Bible Study Series – Romans Chapter 5

 

Recap of Chapter 4

 
In the last chapter we learnt about Abraham, and we read how he was imputed righteousness by God through Faith, by calling upon the name of the Lord!

We are justified by faith, not works, as works cancels out grace, let's now dive into chapter 5 and see what we can learn from this chapter!

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Romans 5:1 "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:"

 
We are justified in God's sight by faith, and we can have peace with God, knowing that we are not subject to his wrath and fierce anger through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Romans 5:2 "by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

 
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, this grace, was made accessible by him. Wherein we stand, means we now stand in grace, not of our works but inside the Father's grace, this is our position that we must stand in when we come to the Father for Salvation, we must leave our works at the door and stand within God's grace, and because of this grace we are able to rejoice in hope of the glory of God!

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Romans 5:3-4 "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; ⁴ and patience, experience; and experience, hope:"

 
Not only do we as believers rejoice in hope, but as believers we too must glory in tribulations as well!

 
What is Tribulation?

 
Tribulation means persecution, or a state of great suffering or trouble.

We glory in tribulation also is because tribulation builds character, and saints need to go through such things in order to sanctify ourselves, knowing that tribulation works patience, and through patience, experience, and from experience, hope. 

To get a really good understanding of this saying, reading through the book of Job is a perfect example of Job going through tribulation, and through his patience was experience enhanced and through experience, his hope on the Lord strengthened. Job did not renounce the Lord once, even his wife told him to curse God and die!

Jesus also taught that believers will also endure tribulation for his sake, he also explained that whilst we go through these things, that we need to remember that peace is found through him as we are going through such ordeals.

 

John 16:33 "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

 
In 2 Corinthians Chapter 1 we read that tribulation can come to anyone, it comes to all, however believers in Christ have Jesus Christ to rely upon in times of tribulation.

 

2 Corinthians 1:4 "who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."

 
We must also distinguish between divine punishment and unmerited tribulation, however regardless of what kind of tribulation you are going through, I believe whatever form of tribulation you are going through, we should receive it in all meekness and give praise and all glory to God, we go through this to make us stronger in God.

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Romans 5:5 "and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."

 
And this hope we have, we ought not to be ashamed of; because we know that God poured his love out to all the believers hearts, which we know is by the Holy Spirit, whom is living in us.

Remember what the Apostle Paul said in Romans Chapter 1?

 

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

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Romans 5:6 "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

 
When we were yet without strength, meaning man being dead in sins, incapable of saving himself, in due time, meaning at the appointed time as prophesied in the bible, that Christ would die for us, sinners as written in Romans 3:10 "as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:".

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Romans 5:7 "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die."

 
For scarcely meaning very rarely would someone would die for a righteous man: yet for a good man, by chance, some would even dare to die.

For a good man?

Remember Jesus said, there is one that is good and that is God. Jesus is good, he is God.

Now let's stop and think about this statement, wouldn't it have made more sense or made us feel better, that Jesus died for us because we are righteous?

Compare Old Testament sacrifice, when sin was committed it had to be atoned by a blood animal sacrifice; and even then it was only a temporary covering for the sins committed. 

We had to keep doing this to satisfy God's demand for payment of sin by offering sacrifices continually.

But here is the beauty of the New Testament, sacrifice is no longer required. Jesus himself offered his own body as the perfect sacrifice, covering our sins forever!

The mystery, is that God showed us his love that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life. Jesus died for us, even though we were sinners and are undeserving of such a thing.

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Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

 
As stated previously, that while we were yet sinners every single one of us, Jesus died for us; that is how much God loved us, he commended his love toward us even though we did not deserve it, Jesus died for us even while we were yet in rebellion against God.

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Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

 
Because believers have been justified or made righteous by his blood, by whose blood?

 
Our Lord Jesus Christ's blood of course!

 
Because of the Lord spilt his blood for us, we have now been saved from the wrath of God, believers are not appointed to wrath, but to Salvation.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:9 "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,"

 
And because of his blood, his precious blood is what saved us from the wrath of God.

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Romans 5:10 "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

 
For when we were enemies of God, sinners who were bound by sin have been reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, you see; Jesus did it all, he made it possible for us to be reconciled to God, to him we owe everything!

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Romans 5:11 "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement."

 
Not only have we been reconciled to God by our Lord Jesus Christ, but we also joy in God through him, that word "joy" reminds of what he said in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25). Through Jesus Christ we have now received the atonement.

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Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"

 
This part of the scriptures is now talking about how death came through one man, Adam and now life has come through one man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sin entered the world through one man, and the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23); and so death is passed upon all mankind, for that all have sinned (Romans 3:23).

The sin nature of man has to do with the flesh man. The flesh man is controlled by the desires of the flesh. Man is a spirit who lives in a body of flesh. Man has a free will to do with his life on earth as he wishes.

Because all humanity existed in the loins of Adam, and have through procreation inherited his fallen nature and corruption, it can be said that all sinned in him. Therefore, humans are not sinners because they sin, but rather they sin because they are sinners.

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Romans 5:13 "(for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law."

 
Notice the next few verses are in parenthesis, the purposes of parenthesis is to de-emphasis something or to reduce the importance or prominence of something. So these next verses are contained inside the parenthesis!

Paul here is saying that sin was in the world even before the law was given to Moses. He then expounds by saying that sin is not imputed when there is no law.

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Romans 5:14 "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come."

 
Sin is not imputed when there is no law, however or in spite of that, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the same manner or similarity of Adam's transgressions or offences.

