God's Children Have Confidence In Christ

Our feelings will try to trick us.

1 John 3:19-24  Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.  20  Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and He knows everything.

21  Dear friends, if we don't feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.  22  And we will receive from Him whatever we ask because we obey Him and do the things that please Him.

1 John 2:28  And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when He returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from Him in shame.

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Our actions should prove who we belong to, if we are all talk and no action then we should analyze our relationship with God, a lifestyle of obedience to his commands will prove that we have a reason to have confidence before God. We will know without a doubt that God's promises to his children are true and we will be confident when we stand before him.

A sinful lifestyle is a reliable indicator that a person is not the child of God that they claim to be. It is clear in scripture that the only way to receive the free gift of salvation is to receive it without any good works attached but it is also clear that a child of God will behave differently from the rest of the world. - See more: God's Children Behave Differently

Despite our best efforts to please God and live according to his instructions there will be times when our confidence in his promises will be shaken by the realization of how bad we are. Our brain will begin to recall all of the bad things that we have done and we will think that God couldn't have been thinking of me or maybe he didn't realize everything I have done. The devil will get us to doubt God's word just like he did in the Garden of Eden.

2 Corinthians 3:4  We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.

Our feelings and our conscience are not perfect at judging and they can lead us astray. Sometimes we  justify what we are doing even though God's word is clear that it is wrong. We like to say that something feels right or this is just a part of who I am, all because we are comfortable doing something doesn't mean that it is okay, the Bible has a lot to say about living out our desires that are contrary to God's desires.

Confidence Despite Our Feelings
Hebrews 10:22-23  Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.  23  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise.

No matter how hard we try, some days sheer willpower isn’t enough to move us closer to where God wants us to be. There is plenty that we can feel guilty about, those are the things that the devil likes to bring up and throw in our face so that we won't live with joy, we know that our standing as a child of God doesn't depend on ourselves but on what Jesus did for us.

2 Timothy 1:12  I know the One in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return.

The book of First John tells us that we should be confident when we come to God, whether it is for confession or when we come before him at the coming of Christ or when we pray, we are to approach God with respect but without fear. We do not come to God as strangers pleading for special favors, but as those whom God has adopted into his family and calls them his friend and his children. (1 John 2:1, 2:28, 4:17, 5:14-15)

Thank you Lord for taking care of me and giving me the ability to come directly to you without fear.

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God's Children Love Differently

The way that they love is proof that they are God's children.

1 John 3:10-11 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.  11  This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:15-18  Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don't have eternal life within them.

16  We know what real love is because Jesus gave up His life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.  17  If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion--how can God's love be in that person?  18  Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

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There are two test to validate a persons claim to be a child of God. Anybody can make the claim that they are saved and on their way to heaven but if the fruit in their life doesn't prove it then something is wrong.

The first test is how they live, in the previous post we learned that "God's Children Behave Differently," they cannot live like the rest of the world without God pursuing them. John tells us that "Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning."

The second test is how well they love, if someone claims to be a Christian, if they claim to be a child of God, then we will be able to know it by their love. John already mentioned this in chapter two when he taught us about living in the light:

1 John 2:9 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness.

Christians belong to the new age of light, the eternal kingdom where God’s values rule and his will is done. We are not to love the world's values and what it thinks is important or pleasing. The only thing that we should love in this world is our Savior and our neighbor.

Characteristics of people that do not love (aka the devil's children):

✔ Murders (1 John 3:12-13) - A lack of love is a very dangerous thing. In it's extreme form it is murder and it can make a religious person want to get rid of somebody they don't like by taking their life. There have been a lot of murders in world history because of a lack of love. It wasn't atheists who screamed for Jesus blood and demanded that the Romans crucify Him.

✔ Haters (1 John 3:14-15) - The only difference between murder and hate is the act, John says that the attitude is the same, that's a scary thought. The popular phrase "haters are going to hate" is very true. The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us to "Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, and watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up." (Hebrews 12:14-15)

✔ Indifference (1 John 3:18-20) - Genuine love calls you to action when you see an unmet need. It's the message that Jesus was trying to teach his disciples in the parable of the Good Samaritan. If we love as we should we will not be able to step to the other side of the road and pretend that they are not there.

Ephesians 5:1-2, 10  Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children. 2  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. 10  Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

Just as children follow the example of their parents, as Christians we must follow the example of our heavenly Father. We cannot just talk about our love but we have to go out to the world and show them a self-sacrificing love that puts others first. We should not clain that love is a part of our theology and not have it be a part of our daily life.

Theology, Bible study, and the pursuit of understanding God are all important but these things exist to inspire us to apply it to our life. Our beliefs should inspire us to emulate Christ and love others selflessly and sacrificially. My theology isn't going to make the world a better place if I use it to criticize and attack people that don't agree with me.

Christ followers have the same difficulties with doubt, fear, and bigotry that has divided the church for two-thousand years. Thankfully the appeal of Christianity is still alive despite the mistakes of imperfect followers of Jesus but imagine how appealing Christianity would be if we did a better job of imitating him.

God's Children Behave Differently

A sinful lifestyle isn't a good thing.

