First, the Christians to whom John wrote had lost their first love and had become complacent and Christianity was taken for granted.  Many of the believers were children and grandchildren of the first Christians.. The new and bright sheen of the Christian faith had become tarnished. The newness had worn off.  The thrill and glory of the first days had faded.  The excitement of the early Christians who had been present when Paul had come to town and challenged Diana of the Ephesians with His teachings of Jesus, the Messiah had been forgotten!  The whole town of Ephesus had been in an uproar over these new teachings of the man named Paul.   In Acts 19 we read of the effect Paul’s teaching had upon the synagogue at Ephesus and also the impact of his daily sessions in the school of Tyrannus for two years. How fervent their love and zeal for Christ had been in those days. But many years later, the Lord Jesus sent a letter to the Ephesian believers through John while he was in exile on the Island of Patmos. That letter was in the Book of Revelation. 

He said in Revelation 2:1-5; 1. "Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands: 2. I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. 3. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. 4.  But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! 5.  Look how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to me again and work as you did at first. If you don’t, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. 

It was as Jesus had long before warned in  Matthew 24:12; “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.” . The Ephesians’ devotion and dedication to Christ was at it’s lowest point since they had heard the message of Jesus and had become believers.

Second, the high standards of Christianity made the Christians different, and the children and grandchildren of the first Christians did not want to be different. The believers were called saints.   The primary intent of the word saint, in Greek,  is “set aside for the sole use of God or that which belongs to God”.  But the Ephesians had become Christians of compromise.  They had become Christians in word only. They were cast in a different mold from the disciples to whom Jesus had said in John 15:19; “The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don’t. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you”.  And also in His high priestly prayer to His Father are these words in    .John 17:14; “I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not”.  There was a breakdown of the Judeo-Christian ethic and a disregard of Bible standards.  Their lives were no different from the non-Christians.  They were living lives apart from God’s standards and were not excited about their faith in Jesus Christ.

Third, persecution was not the enemy of Christianity. The danger to the Ephesian church was not persecution from the outside but seduction from the inside. The Lord Jesus Himself had warned of this in  Matthew 24:24; “For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones”.  And the apostle Paul had said to the Ephesian elders in  Acts 20:29-30; “ I know full well that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock.  Even some of you will distort the truth in order to draw a following”.  Christianity was not in danger of being destroyed; it was in danger of being changed. The attempt was being made to improve it, give it intellectual respectability, and let it speak in the terms of the popular philosophy.  Satan had led the people away from the central truth that was taught by Jesus.

Fourth, Gnosticism [G-N-O-S-T-I-C-I-S-M] was the real enemy of Christianity, and it still is. Gnosticism was the basic philosophy of the Roman Empire.  Gnosticism took many forms. The primary teaching that ran through this philosophy was that material matter was essentially evil and  only the spirit was good. All the material world was considered evil. Therefore Gnosticism despised the body. They held that in the body was a spirit, like a seed in the dirty soil. This same principle is in modern liberalism which maintains that there is a spark of good in everyone and that each person is to develop that spark of good. The Gnostics sought to make the spirit of good within them grow and tried to get rid of the evil in the body.

There were two extreme methods of accomplishing this goal as practiced by the Stoics [S-T-O-I-C-S] and the Epicureans [E-P-I-C-U-R-E-A-N-S]. 

The Stoics were disciples of Zeno, and their name came from the Painted Portico at Athens where Zeno lectured. They were pantheists who held that the wise men should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submissive to natural law. They observed rigid rules and self-discipline. 

The Epicureans took their name from Epicurus who taught in Athens. They accepted the Greek gods on Mount Olympus. They considered pleasure rather than truth the pursuit of life. Originally they sought to satisfy intellectual, not sensual, gratification; but later they taught their followers to satisfy the body’s desires so it wouldn’t bother them any more.

The apostle Paul’s encounter with these two sects is recorded in Acts 17:16-34 “16.  While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. 17 He went to the synagogue to debate with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.  18 He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, This babbler has picked up some strange ideas, Others said, He’s pushing some foreign religion.  19 Then they took him to the Council of Philosophers. Come and tell us more about this new religion, they said. 20 You are saying some rather startling things, and we want to know what it is all about. 21 (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)  22 So Paul, standing before the Council, addressed them as follows: Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many altars. And one of them had this inscription on it “To an Unknown God”.  You have been worshiping him without knowing who he is, and now I wish to tell you about him.  24 He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need there is. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand which should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.   27 His purpose in all of this was that the nations should seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As one of your own poets says, We are his offspring. 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. 30 God overlooked people’s former ignorance about these things, but now he commands everyone everywhere to turn away from idols and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.  32 When they heard Paul speak of the resurrection of a person who had been dead, some laughed, but others said,  We want to hear more about this later. 33 That ended Paul’s discussion with them, 34 but some joined him and became believers”.

There were many groups that had differences between the two extremes of Stoicism and Epicureanism, but all of them denied the messiahship of Jesus.  John must have had them in mind when he wrote in 1 John 2:22 “ And who is the great liar? The one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Such people are antichrists, for they have denied the Father and the Son.”  

They denied the Incarnation, reasoning that God could not have taken a human body because all flesh is evil. Therefore John distinctly declared in John 1:14, “ So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.”

It is very important that the believer know without a doubt that Jesus was God in a human body.  That God actually became flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ.  John will deal with this subject many times in his First Epistle.  In First John 4:1-3 he writes: 1. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because 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 of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”

Docetic Gnosticism [D-O-C-E-T-I-C   G-N-O-S-T-I-C-I-S-M-], considered the Incarnation impossible since God could not unite Himself with anything evil such as a body, and taught that Jesus only seemed to have a body, but actually He did not. For example, when He walked He left no footprints.  Some were more subtle in their teaching and declared that there was both a human Jesus and a divine Christ.  They claimed that divinity came upon Him at His baptism and left Him at the Cross.  The early church fathers fought this heresy and maintained that He became what we are to make us what He is.  It is amazing to what ridiculous lengths people will go to try and explain away God’s Miraculous and Devine power to do what He wants to do.

Many believe that John wrote his first epistle to answer the errors of Gnosticism. There are five major teachings given to us in 1 John:

1.  We may have fellowship together with God; 1:3,  We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
2.  Our joy may be full {yours and ours} 1:4,  We are writing these things so that our joy will be complete.
3. We should not sin but when we do sin there is someone to plead our case to the Father;  2:1,   My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely.
4. We may believe on the name of the Son of God and be saved, and {5} We can know that we have eternal life; 5:13,  I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.

John wrote his Gospel to tell people about the life and teachings of Jesus and how they can receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.  In the Gospel of John chapter 20 verses 30-31, he writes, “ 30 Jesus’ disciples saw him do many other miraculous signs besides the ones recorded in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life.”

He wrote his first letter to tell people how to be sure that they have been born of God.  He illustrates this in 1 John 5:9-13 when he writes, “9 Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son. 10 All who believe in the Son of God know that this is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.  11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 So whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life.  13 I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”
 

John’s Gospel takes us into the Father’s house; His Epistle makes us at home there and teaches us how to live there.  The Reverend C..I. Scofield tells us in his introduction to First John in the Scofield Reference Bible that “First John is a family letter from the Father to His “little children” who are in the world.  With the exception of the song of Solomon, it is the most intimate of the inspired writings.  The sin of a believer is treated as a child’s offence against his father, and is dealt with as a family matter.  The child’s sin as an offence against the law has been met in the cross and “Jesus Christ the righteous” is now his “advocate with the Father.”

