Thoughts From 1John 3 - Part 2

 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.   1John 3:4-9

          I'm watching a western on HBO, and the lawman is eager to turn in his badge and move to a town where there is no law. He is tired of risking his life to enforce the law, so this seems to be an attractive place to go. A city without laws would be called "lawless." And as you would guess as John says, "Sin is lawlessness." The city is filled with gambling, alcoholism, murder, greed, stealing and all the one preacher in town does is funerals. That's when he has a captive audience to read scripture and hope it sinks in.

         People who don't like the Bible because it has too many rules are advocating sin and lawlessness. I'm sure they would say, "no, I follow the golden rule", or "I practice love not hate", but yet they are a law unto themselves. There is no one they answer to but themselves, (if they go too far, obviously the law of the land) Therefore, following the golden rule or not practicing hate will go only as far as it doesn't interfere with their wants and desires being met because in a world without the law, self is the king and this is what the Devil wants. The first commandment in the Satanic Bible is not, worship the devil or hate God, it is worship yourself. That is the sin we are born into and that is the 180-degree turn of repentance we must make.

       John says that if we continue to live a self-seeking life, that's proof that we haven't repented and aren't saved. When is the last time a situation came up and you said, "I really want to do this, but God's word says that, so I'll do what God wants me to do"? Vice-versa, when's the last time you said, "I know God's word says don't do this, but I really want to, so I'll just do it because I know he'll forgive me"? If the second scenario is occurring more than the first, it's possible that you've never really given your life to God and are saved. Hard words from John but ones where we need to search our soul because eternity is on the line.

Thoughts From 1John 3 - Part 1

  If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1John 2:29-3:3

         It should be obvious by observing us for a little while that we are different. We are Children of God who think differently, act differently, react differently - we're just different in general. In fact one of my least favorite quotes ever is "preach the gospel always and if necessary, use words." This quote implies that we live lives so differently that people by observing us would come to Jesus. John is saying that the world does not know us or recognize us because they don't know God. Somehow through the opening of their ears to our words about God, our lives would make sense to them. What I'm saying is our words lead the way and our lives confirm the way. If we are living unrighteous, self-centered lives, we can share the truth, but it will immediately be rejected as false because our lives don't back it up.

        I know a number of people might disagree and quote 1Peter 2:12;

     " Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us "

          The hope is that our lives are so different that people would come up to us and like the Philippian jailor say, "What must I do to be saved?' Has that happened to you? I wish. The problem with both of these verses is that in both cases they imply prior knowledge from what you've said. You have preached about God, and your life backed it up so when crisis comes, they reach out.

          Satan, recognizing that a life well lived might point to Christ, has further obscured the view. I know Muslims that are more chaste than us. I know Mormons with better families. I know Jehovah witnesses that are nicer than Christians. I know homosexuals who are more thoughtful and gentler than believers. Bill Gates has probably given more money away to charities than 100 Christian philanthropists combined. People don't equate goodness with "religion" necessarily.

        Let's share Christ and back it up with our lives and through the power of the Holy Spirit, may we see some lives changed. And some day, when He appears we will finally lose this traitorous flesh and get a body that REALLY looks like Him. I can't wait!

Thoughts from 1John 2 - Part 7

  I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. 1John 2:26-28

     Salvation is the receiving of the Holy Spirit. To think you receive him after salvation, as a separate blessing is a misunderstanding of what it means to be born again. John talked about it in his gospel, Chapter 3, where he describes two births - one our natural birth and one our spiritual birth. God told Adam and Eve, the day they ate from the tree they would die. They didn't experience physical death that day, but they became spiritually dead and salvation is in effect reviving that dead spirit with His Spirit. Salvation is this regeneration when we believe by faith. This is the anointing John is talking about. He also referred to Him as the Comforter in John 16 who would lead them into all truth.

      Once the Holy Spirit brings us to life we start becoming more like Jesus in our thoughts, actions, words etc, which we have discussed before, but here John talks about another effect of being born again. John says we can read scripture and understand it without a teacher, pastor, priest, commentary needed. When I sit here and journal or blog, I just pray, "God, I want to understand Your word. Let Your Spirit in me lead me into truth. Teach me what I need to learn. Amen." That's a prayer God loves to answer. That doesn't mean that I am going to understand every nuance. That doesn't mean that I won't occasionally read things into it that the Bible isn't saying. It just means that God is going to make His word come alive and speak to me and tell me what I need to hear.

