Verses 1-3
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What a privilege to be called the children of God! God's love is shown through Christ dying for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8), even His enemies, and in that He has adopted us to be His own children (Ephesians 1:5-6).
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And even more than, God has granted to us that, when we see Jesus, we will be made just like Him—we'll be given a new body that will be just like the body Jesus now has (Philippians 3:21).
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Keep in mind that if you are not here on earth when Christ returns, you will receive your new, glorified body as soon as you enter heaven. It is when we see Jesus that we are made like Him, and since we will see Jesus when we enter heaven, in heaven we will put on our new body (2 Corinthians 5:1-5).
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Knowing that you will be like Jesus in heaven, you should pursue being like Jesus now. Everyone who is truly looking forward to the kingdom will seek to live like a person in the kingdom now.
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How would you behave if you had your glorified body? Behave like that now! Make it your goal to attain the lifestyle of one who possesses a resurrected, glorified body (Philippians 3:11-12).
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Verses 4-9
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Sin is breaking God's law. We sin when we disobey anything that God asks of us.
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Don't think of sin as the things that man views as immoral or destructive. God says that sin—and thus, all that is destructive—is simply disobedience to His commands. Do what God says, not what any man says, and you will avoid sin.
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And Jesus came to destroy sin (the ultimate work of the devil), so that we would not practice sin any longer.
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So, the test of a true believer in Jesus is not what they profess, but what they practice. A person who practices obedience to God and repentance from sin, with faith in Jesus, is the one who is truly saved.
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Practice obedience to the Word, and teach others to do the same, and you will be a true believer producing true believers.
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Verses 10-18
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Practicing righteousness, to show that one is a true believer, also includes having love for others—especially other believers.
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The world will hate us, but we should be different. We should love. If we still have hate for people, we are murderers; for in God's eyes, hatred is murder (Matthew 5:21-22).
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And since no murderer can be saved unless he repents, anyone who stays in hatred cannot be saved unless they repent (Galatians 5:21).
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Don't let yourself be bitter or hateful even for a moment. Quickly forgive. This is a good step to learning to be loving.
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To continue to grow in love, practice sacrifice. Along with relationship-building, love is sacrifice. In this way, show love in your actions, and from a sincere heart, not in mere words.
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In fact, we are not loving at all if it's not inconvenient or uncomfortable. Why? Jesus showed love by yielding Himself to torture and death for our benefit, as a model for us to follow (John 13:34). If loving someone is easy, and it doesn't cost you anything, it's not the love of Jesus, and therefore it's not love at all.
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Loving those who love us in return isn't God's kind of love because even unbelievers love those who love them (Matthew 5:44-47).
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It's only when we love our enemies, or love when it's hard, that we make a sacrifice. When we sacrifice what's convenient or preferred—when we serve others at our own expense, expecting nothing in return—that's when we have truly shown love.
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Do anything for someone else's benefit, when it's an inconvenience to yourself, and you will grow in love.
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Similarly, when we resist temptation to sin, and obey God instead, we are showing the same love to God; we are inconveniencing the flesh—denying the flesh what it wants—in order to please God.
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Verses 19-21
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When we practice love and righteousness, we know that we are being true believers, and this brings confidence before God. If we are continuing in any sin, we will feel guilty and disobedient, and therefore we will lack confidence before God—we will feel ashamed before Him (1 John 2:28).
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However, there are times when we are practicing righteousness and repenting of sin the best we know how, but we might still feel ashamed, timid, or guilty.
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In these moments, remember that God knows you are His child (Romans 8:16) and that you have His grace. What God knows is more important than what your heart feels.
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So, don't base your entire sense of assurance on your behavior, but on Christ and His grace. We can only have confidence before God because of the blood of Jesus (1 John 2:2, Hebrews 10:19).
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However, your behavior does play a part in your confidence, because your behavior shows whether you are abiding in Christ or not (1 John 2:6, 3:24, John 15:10).
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Overall, to be confident in your salvation and your walk with God, you need to (1) stay mindful of God's grace (so you can feel forgiven and not become legalistic or self-reliant), but also (2) practice obedience (so that you love God and avoid misusing His grace). Without these two things together, you won't have confidence.
Verses 22-23
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Confidence before God will show up in the form of faith in our prayers. We can have confidence that our prayers will be answered if we are living obediently by believing in Jesus along with loving others in our actions.
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Obedience will increase your faith and make your prayers more effective.
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Verse 24
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John reestablishes the same truth here, that when we believe in Jesus and show it by loving others according to the Word, we live in Him and stay close to Him.
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And the Holy Spirit dwelling within us proves that we belong to Jesus.