Instead of man possessing life, man is instead, facing death. Adam had brought death into the scene, God could not allow man to live forever in sickness, agony, and through deterioration of the body and mind.

So God has provided a way out of this terrible mess that man has gotten himself into, by sending the second Adam, i.e. Who is the like figure or a shadow of him that is to come, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Romans 5:15 "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many."

 
For the offence many have died, through Adam many have died, but much more is the grace of God, the gift by grace through one man, the Lord Jesus Christ has proliferated or abound unto many who believe.

By one man's transgression sin entered. Jesus Christ actually took the sin of the whole world upon His body and sin for the Christians died on the cross. Peter says the following:

 

1 Peter 2:24 "who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."

 
Jesus provides our righteousness. He made us righteous. We can't make ourselves righteous in God's sight. Jesus made us righteous in God's sight!

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Romans 5:16 "And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification."

 
Adam brought upon all men condemnation by only one offense, his wilful act of disobedience. 

Jesus, however delivers the believers from the condemnation of many offenses unto righteousness, justification through his wilful act of obedience to the Father.

Paul tells the Corinthians this:

 

1 Corinthians 15:50 "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."

 
Jesus did not die for only certain sins which some erroneously teach, he died for all.

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Romans 5:17 "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)"

 
This is pretty much a repeat of what has been said, through one man's offence death reigned, but those whom are declared righteous by grace shall reign in life by the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Romans 5:18 "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."

 
Now that we are out of the parenthesis let's continue on from verse 12!

Because all have sinned, for that reason as the offence by one, Adam's transgression, judgement came upon all men to condemnation. 

Because of Adam's transgression we have all come to condemnation, I have heard people say that we are not punished for the transgressions of Adam, but our own, but doesn't this scripture prove otherwise?

 
Through the righteousness of one man, Jesus Christ, the free gift (Salvation) came upon all men unto justification of life.

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Romans 5:19 "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

 
Through one man and his act of disobedience resulted in the entire human race becoming sinners, so by the act of obedience of one, many shall be made righteous. 

Straightforward scripture there…

You see it is not our obedience that saves us, it is the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ that saved us, and Salvation is not of ourselves lest any man boast!

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Romans 5:20 "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound"

 
When the law entered, the offense abounded more, meaning as man became aware of the law, and many became convicted of their sins, made aware of them. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more!

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Romans 5:21 "that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

 
Sin reigned until Jesus Christ shed his precious blood on the cross and nailed sin to it. 

God's grace (unmerited favour) has provided eternal life, we did not earn it, and it is a free gift.

We can have life eternal, if we will only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Bible Study Series - The 1st General Epistle of John Chapter 5

1 John 5

Authorized (King James) Version

 

1 John 5:1 "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him."

 
Anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, you need to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and in doing so you become born again, born of God, and if God is a Spirit; it means you are born again in the spirit.

"Him that begat" The Father, whom begot the Son, if we love the Father, we also love the Son.

Now recently I have been at spiritual war with an online you tuber with the alias of "Arod Peace" (This guy is an absolute evil tree, reprobate whom refuses to answer whether he is born again, who seeks to pervert the Word of God) now he claims that the Jews believe in God, so there is no reason of them to repent of unbelief because they already believe in God. 

This is as such a folly of a view, because throughout history since Abraham, we learn how many of them did not believe and perished.

Jesus himself said the following to the Jews, particularly the religious leaders:

 

John 8:19 "Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also."

 
Jesus states that they don't know either the Father or himself, in fact they that reject Jesus, Reject the Father also.

 
Heck, they don't even believe Moses, read what Jesus says to them in the following:

 

John 5:46-47 "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. ⁴⁷ But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?"

 
Jesus says that Moses wrote of him, if Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Holy Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, also known to the Jews as the Torah) that means we lose the practitioners of Judaism right at Genesis 1:1! Rather, these Jews believe on the rabbinical writings of the satanic Talmud, this is a collection or a large volume detailing the "traditions of the elders" or the oral law.

This satanic volume also blasphemes our Lord Jesus Christ, his mother Mary among other heinous commentaries. 

They absolutely despise the Apostle Paul, they hate him more than Jesus and label him as a traitor. Do a Google search on the Talmud if you're interested in learning more about the minds of Judaism.

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1 John 5:2 "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments."

 
The completeness of the commandments that Jesus gave to all of us was caught up in the one word, and that is "love". 

He said love God first, and then love your neighbour as yourself. 

His commandment is love.

We read the following in:

 

John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. ³⁵ By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

 
If we love one another, people who see us doing this will know that we are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is discipleship. 

We are already saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and now we are to love one another to show the world that we are His disciples. 

Now it's important to know that not everyone who gets saved will go onto picking up his cross to follow the Lord, the parable of the sower is about discipleship as well, remember there were 4 groups, 1 group is unsaved, the other 3 are saved, but 1 group goes onto produce fruit, that group is discipleship!


But understand this, whether you are seeking discipleship with the Lord or not, we are to take heed of his commandment to love one another.

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1 John 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

 
If we love God, we keep his commandments, if you have been following this study from the beginning, you will know there is a difference in "keeping" and in "Doing" or "Obeying".

As born again believers, we should strive from the moment of Salvation, that point where we are spiritual babes (milk) and to make that conscious choice to be a disciple of the Lord (meat).

Not everyone received the call from the Lord for believers to become His disciples (Pick up your cross and come follow me) very well. In fact, you can read from the Gospels that the Lord himself denied certain people because he knew it was not for them.

