Father God we praise you for giving us your word which enlightens our life and gives us thoughts of eternity with you, and for your word to us through the Apostle John. We pray that tonight, you will impart to us that which you would have us learn from Your word. We pray for the members of our group who cannot be here tonight and we ask that you share our blessing with them and give them a speedy recovery. Be with us now as we seek your will for our lives through this study tonight. In Jesus name, Amen
1st John 2:15-20... Do not love the world
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. Discussion
As Christians we are to love the created order and other human beings, but we are not to love the world system that sets itself up in opposition to God. We do not withdraw ourselves from society, but we must not love those things the evil world system loves. These things include desires of the eyes and the flesh and taking pride in possessions (v. 16). We are to care for other human beings who are in bondage to lust, materialism, personal power, and the host of other things that oppose the will of God. Every man is an antichrist, who denies the Person, or any of the offices of Christ. The church knows not who are its true members, and who are not, but it is the true Christians who were proved, and rendered more watchful and humble. True Christians are anointed ones; their names express this: they are anointed with grace, with gifts and spiritual privileges, by the Holy Spirit of grace. Among all the evils he relishes, the great and most hurtful lies that Satan, the father of lies spreads in the world, include falsehoods and errors relating to the person of Christ. While we judge favourably of all who trust in Christ as the Divine Saviour, and obey his word, and seek to live in union with them, let us pray for the repentance of, and pity those who are unwilling to repent of the blasphemous denial of the Godhead of Christ, or his atonement, and the new-creating work of the Holy Ghost. Let us protest against such antichristian doctrine. Let us resist it always, turn from the hearing of it, and take pity on those who profess it, pray for them, and flee from the teaching of it.
It was John’s audience that had true faith. It was this audience that believed in the incarnation, personal holiness, and love for other Christians. Had those who left the community truly been a part of it, they would have remained in this orthodox confession. They had but a transitory faith and did not hold to their confession.John Calvin comments on these verses that “they who fall away had never been thoroughly imbued with the knowledge of Christ, but had only a light and a transient taste of it.” Questions
1. John says do not love the world or anything in it. Is that confusing? What does he mean?
2. John defines what he means in vs.16, can you elaborate on those things?
3. What does John mean “this is the last hour”?
4. Who is John writing about in vs.19? How does that apply in our world today?
5. “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When Jesus said this, what was the point he was making?
Pg.2
1st John2:21-29; Know the truth
21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist--denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us--eternal life. 26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him. 28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
Discussion
Gnosticism, we have noted, viewed salvation primarily as an acquisition of secret knowledge. However, this knowledge was only available to a select few. It was a so-called “higher” knowledge the ordinary person could not acquire.
Though John’s audience was able to resist these Gnostic teachers to the point that they were forced to leave the community, these claims of special knowledge caused many of the truly faithful to doubt the reality of their redemption. That is why, in today’s passage, John reminds his audience again that they have true faith. We read in verses 20–21 that unlike the false teachers, John’s audience had been anointed by the Holy One and did know the truth.
After Christ left the earth, He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17 ). Now all Christians are anointed, chosen for a specific purpose in furthering God's Kingdom . As Christians, if we follow the instruction John gives in this letter, we can also be sure that we have been anointed by the Holy One and know His truth.
Following this instruction requires not just an intellectual assent to the truth, but also a personal trust of it, a trust that will transform our life. The truth is something we know and something we do. As John has already said, if we are in the light we not only know the light, we walk in the light. Anyone who knows, trusts, and practices basic Christian truths belongs to Christ and possesses the Holy Spirit. Like the original audience, the trials of life make it necessary for other believers to encourage us and help us see whether or not we truly know the truth. Make sure you fellowship with others who walk in the truth and encourage you in your walk through this life
Questions
1. What does John call one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
2. What things did John show to be the saints’ defense against the spirit of antichrist?
3. Why does John stress so strongly “knowing the truth: and “who is the liar”?
4. Is there something else we should learn from vs.25-28? Please read (Heb 10:23-31)
Pg.3
Scripture readings
Joh 14:16 -17 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
Heb 10:23-31 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left. 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people. 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Closing Prayer
Father God, although we say we are Christian we fail in this life to always act out the part, or to speak the words that will remove all doubt. We are neglect in all of the attributes that Christians aspire to have. We still strive dear Lord to study Your word. And live a life that is true and righteous, that reflects the teachings of Jesus, and that is worthy of the name Christian. We pray now for those of our group and for those on our hearts who are suffering tonight.
___________We pray that you will bring your healing touch to them, that they be given encouragement and the strength and hope to keep on fighting to regain their peace that only you can give. Go with each of us now as we leave this place keep us safely out of harms way and give us peace in this troubled world. I Jesus Holy name we pray, Amen.
Pg.4
Meditation: 1st John 2: 21-29
Abiding in Him
Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? The context makes it clear that to affirm that Jesus is the Christ has to do with more than just saying, "He is the Messiah." It has to do with understanding the relationship between Jesus and God the Father: He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. In other words, someone could say, "I believe Jesus is the Christ . . . as I define "Christ." But we must understand and believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, as the Bible defines Christ - the Messiah, who is fully God and fully man; who perfectly revealed the Father to us. That same God/Man who gave His life so that We might not have to suffer eternal damnation, but are to live with Him in Heaven eternally.
Often times it is said, "We all worship the same God. You have one name for Him and I have another. But that doesn't matter. We are just talking about different roads to the same God because we all have the same God." Here is the question that begs to be answered: "Was your God perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ?" If your God was, then you have the same God. If your God wasn't perfectly revealed in Jesus, then you do not have the same God as in the Bible, and unless you repent and accept Him as your Savior, you are condemned.
There are many people who seem rather spiritual or religious, yet reject Jesus Christ. While their religion or spirituality may do them much good in this life - giving them a basis for morality and good behavior - it does them nothing before God, because in rejecting Jesus they reject God.
Humans, by nature, are almost always attracted to something just because it is new. We almost always think of new as better. But when it comes to truth, new is not better. That which you heard from the beginning is better.This is difficult because we are tempted to be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting (Ephesians 4:14). Simply put, we abide in what is from the beginning when we stay close to our Bibles, We should keep ourselves in that environment now, and forevermore.
Yet, not only are we called to abide in Him; but we also know that He abides in us. It is a two-way relationship. "You are to take care that you abide in Christ as much as if all depended upon you; and yet you can look to the promise of the covenant, and see that the real reason for your abiding in Christ lies in His unchanging love and grace." (Spurgeon). Everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him: Abiding in Jesus means that we will practice righteousness in our lives because we are born of Him. Being born again has changed our lives from a disposition to sin to a disposition to righteousness.
This is a test of our abiding in Him, the same kind of test John mentioned in 1 John 1:6, 2:4, and 2:9. There is something wrong if someone claims to be born of Him and he does not practice righteousness.When someone is born of someone else, there is almost always a family resemblance. You say, "Look, she has her mother's eyes" or "He resembles his father" Well, the children of God have a family resemblance to their Father in heaven. He is righteous, so those who are born of Him also practice righteousness. "God hath no children destitute of his image, or who resemble him not." (Poole)
We will not perfect righteousness until we are glorified with Jesus; but we can practice righteousness right now, as we are born of Him.
There are three precious claims for each Christian in this chapter. I know Him (1 John 2:4), I abide in Him (1 John 2:6), and I am in the light (1 John 2:9). John wants us to know that if these statements are true, it will show in our lives, especially in our love for brothers and sisters in Jesus. In brotherly love we abide in Christ if we imitate that which Jesus Christ taught. Amen.
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