1 JOHN 5
1 Everyone (universal invitation) who believes that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah; the heart of the problem for the false teachers) has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him.

• Jesus or other believers?
• This encapsulates John’s arguments thus far.
• John has repeatedly said that all who obey God’s commands (1 John 3:23) are born of God.
• These commands are to believe in Jesus and love fellow Christians.
• Those who believe in Jesus love the Father and consequently love His children.

2 This is how we know that we love God’s children (reality test… reality show): when we love God and obey his commands.

• Not sentimentally but action.

3 For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,

• Love goes both ways: we obey & His commands are good for us.
• Old Covenant – The Law formed the basis of the relationship between God and man.
•  New Covenant – The law flows out of the relationship between God and man.
• Skittles Illustration
• John’s problem with the false teachers is that they either had no rules (antinomian) or too many rules (legalists).
• Christmas vs Xmas
• The Old Covenant law was burdensome because it could never be kept perfectly.
• But in the New Covenant, God has rigged the system.
• He has made the commandments centered on Christ.
• This does not mean that there is not crossover between the Old and New Covenants.
• The crossover is the nature and character of God, not every specific law.
• Therefore, in the New Covenant, we express the character of God who lives within us as opposed to following external laws.

4 because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world.

• Human society acting apart/independent from God

This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.

• Overcome=Nikos- Nike – goddess of victory
• Believers are on a specific trajectory that cannot be stopped.
• God will carry our salvation to completion.
• We can fail to experience the beauty of the New Covenant to some degree if we choose to live law-based lives.
• But this does not remove us from the path that we are on.
• Our faith has overcome the world.

 
THE CERTAINTY OF GOD’S TESTIMONY
5 Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes (trusts) that Jesus is the Son of God?

• The Gospel is simple: We need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God to be saved.
• This means we do not need to perform for God for salvation.
• We experience transformation through faith in Jesus.

6 Jesus Christ—he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood.

• He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death – The Message)
• There are two views of this.
• John could be speaking of Jesus’ water baptism and his crucifixion.
• However, another view is preferable.
• John is likely speaking of Christ’s physical birth being born of flesh and water.
• This makes sense in light of John arguments against the Gnostic belief that Jesus was only spirit and lacked physicality.
• Jesus was born of both a woman and the Spirit.
• Therefore, Christ is both fully man and fully God at the same time.
• This means that God’s divinity is compatible with our humanity, and our humanity is compatible with his divinity.
• This is why the Gnostic rejection of Christ’s humanity is so problematic.

And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

• John 16:7-15 -Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
• “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.[1]
    1) Reveals the Gospel/Truth
    2) Convicts the world of sin
    3) Leads to Christ
    4) Baptizes into Christ
    5) Forms Christ in us
• I… as your pastor… am not responsible for you!

7 For there are three that testify:, 8 the Spirit (the dove at Jesus’ baptism), the water (the actual immersion), and the blood (the crucifixion) —and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept human testimony (the false teachers), God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that he has given about his Son.

• Matthew 3:17 - And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”[2]

10 The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself (the internal Spirit or the Gospel of Truth).

• We often worry about having more faith and needing to somehow keep our faith alive.
• And yet God has poured His testimony into our hearts.
• We know God at the cores of our beings and nothing can interrupt this.

The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed

• Personal indictment on those who are unredeemed – How is one redeemed? Belief

in the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

• God’s testimony is that all who believe have eternal life.
• This means that we can’t lose our salvation.
• We may feel like we lost our salvation, but our salvation is not based on our emotions.
• Our salvation is based on God’s testimony.
• There is no eternal life apart from Christ.
• Salvation is not a ticket to heaven or a thing: Salvation is the Son of God.
• If we have the Person of Christ living within us, then we have salvation.

12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

• John 17:3 - This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ.[3]
• One cannot be in fellowship with the Father without personal faith in the Son![4]

13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

• Assurance of salvation
• 1. Believers have eternal life.

14 This is the confidence (boldness or freedom) we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

• John is not talking about naming and claiming in prayer.
• He is not concerned with material items or health and wealth.
• To the contrary, God gives us according to His will.
• God’s will is not an ambiguous concept.
• He desires for us to believe in Jesus and express Jesus.
• Therefore, God’s will is ultimately a person who is our salvation and our eternal life.
• If we ask God for salvation, He will deliver it to us in Christ and come to live within us.

15 And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.

• 2. God hears believer’s prayers
• 3. God answers believer’s prayers
• Psalm 37:4 - Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.[5]

16 If anyone sees a fellow believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, he should ask, and God will give life

• abundant life… not referring to eternal life.

to him—to those who commit sin that doesn’t lead to death. There is sin that leads to death.

• John is speaking of the unbelief in Jesus.
• God will not forgive unbelief because salvation is tied to the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• Consequently, John states that we are not to pray for people to believe because God will not make someone believe.
• He does not force His union but rather stands at the door and knocks.

I am not saying he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that doesn’t lead to death.

• 2 Peter 2:1-10 - There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them. 3 They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.
• For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell and delivered them in chains of utter darkness to be kept for judgment; 5 and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;, 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.[6]
• John could be referring to sins that deal with:
    1) Fellowship with God
    2) Fellowship with other believers
    3) Fellowship with the world

 
CONCLUSION
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God

• 4. Believers are born of God
• All who believe in Jesus are born again.
• Therefore, while believers can still make mistakes they will not be characterized by these sins.
• We are no longer compatible with sin which means we cannot perpetually celebrate and continue in sin.

does not sin, (continue in the practice of sin) but the one who is born of God keeps him, (Christ sustains us) and the evil one does not touch him (cannot condemn). 19 We know that we are of God,

• 5. Believers are of God

and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

• Satan controls the entire world.
• However, he does not hold control over believers.
• All who believe in Jesus have been delivered from the power of the evil one. [7]

20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one.

• 6. Believers know the Messiah has come and given us understanding

We are in the true one—that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

• 7. Believers know the True One – Either the Father or the Son

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.[8]

• sin… false teachers.

 
Assurance has become a denominational issue
1. John Calvin based assurance on God’s election. He said that we can never be certain in this life.
2. John Wesley based assurance on religious experience. He believed that we have the ability to live above known sin.
3. Roman Catholics and the Church of Christ base assurance on an authoritative Church. The group to which one belongs is the key to assurance.
4.      Most evangelicals base assurance on the promises of the Bible, linked to the fruit of the Spirit in the life of the believer (cf. Gal. 5:22–23).[9]

[1] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (238). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 5.
[8] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (239). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.

Remind them:

• This is a letter to the Church warning them about the teaching of Gnostics.

 
THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH AND THE SPIRIT OF ERROR
1 JOHN 4
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

• John is not talking about supernatural spirits here.
• He is talking about human spirits.
• Each human spirit is about something being in Adam or Christ.
• * DO NOT - This is a PRESENT IMPERATIVE with a NEGATIVE PARTICLE, which usually means to stop an act already in process.
• Christians tend to accept:

1) strong personalities
2) logical arguments, or
3) miraculous events as from God.

• John is writing both to combat the false teachers and to encourage the true believers.
• John is encouraging believers to test the intentions and substance of teachers that come into the church, like Gnostics.
• Gnostics denied that Jesus came in the flesh and, therefore, were not of God.
• John calls those who reject Christ’s humanity the antichrist.
• He does this by using several tests:

a. the doctrinal test (belief in Jesus, cf. I John 2:18–25; 4:1–6, 14–16; 5:1, 5)
b. lifestyle test (obedience, cf. I John 2:3–7; 3:1–10, 22–24)
c. the social test (love, cf. I John 2:7-11; 3:11–18; 4:7–12, 16–21; 5:12)[1]

• Through the incarnation, God announces that His divinity is compatible with our humanity.
• Therefore, if a teacher eliminates the humanity of Jesus, they eliminate the possibility of divine compatibility with humanity.
• This would be a distant God, not one who seeks union with His creation.

