1 John | Kyle Weir | 2025


1 John 1:1-4 | Sunday November 2, 2025

 1 John 1:1-4 ESV

(1)  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—
(2)  the Life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
(3)  that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
(4)  And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

As 1 John starts there are no introductions or greetings and it will not close with any salutations. In fact, the book more resembles a sermon or general update than a traditional letter. When He wrote His gospel John went out of His way not to use His name, and He does the same in 1 John. Yet, Church history and more importantly the theme and content of the letter reveal John as the author. Right at the start John is claiming to be an eyewitness of Jesus’ ministry.

John was not just an eyewitness; he was a part of Jesus’ inner circle. John was one of the three disciples that Jesus raised the ruler’s daughter back to life in front of (Luke 8:51). He was one of the four that Jesus taught about the end times to (Mark 13). And he was one of the three that was invited to go further into the garden of Gethsemane and watch as Jesus suffered before the cross (Mark 14:33). From the cross Jesus asked John to care for His mother, Mary (John 19:27). John enjoyed such a close relationship with Jesus he was known as the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23). He was allowed to see Jesus’ transfiguration.

Matthew 17:1-9 ESV

(1)  And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 
(2)  And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light.
(3)  And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him.
(4)  And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
(5) He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” (6)  When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.
(7)  But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”
(8)  And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
(9)  And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

Jesus brought His inner circle up onto the mountain and had something amazing to show them, His glory. Peter, James, and John watched as Jesus was transfigured, changed from the inside out. His face shown like the sun and His clothes became blinding white. Moses and Elijah also appeared. I find it amazing that Peter, James, and John have no doubt as to who they are. If this was not enough God the Father instructed them to listen to His Son. Instead of a humble carpenter, Peter, James, and John were seeing Jesus for who He had been from eternity past. Jesus’ appearance and the voice of God are so amazingly overwhelming they fall down terrified. When Peter, James, and John came off the mountain they must have looked shell shocked. Jesus commanded them not to tell what they had seen until He was resurrected. All the other disciples had to wonder what happened to them. This will not be John’s only experience with the glorified Jesus. He sees Jesus in His glory at the beginning of Revelation.

Revelation 1:16-17 ESV

(16)  In His right hand He held seven stars, from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength.
(17)  When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I Am the first and the last,

When Johns sees Jesus in His glory, He is overwhelmed again just as He was on the mountain. He does not run up to hug His friend but falls down as dead. John is still in a body of death/sin for both experiences. We need our resurrected body in order to be able to be in His glorified presence because Jesus is that incredible. Right now God is wanting to grow us in being able to experience His glory.

2 Corinthians 3:18 NAS95

(18)  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

We have an unveiled face; through the blood of Jesus, we are given direct access to Him. In this body we are looking through a mirror at the glory of God. If we were to truly see Him glorified, we would fall down dead like John did. God is working on us and transforming us. This is the same word of Jesus’ transfiguration, a change from the inside out. God is transforming us as believes so that we can experience His glory. In a sense John never recovered from seeing Jesus glorified and in the flesh. He is marveling about this truth in his introduction.

1 John 1:1 ESV

(1)  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—

Just as he started His gospel marveling at the Word who was with God in the beginning and became flesh, John is awestruck about Jesus. He was there in the beginning of everything. He always has been God and had no beginning.

Colossians 1:16-17 ESV

(16)  For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him.
(17)  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

We cannot fully understand what it means to be before all things. Choose any starting point you want, from eternity past, and before that moment is Jesus. This is the all existing Jesus that John interacted with.

1 John 1:1 ESV

(1)  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—

John emphasizes 3 different senses. He heard the one that was from the beginning, but it doesn’t stop with the ears. John saw with His eyes the one from the beginning. It is one thing to hear a voice, it is another to see who the voice came from. John says I not only saw Him but looked upon, beheld Him, and even touched Him. This word for touched means to closely examine by feel. John was in awe over Jesus who was from the beginning and yet sat down at a table and ate with him, or walked miles with him as they traveled. Jesus is the Word of life that was from the beginning and yet came to be with us.

1 John 1:2 ESV

(2)  the Life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—

I really hope we can hear the awe in John’s voice as he writes this. The Eternal Word of Life has been revealed to John. Some false teachers were starting to question Jesus. They started to change His full humanity or His full deity. John cannot emphasize enough the eternal Jesus took on flesh. John was an eyewitness and will not stop testifying and proclaiming how amazing Jesus is.

As he writes His awe for Jesus will continually show through and love will be a regular emphasis. At times we can forget what the personality of John used to be.

Mark 3:17 ESV

(17)  James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);

Jesus gave James and John the nickname, Sons of Thunder. The two brothers were boisterous, loud, and quick tempered. Overall, they were rough fisherman.

Luke 9:52-55 ESV

(52)  And He sent messengers ahead of Him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for Him.
(53)  But the people did not receive Him, because His face was set toward Jerusalem.
(54)  And when His disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
(55)  But He turned and rebuked them.

James and John want to call fire down from heaven to smite the Samaritans. These brothers legitimately earned their nickname. They had a boastful, energy to them.

Mark 10:35-37 ESV

(35)  And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Him and said to Him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
(36)  And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
(37)  And they said to Him, “Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your glory.”

John and James approach Jesus and want extra treatment from Him. They want to sit in positions of authority and power next to Jesus. Matthew 20 says it was their Mom that made the request yet Mark is clear that they were a part of it as well. As we study 1 John it will be hard to remember this loud, prideful fisherman. John will emphasize loving others, and stay in awe over Jesus. The more John knew Jesus the more He started to change. John was being grown from one degree of glory to another. He knew it was fellowship with Jesus that changed Him, and He desperately desired for other believers to experience the same fellowship.

1 John 1:3 ESV

(3)  that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

John’s main purpose is to draw believers into the fellowship. This word fellowship means a close association involving mutual interests and sharing communion and a close relationship. He desired for believers to experience this fellowship with each other but that is only possible when they experience this fellowship with the Father and the Son. Fellowship is deeply on John’s mind because false teachers have given up having fellowship with believers and are actively trying to get others to follow them. John wants to protect believers and guard the fellowship they can experience. We have to be careful not to mistake being in fellowship for being saved.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 20 YLT

(16)  The cup of the blessing that we bless—is it not the fellowship of the blood of the Christ? the bread that we break—is it not the fellowship of the body of the Christ?
(17)  because one bread, one body, are we the many—for we all of the one bread do partake.
(20)  no, but that the things that the nations sacrifice—they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not wish you to come into the fellowship of the demons.

If fellowship and salvation were the same thing then Paul would be teaching that we have to take the Lord’s supper in order to be saved. This would violate so many other passages of scripture. Paul is emphasizing that taking the cup and the bread is having fellowship with the body and blood of Jesus. He is saying through the Lord’s supper we are enjoying an intimacy and closeness with who Jesus is and what He accomplished. A believer can come in and out of fellowship. This is why believers should not worship an idol, because then they become in fellowship with the demon behind the idol. Walking in fellowship for believers is very important. When a believer has assurance and walks in fellowship with Jesus and with other believers John is overjoyed.

1 John 1:4 ESV

(4)  And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Salvation is the first step for a believer. John deeply desires for these believers to grow in their fellowship with Jesus and with each other. It will fill up His joy. We can see this desire in his four purpose statements throughout the book.

1 John 2:1 ESV

(1)  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

1 John 2:26 ESV

(26)  I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

1 John 5:13 ESV

(13)  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

John’s stated purpose for writing this book is for his joy to be completed, as believers grow in fellowship and not sin as he warns them about those who are trying to deceive them. He wants these believers to know that they have eternal life. Unfortunately, the book of 1 John is used by some to instill doubts and uncertainties. When fellowship with God is equated to being saved then the book becomes very difficult to understand. John’s desire for believers to know becomes a challenge “do you really know?” Instead of joy and holy living, we are left with anxiety and worry. John will use two different Greek words for “know” 40 times. He desires for this to be a book for believers full of certainty. He is writing to those who believe. To those who understood and followed the stated purpose of His gospel.

John 20:31 ESV

(31)  but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

John specifically chose certain miracles for His gospel so that people would understand who Jesus is as the Son of God and what He accomplished as the Christ, the perfect blood payment. He desired for them to believe in Jesus and that through believing they would have life. Then for these believers who have trusted in Jesus for salvation John wants us to know that we have eternal life and be able to walk in a fellowship with Him. When properly understood 1 John is not a book that should create doubts, but draw us to the fellowship with the word of life that was from the beginning and fellowship with each other in love. John was changed as He walked in a fellowship with Jesus and he desires for us as believers to experience that same life changing fellowship.

Psalm 16:11 ESV

(11)  You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

It is in the presence of God, being in fellowship with Him, that we can experience a fullness of joy. God desires such a close relationship with us, my prayer is God would use 1 John to teach us what having fellowship with Him looks like in our lives. That we would know what it means to have eternal life and enjoy walking in that life increasingly each day.

 

 

1 John 1:5-9 | Sunday November 9, 2025

John never moved passed hearing, seeing, and touching the One that was from the beginning. He was an eyewitness to Jesus, the eternal God in human flesh and it astounded him. He knew that it was fellowship with the Father and the Son that changed him and he wanted every believer to be able to experience the same type of fellowship. John is going to clarify for believers what gets in the way of having fellowship with God and how this all important fellowship can be restored.

1 John 1:1-10 ESV

(1)  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—
(2)  the Life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
(3)  that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
(4)  And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
(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.
(6)  If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
(7)  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
(8)  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(9)  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(10)  If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

The eternal life that was made manifest is Jesus. In verse 5 John is proclaiming the message he heard from Jesus, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” This is a simple and yet profound truth. It is the first of three “God is…” statements in the book of 1 John. John had first hand experience of seeing Jesus with His face shinning like the sun.

There are many layers to the amazing truth that God is light. Light is beautiful, radiant, and full of glory (Dan 10:6). Light is self-revealing, it illuminates the darkness (Gen 1:2-3). Light represents the truth in opposition to the falsehood of darkness (John 3:21). Light exposes the sins committed in darkness (Eph 5:13). Light overwhelms and conquers the darkness (John 1:5). Light guides us and offers clarity and direction.

Psalm 36:9 ESV

(9)  For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light.

When God said let their be light, He was providing the revelation of Himself that the rest of His new creation could be seen through. It is through His light that we can see. Light does not just enable us to see, but to walk, move, and act. It illuminates the world and exposes dangers but also where freedom and true life are found.

Light can expose and reveal all because v.5 “in Him is no darkness at all.” The Greek has a strong double negative to overemphasize, no darkness, none at all. There is a purity to God that is hard to fathom. I can speak truth but I have lies in me. I can be loving but I have hatred in me. God is light and is so pure that there is no part of Him that has any darkness at all.

James 1:17 NAS95

(17)  Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

Psalm 92:15 ESV

(15)  to declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

God does not change and never has different versions of Himself. He never has a bad day. There is no shift or variation in Him. For this to be true it means that He has no unrighteousness or sin in Him. He is purely holy. This makes Him a God worthy of praise and a God who can be trusted to be faithful. God being light, and pure creates a huge problem for us though, because we are not light.

1 John 1:6 ESV

(6)  If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

John acknowledges this problem directly. So many think John is referring to a statement that is made by false teachers, but that is not how he introduces the thought. John knows how to pose a hypothetical of the false teacher and later in the book he will mention “Whover says…” (1 John 2:4, 6, 9) and “If anyone says…” (1 John 4:20). But notice verse 6, John says “If we say…” this is the same “we” from verse 5, who heard and proclaim the message. John is admitting that even if Himself and the Apostles where to claim to have fellowship with God while walking in the darkness, having sin in their life, that they would be lying and separated from fellowship with God. Sin, always breaks our fellowship with God.

Isaiah 59:1-2 NAS95

(1)  Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.
(2)  But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

The separation sin causes is not due to a weakness in God, but due to His holiness. There are many false ways to try and solve the problem of God being light and pure and humanity being full of sin and darkness. So many times we try to bring God down to our level. We try to reason that we can have fellowship with the pure holy God, while we walk in darkness. This is devaluing the holiness of God and wanting to insert darkness into a pure God. God’s truth is very clear. If we are walking in sin, then we are not in fellowship with God. The light and darkness metaphor does not leave much wiggle room or gray area.

John 3:19-21 ESV

(19)  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
(20)  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
(21)  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

God did something truly amazing, He sent the light down into the darkness. God did not bring humanity up to heaven to escape the darkness but sent Jesus to be the light. We hated the light because of what it exposed. He defined purity and holiness and showed us how sinful we truly are at our core. Jesus is the standard and He exposes every deviation from Him and His truth. We would be ok with fellowship as long as we can have our sin too. God is clear fellowship is only possible if we walk in the light.

1 John 1:7 ESV

(7)  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

To walk means to conduct one’s life, behave, live. How we walk is the summary of our thoughts and actions. Our walk reveals where our heart is. As we walk in the light we not only have fellowship with God but we also have fellowship with each other. To have fellowship there has to be something shared, something in common. Believers are to have the shared fellowship of being in the light. If we as a body of believers walk in sin it will destroy our fellowship with each other. It is so crucial how we walk as believers, in the light and not in the darkness.

Ephesians 4:1; 17; 5:2; 8; 15-16 ESV

(4:1)  I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

(4:17)  Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

(5:2)  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

(5:8)  for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

(5:15)  Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
(5:16)  making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Every single person was darkness, in contrast to God being light. Then through the blood of Jesus we can be saved and now are light. The major issue becomes which do we walk in, light or darkness. A nonbeliever does not have an option they only walk in darkness. These commands are for believers, we can walk in sin or in fellowship. We have a choice each day as to how we are going to walk. God did not leave us unequipped to know what is light and what is dark. He gave us an incredible tool to define both and guide us into the light.

Psalm 119:105; 130 ESV

(105) Nun Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

(130)  The unfolding of Your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

God uses His word to show us what walking in the light looks like. His word illuminates the path and gives direction. It defines sin for us, not based on opinion or culture but on God’s holiness. The more time we spend dwelling in the Word, the more it will expose to us.

Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV

(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.
(13)  And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

There is no place to hide in the light of the word of God. It divides into our hearts, and reveals the secret parts of us. God’s truth goes past our actions and gives us insight into our intentions and motivations. Things which are usually mysteries to us. We do not look to ourselves to know our hearts but look to the Word. Walking in the light requires an openness to be exposed by God’s truth. Walking in the darkness is a refusal to be exposed, and a hardening against God’s truth.

1 John 1:7 ESV

(7)  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

It is so amazing that we are told to “walk in the light” and not “According to the light.” In the light means we are to be open to what God’s word reveals to us. Open to seeing the world and ourselves based on His truth. According to the light would demand a perfection that is impossible. None of us can walk perfectly according to the light of God’s truth. We all are sinners and fail in so many ways. Walking in the light is a willingness to let the light continually expose the areas God wants us to grow in. It is a learning and growing process. It is a constant fresh walk with Him as “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Cleanses is in the present active tense. That is important because it is not referring to the one time washing of sin that God does the moment we are saved. This means that as we walk in the light God is constantly washing us. The blood of Jesus is sufficient for everything the light exposes in us. A mature walk with Jesus is constantly relying on the blood of Jesus to cleanse. It is someone who lets the Word constantly show the various deep seated sins in our hearts and is willing to keep taking those to God.

1 John 1:8 ESV

(8)  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

In a self-righteous pride we do not want to admit how truly sinful we are. We don’t want to admit what the light of the Word exposes. If we harden our hearts this way, then we take ourselves out of fellowship and out of the truth. We only deceive ourselves. God knows who we are, even our friends, family and coworkers know who we are.

I am afraid too many think that a close walk with Jesus would mean that they would never have to confess or deal with sin. It is when we walk in the light that our sin is exposed. These are not shown while we are in the darkness, there would be no way to see them. It is in the light, and the longer we are there everything starts to come into view. The issue is how we respond once it is out in the light.

1 John 1:9 ESV

(9)  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Confession means to say the same thing about the sin that God does. It is agreeing with Him about what the light showed. This involves repentance, stopping the sin and continuing to walking in the light. God has promised to be faithful and just. We should not be so prideful to think that this verse does not apply to our sin. We can think it applies for everyone else but us. Let us come into the light. This is not a once for all action but a constant process.

I am going to ask the band to come up and we are going to take a time for reflection and confession. This is a time just between you and God. If you are like me these verses are light that have exposed sin, pride, and darkness. We are to trust in our faithful and just God who provided the blood of Jesus and promised to wash us clean. He promised to never fail, never get tired, to never waver at restoring us to a close walk with Him, when we confess. The great news is we don’t even have to worry about the sins we do not know about because God promises to “to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Meaning the cleansing God does goes well beyond the sin that we know of.

Proverbs 28:13-14 ESV

(13)  Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
(14)  Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

The band will play some instrumental music please take time to pray and confess anything God lays on your heart. If you are a nonbeliever, please trust in what Jesus has done for you on the cross. Confession is for believers; your first step is to believe in Jesus.

Once the time of confession is over, the band will lead us in a song.

I will give a final thought during this song.

Psalm 32:1-5 ESV

(1)  A Maskil of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
(2)  Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
(3)  For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
(4)  For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
(5)  I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

 

1 John 1:9-2:2 | Sunday November 26, 2025

John shared the message that He heard from the one that was from the beginning. Jesus taught John that God is light and in Him is no darkness or sin at all. It is with this God of light that John has fellowship with and wants all believers to experience that same fellowship. God being light can seem like an abstract thought but what is amazing is how God wants this truth to become real and personal for each one of us. Micah is a perfect example of this. He lived during an incredible dark time that was full of sin and He had His own personal sin yet Micah had a confidence in the God who is light.

Micah 7:3; 7-9 ESV

(3)  Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.
(7)  But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
(8)  Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.
(9)  I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon His vindication.

Micah lived during a dark time when humanity was not content just to do evil but they sought out how to do evil well. Micah did not want to walk in this darkness any longer. He knew the God who is light could bring Him out of the darkness. Micah confesses His sin, and trust God to bring Him to the light. This is not abstract but personal for each one of us. God wants us as believers to enjoy being in the light of fellowship with Him. He will be our light. John continues to describe how we are able to walk in the light and have fellowship with God.

1 John 1:5-2:2 ESV

(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.
(6)  If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
(7)  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
(8)  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(9)  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(10)  If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
(1)  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
(2)  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

There are two extremes when dealing with sin in a believers life. Some wrongly elevate sin for a believer as such a big deal that it could cause us to loose our salvation. Then others minimize sin in a believer’s life and ignore Gods call to holiness. I am so encouraged by this passage and how God’s truth perfectly addresses both issues. A believer cannot sin our way out of being saved and sin is a serious issue in a believer’s life and needs to be addressed on a regular basis. Confession should not be a rare occurrence in our lives but a regular habit.

Matthew 6:9-12 ESV

(9)  Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
(10)  Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
(11)  Give us this day our daily bread,
(12)  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Jesus teaches us to include confession in our prayer as often and regular as we need daily bread. Living in fellowship with the light means we need honest and ongoing acknowledgment of our sin as the light keeps exposing the dark parts of our lives. The confession John is talking about is not a once for all action but is regular and ongoing.

1 John 1:9 ESV

(9)  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The word confess is a compound word in the Greek that literally means same (homo) word (Logos). Confession is agreeing with God and saying the same thing about our sins that God’s word says. It means we label things as sin the same way God does. Also notice that “sins” is in the plural. This is not referring to sin in general but specific sins as God’s word exposes them. One major confusion about confession is who are we to confess to?

James 5:16 NKJV

(16)  Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Many translations use the word sins in verse 16. I struggled with this verse because I did not see many people practicing it, myself included. After God convicted me of a sin in my life and I confessed to Him was I supposed confess to another believer as well? If so, why? The word trespass does a much better job explaining God’s intent for the verse. A trespass is when we violate the rights of someone else. This verse is saying when we wrong someone else and trespass against them we need to confess to that person and be reconciled.

Matthew 5:23-24 ESV

(23)  So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
(24)  leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

As we are worshipping God and we are convicted that we have wronged someone and they are holding something against us, we are called to go immediately to that person if possible and ask for forgiveness. This is confessing our trespasses. In contrast if someone has wronged us, we are called to deal with that directly with God.

Mark 11:25 ESV

(25)  And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

We are called to forgive someone who has wronged us. This is between us and God. Reconciling with the person that wronged us is only possible if they practice Matthew 5, and confess their trespass against us. God calls us to have this heart of forgiveness because we have wronged others and have our own trespasses. Forgiving others is an act of our will and something that we must continually turn over to God.

It is important to see that our individual sins are to be confessed between us and God. We do not need to confess them to another person to be forgiven, we have been given direct access to God through the blood of Jesus Christ. This does not mean we do not need the help of other believers in our life.

Galatians 6:1-2 NLT

(1)  Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.
(2)  Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

As believers we can share our sin struggles and bear each other’s burdens and help spur each other on to growth. We are not confessing to each other to be forgiven but are helping build each other up. We are called to confess to the one who can actually forgive.

