1 John 4:15-17 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“15If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.”

A Caution

Before you draw any conclusions about what this is teaching, please read all of 1 John, for it is very easy to misread what this is teaching if you do not read this in its full context. For this word “confesses” is not just about a verbal confession (admission) with your lips that Jesus Christ is Lord. The word means to agree with God, to be of the same mind as God, to speak to the same conclusion as God. So it means to agree that Jesus is not only the Son of God but that He is God, for God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey His commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims He is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

So please understand that lip service alone is not enough for us to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and to be saved from our sins and to have the hope of eternal life with God. Just because we claim it with our lips doesn’t make it a reality in our lives. We may know all the right words to say, but if we are not living what we profess with our lips, then it is just garbage. It is just dung to be flushed down the toilet. For it is words spoken that have no backing to them. For we must deny self, die to sin, and obey God in practice.

Abiding in Love

God is love. So to abide in love is to abide in God. And to abide in God is to obey God, to follow Jesus Christ wherever He leads us, to die to sin, and to comply with God and with His commands (New Covenant). It means we conform to, adhere to, act in accordance with, and we continue in the will and purpose of God for our lives which we are taught in the Scriptures, which we must read in their full and appropriate biblical context to get the correct understanding of what they are actually teaching us.

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

So, if we want to have confidence on the day of judgment that God abides in us, and us in Him, and thus we have salvation from sin and the hope of eternal life with God, we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and obey God and His commands as a matter of life practice, all in the power of God, and as being led by the Holy Spirit. For not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Whoever Abides in God
An Original Work / November 8, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Seek the Lord

Based off Isaiah 55
Musical Instrumentation by Mark Bradley
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”