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Why must we love one another as believers in Jesus Christ? Welcome back to our study of the book of 1 John. Last week , we started chapter 3 and talked about the privilege and the honor of being called a child of God. We also mentioned what being a child of God means in terms of the fruits of our lives. A child of God must live like a child of God, in other words no one who claims to be a child of God will make a practice of sinning. The biggest takeaway of that first section was understanding the implication of calling oneself a child of God. We also ended the section by talking about how it was impossible for a child of God to hate another child of God. And we briefly said that the only reason why a person would hate a child of God was because of righteousness. Today we’re going to talk in detail about the relationship between the mandate to love one another and the righteousness of God, our focus would be on 1 John 3:11-24.
Scripture References:
Genesis 4:1-10
John 7:7
John 15:18-19
Romans 12:9
James 4:1-10
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hello good morning this is tayev at times.com and today we are going to continue our study
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of the book of first john and last week we started chapter three and we did from verse one through verse
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ten so in chapter three we talked about um the privilege of being called a child of god and what that entails so
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we talked about the fact that a child of god must live like a child of god in the sense that if you are truly a child of god
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then you will bear the fruit of the spirit you will sin less and you will not make a practice of
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sinning so in that chapter john talks a lot about the distinction between a child of god and the child of the devil so he says
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that a child of god does not make a practice of sinning but and then he contrasts that to the
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child of the devil who has seen been sinning from the beginning so we talked about how to
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identify a child of god and a child of the evil one and then we also talked about um in in
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in the same chapter john talks about how a child of god does not make a practice of sinning and he says that he also say
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that a person that does not love another brother in christ is not of god and we talked about how
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that was connected to righteousness in the sense that if you're a child of god then you will not hate the righteousness of god in another
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brother in christ so now today we're going to go into detail about that because john made that statement and he begins verse
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11 with by connecting it to verse 10. so we're going to continue today and we're going to go from verses
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11 to verse 24. now this is going to be a little um it's it's it's hard i mean the book
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of first john is not easy to read okay it's a lot of um intricate on
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details that i want to make sure i'm covering because i know this is not easy and i want to stick with just
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telling you what the text is saying i don't want to bring in my own interpretation i don't want to say what the scripture is not saying so
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uh please when you read the scriptures i will invite you to also read alongside and and then see what the
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holy spirit is saying through these verses so we're gonna i'm first gonna read verses 11 through 24
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and then we're gonna go verse by verse so i have my um description on the ball so my eyes might
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be going back and forth so please bear with me so i'm gonna start with verses 11.
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so the scripture says for this is the message you've heard from the beginning that we
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should love one another we should not be like cain who was of the evil one
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and murdered his own brother and why did he murder his brother because his own deeds were evil and his
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brothers were righteous do not be surprised brothers that the world
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hates you we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers
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whoever does not love abide in death everyone who hates his brother is a
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murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him by this
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we know love that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down lives
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for the brothers but if anyone has this world's good and sees his brother in need yet closes
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his heart against him how does god's love abide in him little children
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let us know love in word or talk but in deed and in truth but this we shall
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know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him for whenever our heart condemns us god
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is greater than our heart and he knows everything beloved if our heart is not condemned us
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we have confidence before god and whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his
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commandments and do what pleases him and this is the commandment that we should believe in the name of
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his son jesus christ and love one another just as he has commanded us
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whoever keeps his commandments abides in god and god in him and by this
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we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us he is referring to the holy spirit so
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now this is the word of god guys like when you whenever you read this always remember in the back of your head
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that this is the word of god because the scripture is inspired by the holy spirit men were led to write what the spirit
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was laying on their minds okay so these are the words of god so this is why we need to take it very
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seriously so now what we're going to do is we're going to take it one verse at a time and then try to understand what john is
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saying here so let's start with verse 11. okay in verse 11 john says
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for this is the message that you've heard from him from the beginning that we should love one another this is
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the message you heard from the scriptures in leviticus the scripture says we should love
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uh one uh our neighbor as ourselves there's a scripture in leviticus so
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and john talked about this in in the previous chapters he's saying that i'm not teaching you something new this is a commandment that you've had
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from the beginning that we should love one another but what he's trying to say now is this
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now i'm showing you who truly lived out that commandment because jesus
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lived out that commandment jesus loved us as he loved himself in the
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sense that he truly embodied the love of god in him he walked
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in a way that praised god jesus what jesus did was this he lived at deuteronomy 6 which says
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that you shall love the lord your god with all your heart all your soul and all your might and all your strength now i don't know if i quoted that verse
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correctly but jesus truly lived to please this father in a way that as he loved us he reflected his
