The Baptism of Jesus and Baptism in General

 
I thought it was about time to write out an article on the subject of Jesus Baptism, many questions have arisen over why Jesus got baptised, and it stems from the baptismal regeneration crowd (Those who say Baptism is necessary for salvation) and between those who say baptism is not required for salvation.

Of course we will use the KJV Bible and the help of the Holy Spirit to shed light on this subject.
Now, the main argument both sides will bring up is the question of why did Jesus get baptised?

To answer this question, we are going to do some serious studying of the scriptures to come to a straight forward biblical conclusion. It is important to understand that in order to come to the right conclusion was must employ sound biblical, grammatical and exegetical techniques.

In order to gain an understanding we must first look to where baptism began, with the man, John the Baptist and we will dive into the purpose and goal of his ministry.

 

The Purpose of John the Baptist

 
In the gospel according to Matthew we read the following:

 

Matthew 3:1-2 "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, ² and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

 
In the gospel according to Mark we read the following:

 

Mark 1:4-5 " John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.⁵ And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins."

 
In the gospel according to Luke we read:

 

Luke 3:2-3 "Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.³ And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;"

 
And in the gospel according to John we read the following:

 

John 1:6-7 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe."

 
From Mark and Luke we read that John the Baptist came preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. To understand what the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins means we need go a little further back in the gospel according to Luke Chapter 1 prior to his birth.

 

Luke 1:11-17 "And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.¹³ But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. ¹⁴ And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. ¹⁶ And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

 
Verse 13 tells us that an angel spoke to Zacharias (John's dad) that his wife Elisabeth will give birth to us son, and that they will call his name "John".

John's birth was a called a miracle birth as earlier in Luke chapter 1 we read that his parents were both stricken in age.

Verse 15 is interesting, we read details that John received the Nazarite/Nazirite Vowel from birth. I'm not going to go into this vowel but you can read details about it in Numbers 6:1-21, and Numbers 30:-1-16.

Now verse 16 and 17 gives us insight into his purpose and helps explain the meaning the term "baptism of repentance for the remission of sins".

For some reason, I always find myself explaining what the word repentance means, I guess it's because too many people pervert the meaning of the word.

Breaking down the term "Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins"

 
Baptism (and its many variations): The word baptise means to immerse, to completely cover, or submerge an object fully into another substance or object.

People errantly think any mention of baptism automatically means being dipped in water, this is wrong and perverts many passages in the bible. 

We must rightly divide the word and look at the context that the word is used in.

Repentance:

means to change one's mind about something, to turn from one thing to another, to change from one course of action to another, to change your mind about something.

We read that God repents more often in the bible than anyone, this would be a whole sermon in itself, to explain that God is not a man that he should repent…

IT DOES NOT MEAN TO STOP SINNING!

Remission:

to cancel, forgiveness, the cancellation of a debt, charge, or penalty.


So now that we have our definitions let's take a look at what this statement is NOT saying.

People will look at this statement and say see, we have to get baptised to cleanse us of our sins; this not only defies the grammatical structure of the sentence, but goes against what is taught in the bible.
We know that Salvation is dependant only on one thing, and that is BELIEF or FAITH on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I will put an Amen to that!

A careful analysis of the sentence structure we can conclude that there are two parts to this sentence.

 
The sentence starts by with the word preached or preaching, so John is delivering a sermon or religious talk to a group of people and what is his preaching called?

 

BAPTISM of REPENTANCE for REMISSION of Sins

 
So I've coloured the breakdown of the sentence to show you the two parts. Let's get on with the explanation.

The first part we will put it into its literal meaning: John preached the immersion, in this case immersion in water of a change of mind or turning from something, we'll get to that something soon. So this is saying we get baptised because we have had a change of mind about something.


The second part goes like this:

What does the word "for" mean or used to denote about a sentence?

FOR: With the object or purpose of. For example "to run for exercise."

So we read literally "for the purpose of forgiveness of sins."


The first half of the sentence is the object or subject or the action and the second half tells us the reason why it is done.

Now we need to figure out what that something is that they have to repent of?

Let's start with the verse in Mark first.

 

Mark 1:5 "And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins."

 
So all these people from Judaea and Jerusalem came out to get baptised by John, confessing their sins. Let's make one thing clear here, if we know that nowhere in the bible does it teach that you have to repent of your sins to be saved, then we cannot interpret this verse to say they got baptised because they turned from their sins.

This verse does not say they turned from their sins, the word "Confess" means to acknowledge, so these people are acknowledging their sins. They have acknowledged that they are sinners.

So this verse is still a little muddy or unclear as to why they got baptised.

Now let's go to Matthew.

 

Matthew 3:1-2 "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, ² and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Matthew 3:5-6 "Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, ⁶ and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins."

 
So in Matthew's account we read that John proclaims for everyone to repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, so here John is telling us to change our minds about something because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And in verses 5 & 6 we read the parallel to Mark's account.

At this point it is still not clear of what we are supposed to be repenting of, but we read these people got baptised, and confessed their sins, so they are acknowledging that they are sinners.

