Through the Bible - 1 John

Father, we do look forward to the day when You will come. As we just finished singing, Lord, we will sing of Your love forever. Truly, we could sing of Your love forever. Lord, just the awesomeness of Your grace, Your love, Your mercy, and all of Your attributes is beyond our comprehension. We can't even begin to fathom how awesome You are, Lord. We will sing of Your glory, Your grace, and Your love for eternity, and we will never get tired of doing it.

I think of the angels in Isaiah chapter 6, who cry one to another throughout eternity, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord; the whole earth is full of His glory." They never tire of saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord." The drone in Your throne room in heaven is a continuous declaration of Your holiness because You are holy, Lord. I pray that as we study Your Word and draw near to You, we would recognize and reverence You for how awesome and powerful You are.

What a blessing it is to know that You have called us to be Your children. As we see in this letter that we're going to look at tonight, "Behold what manner of love You have shown unto us that we should be called Your children." How awesome it is, Lord! I pray that You would speak to us now by Your Spirit and continue to give us understanding into Your Word, for we ask it in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, "Amen."

Well, we are in 1 John tonight, finishing up the scriptures as we have a downhill run at the book of Revelation. This letter was written by John, and the next two letters we will look at were also written by him, as well as the very last book, which is also written by John. Of these five books that we will look at over the next five weeks, four of them were written by the Apostle John, along with the Gospel of John, which we have already examined.

As we go through this letter tonight, you will see, and in fact, how many of you read through the book of 1 John this last week or just recently? A number of you have. As you read through it, you may have noticed that there are recurring words in this text.

That just keeps coming back to the surface over and over again. One of the things you see as you read through this book, these five chapters, this small letter that John wrote somewhere in the early 90s A.D. after his exile to Patmos, is that he had come from his exile and was now living in the city of Ephesus. It is believed that he wrote this letter probably before 95 A.D. because it was in 95 A.D. that Domitian really began to persecute the church in a significant way. John doesn't really speak about that, so it is believed that he probably wrote this prior to 95 A.D.

As he writes to the church, encouraging and strengthening believers, the themes of life, love, and the Son of God come up quite a bit. Life, love, and the Son of God—where do life and love come from but from the Son of God? He is the one who has manifested God's love to us.

John and many of his contemporaries were beginning to battle a heresy that would become really big in the second century: the heresy of Gnosticism. This group of people had a dualistic view of creation and the world, viewing everything physical as evil and everything spiritual as righteous. There was a constant war between the physical and the evil, leading to a back-and-forth struggle. However, when we read through the Scriptures, we see that the Bible does not teach this dualistic idea of the world.

The Gnostics were really into this understanding. They didn't specifically come in and transform Christianity, but they believed that Christianity needed more; there was more understanding that people didn't have. The word Gnosticism comes from the Greek word "gnosko" or "gnosis," meaning "to know." As you read through this letter, you'll see that the word "gnosko" or "to know" is used 21 times in these five chapters. John is writing about something he had full knowledge of, addressing people who were beginning to be persuaded, duped, or deceived by this Gnostic heresy that would become significant about 20 years after this letter was written. However, it was already starting to enter into the church.

This belief held that Jesus did not truly become a man because everything physical is evil in the eyes of the Gnostics. Therefore, God, who is perfect, would never become a man.

And so they said that he never really fully became a man. He was actually just a spirit and all these sorts of things. John, right off the bat in this letter, combats that. You see it very clearly as he says, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard and which we have seen with our eyes, and which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life." In the very first few words, he states, "Listen, I have seen, I have heard, and I have handled the word of life."

For the life was manifested. Underline that word "manifested" there. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare unto you. Why? That you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. These things we write unto you, that your joy may be full.

This is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you: that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. I think of all the letters in the New Testament; this one, and the way it starts out, really blows my mind. It grips you from the first words. As you begin to read this letter, you see this man who was an eyewitness of the Lord. This man was very young when he began to follow Jesus. It is thought that he was just a teenager when Jesus called him to follow him.

Remember, John was the brother of James, and they were fishermen along with Peter there in Galilee. Their father was Zebedee. He was one of the men that Jesus said, "Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." He followed probably around the time when he was maybe 17 years old. Now, this is somewhere in the early 90s AD, and he is one of the oldest now. He is an elder within the church in a big way, and probably one of the last of the apostles still alive by this time. It is believed that he was the last to die. He was the last eyewitness.

Now there is this Gnostic heresy beginning to come into the church, saying, "Well, Jesus wasn't really fully man. He's fully God, sure, but he wasn't fully man." The problem with that is that if Jesus is not fully man, as we saw in the book of Hebrews, then he is not a sufficient sacrifice for our sins. He had to be fully man. He had to completely suffer for sins, for you and me. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might receive his righteousness.

This whole Gnostic heresy that was coming in, diminishing the humanity of Jesus, would cause a great problem for our salvation. Now, it's kind of interesting that in the first century...

The problem that the church was facing was this Gnostic heresy that denied the humanity of Jesus. They had no problem believing that Jesus was divine. Now, here we are, 20 centuries later, and quite possibly in the last century of the church. When you watch any sort of documentary on Jesus or anything on the Bible, they are not diminishing the deity of Jesus or the humanity of Jesus; they are diminishing the deity of Jesus. They say that, sure, he was a man, but he was certainly not God.

