EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/30/2025 10:10 PM
My Worship Time
Focus: “Faith In Jesus Christ”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 3:23
Message of the verse: “23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.”
This is the second to last section in this chapter
from John MacArthur’s commentary as they have been rather short after a long
introduction to this section.
Now as believers we enter the Christian life through the God-given- gift of faith that endures as seen in Ephesians 2:8-9, Christians can draw assurance from the reality that they never stop believing in the name of His Son Jesus Christ; the faith that saves can never die, and for that wonderful truth I am thankful, and will be thankful forever. This foundational faith is in response to His [God’s] command and results in continued obedience to His mandate which is to love one another (Eph. 2:8-10; Heb. 12:1-2).
Now quoting from John MacArthur’s commentary we
learn that “Saving faith contains three inseparable and essential elements,
which John has reiterated throughout the epistle; faith, love, and eagerness to
obey. In this verse, believe translates an
aorist form of the verb pisteuo and
refers to a point in time when one believed.
But that act produces continuing results that last for the remainder of
a believer’s life. The object of faith
is the name of…Jesus Christ; His name denotes all that He is (including the
fact that He is both Savior and Lord, cf. Phil. 2:9-11). Believing in the name of Christ is an
important, oft-repeated New Testament theme (John 3:15-16; 20:31; Acts 16:31;
cf. Mark 1:15; Luke 24:47), especially in this letter (2:12; 4:2, 15). It was the reason John wrote both his gospel
(20:31) and his first epistle (5:13).”
Let us take a moment to look at these two verses found in this last
sentence: “but
these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John
20:31). “These things I have written to
you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you
have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).
This verse has two different peoples spoken of. The first is for those who do not believe,
and the second is for those who have believed as it has a direct bearing on the
lives of the redeemed. To those who
already believe, R. S. Candlish exhorts”
“Keep on believing. Continue to
believe more and more, simply because you see and feel it more and more to be ‘his
commandment that you should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.’ Unbelief, in you who have believed, is
aggravated disobedience. And, such it is
and must be especially displeasing to God.
It is his pleasure that his Son should be known, trusted, worshipped,
loved; honored as he himself would be honored.
You cannot displease the Father more than by dishonoring the Son;
refusing to receive him, and rest upon him, and hold him fast, and place full
reliance upon him as redeemer, brother, friend.
Do not deceive youselves by imagining that there may be something rather
gracious in your doubts and fears, you unsettled and unassured frame of mind;
as if it betokened humility, and a low esteem of yourselves. Beware lest God
see in it only a low esteem of his Son Jesus Christ.” (R. S. Candlish, 1 John [Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of truth,
1993] 330).” Now this quotation came
from MacArthur’s commentary.
A mark of
genuine saving faith is that its level on confident trust in Christ only grows
deeper and stronger over time.
MacArthur concludes this section by
writing “Love translates a present, active form of the familiar New Testament
verb agapao; the sacrificial love not
of feeling, but of will and choice. The
present tense of the verb signifies that love is to continually and habitually characterize
a believer’s attitude and actions, as the apostle John has repeatedly made
clear (cf. Luke 6:31-35; Gal. 5:13, 22; Phil. 1:9; 1 Thess. 4:9; Heb. 10:24;
James 2:8). That love will express
itself to all men (Gal. 6:10), but especially to fellow believers, just as
Jesus commanded (John 13:34-35; 15:12, 17).
This is another reminder from John to his readers that faith in Christ
and love for the brethren are inseparable, and that they are both realities and
imperatives for all Christians.”
Lord willing we will look at 1 John
3:24 tomorrow evening “Appreciation For The Indwelling Holy Spirit.”
1/30/2025 10:45
PM
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