1 John 4:1-6 - Test the Spirits!

1 John 4:1-6

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

There is a spirit of error in the world that is set against the truth.  Therefore, we are called to test what we hear taught to determine if the teaching comes from God or not.  We do this by comparing with what the scriptures teach, especially concerning the identity of the person of Christ as well as what it tells us about His work to save us.  False prophetic statements from cults do not confess who Jesus the Christ is; they deny that the Christ is the Son of God, the word become flesh.  His identity as God (John 10:30, 33, 37-38) is essential to be able to save us from our sin as the perfect sacrificial Passover Lamb of God.  False teachers would have us believe that He was only a man or a prophet who was not of a supernatural birth in contradiction to scripture.  These are opposed to Christ, antichrist, in false doctrine that offers no hope of a resurrection and eternal life bought at such a high price of the divine Son of God and man.  This is why we are to identify the spirit of error from the spirit of truth; the Spirit of God Himself testifies to us as the words of Jesus echo in our souls and move our hearts and minds in syncopation of the divine truth of the Gospel.  There are many such antichrists in the world even now under the sway of the wicked one (1 John 5:19) who are battling against the minds and hearts of those who have the gospel testimony (Revelation 1:2, 12:17) of Jesus Christ.  We overcome the world (Romans 8:37, 1 John 5:4, Revelation 12:11) and these lies by the truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ!  Remembering that He in us is infinitely greater that these in the world and even the evil one behind them, we persevere to the end and listen to what we hear, comparing spiritual things with spiritual in the word of God to know the difference between the spirit of truth and that of such error.  Doctrine matters (2 John 1:9), though these deceivers would have us believe otherwise that they might sneak the little lies in one at a time.  We must test what we hear to ensure (Acts 17:11) what is right and what is not.  Our doctrine must be what the scriptures tell us and not anyone else who contradicts them.  Truth matters infinitely more than mere feelings and reasoning, for the gospel hangs on the divine identity of the Son of God (1 John 5:10, 12-13) in whom we trust for our salvation and entrance into the king of God by faith in the truth (1 John 5:20) of our identity in Him.  Watch and beware of those who influence with philosophical stories and reasoning contrary to the truth to tickle our ears with some new thing or move us by emotional arguments to desire something less than God’s best in the gospel of the Son of God. 

1 John 3:10-24 - Abiding Love

1 John 3:10-24

The Imperative of Love (Matthew 22:39)

10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

The Outworking of Love

16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 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.

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

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.

Here love is defined by abiding in Christ.  Abiding in Christ means we are living according to His word in seeking righteous and holy obedience with a thankful and willing heart.  Those who do not pursue living this way are still doing the work of the devil, the false accuser and slanderer, and are not the children of God.  The word goes further to define and identify those who are not God’s people by the lack of practicing righteousness in character and love in action to others.  God’s word all along has this definition as a command to love Him above all by loving others as ourselves (Luke 10:27) and not to seek the passing pleasures (Hebrews 11:25) of self-serving sin.  This is abiding love, remaining in Christ and His love to shine that love light to others as He does.  The first example in human history of failure to love is given in the example of Cain who murdered his own brother because he despised Abel’s righteous gift offered to God (Genesis 4:4-5, 8) while his own was evil and self-seeking (Romans 2:8, James 3:16) in intent.  He did this as Genesis 4:6-7 tells us after being warned to do good and be aware of sin’s desire to overtake us in anger and not in love and acceptance.  A lack of love therefore is seen in Cain’s response that he is not his brother’s keeper to watch over and protect him, and that spoken to God just after his lack of love morphed into murderous hatred.  We are to love by looking out for one another and not only our own interests (Philippians 2:4) to abide in Christ and demonstrate His love.  Such agape love is a result of our passing from death to life (John 5:24) in our regenerative rebirth and not a method of earning our salvation.  Love for God and our fellow man is the proof of the changed heart with His law written by the finger of the Spirit on our hearts.  Hating others makes us murderers (Matthew 5:21-22) as Cain was.  In contrast to him, we see the example of Jesus Christ who sacrificed Himself for our good.  He did this not only to pay the price for our sin and bring us into eternal relation with Him, but also as our example to lay down our own lives for one another in contrast to Cain.  This extends from our conduct and conversation to the meeting of the needs we see in our brothers and sisters when we are able to help them as we contemplate how the Lord meets all our needs and more.  We are to love in our actions of truthful care and not to check a box of compliance to be seen in good standing with our Lord.  Truth observed in us is this sincere unfeigned love for God and man.  If we do these things and still doubt our motives are entirely pure, we can rest in faith by knowing He understands our hearts and their motives (Hebrews 4:12) in alignment with the Bible.  If we have no feelings of condemnation, however, we can build our confidence in His work of sanctifying grace in us to conform us to the image of the Son of God and rejoice in that work of God in us.  If then we do these things from a sincere and unforced heart to please the Lord, we have the assurance to receive what we truly need in our lives through our sincere prayers of faith.  We obey the commandment to love one another as we believe on the name of the Son of God and abide in His love and grace.  Keeping His word in this way is our assurance of proof that we are in Christ and He in us as His Spirit given to love in us proves His presence and work because we are in Christ and His love.  This is abiding love as we abide in Him and His love. 