Let's turn to the gospel according to John and see if he can shed light on what it is we are supposed to be repenting of.

 

John 1:6-7 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe."

 
So in John's account we read that John the Baptist was sent from God, he came for a witness, John came to bear witness of that light we read. That light is the Messiah who we know as Jesus.

So now we get a glimpse of John's purpose, his mission, to point the people to the Christ. That all men through him (John) might believe.

Ah I see, you're thinking right now, that all men, might believe.

It's starting to become clearer now isn't it?

Let's go back to Luke's account before John was born and read what was prophesied of him.

 

Luke 1:16-17 "And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

 
Verse 16 says he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. This verse describes exactly what repentance is, a turning from something to something, in this verse we see that the children of Israel need to turn from not believing in the Lord their God, to believing the Lord their God.

Following me yet?

Verse 17 and he (John) shall go before him (Jesus Christ) in the spirit and power of Elias (Elijah), this verse is prophesied by the prophet Malachi.

 

Malachi 3:1 "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts."

 
So now we not only see John's message become clearer, but we read from here that his mission was to prepare the way for the Lord.

So a quick recap, his baptism of repentance was to show that people had acknowledged that they were a sinners, would get baptised to show that they have now turned to the Lord their God, and that John was preparing the people to receive the Messiah.

This is true when it comes to soul winning and giving the gospel to someone, it is easier to win someone to the Lord when this person acknowledges that they are a sinner and need someone to save them.

The rest of Luke 1:17 says to turn (Repentance) the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just (Righteous, there is none righteous but God); to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

So there you have it, John's mission, to get the people ready to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm not done yet showing you more evidence that John preached Baptism of Repentance to mean to turn from whatever they believed in to believing the one true God.

The bible also gives us more details on what John the Baptist preached:

 

Mark 1:7 "and preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose."

 
So now we get even a clearer message of what or who the people had to repent to, in which he says in the verse that there comes one mightier (Jesus) than he (John).

 
Now in Mark's account after John was put in prison, Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry he went into Galilee and proclaimed the following:

 

Mark 1:14-15 " Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵ and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. "

 
The time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Jesus says repent, change your mind, turn from your unbelief and believe the gospel!

 

Overview of John the Baptist and his purpose

 
So we learned the following things:

 

1. They had to repent first, from what? Unbelief and turn to the Lord their God (Believe on him).
2. People got baptised to show as an outward (public profession) sign that they have repented from unbelief and now turned to the Lord their God for the purposes of having their sins forgiven.
3. John came to prepare the way for the Messiah, to make the people ready to receive the Lord, and how did he achieve that?
4. By getting the people to acknowledge that they have sin, that they are sinners in need of the Lord to have their sins forgiven.

Now onto my next lesson, this is also key as to why John the Baptist baptised people under water.

 

BAPTISM IS A "PICTURE" OF THE GOSPEL THAT PICTURES THE DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.

 
Baptism or Believers baptism is a participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in which our old selves have been crucified and forsaken in Christ and we have been freed from the shackles of the past, present and future and given a new being through his resurrection. 

Baptism proclaims the good news that Christ has made us his own, and that it is only in him that our new life of faith and obedience emerges.

Baptism is a picture of all this.

 

Romans 6:3-6 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?⁴ Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:⁶ knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

 

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; ² by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. ³ For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; ⁴ and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"

 

Colossians 2:12 "buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."

 
Being immersed in water pictures the death of Jesus Christ dying for our sins, being raised from the water is a portrayal of Jesus' resurrection in which He overcame and conquered sin and death.

 

1 Corinthians 15:55-56 "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

 
Therefore, being baptized by immersion in water the believer visually shows the physical death, burial, and resurrection (of the spirit) of the believer's life showing that the old man has died and the new man has risen.

Water Baptism should follow belief in Jesus Christ as one's Saviour, although baptism is not necessary for a person to be saved and born again, we should do it as the first step in obedience to the Father.

The prerequisite (what must happen before baptism) to baptism however is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as it is written in the book of Acts where Philip is giving the gospel to the Ethiopian Eunuch:

 

Acts 8:35-39 "Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. ³⁶ And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? ³⁷ And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. ³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. ³⁹ And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing."

 
So there is something that must take place before one can be baptised, verse 36 we read the Eunuch asks Philip what is stopping him from being baptised, and Philip responds to him by saying that if he believes with all his heart he may.

Baptism in water is not an act that one does to obtain salvation, and no one in the New Testament was baptized who did not first believe and put their faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ not of works, lest any man should boast."

 
For that reason salvation is not merited by any ritual, ordinance or work that we perform ourselves, the only applicant for baptism is one who has already been saved. It is a public testimony of salvation, a public profession that you are a believer.

 

Are there examples in the bible where people believed, got saved and did not get baptised in water?

 
Sure, and you will find many examples in the bible, let's take a look.