2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

• The Holy Spirit always magnifies Jesus.
•   1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. [2]

3 but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

• This is the essential doctrinal test for the false teachers (i.e., Gnostics) whom John was combating in this book.
• Its bare assertion is that Jesus is fully human (i.e., flesh) as well as fully God (1:1–4; II John 7; John 1:14; I Tim. 3:16).
• The PERFECT TENSE affirms that Jesus’ humanity was not temporary but permanent.
• This was not a minor issue. Jesus is truly one with humanity and one with God.[3]

4 You (believers) are from God, little children, and you have conquered (overcome) them,

• John is concerned with the Christian’s victory over sin and the devil.
• He uses this term six times in I John (2:13, 14; 4:4; 5:4, 5), 11 times in the Revelation, and once in the Gospel (cf. 16:33).
• This term for victory was used only once in Luke (11:22) and twice in Paul’s writings (Rom. 3:4; 12:21).

because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

• The term “world” in I John always has negative connotations (i.e., human society organized and functioning apart from God).
• The term “world” is used here in the sense of fallen human society trying to meet all its needs apart from God.
• It refers to fallen humanity’s collective independent spirit!
• An example of this is Cain (3:12).
• John is addressing spiritual warfare in this Gnostic context.
• He affirms that believers have overcome Satan because Christ indwells them, and He is stronger than the Devil.
• Christians, therefore, can only be attacked externally through lies and false teachings like Gnosticism.
• They cannot be afflicted by Satan internally. 

5 They (false prophets) are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.

• The Gnostics were not of God.
• This was seen in their rejection of Jesus’ humanity and the reality of sin (1 John 1:9).

6 We (John & disciples) are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

• Believers can recognize true preachers/teachers by both the content of their message and who hears and responds to them.

 
KNOWING GOD THROUGH LOVE
7 Dear friends, let us love one another (lifestyle) because love is from God (not human philanthropy, pity, or emotion), and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

• The term “knows” reflects the Hebrew sense of ongoing, intimate fellowship.
• It is the recurrent theme of I John, used over 77 times.
• All who believe in Jesus have the love of God poured into their hearts (see Romans 5:5).
• Whereas lost people can be loving and have moral and ethical standards, Christians have God's eternal life poured out within them.
• We can love fellow Christians in a way that the world will never love.

8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

• Love is God’s nature.
• Everything He does comes from love.
• This love is manifested fully in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the event in human history when God’s love is revealed fully (Romans 5:8).

9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

• All of God’s benefits come through Jesus. What are the benefits?)
• Forgiveness is only half of the Gospel.
• The other half is life in Him.

10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

• Jesus Christ’s work completely satisfied God.
• He has removed our sins perfectly because His sacrifice is not an atonement covering as was the case with the temple sacrifices of the Old Testament, but a total removal of our sins.
• God is completely satisfied with Christ’s finished work.
• The NT is unique among the world religions.
• Typically, religion is mankind seeking God, but Christianity is God seeking fallen mankind!
• The wonderful truth is not our love for God but His love for us.
• He has sought us through our sin and self, our rebellion and pride.
• The glorious truth of Christianity is that God loves fallen mankind and has initiated and maintained a life-changing contact.[4]

11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in us.

• False prophets claimed to have a vision from God or of God.
• Being with Believers is as close as we can get.

13 This is how we know that we remain (abide) in him (Jesus/Trinity – 1 of 3) and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit (Trinity – 2 of 3). 14 And we have seen and we testify that the Father (Trinity – 3 of 3) has sent his Son as the world’s Savior. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God.

• The inclusive term “whoever” is the great invitation of God for anyone and everyone to come to Him.
• God promised redemption to the human race in Gen. 3:15.
•  His call to Abraham was to reach the world (Gen. 12:3; Exod. 19:5).
• Jesus’ death dealt with the sin problem (John 3:16).
•  Everyone can be saved if they respond through faith.
• God’s word to all is “Come” (Isaiah 55).[5]
• Confess - This term implies specific, public,  vocal acknowledgment of one’s affirmation     of and commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ.[6]
• If we believe that Jesus came in the flesh and that He was nailed to the cross for our sins, then we are given the right to become children of God.
• This is not a feeling.
• We can feel all types of things, including losing our salvation.
• But these feelings do not reflect reality.

16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 In this, love is made complete (perfected)

• This is from the Greek word telos.
• It implies fullness, maturity, and completion, not sinlessness.[7]

with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment,

• boldness before the throne.

because as he is, so also are we in this world.

• Being a child of God is a reality for all Christians.
• We are born of God and have a new nature.
• This means that we can be confident on the day of judgment because we are as righteous as Jesus is righteous.
• We are no less righteous than Christ Himself.
• If Christ is not judged, then neither are we judged.

18 There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.

• What starts in fear, punishment, ends with no fear.
• The perfect love of God in Christ casts out fear because Jesus has removed all of our sins.
• If our sins are completely removed, there is no need to fear condemnation.
• God is set on maturing us into His love so that no lingering fear remains.

19 We love because he first loved us.

• God always takes the initiative.
• We must take the initiative with others… as God did for us.
• This is from the Greek word telos.
• It implies fullness, maturity, and completion, not sinlessness.
• Love indwells Christians because God, who is love, indwells Christians, and has loved us first.
• Love originates from God, and we only love God or one another because God loves us in Christ.
• God initiated a relationship with us.

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar.

• Conflict is possible, but settled hatred is not.

For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.[8]

• THE LAST VERSE = SUMMARY
• Love is the non-counterfeitable evidence of a true believer.
• Hate is the evidence of a child of the evil one.
• The false teachers were dividing the flock and causing conflict.[9]
• God’s commands are to love Him by believing in the Son and loving fellow Christians (1 John 3:23).

He has rigged the system so that our love for Him is and receiving and transmitting of His love for us.[10]

[1] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (228). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (229). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[4] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (231). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[5] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (232). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[6] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (229). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[7] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (232). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[8] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Utley, R. J. D. (1999). Vol. Volume 4: The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters: The Gospel of John, I, II, and III John. Study Guide Commentary Series (233). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[10] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 4.

Review 1 John 2:15-29…
      - Believers stood secure against the false teaching of the antichrists because of three sources of strength.
      1) They had the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This provided the capacity to understand spiritual things (v. 20).
      2) They had made a personal commitment to the Christian message (vv. 24–25).
      3) They lived in union with Jesus Christ (v. 28). 
 
- Ayden Fisher – Who is his daddy? Why do you know this? What affirms this? What is Ayden going to be like when he grows up? Do we know fully what his future will be? What two parts do you, as believers, see in Ayden? (Earthsuit & spiritual being). Which one is eternal?
 
1 JOHN 3
1 See (look, pay attention to, concern oneself with, understand, experience) what great love (agape – sacrificial love, fellowship, love feast) the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are!

• Not only are we “called children of God” but we are! Claim it! Live it!
• John is writing this letter to affirm the identity of Christians as God’s children.
• All who believe in Jesus are actually, truly, children of God.
• John emphasizes our adoption as God’s children multiple times in this passage because it is such a significant reality.
• We are told to see, in faith, this reality of God’s love that has been so freely given to us. 

The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.

• John is talking about behavior.
• People are not purifying themselves in their hearts.
• God has given believers a new heart and nature.
• Instead, John talks about Christians living from their new nature and identity as God’s children.
• Christians have every power to live pure and righteous lives.
• But these righteous lives come not from following rules and regulations but from trusting in the person and character of Jesus Christ.
• Romans 8:23 (NLT) - 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.[1]
• Philippians 3:21 (NLT) - He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.[2]

4 Everyone who commits (practices – NASB) sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

• Unbelievers practice sinful behavior.
• This sinful behavior is total and complete chaos when compared to the peaceful fruit of the Spirit.