The call to Salvation had but one condition, that you believe; the call to Discipleship had many conditions and could be summed up in these words: you must forsake all that you have, and come, follow me.

Not all believers could do this, or were willing to do this, does that mean that they weren't saved?

 
Does this mean they lost their Salvation because they didn't follow the Lord?

 
No!

 
Many confuse Salvation with Discipleship, especially those who preach the gospel according to Lordship Salvation, this theology is a damnable teaching, preachers like John McArthur, Paul Washer Raul Ries, John Hagee, Sam Gipp, Michael Yousseff, and YouTubers like Levi Price among many who flood the world with satanic deception.

 
They like to mince words and mix free grace (Salvation) with costly grace (Discipleship) and mould it into a gospel of poison, and works of iniquity.

 
The Lords commandments are not grievous, to love one another is all we have to do, and in stark in contrast to the burdensome man-made religious traditions of the Jewish leaders:

 

Matthew 23:4 "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."

 
This also includes the religious scene in our world today, they are just as guilty in enslaving every poor soul back into the works of the Law to be saved and stay saved. The Lord said, his yoke is easy, and his burden is light!

There is perfect peace and rest in the Lord, when we keep His commandments. There is no fear, when there is perfect faith like the Lords to rely on.

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1 John 5:4 "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

 
Whatever is born of God overcomes the world, what does that mean?

 
We'll come to that in a second, whoever or whatever overcomes the world is born of God, even our faith, our faith with lead us to overcome the world, the word "overcome" is the key word which will be explained in the next verse, read on!

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1 John 5:5 "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"

 
Who is he that overcometh the world?

 
We who believe that Jesus is the Son of God is overcome the world, overcome means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that is our Faith!

Jesus overcame the world, death and the adversary; we who believe on Jesus are made partakers of that victory and we are more than conquerors now that we are in Christ:

 

Romans 8:37 "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

2 Corinthians 2:14 "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place."

 
We know that without faith, it is impossible to please God. So what is Faith? Let's take a look in Hebrews 11:

 

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Hebrews 11:3 "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."

 
To please God, we must believe in our heart of the love of God, which we cannot see with our naked eye, the love of God, even though we cannot see it with our naked eye; it is more real than anything else.

Our very life and eternal fate is determined by believing in salvation through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The victory over this world is when the world becomes unimportant in our life. Christians are in this world, but not of this world. We are dead to fleshly lusts of this world, and are putting our faith and trust in Jesus.

Our life is living towards that day when we are finally redeemed by the Lord, the day he comes back for us, so that we can be with him forever and to our final home, the new heavens and earth forever eternal lasting.

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1 John 5:6 "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. "

 
John now starts to tell us in the next few verses the testimony that God has given to us that Jesus is the Christ.

This is he that came by water, remember this is a testimony to confirm witness that Jesus is the Christ. 

Remember when Jesus got baptised in water?

That was the anointing or the ordination of Jesus and the start of his ministry, remember John the Baptist's mission was to reveal who the messiah is to the people. 

At that moment, people witnessed, the Father speaking from heaven, the Holy Spirit coming down like a dove and resting on Jesus; that was the witness by water.

Secondly the blood is witness as well, speaking of the Lord's crucifixion, his blood spilling for man on the cross.

The Holy Spirit bares witness, and there is nothing false about the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is TRUTH.

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1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

 
Why all this commotion about this verse? Because this verse proves the triune nature of our one true God.

You know what's real funny is the Mormons, they call God the Father "Elohim", which is not his name at all but a Hebrew word for God (plural form), but then again, they don't worship the true Father nor the true Jesus do they?

For there are 3 that bear witness in heaven, who is in heaven right now? 

The Father, the Word which is Jesus before he became flesh, and the Holy Spirit; and these 3 are one. 

Amen.

The Old Testament Laws required two or more witnesses to establish truth:

 

Deuteronomy 17:6 "At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death."

 
So from these verses you can see the correlation with the number of witnesses being given about Jesus being the Christ.

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1 John 5:8 "And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one."

 
So in the previous verse we have Heaven bearing witness, now John writes to tell us that the witnesses on earth also agree.

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1 John 5:9 "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son."

 
Man's witness is in part, because of the limited knowledge he has. The witness of God is in power and operating with full knowledge. 

The witness of God was when the voice came from heaven and called Jesus His Son. 

This happened a few times when God's voice was heard speaking from heaven recorded by the 4 Gospels.

If man gave us a testimony, God's is greater, and the previous 3 verses is God's testimony of his Son.

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1 John 5:10 "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son."

 
Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have the witness also, we have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us, whom testifies to us that Jesus is the Christ. 

Whosoever doesn't believe, God has made him a liar, because they don't believe the record that God gave of his son.

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1 John 5:11 "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."

 
Boom! And what is this record that we've been talking about?

The record is this: That God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, if you believe on the Son, you have eternal life. 

Amen.

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1 John 5:12 "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

 
If we die without the Lord Jesus Christ, we end up in hell, if we die with Christ, we have life, everlasting.

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1 John 5:13 "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

 
The Apostle John has always written to us in all his epistles and the Gospel for one main reason, so that we might believe on the name of the Son of God, and that is he whose name is Jesus; and that by believing on him, we know that we have eternal life. 

Never once does John mention anything else other than to believe, if repentance or more precisely repenting of your sin was so important to getting saved, don't you think he would have made a grave mistake in not saying so?

 
Would we not see him use the word "repent" at least once?

 
No, it is not found anywhere in the writings of John, he writes for the purpose that we might be saved by one thing only, belief.

