CONFIDENCE BEFORE CHRIST AT HIS COMING: Part III
I John 2:28 - 4:19
As taught by Dave Lindstrom
I. Manifesting Christ’s righteousness brings confidence to the believer (previous lesson I John 2:28 - 3:10a).
"In saying that the regenerate inward person (Rom. 7:22) keeps himself (from sin), John is not saying, of course, that our inner self can somehow prevent all sin in the Christian life. John’s discussion in 1:5-10 shows he could not mean something like that. What John means is that God’s "seed remains in" the regenerate inward self (I John 3:9) as the controlling element of his born again nature and is impervious to even the slightest contamination from the wicked one. Thus not only can Satan not defeat the regenerate man, but he cannot even touch him (I John 5:18). It is reassuring to remember that whatever failures may be, they do not really touch what we are at the core of our being as God’s children. In the last analysis, our failures are due to the sinful "programming" of our earthly bodies, as Paul himself taught in Romans 7:7-25. Christians need to know this. At the very moment that we are most humbled by our sinful failures, and when we confess them, it is helpful to be confident that those failures have not really changed what we are as children of God." Zane C. Hodges, "The Epistles of John," page 242.
II. Loving our fellow Christians with Christ’s love brings confidence to the believer(I John 3:10b - 3:23).
A. Believers are the only ones that can love other believers with Christ’s love. But it is a choice (I John 3:10b -12; John 13:34; Gen. 4). Choosing to love your brother reveals Christ’s life abiding in you (I John 3:13-15; Rom. 6:6-18).
B. Christ is the believers example for loving other believers (I John 3:16-17).
C. Choosing to love other believers quiets our inner core and increases our confidence with God in prayer (I John 3:18-23).
III. Abiding in the truth of Christ’s Spirit brings confidence to the believer (I Jn 3:24-4:16)
A. A believer has been given the Holy Spirit of God at the time of belief (I John 3:24; I Cor. 12:13; Rom. 8:9).
B. Believers need to "test the spirits" by testing if a person’s words line up with the historical and Biblical message about Jesus Christ (I John 4:1-6; 2 Cor. 4:4,5; 2 Cor. 11:3,4; Gal. 1:6-9). - I ask this question, "Do you believe that Jesus is the only God of the Universe (Son of God, Yahweh) who came into this world and lived, died, and rose again for the sins of the world (Jesus as Savior and the prophesied Christ) so that you personally might have eternal life through Him?
C. Believers who continue in the correct teaching of God’s love shown to this world through the work of God’s Son, Jesus the Christ, reveal the abiding Holy Spirit in them (I John 4:7-16).
IV. Manifesting Christ’s righteousness, loving fellow believers, and abiding in the truth of Christ’s Spirit brings inner and outer confidence to believers (I John 4:17-19).
A. In John’s mind, these true spiritual realities are the goal of ones faith between Christ’s first and second coming (I John 2:28; 3:2; 4:17).
B. He calls this perfected or matured love which brings confidence to a believer and eliminates fear (verses 17,18) to the glory of God (verse 19).