 

The Thief on the Cross

 
During the crucifixion of Jesus, they also crucified two other men, the bible called them malefactors (means wrongdoers, criminals, offenders, lowlifes, you get the picture). 

Jesus was in midst of the two, in other words at either side of Jesus himself; this fulfilled scripture that said he would be numbered among the transgressors.

As the two hung on the cross and time went by we read from the gospels that both these men in like manner of the certain of the public mocked Jesus in Matthew's account:

 

Matthew 27:44 "The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth."

 
In Luke's account we read more:

 

Luke 23: 39-43 "And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. ⁴⁰ But the other answering rebuked him, saying, dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. ⁴² And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. ⁴³ And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

 
So we see here one of the criminals rails on Jesus and the other rebukes that criminal railing on Jesus.

What we see here at some point this criminal that gives the rebuke has had a change of heart, and we read earlier that Jesus had spoken some words to the Father to ask him to forgive them for they know not what they do, was it this statement that was made by Jesus cause a change in the heart of this malefactor?

The Malefactor got saved, otherwise Jesus would not have told him that he would be heaven with him. 

Yes, Paradise is a synonym for Heaven, do a concordance of the word and you will find that the word Paradise is defined as heaven, it only occurs a few times in the New Testament and NEVER in the Old Testament.

Now the question stands, did the malefactor on the cross get baptised?

Obviously no, some would argue that the thief may have gotten baptised prior to being crucified?

Not only is this a far stretch, but nowhere in the bible does it mention this, and we read in this account that he believed on the Lord at that very moment on the cross, and we know that there is a prerequisite before you can get baptised.

This event also goes to prove that your good works has nothing to do with getting saved.

 

Are there people in the bible that believed but the bible is not clear whether they got baptised or not?

 
Yes, we read numerous people believed and there is no indication that they got baptised.

 

John 12:42 "Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:"

 
So the bible says here that MANY believed on him, no mention of them being baptised; they did NOT openly confess him for fear of the Jewish authorities.

 
Are there any others?

 

John 19:38 "And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus."

 
So we read Joseph secretly was a disciple of Jesus. Now, if Baptism is a public profession of one's beliefs, then why would the bible tell us that Joseph was a secret disciple for fear of the Jews?

 
So let's recap what we have learnt so far:

 

1. People got baptised to show as an outward sign that they have repented from unbelief and now turned to the Lord their God for the purposes of having their sins forgiven.
2. John came to prepare the way for the Messiah, to make the people ready to receive the Lord, and how did he achieve that?
3. By getting the people to acknowledge that they have sin in their lives, and that they are sinners in need of the Lord to have their sins forgiven.
4. Baptism is a picture of the death, burial and resurrection
5. Baptism is a believers public profession of their saviour the Lord Jesus Christ
6. Baptism does not save, works does not save.
7. There is a condition you must meet before you can get baptised, and that is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
8. There are examples of people who did not get baptised after Salvation had occurred.

 

Is there only baptism by water or is there other types?

 
Yes, John the Baptist himself proclaimed and made distinctions to different types of baptism. Let's take a look at all the scriptural accounts.

 
Starting with Matthew's account:

 

Matthew 3:11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:"

 
So we read here that John makes a clear distinction between his water baptism, baptism of the Holy Ghost and the baptism of fire. 

So in this verse we see 3 distinct separate baptism mentioned here.
Let's look at Mark's account:

 

Mark 1:8 "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost."

 
Here we read John stating that he baptises with water, but he (Jesus) shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost. Mark's account gives us two distinct baptisms.
Let's take a look at Luke's account:

 

Luke 3:16 "John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:"

 
Same thing said as in Matthew's account, Luke's is parallel with Matthew's account. 

But what we see here is a distinction between John's baptism of water and the Lord Jesus Christ Baptism of the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Before Jesus ascends back to heaven in the Acts of the Apostles, he tells them the following:

 

Acts 1:4-5 "and, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.⁵ For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence."

 
So they have not received the Holy Spirit as yet, he is the gift, the gift of salvation that indwells every believer; the promise of the Father.

 

John 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;"

 
Jesus said to his disciples that this other Comforter will never leave us.

 

So what's the difference between being baptised with the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit?

 
Baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs only in the New Testament, on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts Chapter 2 when all the believers received the Holy Spirit.

This baptism occurs at salvation. I'm not going to go into major details about it because I have written articles that explain this in greater detail on my blog site.

Both Old and New Testament people could all be filled with the Holy Spirit in times that God needed to use these people to achieve certain goals.

But realise that there is a clear distinction from being filled with the Spirit and being baptised by the Holy Spirit.

 

The Baptism of Jesus

 
Now we have established the fundamentals around Baptism of Water let's dive into the weight of the matter, why did Jesus get baptised?

 
Like all proven bible students we must start from a firm foundation, so we will dive into the 4 gospels to get a foothold into why Jesus got baptised.

We know part of John the Baptist mission was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. 

He was to create an ideal environment for the Lord to operate in.

Let's start in Matthew's account:

 

Matthew 3:13-14 "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. ¹⁴ But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?"

