Youth and Recreation Activity Resource Center
Activity and Resource Center
God's Children's Defense The Defense for the Believer
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. Your 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 of man in the Garden of Eden and is ready for continued fellowship with you.”
Jesus is the Atoning Sacrifice, the Substitute for Your Sins.
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 judgment day - He will see you as the same as He sees His Son, Jesus. 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.
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.
Sin Has Consequences.
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”. Confession is acknowledging your sin and agreeing with God that sin is wrong. When we confess our sin and ask God to cleanse us from that sin, John promises us that God has already forgiven our sins and will wash it away to be remembered no more.
Light and Darkness cannot be in the same place at the same time
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.
Maturity of the Believer Three Stages of Spiritual Growth
Little Children. 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.
Building a Relationship with God as His Child
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.
Salvation is a Love Affair
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 God. 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).
Satan Tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden These are the things which we need to consider.
When you do this you will have a hunger for His word and for the fellowship with other believers. 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. 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. 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. For a complete list of the training tools available in Youth and Recreation go to
” 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.
“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.
“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.
TThese 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.
Be Grounded in The Truth of God. This is the Last Hour
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? There may not be a second Chance!
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.
The Antichrist.
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.
Test of a Born Again Believer and True Follower of Jesus 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’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.
You must be Born Again.
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”
In John 3:3, John writes, “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:
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’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.”
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.
Stand Firm In Your Faith In 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?
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.
Living As Children of God! Chapter Three
Youth and Recreation Helps