5 You know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins, and there is no sin in him.

• In contrast to the Old Testament sacrifices which only acted to cover sins, Jesus actually took away all sins by His own death.
• The believer’s sins are completely taken away.
• This means that there is no divine judgment for the believer.
• God will never bring up our sins because He remembers them no more (Hebrews 8:12).
• Therefore, Judgment Day for the Christian is not a reflection on our past sins.

6 Everyone who remains in him does not sin (keep on sinning – NIV); everyone who sins (continues to sin – NIV) has not seen him or known him.

• I John 1:8 - If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.[3]
• The question is not, “Does he sin?” but, “Does he make sin a habit?”

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

• Why is that? It is the new nature of the redeemed.

8 The one who commits sin (practices – NASB) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works.

• Even before Genesis 3.

9 Everyone who has been born of God does not (practice – NASB) sin (continue to sin – NIV), because his seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, (he cannot go on sinning – NIV) because he has been born of God.

• Whereas unbelievers practice sinfulness, believers practice righteousness.
• This does not mean that believers never sin.
• It does, however, mean that they are practicing how to live righteously as opposed to practicing how to sin.
• This is because we have been fundamentally changed at the cores of our beings.
• We have been set free from the old sinful nature and enslaved to the new nature of righteousness (see also Romans 6:18).
• This is what it means that God’s seed remains within His children.
• We are born of God and are no longer of the world.
• Therefore, we are not predisposed towards the ways of the world.
• There is a trend within believers that has been reversed.
• If we are in Christ, we will have trouble sinning.
• Christians are no longer good at sinning.
• When we become Christians, the battle with sin begins because of this reality.
• The fact that a battle exists within us is proof of our new natures.
• Romans 6:6 – For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,[4]
• Ephesians 4:22 - to take off, your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,[5]

10 This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.

• All who are in Christ love Christians.
• This does not mean that we like everyone, but it means that we love and affirm the Christian’s identity in Christ.

 
LOVE IN ACTION
11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, 12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

• These are choices they made based upon what they believed.
• At this point, Abel was only credited with righteousness… similar to Abraham in Genesis
• - Abram believed the Lord, and He

 credited it to him as righteousness.

• Love does not do harm to its neighbor.
• Christians love fellow believers at the cores of their beings.
• Therefore, we are to express this love in behavior.

13 Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come![6]

because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.

• Loving Christians is a sign that we have been truly saved.
• Not only are we completely forgiven but we have been given new life.
• This new life manifests in love for fellow believers.
• Whoever does not love Christians abides in spiritual death and needs eternal life in Christ.
• This is the core issue with humanity: People need eternal life, not perfected moral living.

15 Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

• This is an identity issue – identified with sin, Cain, Adam, death, etc.
• John is speaking of those who are inherently murderers, or those who are still enslaved to sin.
• Paul had a history of murdering Christians.
• Likewise, the thief on the cross had a rather difficult past.
•  But both experienced a nature change through the grace of Christ.

16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

• There is no atoning value in this like Christ’s death for us, but it is the supreme proof of who we have become in Christ.
• Christians are to receive the servant love of Jesus and transmit it to fellow believers.
• This does not mean having poor relational boundaries where we never say “No.”
• But it does mean that we have the chance to love one another as Christ loves us.
• If this love is absent, then we have not crossed from death to life.

17 If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

• Agape love
•       The Message – 17 If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.[7] (ZING)
• Love is to be tangible.
• Love is not simply words but actions.
• This loving action assures our hearts that we are God’s children and are in Christ.
• When we see love coming from us, we can know that we have passed from death to life.
• Our hearts, or consciences, can condemn us even if God does not condemn us.
• This is why John affirms that God is greater than our hearts.
• His realities transcend any negative emotion or flavor of shame that we experience.

19 This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him

• NIV – 19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:[8]

20 whenever our hearts condemn us (pass judgment); for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.
21 Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence before God

• The Message – 21 And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God![9]

22 and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.

• This is not naming and claiming certain things in life.
• God is answering our prayers based on His New Covenant commands: believe in Jesus and love one another (1 John 3:23).
• He wants us to believe more fully and to love relentlessly.
• He will always help us to grow and mature in our faith in these ways. This is God’s will for us in Christ.

23 Now this is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us. [10]

• If we have believed in Christ, we are one with the Holy Spirit.
• He has poured His love into our hearts (see Romans 5:5) and has therefore made us to keep His commandments perpetually within our new natures.[11]​

[1] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[2] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[3] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Peterson, Eugene H. 2005. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
[8] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[9] Peterson, Eugene H. 2005. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
[10] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[11] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 3.

A WARNING ABOUT THE WORLD
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

• John is warning those who do not believe in Jesus about their spiritual condition.
• All who are in Christ have the love of God poured out inside of them (Romans 5:5).
• Unbelievers love the world.
• They trust in the world system.
• Therefore, they do not have the Holy Spirit in them.

16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world.

• Unbelievers are enslaved to the lust of the flesh, eyes, and pride of life.
• Christians, however, have been set free from the world system.
• This does not mean that Christians cannot struggle with the ways of the world.
• It does, however, mean that we are no longer enslaved to it.

17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
- God’s will which lets us live forever is Jesus.
- God’s will is Christ.
- He wants us to believe in Him and live forever as a result.
- God’s will – Walk in His Spirit
       - The one trick pony says:
         1) Know who you are in Christ
         2) Walk by His Spirit (know Him)
         3) Anything outside of this is not natural… it is of              
             the world.
       - The priority for Leavener… teach identity.
       - The second is live in community.
       - Hitch your wagon to that pony.
         - Job
         - Dating
         - Relationships
 
THE LAST HOUR
18 Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour.

• John is the only writer who actually uses the word "antichrist(s)" (I John 2:18, I John 2:22, I John 4:3 and II John 1:7).
• The Beast of Revelation 13:1-10 who is generally known as the antichrist, is never really called "The Antichrist," and the usage of the title by John in these verses doesn't seem to be identifying a particular prophetic individual like that prophetic Beast.
• John does use the term "antichrist" in the context of those who stand against Christ.
• In that respect, many feel comfortable in applying that reference to the beast of Revelation 13.
• The epistle is focused on getting people out of major theological error imposed by Gnosticism.
• These beliefs and these false teachers are antichrists.
• For John, the antichrist is not some future figure who will lead an army against the people of God.
• Instead, the antichrists are those who were at one time amongst Christians but who proved to not be authentic believers because of their theological error.
• These false prophets are “antichrists.”
• They have left the churches and have undermined the foundations of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• However, they are still in contact with the believers and are leading some of them astray with their deviant gospel.
• Here is what they are teaching: The material world of matter is evil.
• Therefore, the Divine Christ could not have come to the earth in human flesh.
• He rather came in spirit and only seemed to be touchable human flesh.
• This denial of the Lord’s incarnation later came to be known as Docetism.
• Docetism is the belief that Christ could not possibly dwell in a human body.
• His body must have “seemed” to be human.
• Gnostics did not believe that Jesus came in the flesh.
• Jesus was not the Son of God.
• Since salvation means deliverance from the physical world, including the physical body, it does not matter how a person behaves in their bodies.
• Since sin is part of the material world, sin does not exist for the Christian.
• We (the false prophets) are sinless.
• We (the false prophets) have special insight from God’s Spirit to see these deeper truths.
• As a consequence of embracing this false gospel, some of the brethren are exhibiting hatred toward one another.
• Others are claiming that they have never sinned and that sin does not exist.

