Daily Bible Verses for 10/17/2016

Bible Verse
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to pay the price for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

Reading Notes
As believers and followers of Jesus, we can experience spiritual warfare. John tells us in this letter that Jesus paid the price for all our sins and the word used here is “propitiation.” This means Jesus not only paid for our sins; but His sacrifice for us was the perfect complete payment. So much so there is nothing anyone can do to make it more complete. There are no works or good deeds we can perform which will add to, or take away from what Jesus has already done for us. We have to remember good deeds and kindness toward others is God’s standard. It’s how God expects us to act everyday without exception. Therefore, good deeds do not count as extra and they certainly do not erase, or counteract past sin. God has told us, what Jesus accomplished was to give us complete forgiveness for our sins past, present and future, for those who accept Him as Lord and Savior. We have to understand that Jesus, the living God of Heaven, stepped out of eternity and took on humanity.

He did so through the incarnation. Moreover, He did so for no other purpose, than to provide for us, a means of salvation. His sacrifice for us and our faith in Him, restores our relationship with God, which was broken by sin! Because, through our faith in Him we receive justification and by faith become children of God. There are no good deeds anyone can perform which can add to the work accomplished by Jesus at the Cross. John is reminding us that the love shown to us while we were still sinners, was displayed by Jesus’ sacrifice for us. While we were dead in our trespasses and sins, and still at enmity toward God, Jesus first loved us. Its Jesus love for us and what He did for us that gives us complete assurance. We as followers of Christ have God’s assurance of His mercy toward us, and the guarantee of our salvation through Jesus. Knowledge of this produces joy, hope and love in the Christian. Because for the first time, we now can come directly to God as His children and say to Him, “Abba” which means father.