1. Lesson 5:
What We Can Know About God

2. What We Can Know About God
Who He is
He is Divine, possessing all the attributes of deity
Holiness (1:5-9; 2:15-16; 3:4-10)
Opposite of anything profane; hates sin; approves all right
Omni-benevolence (2:5; 3:1, 16-18; 4:17-19)
His love defined by its actions—sending His Son into the world
Omnipotence (4:4; cf. Gen. 18:14; Luke 1:37)
“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world”
Omniscience (3:20)
“God…knows all things”
Eternality (1:1-4; 5:20; cf. Psa. 90:2)
Jesus—“That eternal life which was with the Father” (1:2)

3. What We Can Know About God
Who He is
He is Divine, possessing all the attributes of deity
He is our Father
With whom we have fellowship (1:3)
Who protects us (4:1-4; cf. Psa. 23; Heb. 13:5-6)
Who guides us through His word (2:3; 3:22-23)
Who bestows love by calling us His children (3:1-2)

4. What We Can Know About God
What He expects of us
Give God our unqualified obedience
“By this we know that we [“whoever keeps His word”] are in Him (2:5)
“keep His commandments” (2:3, 4; 3:22, 24; 5:2, 3)
Obedience is a learned behavior every Christian must resolve to develop and practice.
This is the ONLY way that we can know God (2:3-5) and have fellowship with Him (1:3).

5. What We Can Know About God
What He expects of us
Give God our unqualified obedience
Be contrite or penitent in our heart
“If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1:9).
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise” (Psa. 51:17).

6. What We Can Know About God
What He expects of us
Give God our unqualified obedience
Be contrite or penitent in our heart
Emulate His Son
“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (2:6).
“For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15).
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5).
Jesus lived obediently, sacrificially and as a servant.

7. What We Can Know About God
What He expects of us
Give God our unqualified obedience
Be contrite or penitent in our heart
Emulate His Son
Love our brethren
“For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (3:11).
We are to love our brethren in response to God’s love for us (4:7-11, 19).
To prove the genuineness of our discipleship (John 13:34-35)
To do so fervently, from a pure heart (1 Pet. 1:22)
To do so without hypocrisy (Rom. 12:9-10)

8. What We Can Know About God
What He expects of us
Give God our unqualified obedience
Be contrite or penitent in our heart
Emulate His Son
Love our brethren
Live pure lives
“And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (3:3).
Purity of life is a challenge we must address every day.
Let us be an example in purity to those in & out of the church (1 Tim. 4:12).

9. What We Can Know About God
What He expects of us
Give God our unqualified obedience
Be contrite or penitent in our heart
Emulate His Son
Love our brethren
Live pure lives
Be strong in the Lord (2:13-14)
Give God our unqualified allegiance (2:15-17)
Love God (4:19)
Believe in His Son (3:23; 5:13)
Flee idolatry (5:21)

10. What We Can Know About God
What He’s like
He is a prayer-answering God
“And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (3:22).
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (5:14-15).
Conditions for prayer to be acceptable (& answered):
Keep his commandments (3:22)
Do those things that are pleasing in His sight (3:22)
Ask in conjunction with His will (5:14)

11. What We Can Know About God
What He’s like
He is a prayer-answering God
He is a forgiving God
“He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1:9).
“I write to you…because your sins are forgiven” (2:12).
The totality of our forgiveness is affirmed— “…to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1:9).
“As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:12).
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb. 8:12).

12. What We Can Know About God
What He’s like
He is a prayer-answering God
He is a forgiving God
He is a faithful God
“He is faithful and just” (1:9) – trusted, reliable
Upon our repentance & confession, Christians can trust that God will forgive & remove all transgressions.
God’s faithfulness is also present in times of temptation (1 Cor. 10:13) & in our struggles with the devil (2 Thess. 3:3).

13. What We Can Know About God
What He’s like
He is a prayer-answering God
He is a forgiving God
He is a faithful God
He is a benevolent/giving God
He gave His Son (4:9)
He gave/gives the Holy Spirit (3:24)
He gives us whatever we ask (3:22-24; 5:14-15)
He gives us eternal life, which is in His Son (5:11)