How to be strong in the Lord......

1Jo 2:14* I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.

John had written to the fathers, ( those older, and more mature in the faith ) because they had known the Lord from the beginning. They had known the Lord for a long time is apparently what he meant. 

And, his writing to the young men, and says three things about them.

First of all he says they are strong. Meaning, powerful, valiant, mighty, having the strength of soul to sustain the attacks of Satan, firm, sure.....

Secondly, and I believe this is the secret if you will of their strength, he says, "and the Word of God abides in you" They had the Word of God in them, it was abiding in them. Abiding, or remain, dwell, continue, not to depart, to be present, held, and to kept, continually. to remain as one, and not to become different. 

Thirdly, he says, that they have overcome the wicked one. Or, they had prevailed against the wicked one, the enemy, the devil. They had been able to hold fast against the power and temptations of the devil. 

So, we can see that being strong, is really a result of the Word of God abiding in us. This is what Jesus modeled for us when He began His ministry in Matt 4. 

As Satan attacked Him, Jesus responded with the Word of God. As a man, Jesus has the Word of God in Him. And, this is what we can do, and if we do, we also like these young men, will find ourselves overcoming the wicked one. 

Meditation in the Word is God's way of filling us with His Word. In a non christian sense, meditation means to empty your mind of all thoughts. In the Bible meaning, it means, to fill your mind with the Word of God. 

You can do this, and it's the key to victory over Satan. He cannot overcome the Word of God, but can be overcome by the Word of God. 

Pastor Bob Grenier

Calvary Chapel Visalia 

Sins are forgiven for His names sake.....

PLease see 1st John 2:12

Here, once again John gives us a reason he wrote this epistle. 

He has given us a few already.

One, so that his readers could have fellowship with he and the other apostles, and with the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Two that their joy, or our joy might be full.

Three that they would not sin. 

And, now another reason is given with respect to the world.

He apparently repeats himself two to three times here, but, let's see if we can understand why he did this, and what he was trying to say.

He calls them "little children" perhaps a ref to the fact that he had been their spiritual father as it were. Used by the Lord to bring them to Christ, or to pastor them, and nurture them in Christ. 

I write to you because "your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake"

This is the primary fact in our salvation, that God has forgiven us of our sins.  Forgiven means, to leave, let, forsake, let alone, depart, expire, disregard, omit, not to discuss now, keep no longer, go away from, leave something behind, to leave one by not taking him as a companion. 

In other words, and we can get the idea pretty clearly, this is what has happened to our sins, through the fact of God forgiving our sins. They are gone. They no longer exist, they have vanished as it were. You could not find them if you looked for them. They are no where to be found. 

And, the forgiveness was " for His names sake" What does this mean? 

It means, "because for His name's sake your sins are pardoned" Or "through His name, and on account of confessing His name" 

It seems that it simply means, that forgiven sins, are because of who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done for us, and of our confessing Him as our Savior, and of our confessing our sins to Him etc" In other words, it's having to do with Jesus Christ being the forgiver of sins in our lives. 

Oh Lord. Thank You. 

Pastor Bob Grenier

Calvary Chapel Visalia 

God helps us to know for sure that we know Him.

Please see 1st John 2:3-11

Here John begins to tell us how we can know if we really do know the Lord or not. I can't think of something better to know then to know if we really do know the Lord.....So, here's what he says. 

First of all, he says, "by this we know ....." Or this is how we know that we know Him, if we keep commandments.....He goes on to say, that the person who says, "I know Him, but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. So, keeping the commandments, or not keeping them is key here. The word keep by the way, means, to attend to carefully, take care of, to guard, to observe, to reserve. So, the person who carefully attends to the commandments of God is showing that they do in fact know the Lord, but the person who is not carefully attending to these things does not know the Lord. 

Secondly, and this is along the same line exactly, he says, "whoever keeps His Word, ( which is the same thing as keeping His commandments, truly the love of God is perfected in Him. By this we know that we are in Him. Perfected means, to make perfect, or complete, to carry through, to accomplish, finish. So, the Love of God in practice, in  a person's life is evidence of their truly knowing God. Love practiced in our lives, shows that we are truly in Him. 

Thirdly, John says, the person who says, they are abiding in Him, ought to, or should be walking just as He walked. Our lives ought to look like Jesus's life did.....Walked, means conduct. Our conduct ought to be Christlike...Your Christlike conduct is evidence that you really are in Christ. That you really do know Him. Your not having Christlike conduct, would indicate that you do not know Him. So then, the way we conduct ourselves is a huge indicator of either our walking with Him, or our not walking with Him.
To say you are abiding in Him, ought then to be followed by conducting yourself as He conducted Himself.