19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

• Apparently, the Gnostics were at one point part of the Christian church gatherings.
• But they were soon revealed to be false teachers through their teachings against the humanity of Jesus as well as the reality of sin (1 John 1).
• John saw these teachings as proof that these were not true believers.
• These Gnostics became their own pseudo-Christian group.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

• All people in Christ have an anointing from Christ.
• Jesus lives within them and they have been adopted into God’s family.
• To the contrary, all who are of the Gnostic teachings and who have rejected the physicality of Jesus, do not contain an anointing.

21 I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son.
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.

• All who reject Jesus reject the Father also.
• It does not matter how good a person’s works are, or how nice their beliefs are, if they do not believe in Jesus, they are also denying the Father because God is one being and three persons.
• All who confess the Son of God also confess the Father and the Spirit.
• They are a package deal.
• This means that the entire Trinity is pleased with God’s children.
• Believers are perpetually abiding in God, and God is perpetually abiding in His children.

 
REMAINING WITH GOD
24 What you have heard from the beginning is to remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life.

• God is offering an unending life, the very life of Jesus, to all who believe in Him.
• This salvation is an eternal salvation. This means that nothing can interrupt or interfere with it.
• God’s salvation has nothing to do with our promises or works before God.
• Rather, salvation is based on His promise to save all who believe in Jesus.
• This is the heartbeat of the New Covenant.

26 I have written these things to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as it has taught you, remain in him.

• John is not suggesting that believers do not need to benefit from one another’s spiritual gifts.
• John is simply telling the church that they have an anointing from God: His presence within.
• Because Jesus lives within them, they have been introduced to the nature and character of God.
• Believers know God and can resist false theology such as Gnosticism as a result.
• 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 - The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For

who has known the Lord’s mind,
that he may instruct him? (Isaiah 40:13)
But we have the mind of Christ.[1]
​
GOD’S CHILDREN
28 So now, little children, (they understand forgiveness) remain in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

• Believers will not be punished and judged at the Second Coming.
• Believers can, therefore, have confidence at His coming.
• Unbelievers, however, will be judged because they have rejected Christ and do not have eternal life.

29 If you know that he is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right has been born of him.[2]

• Throughout the letter John argues that there are only two groups of people: Those in the light and those in the dark.
• Those who are in the light are characterized by righteousness.
• God has made them righteous at the core of their being, and they naturally want to live from this new nature.
• Believers practice how to live from their identity in Christ.

We are not fulfilled by sinful behavior.[3]

[1] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 2.

1 JOHN 2:12-14
12 I am writing to you, little children,
since your sins have been forgiven
on account of his name. ak
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning. al
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the evil one. am
14 I have written to you, children,
because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong,
God’s word an remains in you,
and you have conquered the evil one.[1]
 
Sabbath Rest – Comes with true spiritual maturity; the abundant life associated with knowing the Creator intimately.
         1) Failed to enter – Hebrews 3:16–19 - For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses? y 17 With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? z 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. [2]
         2) Failed to enter – Hebrews 4:8 - For if Joshua e had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.[3]
 
Spiritual Rest – Hebrew Christians & Redeemed of all time.
         1) Believers in Hebrews
         2) All believers of all time
Redemption Rest – Rest from spiritual bondage to sin
         1) Entered – Hebrews 3:1 - Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. n[4]
         2) Entered – Hebrews 11:6 - Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. [5]


Canaan Rest – Rest that comes with trusting God to overcome the enemy.
         1) Had begun to enter but had failed to fully enter – Hebrews 10:32-35 -  Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.t 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way. u 34 For you sympathized with the prisoners J and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession. K,v 35 So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. w[6]
         2) Encouraged to enter – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 - For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, 4 since the weapons of our warfare j are not of the flesh, but are powerful k through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments 5 and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge l of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.[7]


Sabbath Rest – Comes with true spiritual maturity; the abundant life associated with knowing the Creator intimately.
         1) Encouraged to enter – Hebrews 4:9-11 - Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. 10 For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his. f 11 Let us, then, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience. [8]
         2) – Encouraged to enter – Psalm 95:7-11 - For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
the sheep under his care. B,z
Today, if you hear his voice: aa
8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the wilderness ab
9 where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did. ac
10 For forty years I was disgusted with that generation;
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray;
they do not know my ways.” ad
11 So I swore in my anger,
“They will not enter my rest.” ae [9]
 
John 5:16-23 - Therefore, the Jews began persecuting b Jesus A because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. c
17 Jesus responded to them, “My Father d is still working, and I am working also.” 18 This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him: e Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
19 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father B does, the Son likewise does these things. f 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works g than these so that you will be amazed. 21 And just as the Father raises h the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wants. i 22 The Father, j in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. k Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. l [10]
 
John 14:7-11 - If you know me, you will also know A my Father. d From now on you do know him e and have seen him.”

• They think alike
• Their answers and responses will always be the same
• Distinct but one
• Unbroken fellowship between them

8 “Lord,” said Philip, f “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”

• They just didn’t get it

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. g How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? h The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. i The Father who lives in me does his works. j

• Jesus did no works, it was His Father in Him that did the works

11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe B because of the works themselves. k[11]
 
Envelopes
 
Philippians 2:13 - For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. [12]
John 15

• Passover meal/Lord’s Supper had just been completed and they had left the upper room to head for the Garden of Gethsemane via the Kidron Valley.

1 “I am as the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, at and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.

• (takes away / NAS;),
• Greek – to raise from the ground, to raise upward, elevate, lift up or draw up.
• Picture of Olive tree
• He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.
• Pruning is painful but necessary

3 You are already clean au because of the word I have spoken to you.

• John 13:10 – You don’t need to bathe.
• They already had his words as information.
• The Holy Spirit was about to reveal it to them.

4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. av

• To live by His life
• Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.

5 I am the vine; aw you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, ax because you can do nothing without me.

• No self-effort will produce such fruit.

6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside ay like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, az and they are burned. ba

• Jesus in context is speaking of how the fruit is borne.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 - For no one can lay any foundation other af than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, ag costly stones, ah wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; ai the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. aj 14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience O loss, but he himself will be saved ak—but only as through fire. al [13]

• Judgment Seat of Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat ab of Christ, ac so that each may be repaid ad for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.[14]
• Made Blameless - Jude 24 -  Now to him ar who is able to protect you from stumbling as and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish at and with great joy,[15]
• Works done in our own strength are sinful  Romans 14:23 - whatever is not from faith is sin.[16] (NAS)

Romans 8:1 - Therefore, there is now no condemnation ak for those in al Christ Jesus, K,am[17]

• There is no condemnation for the believer so this judgment is concerning the quality of our works,

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. a

• Abiding in Jesus lines our desires up with the Father.

8 My Father is glorified b by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be A my disciples. [18]
 
1 John 2:12-13
I am writing to you, little children,
since your sins have been forgiven
on account of his name. ak
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning. al
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the evil one. am[19]
 
We traveled from the simplest of things of our faith (forgiveness) to one of the least understood issues of the Scripture (being victorious over the evil one) and to the desirable relationship that we continually pursue (knowing the Father).
 
