried. We are encouraged to feed the fire and satisfy the urge. We are told ―how can it be wrong when it feels so right?‖ The pressures around us are tremendous these days, seemingly overpowering at times. There is the pressure to harbor wrong ideas, to react against others the way the world reacts, to strike back and give as good as you get, to be resentful and jealous, to be ambitious and cruel. Don't you feel all this? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—all this is of the world.

How do you overcome the world? How can you go on, moment by moment, day after day, year after year, living a life that is absolutely contrary to that, based on totally different standards, totally different objectives, totally different evaluations? And to endure not only for ten years, but for decades, against that kind of moral pressure?

How do you keep unmoved in the midst of this and not only remain unmoved yourself, but reach out and win others to your side? John says it is by faith; that is all. Not by the faith that you once exercised twenty years ago when you first became a Christian, but by faith in the life of Jesus present in you now. By faith in Him at work in you, in the midst of the pressure, countering it with the pressure of His own life.

I once heard of a captain of a ship who was describing what it was like to go through a storm. He described the ship in the midst of the waves mounting on every side, with the wind blowing hard and the pitiless rain coming down.

The ship seemed a helpless victim of the storm, caught up in the power of these mighty elements that were raging on every side. Its doom seemed sure. But he said, ―I stood there on the bridge of the ship and I grasped the railing. I felt the throbbing of the engines deep down inside the hull. The storm, the wind, and the waves seemed to be saying to the ship, 'You cannot come, you cannot come.' But I heard the answering throb of the engines saying, 'Yes, we shall; yes, we shall; yes, we shall.' And so we do. That is the way we overcome the world.‖ If we give in, if we reflect the same attitudes and actions as the world, we have succumbed to the world and to the wiles of the devil. We have lost our testimony and all power to witness. But if our dependence is on the life of the Son of God, His life is in us, and then, This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

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Why is obedience to God’s commands not burdensome for Christians? How then, can we explain the struggle we often have to obey God’s commands today? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ What does it mean to ―overcome the world‖? How do you see this victory evidenced in your life? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ How does the assurance that those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God overcome the world encourage you today? How amazing is it that a simple act of faith is the victory that overcomes the world pressures! ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________

Pray Thank God for giving you faith in him. Ask God to strengthen your faith in him today.

Pray

Praise God for his great promise keeping. Ask God to apply his promise to you today.

Read 1 John 5:6-12 Memorize 1 John 5:12, ―Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.‖ Apply One of the most common experiences of life is to act upon the word or testimony of another person. We will do the most amazing things in response to the simple declaration of a person we have never met before. I had the privilege of serving on missions for a summer in the slums of Kibera in Kenya. I had never been overseas before, and I did not know what I would run into. But I had been given assurance that someone would meet me at the airport in Nairobi and would help me to get through all the intricacies of entering a foreign land. On the strength of that promise, I committed myself to the mercies of a stranger and discovered that it all proved true.

Is not God more dependable than people? If you will take the word of a stranger and act on it, can you not believe the Word of God, especially when He has caused the testimony to be written down by the eyewitnesses of these events? In addition, when faith is exercised on the basis of that objective testimony, a confirmation of the Spirit is given within that makes it wholly believable. Can you not exercise faith on that basis? John says, If you refuse to do that, then you are treating God as though He were a liar!

There once was a man who had doubts about whether he was a Christian. He got down on his knees and said, ―Now, Father, I want to settle this question. Show me whether I have eternal life or not.‖ And opening his Bible, his eyes fell on this verse from 1 John 5:10. He said in his prayer, ―Father, I don't want to make You a liar, and it says here that if I don't believe the testimony that You give about the Son, I'm making you a liar. I don't want to do that. What is the testimony?‖ And he read the next part, ―And this is the testimony‖, and he stopped right there. He was so overwrought that he put his thumb over the rest of the verse and said, ―Lord, it says here that if I don't believe the testimony that you gave concerning your Son, I'm making you a liar, and I don't want to make you a liar. I believe that I have what that testimony is right under my thumb here, and I'm going to take my thumb off and read it, and Lord, help me to believe it, because I don't want to make you a liar.‖ With great caution he raised his thumb and read, ―God has given us eternal life, and this life is in the Son (1 John 5:11)‖. All of a sudden it came home to him.

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life (1 John 5:12). No matter what else he may have, no matter how religious he may be, if he has not received the Son, he does not have life. He entered into peace and became a preacher of this great truth.

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The Old Testament required two or three witnesses to verify a claim. Who are John’s three witnesses, and what do they testify (v.7-8)? What does their testimony tell you? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ How does your own experience confirm that truth that eternal life is found in Jesus (v.10-12)? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ How does this testimony bring you assurance of your salvation in Jesus? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Take time to thank God for his son, and for the victory and eternal life we have in him.

Pray Praise God that you can have confidence that he hears your prayers through Jesus Christ. Ask God to hear you today.

