1John 3:11-20

11 This is the message that you have heard from the beginning: We should

love one another.

The gospel message that was preached from the beginning was: God so loved that He gave His only Son, that all should come into His family as sons, children of God, that love one another with the love of God.

12 Do not be like Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's were righteous.

Cain’s hatred for his brother was over the issue of righteousness. Cain’s attitude and actions were of the evil one. Genesis 4 tells the story of the two brothers presenting their offerings to the Lord. Abel’s offering, most likely a lamb, was received and respected by God but Cain’s offering, from the fruit of his garden, was rejected.

I believe this offering to the Lord was to speak as a prophetic drama of the offering of Christ the Lamb of God for the sin of mankind. Cain presented fruit from cursed ground that required much toil and the sweat of the brow. Abel brought the first born of his flock as an offering, which spoke of Christ, the first born Son, who shed His blood for the sins of many. Cain’s offering declared that, by toil and sweat, man could pay for his own sin. In other words, Cain was saying that he did not need a savior but that enough hard work would make up for the failure in man. Abel’s offering spoke of trusting in the work of Christ to save man from sin.

Abel was righteous because he trusted in the offering of Christ, while Cain remained unrighteous because he trusted in his own efforts to conquer sin. Cain became very depressed and angry at being rejected, but the Lord told Cain that he must learn to master sin or it would be his master.

13 So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.

Brothers, sisters, family of God, do not be surprised by the opposition and hatred from that same spirit that was in Cain which remains in the whole world today. We who are righteous by trusting in the work of Christ on the cross will cause an anger to rise up those of the world and the evil one. Those, especially, who have a form of godliness but lack the fruit of righteousness, which is love, a holy life and a willingness to die for a brother or sister, not to murder them.

14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love one another. The person who does not love remains in death.

It takes God’s love to love others. The children of the world are under the curse of sin and death and do not have God’s love at work in, and through, them. They remain in death because sin continues to work death in them. The evidence that proves we have passed from death unto life is that we love one another.

15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.

Those who have eternal life want everyone to live; to end a life would be contrary to the eternal life that is within us. A murderer does not have the life and love of God

controlling them, so they do the works of their evil father.

16 This is how we have come to know love: Christ gave his life for us. We, too, ought to give our lives for our brothers.

God’s love in us is evidenced by our willingness to give up our own life for others, just as Jesus Christ did for us. There is a special bond of love through unity in the body of

Christ, but there is also a love for the lost.

Rom 5:7-8 For it is rare for anyone to die for a righteous person, though somebody might be brave enough to die for a good person. But God demonstrates his love for us by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

17 Whoever has earthly possessions and notices a brother in need and yet

withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God remain in

him?

God’s love, at work in us, motivates us to lay down our lives for our brothers and

sisters. That includes giving of our earthly possessions to meet a need if it is in our

power to do so. God’s love will remain in those who give it away because we will reap

what we sow.

18 Little children, we must stop loving in word and in tongue, but instead love in action and in truth.

Our faith must be more than a confession; it must have action as well. James 2:20

says: faith without works is dead. Faith believes that God is our source: we need not

look upon what we have as if it were given us totally for our own consumption

because every part or member of the body of Christ is part of us; we are one.

19 And this is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we

will be able to establish our hearts in his presence.

Our acts of love, meeting the needs of others, is the evidence that we are walking in

the truth and, therefore, we will have boldness to stand in His presence.

20 If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows

everything.

If we have somehow failed to love the way God loves, our heart may condemn us or

we might feel guilty when we read this portion of scripture, but God is greater than

out guilty heart. He knows us better than we know ourselves and doesn’t give up on

us. Therefore we should not allow condemnation to remain but remember that God is merciful, giving us another opportunity to get it right.

1 John 2: 29-3: 10

2:29 If you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born from God.

All have sinned and there is none righteous without God; therefore, anyone who practices righteousness has to be a product, or an offspring, of God, the only source of righteousness.

3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given us in letting us be called God's children. And that is what we are! For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not recognize him either.

It is an amazing privilege to be called God’s children. We were formerly opposed to Him, walked in rebellion against Him, but have turned around to walk with Him. Since our change of heart and direction, the world no longer identifies with us or considers us part of their family: we have a new Father and they do not acknowledge or obey Him either.