 
And in Mark's account:

 

Mark 1:9 "And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan."

 
And Luke's account we read:

 

Luke 3:21 "Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,"

 
I'm not going to touch on John's account yet because his account details more of the actual baptism than Jesus rocking up.

Now what is interesting here is only Matthew's account do we read that as Jesus turns up, John forbids Jesus, he says in verse 14 "…I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?"


So John is saying to Jesus that he needs to be baptised of him (Jesus), and instead you (Jesus) come to me (John)?

 
Jesus replies:

 

Matthew 3:15 "And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him."

 
The word "suffer" means to allow, allow it to be so now: for hence or consequently it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness. What does that mean?

To do what is right. But let's elaborate this further, because a lot of misunderstandings have resulted on the subject of baptism.

Now we know that baptism in water itself does not cleanse us from sins, to say so is otherwise heresy and voids the significance of the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is what Peter says about the water and what it symbolizes:

 

1 Peter 3:21 "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:"

 
Out of context this verses almost looks as though it says baptism by water does save us, but this is an incorrect understanding of the verse.

In context the verse before this is talking about how in the days of Noah, only 8 souls were saved by water, Peter then goes onto say in the above verse that "The like figure" Baptism in water pictures or symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Notice in the parenthesis he emphasises "not the putting away of the flesh" as in washing in water, "but the answering of a good conscience toward God," notice this part of the sentence defines what repentance is also.

Now, to fulfil all righteousness, what does that mean?

Let's review what we know Jesus.

The scripture, we can know that Jesus is both fully God, and fully man. His father is none other than heavenly Father himself whom by the Holy Spirit came upon Mary (a Virgin), and thus he was also born of a woman.

 

Matthew 1:18 "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost."

Matthew 1:21 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

 

So we read above that his birth is a miraculous birth, conceived by the Holy Spirit. 

There are religions out there that deny the virgin birth, they even go on to say that God the Father himself came down in his bodily form and had an actual physical union with Mary to conceive the Messiah; what absolute trash, this is one of the fundamentals of Christianity, to deny this is to deny Christianity!

Next we read how Jesus came into the world as we know it, the same manner as every other human born baby.

 

Matthew 2:1-2 "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, ² saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him."

 
And in Luke's account we read the following, it's interesting to note that Luke's account contains a very detailed description of the Lord's birth:

 

Luke 2:7 "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."

 
So we can see that the Lord being born in the same manner as all men, what is interesting though is that we read that men came to worship him (baby Jesus). Now let's see if we can find anything out about his childhood.

Now it is important to note that I am not covering precisely what the bible records about Jesus from his birth but only listing what is relevant to our topic in question.

But after Jesus birth, we read that on the 8^th day he gets circumcised according to the covenant between God and Abraham which can be read in Genesis Chapter 17.

 

Luke 2:21 "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb."

 
Then we read the following:

 

Luke 2:40 "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him."

 
As the child Jesus grew, he became strong in spirit, FILLED with wisdom, now does it say he always had wisdom? 

No, he was filled with wisdom as he grew, which mean he was just like us, human in nature and we read that the grace of God was upon him.

Joseph and his mother attended every year in Jerusalem to take part in the Passover, Jesus was 12 years old at this point and as they fulfilled the custom of the feast they returned from Jerusalem a day's travel before they realised that Jesus was not with them so they turned back. 

After 3 days they find Jesus sitting amongst the doctors, this word means teachers.

 

Luke 2:46-49 "And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. ⁴⁸ And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. ⁴⁹ And he said unto them, how is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

 
The key passages here that we need to understand for this topic is verses 48 & 49.

In verse 48 Mary addresses Jesus that she and his father (Implying that Joseph is Jesus father) had been seeking him worried sick. 

In verse 49 Jesus responds to her, he says how is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?

Jesus is pretty much saying, how can you and this man, who you say is my father be seeking me? My Father is in heaven, he knows where I am, and I am about HIS business, preaching and teaching the Word of God!

And there we have another clue which we will eventually tie it all up.

We then read in verse 52 the following:

 

Luke 2:52 "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."

 
Just like what most men strive to do, to increase in wisdom and stature, but unlike Jesus, some men deny God and seek to increase their wisdom and stature with other men, rather than God.

Now we move onto Jesus Baptism, in Luke's account he gives us the age at which Jesus got baptised.

 

Luke 3:23 "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,"

 
So we find that Jesus was baptised at the age of 30, coincidentally King David started his reign as King when he was 30 years of age. So Jesus Started his ministry at the age of 30, just like King David started his reign as King!

We know that Jesus is born of the tribe of Judah from the same bloodline as King David.

There are other attributes of Jesus nature as man that we can find in the bible.

The shortest verse in the bible is this:

 

John 11:35 "Jesus wept."

 
We know he wept.

 

Mark 3:5 "And when he had looked round about on them with anger…"

 
He got angry,

 

Mark 4:38 "And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?"

He also slept!

 
So from what we have gathered so far let's go down the list.

