1 John 2:20-3:3 - The Believer's Anointing and Hope
Tom Shrader continues his exposition of 1 John, focusing on the believer's anointing from the Holy One and the promise of eternal life. He emphasizes that Christians have been furnished with everything needed to combat false teaching through the indwelling Holy Spirit, who serves as teacher and guide into all truth. The teaching concludes with the blessed hope of Christ's return and the believer's transformation to be like Him.
“You've been furnished everything you need to fight this battle because you have the Holy Spirit.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 1 John
Recorded: February 22, 1989
Duration: 43 min
Themes: anointing, hope, truth, deception, discernment, transformation, return, teaching, facing false teaching, new believer, sunday school teacher, pastor, struggling with doubt, bible study leader, church member, young adult
Scripture: 1 John 2:18-3:3, John 14:16, Jude 1:17, Ephesians 6, 1 Corinthians 2:14, Philippians 4:6-8, John 16:7-13, Romans 5:8, Titus 2:11
Theological Themes: holy spirit, pneumatology, eternal life, eschatology, false teaching, hermeneutics, christology, sanctification
Full Transcript
First John, and we finished last week in the second chapter around the 18th verse. As I was driving home last week, it dawned on me that we had in the last three or four weeks been on some awfully serious topics. So much so that I wanted to say, "You know John, buddy, you got another two and a half chapters here, and you seem to be saying the same thing a lot." This always drives home the point that what he's saying is very important. John continues to build a case and interweave it, bringing it all together for us so we can look at it.
John's Warning Against False Teachers
He's been giving us, if you will, a warning. Just by way of a quick review, John is writing in a time and day when the church was under attack. Remember, the church had existed for about 60 years. The church was under attack, not from the outside—they weren't dragging them into the Colosseum and slaughtering them. They'd been through that; they'd survived that. But now it was an attack that really scared John, also scared the Apostle Paul, and very candidly scares me today. It was a subtle attack.
He writes a letter against the Gnostics, the skeptics, and those that are out there that say, "You know, this is a good book, but it needs to be interpreted in light of 90 AD man." Some things never change. "This resurrection is okay, but it really wasn't resurrection—it was a picture." John said, "No, that's not the case at all." He said, "I want to write you. I'm coming in contact with those that think that way."
The Characteristics of Antichrists
Here's what he says in verse 18. We pick it up just to tie together last week so we have the context for this week. He says, "The Antichrist—and you've heard this—the Antichrist is coming, but even now," verse 18, "there are many antichrists." Then he tells us a little bit about what an antichrist is like.
He said first of all, verse 19, "These are guys that went out from us." These guys were in the church—many of them not only in the church, but they had a prominent role in the church. They were involved in the church; they were teachers in the church. He said, "Watch out. There are wolves in sheep's clothing." As we said last week, that doesn't mean somebody dressed up like a sheep—somebody with sheepskin around him. That means, as it would in that day and age, the teacher would wear, the shepherd would wear wool. The false prophet in the Old Testament dressed and looked just like the real prophet. He's saying, "Watch out for these people, church. They'll take over pulpits, they'll teach Sunday schools, they'll get a room at the Radisson and hold Bible studies." Don't change the words. He says, "Watch out for them. Be on guard."
Here's another thing about them. Verse 23: he said, "Here's how you can tell these antichrists, and it's pretty easy to spot them. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father." These are the guys that are going to deny the Christ. They're going to deny Jesus Christ. Paul says, Peter says in one place, they will deny the Master. They will knock on the door and talk to you about Jesus, but the Jesus that they talk to you about is totally different than the Jesus you and I believe in. They will talk about Jesus the created being. He said, "Look, don't have anything to do with them."
The Battle for Your Mind
In a world that is very confused, Tim LaHaye says—and I think he's dead right—there's a battle waging for your mind. I think those are all true statements. In the midst of this battle, rather than study the enemy's propaganda and literature, I would suggest you study this book cover to cover. Know this book, and you'll know false doctrine when you hear it. When somebody comes to you, all you need to talk about is Jesus Christ. That'll set the groundwork, and then you can go from there.
He said there's a third characteristic about these antichrists. Verse 26: he said, "I've written these things to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you." Now they are not neutral in this battle—they are aggressive. They are trying to deceive you. There's an active solicitation into this false doctrine. Paul said in the last days you got to watch out for these guys. There'll be lovers of men and lovers of self and all these other things, but he said they will be religious. Now they won't hold to the form of godliness because they'll be studying and studying and studying and growing in knowledge, but never learning.
