A The Baptist Deacon

To begin today’s post we need to back up one verse, so we will start at 1^st John 4:16 and finish out the chapter.

¹⁶And 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. ¹⁷Herein 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. ¹⁸There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. ¹⁹We love him, because he first loved us.  ²⁰If 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? ²¹And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

As we begin today I want you to understand first and foremost that GOD is LOVE. I also want you to understand that beginning with verse 17 it explains that herein is our love made perfect, not only that but that WE may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.  Now ponder for a moment if you will.  Do you realize that boldness is given to us? It is given in the Day of Judgment.  It is given so that we can stand without fear. Do you ever get afraid of this world? I do.

This perfect love we are talking about is not brought on by those who think they are perfect.  You know “sister Bertha Better Than You.” It is however given by God. Look at what perfect love will do. It will cast out fear. Why? It is because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

"God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). The denial of God and rejection of Christ because of the fear of men will, indeed, lead to torment, because "the fearful...shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" (Revelation 21:8). ~ KJV Defenders Study Bible

We love God because he first loved us. You know that is the truth. Look at what He has done for us.  God is the very example of love. God is the example of perfect love. With out God we could not know what true love is.

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? This is from verse 20 and I believe it to be a very bold statement.  

If a man professes to love God, and yet indulges anger or revenge, or shows a selfish disposition, he gives his profession the lie. But if it is plain that our natural enmity is changed into affection and gratitude, let us bless the name of our God for this seal and earnest of eternal happiness. Then we differ from the false professors, who pretend to love God, whom they have not seen, yet hate their brethren, whom they have seen. ~ Matthew Henry Commentary

Verse 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. Here we are given a commandment “from HIM”, that he who loveth God love his brother also. We are not just talking about our natural brothers and sisters, but our brothers and sisters in Christ.

How quick do we get mad at someone in the church, or someone in our business? Do you ever get to the point that you hate someone? I wonder if you realized that you were going against God.

Now look at vs. 21 again. How much better would our world be if all of God’s children lived by the last part of this verse?

With that I bring my study of this chapter too a close. I have some thoughts for my next post; I am just not sure which thought will be first. I will just have too leave it in the Lord’s hands and trust that HE will get the honor and glory out of anything I post.

God Bless You.

¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. ¹⁵Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. To be a true believer (saved Christian) we must admit and believe that the Father sent the sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.  This is where faith comes in. What is faith? Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ~ Hebrews 11:1 To be saved you must believe within your soul that Jesus died and rose again. There is no other way. The repeat after me prayer does not work. The confession that Jesus is the Son of God has to be made in faith. 

I personally have never seen Jesus with my natural eyes. My spiritual eyes however are a different story.  One day twenty – one years ago my eyes of faith were opened and I believed. I was saved by the Grace of God. By my confession God dwells in me, and I in Him. I must tell you that God is so much better to me than I am to Him. I do not deserve the grace, love, protection and even the salvation He has provided to me.

The Father sent the Son, he willed his coming into this world. The apostle attests this. And whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. This confession includes faith in the heart as the foundation; makes acknowledgment with the mouth to the glory of God and Christ, and profession in the life and conduct, against the flatteries and frowns of the world. ~ Matthew Henry.

I feel that I must also point out that not everyone that cries Lord, Lord shall enter in. This is another reason I am not a fan of the repeat after me prayer.  Look at Matthew 7:15 – 23. Jesus is warning about false prophets.  ¹⁵Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. ¹⁶Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? ¹⁷Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. ²⁰Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. ²¹Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Isn’t it great to see how scripture ties together? When I started today’s lesson I had no ideal that I would be referencing from Matthew’s Gospel. Not only did God have me to reference, but He tied it together, at least in my mind.

We must be drawn by the Holy Spirit, then in faith believing, if we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, we shall have eternal life. Idle words alone cannot and will not get you to Heaven.  

1^st John 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. We will close today’s lesson with this verse. God has great love for His creation, His people. God is love. Look at the last part of the verse; he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. This is another great promise from our Heavenly Father. God dwells in His people, and we in Him.

God Bless You!

Continuing with 1^st John chapter 4 we will pick up with verse 12 today.  I hope and pray you have kept up with this study so far.

 At the end of my last post I made this comment “I want you to take a moment and think about how good God is to us, then take a moment and think about how good you are to God.” I did not intend for this sentence to over shadow my post. I must also tell you that it pertains to me as much as it does anyone else.  If you read the last post I do hope that my closing statement spoke to you. I hope you thought about it.

Have you tried the spirits yet to see if they are of God? Remember, this is from the first post on this chapter. 

