Do We Love Jesus or Not, 1 John 2

Being children of God means we are deeply loved (Ephesians 2:4-5). God’s love sent the Righteous One (Jesus) so through faith in Him, He becomes our defense attorney (advocate). We are guilty in our sin before God on our own (Romans 5:19, 2 Corinthians 5:21).

All of Jesus clients are guilty of sin and yet He goes with each of His own before God- the Judge. He can and does declare the guilty ones debts have been paid in full. Because the documentation of the debt we owed to God for our sins was nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14).

Everyone sins because all have a sin nature (Romans 3:23). Though we say and see ourselves as good, we are not. No one is good (righteous), seeks God, does good, or fears God properly (Romans 3:10-18). This means we are all born children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3) and stand guilty before Him. How could God not compromise His holy and perfect nature and yet remove our guilt?

God sent His Son, the sinless Lamb, to satisfy and turn His wrath away. On the cross God the Father poured out all His wrath toward sin on His Son. The death of Jesus on the cross fulfilled the payment God demands of sin (Romans 3:23). Jesus is the only Way to the Truth concerning eternal Life because He died for our sins, was buried, and resurrected on the third day.

1 Peter 1:18 NASB knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

This gives us the “how” concerning knowing God and do I actually know God. We have a very simple way of examining our faith. What are the outward signs of salvation?

Do we yearn to know Christ as Lord and Friend ( John 15:4-15). Do we guard ourselves against sin to keep our fellowship with Christ unbroken. Is our view of life through the lens of eternity?

A lifestyle of sin and fellowship with God are not compatible.

The religious studied the scriptures (Old Testament) diligently and missed the point. Jesus lets them know all their studying has not helped the them. Why? Because they read scripture from their viewpoint not Gods. On the inside no change has taken place. There are those who claim Christianity today but the following statement still holds true;

Matthew 15:7-8 NASB You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, by saying: 8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 9 And in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Isaiah 29:13)

There are those who say with no outer proof. And there are those who say and have outer proof . When you look at your behavior do you see proof of what you claim? A true believer loves God’s commands (Psalm 119:35, Romans 7:22). Religious knowledge or talking like a Christian does not make you one.

John 14:23 KJV Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

We are reminded again to be a Christian is more than saying so. When we receive salvation through faith in the Son of God we live out our life in gratitude to Him. Our duty as believers will be to imitate the walk of Jesus (John 6:38; 14:31).

What commandment is John talking about?

Deuteronomy 6:5 KJV And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Leviticus 19:18 KJV Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.

Jesus quotes these in Matthew 22:35-40.

John, through the Holy Spirit, tells us God has always commanded we love each other. Loving others becomes a part of who we are from the start of our new life in Christ.

What John is not saying. John is not saying he invented or was given a brand new commandment. So, what is God saying? The newness of this ancient commandment happened when Jesus Christ came as the perfect expression and example of true love. God is our origin of love and Jesus made His love visible (1 John 4:6).

Basically, talk is cheap. Do you hate, in comparison to your love for God, all sin.

Matthew 22:37-40 KJV Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Being in the “light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7), means we love others. This is not the love of our heart but the love of God in our heart. The way we love others must be guided by the Holy Spirit as to be within God’s preferred will. This keeps us from being self governing and stumbling in sin.

We live our life in contrasts. The contrast in this verse is love (light) and hate (darkness). Those who say they have fellowship with God and others but in the heart hate others (love less), love themselves and the world more. They are in reality living and walking in spiritual darkness. We are to love and seek God, not first, but only. It is out of our God given love we can love others properly (1 John 4:19-21).

These verses remind us who we are in Christ, what we received through Christ, and why God gives.

Who we are

We are children of God, whom He values and considers precious to Himself. As believers we are able to experience His love (Galatians 5:22-23).

What we have received

Having received forgiveness through the blood of Christ, God, through His Son, gives us every spiritual blessing in heaven (Ephesians 1).

Why God gave

Forgiveness does not come in steps or phases. Once redemption is ours, forgiveness is complete. It is not given because we earn it or deserve it. The purpose of forgiveness is to display the grace, mercy, and great love God has for us (Ephesians 2:4).

Life live in gratitude glorifying and honoring our heavenly Father.

Psalm 25:11 KJV For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.

Through faith in Christ we become a child of God. However, salvation is only the beginning of our walk in Christ. We are to mature in our fellowship with God. It will be the battles in our lives against evil that will grow us to trust the victory we have in Christ Jesus. The young go to war. Those with experience (mature) are still in the war but they also teach those who are new. If the church has few elders, the young have little guidance, and the children lack proper protection.

Salvation, our new birth, is the end of our old self. And the beginning of our newness of life in Christ. When Christ lives in us we love God’s word and commands. Our view of His word has moved from being a burden to being beneficial.

Psalm 119:10-12 NASB1995 With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. 11 Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. 12 Blessed are You, O Lord; Teach me Your statutes.

This is the test to know if you have true fellowship with God. Our lives reflect what and whom we truly love in our heart. Who do you prefer to please most? Who influences you the most? Does your heart love and take delight in God’s word and commands? Or do you choose pleasure of your flesh and this world. These are hard but necessary questions for  all of us to ask ourselves.

