Working out our Salvation: Relationships and Religion

Psalm 12

Psalm 12 NET

For the music director; according to the sheminith style; a psalm of David. Deliver, Lord! For the godly have disappeared; people of integrity have vanished. People lie to one another; they flatter and deceive. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that boasts! They say, “We speak persuasively; we know how to flatter and boast. Who is our master?” “Because of the violence done to the oppressed, because of the painful cries of the needy, I will spring into action,” says the Lord. “I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” The Lord’s words are absolutely reliable. They are as untainted as silver purified in a furnace on the ground, where it is thoroughly refined. You, Lord, will protect them; you will continually shelter each one from these evil people, for the wicked seem to be everywhere, when people promote evil.

1 John 2:12-29

1 John 2:12–29 NET

I am writing to you, little children, that your sins have been forgiven because of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that you have conquered the evil one.I have written to you, children, that you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever. Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do not belong to us. Nevertheless you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.I have not written to you that you do not know the truth, but that you do know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. Now this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life.These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you. Now as for you, the anointing that you received from him resides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, it is true and is not a lie. Just as it has taught you, you reside in him. And now, little children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back.If you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by him.

Clean and Unclean

What the world is

A realm

A Place of gathering

What the world does

Improper Attitude

Improper Desire

Improper Purpose

What a Christian is

Positional

Forgiven

Submission

In Step with Jesus

What the world leads to

Death

False Teaching

Spoken by followers of the Devil

Denies the centrality of Jesus the Christ

Leads to destruction and death

Usually comes from within

Fellowship with each other

Demonstration of Love

Evidence of Love

Expression of Love

Agape - English is Charity, the highest level of Love

Phileo - English is family love or brotherly love

Eros - English is passionate/sexual love

Storge - English is empathy, or compassion or hospitality

Power of Love

Old and New Commandment

Old in that this is the command of the Old Testament, New in that Jesus the Christ demonstrated what Agape Love truly is by dying on the cross.

Confirmation

Acceptance and Rejection

Anti-Christs

Jesus the Christ

Essentials of the Faith are denied by False Teachers

Challenge

Have we been cleaned? Have been we washed with the blood of Jesus the Christ? As we gather, live, and serve are we different than the world around us? In these days, we have a great opportunity to reveal to the world the existence of and the plan of God. What are we revealing to the world around us about our faith within us?