John begins his letter by identifying Jesus Christ as The  Word of Life.  He tells us that He was from the beginning with God.  1 John 1:1, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life”. 

In  his Gospel of John, chapter one and verses one thru four, he elaborates further on “the Word in the beginning”.  He states: “1.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”  

John makes it very clear that the Word of Life was in the beginning.  That He was a part of the creation process.  He is God in the person of Jesus Christ.  In  chapter 17, verse 5, Jesus is talking with God in the presence of the disciples and states: “And now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began”

Jesus in teaching the disciples referred to He and the Father being One.  He taught that He was in the Father and the Father was in Him.  Jesus states in the Gospel of John chapter 16, verse 28, “Yes, I came from the Father into the world, and I will leave the world and return to the Father.”  

In Chapter 17, verse 21, He prays, “My prayer for all of them [talking about the disciples] is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father, that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.”  

Jesus in answering questions of the Jewish leaders makes this statement when they asked if He were the Messiah: John 10:25-30, “Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is what I do in the name of my Father. But you don’t believe me because you are not part of my flock. My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me,  for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. So no one can take them from me.  The Father and I are one.”

John here introduces the Triune God-  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  This Triune God is also know as the Trinity.  Jerry Falwell in His comments written in the King James Study Bible,   explains the Trinity in this way.   “Trinity designates one eternal God in unity, yet existing in three eternal persons. The members of the Trinity are equal in nature, distinct in person, and subordinate in duties. Illustration: As the Son is eternally begotten by the Father, so Jesus is submissive to do the work of the Father, yet equal in nature to Him. The Father is the source of authority, the Son is the channel, and the Holy Spirit the agent whereby authority is exercised. Application: Because each member of the Trinity is God, and a distinct person, each should be so recognized in worship by the Christian.”
  

John does not imply  that there are three gods.  He describes the Trinity as one God existing  in three persons - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Neither does He imply that one God merely reveals Himself in three different ways, like a man can be a husband, a father, and a son. 

The Bible teaches that God is one but that He exists in three distinct Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Although the word “trinity” does not appear in the Bible, their existence is mentioned by Jesus in the Great Commission recorded in  (Matt. 28:19),   “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”. 

The apostle Paul uses the three Persons of the Holy Trinity when he closes his  Second Epistle to the Corinthians.  He writes in  (2 Cor. 13:14), “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”

God revealed Himself as one to the Israelites in (Deut. 6:4) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”. This was a significant religious truth because the surrounding nations worshiped many gods and had fallen into idolatry, worshiping the creation rather than the true Creator. This practice of denying the existence of God and worshiping the creation rather than the creator has been displayed since man fell into sin in the Garden of Eden.  Man is without excuse.  He knows better but would rather live in a lie than live in the light of the truth
.

Paul makes a statement concerning the fact that God has been revealed to all mankind even if no one has ever physically presented the Word of God to them.  In Romans chapter one  verses 18 thru 25, he writes; “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised.”

In the New Testament, God revealed that He is not only one but a family of persons-an eternal, inexhaustible, and dynamic triune family of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are one in will and purpose, love and righteousness.  The Trinity was at work in the incarnation of Jesus, the Son of God, as He was conceived in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.  “But when the fullness of the time had come,” Paul wrote (Gal. 4:4), “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”  Luke gives us a detailed account in  (Luke 1:30-35), 30.  Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31. “ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.  32. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33. “And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. 34. Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”  35.  And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you.  So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God”

John then testifies to his personal encounter with the “ Word of Life” by pointing out that he had actually seen, heard, and felt the Word: 1 John 1:1-4, “ The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life.  This one who is life from God was shown to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and announce to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was shown to us.  We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard....”  It was not hard for John to tell others of the great and miraculous works of Jesus.  He was not relaying what he had been taught but what he had actually experienced.  As we read of John’s testimony, we are reading of first hand information and should accept it as a personal testimony of one of the disciples of Jesus.

Then John goes on, in verses 3 & 4, to tell us why he is writing to us.   “We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.   We are writing these things so that our joy will be complete.”  The Amplified Bible states it more clearly.  “What we have seen and [ourselves] heard we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us.  And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of the Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, the Messiah.  And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full— and your joy may be complete.”

When God created man and woman, He created them to enjoy His creation with Him.  He would come into the garden and fellowship with His creations and enjoyed that time together.  We were created to fellowship with our creator, God, the Father.  When sin entered the world, that fellowship was broken and man was separated from God.  John had personally experienced this fellowship with God, in the Person of Jesus Christ.  He and the other disciples knew first hand what it meant to walk and talk with God, the Son.  They had experienced the love, the joy and the peace that comes with fellowship with God.  John wanted the believers to experience that same joy, so, he wrote the book of First John to those who have become believers and have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.  He wrote the book to explain the joy that comes with true fellowship with God.

John also understood that when a believer falls into sin, that the perfect fellowship with the Father and the Son is Broken.  Sin creates the same type of conflict between the believer and the Son that disagreements creates with people.  When that conflict exists true fellowship cannot be experienced.  This is illustrated in the book of Genesis when Adam and Eve hid from God after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit. All of a sudden they knew that they were naked and realized that they had done what God had instructed them not to do.  They were ashamed and did not want to see God and did not want God to see them. That is the reason John deals with the unconfessed sin issue later in the chapter.  He wanted the believers to realize that unconfessed sin in their lives would cause them to run and hide from God.  That until that sin was confessed and cleansing was received fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit would be broken.

John tells us that Jesus is the Light of the world.  John  had personally heard Jesus explain that He was the Light and that He, the Light,  was to be the salvation for mankind.  In verse 5, He writes: “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”  The Gospel of John, chapter one, verses four thru nine, foretells of this coming Light.  “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.   There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John [this John was John the Baptist]  He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.  He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.  The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.  He also records the words of Jesus when Jesus tells the people that He is the light of the world.   John 8:12,  “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

In His earthly ministry, Jesus was constantly teaching the disciples and His followers about Who He was and Who sent Him.  He used light and darkness to illustrate how one would not have to live life in the fear of  not knowing what was going to happen to them next.   As people traveled around the country there were many dangers lurking in the shadows.  Because of the many robbers, wild animals, dangerous terrain people were afraid to travel at night when there was no light.  Jesus knew that people also feared death, illness and personal survival.  He used light and darkness as illustrations of how we do not have to live in fear just as a traveler was not as afraid when there was enough light to show the way and reveal what was in the shadows.  Jesus continually taught using parables and illustrations.  Light and darkness was used to show the difference between living life with Jesus as one’s Savior and trusting Him to guide them through rough times and living life without Him and trusting in their own efforts to take us through life’s many challenges.  According to the very words of Jesus, He possessed the Light that would illuminate the lives of the believers.  John 12:46, “ I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”

Many Scriptures use the terms: “Word” and “Light”, as a substitute word for Jesus.  Jesus is the “ Word of Life” and Jesus is “The Light of Life”. “The Word” is used to describe the teaching of living life and “The Light” describes the saving and directing force in living life.  John wants us to understand that to live with Christ as our Savior, strength and guide enables us to live in perfect fellowship with God.  When we trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior and trust in  “The Light” to guide there is no reason to fear.  He is all powerful, all knowing and all loving.  He wants us to live in perfect peace and happiness.  This can only happen when we live in perfect unbroken fellowship with God, and this can only happen if God sees us through the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son. John had experience this wonderful peace of walking with the master and wants to pass this on to us.