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1 John 5:14 "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:"

 
Christians can know with absolute confidence that God answers prayer in accordance with His will, when they approach the throne of grace. 

Hebrews chapter 4 says the following:

 

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

 
To pray according to God's will is to pray in accord with what He would want for us, not what we would desire or insist that He do for us.

 

Matthew 6:8 "Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."

 
The Father already knows what you need even before you ask him, some people will say why pray if the Father already knows?

 
Well, for starters, of course the Father knows all things, all glory to the Father! But, think about it, it would be sinful for us to ask for things, because we just want it, some people are foolish enough to ask for wealth, prosperity and material goods that aren't profitable to advance the Kingdom of Heaven.

We should be asking ourselves before we pray to God, should I ask God for something that worldly that will only profit my carnal needs or should I ask something that will profit other people?

 
Am I profiting for the glory of God or for my own selfish needs?

 
Am I stroking my own pride or should I ask for guidance, wisdom, meekness, remember what the Lord says, to do your prayers in secret, so that the Father will reward you in secret. 

Avoid repetitions like constant chanting (Roman Catholics are one group that does this) of words hoping the Father will hear your prayers, for the Lord says, they have their reward.

John already stated that answered prayer also depends on obedience to God's commandments and avoidance of sin; remember what was said in this study series in Chapter 3?

 

1 John 3:21-23 "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. ²² And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. ²³ And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment."

 
And the Psalmist wrote:

 

Psalm 66:18 "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

 
James Chapter 4 is a great chapter to read as well, he says the following:

 

James 4:3 "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

 
Those who regard, respect or favour sin in their hearts, the Lord will not hear them. We should be consciously aware of what we ask for, if we ask for what it is according to our own desires, we shall not be heard. 

However, you should pray to be delivered from these temptations, for wisdom and guidance to overcome these temptations.

 

James 1:2-7 "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; ³ knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. ⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. ⁵ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. ⁷ For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."

 
James says when we are confronted with many different forms of temptation, when this happens our faith is being tried, and our faith should work in patience, patience allows us to have that perfect work, or perfect result so that we may be perfect wanting nothing; that nothing being given into that temptation. 

If we lack the wisdom to overcome that temptation we should pray to God for that wisdom to help us discern the right thing or choice.

 
Jesus says the following to his disciples in John chapter 14:

 

John 14:12-14 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. ¹³ And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."

 
For the born again believer, we go from spiritual babes (Moment of Salvation – Once Saved Always Saved) and grow into mature spiritual adults (Discipleship – Continued growth to advance the Kingdom of God); the more we learn from the Word of God (Studying the Holy Bible) the more mature we become, and then we can teach others and win more souls and spread the Gospel in love and truth.

The cost of Salvation to us is free, but it cost the Father His son and by His grace he gave us the opportunity to become his children and joint heirs of the kingdom; we can't lose our salvation. 

But the cost of discipleship is steep, and may cause you to lose everything and everyone that you love, the rewards is something that cannot be described with mere earthly words!

God will answer your prayers if you are in living in obedience to his commandments: believe on the Son of God, and love one another as we love him.

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1 John 5:15 "and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."

 
If we know that he hears us, knowing that he hears us is because we have faith in him, it is very important to believe that you receive the thing you are praying for. It is your faith that is the key to getting prayers answered.

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1 John 5:16 "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it."

 
What is this sin unto death?

 
This sin is rejecting God's grace. 

The bible says that when a man constantly and totally rejects the message of the Gospel, and that salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, and is by His grace through faith; he becomes a reprobate (rejected), God whom will give this person over to their own vile affections (Read Romans Chapter 1) and lusts of the heart. 

This person is an unsaved, God rejecting soul who is on the eternal path to damnation, this person has no more constraints to hold them back from doing what is vile and filthy.

 
God will not override the will of the person being prayed for, the prayer of intercession is a powerful prayer; It is an unselfish prayer for others. 

It is God's will that everyone be saved, but he will not take that choice from us, we must make that choice of our own accord.

The intercessory prayer for others is effective however, to those have not completely rejected God.
James says in chapter 5, "is there any sick among you?"

 

James 5:13-16 "Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. ¹⁴ Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: ¹⁵ and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. ¹⁶ Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

 
James is talking to the saved, the brethren when he says "is any among you?"

It is correct or right for us to pray for the infirmities and sins of others to be forgiven.

The only time this would not be answered, would be if the person had totally rejected salvation in Jesus Christ. 

You cannot give a person something that they will not take or accept. 

I know that it is seems futile to pray for loved ones in false religions, deceived by wolves and they refuse to hear the truth, and they are no more any different to a reprobate whom have chosen to reject the truth, but in hopes of one day, before it is too late that they will receive the truth and their eyes be opened. 

If God will not force them to believe, we shouldn't either.

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1 John 5:17 "All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death."

 
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12 the following:

 

Matthew 12:31 "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men."

 
All manner of sin and blaspheming against the Son of man shall be forgiven (Should you seek forgiveness) but blaspheming the Holy Spirit is not forgivable, what is this sin against the Holy Spirit? 

Well if we go to Mark, he tells us exactly what it is:

 

Mark 3:29-30 "but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: ³⁰ Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit."

 
In verse 30 we are told it is because the Jews claimed Jesus was performing all these miracles not by the power of the Spirit of God, but by an unclean spirit, they are attributing these works to the devil, thus calling the Holy Spirit of God a devil or unclean. 