 

1. Jesus miracle birth
2. Jesus born like any other human baby
3. As he grew, he also grew in wisdom
4. We know he is 100% God and 100% man
5. We know he has taken on human nature

 
From this information we can see that Jesus is, every bit as human as we are, and lastly of all he could die like us. So suffer it to be so now…

 

Matthew 3:15 "And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."

 
To fulfil all righteousness takes on a new meaning doesn't it?
Jesus came to fulfil the law and the prophets:

 

Matthew 5:17-18 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

 
If we know that that Jesus came to fulfil the law, in which no man has done, Jesus who is God, made manifest in the flesh, in other words God took on human form and nature, and don't you think it was only fitting for God to do this to save us?

And here lies the answer:

As Jesus came to 'fulfil all righteousness' it seems to best to say that He came to perform perfect obedience to Gods Law.

This obedience not only included all the ceremonial, civil and moral laws given to Moses, but as Christ was not only God but man, He must also submit to the ministries of Prophets that was sent by God.

Also we see that the level of awareness that Jesus, as a man, had of His purpose and ministry seems to have taken a sudden increase after His submission.

Matthew 3:16-17 “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: ¹⁷ and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

For it is hear that God declares from a voice from heaven and a visible token of His Spirit anointing Him for His ministry that he is the One whom God loved, that He is the Messiah, and also the suffering servant who He was well pleased with.

Peter put's it perfectly in Acts chapter 10:

Acts 10:38 “ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”

And we also have revealed to us the Triune nature of God, whom all are present at the moment of the Lord baptism.

To say that God is three separate Gods is to contradict all scripture in the bible, the concept of the Trinity is best what describes the true and living God, which is 3 separate personages that make up our one true God, also called the Godhead.

So His baptism was to fully comply with all Laws in order to have a righteousness that He could provide to sinners while the sins of the world were placed upon Him in return. 

Take a note what John the Baptist says:

 

John 1:29 "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

 
Remember how earlier we learned that baptism was the foreshadowing of his death, burial and resurrection?

Jesus was presenting Himself as the Lamb in Baptism, to suffer all the sins of men punishable under the Law of Moses.

Jesus was the focal point upon which this baptism had meaning, for water does not cleanse, only the blood of the Lamb. 

Amen.

Bible Study Series - The 1st General Epistle of John Chapter 3

 

1 John 3

Authorized (King James) Version

 
In the previous chapter we learnt a few things, like the difference between "to keep" and "to obey or to do", anyone professing they have no sin is a liar, the Antichrist and antichrists and its definition as Christ rejecters, false prophets/teachers, loving each other and loving not the world.

Let us now dive into chapter 3 and see what the Spirit of God is going to teach us in this chapter.

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1 John 3:1 "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not."

 

John proclaims for us to BEHOLD! This means to see or observe someone or something of an impressive or remarkable nature. Here he is talking about the Father's love for us. 

When he says bestowed, means to confer or present an honour, or right, or a gift: to bestow, the Father has given us his love as a gift, it was not earned by us, showing the Fathers grace toward us, for what?

The privilege for us to be called the sons of God! And for this reason, the world does not know us because the world did not know him.

John 1:12-13 " But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹³ which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

And we believers are born of him, because of his virtue, his righteousness.

1 john 2:29 "If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him."

Christians or believers are the aliens of this world, the Lord Jesus Christ was not of this world, and as we are born again, born of the Spirit we are no longer considered of this world; as the world rejects God, the world will also reject us because of him.

John 15:18 "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you."

From this verse, when John makes the proclamation about God's love, we see that from his love, HE initiated our Salvation, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son…

Ephesians 1:3-6 " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: ⁴ according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: ⁵ having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

At the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will be re-united with our Father, who loves his children with untold love.

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."

Jesus paid the price of adoption for us to be the adopted children of the Father.

Jesus is the only begotten Son. We are sons by adoption. We have been bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus. We have been presented to the Father without blame, by the Son. Amen!

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1 John 3:2 "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."

John addressing believers here, he says that now we are sons of God: those who truly profess their faith will become a child of God at the moment of belief.

Romans 8:16 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:"

John 1:12 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:"

2 Peter 1:4 "whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 

John says that our true selves has not yet been revealed, that's what he is saying when he says "it does not appear what we shall be:" but he develops this message by saying "but we know that," when he shall appear, our Lord Jesus Christ; we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

We shall be like him, meaning at the Lords appearing we will somehow be transformed to be like him, in his glory, this process has already begun with our spirits through the work of the Holy Spirit inside us, working us into the image of the Lord:

John 6:63 "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

Titus 3:5 "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"

Our bodies have yet to be redeemed, we are awaiting for the return of our Lord. 

On that day we shall see him as he is, in all his glory; I can't seem to find a word fitting to describe how glorious, wonderful…I need a word much better than this! But what a day it will be!!!!

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1 John 3:3 "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."

 
Through Faith, we establish the law, we should edify each other and love one another, this "Hope" which is the resurrection, the return of the Lord, that we should seek to purify ourselves in our daily living, our conduct as Christians, even as he is pure. 

