1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,440 Hello, I'm very happy that you're joining us today for our 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:05,920 podcast. It's a little bit different 3 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:08,760 format today. We are missing a couple of the 4 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:11,560 recordings from our series on 1st John. 5 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:16,400 And so I'm going to be recording these just me talking to the 6 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:19,160 microphone, talking to you as a listener. 7 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:23,400 So a little bit different format and I hope this studies as good 8 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:28,360 for you as it as it was for me since I have this time just me 9 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:30,360 with a microphone. I want to personally thank you 10 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,520 for listening to our podcast, especially if you're one of the 11 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:38,360 regular listeners that seeing people listening makes us 12 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:43,360 encouraged to do this podcast and excited to keep it going and 13 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:47,120 trying to improve it and make it better for for our listeners. 14 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,240 So thank you for listening. And most importantly, we pray 15 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,640 that that God is glorified and his word is accurately taught. 16 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:59,240 And let's jump into first John, first John chapter 1. 17 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,160 And we're going to be opening up this letter with a little bit of 18 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,200 introduction, some of the background and what we're, what 19 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:07,720 we're looking at here in the letter. 20 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:11,520 First John. First off, this letter is 21 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,480 written in the years from around 60 to 100 AD. 22 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:18,520 That's when it's believed to be written in that range. 23 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:21,360 And the author is believed to be John. 24 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:27,080 Now, the author does not give himself a specific address. 25 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:31,040 He doesn't mention himself. But we do have a significant 26 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:36,400 amount of internal and external evidence, evidence from inside 27 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:40,000 the letter itself, things like the themes that are addressed 28 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,000 and the writing style and those things on top of the external 29 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,040 evidence that we have from, from people who are contemporaries 30 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,560 of, of John, who attributed this letter to John, men like 31 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:58,840 Irenaeus and even mentions of his close friend Polycarp. 32 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,200 Help us to connect this letter to the, the man John. 33 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:06,400 And we'll see some, some of the evidence in there. 34 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,440 We're not going to dive too deep into that, but most scholars 35 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,440 agree this is written by the apostle John. 36 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:16,000 And and so there's our, there's kind of our, our author when it 37 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,440 was written and the purpose. Why was this letter written? 38 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:26,040 This letter does not have quite a specific audience in mind as 39 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:30,120 far as a letter to the church in, in Corinth or a letter to 40 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:34,600 the church in, in Galatia. This letter is a little bit more 41 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:39,440 general in nature and so is the style with which it's written 42 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:44,080 and they going along with that. The purpose of this letter is 43 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,480 something we can we can all benefit from as Christians or 44 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,480 prospective Christians. And the first thing he's he 45 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,600 tells us as his purpose is comes out in the 1st chapter. 46 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:59,160 He says these things we write to you that your joy may be full. 47 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,120 So we don't have to wonder why John wrote these letters. 48 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:08,080 He often says the actual phrase, we are writing this so that, and 49 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,320 the first one is so that your joy may be full. 50 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,320 That's a letter I want to read, a letter that tells me that it's 51 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:23,000 going to make me happier, more more joyful person #2 it says 52 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,560 that you I write so that you may not sin. 53 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,040 He says that in chapter 2. And so there's a motivation that 54 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,800 goes along with with that joy. It's not just a feeling we wants 55 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:36,240 to have. It is it leads into an action so 56 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:39,920 that you may not sin. The third purpose he says is so 57 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,360 that you may know that you have eternal life. 58 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:47,840 There it is again that joy, that assurance that is all over this 59 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,640 letter. This letter wants to encourage 60 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,240 and bolster our faith from the inside. 61 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:58,120 The next one he mentions in chapter 5, he also says, I write 62 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,560 this letter so that you may continue to believe in the name 63 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,680 of the Son of God. And finally, another statement 64 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:10,960 he makes is I write these things concerning those who try to 65 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:12,960 deceive you. So there's a lot of 66 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:17,839 encouragement, a lot of motivation to walk in the light 67 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,600 as he's going to see, as he's going to say, so that we may not 68 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:24,600 sin. But there's also an underlying 69 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,280 theme of others who are detracting from them and others 70 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:32,280 who would try to pull them away from the faith and from the 71 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:35,560 truth that they are learning. So we're going to talk about 72 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:39,520 those deceivers here. Now, who might this have been? 73 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,400 Well, we know that during this time there was a very popular 74 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:46,720 school of thought called Gnosticism. 