The Good News: Your Anointing
We spent three weeks essentially laying out, "Watch out for these guys." If you're like me, I was driving home last week and I thought, "You know, I could have these guys so beat up and defeated that they may just be ready to throw in the towel." I mean, we've been three weeks of this stuff, and we've been saying this enemy is a subtle enemy, he's a bright enemy, it's a complicated thing—watch out. Here's the good news, verse 20, guys, and I'm glad you're here to take this in. I think it's important, and I find great comfort in it.
He said this: "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know." He said there's something called anointing that you have from the person of Christ. The person of Christ is anointed, and you have something.
Something exciting has happened to me. Those of you that know me well might see this as occurring about a week and a half ago. I had installed in the house a computer. I'm not a detail—anybody that's ever done any business with me knows I'm not a detail guy at all, and I'm not a computer guy. I used to teach that they were satanic—you turn them on, six-six-six, and they would program you. So I have a friend, and it just became clear to me that these computers are not going to go away, and I need to figure out how to work one. Then I figured out, well, I didn't need to know how it worked—I just need to know how to work it.
So I have a friend, and this guy took absolute control. I told him not to bring that baby over until it was user-friendly—intimately user-friendly. So he brought it over for the install, and we're doing this thing, and we're working it—menu driven, all the things that go with it. I mean, I'm just—
I'm blowing through this thing. I can't believe it, and I discover something new in there every day. Well, he put a Bible program in, and I didn't even know it was in there. Hit the Bible program, boom, up it comes. So I figure, oh this would be exciting, this will give me a chance to study. So I'm all the way back and doing some of the Greek and the original text, which I never do. I maybe pick it up from a commentary or something.
So just for the heck of it, I had verse 20 up and the word "anointing," and I hit the button to go back to the original. It said in the original it means "to rub," and then there's another derivative which means "to smear oil." Then it went to the primary meaning of the word anointing, and to me all of a sudden it totally changed this verse. The primary meaning of the word that's used there means "to furnish what is needed."
The True Meaning of Our Anointing
Now that changes that verse completely. "But you have been furnished what is needed by the Holy One." Christ has given you what you need in the midst of this battle. Rather than drive out of here and be overwhelmed by it, I can drive out of here and rejoice and say I've been given everything I need to fight this battle.
Keep your finger right there and go to John's Gospel. Same author. It's toward the front of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Fourth book, and the 14th chapter. Chapter 14 and verse 16. Jesus is speaking. If you have a red-lettered Bible, these words are red-lettered. He said this: "I'll ask the Father and He will give you another Helper." The word "Helper" is capitalized probably in your Bible, which refers to the deity. It refers to the Holy Spirit, and He will be with you forever. That is the Spirit of truth.
Now we put the things together, and John says you have been furnished everything you need. Here's what you need. John chapter 14 verse 16: you've been furnished the Helper to give you everything you need.
The World Cannot Receive What You Have
Now there's something interesting about the Helper here. "It is the world cannot receive because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans." Men, there's some good news. Jesus said this: I'm going to give you everything you need. Here's what you need: you need the Holy Spirit, and He comes into you. And He cannot come into the world because they will not receive Him. They do not know Him.
Jude says it this way. In Jude chapter 17, he said, "Beloved, you ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to Him in the last time there shall be mockers following after their own ungodly lust. These will be the ones who cause division." Now watch out for these guys. "It will be worldly minded and devoid of the Spirit."
See, you've been furnished everything you need to fight this battle because you have the Holy Spirit.
The Full Armor of God
Now here's how it plays itself out in the midst of this battle: you against the world, you against the world system, Satan against God, with you as the participant, as the warrior on God's side, if you'll allow those terms.
Ephesians chapter 6. Here's what he says. He says, "Put on the full armor of God." Now here's what you have. You've been furnished everything you need. Here's what you have. He said, "Put on the belt of truth." You have truth. He said, "Put on the breastplate of righteousness." He said, "Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows." He said in the middle of this battle, they're going to be zinging these arrows at you, but you've got this shield and you can pick those babies off. It's your faith.
He said there's going to be those that are coming. They're going to attack, and when they attack, put that faith up. I had this long, convoluted discussion with a guy the other day, and he was questioning this and questioning that and questioning this. Finally it gets, men, to the point where it always gets. I think he said, "Why do you believe this?" And I said, "I believe it because it's true." "Well, how do you know it's true?" I said, "Because I have faith." And ultimately I come to that.