Fourthly, John says, here's the commandment they had had.
He says, this is nothing new. This is what they had heard from the beginning of the time they had been with Christ. Christ has given them this commandment when He first called them, and they first started following Him. It's new in the sense that the darkness has passed, and the true light was now shining. Probably referencing their ( the apostles ) being born again, and in a genuine relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, you were not christians at one time, ( even though you heard this commandment, but you are now )

Fifthly, in 2:9-11, we see that the person who says, "I'm in the light, but hates his brother, is actually in darkness until now" Profession of faith, with hate for your brother, equals, still in darkness. Not in the light, even you say you are. Hating proves you are not in the light, but in darkness. 

Going on with this. The person who loves his brother is in the light. Loving is evidence and proof of being in the light. Just as hating is proof of being in darkness, love is proof of being in the light. And, for the loving person, there will no occasion of stumbling in their walk. Love will keep you from stumbling. Keeping you stable.

Lastly, the brother in Christ, who abides in the light. Love means you are abiding. And there will be no cause for stumbling and error.
On the other hand, the person who hates his brother is in darkness, and is walking in darkness, and does not even know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded their eyes. 

Alot to say here about love, and about hate. Light and darkness. They are each evidence that points to where a person is, regardless of what they may say about where they are. Actions, speak louder then words. Or actions, make sure that our words are true or false. Actions measure who and what we are in that sense.

Pastor Bob Grenier

calvarychapelvisalia's webcam video October 22, 2011 12:23 PM

Another reason why this letter was written.

John addresses his readers, as "my little children" An expression of love and care from the apostle for these dear christian people.
He then tells them why he was writing to them.
"That you may not sin"

Sin, is the greek word, hamartano, and it means, to trespass, to offend, to miss the mark, to err, to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honor, to do or to go wrong. To wander from the law of God, violate God's law, sin.

So, one of the purposes of this letter, ( along with the two already mentioned in chapter 1:3-4, is that we might not miss what God intends for us, that we might not wander off the path that God has for us to walk on, that we might not sin.

Then, John goes on to say, "And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Right here, you have two names for Jesus Christ. Advocate, and The Righteous.

So, as Christians, when we do sin, we have Jesus the righteous, who is our advocate, or representative to God. Advocate or parakletos in the greek, meaning, comforter, one called alongside to help, especially to help, and render aid. It's the one who pleads your cause before a judge, he is your counsel defending you, He is the one who pleads your cause to the Father as it were. By the way, Jesus used this same word, comforter, in describing the Holy Spirit, and His ministry in our lives. He has been called alongside of us, to help us in our lives and walk with Jesus Christ. He leads us into a deeper knowledge of the truths of God's Word, and to give us God's strength, and enable us to undergo trials and persecutions because of Jesus Christ, and our living in Him.

Back to 1st John 2:2..........John says concerning Jesus, that He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. This word, propitiation, means, satisfaction. That is, Jesus Christ and His death on the cross for our sins, is the one offering and sacrifice that has satisfied God concerning sin. So, in Christ, we are accepted by God. God looks at Jesus, and is completely satisfied that He is righteous and has done all that is needed to deal with our sins, and thus we can be with God, and rest assured that our sins are completely forgiven. 

To recap again, the purposes or intentions of God through this letter.......So far, there are 3 of them given....

1. That we might have fellowship with God. 

2. That our joy would be full.

3. That we might not sin. 

And, as to this last purpose, "that we might not sin"........What John is saying is that it's God's intention for us that we might not miss what He has for us, that our lives would be on track with Him, and in His will, and on the course that He has for us etc, etc.......

Here's how the Amplified Version puts it..

MY LITTLE children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God’s law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate (One Who will intercede for us) with the Father—[it is] Jesus Christ [the all] righteous [upright, just, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every purpose, thought, and action]. 

2  And He [that same Jesus Himself] is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours alone but also for [the sins of] the whole world. 

May the blessings of God through Jesus Christ, be with you today in abundance.
Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia

A recap of sorts......in 1st John 1:1-10

John begins his letter by talking about Jesus Christ. Who Jesus is, and how he and the other apostles had interacted with Jesus Christ. 


He uses various terms to describe Jesus, such as, ( that which was from the beginning, The Word of life, Eternal life ) 1:1-2


John then states two of the reasons for writing this letter. Actually there are 4  in the entire letter. But here are two in the first chapter. 


1.That we might have fellowship with them, and with the Father, 
   Son and Spirit. 1:3      


2. That your joy may be full. 1:4


These reasons, are also the purposes, and the intentions of God through John, that is, these are the things the Lord brings to us through this letter, and wants to accomplish, and will accomplish in our lives if we let Him.  That we might fellowship with God, and that our joy ( happiness ) might be full. These are two wonderful purposes of God for us. Thank You Lord. 