75 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:54,720 And Gnosticism basically says all matter is evil and that the 76 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,640 creation was really the work of a demigod. 77 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:05,440 And that demigod wouldn't have. Let me rephrase that. 78 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:12,680 Jesus did not really come in the flesh because if if all matter 79 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,520 is evil, if everything that was created is evil, Jesus wasn't 80 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,080 really here in the flesh because he was. 81 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:23,240 It couldn't have been evil. So it starts to undermine the 82 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:26,120 true work that Jesus did. You can already see that start 83 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:31,280 to form, and there's a specific branch of Gnosticism called 84 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:36,680 docetism, and that suggests that Jesus really just seemed to come 85 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,120 in the flesh. It was kind of an illusion, kind 86 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:44,840 of a mirage, and they would even suggest that he was replaced at 87 00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:47,520 his baptism and never truly suffered. 88 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:52,080 So these are kind of elements that swim through Gnosticism 89 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:58,320 that undermine either Jesus's fleshly coming or maybe it it 90 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:02,680 suggests that he was kind of a, an illusion or that maybe he 91 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:05,840 didn't really go through with the things that he claimed to 92 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:09,720 suffer that the Bible records about Jesus work. 93 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,280 Gnosticism would claim that that didn't really happen. 94 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:18,840 And, and, and this, it's interesting how many times this 95 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:22,520 comes up when you, when you read it and learn about other 96 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,400 religions. There are other religions who 97 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:29,600 claim this, who don't claim that Jesus is necessarily the Son of 98 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:34,200 God and the Messiah, but maybe that he was a prophet and that 99 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:38,080 God would not truly allow Jesus, if he was a prophet of God to 100 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,200 suffer the way he did. There's religions in the world 101 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,040 that believe that. And so we're already starting to 102 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,720 see if you try to marry Gnosticism with the true 103 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:54,000 doctrine of Christ, you, you get problems, you get core errors 104 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:58,320 because if Jesus didn't, did Jesus didn't do what he said he 105 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:04,760 did, that it undermines so much of his work and his and the plan 106 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,680 of God. So this underlying theme of 107 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:12,920 Gnosticism that we see prop up is, is a huge problem. 108 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:18,960 That is likely what was behind some of the the things that John 109 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:23,360 is writing in this letter. Now Gnosticism basically leads 110 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:27,640 to two conclusions. Gnosticism says all matter is 111 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,760 evil. So if everything that is out in 112 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,640 the world created matter is evil, then there's basically one 113 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,960 of two conclusions. Conclusion #1 is everything is 114 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:41,720 evil. So you have to run away from 115 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:47,440 anything that is pleasurable, Anything that is gives you 116 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:49,720 pleasure because everything is evil. 117 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,480 Now we've learned from Scripture that God has given us many 118 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:55,360 things that are good gifts to enjoy. 119 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:57,400 So we know off the bat that that's not true. 120 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,600 But Gnosticism, that's the natural conclusion is if 121 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:06,200 everything is evil, then we should run away from anything 122 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:10,680 that is pleasurable. Or the flip side of that says, 123 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,800 you know what? If everything is evil, then 124 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:18,080 nothing matters anyway. Go ahead, do whatever you want, 125 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:24,480 do whatever you feel like doing, because nothing matters anyway. 126 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,880 It's all evil. And so you can see these two 127 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:31,120 extreme conclusions. Neither one of them hits the 128 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:33,720 mark. We know from scripture that God 129 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:37,840 has given us many good things. Not every desire is evil. 130 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:42,880 And on the flip side of that, we do have meaning. 131 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:47,600 Our actions do matter and we can't just throw our hands up 132 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:49,280 and say, well, none of this matters anyway. 133 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,200 So there's veins of thought here that you're going to see. 134 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:55,960 If we understand what Gnosticism was about and what it was 135 00:08:55,960 --> 00:09:01,040 teaching, then it's going to make John's arguments make a lot 136 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:05,360 more sense in the things that he is trying to encourage them in 137 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:12,520 and pull them away from. May we never write off the work 138 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:16,960 of Christ and His fleshly coming, because it is 139 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,560 unfathomable that the God of this world would do what he did. 140 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:25,760 That though He came to a world that was full of sin and 141 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:31,960 problems, He really did do it. And sometimes we can take 142 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,200 something that's unfathomable and undermine it when we should 143 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:41,960 just be praising it. Praise God that He came and 144 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:46,240 praise God that He died for us and truly suffered and lived 145 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:50,080 here. OK, with that background, let's 146 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:52,760 go ahead and start the first verse and work our way through 147 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,680 this chapter. Verse one says in the new King 148 00:09:55,680 --> 00:10:00,880 James that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, 149 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,360 which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon 150 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:10,680 and our hands have handled concerning the word of life. 151 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:13,880 I want to first note this first verse. 