John 8:12 NLT – Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
Jesus is the light of the world. If you follow Him you will not walk in darkness any more. This is a promise right from His lips. Following Jesus starts with prayerfully making your connection with Him.
A – Admit and Ask
We need to admit to God that we have sinned and fallen short of His standards and to ask for His forgiveness.
The Bible says…
Romans 3:23-24 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
1 John 1:9-10 – 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.
When we admit to God that we have sinned and not fully followed Him or His ways, it is like a huge weight is lifted from our shoulders. We can know that we are right with God and our sins are forgiven.
B – Believe and Become
We need to believe in Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sin.
The Bible says…
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 1:12 – Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
When we believe in Jesus and what He has done for us, we become God’s children and have the promise of eternal life with Him. We can know in this life that our eternal destiny is sorted out by God. God promises us this in the Bible.
C – Call and Confess.
We need to call on Jesus to save us and we need to confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.
The Bible says…
Romans 10:13 – Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Romans 10:9-10 – That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
The final step in the ABC of salvation is to call and confess. We call out to Jesus to save us and we confess Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. This means we are trusting Jesus to save us from our sin (our Saviour) and we are asking Him to be our King and ruler of our life (our Lord).
Prayer to find salvation
Responding to God is as simple as praying a short prayer that expresses our thanks for what He has done, confessing your sin and asking Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour. You can pray this prayer right now.
Heavenly Father, I thank You that Jesus came and died on the cross for my sin. Right now I ask for Your forgiveness for all of the wrong things I have done in my life. Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God, that You died on the cross for my sin and that God raised you from the dead. Right now I surrender my life to You and I ask you to be my Lord and Saviour. Please guide me and lead me in all I do. Help me to live for Your Kingdom by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen
Further Reading
Accepting Jesus and your Lord and Saviour is the start of a new journey in your life with God. Please visit our Discipleship page to find some things you can do to help you grow in your faith and commitment to God. You can also download our free discipleship Bible studytoo.
I read this quote from William Booth recently. He was the founder of the Salvation Army. From my understanding it was written over 100 years ago. He could have wrote it today…
“The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, heaven without hell.”
This week we are going to continue with our series from 1 John. We are up to chapter 4. Last fortnight in chapter 3 we saw three things…
In chapter 3 John wanted us to know that…
We are loved and chosen by God – we are His children
As God’s children we need to live right as we wait for Jesus to come back
Real love is sacrificial and focuses on the good of others
Chapter 4 has some more warnings and some more encouragements for us as Christians. As with the other chapters before it, John wants us to be on track in our relationship with Christ and with one another.
The title of this message today is “A call to love one another, live without fear and watch out for false teachers”.
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Message Points
1. A warning against false teachers
In verses 1-6 John gives us a warning against teachers who speak of things not from the Spirit of God.
1 John 4:1-3 NIV – “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”
John recognised that false teachers with ulterior motives were coming into the church to lead people astray. John warns us to test the spirit that is behind what they are saying.
When someone says, they have a word or teaching from God there is three places it can come from – God’s Spirit, the human spirit or Satan. Messages from God’s Spirit line up with Scripture and have a sense of rightness or truth about them. Messages from the human spirit feel like they miss the target and have a sense of selfishness, worldliness or ambition attached to them. Messages from Satan are designed to lead us astray and can often sound right, but are not right when tested.
So how do we test if someone is from God or not? We can observe them over a period of time and prayerfully ask these questions.
Does what they say line up with the Bible, or as one of my Bible teachers used to say, “Does it sound like God?”
Do they bear fruit worthy of Christ or what is the fruit of their ministry?
Do they respect other believers and have good standing in the church?
Does what they say about Jesus line up with the Bible? (v2-3)
These things, especially what they say about Jesus is key to knowing if what they are saying is from God. John warns us to test the spirit behind what people say. That is why we need to take it slow when new people come to the church before we give them opportunities to serve in a place of responsibilities in our church.
Over the years, I have been at churches where new people have come in. They wanted to introduce themselves to the Pastor and talk about all their experience and training. It was like a job interview for a position of authority in the church. Most of my Pastors have told the people to come and be part of the church for about six months and just get to know everyone and sit. Build relationships and let people get to know them and see what they are really like. In some cases people stayed and did become part of the church and take on a role in time. At other times they left because they did not get recognised with authority straight away.
Like John is saying here, we need to test the spirit that is at work in the person’s life and what they are saying or teaching. Remember the spirit at work can be from God, the human spirit or from Satan. Prayer and time usually reveal which one it is.
2. A call to brotherly and sisterly love
In verses 7-16 John reminds us again to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the third time in four chapters. It is something John is pretty passionate about.
The first time was in chapter 2. It says, “10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.”
If we love one another it proves we are living in the light. The second time was in chapter 3. John again reminds us that this “is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another” (v11). He goes on to say that our love for one another shows we have passed from death to life (v14).
It was the old/new commandment to love on another which goes back to Leviticus 19:18.
In today’s passage verse 12 says “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” And in verse 16 it says, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”
I don’t know about you, but I want a complete love. I want God’s love to be made complete in me. I want to follow Christ’s example of sacrificial love and I want to help my brothers and sisters in Christ who are in need as we saw in chapter 3. I want to love my brothers and sisters in Christ so it will be obvious I truly belong to Jesus (John 13:34-35). I don’t want to love only in words, but my faith and my love to have actions attached to them (James 2:26). I want to show I have passed from death to life. I want people to see my love and good deeds and give glory to my Father in heaven as Jesus said in Matthew 5:16.
So once more John reminds us to love one another.
