February 28, 2014
I John 4:15-21

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

The next of John’s Nose – John’s Knows – is found in I John 4:16.  Here is the context of verses 15 though 21:

    Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and
    he in God.  And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. 
    God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 
    Love has been perfected among us in this:  that we may have boldness in
    the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.  There is no
    fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. 
    But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  We love Him because
    He first loved us.  If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he
    is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can
    he love God whom he has not seen?  And this commandment we have from
    Him:  that he who loves God must love his brother also.

It is not just every word that is important in scripture, but how they are placed in relation to one another.  In the case of this know, it comes first and then comes the word believe.  John writes, “…we have known and believed the love that God has for us.”  Of course believing involves faith.  And in order for you to put your faith in something, you have to know some things about it first.  We have to have some experience with God’s love before we can believe it!  This is what John says in verse 19:  “We love Him because He first loved us.”  God loved us first!  “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (I John 4:10).  This is how we know God’s love – Jesus showed us that love on the cross!  Paul put it this way in Romans 5:8:  “….God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Sin is ugly to God!  Sin is totally against His holy character!  When Jesus took upon Himself our sins on the cross, He was made ugly unto God!  And God turned away from His own Son and poured out His judgement upon Him!  Feeling that separation from the Father that we deserved as sinners, the Son cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).  Sin is that ugly to God!

But God chose to love us even in our ugly, sinful condition!  What He loved was not the condition we had gotten ourselves into as sinners, but He loved us – and what we could be in Jesus Christ – clean, pure and in harmony with our Lord!  This is agape love – loving us before we were lovely!  This is the love wherewith God loved us first!  This is why we put our faith in Him – why we believed in Him!

What we could be in Jesus Christ:  God’s plan for every Christian is for that one to grow up into Christ – to become more and more like Him (see Romans 8:29).  And, as Peter writes in II Peter 1:3 and 4:

    …His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,
    through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which
    have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through
    these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
    that is in the world through lust.

God’s love not only provided initial salvation for us, but that love also made the way to fulfill everything He desires for us as Christians, “…all things that pertain to life and godliness…” – both for now and forever!  His love – as it is more and more developed in us – takes away our fear of judgment (verse 18).  We stand before Him confident that we are “…accepted in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6).

The Great Commandment in Luke 10:27 is this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”  It is one commandment drawn from two in the Old Testament – Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.  But it is one, and cannot be separated.  If we have “…known and believed the love that God has for us…,” then we must also be loving our neighbor – our brothers and sisters.  If we are not loving them, we are liars when we claim that we love God!  It just cannot be one without the other!  John states that plainly and simply in verses 20 and 21!

So know the love of God.  Then totally receive that love by believing – putting your faith in Him.  Then love your neighbor – your brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is all tied up together.

February 26, 2014
I John 4:10-14

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Another nose of many for the Apostle John!  Well, another thing John knows – is absolutely sure about – is in verse 13 of I John 4:10-14:

    In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
    be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to
    love one another.  No one has seen God at any time.  If we love one another,
    God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.  By this we know that
    we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  And we
    have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

John could be called the apostle of love.  Love of God and of one another, truth in the person of Jesus and the written Word, and the indwelling Holy Spirit are all tied up together in his epistles.  And – as stated before in John’s Nose! – I,  his Knows in one form or another occur 42 times in I John alone!  He is absolutely sure of the things about which he writes, and we should be absolutely sure of such things also!

Let’s start at the end of the passage above, verse 14:  “…we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.”  John has had an advantage that we today do not have.  That advantage is put forth in I John 1:1 and 2:  “…we have heard…we have seen with our eyes…we have looked upon…our hands have handled…the Word of life [Jesus the Christ] — the life was manifested, and we have seen it….”  John was one of the first two disciples who met Jesus (see John 1:35 through 39), so he spent almost all of the Lord’s three and a half year ministry with Him.  No wonder John can be so sure!

But we have an advantage that John did not have!  We have the full revelation of God’s Word, the Bible.  Yes, it was all written but the book of Revelation and perhaps II and III John by the time the apostle wrote his first epistle, but the 27 books of the New Testament were not officially recognized or ‘canonized ’ until the Council of Carthage in 397 AD.  Some scholars say it was canonized earlier.  The 27 books of the New Testament were being circulated in one form or another as early at the middle of the second century, but John did not have the complete New Testament as we have!

