Morning
“God is love.”
1 John 4
1 John 4:2 , 1 John 4:3
This is a very useful test in many cases. If any form of doctrine denies or dishonours the Godhead or Messiahship of the Lord Jesus, or makes his incarnation to be a mere myth, it is to be rejected with abhorrence. Errors which touch the person or work of Jesus are fatal.
1 John 4:6
Every spirit which does away with Jesus or dishonours him in any degree we know to be the spirit of error. This test is very simple, but very accurate.
1 John 4:7 , 1 John 4:8
Love is the divine law of life, selfishness is sin; when grace restores us to our proper relationship with God and his creation, love is the very instinct of our renewed nature.
1 John 4:11
The master motive for benevolence is the love of God, it is an argument which will never lose its force.
1 John 4:12-18
Fear dwells upon the punishment deserved, and so has no rest. When perfect love assures the soul of pardoned sin, the heart has joyful rest.
1 John 4:19 , 1 John 4:20
An old Latin author says, “The eyes are our leaders in love.” Juvenal wondered at one who loved a person whom he had never seen. If, then, we do not love those whom we see, is it likely that we really love the invisible God?
1 John 4:21
A Christian is one who has a solemn awe of the commands of God, hence he labours to abound in deeds and words of love, because the Lord hath bidden him to do so.
Bless’d be the Father of our Lord,
From whom all blessings spring!
And bless’d be the Incarnate Word,
Our Saviour and our King!
We know and have believed the love
Which God through Christ displays.
And when we see his face above,
We’ll nobler anthems raise.
Evening
“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”
1 John 5
1 John 5:1
Dost thou believe in Jesus? Dost thou love thy Lord? Then thou art born again.
1 John 5:2 , 1 John 5:3
Obedience proves the truth of. faith, especially obedience to the command which bids us love. It is idle to talk of being saved if we are not living unto God.
1 John 5:4 , 1 John 5:5
Faith, then, is the sure evidence of the new birth, and if we believe in the Lord Jesus we are born again, and shall overcome the world.
1 John 5:6
Cleansing from the power of sin, and delivering from its guilt.
1 John 5:7 , 1 John 5:8
Instead of all other heavenly signs, the church has for her standing miracles the energetic work of the Holy Ghost, the purifying influence of the gospel, and the peace-giving energy of the atonement. If there be no power of the Holy Ghost, no sanctification, and no pardon of sin, our religion is a delusion; but if these be facts, and they certainly are, our faith has solid grounds.
1 John 5:9-13
You do believe, but you may believe yet more. “Lord, increase our faith,” is no needless prayer.
1 John 5:14 , 1 John 5:15
Answers to prayer are a powerful establishment of faith. The God who has an ear for our prayers is no fiction.
1 John 5:16-18
Whatever the unpardonable sin may be, the child of God shall be kept from it. We need not curiously inquire what that dark crime may be; it will be better to follow our Lord, and we shall be preserved from it.
For ever here my rest shall be
Close to thy bleeding side;
This all my hope and all my plea
For me the Saviour died.
Th’ atonement of thy blood apply
Till faith to sight improve;
Till hope in full fruition die,
And all my soul be love.