1 00:00:00,760 --> 00:00:03,400 Good evening, everybody. Welcome here. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:06,840 Good evening. Turn with me in your Bibles this 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:08,960 morning to the book of First John. 4 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,480 We're going to be going through Chapter 1 today, book of First 5 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,280 John. And while you're turning there, 6 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:19,240 I want to try and set the background a bit here for what 7 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:23,320 what is going on in the early church at the time of this 8 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,920 writing and kind of give you an indicator as to why it is that 9 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,240 John is writing this epistle along with a couple others that 10 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,320 will be coming. Right now is a very tumultuous 11 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,680 time in the church for us. A lot of us are are often times 12 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:40,600 kind of caught off guard by how uneasy things are. 13 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:43,800 But that was the same back then, especially kind of coming 14 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:47,840 towards the reign of Nero. There was a lot of church 15 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,800 persecution and along with the church growing and expanding so 16 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:56,720 fast with it popped up a lot of this false doctrine. 17 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,520 These teachers that would come up and they would, they would 18 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:01,960 say one thing and they would say that, you know, the teachings of 19 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,239 Jesus mean this, but they were wrong. 20 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,480 And because of these false teachers popping up, John wrote 21 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:14,160 this letter to aid the church, the churches of the time, in 22 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:17,840 trying to discern what was true from these false teachers and 23 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,960 what wasn't. Now, notably at the time, there 24 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:24,000 was this belief called Gnosticism, which is a really 25 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:29,160 big word that just means that physical is always bad and 26 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:34,040 spiritual is always good. It was a mixture of Christianity 27 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,480 and some Pagan religions essentially saying that Jesus 28 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,240 didn't have a physical body, that he didn't physically die. 29 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,120 He wasn't physically here. He came as a spirit. 30 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,040 And now for those of you who know the gospel and know the 31 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,320 story of Jesus, you can see why that presented some major issues 32 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:53,640 for the church at the time. And with these major issues came 33 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:59,120 major unassurances in the faith of early believers. 34 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,640 And so that's what this book is about. 35 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:04,400 And that's what I'm hoping to kind of we're going to do like a 36 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:09,199 fast blanket overview of the 1st chapter of First John to talk 37 00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:14,520 about A, what the true message of the Bible is. 38 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:19,320 And B, what we need to look out for, not just with our teachers 39 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:21,400 that we hear, not just with the preachers that we're listening 40 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,840 to, but also what we get to look out for in our own hearts, in 41 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,640 our own beliefs. So look at we look at First John 42 00:02:29,640 --> 00:02:32,000 chapter one with me this or this afternoon. 43 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:34,800 And I will just read the whole chapter as it is right now. 44 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,920 And it says what was from the beginning what we have heard, 45 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:42,440 and what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and 46 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,680 touched with our hands, concerning the word of a life. 47 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:50,360 And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and 48 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:54,600 proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and 49 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:59,000 was manifested to us. What we have seen and heard we 50 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:03,040 proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with 51 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,800 us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son 52 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,160 Jesus Christ. These things we write so that 53 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:16,120 our joy may be made complete. This is the message we have 54 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:20,880 heard from Him and announced to you, that God is light, and in 55 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,960 Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have 56 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:29,520 fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do 57 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,480 not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as 58 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:37,000 He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one 59 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,920 another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all 60 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,720 sin. If we say that we have no sin, 61 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,160 we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 62 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:50,440 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to 63 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:52,720 forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all 64 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,640 unrighteousness. If we say that we have not 65 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,400 sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in US. 66 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,600 Would you bow with me in prayer this evening? 67 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,280 Father, we thank you so much for this time that we have to go 68 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,280 through Your word. We thank you for the Bible. 