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Lesson Summary:

John reminds his readers that authentic believers are those who obey God’s commands, love the brethren, and reject the lure of the world system. Focus Passage: I John 2:3-17.

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Outline and Lesson Goal

Principles and Applications

I. The Moral Test: Obedience (I John 2:3-6)

Principle: Authentic believers seek to please God by obeying Him.
Application: How are you more like Christ today than you were yesterday, last week, last month, last year?
Scripture Reference

Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
2 Corinthians 5:9

II. The Social Test: Love (I John 2:7-11)

Principle: Authentic believers love other believers.
Application: How are you demonstrating love for those believers around you?
Scripture Reference

8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
9 For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:8-10

III. The Outcome of the Tests (I John 2:12-17)

Principle: Authentic believers pursue the higher calling of God and reject the lure of the world.
Application: How are you rejecting the lure of the present world system?
Scripture Reference

13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14