Standing on Faith Despite the Evidence
I mean, I can lay out all this evidence, and you guys have seen it so many times. There's so much intellectual data to support what we believe. I mean, just to look at the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and to take the human data—not God's Word, just the human data, the historical evidence, what the scripture says about just the circumstance at the time and the players involved—it's overwhelming. You can't conclude anything but a resurrected Christ.
Now if you don't want to believe that, what you need to say is "I don't want to believe it." But I'm telling you, I'm going to stand on the faith. And that's what he's saying. He said you've got the shield of faith. You've got the helmet of salvation to protect your head. Ephesians 6:17: you've got one offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
He's given us everything we need. John says it and Jesus says it. You've got in this battle everything you need in the person of Jesus Christ, who gives you the Holy Spirit. And He didn't leave you as an orphan. He didn't leave you all alone. And you've got something that the world cannot receive.
Why the World Cannot See
You ever sit down with somebody and talk about your faith, and you build this case, and it's so logical? A plus B equals C. C equals D. D equals F. Therefore C equals F. There's no way you can dispute it. You can't even argue about it. There it is. It's so clear, it's so obvious. And that guy will go, "I don't see that." Huh? "Two plus two equals seven and three quarters." No!
And sometimes I get so frustrated, and I say, "What is it?" And I have a tendency to look at my own life and say, "Well, it must be me. I mustn't communicate this stuff very clearly." Which every once in a while I know that's the case. But I'll sit in those situations, and you know what it is? I need to go back to First Corinthians 2:14 and understand that this guy cannot see. He's blind. He does not have the Spirit of God, and he will not see until God's Holy Spirit comes upon Him. And this guy needs...
Hearing Beyond the Ears
I need to be praying and I need to pray that God will give him eyes to see and ears to hear. Isn't that something? Look at verse 20. When I went back to First John, John picks up exactly that theme. He said, "I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because there's no lie in the truth."
He said, "I'm writing to you guys because you're part of the believers." "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, and the one who confesses the Son has the Father."
Now he says this: "As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father." He said, "I want you to abide," which means to stay or to remain, "in what you heard from the beginning."
The Same Message Over and Over
May I look around at some of your faces? I just feel honest sometimes like I'm just saying the same old thing over and over and over again. I'm thinking if I'm saying it, then they must be hearing it over and over and over again. But see, I discovered that's not necessarily true.
I came through the house the other night and there was Sarah there, and there was a little mess there. I said, "Sarah, look, I know you're busy and I know you got some stuff you want to do, and I've got some stuff I'd love to have you be able to do. But until you get this mess cleaned up, let's not do anything else. This is our focus - we need to clean this mess up at this point." "Got you, Dad." Off I go and I'm in the back, dinking around with this computer and hitting my buttons and all the other things. I come back and there's Sarah in the same position I left her about 20 minutes ago with the same mess.
I said, "Sarah, come here. I want you to stand up, to walk over, and to clean up this mess." "Got you, Dad." I said, "No, uh-uh. See, when you 'got you, Dad,' you're going to rise to your feet and you're going to put one foot in front of the other and stop at this pile, and you will begin to pick up the pile one by one by one until the pile disappears." Then she said something really interesting. She said, "Oh Dad, I hear you." See, now she heard me before, but she didn't really hear me before.
Four Elements of Hearing
There's a whole bunch of elements that go into hearing - at least four. Here's the first one: first of all, you've got to hear it. It's got to go into your ears. Remember Jesus - I mean, the master communicator. If anybody could communicate, it was Jesus Christ. He sits with 4,000 people, delivers a beautiful sermon, and then when He's all done, He says, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." I mean, what is He at - the school for the deaf or what's the story? Can't these guys hear? What's the problem?
Well, He says there's more to hearing than just having the words go in the eardrum. He said first I've got to hear it, and then I've got to believe it. See, I can hear that Jesus is the Christ. I can hear God's in control of my life, but I've got to believe that it's true. And that's not enough - I've got to believe it, and once I believe it, I act upon it.
You and I are creatures who act upon our beliefs. I mean, our life is based on that. I'm getting ready - I'm going to go down, I'm going to climb up on United Airlines. I'm putting my faith and trust and life in United Airlines, and I believe it can get me to San Francisco. And because I believe it, I'm going to act on it.
The Fourth Element: Trust
And then there's a fourth element of hearing: I'm going to trust it. See, I believe that you and I should lead stress-free lives. Well, the heads always nod on that. There shouldn't be any anxiety. In fact, if you guys say you're Christians, God's Word says it's a sin for you to be anxious. It's a sin for you to be anxious. I mean, we list all the sins that we do - when's the last time you confessed that you were anxious as sin?