1 John 3:1-9 - Perfected Towards Sinlessness

1 John 3:1-9

1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Sin and the Child of God

4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

We are called towards sinlessness in our sanctification, yet we are still battling against sin as sinners saved by grace until the day we shed this mortal coil and stand before our Lord as sinless in more than the state of imputed righteousness (Romans 4:22-25, 2 Corinthians 5:21) we currently possess in Christ.  We are called His children who have been saved by grace while still sinners (Romans 5:8-9, Ephesians 2:5) and are not being told here that if we sin at all that we lose it all; no, rather, that we no longer make pursuit and practice of sin an ongoing habitual thing.  The world looks at us, changed by grace in a new birth as new men and women, and cannot grasp that we can still stumble and fall yet get back up by repentance in faith to be forgiven (1 John 1:9) and continue on to avoid sin and put it to death one little step at a time in our sanctification by God’s working in us (Philippians 2:12-13, 1:6).  We ourselves who have so much of scripture revealed to us by the indwelling Holy Spirit have great difficulty seeing the final outcome of His work in the resurrection to come, understanding only that we will have bodies that are not corrupted by sin as evidenced by a lack of death to them as a result of sin which will no longer be present within or without in His presence.  We shall be made like Him in sinlessness!  The image marred in Eden’s Garden will be restored as originally designed and created (1 Corinthians 15:54-56)!  Therefore, we look ahead to sinless perfection in eternity and work towards preparing ourselves by avoiding and mortifying it in this present life until we stand before Him forever among the tree of life’s healing leaves (Revelation 22:2) beyond the curse of sin at last.  Continuing to practice sin reveals our unregenerate state and not our lack of earning and keeping our salvation.  Jesus came to take away our sin (John 1:29) that we might live in His righteousness and imitate that righteousness by abiding in Him and putting sin to death (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5).  This direction of the life is our proof that we have truly seen and know Him and is not a flawed attempt to earn or keep our salvation.  The bottom line is spelled out here that we are not deceived into working to maintain our salvation nor abandoning any attempt to perfect our pursuit of righteousness.  If we continue in wanton abandon to sin and lean on the unbiblical phrase, “once saved, always saved” as a license to sin, we do not know Him.  Just like the devil who deceived Eve in the beginning, such can easily be led to believe going against God’s word and His commands for holiness is somehow acceptable.  God tells us something different here.  If we continue in sin without resistance, it usually means that we do not have His seed, namely Christ, in us to be able to resist and therefore cannot continue to practice sin as before our conversion.  It does not mean that we who are His are entirely incapable of sinning.  We are being perfected towards sinlessness in eternity when we are finally apart from the presence and influence of sin in the presence of Him who promises to perfect us (1 Peter 5:10, Hebrews 13:20-21) in ongoing sanctification until that day as we participate by putting our sin and its desire to death day by day.  We have not yet arrived, but have a certain hope of this process of sanctification.

