I John

Joyce Webb 2019

Chapter 4         Verses  9-21

Verse 9      John writes to the believers.    God showed his love to us —by sending his only begotten son—into the world—-So that we could live through him.

(To live through him—-is a spiritual lesson for us all.

As humans we are very independent.  We want to do things by our self.   We do not want help.

We also think we can do it by our self.

But so often we can not.   We make mistakes.   We sin.   We make bad choices.

Living our life “through Christ” is a spiritual lesson we need to learn.

We can not “save” ourselves. We can not be good enough to go to heaven. We need Jesus to forgive our sins.

We need Jesus to get into heaven.

We need Jesus to give us strength, help us make good choices, help us understand, help us love others, help us be patient and kind.

The more we learn how to live “through Jesus” the more successful we will be.)

Verse 10 John writes This is love—–not that we loved God—but that he loved us.

He sent his son to take our place in our death punishment for sin.

Verse 11 Because God loves us so much—-we should show love to others.

Verse 12 No man has seen God at any time.

See Exodus 33:20 God said to Moses–”You can not see my face. No man shall see my face and live.”

Then God covered over the place where Moses was, God passed by, —-then he let Moses see God’s “glory” that was still bright and shining.

God’s spirit is so powerful—man’s body can not stand it—it is too much for him—even seeing God’s glory that was left behind was almost too much to see.

John writes— If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is made perfect in us.

Verse 13 This is how we know that we live in God/Jesus—-and he lives in us—because he as given his Spirit to be in us.

Verse 14. We have seen the Son, Jesus, and we tell you that the Father sent the son to be the Savior of the world.

Verse 15 Whoever will confess (say) that Jesus is the Son of God, God will live in him, and he will live in God.

Verse 16 We have known God’s love and we believe God loves us.

God is love. The person who lives in love —-lives in God and God lives in them.

Verse 17. As we live in God, our love grows more perfect—-so that on judgment day, —- we will not be afraid—-because we have God’s love in us.

Verse 18 There is no fear in love. Perfect love does away with fear. Fear makes us pull back, makes us shake, makes us feel sick.

The person who has fear has not allowed love to fill him.

Verse 19 We love Him (God) because he first loved us.

Verse 20 If any man says, “I love God” but then does not love his “ brother“, he is saying a lie.

If he does not love his “brother” —whom he has seen,—–how can he love God—whom he has not seen?

Verse 21 This is the commandment of God—-That he who loves God—loves his “brother”, too.