2 Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when Christ is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

Becoming His child, thus far, has been a hidden work on the inside of us. We are new in our spirits, walking in the light and love of Christ. We have eternal life now, on the inside, yet our mortal body is still waiting to be changed: to put on immortality. When He appears before our eyes at His coming, we will be changed: given a body like His glorious body. (See Philippians 3:21)

3 And everyone who has this hope based on him keeps himself pure, just as he is pure.

The second coming of Christ has been called the blessed hope of the church.

1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 says that we should not be like those without Christ who have no hope of eternal life, because all who have died in Christ, will join us who remain alive and we shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, to be with Him forever. Everyone who has this kind of hope will remain pure because He is coming for a bride that has made herself ready, without spot or wrinkle. (See Ephesians 5: 27)

4 Everyone who keeps living in sin also practices disobedience. In fact, sin is disobedience.

The children of God hope for everlasting life, but the children of the world (those who are formed and fashioned by the ways of the world) do not live with eternity in mind. Their motto is to eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. They go on living in sin because they have no concept of purity or being free from sin. They are not expecting Jesus to come looking for them, as a bridegroom for a bride, without the spots and wrinkles of disobedience.

5 You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and there is not any sin in him.

Jesus came into this world to take upon himself all our sins and to pay all our debt. He could only accomplish that because He had no sin debt of His own. Jesus is also known as the “Word” and we are washed and cleansed by the water of the Word. John 15: 3 Now you are clean through the word I have spoken unto you.

6 No one who remains in him goes on sinning. The one who goes on sinning hasn't seen him or known him.

Anyone who abides, or remains, in Christ will not bear bad fruit but the good fruit of righteousness. The fruit identifies the tree. Those who continue sinning have not been grafted into or are not abiding in the tree of righteousness, Jesus.

7 Little children, don't let anyone deceive you. The person who

practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Do not be deceived by those who claim to be righteous, based on their good works. Righteousness is not achieved through good deeds; it is a standing or a position we enter into. We are made righteous. God imparts righteousness to us as a gift as we enter into Christ and abide in Him. A righteous person no longer has a sin debt but has received God’s gift of forgiveness and salvation. A gift can not be earned by good deeds, just received.

8 The person who practices sin belongs to the evil one, because the devil has been sinning since the beginning. The reason that the Son of God was revealed was to destroy the works of the devil.

The devil is called the father of lies in John 8:44 and Jesus tells a group of Pharisees that they belong to their father, the devil. Everyone has inherited the curse of sin by being born into this sin cursed world. Satan is called the father of lies and sin because he was the one who first sowed the seed into the earth. Once sin got rooted into mankind it was passed on to us all.

Jesus, Son of God, and son of righteousness, was sent into this world to destroy what the Devil planted. Now we can have a new Father through receiving the cleansing of Jesus blood to wash away sin. It is the blood, and the cross, of Jesus that has power to destroy the works of the devil.

9 No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God's

seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has

been born from God.

All who have come into God’s family through the blood of Christ cannot go on

sinning as if nothing happened. God’s seed, “The Word”, remains in him and will

continue to do a cleansing and purifying work. God is a good Father who loves

and corrects his kids. Hebrews 12:6 for whom the Lord loves He

chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives."

10 In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the

Devil: everyone not practicing righteousness is not of God, also he

who does not love his brother.

Verse 10 seems to sum up what John has been saying in a nutshell.

God’s children are distinguished from the devil’s by their love one for another and their righteous standing, which produces good works. The father of lies has some offspring that try to appear as children of God. They have to strive at good works and fake their claim of God as their father, like the Pharisees who could not love the Son of God, yet claimed God as Father. No child of God can hate those who are born of Him.

A prophetic word given by Nancy Horne at SRC

Sunday 2/10/08 am service.

During the worship before the offering, there was an anointing of majesty and royalty that came while DJ was playing the keyboard and my spirit was tuned into it. It was so glorious and beautiful and I wanted to hear more of this majestic playing and I sensed the glory the majesty and the royalty of the Father and the whole Kingdom of God coming into this place. Then I saw in the spirit a row of stair steps and at the bottom was this little white square. And I said Lord what is that? And He said my people are just at square one of what I want to show them about my royalty, the wealth of my kingdom that I want to give to my children. If you will soak in my presence and allow me to pour into you the knowledge of who you are adopted into, the wealth that is yours so that I can open your eyes to see that this truly is yours, the riches of the kingdom are yours and when you can receive your place in my Kingdom of all that belongs to you because you are joint heirs with my Son, then I will break off the poverty spirit and be able to give you what I long to give you, the wealth that belongs to you. And the Lord says it is the time to turn over the wealth of the wicked over into the hands of the righteous, says the Lord.