It is interesting how we have had this flip-flop, this kind of change. Back in the first century, they had no problem saying, "Yeah, he's God." Why? They saw his miracles. They knew all the great things that he had done. They believed that he had been raised from the dead. There were eyewitnesses around them who had seen the risen Lord. However, they had a problem saying that he was human, that he had a body like you and I do.

Now, in the last century, people are saying, "He was a man, but he wasn't divine." It is fascinating how we have experienced this kind of flip-flop. But John comes in and says, "Listen, that which was from the beginning," speaking about Jesus, "that he is God, he was from the beginning, which we have heard and which we have seen with our eyes and have looked upon, and our hands have handled." He emphasizes that he held on to him and touched him.

This is the same John who, in the Gospel of John, chapter 13, laid his head back on the chest of Jesus at the Last Supper. If anybody knew that Jesus was a true, physical man but also God, it was John. He had been intimately involved with the life and ministry of Jesus. He was with Jesus when Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from the dead. There were only three present: Peter, James, and John. He was also with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, very close to him. Jesus took Peter, James, and John a little bit further than the rest of the disciples, the rest of the apostles.

John saw Jesus struggling in his flesh, sweating, as it were, drops of blood. He was with Jesus, as we read in Matthew, chapter 17, on the Mount of Transfiguration. He knew that Jesus was divine; he saw him transfigured before him. John was an eyewitness of some awesome events in the life of Jesus. If anybody could write a letter like this, it was John. He had a long life serving the Lord and had been filled with the Holy Spirit, but he was also an eyewitness of so much of Jesus' life.

He says, "Those things that we saw and we heard and we handled concerning the word of life."

And that life was manifested. Twice he says in verse 2 that that life was manifested. The one who is from the beginning, the Word of God became flesh. That is that manifestation, that becoming flesh, coming on the scene. In fact, when we read of it in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, it says, "The Word was made flesh," or "The Word became flesh," and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The word "to become," or the phrase "he was made" in John chapter 1, verse 14, literally means to come on the scene. It's like if you were watching a play, and there's an actor that's a part of the play, but you haven't seen him, and now he steps out onto the stage. He was always there, but now he steps out onto the stage. Jesus was always there, and then he stepped out onto the stage. He was manifested.

This whole idea of the manifestation of Jesus is seen a number of times in this letter. We see it first here in 1 John chapter 1, verse 2, but then we'll see it again when we get to chapter 3. If you flip over there real quick, in chapter 3, verse 5, speaking about Jesus, it says, "And you know that he was manifested," and for a reason. He was manifested to take away our sin, and there was no sin in him. In him is no sin.

So, he came for a reason. He didn't just come to hang out. Jesus came for a purpose, and it was not to heal the sick and the lame and cast out demons, although that was part of the work that he did while he was here. But that was not the prime purpose. That, in a sense, was a byproduct of the coming of the gracious and good God. When God came on the scene, manifested himself in human form, just because he is good, and he is awesome, and he is powerful, and he is loving, those things were manifested in his presence. People were healed, and demons were cast out, and so forth. But that's not the prime objective of the coming, the manifestation of Jesus. He was manifested to take away our sin.

Then down again, just a few verses later, in 1 John 3, verse 8, we read, "He that commits sin is of the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." So, not only did Jesus come, the Son of God, the Word, became flesh, not only did he come to take away sin, as we see in verse 5, but he also came to destroy the works of the devil.

Now think about it, the works of the devil.

The one who is a liar from the beginning is the father of lies, the one who also is the first to sin and the first to lead man into sin, as seen in Genesis chapter 3. Jesus came; He was manifested to take away sin, but also to destroy the works of the devil.

If you turn over to chapter 4, verse 9, we see that the love of God was manifested towards you and me because God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. The love of God is manifested in Jesus. Jesus was manifested on the scene to take away sin and to destroy the works of the devil. Additionally, when Jesus was manifested as a man, fully God and fully man, He came to show forth the love of God. As we see in Romans chapter 5, verse 8, He demonstrates God's love towards us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

This whole idea of manifestation is significant. The Gnostics believe that Jesus was only manifested spiritually. However, the Bible reveals that Jesus was manifested; He came as a man in the flesh 2,000 years ago. The creeds of the church, whether it is the Apostolic Creed, the Nicene Creed, or the Chalcedon Creed, all establish that truth: He came in the flesh, born of a virgin, just as the Old Testament showed and prophesied.

John, as an eyewitness, speaks against those who would promulgate this false teaching of Gnosticism. He says, "Listen, I saw Him, I heard Him, I handled Him." The Word of life became flesh, and we beheld God's glory, as of the only begotten of the Father. John does an excellent job in these five chapters of revealing the Son of God, which is one of the prime themes of this book.

The Son of God came to reveal two things: the life that God desires for you and me to have, and the love of God displayed in the work that Jesus came to do. These are the three big themes of this letter: life, love, and the Son of God. Through these themes, we can truly know God. In contrast, the Gnostics believed they had some sort of information that others did not possess. We still have Gnostics today; although we may not call it Gnosticism, we have those who say, "Well, you just don't understand."