1 John 2:18-29 - The Denier is the Liar

1 John 2:18-29 

Deceptions of the Last Hour

18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Let Truth Abide in You

24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

The Children of God

28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

Here we hear that the spirit of the antichrist liar is the denier of Jesus Christ.  There is no truth in this type of person because they deny the word of God.  This includes all cults which say Jesus was just a man or perhaps a good prophet, but not the very Son of God, which is the only truth about Jesus Christ that the spirit of antichrist cannot abide.  This is how we identify the spirit of truth from the spirits of error.  Such can even arise from within the church gatherings but end up leaving when pressed to confess Jesus as the divine Lord and Son of God and not just a prophet or man without a permanently divine nature in union with that man.  This is why we try to capture this truth that is difficult to comprehend and define in a creedal statement that includes the words, ‘hypostatic union.’  To acknowledge that the Christ eternally existed with God the Father along with His Spirit and who came to us as a man (John 1:1-3, 14) is essential to believing faith that receives Him as the Word of God become a man to be able to save us as only a perfect sacrifice could ever accomplish.  Only God is perfect.  Only the Son of God therefore can save us.  This the antichrist cannot agree with and is set against to deceive many into false faith or outright rejection of the person and work of Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior (Titus 2:13).  We therefore see that those who reject this truth and leave us are not of Christ but are in opposition to Him and the gospel of God.  We who have believed God by taking Him at His word with supernatural faith to receive Him and be changed (John 5:24, Galatians 2:20) by a spiritual rebirth are now able to fully understand these truths and know they are true by the understanding given by his Spirit living inside us (John 3:3, 14:26, Romans 8:9-11, Ephesians 1:13-14, 1 Peter 1:23) now.  These things John wrote to encourage our faith to hold to these truths and not be fooled by the lies that say otherwise.  Only the liar who is an antichrist set against Christ denies who He is.  Only the liar denies the Father and His only Son.  Without having God’s Spirit, these truths are denied.  Only those who acknowledge the Father and Son are one in Him and have His Spirit (Romans 8:9).  Knowing here things, we who have trusted and received Him continue in the truth and reveal the liars as we have the absolute hope of a certain eternal life through taking God at His word and not denying it in rebellion as in Eden’s Garden under the lies of the serpent who made us doubt the Lord and His clear word of what was permitted and what doubt earns as punishment for that sin of denial, namely physical and spiritual death.  We abide, continue to live in the grace of God in Christ by faith and can see those who try to dissuade and convince us otherwise.  We hold to the Son and Father by the clear understanding given by His Spirit who anoints and teaches (John 14:16-17, 26, 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, 1 John 2:27) us these things.  We have our confidence in these promises and truths and ready ourselves accordingly form his return by faith and perseverance to practice righteousness in return out of obedient thankfulness.  We remember that the denier of these things is the liar who is of the spirit of antichrist and we resist those by faith. 

1 John 2:12-17 - Forgiven, Faithful, and Focused on Eternity

1 John 2:12-17

Their Spiritual State

12 I write to you, little children,
Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

13 I write to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,
Because you have overcome the wicked one.

I write to you, little children,
Because you have known the Father.

14 I have written to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

I have written to you, young men,
Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,
And you have overcome the wicked one.

Do Not Love the World

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

We are to be as the readers and original recipients of this letter, knowing we are forgiven and living faithfully with our life focused (Matthew 6:33-34) on eternal treasures.  As little children, babes in Christ, we find the foundation of our life on the assurance of our salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ’s person and His work for us alone.  As spiritual fathers, we grow into focusing our lives on knowing our Lord and looking back to the beginning of our new life (Galatians 2:20) in Him.  As young men in the middle of our journey of sanctification, we learn to walk by faith and resist the devil (James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8-9) to be overcomers in Christ (1 Peter 5:10) as our sovereign Lord over all.  Yes, little children know the Father in knowing His Son (John 14:7, 9, 1 John 1:3, 3:1) and read these words of encouragement with joy.  As fathers in the faith, we continue to deepen our knowledge and knowing of our Lord through His word by the instruction of His Spirit as we wisely build upon the foundation of our faith (1 Corinthians 3:10-11) who is Christ, according to all Jesus taught us (Matthew 28:20) that we might teach other disciples after us.  Yes, as we grow into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18) we gain His strength in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:10) and put His word deep into our hearts and minds to overcome the wicked one who is out to stop us and the gospel as we read in Revelation 12:17 to be aware of these things.  We come to the summation of warnings to focus the desires of our lives in heart and mind on the eternal in these last three verses.  We are not to love the world if we want to experience the love of God who saved us out of it.  The world offers fulfillment of desires to please our flesh and covetousness and what we imagine we have gained ourselves apart from the goodness and providence of grace from His hand.  Instead we are called to do the will of God as our desire above all others to focus on what lasts from now into eternity.  Then we remain securely in His love and grace with a smile on His face as He says, “well done, good and faithful servant.”  May we all keep focused on being forgiven by grace that we be faithful to the end with the focused direction of our lives set upon Him (Philippians 3:13-14). 

