This chapter is a continuation of the previous chapter, where John now speaks of Jesus as being the Christian’s solution for sin, Romans 7:24-25 / Titus 2:11. John begins by addressing his audience as ‘my dear children’, 1 John 2:1, which suggests that he was older and speaking as one who is an elder of the flock, 1 John 2:12 / 1 John 2:28 / 1 John 3:7 / 1 John 3:18 / 1 John 4:4 / 1 John 5:21. It could also suggest that his audience were recent converts to the faith, 1 Corinthians 4:15 / 3 John 4.
He now reveals the second purpose for writing his letter, that is, ‘so that they will not sin’, 1 John 2:1. The emphasis here is that they don’t get into the habit of sinning so that it becomes a way of life, Hebrews 10:26 / 1 John 1:3 / Isaiah 59:1-2.
The good news is that if anyone does sin, that is, not deliberately, Hebrews 10:26, then Jesus, who is our advocate, intervenes on our behalf, 1 John 2:1 / Hebrews 7:25.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The emphasis is on Jesus Christ’s help after we have sinned. Since Jesus Christ is righteous, He is the perfect Advocate with God, Acts 3:14 / Acts 7:52.’
The Greek word for advocate is ‘parakletos’, John 14:16 / John 14:26 / John 15:26 / John 16:7. It means one who gets called to the side of another to help. Jesus can plead our case because He is close to the Father and the Holy Spirit, Hebrews 2:17-18 / Hebrews 8:1-6. Jesus can plead our case before the Father because He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, 1 John 2:2 / Romans 3:25 / 1 John 4:10.
Because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, He not only died for our sins but He died for the sins of the whole world, 1 John 2:2. In His dying for mankind, He removed the guilt of our sin, Romans 3:25 / Romans 8:1 / Hebrews 2:17, and we can now be at peace with God, Romans 5:1-2 / Romans 1:11 / 2 Corinthians 5:18-19.
Our sins being forgiven had nothing to do with the things that we did or do or are going to do. It’s all down to Jesus, it’s all down to His blood. All the gold and silver of the world cannot redeem us from our sins. All the material riches we can store up on some remote island cannot redeem us from our sins.
All the good deeds we can ever do for other people cannot redeem us from our sins, 1 Peter 1:18-19. The only thing that can redeem us from our sins is the precious blood of Jesus Christ, Ephesians 1:7 / Hebrews 2:9 / Hebrews 9:28.
John now proclaims that if anyone claims to know God, then they must keep His commands, 1 John 2:3 / James 1:22. Knowing Him is a phrase that John uses throughout his letter in an effort to reassure them of their salvation, 1 John 2:5 / 1 John 3:16 / 1 John 3:19 / 1 John 3:24 / 1 John 4:2 / 1 John 4:6 / 1 John 4:13 / 1 John 5:2.
Barclay, in his commentary, says the following.
‘To know God was not merely to know Him as the philosopher knows Him; it was to know Him as a friend knows Him. In Hebrew, the word to know is used of the relationship between husband and wife, and especially of the sexual act, the most intimate of all relationships, Genesis 4:1.’
Keeping God’s commands requires responding in obedience to His offer of grace and love for us, 1 John 4:19. It’s by knowing and being obedient to His will, that we come to know God better, 1 John 4:7-11 / John 17:3. The idea of keeping in His commands is a continuous action, we must continually obey His commands, otherwise we are liars and the truth is not in us, 1 John 2:4.
In other words, knowing God is one thing, but obeying his commands is another, and so, it’s only through our love of God’s Word and our obedient response to His word that we can claim to be following God, 1 John 2:4 / Mark 7:1-9 / John 15:10 / John 17:3 / Titus 1:16.
If we love God, then this should be demonstrated in our lives, John 14:15 / John 14:21 / John 14:23 / John 15:10 / 1 John 2:4. Our love for God must have legs attached, that is, it should be accompanied by action, Matthew 22:37-40 / Galatians 5:13-14 / Galatians 5:22-23 / 1 John 5:3.
When we practice this love, then God is made complete in us, 1 John 2:5. That is, because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, His blood will continue to cleanse us from our sin, 1 John 1:7. Through Christ’s blood, we can be presented complete to God, Colossians 1:28.
Because we are ‘in Him’, 1 John 2:6, that is, in Christ, Ephesians 1:4 / Ephesians 1:7, and because He is in us, Romans 8:10 / Galatians 2:20, then we should allow Him to control our lives in order for us to be able to live as Jesus did, 1 John 2:6 / 1 John 4:13. This is one reason God blessed us with the gift of the Holy Spirit at our baptism, Acts 2:38, in order to help us live as Jesus did.