152 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:18,800 You can already start to sense the tone of awe from the writer. 153 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:24,680 The writer is using every sense to convey this really happened. 154 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:28,720 And if you're going to give a full testimony of something that 155 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:32,320 happened, this, this person is saying we saw it, we heard it, 156 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:37,160 we touched it, it was so real. And we've already, we're already 157 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:39,920 seeing how this is counteracting those Gnostic ideas. 158 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:44,520 But this writer is in awe of what Jesus did, the word of 159 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,120 life. The Greeks believed that there 160 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:53,640 was the logos, the divine reason that was implicit, or we had to 161 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:55,720 believe it, right? Looking at the cosmos, looking 162 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:00,160 at the sky and looking at the world's they believed in, they 163 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:02,760 implied that there was divine reason. 164 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:08,080 And Jesus is that divine reason that Logos, the word of life, 165 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:11,760 the thing that was ordering it and giving it order, as we learn 166 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:15,760 in Colossians. So he opens up with the tone of 167 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,840 awe at these, at the things that they saw. 168 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,920 And he uses all these senses. You you can kind of connect some 169 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:27,440 of the internal evidence here because this sounds a lot like 170 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,720 John's Gospel. The Gospel of John starts out 171 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:35,040 claiming very similar things about witnessing the Messiah and 172 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:37,520 being with him. This is the very similar tone 173 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:40,160 and style how this letter is opened up here. 174 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:47,800 Verse 2, The life was manifested and we have seen and bear 175 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:53,080 witness and declare to you the eternal life which was with the 176 00:11:53,080 --> 00:12:01,120 Father and was manifested to us. Eternal life was brought down, 177 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:05,160 manifested, manifested to make something real, to make it 178 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:10,280 evident, though it was hidden in some ways from time past, that 179 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:13,360 eternal life was was laid out in front of them clearly. 180 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:19,120 And He is here to serve as a witness, to bear witness and to 181 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:21,400 teach people who would come after Him. 182 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,960 Verse three, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to 183 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:31,000 you. He's writing to Christians. 184 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:35,360 He's writing to us today. He's trying to convince us to 185 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:40,960 declare to us these truths. We declare to you, verse three, 186 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,240 that you also may have fellowship with us. 187 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:49,000 And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, 188 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,240 Jesus Christ. The purpose of sharing what they 189 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,000 have seen is so that others can share in it. 190 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:59,000 He's creating a triangle of a relationship here. 191 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,800 If you can picture this triangle, there's a direct link 192 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:08,200 between the writer of this letter and Jesus who came in the 193 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:12,640 flesh. So we know that this writer was 194 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:15,760 there with Jesus. We know it was someone who had 195 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:21,360 that close contact and that and that discipleship with him. 196 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:26,640 And so if there is a direct link to these people, if we can 197 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:30,920 establish a link, a link with the writer, then we have a 198 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:36,320 triangle formed between us, this Christian who's writing this 199 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:42,200 letter and Jesus that he is claiming to have seen. 200 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:47,200 And if we establish that we are in fellowship with, with the 201 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,400 writer based on what the writer says, the inspired writer of 202 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:54,280 God, then we can establish a connection that's called the 203 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:58,240 transitive property with God himself. 204 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,160 That's his purpose. Now, especially for the people 205 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,520 who are reading this letter soon after Jesus died, there could 206 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:11,000 have been a real sense of man. You just missed it. 207 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:14,600 You should have seen it. God came down and sorry, it's 208 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:16,240 too late now. You, you missed it. 209 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:21,000 You know, the the brief time he was here, you're almost there. 