FEDEx

ak Ps 25:11; Lk 24:47; Ac 2:38; 10:43
al 1Jn 1:1
am Jn 16:33; 17:15; Eph 6:10; 1Jn 2:14; 4:4; 5:4–5; Rv 2:7
an 1Jn 1:10
[1] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
y Nm 14:2; Dt 1:35–38
z Nm 14:29; Ps 106:26
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
e Jos 22:4
[3] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers
n Rm 15:8; Php 3:14; Heb 2:11,17; 4:14–15
[4] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
t Php 1:29–30; Heb 6:4
u 1Co 4:9; Php 4:14; 1Th 2:14
J Other mss read sympathized with my imprisonment
K Other mss add in heaven
v Mt 5:12; 1Pt 1:4–5
w Heb 2:2; 11:26
[6] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
j 1Tm 1:18
k Ac 25:5
l Jn 17:3; 1Jn 4:8
[7] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
f Heb 4:4; Rv 14:13
[8] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
B Lit sheep of his hand
z Ps 79:13
aa Heb 3:7–11,15; 4:7
ab Ex 17:7; Dt 6:16
ac Nm 14:22; Ps 78:18
ad Dt 9:7; Ac 13:18; Heb 3:10,17
ae Nm 14:23,28–30; Dt 12:9
[9] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
b Lk 6:28; 2Tm 3:12
A Other mss add and trying to kill him
c Lk 13:10
d Mt 5:16; 11:27; Jn 8:42
e Mt 12:14; 26:4; 27:1; Mk 3:6; 14:1; Lk 6:11; Jn 7:1,19; 10:33; 11:53
B Lit whatever that one
f Jn 3:35; 6:38; 7:16,28; 8:26–42; 10:18,30,36–38; 12:49–50; 14:9,24,31; 15:9–10; 16:15; 17:9–10
g Heb 3:9; Rv 15:3
h Mk 9:27; Jn 2:19
i Jn 11:25–26
j Mt 11:27
k Jn 15:23
l Lk 10:16
[10] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
A Other mss read If you had known me, you would have known
d Mt 11:27; 1Jn 2:23
e Jn 17:3; 1Jn 4:8
f Mk 3:18
g Jn 5:19,37; 12:45
h Jn 10:30; 14:11,20; 1Jn 2:24; 4:17
i Jn 5:30
j Jn 5:36; 6:28; Heb 3:9; Rv 15:3
B Other mss read believe me
k Jn 10:38
[11] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[12] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
as Ex 3:14; Jn 8:24,58
at Mt 3:10; 7:19; 15:13; Lk 3:9; 13:6–9; Jn 15:6; Rm 11:17,22
au Ps 24:4; Ti 1:15
av Jn 6:56; 8:28; 1Jn 2:5
aw Jms 3:12
ax Mk 4:8
ay Jn 15:2
az 2Th 1:8
ba 1Th 1:8; 2Pt 3:7
af Is 28:16; Rm 15:20; 2Co 10:16; 11:4; Gl 1:6–9
ag Jms 5:3
ah Rv 17:4
ai 2Th 1:8; 1Pt 1:7
aj Ps 62:12; Pr 24:12; Mt 16:27; 2Co 5:10; 1Pt 1:17
O Or suffer
ak Mt 9:22; Ac 16:30; Eph 2:8
al Jd 23
[13] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
ab Jn 5:22–3
ac Mt 25:31–46; Php 1:6; Heb 10:31
ad Mt 16:27
[14] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
ar Rm 16:25; Eph 3:20
as Jn 17:12
at Eph 1:4; 5:27; Php 2:15; Col 1:22
[15] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[16] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
ak Rm 5:16; 8:34
al Rm 8:9–10
K Other mss add who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit
am Rm 8:11,39; 16:3
[17] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
a Jn 14:14
b Jn 11:4; 17:1; 1Pt 2:12
A Or and become
[18] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
ak Ps 25:11; Lk 24:47; Ac 2:38; 10:43
al 1Jn 1:1
am Jn 16:33; 17:15; Eph 6:10; 1Jn 2:14; 4:4; 5:4–5; Rv 2:7
[19] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

1 John 2:12-13
12 I am writing to you, little children,
since your sins have been forgiven
on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the evil one.[1]
----------------------------
One Thing…

• I want to teach you one thing today.
• Don’t believe a word I say.
• This is something that I was not taught at OBU.
• I never heard in seminary.
• I did not learn this until I was 36 years old.

1 John 2:13
I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered (had victory over) the evil one.
- Now let’s break this down…
 

• We are amid horror flicks at Halloween time.
• There is not a single reference from Romans to Revelation about casting out demons.
• Christians are not to spend their lives casting out demons.
• Instead, we are to present the Gospel to people that they may believe and be delivered from the influence of the evil one.
• All who are in Christ have the ability overcome the evil one.

 
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23 - Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.[2]

• Paul indicates that we are 3 parts: spirit, soul and body.
• Body – “Body” obviously describes a person's physical being.
• Our physical being here on earth… originally came from dust and will return to dust.
• Your body is not going into eternity.
• This includes your brain (hard drive…memories)
• Our physical bodies are temporary and not redeemed.
• Not made perfect.

 

• Soul – (psychē) is the life force that all living things possess and that distinguishes them from the inanimate or the dead.
• The word is used of life itself, as the seat of internal thoughts, desires, and emotions, or of that aspect of life that survives physical death.
• Mind, will, emotions (personality). It makes each individual unique.
• The soul is eternal. (Luke 16 – Abraham & Lazarus on one side and the rich man on the other side)
• If the soul is eternal (out lasts the body) it must be redeemed. When is it redeemed?
• I have been given the mind of Christ. (1 Cor 2:16)

 

• Spirit – (pneuma) refers to the “breath” characteristic of life.
• It is roughly synonymous with “soul,” and like soul it sometimes is paired with “flesh” or “body” to sum up the entirety of a living being.
• In one Pauline context, (1 Cor 2:14–15). The “spiritual” (pneumatikos) person is one enabled to commune with the divine.
• The “natural” (psuchikos) person lives apart from the knowledge and power of God (cf. 1 Cor 15:42–46).
• The key distinction here is relational.
• Paul was not describing the human person as a three-part conglomerate but as a being with material and nonmaterial existence who may or may not be spiritually enlivened in relation to God.[3]

 

• It is our connection to God. We are born with a dead spirit… (from the seed of Adam).
• Galatians 2:19-20 – For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.[4]
• 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
• 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.[5]

 

• My spirit has been made alive in Christ and He in me.
• My spirit has been redeemed.
• This is who I am now… not what I do.

 
This is how the evil one works…
Romans 7:14-20 - For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me.[6]
 
- The evil one is constantly sending thoughts to our flesh brain.
- How does He do this? (application)
 - Family, friends, etc.
 - Social Networking
 - News
 - Entertainment
 - Society
 - Senses – Visual (hearing – words)
 - Flesh patterns in the brain
 
- What does it look like?
 - Perfect pictures… perfect FB & IG posts
 - Beauty & Fashion – Self-esteem and self-worth
 - Self Care – You can do it!
 - Addictions
 - Chemical imbalance
 - Fear – Personal threads and profiles
    -   Quit believing everything you read and hear.

• Times have changed since the internet.
• Conspiracies unproven
• The researchers found that overall, people were motivated to believe in conspiracy theories by a need to understand and feel safe in their environment and a need to feel like the community they identify with is superior to others.
• Elvis is dead, Kennedy was shot by Oswald and the Astros cheated.

 
We must be able to discern what truth really is.

• If we can’t determine the truth, then we must learn to trust the only Truth.
• I don’t know when we are going to Israel… but I am hopeful that we are still going.
• Whatever that looks like, I trust Him.
• I have in the past… He hasn’t failed me yet… and He never will.

 
If the evil one is here to destroy me… either through my choices or other’s choices… I must know the game.

• Not every thought that enters my head is truth.
• I must filter thoughts in my brain through my “mind of Christ”.

1 Corinthians 2:10-16 - Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For
who has known the Lord’s mind,
that he may instruct him? (Isaiah 40:13)
But we have the mind of Christ.[7]
 
- We make a choice… walk by the flesh… or Spirit.
 