They are reasoning this in their minds because of unbelief, Jesus said they are in danger of eternal damnation, because they refuse to believe that Jesus is working through the power of God (The Holy Spirit).

So refusing to believe, and seeing the work and power of God's Spirit is the sin that will lead you to eternal damnation in hell; and at the final destination of the Lake of Fire, which burns with brimstone and fire for all eternity, where the will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

It's the same when you give the gospel to someone, they start hearing the gospel, and the power of the Holy Spirit is working away, revealing the truth to the unsaved person and then suddenly at the moment they decide to make the choice they say nope, they reject the gospel, don't believe it, they reject the Spirit.

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1 John 5:18 "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."

 
All believer may know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; believers are still capable of falling into sin, so what does it mean that whosoever is born of God does not sin?

We are have been made righteous by the blood of Christ. We have put on Christ, through him we are made righteous, it is our standing with the Father through Jesus that makes us righteous, whom our Lord Jesus Christ forever lives to make intersession on our behalf that we may approach our Holy Father by the blood of the Lamb which covers our sin forever and ever!

Those who are born of God is protected by God, the devil has no power over you, and he cannot harm you because you are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, our Lord.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, whom overcame with victory over hell, and death and ultimately victory over the devil himself.

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1 John 5:19 "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness."

 
All who place their faith in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ is of God who worship the Father in spirit. 

There are two families of this world that the bible speaks of, you either belong to the Family of God, or you belong to the family of that wicked one. 

Those who belong to that wicked one belong to the world, living in their own desires and lusts of the flesh, these are they who reject the Son of God, my Lord and my God, his name is Jesus the Christ; who is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, The only High Priest and my Saviour!

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1 John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."

 
Those who confess that the Son of God did not come are of anti-Christs, we who believe are born of God and he has given us understanding (we understand through the Holy Spirit, whom he dwells within us, the Spirit of Truth) through the Spirit are we able to know that this testimony is true, because he is truth and because we are in him we may know this, because we are in his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. THIS IS THE TRUE GOD, AND ETERNAL LIFE – this statement is true.

 

2 Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

 
I testify also that this is a true statement, I have seen the power of God work through many people and rejoice and glorify the Father when they come to accept the truth and become a born again believer!

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1 John 5:21 "Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen."

 
Beloved brethren, keep yourselves from idols. John makes distinctions with the term "idols" and with "the true God" of verse 20.

He puts a reference here to the false teachers who withdrew from the brotherhood with which they had been formerly associated with in 1 John 2:19.

Their false beliefs and practices are the idols from which the readers are commanded to protect themselves from.

Paul tells of a similar thing in Acts Chapter 17 when he tells the men of Athens to repent from worshiping idols to the one true God.

Amen.

The Rod of Correction - Child Discipline

The Bible strongly emphasises the importance of discipline towards our children; it is something we must all have in order to be productive as people, and it is much more easily learned when we are young. Children who are not disciplined often grow up rebellious, have no respect for authority, and as a result find it difficult to willingly obey and follow God. God Himself uses discipline to correct us and lead us down the right path and to encourage repentance for our wrong actions.

Proverbs 23:13-14 “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. ¹⁴ Thou shalt beat him with the rod,
and shalt deliver his soul from hell”

Proverbs 13:24 “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” Betimes means – in a short time or as soon as the offence has been committed.

Proverbs 22:15 “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.”

Providing the rod of correction to the child’s “Seat of Learning” will deliver them from Hell!

This is the reason why we have a generation of young kids with no respect for other people and authority!

Bible Study Series - The 1st General Epistle of John Chapter 4

1 John 4

Authorized (King James) Version

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1 John 4:1 "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

 
Chapter 3 ended in verse 24 about the Holy Spirit, it seems only fitting that we are now told in chapter 4 that the Holy Spirit isn't the only spirit around.

The bible here is giving us a warning, we are told not to believe every spirit. We are told to TRY every spirit whether they are of God: we are told it is because many false prophets, false teachers have gone out into the world.

These are lying spirits, unclean and full of deceit, speaking through the mouths of these false prophets.

How would you know you're not being deceived?

Are we to believe something is true by a feeling?

A burning in our bosom perhaps?

 

Scepticism is healthy and may save your life!

 
Whether you're saved or unsaved you should try to have a healthy scepticism concerning any teaching, to be open minded is to miss the strait gate:

 

Matthew 7:13-14 " Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: ¹⁴ because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

 
And when you miss the strait gate, meaning the narrow gate, you're on your way to destruction, in other words you're going to end up in hell. Being open to all manner of doctrines and other religions, accepting that all roads lead to heaven, is heresy and sadly, you will end up in hell.

We are warned over and over again not to be deceived, Jesus speaking about end times warns us of the following:

 

Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."

Matthew 24:23-26 "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. ²⁴ For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you before. ²⁶ Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not."

 
Here he warns us of false saviours, and false prophets; Jesus tells us not to believe in these things, for the only time we shall see the Lord again will be in the like manner that he ascended into heaven.

Anyone who says that they saw Jesus is a liar, even if they claim it to be a vision, should you not question anyone who says they saw the Lord or the Father? 

How can you believe a story about a young teenage boy who claims (even though he can't get his story right…) to be in a grove, see two heavenly beings and identifying them as the Father (and no man has seen the father and lived) and the Son…I myself have a teenage boy of 14 and boy can he tell some pretty tall tales himself!

Why would you believe someone who claims to have had a vision about Hell, seen Jesus and tells them to warn people and then contradict every teaching in the Holy Bible?

Paul warns the Corinthians about false teachers:

 

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."