A few thoughts on this word.

God is allowing us to sense His majesty, royalty and His awesome presence now as a taste of what is available to us. Let us not be satisfied with a taste but let us go after the full meal so to speak. We are at square one at the lowest step on the stairway and God wants us to come up higher in our knowledge and understanding of what He has to give us. He wants us to understand what the wealth of our inheritance in His Kingdom is.

God wants to turn over to the righteous the wealth of the wicked but He can only do that when we are ready and able to receive it and handle it. The poverty mentality is not only in regard to material wealth but possibly refers foremost to the wealth and riches of wisdom and the understanding of God and His Kingdom. When we are able to receive and take our place in His Kingdom as a joint heir with Jesus then that poverty spirit or mentality will be broken allowing us to receive the inheritance our Father so longs to give us.

There is probably nothing that can keep us from moving higher more than to assume we are already there. That little white square at the lowest step marked our position. I didn’t take that to mean we have made no progress in our walk with God to this point but that we are at a place in our journey where up is our only choice if we want to proceed. What He has in store for us will not be attained at our present level of understanding God and His glorious Kingdom.

1 John 2: 18-27

18: Little children, it is the last time. And just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have risen up, from which we know that it is the last hour.

John addresses those who had knowledge of the coming antichrist, the man of sin spoken of by Paul in 2^nd Thessalonians 2. It is possible their focus was on the one to come while overlooking, or not recognizing, the many antichrists already among them. The many antichrists were a sign of the times, revealing the lateness of the hour. Jesus warned that many false teachers and prophets would come and deceive many, claiming to be anointed of Him.

19: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they were of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out so that it might be revealed that they were not all of us.

To this point in his epistle John has been showing the incompatibility of light with darkness, love with hatred, truth with lies, and sin with righteousness. Now he seems to get right down to where the rubber meets the road: those who are not having intimate fellowship with the Father and the Son, while claiming to, will not remain for long in fellowship with those who are. The darkness will have to flee from the light.

20: But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.

The word antichrist means: opponent of the Messiah. It can also mean false Christ, or a substitute Christ. Christ is the anointed one of God but there is a false ministry anointing from antichrist. The bible speaks of false teachers and prophets, false brothers, and wolves in sheep’s clothing, but the anointing we have from the Holy One will give us discernment to know the true from the false.

When we surrender to Christ and make him Lord, we receive His anointing, the Holy Spirit is poured upon us and He lives in us. He becomes our teacher and leads us into all truth so that we can know Christ intimately. John seems to be saying that those who went out from their fellowship had a false anointing from antichrist and were led to deny the truth, but those who had an anointing from the Holy One remained, were teachable and knew the truth.

The anointing is always poured upon the head and runs down upon the rest of the body. Christ Jesus is the head of the body and we receive His anointing from being in fellowship with Him and His body the church. Where there is a lack of unity in the church, there is a disjointed body and lack of anointing, but where there is true, intimate fellowship with the head (Christ) and His body (the church), the false anointing (antichrist) will not remain with the true.

21: I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and know that no lie is of the truth.

John is not addressing his letter to those who are under the influence of antichrist, but to those who can bear witness with the truth. John is writing under the influence, or in the anointing, of the Holy One; therefore, those who also have that same anointing (teacher), will bear witness with what he is saying.

22: Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He who denies the Father and the Son is antichrist.

A lie is opposed to the truth just as antichrist is opposed to Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is opposed to Christ. John previously spoke of those who claimed to love God yet hated their brother, calling them liars. Those who practice sin, yet claim to have no sin, are liars and have come under the influence of the spirit of antichrist, because they have denied the power of Christ to cleanse them from all sin. It is the anointing that breaks the yoke of sin and these have not come under, or submitted to, the true anointing.

23: Everyone who denies the Son neither has the Father. The one confessing the Son also has the Father.

The Father and the Son are one; therefore, we can not claim God as Father and be opposed to Christ Jesus the Son. The Pharisees claimed God and Abraham as their father yet they opposed Christ. Their father was identified by their actions: they continually looked for an opportunity to kill Jesus. Their father was the devil, a murderer from the beginning. No one can oppose the Son and claim God as their Father.

