"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,
entreat you to walk in a manner
worthy of the calling with
which you have been called, with
all humility and gentleness,
with patience, showing forbearance to one
another in love."
Ephesians 4:1-2
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Let's seek the Lord...
"Holy Father, creator of heaven and earth, I come to You today and give You all glory, honor, and praise for You alone are worthy of our adoration and worship. Help me to remember this throughout the day.
I pray, Lord, that you will search me for the sins in my heart. I pray for cleansing this day by Your precious blood. I pray and thank You for the gift of forgiveness and ask that You forgive me of my sins. Please fill me with the Holy Spirit this day so that all may see that I have been with You and You will be glorified.
I lift up each woman reading this study today in prayer. May she be filled with Your Holy Spirit today as she learns about abiding with You and knowing You. May she have joy upon learning of the assurance of her salvation written in the passages of First John. Bless her, walk with her today, and give her strength.
In Jesus' name....amen."
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Today we will look at the assurance of our salvation and what it means to truly know God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
1 John 2:5-6:
"But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked."
When we do an overview of Chapter Two, we see a theme here in these passages:
If we abide in Jesus we know no sin. This is not a new commandment: abide in the Light. Know Him: keep His commandments.
Pretty simple, really. If we claim to be a follower of Christ, then we keep His commandments.
Please read:
John 15: 1-10
John 14: 21
Remember that the word "know" is written in Chapter Two 13 times. Clearly John wants us to have complete assurance of our salvation.
A few lessons back we looked at the meaning of the word "fellowship" used in Chapter One. Now we will look at the word "abide" used in Chapter Two. It appears here 9 times.
The Greek word for "abide" here in First John is meno and it means:
stay
continue
dwell
endure
be present
remain
stand
Quite different that the word "fellowship" isn't it? The word "abide" carries with it a more permanent feeling to it.
Picture this: when you attend church, you have fellowship with the other members. You meet with them, talk with them, are present with them. BUT eventually you leave, separate, and go home.
At home, you "abide" with your family. You eat with them, sleep with them....live with them on a permanent basis.
Here, John wants us to have a peace in knowing that if we keep His commandments, we do not merely have fellowship with Jesus.....but we may abide with Him and He with us! See it now? Jesus will have that permanent dwelling withint us. He will never leave us!
Now, re-read John 15:1-10
Jesus will abide with us.....dwell with us, stay, remain, continue, endure, stand with us.
1 John 3:6, 24
1 John 4:12
How do you think "abide" and "fellowship" relate to one another?
You have a special relationship with your church friends. You share a common bond: the Love of Christ. To be with each other should be a special time of fellowship unlike any other relationship outside of immediate family.
You have a special bond with your husband and children inside your home. It should be a respite for you and your husband to enjoy. A place where you long to be...to remain there as long as possible!
Now you know that if you keep the commandments of the Lord, you have that intimacy of fellowship and abiding with Him found nowhere else on earth.
Take some time to pray to the Lord right now and thank Him for this promise He has made with you.
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"..He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked."
Remember to whom John was writing this letter: new believers who lived among the Gnostics and other false teachings.
John wanted them to have complete and utter confidence in the work of Jesus and in their salvation.
So many were claiming to be Christians yet they were following the teachings of these other religions.
Remember what John wrote in Chapter Two:
1 John 2:1-3
1 John 2:4-6
If we know Jesus, then we are to walk as He walked:
1 Pet 2:20-21
2 Tim 3:12
John 15:18-20
2 Cor 1:5
2 Cor 4:10
Phil 3:10-11
Matt 16:24
Get the picture? If we are to claim ourselves the name of Jesus, then we are to also partake in His sufferings.
1 Pet 2:23-25
He is the Shepherd and the gerat Overseer of our souls. He has already been there so that we can walk in His footsteps.
Ladies, our country is due for a drastic change. This election year is proving to be historical and not for good reasons. We may have the first woman President! And she is not a supporter of Israel. So, we may also see this country....the great friend and ally of Israel....turn its back on Israel and not defend her against her enemies.
If this happens, the Lord will turn His back on this country.
And we Christians will suffer persecution unlike anytime on our nation's history. But we are way overdue. So many Christians are already suffering for their faith. We, as Americans, have known nothing but privilege and complacency in our Christian faith. We know nothing of suffering for Jesus.
But I know the time is near.
So walk as He walked. Stay in His word daily. Abide in Him and He will abide in you.
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Life Application
To have complete and utter assurance of something is rare indeed. Where I work, at GCC, I have to sign a document that says I may be fired at anytime without any explanation for any reason. It also goes on to say that they can close my class at anytime without notice or explanation.
So, going to work at GCC isn't a comfort. When I arrive, I have no assurance that my job is even there let alone my class!
To walk this earth without assurance can be a lonely adventure. That is why First John is such an important book for all Christians to read. We go through life not knowing much, but we can know that we have eternal life through Jesus!
Please read:
John 15
Jesus teaches us here in John 15 that a branch draws its life from the vine and without the vine, the branch dies.
Without Jesus, we can do nothing.....that's NO THING at all. Remember that!
So if we profess to be a Christian and have Christ but we do not keep His commandments....then that profession is meaningless.
I know of a couple who were not married yet they were living together. Through mutual friends, they both made a profession of Christ. Yet when confronted with their sin of premarital sexual relations, they did nothing about it.
So, they were claiming to be Christians and yet they were not keeping the commandments of Christ:
They were refusing to get married
They were refusing to live apart
They were refusing to come to church
So, according to scripture.....are they truly Christians? No. First John calls them "liars" who are making Jesus out to be a liar we as well!
Obedience is what makes us Christians....not us, not anything we do.....but the Spirit moving inside us and creating a new person who willingly obeys the word of God.
1 John 2:3-4
Luke 8:15
Walking with the Lord requires faith and direction...a purpose in our steps.
John 6:38
Loving the word of God:
Ps 40:8
Having compassion for others:
John 13:15
Repaying evil with good:
2 Pet 2:23
Luke 23:34
That is our purpose here on earth. Not to gain material possessions or to be educated or to climb the corporate ladder. We were created for a purpose: God's devine purpose.
Rom 8:29
Go out today and walk as He walked!
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Until next time....
"Intellectual pleasures consist in beholding spiritual excellencies and beauties, but the glorious excellency is the supreme excellence. When the understanding of the reasonable creature dwells here, it dwells at the fountain and swims in the boundless bottomless ocean. The love of God is also the most suitable entertainment of the soul of man, which naturally desires the happiness of society, or of union with some other being. The love of so glorious a being is infinitely valuable, and the discoveries of it are capable of ravishing the soul above all other love."
-Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) (Altogether Lovely, 1997, p. 154)
Blessings,
Ruth
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