1 John 1:9 ESV

(9)  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God is faithful and just. This means that He will never fail or get tired of fulfilling this promise. It also means that He has made a way to be able to forgive us. He is the just righteous God as He forgives us and will always be faithful to.

Deuteronomy 32:4 ESV

(4)  “The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He.

God does not bend the rules or ignore His justice as He forgives us. This is what makes the cross so amazing. Our sins were not simply forgotten or ignored, but the full punishment was given to Jesus. God is perfectly just every time He forgives. His faithfulness is not negated by our failures.

2 Timothy 2:13 ESV

(13)  if we are faithless, He remains faithful— for He cannot deny himself.

We will never run out of the forgiveness or faithfulness of God. God would have to cease being Himself for these truths to change. We need to anchor our souls into these great promises. I do not trust in my faithfulness but cling to His. Confession is not how to become a son or daughter but it is how to walk with our Father. As we confess our sins we only know the ones that are out in the light. Yet God knows every hidden part of our hearts. He has promised to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We should not deny our sin but run to the just faithful Father.

1 John 1:10 ESV

(10)  If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

When God convicts us of sin, we have a choice to make. Agree with God that the thought or action was sin, or call God a liar and deny that it was sin. Our default is to hid so we would rather deny the sin then admit it is there. We tend to be shocked by our sins, but God is not. Jesus has firsthand knowledge of what our weakness is like.

Hebrews 4:15-16 ESV

(15)  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
(16)  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We can have confidence to draw near to the throne of grace because Jesus knows what it is like to be a weak human. He knows what temptation feels like. Our sins will never surprise Him, and He is their to help us.

1 John 2:1 ESV

(1)  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

John has been taking an honest look at sin in a believers life. We all sin and have been provided a means through Jesus to be forgiven. Now John wants to make sure no one misunderstand how he views sin. These truths are not an excuse to go out and pursue sin. John’s goal of sharing the forgiveness and fellowship found in confession is so that we will not sin. Confession gives us the freedom we need to pursue God and walk in His holiness. Our aim is to not sin and we have an advocate willing to help us when we do. The word advocate means one called alongside to help. It is a picture of a someone who speaks on the behalf of the accused in a courtroom. Jesus is willing to testify on our behalf. Jesus is the answer to Job’s prayer long ago.

Job 9:32-33 ESV

(32)  For He is not a man, as I am, that I might answer Him, that we should come to trial together.
(33)  There is no arbiter between us, who might lay His hand on us both.

Job longed for someone who could represent him in trial and restore fellowship between God and him. Jesus fulfills this role perfectly. He is ideally situated with the Father to make our case and is ideally qualified as righteous.

Romans 8:33-34 ESV

(33)  Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
(34)  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

God has declared us righteous through the blood of Jesus. No charge against us can stand. In Revelation 12:10 Satan is called the “ accuser of our brothers.” Meaning Satan tries to make accusations against believers and Jesus is our advocate, who is making an appeal for us. He knows our weaknesses and knows our sins. He gave the perfect payment to save us and will not let any accusation say otherwise. Jesus is even praying for us and our growth before we ever enter into a hard time.

Luke 22:31-32 ESV

(31)  “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,
(32)  but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Jesus is praying and advocating for Peter, before Peter even know a difficulty is coming. Jesus is already praying for Peter’s restoration before Peter can even imagine a fall is possible. Jesus is doing the same for you and I today. He is praying to the Father on our behalf. His advocacy is possible because of His perfect payment on the cross.

1 John 2:2 ESV

(2)  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Modern scholars have really struggled with the term propitiation because it carries a connotation that they do not like. In all the other writings of the day a propitiation was payment that appeased the wrath of an angry god. Restoration to the wrathful god was only possible once the payment or offering was given. A propitiation would be thrown into a volcano trying to appease the god who controlled it. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins but not only for believers but for the entire world. Jesus paid for the sins of the world that John references later in the book.

1 John 5:19 ESV

(19)  We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

This is the world, that lies in the power of the evil one that Jesus was willing to be the perfect propitiation for. Jesus was willing to make the payment that appeased the wrath and judgment of God for everyone.

Romans 3:23-25 ESV

(23)  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(24) and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
(25)  whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.

Jesus lived a perfect life, and was willing to go to the cross to die a death He did not deserve. He then offered His blood as the propitiation, the payment for sin to appease the wrath that our sin had accrued. He paid for all sin, and this payment is received by us through faith. When Jesus advocates for us He does not plead that we were innocent of sin and not deserving of wrath. He points to the cross and His perfect blood payment. He paid the price. He took our punishment. Christ intercession for us is the continual application of His death. All grace we receive is possible because Jesus is the propitiation. We can walk in fellowship because of our advocate who made the perfect payment, Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:3-11 | Sunday November 23, 2025

John has been describing how to have fellowship with a God who is light and in Him is no darkness at all. To be able to have fellowship with this God we must walk openly before Him in His light. Meaning His word will come into our lives and point out the areas of darkness that exists and we have to be willing to acknowledge (confess) the sin that He points out. We all sin and will fail at this but the great news is that we have an advocate with God the Father, Jesus Christ. Jesus enables us to live in this light and is our advocate because He is the propitiation, the perfect payment that appeased God’s wrath. God’s willingness to forgive is not based on us, or how deserving we are but is based on the shed blood of Jesus. Through Jesus’ payment God is still just as He forgives us.

Micah 7:18-19 ESV

(18)  Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love.
(19)  He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

We truly have a God to be thankful for and to worship. He is not hesitant to forgive or bothered by our constant need for Him. He delights, takes pleasure in showing us steadfast love. He will again and again show compassion to us. As John shares this amazing truth of how wiling God is to continually cleanse us, He is quick to warn against sinning. John is sharing the truth of confession so that believers would not sin. He desires for us to be able to experience fellowship with God. We cannot walk in the darkness and have fellowship with the light. As John continues he then describes the outcome of walking in fellowship with the God of light, that we would know Him and be obedient to Him.

1 John 2:1-11 ESV

(1)  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
(2) He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
(3)  And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
(4)  Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
(5)  but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him:
(6)  whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.
(7)  Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
(8)  At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
(9)  Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
(10)  Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
(11)  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

This passage is difficult and not true to life if we do not understand what John is discussing. John is not describing how to be saved or knowing Jesus for salvation. He is describing what it looks like for a believer to know Jesus, meaning to be in fellowship with Him. Knowing Jesus in this way is one of Paul’s greatest desires.

Philippians 3:8-11 ESV

(8)  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (9)  and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
(10)  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,
(11)  that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Paul as a believer is pursing knowing Jesus more. He is willing to trade everything else, and count it all as waste in order to have a personal, real knowledge of Jesus. He is not desperately trying to earn salvation. He is in a love relationship and wants to know more of who Jesus is and what He is like. We understand that there are degrees of knowing someone. When someone’s actions surprise us we might say “I thought I knew you but I didn’t.” Meaning we thought we had an understanding of that person but in the end their action is showing we really did not know them well. Paul wants to know Jesus and not be shocked by what Jesus values, or does. This is the same kind of knowing that John is talking about. John is giving the answer of how do we know when we actually know Jesus in this way.

1 John 2:3 ESV

(3) And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.

John is not describing a believers eternal security or how we know we are saved. That is based on Jesus being the propitiation for our sins. Here he is describing assurance. How do we know practically in our life that we know Jesus? If we keep His commandments. Fellowship leads to a knowledge of Jesus which is shown through keeping His word. We can make all sorts of claims of knowing God and having fellowship with Him but our actions will expose if these are true or not. Faithfully walking with God in keeping His commandments shows we know Him. Walking in darkness, or sin shows we do not.

Titus 1:16 ESV

(16)  They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Our lives expose if we really know Him. The same is true of any relationship. The gifts we chose to give someone, where we take them to spend time, what we talk to them about all expose how well we know that person. It shows how attentive we have been to them.

1 John 2:3-4 ESV

(3)  And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
(4)  Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

The word keep means to guard, or keep watch over, to pay attention to. John is not demanding perfection, He just explained to us how to confess our sins when we fail. Keeping God’s commandments means we have an attentiveness to and a desire to live for Him. It is having a concern for what God says and wanting our lives to reflect that. When God calls something sin do we care? When God instructs us in how to live do we aim to follow that? It is impossible to know Jesus intimately, personally and ignore His commandments. If you try to claim fellowship without keeping His commandments you are a liar and God’s truth is not in you. His word reveals His commandments and His desire for our lives. This is why it is so important we know His word. We need to let God define what is good and in the light. In a few verses John will single out one specific commandment that we need to reflect. Keeping God’s word is to bring assurance. Our desire for Him and His truth is meant to help us “know that we have come to know Him.” At times this is hard for us to see when we are so imperfect at following Him.

Romans 7:15-25 NAS95

(15)  For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
(16)  But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
(17)  So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
(18)  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
(19)  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
(20)  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
(21)  I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
(22)  For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
(23)  but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
(24)  Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
(25)  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

I am so encouraged that Romans 7 was written by Paul who knew Jesus and made it His desire to know Him more. Paul is describing the ongoing battle within a believer between the sin nature and the new life in Christ. Paul had the desire to do what was right, and He delights in the law of God and yet he doesn’t understand His own actions. He keeps doing the very thing he hates, and the evil that he does not want is what He keeps walking in. He knows that as long as He is in a physical body with a sin nature this will be his struggle and ours. What Paul describes here, is keeping God’s commandments. This is a person who has an attentiveness and a desire to honor God. They know all the ways they fail and keep wanting to walk fresh with Him. There is a personality type that feels defeated by this ongoing battle with sin. They are very attentive to God’s word yet they struggle with the fact that they are in this battle. They can start to wonder if something is wrong with them or their salvation. John is trying to encourage all of us, that keeping God’s commandments, having a desire and attentiveness to His word shows we know Him.

1 John 2:5-6 ESV

(5)  but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him:
(6)  whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.

When we follow rules, we can be so prone to get right up to the line without crossing it. When we walk in an abiding relationship with Jesus we want to please Him. It is the difference between the heart attitude of having to do something and getting to do something. Just as Jesus sought to please the Father (John 8:29), we show we are abiding by wanting to please God. When we are attentive to God’s word, His love is perfected in us. In the Greek this can mean both “God’s love for us” or “our love for God” is perfected, brought to completion. In reality it means both. The more we see God’s love for us the more we will grow in our love for Him.

John 14:15; 21 ESV

(15)  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
(21)  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

When we have a disobedience problem as believers we have a love problem. As we keep His word, we grow in our love for Him and in experiencing His love for us.

Jesus is promising to manifest, or make open and reveal Himself more fully to the one who keeps His commandments. This is why walking in an ongoing relationship with Jesus is so important for a believer. Hopefully, we know Jesus and love Him more today than 5 years ago, than from the day we were saved. Our love for Him and His love for us is supposed to be brought to completion, meaning we are to grow into it. During this whole discussion of keeping God’s commandments John has had an underlying commandment on his heart.

1 John 2:7-8 ESV

(7)  Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
(8)  At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

In some ways the commandment on John’s heart is not new, his audience had heard it before. In other ways it is new because Jesus took this commandment and elevated it to its highest degree.

John 13:34-35 ESV

(34)  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.
(35)  By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The new commandment Jesus gave was to love each other. He was the perfect example of self-sacrificial love. He desired for His followers to be defined by His love. How was someone to know that you are following after and want to be like Jesus, if you have His love for them.

John wants to remind us that the darkness is in process of passing away. The light of God’s truth is already shining out. Love belongs to the light. If we are not careful we can forget that the darkness of the present age is not permanent. Jesus warns believers during the tribulation of what could happen to their love as sin increases around them and it serves as a warning to us.

Matthew 24:12 NAS95

(12)  "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.

The more sin and lawlessness we see the less loving we will be tempted to become.

1 John 2:9-11 ESV

(9)  Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
(10)  Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
(11)  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

John is addressing believers and the very fact that he refers to their brother emphasizes that he is talking about relationships within the body of Christ. When a believer hates their brother in Christ they are revealing that they are walking in darkness. They are so blind they don’t know where they are going. Too many think this verse means that hatred is not possible for a believer. This teaching leads to many doubts, and creates a bunch of liars. In our sin nature we can hate others, and it destroys our fellowship with God.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 ESV

(1)  But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
(2)  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
(3)  for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

The Corinthian believers were behaving as mere humans. They were walking in the flesh. Instead of love covering a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8) they were devouring each other with jealousy and strife. A believer who is not loving is spiritually immature. Hatred is a trap that drags us into sin, and causes so much pain. When we learn how to love, “there is no cause for stumbling” meaning we will not be snared in a trap. We are to be defined by our Godly love for others. A love that Jesus showed and reveals in His Word. I desire to be a believer that is not blind, but one who walks in the light and I pray this body would desire the same.

2 Peter 1:5-10 ESV

(5)  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,
(6)  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
(7)  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
(8)  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(9)  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
(10)  Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

1 John 2:12-14 | Sunday November 30, 2025

1 John is one of the bluntest and most loving books. I am amazed at how God’s truth can call us liars and warn us that we have deceived ourselves and yet do so in a loving way to draw us to fellowship.

1 John 1:6; 8; 10; 2:9 ESV

(1:6)  If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
(1:8)  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(1:10)  If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

(2:9)  Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

1 John 1:7; 9; 2:1; 10 ESV

(1:7)  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

(1:9)  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

(2:1)  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

(2:10)  Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

If only the left column is emphasized these truths can be taken and weaponized against believers. They can be pulled out of context and used to cause people to doubt their salvation even though they are all about fellowship. Yet the straightforwardness of truth is balanced each time with encouragement and love. We need to keep balanced in the Word of God and so did John’s audience. They were struggling to define what true fellowship looks like. A group of false teachers, that John will call “antichrists” (2:18) have arisen and are teaching falsehoods. They are claiming to have real truth, and the real path to fellowship with God. The false teaching had caused many to have doubt and fear in their walk, which is dangerous because of what effective motivators they are. John wanted to combat these falsehoods. He wanted believers to know (repeated 40 times in the book) what true fellowship is. This is why the right column cannot be emphasized to the point of ignoring the left one. We need both truths. Our sin takes us out of fellowship and we have an amazing God who wants to restore us to fellowship with Himself. It is in this context of doubt and uncertainty that John takes time to encourage His audience and build them up. This is not meant to be a book of doubt but certainty.

1 John 2:12-14 ESV

(12) I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake.
(13)  I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.
(14)  I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. 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.

6 times John defines who he is writing to. He references each of the three groups little children, fathers, and young men twice. He started Chapter 2 by referring to his entire audience as “My little children.” John feels a closeness and fatherly concern for his whole audience. Now he is adding more details as to who is included in that audience and gives specifics for each group as to why He is writing to them. By referencing children, fathers and young men John is making sure no generation is left out.

Psalm 90:1-2 ESV

(1)  A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
(2)  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

God is from everlasting. He has always existed. This means every generation ever to be born will have the same God to be in fellowship with. One generation cannot reminisce of who God used to be and what the young are missing out on. God is the unchanging dwelling place for every generation. I also find it interesting that John recognizes that each group has a unique situation and area to be encouraged in. God does not change but we do and we need different truth and encouragement based on what stage of life we are in.

1 John 2:12 ESV

(12) I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake.

There is debate over if these categories refer to spiritual maturity, or physical age. In reality it is probably a mix of the two. John is referring to the different age groups but is also implying a spiritual maturity to each group. John has a specific message for each group and their unique stage. No group is criticized, even the little children. This passage is pointing out the grace and freedom we should all feel to enjoy fellowship with God in our current season. The children cannot help being children. There is no sin in being young. There is no sin in being a young believer. It appears that they have just started their walk. John is welcoming them to the family by reminding them of the core truth that brought them into the family; their sins are forgiven. This was possible because of the name of Jesus.

Acts 4:10-12 ESV

(10)  let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing before you well.
(11)  This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
(12)  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Peter healed a lame man from birth and the religious leaders are demanding to know whose power or whose name enabled him to do this. Peter is very clear; it was done in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He was rejected and sent to the cross, and has become the cornerstone. Salvation cannot be found in any other name. Trusting in Jesus is the only way to be saved. The little children John is writing to have trusted in Jesus’ name. Their sins are forgiven. John uses the perfect tense, meaning a completed action with present results. John is not doubting if the little children are saved but wants to encourage them to grow in that truth. Next, John the address the fathers.

1 John 2:13 ESV

(13)  I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

The fathers being next in order is not the progression we would expect. Normally we would anticipate little children, young men, then fathers. This would seem more natural. John saves the young men for last due to the context of false teachers. The young men are going to be needed in a unique way and he addresses them last to emphasize their upcoming role.

He encourages the fathers/ mothers that they know Him who is from the beginning. The fathers/ mothers, are those who have lived the longest and have a seasoned firsthand knowledge of God. It is the knowledge that John desires all believers to have. They have walked with God through hardships and blessings. They have learned to trust God, and are keeping His commandments. Otherwise, John would not say they know Him. Their age has given them a perspective that David shares in Psalm 37.

Psalm 37:25 ESV

(25)  I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

Over all the years of David’s life He has not seen God forsake the righteous. He has watched God be faithful time and time again. The fathers/ mothers carry a perspective that is so needed. John’s audience was struggling with doubt and uncertainties. They could share the steady hand that comes from knowing God.

1 John 2:13 ESV

(13)  I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

Lastly, John addresses the young men/ women. John is wanting to prepare these believers to stand on truth in the face of the ever increasing false teaching. These young men/ women have an energy for the battle. They have overcome, been victorious, conquered, faced the obstacles, of the evil one. The little children are just getting there feet under them and the fathers/ mothers have the wisdom needed but it is the young men/ women who have the zeal and energy to overcome.

Proverbs 20:29 ESV

(29)  The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.

There is an energy to youthfulness that is a great thing when pointed in the right direction. This energy can become their downfall if they ignore the wisdom of the older generation. The old men and woman have a splendor in their gray hair. The energy has changed, but with that comes time proven wisdom that the younger generation needs. Now that John has addressed all three groups he readdresses them, making very intentional changes.

1 John 2:13 ESV

(13)  I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

John intentionally chooses a different word for child. The first word for little child (teknion) in verse 12 emphasizes the idea of family or kinship. While this word for child (paidion) emphasizes the discipline, discipleship and instruction that a child undergoes. The young need to be discipled and helped to grow in the faith. The children do not know Him who is from the beginning like the fathers/ mothers do but they know God as Father. One of the first things a child learns is to recognize their parents. The children know the loving concern and compassion the Father has for them. Through discipleship and maturing they will come to know just how much they can trust their eternal Father. Then John repeats the exact same encouragement to the Fathers.

1 John 2:14 ESV

(14)  I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. 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.

The false teachers were making changes to the truth. The fathers and mothers were to stay steadfast in their knowledge of the God who does not change.

1 John 2:14 ESV

(14)  I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. 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.

As John addresses the young men and women again he adds two important encouragements. They are strong and God’s word abides in them. There is a strength in youthful energy when it is directed by the truth of the word of God.

Psalm 119:9-12 ESV

(9) Beth How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
(10)  With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
(11)  I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
(12)  Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!

The Psalmists asks a very important question. How can a young person keep their life pure, unstained from the darkness of the world? By using the word of God as a guard. It is His word that shows us truth and warns us of the dangers of sin. So many wonder what chance does the young generation have. The great news is that the word of God is still able to guide and keep us from sin. John is encouraging the young men and women to hold the line of truth. Even as false teachers arise and unsettle people, God’s truth was sufficient for them and it will be for us.

John has encouraged each group the children, young and old. He has complimented each one and been assured of the continuing effects of their walk with Jesus. Meaning each group at all the various stages of life and maturity can have a vibrant and growing walk with Jesus.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 ESV

(1) For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
(2) a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

Every season of life is different. Some are harder then others, some have new obstacles, and some are peaceful. Yet in each season we are called to pursue a growing walk with Jesus. Each group was encouraged differently. In each season our walk is going to look different and we need to gives ourselves the grace to accept this and see what God has for us in this new season. For some it is a time of strength and energy and for others it is a time for steady wisdom. Solomon was very descriptive of how much life changes, and each season changes.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-2; 5 NLT

(1)  Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor Him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.”
(2)  Remember Him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky.

(5)  Remember Him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.

The excitement and energy of youth can be misplaced and not used to pursue a deep walk with Jesus. Solomon vividly describes the pain, and frailty that comes with old age. Life literally takes the hope out of the grasshopper. So live for Christ today. Each season has its pitfalls. The young have so much energy they forget God and the old do not have enough energy. Yet we can all walk with God right where we are, John just shared this truth with us. The caution is not to miss what God has in each season. The Hebrew believers serve as a warning because they were missing their current season.