And here's why: God's in control. There's not one of you that doesn't hear that God's in control. Almost every one of you believes it, but it kind of breaks down at that point. "God's in control, God's in control of my business, so I'm going to bust my back to make sure God's not embarrassed. I'm going to work real hard because I don't know if God can handle it or not. Poor old God's reputation is on the line on this one. I don't want to let God down." "God's in control," man.
Now that's no excuse to sit back. I think I've shared with you before - we have an acquaintance, not a friend, who lost his job and he knew God was in control, so he decided he would sit home until the phone rang with a job offer. Well, God is in control, but God has a joint venture partnership arrangement with you and me. We're joint venture partners. He supplies the enthusiasm, He supplies the power, He expects you and I to execute it, to work.
Trusting God's Control
So I hear it, I believe it, but I've got to trust it. I've got to trust that God's in control. I've got to act as though God's in control. And what that means is I can lay down at 10:30 at night and wake up at 5:30 in the morning, not every hour on the hour wondering when the title company opens so I can call to see if the money is there yet.
Oh boy, that's a tough message, but that's exactly what he says. He said, "I want you to hear this word. You've heard it from the very, very beginning, and I want it" - and this is a key word in all of our faith, verse 24 - "to abide, to stay. Let the word abide in you." Literally, let it get in there and stay in there.
The Peace That Guards
Paul writes a letter to the church at Philippi and he says this: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." We know that - Philippians 4:6. Now here's the result of being anxious for nothing and praying about everything. He said, "The peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds." The result is peace.
Not quite done: "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable..."
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. Think about something.
Again, this computer has taught me one thing. I sit down there and this thing doesn't make mistakes. If there's a mistake and it doesn't work, I made the mistake. I'm loving this because it's logical. It always does the same thing. It's so predictable. If I hit this, it hits that. But what I've discovered is what I put into that computer comes out of the printer. If I type this baby all the way through and I run it through and I've got the typos in it, I get the typos out on the other end.
It's the same thing with your mind. The junk that goes in is the junk that stays in, and the junk you think about comes out. That's why you have to really be careful what you see. God's Word doesn't say "don't go to movies," but I'll tell you what - it's hard for me to sit and watch these 25-foot quasi naked women and walk out of there and blot them out of my mind. I'm just not very good at that.
The Mind's Focus
He says your mind is going to dwell on something. That means ponder or meditate. He said here's what you ponder and meditate: what you heard from the beginning. What you hear from the beginning - well, that Jesus is God and all the stuff that's in there. He says in His Word, "Take the book and hide it in your heart, just meditate on it day and night."
Then that's a great reveal: how am I doing spiritually? We look and we get our giving statement from the church and we run down all the other stuff. Those are fine and those are indicators, but here's a real good indicator. If you get stood up for that lunch appointment today and you're just sitting there and it's just you and the croissant sandwich and a nice tea, and you're just there - no USA Today, no waitress bothering you, no nothing - what's your mind thinking about?
There's a real good spiritual indicator. There's a great indicator where your priorities are. He says I want you to think about what you heard from the beginning: the Word of God.
The Promise of Eternal Life
Verse 25: He said this is the promise which He Himself made. Here's the promise - the promise is eternal life. Promises are interesting. I had someone promise to call me Friday, and they said, "Well, I forgot." See, a promise is only as good as the one who makes it. Here's what He says - and let me even back up. Not only the one who makes it, but His ability to do what He says He's going to promise.
He said this: here's a promise that God made. Here it is - eternal life. You know, every once in a while I tend to forget that. I think we talked about death last week, if I'm not mistaken. But I'm sitting at Hayden and McKellips, you know where the Green Acres funeral home is, and I'm just sitting there yesterday. I mean, I'm minding my own business, I'm dwelling on heavenly things, and I look over to my right. It was like I was looking for Igmar Bergman, you know, the European guy who does these things where you watch it and you go, "Oh wow, that's deep. Don't know what it means, but I know it's deep because I don't know what it means," and it's always in black and white.
I look over and everybody over there is dressed in black and white and they're all standing around, and this guy's going into the ground. Just one more time I said, "That's me, and I don't know when." But I'll tell you what - I don't know when, but I know what happens right after that, and it's verse 25 of 1 John chapter 2: eternal life.