69 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:10,520 We thank you for the accessibility of the Bible. 70 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,640 And we thank you, Lord, for John and for his desire to see 71 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,120 Christians know the truth inside their hearts and in the 72 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,959 teachings that they take in. God be with us this evening. 73 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:22,400 We praise in your heavenly name, Amen. 74 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:25,560 So the first stop that we're going to make is going to be in 75 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:30,680 verses 1-2 and three here is kind of the beginning of what 76 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,600 John's looking to do, and that is to establish what the proper 77 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:41,600 doctrine is. Now in this we read that John 78 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,680 doesn't isn't basing his thoughts on Jesus on some vague 79 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:50,480 philosophy or some weird spiritualism or some moral 80 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,280 standing. He's not just saying like that 81 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:57,720 Jesus was like a good moral guy or like he is a metaphor for 82 00:04:57,720 --> 00:04:59,440 yadda, yadda, yadda. A lot of things that we hear 83 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:02,640 today, he actually starts off with very specific language. 84 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,400 The language that he uses is it's very first hand 85 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,600 experiential language. And what I mean by that is that 86 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:14,440 we can tell that he was there and I'll explain. 87 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,800 We read what was from the beginning what we have heard, 88 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:21,120 what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and 89 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,800 touched with our hands concerning the Word of life. 90 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,160 So like I said earlier, there was this Gnostic belief that 91 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:33,280 Jesus wasn't physically here. He was this sort of almost like 92 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:36,800 a ghost or an apparition, right? But John confronts that 93 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,480 immediately with very pointed language. 94 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,440 This wasn't some spirit or something that they heard second 95 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:46,960 or third hand. Jesus was real, intangible and 96 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,800 physically there to the point that these apostles could stand 97 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,680 in front of him, could touch him, could hear him. 98 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:55,920 If anybody was going to know if Jesus was physically there or 99 00:05:55,920 --> 00:06:00,200 not, they would have known. And so the first thing that he 100 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,240 confronts right off the bat is that Jesus is not some ghost. 101 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:09,160 He was here. He also starts in verse one and 102 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,400 two again he mentions that Christ, he calls him the word of 103 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:15,480 life. Now many of you maybe that 104 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,080 sounds familiar. In fact it was actually John 105 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,880 himself who wrote in his gospel at the very beginning in John 106 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:23,680 chapter one verse 1, he says in the beginning was the word and 107 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:25,400 the Word was with God and the Word was God. 108 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:27,920 And jumping down to verse 14 in that chapter we read and the 109 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:32,800 word became flesh. We read here that this is a re 110 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:37,120 establishing for John saying Jesus is God. 111 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:40,880 He was the word of life, He was the word in the beginning 112 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,640 meaning Jesus was eternal, he was with the Father, meaning was 113 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:47,240 that they've had fellowship for eternity, right? 114 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:52,560 This is an establishing again of who Jesus is and what is true 115 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:56,000 about him. Not these rumors or these like 116 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:00,040 pseudo mystical things that they were hearing from other people 117 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:04,040 at the time. Jumping down to verse 3, John 118 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:07,120 mentions that they, being believers, have fellowship with 119 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,680 the Father and with Jesus and they wish to see others come to 120 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:13,680 that place as well. John mentions again that the 121 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,560 things that he has shared in the past, looking back at the Gospel 122 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:21,160 of John and what he's going to share further on in these 123 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,640 epistles are all based on what he himself has experienced. 124 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,320 That's also important to note. John wasn't somebody who heard 125 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:32,800 from somebody who heard from somebody or like we like to play 126 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:35,560 the midnight game, right? John wasn't Susie's aunts, 127 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:40,560 cousins, brothers, step brothers, uncles, whatever John 128 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:45,320 was, John was there. He knew Jesus, He reclined at 129 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,280 his chest. These things he's not saying 130 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:50,520 because he like it feels like the right thing to say. 131 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:51,800 He's not echoing somebody else's. 132 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:57,240 He's echoing the words of God. All of this is to say that 133 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:02,320 Christ was physically here. Christ is the Word from the 134 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:03,640 beginning. He was eternal. 135 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,360 He is eternal. He invites us to fellowship with 136 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:12,080 him and with the Father. And this establishes at the very 137 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:14,920 beginning what is true about Christ. 