Now that John has laid the foundations of His authority as a first hand experienced believer He wants to further teach us how to continually walk in this fellowship.  In First John 1:6 thru 10,  He begins dealing with the sin issue.

“If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  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, purifies us from all sin.  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”

Sin entered man’s life when Satan successfully tempted  Adam and Eve to disobey God and eat of the forbidden fruit.  God punished them by putting them out of the Garden of Eden.  The fellowship between God and man was now broken and man was separated from God.  Because of this action by Adam and Eve, every man and woman inherits the sin nature with the desire to disobey God’s commands.  This separation of man from God was bridged by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.  When Jesus shed His blood and died on the cross, He paid the penalty for all man’s sin.  Man only has to receive that forgiveness as a free gift.  Once that forgiveness is received and man is made right with God, he is no longer separated from God.

However, every man and woman has this sin nature and constantly lives with the choice of doing what God says or doing what Satan says.  John is aware of Satan’s powers to deceive us and our weakness to yield to his temptations.  When we yield to Satan’s temptations and do things that are contrary to God’s commands, sin enters ones life and the fellowship with God is broken and remains broken until we confess that sin and receive cleansing for that sin.  John understood this situation and tries to share with the believers principles that will heal the broken fellowship caused by man’s sin.  We are given three principles of Christian living.  One, that all have sinned and if we fail to acknowledge that sin we are liars.  Two, God will forgive us our sins if we confess our sins and ask his forgiveness.  Three, God will not only forgive our sins but will cleanse us of all our unrighteousness and make us in right standing with Him.  When this is done, we are back in unbroken fellowship with the Father and He abides in us and we abide in Him.

John shows a real love for the new believers to whom he is writing in his book of First John.  He begins chapter two by calling them “My dear children”.  He is like a father who is calling his children to come and sit at his feet so he can teach them of the dangers that are surrounding them and wants to explain how they can live in the midst of these dangers without falling.   1 John 2:1-2, “ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”   Here is the picture John is painting for us.  God the Father sits on the throne looking at His children.  We have become His children by accepting Jesus Christ, His Son, as our Lord and Savior.  God sees our actions, thoughts and desires.  Our first responsibility as a born again believer is not to sin.  However, because of the sin nature in each of us, we will sin in some action or thought.

So, John tells of a defense that God has already put in place for us.  The picture is God looking down at His children, but, can only see us through the blood of Jesus Christ who is standing beside us pleading our case to the Father.  Jesus is in essence saying, “God, your child is a cleansed and forgiven child.  I have already paid the price for that sin.  Because I paid that price, there is no blame on your child.  You child stands before you as a forgiven and cleansed child.  Look at him only through the blood that I shed on the cross for his sins and see one who has been washed white as snow by that blood.  He is as you created him before the fall in the Garden of Eden and is ready for continued fellowship with you.” 

You must understand that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for your sins.  The penalty for your sins has already been paid.  Your bill has been stamped “PAID IN FULL”.  God no longer sees you as you are, but, as you will be on that great judgement day - He will see you as the same as He sees His Son, Jesus.  John wants us to realize that we can live victorious lives, in constant fellowship with the Father and without fear of the unknown.  Jesus, who is our is substitute, is also our advocate - one who pleads our case.  He is our representative.  So, our desire should be to always live for Jesus and strive to be more like Him.  We must realize that sin breaks fellowship with The Father, breaks fellowship Jesus and grieves the Holy Spirit.  Sin then limits the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We will always be His child, but, we can hurt him by disobeying His teachings.  Just as a parent is disappointed in a child that disobeys, Jesus is displeased and disappointed when we disobey and allow sin to come into our lives.  But when a child disobeys a parent, the father or mother is still the father or mother and even though they are disappointed they still love the child.  Jesus is disappointed when we commit sin, but, He still loves us and provides the promise of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

There were those who taught false doctrines and led the people to believe that they could live any way they pleased and still have fellowship with the Father.  John is attacking that principle and teaches that light and darkness cannot abide in the same place.  If one lives in darkness he does not have the light.  If one lives in continual sin he does not have the Son as his Savior.   Chapter 2, verses 3 thru 6 in the New King James version states,   1 John 2:3-6, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.  He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.  He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”  In the original Greek,  the phrase “the love of God is perfected in him” means to come to completion.  John is saying that if we know the Lord Jesus, as our Savior, we will love Him and His love that is in us matures to perfection and is complete.  The Amplified Bible expands these verses and gives a more complete statement of what the original Greek was trying to get across.  “Whoever says, I know Him - I perceive, recognize, understand and am acquainted with Him - but fails to keep and obey His commandments [teachings] is a liar, and the Truth [of the Gospel] is not in him.  But he who keeps [treasures] His Word - who bears in mind His precepts, who observes His message in its entirety - truly in him has the love of and for God been perfected [completed, reached maturity].  By this we may perceive and know and recognize and be sure we are in Him: Whoever says he abides in Him ought - as a personal debt - to walk  and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself.”

John wants us to understand that we are known by our fruits.  If we really know and trust in the Lord Jesus as the Truth of our life then our actions will show it.  He also tries to teach us that the progressive growth of a believer begins at salvation and continues until death.  We come to know the Lord Jesus more and more as we walk with Him in our daily lives.  The longer I trust Him the greater He becomes to me.  His power never changes - our understanding just changes.  This is what John is referring to when he says that the love of God is perfected in us.  It matures and becomes more real and we come to rely on Him more and more.

John now moves on to another test of knowing Jesus as one’s Savior.  1 John 2:7-8, “ Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard.  Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.”  The seventh verse may be supposed either to look backward to what immediately preceded, talking about walking as Christ walked which is here represented as no new commandment, but an old commandment; or to look forward to what the apostle is now going to recommend, and that is the law of loving one another.   The New Living Translation reads as though John is looking forward to the command to love one another.  It reads;  “ Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment, for it is an old one you have always had, right from the beginning. This commandment, to love one another, is the same message you heard before.  Yet it is also new. This commandment is true in Christ and is true among you, because the darkness is disappearing and the true light is already shining.  Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.  Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”

How can the commandment be both “old” (v. 7) and “new” (v. 8)?  On the one hand, this instruction is “old” because it was not invented by the author; the readers had known the importance of love “from the beginning” of their Christian experience.  Moses records God’s words in The Old Testament, in Lev. 19:18; “Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”   The words had been taught from the time of the deliverance from Egypt.  It was not new.    On the other hand, Christ gave His disciples a “new” commandment in John 13:34:  “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”  It is “new” because it belongs to the New Testament teaching of salvation which was inaugurated by the work of Jesus Christ.  Jesus showed His love for us and the new commandment is to share with others that some love that we received from Him.