1 John 2:1-11 - Do You Know Him?

1 John 2:1-11

1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

The Test of Knowing Him

3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Why did John write this book to us?  The summation is that we know our forgiveness in Christ and in that knowledge strive to sin no more in order to please God in appreciation for this gift of grace that saved us from the due penalty of our sins, both inherited through Adam in our spiritual DNA and in our daily failures of falling short (Romans 3:20, 23) of perfect holiness in keeping His word.  He makes this clear in the first verse of this chapter by telling us plainly that he wrote to us that we do not sin.  Obviously, this does not mean we never sin again as this is not possible, but that we make it our aim and direction of our life to put sin to death by the power and wisdom of His Spirit (Romans  8:13) as we walk on in Christ towards the day of His return.  When we do fall again, we have the promised assurance of forgiveness by Christ Jesus who is our Advocate, our heavenly lawyer who pleads our case for dropping the charges on the basis of His having taken the sentence of our death on Himself to the cross (Colossians 2:14, Romans 5:8, 8:34, 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10) and sentence us to eternal life instead of the death sentence into which we are all born.  Jesus Christ is our propitiation of God’s gracious mercy that triumphed over justice (James 2:13) and released us (Romans 6:22-23) from the bondage of sin and the consequences of it.  If we therefore have been set free and truly know Him, the evidence of that transformation is the willingness and drive to keep His commandments out of thankfulness and no longer as a feeble attempt to earn our salvation or grace in God’s eyes to keep what we cannot lose or have taken away.  The message and end result of the gospel that has been preached since the Fall in Eden’s Garden has not changed; He desire that we trust by faith and obey out of love to be well-pleasing (2 Corinthians 5:9, Hebrews 13:21) to Him as we were created to be and do.  The commandment has not changed, but the motivation from a heart engraved (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10, 12-13) with His commandments enables us to truly understand (Psalm 119:34) and walk out these desires in us to be living sacrifices of grace.  The evidence of His truth and love in us then is the willingness and decisive actions to keep His word.  His love is actually perfected in us as we are conforming to His image by this willingness and resulting fruits of obedience.  We are to live as Jesus demonstrated to us while walking on this earth with us.  This is the same commandment written to us from the beginning before the Law and after the cross in light of Him as the light of the world and eternity to come.  The evidence is our love for God and others (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18, Luke 10:27) as it is has been written and remains unchanged.  The new commandment then is to do this in sincerity and truth enabled by His grace and Spirit in us to love in truth and not as an attempt to meet a demand without our heart being in it fully.  If we then walk in this light which is Him and His, we love God first and others as well.  We will never stumble and stay down if we know these things and seek forgiveness when we do sin against one another.  If we hate others, however, we remain in darkness and have not know the grace and light of Christ in our hearts and need repentance to life before going further with Him.  We need spiritual eyes as part of a new creation (Romans 6:11-12, 13-14, Galatians 2:20, 5:24) to love and love as we are designed and created to do in His image.  Do you know Him?  That is the crucial question before any obedience is possible. 

1 John 1:1-10 - Living Word of Life and Hope

1 John 1:1-10

What Was Heard, Seen, and Touched

(John 1:1–5)