Hebrews 5:11-14 ESV

(11)  About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
(12)  For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,
(13)  for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
(14)  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

These believers were not anchoring into the word of God and had become dull which literally means lazy, sluggish, careless. Unlike the young children John complimented these believers did not mature like they should have. It was not time to be a young child anymore they hadn’t let the word grow them. Every season has its problems and if we are careless with the word we will be in the same boat. Let’s not waste our current season or look with jealousy at someone else’s season. Let’s be encouraged to walk with God and mature in Him right where He has us. Each season will look different and in each one we can abide in Him.

Colossians 1:28 ESV

(28)  Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

1 John 2:15-17 | Sunday December 7, 2025

It is interesting that sometimes the simplest commands or rules are the hardest to follow. For instance a doctor telling someone to stop eating dairy is a very simple command. On its surface we might think it will be fairly easy to follow, just no ice cream, butter or cheese. Even though it seems simple the huge ramifications of this command have not been fully understood. The longer we try to stay away from dairy the more we would see how it is in seemingly everything. From bread, to chocolate, to Italian food, to buttermilk fried catfish, even to smoked ribs (if they are wrapped with butter). A seemingly simple command all of a sudden becomes very complex and far reaching. This describes our passage today. On its surface John’s command seems simple and straightforward, but in reality it is farther reaching then we can fathom.

1 John 2:1; 12-17 ESV

(1)  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

(12) I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake.
(13)  I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.
(14)  I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. 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.
(15)  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him.
(16)  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
(17)  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

John is sharing these truths so that believers would be encouraged not to sin. He desires for each generation in the audience to glorify God in the various seasons of life they are in. Each stage of life and maturity can have a great walk with Jesus. He wants all believers to walk in the light and experience true fellowship with Jesus. In order to experience this fellowship sin has to be dealt with in our lives, and John’s audience has some areas to grow in. The command “Do not love the world” is written in such a way to show it is an ongoing action that needs to be stopped.

1 John 2:15 Wuest Expanded New Testament

(15)  Stop considering the world precious with the result that you love it, and the things in the world…

These believers were actively loving the world and John is commanding them and us to stop it. This is important to see because none of us little children, fathers/ mothers or young men/ women are immune from falling into sin and loving the world. No Christian, no matter how old or mature will outgrow this temptation. This is not out of reach for any of us, and we have to be careful not to pridefully think that we do not have this struggle.

1 Corinthians 10:12 ESV

(12)  Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

There is no stage of the Christian life where we do not need a constant dependence on Christ and prayerfully rely on His protection. To better understand how far reaching this command is we have to understand what John means by “the world.” He is not referencing nature, and its beauty that should draw us to the power and majesty of God (Rom 1:20). If we do not carefully define “the world” this verse can seem to contradict John 3:16.

John 3:16 ESV

(16)  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

God’s love for the lost sinful world is so deep that He was willing to send Jesus to die on its behalf. He loved, self sacrificially, the sinners that make up the world system. John is warning us as believers to stop loving that world system itself. John uses the same word for love. Meaning as believers we will sacrifice ourselves for the sinful world system. It is a system that stands opposed to God and His truth and is ruled by Satan. It is a system that all of us were apart of at one time.

Ephesians 2:1-3 NLT

(1)  Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.
(2)  You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
(3)  All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

Satan is called the god and ruler of this world (2 Cor 4:4, John 14:30). We all were apart of this system that values self, and living for our own desires and will. It is a system that stands opposed to every truth of God. The world system has a morality, values, organization and is seductive to us. Ultimately it is hostile to God. Through Christ, believers have died to this world system and do not belong to it anymore.

Galatians 6:14 ESV

(14)  But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Through Jesus’ death we have been set free from this world. This is why John’s command would make no sense to a nonbelieving audience. A nonbeliever still belongs to the world system and needs the cross to free them from it. As believers we are to use our freedom to walk with Jesus and His commands and not love the world system we have been saved from. We tend not to see the worlds thinking and values as dangerous and seductive but scripture is very clear. Even being friendly to this world system makes us an enemy of God.

James 4:1-5 ESV

(1)  What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
(2)  You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
(3)  You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
(4)  You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (5)  Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us”?

The world system is still attractive to our old sin nature and its desires. Instead of seeking God to satisfy us we turn and try to find satisfaction in the world and through world means. We try to keep the world at arms distance, close enough to be friendly with it but far enough away that we can judge it and think we are better than it. Being friendly with this world system means we are God’s enemy, because it is hostile to Him. He yearns our the Holy Spirit that is within us. We have access to new life and He so desires for us to walk in that light and fellowship with Him. Loving the world separates us from our fellowship with Him.

1 John 2:15 ESV

(15)  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him.

If we love the world the love of the Father is not in us. We have already seen this phrase and truth, back in verse 5.

1 John 2:5 NET

(5)  But whoever obeys His word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.

Verse 15 says it in the negative and verse 5 says it in the positive. As a believer when we walk in sin, and love the world, our love for God and His love for us is not being perfected. It is not practically in us at that moment. Yet when we obey His Word, His love for us and our love for Him is brought to completion. John is being very practical and approaching this with sanctified common sense. We can only love one thing at a time, either God or the world.

Luke 16:13-15 ESV

(13)  No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
(14)  The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed Him.
(15)  And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Jesus is sharing the same truth. Our hearts were created to be worshipers, to love something and for our actions to reflect that love. When we fall in love with God we will desire to reflect that love in our lives. When we are in love with money, we will orient our lives, schedule, and decisions based on that love. Who we love, is reflected in our actions. Which raises a very convicting question, who do our actions show that we are currently in love with? Are we in love with our loving and gracious God or with a world system, that values and exalts things that are an abomination to God. The world only knows how to get it wrong.

1 John 2:16 NAS95

(16)  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

The world system is not from the Father. So when we see the world start to shift and value something new, we have to remember it will only find a new way to be against God. This world system can be summarized into three categories. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. All sin in the world can be categorized into one of these three grouping. The lust of the flesh are the desires, longings, cravings, of our sin nature.

Galatians 5:16-25 NKJV

(16)  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
(17)  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
(18)  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
(19)  Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
(20)  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
(21)  envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
(22)  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
(23)  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
(24)  And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
(25)  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The lusts of our flesh, our old sinful nature, are contrary to the desires of the Holy Spirit. They are at war with each other (1 Peter 2:11). The Holy Sprit desires to produce its fruit of, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in our lives. The lust of the flesh desires sexual immorality, inappropriate sensuality, jealousy, anger, disputes, fighting, and drunkenness. If you are not sure if what you are doing is coming from fellowship with God and loving Him or coming from the world and walking in the lust of the flesh, use these verses as a test. Which descriptions fit better? As a believer our flesh was crucified and its lusts and desires have been defeated. We do not have to walk in them anymore through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The lust of the eyes is motivated by the lust of the flesh. Our sin nature has a strong desire so our eyes start looking for it. The path to sin starts internally then finds an external outlet.

James 1:13-17 ESV

(13)  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He himself tempts no one.
(14)  But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
(15)  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Temptations does not come from God, He does not want us to sin. We are lead astray when we are lured and enticed, by our internal desires. When these desires are not dealt with according to truth then we act on them by sinning. It is the picture of a hungry fish biting a hook. The satisfied fish swims right by the same hook. The lust of our flesh direct what our eyes pursue, what we are looking for. As we walk in our lusts, we want to be independent and leave God out of it all. In pride we try to be self-sufficient. We can see all three categories as Eve sins.

Genesis 3:6 ESV

(6)  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Eve saw that that the tree was good for food. She had a desire within her for food, she was hungry. Eve had no sin nature yet, this was a natural desire of her body. The desire itself was not sin she needed to satisfy that hunger in a way that God said was allowed, by eating from any other tree. Then she saw that the fruit was a delight to the eyes. Her inner desire is now motivating what she is looking for. She desires to eat so that she could be wise. Instead of relying on God for wisdom she pridefully desired to have her own. Eve is never credited with the first sin, she was deceived (1 Tim 2:14). Adam’s heart was in open rebellion against God. Once they sinned, they quickly found out the emptiness and destruction that sin causes.

1 John 2:17 ESV

(17)  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

As believers we should not love the world system because it is not from the Father and it is passing away. Everything the world has to offer is temporary. Abiding with God is permanent. This can even be seen comparing the worldly pride of life to the eternal life that is found in Jesus. For Pride of life John chose the word bios which references the earthly, physical, temporary life on this planet. The life that plants and animals experience. This is the only kind of life the world can offer. It is empty and is currently in the process of passing away. There is no future in worldliness. But God has offered us something entirely different.

John 10:10 ESV

(10)  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

This word for life is Zoe. It is where real life is found in relationship and fellowship with God. Life that is eternal, extraordinary, and remarkable. We can choose to invest in a system that is dying or we can chose to live an abundant life and continue to abide with God forever. We invest in this abundant life by being obedient, by following His Word.

1 Timothy 6:12 ESV

(12)  Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

1 John 2:18-20 | Sunday January 4, 2026

As we study 1 John one thing that stands out is the stark comparison between the light and the darkness. Chapter 1:5 declares that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” This truth does not open up the door to half-light, or just a little darkness. God is light and we either walk in fellowship in the light or we walk in the darkness, but not both at the same time (1:6). This teaching is real to life because we can experience restoration to the light when we confess our sins to God (1:9). Through Jesus’ blood we are initially brought into the light and then can be continually restored to the light. We need this restoration because we are so prone to loving the darkness and going back to it. The lust of the our old sin nature stands opposed to God and keeps trying to draw us back to the darkness. If a believer thinks they are too spiritual or mature to be influenced by the dark world then they do not understand the depth of their old sin nature. The great news is that our struggle to go back to the darkness is not permanent.

1 John 2:8; 15-17 ESV

(8) At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

(15)  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(16)  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
(17)  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

John is comparing the dying dark world with the eternal light of God. He is encouraging us to weigh which one is worth living for. The verb for passing away is in the passive voice which means this is an action that is being forced onto the world. The world does not want to pass away. Yet, God is enacting His will and is bringing the dark world to an end. The world does not have a choice in the matter. Yet as believers we have a choice to live for what abides forever.

Isaiah 40:6-8 ESV

(6)  A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
(7)  The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.
(8)  The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

All humanity has to offer, all its beauty and lusts, are withering and will fade away when God acts. His word, His truth, His light is what will stand forever. John wants to prepare believers for what to expect in the dark world as it passes away.

1 John 2:18-22 ESV

(18)  Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
(19)  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
(20)  But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
(21)  I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
(22)  Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

John wants us to know where we are in the timeline of the world passing away. It is the last hour. John wrote this over 1900 years ago and yet it still holds true. In the Greek last hour does not have an article. It is not specifically the very final hour, but a description of the entire age we are in.

1 John 2:18 Wuest Expanded New Testament

(18)  Little children under instruction, it is a last hour in character. And even as you heard that Antichrist comes, even now, antichrists, many of them, have arisen and are here; from which fact we know by experience that it is a last hour in character.

The time John lived in and the time we live in is characterized, or described as the last hour. This means all believers are to live with the real expectation that Jesus could come back at any moment in their lifetime. You might be wondering, how do we know it is the last hour? What will the last hour look like? We know it is the last hour because of the many antichrists who have arisen. Verse 22 tells us these antichrists deny the Father and the Son. They change a fundamental truth about who God is and who Jesus is and alter the gospel. When we see false teachers denying Jesus we can know it is still the last hour.

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV

(1)  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

2 Timothy 3:1-2 ESV

(1)  But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
(2)  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV

(3)  For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
(4)  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

This season of the last hour is going to be full of false teaching. It is so bad what is taught is motivated by demons. Anything that changes Jesus and changes the gospel in a fundamental way so that a saving message is not shared is satanically inspired. In the last hour, we are not to expect things to get progressively better or to expect the truth to be more accepted. We are to expect the opposite. Which makes the state of the world oddly encouraging, it is exactly what God said it would be before Jesus return!

John makes the distinction between these false teaching antichrists and the singular Antichrist who is to come. Antichrist does not have an article but is used as a proper name. He is the one that is often talked about in prophecy and is “the little horn” (Dan 7:8), and “the beast” (Rev 11:7). Anti can mean against, opposed, but also means instead of. The future Antichrist will be opposed to Jesus and His truth and at the same time offer himself as a replacement. The little antichrist, who are false teachers were present in John’s day and are still here today. The one Antichrist is currently being restrained, until it is his time.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 ESV

(1)  Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,
(2)  not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

The Thessalonians were worried because someone told them that the day of the Lord had come. The day of the Lord refers to a few things in scripture. It can refer to Jesus’ second coming (Zech 14:1-4) and also to the entire tribulation time (Zeph 1:14-18). The Thessalonians were under so much persecution they thought they were in the tribulation and were experiencing God’s judgment. Apparently there were even false letters claiming to be from Paul that were trying to unsettle believers. Paul is going to encourage them that the coming of Jesus to gather up His church will come first, before the day of the Lord. He also points out some key events that will take place before the day of the Lord.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-5 ESV

(3)  Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
(4)  who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
(5)  Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

The day of the Lord cannot come until the rebellion, or apostasy comes first.

The false teaching will continue to increase until there is a mass departure from truth. Right alongside this departure the Antichrist, who is called the man of lawlessness, or the son of destruction will be revealed. He will be against the true God and also any other man made god or religion. He will start something entirely new and will proclaim himself to be God. Paul is bringing up the antichrist to encourage believers that we will not be here for this. The Thessalonians can be assured they are not in the day of the lord because the antichrist is not currently exalting himself, he is being restrained.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-10 ESV

(6)  And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.
(7)  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.
(8)  And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of His coming.
(9)  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,
(10)  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Satan is always at work in the world and wants to keep it in the darkness. He does not know the specific time, of the day of the Lord so Satan is always trying to keep the world in darkness and keep things ready for the Antichrist to rise up. The mystery of lawlessness is already here, and can be seen as John put it, in the many antichrists who deny Jesus. The Antichrist will not be free to be revealed until the restrainer is removed. There are many opinions as to who the restrainer is, but I believe it is the Holy Spirit within the church. The Holy Spirit is actively at work in convicting the world (John 16:8), and providing God’s light of truth.

Matthew 5:13-16 ESV

(13)  “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
(14)  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
(15)  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
(16)  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Believers are called the salt and light of the World. We are told in John 1:9 that Jesus is the true light, so we have these qualities because of Him, as we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Salt preserves. It keeps something from decaying. It can also be used as a fertilizer, to help soil have the proper nutrients and help plants grow. The Holy Spirit in us is restraining the darkness and it is restraining the decay of this world. At the same time He is fertilizing hearts and wants more people to come to know Jesus. He is the light shining through us into a dark world. Once believers are gathered together to Jesus, the Holy Spirit will not be restraining like He has been and the Antichrist will be revealed.

John’s main focus is not the future Antichrist but the many false teacher antichrists that had arisen. As believers we should have a guard up against these many antichrists that are here now. Instead of the future Antichrist whom we will not be here to see. John wants us to understand where these antichrist came from.

1 John 2:19 ESV

(19)  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

John has been referencing the plural “us” since the beginning of the book (1:1) “we have heard, which we have seen” and it refers to the other apostles and eyewitnesses in Jerusalem. These false teaching antichrists had been apart of the fellowship with the apostles in Jerusalem, but now had left their location and their doctrine. These antichrists left the doctrinal fellowship with the apostles and had gone out to share a false message. John is making sure everyone knows that they are not from us. These false teachers are no longer in unity with the apostles in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, these antichrist have not left the church as a whole yet, this is what makes them dangerous. We see a similar problem arise in Acts 15.

Acts 15:1-2; 5; 24-25 ESV

(1)  But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
(2)  And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

(5)  But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

(24)  Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,
(25)  it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

False teachers came from Judea and were making clams that you had to follow the law to be saved. They claimed this is what the church in Jerusalem believed. Paul and Barnabas, are livid and “ had no small dissension” with them. To settle the issue they head back to Jerusalem to get a formal answer. These false teachers were sharing a false gospel yet at some point they believed in the truth because scripture calls them believers. Some false teachers were never saved, and others are and leave the truth (1 Tim 1:19-20). At times it is hard to tell because these passages are not primarily focused on the individual false teacher’s salvation but making sure the truth is protected. The Jerusalem church comes to a decision that salvation is based on grace (Acts 15:11). Then they had to send out a letter to clarify to the other churches what the decision was. Verse 24, warns against the false teachers who have “gone out from us” this is the exact same phrase John uses. There is no banner or secret handshake to show who is in fellowship. True fellowship comes from the unity of the truth of God’s word. False teachers leave the truth and show they are out of unity. As a body of believers and especially the elders we are called to guard against this kind of false teacher.

Acts 20:28-31 ESV

(28)  Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.
(29)  I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
(30)  and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
(31)  Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

Fierce wolves will come in from the outside and hurt the flock, and false teachers will arise from within and teach twisted things. Jesus bought the church with His own blood; we are precious to Him. We are to pay careful attention first to our own walk and then to the body and to what is taught. We are called to be alert, watchful, a constant state of readiness. We know it is the last hour, and there will be many antichrists. The great news is we know the truth and can keep coming back to it.

1 John 2:20 ESV

(20)  But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

God equipped us with the Holy Spirit so we could know the truth.

Revelation 22:7 NKJV

(7)  "Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."

1 John 2:20-27 | Sunday January 11, 2026

Last week we saw John warn believers of the false teaching antichrists that are already in the world. These antichrists had been apart of the fellowship with the apostles in Jerusalem. They left the truth and this departure exposed a disunity. The departure itself does not comment on or exclude their salvation, but is evidence of a lack of fellowship with the truth. There are examples of nonbelievers who try to infiltrate the church and are called “false brothers” (Gal 2:4), and there are examples of believers who depart from truth and have “made shipwreck of their faith”(1 Tim 1:19-20). The departure does not prove or disprove salvation but shows they are false teachers who are dangerous.

So often in a case like this friendships and history can be given as an excuse for continued partnership. John valued the truth of the world of God so much He is making sure everyone knows that these false teachers have left the fellowship found in truth. Unfortunately, they have not left the physical church which is what makes them so dangerous. John warns against these antichrists throughout his letters. In 2 John 10 he commands the church not to receive these false teachers into their houses or help them in any way and in 3 John 9 he even gives a specific name. These antichrists were a major problem for the church. After giving this warning He then instructs the church in how to guard against and be protected from these antichrists.

1 John 2:18-27 ESV

(18)  Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
(19)  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
(20)  But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
(21)  I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
(22)  Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
(23)  No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
(24)  Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
(25)  And this is the promise that He made to us—eternal life.
(26)  I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
(27)  But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in Him.

All believers have been given an anointing from the Holy Spirit. These false teachers were claiming to have an exclusive or secret knowledge. John is encouraging believers that we already know the truth through the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 ESV

(21)  And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,
(22)  and who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

God anoints us with the Holy Spirit, who comes into our hearts and seals us into Him. When we were in Leviticus we saw the Priests be anointed with oil. This showed that they were set apart by God for a unique role. God has done the same for us, but our anointing was not with oil but with the Holy Spirit. This happened for each believer in the church age at a very specific moment.

Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV

(13)  In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
(14)  who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.

This is a work God does for every believer the moment we trust in Jesus for salvation. We hear the truth and then must respond by believing it. Once someone believes, God anoints them and seals them with the Holy Spirit. There is nothing extra or a special ritual to be done. This is a work of God. The Holy Spirit seals us in God. This is a picture of a wax seal with a rulers unique ring pressed into it. The seal shows ownership and also brings with it protection. God has done the same for us though the Holy Spirit. John is mentioning this anointing to encourage us that we are safe and sealed in God. We are also promised that this anointing from the Holy Spirit will guide us and teach us truth.

1 Corinthians 2:12-14 ESV

(12)  Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
(13)  And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
(14)  The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

As a believer why do you think you received the Holy Spirit? One of His major purposes in our lives is so that we can understand the things freely given to us by God. So that we can understand spiritual truth.

If you have ever learned a spiritual truth about God, you can be assured that you have the Holy Spirit. The natural person is not able to understand spiritual truths. No pastor is ever able to teach spiritual truth and it become real to people without the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. As believers the best guard we have against false teaching is the teaching the Holy Spirit provides to us through the word of God. John was convinced His audience new the truth.

1 John 2:21-22 ESV

(21)  I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
(22)  Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

John did not doubt if His audience knew Jesus. He is warning them about falsehoods because they knew the truth. He trusted that they had been anointed by the Holy Spirit to know the difference between truth and lies. The liar, the antichrist denies who Jesus is, they deny that Jesus is the Christ. Christ means that Jesus is the anointed messiah the promised one who would pay for sins. He was only able to make this payment because He is fully God and fully man. The future Antichrist will deny this and so do the current false teaching antichrist. They deny Jesus humanity, or His deity, or His finished work. The phrase Jesus is the Christ testifies to all these truths. By denying Jesus as the Christ these antichrist were also denying the Father.