138 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:20,440 Now from here, John begins to give some practical things to 139 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:24,280 look out for. Obviously that address at the 140 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:26,800 very beginning is very cut and dry. 141 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,840 John is very pointedly saying that this Gnostic belief that 142 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:31,880 people are confused about is not true. 143 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:34,640 But John continues and will continue for the rest of this 144 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,640 book, going through practical things to look for in teachers 145 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,919 and in in the in the life of a believer for assurance of 146 00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:46,040 salvation, but also for a sound doctrine. 147 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,480 And so we're going to look at a glimpse of that in the 148 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:53,200 second-half here of chapter 1. So many of you may and your 149 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,240 Bibles have seen that there might be a break after verse 150 00:08:57,240 --> 00:08:59,480 four, and then it might kind of separate your chapter from 151 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:03,480 verses one to four and separate and then kind of split in half 152 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,040 and then go from the five until 10 to the end there. 153 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:11,240 I think that I can make an argument that verse four really 154 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,040 should be in that second-half, and I'll explain why. 155 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:19,400 The reason why I think that is because verse 4 also contains a 156 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:25,280 practical characteristic that we as Christians should have. 157 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:27,640 Let's read it so it says these things. 158 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:32,280 We write to you so that our your our joy may be made complete. 159 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,840 The first thing that we can look from this and we can say and 160 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:40,800 look to other teachers and look to our own hearts is that true 161 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:48,640 biblical Christians should find joy in the teachings and life of 162 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:53,600 Jesus. With teachers Speaking of Jesus, 163 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,520 having a passion for the gospel, speaking truthfully, and finding 164 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:59,640 joy in that. These things, there should be a 165 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:03,320 fulfillment of joy that teachers have presenting the message. 166 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,760 How good do you feel when you go to a church or go to some 167 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:11,320 function and the speaker sits up front in it? 168 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:17,160 Good morning. It's a wonderful day to be here 169 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:19,960 in the House of the Lord. Do you believe that? 170 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:22,120 No, we don't believe that at all. 171 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,120 If someone comes up and is miserable, how? 172 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,640 How authentic, how real does that message seem? 173 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:34,200 Christian teachers should find joy in the preaching and 174 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,440 teaching that they give, and we should look out for that. 175 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:42,400 Well, not only this, but on a personal level, as a Christian, 176 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:47,680 do you find joy in speaking about Jesus? 177 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:54,040 You should Verse 7, we jumped down there a little bit. 178 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:57,600 Verse 7 even talks about how verse 7. 179 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:01,520 But if we walk in the light, as He himself is in the light, we 180 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:04,000 have fellowship with one, we have fellowship with one 181 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,360 another. We should have so much joy when 182 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,000 speaking about Jesus that we want to congregate to gather 183 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,720 together, and the Bible calls this fellowship. 184 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:17,080 It is only within the lens of our joy and our belief in Jesus 185 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:18,720 that we're having true fellowship. 186 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,920 Going to your buddy's house and watching a movie is not 187 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,080 fellowship. Having people over for a coffee 188 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:31,640 isn't necessarily fellowship. But when Christ is centered and 189 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:36,120 when there is a joy to speak and to love and to enjoy the 190 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:39,280 conversation that you are having with fellow believers on Christ, 191 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,120 that's true fellowship. And maybe it is through watching 192 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:44,320 a movie, maybe it is through having a coffee. 193 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:46,400 But what is the motivation behind it? 194 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,480 So the first characteristic we can walk away in this is very 195 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:55,880 simply that as a Christian, as a teacher and as a follower, we 196 00:11:55,880 --> 00:12:00,960 need to find we should expect to feel joy and passion over the 197 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:07,000 gospel. Jumping down a little ways here 198 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,920 to verse 5, actually, I'll mention first. 199 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:12,960 Does that always mean that we have to feel joy in like doing 200 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:15,720 jumping jacks 24/7? That doesn't necessarily mean 201 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:18,600 that there are seasons in life that are really dark and there 202 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,080 are circumstances that are really hard and there are things 203 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,160 that are difficult to get through and that it would be 204 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:26,080 naive for us to say that that's not the case. 205 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:32,200 But if you never feel joy, if you never feel a longing to 206 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,960 speak of the truth of Jesus, there's an issue because we have 207 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:41,000 a lot to be joyful about. Now moving down to verse verses 208 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:43,320 5 through 7. I'll read them again. 