Jesus - Son of God

1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
1Jn 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.
1Jn 5:7  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
1Jn 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.


Three bear record in heaven-

The Father
The Word
The Holy Ghost

And they AGREE in one.

Three that bear witness in earth-

The Spirit
The Water
And the Blood

And they AGREE in one.

The same exact word saying - 'are one' and 'agree in one'  is used- 'are and agree'.

They AGREE in ONE- which is what makes the most sense, yes?

The Father, the Son (Word), and the Holy Ghost- agree in one they are NOT one entity. 
The Spirit, the Water, and the Blood- agree in one- they are NOT one entity.

Our Savior was baptized by WATER- a baptism that was pointless to some because the reason for baptism was to repent of your sins and He had NO sins. He did it in signifying HIS new life- His new ministry He was beginning. He did it and revealed the acceptance of the Father- that His life up to that point was deemed acceptable- uncorrupted- He was pleasing to God.

Mar 1:9  And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
Mar 1:10  And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
Mar 1:11  And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

The Spirit descended upon Him.

The Blood He shed for us represented the life He gave, the death He suffered- all to redeem us to Him.

Agreeing in one- the agreement that is between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  The agreement the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood - all testifying to worthiness of the sacrifice offered, living, and dying.

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

Jesus is the Son of God- this is TRUTH.

Overcoming this corrupted world only by the TRUTH, by JESUS - the Son of God.

If we hope only for eternal life so that we may continue to live the life we now have without end, we are not living for the Son, for the Father, but ourselves.

So many hope to live long and happy lives, so many hope that some miracle scientific cure will appear that will give life everlasting to people. People have had their heads frozen in hopes of one day science will figure out how to bring them back to life again so they can continue to live on in this corrupted world.  People live in hopes of making this world a better place- rather than believing in God's word which tells us that won't happen. People set their sights on the things of this world and if not making it better for themselves for their descendents. Yet right now the world we live in is so incredibly full of sin it's unbelievable, and this after thousands of years of people trying to make it better. Oh, sure you could name hundreds, possibly thousands of improvements- but you could also number hundreds and thousands of things that haven't been improved and how a lot of improvements bring with them new corruptions.  Rather than comprehending that our lives are to be lived towards eternal life- with the hope of a NEW life- a BRAND new life of the likes we can't fully comprehend- a SIN-FREE life, a life of PURE LOVE- we tend of focus on this life and how we can make it better, hoping beyond hope that maybe things will turn around and the world and it's occupants will miraculously begin to love one another. To have that hope is a fallacy, a lie, a false hope, the truth is FOUND in God's word and our only hope is the gospel of the kingdom, found in our Savior who died and returned to heaven to prepare us a place there.

Take a few moments to think, really think about your expectations for eternity.  Are you imagining life as we live today only without pain and corruption, without sin? Think about a lot of things you find enjoyment in right now- are they in anyway sinful? If they are, do you imagine being happy without them in your life at all? Take them - those things you think might have an element of sin in the- and imagine living totally without them.  Imagine it.   Eternity isn't going to be spent indulging our selfish, sinful desires.  Some imagine heaven as a place where you are suddenly allowed to do everything you've ever desired - the problem with that is a lot of what we desire is born of sinful elements because we live to the flesh.

We need to pray that God allows His Spirit to live within us - changing us, creating a CLEAN heart within us. His love is everything.  Living in HIS LOVE is everything. Imagining what it must be to live in His love fully for all eternity- this is truth, this is life eternal, this is hope, this is faith, this is the desire.  The horrors of this world are so vile, so overwhelmingly detestable and even the tiniest of sins is repulsive in the grand scheme of God's pure love. To live where there is NOTHING contrary to God's amazing love- this is life eternal in a Savior who lived that life among the atrocities of our world today, truly all powerful, all worthy of being Savior, of holding the power to redeem.

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

Overcoming the world- something we have NO hope of doing without believing whole heartedly in Jesus the Son of God, and believing in ALL He represents.

We can't imagine the things that await those who are His- we can only know that the glory of being with HIM is everything!

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

In HIS amazing love!
By His amazing grace!

Overcoming the world

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Overcoming the world.

We have to OVERCOME the world.