I always get a little bit concerned when I'm talking with someone about the Lord, and they say, "Well, there are just some things about the Scriptures you don't know." The reason I get concerned about that is not because I know all the Word of God, but because I know that our God is not one, in His nature or His character, to hide things from us. He wants us to know Him. He wants us to know who He is. He wants us to know His will. That's why He has revealed Himself to us and taken great care to do so through these 66 books that have been passed down to us through the ages.

God sent His Son to reveal Himself to us, to personally reveal Himself. The Bible says in Romans that He has revealed Himself through nature, through creation, but also through our conscience. He further revealed Himself through the prophets. However, Jesus came 2,000 years ago to manifest the very character, nature, and will of God in our presence so we can see Him. There were eyewitnesses of His glory who wrote these things down for you and me. They passed them down so that we can also know Him.

The same John who wrote this letter also recorded Jesus' prayer in John chapter 17, where Jesus said, "This is eternal life, that you might know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent." You can see that the knowledge of God is extremely important. When the Gnostics would come in and say, "Well, there are just some things that you don't know," or they would begin to diminish the deity or the humanity of Jesus, bringing it down to just a base level, John would get concerned about this. He wrote to say, "No, you need to recognize who Jesus really is."

There are so many people who have tainted the truth about our Lord and who He is. We need to make sure that we share with people what Jesus had to say about Himself in His Word, as He has revealed Himself. Some people say, "Oh, Jesus is just a man," or "He's just a good teacher," or "Maybe He was a prophet," or "He's a good healer," or whatever it may be. While all those things may be true, there is so much more about Him revealed in His Word. We need to ensure that when we share the Lord with others, we share Him as He shared Himself, as He revealed Himself.

John does that. He says, "That which we saw, that which we heard, that which we handled concerning the Word of life, we have declared it." In verse three, he continues, "That which we have seen and heard, we declare unto you." That is the calling that God has given to you as well. He has given you the message of the Son of God, and we need to declare it.

Declare it to whomever we come in contact with. We declare it unto you. Why? So that you can have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus came to establish fellowship, or relationship, or communion with God and man. God had desired that communion with man since creation, since the beginning. There was that fellowship and communion at the beginning until sin entered in. Through one man, sin entered, and death through sin, and death spread to all men, for all have sinned, as Paul tells us in the book of Romans.

Sin is that separation from God. It is what keeps us from coming into the full presence of God. As we see in the later chapters of the book of Isaiah, God says to His people, "My hand is not short that I cannot reach you, my ear is not closed that I cannot hear, but your sin has separated you from your God." Sin always separates us from God, but we also see it in our own lives. When we sin against a brother or sister, there is a separation between us until forgiveness enters in. The same is true with God; there is this problem of sin that keeps us from being able to come before His presence and enter into fellowship.

Now, it was God's intent and plan from the very beginning to provide the right sacrifice so that we could come into the presence of God. That sacrifice had to be a perfect, sinless sacrifice. Jesus is the fulfillment of that. This was God's ordained plan since before the foundation of the world. In Romans chapter 13, verse 8, we read that Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He was then manifested; He became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory 2,000 years ago. The fullness of that work is complete, but it was a finished work in God's eyes, outside of time, before the world began.

In the Old Testament, we see God still desiring to fellowship with man. He calls a nation to be His own people and brings them out of slavery and bondage. Remember, sin is slavery and bondage. He physically calls them out of Egypt and brings them into the wilderness. There, He commands them to build a tabernacle because God wants to dwell in the midst of His people. When God dwells in the midst of His people, as we saw back in one of Peter's letters,

Just a couple of weeks ago, it was mentioned that God takes those who were not a people and makes them a people. He took the children of Israel out of Egypt and made them a people. They had fellowship with one another, but also for the intended purpose that He could fellowship with them. He told Moses to build the tabernacle, and Moses did so.

After they followed all of God's prescribed laws in building the tabernacle, if you read the last chapter of the book of Exodus, you will see that after they did everything the Lord had commanded Moses to do, the glory of the Lord fell and filled the temple. God was able, once again, to dwell in the midst of His people. However, God could only be approached by sacrifice—the sacrifice of bulls and goats, and so forth. Even once that sacrifice was offered, only one man, one time a year, could come inside the veil after a sacrifice was offered for him and for the people. The fellowship with God was still separate; it was still cut off.

Until Jesus cried, "Tetelestai," meaning "It is finished," the veil was torn from top to bottom in the temple. There is no longer a need for a physical earthly temple because, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, you and I are the temple of the Holy Spirit. That is the great hope: we have Christ in us, the hope of glory. What a blessing it is to know that we can have fellowship with God.

But where did that fellowship ultimately come from? It came from the work that Jesus did. Through the word of life, that which we have seen, we declare unto you that you also may have fellowship with one another, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Now, he says in verse 4, "For these things I write unto you, that your joy may be full." Where does fullness of joy come from? The answer comes to us in the book of Psalms. If you turn back to Psalm chapter 16, we find where fullness of joy is found. Psalm 16, verse 11 states, "You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy." In Your presence is fullness of joy, and at Your right hand...