Now let’s look at verse 12 and 13. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. ¹³Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

What do these two verses say to you? No man (that is mortal man) hath seen God at any time.  Okay I understand that.  Now here is a big question, do we love one another?  Read the rest of the verse; If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.  How many Christian people do you know that seem unhappy? Why do we, and yes I must include myself in this, but why do we, God’s people walk around sad, unhappy, mad or even defeated? Didn’t it just say His love is perfected in us? Yes it did. So why aren’t we happy? Why aren’t we telling more people about Jesus and why he died for us? I have a lot of questions for you to consider so far today, take each one seriously.  Think about these questions, feel free to answer within yourself or even leave me a comment. Be honest not only with your comment, but with yourself.

Okay let’s move on to verse 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.  A Christian person should delight in the fact that we dwell in him and more importantly He in us, because He hath given us His Spirit.  We ought to walk around with a huge tooth shining smile on our faces all the time. Think about that. Praise GOD! ~ His love could not be designed to be fruitless upon us, and when its proper end and issue are gained and produced, it may be said to be perfected. So faith is perfected by its works. Thus it will appear that God dwells in us by his new-creating Spirit. A loving Christian is a perfect Christian; set him to any good duty, and he is perfect to it, he is expert at it. Love oils the wheels of his affections, and sets him on that which is helpful to his brethren. A man that goes about a business with ill will, always does it badly. That God dwells in us and we in him, were words too high for mortals to use, had not God put them before us. ~ Matthew Henry.

Think about what a testimony we have. Think about your blessings and what God has done for you. Be blessed and happy today. If you are a Christian keep that smile upon your face. Who knows, someone may ask why you are smiling and then…

God Bless You!

1 John 4:7

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

Wow. What can we take from that one verse? Put your name in the place of beloved then read on; let us love one another: for love is of God. This is instruction to us “the Christian”.  If we are a Christian we are born of God and knoweth God, just as the verse explains.  The Spirit of God is love. We are to love one another! How much better would our world be if we would just follow this one verse?

Our lesson today obviously is dealing about love.   If you like what you have read so far, just keep reading I promise it is going to get even better. We have different examples of God’s love.

Now let’s look at verse eight. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. Here we have another reference about God being love. Do you see the example that is being set for us to follow? I know people in the world sometimes make it hard for us to love.  A man that goes about a business with ill will, always does it badly. ~ Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

Verses 9 – 11 are very powerful verses. As you read them listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say to you heart. ⁹In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. ¹⁰Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. I am now searching for words to write what I want to say. Do you realize what kind of love God had in order to send Jesus to us? It was not that we loved God, but He loved us! HE sacrificed His only son so that we could be free.  Herein is love. How can we not love one another based on the love that God has for us.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.  This is the most powerful example of love that has ever been given.

As I close today’s post, I want you to take a moment and think about how good God is to us, then take a moment and think about how good you are to God.

God Bless!

1 John 4:2-6

If you haven’t read my first post on 1^st John 4 study, please take a few minutes to read it because I am going to pick up where I left off. You can follow this link to catch up: http://deaconfarley.christianblogsites.com/blog/post/2008/08/11/first-john-chapter-4

Okay now that you are caught up here are verses 2 – 6: ²Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:  ³And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. ⁴Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. ⁵They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. ⁶We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Last time we talked about trying the spirits. We have an example to us to know if a spirit is of God. Look at verse 2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:  The supreme test of the spirits, and the teachers whom they influence, is their teaching concerning the nature of Jesus Christ. If, in any way, they try to separate Jesus from "the Christ," from the deity ~ KJV Defenders Study Bible

Now look at verse 3. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. This is plain. If a spirit does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. It goes on to say that it is the spirit of the antichrist, which is even now in the world. Did you realize that the antichrist was already in the world and not only in the world, but has been here?

The false teachers spake of the world according to its maxims and tastes, so as not to offend carnal men. The world approved them, they made rapid progress, and had many followers such as themselves; the world will love its own, and its own will love it. The true doctrine as to the Saviour's person, as leading men from the world to God, is a mark of the spirit of truth in opposition to the spirit of error. The more pure and holy any doctrine is, the more likely to be of God; nor can we by any other rules try the spirits whether they are of God or not. And what wonder is it, that people of a worldly spirit should cleave to those who are like themselves, and suit their schemes and discourses to their corrupt taste? ~ Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

Now verse 4: Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. What a promise this verse has. Christian people are of God, we have overcome. Why? Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. If you are saved, then you know that greater power personally. You know that you have something greater than the world has to offer.  You have something whose price is far above anything this world can offer.  Can you see what I am talking about? Christians have overcome!  I pray you can see this as clear as I can. Praise God! What a promise!

