1 John – GaryCombs.org

“And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God” (1 John 5:20 NLT).

December 5, 2022

KNOWING THAT CHRIST HAS COME In his first epistle, the apostle John wrote of what we can know because of Christ’s coming. For as John wrote in his gospel, Christ is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). If you want to know God, look to Jesus. He is God revealed to us in the flesh.

“This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10 NLT).

December 4, 2022

THIS IS REAL LOVE If we have any claim to love, it originates with God, who first loved us. This love is most fully demonstrated in the sending of His Son, Jesus, as the “sacrifice” for our sins, dying on the cross for us. For in the cross we see the intersection of God’s love

“Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.” (1 John 3:9 NLT).

December 3, 2022

ABIDING WE NO LONGER MAKE A PRACTICE OF SINNING John here describes the fruit of being born again, namely, that those with God’s life in them, no longer make a practice of sin. Sin is no longer their habit. This is not the precondition of salvation. For salvation is by grace alone through faith alone

“And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame” (1 John 2:28 NLT).

December 2, 2022

HOW TO PREPARE FOR CHRIST’S RETURN Determine to finish well. How? “Remain in fellowship with Christ.” Stay close. If you wander, come back. If you stray, return. If you sin, repent. Keep short accounts. “Remain.” Which is to abide, to stay, to live and walk in constant “fellowship” with Jesus. This is not working or

“He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world” (1 John 2:2 NLT).

December 1, 2022

CHRIST IS BOTH THE MEDIATOR AND MEANS OF SALVATION The Greek word translated here in the NLT as “the sacrifice that atones” is the word “hilasmos.” This word is often translated as “atonement” or “propitiation.” It points back to Israel’s sacrificial system, whereby a lamb without spot or blemish was offered as an atonement for

“We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life” (1 John 1:1 NLT).

November 30, 2022

BELIEVING THE EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY CONCERNING JESUS The apostle John opened his first letter as he did his gospel, and as Moses did the Torah, with the phrase: “the beginning.” Also, similar to his gospel, John referred to Christ as the “Word” (Greek: “λόγος, logos”). In John’s gospel, he spoke of the Word’s divine preexistence and

“Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14 HCSB).

December 5, 2021

THE CONFIDENCE WE HAVE IN CHRIST Because we are in Christ we now have confidence that the Father will hear and answer our prayers. For this reason Hebrews teaches us to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). And

“Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action.” (1 John 3:18 HCSB).

December 3, 2021

TRUE LOVE ACTS When we receive Christ, we receive the love of Christ. This is the love that moved Christ to die in our place, so that we might have eternal life. True love takes action. The evidence that we have received Christ is that the love that goes beyond mere words and takes action

“Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2 HCSB).

December 2, 2021

ARE YOU GROWING MORE LIKE JESUS? Do you ever ask questions of God like, “Why is this happening to me?” The apostle John answers saying not everything has been “revealed” yet, but one thing we can be sure of is that “we are children of God” and we shall “be like” Jesus. That’s God’s goal

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14 NKJV).

December 5, 2020

THE CURRENCY OF THE KINGDOM IS ASKING “In Him,” namely, “in Christ,” we have confidence before the Father. For this reason Hebrews teaches us to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). And the apostle Paul writes that in