Pleasures forevermore. So John says, the reason that I'm writing unto you these things is that your joy may be full. The fullness of joy is only found in fellowship with God, in the presence of God. He is writing to these people so that they would know how to enter into the presence of God.

Then he immediately goes into clarifying the whole issue of how we can come into the presence of God. This is the message which we have heard of Him and declare unto you: that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. We know from Psalm 16:11 that in His presence is fullness of joy. John has written this so that we might experience that fullness of joy. He says, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. If we say, "I fellowship with God, I come into His presence," and yet we continue to walk in darkness, we're not telling the truth. Something's not right in our lives. We lie and do not do the truth.

However, if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, what do we have? We have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Some might say, "Well, I want to walk with God in the light, but I'm a sinner." That's okay. Every single one of us is a sinner. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. We've all broken His perfect commandment, which is holy, just, and good. We are all under the wrath of God, but Jesus, He who knew no sin, became sin for us so that we can receive God's righteousness.

If we walk in the light, if we come into the light by faith—it's the only way we can come into the light—then we're able to fellowship one with another. Just as Peter said in his first letter, those who were not a people have been made a people because we've received the mercy of God. So we have fellowship one with another, and when we come into the light, we find that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.

It's in the light of Christ that God's blood is able to cleanse us from all sin. This is interesting in light of what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. There in John chapter 3, the Gospel of John, Jesus said to Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believes on Him is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Now, notice this: verse 19 states that this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light and does not come to the light. Why? Lest his deeds should be reproved or exposed.

The fear of the unsaved, unregenerate man, the unbelieving man, is that if he comes to the light, then his wicked deeds are going to be exposed. The truth, though, is that as we by faith come to the light, our sins, although they may be exposed and revealed, are shown in the light where His blood is greater than our sin. His blood is able to cleanse us from all sin.

I believe that the enemy is constantly trying to scare people from approaching God. The thought is that if I approach God, then I will be exposed. Perhaps you remember living like that. Before you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you may have worried about coming before God because you were afraid of what might happen. The enemy does a good job of scaring people from ever approaching God.

But God calls us to Himself through Jesus Christ. When we come into the light of Jesus Christ, we find that, yes, we are sinners. Our sin is exposed, but we see that His blood is greater than our sin, and His blood cleanses us from all sin. It is the desire of God that we would walk in the light and allow ourselves to be completely exposed within the light of Christ so that He can cleanse us from all sin.

Now, there are those who say, "I don't have any sin." Perhaps you have talked with people like that before. You share the gospel with them, and they say, "I'm not a sinner. I'm a very good person." John says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves."

When you're talking with that individual, perhaps a family member, co-worker, or friend, and they say, "I'm not a sinner," you are not deceived, are you? You know full well that they are. But they may have deceived themselves. How can you turn back that deception?

Well, I believe the answer is given to us in the book of Romans, specifically Romans chapter 3. You see, they are ignorant of their sins. They may think that they are right; they may think that they are holy, but they are ignorant of their sins. In Romans chapter 3, verse 20, Paul the Apostle says that the law exposes our sin. It reveals our sin. Some people say, "I'm a good person. I do good works." They may try to do the deeds of the law, but by the law, no flesh will be justified.

If you ever come in contact with someone who says, "I'm not a sinner," don't say to them, "You're a liar." Instead, say, "All right, well, let's just examine that," and take them back to the law of God. Let God, by His law, reveal to them that, no, actually, they are a sinner. You see, that's what His law is intended to do.

Last week, actually on Wednesday night, we were going through 1 Timothy. In the first few verses of 1 Timothy chapter 1, it says in verse 8, "But we know that the law is good if a man uses it lawfully." The law is great if a man uses it in the right way. This implies that there is a wrong way to use God's law. One of the wrong ways to use God's law is to try and use it to make yourself holy, because you can never make yourself holy by the deeds of the law. By the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified.

So, what is the right use of the law? Verse 9 of 1 Timothy 1 says, "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for lawless, for the disobedient, for the ungodly, for sinners, for the unholy, for profane, for murderers, for murders of fathers and murders of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine."

You see, the law is made for sinners. It's made to show sinners their need for redemption.

People often deny that they're sinners, especially when they claim, "Oh, I don't have any sin." This self-delusion or self-deception is addressed in 1 John chapter 1. John states that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and God's truth is not in us. When someone insists they have never sinned, all we need to do is present them with the truth of God. This truth will resonate with their conscience. God's law will bear witness with their conscience and reveal their sin.

Now, what happens when your sin is revealed? This can be a mournful place to be. We see this in the Sermon on the Mount, where it says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit" and "Blessed are they that mourn." A person who is poor in spirit has recognized that they are not as holy as they once thought. They begin to mourn over their sin, and this is a good place to be because godly sorrow leads to repentance. Godly sorrow produces repentance unto salvation.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth of God is not in us. Therefore, when we share the truth of God with someone who claims they have no sin, His law, through His Spirit, will convict them in their conscience. If we confess our sins, as stated in verse 9, He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It is important to note the word "all." He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness if we confess.