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love for the father okay so now john is saying that we should love one another
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this is what you've heard from the beginning we should love one another john starts the verse with four
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because he had just made a statement in verse 10 saying that whoever does not practice
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righteousness is not of god nor is the one who does not love his brother so he's given the reason
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for the latter portion of that statement in this verse because john is going to expound on what
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it means to love one another he wants to explain that so the command to love one another according to john is not a new
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commandment and we already mentioned it before because he said it in chapter 2 i believe so we talked about that so he's saying
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that i want to really drive my point so in the next verses he's going to fully show and explain what he means to
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love one another so now we're going to jump to verse 12. and let's see what verse two ever saying we should not be like cain
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who was of the evil one and murdered his brother and why did he murder his brother
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because his own these were evil and his brothers righteous now you know the story of cain and abel it's in
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genesis 4 and it's interesting that john uses this to drive his point he's trying to make a
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serious um point there and he wants to use the most common story that
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every jewish person knew and everybody at that moment maybe knew to drive his point the story of cain and
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abel the first murder that ever occurred so let's go to genesis 4 we're going to read um
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the the account now the scripture says now adam knew knew eve his wife and she
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conceived and brought kane and knowing doesn't mean that he just knew her like he basically had intimate relationships
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that's what the scripture is saying i have gotten a man with the help of the lord says eve
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and again she brought his brother abel now abel was a keeper of sheep and cain a worker of the ground in the
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course of time cain brought to the lord an offering of the fruit of the ground and abel also brought of the firstborn
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of his flock and of their fat portions and the lord have regard for abel and his offering for cain and his offering
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he had no regard so cain was angry very angry the scripture says and his face fell
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the lord said to cain why are you angry and why has your face fallen if you do
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well you will you not be accepted and if you do not do well sin is crouching at your door and his
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desire is contrary to you but you must rule over it you must learn to master it
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cain spoke to his brother abel and when they were in the field ken rose up against his brother and
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abel and killed them then the lord said to cain where is evil your brother he said i do not know am i my brother's
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keeper i'm gonna stop here now this story is not given to us this account is not
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given to us for for nothing john is trying to drive his point he just said that he who does not love his
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brother is not of god okay now king and neighbor were not they were biological brothers brothers
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right they were now here's the thing cain if you look at the story ken goes before god with his
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offerings right before abel can do it so in a sense that he wants to go first
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okay but then god does not accept his offering now people
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look at it and kind of like go why now if you look at the scripture
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closely god said if you do what is right will you not be accepted
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which we need to make the implication god has prescribed what to bring i'm sure god had told both
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of them if you want to worship me correctly you must bring the the firstborn
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of your ship which let me go back to the scripture and make sure i quote that correctly uh cain abel brought of the firstborn of
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his flock so god probably told them if you want to worship me correctly
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bring of the firstborn of your flock so cain did not obey the instructions he brought
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fruits off the ground which was not prescribed by the lord so the lord rejected his offering
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because god said only bring what i have prescribed if you do what is right will not be accepted
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he didn't do what was right able brought it the right offering now here's the thing
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cain killed his brother but if you truly look at the the the the story cain
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was angry at god but then he spilled his anger on abel because cain really
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wanted to kill god that's what he really wanted to do because he in his mind was thinking how dare you
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reject my offering god i brought you the first fruit of the ground
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this is what i brought you i'm bringing you what i want to bring you but god had made a prescription he said
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you have to bring bring off the firstborn of your flock now the thing is this cain did not want
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to ask his brother because of his own pride he knew that his brother was a keeper of sheep so
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he would have required him to go and say to abel please can you give me a ship so i can bring it to the lord
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which if you lick if you look into the story more closely you'll understand that this
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is a picture of what jesus has done jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures okay he's the atonement for
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our sacrifice and then we have to go through jesus to get to god because jesus says i'm the way the truth and the life and no one
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comes to the father except through me right but most people don't want that they want to go to god on their own
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terms which is again what cain tried to do he tried to go to god on his own terms and god rejected his
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offering because god had made a prescription and he ended up killing his brother so why is john making that story why is
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john making his point see according to john cain killed his brother because he belonged to the evil one and
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rightfully so he belonged to the evil one they may have been biological brothers but as far as like uh the spiritual uh
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peace is concerned they were not brothers in christ cain belonged to the evil one and it
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will belong to god okay so we know that the evil one the devil has been sinning from the beginning
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based on the scripture and john talked about it and the evil one hates the things of god