1 John 3:1, 9-10 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.

9  Those who have been born into God's family do not make a practice of sinning, because God's life is in them. So they can't keep on sinning, because they are children of God.

10  So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.

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A child of God has a look about him, it is different from the look that the rest of the world has, when the world sees him they should see somebody whose behavior doesn't make any sense.

God loves his children so much that he sent Jesus to defeat the devil's plans for our destruction and make it possible to restore the relationship that was lost in the Garden of Eden. His love for us compelled him to adopt us into his family and give us all of the benefits that natural born children receive.

Now that I am God's child, it is difficult to live the way the rest of the world does with God living inside of me, God doesn't let his children misbehave without pursuing them, the Holy Spirit is at work in me letting me know what is wrong. Christ in us and sin in us is the most incompatible situation that there can be. (Colossians 1:27) 

Don't Abuse Grace

Romans 6:1-2, 11-12  Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace?  2  Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.  12  Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.

A sinful lifestyle is a reliable indicator that a person is not the child of God that they claim to be. It is clear in scripture that the only way to receive the free gift of salvation is to receive it without any good works attached but it is also clear that a child of God will behave differently from the rest of the world.

We have been completely transformed! It isn't just a change in status or a new destination after we leave this world, our nature and our desires have been changed, our behavior in this world will be changed as well.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15  Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.  15  He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

We have been called a new creation, people that are slaves to righteousness and people that are busy doing the good works that God has planned for us. Salvation is not just a change in status, it is a change in nature, it is a change in how we live, how we think and how we speak. (2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:22, Ephesians 2:8-10)

Colossians 3:1-3  Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand.  2  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.  3  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

Satan loves to deceive us into thinking that we can hold on to the world and love our sinful ways and still be a child of God. God's people submit and obey what he told us in his word, our behavior should be increasingly more like Jesus as we grow more like him.

There are so many people that want to cling to the promises of scripture but they don't want to have anything to do with the demands of scripture. They want to know that their life after death is taken care of while they live this life to please themselves.

Help me Lord to live to please you. Keep me from believing that this life is all about me and help me do the good works that you designed me for so that you will be glorified. (Matthew 5:16)

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Destroying The Devil's Plans

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8  But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.

Colossians 2:13-15 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.  15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

Isaiah 64:6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and when he finished his work he took a look at everything that existed and he said that it was good. I have created a few things that I decided right away that I didn't do a good job, unlike us, God was very happy with everything that he made. It was all created for him and it all worked together perfectly. (Genesis 1:31, Psalm 104:31, 1 Timothy 4:4)

I don't completely understand what it means when the Bible tells us that he made the spiritual world with unseen powers and kingdoms but I know he made them and he said that everything that he made was good so that must include everything.

Can you believe that when God said that everything he created was good that it included Satan? Ezekiel 28:12-15 tells us that he was a very beautiful part of creation and it seems that he may have been the highest rank of all of the angels. Satan wanted more, the beauty and power that he had was not enough, he decided that he wanted to be God. We don't know how long Satan was in good standing with God; all we know is that he rebelled sometime between Genesis chapter one and chapter three.

Colossians 1:16  For through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see; such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him.

God didn't tolerate Satan's rebellion and it made him very angry, it seems that Satan made a plan to get back at God, he decided to go after the part of creation that was the most dear to God. The man and woman that God enjoyed being with each day in the garden. Satan went after Adam and Eve and tempted them to make the same choice that he made. (Genesis 3:1-5).

It is no wonder that Satan went after mankind, the part of creation that was made just below the angels, the part of creation that was crowned with glory and honor, the part of creation that God allowed to rule the other parts of his creation. Satan wanted to be a ruler and it probably upset him that God put mankind in charge of his creation. (Psalm 8:5-6, Ephesians 2:10)

Colossians 2:13-15 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

Satan must have thought that he could make man detestable and undesirable to God. He may have thought that we would be destroyed and that God would give us the same punishment that he received. How could a holy God overlook these rebellious people since he didn't overlook Satan and the angels that followed him?

God's Love In Action

Romans 8:37-39 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus came to earth to destroy the devil's plans, his idea to get us to rebel so that God would have to destroy us backfired, Satan didn't realize how much God loves us and how far he would go to keep from destroying us. God's love and mercy extended unearned favor to us so that the devils plan could be defeated.

The vast majority of people have a negative view of Satan but they don't realize that they are doomed to share his fate unless they turn to Christ. Our rebellion is just as big as his rebellion is and we deserve the same fate.
Oh, if men could but see the slime of the serpent upon their pleasurable sins; the venom of asps upon their dainty lusts and the smoke of Hell upon their proud and boastful thoughts, surely they would loathe that which they now delight in!

-Spurgeon

We don't mind saying that we have sinned but don't accuse us of working for the devil. It sounds a lot more unpleasant but it is the honest truth. (John 8:44, Ephesians 2:2) We need to see sin for what it really is. We should find it detestable to rebel against God.

Thank you Lord for destroying the devils plans, he wanted you to destroy us but you had something else in mind, your love for us is truly amazing!

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