Everything the world system offers comes out of lust pretending to be light. Satan tempted Jesus with these 3 lusts. Jesus was hungry, Satan tempted Him to turn the stones into bread (lust of the flesh). Satan wanted Jesus to by pass the suffering of the cross. So, he offered Him the kingdoms of the world. But there was 1 condition, Jesus had to worship Satan (lust of the eyes). Last, Satan tempted Jesus to show off His power (pride), (Luke 4:1-13).

Believers are no longer enslaved to the passions of the sinful flesh. Our eyes are, habitually, kept on Jesus the Christ. And our boasting is in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:31, 2 Corinthians 10:17).

What does this mean? Well, Jesus put it this way;

Mark 8;34-38 NASB1995 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37 For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

The worldly ways are directly opposite of God’s ways. Pleasure, ease, selfishness is the call of the world. God’s calling is one to complete surrender to Him. Including the cross of death to ourself.

John 1:12-13 NASB1995 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of  blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Jesus Christ gives us the privilege to be God’s child through repentance and faith in His name. As children of God we live surrounded by those who oppose the Truth.

There will be, in the future, a man ruled by the power of Satan. He will be allowed to rule for 7 years. This man is “the Antichrist”. Until then, there are many antichrists among the true church. We must be able to recognize the lies and deception these false teachings promote. As well as discern if someone walks in the light or darkness, pretending to be light. Also, this is a warning that time is limited. And the more we study and understand future events in God’s plans, worldly events are no longer random and chaotic. They have a very specific purpose within this “last “hour”.

1 Timothy 4:1-4 NASB1995 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with [a]great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

The “professing Christian” looks for false teaching so their flesh feels good. When among those who stand in the righteousness of Christ, they become very offended by the truth. They leave to be part of a different gospel.

John 14:16-17 NASB1995 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

The Holy Spirit will reveal truth to those who are guided and controlled by Him. When false teaching or doctrine comes our way, the Holy Spirit will alert us to the fact something being said or taught does not line up with the word of God. We know the true gospel through the work of the Triune God (John 3:16-21, Ephesians 2:8-10).

God can not lie. Jesus Christ is the Truth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and reveals the Truth to us through holy scripture. Believers are indwelled with the Truth. We know, personally, Truth. Practically this means we live by what God says and means

Truth equals freedom (John 8:31). Lies equal confusion, chaos, and uncertainty because opinions have no hard unmoving foundation(John 8:44, John 10:10).   As believers our truth looks like an illusion to unbelievers(Colossians 3:2-4).

There have been and will be antichrists within the church that professes Christianity.

Matthew 10:32-33 NASB1995 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

Denying the testimony of Jesus equals denying God. If you do not believe in the name, that is, who Jesus says He is, you will be denied by the Son and the Father. Why? Jesus is God in flesh (John 1:1, John 10:30).

The difference between true believers and everyone else, believers belong to God. Everyone else lives in this world without God and no real hope (Ephesians 2:12).

Galatians 1:6-7 NASB1995 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

In order to stay in God the Father and God the Son, we must not stray from the true gospel that was first heard unto salvation.

God is perfect in all He says and does. He has perfect knowledge of all things. Therefore, a new gospel does not exist. Do not be deceived by a gospel message that excites your flesh or makes you feel comfortable with the sinful worldly ways.

Hebrews 10:23 NASB1995 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;

Titus 1:1-2 NASB1995 Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

We are anointed and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14) through our belief.  We received promises from God, “Who can not lie.” In Christ all of God’s promises are “yes and amen”(2 Corinthians 1:20).

The promises of God are a reality believers hold in their life. Do not stray from the true gospel as you await the promise of the return of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ in all His glory (Titus 1:12-13).

Here we are told another purpose for the writing of this letter, do not be led astray. Deception among the body of believers exists. However, ignorance will not be an acceptable excuse because God, the Holy Spirit, provided us with the word of God. The word of God is truth (Psalm 119:160, John 17:17). It is our responsibility to know scripture in order to discern lies.

Philippians 2:12-13 NASB1995 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

This us another way of saying, do not stray from the true gospel. To work out our own salvation, we must know on a personal basis God and His Son. We come to that knowledge through God’s word and the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We are all taught by a person. But we are to read and study scripture for the purpose of discerning truth from lies.

This verse said another way,

Philippians 2:12-13 NASB1995 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

True salvation begins the work of our no longer being conformed to this world. And working out the newness of life we received through Christ Jesus. What is the picture?

Genesis 5:22-24 NASB1995 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

Our fellowship with God should be so close when we are taken, our fellowship simply continues.

Christ will return and when He does we will either be confident and run to Him or ashamed and run away from Him (Proverbs 13:5).

Isaiah saw the righteousness of God. This caused him to see the reality of utter and complete unrighteousness. This applies to us also. When we continue to see the righteousness of our Lord God, we seek, love, and desire to be holy as He is holy. We will not obey perfectly but our desire to please God will show up through obedience.

Being born again we no longer identify with the lusts of this world. Our identity lives in Jesus the Messiah.

Romans 8:29-30 NASB1995 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.