The point is that we have the complete Bible in many editions, translations and paraphrases.  We have also two thousand years of recorded study by great Christian minds on many theological subjects.  We have much supporting evidence from archeology and other sciences.  Yes, we also have ‘seen’ Jesus, perhaps more clearly than some who heard Him, saw Him and handled Him.

Having seen Jesus, we also are to testify concerning the Savior to those who are lost.  And we are to share His Lordship with those who already know Him, encouraging one another to walk more and more in obedience to Him.

It is interesting that John points out in verse 12 that “No one has seen God at any time.”  He is talking about the Trinitarian God who, according to John 4:24, “…is Spirit….”  Paul tells us in I Timothy 6:16 that God dwells “…in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see….”  But because the Son of God has come in human flesh, Jesus could say, “…he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.” (John 12:45).  “For in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9).

This God who occupied human flesh in the person of Jesus – this same God who is pure Spirit apart from the incarnation – this same God in the person of the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell us and abide with us forever, and we abide in Him!  How do we know this?  John lists three things which he has been emphasizing throughout his first epistle:

•    I John 4:12 – “If we love one another, God abides in us….”  We are “…to love one another [because] …God so loved us…” (I John 4:11).  Because agape love (see the February 17 blog – John’s Nose! – VI) has its source in God, it is proof that He “…abides in us.”
•    I John 4:12 – “…His love has been perfected in us.”  Perfected – or perfect – love is described in I John 4:10: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  He loves us so much that He died to make the only sacrifice – John calls it propitiation in verse 10 – acceptable for our sins.
•    I John 4:13 – “…because He has given us of His Spirit.”  We have God within us!  Paul describes the Holy Spirit as imparting into us “…the fulness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:23).

…all three – loving one another, God’s perfected love in us, and His indwelling Holy Spirit prove that we are one with Jesus Christ!

The first two are the result of the third, and all three are to be evident in our lives.  We are to be one with one another and with God through Jesus Christ – as the Lord prayed in the Garden in John 17:21:  “…that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us….”

If we live this truth out, then the last part of John 17:21 will be realized:  “…that the world may believe that You sent me.”  Isn’t that why God has left us in this old world even after we have been saved?  So let’s fulfill God’s purpose for us!

February 24, 2014
I John 4:6-9

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Here are three more of the many of John’s Nose! today.  Ok, three knows!  I’m running out of ways to relate John’s Nose! to John’s knows!!!  And these three knows are found in I John 4:6 through 9:

    We are of God.  He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not
    hear us.  By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  Beloved,
    let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of
    God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is
    love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only
    begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

John has been talking about how we can “…test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (I John 4:1).  False prophets always have a demonic spirit behind them, planting that false prophecy in their minds.  Paul shows us in II Corinthians 10:3 through 5 that the spiritual battleground is the mind.

So the first two knows are a further test of who is true and who is false – who belongs to God and who does not!  When the truth about God is taught, those who receive such truth are of God, and those who do not are not of God.  We have to be a bit careful on this.  I remember as a young Christian that I had much to learn and sometimes rejected what I now consider truth – convinced by my own study of the Word, further education and training, and time and maturity.

But in verse 7, John goes back to one of his favorite themes – and a test we have discussed before – to see if one belongs to God or does not.  That theme is loving one another.  “…everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”  Since “…God is love,” it stands to reason that those begotten by God’s Holy Spirit will also carry that characteristic of love.  Yes, we still have the old nature which does not have the capacity for agape love (see the blog for February 17, John’s Nose! – VI).  So we have to learn to rely on the new nature of God within us to properly show forth that love!

Do you know God, as it says in verse 6?  Remember, that to know God is more that mentally knowing about Him!   M. R. Vincent – Word Studies in the New Testament, Vol. I, p. 540 – says this about knowing God:  “…he who [knows God] is habitually and ever more clearly perceiving and recognizing God as his Christian life unfolds.  The knowledge is regarded as progressive and not complete.”  This one will increasingly love God and also love his or her brothers and sisters in Christ.