Jesus continued to teach this principle to his disciples and his followers.  In  Matthew 22:37-40: “Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” The “darkness” of this era has been invaded by the “true light” of Jesus Christ.  That “true light” was the love of God manifested in His Son Jesus Christ.  As God’s love is matured in us and we begin to understand that “God is Love”, we learn how to transfer that love to others.  As we walk with Christ we experience His love for us and His love becomes a part of us and we in turn love each other.   The true characteristic of a born again believer is obeying God’s commands and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.  1 John 2:12-14;

I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, dear children,  because you have known the Father.

I write to you, fathers,   because you have known him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,  because you are strong,  and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

At this point it seems that John begins to deal with the maturity of believers. He begins with the “little children”, then moves on to the fathers, and finishes up with the young men.  The Greek word used here that is translated  “little children,” which meant, “ little born ones”.  This phrase seems to refer to all new believers.  The basis on which all Christians rest is the forgiveness of sins because of the shed blood of Christ. “Your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.”  Some Christians stay in that position of little children and never move out of that area.  Now John moves to another group.  1 John 2:14;  I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.  I write to you, young men,  because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you,   and you have overcome the evil one.   “Fathers” here are the saints who have known the Lord Jesus for many years and have grown and matured. They came to know Jesus during His earthly ministry or shortly after His ascension.  They have come to understand what victory can be had by trusting in the power of a loving God, who sent His Son to die for us.  Through the years they learned the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and knew first hand, through experience, that God is sufficient to meet their every need.  The “young men” are not as mature as the fathers, that is, they haven’t had the experiences the fathers have had, but they have learned the secret of overcoming the enemy by trusting in the saving work of Christ, through the shedding of His blood for their sins. They have learned how to live for God.  They are growing in their understanding of the power of depending on the work of the Holy Spirit and resisting the temptations of Satan.

How do you get to know somebody?  By living with him day by day.  How do we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ?  There is only one way you can know Him and that is through the Word of God. That is where He is revealed.  The Word of God is like food. The Word of God is the Bread of Life. If we are to know Christ, we must live with Him in His Word as we go through the joys and sorrows of this life.  The Word of God teaches us about God’s principles and instructions.  By applying these principles and instructions to our every day  life we come to know the One who gave them to us.  It is by experiencing the power of living by these instructions that we mature in our relationship with the Father.

John has been telling us how we as God’s children can know that we are His children. He has said that the way we can know that we are His child is by the fact that we love Him and keep His commandments. . We are not talking about the Ten Commandments here but about the commandments which the Lord Jesus gave, for we have been brought into a very personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 John we learn how to approach the divine presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are told that we are genuine children of God and the proof of that relationship is by our obedience to Him and our desire to please Him in all we do.  The motive for obedience to Him is our love for Him.   The Lord Jesus said in The Gospel of John, chapter 14 and verse 15,  “If ye love me, keep my commandments”.  When you obey the commandments of Christ because you love Him, many of your  problems will be solved and a great deal of the uncertainty in your own heart will disappear.

Christianity is based on a love relationship. Salvation is a love affair.   Sin is a love relationship.  Satan will make many things seem tempting and using a lie he will create in us a passion for these things.  Since he is the prince of this world, these passions are of this world.  John tells us not to love the passions of this world.   1 John 2:15-17; “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

He does not mean the world of creation, that is, the system and order found in the physical creation. In spring the flowers bloom and the trees put out leaves. In the fall the leaves begin to turn all kinds of beautiful colors, like yellow and gold and red. Then the leaves fall off, and winter soon comes. This is not the world we are warned against loving. This is the world God created for our enjoyment  John is not talking about the physical earth where beautiful roses and tall trees grow. The wonderful mountains and the falls and the running streams are not what we are to hate. Rather, they are something we can admire and relish and enjoy.  Nor is the world about which John speaks the world of humanity or mankind. We are told in the Gospel of John in chapter three and verse sixteen that,  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Then what world does John mean?  The Greek word for “world” here is cosmos. It means the world system, the organized system headed by Satan which leaves God out and is actually in opposition to Him. The thing which we need to hate today is this thing in the world which is organized against God.  Believe me, there is a world system in operation today, and it is satanic. John mentions this in his Gospel where the Lord Jesus says, in John 14:30, “ I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me.”  “The prince of this world” that Jesus is talking about is the prince of the world system which is the civilization that you and I are in today. 

This system belongs to Satan.  He offered the kingdoms of this world to the Lord Jesus, when Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and nights, just after His baptism and just before He began His earthly ministry. Since he made this offer to Jesus as a temptation, it would indicate that the word kingdoms belongs to him.  John tells us that we are not to love this world.   This is a world that is filled with greed, with selfish ambition, with fleshly pleasures, with deceit, and lying and danger. That is the world we live in, and John says that we are not to love the world. We are living in a godless world that is in rebellion against God. Our contemporary culture and civilization is anti-God, and the child of God ought not to love it. We are in the world, but we are not of the world. Many of us must move in the business world, many of us must move even in the social realm, but we do not have to be a part of it.  We do not have to live with a constant craving for the things of this world.  Our hunger needs to be centered on the life and teaching of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

We need to recognize that we are going to be obedient to one world or the other. You are either going to obey the world system and live in it and enjoy it, or you are going to obey God.  There stands between the believer and the world system an atoning sacrifice - Jesus Christ who died on the cross as a substitute for our sins.  He gave us instructions on living separated lives.  He taught His followers the necessity of trusting in and following Him.  John understands what it means to follow Jesus, but, he sees so many of the believers being led astray by Satan.  He wants us to understand the principles of living a victorious life in Jesus.  He warns of the dangers of following this satanic world system. 

            “If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” You may run with the Devil’s crowd all week long and then run with the Lord’s crowd on Sunday, but it is obvious that the love of the Father is not in you.  In Romans 7,  Paul describes his own struggle as a Christian. He says in effect, in Romans 7:18-24; “I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it.  It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?”  This struggle with the sin nature that is within us is a constant struggle.  It is a real struggle, but, remember there is an atoning sacrifice that can give us the power to win over that struggle.  We do not have to yield to the temptations of this world system.

John lists these three things that are in the world. These are not only the temptations which face us, they are also the temptations which Satan brought to Eve and to the Lord Jesus Christ (see Matt. 4:1-11).

1. “The lust of the flesh”. Eve saw that the tree was good for food - if you were hungry, it was a good place to eat.    Genesis 3:6 “ The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too.”  Satan brought this same temptation to the Lord Jesus: Matthew 4:2-3; “ For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry.  Then the Devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves of bread.”  The Lord Jesus could have done that. The difference between the Lord Jesus Christ and mankind is that if mankind could turn stones into bread, he would be doing it.  But Jesus refused.  He was being tested in that same area in which you and I are being tested - the desires of the flesh. We are being tested, and there is no sin in being tested. The sin is in yielding to the temptation

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2. “The lust of the eyes.” Eve saw that the tree was pleasant to the eyes. Remember also that Satan showed the Lord Jesus Christ all the kingdoms of this world.  This is an attractive world that we live in, with all of its display, all of its pageantry, all of its human glory.

