Believe, Be Sure About It And Be Ready

John's advice is still important today.

The apostle John was a close friend of Jesus, he was in the inner circle of the disciples, he is the man that took care of Jesus' mother for fifteen years after Jesus' death and he was an early leader in the church.

John's books are very significant part of the Bible, he gives us more of the teachings of Jesus than any other gospel writer, he also wrote the most unique book of the Bible from the vision that he experienced while he was exiled to Patmos.

We can see in John's books that he wants us to believe in Jesus, be sure about it and he wants us to be ready for his return:

Believe

John 20:31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

John wrote his first book out of a desire to help you believe. It is easy to find something to believe but there is only one belief that is going to get you to heaven. So what are we supposed to believe?

• Jesus the man is also one hundred percent God. (John 1:1-3, 14)
• Jesus came from the heavenly world to reveal God to the human race. (John 1:18, 3:13, 5:18-19, 6:62, 8:23, 8:26, 14:9, 14:11)
• Jesus came to live with us with a normal human body. (John 4:6-7, 9:6, 12:3, 19:34)
• Jesus came to be the sacrifice for our sins and give us eternal life with him. (John 3:14-16, 6:27, 10:10)

Eternal life is only available by belief in Jesus and his work on the cross as a substitute for the punishment that I deserved.

Be Sure

1 John 5:13 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.

John's next book was written to help you be sure of what you believe. The same man that was unclear and lacked faith in who Jesus was wants to help you with your belief.

What you believe is so important to John because just like every other Jew, John held onto false beliefs all of his life, his beliefs didn't get straightened out until after Jesus came back from the grave. Nobody understood that Jesus first coming wasn't going to be his last.

In John's three letters he wants to reassure troubled believers that they really do have eternal life so that they might enjoy it. (1 John 1:3; 3:18-19; 4:13; 5:13 / 2 John 5)

Be Ready

Revelation 22:20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

The first coming of Jesus was to give us eternal life and when he returns he will come to give us our eternal reward. Unlike the first time, when he returns again it will be too late to clear up any false beliefs, it is extremely important that you believe and that you are sure about it.

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10 Things Christ Promises To Reward (unlockingthebible.org)

God's Children Defeat This Evil World

We have what it takes to be victorious.

1 John 5:4-5, 12-13, 18-20  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.

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.

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.

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An athlete is very focused on his goal and he works to achieve it everyday but he still knows that when he competes against other people with the same goal there is a chance that he isn't going to be victorious. He knows that in the world of sports there can only be one winner.

Unlike the athlete God's children don't have to worry about defeat and we know that Jesus victory makes all of his children winners. We all come in first place!

If you are living for God and pleasing him with your lifestyle then you are probably very aware that there is a battle going on in this world. The more you try and live right the more weird you will look to the rest of the world and the more Satan and his children will attack you.

The world doesn't like weird, it doesn't like what it can't understand, the world sees our peculiar lifestyle and makes fun of us or tempts us to live just like everybody else.The world likes everybody going the same direction and eliminating our differences. The problem is that the children of God are so different that it is difficult to ignore.

Jesus Christ’s victory is effective:
Over temptation - Hebrews 4:15 Over sin - Romans 5:20-21 Over Satan - John 12:31 Over evil spirits - Mark 1:23-27 Over all powers - Colossians 2:15 Over the world - John 16:33 Over death - Romans 6:9

We don't coexist very well when we claim that we are going to be with God for eternity and nobody else is. We don't coexist well when we claim that nobody else is pleasing God, that they are following Satan, living in sin, and the list goes on.

We have to know that it isn't possible to have vanity and selflessness, materialism and generosity or anger and grace living in harmony with each other. The opposite ends of the pendulum are not likely to get along.

John tells us that God's children are victorious over this evil world. We have victory over temptation and sin, over Satan and his demons and we conquer death all because of our faith in Jesus. (Revelation 12:11, Revelation 13:7,1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

Habitual sin is a state of defeat that we don't have to live with, we will blow it from time to time and Satan is happy to use that to accuse us but the ultimate victory has already been determined for God's children. (Romans 8:37)

God's People Are Winners
Daniel 7:27 Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.

Through Jesus we have the victory over Satan, over death and over this evil world, just the same as Christ overcame all of the of the forces of evil that were arrayed against him. Satan lost the battle! Jesus victory redefines everything!

I need to remember that believers are able to share in the victory that Jesus won for us through our faith. I will get to experience eternal life in God's presence in the perfect place that he is preparing for me.

God Is Love

If you love God then how can you not love your neighbor?

1 John 4:7-12, 16-21  Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.  8  But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  9  God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.  10  This is real love--not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  11  Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.  12  No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us.

16  We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.  17  And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face Him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.  18  Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love.

