Gary Gleans

Children,   it is the last hour, and as you have heard that   antichrist is coming, so now   many antichrists have come.   Therefore we know that it is the last hour.    They went out from us, but they were not of us; for   if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out,   that it might become plain that they all are not of us.    But you have been   anointed by   the Holy One, and   you all have knowledge.  I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.    Who is the liar but   he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is   the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.    No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.    Let   what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides i...

Do not love the world or the things in the world.   If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.    For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and   the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.    And   the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. The world and the Father are at opposition with one another and are competing for the loyalty of our hearts. Both are very influential and have life-altering impacts.  However, they have exact opposite effects on those they influence.  It is impossible to please both and is equally impossible to escape from either.  We are called to make continuous and conscientious choices between the world and the Father, because we can’t please both. OUR LOVES REVEAL OUR ALEGIANCES: The commandment to not love the world or the things in the world could not be cle...

I am writing to you, little children,   because   your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers,   because you know   him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men,   because   you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children,   because   you know the Father. I write to you, fathers,   because you know   him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men,   because   you are strong,   and the word of God abides in you,   and you have overcome the evil one. John seems to give us an interlude where he takes a break from his teachings about the two tests of genuine faith: obedience and love and addresses the church about stages of Christian maturity.  Just as in physical growth, there are stages of spiritual growth.  Unfortunately, there are believers who seem to be stuck in spiritual infancy.  By God’s grace there are believers who ma...

Beloved, I am writing you   no new commandment, but   an old commandment   that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.    At the same time, it is   a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and   the true light is already shining.    Whoever says he is in the light and   hates his brother is still in darkness.    Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no   cause for stumbling.    But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and   walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. John is giving us a commandment that is old but with a new twist.  The command to love is certainly an old command as it had already been made very clear throughout the Old Testament.  However, the revelation of Jesus ...

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin,   we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.    He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but   also for the sins of the whole world.    And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we   keep his commandments.    Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments   is a liar, and   the truth is not in him,   but whoever   keeps his word, in him truly   the love of God is perfected.   By this we may know that we are in him:   whoever says he   abides in him   ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. We have a problem.  Our biggest, most difficult problem to deal with is sin.  Jesus has come to give us victory over sin.  There is no way that any of us were capable of gaining this victory apart from Christ...

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that   God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.    If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and   do not practice the truth.    But   if we walk in the light,   as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and   the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.    If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and   the truth is not in us.    If we confess our sins, he is   faithful and just to forgive us our sins and   to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.    If we say we have not sinned,   we make him a liar, and   his word is not in us.     The Gospel offers us the most precious gifts imaginable.  The revelation of this amazing Gospel is the greatest privilege we have experienced.  Jesus came to reveal God and the Gospel and then invit...

That which was   from the beginning,   which we have heard,   which we have seen with our eyes,   which we looked upon and   have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life   was made manifest, and we have seen it, and   testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life,   which was with the Father and   was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed   our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.    And we are writing these things so   that our joy may be complete. The purpose for the coming of Christ was to save us from sin so that we might be reconciled to God and rejoice in our communion with Him and one another for eternity.  God created us to live in community.  This community was designed to experience the joy of bearing the image of God and worshiping Him together....

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him   without spot or   blemish, and   at peace.    And count   the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as   our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you   according to the wisdom given him,   as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.   There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction,   as they do the other Scriptures.    You therefore, beloved,   knowing this beforehand,   take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.  But   grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.   To him be the glory both now and to the day of   eternity. Amen. There is a real danger to believers who live in a fallen world.  Our faith is under ...

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and   a thousand years as one day.    The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise   as some count slowness, but   is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but   that all should reach repentance.    But   the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then   the heavens will pass away with a roar, and   the heavenly bodie s  will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.    Since all these things are thus to be dissolved,   what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,   waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and   the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!    But according to his promise we are waiting for   new heavens ...

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them   I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,   that you should remember the predictions of   the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,   knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come   in the last days with scoffing,   following their own sinful desires.    They will say, “Where is the promise of   his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”    For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth   was formed out of water and through water   by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed   was deluged with water and   perished.    But by the same word   the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, bein...

These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm.   For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.    For,   speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely   escaping from those who live in error.    They promise them   freedom,   but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.    For if,   after they have escaped the defilements of the world   through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome,   the last state has become worse for them than the first.    For   it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from   the holy commandment delivered to them.  What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The   dog returns to its own vomit, and t...