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therefore his children also hate the children of god because
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cain was of the evil one and he hated the child of god abel okay so cain was of the seed of the
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evil one and he killed his brother because his own actions were evil while his brothers were righteous so you can
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see that at the basis and at the root of all these things is righteousness and we know what
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what the evil actions of cain were he did not want to bring the sheep he brought his own thing that
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he made the fruits of the ground and which god rejected so cain's example shows us that the
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hatred was not really directed at god would not redirect to that case and unable but at god
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because the world hates god and because they hate god they know that they can't kill god but
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they are going to kill us his children because they can't stand the righteousness of god
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in our lives so they are going to direct their anger at you and at me because we bear the image of
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god okay so um like i said cain was the brother of abel but
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that's like biologically but spiritually they were not brothers so jesus talks about that like i've come
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to bring a sword into this world from now on brothers members of one family family
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will hate one another so this happens it happened way back in genesis genesis chapter 4 we see it happening so
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this is what john is trying to make that he's trying to make that point here this is why he's saying we should not be like cain
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was of the evil when he murdered his brother so if you are acting like cain then you are not of god and so what is
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acting like cain looks like if you hate the righteousness of god in another brother in christ you are most likely not a child of god
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because a child of god cannot hate another child of god because the holy spirit lives in that person and the holy
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spirit cannot hate himself let's keep going if you go to verse 13 the scripture says do not be surprised
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my brothers that the world hates you okay so john is saying in this verse that because we
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belong to jesus the word will automatically hate us okay because the world and his systems
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is opposed diametrically to the things of god we also learn about that in the previous chapters
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we shouldn't be astonished when we are hated because of god or because of jesus and
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persecuted it's like it shouldn't come to no surprise because sometimes we get persecuted and we get
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like criticized for being christians and we go i don't know what i've done you're a child of god and the things
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that you are speaking the world does not want to hear because the world system and ischemia is opposed
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to the schema of the things of god okay so cain killed his brother
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and the world will attempt to kill us that's just how it is they're going to try to repress us they're going to try to subdue us
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because they don't want to hear what we have to say because we are speaking the words of god so they're not going to
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want to hear that okay that's just how it is remember jesus says in john 7 7 the
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world cannot hate you but he hates me because i testify about it that his works are
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evil he was talking to his brothers okay his brothers even his brothers at the time did not receive him
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his own biological brothers at the time didn't recognize him as the lord james talks about that later on james
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himself didn't recognize jesus and jesus was telling his brothers the word can't hate you because
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you don't testify about it his works are evil but because i jesus testified about the world that is
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his works are evil they want to kill me see so when we identify with jesus we
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automatically become enemies of the world and the world now wants to hate us and kill us
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and in john 15 verse 18 to 19 we read this if the world hit you know that he had
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hated me first before he hated you if you were of the world the world would love you as his
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own which because you are not of the world but i chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you so
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basically jesus says it in john 15 verse 18 to 19 they are going to hate you because you
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belong to jesus because i belong to jesus they are going to hate us because automatically when you become a child of god
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you become an enemy of the world that's just automatic so john is saying don't be astonished don't
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act like this is a surprise when when the world hates you okay is gonna happen
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you know that's just what it is so now let's go to john chapter verse 14. in verse 14 and 15
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the scripture says we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers whoever
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does not love abides in death everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that
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no murderer has eternal life abiding in him so what is john saying here so john has given us the blueprint on
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how to know that we've crossed over from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light
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and he's saying when you love another brother in christ this is the evidence that you have truly
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been saved basically why is that so important because he has everything to do with the righteousness
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of god see the love that john is talking about is referring to a love that has that has like like strong ties
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to the righteousness of god jesus was hated because he was righteous in the sight of god
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and people couldn't stand it so when people hate us because we exude the fruit of the
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spirit they prove by that that they are not children of god okay because they don't
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truly love god if you truly love god then you will love his children so you can't claim to love
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god and hate his child because we bear the image of god and we live as children of god okay so
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john is saying that any everyone who hates his brother is a murderer just like kane and you know that no murderer has
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eternal life abiding in him cain was called the child of the devil so anyone that hates another brother in
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christ is not truly a child of god because that is evidence that they don't love god
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because they hate his children that brings image so everything it has to do with the righteousness of god in a person
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so if you can't stand a person because of the righteousness of god you are proven by that that you are not