The point John is making is that nobody can claim they know God and His Son if they refuse to do His will, John 14:15 / John 15:14 / 2 John 9-10. It is only those who live according to God’s will who will remain in fellowship with both the Father and Son, John 15:1-10 / John 15:14 / 1 John 1:3.
Stott, in his commentary, says the following.
‘We cannot claim to abide in Him unless we behave like Him.’
John reminds his readers that he isn’t writing a new command but an old one, 1 John 2:7, which is a reference to Jesus’ words concerning loving God and our neighbour, Matthew 22:37-40. In the Old Testament, God expected His people to love Him and their neighbours, Deuteronomy 10:19 / Leviticus 19:18 / Micah 6:8.
His readers had heard this old command since the beginning, 1 John 2:7, which probably refers to the time they first became Christians. When Jesus came along, He said that He gave His followers a new command, but what was new about it was the fact that they were to love God and their neighbours, as He had loved them, John 13:34-35 / 1 John 3:11 / 1 John 3:23 / 1 John 4:21 / 2 John 5.
Despite the commandment being old, it is still new, in the sense that Jesus demonstrated the sacrificial fullness of His love to mankind, that is, we must love as He loved us, John 13:34-35 / John 15:12-13 / 1 John 3:11 / 1 John 3:16.
The word ‘love’ used in the above passages is the Greek word ‘agape’, which implies seeking the very best for others, and it’s the kind of love that Jesus commands us to show even our enemies, Matthew 5:44.
Ryrie, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The life of Christ was one of self-sacrificing love; therefore, the proof of imitating him is exhibited in love. Love is that which seeks the highest good in the one loved; and since the highest good is the will of God, love is doing the will of God.’
John says that the ‘darkness is passing’, 1 John 2:8, which infers that ignorance passes when we become more knowledgeable of God and His will, Romans 13:12 / Galatians 1:4 / Ephesians 4:11-16 / Ephesians 5:8 / Colossians 1:13.
As the darkness passes, we come to understand that Jesus is the true light who has brought to light the Gospel, 1 John 2:8 / John 3:19-21 / John 8:12 / John 1:5 / Romans 13:12. The more people hear the Gospel, the more the darkness, that is, their ignorance, is cleared away, Acts 17:19-31.
Here again, John emphasises that we can’t claim to be in the light, and yet at the same time hate your brother and sister in Christ, 1 John 2:9 / 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 / 2 Peter 1:9.
The word ‘hate’ simply means to love less, Matthew 6:24 / Matthew 24:10 / Luke 14:26 / Luke 16:13. If we do, then we are still in the darkness, 1 John 2:9 / 1 John 1:6-7, we’re living and acting as the world does, Matthew 6:23 / Romans 13:12-14 / 2 Corinthians 6:14 / 1 Thessalonians 5:5 / Ephesians 2:1-3.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following concerning 1 John 2:9.
‘This verse contains a concrete example of what John had been talking about. It is another claim to intimate fellowship with God that behaviour shows is spurious, 1 John 1:6 / 1 John 1:8 / 1 John 1:10 / 1 John 2:4 / 1 John 2:6. Hatred of other Christians is a sure sign that one is not walking with God in close fellowship.’
Remember that the love which John is describing has legs attached; it’s an active love, not an emotional feeling, 1 John 3:18 / 1 John 5:3 / Galatians 5:6. This is the kind of love that looks out for our brothers and sisters, James 2:14-17, the kind of love which wants nothing but the best for them, Matthew 18:7 / Romans 13:8-10 / Romans 13:14 / 2 Peter 1:10. It’s the person who truly lives in the light and doesn’t want to cause anyone to stumble, 1 John 2:10.
Anyone who claims to love their brother and sister in Christ but doesn’t demonstrate this love towards them is still walking in the darkness and doesn’t know where they are going, 1 John 2:11 / 1 John 1:6 / John 12:35.
As a result of walking in the darkness, they have become blind because they sin in not loving their brothers and sisters as they should, 2 Corinthians 4:4 / Hebrews 3:13 / 2 Peter 1:5-9 / John 12:35 / Luke 11:35 / John 3:19 / Romans 1:21 / 2 Corinthians 6:14 / Ephesians 5:8 / Ephesians 6:12 / Colossians 1:13.