209 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:47,080 This is the message we have heard from him and announce to 210 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:50,800 you that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 211 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:53,880 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk 212 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:57,640 in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 213 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:02,920 But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we 214 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,840 have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus 215 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:08,400 his Son cleanses us from all sin. 216 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:13,240 Now here's like the main message that John's trying to convey 217 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:15,600 here, right? This is what we're trying to 218 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:20,720 teach. God is light and in him there is 219 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:25,520 no darkness. Now, obviously the we all kind 220 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,120 of already know this. If a teacher doesn't teach that, 221 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:32,200 that's pretty weird. If, if something like we don't 222 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,600 necessarily think, you know, who teaches that God is fallible, 223 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:39,560 who teaches that God is evil. It's pretty rife in our culture 224 00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:42,320 right now. I've heard non believers talk 225 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:44,920 about the general consensus that I've heard from a couple non 226 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:46,480 believers I've talked about with Jesus. 227 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:50,440 They typically say things like, well, you know, Jesus was a man, 228 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:51,640 right? So he couldn't have been perfect 229 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:55,000 or Jesus, you know, nobody is sinless, so Jesus had to have 230 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,200 sinned at some point, right? Nobody's perfect. 231 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:00,200 That's heresy. That's it's wrong. 232 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,440 Our God is good, He is light. There is no wrongdoing. 233 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:08,400 There is no evil in him and to hear otherwise is wrong. 234 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,160 Many of you might have been here a few weeks ago where we had a 235 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:14,320 guy from a church, Ryan Fair, who's Hi Ryan. 236 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,720 He did a sermon on Psalms chapter 1. 237 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:20,240 He was talking about the counsel of the wicked and to not listen 238 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:23,840 to the counsel of the wicked. This is like the epitome of the 239 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:26,760 counsel of the wicked to say that God is fallible. 240 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,920 If anything that we've learned from that sermon, it's this that 241 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:34,360 we should not be listening to now. 242 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,240 As Christ followers, it's also important that we align our 243 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,280 hearts with what this says as well. 244 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:44,360 Do you really believe that God is good, that he's infallible, 245 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,280 that he has what's best in mind for you? 246 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:53,680 That's easier said than done. On paper, it can mean that. 247 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:56,000 But when you're faced with those difficult seasons, I was talking 248 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,680 about not so easy anymore. But this is something that we 249 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:02,960 need to look into our own hearts for, that even in those dark, 250 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:09,680 scary, brutal times, God is light and in him there is no 251 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:14,920 darkness. Moving down to verses 6 and 252 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:17,480 seven, we can it continues that thought. 253 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:20,120 It offers us a standard for us to hold ourselves to that. 254 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:23,000 If we say we have fellowship with Him and we walk in 255 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,720 darkness, there is no truth in US. 256 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,920 Well, this makes sense because like we just read God is light 257 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,480 and there is no darkness in him. It makes no sense for the light 258 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:40,080 to live in darkness, right? How can light come from dark or 259 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:46,360 vice versa? But if we walk in light, we are. 260 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:50,200 If we walk in light, we are walking in fellowship with Him. 261 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:53,600 We are walking in fellowship with one another and it says 262 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,040 that Christ's blood covers us of all sins. 263 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:02,360 Now, I think it's important that we mention two things here. 264 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:04,840 First of all, you know, what does it mean to walk in light 265 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:06,360 and what does it mean to walk in darkness? 266 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:08,720 Because it's one thing to just sort of say those two things and 267 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:10,360 then to just kind of leave you all with that. 268 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:13,240 I can close my Bible and go home, but what does that mean? 269 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:16,360 Well, the first thing that I think we can talk about in this 270 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:20,240 particular section is that occasional sin that is shrinking 271 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:26,200 in frequency is not what this means by walking in darkness. 