Morning
“Ye have an unction from the Holy One.”
1 John 2:12-28
1 John 2:12
Little children have sins; they need to be forgiven; and they may be forgiven at once. Should not every child go to Jesus and ask to be washed in his precious blood? To be little children in Jesus Christ is a great privilege, and to such the word of God is directed as much as to the more advanced saints.
1 John 2:13
These established saints, having a deeper knowledge of their Lord, were bound to lend the more earnest attention to his word, and to carry it out more fully.
These young men are the flower of the army of the Lord of Hosts. By their victories already won the apostle summons them to new conflicts. The Spirit of God has a call for believers in all stages of the divine life.
1 John 2:14-15
He may use it, but love it he must not, unless he will renounce the love of God.
1 John 2:18
The spirit of antichrist has many forms, and is present in every age. Everything which robs Christ of his glory is antichristian.
1 John 2:19
Bad teachers leave the church of God because they never in truth belonged to it. When they go over to Rome they go to their own place.
1 John 2:20
An experimental knowledge of the truth is the best preservative against error.
1 John 2:22
This is the greatest of all falsehoods, and it insults both the Father and the Son by doubting their testimony.
1 John 2:24
You cannot find a better gospel; persevere, then, in what you already know.
1 John 2:28
Being full of love he pleads with us never to desert our Lord, or listen to the false gospels which would lead us astray. Ever may this family be true to Jesus, to the gospel, and to holy living: and may none of us ever be deceived by false doctrine, or tempted into sin.
One there is to whom we’re going,
One to whom we owe our all;
Daily grace is he bestowing,
He sustains us when we fall.
Precious Jesus!
Thou to us art all in all.
Evening
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.”
1 John 3
1 John 3:6
We understand by this not that believers are perfectly free from sinning, but that they do not sin habitually, wilfully, and openly as the unregenerate do. Their lives are holy, and when faults occur they grieve over them. The river of their lives runs towards righteousness, and though there are eddies in it these do not affect the main current.
1 John 3:7-9
He cannot sin with his whole heart, or continuously, or finally, or as the main act of his life. Sin is not his element, or his delight.
1 John 3:10 , 1 John 3:11
The beloved John seems to breathe out only love. Like the harp of Anacreon his heart resoundeth “love alone.”
1 John 3:12 , 1 John 3:13
That hatred has existed from the beginning. The very first man who died was martyred for the faith.
1 John 3:14-18
He whose whole religion lies in words is a hypocrite worthy of the scorn of all mankind. Above all things let us be real in all that we do.
Behold, what wondrous grace
The Father hath bestow’d
On sinners of a mortal race,
To call them sons of God!
Nor doth it yet appear
How great we must be made;
But when we see our Saviour here,
We shall be like our Head.
If in my Father’s love
I share a filial part,
Send down thy Spirit, like a dove,
To rest upon my heart.