24: Therefore, what you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you will abide in both the Son and in the Father.

Jesus said many would come claiming to be Christs, or anointed ones, and would deceive many. False teachers would also deceive and lead astray many from the faith. John is saying to hold on to the teaching received from the beginning and not to be led astray from the doctrines of the apostles. Those who follow after false teachers will be turned away from the truth and become fruitless vines, whose end is to be cut off. (See John 15: 5&6)

25: And this is the promise that He has promised us: everlasting life.

This is not just a matter of believing or adhering to sound doctrine, this is a matter of life or death, a matter of eternity. The devil is not just playing with smoke and mirrors for entertainment: he is a cold blooded killer. He wants to populate hell with rebels who oppose God’s anointed one.

26: These things I have written to you concerning those leading you astray.

Those under the influence of antichrist are used by Satan to draw away, or beguile, those who are immature in Christ. This epistle exposes the tactics of the enemy and gives believers a tool to test, and know, the false from the true.

27: But the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true and no lie, and as He has taught you, abide in Him.

Continuing his thought from the previous verse, John again points to the anointing as a teacher that will confirm that which is true. He is not saying we do not need teachers in the body of Christ, but that what ever we hear from man must bear witness with the word that was from the beginning and confirmed by the anointing in us. We cannot just rely on the anointing that may be on the one teaching: we must have that inner witness because there is a false anointing sent out to mislead God’s people.

The sheep most easily captured by the enemy are those who are not close to the flock, but may have wandered after something that appeals to the eye, the flesh, or to pride. The things that are not of the Father, but of the world, are used to lure us into dangerous territory by false teachers and draw us away from the truth. They oppose, or are opposite, to Christ in that they promise greatness and gain rather than promoting humility and servant hood.

28: And now, little children, abide in Him, so when He is revealed, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him in His coming.

In a sense, this verse summarizes everything up to this point. Abiding in Him requires that we love God and not the things of the world; that, if we confess our sins, we can be forgiven. We must walk in the light, as He is in the light, in fellowship one with another and listening to the anointing we have from Him. This will keep us from the deception of the spirit of antichrist. Then we will not be ashamed but have confidence that we are ready to meet Him face to face when He returns for His church.

I John 2: 15—17

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man 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, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17 And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

God made the world and everything in it and called it good all creation is a work of His loving hand. We should love and appreciate the beauty of creation but it must not become the focus of our desires. When our desires are for the world and its pleasures rather than the pleasures of God Himself it is a sign that the Father’s love is not in us.

The things of the world are appealing to the three areas mentioned in verse 16, our flesh, our eyes and our pride. The deficiencies associated with human nature cause us to want what we perceive to be lacking. Our sense of lack or emptiness is really a lack of being filled with the Father’s love but our flesh and our eyes lead us to believe we need more of what the world offers to be satisfied. Pride believes having a better position or more wealth is the answer but that will only satisfy for a moment. Pride seems to feed on obtaining more than our neighbor or being in a place of superiority. Our natural tendency is to have what we see others have. In Ecc. 4:4 Solomon observes much work and ambition that is motivated by envy of our neighbor and calls it vanity and vexation of spirit, it leaves us empty.

We must focus our affections on the eternal not this temporary world. 2nd Corinthians 4: 18, says all visible things are temporary yet the invisible things are eternal. Much of our mortal life is sustained by consuming temporary things. God designed our natural lives to be sustained by consuming perishable things but this carries over into the realm of lust, ego and pride. The world and the devil take advantage of genuine human need and hunger by offering things in excess as if having more would quench an already out of control lust.

Lust hungrily feeds upon the temporary things of the world but the eternal man must feed at the table of the everlasting God. His love must displace lust. Feeding on the temporary pleasures and lusts of the world brings fleeting satisfaction. Emptiness breeds more emptiness leaving us with nothing to give because only love can give. We must turn our desires to the one who is everlasting that we will have everlasting joy and pleasure in Him. People, including many Christians mistakenly look for something that lasts in a world that is passing away and repeatedly come up empty because anything lasting is only found in the everlasting Kingdom of God.

