1 John 3:1
John said, behold this. That means give this thorough examination; check this out because it's pretty amazing. The evidence is clear. We are born in Him. That's an amazing thing. We are children of God Most High, Yahweh, creator of all that ever was or is or will be; the God of the furthest reaches of the universe. And while He did these incredibly spectacular things, He also meticulously wove you together. He made sure you're DNA was just right; your fingerprint was unique and your personality was perfect for the life he set you in. He knows the hairs on your head. He knows your heart and loves you anyway. For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That's the manner of the Love the Father has bestowed on us.
Little children, we are part of God's family. He has gone to great lengths to reconcile you to Himself. Behold this amazing fact. Don't let anyone take it from you.
If you know Him, you know He is righteous. And if you are his child, you must also be righteous. Our righteousness is as filthy rags in God's eyes. It's only by the righteousness of Jesus bestowed on us that we can be found righteous in God's eyes. Our righteousness is an alien righteousness. It's not from us, not born of us and it makes no sense that we possess it. Our righteousness is a free gift, a testimony of grace. It is a display of God's love for us. He bestowed this love on us and calls us His children.
We can draw a conclusion from the fact that we are children of God and have this alien righteousness. John concludes, "Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him." This righteousness happens to us and we struggle to understand it. Just think how confusing it must be to the world. We are set apart from the world as Jesus was. One of the things we all struggle with is how to operate in this world without being of this world.
1 John 3:2-3
As children of God, this life is just the beginning. Our eternity started when we first believed. But we are still in this physical body of flesh. Because of that there is this war that rages in us. It's the Holy Spirit warring with the fallen flesh, but it won't be that way long. Life is but a vapor. It passes so fast and we will soon be free from this body when and our battle will end. Remember John is 94 years old or so. He knows his days are short and even at 94 life seemed like it passed so quickly.
If you look at verse 2 again, it says "NOW WE ARE" and it says, NOT YET. We are NOW established but we do NOT YET know what that looks like. This "NOW WE ARE" statement is what we trust in for the NOT YET statement in which we find our hope. So, John said it is NOW, NOT YET. The false teachers took the NOT YET and twisted it for their purpose. Instead of NOW, NOT YET they said NOW doesn't matter because NOT YET isn't here or visible. They said the now has nothing to do with the spiritual you. They said don't worry about purity, have fun. If it feels good do it. They promoted the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life we talked about last chapter.
John said, we don't really know how this works after die but we know we will be like Him. We will be resurrected as He has been resurrected. He was the firstborn of the dead. We will be those who come after the firstborn. What do we know about Jesus after the resurrection? First, I think we need to notice that Jesus still had a body. He's not some ghostly vapor floating around. He has a body, although it wasn't a body of flesh like we know flesh. Jesus retained the marks he received on His body from this world. We will see the scars of His crucifixion when we see Him. I don't know if I'll still have my scars in heaven. I don't know if I'll have more hair, or bad knees. I tend to think that part of all those things is part of who you are; part of your character. People readily recognized Jesus after the resurrection so He must have looked the same. We can see Jesus still has a will and personality. And He still ate and drank in His resurrected and glorified state.
Maybe all those things will be true for us also, but that wasn't John's point. The point was, the seed of God that is in you now but Not YET visible is growing in you now. That seed will come to completion when we meet Jesus in the air and are made like Him. We will shed this body of sin. We will be glorified and stand righteous before our God. We will no longer deal with sin and all that goes with it. The few people in the bible that got a glimpse of this spiritual world and the glory of God found it to nearly impossible to behold. They fell facedown. They had no words to describe it.
As John wrote this, he had not yet had the vision given Him and written down in the book of Revelation. Here's part of what John is about to see and write down.
Revelation 1
12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.
The false teachers were wrong. The seed of God was in those believers. It did matter right then and there in the present, even in this physical body. That seed is growing. We are to be growing. If we are in God's family we are continually seeking him and motivated to be Christ like. Our mission is not concluded until we are standing before Him.