Some people are exposed as sinners; the law of God reveals their sin, yet they refuse to repent and confess. The word "confess" in Greek is "homo legeo," which means to say the same thing as. Essentially, it means to agree. Confession is an agreement; you are agreeing with God that you are what He says you are. Often, we find ourselves saying, "No, I'm not a sinner," while God is saying, "You're a sinner; you've fallen short of my glory." To confess is to come into agreement with Him and say, "Yep, you're right. I'm a sinner."

A beautiful illustration of this can be found in the Old Testament in Genesis chapter 32. There, Jacob, one of the patriarchs of Israel, is wrestling with God. You may remember that story; he is wrestling with God.

All night long, he has been running his entire life. He started out when he was young, stealing his brother's blessing and birthright. His brother then said, "I'm going to kill you," so he ran away far to the east, back to Babylon, where he lived with his father-in-law for the next twenty-plus years.

At this point in Genesis chapter 32, he is running from his father-in-law because he has deceived him as well. His name, Jacob, means deceiver or heel catcher. He deceived his brother, deceived his father-in-law, and now he finds himself in a difficult situation. If he goes back to the west, his brother has already threatened to kill him. Just the day before this event in Genesis chapter 32, his father-in-law warned him, "If you come back here, I'll kill you."

In this predicament, Jacob begins to wrestle with God. As he wrestles all night long, just as day is about to break, the Lord says, "Let go of me. I have to leave." Jacob responds, "I'm not going to let go of you until you bless me." At this point, God had performed a significant act by touching Jacob's hip, causing it to be out of place. Jacob is now lying on the ground, in tears, holding on for dear life, insisting, "I'm not letting go until you bless me."

God then asks him a question: "What is your name?" This question stands out because the last time Jacob heard it, it came from his blind father, who asked, "What's your name, my son?" Jacob had lied then, responding, "Esau." He was a deceiver, having deceived his brother, his father, and his father-in-law. But finally, on that day in Genesis chapter 32, when God asks him, "What's your name?" Jacob replies, "Jacob."

I see this as a form of confession. He finally comes to a place where he is able to confess. The Lord responds, "No, your name is not Jacob anymore. Your name is Israel." You see, when he confessed, God cleansed and transformed him in that instant. The consequences of his sin remained; he would limp for the rest of his life. However, God changed his name, and in the Old Testament, a name change often indicates a heart change.

So God declared, "No, you are not going to be called Jacob anymore. Your name shall now be Israel," which means "governed by God." The deceiver became governed by God. God desires for us to come into that place as well, where we agree with Him. We must recognize who we are and acknowledge that what His law says about us is true: we are sinners.

When we come to that place of recognition, we read of God's faithfulness. We are not faithful, but He is. He is faithful to forgive. Forgiveness speaks of justification, which involves taking away the punishment for our sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us, and He took the punishment of God upon Himself. He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed, as stated in Isaiah chapter 53.

So you see, He took the punishment that you and I should have received. As a result of that, He has the authority and jurisdiction in God to forgive us of our sins, to remove the punishment, and to grant us remission. This is justification. Furthermore, we read that He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all sin. The root word for "cleanse" is the same root used in John chapter 15. In that chapter, Jesus speaks about the unfruitful branch that needs to be pruned. He is able to come in and prune us.

God desires to remove those unfruitful branches from our lives. Let me tell you, there are unfruitful branches in each of our lives. As we walk with the Lord, as we walk in the light as He is in the light, His light exposes those unfruitful branches. Sometimes there are things we don't even recognize for years, and then one day, while walking with the Lord and reading through His Word, we realize, "Whoa, I never even saw that I was sinning against You in this area." That is an unfruitful branch. When we confess it, He is faithful to prune it; He is faithful to cut that unfruitful branch off.

Now, why does God prune us? What is the purpose of pruning? It is so we can bear much fruit, right? You see, God desires that you and I would be fruitful. He reveals our unfruitfulness so that we can confess it to Him, allowing Him to remove it from our lives. He is able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. If, at that point, we stiffen our hearts and necks and say, "I have not sinned," God's Word, His law, exposes our sin. If we deny our sin, we are calling Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. There is a real problem with that because who is the Word? Jesus is the Word.

And if His word is not abiding in us, and we're not abiding in His word, the Scriptures reveal that the one who is not abiding is cast into the fire. So obviously, it's not a good thing. Right off the bat, in this very first chapter, John is clearly relaying to us that life and love are only found in the Son of God through the knowledge of Him. It is His word, His law, that reveals to us this knowledge. We gain knowledge of who God is and how He works through His word.

As we go through the light of His word, it exposes us for who we are. If we will confess our sins, if we come to Him and agree with what His word says about us is true, then He is faithful. He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse.

Now, a second time in chapter 2, verse 1, he says, "My little children, these things I write unto you, why? That you sin not." Once an individual has been saved, justified by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and forgiven, they are in the midst of being cleansed. They are being sanctified by the washing of the water of His word. That individual should seek, as we saw in Peter's letters, to walk in righteousness, just as God has said, "Be holy as I am holy."