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

Fellowship with Him and One Another

5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

The Living Word gives us life and hope.  Jesus Christ is the eternal Word of God who the apostles personally saw and touched with their own hands to show Jesus was real as a God’s Son come to us as a real man and no mere illusion or tall tale.  He is the very Word of life to give us eternal life, unending in and through Him starting at our conversion by faith (John 1:1, 12, Ephesians 2:8-9) through repentance to life (Acts 11:18).  Apostles such as John were spokesmen for God’s Son to speak life through His name to all whom He calls (John 6:44).  He and the others whose words we read (Matthew, Luke, Mark, Peter, James, Paul) given to teach us as we are saved by grace (Matthew 28:19-20) and taught by their writings recorded for us to hear now, these all had been chosen to bear witness as those seeing our Lord personally to then declare His person and work and words to us.  They displayed the eternal life in Jesus shown them for us to see as well in a spiritual face to face encounter until the day when we meet Him fully face to face in spirit now and after our death in new bodies following our resurrection.  These men declared this eternal hope of life to of the living Word to us in written words that we might share in the fellowship with them in Christ, this fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.  John writes to tell us the reason is to fulfill our joy in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior!  This message of the gospel is to assure us that God is light in the midst of darkness who shone in our hearts and souls through the grace of faith that takes Him at His word as to His identity and work to deliver us from our deserved penalty of our sin.  If then we have been truly changed by this encounter with the truth by His Spirit and are spiritual newborns (John 5:24, Galatians 2:20, 1 Peter 1:23), then we should see evidence of that change by living in the light of righteousness and truth now and not still stumbling about in the darkness of sin through life as before.  This is living practice of the truth within us.  This walking in life and truth provides us the sharing of fellowship with Him and one another as we realize the cleansing of the blood of Christ’s sacrifice in our stead to die and shed His blood of life (Leviticus 17:11, Matthew 26:28, John 6:53, Hebrews 9:22, 27-28) that we are released from death and the penalty of sin once and forever.  He cleanses us from all sin, past, present, and future; we need only confess it to Him for assured forgiveness and strive to repeat it less and less as we mature in Christ by walking in the light.  He promises to forgive our sins and make us clean again!  This is our certain hope in the life we have been given that never ends.  However, if we deny that we still sin, we are calling Him a liar because His word in us that shows we are still sinners is absent from us and we need to go back to making our position in Him (2 Corinthians 13:5-6, 2 Peter 1:10-11) certain.  Once we understand we are truly regenerate in Jesus Christ, then we understand in humility our deliverance from sin’s (1 John 4:18) punishment of eternal torment into everlasting life in Christ by His atoning sacrifice of His life for ours.  For those of us who have His word abiding in us, let us continue to approach the throne of grace for confession and forgiveness as no mere man can do for real absolution which we already possess.  This is the Living Word of life and our certain hope in Christ. 

2 Peter 3:10-18 - Are You Ready?

2 Peter 3:10-18

The Day of the Lord

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Be Steadfast

14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Are you ready for the day of the Lord at His unannounced return?  That is Peter’s challenge wake-up call to us all.  No matter how many self-proclaimed biblical scholars set dates and times based on their interpretations of scripture, Jesus will return quite unexpectedly on His terms as He told us many times.  The coming back will be for judgment in righteousness (Psalm 9:8, John 16:8, Acts 17:31) and will be terrifying (2 Corinthians 5:11, Hebrews 10:29-31) to those who have rejected the gospel of grace offered them, especially when they see the omnipotent power of God in the dissolution of the creation by loud noises and unbearable heat melting earth and all the works of man upon it.  Knowing these glimpses of the day of judgment on the world and our escape from it by sheer grace alone, should we not be motivated to live with holy conduct and godliness as we are told here?  We know and yearn for the day of His return and know we are accountable for the talents we have been entrusted with to build upon for His kingdom.  We also know that we who are in Christ have a sure footing on the foundation of His grace for certain salvation from His wrath on that day, yet are we not also motivated to please Him in every way because of that grace?  We should be building on that foundation with imperishable works prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10) and not with worthless “wood, hay and stubble” as 1 Corinthians 3:12-13, 14-15 tells us plainly.  Yes, we have not been saved at such a cost of the suffering and death of God’s Son only to live for ourselves since we have been purchased at such a cost (1 Corinthians 6:20) and are expected and should be motivated to live accordingly with holiness in view of the day and of eternity.  Some of these things are difficult to comprehend completely, but enough have been explained that we can find the answers in diligent study of scripture.  There are some, however, of these end times that are assumed by some and scripture is twisted to back up the person interpretations (2 Peter 1:20-21) given as if gospel truth.  These we are to avoid through solid interpretation practices to extract and not inject meaning into the Bible.  Since we know these things, we are called to watch and be aware that we do not doubt our certain path forward in sanctifying grace based on the evidential truths of scripture.  We do not follow those who misinterpret scripture to follow them off the path, but follow Christ in grace and knowledge of Him according to His word!  May we grow in that grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to whom we give glory forever in this understanding.  Are you ready? 