You know this world will beat you down, mock you, spit on you and laugh at you. I have a promise of a home in Glory Land. I have a promise of seeing the streets of gold so pure you can see through them. I have a promise of being with and living with God. There will be no dieing, no sadness, no plagues, sickness and especially no evil. We will live pain free with happiness and joy in an immortal body forever. BECAUSE GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU, THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD. I have a promise of all those great things plus a whole lot more I didn’t mention.

I’ll tell you something else. If you are lost, you want get to live in Heaven. You will hear “depart from me ye workers of iniquity”. You will get an immortal body too. Your immortal body will suffer in the Lake of Fire. A place made for the devil and his angels. A place you were never meant to go. How sad!

You might be thinking what those last two paragraphs had to do with our topic. I don’t know, but it did not cost you anything extra to get to read more of the truth.

The devil may be "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4) and have a multitude of demonic spirits under his control (Ephesians 6:11,12), but the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer is the omnipotent God. As long as we neither "grieve the Spirit" nor "quench the Spirit" (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19), we can take great comfort in knowing that through the Spirit and His Word we can "overcome the wicked one" (1 John 2:14). ~ KJV Defenders Study Bible

Now verses 5 & 6: They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. ⁶We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.  I love what these verses mean. We know the spirit of truth. We are of God.

We will pick up next time with verse 7.

God Bless!

   Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Today I am beginning a study on 1^st John chapter 4.  I believe that there is a lot of information contained in this chapter. I am not sure how may post I will make on this chapter, but I do encourage you to read, study and search out the truth for your selves.  I am also open to comments if you feel lead to post one.

Let us now look at verse one. It begins with the word Beloved. Who is he speaking too?  Answer: he is speaking to believers in general. We are God’s beloved. He was speaking to believers in his time and if we will listen he is speaking to believers today. That is the great thing about the word of God. There isn’t an expiration date. It applies to our lives each and every day. It is our road map in order to remain on our course. The answers to even the hardest of lives questions are contained within the Holy Word of God.

Okay back to our verse. We have already established who he is talking too. Let’s look at what he has to say: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Can it be that there was great evil in that day? Yes. (I wonder how it compares with what we have to deal with today.)  Here he is teaching us that we should not believe every spirit. We are to try the spirits and find out if they are from God.

There are people in our world who claim to be a preacher, pastor, deacon or church member. They come in all shapes, sizes and varieties. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

They come building new churches. They have new plans of salvation.  They say my way is better than your way. Come and check us out. We will be out of here early enough on Sunday that you can make that big game, or get to the lake in time to cookout and watch all those people who barely have any clothes on.

They say come shake my hand and become a member of my church, just don’t forget a copy of last years income taxes, so I can make sure you don’t cheat the church and I can get a raise on my salary.  They want bragging rights of how many people have been saved in their church, so they say if you want to go to Heaven, come repeat this prayer and everything will be okay.

So do you get my point? There are evil people out there. They are allowing themselves to be used of the devil. They are false profits and folks we haven’t seen anything yet.

We are warned to try the spirits and see if they are of God. You know what that means? We “Christian people” have the ability to determine what is right or wrong.  Wait a minute I hear you. You are saying I have been able to tell right from wrong sense I was a child.  Okay, but why are there so many false religions?  You have to dig deeper spiritually, to see whether they are of God or of the devil.

Do not get caught with your spiritual blinders on. If it seems new to you, try it to see if God sent it.  You have heard the saying if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. 

Don’t take these things at face value. Investigate; make sure it is from God. We can discern those who set forth doctrines according to the apostles, and those who contradict them.

False teachers are influenced by demonic spirits (1 Timothy 4:1), and their teachings--even with respect to the Scriptures--should be rejected. ~ KJV Defenders Study Bible

I’ll stop here for today. Next time I’ll start with verse two and see if we can get a little bit farther in the chapter.

God Bless!

A New Commandment from Jesus. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. ~ John 13:34

Here Jesus gives us a commandment. That ye love one another; as I have love you, that ye also love one another. Before Christ left the disciples, he would give them a new commandment. They were to love each other for Christ's sake, and according to his example, seeking what might benefit others, and promoting the cause of the gospel, as one body, animated by one soul. But this commandment still appears new to many professors. Men in general notice any of Christ's words rather than these. By this it appears, that if the followers of Christ do not show love one to another, they give cause to suspect their sincerity. . ~ Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

How much better a place our world would be if we would simply love one another. There is so much hate, backstabbing, and deceit today. There are so many disagreements, even on things such as God’s Holy Word.  People want to argue the bible. There church is so much better than your church. Folks I’m talking about Christian people here. Do we really love one another? Are we really following Jesus?

