Out of the Darkness Part 5

Introduction

Rewind

To be in the light, we must accept Jesus as our savior.

We must willingly admit that we sin and seek forgiveness for that sin.

We must love others. There can’t be room for hate in our heart.

We must be spiritually growing

We should be reassured because of our faith in Jesus

There are antichrists, those that oppose Christ, right now.

We should be encouraged to have the truth of God.

When we confess Jesus as Lord, we have that truth.

What does it mean to “remain in or abide in” something?

Nintendo Power Story

Verses 2:28-3:3

So now....

Little children???? What does he mean by that?

John in his great care for people…continued to encourage them to remain in Jesus.

This is another call to persevere. What does it mean to persevere?

To live a Godly life, so that when Jesus comes again, we will be confident....

And that when we practice what we preach....righteousness, it will be sign to others that we know Him.

Who is a sinner?

Remember, earlier in this letter when John brought up sin and our need to realize we are sinners. His opening statement here in chapter 3 is a throwback to that.

We are such horrible sinners, to John it’s an amazing miracle that God has loved us enough to call us His children. This is a good thing btw.

And it’s hard for people who don’t know Jesus, in all His amazing, miraculous ways…to see a need for Him or to even understand our behaviour in Him.

What does the Bible call someone who does believe in God?

Psalm 14:1 ESV

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

BUT, when we know Him, when we are in the light and have the truth we are His children.

Who knows what John is talking about in verses 2-3?

So, eventually, there is going to be this moment where Jesus reigns and has defeated all the enemies of God and we will see Him in all His ultimate glory in this new physical body. And that will show us what we are to become. This new amazing spiritual, physical, heavenly body.

Verses 4-10

Then, back to sin for a moment. Right, we are to be righteous and flee from sin. But yet we still sin. Because Jesus came to take away sin.

What does John mean then by verse 6?

It’s not that we won’t sin. It’s that now we aren’t slaves to sin. We are able to walk in this new light and are aware of our sin.

Another warning from John, don’t be deceived by untruths.

Where do we get our truth?

So, when we have the truth, we do the right thing or at least strive to do the right thing and when we sin, we repent and try to do better.

BUT, those that don’t know Christ, are still slaves to their sin. They can’t see beyond their sin, because sin is blinding. And Satan works within that. But Jesus came to defeat him.

Jesus is rooted deep within us when we accept and believe in Him. Nothing Satan does can break that hold Jesus has on us.

John ends this section by pointing out something obvious to us.

How can you tell someone isn’t what they say they are or something they say isn’t true?

Wrestling TV Story

Actions prove a lot of things.

And like we talked about a few weeks ago, our love for others has a great deal to do with us being separated from those that don’t know Jesus.

Our hearts cannot have room for hate.

Takeaways

We have to remain in Jesus

It’s an amazing truth that God calls us His children

We must see to do what is right all the time

LOVE LOVE LOVE