"My little children, I write these things to you that you sin not." Now, if any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We are to seek in Christ, by His strength and by His Spirit, to walk in righteousness. We saw in Peter's letter last week that God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness in Him. As we walk in Him, we have everything we need to live this life in a godly way. By His Spirit and by His word, we can walk in righteousness.

Now, every single one of us fails as we seek to walk in righteousness. If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Thank God that when we sin, we can turn to Him and say, "Lord, I've sinned, would You forgive me?" This takes us back to verse 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us.

This is a constant work of sanctification that God is doing in you and in me. In Christ, we are saved; it is a finished work. But Paul also speaks in his letters that we are being saved. Some people have a problem with this whole idea.

I am saved, but now I'm being saved. Paul and the other writers also say we shall be saved. Some people really stumble at that and ask, "What in the world does that mean?" It has to do with the whole issue of full salvation. I encourage you, if you haven't gone through our school of discipleship classes yet, to go through course two, where we talk about this in depth.

God justifies us. The work that Jesus did on the cross justifies us, just as if we had never sinned. He took the punishment for our sins. But now, at this very moment, God, by His word and by His Spirit, is sanctifying us. He is cleansing you and me from dead works and all kinds of unfruitful branches in our lives. There is coming a day when He will glorify us. We will see Him, and when we see Him, we will be like Him. This corruption will put on incorruption, and this mortality will put on immortality. We all look forward to that. All of creation groans for the manifestation of the sons of God, as it says in Romans chapter 8. We are all looking forward to that day.

Hopefully, like Paul in Philippians chapter 3, we are pressing on, laying all those other things behind and pressing on toward the goal, the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. There is only one advocate. We don't need to go to another saint. We don't need to go to Mary. We don't need to go any other place but to Jesus Christ. He is our advocate. Why? Because He is the propitiation for our sins, as we read in the next verse. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Now, the word "propitiation" is a big word that means atonement. He is the only one who is able to deal with our sins. Mary cannot do it. The saints cannot do it. Jesus already did it. Therefore, He is our advocate. We know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. There will be evidence in the life of the believer that they are a believer and a follower of God by the way that they live. The people in the world will see you and me, and they will know that we are Christians by the love we have for one another. Remember, love is the fulfillment of all the commandments.

This is how we know that we know Him: if we keep His commandments. Here’s the interesting thing: before you were a believer, before you placed your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, you did not desire to follow God and be obedient. The Scriptures say there is none that seeks after God.

No, not one. Nobody desires to obey God prior to the work of God in their life by the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is one of the first indications of the new birth. One of the first indications of the new birth is a new desire to be obedient to God.

And so, hereby we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. If you have a desire tonight to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments, it is an indication of His Spirit bearing witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. If, however, you have no desire to follow and be obedient to God, I encourage you to go back to verse 9. This is one of the things I love about John's letter here. If you get to a verse and you think, "I don't have that," go back to verse 9. Confess your sins. He is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you.

That's also why this is one of the main books that I recommend to new believers. I know that oftentimes people recommend the Gospel of John to new believers. To be quite honest with you, when I was younger in the Lord, the Gospel of John confused me to no end. I always wondered, why do we tell new believers to read the Gospel of John? Now, I know it talks beautifully about the salvation that we have in Christ, but there are a lot of confusing things in the Gospel of John.

So, I often encourage new believers to read 1 John. It starts right at the beginning, right at the basics. Jesus is our atonement, as stated in verse 2 of chapter 3. We know that we know Him as we have this desire to keep His commandments, and we keep His commandments only by the Spirit of God.

How many of you, before you were a Christian, before you received Christ by faith, tried to keep the commandments? Any of you? How many of you failed miserably? This is how we know that we know Him. If we have the ability to keep His commandments, it's proof that His Holy Spirit is in us because you did not have that power before you received the Spirit of God.

He that says, "I know Him" and keeps not His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. So, if there's an individual who says, "I don't keep His commandments, nor do I have a desire to keep His commandments," go back to verse 9. But whoso keeps His word, in him truly is the love of God perfected.

You see, this is maturity. God desires to bring us to the end of our faith, which we read in 1 Timothy. The end of the commandment, the end of the charge, is love from a pure heart and from a good conscience.

In Him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby we know that we are in Him. He talks so much about knowing that we are His, knowing that we are in Him. He that says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked. What a great verse! The person who says that they abide in Christ, the life of Christ should be living in and through them. They ought to walk even as He walked.

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but even an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. And a new commandment I write unto you; sometimes this can be a little bit confusing. Which thing is true in Him and in you? Because the darkness is past, and the true light now shines. He that says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness even until now.

One of the things that you see as you read through the book of 1 John is that he systematically takes you through all these different stages of our life and our walk with the Lord. It’s very convicting because as you read through the letter of 1 John, he says if you say that you're in the light but you have hate towards your brother, it's not true. This is how God's light shines upon our lives and reveals our sin. As we systematically go through the word of God, His word exposes us and reveals that we may have hate towards our brother or sister.