Bruce, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Who did John have in mind when he addressed his readers as little children, fathers, and young men? Perhaps he meant those who physically fell into these categories. If he did, what about his female readers and others who were not in these categories? Perhaps he was thinking of those in his audience who were in their spiritual development, children, men, and youths.’
Some commentators suggest that 1 John 2:12-14 describes the spiritual development of a Christian. The children are new Christians, spiritual babies, the young men have grown in their faith, and the fathers are those who are spiritually mature.
John now addresses those who are children, those who are fathers and those who are young men. The children, 1 John 2:12, which is the word ‘teknia’ in Greek, 1 John 2:12, were probably those who were new converts, Acts 22:16 / 1 Peter 2:1-2.
These children would grow and become young men, that is, the word ‘paidia’ in Greek, which implies older children. These were the Christians who had great spiritual strength, as did the physical strength of young men. The fathers were those who had been Christians the longest, and so, had spiritually grown the most.
John reminds the children that their sins have been forgiven, 1 John 2:12 / 1 John 1:7 / 2 John 2:2 / Acts 22:16, and they can know they have been forgiven because they know the Father, 1 John 2:12 / 1 John 2:14.
Our sins have been forgiven on the account of Jesus’ Name, Luke 24:47 / Acts 4:12. Our sins were forgiven at our baptism, Acts 2:38 / Acts 22:12-16, and we are continually cleansed of our sins through the blood of Jesus, 1 John 1:7.
The fathers, those who are more mature in the faith, knew the Father from the beginning, 1 John 2:13 / 1 John 2:14, that is, from the start of their Christian journey, and so they too will know that their sins have been forgiven.
The young men had overcome the evil one, 1 John 2:13, that is, the devil, 2 Timothy 2:22 / James 4:7. They did this because of the strength they received from God when they allowed God’s Word to live and direct their lives, 1 John 2:14 / Jeremiah 10:23 / Acts 20:32 / Colossians 3:16 / 1 Thessalonians 2:13 /1 John 1:10.
We can let God’s Word direct our steps or let human philosophy direct our steps, Colossians 2:8. We can let God’s Word direct our steps or let false doctrine direct our steps, 1 John 4:1. God has given us His Word for a reason, and that reason is to guide our steps, Psalm 119:105.
When we get to know God and His Word, we won’t want to sin against Him, and it’s through reading His Word that He gives us the strength to overcome any desire, Psalm 119:11.
It’s through His Word we find the strength to dismiss any human philosophy. It’s through His Word that we can find the strength to dismiss any false doctrine we come across in life.
John commands his readers not to love the world, 1 John 2:15. This is the Greek word ‘kosmos’, which refers to an organised society in general. Christians shouldn’t allow themselves to think as the world does, or behave as the world does, Colossians 3:1-2 / Romans 12:2.
Christians aren’t to love anything in the world, 1 John 2:15, that is, they’re not to allow themselves to be influenced by any evil values or morals that the world demonstrates, Matthew 6:24 / Romans 8:5 / Romans 12:2 / 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 / Colossians 3:1-2 / James 1:14-15 / James 4:4 / 1 John 4:4.
John again reminds us of obedience and where our true loyalty really is, if we love the world, then the Father isn’t in us, 1 John 2:15. Many Christians feel they need to compromise their relationship with what God says in relation to what the world says, but this shouldn’t happen, because there is no compromising God and His Word, Revelation 3:15-16.
Many Christians leave the faith because their love for the world was greater than their love for God, 1 Timothy 1:19-20 / 2 Timothy 2:16-18 / 2 Timothy 4:10. Many Christians leave the faith because the temptation to sin was too great, Luke 8:13 / James 1:12-16. Many Christians leave the faith because of false teachers, 1 John 4:1 / Matthew 7:15 / Ephesians 4:14.
John says the things that don’t come from the Father but come from the world are ‘the lust of the flesh’, 1 Timothy 6:11, the lust of the eyes, 2 Timothy 2:22, and the pride of life’, 1 John 2:16 / Matthew 4:1-10. These are all temptations that lure us away from our love for God, Romans 1:24 / Romans 6:12 / 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 / Galatians 5:16-23 / Ephesians 2:3 / 2 Peter 2:18.
Notice what the Bible says in Genesis 3:6. Lust of the flesh, she saw it was good for food. Lust of the eyes, she saw it was pleasing to the eyes. Pride of life, she said it was desirable for gaining wisdom, Genesis 3:1-6.