So let’s tie together the three knows in our scripture.  The first two have to do with receiving the truth.  The third know concerns loving our fellow Christians.  I think Paul puts the two ideas together very succinctly in I Corinthians 13:6:  Love “…does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth….”  The NIV puts it this way:  “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”  In other words, love and truth go together!  And the person who knows God – in the way Vincent described it above – will receive the truth and love his or her Christian brothers and sisters!

By the way, agape love is not limited to loving other Christians.  Just as “…God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life…” (John 3:16), we are also to love the unsaved with the same unselfish agape love that will reach out to them and lead them to Jesus Christ.  I John 4:9 and 10 is a great parallel scripture to John 3:16!  Compare the two.

There is a lot to John’s Nose! – or John’s Knows! – isn’t there?  I hope this helps you to understand the word and the life-issues it represents.

February 21, 2014
I John 3:24-4:4

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

It’s a double nose for John!  But so he doesn’t look so strange, lets say it this way – two more knows in I John 3:24 through 4:4!

    Now he who keeps His commandments abides in… [God] and He in him, and
    by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. 
    Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of
    God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you
    know the Spirit of God:  Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come
    in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ
    has come in the flesh is not of God.  And this is the spirit of Antichrist, which
    you have heard was coming; and is now already in the world.  You are of God,
    little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater
    than he who is in the world.

How can we be sure God lives in us?  John’s first know has to do with an outward manifestation and an inward assurance.  The outward manifestation is our obedience to the Lord’s commands – especially the Great Commandment, which John summarizes in I John 3:23: “And this is His commandment:   that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another…” (see Mark 12:29 through 31 for Jesus’ version of the Great Commandment).

The inward assurance comes from the Holy Spirit residing and abiding within us.  This third Person of the Trinity is…

•    …the presence of Christ in us (see John 14:14 through 16).
•    …the seal of our salvation (see II Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30).
•    …the down payment of God’s promise that He will complete what He has started (see Ephesians 1:14).
•    …the proof of God’s ownership of us, bought & paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross (see Romans 8:9 and 16).
•    …the source of spiritual life in us (see Romans 8:10 and 11).
•    …the giver of Spiritual gifts in and through us (see I Corinthians 12:4 through 11).
•    …the builder of God’s dwelling place in us (see Ephesians 2:20 through 22).
•    …the teacher of truth within us (see I John 2:27).

…and a lot more!

But the Holy Spirit is not the only spirit competing for control of our lives – especially after we become Christians!  “…the spirit of the antichrist…” – Satan – is alive and well, and very active to wrest control of believers’ lives from the Lord Jesus Christ and into his own power.  And he is subtle about it.  He can – according to II Corinthians 11:14 – even appear as “…an angel of light.”  He can masquerade as promoting something good and even godly to those who are not perceptive.  And so can his demon hordes!  This is why John tells us in I John 4:1 to “…test the spirits to see whether they are from God….”  The second know concerns how we recognize the results of testing the spirits:  “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.  And this is the spirit of Antichrist….”

It is not just that a human being named Jesus once walked upon this earth.  There are those who admit this but do not believe that He is God come in the flesh!  This is why John adds Christ to Jesus in verse 3.  Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah, which means the anointed One or the God-sent One.  So the test by which you can know a godly spirit from an ungodly one is if that spirit – or that spirit-controlled person – will believe and confess that God came in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ – fully God and fully man – the incarnation!  Apparently, satanic forces will not or cannot confess such a thing!  Paul writes something related to this in I Corinthians 12:3 where he says, “…no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”

In that same I Corinthian passage, Paul lists the gifts given by God’s Spirit.  In verse 9 is the gift related to – and heightening the perception of – testing the spirits: “…for to one is given… discerning of spirits….”  This is the leading of the Holy Spirit from within saying, “This person is motivated by this spirit, or that spirit, and so be wary!”  Or just the opposite – “The motivating Spirit is Me, or one of God’s good angels, so it’s fine!”  So between the two – testing the spirits and the gift of discerning of spirits – Christians should be able to know and be absolutely sure of the motivating spirit behind whomever they meet or whatever situation that is confronting them!