 
Paul tells the Corinthians that even Satan himself will transform himself into an angel of light, I've heard people say to me that Satan cannot perform or make something appear pure, or give you a "good" feeling; how would you know? 

If the bible is telling us that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, and his ministers also appear to be righteous, how do we know if we are being deceived?

We are commanded to TRY the spirits, how do we do this?
Paul says the following to the Thessalonians:

 

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 "Despise not prophesyings. ²¹ Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

 
The test or to prove is to compare what is being taught with the clear teaching of the Bible. 

The Bible alone is the Word of God; it alone is inspired and inerrant. Consequently, the way to test the spirits is to see if what is being taught is in line with the clear teaching of Scripture.

The bible commends a certain group of Christians known as the Bereans who searched the scriptures daily to confirm the things they were taught were true or not.

 

Acts 17:10-11 "And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹ These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

 

The Bereans are noted to be more noble than the Thessalonians, why?

Because the received the word or the teachings with all readiness of mind, and then they SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES DAILY.

To test the spirits, is to know how to examine the scriptures, this is God's Word. Rather than accept every teaching, every eagle-eyed discerning Christians should diligently study the Scriptures. 

The Christian must show thyself approved, you need to know what the Word of God says to be able to defend yourself against these lying spirits.

 

2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

 
The Word of God is to be a lamp and a light to our feet, the Psalmist wrote:

 

Psalm 119:105 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

 
We must let the light of God's Word shine on the doctrines of the day; the Holy Bible alone is the standard by which all truth must be judged. God's Word is pure and preserved:

 

Proverbs 30:5-6 "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. ⁶ Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."

Psalm 12:6-7 "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. ⁷ Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."

 
God's Word is pure and preserved, he said every WORD is pure, not CONCEPT, EVERY WORD.

Not only is His Word preserved, kept pure, a lamp, and a light to our feet, but his Word is also known as the Sword of the Spirit:

 

Ephesians 6:17 "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:"

 
And it is the two edged Sword used to defend and attack against spiritual wickedness and evil:

 

Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

 
Just like a soldier who handles a sword in battle, he must train diligently with his sword to be able to defend and attack against his enemies, likewise should all self-professing Christians.

 

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 "(for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)⁵ casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

 
Our battle is not a physical battle, but a spiritual one:

 

Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

 
The Holy Spirit uses the power of the Word to save souls and then to give them spiritual strength to be mature warriors for the Lord in fighting this corrupt, evil and wicked world we live in.

We must put on the Whole Armour of God! (Obviously this would be another article/sermon of its own!)

It's amazing how much you can get from just reading one verse in the bible (and that was just the first verse of chapter 4!), that why you need to be in the Word, and search the scriptures daily because you can learn so much in light of other verses. 

Continuing on with the study.

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1 John 4:2 "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:"

 
John here is telling us, if you will, the first rule to discern if something is of the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God! Every spirit that claims that Jesus is the Messiah is of God!

This eliminates many religions out there, there are many religions out there that outright denies Jesus. Judaism rejects Jesus entirely, but then there are some denominations of Judaism that acknowledge Jesus but refuses to accept that he is the Messiah, but not only that they flat out reject that he is the Son of God as well as his deity: God manifest in the flesh.

Here is the deception, there are many religions that acknowledge Jesus, but hang on, that's not good enough, there were many people named Jesus, in fact how many times have you said you know that guy, or that person but really you have no personal knowledge or relationship with that person.

Many religions will profess Jesus, but they deny who he truly is, Islam denies that Jesus is the son of God, but they say that he was a good teacher, they acknowledge him. 

Jehovah witnesses acknowledge Jesus, but they say he was not God, they believe that he is Michael the Arch Angel, Mormon leaders say Jesus was a direct result of a physical union of God the Father and Mary, but he is the eldest spirit brother of us all, and that Lucifer (Satan) is our spirit brother also begotten by heavenly father and mother, I've asked Mormon missionaries if they believe that Jesus is God, but they never answer.

So we have these religions that makes these claims about Jesus, but they deny who he really is and what is written about him in the bible. If you deny any one thing about the Lord Jesus Christ that is taught in the bible then you are deny the true Jesus of the bible, I believe that what the Lord meant when he said, do not believe if they tell you that I am in the desert, or I am in the secret chambers, let no man deceive you!

To confess Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, the Anointed One, is to have Him as your Saviour. 

This, to me, is saying, we must believe that the Word of God took on the form of flesh and dwelt among us. Inside that flesh, dwelt the Spirit of God. He was Emmanuel which means, "God be with us". We must know who Jesus is, before we can have faith in Him for salvation.

The Word, this Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, by whom Salvation must be obtained by.

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1 John 4:3 "and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

 
Anyone who denies what I explained in the previous verse is of that spirit of antichrist, notice this is singular, it is THE antichrist that shall come, this wicked soul that will eventually come to persecute the saints. 

The bible says here that this antichrist will spearhead the great Tribulation of the end times, and what is also known as Daniels 70^th week, in the midst of this week the antichrist will turn his attention to persecute and slay all Christians, all the true believers in Christ.

This antichrist spirit is here now, and we can see it clearly working in the children of disobedience, and that great city, Babylon which in our day is definitely the United States of America, why do I say this?

Out of all countries in the world, which country has the most apostate churches/religions in the world? America

Which Country houses the United Nations as its headquarters (to bring in the one world global government)? America

Which Country in the world deceives all other countries with its sorceries and tricks (Movies, TV shows, Fashion, Music, Propaganda)? America

Which Country has its presence felt in almost every other nation in the world (Military bases, Embassies, businesses)? America

Is this country NOT modern day Babylon?