210 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:23,840 You were, you played the odds and you were off by just a few 211 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:29,080 years. No, he doesn't say that they 212 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:34,560 didn't miss it in the sense that this Messiah came and and you 213 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:37,120 had your chance to see him and he's gone for good. 214 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,600 No, he's writing this letter with a tone of you can still 215 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:46,000 enjoy the fellowship and the work of what he did on earth 216 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,280 today. You might not see him in his 217 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:53,800 physical form right now, but you can enjoy the same relationship 218 00:14:53,800 --> 00:15:01,600 we enjoyed with him, the writer says Today, Whether they were 219 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:07,920 people 30 years after his death or 2000 years later, like we 220 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:13,400 stand today, we can still share in this relationship, this 221 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:17,720 triangle of fellowship. Again, the tone of awe. 222 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:22,680 This guy was the real deal. This Jesus verse four and these 223 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:26,720 things we write to you that your joy may be full. 224 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,120 There it is. There's our first and kind of 225 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:35,560 opening purpose of this letter. It's assurance that your joy may 226 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:40,920 be full. Now, what could take away from 227 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,520 full joy? If there's things that would 228 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:49,120 make them not have full joy as Christians, He's trying to give 229 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:50,960 them full joy. So what could pull them away 230 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,040 from having full joy? Number one, I think not being 231 00:15:54,040 --> 00:16:00,640 sure if these things Jesus claims to be true and the 232 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:02,440 writers claim to be true are real. 233 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:07,920 We have so much to be excited about and hopeful in, but we 234 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:10,520 might not be if we're not sure about those things. 235 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,800 And he's giving them assurance. He's writing this letter so that 236 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,200 they can be for sure about what they're reading. 237 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:21,720 So that's one detractor from full joy. 238 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,560 I think a second one is not being focused. 239 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:32,320 So let's say you believe it and you don't have any doubts that 240 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,080 what Jesus claimed to be is real and He did it and he is still 241 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:42,120 doing it to this day. You can still not have full joy 242 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:46,560 because you're not focused on it, because your attention is 243 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:51,000 not illuminated with the light of the gospel. 244 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,400 He's trying to do both of these things in this letter, I 245 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:00,720 believe, to give us the assurance and to pull our focus 246 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:03,960 in. So much of life is not about 247 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:10,160 things that are, that we are proven to be wrong. 248 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:15,079 It's things we don't choose to focus on, things we don't choose 249 00:17:15,079 --> 00:17:19,920 to spend our time meditating on. And this is a great letter to 250 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:28,280 marinate and meditate on. Now, I think just to spend a 251 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,440 little bit more time on the implication here, if he's 252 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:35,880 writing this letter so that their joy could not be full, we 253 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:40,920 should necessarily kind of imply that it is possible to not have 254 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:44,080 full joy. And we're going to learn he's 255 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:45,760 writing this letter to Christians. 256 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:51,320 And so for you and me, do we acknowledge that it is possible 257 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:58,240 for us to not have full joy? Life has a way of hardening us. 258 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,880 And sometimes we have the assumption that, you know, we're 259 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,320 going to have full joy just because he said it, because 260 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:14,840 that's his intent for us. But sometimes life can can 261 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:18,000 harden US. Jesus describes our hearts as 262 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:19,960 ground. So I feel comfortable making an 263 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:24,440 analogy here. I've been doing a lot of work on 264 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:29,320 my yard lately, and I've learned that I have parts of my property 265 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:33,000 that are hardened ground. And sometimes that's caused from 266 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:37,800 the elements, the sun maybe, maybe that some things that are 267 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:42,760 in the soil or have been put into the soil From around I've 268 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:48,240 learned that the ground and that the elements can turn ground 269 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:51,440 hard and fruitless if not properly cared for. 270 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:57,840 If your soil is not properly amended, the ground can become 271 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,640 hardened. And I think our hearts can be 272 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:06,440 that way if we're not careful. Yes, as Christians too, our 273 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:08,920 hearts can be hardened in ways that we don't even realize. 274 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:14,560 We don't have full joy, and maybe you don't even realize 275 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:20,200 it's possible, or maybe you've forgotten what it feels like to 276 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:27,200 have full joy. I'm not that old and I haven't 277 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:32,320 had many of the experiences that harden people in my younger 278 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,920 life, and yet I can already see that in myself. 279 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:44,200 I don't know what you've been through, but this writer wants 280 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:46,640 to assure you that you can have full joy. 281 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:56,880 Our hearts, like the ground in in my yard, need to be amended. 282 00:19:56,880 --> 00:19:59,760 The soil needs to be amended sometimes and it needs 283 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:01,400 supplements. It needs. 284 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:05,400 A certain type of maybe tilling. There are processes that we can 285 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:12,000 do to heal soil that is hardened and our hearts can be amended. 286 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:18,600 They can be rejuvenated because our God created our heart, 287 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:24,640 surely he can change it and surely he can strengthen in ways 288 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:30,440 that we forgot were possible. So maybe starting this letter by 289 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:35,480 admitting that is a good place to begin this process of 290 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:40,360 learning full joy. So His intention is that we can 291 00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:43,320 have full joy. And the the message here is that 292 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:45,360 we are intended to have full joy. 293 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:49,360 Sometimes we think about God and the light that is inaccurate, 294 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:54,040 that we don't fully understand how much good He has and wants 295 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:58,760 for us. But that we would have full joy 296 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:03,880 is His goal and is His great priority. 