272 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:29,440 If you're like me, when you first read that you said anyone 273 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:32,360 who walks in darkness, there is no, there's no truth in him. 274 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:34,320 Your first thought was, well, I'm a Sinner. 275 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:35,880 What do I do? Oh my goodness, I'm walking in 276 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:37,080 dark. I'm walking in darkness. 277 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:42,560 But that isn't what this means. So what does it mean to walk in 278 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:45,280 darkness? I think the simplest way that we 279 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:48,880 can think about this is that someone who walks in darkness 280 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:54,720 wants to walk in darkness. They may say all the Christian 281 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,680 things, go to all the Christian functions, read their Bible 282 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,160 every day, know all the big words, the sanctification, the 283 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,000 justification, the righteousification, the all the 284 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:07,400 big words, made-up or otherwise. But they're still in darkness. 285 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:09,160 Why not? Because they're doing their best 286 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:10,720 and they're not making. It's because they like it. 287 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:13,480 And all of you that are here today are sinners. 288 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,640 And you know that sin is pretty. You like sin. 289 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:20,880 You have a drawing to sin. But as Christians, we know that 290 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:22,640 we can. We have another option. 291 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:24,960 There's another way, right? We've been made new. 292 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:26,560 First Corinthians talks about that. 293 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:29,680 But those who are still in darkness, they want to be there. 294 00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:34,720 They enjoy it. Do you look forward to sinning? 295 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:36,760 Do you make time in your day to sin? 296 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,000 Are you thinking about it constantly in a positive manner? 297 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:44,240 That is walking in darkness now, too. 298 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,560 What is walking in light? Walking a light does not mean 299 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:52,040 that you can do some works or act upright, or be holy and 300 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:56,560 righteous and make things work. The Bible talks about how our 301 00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,360 good deeds are like filthy rags before the Lord. 302 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:04,080 Walking a light isn't doing all the right things in hopes that 303 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:05,440 we get to heaven. That's impossible. 304 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:09,840 But I think that we can apply the same principle that we did 305 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:12,680 with walking in darkness to this, that those who walk in 306 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:18,200 light want to walk in light. First Corinthians, like I said, 307 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:21,280 talks about a new creation. We become new creations in 308 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:22,840 Christ. We have a new desire. 309 00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:26,200 We start to like those evil things less and less and love 310 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:30,640 good things more and more. Someone who walks in light wants 311 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:34,240 to be there. Are you grieved over your sin? 312 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,880 Are you repenting? Do you believe that Jesus Christ 313 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:40,720 is Lord and do you have faith in him? 314 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:46,760 All of these are assurances that we can have, saying we have we 315 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,000 are walking in light. Now does that mean you're never 316 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:50,280 going to sin? No, of course not. 317 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:54,360 But how do you react? Are you excited to sin or does 318 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:58,160 it hurt your heart? Are you excited to do wicked 319 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:00,720 things or does it grieve your spirit? 320 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,040 Walking in light is not about your works. 321 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:07,800 It's solely about your faith and where your heart desires. 322 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:09,880 And walking in darkness is the same. 323 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:13,400 It's based on your lack of faith and your desires. 324 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,520 Jumping down to verse 8, we're going to look at verse 8 and 325 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,080 verse 10. It says if we say that we have 326 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,760 no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not 327 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:26,920 in US. Jumping down to verse 10, it 328 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,320 says if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and 329 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:34,800 His word is not in US. Both of these things have a both 330 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:36,640 of these verses have a similar theme in mind. 331 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,800 I think it's pretty easy to pick up on that. 332 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,320 If you say you have no sin, you're a liar. 333 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:48,560 It's very straightforward, but verse 10 actually takes it to A 334 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:50,880 to another notch. It UPS it 1°. 335 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:54,400 It says, it says not only does it are you a liar, you're making 336 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:59,960 God out to be a liar, which has a whole nother layer implication 337 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:02,600 to it that could be vastly, vastly devastating. 338 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,960 Looking just at verse 8 for for a second, the simple thing that 339 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:11,480 we can look at when looking at teachers and looking at our own 340 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,840 hearts. Is that are people teaching that 341 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,960 they don't sin anymore? That's wild. 342 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:21,360 Now, many of you probably don't know anybody. 