Everything John was writing in First John was "concerning those who are trying to deceive you" (1Jn 2:26). Someone from a different religion I knew often tried to persuade me with his doctrine. One day in his frustration he commented that their studies had shown that after X number of times a person would give in. But it wasn't true in my case because "the anointing which you received from Him abides in you" (:27). This is "the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it" (Mt 13:23). Why was John concerned about their being deceived? There is he who "has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away" (:21). Does your quality of character determine your propensity to believe "because they had no depth of soil" (:5)? Jesus told the church at Philadelphia, "'You have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name'" (Rev 3:8). However, at Sardis he said, "'You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die'" (:1-2). "The sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away" (Mt 13:6). He told them, "'You have kept the word of My perseverance'" (Rev 3:10) and to "hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown'" (:11). "The one who endures to the end, he will be saved" (Mk 13:13).
How do you "endure to the end" (:13) when there are "the worries of the world" (4:19) to contend with and "other things enter in and choke the word" (:19)? There are "the ones who are beside the road . . . [where] Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them" (:15). Do you keep the word refreshed by "meaningless repetition" (Mt 6:7)? A better way is to be of "the ones whom seed was sown on the good soil and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit" (Mk 4:20). John encouraged them saying "I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth" (1Jn 2:21). "The anointing which you received from Him abides in you . . . [and] teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie" (:27). "His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (3:9) since "the Spirit is the truth" (5:6). John taught to love "in deed and truth . . . [and] we will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him" (3:18-19). "God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness" (1:5). If we "walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth" (:6). "The true Light is already shining" (2:8). "This is the true God and eternal life" (5:20) and he "has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true" (:20). "You know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him" (2:29) and "the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous" (3:7). "By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments" (2:3) and "whoever keeps His word, in Him the love of God has truly been perfected" (:5). Therefore "if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light" (1:7) "our heart does not condemn us, [and] we have confidence before God" (3:21).