Moving on then, John tells us the message they had from Jesus Christ. It's simple, but profound to say the least. Here it is. "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" 1:5 Light and darkness are used in Scripture, to speak of truth and lies. Purity and sin, etc, etc. 


The remaining verses in the chapter are also the message they had from Jesus, and here's what is said in 1:6-10


1. If a person says, I'm having fellowship with God, but is walking
    in, or living in darkness, they are telling a lie, and are not 
    practicing the truth.


  2. If we walk in the light, or live our lives in the light, in Christ, 
    then two things happen....We will have fellowship with other
    christians, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, will 
    cleanse us from all sin. 

3. If a person says, "there is no such thing as sin, I don't have 
    sin etc, " that person is deceiving themselves, and the truth is
    not in them. They are void of the truth. 

4. If we will confess our sins, or admit them to God, agree with
    what God says about sin, then, God is faithful and He is just
    to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
    unrighteousness. 
   
5. If a person says, " I have not sinned" then, they are making 
    God a liar, and the Word of God is not in that person. 

This letter, this epistle as it's called, deals very clearly with the the truths of how one knows they are a christian or not. It's designed to combat the false teaching of the day, that denied all the truths John is stating. 


John, as an apostle and a pastor was contending for the faith, or holding onto the truth of God's Word, and standing against the false teaching of his day. He was refuting the false heretical teaching of the Gnostic's. 


Again, here's a quick overview of what the Gnostic's were teaching. 


1. Knowledge is superior to virtue.


2. The non literal sense of Scripture is the correct one. 


3. Only a select few can really understand the meaning of 
    Scripture. 


4. The fact of evil in the world means, there must be more then
    one creator.  


5. The teaching that God became man is not true, and could not
    be.  


6. God would not unite Himself with a human body, ( bodies are
    corrupt ) 

7. There is no such thing as the resurrection of the flesh. 


The result of this teaching was, that people were mainly concerned with knowing truth, and did not care about how they lived their lives. There was no connection between what they believed, and what they did or practiced, or how they conducted themselves. 


A person had to have special knowledge, ( gnosis means to know ) in order to understand God's Word. Thus the average person was in the dark so to speak, and had to depend on the enlightened ones to tell them the true meaning of Scripture. 


There must be many Gods, or emanations from God, or go betweens God and man, because, how could there be a creator who would allow or create evil. 


And, since matter, is evil and corrupt, then God would never had united Himself with a body of flesh. Flesh is evil. Thus Jesus did not really have a body at all. 


Lastly, since bodies are evil, they will not be resurrected from the dead. So, there is no resurrection from the dead, and Jesus would not have been resurrected from the dead. 

Confessing our sins. Forgiveness, and cleansing.

The verses below, do indeed talk about the confession of our sins, and the forgiveness and cleansing of our sins. 

1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:0 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

First of all, "if we say we have no sin" That is, to say there is no such thing as sin. We do not have sin in our lives is the idea. Not so much the denial of a particular sin, as much as denying the principle and that sin is present in our lives. If a person is saying that ( which some false teachers known as Gnostic's were saying at that time ) then we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

So, these two things then are a fact about the person who denies sin. 

Self deception, and the truth is not in us. If we refuse to admit that we are sinners, we are deluding ourselves, and we are leading ourselves astray and way from the truth. The Word of God of course says we are sinners. If don't agree with God's Word, then the truth of God's Word is not in our lives. 

Secondly, "if we confess our sins etc, etc"......to confess, means to agree with God. When God says something is so, and we agree with Him, then we are confessing. We are saying the same thing that God says. And, of course, that's what we can do with our sin, and our sins. We can confess them to God, agree with Him about them, and then, here's what God will do with our sins. To confess our sins, is to say the same thing about sin that God does. That's all. It's that simple and clear. 

He is faithful to forgive us our sins. 

And to cleanse of from all unrighteousness.

So, God is faithful, dependable, and He forgives, removes, forgets, sends away our sin, and our sins. It happens from Him as we confess to Him etc, etc. 

And, He then cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Which means, to make us clean, to purge, to purify us. To free us from defilement, from wickedness, guilt, etc. This is what the Lord does. 

We agree with Him, we say the same thing He does about sin, and we receive these two blessings. Forgiveness and Cleansing. 

Here's the last thing in this first chapter. 

1 John 1:0 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Again, John is fighting back against those who deny that we are sinners, and that we sin. If you are saying that, then, you are making God a liar. And, His word is not in us. 

God has clearly stated in His Word about sin. We are sinners. It's very clear all through the Bible. So, to deny what God says, is to say that God is lying. That God has not said that etc, etc. And if you deny that God has not said that, then you certainly don't have God's Word in you. 

The next thing that's said in chapter 2, also has to do with sin. And, it's why this letter was written. 

Pastor Bob Grenier

Calvary Chapel Visalia

Thank You Father.