Two knows – in every situation be aware by the power of the Holy Spirit the motivating spiritual force behind words and/or actions.  And also obey God’s commandments!  Your individual Christian life and the Church as a whole will be much better off for it!

February 19, 2014
I John 3:19-23

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Here is another nose that John has!  Actually there are two here in I John 3;19 through 23 – and they are knows, not nose – one from John and one from God!  I think that the NIV is clearer and closer to the original Greek than the NKJV in this scripture:

    This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our
    hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is
    greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.  Dear friends, if our hearts
    do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him
    anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him. 
    And this is His command:  to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ and
    to love one another as He commanded us.

John has just told his readers in verse 18, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”  So he deals with the question of how we can know – be absolutely sure – that we are living our lives according to the truth.  He says to look into our own hearts.

Now we have to understand that John is not advocating a subjective approach for us to rest assured that all is ok with our Christian lives because our hearts are not condemning us.  After all, Jeremiah 17:9 warns us that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? ” Yes, God gives us a new heart when we are born again – when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (see Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26 and II Corinthians 5:17).  This new heart is pure and trustworthy, but we still have the old heart – the sinful nature – and sometimes we get the messages from these two hearts mixed up!

What John is saying here is that we should not just check our own hearts for right and wrong living, because – according to verse 20 of our scripture – “…God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.”  So check how He sees it!  And the best way to check how God sees things is by what He says about it all in His Word – the Bible – interpreted and taught to us by the Holy Spirit! (see I John 2:27).

Now, when we do this – and find that our lives are being lived out in the truth of God – “…our hearts do not condemn us, [and] we have confidence before God…” (verse 21).  But, remember, it is not subjectively based on our own opinion, but on Gods!  Paul deals with this issue in I Corinthians 4:3 and 4:

    But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by a
    human court.  In fact, I do not even judge myself.  For I know nothing against
    myself; yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord.

If we can stand before God, look Him in the face, and not be aware of outstanding sins against us, then “…we have confidence before God….”  This does not mean we are totally free from all sin, but that God has not yet pointed such sin out to us!  A few days ago on January 29, we finished a study on Psalm 139 with a blog called Do We Dare Pray It?  The challenging prayer to which I referred is in verses 23 and 24:

    Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties;
    and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way ever-
    lasting.

If we have the intestinal fortitude to pray this prayer regularly and sincerely, then God – who knows for certain our hearts – will show us our sins, both open and secret.  And when we confess them to Him, we are washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ! (see I John 1:7-9).  We will then certainly “…have confidence before God….”

What is the result of such confidence?  We “…receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.” (verse 22).  We will be living according to His will, and John tells us in I John 5:14 and 15:

    And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything
    according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us,
    whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we asked of Him.

Talk about an effective prayer life!!!

“… we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.”  And what is the Lord’s chief command?  John summarizes the Great Commandment (see Matthew 22:37 through 39 and Mark 12:29 through 31) in verse 23 this way:  “And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.”  As Jesus said in Mark 12:31, “There is no other commandment greater than these.”  So start here!  You can’t go wrong!

February 14, 2014
I John 3:10-16

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

On to more great things concerning John’s Nose! …I mean John’s Knows!  The next three knows about which John is absolutely sure concern love – loving one another as Christians.  And the context is I John 3:10 through 16:

    In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest:  who-
    ever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not
    love his brother.  For this is the message that you heard from the beginning,
    that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and
    murdered his brother.  And why did he murder him?  Because his works were
    evil and his brother’s righteous.  Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world
    hates you.  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love
    the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.  Whoever
    hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal
    life abiding in him.  By this we know love, because He [Jesus] laid down His
    life for us.  And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

The way God’s children are manifested to the world and to one another is by righteousness and love.  And the way the devil’s children are manifest is just the opposite – they do “…not practice righteousness…nor…love the brethren.”

Jesus is the primary example of “…the children of God…. ”  He told His followers in John 13:34 and 35:

    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved
    you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My
    disciples, if you have love for one another.

How do we know Jesus loved us?  Verse 16 of our scripture says, “…because He laid down His life for us.”  How should we then love each other?  “And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”  If we are willing to lay down our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters, then anything else we can do for them to show our love is a lesser sacrifice!