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a child of god and if you love another brother in christ because of his righteousness meaning the righteousness of god through
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that person that you are showing that you really truly are a child of god and this is pretty simple and this is
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what john is saying here now let's go to verse 16. in verse 16 john says by this we know love that he
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lay down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers so he's referring to jesus
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okay jesus came to be a ransom for many okay that's why he said he came to do
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away with the sins of the world and he came as to to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins he laid down his
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life so basically jesus leaves the felicity of heaven in order to die for our sick i mean he
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did it from the foundation of the before the foundation of the world he had chosen to be the propitiation and explanation
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for our sins okay the within the godhead there is uh there was an agreement
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jesus was the one to say i would go and i'll lay down my lies for the sake of these people okay
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and so there's an agreement so jesus uh did that for us and john is saying that we ought to to walk as jesus walked
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and we also have to embody uh everything that jesus sees lay down
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our lives for the sake of our brothers this is not something that we can do on a human level i mean you can't
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i'm not to die for you like humanly speaking i don't want to do that because i want to self-preservation i want to preserve
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my life but when the spirit of god lives in you
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that happens because the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering see this is not something
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that you can produce as a man you can't do that you i can't die for somebody else like as a
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human you always want to look out for yourself but as a child of god because the spirit of god lives in you
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you begin to exude the fruit of the spirit you begin to live your life like jesus lived his life
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and you begin you begin to want to lay down your life for the sake of your brothers again
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this is not something that you can do on your own is from the spirit of god and this is what john is saying here so
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now let's go to the next verse verse 17 and 18. and in verse 17 and 18 the scripture
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says but if anyone has this word possession and sees his brother in need that closes
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his heart against him how does god's love abide in him little children let us not love
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in word or talk but indeed and in truth so nice is talking but he just talked about
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laying down our lives for the sake of the brothers now it's gonna give us what that looks like practically
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okay doesn't mean that you're going in everything you see you die forever no he said i'm gonna show you the practical
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way of doing this and and so basically he's saying that in the example that he gives he's
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saying that let's say you have money and you have all these possessions you have a lot of things and somebody comes to you and you
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know that you can help but then you don't help but you know that he's in need and you have the
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capacity and you have the capability of being an extension of the kingdom of god and you close your heart against him
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how can the love of god be in you you fooling yourself because if god's love was truly new you
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will not hesitate to help another brother in christ that is struggling this is what john is saying here listen
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don't fool yourself don't deceive yourself he's saying let us know love in in word or talk but
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indeed any truth don't just talk about it be about it okay so basically this is something
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important here he first gives us the a picture of what our love looks like in the life of a believer but he's also
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saying something important let us not love in in in in in talk and in in word
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but in in action and in truth you see the world can show that kind of love and
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they you see it on social media people go out and they do a good deed and then somehow somewhere there's always a
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camera there for the whole world to see and they brought they broadcast it everywhere
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basically duel usually for the sake of just elevating their own um whatever they want people
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to like them and sometimes people do these deeds and it's like if you're really about to do something
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for god then you don't need to be made don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing or whatever i didn't quote the verse
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correctly but basically the world is also capable of showing this kind of love but it's usually selfish it's based
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on the fact that they want people to see what they've done okay and you see like i said on social
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media all the time somehow somewhere when somebody helps the poor or somebody does a good good action
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there's always a camera to see it which i'm like okay how when did you get the camera
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out and they actually lay out the story and they talk about it so much now what what john is talking about here
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is it is it's a love that is not only rooted in action but also in truth see the
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world can love but is not based in truth we have to do it it has to be backed up by truth
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when jesus loved he loved in action and in truth when that woman was caught in adultery
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when jesus saw her he didn't condone the sin he forgave her because of his love but he also said
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go and sin no more by speaking those words in her life she was no longer going to live a lifestyle of sin
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see he always has to be baked um soaked in truth love has to be soaked in
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truth because love without truth is just temporal because all you're doing is really just
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being nice you're not being kind see kindness also speaks truth kindness does
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not leave truth out and jesus spoke the truth but he also loved
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okay he didn't just let people get away with stuff so true love must be must be soaked in truth and in love
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true love comes as an action but it's also truth behind it okay and and that's what we need to
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learn we need to learn to love not only by talking but in action but that action also has to be
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uh grounded in truth because without truth what you have is just good deeds and that is nothing you're
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not really helping it has to be grounded in truth and john is talking about that here
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now let's go to uh um verse 19 and 20.