1 John 3:4-6
It is sin that separates the believer from the unbeliever. John doesn't offer any exceptions or justifications that allow us to say, "Yes, I know there is sin in my life but...." But what? There are no 'buts'! John said, those that walk in a life of sin have neither seen Jesus nor know Him. John just keeps relentlessly hitting this separation and contrast without apology; light and darkness, good and evil, of the world and of heaven, Holy and the profane, righteous and unrighteous, lawless and obedient. If you are in Christ you are set apart as a citizen of heaven, driven by love, characterized by obedience, directed by doctrine. We walk in light. We abide in Christ. We aren't driven or directed by lawlessness.
Those not in Christ are in the dark. They love the world and things of the world. They have tethered their life to something that is passing away and they will pass away with it if they don't change their direction.
John isn't showing this separation to say we are better than the unbeliever or that we've risen to some higher status. That was the game of some of the false teachers. John is simply stating the spiritual facts and he's doing so because the false teachers were creating a false assurance among some people. We know sin is a big deal in the eyes of God. Sin is putting our will in front of God's will; it's lawlessness and rebellion. It's saying, I don't like your way of doing things. God, I don't like your standard. I'll do it my way.
We know from the bible that all have sinned and fallen short. We know God is just and sin must be punished. God laid our punishment on Jesus. But if you don't agree you are a sinner how can you come to the cross. Coming to the cross is saying, Yes, those were my sins Jesus took upon Himself. I'm in agreement with God. I've fallen short. When we take part in sin, we deny the cross. Jesus came to take away our sins. If we are in Him, we won't continue to sin. Those who keep sinning never knew him.
1 John 3:7-9
You can almost hear John's pleading to the church; they were his little children, those he loved and was concerned about. There we deceivers among them – men teaching it was okay to sin since Jesus had paid for it all. They offered an unrestrained carnal life, as if that was why Jesus died. John sets the record straight. Jesus died to destroy the works of the devil. The work of sin is death – the work of Jesus is life, not just life in this flesh, but life eternal.
The righteous are righteous because they are aligning themselves with their righteous Savior and King who saved them. He who sins is aligning himself with devil. You don't have to make a conscious decision to belong to the Devil, when you aren't in the will of God you default to the Devil's side.
The son came that all men might be saved. If every man, woman and child repented and trusted in the shed blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins the works of the devil could be destroyed. And the world would be a very different place. Elections would be very different because the politicians would all tell the truth. TV would be very different, there wouldn't be any Christian TV because all TV would be of Christ. Movies out of Hollywood (or maybe somewhere else) would be God honoring. We wouldn't need a rating system. Our thoughts, words and deeds would be different.
Those born again are born into God. A change occurs in our life when we are born again. We are given a new heart and new desires. We are filled with the Holy Spirit and He begins to change us and clean us up from inside out. A life that is identified with Christ can't be a life that is lived in a constant state of sin. When John says 'does not sin' and 'cannot sin' he is talking about someone living and practicing a life of sin. He doesn't mean that a Christian would never sin again. He's saying the practice of habitual sin is an indication that Christ is not in you. In Christ, we do have the power over sin. Yet we fail regularly to use that power to focus on Christ. We take our eyes off of Him and we sink into distrust and unbelief.
1 John 3:10-12
Manifest is "made evident". The presence of the seed of God clears up any confusion. Those practicing righteousness have identified themselves as being of God, of being set apart from the world and its children which is the devil and his followers. A person can be very moral in this world and look very good to the world and the culture but if they don't practice righteousness as defined by God, then God isn't in them. The false teachers wanted to define righteousness and its application and need. They wanted man's definition to protect man's place on his own thrown. We in Christ are distinct in that we4 love on another.
Cain went through the religious motions. He made an offering to God. Abel's offering was given in obedience and love. Cain was involved, Abel was committed. Does our outward appearance indicate a life lived for God? Are you committed? Are you full of Jesus?
In John's time some believed that since the body was sinful that sin was acceptable and really not possible to keep from sinning. How do you overcome sin? We begin each day yielding to God. Daily we commit, hourly and minute to minute we live in the spirit. Do have the divine nature in me or am I putting on a show?