There was an appeal there because if there is no appeal, there’s no temptation, and so sin had an appeal. Temptations are often produced by looking at things in an evil manner, Ecclesiastes 5:11 / Matthew 5:28 / 1 Corinthians 13:5-6.
Hebrews talks about ‘the fleeting pleasures of sin’, Hebrews 11:24-26, and here John reminds us that the world and its desires are passing away, 1 John 2:17 / 1 Corinthians 7:31 / 2 Corinthians 4:18 / 1 Peter 1:24 / 2 Peter 3:10-11.
Those who love the world and get involved with the sins of the world won’t inherit eternal life, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 / Galatians 5:19-21, but those who love the Father and do His will, will be blessed with eternal life, 1 John 2:16 / 1 John 5:13.
John again uses his favourite phrase, he says ‘dear children’, 1 John 2:18. He uses the term ‘children’ eighteen times throughout his three letters and in 1 John, he uses the term ten times.
This tells us that John is writing this letter to the Christians at that time as a loving father would write to his own children. In doing so, he is warning them about a problem that was very real in his day, that is, the antichrist, 1 John 2:18.
Now it is very interesting that John is the only writer of the New Testament who uses the term ‘antichrist’. He uses the term five times: 1 John 2:18 / 1 John 2:22 / 1 John 4:2-3 / 2 John 7.
We’re living in a society where many people believe that the term ‘antichrist’ is used to refer to an individual. In other words, they believe ‘the antichrist’, singular, will appear in the end times.
For example, some believe that an actual person will arise in the religious-political arena and lead many people astray just before Christ comes again. This view is held by premillennialists and many amillennialists.
But to understand what John means, we need to ask ourselves the question. Who are the antichrists? 1 John 2:18. Unlike popular public belief, the answer is not a mystery but quite simple. It’s simple because John tells us the answer is quite simple.
In John’s day, not sometime in the future, but in John’s day, the antichrists, not ‘one antichrist’ but ‘many antichrists’, 1 John 2:18, were individuals who had associated themselves with the apostles and other Christians.
But what these people did was that they had gone out on their own and were no longer in fellowship with the apostles, hence, why they went out and didn’t really belong to them, 1 John 2:19. In other words, these people weren’t approved by the apostles. Why? Quite simply because they didn’t respect the apostle’s authority, 1 John 4:3-6.
Many ‘antichrists’ behave the same way today; they start out acting like they respect apostolic authority and seek to be with Christians, but eventually their true nature comes out, and they will not want to be with those who respect apostolic authority very long. Those who reject the apostles, reject Christ Himself, and so in effect, they have the spirit of the antichrist, John 13:20.
Again, in John’s day, he says that these people denied that Jesus is the Christ, 1 John 2:22. Remember, in John’s day, there was a big problem with Gnosticism. A Gnostic is a person who says, ‘a divine God couldn’t possibly come in the flesh because the flesh is too sinful.’
Many people in John’s day and even today allege that Jesus and Christ are two different persons. They believe that Christ merely appeared to have flesh, but in reality, didn’t.
Some believe that Christ descended upon Jesus at His baptism and departed at the time of His suffering. It is that denial that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, John 1:1-2 / John 1:14, that John identifies as the spirit of the antichrist, 1 John 4:3.
John says another way to spot the spirit of the antichrist is that they deny the Father and the Son, 1 John 2:22. In other words, by denying that Jesus is the Christ, they were denying the Son, John 1:1-2 / John 1:14.
In other words, because of their denial, they are refusing to believe that Jesus came from the Father. And by denying the Son, they were also denying the Father, 1 John 2:23 / John 13:20.
Is the antichrist a character soon to be revealed on the stage of world events? Let’s look at some of the views of Dispensationalists, which is currently the most popular form of premillennialism, because they have much to say about ‘the antichrist.’ According to these guys, they would have us believe that the antichrist is a man, now living, who will soon rise to the position of a worldwide dictator.
Over the years, in reference to the ‘spirit of the antichrist,’ countless people and groups have attempted to identify the antichrist. Simply type in the word “antichrist” on the internet, and you will be immersed in suggested personalities such as the Roman Emperor Nero, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and the Pope, which are but a few of the candidates put forth.
In most cases, ‘the antichrist’ is supposed to be connected with the end of the world, the number 666, and various other ‘signs of the times.’ John specifically says that many antichrists had already come into the world, 1 John 2:18. If his readers were looking for a single, solitary figure distinguished as the sole antichrist, John took that notion away by saying to them that ‘many antichrists had come’, 1 John 2:18.