Those who do the will of God will abide forever. We must know the will of God to be able to do it. In Romans 12 Paul tells us that we must present our bodies a living sacrifice (which is being dead to this world’s ways) and do not allow the world to shape or mold our thinking, but rather be transformed by renewing our minds that we may know the perfect will of God. We fall into the mold of this world by default but God’s will is discovered through us renewing our minds. As long as we are allowing the world to form our thoughts and manipulate our desires God’s will remains obscure or hidden. Focusing on the temporary visible things of this world prevents our focus being on eternal things.

Colossians 3: 2-3 says that our thoughts and desires must be on things above (eternal) not the things of the earth because we are dead (we have presented our bodies as a living sacrifice) and our eternal life is hidden with Christ in God.

The will of God is ultimately directing us toward our eternal purpose. God wants us to be transformed, no longer thinking and living from one passing fancy to another but to begin to walk and live for eternity now. We can know that what we do for God and His Kingdom will last forever and has eternal rewards.

In this world those who compete in a race do it to obtain a temporary reward but we run toward an everlasting prize hidden in heaven. This life must be a walk of faith, counting the invisible things of eternity as a greater reward than the beauty and riches of a world that is passing away. What would it profit us to gain the world and all its fame and riches yet loose our eternal soul?

I John 2: 12--13

STAGES OF GROWTH

I John 2:12-13

John recognizes that we are at different stages of maturity in our walk with God. He refers to those recently born again as children or immature in Christ. Others that have been walking with God for some time have grown into strong young men. He addresses others as fathers, who have known the one who is from the very beginning. Fathers have developed an intimate relationship with God and have the ability to go beyond just teaching, to imparting life. John, himself, is one of these fathers who, with pen and ink, imparts the Word or Bread of Life.

1 John chapter 2: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” Immediately I think of Psalm 119: 11: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” John writes an impartation of the Word of God to his readers, especially to the immature, that they would take it to heart and be empowered to sin not.

In verse 12 of chapter 2, John says: “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.” From my own experience, the enemy will try a variety of approaches to pervert the Word of God, attempting to rob the truth, the light and the life from it. He might, first, try convincing the new believer that to sin means they were not really forgiven, or saved; they may as well give up. John wants to reassure them that they are forgiven. God’s Word is as good as His name; we have His signature on that promise. Again, the enemy may try to convince the believer that he or she will never sin, based on I John 3: 9 “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” KJV Then again, those who recognize they do sin but feel powerless, the devil promotes taking advantage of God’s grace: he knows we are weak. No matter which form the lie of the enemy comes in, John wants his audience to understand that we do sin but sin is no longer our master.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

In the beginning of the chapter, John writes so as to empower his readers that they sin not, but further on, in verse 12, he writes to them because they have been forgiven. He seems to shift his approach a bit, like building upon a foundation. Without a clear understanding of forgiveness and our new position in Christ, we could be stuck in immaturity indefinitely. Those who are not sure if they are forgiven or accepted, in Him, would not readily receive further instruction from God; it would be on a shaky foundation. With a clear understanding of our relationship and acceptance in Christ, we can move on to the next step in our maturity.

John writes to the fathers and young men because they had matured to another level. The fathers have come to know God in a deeper way and the young men have learned to discern and avoid the tactics of the enemy. At each level of our maturity, we are able to receive greater revelation from God.

Those who John calls young men are likely able teachers, or instructors, that can inform the immature of the tactics of the enemy, but haven’t yet become fathers themselves. Paul writes in 1Corinthians 4:15 :“For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” (KJV) Paul, as a father, had an ability to beget offspring (spiritually speaking) through the gospel. Young men have grown to the point of strength and wisdom in defeating the enemy, and even holding their ground, but fathers are giving birth to, and nurturing, children.

In one sense, the church today has a parallel problem to that of the world: a lack of fathers. Young men can birth children but it takes fathers with commitment, patience and wisdom to establish a foundation and see them through to maturity.

In the beginning, Adam and Eve were given territory to hold and even expand; they were to be fruitful and multiply as part of the strategy to subdue the earth. Young men are strong and able to take, and hold, territory, but it requires fathers to fill the land with righteous offspring. We can learn from their mistakes; in a sense, Adam and Eve were immature, not wise to the tactics and snares of the devil. What the devil meant for evil, God used for good, that the earth could be filled with the children of the second Adam (Christ), full of truth and wisdom.

BUILDING ON CHRIST THE FOUNDATION

In Ephesians 4: Paul speaks of God giving ministers as gifts to the church to bring the young to maturity, that they would no longer be tossed to and fro by shifting winds of doctrine and the craftiness of men, who lie and wait to deceive. We need those who will speak the truth in love so that the immature will grow up into Christ, as the head of the body.