3. “The pride of life.” Eve saw that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. Many people like to pride themselves on their family. They pride themselves on the fact that they come from a very old family and upon the fact that they belong to a certain race. It is that which makes us feel superior to someone else. It is found even in religion today. I meet born again believers  who feel they are superior to other believers.. Satan took the Lord Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and said, “Cast yourself down. A great many people will witness it, and You will demonstrate to them Your superiority.”  It was probably at a feast time when many would have seen Him, but the Lord Jesus never performed a miracle in order to demonstrate His superiority.

These are the three appeals that the world makes to you and me today. But when we make our social position our goal in life, when we attempt to make beauty our goal, or even when we attempt to make that which is religious our goal, it leads to the most distorted view of life that is possible. These things are of the world, and they become deadly. We are told that we are not to love these things because God does not love them.  He intends to destroy this world system someday. What is our enemy? The world, the flesh, and the Devil. This is the same temptation which Satan brought to Eve and to the Lord Jesus. He has not changed his tactics. He brings this same temptation to you and to me, and we fall for it.

John now moves on to teach why it so important to stay grounded in the truth.  Since Satan sends so many influences into the world to confuse us and lead us away from God’s teachings it is extremely important to be assured of our salvation and to know without a doubt that Christ lives in us and we live in Him.  These influences from Satan many times comes in the form of a substitute Christ, called the “Antichrist”.   1 John 2:18-23;   Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.   Here John is talking to the little babies again. The little babies haven’t grown up yet. They are passing through this world, and the chances are that they have been tripped up by one of these three things which John has just mentioned.

There are forces that continually trip us up.  False teachers have been surfacing and causing believers to become confused ever since Jesus began teaching.  Even Jesus had to deal with the false teachings that were present even during His ministry.  The early Christians were constantly facing false doctrine, coming from false teachers.  Much of the writings of the New Testament was written to refute these false teachings and to warn the believers of these false teachers.

The phrase, “This is the last hour”,  refers to the last days  here on the earth. It has been the “last hour” for a long time. Many of the disciples thought that they were living in the end times.  They thought that Jesus was coming back in their life time to set up the Kingdom of God.. We are living in the last days. This is what is called the church age, when God is calling out a people for His name.  This is the time that God is spreading the gospel to all the world.  God’s desire is that all men everywhere come to accept Jesus as their personal Savior and that none should perish.   1 Timothy 2:3-4; “This is good, and pleases God our Savior,  who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”  You can say at any time during this present period, “Now is the acceptable time” and be correct.

Why the urgency about salvation?  Because you might not be here tomorrow. Tomorrow  none of us could  no longer be walking on this earth. God could call any one of us home at any time or He could send Jesus back to call His children home and set in place the events that precede His second coming to set up the Kingdom of God on earth.  Either one will end the opportunity to accept Him as one’s  Savior.  That is why it is so important that we give out the Word, and that you hear and accept the Word.  John understood that the time is short and he wanted all men to hear the warning and come to God.

Many antichrists had already appeared in John”s day, but there is coming the Antichrist. What do we mean by Antichrist?  This word has many times been misunderstood and, as a result, the person who is coming has been misunderstood. Antichrist is made up of two words: the title Christ and the preposition anti. It is important to see that anti has two meanings. It can mean “against.”  If I am anti-something, that means I am against that thing. Anti can also mean “instead of, an imitation of.” Therefore, it can be a substitute. It can be either a very good substitute or just a poor counterfeit for something.

The question arises, therefore: Is the Antichrist to be a false Christ or is he an enemy of Christ? Where does Scripture place the emphasis? There are several references to Antichrist in 1 John, but the only things we can derive from this verse is that there is going to be the Antichrist and that there were already many antichrists in John”s day. What was the thing which identified an Antichrist? He was one who denied the deity of Christ. That is the primary definition of an Antichrist which is given in 1 John 2:22, when he writes:“ Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the Antichrist - he denies the Father and the Son.  This is the emphasis in 1 John, but you will recall that the Lord Jesus said, (Matt. 24:5). ”For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.”

            That is Antichrist - instead of Christ, claiming to be Christ.  The scriptures teach that there are going to be two persons at the end of the age who will fulfill both of these types - being against Christ and claiming to be Christ. In Revelation 13, we have presented a “wild beast” who comes out of the sea, and Satan is the one who calls him forth. That is the political ruler, and he is definitely against Christ. There is a second beast who comes out of the land. He appears to be a lamb, but he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He pretends to be Christ who is “ the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” as described in John 1:29.  He will be a religious ruler. The political ruler will come out of the gentile world, the former Roman Empire. The religious ruler will come out of the nation Israel - they would not accept him as their Messiah unless he did come from the nation Israel.   So you have actually two persons who will together fulfill this term Antichrist. They are coming at the end of the age, and both of them can be called Antichrist - one against Christ and the other instead of Christ.

When John talks about the ones who left them for false teachings, he is teaching us a very important principle of the Christian life.  When he said in verse 19,  “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”, he was dealing with the fact that many people will proclaim to be believers - but really do not accept Jesus as their personal Savior.  The Living Translation reads: “ These people left our churches because they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left us, it proved that they do not belong with us.”   John is not talking about people who change churches.  He is talking about people who left their fellowship and followed other religions or followed other teachers who denied that Jesus was the Son of God and Savior of mankind.  John says that some who had made a profession of being believers in that day had all the outward appearances of being believers. They bore the Christian name, and they identified themselves with some local assembly, some church. They were baptized, immersed, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They took the bread and the cup at the communion service. But John says that the way you can tell whether or not one is really a child of God is that eventually a person will show their true convictions and will leave the assembly of God if he is not a child of God. He will withdraw from the body of believers, and he will go right back into the world.

John is pointing out that every person that calls Jesus, Lord is not a believer.  Jesus even stated in Matthew 7:21-23, that there would be people who would call Him, Lord, but He did not know them.   “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

J. Vernon McGee, the preacher on Back to the Bible broadcast, gives an illustration of how people can play being a believer but finally return to their real passion - sin.  In teaching the book of First Peter, He tells “the parable of the prodigal pig”.  Peter in 2 Pet. 2:22 speaks in that epistle of “ the sow that was washed” “ They make these proverbs come true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and “A washed pig returns to the mud.”  “A little pig got washed. A little girl pig went up to the Father’s house, became very religious, got all cleaned up with a pink bow around her neck and her teeth washed, but she found she didn’t like the Father’s house because she was a pig. So one day she said, I’m going to arise and go to my father, my real father who was down in a big  mud hole. The little pig went home, and when she saw her real father playing around in the mud, she squealed, made a leap, and landed in the mud right by his side. Why? Because she was a pig.”

 “They went out from us, but they were not of us.” That’s a harsh, cruel statement, but it happens to be a true statement. There are many who make professions of being believers, but they do not really accept Jesus as their personal Savior.  Remember that the Lord said of Judas in Luke 22:21,   “But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me.” Right there, at the first communion service, there was a traitor, Judas Iscariot, and he was one who was identified with the group of faithful disciples. We read in John 6:70, “ Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.” Judas was never anything else although he looked like an apostle, he acted like an apostle, and he had the power of an apostle. He went out with the others, and they were not able to identify him as being a phony, but he was.