343 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:24,320 I'll name someone Todd White. Many of you have probably heard 344 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:26,800 this name before. He's a prosperity gospel 345 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:28,640 preacher. He teaches all kinds of false 346 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:30,200 things. And one of the things that this 347 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,960 man claims is that since his conversion, he has not sinned 348 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,720 one time in act or thought in probably 20 years. 349 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:41,800 He says he's been totally clean, blank slate, no sin anymore. 350 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:47,360 He's a liar. First, John says so, and not 351 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:49,560 only is he a liar, but it says that the truth is not in him. 352 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,240 It even brings his, his salvation into question. 353 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:53,920 That should, that should frighten us. 354 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:58,520 Now, like I said with verse 10, it says that we make God out to 355 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,280 be a liar. This has all kinds of 356 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:03,920 implications, one of which is that it should be fairly 357 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:05,760 obvious. Of course we would make God out 358 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:09,280 to be a liar. Scripture is filled with verses 359 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:13,280 talking about the sin of man, talking about the fall of Adam 360 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,680 and Eve, going all the way to the need for when God wipes the 361 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:21,320 world out with a flood through the the law and the the 362 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:24,400 sacrifices that were needed to to expunge the sins of the 363 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:25,920 people. Moving even to the New 364 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,520 Testament. The reason why Jesus came to the 365 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:32,840 epistles that we read, all of them make it very clear that we 366 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:37,360 are sinners in a not right standing with God before our 367 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:40,320 conversion. And so, yeah, if someone says 368 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,160 that they're they don't sin anymore, they're they're 369 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:46,360 essentially mock making a mockery out of all of the Bible. 370 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,040 But the other implication that we get from this that is even 371 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:54,680 more frightening is the idea that our sins can bring reproach 372 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:57,960 on the name of Christ. Now, what does that mean? 373 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,840 It doesn't mean that there will be a day when you know someone 374 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:04,320 will do something so bad that Jesus name will forever be 375 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:06,560 stained and and will it'll destroy his Kingdom. 376 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,280 No, that'll never happen. Christ's name will be made 377 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,160 great. He will be glorified, and every 378 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,480 knee and it will bow, every tongue will confess that he is 379 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:16,000 Lord one day. There's nothing that anybody can 380 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,200 do to change that. But what I think about is I 381 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:22,320 think about people like who was once one of my favorite 382 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:25,640 speakers, Ravi Zacharias, who many of you know that name. 383 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,720 This man was a teacher who claimed to know the gospel, who 384 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:34,400 taught from the Bible and then committed wicked in heinous 385 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:39,200 acts, forever undermining everything he taught. 386 00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:44,160 Whether what he taught was what he taught was good and true, it 387 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:47,000 will forever be marred by his actions. 388 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,840 That's that is what how serious our sin is. 389 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,960 Our sin isn't just this little oopsie that we can Band-Aid over 390 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,240 and call a day. The reality is that there are 391 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,920 massive long-suffering implications or consequences 392 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:05,120 from our sin, not just for ourselves, but to the name of 393 00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:07,560 Christ. And believe me, I don't want to 394 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:11,320 be at the Judgement Day and have that on my conscience, and you 395 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:14,800 shouldn't either. And so quite simply, when we 396 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,040 look to our teachers and when we look to our own hearts, if we 397 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,840 ever start hearing about how people don't sin, how we done 398 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:25,880 sin, flee. And if you in your heart sort of 399 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:29,600 think I'm doing pretty good, I've had, you know, this has 400 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,680 been like a solid, I think I've just gone five years without 401 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:36,880 sinning today. You're in a very dangerous place 402 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,080 because you're not just lying, you're making God out to be a 403 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,080 liar. And like I said, I don't want to 404 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:43,840 be in your place when the judgement day comes. 405 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,280 So here are the things that we here are things to look out for 406 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,120 in first John. One things to look for in our 407 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:55,600 teachers, things to look for in ourselves, some practical things 408 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:59,040 that we can visibly see or hear with teachers and some practical 409 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:01,040 things that we can look at our own hearts and examine. 