1 John 2:23 ESV

(23)  No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

You cannot have a relationship with God without trusting in Jesus, the two cannot be separated. There is no path to God that does not involve believing in Jesus. When we trust in Jesus we receive the Father also. It is always telling when you ask if someone is a believer, or if they are saved and they respond with “I believe in God.” This doesn’t mean anything in terms of salvation.

James 2:19 ESV

(19)  You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

The demons believe in one God. Knowing there is a God will never save anyone. The real question is who is Jesus and what has He done for you? Jesus is fully God and fully man and came to earth living a perfect life and died on the cross offering the perfect payment for sins. There is no one formula to express this.

Confessing the Son means to say the same thing about Jesus that the bible says about Him. The thief on the cross pleaded “Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.” Luke 23:42. Martha declared “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” Luke 11:27. Both were confessing that they trusted in Jesus. Each had a different level on knowledge and understanding. Each had a different background, and yet both were confessing the Son, they were trusting Him. There is no one formula, because it is about Jesus. It is about believing in Him for salvation. This is why John is so passionate about rooting out this false teaching. To deny Jesus is the Christ is to have a false gospel. He desires for believers to remain on this fundamental truth they have heard from the beginning.

1 John 2:24 ESV

(24)  Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

John wants believers to abide, remain, to dwell in the fundamental truth about Jesus that they heard from the beginning of their Christian walk. If we choose to abide in this truth, in Jesus, then He will in turn abide with us. John is saying we have tremendous access to be at home with Jesus. As believers are we strangers to the truth and to Jesus or do we know Him well? We have been giving the anointing of the Holy Spirit to teach us so that we can abide, and be at home with Jesus. Jesus wants us to have this close, intimate relationship with us. He wants to guide and direct us.

Philippians 3:12-16 ESV

(12)  Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.
(13)  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
(14)  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
(15)  Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
(16)  Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Paul pressed on and strained forward to a deeper abiding walk with Jesus. He was not perfect at this but he knew there was never a coast or arrival in the Christian walk. He wanted to abide in Jesus more today than He did yesterday. This ongoing desire to know Jesus and be close to Him is a mark of maturity. Even if we think differently or believe something that is false, the more we want to know Jesus, the Holy Spirit will teach us and correct us from falsehood. As we desire to know Him, He reveals to us more truth, into a deeper walk.

We are called to hold true to what He has already revealed. Jesus does not reveal more to us, if we are not living based on what He has already shown to us. We know this principal, in making a child eat their dinner before they have seconds or have dessert. We don’t give more food until the first portion has been eaten. We are taught truth and our walk with Jesus works the same way. We are to live, hold, follow, conform to what we know. As we walk with Him and in the truth He has revealed, then Jesus reveals more to us. This is why John warns believers from following falsehood. If we start to deny Jesus and not desire to know Him more, we will not be in fellowship with Him.

Hebrews 10:35-36 ESV

(35)  Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
(36)  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

There is a tremendous blessing to walking with endurance in Jesus. We cannot throw out our confidence in Him when things start to get hard, or life seems out of control. It is precisely in those moments that we are to rest in Him. We are to come back to truth, to be confident in His promises, and His ability to teach and guide us. The promise is from Him.

1 John 2:25 ESV

(25)  And this is the promise that He made to us—eternal life.

Jesus promised to give us eternal life. This is never ending life, but it is so much more than that. Eternal life is an abundant, full, real life right here and now. He wants us to enjoy being in fellowship with Him. Eternal life is based on Him. He promised it. He did what was needed to secure it. He is the one who gave it to us!

Psalm 62:5-7 ESV

(5)  For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.
(6)  He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
(7)  On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

I am so eternally thankful that my salvation does not rest on me. If it did then I would always be at risk of being shaken. We are not shaken because He is our rock. Our hope is from Him. From His great promise to us, eternal life.

John 6:40 ESV

(40)  For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

It is the will of God the Father, and no one can undue His will, that whoever looks on Jesus and believes in Him will be given eternal life. Man did not come up with this idea. We did not get to set the terms for what someone had to do to get eternal life. God decided. It is His promise to us, and Jesus made it possible. Yet, there are many antichrist who continually try to change this amazing truth.

1 John 2:26 ESV

(26)  I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

John knew people would always try to add, or take away from Jesus. We want to have a part, we want to earn it in some way. We are warned and called not to move off this amazing truth.

Galatians 1:6-9 ESV

(6)  I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
(7)  not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
(8)  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
(9)  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Even if Paul was to change His mind, and start trying to add something, to distort Jesus in some way, He pleads with them to ignore Him. Even if an angel came and tried to add to Jesus, we are to consider that angel accursed. We trust in Jesus and in His grace for salvation and then are so quick to desert Him. This is why abiding, remaining in Him, is so important.

1 John 2:27 ESV

(27)  But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in Him.

As a believer we have the Holy Spirit in us, and Jesus is abiding with us. No man or angel can offer to us a different truth or teach us anything new. We all are growing and all have more to learn, but it will be through the Holy Spirit. He will teach us, so let us hold on to what He has already taught us. As He abides in us, we are commanded, to abide in Him. Let’s not waste this incredible relationship we have been given. Let us strain forward into Him.

1 John 2:28-3:3 | Sunday January 18, 2026

1 John 2:26 KJV

(26)  These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.

John has been warning believers who know the truth, about false teaching antichrists. The antichrists are denying that Jesus is the Christ. They are changing who He is, fully God and fully man, and changing what He has done, perfectly paid for our sins. These antichrists are trying to find a way to God the Father without going through Jesus. They are extremely dangerous because they once had fellowship with the apostles but now have left that fellowship by teaching these falsehoods. These teachers are trying to seduce, believers into following them. They intentionally make their false teaching attractive, and appear to be the truth. John is warning believers to abide in Jesus and in the truth they have known from the beginning. He encourages us that all believers have the Holy Spirit who wants to teach us all things. The best guard against these false teachers is to abide in Jesus. Multiple times we are commanded and encouraged to abide in Him.

1 John 2:27-3:3 ESV

(27)  But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in Him.
(28)  And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.
(29)  If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.
(1)  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.
(2)  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.
(3)  And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.

The false teaching that is being presented by the antichrists will take a believer out of an abiding walk with Jesus. It will ruin their fellowship with Him. An abiding walk with Jesus is not an automatic thing for believers. We are promised that the Holy Spirit abides in us as believers. Then we are commanded multiple times to abide in Him. This is a theme that is very important to John and He has been describing what an abiding walk looks like throughout the letter. An abiding believer, walks in the light (1:7), confesses sin (1:9), keeps Gods’ commandments (2:3), walks how Jesus walked (2:6), and abiding is ultimately reflected in a biblical love for others (2:10). This is the kind of close intimate walk that God desires to have with us. Abiding in Jesus will cause us to look forward to seeing Him.

1 John 2:28 ESV

(28)  And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.

To understand this verse we have to understand that Jesus is coming back. Christianity is not a set of moral rules, or a social club. It is a trust and relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ who has promised to come back and get us. “When He appears” literally means when His presence comes. This term was used to describe a King or Emperor visiting an area. Jesus has promised to return, to be present with us and He will come as our King. We are told the details of this real moment for believers that is commonly called the rapture.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 ESV

(14)  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.
(15)  For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
(16)  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
(17)  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
(18)  Therefore encourage one another with these words.

There are no better verses to consider as you walk through a cemetery then these. Often as I stand and look at all of the graves of so many people who have died and I try to imagine what this moment will be like. The moment when Jesus descends from heaven with a cry of command. At His voice all believers who have passed away will also descend from heaven with Him. Then their physical bodies will be resurrected. The moment a believer dies they are in God’s presence (2 Cor 5:8) and receive a new body. They do not receive their permanent resurrected body until this moment. Somehow our physical body is transformed into our new resected body. Jesus’ physical body left the tomb as He was resurrected. It can be overwhelming to think of how many graves will emptied out in that moment. Then every believer who is alive will put on a resurrected body and we will join them in the air to be with our Lord and Savior. I cannot think of a more encouraging truth. For believers there are two options in how to experience this moment.

1 John 2:28 ESV

(28)  And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.

When Jesus returns we can have confidence, courage, boldness, fearlessness, when we see Him. The word literally carries the idea of free, open speech with nothing to conceal. This is possible if we are abiding in Him. This does not mean we are perfect, but it means we have been walking in the light with Him. We have confessed sins as they arise and sought to know Him more. So when He returns we are thrilled and can have boldness to see the one we have longed to be with. This boldness does not come from a perfection that we somehow achieved but comes from a close, abiding, honest walk with Jesus.

Ephesians 3:11-12 ESV

(11)  This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
(12)  in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him.

Through Jesus we have been given access, to God the Father. We can boldly, confidently approach God because of the shed blood of Jesus. Our confidence comes from walking close with Him. The more we abide with Jesus the more we will see our sinfulness and that the entire relationship is based on the finished work of Christ. As we abide we learn to rest in Him and rely on Him. Every believer is secure in Jesus because He has promised not to lose a single believer (John 6:39). Yet our assurance of that, our confidence in that grows the more we come to know and trust Him.

The other option for believers is to “shrink from Him in shame at His coming.” This is a believer who recoils when they see Jesus descend and are ashamed to be in His presence. This believer has not been abiding, and not living in the light. I watched this reaction happen first hand when I got home and my dog had knocked off the fence every solar light and chewed them up. As I approached her pen, she shrunk in shame at my coming. Instead of being excited to see me and jumping to get close to me, she pulled back. God even warned Israel that they would have this ashamed reaction for the darkness they were walking in.

Isaiah 1:29 NLT

(29)  You will be ashamed of your idol worship in groves of sacred oaks. You will blush because you worshiped in gardens dedicated to idols.

When the true God arrives, worshipping fake idols in trees and gardens will be embarrassing and shameful. As a believer, do we want to be living a lifestyle of sin and darkness, or even be in the act of committing a sin when Jesus arrives? Our entrance to heaven will not be in question, but we will shrink in shame.

Romans 14:10-12 ESV

(10)  Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;
(11)  for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
(12)  So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Every believer will stand before the judgment (Bema) seat of God. It is at this Bema seat that we will give an account, literally give a word, of ourselves to God. In 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 we are told the earthly will be separated form the eternal. If we abide with Jesus we will have a free speech and openness with Jesus in this moment. If we just live for this life and ignore our walk with Him, then we will be ashamed and shrink. Too many of us as believers never consider this day. We just live and do not reflect Him or abide with Him.

1 John 2:29 NAS95

(29)  If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.

John uses two different words for know right next to each other. What He is saying is “If we know absolutely as fact that Jesus is righteous, then we can know experientially, or in practice that everyone who produces and practices righteousness is born of Him.” We know Jesus is righteous as a fact, so then when we see someone practice righteousness we can know experientially that they are a believer. This is true righteousness, not benevolence, humanitarian aid, or good actions. We tend to confuse the two. A non-believer can do good things, and benevolent things to others but a non-believer cannot practice true righteousness that gives honor and glory to God. True righteousness will only be produced and practiced in an abiding believers life. John is not describing how to be saved but how we can recognize salvation in someone. We have been born of God and righteousness is to be a family trait.

1 John 3:1 ESV

(1)  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.

We have been brought into God’s family and are His children as believers. John is marveling at this kind love, He wants us to see it. The word for kind originally meant from a different country or foreign. God’s love for us is foreign to the world, it is wholly different then anything they know. It is an unearthly, incredible love, that we have been made children of God.

The world does not understand who we truly are. Which is fitting because they did not understand Jesus. Being a child of God is not a future promise but a present reality. If you have believed in Jesus you are God’s child right now.

1 John 3:2 ESV

(2)  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.

Now is emphatic. We do not expect to one day become the Sons and Daughters of the most High God but we are right now! The problem is we can’t see on the outside who we really are on the inside. When a believer practices righteousness we can catch a glimpse of it. In this physical body we still have a sin nature, and we do not always act as a child of the living God. Yet when Jesus is revealed, when we are in His presence, we will be revealed. We will be transformed into His likeness. The outside will finally match the inside. Seeing Jesus changes us.

Philippians 3:20-21 ESV

(20)  But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
(21)  who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.

Seeing Jesus will transform this body of humiliation to be like His resurrected body. It is through His power that we are transformed. Our true nature as a child of God will finally be reflected in this physical body. This is partly why some will be ashamed at His coming. They will have a new resurrected body and will have a holy view of what they had been doing. They will have a holy perspective on the sin that had kept them from abiding. Throughout scripture we are called to long for the day when we will see Jesus. To long for the day when we will put on our new resurrected bodies.

2 Corinthians 5:1-4 ESV

(1)  For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
(2)  For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,
(3)  if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.
(4)  For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

I am so thankful this body is called a tent. They keep finding new ways to wear out, and are in the process of being dismantled. As a child of God we have been promised an eternal building for our new body. We groan in this tent as we long to be swallowed up by life. This body and our old sin nature are holding us back.

2 Corinthians 5:8-11 ESV

(8)  Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
(9)  So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.
(10)  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
(11)  Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

We are to be of good courage, we are to be confident in this life because we know it is temporary. We are just in a tent. As we abide in Jesus, and grow closer to Him our desire to go home will increase. Whether we are in heaven with Jesus or here on this earth we should desire to please Him. If we are abiding He is our focus either way. We are to be motivated by the fact that we will give an account for our lives at the Bema seat. We are to live focused on Jesus not wanting to shrink in shame from Him at His coming. We can be fully assured that Jesus is coming back and we can also be fully assured that we will give an account for how we have abided in Him. Please do not think that we will show off what we have done for Him. Instead we will give an account for how we have let Him work in and through us. Anything eternal in our lives is accomplished through His power. We are to live each day with this in mind.

1 John 3:3 ESV

(3)  And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.

We have this hope, a confident expectation of something that will be fulfilled. So we are to purify, be cleansed, just as He is pure. We are to reflect His Holiness. Seeing Jesus is what transforms us in the end, so to purify ourselves we are to abide and see Him more. I so desire to have a confidence when Jesus appears and I earnestly desire that for this body of believers. Let us not be those who shrink back ashamed from Him, but those who are longing to see Him each day!

1 John 3:4-9 | Sunday February 1, 2026

1 John 2:28; 3:2-3 ESV

(28)  And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.

(2)  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.
(3)  And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.

Two weeks ago we saw the amazing truth that we are called a child of the God most high. This was not a hope, or something that might take place. John emphatically states that “we are God's children now.” This truth is echoed in Colossians 3, our true life right now is hidden in Christ.

Colossians 3:3-4 ESV

(3)  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
(4)  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Our true life right now is hidden in Jesus. Yet, we know the we do not always look like a child of God. This is why we long for the day when Jesus will appear. When we see Him face to Face, we will be like Him. Our true nature as a child of God will finally be reflected in our whole life, and even in our body. When He appears in glory, then we will appear in glory. We are to live for this real future moment by abiding now. A believer who does not abide will give an account of themselves to Jesus and will shrink from Him as He appears. As a child of God we should desire to abide with Him and be excited and confident when He arrives. John is going to continue this thought and show how incompatible sin is to a believers life.

1 John 3:4-10 ESV

(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.
(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.
(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.

Six times John emphasizes making a practice of something in this short passage. He is comparing the difference of making a practice of sin and making a practice of righteousness. The term for practice is a generic catch all term in the Greek, and its definition is 7 pages long. It can emphasize producing/ manufacturing something, accomplishing something, carrying something out, and even bearing fruit. The difference between practicing righteousness and practicing sin applies to everyone. 8 times John refences, “everyone who”, “no one who,” or “whoever.” The false teachers were trying to introduce different classes of believers. They claimed to be enlightened and on a higher plane then everyone else. John is directly contradicting this. This truth applies to everyone, whoever they may be. He starts this comparison of practicing sin and righteousness by defining sin.

1 John 3:4 ESV

(4)  Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Everyone that produces, manufactures, bears, or brings about sin, is actually producing lawlessness. This applies to every nonbeliever and believer, everyone. Sin at its very core is a rebellion against God and His holy law. It is more than imperfection, or a mistake. It is not simply a product of society, our body, or how we were raised. All of these things influence our sin, but at its core, sin is a willful rejection of God and breaking His law. Sin is an active rebellion against God’s known will. Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s revealed will/ law and as sinners we have continued in this rebellion. In order to live a holy righteous life we need to understand what our sin truly is. The false teachers were softening sin and John wants to reestablish how heinous it truly is.

1 John 3:5 ESV

(5)  You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.

We were just encouraged to look forward to the day when Jesus will appear

(1 John 2:28) at His second coming, and now John is reminding us what Jesus accomplished the first time He appeared. He came to take away sins.

John 1:29 ESV

(29)  The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Jesus is the perfect payment for sin. He is the one who lifted sin up to the cross so that it can be taken away from us. Jesus came to eradicate sin. It was the barrier of our fellowship with Him. Jesus has no sin in Himself. He is absolutely pure, and holy. This has huge implications for believers who want to abide with Him.

1 John 3:6 ESV

(6)  No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him.

Many struggle with this verse. In typical John fashion He presents a straightforward truth with no wiggle room. Since Jesus is perfect, to abide in Him means to not sin. Practically, we would like an asterisk, where a little sin would be allowed as we abide. Even the translators try to introduce this by adding the words keeps on sinning. The NIV even adds the word continues in sin. The translators are trying to introduce the idea that a believer will sin, but there is a line of sin that is habitual, continual, or living in, that an abiding believer cannot cross. The problem with this is that these words are not in the Greek.

The translators know this, and try to make the case that the tense/structure of the verb (present/participle) indicates it. The problem is that there are no other examples in scripture that would support this. In 1 John 5:16 we see the same phrase and tense and it is not translated this way at all. Also there are Greek words and phrases that mean without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17) and continually (Luke 24:53, Heb 10:1), and John did not use any of them. As uncomfortable and hard of a truth it is the NASB95 translates the verse well.

1 John 3:6 NAS95

(6)  No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.

Verse 5 told us that Jesus has no sin. So in order to abide in Him we must reflect that, we must be without sin. Sin, even a little bit, always breaks our fellowship with Him because of His purity and Holiness. John already taught this truth.

1 John 1:6 ESV

(6)  If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

We either walk in the light abiding with Jesus or in the darkness in sin. It cannot be both at the same time. Because Jesus is without sin, we cannot abide in Him as we are sinning. This is the exact same truth as saying sin breaks our fellowship with Jesus. Sin and abiding are incompatible. If I said a person cleans (present tense) their gun then I can know that they are not at an airport waiting for a flight. We know this because airport terminals are incompatible with guns. There are check points, and x-ray machines ensuring this fact. When a person cleans their gun, they could be a lot of different places but they will not be at an airport terminal.

This is exactly what John is teaching. When we are abiding with Jesus we will not sin. When we sin we are not walking in fellowship, abiding, with Him. Our sin shows we don’t know Him in that moment and are not seeing Him. It does not say that we never knew or saw Him. Sin does not come out of knowing and seeing Jesus. This truth means it is impossible for a believer to constantly abide, because we know that we will sin.

1 John 1:8-9 ESV

(8)  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(9)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

All of us sin and fall out of abiding with Jesus. As long as we are in this body with our old sin nature we will never perfectly abide with Jesus. If we claim to be sinless, always abiding, we deceive ourselves. This is why confession is so important. We all sin and stop abiding, and we are to bring these sins into the light and walk fresh with Jesus. Sin always breaks fellowship, and needs to be taken seriously. We cannot deceive ourselves or let anyone else deceive us that sin is not a big deal.

1 John 3:7-8 ESV

(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.

The false teachers were trying to deceive these believers. Some taught that they were beyond sin, and had a secret that helped them be perfect. Others were teaching it was impossible not to sin so it was not big deal. Ethier way John is emphasizing the importance of holy living and the serious consequences of sin. When we abide with Jesus we do not sin. When we sin, we are joining in with the devil who has been sinning form the beginning.

John 10:10 ESV

(10)  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

There is no life in sin, it only kills and produces death. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. The word destroy in 1 John 3:8 means to loose or untie, to set free. When we trust in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection we are set free from sin. We are given the abundant life that is only found in Him.

How we live as a believer in this new life is tremendously important! Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, why would we keep living in what Jesus came to conquer? Participating in sin is participating in the very thing Jesus came to destroy. It is participating in the very thing that caused Jesus to die on the cross. Whatever rational we hear that tries to excuse sin, it is wrong. We are to walk in our new life in Jesus.

1 John 3:9 NAS95

(9)  No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

This verse is very difficult because it presents the constant struggle and tension between who we are right now as a child of God and practically how we live. It compares our position with our practice. John already declared (3:2) that we are a child of God right now. This part of us, the new child of God, does not sin. When we sin, and we were already told we will, that comes from our old sin nature.

1 Corinthians 15:45 NAS95

(45)  So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

The moment Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden their spirit, the part of them that could be in relationship with God and abide with Him died. All humans since then have a body and soul and a dead spirit. If you are born a human you cannot change your nature, you cannot become a horse. We reflect the same human nature as Adam and it involves being dead spiritually.