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um john says by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him
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for whenever our heart condemns us god is greater than our heart and he knows everything this verse
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was is very dear to me because i struggle with condemning thoughts for
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the longest time and sometimes i still struggle with it as if we're not doing enough okay
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and what john is saying here is that he has just presented to us the process by which we determine whether we belong to the
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truth or not he's also saying to us that this is also how we get rid of the nagging guilt
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that can plague our walk with christ that can happen okay you feel so guilty and often times
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we feel like an enormous burden that can sometimes be made worse by the people around us
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they tell us we are double faced like you know sometimes people call christians you guys are double faced because as christian you're
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supposed to be nice and therefore you feel this guilt and you almost feel like everywhere you go you have to be nice
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you know and they basically reduce christianity to what uh chick-fil-a uh workers do where
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they're extremely nice when it's all about being nice christianity is not about being nice okay it's about being kind
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but our kindness is grounded in truth okay so jesus didn't heal every lapras he
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didn't restore every blind sight okay he lived by every word that came from the mouth
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of god jesus first thing was always seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness
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jesus was always about his father's business he said somewhere my will my my food
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is to do the will of him who has sent me so jesus was first about pleasing god before pleasing people and this is
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the the right attitude to have we first have to make sure what i'm doing is it consistent with the
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mind of god is this consistent with the will of god is it consistent with what god want me to do so this is what john is saying
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here this is how we lay our heart at rest because if we know that what we are doing is baked is is
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is soaked in truth and in love then we don't have to feel guilty
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because sometimes we can get this excessive guilt to the point where we feel like we have to be we we have to help everyone
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because that's what christians do we are nice people that is not true so john is saying
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listen this is how you get you you you you uh you reassure your heart before god
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because you have to make sure what i did today was it's consistent with the mind of god and was he soaked in truth and was he
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soaked in love okay and the next thing he says god knows all things see sometimes
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the guilt that we feel is something that we we bring on ourselves okay we become excessively guilty
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because our own minds are guilty and therefore we begin to try to do stuff not to compensate for that
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johnny said this is not how we do it when you know that the way you're living is consistent with the mind will and
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heart of god that you don't have to allow yourself to feel guilty and this is from the we need to ask the holy spirit to
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cleanse our mind okay we need to come before god and then we say to the lord i'm feeling guilty i don't know why i'm
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feeling guilty if this if this is a conviction then please confirm it if it's not a conviction lord
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please set me free from this guilt because we know that satan loves to to bring these accusations constantly
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and this is what john is talking about okay as long as our actions are done in love and in truth
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and and then to please god first then we know that we are doing the right thing and we don't have to wallow into guilt
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and despair because that's not from the the god that's from the devil okay
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so and john he adds that god is greater than our condemning heart okay god knows everything he knows our
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motives so you can't fool god you can try to fool the world around you i can try to fool you well i can't fool
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god because he knows not only does he know my action but he also knows the motive behind my action so if i know
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that what i did today was consistent with the mind of god and was soaked in in love
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then i i don't have to allow myself to feel guilty because i know that god knows my motives
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okay he really looks at the heart he looks at the motives and this is how we set our hearts at rest that john is saying here
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and let's go to the next verse verse 21 and 22 beloved if our heart does not condemn us
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we have confidence before god and whatever we ask receive from him because we keep his commandments and do
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what pleases him see these two verses were harder to interpret but i'm hoping that the lord
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will enlighten your minds and my mind to understand this okay scripture says that without faith it's impossible to please god
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and scripture also says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god and scripture also says that whatever is
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not from faith is sin basically whatever you're doing
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if that does not come from the holy spirit prompting then you are not doing the will of god
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whatever is not from faith is sin so this is why it is so important to first try to please god before we
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please other people because if you're trying to please people in order to please god we are doing it backwards first we have
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to know what is the mind of god for that person what does god want me to do in that person's life