1 John 3:13-15
We are not to be surprised if the world hates us. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. They become like Cain, you become like Abel. This reveals your righteousness and their unrighteousness. As believers we are a reminder of the unbeliever's immorality and shortcoming in the eyes of God. We, bearing the righteousness of Christ, become the light that shows the darkness for what it is. But we are also the Abel that was once a Cain. We each had murder in our heart. Our testimony now is, murderers can be saved but they won't go on being a murderer. You can't be an Abel and act like a Cain. And a Cain acting like an Abel is a pretender, going through the motions, just involved. But they fool no one.
Sin separates Men and women from God. Sin is what separates the counterfeit from the committed Christian. The true Christian knows God and is committed to Him. There was a time in their life when they came to understand their sin. They agreed with God that they are a lawbreaker. And they died to them self, turned from their life of sin and trusted in Jesus. Then, as a born-again Christian they became a new person in Christ. They were purchased by the blood of Jesus. Their life is committed to Jesus Christ.
The counterfeit Christian may talk about God, they may be involved in some religious activity, they may give money, go to church every time the doors open and even carry a big fat bible, but they lack commitment. Someone once said the difference between commitment and involvement is best displayed in a ham and egg breakfast. The chicken was merely involved but the pig was committed when he gave it all.
Are you committed? Have you laid it all down? Was there a day or a season in your life where you know that the Lord saved you? Is there a clear distinction between the old and new; the old man of sin and the new man with the seed of God, free from that life driven and controlled by sin?
John said, when the world hates you, you are just clearly seeing those who abide in death. They are spiritually dead. They have no capacity to love. That tool isn't in their toolbox. They can fake it sometimes; go through the motions, but sooner or later the heart is revealed.
1John 3:16
If someone stood right in front of you that had never been in our world before or never been exposed to our culture; like some native off of some deserted island or an alien or something, how would you describe love to them? Love is........ The dictionary says: A profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person; a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend; sexual passion or desire. Each of our definitions would be different depending on the situation we would relate it to. That might be determined on what's going on in our life. We'd probably all end up trying to describe a feeling or an emotion. But that emotion or feeling is much different if you are describing the love you have for your spouse verses the love you have to eat Mexican on Sunday afternoons. Because the Greek language is so specific, they have several different words they use for the different kinds of love. The word John uses for love over and over is agape'. We know this as a love that loves without changing. It's unconditional and self-giving. Agape' love gives without any thought for re-payment. This love is given to the unlovable. It is love that is given even though it is rejected. Agape love is given for the love of giving it. It is never given to receive anything in return.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:
Love(agape) suffers long and is kind; love (agape) does not envy; love (agape) does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love (agape) never fails.
This love is special. Verse 16, John said you can know agape' because He laid down His life for you. The laying down of His life for us was a display of agape' love.
Paul said the same thing in Romans 5:8.
But God demonstrates His own love(agape') toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Agape' is pictured as sacrifice. The death of Jesus isn't the real show of love, its what His death accomplished on our behalf. When we understand out depravity in contrast to the perfection of Jesus, we can begin to understand that He didn't deserve the cross, we did. He took our sin to the cross and paid our debt. He took the wrath stored up for us. That's incredible. The knowledge of our sin and the impending doom, combined with the sacrifice to save us brings to light the enormity of what was accomplished. The death of Jesus made it possible for us to have new life through the forgiveness of sins. By this we know His love.
As the recipients of this sacrificial love, the right response is to display that same love to others. We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters in Christ. By this they will know love.