Then came Jesus, the last Adam. He reconciled our sin, and made it possible for us to become spiritually alive. He gives life to the spirit that was dead in us. Just like our human nature that cannot be changed; once someone is born spiritually that cannot be undone. Our Spirit that came alive is described as a child of God, and John is saying that it does not sin. It is the part of us that can abide with Jesus. We now have a very serious moment by moment choice of how we are going to live.

Romans 6:1-5 ESV

(1)  What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
(2)  By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
(3)  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? (4)  We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

I will remind you that Jesus came to “to take away sins” and “to destroy the works of the devil.” When a person is saved, they are brough back and identified into His death on the cross. We are also identified into His resurrected life. We are given new life in our spirit through Him. We are to walk in that new life; we are to abide in Him. As we abide in Him, we will walk in obedience, this new spiritual side of us does not even have the ability to sin, this is what John says in verse 3:9. Unfortunately, that is not the only side of us. As a believer we have the capacity to abide with Jesus in our spirit and not to sin, but we also still have the capacity to sin in our old sin nature, our flesh. The same man who just asked how we can continue in sin, also says in the very next chapter:

Romans 7:18-21 NAS95

(18)  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
(19)  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
(20)  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
(21)  I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

The spiritual side of us that came alive in Jesus cannot sin. In direct contrast, our old sin nature the flesh, all it wants to do is sin. Our flesh does not have the ability to do anything else. Paul feels caught between these two sides of himself. He knows that He keeps on doing evil. He changes Greek words to emphasize the ongoing nature of these sins. He practices at sinning. This battle could only take place in a believer because if someone is spiritually dead, then they would have no desire to do good. These two sides, are both Paul. He cannot blame His flesh and act like He does not have a choice in the matter. This battle wages inside every believer. The great news, is that it is temporary and we have been given the Holy Spirit to come help us, abide right now and one day permanently.

Romans 8:10-13 ESV

(10)  But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
(11)  If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
(12)  So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
(13)  For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can put to death that old sin nature, and abide with Jesus in our new spiritual life.

1 John 3:10-13 | Sunday February 8, 2026

Often we can be tempted to diminish how dangerous false teaching is. For John this was not an option. He wants to encourage believers to remain anchored to the truth they have heard from the beginning. He desires for all believers to have an abiding walk with Jesus. The message of the false teachers was dangerous and would lead to sin. This is a huge deal because sin takes a believer out of fellowship, and out of an abiding walk with Jesus. Having this kind of non-abiding walk as a believer would cause us to shrink in shame at Jesus’ coming. His appearing is one of the themes that runs throughout this entire section. Understanding what Jesus accomplished at His first appearing, what He will accomplish at His second appearing, and ultimately how His appearing’s should be reflected in our life right now will combat the lies of the false teachers.

1 John 2:28-29; 3:2; 5-14 ESV

(28)  And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.
(29)  If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.

(2)  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.

(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.
(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.
(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.
(11)  For 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.

Jesus is fully righteous, and in Him there is no sin at all. At His first appearing He came to take away sin and destroy the works of Satan. At His second appearing all believers will perfectly reflect His righteousness in every aspect of who we are. We will finally be revealed because He Is revealed.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 ESV

(23)  Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our whole spirit, soul and body will be made perfect and blameless because we will see Jesus as He is. Last week we looked at the fact that we live between His two appearings. Sin has been defeated and all believers are a child of God right now. Yet, we still live in a body of death, and even our soul has been corrupted by sin. Our personality has good parts but also have parts that are sinful. We are called to abide with Jesus and in His sinlessness, as we await His return. To stay in sin is to deny the purpose behind both of His appearings. Seeing Him at His second appearing changes us and it should change us right now.

1 John 3:6 NAS95

(6)  No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.

Seeing Jesus changes us so when we sin we are not seeing Him and truly knowing Him. We saw and came to know Jesus when we were saved and that is supposed to have an ongoing affect in our walk. Sinning shows that our seeing and knowing Him are not having the affect it should. Our sins blinds us to Him.

2 Peter 1:9 ESV

(9)  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Sin does not come from an abiding walk with Jesus. When we walk in sin we are forgetting what His appearing accomplished for us. Jesus defeated sin by paying its penalty of death. When we were saved by trusting in Him, we became spiritually alive. The part of us that died in the garden is brought back to life, just like Jesus was. When we sin we are not walking in this new spiritual life.

1 John 3:9-10 NKJV

(9)  Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
(10)  In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

That part of us that came alive when we were saved is born of God. It is what enables us to have fellowship with Jesus and abide with Him. It is this new part of us that came alive that reveals, we are a child of God. This new nature in Christ is manifested, or revealed as we practice righteousness. This is the adjective of the word appearing that is throughout the passage. The new nature can honor God and reveal His righteousness in us. It is only through this new nature that true righteous acts can be done. Likewise, sin comes out of the old nature. When a nonbeliever sins they are revealing their nature. When a believer practices righteousness they are revealing their true nature. The problem is, believers don’t always act out of our nature. We have the capacity to sin and the capacity to abide. Those who shrink back, who have not been abiding, are not acting out of their new nature in Christ.

John 12:42-43 ESV

(42)  Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in Him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;
(43)  for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

These believers, are saved, yet are not walking in their new life. Their actions are not manifesting who they truly are. Instead, they were walking out of a fear of man and walking in their old sin nature. Unfortunately, a child of God can get very dirty and try to pretend that they don’t have a new nature.

Luke 15:15-16 ESV

(15)  So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
(16)  And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

Jesus is describing the prodigal son. At no point in the parable is the son not a son. Even when He is dirty like a pig, living with the pigs and longing to eat like a pig. His true nature as a son does not change. When a son lives this way they are not manifesting who they are. They great news is no prodigal is left in the pig pen. We are promised that God will discipline His sons and daughters.

Hebrews 12:6-7; 10 ESV

(6) For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.”
(7)  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
(10)  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.

God disciplines His sons and daughters; He lovingly corrects His own. This discipline is not pleasant, but it is for our good, so that we can share in His holiness. He so desires for our true nature as His child to be reflected in our lives. It can be hard to see what this discipline process looks like in a prodigal. If we did not have the book of Ecclesiastes, it would be difficult to tell the inner turmoil Solomon was under as He walked outside of God’s will. On the outside everything looked great, but on the inside, he was being disciplined and saw how empty it all was. We can rest in the truth that God is going to finish His work in every believer.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

(6)  And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

God began a good work in every believer when they became His child. This work will not be completed until we see Jesus face to face. We do not want to be the believers who shrink back from this moment. Our true nature will finally be revealed in every aspect of our life. Just as believers do not always reveal their true nature, non-believers can also hide their nature for a season.

2 Peter 2:20-22 ESV

(20)  For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
(21)  For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
(22)  What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Some nonbelievers come into enough contact with the truth that they are able to escape some of the defilements that sin causes. They never believe in Jesus, but start trying to practice moral things. This would be a nonbeliever being sober, or living a pure life until marriage. Both of these actions have earthly benefits. They would escape earthly consequences, but these external changes, are not true acts of righteousness, because they do not have a new nature yet. Someone is a child of God by believing in Jesus. The pig can wash up and be clean for a season. Yet, this washing does not change its true nature as a pig. A nonbeliever can live a moral life, but this will never save them. They need Jesus’ sacrifice. If a nonbeliever lives this way and yet never trusts in Jesus, it ends up worse for them in the end because they will have a harder heart towards the things of God. So both nonbelievers and believers can conceal out true natures. Yet true righteous acts are only accomplished through Jesus, in our new nature as believers. This raises the question though, of what do true acts of righteousness look like?

1 John 3:10-11 ESV

(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.
(11)  For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

True righteousness is reflected in our lives by showing love to our brothers and sisters in Christ. As a believer we are not of God, we are not abiding in Him, if we are not loving others. Walking in the Spirit will be shown through a God given love for others.

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV

(22)  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
(23)  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

There is a reason that love is listed out first. The Spirit produces true righteous acts in us. Love is righteousness in relation to others. When we abide we are reflecting Jesus’ heart. The fruit of the Spirit reflect Him. Love will become the major theme for the next 36 verses. Up to this point in the letter love has been mentioned 7 times (twice in reference to the world). From here through chapter 4 love will be mentioned 35 times. We are called to reflect Jesus and show His love. We are not to be like Cain.

1 John 3:12 ESV

(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.

As we are commanded to love, Cain is held up as the negative example. We are not to act like Him, which means it is possible for us to do so. Again we can cover up our true nature and not be loving. Cain hated Abel, and murdered him. We are given Cain’s motivation. Cain was jealous that Abel was righteous and He was not.

Genesis 4:2-5 ESV

(2)  And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
(3)  In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground,
(4)  and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,
(5)  but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

Cain was the older brother and was given the more important job of working the ground. Cain was in charge of growing food. Abel was given the less important job as younger brother of keeping the sheep. At this point sheep were only used for clothing (Gen 3:21) and worship. It is not until after the flood that humanity started eating animals (Gen 9:3). On a human scale Cain brought the more valuable offering. Cain brought His best to God and was rejected. Abel trusted in what God had instructed them to do, He brought blood. Abel’s actions were righteous because He was trusting in the blood of the future redeemer. He was looking forward to Jesus.

Hebrews 11:4 ESV

(4)  By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Abel had faith that He would be accepted by the blood. Too often this story is presented that Cain brought His leftovers and was out sinning all the time but Abel brought the best to God and was moral. Abel was righteous because of the blood.

Cain could not make sense of the fact that God required blood and He hated Abel for trusting in it.

1 John 3:12-13 ESV

(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.

The word used for murder is not the typical word for killing someone. This word means to kill by cutting the throat, and is used in context of offering a sacrifice. Cain was so upset that God accepted the blood of the sacrificial lamb that he sacrificed Abel. Our sin nature, and the world hates the truth of the gospel. It hates the truth that we cannot save ourself or create a new nature for ourselves. We are not accepted because of righteous acts that we do. We are righteous because we trust in the blood. Jesus gives us new life and enables us to abide in Him, to reflect His righteousness. Each command given to believers, like showing love, is only possible as we abide in Jesus. It is only possible as we walk in the new life He has given to us.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

(20)  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

1 John 3:14-16 | Sunday February 15, 2026

Usually we continue teaching verse by verse regardless of the holiday, with only a few exceptions. There are times that the passage and the holiday do not seem to fit well together. Then there are times, like today, when we are studying love the day after Valentine's Day. Instead of chocolate and candy hearts, John will be drawing us to the ultimate expression of love ever shown, Jesus’ life and death on the cross. As believers, we are called to abide in Jesus. Our abiding relationship will be shown through the love it produces in us for His body, other believers. This is a love that is not mere emotions or sentiment but is practical and tangible. This is a love that only God can produce, and it is willing to sacrifice self because it flows from abiding in Jesus and His self-sacrifice.

1 John 3:10-18 ESV

(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.
(11)  For 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.

Last week we saw the need as believers to let our true nature show through. We are children of God, and that is to reflect in our lives. It should be seen in a holy obedience, as we look to Jesus. Being God’s child should also be reflected in the love we have for other believers. Cain is held up as a negative example. He had a hatred for Abel and murdered him. This hatred stemmed from a self-focused jealousy of why Abel was accepted by God and he was not. Abel trusted in the blood and had faith that God would accept his offering because of a future redeemer who was to come. Cain refused to accept this and hated Abel for it. Often our command as believers to love each other is given within the context of the world hating us.

John 15:17-18 ESV

(17)  These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
(18)  “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

We saw in our study of the Gospel of John how Jesus spent precious time at the Last Supper encouraging His disciples to love each other. The need for love within the body of Christ is so important because of the hatred and persecution believers will find in the world. The world will consistently hate Jesus and His grace that is offered through His sacrifice. This is why Cain hated Abel and also why Ishmael hated and persecuted Isaac.

Galatians 4:28-29 ESV

(28)  Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
(29)  But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

Ishmael was born out of the power of the flesh. He represented trying to accomplish God’s will through our own power. The details of the story are different, but it is the same heart as Cain and his offering. Humanity making an effort to be acceptable to God and accomplish God’s will out of our own strength. Our sin nature hates God’s promise that can only be accomplished through the Spirit. Paul’s point is simple: this hatred existed all the way back with Ishmael and Isaac and still continues today. This is why our need to love each other in the body of Christ is so important. This natural desire to hate God’s work and His grace is also why true biblical love is so unnatural to us.

1 John 3:14 ESV

(14)  We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

Love is to be a major attribute of being in the family of God. Some people can be recognized as being part of a family because of a certain hair color, height, or overall look. The attribute that should identify someone as being part of the body of Christ is their love for other believers. Love is not the basis of why we are saved, but it is to be an ongoing result of our salvation. Love shows the amazing truth that as a believer we have gone from spiritually dead to spiritually alive. This transfer from death to life happened when we believed in Jesus for salvation.

John 5:24 NASB

(24) “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

The moment someone believes in Jesus to save them, they become spiritually alive. It is a tremendous moment, and yet absolutely nothing changes immediately on the outside. Yet, everything changed on the spiritual side instantly. God is clear in the gospel of John that the only way to go from death to life is through believing in Jesus. Then God is equally clear in John’s letter that we can see that change through the love that He starts to produce in us. True biblical love can only be accomplished through the work of God. Biblical love does not come from the world or the sin nature. We can know that we have been made spiritually alive because of the love that God produces in us. Meaning when we see ourselves start to love other believers and care for them and their spiritual growth, we can know God is working in us and we have life in Him. His love in us is supposed to show how we are different.

John 13:34-35 ESV

(34)  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.
(35)  By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I am always convicted about what we and all people are to be able to know through our love for each other. Personally, we are to know that we have new life because of a love that is not from us. Then others are to know who believers are by the love we show to each other. God’s love reflected in us is supposed to be His stamp of ownership on us. None of us show this love perfectly, and this is why John is encouraging us to abide in Jesus and to continue to show it.

1 John 3:14 ESV

(14)  We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

Love is an expression of the life that we have, so when we do not love, we are abiding in the death that is found in sin. The joy and love of our new life evaporates as we walk in sin. This whole section has been consistent. Sin takes us out of fellowship with Jesus and brings us back into fellowship with death and the destruction of sin. The Corinthian church is an example of this.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 NAS95

(1)  And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.
(2)  I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, (3)  for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

Paul started his letter to the Corinthian church by reminding these believers that they were “sanctified in Christ Jesus” and “called to be saints together” (1 Cor 1:2). Unfortunately, they were not acting like the spiritual children of God who they truly were. Their jealousy and infighting were showing that they were abiding in the flesh, abiding in death. They were acting like mere men and women and not as spiritual children of God. Each person in the Corinthian church had the opportunity to abide in Jesus individually. Then, if each believer would do that, they could corporately walk in the life and love He provides. God would produce a tremendous unity. Yet instead, they were destroying each other and not representing to themselves and to the world who they truly were. Abiding in Jesus produces love, and abiding in our sin nature produces hatred and death.

1 John 3:15 ESV

(15)  Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

In true John fashion, love is compared to its exact opposite - hate. Then John carries it one step farther to connect hatred with murder. Love is life-giving, and hatred is life-taking. As extreme as this might feel, he is only repeating what Jesus taught.

Matthew 5:21-22 NLT

(21)  “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’
(22)  But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

Jesus is elevating the law and teaching that we will be judged based on our hearts, not simply on our external actions. It is fairly easy not to murder someone, but it is another thing entirely not to sin against them in our head by calling them an idiot; the word literally means empty-headed. Jesus is pointing out mental attitude sins against people and how they reflect a lack of love. When we walk this way, we are not abiding in eternal life.

We cannot stop reading verse 15, a few words short. It does not stop with the phrase “no murderer has eternal life” but continues on to say “abiding in him.” As a believer, we can stop abiding, and hatred will take us out of the life Jesus desires for us. King David is an example of this.

2 Samuel 11:14-15 ESV

(14)  In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
(15)  In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”

David is not abiding, but walking in His flesh as He sinned with Bathsheba. He then went to great lengths to cover it up. He tried multiple times to manipulate Uriah to go home and be intimate with Bathsheba, yet Uriah was an honorable, loyal soldier and refused. So David decides to have Uriah murdered to cover up the P.R. nightmare that Bathsheba’s pregnancy would be. These are not actions of a man abiding in eternal life. These are the actions of a believer who was refusing to walk in the Spirit. David is reaping the death and destruction that sin brings. God convicted David, and he was broken over what he had done.

Psalm 51:10-14 ESV

(10)  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
(11)  Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.
(12)  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
(13)  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You.
(14)  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness.

David was a murderer and was saved. He had not been walking in the abundant life that Jesus desired for him. With a broken heart, David is pleading for God to restore His joy, to restore their relationship. He wants to abide and walk in that life again. He wants to be delivered from the guilt of shed blood on his hands. He is trusting in God’s righteousness. Unfortunately, there are not any sins that are out of reach for a believer. If we walk in them, we will be abiding in death and will not have eternal life abiding in us. David knew firsthand how costly this is. As believers, our sin is so damaging. We do not lose our salvation, but we lose fellowship with the life Jesus died for us to experience. Jesus is our example of love that we are to reflect.

1 John 3:16 ESV

(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.

We can define and know what true love is by looking to Jesus. He was willing to lay down His psyche, or what we usually translate as soul, for us. This involves His death on the cross but is much broader than that. He laid down His whole life. This involves His perfect obedience and active humility to take on flesh. There was a real moment in the throne room of God when God the Son stepped off His throne, and then the next thing the angels knew, He was inside of Mary’s womb. Then He was born as a baby and started growing and maturing. He lived in a daily patient obedience as He walked streets of dirt. He laid down His entire life for us. This was not forced on Him, but He willingly gave it.

John 10:11; 17-18 ESV

(11)  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
(17)  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
(18)  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.”

We are the helpless sheep who needed our shepherd to lay down His life to save ours. This incredible act of love even deepened the love God the Father had for God the Son. That should make us marvel at how incredible it truly was. He was called to this role by God the Father, but He had to be willing. He had to lay His life down. Please notice that it is personal. He laid it down for us. It is the greatest act of love we will know, and it teaches us what love truly is. Listen to Paul’s definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13 and think about how Jesus exemplifies each part of this love.

1 Corinthians 13:2-7 NLT

(2)  If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.
(3)  If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
(4)  Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud
(5)  or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
(6)  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
(7)  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

We could understand God’s secret plans and even know the details of what the tribulation would be like and be filled with all knowledge, but without love we would gain nothing. As much as we aim to know Christ through His Word, I so hope we never lose sight of how meaningless it all will be if we do not have love! Jesus was patient and kind; He was not jealous or proud. Jesus did not demand His own way. He did not demand another option instead of the cross. So, when we reflect His love, we are to reflect this humility and kindness. Jesus did not keep a record of wrong but was giving the payment so we can be forgiven. As we are called to love, we are to show this same forgiveness. We are not to calculate and keep record of each other’s wrongs. As He laid down His life for us, we are to love each other and lay down our lives for one another. Next week we will see how immensely practical and tangible this love is to be.

1 John 3:16-18 | Sunday March 1, 2026

As we study through First John God’s desire for believers to abide in Him becomes abundantly clear. He wants us to walk in fellowship with Him in the light and to be honest about what breaks our fellowship with Him. Sin brings us back to the darkness and takes us out of fellowship with God. Yet, He desires a close real relationship with us and is willing to keep restoring us to this relationship as we confess our sin and walk in the light with Him. Through Jesus’ blood God has made all believers His children. God wants us to know what this abiding walk as His child should look like in our life.

1 John 3:10-18 ESV

(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.
(11)  For 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.

Being a child of God should be shown in our life by the love that God produces in us. Love is to be a family trait of being God’s child. God taught us what true love is through Jesus. He was willing to lay down His psyche, or soul, for us. The bread that we remember during the Lord’s Supper points to His life laid down for us. Jesus fully gave of His entire life and showed us true love. The command to love is a message that has been given from the beginning and it is an eternal command that will never fade.

1 Corinthians 13:8-13 ESV

(8)  Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
(9)  For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
(10)  but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
(11)  When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
(12)  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
(13)  So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Love will never end, it is eternal and we will practice love in heaven. Prophecy and knowledge will pass way. This does not mean we will stop learning but it will look entirely different. As the church was being formed and the Word of God was being written the gifts of prophecy and knowledge looked different then they do today. Likewise these gift will look different in heaven because we will be in God’s presence. Yet faith, hope and love will continue to abide in heaven. Then love is singled out as the greatest. I wonder how many of us would agree with this in principal but the real conviction comes when asked if it is reflected in our lives. Meaning, do our lives show that love is the greatest?

1 John 3:16 ESV

(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.

We are indebted, and under obligation to lay down our souls for our fellow brother and sisters in Christ. To truly love we are to lay down self. To value and care for others instead of focusing on ourselves. This can be easy to claim.

John 13:36-38 ESV

(36)  Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow afterward.”
(37)  Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.”
(38)  Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied Me three times.

