1 John 2:1-29

One of the greatest blessings that we can have is the assurance of our salvation in Christ.  In a world where there are so many false teachers and pretenders it is very important that we know that we have believed the truth.  As always, the process of determining the truth involves examining evidence.  John lets us know what evidence to examine in order to be assured of the genuine work of God in our lives.
OBEDIENCE TO THE COMMANDS OF CHRIST: Christ has saved us from sin in order to set us free from the power of sin in our lives.  Obedience to the commands of Christ is the clearest demonstration that we have truly been set free from the power of sin.  There are those who use the grace of God as means of freedom to sin and not freedom from sin.  We can be assured that those who have faith in this false teaching have been deceived and are imposters.  It is God’s will that we be obedient to His Word.  We must walk the way that He walked if we are going to live where He lives.  True faith in Christ will always result in fellowship with God.  True fellowship with God will always result in a hatred of sin and obedience to the commands of Christ.
LOVE OF THE BRETHREN OF CHRIST: Christ has always summed up His commandments in love.  If we love God and love others, we are keeping the commandments.  We all naturally love ourselves, but to love others is evidence of the supernatural work of Christ in our lives.  True faith will always result in true love.  Many times our love is a shallow love or it is a self seeking love.  We love because of our own self-interests.  Chris’s love is always a sacrificial love that flows out of pure motives.  When Christ is present in our lives He fills our hearts with His kind of love so we can be sure that our faith is genuine if we truly love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
ABIDE IN THE TRUTH OF CHRIST: There are many fascinating temptations and many false teachings that bombard our hearts.  We are tempted by our flesh, our eyes, and our own pride.  We are exposed to false teachers who promote false doctrines and sinful practices.  The true believe is inhabited by the Holy Spirit who controls lusts and contradicts lies.  He expels the sin from our lives and He exposes the false teachings of anti-Christ.  Those who have a genuine faith will be aware of the dangers of their own hearts as well as the deceit of the devil.  They will reject that which is false, turn from what is sinful and abide in the truth of Christ.   

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