Show me another country that fits the bill in Revelation, and that's chapter 18 I'm referring to!

(Would love to do an article on the entire book of Revelation, keep your eyes peeled!).
2 Thessalonians talks about the coming of the antichrist:

 

2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; ⁴ who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. ⁵ Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? ⁶ And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. ⁷ For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. ⁸ And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:"

 
The final Antichrist will not be something new, but will be the ultimate embodiment of all the antichrist spirits that have perverted truth and propagated satanic lies since the beginning. 

The man of lawlessness is still to be revealed, but the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. 

Once he (the antichrist) receives his deadly wound, Satan will counterfeit (by actually possessing the body of the antichrist himself) a resurrection to fool the world into thinking that he is the messiah.

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1 John 4:4 "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."

True believers have nothing to fear, for even Satan hosts with their perversions can't take them out of the Lord's hand. We belong to God and have overcome them, I have said before in my articles that term overcome is synonymous with being saved: greater is he that is in you, the Holy Spirit leads into sound doctrine for genuine Christians, proving that salvation has actually transpired.

 

Romans 8:17 "and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."

 

He that is in us is Christ, the Apostle Paul says this in Galatians:

 

Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

 
It is Christ in me that overcomes the enemy.

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1 John 4:5 "They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them."

 
They are of the world, this "they" is speaking of non-believers, they follow after the lust of the flesh, they live in the world, these people live for the things of this world, and they appeal to their own desires and not the things of God. 

For this reason, the things of God is foolishness to them from their philosophies to their own selfish desires, they are caught up in the world.

They have no hope, because they base everything they believe on what they can see with their eyes and their other senses. They have eyes to see, and they do not see, and ears to hear, and they hear not. 
They place their faith in this world, and they shall perish with this world.

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1 John 4:6 "We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."

 
We are of God: Christians will receive this message that John and the other true apostles are bringing. Christians have ears to hear, and they hear; the children of this world will not hear.

For this reason, Christians will know the difference between the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. I can't count how many times I have sat in places listening to sermons, studies and going to churches and to just listen to what people say, and then suddenly my ears tingle, my hairs on the back of my neck raise as if the Holy Spirit within me just raised alarm bells to tell me what I'm hearing is not of the truth.

I can even sit there and listen to so-called Christians talk about their faith and immediately know something is off. This is the Spirit bringing in remembrance of the Word to defend you against false teachers or teachings.

In stark contrast, demonically evil, wickedly inspired teachers either reject the teaching of God's word, even to question the validity without reason is a wicked thing to do.

 

2 Corinthians 4:2-4 "but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. ³ But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: ⁴ in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

 
God give us a warning to those who will seek to add, change or take away from this book:

 

Revelation 22:18-19 "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: ¹⁹ and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

 
I've had the deceived and the wicked say to me, but this is only applying to the book of Revelation!

Seriously, how wicked do you have to be, to think something like that? 

Look what is says in other places of the bible then?

 

Deuteronomy 4:2 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you."

Deuteronomy 12:32 "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it."

Proverbs 30:6 "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."

 

Do not tamper with the Lord's Words, these modern bible translators should take heed of the warnings also, one only needs to do a study and background of the so-called older manuscripts which only account for 5% of the majority of texts, and even these older manuscripts don't even agree with themselves in many places let alone agreeing with each other.

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1 John 4:7 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God."

 
Let us love one another, James calls this the royal law: for love is of God; and everyone that fulfils this royal law is born of God.

 

James 2:7-9 "Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? ⁸ If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: ⁹ but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors."

 

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1 John 4:8 "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."

 
Those who do not love do not know God, because God is love. This is a true statement, when you find a person filled with hate, you know that he or she, has never experienced that great unselfish love that God has for each of us. 

There is a need in every person to be loved. Some have never realized that anyone loves them. When you find a person in this condition, if you can make them understand that God loves them, they will change. 

Too many false prophets will use these verses to show that people who do not love are either unsaved or will use this to teach you can lose your salvation; this is false, this is not a salvation passage! 

In light of other clear scriptures that contains the word saved, justified, or salvation you cannot get such a teaching from these verses.

This is why it is important that you make sure you are teaching sound doctrine, if you were to teach from these verses that you have to love, turn from your sins to be saved, you are teaching a works salvation!

Can you honestly say that you as self-professing Christian say you've never hated or disliked anyone?

Can you say to yourself you have stopped sinning? 

If you did, you are a liar, the bible says so.

We should love one another, but we will still stumble over our own sins, does that mean you've lost your salvation? No, it's eternal.

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1 John 4:9 "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him."

The Love of God manifested toward us because he sent his only begotten Son into the World so that we might live through him, notice the word "might", not "will", it says might; again not all believers will suddenly have a change in their lives because they got saved. 

In fact, there are people who got saved out there who go on living their worldly lives!

Consider the Parable of the Sower Jesus gave in Matthew chapter 13:

 

Matthew 13:19-23 "When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. ²⁰ But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; ²¹ yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. ²² He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. ²³ But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

 
Now what I'm about to say to you is important and you need to understand this, there are 4 groups of people here, there are many more scenarios or situations that are not listed here but generally but, ONLY one group is not saved; that's right and that's the first group, the other group Jesus is talking about are all saved, which category do you think you fit into of the 3 saved groups?

If you believe you fit one of them, then you are probably not being truthful to yourself, most Christians would more than likely slip into anyone of these categories throughout our entire lives!