297 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,920 And finally, 1/4 implication from this statement that he's 298 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:11,000 writing to us. So their joy may be full. 299 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:16,120 The implication is there are certain sources to turn to for 300 00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:19,240 this joy. You know, I don't know about 301 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:24,800 you, but I can turn to sources of joy in my life that are, that 302 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:27,120 are empty. Wells, as the Old Testament 303 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:32,920 writers often say that they're empty and there are only certain 304 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:37,760 sources that can give us full joy and there are certain things 305 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:42,480 that give us a good source of joy, but it's it's small, it's 306 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,000 incomplete without God. And this is what he comes to 307 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:51,520 bring a complete sense of joy. Verse five. 308 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:56,000 He goes on to say this is the message which we have heard from 309 00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:02,280 him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no 310 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:04,880 darkness at all. In this letter there is a 311 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:09,960 foundational message and uses these three kind of key ideas to 312 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:15,880 compare God with and to describe God and Jesus with, and it is 313 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:20,480 that God is light, God is love, and God is life. 314 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:22,800 This is a foundational principle. 315 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,440 With that, he's going to build on verse 6. 316 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,880 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in 317 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,440 darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 318 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:37,560 So there's the contrast. God is light and there's a way 319 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:44,560 that we can walk in darkness, and it's from a fake commitment 320 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,560 or a fake statement that we have fellowship with Him when we 321 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,360 really do not, when we don't practice the truth. 322 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:57,280 So what is walking in darkness? He's going to use this this 323 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,040 phrase, walking in darkness or walking in the light. 324 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:04,520 And the walk is our life. The walk is our habits. 325 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,880 And if we walk in light, we are walking in the ways of the one 326 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:11,080 who brings light. And if we're walking in 327 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,200 darkness, it's the exact opposite. 328 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:18,480 It's without light. And he calls us a liar and says 329 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,560 we do not practice the truth, verse 7. 330 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:27,520 But if we walk in the light or practice things that are of the 331 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:32,640 light, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have 332 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:37,680 fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus Christ. 333 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:39,840 His son cleanses us from all sin. 334 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:45,280 He's John writes this letter in kind of a high view. 335 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,480 He doesn't get into all the details of all the nitty gritty 336 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:52,920 and, and and situations. He's talking from a, a high 337 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:59,240 level overarching view. And the statement is that if we 338 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:06,600 walk in the light, then there's that is fellowship with with 339 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,320 John the writer. And by extension, that's 340 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,200 fellowship with Jesus. And sometimes I can over 341 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:14,960 complicate my relationship with God. 342 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:19,720 I can over complicate what it takes because it seems so simple 343 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:27,520 sometimes and yet sometimes it can be very difficult to walk in 344 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:37,190 the light with all of our ways. But we can take peace in this 345 00:24:37,190 --> 00:24:41,990 statement that it is as simple and as complicated as walking in 346 00:24:41,990 --> 00:24:47,910 the light. And when we do that, he says the 347 00:24:47,910 --> 00:24:51,390 blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. 348 00:24:52,470 --> 00:24:56,960 He doesn't say, you know, if you mess up, then you've then you've 349 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,720 really lost it. Now you've you've ruined it. 350 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:05,800 No, he says, as we walk in the light, there is a a cleansing 351 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,840 that continues to happen. That word cleanses is in the 352 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:14,880 present tense, the present active. 353 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:19,480 He cleanses us from all sin. So as we walk in the light, 354 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,640 there's still going to be a need for a continual cleansing. 355 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:28,120 May that both humble us and encourage us that we are not 356 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:34,520 above mistakes, improvement or any of that. 357 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,880 But at the same time, you can know that you still walk in the 358 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:44,600 light even when you mess up. You can still be somebody who is 359 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,400 making it their habit to walk in the light. 360 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,840 And I had some discussions recently with people after this 361 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:57,400 lesson where you can feel like if you continue to struggle, am 362 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,520 I even really a Christian at all now? 363 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:06,040 There's a point at which if we are not taking the steps to grow 364 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:11,000 like, like James says, confessing our faults to one 365 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:15,200 another, if we're not confessing and being transparent with 366 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:21,600 ourselves, with others, with God, then we can ask ourselves 367 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:23,480 that question, am I really walking in the light? 