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and and if we can get that correctly then everything else will come into place because now we're living in this
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we are in a place of rest where we don't have to be restless and we don't have to feel that condemnation okay so james and john if you look at
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mark 10 they made a request before god that was incredible incredible in the sense that it was just
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i can't believe they say that they asked jesus can we sit on your left hand and your right hand in your glory
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now john is saying here that if our heart does not condemn us we have confidence before god does that mean
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that every time you go before god if you don't feel like there's no condemnation you receive what you ask for i don't think that's what
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john is saying but what john is saying here is this see this is a shame john that who tells us that if if if our
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heart does not condemn us we will see whatever we ask of him when he and james went before god before
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jesus and they asked to sit on his left and right hand i'm sure they felt a conviction in their heart saying listen
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man you guys are you crazy listen to what you're asking for that request was selfish it was
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self-centered it was just about themselves so john is saying here that um
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he's putting an emphasis on making prayer requests that are directly tied to keeping the commit the
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commandment of god okay he just summarized the commandments of god into one thing to believe in jesus okay and to love one
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another as we love uh to love one another okay now he's saying here as long as your desire is to please god
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first your prayer will be answered in the sense that if
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your desire is to please god you are not going to ask for things that
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are going to be self-centered okay if our heart does not condemn us
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we have confidence before god and whatever we ask to receive from him because we keep his commandment and do what please the same
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if your heart desires to please god and to do what the will of god is why would god reject that prayer
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okay but oftentimes that's not where we go and that's not how we go to god okay and he follows that verse with something
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interesting in in verse 23 listen to what he says in verse 23 and this is the commandment that we
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believe in the name of his son jesus and love one another just as he has commanded us in other words
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if you're going to god with this kind of attitude you are most likely
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doing things to please the lord okay so he said john just said whatever we ask
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we receive from him because we keep his commandment and do what please is saying so he's going to summarize that commandment in
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verse 23 which he just did okay in the one phrase believe in the name of the son of god and love one
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another john is saying if this is the sentiment and your attitude
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at the root of every one of your prayer requests you will certainly receive what you're asking for because you'll be
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coming out of a selfless heart and a heart that seeks to first please god
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and seek the welfare of other people see if you go before god and all you want to do is seek the mind
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of god in order to to be an extension of his kingdom why would you reject it you know the lord's prayer our father
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was in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this
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day our daily bread okay so if you seek to be an extension of his kingdom here
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why would god reject it you see this is what john is saying if that's what your heart and attitude is when you go before
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prayer then you are most likely going to ask for things that are going to glorify the name of god and that are going to bring his kingdom
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down on earth and god is not going to reject that because god wants his word to be done
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on earth as it is in heaven so this is the thing that john is talking about if you go to james 4
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you see what god is not talking about listen what to what john james says in chapter four and this is a
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strong warning against us you're saying what causes fights among you it is not this that your passions are a
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war within you you desire and you do not have so you murder you covet and cannot obtain so you fight
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and quarrel you do not have because you do not ask you ask and do not receive because you
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ask wrongly that to spend it on your passions you ask and do not receive because you
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ask wrongly to spend it on your passions you are adulterous people do you not know that friendship with the
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world is enmity against god enmity with god therefore whoever
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wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of god or do you suppose it is not it is to no
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purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us
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but he gives more grace therefore he says god opposes the prophet gives grace to the humble
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submit yourself therefore to god resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to god and he will draw near
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to you cleanse your hands your sinners and purify your hearts you double minded be wretched and mourn
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and reap let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom humble yourself before the lord and you
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will exalt you see this is the motto this is how we go to god in humility
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we first a desire to seek his kingdom and his will first before we make our own prayer request
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because our prayer requests will begin to reflect the character of jesus and the character of god and therefore we're going to ask for