2 Peter 3:1-9 - Our Longsuffering Lord

2 Peter 3:1-9

God’s Promise Is Not Slack (Genesis 6:5—8:22)

1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

God is extremely longsuffering with us!  Though He chooses and draws us to Himself and bestows faith in our hearts of stone to believe and receive His Son, He still yearns for all to come to Himself (Ezekiel 33:11, Romans 2:4) and not perish in the eternal suffering of judgement’s lake of fire.  How the Lord calls us to repentance and faith with a Father’s heart because He created us in His image in the beginning and longs to recreate us in Christ (Galatians 4:19, 1 Timothy 1:15) and not see us lost forever from grace.  We know that John 3:16-17 reveals the heart of God in Christ to save us from such consequences of our sin but also makes it abundantly clear in John 3:18-19 that many will continue in sin of disbelief and reject Jesus Christ to pursue darkness instead.  These are the scoffers that Peter points out here to us, men and women who live for their own passing pleasures of sin in disregard for Him and His word given us from the beginning of time to draw us to repentance and the faith of Abraham (Genesis 22:18, Luke 24:25-27, Romans 4:13, Galatians 3:8-9).  These doubt the second coming of Christ and scoff at the judgment to come on all flesh for eternal accountability.  They have not seen this yet and so doubt God’s word and promises when they hear because they have no faith in their Creator as Lord and Sovereign King of them and us all.  They ignore the fact of the creation recorded in Genesis and the flood that wiped out all but eight souls from all the earth in judgment on their hearts set on sin (Genesis 6:5, 11-12, 2 Peter 2:5) and therefore do not accept he fact that God will preserve the world until Jesus returns to consume it with fire instead of water.  These are reserved for judgment of condemnation.  It is an unpleasant fact that many do not wish to mention or speak about, but the good news has its backdrop on this bad news we all face apart from receiving God’s Son for whom He is and what He has done to deliver those who take Him at His word as Abraham did and act on it.  God is indeed patient and longsuffering in His grace, but there will come a day when the sentence will be served on all who have refused to believe and receive (John 1:12) Jesus as the Son of God come to set us free from sin and death.  Because the timeframe of God is so much longer than our own, we tend to doubt the fact that the day is coming and some pretend that it never will come and they will not be held accountable for what they did with the good news.  He calls all to repentance from sin and to trust in Him.  What temporary pleasures and pursuits can compare to an eternity in the presence of our Maker?  Our longsuffering Lord has appointed a day (Acts 17:31) to judge the entire world by his Son.  Kiss the Son lest He be angry (Psalm 2:12) forever for your disbelief and unrepentant sin and find eternal blessings in trusting Him! 

2 Peter 2:12-22 - Depravity and Deception of False Teachers

2 Peter 2:12-22

Depravity of False Teachers

12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Deceptions of False Teachers

18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

False teachers ultimately are so corrupt in their souls that they only speak evil to slander those who hold to the truth of God according to scripture.  They are described as brutish beasts that attack and tear open their prey and are deigned to be captured and destroyed like wild animals that cause harm, but it is vital that we do not think that we are their judges or the ones to pass this sentence of condemnation on them.  God’s word has already done that as John 12:48 has told us.  They earn the wages of sin as everyone else will who rejects the gospel of grace by believing in and receiving Jesus Christ as the Son of God (John 3:18, 6:40, 1 John 5:5).  These false teachers mislead and malign this gospel of grace by adding conditions, taking away requirements and responsibilities, and even forming entirely new teachings that contradict the scriptures.  These can sometimes be recognized by their immorality and self-seeking of pleasure and personal gain at the expense of righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24) as they flaunt their quest for pleasure in broad daylight to mock God and His call to accountability to listen and heed His word to be living to honor Him instead.  These deceive themselves and try to deceive others as they join in our worship celebrations while looking for the weak and spiritually unstable and immature among the flock to drag into adultery and immortality.  This is why discipleship and sound tea is crucial to protecting the flock that God entrusts to us and that we are part of; we are our brother’s keeper (Genesis 4:9) and are responsible to warn and guide one another into the necessary truth of sound doctrine.  The covetous seek their own pleasure and gain; we who are in Christ and follow Him know better and seek the good of our brothers and sisters in Him and not focused on pleasing (Romans 15:1) ourselves.  Those who continue to actively pursue misleading others will face a harsh sentence in eternity as they speak proud magnanimous words to lure the sheep away if possible Mark 13:22-23) those who belong to the Lord Christ.  These empty promises and deceitful words appear to offer everything we desire but miss the mark of being spiritually beneficial to us.  Their promises echo hollow and promise freedom to do whatever while enslaving to sin whose bondage the gospel has set us free as they encourage or excuse away sinful practices and destructive beliefs.  It is worse to continue to believe false doctrine than to have ever come to follow Christ is the stark comparison made here.  For those who have come to hear the gospel but not respond by faith in repentance for conversion, these are misled and pulled away from believing to eternal salvation.  This is why we teach and preach truth to protect those who hear sound doctrine, both for those already in Christ and those being drawn to Him.  Those who hear false teachers are doomed with them if they continue to follow them instead of turning to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  The depravity and deception of false teachers is to be answered with the true love and compassion in commitment to the truth without wavering or allowing lies or misleading words to diverge the hearers from the narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14) to Christ and eternal life. 