In John 20, John records the words of Jesus sending out the apostles saying, As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. As Jesus laid down His life, we ought to also lay down our lives as we become Christ-like in our endeavors. Our lives are then spent, not chasing the things that please us or give us joy like Cain bringing his own sacrifice his own way. But our lives become a display of agape' directed to the brethren. Being a new person in Christ is denying our self and picking up our cross to follow Him. One man put this way, "Love means saying 'No' to one's own life so that somebody else may live. (Marshall)
1John 3:17
John doesn't allow a Christian to say they love a brother or sister and yet ignore their need. If we are indifferent to the needs of our brother, God's love simply is not in us. Jesus said, by this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John said that love is displayed in a Christ-like sacrificial way. We see this in Christians. Christians give more to the poor, they give more to support those abroad, they give more in every category of need in our culture and world. They adopt more children. They respond to every need. When there are hurricanes, tornadoes, floods or forest fires, the church is always first on the scene, even before Red Cross of FEMA. Watch the next natural disaster to see if the atheists groups are there or Islam or any other religion. Why is that? Over and over again the men and women of God give sacrificially. In general, all children of God are called to give of their resources, time and talents.
1John 3:18-19
We are to love not just with word and tongue but in deed and truth. John says love is another way to identify those genuine in the faith. The genuine are willing to lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters? In doing this, John is not laying some legalism on the believers. The believers aren't hearing this and saying, yea, now I have to give all my stuff away. It is the joy of the believer to give; to meet a need. By this joy of acting out agape' love into the lives of others, we can know that we are of the truth. We can see God has made this change in our lives. By this we know we are of the truth and our hearts are assured of our standing before God. The deed done out of love authenticates the love of God in our life.
We were once a Cain
But God made a change we can't explain.
This working of love in deed and truth
Is the assurance and evidence of Christ in you.
The 'assurance of our hearts' is God's work to keep us centered in Him and out of the ditches. It's the focus of our life on our inheritance and eternal promises.
1John 3:20-21
God gives our hearts an assurance but sometimes we pile condemnation on our self. And sometimes the enemy piles condemnation on us. This condemnation confuses us and clouds that assurance we need. John said, rest assured, God sees the heart. He sees through all that junk. He knows the difference of loving in deed and truth verses word and tongue. God knows His own and is not fooled by condemnation of the heart. God doesn't bring condemnation on a believer. If our heart condemns us, we can know God is greater than our heart. The agape' love banishes any condemnation we may feel. This condemnation is a baseless feeling; while the love and assurance have a basis in God. This is then the first benefit of this love to the believer. We have assurance of Salvation. See also James 2:15, 16 and John 15:13.
1John 3:22
The second benefit of this love in our life is answered prayer. This isn't because we have earned it or deserve it but because we are abiding in Him.
John may have the words of Jesus on his mind here. In John 15:7 John recorded the words of Jesus:
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Now, the false teachers wear a verse like this out. They rip it out of context and teach a 'name it and claim it' system of belief. They go so far as to say God HAS to give you anything you ask because he is bound by His promise. But God isn't some big cosmic Jeannie granting wished. The key to prayer is being in such close fellowship with God that we ask for the things that are on His heart. We become so much like Him that we have the same desires. Then in prayer we take up His agenda with our requests and intercession. God is the provider for the very deeds that are done in truth and love.
John said whatever we ask we receive because we keep His commandments. Keeping the commandments isn't some secret way of getting what you want. It's just an indication that the believer is walking with the Lord in obedience. We desire to please God and be obedient. This brings us to praying the will of God.
1John 3:23
John expanded on the thought of keeping the commandments. But he took liberty of taking the 2 commandments and treating them as one. These two commandments go hand in hand. You can't keep one without the other. If you believe on the name of Jesus its a given that you will love one another.
Matthew 22:37:
Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'[d] 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The second is like the First. They are inseparable; equal in strength and authority.
1John 3:24
Here is the third benefit of that agape' love residing in our life; it's the presence of the Holy Spirit. If we love in deed and truth then our relationship with God will not be hindered. We will have assurance. Our prayers will be in line with His will and we will see them answered. And finally, we will have the abiding presence of God in our life by the way of the Spirit He's given us.
And in these final 2 verses we see John repeat the major evidences of a believer's life: Believing, obeying and loving. Read verse 23 and 24 again: 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Back in verse 10 John said, the children of God and the children of the devil are made manifest by this presence of God and absence of sin. There's no middle ground. A person either has the heart of a Cain or a heart that is born of God and chases after Jesus Christ.
©2012 Doug Ford
Revised & edited 2020
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