Here is a good example of what I am talking about.
- What we have been taught vs. what the Bible says.
- This is what it sounds like…


Flesh says, “I am a sinner”.
1 Timothy 1:15 - This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them.[8]
 
Spirit says…

• John 1:12 - I am a child of God (Romans 8:16).
• John 15:15 - I am Christ's friend.
• John 15:16 - I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear His fruit.
• Romans 3:24 - I have been justified and redeemed.
• Romans 6:7 - I have been freed from sin's power over me.
• Romans 8:1 - I am forever free from condemnation.
• Romans 8:17 - I am an heir of God and fellow heir with Christ.
• Romans 11:16 - I am holy.
• Romans 15:7 - Christ has accepted me.
• 1 Corinthians 1:2 - I have been sanctified.
• 1 Corinthians 2:12 - I have received the Spirit of God into my life that I might know the things freely given to me by God.
• 1 Corinthians 6:17 - I am joined to the Lord and am one spirit with Him.
• 2 Corinthians 1:21 - I have been established in Christ and anointed by God.
• Galatians 2:4 - I have liberty in Christ Jesus.
• Ephesians 1:1 - I am a saint (1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2).
• Ephesians 1:3 - I am blessed with every spiritual blessing.
• Ephesians 2:5 - I have been made alive together with Christ.
• Ephesians 2:10 - I am God's workmanship, created in Christ to do His work that He planned beforehand that I should do.
• Ephesians 2:18 - I have direct access to God through the Spirit.
• Ephesians 3:12 - I may approach God with boldness and confidence.
• Philippians 4:7 - His peace guards my heart and my mind.
• Philippians 4:19 - God will supply all my needs.
• Colossians 1:27 - Christ Himself is in me.
• Colossians 2:10 - I have been made complete in Christ.
• Colossians 3:4 - Christ is now my life.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:5 - I am a child of light and not of darkness.
• 2 Timothy 1:7 - I have been given a spirit of power, love, and discipline.
• Hebrews 2:11 - Because I am sanctified and am one with Christ, He is not ashamed to call me His.
• Hebrews 4:16 - I may come boldly before the throne of God to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
• Hebrews 10:14 – I have been perfected by His one offering.
• 1 John 3:1 - God has bestowed a great love on me and called me His child.
• 1 John 4:15 - God is in me, and I am in God.

 
1 John 2:12
12 I am writing to you, little children,
since your sins have been forgiven
on account of his name.
13 … I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the evil one.[9]
 
We traveled from the simplest of things of our faith (forgiveness) to one of the least understood issues of the Scripture (being victorious over the evil one).

[1] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 189). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[8] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

The false prophet teachers were teaching:
- The material world of matter is evil.
- Christ could not come to the earth in human flesh.
- He came in Spirit and only seemed touchable in
       human flesh.
- Jesus was not the Son of God.
- They deny that Jesus is the Christ, therefore John
       refers to them as “antichrists” (2:18, 22, 4:3).
- Since salvation means deliverance from the physical
       world, including the physical body, it does not
       matter how a person behaves in their bodies.
- Since sin is part of the material world, sin does not
       exist for the Christian. We (false prophets) are
       sinless. (1:8, 10)
- We (false prophets) have special insight from God’s
       Spirit to see these deeper truths.
- They walked in darkness (1:5-6).
- They refused to observe the commandments of Christ
       (2:3-4, 6).
- They displayed hatred toward other Believers (2:9,
       11, 3:14, 15, 17, 4:8, 20-21, 5:1).
- They broke fellowship with Believers (2:19).
- Their teaching was seductive (deceit) (2:26)
 
What percentage of the church understands forgiveness?
 
This is for all the marketing majors out there…

• Baskin Robbins
• Toblerone
• Amazon
• Bronx Zoo
• FedEx

 
I want to show you something that took me a long time to see in the Scriptures.

• Now that I see it.. I can’t stop talking about it.
• This is something that I did not learn at OBU.
• I never remember hearing this in seminary.
• I did not learn this until I was 36 years old.
• I want to teach you one thing today.
• But I am telling you not to believe a word we say.
• Go look it up yourself.

 
1 JOHN 2
1 My little children,

• John goes from addressing the group generally in chapter 1 to specifically addressing Christians.
• Christians have an advocate for when they sin: Jesus Christ.
• In contrast to those who were being emphasized with 1 John 1:9,
• Christians do not need more forgiveness or cleansing because Jesus forever stands in our defense.

I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate (counselor) with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one.

• John 14:16 - And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.[1]

2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

• The word propitiation has to do with the removal of divine wrath.
• The sacrifice of Christ is a propitiation for the sins of the world.
• In contrast to the Old Testament concept of atonement in which sin was merely covered, Jesus actually took away the sins of the world.
• His is the only sacrifice that could actually completely satisfy God.
• This means that the Old Testament sacrifices are no longer needed because the perfect sacrifice has occurred.
• Because this perfect sacrifice has arrived, we are totally forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
• Jesus’ death is the means that turns God's wrath from the sinner.
• To appease, satisfy or pardon.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 - He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. [2]
• What other verse can you think of that affirms this verse? – John 3:16
• This is not a reference to universalism.
• Rather, it is referring to the total scope of Christ’s work for the sins of the entire world.
• The blood of Christ is sufficient to take away the sins of all who believe in Him.
• But faith is needed in order for forgiveness to be a reality for the individual.

GOD’S COMMANDS
3 This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands.

• John is not speaking of the Old Covenant law.
• This would contradict the entire message of the New Testament.
• Rather, John is speaking of new commandments from Jesus: Believe in Jesus and love one another (1 John 3:23).
• Those who believe in Jesus are born again and can love with the love of God.
• This is because believers abide or live in God.
• By this reality we can know that we are in Him.

4 The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

• False teachers

5 But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him: 6 The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.

• How did Jesus walk? – By the Spirit

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the word you have heard.8 Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

• John is addressing the universal principle of love present throughout the Scriptures.
• God has always been about love.
• John 13:34-35 - “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” [3]
• In the Old Covenant, loving God and others fulfilled the law. But in the New Covenant, the command is knowing the love of Jesus, receiving it, and then transmitting it to other people.

9 The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now.

• This is not speaking of loving people without boundaries.
• This is not being a doormat.
• Rather, it is loving those who are in Christ by affirming who they are in Christ.
• Love is recognizing the people of God for who they are and what they stand for.

10 The one who loves his brother or sister remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
 
REASONS FOR WRITING
12 I am writing to you, little children,
since your sins have been forgiven
on account of his name.

• John is reminding Christians that their sins have been forgiven once and for all.
• In contrast to 1 John 1:9 which is an invitation for unbelievers to recognize their sins and receiving forgiveness and cleansing, John now addresses Christians who have been forgiven past tense because of the blood of Christ.[4]

13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the evil one.
14 I have written to you, children,
because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong,
God’s word remains in you,
and you have conquered the evil one. [5]
Hebrews 3 & 4 – April 30 Message – “Physical & Spiritual Rest”
       1) Redemptive Rest
         - Exodus – Rest from physical bondage in Egypt
         - Hebrews – Rest from spiritual bondage to sin
       2) Canaan Rest
         - Joshua – Rest to overcome the enemy
         - Hebrews 10 – Had begun to enter but never overcome the enemy
       3) Sabbath Rest
         - Hebrews 4 – Rest that comes with true spiritual maturity
         - Knowing the Father and resting from our own works.
 