Read 1 John 5:13-17 Memorize 1 John 5:14, ―and this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.‖ Apply I love to flip through the Christian Book Distributors catalog when they come to church. Ill flip through and see a theology book I really would like, or a commentary series that would really help me, or a lesson series I think will really minister to you. Occasionally I will order something from the catalog, but it would make no sense for me to place and order for something that isn’t in the catalog! And so it is with prayer. Within the will of God there are tremendous things, vast numbers of gifts that He has provided for His children. The will of God includes all that we need. All that we really want is available to us and to our loved ones and friends within the will of God. There is nothing we need to pray for outside of it. Outside are only things that harm, injure, and destroy us.

Perhaps we do not know exactly whether a request is the will of God for us, and the examples of Scripture make clear that it is not wrong to ask even for these things. But we must then always add, as Jesus Himself added in the Garden of Gethsemane, yet not my will, but yours be done (Luke 22:42), for prayer is designed only to obtain that which is within the will of God. Thus, John says, when you know that what you are asking for is within the will of God because you have found a promise of God in Scripture or because as you have sought the mind of God you have experienced a deep and settled conviction in your heart from the Holy Spirit, you know that He hears. God always hears every prayer that is voiced within the boundaries of His will.

Jesus could say, I thank you that you have heard me (John 11:41), because everything He did lay within the boundaries of the will of God. That brings us then to the certainty of prayer, the certainty of having: If we know that He hears us, John says, then we know that we have obtained the request that we made of Him. Think of that! If we know it is according to His will, then we know it is heard, and if we know it is heard, we know that we have it. God has already granted the request. In other words, God never says no, except to that which lies outside His will. Do you dare to believe that?

God plays no favorites. He has intimates, but anyone who moves along the program He has outlined and desires to be His intimate, can be. Anyone can who will, but the secret of prayer is to believe that God has granted everything we ask within His will. The secret is to take. You have it, John says. We know that we have obtained the request made of Him. He is not trying to kid himself or to pretend that God has given him something. What he is saying is that when we pray, and the request is made in the will of God, then the answer is absolutely sure, and it is only a question of God's timing as to when it appears. We can take from Him and thank Him for that which has been given, expecting it to appear in God's time.

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How can we get to the point where we want what God wants (v.14-15)? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ How does the assurance that God hears your prayers in Christ encourage you? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ I heard recently that 90% of Christians do not have an active prayer life. How do you think this affects their receiving of God’s gifts? How much greater an experience of God’s blessing would you have if you prayed for often and more ferverently? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ Pray Pray that God will make your desires his own will. Spend time in prayer.

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Praise God for the promises he has made. Ask God to apply those promises to your life today.

Read 1 John 5:18-21 Memorize 1 John 5:18, ―We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.‖ Apply John closes his epistle with some concluding things we know through Christ and a few final warnings. What are the things we know in Christ?

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We know that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. (1 John 5:14)

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We know that if he hears us, he will give us what we have asked for. (1 John 5:15)

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We know that we anyone born of God does not continue to sin because Jesus keeps him safe and Satan cannot touch him. (1 John 5:18)

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We know that we are children of God, and the whole world is under the control of the evil one. (1 John 5:19)

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We know that the son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in Jesus, who is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

Therefore, we are given a final warning: Keep yourself from idols. Do not go off to something else. Do not give your attention to your interests, your time, your energy, or your money so that those things become what you live for, what you get excited about, what enthuses you. That is your god. What is it with you? Is it Jesus Christ, or is it something else?

In various parts of the ancient world there are many temples dedicated to idols. Though these temples had fallen into ruins, in every place a certain god such as Apollo, Venus, Bacchus, or Zeus had been enthroned and worshiped there. Though these temples have been abandoned, the worship of the god has not ceased. We have changed the names, but the gods, the idols, are exactly the same. There is the worship of Narcissus, the god who fell in love with himself. Is this not perhaps the supreme god of humanity: the worship of self, the exaltation of humans? The idea that we constantly hear set forth is that humans are so tremendous, so smart, so brilliant, so clever; they can do so many things. Yet we deny the continual evidence of our senses that the world is crumbling to pieces around us. Isn't it amazing how we worship humanity? The manifestations of it find expression in the worship of race or country.

We have the worship of Bacchus, the god of pleasure, wine, women, and song; the worship of Venus, the goddess of love, enthroned in Hollywood and all that Hollywood stands for; Apollo, the god of physical beauty; Minerva, the goddess of science. Everywhere we have enthroned science.

John writes and says that these things will destroy you, they will rob you of what God has for you. Little children, watch that you do not drift off into the worship that the world around you is constantly engaged in. Do not let these things become important in your life, for God has set you free that you might live as God intended people to live.

Remember what we know from God! No wonder His word comes, ―Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.‖ What makes you enthusiastic? To what do you give your money or your time? For what are you saving up now?

What is it that you regard as supremely important? It is with this question that John closes this book. It is this question that we must always guard our hearts and lives with.

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What assurances does John give in these verses? What assurances are most encouraging to you? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ How does the coming of God’s son enable us to know the true God in contrast to the idols that continually surround us? (v.20-21) ______________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________

Pray Pray that God will purge all idols from your life, and pray that God will give you strength, wisdom, and insight to stay away from idols.

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