Sovereign Grace Fellowship c\o Little Children P. O. Box High Street Boscawen, N. H John : Session Three From: John the Apostle 1 John : Session Three 1

1 John : Session Three John's Purpose in Writing this Letter: 2 “…we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” (1:4) "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." (5:13) Taking 1 John Verse by Verse

1 John : Session Three 3 Ray Stedman writes; “In the second section, the apostle emphasized righteousness. Christianity is not just signing the doctrine or creed. It is not just writing your name under a statement of belief -- "We believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ his Son, our Lord who suffered under Pontius Pilate and was crucified, dead and buried and on the third day..." and so on. It is not that. It is more than truth. It is also righteousness. It means that your behavior changes.” “The emphasis of John, as with all the writers of the New Testament, is this: "Look," he says, "if you really have Jesus Christ living in you, you can't be the same person. You cannot go on living in sin, doing wrong things, lying and stealing, living in sexual immorality. You cannot do it.” "You see, these Gnostics were saying, "Look, if spirit is good and matter is evil and our bodies are matter, then the only thing that counts is the spirit.”

1 John : Session Three 4 (RS continues) “What you do with your body doesn't make any difference. So if you want to indulge the lusts of it, go ahead. It won't affect your spiritual standing with God." As a result they were turning (as Jude puts it) the grace of God into licentiousness.” “People were being taught, Christians were being taught, that they could practice all the immorality of their day, and God would still treat them exactly the same. It would not change their relationship one whit.” No one born of God commit sin; for God's nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God “But John says, `No one born of God commit sin; for God's nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.’ (1 John 3:9 RSV)”

1 John : Session Three 5 John’s “Main” Message - 1 John 1:5-10 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Let’s see if we walk the talk.

1 John : Session Three 6 I John 1:5: This then is the message which we have heard of him. The message heard from Christ, now declared, is that God is light. God is light. The source of all light, whether it be physical, or moral, or spiritual, comes; the Enlightener of the universe. The expression denotes luminous clearness, the free and benevolent source from whence flow light, intelligence, purity and blessing, absolutely free from alien intermixture, since in him there is no darkness at all. Light represents truth, knowledge and holiness. Darkness represents ignorance, error, falsehood and sin. Now let’s break this down…. cookie crumb by cookie crumb Pay close attention to the “We” and “us” statements

1 John : Session Three 7 I John 1:6: If we... walk in darkness. If we... walk in darkness. To claim a fellowship with him who is Light and to walk in the darkness of error, of ignorance, and of sinfulness are utterly inconsistent. Do not the truth. Do not the truth. He who obeys not the truth walks in darkness. I John 1:7: But if we walk in the light. But if we walk in the light. We walk in the light by following Christ, the Light of the world. We have fellowship on with another. We have fellowship on with another. All who are walking in the light have the common life. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Cleansed by the blood of Christ, and thus made holy, we are fitted for the heavenly communion.

1 John : Session Three 8 I John 1:8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. To say that we have reached a sinless state in which we no longer need the blood of Christ to cleanse us is a deception. This language is in square opposition to the claims of the "Perfectionists" of all ages. I John 1:9: If we confess our sins. If we confess our sins. Instead of affirming that we are sinless we should confess our sins. He is faithful and just. He is faithful and just. If we confess our sins the Lord will be "faithful" to his promise of mercy, and "just" in requiring us to have the atonement of Christ, "to forgive us our sins".

1 John : Session Three 9 I John 1:10: If we say that we have not sinned. God says we have sinned. He declares "There is none righteous; no, not one". If we say that we have not sinned. God says we have sinned. He declares "There is none righteous; no, not one". See Ro 3:10 Ps 14:4. We make him a liar. We make him a liar. Hence, if we affirm that we are sinless, we make God a liar. These words concerning sin, found in 1Jo 1:8-10, are not addressed to non- believers, but are addressed to a generation which had grown up in the church. Indeed, of all the epistles, this is the only one which can truly be said to have been addressed to a Christian generation. For that reason, it would naturally emphasize, not the unconverted sinner's need of pardon, but of the Christian's constant need of a pardoning Savior. It is the Christian who cannot say that he has no sin, and who must find pardon by confessing his sins to Christ (Ac 2:38) shows how the unsaved sinner may obtain remission (1Jo 1:9); shows how the Christian, when he sins, may obtain forgiveness.

1 John : Session Three 10 So… do you walk the talk? Yes – have a cookie No – have Jesus