        This doesn't mean that we don't need pastors, teachers, commentaries, books and the like to keep us on track and stimulate our mind but to rely solely on podcasts, teaching videos, sermons and commentaries to learn from is not what God intends. In fact, John is saying that if you don't learn for yourself but rely on others, you could be led astray by false teachers. John, not knowing how long he will be with them is warning them to not believe everything they hear, but trust the Holy Spirit to guide them into the truth in their time alone with God. How did that work before the printing press and the general availability of the scriptures, I have no idea, but I can certainly apply it today.

       A popular YouTube video claims that those who engage with the Bible 4x a week (and I can't vouch for the veracity but I can believe it) are 59% less likely to view porn, 30% less likely to experience loneliness, 50% less likely to experience anxiety, 57% less likely to abuse alcohol, 32% reduction in anger issues, 228% more likely to share their faith, and 407% more likely to memorize scripture. Reading 1-3 times a week had minimal effect. God wants to meet with you today. Take advantage of that amazing offer!

Thoughts From 1John 2 - Part 6

 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life. 1John 2:20-25

         John has just warned the readers that apostasy, deconversion, false prophets are out there and coming to their fellowship to try to confuse them. The Devil was angry that so many people were choosing to follow Christ so he was trying to confuse the truth and bring doubt in their mind. The way he attacked was to get people to question who Jesus was? Was He really God or just a good man or prophet?

       Satan uses the same tactics today. That's why C.S Lewis' Lord, Liar, Lunatic argument was made and is as relevant today as it was generations ago.

Key Aspects of the Argument:

• The Choice: Lewis argues you cannot claim Jesus was just a "great moral teacher" while denying his divinity, as his claims make that logically inconsistent.
• Alternative Option (Lunatic): If Jesus claimed to be God but was not, he might be a "madman".
• Alternative Option (Liar): If he knew his claims were false, he was a "liar" or "demon".
• The Conclusion (Lord): If he was neither, he must be Lord. 

John would say that having lived with Him for three years, touched Him, ate with Him, 

saw His miracles, saw the sinless way He lived, saw Him die and rise from the dead, that

 He was and is the Son of God - God in the flesh.

       And John would also say that since they believed and received Him, they received the

Holy Spirit and that anointing helps them to know the truth and not be deceived. As John

can't be with them forever, he is counting on them not to be deceived but trust the truth.

       Likewise, we need to know the truth, abide in the truth and be alert to the Devil's on-

slaughts who daily is seeking to destroy our faith. He's not going to get me. How about you?

Thoughts From 1John 2 - Part 5

  Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. 1John 2:18-19

           My parents bought a condo in South Florida adjacent to "Bible Town". This was a community of believers - mean age 70 -(ouch, I'm 70) and the retirees would meet for potlucks, hymn sings, game nights but the coup de gras was weekly 3-day Bible conferences taught by some really renowned speakers. The favorite topic - the return of Christ. You can understand why, a lot of people close to death want to be encouraged about their future but also hoping it was imminent so they wouldn't experience death. My dad has since gone to be with the Lord, but I think he was pretty convinced the Lord would come before that. My mom is 94 and still waiting, as am I.

         I guess they weren't unique in this hope of the soon return of Christ because it appears from 1John 2, they were in good company. John, probably 80 -90 years old was convinced they were in the last hour. I wonder if he would be shocked to learn 2000 years later, we still think we're in the last hour. While we might be tempted to mock prognosticators or sooth sayers predicting Christ's imminent return, isn't this the way Jesus told us to live in Matthew 24 and 25? My dad would often end his conversations with, "Keep looking up!" and that's great advice. No one knows the date, but we are to live like it is today and I think that's how John was living.

      When looking at the signs of times, what do we usually point to? I would say it's wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, natural disasters, middle East unrest, global warming, nuclear threats, growth of Islam, AI or you name it. It's interesting that John's signs were apostasy, deconversion, false teachers. Paul in 1Timothy 4 would have concurred when he said; 

"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

Has there been a mass deconversion or introduction of false gospels? Maybe, but I think that it may not be worse than it always has been. John says it was bad back then and it's bad now. Let's stand firm in the faith and "keep looking up!"

Thoughts From 1John 2 - Part 4

  Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1John 2:15-17

         This was a verse I memorized when I was a child. How do I know? I recite it in King James. You can see why my parents or youth leaders had me memorize it. The point that we learned as kids was that if you want to live forever in Heaven avoid all those worldly temptations that look like so much fun and everyone else is doing and compiling. Those things are a no-no to God. If you do those things or even want them, you don't love God. It made you feel as a kid that God didn't want you to have fun or as Eve felt when tempted, "God is withholding something from me. Maybe I should try it." Satan's temptation has from the start to get us to doubt that He really is a good good Father.