John makes a very solemn and serious statement here, and he makes this statement to us today. We must be born again in order to become a child of God.  The Lord Jesus said to a very religious man, Nicodemus, that he must be born again. He said to him that night, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). John says here, “They went out from us, but they were not of us.” They looked as if they were true children of God, but they actually were not, and the real test, of course, was their love for the Word of God. This ought to cause every believer to ask himself the question: Have I really faced up to my sins in the light of the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have I come to God in repentance, owning up to my guilt and acknowledging my wrong doing? Have I come to Him and Him only for my salvation?  Have I evidence in my life of being a born again believer, cleansed by the blood of Jesus?  Do I love to read the Word of God? Do I hunger for the Word of God? Is it bread to me? Is it meat to me? Is it drink to me? Do I love the brethren? And do I love the Lord Jesus Christ? These are the things which we need to consider.  The Word of God teaches us how to live as a true believer.  John states very clearly that the true test of a believer is keeping the commands given by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  1 John 2:3-5, “ And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments.  If someone says, “I belong to God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth.  But those who obey God’s word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him.”

            That is why each person needs to know in his or her own heart that they have fully accepted Jesus as their Savior.  You need to be able to go to a time and place that you settled that question once and for all.  There needs to never be a doubt about whether or not you are saved.  If there is a question, you can settle that right now by calling on the name of the Lord and asking Him to come into your heart, forgive you of your sins and become the Lord of your life.  You need to give your life over to His leadership and you need to be searching for ways to love and serve Him.  When you do this you will have a hunger for His word and for the fellowship with other believers. 

John tells us that when we do come to know Him as our Savior, we receive a special anointing from God.  Verse 20 and 21,  “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.”  When you know the Truth and trust in the Truth, you will not be led to turn your back on the Truth and follow false gods.  Those who follow false gods never experienced saving grace and never knew the Truth, and never accepted the Truth - Jesus - as their personal savior.

Satan is the great liar and he leads others to become liars.  Verse 22 and 23, “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the Antichrist - he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.  John makes it very clear.  “No one who denies the son has the Father”.   So, If we have the Son We have the Father and the Holy Spirit.  When the Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwells in us we cannot turn away and follow false teachers.

How do we continually protect ourselves from falling into the sin that Satan constantly places before us?  Verses 24 thru 27,  “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us - even eternal life. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit - just as it has taught you, remain in him.” 

The Amplified Bible gives a terrific extended definition of what John is saying. “But as for you, [the sacred appointment, the unction] the anointing which you received from Him, abides [permanently] in you; [so] then you have no need that any one should instruct you.  But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything, and is true, and is no falsehood, so you must abide - live, never to depart [rooted in Him, knit to Him] just as [His anointing] has taught you [to do].           Let me read it from another translation, The Living Bible Translated.  “24 So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will continue to live in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. 25 And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.  26 I have written these things to you because you need to be aware of those who want to lead you astray. 27 But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you all things, and what he teaches is true-it is not a lie. So continue in what he has taught you, and continue to live in Christ.” 

John here is talking about how to live in continual fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How we need to realize that when we received Jesus Christ as our personal Savior,  we also received the indwelling Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit that reveals the truth to us and it is His work in us that reveals sin in our life.  When He reveals truth to us we need to apply it to our life.  The Holy Spirit will reveal the truth of scriptures if we ask Him to do so and if we constantly search through God’s Word.

This is not to say that we do not need to be taught by those who have studied The Word and have experienced God’s power through it.  There are many lessons to be learned from the study and experiences of others.  However, we need to use the Holy Spirit to help us understand these teachings and to understand how to apply them to our lives.  We need to be careful not to follow the teachings of others just because they have a degree in advanced studies of The Bible or they have a place of leadership and we respect that position.  Many people are lead astray by leaders who are not true believers of the Word.  Many of these people have been led astray and believe that they are doing what is right, but, their teachings cause a concern in our spirits.  This is the time to put the teachings to the “Bible test”.  Do these teachings conform to what you believe the Bible teaches on the subject.  At this point, the direction of the Holy Spirit is most important.

If the teachings of others is not in conformity with what you believe The  Holy Spirit is teaching you then you need to go further into God’s word and test these teachings according to scripture.  Do these teachings point to Jesus Christ as the Son of God?  Do these teachings conform to the teaching of the whole Bible or do they use selected scriptures, taken out of context, to prove their validity?  Do these teachings glorify Jesus in every way or do they glorify other others?  Is the atoning sacrifice of  Jesus sufficient for salvation or do they put other restrictions on salvation?  Do these teachings follow strict compliance to the teachings of Jesus or do they add or take away from His teachings?  Is God’s grace sufficient to experience true fellowship with the Father or do they require something more?

These are only a few of the questions that you must use to test the teachings of others.  There are many more that you must ask yourself as you seek God’s truth through His divine given Scriptures.  There are many people and teachings that will try to pull you away from true fellowship with the Father and the Son.  There are many sects that operate in the religious community that do not proclaim Jesus Christ as the Son of God, born of a virgin.  They have their own bibles, they have beliefs that are genuine but false, they proclaim others to be the savior of the world and place Jesus in the category of prophet or priest and they do not believe that the only way to the Father is through His Son, Jesus Christ.  There are many churches that believe all of the right things but have lost their first love for the Lord Jesus Christ and have become so involved in the world that they have stopped teaching and preaching true repentance and have let rituals become their god.

John saw this happening in the early churches and wanted to help the believers understand the false prophets and false teachings were present and would continue to grow.  He understood the power of Satan to confuse us and knew that Satan would send false teachers that looked genuine but was sent only to lead us from the true teachings of Jesus.

John now teaches us to have confidence in our position as born again believers.  Verses 28 and 29 read: “And now, dear children, continue to live in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. Since we know that God is always right, we also know that all who do what is right are his children.”

The amplified Bible expands and amplifies the meaning of these verses.  It reads:  “And now, little children, abide [live, remain, permanently] in Him, so that when He is made visible, we may have and enjoy perfect confidence [boldness, assurance] and not be ashamed and shrink from Him at His coming.  If you know [perceive and are sure] that He [Christ] is absolutely righteous [conforming to the Father’s will in purpose, thought and action], you may also know [be sure] that every one who does righteously [and is therefore in like manner conformed to the divine will] is born [begotten] of Him [God].” 

Every believer needs to have the assurance that they will be ready  and will be accepted and approved by Jesus when He comes back to collect those who have accepted Him as their personal Savior and take them to Heaven to live with Him.  How can we have that assurance?  By Knowing without any doubt that we have asked Jesus to come into our heart and forgive us of our sins;  that we trust the  Holy Spirit to make us aware of unconfessed sin so that we can confess those sins and receive forgiveness for them; and that we live for Him in unbroken fellowship.  Since Sin breaks that fellowship, it is of utmost importance that we continually seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance in recognizing when there is unconfessed sin in our lives.  If we walk in continual unbroken fellowship with the Father and the Son we will want to serve Him and live for Him.  We will want to be around other believers and love our brothers and sisters in Christ.  That will produce a confidence and we will look forward to the second coming of Christ.   Fear will not be a part of our life.  Love will fill our life and flow from us.  Others will then see the love of Jesus in us.

