1 John Chapter 3 has some powerful messages that I want to make sure you understand. It has to do with love, sinning, why Jesus came, and the new commandment. Let’s dig in…
1 John 3
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. 3 And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.
Clarification on Children of God
Like I’ve explained before, you become a Child of God when you become born again. Only then, when you’ve surrendered your old sinful life to Jesus and accepted His forgiveness for your sins by repenting, can you start to become like Him — pure and sanctified! Let’s keep going…
4 Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. 5 And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. 6 Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.
The Gospel Truth
That last part is something that the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t teach. Why? I explain that here. In any rate, the truth is that Jesus took away our sins. Period! If you live IN HIM, you will not sin. If you keep on sinning, you don’t KNOW HIM or understand who He is or WHY he had to die. John explains this in the next part…
7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 10 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.
There is no get-out-of-hell free card in the Catholic Church!
If you think you can keep on sinning, then go to confession on Saturday, and that you’ll have your place in Heaven, you are sadly mistaken. (AND, there is no such place or state as purgatory!) You’re going to hell unless you turn to Jesus right now! Until you do, you are a child of the devil. You are!
Love One Another
11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
14 If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.
16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?
18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. 19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. 20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.
21 Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. 22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.
23 And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.
1 John 3 NLT
Are You Just Noise in the World 🌎 or is God’s Love ❤️ in What You Say? (Study on 1 Corinthians 13).
I’m so glad to have the Holy Spirit living inside of me! There have been countless of times when the Spirit has stopped me from responding to someone on social media with words like, “stupid”, “idiot”, “crazy” — and these are on the kind side! That is one of the hardest things to do. You want to tell the person off SO bad, but the Spirit nudges you NOT to do it.
I remember one Christmas Eve as I was driving to a friend’s house for dinner, I called my mom in Puerto Rico and I asked her if she had gotten a letter from the V.A. (my dad was a veteran) regarding some benefits I had spent a lot of time and effort applying for on her behalf. She said she had, but she hadn’t opened it yet. Well, I yelled at her. “Mom! That could be money for you!” She replied with something like she didn’t want to deal with it. So, I hung up on her.
Well, the Spirit kept nudging me… “It’s Christmas and you yelled at your mother.” It was such an annoying nudge that after I got to my friend’s house, I excused myself and called her back to apologize to her.
We are not perfect. Only Jesus is perfect and we are not Him. However, once we accept His forgiveness and removal of our sins, we need to repent and stop sinning. Nonetheless, we still will sin. If we are saved, we’re covered because Jesus died taking away our past, present and future sins! Yes! Once and for all!
The Works of the Devil
Anger, frustration, stress, anxiety, fear, etc., are all works of Satan. The devil wants to keep us separated from Jesus and the truth. The GOOD NEWS is that the salvation that we have THROUGH JESUS — and JESUS ONLY — is the free gift of grace that no one else can provide. Furthermore, nothing we can ever do on our own can save us! Only Jesus can!
If you’re not sure if you’re saved or not, if you truly want to be born again and have the assurance of salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, feel His Shalom — a peace that surpasses all understanding, and get a 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven after you die, or that you won’t be left behind at the Rapture, which can happen at any moment, this is what you have to do…