410 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,240 Where is my faith at? Where is my, where is my heart 411 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,360 at? And everything that we've talked 412 00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:08,680 about so far has been very negative. 413 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:11,960 But the last point I want to make today is going to be I want 414 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:13,640 to talk about verse 9. And the reason why I skipped 415 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:15,040 verse 9 is because I want to leave. 416 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:19,760 I want to leave on this note. I don't want to leave on all the 417 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,920 bad and all the evil and all the horrible things we have enough 418 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:25,120 to deal with. I want to leave on this. 419 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:29,000 Verse 9 says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and 420 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,480 righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all 421 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:34,640 unrighteousness. Do you know what the defining 422 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,400 characteristic of a teacher or of a Christian is? 423 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,600 It's the gospel. It's the gospel message. 424 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,520 This verse is essentially the heart of the gospel. 425 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:49,920 When we confess our sins and repent of them, Jesus is 426 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,480 faithful and righteous to forgive us. 427 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:58,880 You see, the reality is that we are all sinners, everybody, and 428 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:00,400 we all fall short of the glory of God. 429 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:04,880 Romans 323 But God is still faithful. 430 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:08,360 God is still righteous. And when we see our sin for what 431 00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:11,200 it is, we repent. Now when we repent, we kind of 432 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,760 do two things at the same time. Repent is a very is a, is a, is 433 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:17,960 a word that means to turn away from your sin. 434 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:22,080 And when we're when we are confessing our sin to God, to 435 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:26,760 Jesus and we're turning away from that sin, we are at the 436 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:29,760 same time turning towards something else. 437 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:34,200 And when we repent of our sins in prayer, in, in, in, in, in 438 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,600 our prayers to God, to Jesus, and we put our faith and belief 439 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:39,200 in him, we're not just turning away from our sins, we're 440 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:44,040 turning towards him. We are laying our sin at his 441 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,240 feet and saying, Jesus, you have the authority to forgive this 442 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:51,760 because who else but God can forgive these sins? 443 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,840 We are confessing that Christ is Lord in that action. 444 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,080 Brothers and sisters, this is the core teaching that we should 445 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:04,560 hear preachers preaching. This is the core belief that 446 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:06,720 distinguishes whether or not we are saved. 447 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,920 If a teacher preaches that Christ died for your sins and 448 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,200 was raised back to life, and that through your repentance of 449 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:16,960 your sins and through the belief in Him, believe in Him as Lord 450 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:21,800 and Savior, that you too can rise one day, you're in a pretty 451 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:28,160 safe place with that teacher. And if you in your heart repent 452 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:34,480 of your sins, believe that Christ died for you, believe 453 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:37,560 that He lived perfectly, and that on that cross He bore the 454 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:41,120 wrath of God so that we would not have to, that we are saved 455 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:45,120 by His grace. You can rest with assurance. 456 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:49,320 Our God does not break His promises. 457 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,760 And I hope that tonight you leave feeling assured of that, 458 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:58,960 assured of our Saviour, assured of the ability that we all have 459 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:01,640 to be saved. Would you bear with me in 460 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:06,000 prayer? Father, I thank you so much 461 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:07,840 again for this opportunity and to be here. 462 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:09,600 And I thank you for this evening, and I thank you for 463 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,800 everyone who came out. And God, I pray that you would 464 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:18,240 help us to discern rightly to see it, to see the the teachings 465 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:21,600 of other people and to and to be able to tell whether they are 466 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,480 saved or not, to look at our own hearts, God, and to see if we 467 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,480 are in need of salvation or not. Lord and Father, I pray that if 468 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,520 there's anybody here tonight that needs to hear that needed 469 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,080 to hear this, that needs you. Lord, I pray that their hearts 470 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:38,600 would be would be transformed, that you would speak to them and 471 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:40,720 that they would confess and repent their sins to you, and 472 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,160 that they would be forever changed by your, by your 473 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:47,040 goodness, by your grace, and by the faithfulness that you have 474 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,320 to cleanse of cleanse us of all unrighteousness. 475 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:51,440 We thank you. Lord, we pray this in your 476 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:52,680 heavenly name, Amen.