Family privileges and responsibilities

1. FAMILY PRIVILEGES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF GOD'S CHILDREN
Text: I John 2:1-14
I. ALL GOD'S CHILDREN HAVE AN ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER We get
this in 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
We get this in I John 2:12, and what a glorious truth it is! Ever 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 Romans 8:1 and Ephesians 1:6.
III. ALL GOD'S CHILDREN MUST ABIDE IN HIM
We get this in 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
We get this in 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 We get
this in 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 Timothy 3:5 and Titus
1:16.
VI. ALL GOD'S CHILDREN ARE INDWELT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT We get this
in 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.

2. VII. ALL GOD'S CHILDREN MUST KEEP THEMSELVES FROM IDOLS We get
this in 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..."