Cain is the example chosen to show forth “…the children of the devil….”  Why?  Because he “…was of the wicked one and murdered his brother.”  And John states that it should be obvious – we should know – “…that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”  Jesus further explained it to John in Revelation 21:8:

    But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,
    sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns
    with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

I should point out that unrepentant murderers will not share in eternal life!  Paul was a murderer, and so was David.  But both – though great sinners – were great repenters!  That’s the key!  No sin is too great for God to forgive if we repent and turn from that sin!  Cain was an unrepentant murderer!

Why did Cain murder his brother Abel?  Read the record in Genesis 4:1 through 15.  In brief, Abel obeyed God and brought an offering pleasing to Him – a burnt sacrifice from the flock.  God had already shown the necessity of a blood sacrifice in Genesis 3:28, when He clothed Adam and Eve with tunics of skin to cover their nakedness.  Cain tried to offer a bloodless sacrifice – home-grown vegetables – and the implication is that it was Cain’s idea of a proper offering, not God’s!  God accepted Able and his offering, but rejected Cain and his.  The main point here is that we must come to God on His terms, not ours! 

Cain and his offering were rejected by God, and it made him so angry that he took it out on his brother.  John succinctly gives the reason in verse 12 of our scripture:  “And why did he murder him?  Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.”  We will either turn to God by way of the Lord Jesus Christ or we will turn away.  And the danger in turning away is that we will be angry with God for not accepting us on our terms and we will hate anyone who reminds us of that!  John strongly warns in verse 15:  “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

So check your attitude, and check it regularly.  Are you loving your brothers and sisters in the Lord?  Are you showing forth that love in righteous actions and seeking the best for them – even if you feel they have wronged you? …even if they irritate the whatever out of you? …even if you think if they owned a cat, they would pet it………UP?  Are you willing to lay down your life for them if necessary?!!

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.” (verse 14).  Love one another!  It is a matter of life and death!

February 12, 2014
I John 3:5-9

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Let’s see what else we can pick from John’s Nose!  That’s gross!  So let’s pick another one of John’s Knows instead!  The next know is I John 3:5, and we will look at the truths with which John deals in four following verses.  Here is I John 3:5 through 9:

    …you know that He [Jesus] was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him
    is no sin.  Whoever abides in Him does not sin.  Whoever sins has neither seen
    Him nor known Him.  Little children, let no one deceive you.  He who practices
    righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.  He who sins is of the devil,
    for the devil has sinned from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God
    was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.  Whoever has
    been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin,
    because he has been born of God.

This is an important know! …and John is absolutely sure of it – and we should be too!  “…you know that He was manifested to take away our sins….”  Christian, if this is true, where are your sins?  They are taken away, and – as David wrote in Psalm 103:12 – they are removed “…as far as the east is from the west….”  Jesus – the sinless One – bore them on the cross, becoming sin and sinner in our place before the Father.  We are standing now before God not only with our sins taken away, but Jesus has also clothed us with His robe of righteousness.  We are counted as completely sinless and righteous before God!  If you know this – really know it – it will revolutionize living out your Christian life!

Then, in verses 6 and 7,  John reiterates truth we already covered in the last blog – “Whoever abides in Him does not sin.  Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him….He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.”  If you know Jesus as your Savior, you are righteous before God.  And your life will reflect righteousness because your Lord is righteous!  At least that is the way it should be, Christian!  And if this isn’t true in your Christian walk, then you are deceived!  As John said in verse 7, “Little children, let no one deceive you…” about this matter.

In the next verse – verse 8 – John delves into the very purpose for which “…the Son of God was manifested….”  And that purpose is “…that He might destroy the works of the devil.”  But didn’t Jesus Himself say in Luke 19:10 His purpose for coming to earth was this?  “For the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  But isn’t that one of the main works of the devil? – to secure our rebellion and lostness before God?  We are lost because Satan deceived our first parents into disobeying God.  And that rebellion – we are all disobedient to God – has been passed down to every generation since!  Jesus came to save us – to restore us to our original estate.  And His sacrifice will effect the redemption of all creation in the end.  There will be a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1), and the devil will be banished forever to hell.  I would say that is totally destroying “…the works of the devil.”

