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thinkact_qklktp on 10/29/2024 Here John is in perfect accord with the Lord’s teaching regarding murder as found in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment; but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his b
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/28/2024 At no point is the contrast between one of John's tests and its opposite more important for contemporary men and women than the contrast between love and hate. This is so simply because the meaning of love has become so debased in modern culture that practically anyone will claim to have love accord
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/25/2024 Herein lies the explanation of John's initial test and the reason behind it. If a person has truly been born of God, then something quite radical has happened to him. He has received a new nature and is therefore and for that very reason launched on a new course. The course is a course in holiness.
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/24/2024 At the conclusion of yesterday’s study, we looked at the first suggestion for understanding the presence of sin in the Christian life. Today, we look at the other six ideas.2. A second view is that what is sin in an unbeliever is not so regarded by God in the life of a believer. But this is simply n
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/23/2024 John has reminded his readers that it is characteristic of the devil to sin. Now he also reminds them that it is a characteristic of Christ to work to take away sin. He states this in two forms, corresponding to the parallel structure of these verses. First, Jesus appeared to take away the sins of H
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/22/2024 In verse 4 the apostle defines sin as lawlessness and says that everyone who commits sin is guilty of it. This is not the most comprehensive definition of sin that might be given, but neither is it “somewhat superficial,” as one writer has indicated. By lawlessness John naturally recalls thoughts of
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/21/2024 In conversation with those who are not yet Christians, Christians are often puzzled by the fact that the other person sometimes professes to believe all that the Christian believes, yet also believes things that seem, at least to the Christian, to be incompatible with Christianity. For example, the
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/18/2024 That day of Christ’s return will see the perfection of God’s eternal purpose concerning His chosen ones. Here F. F. Bruce writes brilliantly: These first two verses of 1 John 3 celebrate the accomplishments of God’s eternal purpose concerning man. This purpose finds expression in Genesis 1:26, where
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/17/2024 It is no accident, of course, that the Bible so often uses the image of birth in speaking of how God has called men and women into His spiritual family. God has given human birth as an illustration of what the new birth means. In human birth there is first a conception in which the seed of the fathe
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/16/2024 Sometimes believers have treated the doctrine of the return of Christ as though it were an escape valve from having to face the harsh realities of life. These say, “No matter that ungodliness is everywhere apparent, no matter that men and women are suffering from persecution and hunger, no matter th
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/15/2024 All these texts testify to the prominence of the doctrine of the Lord's return throughout the New Testament. But the unique aspect of the reference before us is that John refers to it here, not as a mere point of doctrine considered in itself, but rather as an incentive for living a righteous life.
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/14/2024 A generation ago it was popular to speak of the message of the Bible as being summarized under the two phrases “the fatherhood of God” and “the brotherhood of man.” The phrases expressed the thought that all men are equally children of God and therefore brothers within one divine family. All that wa
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/11/2024 Yesterday, we said that there are two weapons the Christian has against heresy. This first one is the word which they had heard. This would refer either to the Gospel or to basic apostolic teaching. In a broader and fuller sense, this word would include the entire Word of God.By itself the apostoli
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/10/2024 The mention of lies versus truth in verse 21 leads John quite naturally to an analysis of the Gnostics' errors. But it is not their errors in general that he seizes upon but rather the fundamental error which is their denial that Jesus is the Christ. Indeed, as he states it, this is not only the Gno
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/09/2024 Over against the antichrists who have left the church John sets God's true children. These are distinguished by two essential characteristics: first, they have been anointed by the Holy One and second, they all know the truth centered in the Lord Jesus Christ.The second doctrine upon which the verse
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/08/2024 In the Bible the idea of antichrist is first seen in Daniel. In Daniel 7, for example, there is a vision of four great beasts, in the context of which the antichrist is described as “a little horn” who destroys three other horns. In the language of these visions, a horn is an earthly king or world r
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/07/2024 It is a characteristic of our time, often pointed out by contemporary Christian apologists, that men and women no longer strictly believe in truth. To be sure, they do use the term in a certain colloquial sense, referring to that which is the opposite of false; nevertheless, most twentieth-century m
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/04/2024 But does nothing at all abide? Yes, says John. The one who does God's will abides forever. The object of his love, even the Father, abides forever. His love itself, having its source in God, abides forever. His works, being an aspect of the work of God, abide forever, for he is the possessor of eter
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/03/2024 In the first sense, Christians are to receive and be thankful for the world, for it is God's gift. Jesus Himself was appreciative of the world in this sense. In the second sense, Christians are to love the world and seek to evangelize it, for God also loves the world. In the third sense, however, th
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/02/2024 The first part of John's long parenthesis, verses 12-17, was written to reassure his readers; for John did not want them to think that he was questioning their salvation. Rather, he has written to them because their sins have been forgiven and because they do know the Father. If they miss this truth
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thinkact_qklktp on 10/01/2024 John's two statements to the spiritually mature of his congregations, the fathers, are identical; what is more, they are also quite similar to the second of his statements to children. There is one difference, however, and in this difference lies the distinct nature of John's reference.John’s two st
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thinkact_qklktp on 09/30/2024 Most persons have had the experience of making a remark that was intended for one individual and of having an entirely different individual take it personally. It may even have been that the one who applied the remark to himself was the one who least needed it. An experience like this is so common t
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thinkact_qklktp on 09/27/2024 What does love mean? What will happen if those who profess the life of Christ actually love one another? Francis Schaeffer, who was referred to at the beginning of this study, has several suggestions. First, it will mean that when a Christian has failed to love his brother and has therefore acted wr
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thinkact_qklktp on 09/26/2024 The last of John’s examples is again negative and follows quite naturally upon what precedes it. There he has spoken of the man who loves his brother and has shown the consequences of that. There are three consequences. After these, John appends a final and summarizing explanation. The first consequ
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