So many are caught up in being accepted by the world, being able to fit into the world, finding their place in the world, making a life for themselves in this world. By being caught up I mean that they believe their life in this world is what matters more than anything else. That life eternal is more of an after thought to their 'real' life here and now. Thinking about eternity is something they do upon occasion, something they really would rather think about when they are much older and perhaps closer to death. Making eternal life - the seeking of eternal life- their life here in the world isn't something practical to them, it's something only the weak do when they can't handle living in the 'real' world.

Overcoming the world. How many people do you know are intent upon overcoming the world?

So many people put eternal life into the trunk of life's car and take it out upon occasion, they don't let it ride up front with them every single day as part of their daily existence.

I've said it before and I'll most likely say it again- this life here and now is TEMPORARY to ETERNITY. But most people have it backwards, they believe this life here and now is not temporary but perhaps all there really is- because hey, you never know, right?

Every single problem- large and small, devastating and merely annoying- they are ALL temporary to eternity.

Every single joy- large and small, life altering, wonderful and merely amusing- they are ALL temporary to eternity.

When we try to hold fast to our problems dwelling on them and letting our life focus be wholly on them, when we try to hold fast to our joys dwelling on them and letting our life focus be wholly on them, we are missing the HUGE picture of what life really is- temporary to eternity. 

Overcoming the world- this is our goal- not being assimilated into the world.
Being apart from the world- in that the everlasting gospel of the kingdom of eternal life is your main focus. 

When our main focus is the gospel of the kingdom, when we our main focus is overcoming the world towards the end goal of being Christ's, then our main focus is love- perfecting LOVE. 

As we've learned perfecting the love in us is knowing God, and realizing in knowing God we are loved and must love in return- love God and love others.

We need to focus on overcoming the world and doing that through the love of our Savior.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

If we are BORN of God- we OVERCOME the world.
This is the VICTORY that OVERCOMETH the world- EVEN OUR FAITH.
Who overcomes the world?
He that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Our faith in God, and God is love!
Our faith in Jesus, God's son, sent to die in our place, and living resurrected to bring us life eternal.

Our faith in God enables us to OVERCOME the world.

All by HIS grace!!! His LOVE!

If we believe that Jesus is the Christ- we are born of God.

1Jn 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.

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

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

If we believe that Jesus is the Christ-  we are born of God.

If we believe that we love Him that begat- if we believe that we Love the FATHER who begat Jesus Christ- then we love Jesus Christ.

If we LOVE God the Father and we LOVE the Begotten - Jesus Christ- we LOVE all the children of God- we LOVE others.

We keep God's commandments.

This is the love of God- that we KEEP His commandments.

Commandments given to us out of His love!

And any commandments given out of LOVE are NOT grievous, they can't be.

Commandments that are made from love cannot be grievous, it's impossible.

So many people look at the commandments as restrictions and not as love. We have to look at them as love, if we don't then we can't really know God's love, can we? If we refuse to recognize God's love given to us in such detail, then we refuse to truly know Him at all.

If I say I love someone and refuse to know them, to read something they've given me that reveals that love, how can I truly believe I love them, how?

We must believe.

Without believing we are lost.

We must believe and in believing we must love with HIS love, and we keep His commandments out of love- always.

If we hate we cannot LOVE God.

1Jn 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?
1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

If we hate others we cannot LOVE God, it's impossible.

The scriptures are telling us the truth here, telling us that we cannot lay claim to loving God if we hate someone, anyone, any other.

Hate runs rampant through our world.

When I was growing up I was taught by my parents that I shouldn't hate anyone, that hate was the most awful thing you could say to someone, the most awful thing you could feel towards another person. And I also remember using the word and I vividly remember one time when I wrote it in chalk on the ground after I'd been humiliated in front of my friends. I felt such an awful feeling as most people do when they are humiliated. Humiliation has led to many horrors in retaliation of that experience. Being humiliated, embarrassed, teased, bullied- we know that the results of that are destructive for either those being humiliated or those doing the humiliating.  It's never fun taking mental, emotional abuse, never and hating those that torture others that way seems like a natural response. Yet, we are NOT to hate others, not for any reason.  Jesus spent precious time preaching about how we should treat others.

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

Do GOOD to them that hate you.
LOVE your enemies.
BLESS them that curse you.
Pray for them which DESPITEFULLY use you and persecute you.

Being humiliated is being persecuted despitefully, yes?

When I was a child and felt that humiliation I know now that it wasn't an intentional act on the part of my parent to make me feel that way, but as a child I was feeling hatred, and it wasn't a good thing at all. God forgive me that hatred and all the subsequent hatred I've felt towards others at various times throughout my life.