Remember that John is referring to those of the Gnostic persuasion. If John was talking about a mysterious antichrist who is some sinister personage who is to appear in the late twenty-first century, why would he say that many antichrists are already in the world, 1 John 2:18 / 1 John 4:3?
John says the spirit of the antichrist is already here, in John’s day. In John’s day, these ‘antichrists’ claimed to belong with the apostles, but they left, which demonstrated they never belonged with them in the first place, 1 John 1:19.
The way we guard ourselves against the spirit of the antichrists is by going to the people who have already experienced it. We guard ourselves in the same way John told his readers to guard themselves. And the way John tells them is by reminding them of their ‘anointing,’ 1 John 2:20 / 1 John 2:27.
John says that this ‘anointing is from the Holy One’ in 1 John 2:20, and it was this anointing that enabled them to know ‘about all things’, 1 John 2:20. It also enabled them so that they ‘didn’t need anyone to teach them,’ 1 John 2:27.
As far as my studies have led me to believe, John is talking about the ‘gifts of the Spirit’, which, as you know, in New Testament times served to provide both Revelation and confirmation of the truth for the early church.
These gifts of the Spirit were given by the ‘laying on of the apostle’s hands,’ Acts 6:5-6 / Acts 8:14-19, so that the early church in this case could identify the ‘antichrists’ without John’s help, 1 Corinthians 12:10. And so, despite having this ‘anointing’, they still needed to be encouraged to continue in what they had learned from the Spirit, 1 John 2:24-25.
Remember just because they had ‘gifts of the Spirit’, this didn’t keep them from sinning, or being misled, 1 John 2:26. It was only by paying attention to that which ‘they had heard from the beginning’, 1 John 2:24, that they would be able to continue to abide in the Son and in the Father and receive the promise of eternal life!
As Christians today don’t have the ‘anointing’ like John’s readers did, although many religious groups do claim this. But if that were the case, then we wouldn’t need the Scriptures, according to what we read in 1 John 2:21 and 1 John 2:27, only the self-deceived would make such a claim today!
We do, however, have something just as good: we have the Word of God, which is the ‘sword of the Spirit’, Ephesians 6:17. We have ‘the faith once delivered unto the saints,’ Jude 3.
In other words, we have something which we use as the standard by which we can know the truth, 1 John 2:21. And because of that truth we find in the Bible, we can avoid lies and being misled by subjective feelings that can be mistaken for some sort of prompting of the Spirit, Proverbs 14:12.
With the Scriptures, we have all we need to know God’s will, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 / 2 Peter 1:3. Just like John’s readers, we need to be encouraged to continue in what we have learned from the Spirit-given Word.
But remember, just because we have the Word of God does not ensure that we won’t be misled by others. That’s why, unless we study and apply the Word, we are open to deceptions by modern-day ‘antichrists’, who are liars and deny Jesus is the Christ and His relationship with the Father, 1 John 2:22-23. As John urged his readers almost two thousand years ago, so we must today test the spirits, 1 John 4:1.
There may not be many professing Christians who deny Jesus is the Christ, or that He came in the flesh; there are many who reject the authority of the apostles by the manner in which they disregard the Scriptures!
The solution then remains the same for us; we must allow what we heard, that is, the Gospel concerning Jesus, to remain in us, 1 John 2:24 / Romans 6:3-6 / 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
When we obey the Gospel, we come into fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19-20 / Romans 6:3 / Galatians 3:26-27. As a result of our obeying the Gospel, we enter into fellowship with the Father and the Son, and they direct our lives, John 14:23 / Acts 20:32 / 1 Thessalonians 2:13 / 1 John 1:6-9 / 2 John 6.
As the Father and Son direct our lives, we remember the promise of eternal life, 1 John 2:25, which has been given to everyone who obeys the Gospel, John 17:3 / Philippians 3:9 / Hebrews 6:18-19 / Titus 1:2 / Revelation 14:13. As Christians, we can be confident that we will be saved if we remain faithful to Him, 1 John 1:6-10 / 1 John 5:11.
John now gives another reason for why he wrote to these Christians: there were some who were trying to lead them astray, 1 John 2:26 / Acts 20:29 / 1 Timothy 4:1-3 / 1 John 2:18 / 2 John 7. It appears that those who went out from the community of the Christians were still affecting the faithful, 1 John 2:19 / 1 John 4:1-6.
