June 2014

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

Any parent—or at least those recognized as good parents—knows that to love their children does not mean we give them whatever they want. Sometimes we give them things they don’t want, like the nutritious food instead of the snack. Or, worse yet, medicine. We don’t do whatever they want, but we do what’s best for them in a given situation, because we love them.

The same is true of God’s love for us. And it should be true of our love for others.

4:¹ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. ⁴ Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

We live in an age that has a very high level of credibility regarding things spiritual, but a very low level of discernment. Part of this is because of the widespread belief that truth is relative and any and all claims to spiritual insight are equally valid. This often stems from or is at least assisted by an intellectual laziness; rather than investigating varying truth claims it is easier to simply say they are all true, even if they are mutually exclusive. In the same way, many don’t even evaluate truth claims to see if they even square with the world they live in.

The following are a sampling of the best resources we made available over the last week on Monergism.com. May the Lord richly use the for His own glory and your edification.

Spirit Empowered Mission (14-Part MP3 Series)
by Dr. Arturo Azurdia III

Preaching the Gospel from the Old Testament - Part 1 & Part 2 (MP3s)
by Dr Raymond C Ortlund Jr.

A Body of Divinity (Free eBook)
by Thomas Watson

No Hope Outside of Christ
by Paul David Tripp

Exposition of Revelation 5:9 - Particular Redemption
by Dr. Arturo Azurdia III

The Immediate and Only Ground of Justification: The Imputed Righteousness of Christ
by James Buchanan

An Alien Righteousness
by B B Warfield

The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (Free eBook)
by John Owen

Persecuted for Righteousness' Sake: The Christian and Persecution
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

   
28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

    3 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

In the previous passage, John says, “Children, it is the last hour,” referring to the immanent return of Christ. He cites the appearance of those opposed to Christ has proof.

But surely the most amazing thing John says here is the fact that God loves us and calls us His children (3:1-2)! The Maker and Sustainer and Sovereign Lord of the universe loves us and has made us His own. Though we were estranged through Adam’s sin and our own, Christ Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, died in our place, turning aside God’s righteous anger and reconciling us to Him. And now He does not just tolerate us, he loves us.

This is the basis of our relationship as John talks of Christ’s return and our meeting Him. He speaks first of what we do with ourselves while we wait. Until that day, we simply abide. We remain in Him. As in John’s discussion of the antichrists, we don’t reject Christ or go looking elsewhere for salvation. We remain in Him (2:28). There might be trials and persecutions and disappointments and disillusionments. Hold on. Don’t give up. He is coming. And remember, God loves us.