I'm telling you, I don't have any question about it. BAM, and I'm in the presence of the Lord. That's what Paul knew. That's why he said, "I got a problem because I really do enjoy you people, but to die is not a bad deal." He said that's the promise - it's eternal life. And there's a great freedom in that. There's a great sense in that.
Death and the Believer's Hope
One of the men came into our Bible study Tuesday morning, and his father has been very, very sick. I said, "How's your dad?" and he said, "He died last night at midnight." And he cried a little bit. That's good and that's healthy and that's natural, and I'd be disappointed if he didn't. He's going to miss him, and they're close, and they should be close, and they are. There's going to be those times.
Every Sunday morning, about every Sunday afternoon, about 1:13, my phone rings and my dad's there. Every Sunday morning, every Sunday afternoon - never misses. Now there's a day coming when that phone won't ring and he won't be there, and I'll probably always listen. He always calls at commercials - he's a very kind man. And I know it's coming, and there'll be a time, and there'll be a lot of tears and all that.
This guy walked in and he said, "Yeah, I feel bad," but he said, "I know where he is today. He's with God." There's a promise of eternal life. See, this book takes a lot of tension out of life in a world that's kind of going like this. Here's a constant.
Warning Against Deception
It's as though John lets you dwell on the good for about a second and a half until he comes back in verse 26, and he says, "Now I'm writing these things because there's those that are going to deceive you. There's those that are going to deceive you about eternal life. They're going to tell you everybody goes to heaven. They're going to tell you there may not even be a heaven."
Let me just - this is kind of fun for me, and just kind of patronize me a little bit. This Satanic Verses thing is interesting to me. The book, and the furor, and the Muslims are rebelling, and the Muslims are slanted and feel slighted by the book.
I have no compassion for these guys. My faith is thrown under the bus every day. Carl Sagan is on TV, and he gets on and slanders my faith. He gets on there every time and says there's no God, there's no God that created this. He says essentially, "I have billions and billions and billions of brains and you don't have any, and I believe that there's no God and you believe there is—you're a fool." That's essentially what he says every day that he's on television. The same thing that Donahue does and Oprah does and Geraldo does—they slander and they cut apart your faith.
The most discriminated group in this country are those that are born-again Christians. I mean, if they made a movie about Muhammad like they made about Christ, these guys would go crazy. If they even depicted John Kennedy or Martin Luther King—I was in Hollywood not long ago and people were really upset. It was right at the same time as The Last Temptation of Christ. If you read the articles when they came out, they said, "We don't appreciate this. This borders on blasphemy. This is wrong." I thought, well, that's kind of unusual. Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray were talking about a movie that was going to be made of John Belushi that was going to portray him as a drug addict. Are you kidding? That's exactly what the guy was.
Expecting Opposition
They throw you under the bus all day long, and Jesus said they're going to throw you under the bus all day long. We shouldn't go, "Oh wow, I'm surprised." He said the world rejected me; the world's going to reject you all day long. But He says stand firm, hang in there, know what you've got. You've got a great heritage.
How many of you have ever heard—just out of curiosity—how many of you have ever heard of Jonathan Edwards? One, two, three hands, four hands. Jonathan Edwards is one of the giants of the Christian faith. I mean, this guy is the Reformer's reformer. Jonathan Edwards stands as a pillar—circa 1703, I think he died in 1770-something like that. This guy is a pillar since then of thought and intellectual thought. The Encyclopedia Britannica calls Jonathan Edwards probably the greatest mind in American heritage of all of our country's history. The man was a solid Christian. He's written some of the most solid Christian doctrinal theology books that have ever been written.
Understand that everybody in the church is not some babbling idiot that just believes to be believing. Understand that your faith makes sense, but you have to have that faith. There are going to be those that attack you, and when they attack, there's not going to be anybody to defend you except you've been furnished with all you need—the Holy Spirit—and you have the promise of eternal life. That's a pretty good defense. He said, "I want you to hang in there."
The Believer's Anointing
Look at verse 27: "As for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you." Now I hear that about every week: "Yeah, I don't need human teaching." That's not what he's saying. If you go to First Corinthians 12 and the gifts of the Spirit are laid out, one of them is teaching. He's not saying you don't need a teacher. What he's saying is this: you don't need human teaching. Here's why.
Keep your finger there. We're going to take one more trip back to John's Gospel, in the sixteenth chapter this time. John's Gospel chapter 16, verse 7. Again, red-lettered: "I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away." I think we've even talked about this verse before, but as I sit and think today, I'm thinking there can't have been much that's more valuable than walking with Jesus. The disciples—I mean, to be with Jesus Christ for those three years He was publicly teaching—would have been something else. Jesus said, "I'm going to tell you something: you're better off if I leave. You're better off with me gone." Here's why: "For if I do not go, the Helper cannot come"—it's the Holy Spirit again—"and if I go, I will send Him to you."