2 Peter 2:1-11 - False Teacher’s’ Doom and Destruction

2 Peter 2:1-11

Destructive Doctrines

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

Doom of False Teachers

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

Just as the false prophets of Old Testament Israel misled the people into the idolatry and immortality of the cultures around them, so since Christ came there are false teachers who do the same by subtly changing God’s word to adapt to the morality of the world such as in homosexuality redefined by reinterpretation of selected words and by taking verses out of context to inject their meaning in place of the contextual intent of God throughout scripture to allow redefining of roles and relationships in marriage and the church.  These teachers do not see the meaning that God defines as we compare spiritual truths (1 Corinthians 2:13) with other related ones in other passages, but prefer to stop the sentences given us and add their own endings or change by adding or subtracting words and meaning by redefining according to the accepted cultural norms instead of the unpopular absolutes given by God.  Such divergent private interpretations (2 Peter 1:20) end up deny who Christ is and what His nature of holiness is as well by making the abominable to appear good at the expense of God’s character and commands to we who were originally made in His image but have been damaged by sin and rendered unable to discern right and wrong (Hebrews 5:14) apart from instruction by Him from the Bible.  Unfortunately, many will choose to follow this easy and wide path to destruction and live to support the blaspheming of the truth and the honor of God’s nature and intent for His creation.  These forget the example of the fallen angels who chose willfully to disregard and disobey God’s word and authority over them and suffered the eternal consequences without the ability to repent as we can.  The further example of people who followed false teachings in Noah’s time demonstrates that we are also accountable and will answer likewise if we do not know the truth of God’s word to live by faith and repentance that transforms us to Him image again in ever increasing sanctification of grace.  Like Noah, we find favor with the Lord by believing the coming judgment on sin and resting permanently in Him to avoid judgment.  But we are still accountable for our obedience to holiness (Romans 6:22, Ephesians 4:24) to please God; this is why we need to avoid misleading teachings that keep us from the desired and designed image of Christ forming in us by rightly dividing the word of God to live and worship as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2) with obedience and worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 John 3:24).  As it is written here, “the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.”  God is not mocked by the false teachings that divert our way into excusing us not to obey moral and spiritual truths of commands, examples, and principles set forth in the proper interpretation of scripture.  False teachers subtly change what we are to believe and do as in Genesis 3:1 in the origin of sin’s disbelief of disobedience.  May we who truly know the Lord and have been made new in righteousness and holiness not be taken in by those who live to please their flesh’s desires over God’s clear design and commands, who put sensual desires and despise God’s authority over us directly through His word and indirectly through those put in roles defined by Him in the church for our good and His glory.  The presumptions and bad teachings of these people who often rise up from within the body (Acts 20:30-31) as they promote their own will over the truth to reinterpret and redefine what we are to believe and do, these who speak evil of authority and refuse to submit to the truth, these we are to avoid and are not to give ground. False teachers will be held more accountable (James 3:1) and we are likewise accountable to stay the course of truth in the pursuit of correct interpretation and understanding of God’s word as our foundation to stand firmly upon.  The adversary seeks to create confusion and muddy the holiness of God’s image in us by introducing bad teachings but we have the Spirit of God and one another gifted by the Lord Christ to guide us into all truth.  May our understanding of morality and authority therefore align with God’s word and not the words of the world around us through true biblical teaching defined by the whole counsel of God.  It is a warning to study God’s word to show ourselves approved to Him (Jude 1:20-21) and not the world’s cultural definitions.