1 JOHN 2:12
12 I am writing to you, little children,

• since your sins have been forgiven
• on account of his name.
• To begin with, “little children” refers to all believers.
• John is not talking about age here.
• John is referring to spiritual maturity.
• Literally, this word means “born ones.”
• All Christians have been born into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ, and their sins have been forgiven.[6]
• “Have been forgiven” is in the perfect tense (John will use a perfect tense form six times in these verses).
• The English majors in here will tell you the past perfect tense is a verb form that the action was complete before the present time.
• It shows the action is perfect (100%) which means it is finished.
• This forgiveness occurs because the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ made the mercy and grace of God available to those who repent of their sins and believe in the name of Jesus.[7]
• “Forgiven” – the forgiveness of sins is mentioned as a completed fact… it is past tense…
• It is the ground whereon they stand and we stand.
• It is the sphere wherein they move and we move, as a benefit we have all received.
• Not only received past tense but for the rest of our lives a lasting effect and an efficient power.[8]
• The first and most fundamental word of encouragement that John can give to all members of the church is that in the past they were forgiven of their sins and that this forgiveness remains effective in their lives.[9]

 

• Many will teach that forgiveness is a gift that we can’t take for granted. (I agree)
• Therefore in an act of humbleness and pure desire to not abuse this gift of God they have been given, they accept it as they need it.
• It’s like an endless water fountain to them.
• At one point in my life I began to see God’s forgiveness differently.
• I saw God’s forgiveness like an ocean… and I was swimming in it.
• I couldn’t escape it.
• It is inevitable that I was and am going to sin. (1 John 1:10 - If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.[10])
• I can see forgiveness as my nightly medicine I am expected to take to get better.
• OR… I see forgiveness as my remedy and I am already healed.

 

• How many times did Jesus die on the cross?
• One time...
• How does Jesus forgive sins?
• He's not getting back up there.
• He said, "It is finished"
• Illustration of Timeline with cross in the middle
• Everything you've done in the past,
• Everything you are currently doing, and everything you are going to do... Jesus has taken care of on the cross... one time.
• It was good enough for even your worst day.
• Every night I was taught I need to put Jesus back up on the cross.

 

• Oh… I get it… I know what you are thinking.
• How can you dare teach that because people will interpret what you are saying as “they are free to do whatever they want to.”
• The truth is… I am!
• But I also want to teach you about who you truly are as “a little child that calls on the name Jesus.”

 

• This is the way it works.
• God created a perfect world and a perfect couple.
• Genesis 3 happened and sin entered into the world.
• Everything began to die and it never was the way God intended eternity to be.
• Genesis 3:15 is our first understanding in the Scripture that a Messiah will come to save us.
• Throughout the whole Old Covenant it is proven that we cannot save ourselves.
• God gave us the Law and we could not fulfill it.
• He went to great lengths to show us. He even used the actual law to prove His love for us.
• Romans 5:20 - The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more[11]
  • One choice
  • Ten Commandments
  • 613 Laws
  • Sermon on the Mount
  • Everything
  • Cross
• It all changed at the cross.
• Hebrews 10:10-14 - By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.
• Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. 12 But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God., 13 He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.[12]

 
1 John 2:12 - I am writing to you, little children,
since your sins have been forgiven
on account of his name. [13]


It is the simplest of things of our faith that are necessary to understand so we can mature into sound and blameless followers of Jesus.
 
I ask you again… What percentage of the church understands forgiveness based upon what you just heard?
 
The “church” (little “c”) wants us to identify as sinners.
So why don’t we just wear name tags that identify our specific sins.

• Begin to pass out nametags.

No! We don’t identify based upon we do… We identify based upon what He has already done!

• Nametags at bar.
• Lauren Daigle – “You Say”

[1] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 2.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 495). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[7] Akin, D. L. (2001). 1, 2, 3 John (Vol. 38, p. 104). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[8] Lange, J. P., Schaff, P., Brain, K., & Mombert, J. I. (2008). A commentary on the Holy Scriptures: 1, 2, 3 John (p. 61). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[9] Akin, D. L. (2001). 1, 2, 3 John (Vol. 38, p. 104). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[10] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[11] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[12] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[13] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Apollos and Zenas travel to Crete and deliver Paul’s letter to Titus.

• Paul travels to Nicopolis, Greece and spends the winter there.
• He plants a church in Nicopolis—a community who reflects God’s nature.
• Paul sends Tychicus to replace Titus in Crete.
•  When Tychicus arrives, Titus joins Paul in Nicopolis and helps him found the new church.
• When winter is over, Paul and Titus head off to Corinth to check on the church there.
• They then head for Ephesus and ask Erastus to join them.
• Erastus, however, cannot go so he stays in Corinth. (2 Timothy 4:20 - Erastus has remained at Corinth;[1])

Paul’s Second Roman Imprisonment

• The Neronian persecution continues to spread beyond Rome.
• On his way to Ephesus, Paul is arrested and taken back to Rome where he is imprisoned again.
• Paul is not enjoying house arrest as he did in his first imprisonment.
• Rather, he is put in the Mamertine dungeon (Rome’s state prison) awaiting trial.
• Paul spent as much as 25% of his apostolic ministry in prison.
• Although he can receive visitors, it is very difficult to locate him.
• An Ephesian believer named Onesiphorus hunts for Paul in Rome.
• He finally finds him and refreshes Paul in prison, not being ashamed of his imprisonment.
• Also, Tychicus, Demas, Titus, and a man named Crescens find Paul and stay with him for a time.
• 2 Timothy 1:16 - May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.[2]
•  Noting that war is on the horizon, Jews from the churches in Palestine begin to migrate to the churches in Asia Minor.
• Among them are Philip and his four daughters who relocate to the church in Hierapolis. (their tombs were located in this town.)
• John the Apostle Moves to Ephesus
• With Paul in prison, John the apostle comes to Ephesus and joins Timothy.
• John sends some of his coworkers to minister to the churches in Asia Minor.
• In one of these churches, a self-appointed demagogue named Diotrephes rejects John’s ministry along with the men John has sent to help the church.
• Diotrephes’ lust to have first place in the church is so extreme that he accuses John with wicked words and excommunicates those brethren who desire to receive the workers whom John has sent.
• The heresy that liberty is license to sin has crept into the churches in Asia Minor also.
• False prophets have risen up in the churches in Asia Minor and are spreading the heresy.
• These false prophets are “antichrists.”
• They have left the churches and have undermined the foundations of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• However, they are still in contact with the believers and are leading some of them astray with their deviant gospel.
• Here is what they are teaching: The material world of matter is evil.
• Therefore, the Divine Christ could not have come to the earth in human flesh.
• He rather came in spirit and only seemed to be touchable human flesh.
• This denial of the Lord’s incarnation later came to be known as Docetism.
• Docetism is the belief that Christ could not possibly dwell in a human body.
• His body must have “seemed” to be human.
• Gnostics did not believe that Jesus came in the flesh.
• Jesus was not the Son of God.
• Since salvation means deliverance from the physical world, including the physical body, it does not matter how a person behaves in their bodies.
• Since sin is part of the material world, sin does not exist for the Christian.
• We (the false prophets) are sinless.
• We (the false prophets) have special insight from God’s Spirit to see these deeper truths.
• As a consequence of embracing this false gospel, some of the brethren are exhibiting hatred toward one another.
• Others are claiming that they have never sinned and that sin does not exist.
• John is burdened to write a gospel that portrays the real Christ, and several letters that specifically deal with the crisis in Asia Minor.

 
Year: A.D. 65
From: Ephesus
To: The churches in Asia Minor
Provocation: Christ is Life, Light, and Love, and He has come in the flesh and was seen, heard, and handled by John himself.

• John refutes the present heresy that has spread in Asia Minor at every point by revealing God’s nature in Christ.
• The fruit of that nature is love for the brethren and the refusal to habitually practice sin.
• All Christians have received insight (“knowledge”) from the Holy Spirit, and all have the anointing of the Spirit to teach them truth.
• John exhorts the fathers, the young men, and the children in the church to abide in Christ.
• He closes the letter by exhorting the believers to guard themselves against false conceptions of God (“idols”).[3]

 

• Tom Landy stories
  ​
  
• If John could sit and tell you stories and show you pics… it would look like this…
• First time I laid on eyes on Jesus.
• Well let me back up a second… John the Baptist…
• Called to follow…
• Water to wine…
• Try convincing people of something incredible through a letter…

 
PROLOGUE: OUR DECLARATION
1 JOHN 1
1 What was from the beginning, (the very first day), what we have heard (with our own ears), what we have seen with our (own) eyes, what we have observed and have touched (verified) with our (own) hands, concerning the word of life--2 that life was revealed, (before our eyes) and we have seen it (saw it happen) and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us--

• John uses sensory descriptions to make the argument that Jesus did come in the flesh.
• In order to have fellowship with God (be saved), this concept needed to be received.
• This means that John was speaking to a mixed group of people-believers and unbelieving Gnostics or people who were being influenced by Gnosticism.
• The “we” in the passage is a general designation of the people he’s addressing.
• Those in the group who commit the Gnostic heresy are not true Christians and therefore need to repent for salvation.
• The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.
• John 1:14 - The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.[4]
• Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is the full expression of God in tangible, human form.
• This physicality of Jesus demonstrates God’s compatibility with our humanity.