Peter is confident that He will lay down His life for Jesus. He even makes an attempt at this in the garden by wildly swinging a sword. Jesus knew that Peter did not understand the consistent giving of yourself that was required to truly lay down owns life. Through an ongoing walk Peter will learn what it is to lay down one’s life, and ultimately, He was martyred. The ongoing denial of self is where true love is shown. Sometimes it can be easier to claim we will die for someone, purely hypothetical of course, instead of denying self and loving them tangibly. We know this from the petty disputes and judgments that come in between us as believers. We are not different then the people in scripture. Paul spent a lot of time explaining to the Romans how to love each other by what they ate.

Romans 14:13; 15; 19-20; 15:2-3 ESV

(13)  Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

(15)  For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

(19)  So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
(20)  Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

(2)  Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
(3)  For Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on Me.”

We can become so petty as believers that we are more focused on the food we eat, then on loving our fellow believer. Paul is not talking about a clear sin issue. He is teaching on a conscience issue. An issue where we are to grow and mature in truth, yet we tend to judge each other and not give each other the room to grow. The Romans were tearing each other down, literally causing ruin and destruction in how they treated each other. This is not walking in love as a believer. We are called to build each other up which literally means to construct. As believers have we been focused on helping construct the walk of other believers around us, or are we tearing them down? Jesus is our great example. He did not pursue His own pleasure but was willing to build others up. This kind of love is not theoretically, or just a slogan but needs to be very tangible.

1 John 3:16-17 ESV

(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?

John’s audience was about to experience real persecution. Under the Roman empire to refuse to worship the Ceaser was viewed as treason. These believers needed to love each other considering the persecutions that lied ahead. Notice that brother in verse 17 is singular not plural. Meaning we care called to lay down our life for fellow believers, yet we are to respond in love when we see a specific brother in need. Verse 17 makes love tangible and practical. We can be tempted to love everyone in general and use it as an excuse not to love anyone in particular.

There is a word play between verse 16 and 17. In verse 16 we are called to lay down our life, which is psyche/soul. Then in verse 17 we are told to care for our brother with the bios or the worlds life (material goods and resources).

This love is tangible. When we see out brother or sister in Christ in need and have the resources of life to help we are called to be compassionate to them. The first step is to see our brother in need. This word see means to observe something with sustained attention. This is not a casual glance but is being apart of someone’s life close enough to see what the need truly is. This is only possible if we are involved and connected into each other’s life in the body of Christ. This is why being a part of the body is so much more then just going to church. We are called to be close enough together to know how to care for each other’s needs. We need to let the body be the body and let each other in so we can care for one another. This requires a vulnerability because we are so prone to hurt each other.

Then when we see the true needs we are not to close our heart, which literally means to shut, or lock up our gut, sympathy, or affections. The uncompassionate believer is not abiding and is not reflecting God’s love. To be uncompassionate as a believer means you are shutting up and blocking God’s love that He is trying to produce in you to care for that person as He does. An Abiding walk with Jesus is to be shown through the love He produces in us.

James 2:14-18 NAS95

(14)  What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
(15)  If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
(16)  and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
(17)  Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
(18)  But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

James is so practical, He is talking about the earthly good of our faith. What good is it if we claim to have faith and pronounce blessings over our brother and sister in Christ if we are not willing to tangibly care for them? James is literally asking how can that blessing, fill their stomach? He is not commenting on what is necessary for salvation. Later in His letter He makes this clear (James 5:20). Our faith is to draw us to an abiding walk with Jesus that can be seen. The closer we are to Jesus the more His love should be seen in our lives. Moses is a great example of this.

Exodus 34:29 ESV

(29)  When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

Moses had spent time on the mountain drawing close to God. His face was glowing with God’s glory and He did not even know it. This is what love should be in a believers life. When we draw close to Jesus, we will radiate His tangible self-sacrificial love. If we stop abiding, we will stop showing His love. As sin increases in the world this will continually become a greater danger.

Matthew 24:6-8; 12 ESV

(6)  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
(7)  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
(8)  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

(12)  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

As the end draws near the world will get increasingly tumultuous. The birth pains will come quicker and be more intense. Yet Jesus’ caution is so important to us. As the world heads into more sin and lawlessness, we will have a natural tendency to stop loving. We will be prone to close our hearts, and not reflect His compassion. As we watch the news, and see the lawlessness all around us, we will be tempted for our love to grow cold. We can become callused. To guard against this hardening we are called to abide. We are to look to Jesus and draw near to Him. His love is real, tangible and based on truth.

1 John 3:18 ESV

(18)  Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

We can give lip service to love but it is our actions that show it. How many professions of love were given by husbands on valentines day, and now by the end of the month is it being shown by doing the dishes, picking the kids up from school, or cooking dinner? Jesus did not love us in word only, but was willing to take on human flesh and daily lay down His life for us. This Godly love is very different then what the world practices, because Godly love is rooted in truth. Sometimes the most loving and compassionate thing is to say no, or not to help in the way the person is asking for help. There can be a lot of false ideas of what would be loving. We can see this when Mary anointed Jesus with very expensive perfume.

John 12:4-6 ESV

(4)  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,
(5)  “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”
(6)  He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Judas acted piously, and pretended He was truly trying to help the poor but it was all fake. We are called to love with actions that use a Godly wisdom and discernment in how to show it. This kind of love can be very hard to practice at times but is absolutely what we are called to. Judas was pretending to love with actions but it was not based on truth. Godly love does not undue God’s holy standard. His truth should guide us in how we are to truly show biblical love.

Galatians 5:13-16 ESV

(13)  For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
(14)  For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
(15)  But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
(16)  But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

The law is fulfilled in true biblical love. This is a love that is not accepting of sin, and even requires a payment for it. It is a love that was willing to give the ultimate payment so that our sin could be dealt with. We will only know how to walk in this love as we abide and walk in the Spirit. If we walk in the flesh, we will bite and devour each other.

Most of the passages we have looked at today have specifically been talking about our love we are to have for other believers. This does not negate the love we are to have for our neighbor. Jesus famously answered this question of who is our neighbor.

Luke 10:36-37 ESV

(36)  Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
(37)  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

The Samaritan, not the priest of Levite, was willing to take time and see the real needs of the man and care for Him. It was the Samaritan who was his neighbor. Meaning our neighbor is anyone who God brings into our path for us to show His love. Biblical love is not natural to us, and will stand out to the world. It will cross barriers, and also hold lines of truth that the world does not care about.

Galatians 6:10 ESV

(10)  So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

1 John 3:19-24 | Sunday March 8, 2026

Love can seem like such a simple topic and one that everyone can agree with. We hear so much in the world today about the need for everyone to show more love. The problem is the love the world calls us to is never defined. God’s truth, on the other hand, is very clear in defining love. Jesus was willing to lay down His entire life for us, and we are called to reflect this same love. It is a love that is willing to sacrifice self and is based on God’s truth. When love is defined this way, it is no longer a simple topic, and the world cannot agree with it. When we, as believers, see God call for us to be self-sacrificially loving to each other in the body of Christ, we can feel tremendously inadequate. Nothing is more convicting and exposes our failures than God’s call to love. Through this passage we can be so tempted to condemn ourselves. We start to wonder if it is even possible for us to show this kind of love. Guilt can set in quickly. God knew this about us. In this next section, He offers us truth that is meant to anchor us to Him and give us a way to process our self-condemnation.

1 John 3:11; 14; 16-24 ESV

(11)  For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

(14)  We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

(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.

The love described is only possible through a relationship with Jesus. His life shows us what true love is. We can only have this love through an abiding relationship with Him. This is why we can know so much from the love that He alone can produce in us. When we see this God-produced love in us, it is meant to reassure our hearts that we are in the truth.

When we see this God-produced love in our life, we can know that we are walking in the truth, that we are abiding. The more we abide with Jesus, the more His love will shine through us. Seeing His love in us is meant to reassure our hearts. This word means to convince, persuade, pacify, set at ease, to be won over as the result of persuasion. Meaning God’s love shown in us is meant to be something that we can point to and convince our heart, and win it over, that we are abiding in Jesus. We can be so prone to doubt and guilt that we can wonder if we ever can really know if we are abiding. His love in us is meant to answer that question. It is meant to answer the doubts of our hearts.

1 John 3:19-20 ESV

(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.

We need this reassurance because our hearts condemn and pronounce unfavorable judgment against us. This is why it is so dangerous to live based on emotions. This is why we cannot let our conscience be our guide.

Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 ESV

(12)  There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

There is a way that can appear right to us naturally. This can involve our actions or how to make decisions. It can also involve how we think and evaluate ourselves. It seems right to us that something would work this way or that. It seems right to us that when we sin, God is out to get us. It seems right that God couldn’t love me because of this sin. It seems right… The end result of this natural thinking of our heart is death. God is so clear on this point that He repeats the same truth word for word, 2 chapters away from each other. Paul had to learn not to trust His conscience and not to judge himself.

1 Corinthians 4:3-4 NLT

(3)  As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point.
(4)  My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.

Through a lot of life, Paul had learned not to trust himself, not to trust the way that seemed right. In this case, his conscience was clear, but he didn’t trust it. On the other hand, if his conscience was condemning him, he didn’t trust it then either. We need to rely on God’s truth in His word to reassure ourselves of the truth.

1 John 3:20 ESV

(20)  for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything.

This is a tremendous truth that we can come back to over and over again. God is greater than our hearts. When our hearts condemn us and feed us lies, God is greater! He is greater because He knows our hearts and what is in them.

Jeremiah 17:5-10 ESV

(5)  Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.
(6)  He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
(7)  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.
(8)  He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
(9)  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
(10)  “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

It is a cursed thing to trust in our flesh and in ourselves. When we rely on our own strength, we are a shrub that is constantly dry. We exist in a constant fear and anxiety of what might come next and if we will be strong enough to handle it. This is what makes “what ifs” so hard. When we imagine scenarios, we leave God out of the picture. Instead, we are to be planted in Him and His Word. When we rely on God, we have no need to fear or be anxious because we know who He is. This is what abiding looks like; this person is bearing fruit as they rest in Him, fully aware they have no strength themselves. This plant is not stronger, but they are tapped into God’s strength. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately sick. They keep trying to convince us to be a strong shrub in the desert. God is the one who searches our heart. He knows who we are and how we fully need Him. Solomon echoed this truth in his prayer as the temple was dedicated.

1 Kings 8:38-39 ESV

(38)  whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house,
(39)  then hear in heaven Your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart You know, according to all his ways (for You, You only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),

We know the pain and affliction in our own heart, but we never know for sure if it is true or not by ourselves. Solomon prays for God to hear these prayers from heaven and to respond. God knows our hearts, and we are told He alone knows what is truly in our hearts. This means that we cannot claim full knowledge about our hearts; only He can. When our hearts condemn us, there can be so many truths that they fail to take into account. We question if we were truly loving or not, or if we should have done more, or if our motives were right. On and on the doubts can go. God is greater than our hearts and takes into account all the things our hearts fail to. God truly knows us and truly knows Himself!

Psalm 103:8-14 ESV

(8)  The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
(9)  He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever.
(10)  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
(11)  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him;
(12) as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.
(13)  As a father shows compassion to His children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him.
(14)  For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

God does not deal with us according to our sin. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are accepted in front of God. He is gracious, merciful, and abounding in steadfast love to us. Jesus’ life and death enable God to fully and completely remove our sin from us. He fully knows our hearts and fully knows that we are just dust. He was there and remembers that He created us from dirt (Gen 2:7). When our hearts condemn us, we are to remember that there is nothing hidden from God. There is no secret that can be revealed or action that we can do that will change His deep love and grace for us. The truth that should convince and reassure our hearts is that He fully knows us and still loves us and still produces His love in us!

1 John 3:19-20 Wuest Expanded New Testament

(19)  In this we shall know experientially that we are out of the truth, and in His presence shall tranquilize our hearts
(20)  in whatever our hearts condemn us, because greater is God than our hearts and knows all things.

This is a truth that can tranquilize our self-condemning and lying hearts. We can often feel this way when we come to God in prayer. We need for our hearts to be reassured before Him when we come into His presence. God already knows!

1 John 3:21-22 ESV

(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.

This does not mean that our hearts never condemned us. We are able to have confidence before God when we tranquilize our hearts with the truth that He already knows everything about us and still He loves us. When we come back to this truth, we are able to have openness, boldness, and free speech with God. Why wouldn’t we? He is greater than our hearts and knows them better than we do ourselves. We can be confident and open with God through Jesus’ blood. This is the same word for confidence that John used back in 2:28 describing the boldness and free speech we are to have at Jesus return. An abiding walk is an open walk with Jesus. We should have this openness in our prayer life now and when He returns.

When we walk in this confidence before God, we can boldly come to Him in prayer and expect to receive whatever we ask of Him. This confidence comes from an abiding walk. We can sometimes forget as believers the simple truth that God is pleased when we obey. This means we are keeping God’s commandments and pleasing Him so our prayers are reflecting His will.

Psalm 37:4-5 ESV

(4)  Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
(5)  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act.

We will have the desires of our heart, and God will give us what we ask of Him when we first delight ourselves in Him. Prayers that come out of an abiding walk, a walk that pleases God, reflect His character and heart. He can give us what we ask because our desires are rooted in Him at that point. The main way we can pray as obedient Christians is for the will of God to be accomplished. Jesus gave us this ultimate example. The prayer for God’s will is a surrendering of ourselves and delighting in God. It is truly amazing how God summarizes what keeping His commandments truly looks like.

1 John 3:22-23 ESV

(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.

Notice the change from plural commandments in verse 22 to the single commandment in verse 23. The commandment that sums everything up is to believe in the name of Jesus and to love one another. To believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ is to trust and have faith in Jesus. To accept who He is as God’s son and trust that He died on the cross for your sin. As we believe in Jesus and understand His love, we are able to have love for one another. This singular commandment to believe and love sums up what an abiding walk looks like. We are to grow deeper in our trust and walk with Him and, in turn, love others with the love He produces in us.

1 John 3:24 ESV

(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.

We are to reassure our condemning hearts by seeing the love God provides in us and trusting that He already knows everything about us. We can know we are abiding in Him when we are following His commandments. His commandment is to believe in Jesus and love. When we abide, we are walking in His light, in obedience. We can know that God is abiding in us because of the Holy Spirit. We go in and out of fellowship with Him, but God remains with us. He gave us His Spirit so we could know that He is abiding in us. We are the ones who pull back from the relationship. We are the ones who go back to the darkness. Thanks be to God that He remains faithful and never pulls back from us. He even sealed us with His Spirit to prove this to us.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NLT

(21)  It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us,
(22)  and He has identified us as His own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything He has promised us.

1 John 4:1-4 | Sunday March 15, 2026

Last week we saw how deceptive our own hearts are in trying to convince us that we are not abiding with Jesus. God gave us truth that is meant to reassure, and tranquilize our hearts. God is greater than our hearts and fully knows us. He knows our failures and weaknesses and still wants a close walk with us. He does not pull back from us.

1 John 3:24 ESV

(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.

Our God is so loving that He gave us the Holy Spirit so we could abide and walk in this type of close relationship. As John mentions the Holy Spirit, he wants to quickly clarify that there are many other spirits that are out there that will not help us abide and that we need to be cautious of.

1 John 4:1-4 ESV

(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. 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.

Many false prophets can claim to be abiding in God and have a message from Him. The false teachers who broke fellowship with the apostles were claiming to have a new word from God. This message was supposedly a special insight from the Holy Spirit. John warns us as Christians not to be gullible. Just because someone claims God told them something, we should not immediately believe them. We are being warned that there are many spirits in the world besides the Holy Spirit that are behind false prophets.

1 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV

(1)  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
(2)  through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
(3)  who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
(4)  For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 
(5)  for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

These false prophets are departing from the faith and from the anchoring truths found in the word of God. Instead, they have turned to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. Their message is not based on the Holy Spirit but on the lies of the enemy. There are many falsehoods that we would think of as a teaching of a demon. Typically we would not think of forbidding marriage and rules about what food to eat. Yet, this shows how damaging and hurtful legalism is. Taking God’s freedom and making it into a rules-based, self-righteousness is a teaching from demons. This kind of teaching leads us to follow rules instead of God. There are many other examples of false teaching in scripture.

2 Peter 2:1-3 ESV

(1)  But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
(2)  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
(3)  And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

False teachers can also lean into sensuality. Instead of making hard rules to follow, they can violate the clear commands God has given to us. They are motivated by greed and use false words to gain followers. Their testimony blasphemes the truth, and unfortunately there are many of them.

1 John 4:1 ESV

(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.

There are many false prophets who are sharing a message that is not from the Holy Spirit. We are called to test the spirits. John is using spirit in a very broad sense of the word. Spirit can refer to an attitude in our human spirit (Col 2:5) or even to supernatural spirits like demons. This is why we need to test the spirits. Test means to make a critical examination of something to determine its genuineness. We are to examine what is taught with the goal of approving it and accepting truth. This is not to be done with a critical heart.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 ESV

(19)  Do not quench the Spirit.
(20)  Do not despise prophecies,
(21)  but test everything; hold fast what is good.

As we are called to test the spirits and everything for that matter, we are to be careful not to despise prophecy. This means we don’t reject and view other teachings as beneath our consideration, but we are to test everything so we can hold fast to the truth. Notice this does not say only elders and pastors are called to do this. Every believer is called to have discernment and keep comparing what we hear taught to the Word of God.

Matthew 7:15-16 ESV

(15)  “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 
(16)  You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

Jesus warns us that false prophets will look like sheep on the outside. This means their actions and message will seem correct. The inward heart of the false prophet's life and message is where the issue is. When their teaching is followed, it cannot be lived out and also will lead to sin. This is the fruit that Jesus mentions. False messages lead to false living. The early church set up guards to try and discern who a false prophet was. The Didache is from the 1st or 2nd century, and it includes these warnings. When a prophet visits your church, he “shall not remain except one day; but if there be need, also the next; but if he remain three days, he is a false prophet. […] if he asks for money, he is a false prophet. […] every prophet who teaches the truth, if he does not do what he teaches, is a false prophet.” To help us separate out false prophets from the truth, John gives us a rule of truth that each message can be measured against.

1 John 4:2-3 ESV

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

A message is truly from God and the Holy Spirit if it confesses the core truth that Jesus is the Christ and came in the flesh. This means Jesus is fully God from eternity past and came and took on human flesh. He is the Christ, the anointed messiah who could pay for sins. If anyone does not confess this, then they are a false prophet, and their message is not from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came to proclaim who Jesus is.

John 15:26 ESV

(26)  “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.

The Holy Spirit came to bear witness to and elevate Jesus. If Jesus is diminished, then the message is not from the Holy Spirit. Biblical truth is to magnify Jesus. We were told back in 1 John 2:22-23 that to deny the Son is to deny the Father also. Now we are taught that to deny Jesus or change Him in some way is to prove your message is not from the Holy Spirit. The only way to have a relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit is through Jesus.

In John’s day, Jesus’ humanity was being called into question. In our day these truths are still challenged. This would include Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Each of these groups official teachings would deny Jesus’ full humanity, or His full deity, or that He is the Christ, the ultimate payment for sins. The message these groups proclaim denies this truth and is not from the Holy Spirit and not from God. Anything that changes the core truth about Jesus is in the spirit of the antichrist that is already at work in the world. We have an active enemy that is constantly trying to draw humanity away from Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:3-6 ESV

(3)  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
(4)  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
(5)  For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
(6)  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Satan sends out so many spirits to change the truth about Jesus and to blind this world to the glory of Christ. We are not to proclaim anything but who Jesus is. God is the one who is strong enough to shine light into the darkness of our heart and overcome the enemy that wants to keep us in the darkness. The spirit of antichrist is very active in the world, yet the great news is that we have access to something much stronger.

1 John 4:4 ESV

(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.

We have overcome the false spirits and the spirit of antichrist through the power of the Holy Spirit. We have God in us giving us light and drawing us to an abiding walk with Him. This world is dark, but He is greater. There is a lot of false teaching in the world, but He teaches us the truth. We do not overcome by our strength or ability but through relying on Him.

Our security, stability, and growth are possible through the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit enables us to abide with Jesus.

Romans 8:11-15 ESV

(11)  If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
(12)  So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
(13)  For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
(14)  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
(15)  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

The Holy Spirit is not to be viewed as a small part or background character of the Trinity. He had the power to raise Jesus from the grave and has the power to help us live in our new life in Christ. We are to put to death our old sin nature through the power of the Holy Spirit. A relationship with God is not a walk into slavery and burdensome rules. A relationship with God is being adopted as a son and daughter, and we can cry out to Him, “Abba! Father!” We get to experience this closeness with God through the Holy Spirit. So often we do not see the tremendous power we have to abide in Jesus right at our fingertips. We tend to view life and our circumstances the same way Elisha’s servant did when threatened by the King of Syria.

