Chapter 3
-John’s main purpose in this chapter is to give the little
children of God assurance of their salvation, which comes from the Holy Spirit
that He has given us (1 John 3:24). There is a relational aspect to this new
birth in the obedience of His command to trust in Him and love one another (1
John 3:1, 9, 23). This love relationship abides in His love and does not want
to transgress against His authority in our life. What John is talking about is
forsaking habitual sin in our walk with God. Christ came to destroy the works
of the devil; therefore, we have the power to walk in victory over temptation
and falling into the bad habits and strongholds of sin. Sin is lawlessness and
the true believer in God’s goodness will have an extreme hatred toward those
things that take us away from the Lord’s perfections. This is not to say that
the Christian may at times slip up and get back into the flesh. We still have
the capacity to do that and the enemy is very good at luring us and tripping us
up from time to time with evil desires. But, the child of God will love
righteousness far more than corruption and should gravitate towards that in all
cases. If our continual desire is to do wrong, we had better check our heart
and see if we are really abiding in Christ by faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).
-God is greater than our heart when our heart tries to
condemn us with guilt even after trusting completely in Christ for our
forgiveness and salvation. Our confidence comes from our obedience in faith; He
alone gives us the strength to overcome any and all attacks from the enemy. We
can ask and receive from Him because He loves us and wants us to have the
absolute best as long as we conform to His image by His grace, which He gives
through His Spirit (1 John 3:19-24). *Application* Our relationship with the
Lord revolves around faith and love from a pure and sincere heart towards Him.
This is our reasonable service when we realize everything He has done to
purchase our redemption by His sacrifice on the cross (John 3:16, 1 John 3:16).
It’s not that we have to be faultless; we know that there are no perfect
people, but there should be a propensity towards righteousness in everything
that we think, say, and do. This is evidence of the Holy Spirit indwelling of
our being as believers.
Verses to Memorize: 1
John 3:18, 23-24
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