Earlier, John told them to guard themselves against the spirit of the antichrist by reminding them of their ‘anointing,’ 1 John 2:27. He said that their anointing enabled them to know ‘about all things’, and here he says that their anointing would also enable them so that they ‘didn’t need anyone to teach them’, 1 John 2:27.
In other words, what the Holy Spirit taught the disciples was true, and so, they didn’t need the false teachers to teach them anything concerning the fundamental truths of Christianity, Acts 2:38-39 / Acts 8:18 / Ephesians 4:4-6 / 1 John 2:20.
The words remain in you, 1 John 2:27, refer to that which remains in them, that is, God, 1 Corinthians 3:16 / 1 Corinthians 6:16 / Philippians 2:13 / 1 Thessalonians 1:1 / 1 John 4:11-16.
The Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:17 / Romans 8:10 / Galatians 2:20 / Ephesians 3:17, the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:11 / 1 Corinthians 3:16 / Galatians 5:16, and the will of the Godhead, Philippians 2:5 / 1 Corinthians 2:16 / Colossians 3:16 / 1 John 2:14.
John now gives us three conditions in which Jesus will find people when He returns.
1. When Christ returns, ‘He is going to find some people who are ashamed’, 1 John 2:28.
Some people will be ashamed because they denied the Lord Himself, 1 John 4:3-5, but John says that many people deny the Lord in many different ways. Some will deny Jesus by word, just like Peter did, Matthew 26:69-75.
Some people deny Jesus by the way they live their lives, Titus 1:16, and some people deny Jesus by denying His words, Mark 8:38. Some other people will be ashamed when Christ returns because they rebelled at the commands of the Gospel, Thessalonians 1:8-9.
And then Jesus will find those who will feel shame more than anyone else, and that is, those who trample underfoot the Son of God, Hebrews 10:26-31 / 1 Timothy 4:1-6 / 2 Peter 2:20-22.
All these people will feel shame more than any other person because they had the truth, they once lived by the truth, but ultimately they turned their backs on the truth.
2. John tells us about the second condition, and that is, ‘people who are confident’, 1 John 2:28.
If we have the confidence of knowing that God means what He says, 2 Peter 3:9. A Christian can have confidence in the fact that God will reward the faithful with everlasting life, 2 Timothy 4:7-8. Because when Jesus returns, there will be no middle ground; it’s either eternal punishment or eternal life, Matthew 25:46.
Confident people will do what the Lord commands, 1 John 2:3-5. Confident people are always going to be busy working for the Lord, 1 Corinthians 15:58. Confident people are born again of genuine love for the Lord, 1 John 4:17. This love causes people to want to obey God and to delight in that obedience, 1 John 5:3.
Confidence means obeying God fully, and confidence means that God really does love us because we understand that God is love. For the Christian, fear shouldn’t even be in your vocabulary concerning the judgment, Romans 8:1 / 1 John 4:18. It’s all about confidence, confidence in God, confidence in His promises and confidence in His Son’s blood.
3. Christ will find faithful people when He returns, 1 John 2:29.
However, before anyone can continue in Him, they must first get in Him. Because it’s only the in Christ people that are truly the children of God, according to Galatians 3:26.
It’s only the in Christ people that are truly a new creation, according to 2 Corinthians 5:17. It’s only the in Christ people that are truly redeemed and forgiven of sins, according to Ephesians 1:7.
A person gets in Christ or into Christ by being baptised into Christ, Galatians 3:26-27 / Romans 6:3-4. Jesus will find faithful Christians who don’t trust in their own merit but trust in the blood of the One who is returning, 1 John 1:7-2:1-2.
Because when He does return, He’s not coming to give the world another chance, Hebrews 9:28. When Jesus comes, those same Christians shall be made just like Him, Philippians 3:20-21 / 1 John 3:1-3.
John says that Jesus is the righteous One, 1 John 2:29 / Acts 22:14, and if we know this, then we too should do what is right in His eyes, John 14:15. When we do this, then we can certainly claim that we have been born of Him, 1 John 2:29 / John 3:1-12 / Matthew 7:15-23 / 1 Peter 1:23.
Those born again are obedient to God’s commands, 1 John 3:9 / 1 John 3:18 / 1 John 4:7 / 1 John 5:1 / 1 John 5:4 / 1 John 5:18. Those born again are truly God’s children, 1 John 3:1-2 / 1 John 3:10 / 1 John 5:2 / John 3:3-5 / Galatians 3:26-27.