2 Kings 6:14-17 ESV

(14)  So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
(15)  When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
(16)  He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
(17)  Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

We should echo this prayer. O Lord, please let us see the amazing power you have given to us in the Holy Spirit. Help us see how He will help us to abide in Jesus. Help us not rely on our strength but to rely on the one in us that is greater than our enemy in the world.

1 John 4:5-14 | Sunday March 22, 2026

Throughout the book of 1 John, we have been warned about false teachers who have left the truth and are not in fellowship with the apostles anymore. This has weighed heavy on John’s heart. He wants all believers to walk in an abiding relationship with Jesus and following false teaching breaks our fellowship with God. This is why we are called to test the spirits and see if the teaching that we hear is based in the world or based in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit proclaims who Jesus is, fully God and fully man, and what He did as the Christ, paying for our sins. As we walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, He will guide us into truth. He enables us to have an abiding walk with God that will be shown by the love God produces in us.

1 John 4:4-14 ESV

(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.
(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.
(7)  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
(8)  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
(9)  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.
(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.
(11)  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
(12)  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.
(13)  By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
(14)  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

John has been very careful to make sure who he is talking about in each section is clear. In verse 4 he addresses his audience, who are believers. “You are from God” and have the Holy Spirit in you, who is greater than any of the lies and falsehoods that are in the world. This is entirely different from the false teachers: “They are from the world.” The lies that they teach have their source in the world, and the world follows them. Then, in contrast, John declares that he and the other apostles "are from God.” The apostles message has not changed; they have taught about Jesus from the beginning. Abiding believers will listen to John and the apostles because they proclaim Jesus.

John 10:27 ESV

(27)  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

As sheep, we are to respond and listen to the voice of our shepherd. The Spirit of Truth proclaims Jesus and is rooted in scripture. He helps us hear our shepherd's voice.

John 16:13 ESV

(13)  When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.

The Spirit of Truth is the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. He is not an impersonal force. He will guide us into truth and keep drawing believers back to the Word. He did not come to keep giving new revelation. He does not speak on His own authority and does not keep updating the message as the false teachers were claiming. He takes God’s truth found in the Word and makes it real to us. His message does not change with each generation or new thought.

The spirit of error will constantly have a new, updated message. The word error literally means wandering from the path of truth. The spirit of error keeps wandering off the path and looking for new things. The world does not care how it is wrong, as long as it is wrong. Jesus promised that the Spirit of Truth would keep pointing us back to Him and His truth. One of the ways the Holy Spirit does this is by using the various roles Jesus gave to the church.

Ephesians 4:11-16 ESV

(11)  And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
(12)  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
(13)  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
(14)  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
(15)  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ,
(16)  from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Jesus gave the church specific roles to equip believers to be built up and grow in Him. The Holy Spirit empowers each of these roles. In John’s time it was the apostles who were writing scripture and holding the line of truth. John’s correction was meant to come with authority. Jesus also gave prophets and evangelists to build up the church. Today the main role we see is that of shepherd/ teacher. Shepherd teacher is one role; there is one article introducing it. This should be the role of pastors today. We are called to shepherd Jesus’ flock and teach truth. Every believer needs this building up because we are all children who get tossed around by false teaching. We all need to mature by speaking truth in love with each other. As we help each other grow in the truth, we are to be built up in love. The more we grow in maturity, the more loving we are to be.

1 John 4:7-8 ESV

(7)  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
(8)  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

As John encourages us again to love one another, he puts into practice what he has been teaching by calling us beloved. John had a love and care for his audience that came from God, and he wanted us to have this same kind of love. True biblical love is from God. When we have this love, it shows we are a child of His and are walking with Him. We do not know God and are not in fellowship with Him if we are not loving. God is love. This is one of three other “God is…” statements in scripture. Each one teaches us a core truth about who God is.

John 4:24 ESV

(24)  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

1 John 1:5 ESV

(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.

Hebrews 12:28-29 ESV

(28) Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
(29) for our God is a consuming fire.

God is spirit and not bound by physical limitations. He is not worshipped only in a certain place but can be worshipped everywhere in spirit and truth. God is light. This means God is pure and holy without any shadow of darkness or sin in Him at all. His purity is so amazing it is unapproachable (1 Tim 6:16). In His purity and justice, God is a consuming fire. All three of these truths are in perfect unity with the fact that God is love.

God is not light one day and loving the next. In all of His activity, He is spirit, loving, pure (light), and just (consuming fire). Based on these truths, He could not ignore sin or sweep it under the rug. As light, He exposes sin and shows it for the wickedness it is. As a consuming fire, He was able to judge sin fully, and out of His love, He did so in a way not to destroy us as sinners. As spirits, we can all approach Him on this truth and worship Him. The greatest manifestation of His love is seen in Jesus, and all these truths come together perfectly in Him.

1 John 4:9 NAS95

(9)  By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

God revealed, made known, and showed His love by sending Jesus. Love is not primarily an emotion but purposeful action. His love caused Him to act. We know the love of God because He sent His Son Jesus. Begotten does not mean that Jesus had a beginning, because He always existed as God (John 1:1). Only begotten means unique, one-of-a-kind. God the Father sent the unique, one-of-a-kind God the Son to the world so that we would have life through Him. Without Jesus we only have death; life is found in Him. When God sent Jesus, it was not in response to us or because we deserved it.

1 John 4:10 ESV

(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.

God’s love was not in response to our love for Him. It is the opposite. He loved us and sent Jesus when we were rebellious sinners.

Romans 5:8 ESV

(8) but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is what makes Jesus sacrifice on the cross all the more amazing to comprehend. It was not earned, or deserved, and we were not even asking for it. We were sinners and did not want God and had no interest in a relationship with Him. This is what makes Christianity so unique. Every other religion is humanity seeking a way to come to God, yet the truth of scripture is God seeking a way to humanity. It is a core truth that God initiated salvation. He loved us! If His love is warranted or in response to us, then it is not that amazing.

Matthew 5:46 ESV

(46)  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

It is very natural to love someone who loves you; even the tax collectors do this. God would not be worthy of much worship and praise if this is what the cross was. If Jesus came out of a response to our love, then it is not an amazing love. God’s love for us is free, uncaused, unwarranted, and spontaneous. God sent Jesus in an incredible act of love to pay for sin.

1 John 4:10 ESV

(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.

God’s love sought to meet our deep spiritual need. As sinners, we deserved death and God’s wrath. Jesus willingly became the propitiation for our sins. This means He was the payment that was given to God to appease God’s wrath. This word is often used in pagan writing as the physical payment that had to be offered to a god to stop a judgment, or calamity, like an earthquake or flood. We are not the ones bringing the payment. God sent Jesus to become the payment, to give His blood and satisfy the wrath of God. Nothing more can ever be added to that payment!

1 John 4:11 ESV

(11)  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

We are to respond to this kind of amazing love that God has shown to us by showing His love to one another. This has been the overall theme the last few weeks. John chose wording that echoes a statement he heard Jesus teach to Nicodemus.

John 3:16 ESV

(16)  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

God so loved. He loved to a degree that is beyond anything humanity had ever known before. He taught us what true self-sacrificial love is. As amazing as this love is, so many of us can struggle to accept and understand it. We feel unworthy. We know we sin and so feel we are ungrateful. We need to rest in this truth, that God so loved. He so loved the world, He so loved us, He so loved you. This love is not because of us but is for us. We are saved and are given eternal life the moment we believe in Jesus. God wants to bring this amazing love to completion in each of us as believers.

1 John 4:12 ESV

(12)  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.

The word perfected means to bring to an end or full completion. God wants to bring His self-sacrificial love to full completion in us, by having us show it in our lives. When His love is reflected in us, we truly get to be part of and see something amazing. God is so holy and amazing that no one can ever see Him.

John 1:18 NAS95

(18)  No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

Jesus came and expounded, described, revealed, set forth in great detail, and made known who God is. Jesus reveals God the Father to us, and through the Holy Spirit we can abide with Jesus. As we are abiding in Him, we get to see something amazing.

1 John 4:12-14 ESV

(12)  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.
(13)  By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
(14)  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

The Holy Spirit that we have been given is of God; it is of His Spirit. It is not when we start loving that we receive the Spirit. When we believe in Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit. As we abide, He enables us to start loving. The Holy Spirit enables us to love, but we are not forced to. “If we love one another” means we have a choice to love or not to love. When we show this kind of love that only comes from God, we know we are in the Spirit and that we are abiding.

The unseen God can now be seen in the love that He is producing in us as believers. This love shows and testifies that Jesus came to be the Savior of the world. We can only have this love because of all that Jesus has done. The word see, is the same in both verses 12 and 14 and means to gaze intensely at something. We get to see the amazing love God has shown in sending Jesus to be the savior of the world through loving one another with His self-sacrificial love. This literally means that we have an opportunity to see and have fellowship with God as we love each other. John physically saw Christ (different word) and wanted us to get to see Him and experience the same fellowship He had.

1 John 1:3 ESV

(3) that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

1 John 4:15-21 | Sunday March 29, 2026

Throughout this section in 1 John we have been encouraged, reminded and commanded to love. Each time the anchoring thought has been God’s great love for us that is shown through Jesus. The entire emphasizes is not how much we can love God, but how much He has loved us. God is love, and was willing to send Himself, Jesus, to be the propitiation of our sins. Jesus is the perfect blood payment for sin that satisfied God’s righteous holiness and appeased His wrath against sin. Since we have been loved with such an extravagant, self-sacrificial love, we are to show this kind of love to others. We are to reflect the amazing love that Jesus has shown to us.

1 John 4:14-21 ESV

(14)  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.
(15)  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him, and He in God.
(16)  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
(17)  By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world.
(18)  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
(19)  We love because He first loved us.
(20)  If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
(21)  And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

With the lies of the false teachers John keeps bringing us back to the core truth of who Jesus is. Earlier in the chapter, in verse 2, John affirmed that the Spirit of God confesses “that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” God’s anointed, the Messiah took on full humanity. Now John is affirming the full deity of Jesus, He is the Son of God. This is the same truth that John the Baptist confessed.

John 1:31-34 ESV

(31)  I myself did not know Him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel.”
(32)  And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him.
(33)  I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
(34)  And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

John the Baptist came baptizing so that the true messiah could be revealed. God gave John a sign to be watching for, the person that the Holy Spirit descended and remained on was the Messiah. As John baptized Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended and remained on Him. This convinced John that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus was not an ordinary man but was fully God and fully man and came as the Christ. It is on this profession that Jesus promised to build His church.

Matthew 16:15-18 ESV

(15)  He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
(16)  Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
(17)  And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
(18)  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

This was a truth that God had revealed to Peter. Peter understood that Jesus was the promised Christ. Who was physically there in the flesh and at the same time was the Son of the living God. That confession is the rock that that church is built on. The church is not built on the man Peter but on the confession about Jesus. It is a confession that declares who Jesus is and what He has done. When someone confesses this, they are saved. 1 John 4:15 even emphasizes this by the word “confesses” being in the aorist tense. This emphasizes a single, decisive, confession, the time of which is unspecified, that is completed. It is not a future confession that we need to make to enter the pearly gates. It is not that we must keep on confessing it and if we ever stop, we lose our salvation. That is what is so amazing about salvation, it is not about us but about Jesus. In Him we see God’s love for us.

1 John 4:16-17 ESV

(16)  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
(17)  By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world.

The more we come to know Jesus the more we will come to know and believe the love that God’s has for us. Jesus shows us God’s love. We know His love the moment we are saved but are to continue to know and trust in His love as we grow and mature. Our walk as believers will never be stronger than the extent that we show God’s love to one another. We are not just to store up His love but let it flow out of us. Our fellowship with Him is to be shown in the love He produces in us. The more we know Jesus the more loving we will be.

This outflow of love is to give us a confidence that God has been maturing us. It is to give us a boldness, and free speech for the day of judgment. This is a theme John introduced back in chapter 2.

1 John 2:28 ESV

(28)  And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.

As we abide in Jesus we will also be abiding in His love and letting it be brought to completion by showing God’s love to others. Abiding in Him and in His love gives us a boldness to see Jesus on the day of judgment. The judgment mentioned is not a fear of punishment or wrath. As believers we will not experience this.

John 5:24 ESV

(24)  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

We do not experience judgment of our sins because Jesus fully paid for them on the cross. If we believe in Jesus we pass from death into life. We do not come into judgment for our sins. The day of judgment John is referencing, that we can have a boldness for is the Bema Seat. It is when the earthly will be separated from the eternal in our lives.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 ESV

(10)  According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
(11)  For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(12)  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
(13)  each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
(14)  If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
(15)  If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

All believers have an opportunity to build on top of the foundation of Jesus. Some things will look good here but burn up and not be eternal. Others things will seem small here but will be shown as eternal. John wants us to have confidence for this day by abiding in Jesus and showing His love to others. Showing God’s love is eternal and can only be produced by walking with Him.

1 John 4:16-17 ESV

(17)  By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world.

Having this confidence is possible because just as Jesus is so also are we right now. This points us to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God and is resurrected. Because Jesus is a Son and resurrected so are believers today. As a believer we are a son or daughter of God and can walk in the new resurrected life that Jesus secured. We can abide right now in this world because we are like Him. The Bema seat is meant to motivate us to live for Him right now, to live for eternal things. It is not meant to be something to be dreaded.

1 John 4:18 ESV

(18)  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Fear and love are incompatible with each other. John is careful to define what kind of fear he is talking about. The fear that is not involved in love has to do with punishment. The word punishment is very unique and only found one other place in scripture. In Matthew 25 Jesus describes the separation of sheep and goats and the punishment that non-believers will experience.

Matthew 25:46 ESV

(46)  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The fear of hell and being punished in it is cast out of our lives as we experience the love of God. Meaning we do not need to keep looking over our shoulders as believers and be worried that we will be punished in hell. We have the love of God in Jesus. When we believe in Jesus we no longer have to fear this punishment but get to abide in His love! This kind of fear is actually its own punishment. We see this start immediately after Adam and Eve sinned.

Genesis 3:8-10 ESV

(8)  And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
(9)  But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
(10)  And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Once Adam and Eve sinned they began to experience the fear that involves punishment. Hearing God coming close was no longer a joy but something to be scared of. God pursues and in our fear we hide.

As believers we are able to abide in Jesus and enjoy fellowship with Him again. We do not need to be afraid of punishment because of all He accomplished on the cross. Fear of punishment is very different than the fear of God we are called to have.

2 Corinthians 5:9-11 ESV

(9)  So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.
(10)  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
(11)  Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

We make it our aim to please God out of a response to all he has done for us. Understanding how important the bema seat is and living for the eternal is called knowing the fear of God. This is not a fear of punishment, but a reverential awe of who God is. We stand amazed at the love He has shown to us and in awe are to live for Him.

1 Peter 1:17-19 ESV

(17)  And if you call on Him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
(18)  knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
(19)  but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

We are to have a reverential awe during our time on this earth because we know what God did to ransom us. He sent Jesus to save us by offering His perfect blood. This is not a fear of punishment, but living in a reverence and awe based on who He is and how much He has loved us. Fear of punishment is worrying we are going to make a mistake and God will smite us. Having a fear of God is seeing God as holy and being amazed that Jesus shed His blood for you. In response to this love, what would you ever hold back or not trust Him with. We can learn how to abide with Him in this awe as we truly come to know His love for us.

1 John 4:18-19 ESV

(18)  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
(19)  We love because He first loved us.

We need to understand that our ability to love God and others comes from Him. He loved us first. Why would we fear punishment when we see what He has done for us? Our love of God and others will grow the more we see God’s love for us.

This is not a love based on us, or based on something in our own character. We are able to love because He first loved us. In our sin, in our wickedness, He loved us. Yet, He didn’t stop there. He wants to bring that love to completion. John has mentioned it multiple times. We are to let our awe of God’s love for us overflow by showing His love for others.

1 John 4:20-21 ESV

(20)  If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
(21)  And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

God knew that we would try to claim to know Him and love Him without loving others. If we are hating our brother in Christ, and showing prejudice to them, then we are not loving God. Racism and hate have no place in an abiding believer. How do we talk about people that are different then us, or disagree with us? How do we talk about the people we see as the problem? We cannot let ourselves fall into the hypocrisy of religion. To love God is to love our brother in Christ.

This is the third time John has warned us not to hate our brother (1 John 2:9; and 3:15). These commands are not addressed to the world, or nonbelievers but to us as believers. This has been repeated so many times because it is so important and we struggle with it. Hate is what is natural to us. Godly love is from Him. This entire section John has tried to show the incredible love that God have for us and how it should be at work in us. God’s love causes us to love Him and then love others. This was Jesus’ answer to what is the greatest commandment.

Matthew 22:37-40 ESV

(37)  And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
(38)  This is the great and first commandment.
(39)  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
(40)  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

First, we are called to love God, with our heart, soul and mind. This means we are to love Him with all that we are. This is only possible because He first loved us. We respond to His great love. Then the second is to love our neighbor. We cannot separate out the two commands, and we cannot change the order. The entire Law and Prophets are summarized by this working of God’s love in our lives. He loved us, so we can love Him with all we are and then we can love others. God loves us so much and wants to bring that love to its full completion in our lives.

1 John 5:1-5 | Sunday April 12, 2026

1 John 3:11 NAS95

(11) For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;

1 John 4:21 NAS95

(21) And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

Throughout this entire section on love, John has been trying to show how loving God and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ are intimately connected. This was not just someone’s opinion, but the message we heard from the beginning is a commandment from Jesus. This love for God and others is not primarily emotional but is practical and based in truth (3:18). God is love, so we cannot claim to know Him without showing His love (4:8). We also cannot claim that we do not know what love is because God revealed His love to us by sending Jesus to be the perfect payment for sins (4:9). As we come to know and love God, we are to reflect His self-sacrificial love. In case anyone tries to claim that they do not know who their brother or sister is, John addresses that at the beginning of chapter 5.

1 John 5:1-5 ESV

(1) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him.
(2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments.
(3) For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
(4) For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
(5) Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

There is one qualification to being a brother or sister in Christ, and that is to believe in Jesus. John never defines being a Christian any other way. We are not born again because of our lifestyle, good works, or obedience to God. These come later in our new life. We are born again by believing in Jesus as the Christ.

John 20:30-31 ESV

(30) Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
(31) but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

When we believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, we have life. We are born again.

John 1:12-13 ESV

(12) But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God,
(13) who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Nicodemus, a teacher of the law, did not understand what it meant to be born again. In Acts 15, the Apostles had to debate what was required to be born again. Throughout church history, so much has been added to this definition. For many years people thought they were saved because of the country they were born into and the religion they were baptized into as a baby. Today, many think they have to change something or clean themselves up to be born again. Yet, verse after verse makes it so clear that the core issue is Jesus. We are to believe, have faith, and receive who He is as the Son of God and what He did as the Christ. When someone believes in Jesus, they are born again and are a brother and sister in the family of Jesus. This offer to believe is for everyone.

1 Timothy 2:3-4 ESV

(3) This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,
(4) who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God loved all of humanity and made the offer of salvation, to be born again, available to everyone. God desires for all people to be saved. He loves all of us that much.

1 John 5:1 ESV

(1) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him.

It is so interesting to see that everyone who believes is not automatically the same as everyone who loves the Father. We are born again by our belief in Jesus. Then in our growth we are called to learn what it is to love the Father. Think about the illustration God gives about being born into His family. What defines the core relationship between a child and parent? Is it the protection or care the parent shows? Is it the times together and fellowship they have? Is it the love they show each other? Each of these should come out of a child and parent relationship, but they are not the core definition. Whoever is born from the parent is the biological child. Their DNA proves the biological relationship. The same is true in our salvation.

Once we are born into the family of God by believing, nothing can undo that. Our DNA as a child of God cannot be altered or changed. There are many things that are to be reflected in our life as a believer. Specifically loving God and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, but having this love did not cause us to be born again. Meaning if we are not loving, then our status as a child should not be called into question. We do not save ourselves, and we do not keep ourselves saved. The phrase born of God is in the passive voice. It is something done to us. We had as much to do with our spiritual birth as we did our natural birth. Then we are to grow up as a member of the family of God and are called to love.

1 John 5:1 NET

(1) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child fathered by Him.

We are to have a love for the Father and a love for all of our other siblings of the Father. This means our love for our siblings is not based on who they are or how they act but is based on who their Father is. We are called to love our brother and sister in Christ even if they are not acting like our brother or sister. Matthew 18:15-17 and 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 describe the love we are called to have for our fellow believers when they are living in sin. Out of love, we may even be called to break fellowship with them out of a hope that they repent. The love we are called to show each other is real, practical, and based on truth. It is to be based on who our Father is and how He defines love. Which raises the question, how can we know if we are truly loving our brothers and sisters in Christ?

1 John 5:2 ESV

(2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments.