Hatred is the complete opposite of God's love towards us.  If we hate others we do NOT know God, we cannot LOVE God- why? Because He cannot hate us, He is love. Some will argue that God has allowed, arranged, or otherwise facilitated the horrors that could only come from hate, but what God hates is sin, all that is not love. When sin fills people they either choose to allow it to thrive within them or they fall on their knees and ask God to forgive them, they repent, they despise the sin inside themselves. 

There isn't a SINGLE person who will not be saved that has the love of God in them, NOT ONE.

Everyone who LOVES GOD- truly loves God from time beginning until time ending- will be saved, they will be HIS.  Because out of that LOVE for God they will love as He would have them love, with His love.  They will love others, they will love His commandments, they will love in His love.

1Jn 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?
1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

If we say we love God and we hate others - we DO NOT LOVE GOD! We can pretend all we want, we can fool even ourselves if we allow it, but ANY hatred for others destroys the love we have for God.

Is it any wonder our Savior came and spent three years preaching the love of God? He did it because the LOVE of God truly is the all in all.  He LIVED the love of God, teaching US to live as He lived, the love of God through HIM. Hating was NOT something He encouraged. HE never encouraged us to hate others, never and He never ever would.

We love him, because he first loved us.

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

He first loved us.

People don't always feel loved by God, in fact they'll blame Him for their troubles, their misfortunes, their heartaches, their pain. They'll cry, heart wrenching cries of emotional agony and if you ask them if they feel the love of God they are hard pressed to answer yes. And yet, God loved us FIRST.

In all things God has loved us first- allowing us to love Him, giving us the opportunity to LOVE Him. 

As our Creator we were fashioned from His love.  We were not created with indifference. We were not created as an afterthought. We were created out of love, meant to love God and each other.  He loved us first before all things. He loved us enough to allow flesh to enfold His Spirit and He tasted DEATH for us. He tasted separation from God-the FATHER after the two had been together since time everlasting- without beginning and without end.  Why did He endure the agony of that separation? Because He loved us. He didn't want us to endure the separation we'd created for ourselves by sinning, by breaking the bond between us that was forged at creation.  TO repair the break He gave HIMSELF for us and that is something we can hardly begin to comprehend- that is LOVE- the LOVE He first had for us. The love that enables us to LOVE HIM.

We love HIM because HE FIRST loved us.

Such love is something we don't deserve, can't deserve, but it's something we must have - our life, our eternal life is only possible through that love and NO other way.

People who believe there is a way to work themselves into heaven by being good enough are so totally lost, so off track it's tragic. There is NO way to work for salvation. Love is the only way to salvation.

We love Him because He FIRST loved us.

His first LOVING us makes our loving Him possible.  Except He first loves us we don't have a clue what love is, not a clue.

God is love.

Without God there is NO such thing as love. It's true.

We were created with the capacity to love, to return love to God, to give love to others, and to receive love from God and receive love from others.

We have the capacity- the ability to do so and yet so many shun God and HE is the love we can love with- the ONLY love we can truly love with.

All other love we try to manufacture outside of God and His love is an empty self-serving love.

We love Him because He first loved us.

Praise God He loved us first! Praise God that we were created out of His love for us, and redeemed out of His love for us!

All glory to God!

No fear in love

1Jn 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.

Fear- dread-terror.

PERFECT LOVE casts our fear.

Remember this from yesterday--

1Jn 4:12 ...If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

ONLY if God is dwelling in us is HIS love PERFECTED in us, and that happens ONLY if we LOVE one another.  THAT perfected love is what will cast out fear, it will cast out torment. If we are filled with fear, with terror, with dread, then we are not loving others as we should, we are not allowing God to live in us. The more fear we have the less our God is in us.

Some people are naturally (or so it seems) more fearful than others. Some are more apprehensive, some are anxious and filled with anxiety, and fear is a way of life to them. Being somewhat such a person- finding myself having an anxiety attack at ten years old- long before our medical/psychological fields truly knew what they were- I was suddenly experiencing this strange, awful, physical reaction to nothing I could understand at the time, later, MUCH later, I would realize the catalyst was my father leaving us for a week to attend a work function in another state, something ten year old me had never had to deal with- dad was ALWAYS the one that was there even when mom went through a lot of medical stuff. Anyway, here I was thrust into this horror of fear caused by something totally alien to me and my life was altered from that point on.  There was a point in my life I hated to leave the house (praise God that was only a short/dark period of my life) that fear was so incredibly intense and even today I cannot honestly say I have no fear in my life- does this mean God is not dwelling in me, that I do not love others enough, that I don't have the perfect love of God in my life?  It's possible, but then again I HAVE to say this… at the point we allow ourselves to believe that we are perfected, aren't we yet again caught up in self-delusion, self-righteousness?  