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1 John 4:10 "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

 
And in this verse is the whole reason why John was saying those things in the previous verses, the word "herein" is used to introduce something that depends on or arises from what has just been mentioned.

So john is explaining what love is and he says this, it is not because we loved God, but it is because God loved us, and because God loved us, he sent his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ to be what?

The Propitiation for our sins, to be our SAVIOUR, the anointed one who would come to free us from the very thing that imprisons us; sin.

Propitiation can mean atonement, in other words, He paid the penalty for our sins in full, we have no debt to pay, our bill is marked paid in full; the great love of God for man is made real to us in this alone!

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1 John 4:11 "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."

 
God taught us by example of the unselfish love that we need to have for each other through the Lord Jesus Christ. If the world today needs one thing, it is love. 

Take the time to hug someone and say you love them today, greet that stranger you meet on the street, give that person you don't know a smile, let the love that God has shown you shine through you and make someone else's life a little brighter!

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1 John 4:12 "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us."

We know that no man can look upon the face of God and live. Moses came the closest, when he saw the back side of God as He passed by, and because of that, his face glowed for like 3 days and they had to put a veil over his face because it was freaking them out!

We can see God by looking at Jesus, who is the image of the Father. The disciples asked Jesus to show "us the father":

 

John 14:8-10 "Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. ⁹ Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? ¹⁰ Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."

 
Jesus told the disciples, if they had seen Him, they had seen the Father. This just meant that the Spirit of God dwelled within Him. Jesus was the manifestation of the Godhead on the earth.

Jesus' actions were not of himself but done to show us the Father, he did nothing of his own will, but the will of the Father; when we are full of God's love, we are full of Jesus. The more "full" of Jesus we are, the more love we have for others.

Love is the heart of Christian witness, nobody can see God loving since His love is invisible. Jesus is no longer physically in the world to manifest the love of God. We as Christians ought to make God's love known through our conduct which is in love so that it may benefit our fellow man, and our own brethren.

How do people know that everything they see around them is from God, and that he loves us that we might all come to him? Through our display of love to one another we can show the world God's Love!

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1 John 4:13 "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit."

 
We know this because we dwell in him, and he in us, and why is this possible?

Because God has given us his Spirit, the Holy Spirit dwells within us, when Jesus went to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, He promised to send the Holy Spirit to dwell within each of us.

 

John 14:16-17 "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

John 16:7 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."

Romans 8:9 "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

 
The fact that we have the Spirit within us, tells us that He has never really left us at all!

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1 John 4:14 "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."

 
The purpose of the Father sending his Son, whom is God manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16) on the earth was for the salvation of all mankind. 

This Jesus, who was the Word of God in heaven, the bread that came down from heaven, took on the form of flesh as the Son of God to save us.  

He took on the name Jesus because it means "God is Salvation" or "Saviour". He is our Saviour and our Lord.

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1 John 4:15 "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."

Anyone who confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God will dwell in him and he in God. Boom! This is an equivalent Salvation passage.

Whosoever should confess with their mouth that Jesus is the Son of God, God the Holy Spirit will dwell in him! Let's look at the parallel passages:

 

Romans 10:9-10 "that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Romans 10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Matthew 10:32 "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven."

 

This is in the very words of Jesus Himself. There is no question, when we confess, to confess is to tell a truth. We know in our heart, and confess with our mouth as proof that we are full of Jesus!

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1 John 4:16 "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."

 
Our families and friends may turn against us, but we know that God loves us. We need never be lonely or blue; we have the love of God filling us. This is not just an sporadic love, but a love that is forever eternal!

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1 John 4:17 "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world."

 
He is not suggesting sinless perfection, but rather matured love manifest by confidence in the face of judgment, so that we may stand bold in that day: Jesus is God's Son in whom He was well pleased; we also are God's children (Which we learnt in chapter 3) and the objects of His gracious goodness. Jesus called God Father, so may we, since we are accepted in the Beloved!

To know this love gives us perfect confidence to stand before the Judge of the world on judgment day. 

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1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."

 
As an unsaved sinner, we should have a fear of God, in respect of Judgement and our final destination for those who do not have Christ. All sinners will taste the second death, eternal punishment in the lake of fire.

But those who are in Christ and he is in them, the saved, the children of God are in HIS love, it is his love that makes us perfect and casts the fear from out of us, because of this, Christians will stand boldly at the Judgement seat knowing that they have been made righteous by the blood of the Lamb, because of him, our Lord Jesus Christ, his finished work made it possible. 

You can know you have eternal life, you need not fear death; as the Lord said my yoke is easy, and my burden is light…brethren, you do not longer have to fear any longer for the Love of the Lord is always with us.

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1 John 4:19 "We love him, because he first loved us."

 
Just like in the previous verse, it is His love that we come to love him, he loved us first for this reason we love him!

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1 John 4:20 "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"

 
This scripture makes me think of what Jesus said, Inasmuch as ye have done it for the least of these, ye have done it unto me. – Matthew 25:40

We cannot express our love for God directly, except in praise. We cannot buy dinner or provide clothing or give money to Jesus. We can, however, buy dinner or provide clothing and money to someone who is hungry, in need of financial assistance or in need of raiment to keep themselves warm in the name of Jesus.

When we love our brothers on the earth, we are in turn loving Jesus who made them.

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1 John 4:21 "And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also."

The commandment from the Lord to love one another as he loved us, we love him and in turn we love one another; this commandment fulfils the law. 

My Brethren love one another.

This pretty much sums up chapter 4.

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