This is not a Salvation passage, I know some readers may try to use this as a salvation passage but John is speaking to the saved, and we are not yet done going through this chapter to understand what John is conveying to us in his epistle.

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1 John 3:4 "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."

What we have here is John stating the truth about sin, whosoever commits sin, we ALL commit sin, whether we are saved or not, sin is a transgression or an offence against God's Holy character. 

Now, depending on what side of the coin you are on, will determine your fate. From not having your sins imputed to you as a saved person – Romans 4:7-8 or the unsaved, to everlasting damnation in the lake of fire - Romans 6:23, Revelation 21:8.


But regardless, sin is sin, if you sin you transgress the Law of God.

The law of God for the Christian is to love God with everything within us, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. If we do that, we will be pleasing God.

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1 John 3:5 "And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin."

He was manifested, that is, God in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16) to take away our sins. Jesus died to sanctify the believers, to sanctify is to make one holy.

It is by HIS WORKS, that we have been imputed HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, not of our own which is but filthy rags; this is an important teaching to understand, in order for you to understand true salvation you must humble yourself and accept the work of Christ as the only way to heaven.

Jesus took on the sin of the whole world, he bore the sins of the entire world, past, present and future sins are covered by our Lord Jesus Christ!

2 Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Ephesians 5:25-27 "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; ²⁶ that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

John 3:14-15 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: ¹⁵ that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

Jesus was completely without sin. He had never sinned. His body had no broken bones. He was the Lamb without blemish, the perfect sacrifice.

He took our sin upon His sinless body. Our sin died on the cross. Our sins were only temporarily covered by the sacrifices of animals in the Old Testament, which had to be performed every year by the priests.

Our sins are done away with by the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord. It is his righteousness that now lives in us until the day of redemption; the Lord's Day.

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1 John 3:6 "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him."

Whosoever lives or dwells in him sinneth not, as believers we take on the Lord's righteousness it doesn't mean the believer is not going to sin at all, if we are to say we sin not, then we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Look if you were to read these verses on their own it would indeed seem to contradict a multitude of other verses including the verses contained in this epistle that John wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

So what do these verses mean then?

Stay with me, you'll soon see what is really being said with the help of other scriptures in the bible, these verses are stating the absolute facts about sin, we all sin period, with one exception in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord and saviour!

 
Whosoever, meaning whoever (synonyms: whatever person; anyone) that sins has not seen him, neither known him.

So what does this verse mean, well anyone that abides or believes on him does not sin, why because in light of other scriptures in the bible, it says we take on his righteousness. Look at what Paul says:

Philippians 3:9 " and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:"

So if you abide in him you are saved and you sin not, here's the important part of the verse, anyone who sins has not seen him, neither do they know him IF YOU DON'T ABIDE in him.

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1 John 3:7 "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous."

My dear brethren, let know man deceive you, this is the subject; do not let any man deceive you!

Since false teachers were attempting to pervert the fundamentals of the faith, this letter was written to the believers to not fall for their deception, to not be led astray by these false teachers.

He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous; this verse literally means what it says, a righteous man will do righteousness, even as our Lord Jesus Christ is righteous.

Before we move on (I feel another mini sermon coming on!), I need to expound on what righteousness is and need to make perfectly clear of its implications. 

If you do not know what righteousness is and how it is implemented in the bible, YOU WILL come away with false doctrines by interpreting scripture with a perverted view.

Now let's get this out of the way!

What does it mean to be RIGHTEOUS?

 
Righteous is synonymous with Justification, in fact being just is being righteous. When the Lord speaks to us through the bible he says we are justified, made righteous, imputed righteousness are all related to Salvation.

In fact it can all be summed up like this: Righteousness is the state of moral perfection required by God to enter heaven.

The bible clearly states that man cannot or rather is unable to achieve righteousness through his own efforts:

Romans 3:20 "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

Romans is a book that teaches all about righteousness, and in this passage teaches that anyone who tries to come before God by his own works, or rather, thinks he is going to get into heaven by following the Law shall not be justified (righteous) in HIS sight. 

By the Law is the knowledge of sin, which means the Law is to make aware that we are sinners.

The Law or 10 Commandments is to show us how far we fall short of God's standards. – Romans 3:23

The only solution to that dilemma is God's plan of salvation.

People receive righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, took man's sins upon himself and became the willing, perfect sacrifice, suffering the punishment mankind deserved. 

God the Father accepted Jesus' sacrifice, through which human beings by grace through faith can become justified or made righteous.

Romans 3:24-26 "being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ²⁵ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; ²⁶ to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

Christ's perfect righteousness is applied (Doctrine of Imputation) to imperfect humans, believers receive the righteousness of Christ.

This process of imputing or crediting the person with righteousness is a free gift from God, which is called the Doctrine of Grace.

Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is the essence of Christianity, TRUE Christianity.

No other religion offers grace, they all require some type of works on behalf of the participant, and human effort cancels out God's grace.