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things that are going to bring glory to his name and he is not going to reject those prayers and this is what john is saying here and
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then he finishes this with um verse 24 whoever whoever keeps his commandments
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abiding god and guarding him and by this we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom
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he has given us so john is basically saying how do you know that you abide in god he's given us the
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criteria for determining our position before god so abiding in
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god according to john will always result in keeping his commandments that's just a standard if you abide in
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god you will keep his commandments and john is again bringing that point to light again he's saying the only way
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you know that you live in god is by the holy spirit because the holy spirit will create in you and
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in many desires that are consistent with the character the mind and the will of god and paul
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said it it is god who works in us both to will and act according to his purpose so and
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this is what the holy spirit does so we've been talking about that since we started looking at uh the first
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epistle of john so god has granted us his spirit that we may bear
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his image so john is saying here how do you know and and whoever keeps his commandments
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abide in god and god in him when you when you when you keep his commandment you show by that that you
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abide in god because jesus said abide in me and i remain in you if you remain in me
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you bear much more fruit apart from me you can do nothing see the fruit of the spirit because the
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holy spirit lives in us so this is how we know that we belong to the truth if the holy spirit
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lives in you and the holy spirit will begin to bear fruit in your life and those those fruits are going to be
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always glorifying to god you're first going to love your brothers in christ you're going to love your brothers and sisters in christ now
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understand this you can disagree with another brother in christ it doesn't mean that you hate them
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but john what john is talking about here is like if you hate your brother in christ because of righteousness that you are proving by that that you
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are not a child of god we can have this agreement paul and and and barnabas had a disagreement they parted ways but they
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didn't hate each other okay we can have this agreement we can even say well i don't like when brother such and said does
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certain things i don't like it but you don't hate that brother you may disagree with it so that's why he's talking now if you're
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if your hatred for that brother is because of righteousness now you know there's something wrong with you because you know that
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that person bears the image of god just like you do so why do you hate him okay and so i just wanted to give you
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this to end um and study here so what's the takeaway do you love your brothers and sisters in
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christ according to the word of god do you have a hatred towards your brother and sisters in christ if you do
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then you may not be a child of god and i will exalt you to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith
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let's not fool each other okay so again because no child of god can hate another
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child of god because of the fruit of the spirit and this is what the scripture is saying the holy
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spirit cannot hit himself in another person so also my question is how is your prayer life
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does your prayer life reflect the character of god do you have you have you received answers from
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your prayers and if you when you when god honors a prayer of you you most likely you need to ask why do
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they honor that prayer and you're gonna see that most likely it's because that prayer will glorify his name
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okay because god is not gonna grant um selfish prayers okay god is in the
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business of glorifying his name and his work in our lives so he's not just gonna give you what you
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ask for name it and claim it now that's that isn't how it's not how it works seek you first the
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kingdom of god and his righteousness that's what we need to do okay first thing is is to find out the light in the
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lord as psalm 37 says delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart in a sense that when you find your
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pleasure in god he will begin to mold your prayer life it's going to change the way you
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pray because your prayers are going to begin to reflect the mind and the character of god this isn't
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name it and claim it kind of stuff no it is first we go into the presence of god in order
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to be changed and when you have changed we begin to reflect his character you know in romans 12 and
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the scripture says no longer conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing
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of your mind so that you can confirm what god's will is okay so basically when we begin to be
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transforming our minds our thinking we begin to pray as god will have us pray and we no longer pray
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because we want to get stuff but we pray because we want to glorify the name of our lord jesus christ
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okay and that shows in the way we love one another it shows in the way we pray it shows in a way
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uh we we laid our lives for the sake of the brothers and and john talks about it in this chapter all right again thanks for
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for this and and i'm hoping and looking forward to speaking with you again as we begin chapter four first john
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thank you and have a wonderful day