"Intro to 1 John 3:19-24"

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/23/2025 7:34 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus: “Intro to 1 John 3:19-24”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  1 John 3:19-24

 

            Message of the verses:  “19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.  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. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

 

            In John MacArthur’s introduction to these verses he begins by talking about a couple of revivals that took place in the United States.  The first one happened in 1703 and lasted until 1758.  Jonathan Edwards was the one that the Lord Used to stimulate this revival, and Jonathan Edwards was one of the finest preachers that this country has ever seen.  Now as one looks at the dates of this revival on can see that it happened before the United States even had their own government, before the Revolutionary war.  I have read some things about this revival and as one looks at the dates they can see that this is exactly what was needed at that time because it would not be long before our country was founded and the results of that revival had such great effects on the founding of our country.  I have also heard that there was another revival right before the Civil War in our country, and this also was much needed as without it perhaps things would not have ended up they way that they did, but God was and always be in charge of the things that go on here on His earth. 

 

            MacArthur then talks about some things that I have learned earlier in my walk with the Lord, something that I fought over in my mind until the Lord through some teachings and reading I realized what was true, which is what the Bible teaches.  He talks about true believers realize that once they are saved that they will then desire to walk with the Lord and do the things that He desires for them to do for the cause of Christ.  I have mentioned in many of my Spiritual Diaries how I came to know the Lord, and in three days it will be 52 years ago when this wonderful miracle happened to me.  I did not know a lot about the things of the Lord, and I did not even belong to a church until a little over four years after that event which took place at a friend’s house in Casselberry Florida.  It is my belief from the study of the Bible that once a person is truly saved that they can never lose their salvation, and as stated it took me a while to realize that this is what the Bible teaches.  I want to quote one verse from John’s first letter to show that this is true:  “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.”  Notice that John wrote this near the end of his letter and this shows me that he was teaching this throughout his letter and brought it to a climax from this verse.

 

            Now MacArthur goes on to talk about two different groups that say different things and one says that a person can lose their salvation if they are not living right, and the other says that if a person just confesses that Jesus is Lord that no matter how they live they are saved. 

 

            MacArthur concludes this introduction by writing the following:  “In contrast to the erroneous views of Arminianism and Free Grace, which either make assurance impossible to keep or provide the wrong criteria for sustaining it, John wrote this epistle so that those ‘who believe in the name of the Son of God,… may know that [they] have eternal life’ (1 John 5:13).  He wanted his readers to be certain of their salvation, possessing an assurance that was both legitimate and lasting.  With that in mind, John concisely offers five familiar attitudes in verses 19-24 that true believers will consistently manifest in their lives.  By examining themselves (cf.2 Cor. 13:5), they can know for certain that they are saved, because their lives will be characterized by:  gratitude for God’s grace, boldness in prayer, submission to God’s commands, faith in Jesus Christ, and appreciation for the indwelling Holy Spirit.

 

            “Each of these elements derives from the theme of love, most recently mentioned in verse 18 of this chapter:  ‘Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.’  Thus John maintains his emphasis on the noblest of virtues (1 Cor. 13:13) as he spells out these perspectives.”

 

            Lord will we will being to look at “Gratitude For God’s Grace” covering verses 19-20 in our next SD.

 

1/23/2025 8:14 PM