368 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:25,160 Because what does it take to walk in the light? 369 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,480 And that's kind of a, that's a whole conversation in itself. 370 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:35,600 But just know that if you still make mistakes, that doesn't mean 371 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:40,560 you're not walking in the light because Jesus's blood is perfect 372 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:44,960 and continually cleansing. Verse 8 If we say that we have 373 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:50,200 no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 374 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,840 The proverb says the heart of man is deceitful above all 375 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,040 things. I don't know about you, but the 376 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:01,720 older I get, the more wrong I find, the more areas in my life 377 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:09,000 I I learned that I I didn't realize how how much selfishness 378 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,000 I have in my life, how much pride. 379 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:15,880 I didn't realize how much I've lacked love. 380 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:20,240 There are so many ways I find continual areas where I need to 381 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,920 work on. I may have cleaned up some some 382 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:31,720 more obvious downfalls, but don't you 2 find the roots of 383 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:36,320 some of the sins in in your life of bitterness, selfishness, 384 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:39,480 pride? But you know what the truth 385 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:44,720 does? The truth convicts our hearts 386 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:49,560 and shapes us for good. If we don't see our sin, it is 387 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,440 clear that we are unaffected by the truth. 388 00:27:54,360 --> 00:28:01,000 And that's why that's why he says, if we have no sin, the 389 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:05,400 truth is not in US. Why is that The truth can't be 390 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:07,480 in us? Because if it was really in US, 391 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,240 it would be showing us that we have sin. 392 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:16,080 So if we don't say we don't have sin, the truth must have not 393 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:19,320 been in us. Because when it is working on 394 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:22,480 us, we're going to continue to find things that are going to 395 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:27,600 shape us and prune us. I'm so glad for the way that God 396 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:29,880 convicts us because you know what? 397 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:35,800 If I saw everything it was wrong with my heart and my myself on 398 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,840 day one as a Christian, I may have just given up right there 399 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,160 because it would seem so overwhelming. 400 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:48,880 All of all of the burden of of what I was and what I was not. 401 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:55,280 But by the grace of God, we often see our areas for 402 00:28:55,280 --> 00:29:00,560 improvement one piece at a time. And he teaches our spirit where 403 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,520 where change needs to happen one step at a time. 404 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:10,000 And so you and I can't fix ourselves completely on day one, 405 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:16,720 but usually there's an area that our conscience becomes aware of, 406 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:21,360 an area that we need to grow of a way that we need to change. 407 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:27,040 And so we take that step one and we let it convict us and shape 408 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:32,960 us as His truth convicts our hearts and the truth lives in 409 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:35,440 US. And that is a sign that you are 410 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:42,760 alive and well, not a sign that you are forever lost because you 411 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:47,200 made a mistake. Verse 9. 412 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:51,800 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our 413 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:55,760 sins, forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 414 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,080 unrighteousness. So this is very similar to that 415 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,000 passage in James we just mentioned. 416 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:05,640 Part of how we practice walking the light is we show 417 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,840 transparency and we are willing to confess it. 418 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:11,640 He doesn't say who to confess to. 419 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,080 We'll talk about that in a minute, but he says to confess 420 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,960 our sins. That is transparency. 421 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:24,200 Because if I admit it to myself, then it's more real. 422 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:30,640 Now, if I admit it to someone else, it's even more real. 423 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:36,400 It's even more evident. The light is shined on it to 424 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,400 where we see it for what it really is. 425 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,560 And from Scripture, we know that we are to confess to, you might 426 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:46,000 say, these three groups of people #1 the, the involved 427 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,400 party. If we make if we sin and we 428 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,920 messed up, the first person we need to be talking to is the 429 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:56,520 person we send against the person that we have wronged. 430 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:03,480 We need to confess our wrongs to people, and we'll often get a 431 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:06,880 lot more respect from them from doing that, even if it might be 432 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:09,960 a hard conversation to have. We need to confess our sins to 433 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:14,360 the involved party #2 We need to confess our sins to an 434 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:19,200 uninvolved party. When you are trying to overcome 435 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,440 something, it is good to talk to somebody who is not involved in 436 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:27,120 the situation because they maybe have a clear mind about it. 437 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:31,560 They have maybe they're not don't have that sense of maybe 438 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:34,200 there is judge mental of you because they're separate from it 439 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,720 and they're not focused on the hurt, but they're able to give 440 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:42,880 you that clear perspective on the situation to confess and 441 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,600 work through. And there are things that I have 442 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:50,200 to work on that I confess to those who are close to me and 443 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,720 tell them what I need to be better at, what I need to work 444 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,920 on, how I need to change because talking to those people is a 445 00:31:56,920 --> 00:32:00,640 safe place to grow and to work through some things. 