--- title: "The Second Test of Fellowship" description: "A straightforward guide on how to spot phonies, remain connected to the truth, and why showing love in action is the only way to prove you belong to the family of God." image: "" book: "1 John" bookId: "1JN" testament: "new" startChapter: 2 startVerse: 18 endChapter: 3 endVerse: 24 coversChapters: [2,3] aiTitle: "Staying True in a World of Deception" aiDescription: "A straightforward guide on how to spot phonies, remain connected to the truth, and why showing love in action is the only way to prove you belong to the family of God." hasAiStory: true location: "" persons: ["God","Jesus","Cain"] hashtags: ["love","truth","righteousness","redemption"] genre: "epistle" readingTime: 4 type: "adaptive" slug: "1JN/the-second-test-of-fellowship" canonicalId: "1JN.2.18-3.24" chronologicalOrder: 1754 relatedSlugs: ["2JN/beware-of-deceivers-conclusion","MAT/the-olivet-discourse","JHN/where-i-am-going-you-cannot-come","ACT/pauls-farewell-to-the-ephesians","JUD/a-greeting-from-jude-gods-judgment-on-the-ungodly","MRK/the-olivet-discourse","JUD/a-call-to-persevere-doxology","2CO/pauls-integrity","2PE/deliverance-from-false-prophets","HEB/jesus-is-above-the-angels","2TI/warning-of-difficulties-ahead","1CO/sharing-in-the-lords-supper","JHN/the-feast-of-dedication-hanukkah","ISA/the-year-of-the-lords-favor","JHN/jesus-the-light-of-the-world","PSA/psalm-23-the-lord-is-my-shepherd","2JN/a-greeting-from-the-elder-walking-in-the-truth","LUK/parables-of-the-kingdom","PRO/hezekiahs-collection-of-solomons-proverbs-part-2","2TI/instructions-for-timothy","2PE/peters-final-challenge","REV/philadelphia","ACT/good-news-for-the-gentiles-the-gentiles-receive-the-holy-spirit","MAT/the-parable-of-the-sower"] prevSlug: "1JN/the-first-test-of-fellowship" nextSlug: "1JN/the-third-test-of-fellowship" --- Things are moving fast, and there is a lot of noise out there. You have probably heard warnings about people trying to twist the truth, and the reality is that many of these voices have already surfaced. It is clear we are in a critical moment. Some people walked with us for a while but never truly shared our foundation; their departure proved they were never part of the core group to begin with. Do not get confused by the rhetoric. You have a built-in advantage—an inner sense from the Holy One that knows what is real. You do not need outsiders telling you the truth when you already have it. Anyone claiming to represent the truth while denying that [Jesus](/persons/jesus) is the Son is essentially peddling a lie. It is a package deal: if you want a relationship with the Father, you must embrace the Son. So, how do you handle the pressure? Stay focused on what you learned from the start. If you keep those core truths inside you, you will stay connected to both the Father and the Son. This is the promise of a life that never ends. You do not need to rely on trendy new teachers who show up to distract you; trust that internal compass you were given. Keep your connection steady so that when everything is eventually brought into the light, you can stand confident and proud. Consider the honor we have been given: we are actually called children of [God](/persons/god). The rest of the world does not quite get it, mostly because they do not understand who God is. We do not know exactly what the future looks like, but we know one thing for sure: when Christ returns, we will be like Him. This hope acts as a filter, pushing us to live cleaner, more honest lives. This is the bottom line: you cannot claim to be connected to Him while living a life of chaos and selfishness. If you belong to Him, you stop making a habit of wronging others. It is the clearest way to tell the difference between someone who is part of God’s family and someone who is working for the other side. If you are not doing right by others and, specifically, if you are not loving your neighbors, you are missing the point entirely. Think back to the old stories—take [Cain](/persons/cain), for example. He let jealousy and evil turn him into a killer. Do not be shocked if the world treats you with that same coldness. Loving your neighbor is how we know we have officially moved from a life of emptiness to a life of real meaning. If you see someone in trouble and you have the ability to help but choose not to, how can you claim that God’s love is really in you? Let’s stop talking about love like it is just a nice concept. True love is shown in what you actually do. When you love in action and truth, your heart finds peace. Even if your conscience tries to guilt you, remember that God is bigger than your feelings—He knows exactly what is going on. When you follow His lead, keep His path, and love others as He loved us, you can walk through life with total confidence. ### Beware of Antichrists Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us. You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I have not written to you because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you have it, and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that [Jesus](/persons/jesus) is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well. ### Remain in Christ As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life. I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught. And now, little children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him. ### Children of [God](/persons/god) Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure. Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness. But you know that Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. ### Love One Another This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like [Cain](/persons/cain), who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer. By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth. And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence: Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us. Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

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