“7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live […]
Testament
Testing the Spirits, Confessing Christ, and Overcoming the World: 1 John 4:1-6
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is […]
Praying Great Prayers, with Great Confidence, Because we have Great Assurance, from our Great God, Who has Given us a Great Gift: 1 John 3:19-24
Prayer, we would all admit, is one of the most difficult disciplines to maintain in the Christian life. It is one of the most neglected means of grace, and methods of communion with God. And it is the most powerful aspect of the Christian life. Yet, for many, if not most, it is hard to […]
The Cleft of the Rock
“Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.’ And he said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see […]
Children of the Devil and Children of God: Commentary on 1 John 3:4-10
Last week as we were in the first three verses of chapter 3, I briefly mentioned the fact that not all people are God’s children; as the text of course talked about how Christians are God’s children. This week as we move in to verse 4-10 we see this contrast made clear between […]