If we confess our sins, He is to be depended on, since He is just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from every wrong.

By this we can be sure that we know Him -- if we practice obedience to His commands.

but whoever practices obedience to His message really has a perfect love of God in his heart. By this we can be sure that we are in union with Him:

Whoever claims to be in the light, and yet continues to hate his brother is still in darkness.

Little children, it is the last hour, just as you have heard that Antichrist is Coming, and already many Antichrists have appeared; so we may be sure that it is the last hour.

But you have been anointed by the Holy One. You all know the truth;

See what wonderful love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called God's children, and that is what we are! This is why the world does not know what we are, because it has never come to know Him.

Dearly beloved, we are now God's children, but what we are going to be has not been unveiled. We know that if it is unveiled, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

We must not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and butchered his brother. And why did he butcher him? Because his own actions were wicked and his brother's upright.

You must not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.

In this way we shall know by experience that we are on the side of the truth, and satisfy our consciences in God's sight,

Whoever practices obedience to His commands remains in union with Him and He in union with him; and in this way we know that He remains in union with us, by the Spirit that He has given us.

We are children of God. Whoever knows God by experience listens to us; whoever is not a child of God does not listen to us. This is the way to distinguish a true spiritual utterance from one that is false.

Dearly beloved, let us practice loving one another, because love originates with God, and everyone who practices loving is a child of God and knows God by experience.

Whoever does not love has never come to know God by experience, because God is love.

In this way is seen the true love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

By the fact that He has given us a portion of His Spirit we can be sure that we remain in union with Him and He in union with us.

We have seen and now testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world.

So we know by experience and trust the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever continues to love continues in union with God and God in union with him.

This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God, by continuing to love God and to obey His commands.