If we find that we have hate towards our brother or sister and we are told here that we are walking or living in darkness until now, what ought we to do? Go back to verse 9. He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and knows not whither he goes because that darkness has blinded his eyes.

As you read through 1 John, if you realize that you have hate towards your brother, then you have to go back to verse 9. He continues to clarify in the next few verses why he is writing. In verse 12, he writes unto you little children. In verse 13, he writes unto you fathers. He writes unto you young men. He writes unto you little children again. He is laying out some of the practical reasons why he is writing. Then in verse 15, he gives a great exhortation.

Love not the world. Why? Neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So, if you're reading through the book of 1 John and you realize that you have a love for the world, that's a real problem. God's love is not in you. What ought you to do? Go back to verse 9. All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It is not of the Father but is of the world. The world passes away, along with its desires. All of this is going to burn. If your heart is set on this place, you're going to be in trouble. You'll lose everything, including yourself. But he who does the will of God abides forever.

Little children, it is the last time. As you have heard that the Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. We see all these Antichrists, things against God in the world. This is a confirmation that we're living in the last days. They went out from us, but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have no doubt continued with us. But they went out so that it might be manifest that they were not of us.

This is a great verse and a very interesting one, often coming up when we begin to talk about people losing their salvation. Sometimes a person will say, "Well, this guy I knew walked with the Lord, and now he's not walking with the Lord. He's out living in the world, divorced his wife, and is living in an adulterous relationship." We've all heard these stories before, and people ask, "Is that person saved?" John has a very interesting answer here. He says that person went out from us to reveal that they were not truly of us. Now, were they once saved? God only knows. It's not for me or you to chime in on that. God is the one who knows.

I don't think a person can lose their salvation like they lose their keys. How many of you have a tendency to lose things? Joshua raises his hand; he loses things all the time. You don't just lose your salvation. It was kind of interesting. I was driving down from the Bible college on Thursday after teaching my class, and Pastor's Perspective was on. Pastor Chuck was there, and someone called in about losing salvation. Chuck said, "I don't think you can lose your salvation, but you can leave it." The guy he was talking to sure didn't like that answer, but Chuck said, "Hey, the scripture talks so much about abiding in Christ, and if you're not going to abide in Christ, don't expect that you have any salvation in Him."

I thought it was nice to hear someone clearly say that we have to stay in Christ. We have great Old Testament examples of this as well. I think of Noah in the ark. If Noah had decided he didn't want to get in the ark, do you think he would have been saved? I don't think so. If Lot had decided he wanted to stay in Sodom, do you think he would have been saved? The angels pulled him out, but remember, his wife looked longingly back at Sodom. What happened to her?

If Rahab had decided not to stay inside her house in Jericho, would she have been saved? No. In fact, the spies told her that if she went outside of her house, her blood would be upon her own head. We also have the story of the cities of refuge in the Old Testament. If you had killed someone unintentionally, unaware it was manslaughter and not first-degree murder, you could run to one of the six cities of refuge. There were three on each side of the Jordan River. You would plead your cause to the judges of the city, and if they determined that it was manslaughter and not murder, then you could live in the city of refuge and be safe from the avenger of blood. However, they said that if you left the city of refuge, your blood would be upon your own head.

So, they were safe as long as they abode inside the city of refuge. Rahab was safe inside her house. Lot was safe as he came out of the city with the Lord. We see that Noah was safe in the ark. There are a number of other stories in the Old Testament that show this as well, but abiding in Christ is so essential. Those who leave or depart reveal that they truly are not of the Lord. It is a sad thing when we see someone depart, but the Scriptures make it very clear: their blood is upon their own head.

However, God tells Ezekiel something very interesting in Ezekiel chapter 3. God says, "I will require their blood at your hand unless you do what?" You need to go and seek to turn a righteous man back from his sin. If the righteous turn to sin, God told Ezekiel, the watchman, to go and confront that individual. Call them back, and then you will be innocent of their blood. Their blood will be upon their own head. But if they confess, if they go back to verse 9, God is faithful. Amen? You have an unction of the Holy Spirit, the Holy One, and you know all things. I have written unto you, again in verse 21, I have not written unto you because you know not the truth.

But because you know it, no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is an antichrist that denies the Father and the Son.

If you're reading through this and you realize that you've been denying that Jesus is the Christ, what should you do? Go back to verse 9. Whosoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father, but he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Let therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise that He has promised us, even eternal life.

You see, again, this letter is all about life, love, and the Son of God, and knowing Him, knowing life, and knowing love. But it's only found in Him. This great letter carries you through all these different things that you and I may confront. Maybe we've denied the Lord. Maybe we've hated our brother. Perhaps we've been walking in darkness. As we get to each one of these things, it just takes us back to verse 9. Confess your sins. He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse.

Now, before we finish up tonight, I do want to look at one thing. We don't have time to go through the entire book tonight, but it is a great book, and I encourage you to really dig into it and study it. One thing that I do want to point out in the last chapter is something that we read in verses 6 through 8.

How many of you have read through this verse before? How many of you have read that and thought, "Oh wow, I found the perfect verse for the Trinity"? It seems as though it is a perfect verse for the Trinity. However, I might break some hearts here tonight. When we read in verses 7 and 8, "In heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one," and "there are three that bear witness on the earth," that is not in any...