CHAPTER THREE

John now turns his writings to “Living as Children of God”.  He wants us to understand that we have been adopted by God and should  live as God’s very own children.  When we were born we were created by God and were living as His creation.  We were created in His very own image.  He had chosen us from the beginning to fellowship and share in the enjoyment of living with Him in His created world.    Genesis 2:7 in the King James Version of the Bible makes this very clear.   "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beast, and over all the earth and over every thing that creeps upon the earth.  .... So God created man in His own image."   When man disobeyed God He broke that relationship and was separated from God and no longer was able to live in the Garden of Eden, enjoying God’s continual blessings.  God had provided for all of man’s physical needs and Adam and Eve lived in perfect harmony with all of God’s creation.  They also had the opportunity to walk with God when God came to visit them in the Garden.  Because they allowed sin to enter their lives and chose to disobey God’s instructions they no longer enjoyed the blessings of unbroken fellowship with God.  God never quit trying to renew that relationship with his creation.  He tried to destroyed all of mankind except Noah and His family and gave them the job of replenishing the earth.  God’s intent must have been to have Noah and his family, who were faithful worshipers of God, teach their children to be faithful to worshiping the one and only true God of creation.  This plan failed and it was not long until the world was right back to living in continual sin.  God then sent His Son, Jesus, to become a living sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.  When Jesus died on the cross, He died for all mankind paying the price for their sins.  However, God at this point made each person responsible for acknowledging that Jesus was the Son of God and receive Him as their personal Savior.  Each person had to ask Him to forgive them of their sins and let Him cleanse them of all of their sins.  When we receive Jesus as our personal Savior we are then put back in perfect fellowship with the Father and become God’s child.  When we understand that we are children of God we should then live as His child.

 1 John 3:1-3: “ See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are! But the people who belong to this world don’‘t know God, so they don’t understand that we are his children.  Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.  And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure.”

John is saying that we do not expect to be the sons of God, we are the sons of God. The child of God can say emphatically, “I am a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ”. We don’t hope to be the child of God, we don’t expect to be the child of God, but the thrilling fact is that every believer can be assured and constantly thank God that he is His child. We can shout with joy that God loved us so much that He made us His child.  We cannot claim that we did anything ourselves to deserve to be His child, but we can accept all that He provided for us through His son, Jesus Christ,  who so willingly died on the cross for our sins.

John says, “.See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are!”

The kind of love that John is talking about is a strange kind of love, an unusual kind of love, a kind of love to which we are not accustomed. God’s love. John will go on to show that God has demonstrated His love by giving His Son to die for us. God loves you, and He has proven His love. He gave His Son to die for you.  The greatest motivating force in the world is God’s love. Love is the greatest drive in the human family. A man falls in love with a woman, a woman falls in love with a man, and some make such tremendous sacrifices for each other. When human love is genuine love, it is a beautiful thing, it is a noble thing, it is a wonderful thing, and it is a tremendous drive. But God’s love for His children far exceeds anything we can experience on the human plane.  John makes it perfectly clear that if you are a born again child of God, you are going to live a life that conforms to the Father.  The true child of God is going to prove his spiritual birth by being obedient to God’s Word. God’s wonderful love for us should motivate us to live for Him.

See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are! But the people who belong to this world don’t know God, so they don’t understand that we are his children.  Yes, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.  And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure.

John has emphasized that we are God’s children right now.   Once we receive Jesus as our Savior, we become a child of God.  Being saved from the penalty of our sins is a progressive experience.  Our salvation comes in three tenses: I have been saved; I am being saved; and I shall be saved.

1. I have been saved. “I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” John 5:24

The moment you trust Christ you receive everlasting life, and you will never be any more saved than you are the moment you trust Him. You are born again, born into the family of God. John is addressing “little children”- these are God’s children. He says, “See how very much our heavenly Father loves us...” Why? Because we are His children. He has bestowed His love upon His children, and they respond to that love by obedience unto Him and by living a life that is well pleasing to Him.

2. I am being saved. Paul said in Philippians 2:12-13:   “Dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away you must be even more careful to put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.  For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.”  The New King James Version states that we should work out our own salvation.  “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”  As we follow God’s instructions by studying His word and  applying them to our lives, we grow to a more fuller understanding of who God is and how much He really loves us.  As we better understand God and His plan for our lives, we grow in our salvation experience and our Christian life becomes more real to us.  This is what it means to “work out our own salvation”.  “Work out” in the King James Version means to grow to a fuller understanding.  To grow to a fuller understanding of God’s work in our lives we must learn to seek Him and learn how He works.  Peter said in 2 Pet. 3:18, quoting the New King James version: “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”  The New Living Translation reads: “But grow in the special favor and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To him be all glory and honor, both now and forevermore. Amen.”  God’s special favor is His Grace.  It is by His grace that we are saved.   Ephesians 2:8-9, New King James Version, “ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  John is teaching us here that it is God’s will that we grow each day in our relationship with Him.  In order to grow in our understanding of God, we have to accept the fact that He is our Heavenly Father and we are His children.  As His children, we are going to want to be obedient unto Him, we are going to grow, we are going to develop, and we are going to go on in the Christian faith. Therefore, we can say that we are being saved.  Growing in the grace of God is a continual process.  We are progressively being saved and are being molded into His likeness.

3. I will be saved. When the Lord Jesus comes again for His own, we will experience the final stage of our salvation. Sin no longer will have power over us, and we will be with the Lord forever in Heaven.  1 John 3:2; “ Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”NLBT   John wants us to fully understand that we are God’s children  now,  not tomorrow, but right now. That is the wonderful part of God’s plan for us. The world won’t understand us,  because it didn’t understand Him. It takes a spiritual insight, and that comes through the anointing that He has given to us.  

The Spirit of God is the one who can make this real to us, and only the Spirit of God can do that. Until He confirms it in your heart,  you must say, “I don’t know whether I am saved or not”.  Satan will always put the question in your mind,  “Did I really accepted Jesus as my personal Savior and did He really forgive me of my sins and give me eternal life?”  Satan will continue to confuse you with doubt.  This doubt will cause you to walk in defeat instead of victory.  It will cause confusion in your life and confusion usually leads to sin. The only way to keep Satan from confusing you is to be able go back to a specific time and place that you know, without a doubt, that you prayed, asking Jesus to come into your heart, that you accepted Him as your Savior, That He forgave you of your sins and that He gave you eternal life. Victory can only come when you know, without a doubt, that you are a child of God.  If there is any doubt whatsoever in your mind, concerning your salvation, you should settle that once and for all.  Right now on this day and in this hour and minute you can receive Jesus as your personal Savior.  When you come to the place in your life that you pray to Jesus, asking Him to save you and you believe  in your heart that He did save you, then the Spirit of God can confirm this to your heart.  If there is any doubt whatsoever, you should study the information on how you can be saved and claim the promises quoted and pray to receive Jesus as your personal Savior right now.

Let’s look at some of the facts concerning the lost state of every man and woman created by God and how one can be saved from that lost state. 

God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.  Jesus tells us in the Book of John "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:  I am come that they might have life and might have it more abundantly." (John 10:9-10 KJV).  The amplified version of verse ten states, "...I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance--to the full, till it overflows."  The Living Bible translated states, "... My purpose is to give life in all its fullness."  Since creation God has always wanted to give man a wonderful and satisfying life.  He wanted then and He wants today to provide us with all of His love and wonderful blessings but He cannot do that because of sin.  Sin in our life separates us from Him, therefore, we cannot experience His love in our present condition.  To show His love for us God sent His only Son to reunite us with God and to cleanse us from that sin so that we can once again experience God's love.  "God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.  This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." (1 John 4:9-10 NLBT).