In light of this, 1 John 3:7 "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous."

Let no man deceive you, because Jesus is the only righteousness that the Father will accept, and you are righteous because he made you righteous by his precious blood that he shed for you.

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1 John 3:8 "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."

Those who commit sin are of the devil, the devil sinneth from the beginning as we read about in Genesis. 

For this purpose, for because of devil, sin crept into the world, and from sin, death; that the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, this verse is implying that the devil is the source of sin.

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1 John 3:9 "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."

Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, born of God, born again, born of the spirit. 

Our spirit wrestles with our own flesh, our spirit is born of God and is made righteous by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Our flesh is stained in sin, our flesh has not yet been redeemed, in previous verses we learn that our body will be like his when he returns; glorified like his.

So when the bible talks about us being born of God, it is the spirit that is born of God, his seed remains in us through the Holy Spirit working in us, our spirit into his image, our spirit will not sin because our spirit is born of God.

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1 John 3:10 "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."

The Children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: anyone who doeth not righteousness is not of God, and we established that to do righteousness is to be imputed with HIS righteousness, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and to make that happen, you must follow God's plan of Salvation. 

To do righteous is to be born of God, to be born of God is to be born of the spirit.

John makes a distinction as to which family you belong to in this world, you are either part of God's family or part of the devils family, and he who is not righteous, or hates his brother is part of the devils family, he calls you the children of the devil. Jesus speaking to the Jews says the following:

John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

Religious institutions that teach that all are God's children are in err and gravely mistaken in light of these scriptures, God clearly distinguishes that you are either a child of God, or a child of the devil.

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1 John 3:11 "For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."

Again John is re-emphasising what was taught from the beginning, and that we should love one another. Doing so will fulfil the Law.

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1 John 3:12 "Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous."

Did Cain fulfil the message to love one another?

The bible says Cain was of the devil that wicked one, and slew his brother Abel.

For what reason did Cain slay his brother?

The bible says it was because his OWN works were evil, and his brothers righteous. Time for another mini study!

 

Why was Cain's works considered wicked, and his brother's righteous?

 
By using New Testament scripture to interpret the Old Testament story of Cain and Abel, we can get a better, more comprehensive understanding of why God rejected Cain's offering and accepted his brother Abel's offering.

The story begins in Genesis chapter 4:

Genesis 4:3-8 "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. ⁴ And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: ⁵ but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.⁶ And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? ⁷ If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. ⁸ And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him."

After the two boys were born and after a considerable amount of time has passed, we learn that both Cain and Abel began to make offering to the Lord.

Cain's offering to the Lord were of the produce of fruit frown from the grown, this could've been a mixture of fruit and vegetables. 

Cain was what we would call in modern times an agriculturalist.

Abel made an offer to the Lord his firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. Abel would be called a Shepherd, he kept sheep.

What are the firstlings of sheep called? A lamb.

So then, why did God have respect to Abel's offering and rejected Cain's offering?

If we go back in Genesis chapter 3 where we read that God clothes Adam and Eve:

Genesis 3:21 "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them."

Prior to this, Adam and his wife were only covered by an apron made of fig leaves; this my brethren is a picture of man's own works, his efforts to cover up or, to atone for his own sins.

Then before God ejects them from out the Garden of Eden, we read that God makes them clothes, from what?

He makes them clothes from coats of skin, and how do you get coats of skin?

By slaying an animal of course, Blood had to be shed!


This verse alludes to the first instance of an animal offering made to cover man in his sins. 

God basically says get rid of that pathetic little fig leaf apron, which barely covers you and put on these clothes made from animal skins which I, the Lord Almighty have provided to cover you more adequately with.

And of course until, the Lord provides for himself the ultimate, perfect sacrifice…

Right, so why did God have respect to Abel's offering and not to Cain's offering?

Cain brought the fruit of the labour of his own hands, and Abel brought a lamb as an offering to God.

Cain presented his own works, while Abel acknowledged himself to be a sinner worthy of death, who could only approach a holy God by means of a blood sacrifice which is a shadow of the true Lamb of God whose blood has purchased His sinful unworthy people.

It was in their manner of approaching the only true God that distinguished the one's works as being righteous and the other's as evil.

To "do righteousness" is to approach God through the sacrifice of His Son who gave Himself for our sins and clothed us in His own perfect righteousness.

1 John 2:1-2 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: ² and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

We also learn that Cain was very wroth about this incident, his countenance fell, the Lord questions him ever so gently: Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? ⁷ If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
 


After this, we learn that Cain slays his brother in the field. 

This part of story is another study in of itself, but I'm going to quickly say here that, because Cain failed to humbly accept a correction from God, his pride drove him to murder his own brother, in comparison count the times that you failed to take correction from someone of authority and end did it end up well?

I'm going to stop here and continue on with the actual bible study or else we'll be here forever!

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1 John 3:13 "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you."

Don't be in wonder my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you why?

Because we are not of this world, and because he is in us, and the world hated him first! So do not be surprised that the world will hate you!