The Greek manuscript was not found until the 14th century. The earliest point at which it was discovered is in the 11th century, and it is written in the margin, not in the text itself. It appears that a zealous scribe wrote this in the margin, and somehow it was later added to the scripture.

I know that I've talked with people before who come and say, "Isn't this the perfect proof text for the Trinity?" No, it's not. There are other great texts to use for the Trinity, and I believe that you can prove the Trinity from Genesis to Revelation. However, if you're an honest student of the Bible, this is not one of them because it seems to be an addition to the text.

Some people might ask, "How can we believe the Bible then, if there's an addition made here to the text?" One of the great things we have is that we possess tons of manuscripts to examine and consider. Even in our own day, you don't need to be a Greek scholar to do so. You can get on the internet, use Greek dictionaries, and look at manuscripts to see the evidence for yourself.

The evidence shows that the portion where we read, "In heaven the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one; and there are three that bear witness on earth," is a marginal reference from about the 11th century that was added to the text around the 14th century. It does not appear in any of the early Greek manuscripts of the scriptures.

In fact, verses 6 through 8 would actually read like this in the manuscripts: "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree in one." This is how it actually reads in the original manuscripts.

The reason I bring this up is that, as you've been reading through 1 John, you may have noticed this verse and thought, "Wow, there's a perfect verse for the Trinity." I would encourage you not to use that, because if you talk to anyone who doesn't believe in the Trinity and you reference this verse, they will quickly point out that it is not in the original text. This is especially true if you engage with a Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon, who do not believe that Jesus is truly God, do not accept the divinity of Christ, and do not believe in the Trinity. If you bring up this verse, they will show you very quickly that it is not in the original text, and then you might come back to me saying, "I got shown up by a Mormon."

Well, no, you know what the word says, and so we should be honest students of the Scripture when we study the Scriptures. That's why I wanted to point that out.

We'll just finish up with some of the things that we see here in chapter 5, verse 10. He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself. Romans chapter 8, verse 16 says, "His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself. This is because of God's Spirit bearing witness with your spirit that you are a child of God tonight.

Some of the indications of His Spirit bearing witness with your spirit we've already talked about. You have a desire to obey God that was never there before because God gave you that Spirit. You have a conviction of sin that was never there before because God has given you His conviction by His Spirit. These are some of the things that reveal His Spirit bearing witness with our spirit.

But tonight, if you don't have that, go back to verse 9. He that believes not, he that believes not God has made Him a liar because he believes not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record that God has given to us: eternal life. This life is in His Son. Eternal life is found no other place but in Jesus Christ. He that has the Son has life, and he that has not the Son of God has not life.

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. You see, John and Jesus before him desire that we would know that we have eternal life. There are some people tonight in the church that say, "Well, I really hope I do." You ask them, "If you die tonight, would you go to heaven?" They go, "I hope so." The Scriptures reveal that you can know so.

But the only way that you can truly know so is if you have the witness of the Spirit, His Spirit bearing witness with your spirit that you're a child of God. If you don't have that, then go back to verse 9. That you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. That's how we receive eternal life: by believing.

And this is the confidence that we have in Him: if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know...

That he hears us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we've desired of Him. What a great confidence we have in Him! It's His will that none should perish and that we all would come to repentance. So, if we ask according to His will tonight, "Lord, I desire to know You," we know that He will answer.

If any man sees his brother sin a sin which leads not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death, and I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death.

Now, this is a very interesting scripture that a lot of people stumble at. I personally think that one of the best answers for this is that there are certain sins that lead directly to death. We think of Ananias and Sapphira; they sinned, and boom, they were dead. There is also a sin that leads unto eternal death, and Jesus spoke about that. He said that the one sin that leads straight to eternal death for eternity is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. There are those who reject the work of God by His Spirit, and they are sinning unto eternal death.

Now, if you know someone who has refused to receive Christ Jesus as Lord, then go and speak the gospel to them. Share with them, and hopefully, they'll return unto the Lord. All unrighteousness is sin. Every single one of us has committed unrighteousness; we've all sinned. But there is a sin not unto death. There are sins that do not lead unto eternal death because we can receive forgiveness in Christ Jesus.

However, only when we receive forgiveness in Christ Jesus are we safe. We need to come to Him for forgiveness. His blood is enough to forgive all sin. We know that whosoever is born of God sins not and does not continue in sin, but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked one touches him not.

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness. We know that the Son of God has come, and He has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true. He came so that we might know Him. This is eternal life: that we might know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. We are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Knowing Him is eternal life.

Little children, keep yourselves.

From idols. Amen. Let's stand and pray.

Father, thank you for this great letter. I pray that you would stir the hearts of this group here to take time to study slowly through 1 John. If, by your Spirit and by your Word, you reveal to us that there's an area in our life that's not right, may we come to you and confess our sins, knowing that you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I thank you, Lord, that you cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We praise you, Lord, that you have opened the door for us to come into fellowship with you. We can walk in the light as you are in the light, and we have fellowship with one another. We know you, and for eternity, we will be with you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.