Verses 1-3, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” How amazing and undeserved it is that we can actually be called children of God! Being a child of God comes with blessings now, an eternal inheritance, but also responsibilities. One of which is to bear fruit of righteousness. John 15:16, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” Those who do this are children of God, but those who do not are children of the devil. There is no other choice.
Although it has not been revealed to us exactly what our new bodies will be like in Heaven, we know that we will stand in the presence of God, and be like Him. Just the thought of this promise should cause you to desire to be pure and righteous, and then motivated to act upon this desire. Who wants to be unrighteous before a holy God? We need to have the proper fear and reverence for God. If you do not care about being righteous and holy, and are more concerned with having fun in this life, than you must not truly believe that He IS God. Do not be tricked into following the wide path that allows you to serve your flesh desires over and above the God of the universe.
Verses 7-9, “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” A true Spirit filled believer cannot remain in sin, ignoring all conviction from God and warnings from other believers. This hard-hearted, rebellious nature is exactly what led to all the Jews dropping dead in the wilderness. You can either be dead in sin or dead to sin. There is no such thing as a Christian that bears bad fruit. Matthew 7:17-20, “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” God may be patient, but if you will not bear good fruit, you eventually will be cut off. John 15:5-6, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
Just the longing and desire to fit in with this world is evil, even if you do not act upon it. James 4:4, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” You cannot entertain these fleshly desires, even for a minute! Once desire takes root in your heart, it brings forth fruit of sin which leads to death. James 1:14-15, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” We have an enemy trying to tempt us to sin, sowing these evil thoughts into our minds and hearts. He knows that we can become so entangled in our own desires and the cares of this life, that we become crippled at first, than disqualifued from the race for good. Mark 4:18-19, “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
Verses 10-15, “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” There are children of God, who seek the Father's will and obey His commands, and children of the devil...those who are unlawful and seek their own will. We know that self-seeking people are filled with bitterness, hatred, and demonic wisdom; refusing to yield to the only way that will bring them true peace. This only fuels their anger toward those who are true children of God and bear His likeness by their righteous works. Do not be surprised if you are not being received by the world, but rather hated. The question is, how much do you bear His likeness? The more you do, the more offensive you will become. If you are not finding yourself to be part of a small remnant of believers, you may need to examine your works. Sadly, there are churches today that provide a place for children of the devil to worship their made up god, along with their idolatries. We know this to be true because these folks simply do not practice righteousness. Just like with Cain, the true God will not receive their sacrifice. Do not be deceived!
We cannot just say we have faith and expect that to be enough. Verses 18-23, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 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.” We can test ourselves to see if we are of the truth. If we genuinely love God, we will do what pleases Him and have our conscience clear before Him. If you know what you are supposed to do, yet refuse to do it, ignoring the Spirit, you cannot stand before God with confidence...but instead should be afraid. Trying to twist the word to suit your pleasures, finding loopholes where the scriptures are unclear, or simply being lazy to do what is commanded of you will not get you off the hook with God. The Holy Spirit is our helper and guide to living righteously. We simply cannot ignore our responsibility to bear righteous fruit and walk in good works. James 4:17, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
If you ignore the Spirit long enough, He will depart from you. The Spirit dwelling in us and comforting and guiding us in all truth is how we know we are truly His. The Spirit is our witness that we are children of God. Verse 24, “Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” If you have not sensed Him speaking to you and guiding you in a while, or at all, you likely need to pray and ask God to reveal to you where you have been stubborn and ignoring Him. You can usually tell because you feel weak as you try to do everything in your own strength, struggling in your flesh. Repentance is the only way to restore your relationship with Him. We need to be filled daily with the Spirit of God in order to make it to the end and finish the race. You cannot do it on your own, and you cannot do it your way! Fall upon the Rock Jesus today...and be broken.
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