446 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,200 So confessing things to an uninvolved party from the 447 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:08,520 situation maybe you might be involved in is is huge. 448 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:13,200 And thirdly, and maybe most importantly, we need to confess 449 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:19,640 our sins to the involved Father. God wants us. 450 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:22,040 The Father wants to help us succeed. 451 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,640 He wants His Word to have a good work in US. 452 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:34,920 Confession is vital to know that we're really walking in the 453 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:41,400 light because the first thing that darkness wants to do is 454 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,880 hide. Darkness wants to hide the sin 455 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:50,280 and confession puts it out in the open and says I can deal 456 00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:55,680 with what I can see and if I see an error, I'm going to work past 457 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:58,000 that by the grace of God and by the strength of God. 458 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:04,160 Verse 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar 459 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:11,480 and His word is not in US. We might not always realize our 460 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:12,840 own mistakes, but when? This. 461 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:17,480 But when the risk is that big that I would be calling God a 462 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:24,240 liar, maybe I'll think twice before I place myself on any 463 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:31,640 kind of moral pedestal because I am not the Holy 1 He is. 464 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:38,200 And far be it from me to make him a liar by speaking things 465 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,760 that are not truth. Now we're going to dip our toe 466 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:45,120 into chapter 2 before before our next study. 467 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:47,320 So let's just read a couple more verses. 468 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:51,360 Chapter 2, verse 1, He says, my little children, these things I 469 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,920 write to you so that you may not sin. 470 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:56,680 All those things we just said is. 471 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,880 And so many things in this letter are to help us stay pure 472 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:05,840 and holy in him and to have a close walk with him that is not 473 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:12,560 separated from him by sin. The second big purpose of this 474 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:16,960 letter is to have hope in our fellowship with him that 475 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:21,760 motivates us to walk in the light goes on to say in that 476 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:25,080 verse, verse one. And if anyone sins, we have an 477 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:29,280 advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 478 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,400 There is that continual cleansing he mentioned, but now 479 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:35,239 he kind of phrases it a little bit different and says that we 480 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,719 have an advocate. An advocate is somebody who's 481 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:42,120 going to speak on your behalf. Jesus speaks on our behalf with 482 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:45,719 the father. And this analogy probably 483 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,560 doesn't work in every in every respect. 484 00:34:48,639 --> 00:34:55,120 But suppose there's a courtroom scene and Jesus stands to answer 485 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:59,040 for our charges. Maybe he is our our defending 486 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:04,640 attorney and when the prosecution, the devil who's 487 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,920 called the accuser of the brethren, accuses us of all of 488 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:13,040 these sins and all of our wrongs, our defending attorney, 489 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:21,120 Jesus affirms every charge. He affirms the crime and the 490 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:25,560 penalty that goes with it. He says you're right, this 491 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:30,200 person, Wade Branch did do this and this and this and that was 492 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:34,880 sin and the penalty is just. The Bible says that we deserve 493 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:42,520 condemnation because of that and the devil and Jesus affirms that 494 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:46,240 the devil, the devil's criticisms are valid of us. 495 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:52,760 But then Jesus approaches the bench with the devil, the 496 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:59,000 accuser of the brethren, for a sidebar, and the devil is 497 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:02,640 laughing and he is pumped to hear this condemnation. 498 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:07,080 The defending attorney just admitted that we were guilty. 499 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:14,240 But Jesus simply leans in and says, Dad, this one is mine, I 500 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:18,520 paid for him. So Jesus affirmed all of our 501 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,080 guilt and the consequence of our sin. 502 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,040 But then he leans in to the Father and says, this one is 503 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,240 mine. I paid for him. 504 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:34,680 And the gavel sounds, the slam of the gavel and and God says, 505 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:36,440 Son, you said this one belongs to you. 506 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:39,080 I release him into your care. Case closed. 507 00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:43,800 We have an advocate with the Father. 508 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:51,920 Jesus stands at the right hand of God as our mediator and as an 509 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:56,440 advocate on our behalf. And we have a good advocate 510 00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,240 because he knows what we've been through, because he did it too, 511 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:05,200 and more. Jesus Christ the righteous. 512 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:10,280 Now that like I said, that analogy does not stack up in 513 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:15,120 every, in every way, but he is pleading on our behalf. 