This week we will continue in our series on 1 John. In fact, we are up to chapter 5, so this is our final week of the series. I have been really encouraged by this series and revisiting this book. As I have, I realised just how much the writings of John have shaped my life and ministry.

Last week we saw three things in chapter 4…

1. He wanted to warn us about false teachers who would try and lead us astray.
2. He wanted to remind us of the importance of loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
3. He wanted us to remember that perfect love drives out fear.

This week we will look at five things that God wants me to draw out of this chapter.

Bible Reading

1 John 5:1-21 NLT

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves His children, too.
2 We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey His commandments.
3 Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.
4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.
5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by His baptism in water and by shedding His blood on the cross–not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with His testimony.
7 So we have these three witnesses [in heaven–the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And we have three witnesses on earth]–
8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood–and all three agree.
9 Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about His Son.
10 All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony 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 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.
13 I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
14 And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him.
15 And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for.
16 If you see a Christian brother or sister sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it.
17 All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.
18 We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.
19 We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and He has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and He is eternal life.
21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

Message Points

As I mentioned earlier I have 5 points to bring out today.

1. Children of God love God and obey His commands

1 John 5:2-3 NLT – We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey His commandments.  3 Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.

We become children of God by putting our faith and trust in Jesus. This is when we are born again into God’s eternal family. This is when we receive His Holy Spirit and our lives are changed forever in an instant and they progressively change over time into the image of Christ.

One of the ways that John says we measure this change is by our love for God, our love for His other children, and our obedience to His commandments.

When we look at the 10 Commandments from the Old Testament, we see that the first four look to how we should relate to God and the next six look at how we should relate to each other. Likewise, in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount He spoke about relationship with our Father in Heaven and our relationship to each other.

As Jesus, Himself said in Mark 12:30-31 NLT “And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’  31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

Children of God need to love God, love one another and obey His commands.

2. Children of God overcome the world

1 John 5:4-5 says, “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.  5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Children of God overcome the world. How do we overcome the world? We overcome the world because of our faith in Christ. The world says we are here by chance. Our faith in Christ says we are hear by God’s plan and purpose. The world says we are born, we live and we die and that is the end of us. Our faith in Christ says we are eternal beings with a future hope of spending eternity with Christ in His Kingdom. The world says we are measured by what we do and what we own. Our faith in Christ says we are measured by who we belong to and how much He paid to purchase our freedom. Jesus paid it all.

For us as children of God to overcome the world, we must keep standing firm when all seems against us. When we are tempted to follow the worlds systems of doing things, we overcome when we follow God’s principles. We overcome the world when we continue to set our hearts and minds on things above. We overcome the world when we stay strong in the Word and remember that “every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith”.

Faith brings victory over this world. Faith is how we overcome.

3. Children of God have assurance that Jesus is the promised Messiah

As regular readers of the Bible we know that after Adam and Eve sinned and were caste out of the garden and God promised to send a Saviour and Messiah. There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about this and point to Jesus as the fulfillment of these prophecies. Not only do we have fulfilled prophecies, but we have testimony from the “water, the blood and the Spirit”.

In verses 7 and 8 of today’s text it says, “So we have these three witnesses [in heaven–the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And we have three witnesses on earth]– 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood–and all three agree.”

Over the centuries, Bible Scholars have held different opinions of what this means – water, blood and Spirit. If we read verse 6 it tells us plainly. “And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by His baptism in water and by shedding His blood on the cross–not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with His testimony.”

If we read the account of Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3:16-17 we see that “After His baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy.”

From this we see God’s confirmation of Jesus as His Son and Messiah. We also see God’s confirmation in the resurrection of Jesus. He was crucified, He died and He was buried. But Jesus didn’t stay in the grave. He rose to life by the power of the Holy Spirit. In His death, He defeated sin and its hold on us. In His resurrection, He defeated death and its hold on us too.

As Christians, we can have confidence that Jesus is the Messiah. From the fulfilled prophecies, from the testimony of water, blood and Spirit, and by His resurrection from the dead.

4. Children of God have assurance of salvation and relationship

1 John 5:13-15 –  I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.  14 And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him.  15 And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for.

Two main points come out of these verses. One is that we have assurance of salvation because we believe in the name of the Son of God – we have put our hope and trust in Jesus. The second one is that we have relationship with God because He hears us when we pray.

God hasn’t saved us and left us to our own devices where we just get through this life and wait for death. He saved us and helps us through this life. One way is by hearing and answering our prayers. Now it would be easy to just read verse 15 and think that God will give us whatever we ask for. “Dear God I want a new Mercedes. Dear God I want a mansion to live in. Or in Larissa’s case – Dear God I want a really handsome husband!”.

Verse 14 gives us context – “And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him.” A big part of prayer is asking according to His will.

When I pray, I am conscious of asking for what I need for our family and to do His will. I use the A.S.K. principle.

A – Acknowledge that God is sovereign and He can do all things

S – Seek His will in all situations and what He wants

K – Keep on praying and keeping it before the throne.

I know this seems like a simple principle, but it puts God in His rightful place – sovereign and all powerful, and me in my place – totally dependent on Him.

As children of God we can be assured of our salvation and relationship with God. I know because I am resting in Jesus for my salvation, that I am in relationship with God and He hears me.

5. Children of God need to look out for each other

In the last section of the text it reminds us that we are all in this together and we need to look out for each other.

1 John 5:16-17 says, “If you see a Christian brother or sister sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it.  17 All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.”

It is just so vital for us to look out for each other. This life gets tough at times and temptations come at us all. That is why we need to stand together and help each other through. If we see someone caught up in sin, we need to help get them back on track.

Galatians 6:1 touches on this when it says, “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.”