Paul said this- and I've gone back to it time and again because I have to-

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Oh wretched man that I am.  Those words came from Paul, one of God's apostles. Were there ever any closer to God than the apostles? And yet those words describing Himself as wretched, those words calling his body the body of death came from one close to God!

What is the message being given here?

I believe- and I could be wrong- but I believe that we are in a PERFECTION PROCESS, a GROWTH PROCESS, that we are living towards that perfection but it's NOT something that we pull on like a longed for warm coat, button up and never take off. This perfection is a living, breathing thing because this perfection is the LOVE of GOD dwelling in us as we love others!

Perfected love will automatically dispel fear and the greatest fear we COULD have is the fear of losing life eternal with our Savior! Yes?

This should be our GREATEST ever fear. All other things to fear are not to do with our eternal life. When we fear spiders, strangers, birds, germs, death itself, we are fearing things that do NOT affect our eternal life. The thing that affects our eternal life is whether or not we have accepted the love that our Savior has for us, and in accepting that love it LIVES within us as something ALIVE being perfected and the result--  is our LOVE for others -- which in reality is God's love for us alive, perfect. 

To NOT have the love of God in us should be our greatest fear!
To NOT have the forgiveness of our Savior, this should be our greatest fear!
To NOT have the righteousness of Christ standing in place of our filthiness, this should be our greatest fear!
To NOT KNOW GOD, to NOT BE KNOWN BY GOD this should be our greatest fear!

Perfect love- GOD- casts out any fear we have that we should not have eternal life.

We must have FAITH in God, believing in God fully, trusting in our God more than we could ever trust in ourselves.  We have a lot to fear if we are placing our faith in ourselves and not God. We should be filled with terror, dread, fear, horror  if we are looking INWARD for salvation and not outward to our God to be saved.

1Jn 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.

We are perfected by GOD in us, and GOD casts out all our fear.

All by the grace of our God, all by HIS love!  Please perfect us!

When love towards God, and love towards others ceases- sin begins.

1Jn 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.

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

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

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

1Jn 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.

1Jn 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.

IF

IF

ONLY  IF we LOVE ONE ANOTHER will GOD dwell IN US, and HIS LOVE will be perfected in us.

When we find ourselves not loving one another we can be assured that God's love is not being perfected in us.

Selflessness- something we are totally unfamiliar with, most of us any way. The world revolves around us- our needs, our wants, our desires, our  lack of appreciation, the list is endless. The selfishness that exists in us is horrific, is it any wonder that there will be FEW who actually find that narrow path and go down it? It calls for the sacrifice of us in a VERY real way.

Knowing God means LOVING OTHERS.

Loving others means God will dwell in us and HIS love will be perfected in us.

We know that we dwell in HIM and He in us- because he gives us of his SPIRIT.

And WE have seen

And DO testify that the FATHER sent the SON to be the SAVIOR of the WORLD.

We must CONFESS that JESUS is the SON of GOD- and God will dwell in US, and we will dwell in GOD.

We must believe the LOVE God has towards us.

GOD IS LOVE.

If we dwell in LOVE- we dwell in GOD- and GOD dwells in us.

We can have BOLDNESS in the day of judgment if we LOVE- because if we LOVE we are with God and God is with US.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

Ultimately it is LOVE.

When love towards God, and love towards others ceases- sin begins.

Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

When we are drawn away by our own lusts and enticed-  when we are drawn away from loving God, from loving others-we are tempted.  When we begin to follow our OWN desires, our OWN lusts, we are NOT loving others or God.  Once we are convinced to please ourselves first and foremost we begin to sin. When we continue to seek self over God and others, and do not veer from that path it is the path that leads to death.

Self seeking is death. Loving others is life.

Please LORD take these selfish desires from us!

Help us to love OTHERS, to love YOU more and more!

Love truly is the answer, the real answer, the truth. LOVE is God.

LOVE.

Love- not some fairy tale of emotion that satan has made it out to be, but real love, the deep abiding love that gives up self fully through CHRIST.

All through CHRIST.