How can you experience that love?  The first step is to recognize that you are a sinner.  "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;". (Romans 3:23 KJV).  Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden man has been separated from God and inherits from Adam the nature to do wrong instead of doing right.  Because of this inheritance all are born in sin and separated from God.  "When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race.  Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned." (Romans 5:12 NLBT).  Man has always tried to reach God by many different types of idol worship and sacrifice.  However, he is never able to accomplish this task of reaching God because of the eternal separation.  Man is on one side of the issue and God is on the other.  1 John 1:10 tells us "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

Once we admit that we are sinners we must understand that there is a price to be paid for sin.  "For the wages of sin is death," (Romans 6:23 a, KJV).  Once we understand the penalty for sin we have to be sorry for our sin and repent.  Repent means to turn away from sin and go another way.  "...but except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish." (Luke 13:3 KJV).  "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,..." (Acts 3;19 KJV).  "Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins". (Acts 3:19 NLBT). 

What must you do once you have become aware of your sinful condition and agree that you are a sinner and want to be forgiven of your sin?  The answer is given by Paul when he was in prison in Phillipi.  The jailer was so afraid of being executed when he found the prison doors open after an earth quake that he was going to take his own life.  Paul stopped him and told him everyone was still there.  Upon seeing that all were present he ask that famous question "What must I do to be saved."  Paul answers and gives us the only way to the Father.   "....What must I do to be saved? ....Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house."  The Amplified version states it this way, "...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ--that is, give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping, and you will be saved;...". (Acts 16:30-31 KJV).  That word "believe" means to trust in, cling to, rely on the fact that Jesus has the power to save you and that if you ask Him He will save you.  God continues to love us and wants to save us from our sin.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son That whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16 KJV).  "I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life.  They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life."  (John 5:24 NLBT).  (Also see John 1:12; John 3:14-18, 36; John 11:25-26, 36, 40).   

The next step is to call upon the name of Jesus to save us and ask the Father to forgive our sins.  "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."  (Romans 10:13 KJV).  We must confess our sins and receive forgiveness of our sins.  "But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every sin." (1 John 1:9 NLBT).  We must confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus can and will save us.  "For if  you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved......for anyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved." (Romans 10:9-13 NLBT).

Just as the wages of sin is eternal death, eternal life is a gift of God.  "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". (Romans 3:23 KJV).  The Living Bible states it this way, "For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard.  Yet now God in His gracious kindness declares us not guilty.  He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.  For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us.  We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.  God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times.  And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe In Jesus." (Romans 3:23-26 NLBT).

Forgiveness is a free gift.  We cannot earn it.  We can not do enough good works to deserve it.  We can only accept it.  "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."  (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV).  When we invite Jesus into our life He is already standing there waiting for that invitation.  "Look! Here I stand at the door and knock.  If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together" (Revelations 3:20 NLBT).  This scripture pictures a Risen Christ standing at your hearts door knocking and wanting to come into your life and forgive you of your sin and give you eternal life.  He has already paid the ransom for your sins, He has already died on the cross for your sins and He offers you the free gift of eternal life if you will only accept it.  All you have to do is open your hearts door and invite Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins and to save you and give you eternal life.

How do you invite Jesus into your life?  Through a simple request called prayer.  You might pray a prayer like this.  "Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son.  I believe that He came to save me from my sins.  I believe that He died on the cross, in my place,  and paid the price  for my sin.  I believe that He was raised from the grave and now lives with You in Heaven.  I know that I am a sinner and I ask You to forgive me of my sins.  I accept You, Jesus, as my Lord and Savior.  I want you to live in my heart and to control my life.  I thank you, Father,  for forgiving me of my sins and giving me eternal life.  I know that I am now a born again believer and free from the terrible punishment for my sins.   I accept your free gift of forgiveness and know, without any doubt, that I have been washed by the blood of Jesus that was shed for me.  I know that I am saved and I thank you Father for loving me and saving me. Amen."   Immediately upon praying that prayer, Jesus did come into your life and forgave you of you past, present and future sins.  All you have to do now is to allow Him to abide in you and you abide in Him. 

You can know for sure that you are now saved.  The scripture gives you many verses that will confirm this fact.  "I write this to you who believe in the Son of God., so that you may know you have eternal life.  And we can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask Him for anything in line with His will.  And if we know he is listening when we make our request, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for."  (1 John 5:13-15 NLBT).  Since the only reason that Jesus came to earth and died on the cross was to provide a way for you to be back in fellowship with the Father; then, it is surely His will that you be saved.  Therefore, when you asked Him to come into your life the scripture says that He hears your request and will give it to you.  So your assurance and confidence comes from the promises of Jesus as given in the scriptures.

Now, record this   day,  date,  time,  and  place,  so that You can always find it.  Then when Satan tries to confuse you with the question, “Did you really accept Jesus as your Savior ?”, You can answer a very definite “YES”!   You can say, “Satan, on DAY, MONTH, DAY, YEAR, at TIME, AND PLACE,  I  ASKED Jesus to become my Savior and He did!  That’s It!  That’s final!  I AM A CHILD OF GOD!!!!

God’s love for us does not stop with our salvation experience.  Once we are saved, Jesus lives in us and wants to have fellowship with us each moment of the day.  God’s love continues throughout our lives and takes us right up to the return of Jesus Christ!  When our Lord appears, all true believers will see Him and will become like Him.  Philippians 3:20-21: 20; “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere.”  This means that all true born again believers, will have new, glorified bodies suited to heaven. 

John 3:1,  tells us what we are: “Children of God”;  “See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are!”. 1 John 3:2,  tells us what we shall be:  “We shall be like Him”; “Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”  and 1 John 3:3,  tells us what we should be: “Pure, just like He is pure”; :And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure.”  In view of the return of Jesus Christ, we should keep our lives clean and pure and should be looking forward, with much anticipation, to His return.

John now takes us to a section of the book that contrast the actions of His children with the actions of Satan.  John wants us to understand that God’s love in His children make them want to live a righteous life and when they do fall into sin, they are convicted of that sin and live in guilt until they confess their sin and receive cleansing from it.  Children of Satan sin because it pleases them to live as they desire to live and their life is one of self gratification. 

1 John 3:4-10; “4 Those who sin are opposed to the law of God, for all sin opposes the law of God. 5 And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, for there is no sin in him. 6 So if we continue to live in him, we won’t sin either. But those who keep on sinning have never known him or understood who he is.

7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it is because they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows they belong to the Devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy these works of the Devil. 9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not sin, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the Devil. Anyone who does not obey God’s commands and does not love other Christians does not belong to God.”

We must remember that salvation and forgiveness of our sins began with the Father’s love for us.  Because the Father loved us and sent His Son to die for us, we are children of God.  Because God loves us, He wants us to live with Him one day.  Salvation, from start to finish, is an expression of the love of God.  It is by God’s grace that we are His children.  Because of our relationship with the Father, that comes by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we, as born again believers, have no desire to live in sin.