Yesterday, we looked at two ways that John the apostle meant to help people know God rather than just know “about” God. Today we will look at two other ways to truly know God.
The next question John answers is, “how can a person know that God abides or lives within them”? John shares in Chapter three verse twenty-four:
“And he that keeps his commandments dwells in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”
When a person keeps the commandments of God, not by legalistic rule, but because it is their desire to please God, it is evidence that the Spirit of God is within them. No one can “earn” God's salvation through Jesus by keeping the law. The law was given to show man guilty before God. However, when a person has God living within them, there is a desire to keep the commandments of God and thereby please the Lord.
Finally, John answers this question, “With so many different religions in the world, how does a person really know which one is the one is correct? In First John four verse two and three he writes:
“Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
John also writes in verse six of chapter four:
“We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error”
John also says in chapter four verse fourteen:
“Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”
And in chapter five verse two John writes:
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.”
Four ways are given to know which religion is correct: (1) Jesus came in the flesh; (2) We hear what the apostles declared about Jesus; (3) He has given us His Spirit; and (4) We love the children of God. If a person follows these four ways, he or she will know the relationship that God desires with every person. More will be said about these four ways as we study through the book of First John.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
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