19  We love each other because He loved us first.  20  If someone says, "I love God," but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?  21  And He has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.

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You have probably heard the short phrase "God is love," it was a very popular saying when I was a kid yet we didn't realize how true that phrase is. In fact God's character and everything about him is defined by love, God is love, it is God's nature to love and love is the essence of his being. God is the source of everything that we know about love and thankfully we don't have to live in a world without love because our creator's character is defined by love and he gives it to all of his creation. Try to imagine how different our world would be if God were not so loving, it doesn't matter if you are his child, God's loving character benefits all of us.

God is the limitless source of all love and he is the perfect model of what genuine love looks like. Every child of God should understand that God's way of showing love is pretty extreme but it is our example. Just as God is a limitless source of love we need to love without ceasing as well. Scary thought, the Bible tells us that we are to be loving, it doesn't say we have a choice but it tells us that if we are not loving then we do not know God.

Psalms 116:5 How kind the LORD is! How good He is! So merciful, this God of ours!

Since God is love those who belong to him have the power to become more loving, God has given us his nature so that we can become more like him, we are not allowed to grow old and crabby! As we experience God and his love and allow his nature to have control of our life we will have to love him and everybody else more.

Another popular phrase when I was young was "you are the only Bible that some people will ever read." Think about it, does your life look like what you say you believe? Does the world see God's love in you?

Ephesians 5:2  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.

Jesus love is brought to full expression for the world to see when they observe the effect it has on your lifestyle and on your character. If I do not live a lifestyle of love then God's love has failed to do what it set out to accomplish in my life. Hatred, envy, wrath, gossip and anything else that shows a lack of love, all have their source in something else other than God. It doesn't originate from him and he does not approve of them.

God's children are loving
John 13:34-35  So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.  35  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples."

Just as we can say "God is love," this next phrase should be just as famous and just as true, "Christ disciples are love." Too bad that isn't really true. They started out being known for their love but sometime after the New Testament the church got off of the love thing and started up with the power thing.

The early church went from persecution to power very quickly in the Roman Empire, when this happened the church lost it's first love and it lost a lot of it's effectiveness, instead of being known for love it became known for wars and for building huge cathedrals.

Right after the apostles die off the teaching that they did against false doctrine grew very quickly. Many wars and dirty politics in world history are a result of the church leaving the way of love. Can you imagine how attractive the church would be if it was know for loving  the way Jesus calls us to love?

We give up our leverage in society when we opt for anything other than love. -Andy Stanley

Because God is love the world assumes that God's people should be different. They have the right to expect us to love and be like Jesus, don't get mad if they hold you to a higher standard, there is somebody much bigger that is expecting you to live up to that standard.

I need to remember that: God is the source of all love (1 John 4:7-8) he models what genuine love is (1 John 4:9-10) and he commands me to love the same way that he did. (1 John 4:11-12)

Is It The Truth?

True or false questions can be the trickiest ones to answer correctly.

1 John 4:1-6  Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.

2  This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3  But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

4  But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

5  Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world's viewpoint, and the world listens to them.  6  But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

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You see all kinds of scams reported in the news and you wonder how somebody could think they were being told the truth. We all should know that you cannot believe everything that you hear, people will lie to you just as fast as the devil does, maybe we are a lot more vulnerable to scams than we want to admit. It seems like the most outrageous lie will still have somebody that is willing to believe it.

Jesus warned us that Satan is the father of lies and he has a lot of children that act just like their father.  They may be the nicest people that you could ever meet but they are liars. There are people lying to you about the everyday stuff of the physical world as well as people that are false teachers that are lying about spiritual things. You need wisdom to help you test their motives so that you can know the truth.

John 8:44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Every teacher needs to be put to the test to determine where their teaching is coming from. The most important teaching that must be checked is what they teach about Jesus:

✔  Do they believe that Jesus is God?
✔  Do they believe that God's Son came to earth to pay the penalty that we owed for sin?
✔  Do they believe that Jesus covered our sins without any help from us based on our good works?

Just about all of the New Testament books have teaching about the dangers of bad doctrine and the people who try to teach it. The devil is okay with you knowing about Jesus but he doesn't want you to have the correct beliefs about Jesus. Wrong teaching about Christ showed up right away, Satan didn't want the truth to be known so he had plenty of subtle variations of the truth ready for those who do not want to believe the truth about Jesus.

The trouble with false teachers

Galatians 5:7-12 You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? 8 It certainly isn't God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. 9 This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! 10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.