3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us;

• We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us.
• John is writing these words so that his audience has fellowship with fellow Christians and apostles.
• This fellowship is also with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
• When we believe in Jesus we join a community of people who have been united with the Trinity.

and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

• We are communing with both.

4 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

• Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!
• Nothing would make John happier than to see these false teachers turn from their heresy and believe the truth.
• In this we see the heart of God for His lost creation.

 
FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare (passing on) to you: God is light (pure light), and there is absolutely no (trace of) darkness in him.

• John is separating the light from the darkness and consequently the difference between the saved, who are of God, and the unsaved who are not.
• There were people in the church who were not actually saved even if they appeared to be so.
• The Gnostics, for example, were Christian heretics, meaning they subscribed to some of the same language present within Christianity but deviated by rejecting the physicality of Jesus as well as the problem of sin.
• John 8:12 – Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”[5]
• John 12:35-36 - Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he’s going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of light.”[6]

6 If we say (claim), “We have fellowship (share life) with him,” and yet we walk (stumble) in darkness, we are lying (through our teeth) and are not practicing the truth (not living what we claim). 7 If we walk in the light as he (God) himself is in the light, we have (experience) fellowship (share life) with one another, and the (sacrificed) blood of Jesus his (God’s) Son cleanses (purges) us from all (our) sin.

• Those who walk in the light are true believers.
• John is not talking about Christians being constantly in and out of fellowship with God.
• He is addressing people who are either permanently in fellowship with God through a reception of the true Gospel, or people who were perpetually rejecting Jesus and therefore in the darkness.
• Those who are in Christ are perfectly cleaned by the blood of Christ.
• However, those who deny the physicality of Jesus necessarily reject the blood of Christ which comes from a physical body.

8 If we say (claim), “We have no sin,” we are deceiving (fooling) ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

• A claim like that is errant nonsense.
• True Christians will never be in denial of the reality of sin.
• John is, therefore, addressing Gnostics who do deny the reality of sin.
• These Gnostics needed to confess their sins in order to be cleansed and forgiven.

9 (On the other hand) If we confess (admit) our sins, he is faithful and righteous

• He won’t let us down; He’ll be true to Himself)

to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

• Purge us of all wrongdoing.
• While 1 John 1:9 is often used as a reassurance for believers who confess their sins, this is not the best way to interpret the verse.
• Furthermore, it’s actually not very reassuring to state that the believer’s ongoing forgiveness is based on the ability to remember sin and confess it.
• Another problem is it creates a two-tiered view of forgiveness.
• We believe that we are forgiven positionally in Christ but not relationally.
• That’s why we need 1 John 1:9.
• But the reality is God has a blood-based economy (see Hebrews 9:22; Hebrews 7:27), and John was thinking about the blood of Christ while he was addressing the topic (1 John 5:7).
• John was not speaking of confession as a means of becoming more forgiven.
• He was inviting Gnostics to recognize their sinfulness so that they could be saved.
• Gnostics were in denial of the reality of sin.
• Those who denied the reality of sin (verse 8 and 10) did not contain the truth of God or the word of God within them.
• They were not Christians.
• However, all who confess their sins are cleansed from all unrighteousness, not just some, and forgiven perfectly for all sin.
• Confession, therefore, is not a tool prescribed by John for Christians to somehow become more forgiven.
• Confession is how one enters into the true faith.
• In order to be saved, we must recognize our sins.
• After all, this is step 1 to becoming a Christian.
• We need to recognize that we need salvation from sin.
• Once we believe in Jesus we are perfectly cleansed by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7).
• All who believe in Jesus have the truth of God and the word of God living within them (see also 2 John 1:2).[7]
• Romans 6:10 – For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God.[8]
• Hebrews 7:27 - He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself.[9]

10 If we say (claim), “We have not (ever) sinned,”

• We out-and-out contradict God.

we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.[10]

• A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.
• Ephesians 5:8-10 - For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light--9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth--10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord.[11]
  
  

[1] Christian Standard Bible (2 Ti 4:20). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (2 Ti 1:16). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Viola, Frank. The Untold Story of the New Testament Church. Destiny Image Publishers, 2004. pp.163-164.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Jn 1:14). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Jn 8:12). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Jn 12:35–36). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 John 1.
[8] Christian Standard Bible (Ro 6:10). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Christian Standard Bible (Heb 7:27). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Christian Standard Bible (1 Jn 1:1–10). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[11] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 5:8–10). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.

​Throughout scripture there is the implication our bodies are temporary dwelling place and referred to as tents. 
 
 If I were to build a bare-bones tent today, it would include 4 corner stakes and a middle post.  If I were going to offer YOU some views on the journey of life in Christ, I would use those 5 points as a great starting place.
 
A post in the middle of a tent helps prevent things from collapsing on top of you.  Have you ever felt like the world is collapsing on top of you? A center post offers support against the worries of the world.
 
That center post is an unwavering God who loves you more than you will ever understand.  
 
HE IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY BEYOND ALL YOU CAN THINK OR IMAGINE.
 

• He IS - tell them I AM sent you
  • He is and has always been
  • He lives in the present tense
  • There is none greater than Him
• He’s Able
  • He can handle whatever falls on your situation
  • Nothing is able to separate us from the love of Christ
  • You are not able
• Exceeding, Abundantly, Beyond
  • Huge possibilities
  • My cup overflows - accepted
• All you can think or imagine!
  
  

Stake 1 -  1 John 2:12 Little children KNOW their sins are forgiven

• Followers of Jesus live in a state of forgiveness - It is finished
• You don’t need to ask for forgiveness of your sins as the blood of Christ did it!
• The object of life in Christ is not sin avoidance, it is knowing and listening to Jesus!

 
Stake 2 - 1 John 2:13 Young men have overcome the evil one

• Have you ever been overcome by the evil one?

Victory over the evil one is the result of knowing what the battle is!

• ‘It’ is the deal -  Romans 7:17, 20 has the word ‘It’
  • No longer am I the one doing ‘it’
  • Have you seen that little word?
  • What do you suppose ‘it’ refers to?
  • No longer am I the one creating ungodly thoughts
    • Ungodly thoughts are not as obvious as they may seem
    • I need to do more
    • I am not good
    • I am a failure
    • I need to quit having these thoughts
    • Others similar ungodly thoughts
• Take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus 2 Cor 10.15
• I believe you have 3 sources of thoughts
  • Mind of Christ 1 Corinthians 2:16
  • Senses combined with memories
  • Sin

Stake 3 - 1 John 2:14 Fathers know God

• God longs for your attention
• Be in awe of God, you will not be ashamed
• Suppose you begin to believe He is ABLE...
• Rest in your soul is result of knowing Him

Stake 4 - 1 John 5:11-13 You may KNOW you have eternal life A covenant is not a contract Two become one and all is eaches All through scripture, covenants are described - you are in a covenant with God It is sealed by blood These verses say you may ‘know’ you have eternal life There is a peace knowing you are eternally protected by God If you are wondering whether you have eternal life, track me, Rusty, Matt or any number of the regulars around here down and they can show you in scripture….