Abide Session 5: Practice Righteousness, Pusue Love, Possess Assurance

 To give us confidence, John will now explore what it means to be a child of God.  "Little children" = Tekna (Greek). We are the natural or genetic children of God.

John 3:1. "Children of God". Publicly recognized as such by God.  Don't lose the wonderment of this. "Behold of what country is the love of God". 

John 3:1b. "Know" - did not have relationship with or understand Him.

John 3:2. We are His children "now" - miraculous. What we will be has not yet appeared (made manifest).  It's not yet become obvious what we will be.

John 3:2b-3. What's the nature of the hope we have in Him? A present hope and a future hope; something better to come. We will be made like Him according to the first creation (Genesis 1:26-27). The image of God. What if we began to live into the pure desires now?

John 3:4. He circles back to the test of righteousness.  This is a devastating definition for sin "lawlessness". Legalists take God's law which is intended to bring glory to God and twist it to bring glory to them.

John 3:5-6. Don't practice sin - slower to repeat.  It's losing its grip.

John 3:7-9. "Practice".  A discipline.  Practice takes time.  "God's seed" = sperma.

John 3:10. "Evident" (manifest). He's moving to the test of love again.

John 3:11. "Love one another" is actually not new.  It first operated in the garden.

John 3:12. The law had been given though.  Whatever Cain knew he was to bring first and best. Love with God was fractured, so love of brother was fractured as well.  Same with Adam and Eve.

John 3:13-15. Echoes "sermon on the mount".  No "sibling" rivalry.

John 3:16-18. Sacrificial love is generous and tangible.

John 3:19-21. When would your heart condemn you? When you committed that sin again.  Confession is always better than concealment.  Nothing is concealed from God.  God is omniscient.

John 3:23-24. Test of truth.  Test of love. Test of righteousness. Three things repeated again.

End. 1) does what my hands are doing show that I love Him? 2) Does what my mind think about Him show that I love Him? 3) Does what my heart setting its desires on show that I love Him?

Questions

1. What repetitive sin do we need to confess again?

2. Who do we merely tolerate?

3. Where does our heart condemn us?

Next: Session 6: Truth & Error: God is Love

Abide: Session 4 The Test of Truth

There are starting to be divisions now in church history.

In John 18 Pilate asks "what is truth?" Many times we go to places on line or books to validate our own existing views of what is true or false - moral relativism.

John 2:18. Antichrists are many.  "The last hour" - the time between the 1st and 2nd coming.  Matthew 24:11 - Jesus' testimony.  Christ means "the anointed one." Anti means against.

Verse 19. They went out. The broke fellowship and went on their own.  Doctrine - perseverance of the saints.  He's concerned with those who are teachers and active in the faith.

Verses 20-21. Now "you" not "they."  Anointed.  Holy Spirit in us.

Verses 22-24a. Remember the foundational truths.

Verses 24b-25. Abiding life.

The list of truth is that you have to arrim that Jesus is God - Father and Son.  Fully God/fully man.  To deny this is to take away the very foundation of the gospel.

Identities of false teaching. Any doctrine that elevates the role of man and diminishes the role of God. Not everything we hear and disagree with is going to be false teaching.  What we are talking about is essential doctrines.

False teaching example. The word of faith to speak things into being and out of being.  God only has that power.  Another one: if I speak my fears aloud, the demons will know what my fears are and they can use it against me based on Job 3:25.  The fear was the loss of his family and health.  We fear God instead of "Pharoah."

Verses 26-27. "Need no teachers to teach you." What? He is arguing against special knowledge.  The anointing abides in us - so we can know the truth of our belief.  He's pressing against what these false teachers are saying.  Matthew 13 - wheat and weeds.  What fruit? Weeds no fruit.  Wheat does.  Believe the Bible.  Good soil of the church can be drained of its nutrients if we are not careful about false teaching.

Verses 26-28. "Abides in you". "Abide in Him".  When it says "we may have confidence", it's saying we may have assurance. See Romans 8:1.  Why does John speak of abiding in Christ so much? Because Jesus did (John 15).  What causes a lack of confidence? Not being prepared or equipped.

The confidence John is giving to the "little children" here is an act of rememberance: He abides in you and you abide in Him.

Core truths of Christian faith: 

1. Bible-inspired word of God

2. Trinity

We are sealed in Him for eternity.  No one can snatch us out of His hand.

We have no reason to shrink in shame at His coming because the penalty for sin is paid in full.

Next: Session 5: Practice righteousness, pursue love, possess assurance