The most loving thing I can do for my fellow brother and sister in Christ is to love God and obey His commandments. This is not done in a self-focus. We are not able to biblically love others unless we are growing in our relationship with Jesus and following His commandments. The closer I grow in relationship to Him, the more loving I will be. Having an abiding walk with Jesus and growing close to Him is the best way I can love anyone else. Notice commandments is in the plural. This is describing the whole of the Word of God. It means walking in our new nature and obediently following Him. We walk in His love when we follow His commandments.

1 John 5:3 ESV

(3) For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Love is not an emotional experience or butterflies in the stomach. True biblical love is a moral commitment; it is practical and active. This means that we do not follow the commandments of God out of a duty or because we have to. That is such a low way of living. We are called to follow the commandments of the Word because we see they show God’s love for us and our love for others. Being obedient out of love is a very high level of living.

Colossians 3:5-10 ESV

(5) Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
(6) On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
(7) In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
(8) But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
(9) Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
(10) and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Not being sexually immoral because you might get caught or punished is a weak motivation. When the right opportunity presents itself and no one will know, then our moral lines start to change. Instead, we are not to be sexually immoral because we understand that in His great love, God has given us a tremendous gift and shown us how and when we will be most fulfilled in it and be able to glorify Him. Likewise, we could not slander for fear someone will hear us, yet this can be hard because we already had the critiquing thoughts and are so tempted to share them. Instead, we are to not slander and disrespect someone because we see them as someone who is loved by and valuable to God. Notice we are not judging our love based on an emotional reaction but on obediently following God’s commandments as we are motivated by His love. When we see the commandments of scripture this way, they no longer are burdensome but a joy.

Matthew 11:28-30 NAS95

(28) "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
(29) "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
(30) "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

If I am doing something because I have to do it, then it is not easy, but if I am doing it because I want to, out of love, then it becomes easy. The Christian life is not meant to be an overwhelming yoke or burden. Walking with Jesus is to be a joy. He will rest us. The end of verses 3 and 4 explains where the power comes from so that walking in His commandments is not burdensome.

1 John 5:3-4 NET

(3) For this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments. And His commandments do not weigh us down,
(4) because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world. This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith.

This translation shows the connection between verses 3 and 4 very well. The connecting word is not "for," like at the beginning of verse 3, but is the word "because" or "since." God’s commandments are not burdensome, heavy, or troublesome, because anyone born of God conquers or overcomes the world. As a born-again child of God, we have the ability to walk in His commands. He enables us to have the strength to obey His commandments and for them to not be burdensome.

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 ESV

(11) “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.
(12) It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
(13) Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
(14) But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

Moses is instructing Israel as they prepare to enter the promised land. The promised land is a picture of a spirit-filled, abiding walk with God. It is meant to show us the closeness to God that we can have. God did not give us impossible commands to follow. He enables us to obey them through His strength. We have the power to walk in a spirit-filled life because He overcame the world.

1 John 5:4-5 NAS95

(4) For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
(5) Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

The emphasis is not on our power or strength to overcome but on the power of the new birth in Jesus. It is not that we are strong enough, but that we have been born of God. Jesus is the one who secured the victory. The word is nikē. He is victorious.

1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV

(57) But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The victory is found in Him. The word victory assumes that there was a conquest or battle. No one is strong enough to enter into this battle with sin and come out victorious other than Jesus.

Revelation 5:3-7 NAS95

(3) And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it.
(4) Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;
(5) and one of the elders *said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals."
(6) And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
(7) And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

This book wraps up all things for humanity and creation, and no one is worthy to open it and enact what is in it. There are perfect angels present, and not one can do it. John weeps over this. The Lion, who is the lamb that was slain, is the one who has overcome. He is the one who is worthy. He is victorious. What is truly amazing is that then we are able to walk in His victory through faith.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

(20) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved Me and gave Himself for me.

We are born again and become a child of God by having faith in Jesus. We are to continue to live by faith in Jesus. We have the strength to be obedient to His commands by faith in Him. Our new life is in Jesus, and we have access to it and walk in its power by faith.

Hebrews 11:1; 6 ESV

(1) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
(6) And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

Faith is taking God at His Word. Faith is having an ownership and title deed of the things we look forward to, and presenting evidence of the truth of what we cannot see right now. Without faith we are utterly powerless to please God.

1 John 5:4-5 | Sunday April 19, 2026

1 John 5:4-5 NAS95

(4) For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
(5) Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Last week we finished on the truth that whatever is born of God overcomes the world. Whatever is purposely generic to emphasize how universal this truth is. Anything can overcome the world as long as it has been born of God. It does not matter what it is or who the person is. The ability to overcome comes from God. Jesus is the overcomer and gives us His victory. Now we can walk as overcomers. This concept of being an overcomer is so important to our walk right now as believers; we are going to take another week to look at it.

Romans 8:35-37 NAS95

(35) Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
(36) Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."
(37) But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

This passage has so many amazing truths that we can rest on. We will never face a tribulation that is so stressful and hard that it is able to separate us from the love of Christ. This can be comforting but also hard to hear because we all know that we have lived through a set of stressful circumstances at some time that made us feel like we were separated from His love. No amount of need and being without can separate us from His love. Yet it is when we are in need and without that we can wonder if we have been separated from Him. Through Jesus we are able to overwhelmingly conquer. Through His victory we are called super conquerors, and yet if we are honest, there are days when we are not so super. In fact, later in Romans, Paul addresses the beloved (Rom 12:19), fellow believers, and gives us a serious warning.

Romans 12:21 ESV

(21) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is the same word, to conquer or overcome. This means as believers we can be overcome by evil in this world. Paul would not give us a command not to do something if it was impossible for us to do in the first place. It is so important for us to understand how this command and 1 John 5 fit together.

Colossians 2:14-15 NLT

(14) He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. (15)  In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross.

We are overcomers because our sin is fully paid for at the cross. Jesus disarmed the world and all the spiritual forces in it. He is victorious; the cross defeated sin and death. He put them to public shame by paying for our sins. We are overcomers in our salvation but then have a choice to live today as an overcomer. Our salvation is secured; the war is over. Then living like an overcomer is about maturing and growing closer to Jesus. The daily fight against the world and walking with Jesus is in progress. We can walk in His victory and fight with His strength or be overcome by this evil world.

Ephesians 6:12 NLT

(12) For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Each of us as born-again children of God are in a daily fight against the sinful world and all the spiritual enemies of God. A believer who is overcome by evil does not lose their salvation, but they lose their fellowship. They lose walking in the eternal things God had for them. They lose their peace and contentment found in Him. The Old Testament is full of examples of God’s people not walking in His strength and in His victory. Abraham ignored God’s promise that Sarah would have a child. He instead walked in his own power and had a child with Hagar. Israel was defeated in the promised land, at Ai, because there was sin in the camp. Instead of getting to enjoy the victory God would secure, their sin left them to their own strength, and they failed. We are no different. This is why being an overcomer is so important for believers. Jesus actually commands all 7 churches in Revelation to overcome. He desires for all believers to walk today as overcomers.

Revelation 2:4-7 NAS95

(4) 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
(5) 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
(6) 'Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
(7) 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.'

The Ephesians had neglected, abandoned, and departed from their first love. This refers to both their love for God and their love for others. As we have seen in 1 John, love for God and for others go hand in hand. They are called to overcome losing the love they had at first. The Ephesians had a choice: walk as an overcomer and grow in their love for God and others or see their church crumble as a result of having no fellowship with Jesus. They need to remember where they have fallen from and repent. We know this is written to believers because they once had a love and fell from that height. A nonbeliever is already down and is not falling from anywhere. If they overcome, they will have a unique fellowship and closeness to God. The reward is not salvation but a fullness of life.

Revelation 2:10-11 NAS95

(10) 'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
(11) 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.'

The church at Smyrna was about to go through intense suffering and persecution. This trial was going to be so intense the outcome of it was death. Jesus is encouraging these believers to remain faithful and overcome the persecution. If they remain faithful, they will receive the crown of life, and He reassures them that the second death, which is the lake of fire, will never hurt a believer, especially not an overcomer. He is calling them and us to live for where real life is, when we see Him. The ten days are going to be hard, but Jesus is promising it will be worth it.

Revelation 2:14-16 NAS95

(14) 'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.
(15) 'So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
(16) 'Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

The church at Pergamum had fallen into false teaching. They had accepted the teaching of Balaam and were trying to figure out ways around God’s will. They also followed the Nicolaitans. Jesus encouraged the Ephesians for hating the work of the Nicolaitans and said He hated it as well (Rev. 2:6). Unfortunately, Pergamum was accepting it, and Jesus does not want them connected to the Nicolaitans when He comes and makes war against the false teachers. They were called to repent from these false teachers and to turn back to truth. False teaching can prevent us from being overcomers.

Revelation 2:17 NAS95

(17) 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.'

If they overcome, Jesus promises to give them hidden manna, a sweet, nourishing reward. He also promises to give the overcomer a special name that is unique just between Jesus and the person. This is a level of intimacy with Jesus that is hard to fathom. Yet, each of us as believers should seek to be an overcomer and get to experience it. Nothing would be better.

Revelation 2:20; 26-28 NAS95

(20) 'But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
(26) 'He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS;
(27) AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father;
(28) and I will give him the morning star.

The church at Thyatira was growing and maturing in Christ. Unfortunately, some were tolerating a false teacher named Jezebel, who was leading people into immorality. Jesus challenges those who have followed her into immortality to repent. He encourages those who have not followed her to hold fast until He comes. They are called to overcome and to keep His deeds. Walking in sin will prevent us from overcoming and enjoying Jesus’ victory. He freed us from sin so we could walk with Him. The overcomer seeks to walk in this fellowship. The overcomer is promised to rule with Jesus in the kingdom, and Jesus promises to give them the morning star. This is amazing because later in Revelation we are told who the morning star is.

Revelation 22:16 ESV

(16) “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Jesus is the morning star. So in reality Jesus is promising to give the overcomer Himself. These rewards are all tied to an intimacy and closeness of relationship. If we do not overcome, we can miss out on this closeness. Or we can live as overcomers through Jesus victory and partake of the special intimacy and closeness that He promises.

Revelation 3:1-3 NAS95

(1) "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
(2) 'Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.
(3) 'So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

The church at Sardis was struggling with hypocrisy. They had a name for being alive and had actions that were impressive from the outside. Yet, Jesus knew their hearts and said they were dead. They were doing things for God and had built quite the reputation, but their hearts were not in it. They were so busy doing that they missed the heart, the “why” of their actions. They had many deeds, but they were incomplete; they were lacking the heart motive of glorifying God. These believers needed to come back to the truth of the Word that they had heard and live it out. The reality is some will wake up and be strengthened, and some will not. All believers will overcome in Jesus, but not all believers live as overcomers.

Revelation 3:4-6 NAS95

(4) 'But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.
(5) 'He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (6)  'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

The incredible reward for overcomers is that Jesus will confess our name to the Father. Again, this is an intimacy we should long for. Jesus is not saying that anyone will lose their salvation if they are not an overcomer.

2 Timothy 2:11-13 ESV

(11) The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him;
(12) if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us;
(13) if we are faithless, He remains faithful—for He cannot deny Himself.

This is the other side of the confession before the Father that Jesus is mentioning. The one who denies Jesus will be denied by Him. This person is not an overcomer. Yet, even if they are faithless, they are still saved because Jesus remains faithful. These rewards for overcoming are so incredible; let us not focus on negatives and what would happen if we do not overcome, but desire to overcome and experience these great rewards.

Revelation 3:8; 11-13 NAS95

(8) 'I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
(11) 'I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
(12) 'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
(13) 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

The church in Philadelphia was doing well and had kept God’s word. Jesus encourages them to hold fast to what they have. He does not want anyone or anything to take hold of, grasp their crown, and get in the way of the eternal rewards they were walking in. The overcomer is promised to be made a pillar in the temple. God’s name will be written on them, and Jesus’ new name will be shared with them. What today is more valuable than enjoying these rewards for all eternity? To be an overcomer, we are called to remain steadfast and persevere. It is the result of a daily sustained walk in Jesus’ victory.

Revelation 3:20-22 NAS95

(20) 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
(21) 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
(22) 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

The Laodicean Church was lukewarm, and they were relying on themselves. Jesus makes such an amazing offer of fellowship to them. He is standing at the door actively knocking, seeking a closer walk. He is offering that same fellowship to each one of us today. We can walk today as an overcomer.

Each church had a unique set of challenges they were called to overcome. We are no different. What I am called to overcome will look different from yours. The Ephesians needed to overcome by reclaiming their first love but were doing great at guarding against false teaching. Whereas Pergamum needed to overcome false teaching. We each have an area we are called to overcome and walk in this intimate fellowship with Jesus. The amazing thing about living as an overcomer is it means we walk in a close relationship with Him now and also when we get to heaven. If you are a believer today, this offer is for you. If you have not been overcoming, remember: wake up, repent, and hold fast to our great overcomer.

1 John 5:6-12 | Sunday April 26, 2026

1 John 5:1; 5 ESV

(1)  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him.

(5)  Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Everyone can be born of God by believing in Jesus. The offer of salvation is universal. When we believe in Jesus, we are born of God and become overcomers because of all that Jesus accomplished. Last week we spent extra time looking at how important it is for us as overcomers to live each day as an overcomer. When we have fellowship with Jesus and abide with Him, we are living as an overcomer. This is all possible because of Jesus and starts when we believe in Him. Belief has no value by itself. What or whom we believe in is where all the value comes from. I can earnestly believe something with all my might, and it be wrong. No matter how much I believed it, it is still wrong and has no value. John wants to make sure we know who we are believing in. He does this by sharing various testimonies, or witnesses that point to the truth of who Jesus is.

1 John 5:6-12 ESV

(6)  This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
(7)  For there are three that testify:
(8)  the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
(9)  If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that He has borne concerning His Son.
(10)  Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son.
(11)  And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
(12)  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

John brings up 4 testimonies that all bear witness to the amazing truth about Jesus, the Spirit, the water, the blood, and God the Father. Remember that a group of false teachers have left the fellowship with the apostles. They have started teaching a different Jesus. One of these false teachers, named Cerinthus, believed that Jesus was born as a mere man, and then the “Christ Spirit” or divine messiah descended on Him at Jesus’ baptism but left Him before the cross. This meant that the messiah did not fully take on flesh and did not die on the cross.

1 John 5:6 NAS95

(6)  This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

John’s goal is to share testimonies that explain who Jesus is and what He accomplished, and yet these verses are very hard to understand. Throughout church history there have been many different interpretations as to what the water and blood are in reference to. One detail that is helpful in understanding this verse is to see that Jesus coming with water seems to be agreed upon. John is arguing Jesus did not only come with water, meaning those he is correcting agree on the water part. This would fit with the false teaching of Cerinthus if the water John is referring to is the Baptism of Jesus.

Mark 1:9-11 ESV

(9)  In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
(10)  And when He came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.
(11)  And a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”

This was the moment that John the Baptist had been waiting for. John 1:31-33 informs us that Jesus was revealed as the messiah because the Holy Spirit descended and remained on Him at His baptism. "Messiah" means "anointed one," and Jesus was anointed at His baptism with the Holy Spirit. This began His public ministry. Cerinthus was correct to emphasize it; the Messiah had to come through water. Yet he was wrong to say that Jesus was not fully God or the Messiah before this moment. He was also wrong to say that the Messiah left Jesus before the cross. Jesus had to come not only with water but also with, or by means of, the blood.

Hebrews 9:11-14 NLT

(11)  So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.
(12)  With His own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
(13)  Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.
(14)  Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Christ did not come just to be an example of servanthood to us. He did not come just to perform miracles and teach. The Christ, who was recognized by His baptism (the water), came to be the perfect sacrifice (the blood). He entered into the perfect tabernacle in heaven with His own blood. Through the eternal Spirit, Jesus offered Himself, His blood, to God the Father. All three members of the Trinity were involved. We are saved, and our sins are paid for by the blood of Jesus. If the spirit of the messiah left Jesus on the cross, then His death was that of a mere man, and trusting in Him would not give someone eternal life. If the blood of animals could make someone ceremonially clean, how much greater is the blood of Jesus? What could we ever add to this payment?

Jesus’ baptism and death on the cross are the two horizons of His earthly ministry. John is emphasizing all that Jesus accomplished as the true messiah. He came both through the water of His baptism and the blood of His death on the cross. There are many other interpretations. Water and blood could also point to Jesus’ full humanity as the messiah at His birth. This would correct Cerinthus’ view that the messiah or divine part of Jesus only descended at the baptism. Water and blood also has an allusion to the moment at the cross when the soldier pierced Jesus and water and blood came out (John 19:34). Overall, the water and blood testify to who Jesus is and what He accomplished. They are not alone in this testimony.

1 John 5:6 ESV

(6)  This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

In 1 John 4:8 we were taught that God is love; now we are taught the Spirit is the truth. The Holy Spirit is crucial in helping us understand Jesus and understand spiritual truth. One of the primary focuses of His ministry is to proclaim Jesus and to teach us spiritual truths.

John 15:26 NAS95

(26)  "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,

1 Corinthians 2:12-13 ESV

(12)  Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
(13)  And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The Holy Spirit is not focused on promoting or emphasizing Himself. He is the helper who comes to testify and explain who Jesus is. The Holy Spirit takes the truths about Jesus and makes us able to understand them. Spiritual truth is not learned by human wisdom but through the work of the Holy Spirit. He is truth and proclaims Jesus.

1 John 5:7 ESV

(7)  For there are three that testify:
(8)  the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

The Holy Spirit, the water, and the blood are all giving the same testimony about who Jesus is and what He accomplished. One testimony would not be enough to verify this truth. So God gave us multiple testimonies, which fits a principle found throughout His Word.

Deuteronomy 19:15 ESV

(15)  “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.

2 Corinthians 13:1 ESV

(1)  This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

We are told not to accept something if it only comes from one source, one testimony. This principle could not be more important to our society today. As believers, we need to use extreme caution and discernment in what we accept as truth. Today, a falsehood can be repeated on countless websites and posts and have no real truth behind it. This is why anchoring to God’s truth is so important. He has given us multiple testimonies to prove who Jesus is. Some translations have an extra sentence or two right between verses 7 and 8.

1 John 5:7-8 NKJV

(7)  For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
(8)  And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.

The underlined section is what has been added. These sentences do not add anything incorrect and even emphasize the Trinity. The issue is that the case to not include them is very clear-cut. The longer reading is not found in the major Greek manuscripts. It is not quoted by any early church fathers, and if it were in scripture, it would have been a very helpful verse as they debated the Trinity.

The first time it shows up is in the late 11th and 12th centuries, and both times in the margin. Erasmus compiled a Greek New Testament that the KJV is based on and refused to include it in his Greek first edition. He eventually added it in his third edition after a lot of pressure from the Catholic Church. Then in later additions he removed it again.

I bring it up so you know how well documented, studied, and scrutinized the Bible has been. God performed a miracle in giving us His Word, and He is big enough to protect it. There is no one perfect translation, but we have a perfect communicator in God, who gave us His Spirit so we could know His truth. In His love He gave us so many witnesses to who Jesus is, and He even testifies about Jesus Himself.

1 John 5:9 ESV

(9)  If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that He has borne concerning His Son.

When something is proved by enough human testimonies, we believe it to be true. We should be all the more willing to accept the testimony that comes from God.

1 John 5:10 ESV

(10)  Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son.

If someone refuses to believe in the testimony God had given about the Son, then they are calling God a liar. The truth of Jesus goes beyond any human's opinion and straight to God. Unbelief is an active, sinful rejection of God’s truth about Jesus. To reject Jesus is to refuse God’s testimony about Him.

This verse is not about your ability to believe or how much you believe. The testimony that we have in ourselves is about who Jesus Christ is. The fact that we believe at all proves Him. John has consistently presented belief as a very simple true or false issue. We overcomplicate it with varying degrees and ultimately place the emphasis back on ourselves. It is about Jesus. Do we accept what God has testified about Him? Yes or no? It is that straightforward. Verse 11 explains to us what the testimony is.

1 John 5:11-12 NAS95

(11) And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
(12)  He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

The testimony that we have within ourselves as believers is that God gave us eternal life in Jesus. To have Jesus is to have the life, eternal life. This is not about how saved we feel. Our testimony is not based on our emotions. It is based on the fact that God has given us life through Jesus. There is only one way to have eternal life, and that is through Jesus. This means that it is impossible to have eternal life without Jesus because He is eternal life. This life we have been given is the life.

John 10:9-10 ESV

(9)  I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
(10)  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus is the only door. All we have to do is enter through Him. We believe in the testimony God has given that in Jesus is life. When someone believes we have a secure promise that they will be saved. When we believe in Jesus, we are given Him, so we are also given eternal, abundant life. This is not just life that never ends but is to be extraordinary and remarkable. This abundant life does not just start when we get to heaven, but we can start walking in it right now. The more we have fellowship with Jesus, the more abundant life becomes. What makes you feel the most alive right now? Is it an adrenaline-pumping experience? Is it a day of good health or a beautiful view with great weather? True abundant life is in Jesus.

Philippians 1:21 ESV

(21)  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.