Jesus came to take away our sins. In other words it is a simple plan of salvation. This plan of salvation replaced the law. We no longer have to make a blood sacrifice in order to have our sins rolled forward. We no longer have to talk to a priest. We now have a direct prayer line with God.

Our salvation is in our hands. Our salvation is to be worked out with fear and trembling. ⁵Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ⁷But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  ⁸And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. ⁹Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: ¹⁰That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; ¹¹And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ¹²Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.¹³For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. ~ Philippians 2:5-13

 A scripted repeat after me prayer, sounds simple, but is it enough? Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ~ Matthew 7:21

Now what does the above verse represent? I believe that it is a warning that some people who profess to be a Christian are actually unsaved. Have you repeated a prayer in hopes of salvation? I pray you got it, but if I were you I would re examine my soul. I would want to know that I had not been tricked into believing I was going to Heaven. There is a day coming that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.

God Bless You!

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. ~ Exodus 20:17 ~ The Tenth Commandment.

The tenth commandment strikes at the root; Thou shalt not covet. The others forbid all desire of doing what will be an injury to our neighbour; this forbids all wrong desire of having what will gratify ourselves. ~ Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

We are at the end of the Ten Commandments. The Tenth tells us “thou shalt not covet”.  How often have you ridden down the road and saw a house, car, field, horses, cows or something you really liked and said to yourself, I wish I had that? Do you realize that you just coveted? We should learn to be happy with what is ours. We need to stop talking about how good our neighbor has it and start thanking God for the things he as blessed us with especially salvation.

The Law was so extensive, so perfect that if you look at it you cannot find fault with it.  The people had a hard time keeping it. If you were guilty of one part of it you were guilty of the entire law.

It was a set of rules that the people were to govern themselves by. The knowledge of this law shows our need for repentance if we are found guilty of even the smallest offence.  It was deeper and more involved than just the Ten Commandments that we have just studied. Take some time in the next few days to read deeper in Exodus starting with chapters 20 and 21 just to scratch the surface.

God knew that there needed to be an easier plain. He sent His only begotten Son to a cruel world.  He was the Lamb without spot and blemish.

Jesus was born of a virgin, he lived, he healed, he taught, he died and he rose victorious over death, hell and the grave.  Revelation 1:18: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

The veil of the temple was rent.  And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. ~ Luke 23:45-46. This is the completion of the law. When Jesus died and arose from the grave the world was given grace, with the plan of salvation.  We no longer had to roll our sins forward or go to the priest. We now have an advocate with the Father. We can pray directly to God.

Now after studding the first Ten Commandments do you think they are a rule to guide and govern our lives? Should we still observe them?

With the next post we will study the New Commandment that Jesus gave to us. We will also study salvation.

God Bless You.

Thou shalt not steal. ~ Exodus 20:15 ~ The Eighth Commandment.  

This is another commandment which carried a penalty of death if you were caught. This is a law of love concerning our things, which God has blessed us with and allowed us to have. This could be anything from our livestock (if you are a farmer or rancher) our land, our houses, food, clothes; you should have the picture by now.

Have you ever borrowed $ 5.00 from anyone for lunch and never paid it back? Do you think that is sealing?  Have you ever had something stolen from you? How did that make you feel?

Defrauding the public, contracting debts without prospect of paying them, or evading payment of just debts, extravagance, all living upon charity when not needful, all squeezing the poor in their wages; these, and such things, break this command; which requires industry, frugality, and content, and to do to others, about worldly property, as we would they should do to us.  ~ Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. ~ Exodus 20:16 ~ The Ninth Commandment.

How many of you have ever told something about someone (in this case a neighbor) that simply wasn’t true, even if it was in fun? If in fun did you ever stop to think about how the person felt? Did you consider it might have hurt there feelings?

Maybe you have told something about a coworker because you did not like them and hoped that it would get them in trouble or even cost them there job. How Christian like is that? You do realize that is bearing false witness don’t you?

This commandment does not just concern our neighbor’s good name but it also concerns our name. Did you stop and think about how it would make you look if you were to be exposed.

This commandment forbids us to speak false things about anyone; there is no exception even in fun. Think about that the next time someone close to you winds up in a joke you tell.

Our actions could devastate a neighbor (or closest friend), ruin his reputation cost him his job, her friends, their house and everything they have.

God Bless You.

To be continued…