Before I finish I want to touch on this last idea of a sin that leads to death. The sin that leads to death is in the context of false teachers leading people astray. So, it a sin that distorts the Biblical reality of Jesus and downplays His Deity, His eternal existence or coming as Messiah in bodily form. One that we wrongly believe ourselves or we teach to others and they follow.

Because as we know, we need to have a right view of Jesus to be saved. We need to believe that He is the eternal Son of God. We need to believe He is the one who was born into this world and died on the cross for our sin. We need to believe that He was raised to life and now sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. We need to accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. A right view of Jesus brings salvation. A wrong view of Jesus is a sin that leads to death.

So children of God need to look out for each other and help each other stay on track with the Lord.

Closing Summary

As we finish this series and our look at the Book of 1 John I want to list the main points that God prompted me to bring out today.

• Children of God love God and obey His commands
• Children of God overcome the world
• Children of God have assurance that Jesus is the promised Messiah
• Children of God have assurance of salvation and relationship
• Children of God need to look out for each other

Amen

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…

1. We are loved and chosen by God – we are His children
2. As God’s children we need to live right as we wait for Jesus to come back
3. 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”.

Bible Reading

1 John 4:1-21 NIV84

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?”
• Does their life and character line up with Scripture? (Titus 1:5-9, 1 Timothy 3:8-12)
• 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.

1. He wanted to warn us about false teachers who would try and lead us astray.
2. He wanted to remind us of the importance of loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
3. He wanted us to remember that perfect love drives out fear.

This week we are going to continue on our series on 1 John. Last week in chapter two we saw four main things…

• We have an Advocate and Defender (Jesus) in heaven pleading our case when sin.
• There is a new/old commandment to love one another. It goes all the way back to Leviticus!
• We are to not love the world and the things in it more than we love God and His Kingdom.
• We need to be aware there are false teachers (antichrists) in the world trying to lead us astray.

This week we are going to look at chapter 3. Like chapter two John has some really good things that he wants us to remembers.

Bible Reading – 1 John 3

1 John 3:1-24 NIV – See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. 11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

Message points

Today I want to bring out three keys points.

1. We are loved by God and adopted as His children

1 John 3:1a says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

We are reminded that God loves us and we are His children when we come to Christ. We are adopted into His eternal family, now and forever. I love the way the NIV uses the word lavished. God lavished His love upon us.

The Bible says a number of things about us being chosen as His children.

Ephesians 1:4-5 NIV – For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.

John 1:12-13 NLT – But to all who believed Him [Jesus] and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn–not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

Hebrews 2:11 NLT – So now Jesus and the ones He makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them His brothers and sisters.

Ephesians 2:19 NIV – Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.

The great thing about adoption is it is about being chosen – chosen before the foundation of the world. We are adopted because we believe in Jesus and have accepted Him – God gave us the right to be His children. We are brothers and sisters of Christ. We here are fellow citizens and members of God household.

2. As God’s children, we must not keep on sinning

1 John 3:5-6 NIV – But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

The Greek word used for sin in the thigs passage is ham-ar-tan’-o. This means to miss the mark. It gives us images of an archer aiming for the bullseye in the centre of the target and missing.

Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, to sin is missing the target and falling short of God’s best standard.

But as we know as Christians Jesus has paid the price for our sins and as verse 5 says, “appeared so that he might take away our sins.”

In the previous chapters, we saw that God is faithful and just and forgives us and purifies us of our sin when we confess (1 John 1:9) and that we have an Advocate in heaven (1 John 2:1).

So how do we reconcile verse 6? “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”

We need to remember this in the context of the false teachers who were teaching the people that you could live how you want and be right with God.

There is a difference between committing a sin and continuing to sin. Even the most faithful believers sometimes commit sins, but they do not cherish a particular sin by thinking about it all the time or continually choosing to commit it.

A believer who commits a sin can repent, confess it, and find forgiveness. A person who continues to sin, by contrast, is not sorry for what he or she is doing. Thus, this person never confesses and never receives forgiveness. Such a person is in opposition to God, no matter what religious claims he or she makes.

Unlike the archer, instead of aiming at the bullseye of God’s perfect standard and missing. The false teachers or antichrists did not even have a bow, an arrow and a target! In their eyes, they didn’t need one.

God knows we will stumble. Jesus has paid the price for our sin and we receive forgiveness when we sin, but we must not make a habit of sinning. Sin is the most expensive thing in the universe – it cost Jesus His life.

Before I finish this point, there are two verses that help me to keep on track.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT – The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Romans 6:12 NIV – Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

When temptations strike, God promises to help us stand against it and show us a way out. We also must not let sin reign. The only one who should reign in our life is Jesus.

3. John tells us what real love is

This is the second time in this short letter that John talks about loving one another. Without any spoilers, I suspect it is not the last time!

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).

We see in verses 12 and 16 there are two ways to live and love.

In verse 12 John warns us not to be like Cain – “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous.”

In verse 16 John tells us a better way – “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

There are two ways to live and love.

One is sacrificial of others for selfish gain. It puts my needs first and uses others to get them.

One is sacrificial of self for others gain. Like Jesus who laid down His life for us.

So how does this love show itself? Verse 18 tells us, “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions”. It is not enough to love in word only, actions must follow.

Verse 17 gives us a simple practical way of showing our love – helping a brother or sister in need. Those with much should help those with little. It asks the question if we don’t help, how God’s love can be in us.

This section closes with the commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another (v23). If we do these things we remain in fellowship with Christ.

Closing Summary

In chapter 3 John wanted us to know that…

1. We are loved and chosen by God – we are His children

2. As God’s children we need to live right as we wait for Jesus to come back

3. Real love is sacrificial and focuses on the good of others