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1 John 3:14 "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."

We have passed from death unto life, this is everlasting life, for what reason? 

Because we love the brethren, he that does not love his brother abides in death, or lives/dwells in spiritual darkness, in wickedness.

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1 John 3:15 "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."

Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, what he came to do was fulfil it, not only did Jesus fulfil the Law but he tells us that the Law is not just about our outward appearances and actions, but that the Law is spiritual and that sin comes from within, what is in our hearts he says the following in Matthew chapter 5:

Matthew 5:22 "but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."

And then goes onto say this in Matthew chapter 15:

Matthew 15:11 "not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."

Hate comes from within, the mere thought of hating someone could easily manifest itself into a physical outward action resulting in murder. 

The action is preceded by the thoughts of the heart.

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1 John 3:16 "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

Jesus laid his life for us, this is the love of God, we should lay down our lives for the brethren also, and we should forsake our own lives for the brethren, our fellow saints like our Messiah did for us.

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1 John 3:17 "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"

But whomsoever has this world's good, or material possessions and denies his brother who has need, and has no compassion or sympathy on his brother, how does the love of God dwell in him?

This is a question, so it's best not try to give an answer, but to try to understand it, because it may very well be answered shortly!

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1 John 3:18 "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."

Brethren, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, in other words that saying goes "you're just all talk!"

We must show our love in deed and in truth, else how is our fellow man supposed to profit from our faith in the Lord if we do not show our love through our works towards the brethren? 

Not A salvation Passage!

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1 John 3:19 "And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him."

Hereby means "by means of" we know that we are in the truth when we do the deeds of love in truth, the love of God is in us, and because we are of the truth our hearts shall be comforted before him.

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1 John 3:20 "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things."

If our hearts condemn us, the treachery it is capable of, we can be assured that God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. 

As believers we are still tempted to give into the lusts of our hearts, but we can be sure because God knows all things, he knows more of what's in our hearts than we do.

In light of John's strict teaching above, he may have felt that some readers might start to begin to despair. 

He assures them that, although our shabby attempts to honour God may leave us feeling defeated inside, God is greater than our own self-awareness and can justify us even when we would condemn ourselves. 

1 Corinthians 4:4 "For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord."

He sees not only our actions, which at times are disillusioned or imprudent, but also the motives and intentions behind them.

Sometimes we feel guilty about not helping someone when we really could not, and should not do it. 

Sometimes we blame ourselves when there should be no blame placed. We cannot, and should not, help everyone that asks. 

We should be asking ourselves, are we doing this to please God, or are we doing this to please man?

If we are unsure we should pray and ask God what to do.

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1 John 3:21 "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God."

When a Christian identifies in his life the demonstration of love in their deeds and actions, it results in confidence about his relationship with God. 

Man will benefit from such works and see our faith and love toward God. 

In James chapter 2 he asks the question to the brethren, what does it profit? 

Who is going to receive any benefits from your faith if you don't act on it? (Not teaching about salvation or a faith that isn't there! Every Christian will have days where their faith is dead!)

This is talking about how we can now have a clear conscience about our sins, think about it this way, in the Old Testament, the animal offering was only to temporarily atone for ones sins, and it was a temporary covering.

When Jesus came he abolished our sins, and gave us a clear conscience. 

If we know in our heart that we have done the right thing, then we can stand before Jesus on judgment day with a clear conscience.

This clear conscience is also associated with rest, we can rest easy!

Hebrews 4:3 "For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world."

Hebrews 4:10 "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his."

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Even Jesus said it himself, those who come to me will rest, he says to take his yoke upon yourself and learn of him; for he is meek and lowly of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. 

His yoke is easy and his burden is light, I notice that people who believe in a works based false religion always say that getting into heaven and living like Christ is hard, if you believe this then you make Jesus a liar and the truth is not in you. You are NOT saved.

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1 John 3:22 "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."

Whatever we ask, whatever we ask in prayer, God shall give it, why?

The bible says it is because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight, if we do this, God will answer everything that we shall ask for.

In the next verse, we will learn what THE commandment is, and what things we do that are pleasing to his sight.

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1 John 3:23 "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."

Everything that we read in this chapter and including chapter 2 is culminated in this one verse, this is the eureka moment, the verse that should enlighten everything you have read so far, and honestly speaking, is a verse that ties in with all other scriptures of the entire bible and what it teaches.

This is the statement that should be burned into your hearts, the commandment that we have received from heavenly Father is this:

"That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another"

That's what he commanded us to do, from this we inherit everything that he, himself, the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished all, and the works he did for us so that we could enter into his rest, because it is easy to get saved!

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1 John 3:24 "And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us."

He that believes on the name of the Son and loves one another dwells in him, and he will dwell in him. And as a result of this, we know that he abides in us, why?

By the Spirit which he has given us, and this Spirit is the Holy Spirit of God.

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."

May hope and understanding come to you all, glory be to the Father, grace and peace be unto you, love our Lord Jesus Christ, in his name, Amen.

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