Verse 13: "And when He comes, He is the Spirit of truth, and He will guide you into all truth." You don't need human wisdom and human philosophy because you have the Holy Spirit to furnish all you need in the area of teaching. Now humans for sure can illuminate and enlighten, but the teacher in this class is not Tom Schrader—it's the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit that teaches you. It is not me.
The Spirit as Teacher
It is my job to prepare, and I do the best I can, and it's my job, I think, to teach in a way that is as clear as I can make it. But there is not a week that goes by that there isn't one guy who comes up and says, "That doesn't make any sense," and another guy who says, "I never saw that before. That just lightens everything up, and now I see the whole picture." Because the teacher of the class is the one doing the work, and that's what John says. He said you've got the Holy Spirit and He's living in you. You don't need human wisdom. You need godly wisdom that'll come through human beings, but it comes as the Spirit of God applies the Word of God. That's what happened.
He said, "Understand that." Verse 27, back in First John: "Little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed at His coming." Jesus is coming again. There is a time when Jesus will return. It hasn't happened yet, and He will appear. He said, "I want you to have confidence." He's going to tell us where that confidence originates.
He said, "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him." He said there's a lifestyle change that takes place when I come to Christ in repentance and faith.
God's Inexplicable Love
Now he begins to tie this section together in chapter 3, verse 1. He said, "See how great a love"—if you have the King James, it says, "What manner of love is this?"—he said, "What kind of love is this that God has?" Little phrase there refers to something that's inexplicable. John said, "What kind of love is it?" I mean, it's awesome.
What Manner of Love
John uses the same expression here that the disciples used when they witnessed Jesus calm the storm. Do you remember that story from Mark's gospel? The disciples were in the boat with Jesus when a violent storm arose. Jesus was sleeping, so they woke Him and said, "Do something!" Jesus stood up and simply said, "Be still," and immediately the storm ceased. The disciples' response was profound: "What kind of man is this?"
That's the same phrase John uses here about God's love. He says, "What manner of love is this?" The disciples had never seen anyone who could command nature itself to obey. I used to play a little trick with my kids when they were small. We'd drive up to our house and I'd say, "Watch this garage door," then secretly press my remote control. Their eyes would go wide as they watched the door open on command. Of course, one day they caught me with the remote and the magic was gone!
But imagine if I could have taken them out into the middle of a violent storm and said, "Watch this," and the wind and waves instantly became still as glass. They would have said, "There's nobody like you, Dad!" That's exactly what happened with the disciples. They said, "What kind of guy is this?" John picks up that same phrase to describe God's love for us.
The Incredible Love of God
"What kind of love is this?" John asks. While we were sinners, He died for us. What kind of love has the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God - and such we are! For this reason the world does not know us, because it does not know Him.
Romans 5:8 tells us that God demonstrated His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's an incredible love - a love we can't even begin to comprehend. When Jesus came and began teaching about love, He had to reach way back and talk about a love they had never heard before.
When the New Testament authors began writing about this love, they had to dig up an old Greek word called "agape" to try to define what Jesus was talking about. This word means unconditional love - something they had never seen before. That's the love Jesus has for us.
Our Future Hope
"Beloved, now we are children of God." Here's some good news: "It has not yet appeared what we shall be." We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.
First, I know He's coming. Second, I know we're not quite there yet. I don't know exactly what we're going to be, but I want you to know this: we're not there yet. We're going to be like Him - not like God, we're not going to be God - but we will be spirit in bodies that have been resurrected.
The Hope That Purifies
John closes this section with these words: "And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself just as He is pure." Everyone who has this hope - this hope that is fixed upon Him - lives differently.
Paul writes about this hope in Titus 2:11: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age while we wait for this blessed hope."
The Certainty of Biblical Hope
When the Bible uses the word "hope," it speaks of certainty. We lose that meaning today. If I say I hope the Sun Devils win a basketball game, there's a high degree of uncertainty there. I hope they do, but I know they might not.
When the Bible uses the word "hope," the root meaning is certainty. That's why John talks about confidence. You and I can be certain because of the hope we have. We have the power of Jesus Christ and we have the confidence of eternal life based on His Word.
This allows us to live a life of faith in an ungodly and hostile environment. Next week, John is going to tell us exactly how we live that life.