3. Perfect loves drives out all fear
My last point for today is perfect love drives out all fear. Tucked away in verses 17-18 is a powerful point about fear – perfect love drives out fear.
Verses 17 and 18 in today’s readings says, “In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
The context of the statement “perfect love drives out all fear” is in the case of the coming judgement at the end times. When the Bible talks about judgement, it talks about two main happenings. The “judgment seat of Christ” in 2 Corinthians 5:10 and the “Great white throne judgement” in Revelation 20:11-15.
In 2 Corinthians 5:10 it says, “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.” This is traditionally seen as the judgement of those who are righteous in Christ – people who have believed in Jesus and trusted Him for their salvation. It is neither the judgement of the nations where sheep and goats will be separated in Matthew 25:31–46 nor the great white throne in Revelation 20:11–15.
Revelations 20:11-15 says, “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. 12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. 14 Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. 15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
This judgment is based on faith in Christ and if your name is in the Lambs Book of Life. If your name is in there because you have trust Christ, you are ok… if not, you are a bad place.
The judgement seat of Christ should be viewed as the “reward seat”, rather than being viewed as a judicial bench. Good deeds will receive a greater reward, and bad deeds will lessen the reward. Yet the judgement seat remains only for believers in Christ who have already been justified and found worthy to stand before a judge, having their lives inspected to determine their rewards.
For us as Christians this is good news, no scratch that, it is great news! Our judgment is not about salvation – we are saved and our names are recorded in the Lambs Book of Life. The judgment we will face is about rewards. Rewards for what we have done with what we know about Christ.
So, in the context of our passage today. We can have confidence on the day of judgement, because we trust Christ. We know and have experienced His perfect love that reaches out from eternity and drives out all fear.
I have heard it said that the letter of F.E.A.R. stand for false evidence appearing real – F E A R. Whenever I am fearful about the future I ask God is this is false evidence or is this real, then His love comes in and gives me peace, His Word comes in gives me assurance and His Spirit helps me to focus back on the eternal realities that are true, real and pure. Perfect love drives out fear.
Closing
So, in closing today and as we finish with 1 John 4, I want to encourage with three thoughts that John wanted us to understand.
He wanted to warn us about false teachers who would try and lead us astray.
He wanted to remind us of the importance of loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
He wanted us to remember that perfect love drives out fear.
I am doing a new plan on the Bible app called, “Everyday Faith”. It is a 50 day plan that has been really good so far. I am up to day 9 and have found it very encouraging. I have copied today’s reading below. If you are interested, you can click on the link above.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Hebrews 12:1 NLT
The writer of Hebrews makes a distinction. There is sin. And there are weights. Not everything that slows you down is rebellion. Some things are simply heavy: old disappointments that never fully resolved. Expectations placed on you that you owned without question. Roles you stepped into without discernment. Conversations that replay in your mind long after they ended.
You can love Christ and still be carrying unnecessary weight.
We grow used to carrying these weights, even though they drain us. Over time, the burden begins to feel normal. But normal does not mean healthy.
As The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan illustrates, the traveler, Christian, could not move freely because of what he carried: “He could not go fast, by reason of the burden that was upon his back.”
And when Christian finally came to the cross, the story tells us: “His burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble…”
The burden was not managed. It was released.
When you picture following Christ with freedom, what feels in the way? What makes you cautious when you should be courageous? What makes you hesitant when you sense you should move? The call is simple, but not easy: lay it aside. Not analyze it endlessly. Not manage it more carefully. Lay it down. You cannot run while gripping what Christ never asked you to carry or protect.
Action Question: What weight have you been carrying that the journey with Jesus does not require?
Prayer: Jesus, I lay down my burdens, the unnecessary weight I am carrying. I cast my burden upon you. Take them from me now and allow me the grace to feel them lifted.
About 10 years ago I swapped my home computers to Linux. My first go was with Ubuntu which worked well. It was a big learning curve as I had only ever used Windows products.
After about a year I found Linux Mint. This is built on Ubuntu but has a much friendlier layout and it looks a bit more like Windows. It has a “start” button in the bottom left hand corner and everything flows from that.
So for the last 9 years I have been using Linux Mint on my laptop. I use this for all of my preaching preparation and for building and maintaining my websites. It has worked really well. So much so that I installed it on my new refurbished laptop I bought this week!
One of the things I was concerned about when I switched over to Linux was how would I replace my programmes I used. In a short time I realised Linux Mint comes with many products similar to what I already used.
For Microsoft Office programmes like Word, Excel and Powerpoint you have Libre Office already included. It opens all the Microsoft programmes and you can save them as .doc, .xls or .ppt after editing. They even have a built in PDF creator which is handy.
For surfing the web it comes with Mozilla Firefox included. For email it has Mozilla Thunderbird. Both of these are preinstalled and easy to use. For website building and maintenance you can install Mozilla SeaMonkey for free.
Another cool feature of Linux Mint is the “app store” called the software manager. This has over 30,000 of free apps for all your needs. I found I could replace all of my Windows based programmes from there and they cost me nothing. No more yearly fees for using products I already own!
Computer experts say that Linux is generally more secure than other operating systems. Mint has a built in firewall called UFW. UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) is a user-friendly interface for managing firewall rules in Linux. You can also install ClamAV for free from the app store which takes care of viruses and malware.
One of the best features of Linux (apart from being free!) is that it does not have a lot of bloatware that slows down your system. It often brings an old computer back to life as the system requirements are much lower than other operating systems.
If you are interested you can visit the Linux Mint website here. Or if you want to watch an introduction video, I found this just now on YouTube.
PASSIONAustralia.blog 