FAMILY PRIVILEGES & DUTIES OF GOD’S CHILDREN

I John 2:1-14

Introduction: As a member of a Family, you have certain privileges that other folk don’t have. Whether it be the secret recipe that has been in your family for many generation, or even an item of more significance. It is a privilege that doesn’t befall anyone except your family. There are also duties that befall only family members: Such as caring for the young children and elderly in your home. These are Privileges and duties of Family members.

There are specific privileges for Only God’s Children….

I.                 ALL GOD'S CHILDREN HAVE AN ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER  I John 2:1-2

·         If we look at these verses carefully we see that God's plan and provision is that we should not sin, for He has provided full deliverance from sin through the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord.

II.             ALL GOD'S CHILDREN  HAVE HAD THEIR SINS FORGIVEN  I John 2:12

·         What a glorious truth it is! Every child of God is already completely forgiven. We are also told that we have been forgiven "for His Name's sake". We are "accepted in the Beloved" compare Rom 8:1 &  Eph 1:6.

III.         ALL GOD'S CHILDREN MUST ABIDE IN HIM

·         I John 2:28 What does this mean. To abide in Him is to live in close fellowship with Him. We are to live in harmony with Him. Can we then live as we like? No, because the Lord is coming, and we must be ready to meet him.

IV.            ALL GOD'S CHILDREN NEED TO BE ON THEIR GUARD AGAINST DECEPTION I John 3:7

·         It was very necessary for John to write these words because there were false teachers in the churches who were introducing heretical teachings, and some were outright apostates. What solemn words of warning these are! How necessary it is for us to test everything by the Word of God. I John 4:1

V.       ALL GOD'S CHILDREN SHOULD GUARD AGAINST

           HYPOCRISY I John 3:18

·         This means that as the children of God, we must be sincere, we must see to it that our testimony is borne out in the way we live from day to day, and that our words correspond with our actions, and vice versa. If we profess one thing and do another then we are downright hypocrites. Compare II Tim 3:5  & Titus 1:16.

V.                ALL GOD'S CHILDREN ARE INDWELT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT I John 4:4

·         The Holy Spirit indwells every true child of God. Thus, every child of God has two Advocates _ one above in the Person of the Saviour, and one with in the Person of the Holy Spirit.

VI.           ALL GOD'S CHILDREN MUST KEEP THEMSELVES FROM IDOLS I John 5:21

·         Anything that comes between your soul and the path of obedience to God is an idol, and God says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" Exodus 20:3. It is significant that John's epistle, which was the last to be added to the cannon of scriptures, ends with the words, "Keep yourselves from idols", and that the very first words in Genesis 1:1 are, "In the beginning God..."