The InterVarsity New Testament Commentary explains the problems that false teachers cause:

✔  they distract Christians from obeying the truth of the gospel (v. 7)
✔  they replace the call of God with their own deceptive persuasiveness (v. 8)
✔  they gain control over the whole church (v. 9)
✔  they cause confusion and discouragement (v. 10)
✔  they spread false reports about spiritual leaders (v.11)
✔  they emphasize sensational rituals (v.12)

We need to be concerned about the danger and keep our guard up but there is no need for Christians to fear the false teachers because those in whom God dwells can overcome those in whom Satan dwells. We should be motivated to dig into the word so that we will know what we believe and why we believe it.

I need to follow the truth as I finish the race that God has called me to run.

God's Children Know How To Please Him

Pleasing God isn't a big mystery we just need to do it.

1 John 3:22-24  And we will receive from Him whatever we ask because we obey Him and do the things that please Him.   

23 And this is His commandment: We must believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.  24  Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with Him, and He with them. And we know He lives in us because the Spirit He gave us lives in us.

Colossians 1:9-10  So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.  10  Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

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Does God seem like an impersonal being that you cannot have a friendly relationship with? If that is your idea of who God is then you have a good reason to not like him. The good news is that your idea of what God is like is all wrong and you don't really know him. You need to know that you can please God.

Very few people, including believers, feel like they are pleasing to God. Most of us feel some degree of forgiveness and acceptance but to think that God is actually pleased with us is a difficult concept. Satan knows that we will not feel close to God if we doubt our standing before him as his children that he loves. So he accuses us in an attempt to drive a wedge between us and God, that has been his plan to get back at God ever since the garden, but God destroyed Satan's plans long ago.

One of the reasons we should be concerned with pleasing God is because it is a requirement for our prayers to be answered. If we do not have any concern for what God thinks about our lifestyle then we have no business asking him to be concerned with our request.

A Sinful Lifestyle Cannot Please God.
Romans 8:7-8  For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

The Bible tells us that we are so bad off in our old sin nature that we don't have any desire to please God. I need the help of the Holy Spirit to motivate me and change my desires because without his help I am powerless to change and I won't even have the desire to change. I need him to make living in sin an uncomfortable place to be so that I can live in fellowship with God. Can you, like Paul, say that your goal is to please God? (1 Thessalonians 2:4)

We don't have to live in fear wondering how to please God. All of the man made gods that man has worshiped have always left their followers wondering how to please the god. Whether it was the sun god or the moon god or any other god they couldn't have any confidence that they could please him. If it didn't rain for a long time they would have to wonder how they could make the rain god happy. Not so with our God, he didn't leave us in the dark without a clue about how to please him, from cover to cover the Bible tells us how to please God.

Knowing God does not come through a program, a study, or a method. Knowing God comes through a relationship with a Person. This is an intimate love relationship with God. Through this relationship, God reveals Himself, His purposes, and His ways; and He invites you to join Him where He is already at work.

-Experiencing God by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King

Pleasing God begins with knowing God, we cannot create an instant relationship, we have to put in the time to cultivate this relationship. When two people are in love, they look for every opportunity to be together, they delight in the process of getting to know each other and pleasing each other. First we need to know him as our Savior and then we need to know him as our Lord.

We need to know that we cannot do anything to deserve a relationship with God, we need to know that his son died to pay the penalty that I deserved for my sin, that's where your relationship with God must begin.

After we know him as our Savior then we need to make him the Lord of our life. That is a scary thing for a new believer that just getting to know God. It takes time to build a relationship of trust that will allow somebody else to be in control of our life.

Some of the ways that we can please God:

1 Samuel 15:22  But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to His voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Psalms 116:12-13  What can I offer the LORD for all He has done for me?  I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the LORD's name for saving me. Proverbs 21:3  The LORD is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer Him sacrifices. Micah 6:8  No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Romans 12:2  Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 1 Timothy 2:1-3  I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.  Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.  This is good and pleases God our Savior, Hebrews 11:6  And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him. Hebrews 12:28  Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe. Hebrews 13:16  And don't forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.

God can be pleased without the performance anxiety of other religions. God is never going to owe me anything, I need to prove my love to him through obeying his commands but that isn't going to earn me a place in heaven. I need to please him because of who he is and how much he has done for me.

Even though our best isn't much he is pleased just as a parent appreciates their child's crude Sunday School craft project, God looks at our handiwork and sees a mess, he knows that that's the best we can do on our own. God looks into our hearts and sees the purity of our motives and our desire to please him.

If we are pleasing to God, although we shall not escape trial, we shall find great peace and special happiness. He is not an unhappy man who is pleasing to God. By pleasing God we shall become the means of good to others—our example will rebuke and stimulate. Our peace will convince and invite.

- Charles Spurgeon

Thank you God that we can know you personally and we can learn how to please you. Thank you for allowing me to know you as Savior. Help me to learn more fully how to know you as Lord and live to please you instead of myself.

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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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