       What we didn't learn was the meaning of lust. Tim Keller talks about this in a lot of messages and defines it as over or hyper desires. For example, God gave us our flesh. He gave us the pleasurable feelings of sex, and He encouraged us to experience it as much as we want when we are married with one person of the opposite count. Now people post their "body count" on social media and these people are "influencers". God gave us tastebuds and stomachs "growling" for a reason. He wants us to enjoy eating not just take a food pill or supplement to stay alive like The Jetsons or Snow Piercer. Why is every other video I see, one on losing weight? Because we have a hyper drive for food and it's killing us. 

      Our eyes see things that are beautiful. God made beauty - he could have made everything one color and uniform and drab but yet He wanted us to see beauty. Can we just experience it, enjoy it, take a mental picture of it, thank God for it or do we have an insatiable desire for it. It might be cars, boats, beautiful women, trucks, muscles and fitness to men that consumes their minds and we pursue those more than God. He has given us all these things to enjoy, not pursue. He wants us to pursue Him. He's more beautiful than all these things. What do women crave? I'm no expert but I would guess beautiful lips, eyelashes, bodies, men, houses, clothes - I don't know, ask Amazon. See beauty, enjoy it, take a snapshot of it, thank God for it and pursue the ultimate beauty in God.

      Pride of life might be an over desire for recognition for all "you've" accomplished and how great you are. In our age it could be seen as a desire for likes on posts, followers, fame, popularity, power, status rather than just being comfortable in the fact that God thinks you are amazing. After all, any ability you have is given by God and there is no reason why we should see the need to get recognition for it. I have 4 kids and 11 grandchildren. That's a study of 15 kids I've seen growing up. One was swimming one day and a coach saw him and said he moves well in the water and coached him up to be an All-American two-time state champ. The other 14 don't have it. One hears songs in his dreams and writes them down and is learning keyboards on his own. None of the others even care. One can solve a Rubick's cube in a minute and one builds Lego cities with infinitesimal details. What I'm saying is, let's be proud of our abilities God's given us but let's not think over the top that everyone should see our abilities and laud us. Let our abilities point to God, not us.

      God doesn't want us to miss out on everything in life - He gave those things. He just doesn't want them to point us inward to living for ourselves, which is the way we were born, in sin, but rather pointing us to the giver of good things and worshipping Him in gratitude thanking Him for all the good things we have to enjoy.

Thoughts From 1John 2 - Part 3

  Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

12 I am writing to you, dear children,
    because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
    because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
    because you have overcome the evil one.

14 I write to you, dear children,
    because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
    because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
    because you are strong,
    and the word of God lives in you,
    and you have overcome the evil one. 2John 2:9-14

     Watching Survivor 50 last night, I think her name was Angelica said, "Last time I played as the old Angelica. I've changed a lot since then. Now I'm playing as the new Angelica." Jeff asked if people could really change who they are and the person he asked changed the subject. John would say, "Yes, a leopard can change his spots because remember my gospel - through believing in Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit we are born again. We are new people." This passage tells the before and after. I once heard a man share his testimony and a key component was walking past a barber shop and on the window were posted 2 pictures - one of the barber before Christ and one after Christ. He was stunned that they were the same man and it made an eternal difference in the observer.

      What would our before picture look like? John says before Christ we walked around in the darkness. We stumbled, we were blinded, and we didn't know where we were going. The evil one was in control. When I look at the residents I train that don't know Jesus, they would probably say, "Wait, I know where I'm going, I have plans for my life. I'm not stumbling. No one is controlling me." This is why the lost are hard to reach until there's an interruption of their plan and they realize life is falling apart and they have no control. Life is a fleeting vapor and then what? There is a whole reality out there, the spiritual world that they can't see. It's like living in the Matrix and they prefer being blind.

Cypher: I know this steak doesn’t exist... Ignorance is bliss | The Matrix

We have to share and then pray that when they reach a point of reflection in their lives, when the Holy Spirit opens the window to their soul, that they would, like my friend, remember the picture in the barber shop window.

       What is the condition of the believer? A transformed life down here. We are no longer slaves to the devil but under control of "the Word of God living in us". We are born again and instead of pursuing our desires living for self and hating anyone getting in the way of our kingly reign, we love and consider others above ourselves. We know where we're going, the light of God's presence and His word light our paths and give us assurance that we are headed in a correct direction with an eternal reward. We know the Father, which is huge. The creator who created us to be in a relationship with Him has restored that relationship. The very reason we exist has been restored. We know the meaning of life! And we have power over the devil, and we are getting stronger every day. Using the Matrix example, it may not be an easy life but it's the right one - we aren't living a lie, and every day is a new adventure.

      Pray today that God would lead you to someone that is walking in the darkness that you might shed a little light on. Don't be discouraged if they don't immediately believe. Maybe someday, something you said will shine into their souls.