Old Jerry

Cain resented Abel because Abel's offering was accepted by God and Cain’s wasn’t. Cain killed Abel because God accepted Abel’s offering and not his. The story of Cain and Abel illustrates Jesus’ explanation of why the world hates us because we are accepted by God. We have something to look forward to when we die and they don’t.

The way that John is teaching us on sin and righteousness in this passage help us to combat false teaches by telling us that if we are truly God’s people then we will not want to sin. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us where the false teachers are trying to tell us that we have no hope. That it is ok to sin because if we have a loving father he is willing to forgive them.

I think that the presence of God’s seed in us keeps us from habitual lawlessness and sin because we will be trying to go against his will. We know his will because of God’s seed and the study of the Bible.

Lawlessness shows up in a person’s attitude and actions because he doesn’t think that he has to obey common courtesies. If it is a common courtesy to remove your hat they leave it on. They never thank people for what they have done for them. The sense that the attitude of lawlessness is the cause of our sins in our lives is that we don’t honor God and we are always doing things our way and not God’s way.

If we want to be resurrected at the day that Christ returns then we are to live a life worth that resurrection. If we don’t expect Jesus to return then we would probably change our life style. To purify ourselves means that we have done that best that we can to turn away from sin. That doesn’t mean that we don’t sin it just means that we have done our best not to sin therefore only Jesus can take care of the rest.

We are children of God in the sense that we have been adopted. Jesus has made it possible to be adopted into the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is part of the family and is in us to help us when we pray and to keep us on track of doing what God wants us to do. This will change us because we are going to want to be like Jesus.

We need the teachers in the church to help us understand what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us. We also need them so that we can better understand the Scriptures. The anointing brings the Holy Spirit to us and then if we have the gift of teaching we will be able to do that better. But if we have some other gift we will also be able to honor God in that gift that He gave us.

I think that to abide in Jesus is to talk about him and talk to him and be with him at all times. An example of what a Christian might be doing to “abide” in Jesus is to go on mission trips, teach the word of God, and to help the poor. The symptoms in a Christian that is not “abiding” in Jesus is that they are going out to get drunk all the time, not helping those who need help and keeping his own interests in mind at all times.

I think that the way that the Holy Spirit is an internal Guide for us that when we do something that we shouldn’t do it are on our conscience and it brothers us. The Holy Spirit teaches us by putting on our hearts that we should be reading the Bible and talking to God.

The “anointing” that John is talking about is having the Holy Spirit being put in them. The way that anointing is connected to the Holy Spirit in the Bible by the anointing we can receive the Holy Spirit. I think that each genuine Christian has received this anointing.

The antichrist that John expects to come is going to be somebody against the church that has a great influence on the world. To the best of his ability he will turn everybody against Christ. The difference between that antichrist and the antichrists in the church that John is writing to is that the antichrist is in this case is just a few people talking against Jesus. The antichrist that is to come will have influence over the whole world. The ways that we see the spirit of antichrist at work in our day is all the court rulings that go against the principles of the bible. People are not attending church and they aren’t reading their Bible. They have moved into this world and are enjoying all that it has to give to them.

The three kinds of sins that are covered by the worldliness that John gives is the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the pride of life. This is difficult for us to discern in ourselves because some of these things bring great pleasure to us. Therefore we cannot see why they can be bad for us. These things are so harmful to our future because they do not please God.

The world is those things that we crave that are not in God’s will. The world is the love for money, love for possessions, and ****. Those these are not all the things that distract us from God it is the things that I can think of right now.

I think that John is encouraging them because there was probably something or someone who was trying to convince them that they weren’t the right path. They need to be encouraged so that their strength would be stronger in the Lord. He encouraged them by telling them that if they keep on the path that they are going then God will be with them.

By hating and not forgiving others blinds us spiritually because it keeps this is on our hearts all the time. It will eat at you and the other person may not even know that something is wrong and they can live a life of joy. So if we have been darkened by a hurt or a hate we can come into the light by forgiving that person.

I think that one of the ways that we can be serious about obeying Christ without becoming legalistic and judgmental is to keep our eye on what we are doing. If we are watching what we are doing then it doesn’t matter what others are doing. We are not to compare ourselves to others. Love is doing things that come from the heart to help others. But legalism is doing it because the law says we have to do it. That is not from the heart. We do things because we know that pleases God and because of the law.

John assures us that if we do sin we have an advocate who will speak to the Father in our defense. This can comfort us because then we can to our best not to sin but if and when we do we have somebody that has our back.

I would define confession as saying something in confidence to someone about my short comings. Confessing our sins is so important because that kind of relieves us from what we know is going against God's law. If we stop confessing our sins it seems like all that pressure from the sins that we have been committing is just building up on us. The promise that is if we confess our sins is that we will be forgiven.

The result when a Christian walks in darkness and willfully does what they know to be wrong they are separated from God. We like to think that we are with God when we sin but that is a self-deception. The result of walking in the light is that we will have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus will cleans us from all sin. The way we get back into the light is to confess our sins and to repent.

The reason that our fellowship with fellow Christians so often is just on the surface level is because we are always in a hurry. We don’t want to get to know each other. We are always off to do something important forgetting that this fellowship is probably the most important thing that we could be doing. The think that it would take to deepen our level of fellowship so it is authentically Christian is to get to know the other person better. That would mean spending time with them and talking about the important things in life.

I think that eternal punishment is mentioned at the end of the prophecy of Isaiah because Isaiah wanted it to be known that no matter what God does for us there will still be those who will not believe and that this nonbeliever is going to suffer the consequences. The enduring eternal kingdom is mentioned so that those who do not believe will see what they will be missing. Everybody that accepts Jesus Christ as their savior will be included in this kingdom. The non-believers will be excluded.

I don’t think that God is prohibiting worship in the temple. He is trying to make the point that they are to be worshiping Him with their heart and not the things that they do. He wants them to turn to Him fully. Maybe the temple was a distraction for this to take place so He told them not to worship in the temple.

I think that the reason that the final state is referred to as the new heavens and new earth is because they will be new. God is going to do away with what is here right now and create something new. Isaiah 65:19 talks about the end of pain and sorrow. Isaiah 65:24 mentions instant communication. Isaiah 65:25 illustrates the peace of this Kingdom.

The basis of Israel’s expectation of salvation according to the prophecy is that they are going to make up to God and that God will accept them. He has always loved them but they are going to repent and obey him. That teaches us that we are always sinners but we need to repent of our sins earnestly. That we are sinners and that only God can forgive us our sins. He is always there and is always willing to forgive us.

According to this passage the Jewish people will be the cream of the crop. Christians will be included in these blessings. Even though God knows our problems and He knows how to handle them, He still wants us to talk to him. Therefore He is telling the people that He wants them to talk to him even though He has a plan all worked out.