Finally – for this section of scripture – John deals with something that has caused controversy in Christendom for centuries.  He writes in verse 9, “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”  Some say that a Christian can reach sinless perfection this side of heaven.  Others say that is not possible.  We still sin as believers, but we are bathed and cleansed in the blood of Jesus.  By the way, John deals with this subject again at the end of his epistle – I John 5:18:  “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”

Here is the explanation:  Nothing that comes from God contains the capacity for sin.  James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation or shadow of turning.”  God cannot sin, and any gift He gives to His children is as good and perfect as He is – containing no sin!  This surely applies to the new nature He gives us by His Holy Spirit when we are born again (see II Corinthians 5:17).  That new nature cannot sin!  But we still have the old nature, and the old nature surely does nothing but sin!  To grow in Jesus Christ is to feed the new nature by the Word and make it strong.  And the stronger and more dominate the new nature becomes in the believer, the less sin will be manifested in his or her life!

So know these truths!  And practice them!  The result will show in your Christian life!

February 10, 2014
I John 2:28-3:3

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Well, we are still on John’s Nose!  I mean, we are still looking at John’s Knows!   I know, he isn’t a cat – just like he wasn’t a dog in the last blog!  But this photo of a kitten’s nose is so cute, I couldn’t resist!  John’s Knows – These are the truths about which the Apostle John is absolutely sure – and has said so in his epistle of I John.  There are five knows in I John 2:28 through 3:3:

    And now, little children, abide in Him [Jesus], that when He appears, we may
    have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.  If you know
    that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is
    born of Him.  Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,
    that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know
    us, because it does not know Him.  Beloved, now are we the children of God;
    and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He
    is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone
    who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

In verse 27, John tells us the Holy Spirit within us teaches us to abide in Jesus.  Now he states, “Continue to abide!”  Every Christian will stand before Him at the Bema Seat Judgement Paul outlines in I Corinthians 3:11 through 15.  This is not to determine if we receive heaven or hell, eternal life or damnation forever!  According to John 5:24, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believeth in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”  The Bema Seat Judgement is all about Jesus Christ reviewing how we have lived our life after we receive Him as our Savior!  It is not a matter of having Him as Savior, but if He has been our Lord!  And if we have not lived for Him, He will call us out on the issue, and we will stand ashamed before Him!

John’s first know – and second know also – is in the second verse of this scripture, I John 2:29: “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”  Of course Jesus is righteous!  Peter puts it this way in I Peter 2:22:  He “…committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth….”  Even the Lord’s enemies – when confronted with the question in John 8:46, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” – could not think of anything really wrong He had done!

Settling that first know issue, the next know is this:  “…you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” (I John 2:29).  “Like father, like son,” the old saying goes.  Jesus – being the Son of the Father, is just like His Father!  And we also – being born of God by His Holy Spirit – are like our Father and also like our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ!  So – turning the statement around – “If we are born of Him…we will practice righteousness!”  Know this!

Now on to chapter three:  It is by God’s love that we have been born again and made His sons and daughters.  And we should be living our lives to reflect that heritage of being born into God’s family.  The ungodly world – under the authority of “…the god of this world…”, Satan (II Corinthians 4:4) – does not know the Lord and does not know – understand – us who are His followers.  These are the third and fourth knows!

But there is more to come for the Christian!  And we don’t exactly know what is coming.  But we should know this fifth know:  “…we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (I John 3:2).  Paul wrote in Philippians 3:20 and 21:  “…the Lord Jesus Christ…who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”  How was Jesus’ body when He came out of the tomb?  He who was beaten beyond recognition was perfect and whole!  He was not limited by physical laws anymore – He could appear and disappear at will, and gravity seemed to hold no power over Him when He arose into heaven!  He was still physical, for He said in Luke 24:39 – when He appeared in the upper room, and the disciples thought it was a ghost! – “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.  Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”  Yet His physical body was perfectly adapted to eternal spiritual living!  When He returns, ours will be also – and we are to know this!