John writes to the young men because they are strong and the word of God abides in them. As a wise builder, John recognizes that the young men have a strong foundation on which he can safely build further. The immature must first have their foundation strengthened before building them up too high. Much knowledge can puff us up and set us up for a great fall, unless we have built a strong foundation to bear the weight of it. Christ is the Rock, the foundation upon which we are built, and our maturity is the evidence of that foundation. We have a foundation that can not be shaken.

It appears that immaturity was a common problem during the time of the New Testament writings. Hebrews 5: 11—14 speaks to those who are dull of hearing and unable to receive the strong meat of the word but can only digest milk like a baby. They had evidently been around long enough to have become teachers but they still needed the foundational truths of the word themselves. In 1 Corinthians 3: 1—3, Paul seems a bit disappointed; he would like to impart to them strong spiritual food but they can only receive the milk of the word.

Is the church today able to receive the spiritual food that will cause us to grow into maturity, or are we, also, needing milk?

I John chapter 2: 1--1

Never Concede Defeat

Continuing his thought from the previous chapter John explains that he is writing these things that we would not sin. He knows that while we are yet in this flesh we are exposed to temptations to sin and reminds us that a repeated failure is not the end. Jesus Christ the righteous stands before the Father as our advocate to plead our case. His blood was offered and applied to the mercy seat to atone for our sin past, present and future.

In these last days sin is abounding or multiplying like never before, a smorgasbord of worldly pleasures is available and can even be delivered to our doorstep. The world and the devil have been working overtime to elevate sin to a socially acceptable place and to even make participating in it a matter of human rights. Romans 5: 20 tells us where sin abounds grace much more abounds. Though we walk in a sort of mine field of sin God’s grace is much more available to us. As Paul writes in Romans 6: 1—2 Grace is not a get out if sin free card, it does not mean just go ahead and sin because we can always rely on His grace to bail us out, no God forbid. A greater supply of grace is to empower us to walk through the minefield without stepping into sin not just to bail us out.

God’s Word Keepers

Those who truly know God delight in keeping His commandments. On the other hand those who say they know Him without keeping His word are liars their testimony of Christ is annulled by a conflicting lifestyle they are not a credible witness.

Those who keep His words not only make verbal confession but walk it out. In them the love of God is increasing they are maturing in Christ. The evidence that we are matured in Him is if we walk as Christ Himself walked.

We can only walk as He walked if we are yoked to Him. Jesus said if we want to learn of Him or walk with Him we must take His yoke which is easy and light. (Matt. 11:29). His yoke links us to Himself and we learn to walk in step with Him. His yoke is our link to mercy, grace and favor. He carries the vast majority of the load and guides our steps.

Looking Back to See the Future

John in verse 7 again refers back to the word that was spoken from the beginning. He is not trying to introduce something totally new but actually an old concept. In Genesis 1: God’s answer to darkness and kayos was to turn on the light. Because sin brought darkness into the world God sent the light to light the way for every one of us.

In Genesis it is written that God made the sun to light day and the moon to light the night yet John in his gospel writes of The Son Light that was sent by God to be the light to every man.

Real or Counterfeit

Those who claim to be in the light yet hate their brother are still in the dark. Those who love their brother are walking in the light and will not stumble.

Hatred of a brother is a work of darkness it is a result of spiritual blindness. The powers of darkness have a deceptive ability to make darkness appear as light. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians. 7:14 that we should not be surprised that Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. He comes as a counterfeit light bearer to deceive those who are in darkness and make them think they are in the light.

John’s Gospel Chapter 1 verse 5 says “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (NKJV) God sent Jesus His Son as the light, as the revelation of God the Father. The spiritual darkness that prevailed especially among the religious people of that day prevented them from perceiving or receiving that light. They rejected Him as a counterfeit thinking they already had the true light.

In John 8: 40—43 Jesus is having a discussion with the Pharisees who hated Him and wanted to kill Him yet claimed God as their Father. Jesus told them that if God were their father they would love Him who came from the Father. They could not hear or receive Jesus’ words (light) because they were blinded by darkness, a counterfeit light. The darkness of plain old sin is bad enough but the darkness provided through religion as a counterfeit light is an even greater darkness.