Good morning. John says that he's writing these things that you may not sin. If you don't know, you may inadvertently sin. But if you do sin – we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. The word translated advocate is the Greek word Paraclete, which is also used for the Holy Spirit. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. The mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant was known as the propitiatory. The blood of the animal slain was sprinkled upon it to cover the sins of the people. The blood of Jesus was sprinkled upon the heavenly one to take away our sins. How do you know if you know Jesus? By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. That is true; but sadly it does not happen in the church often enough: however the one who says "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. We should be seeing fruit coming from a Christian. Jesus told His disciples that if you love Me, you will keep My Commandments. Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him. Simple test: keep His word; love of God perfected in you; know you are in Him. Father thank You that the reader always keeps Your word; Your love has been perfected in him/her.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Merry Christmas!

   Good morning, and Merry Christmas! We are going to digress and look at the first Christmas. This was something that had been foretold centuries before; and yet people still did not understand what was going to happen. They were thinking that the Messiah was going to come as an adult and was going to re-establish the nation of Israel above all other nations. They were not expecting Him to come as a baby, supposedly born to a carpenter and placed in a manger. Many things had to happen at precisely the right time. You had to have the right person to be His mother and the right person to be His supposed father. You had to have a reason for them to be in Bethlehem on the night He was born – the census. It had to be when shepherds would be in the field near Bethlehem watching their flocks. And just at the right time – an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them...
Read more

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

  Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
Read more
  Good morning. So Peter just told them that basically they were responsible for the death of Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we will see much later, it seems that at this point in time they believed that you could not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit without first being baptized in water. It appears that that idea did not change until chapter 10 after God baptized Cornelius and his family in the Holy Spirit before they were water baptized. Now lest someone think that this was just for the people in the first century Peter then says, for the promise (of the Father - baptism in the Holy Spirit) is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself. That means us! And...
Read more