The process to be made into His image is by “beholding Him” – looking upon Him.  We do that now by faith, seeing Him in His Word, and through obedience to that Word.  And it is a process, “…from glory to glory…” as Paul said in II Corinthians 3:18:  “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror [the mirror of the Word – James 1:23 through 25] the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”  Then – when He returns in power and glory – “…we shall see Him as He is…[and] we shall be like Him.”  The change into His image will be complete and forever!

What should we do with this know?  I John 3:3 – “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”  It is not just an academic know!  It is a know that makes a difference in our daily Christian life!  Knowing that I shall be completely like Jesus someday, I want to be more and more like Him now!

Go and do likewise!

February 7, 2014
I John 2:18-23

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Yes, I know that the Apostle John was not a dog – I think the nose belongs to a dog!  But because of the blog title – John’s Nose! – I wanted a photo of a big nose!  So……..

I also realize that using the title – John’s Nose! – is just an attention-getter.  We are really looking at John’s Knows – what he ‘knows’ for certain about the truths God has revealed.  He uses two Greek words translated ‘know’ – or some other form of ‘know’, or another word meaning ‘know’  – 42 times in this short letter of I John.

The next series of ‘knows‘ we will examine are found in I John 2:18 through 23:

    Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is
    coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is
    the last hour.  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they
    had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that
    they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.  But you have
    an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.  I have not writ-
    ten to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and
    that no lie is of the truth.  Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the
    Christ?  He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son.    Whoever
    denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the
    Son has the Father also.

There are three ‘knows’ in this passage:

•    Verse 18 – “…we know that it is the last hour.”  What does John mean by “the last hour”?  It is a phrase meaning the same as, “the last days,” the latter being used by Old and New Testament writers, and both mean much the same as “the last time” and “the day of the Lord.”  Such language refers to the closing of this age when God will judge the ungodly world system and prepare for Jesus Christ to return in glory.

I have heard it asked by many who have observed what is going on in this world,
“Do you think we are in the last days?”  I point them to Acts 2:16 and 17 where Peter
explained the phenomena which accompanied the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on
the day of Pentecost.  “…this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:  ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh….’ ”  If it was ‘the last days’ almost two thousand years ago, surely it is ‘the last days’ now!  We may even be in the last of ‘the last days’!

How do “…we know that it is the last hour”?  Because ‘antichrists’ are among us!
John goes on in verses 22 and 23 to explain that an ‘antichrist’ is one who “…denies   that Jesus is the Christ…,” who “…denies the Father and the Son.”  Paul wrote in
II Timothy 3:1, 2 and 5:  “…know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.  For men will be…having a form of godliness, but denying its power….”  The power of true godliness is Jesus Christ.  And if one denies the power, they are denying the Son, and so also the Father.  So they are ‘antichrists’.

•    Verse 20 – “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.”  Who, or What is the ‘anointing‘?  It is the Holy Spirit, which Jesus asked the Father – ‘the Holy One’ – to send to us to dwell in every believer (see John 14:16 and 17).  The reference here to “…know all things…,” is the potential that all believers have to understand spiritual truths as God – through the Holy Spirit – teaches us.  And He is our Chief Teacher.  In verse 27, John writes:

        But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you,
        and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing
        teaches you concerning all things, and is truth, and is not a lie, and
        just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

John is writing against the heretic Gnostics who taught that we need special human
teachers to impart deep and secret knowledge about God and His kingdom!  Yes,
God has given His Church teachers – and other spiritually gifted people also –     to help us grow up in Him (see Ephesians 4:11 through 16).  But the Holy Spirit is    our Main Teacher.

•    Verses 28 and 29 – Finally – and this is a bit longer of a blog than others – John gives
his third ‘know’:

        And now, little children, abide in Him [Jesus Christ], that when He
        appears, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him
        at His coming.  If you know that He is righteous, you know that
        everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

Yes, Jesus abides in us by His Holy Spirit.  But we are told to “…abide in Him….”
Stay close to the Lord by reading and study of the Word, prayer and obedience.  This will give us “…confidence, and [we will] not be ashamed before Him at His coming [again].”  We ‘know’ that our Savior “…is righteous….”  By obeying Jesus, His  life will be manifest through us, and so each obedient believer’s life will be reflected as  one “…who practices righteousness….”