514 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:22,960 May we honor the advocate. May we respect our advocate 515 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:26,760 Jesus, because how sad is it to think about him doing this for 516 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:30,720 us, advocating for us, standing before the Father for us, and 517 00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:34,960 then US turning around and willfully sinning, doing what we 518 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:39,040 know to be wrong, making our advocate look bad. 519 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,040 May we never disrespect him that way. 520 00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:51,200 I've been in work situations where someone stuck their neck 521 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:54,120 out for someone else to give them an opportunity. 522 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:56,720 You know, they, they, they vouched for somebody to give 523 00:37:56,720 --> 00:37:59,200 them an opportunity that they would have gotten otherwise. 524 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,600 But when the rubber hit the road, the person who got the job 525 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:07,000 because of the person who vouched for them, when the 526 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,480 rubber hit the road, that person didn't come through. 527 00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:13,920 That person maybe wasn't a good or a trustworthy worker. 528 00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:19,440 And that left their advocate, the person who vouched for them. 529 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:23,920 It left them looking foolish because they vouch for this 530 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:25,960 person. They stuck their neck out for 531 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:31,760 them to their boss, got them a job, and it made them look 532 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:36,440 foolish because the person they recommended didn't didn't come 533 00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:40,440 through. It kills me to think about doing 534 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:45,240 that to Jesus now. No, there's obviously nothing 535 00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:48,000 that I can do to take away from the glory and majesty and 536 00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:53,920 imperfection of Jesus, but it kills me to think about him 537 00:38:53,920 --> 00:39:01,920 standing up for me, and me in a sense, spitting in his face with 538 00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:04,240 the way I might choose to make decisions. 539 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:09,080 May we respect our advocate and walk in the light. 540 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:14,480 May we show appreciation for Him with the way we live. 541 00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:17,080 Because that's the theme of this letter. 542 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:24,400 It's about how we live. It's about who we are as we 543 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,240 claim to have fellowship with the Father. 544 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:32,400 Finishing up here, verse 2. And he himself is the 545 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:36,520 propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for 546 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:39,320 the whole world. That word propitiation was a 547 00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:45,000 word used to mean giving something to appease righteous 548 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,160 anger. It was a popular idea during the 549 00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:51,480 time that their gods, you know, that were really unrighteous 550 00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:55,040 gods for the for the Greeks, their gods needed appeasing and 551 00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:57,200 so they would give, they'd be given a gift. 552 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:04,840 Basically, something was something was needed to be given 553 00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:07,760 on their behalf. And our God is not that unjust 554 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:13,040 judge that maybe they're that they're that they're Greek gods 555 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:16,880 were but something needed to be paid for our sins. 556 00:40:17,240 --> 00:40:23,120 And Jesus is our propitiation. He is our advocate and our 557 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:27,440 offering of reconciliation. Having your advocate in court be 558 00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:31,680 the same person who paid the debt for you makes it so 559 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:34,360 powerful. He has every right to advocate 560 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:42,250 for us because when there's a family in the audience of a 561 00:40:42,250 --> 00:40:47,810 courtroom that's been wronged by a crime, those people need to 562 00:40:47,810 --> 00:40:54,600 have be represented. And Jesus is the one who was 563 00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:59,400 hurt for us. Jesus is the one who my sins 564 00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:09,040 crushed on the cross. So he is it's right for him to 565 00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:13,800 be the one to be able to claim my freedom because he has a say. 566 00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:20,520 He is represented in this court. And if he says so, what a 567 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:23,640 powerful defense on our behalf. Verse three. 568 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,280 Now by this we know that we know him. 569 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:32,000 If we keep his commandments, sometimes we can overcomplicate 570 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:36,680 it. Like we said earlier, do you 571 00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:40,440 keep his commandments? Because that's how you know 572 00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:42,640 you're in him. That's how I know I'm in Him. 573 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:47,240 Verse four, He who says I know Him and does not keep His 574 00:41:47,240 --> 00:41:52,600 commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever 575 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:55,480 keeps his word. Verse 5, Truly the love of God 576 00:41:55,480 --> 00:42:01,040 is perfected in Him. By this, we know that we are in 577 00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:04,880 Him. The Word of God is perfected in 578 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:05,440 us. How? 579 00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:08,440 It creates a change of heart. That change of heart then 580 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:10,920 creates a different goal, a change of goals. 581 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,160 And when our goals are different, what we're working 582 00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:17,280 towards is different. Our actions are different. 583 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:22,040 And this is a complete cycle of our love for God changing our 584 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:26,320 heart, changing our motives and our goals, and then producing 585 00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:32,440 actions that back that up. It's not we don't have to wonder 586 00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:35,200 if there's some magical Nirvana moment where you become so 587 00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:38,000 enlightened that you know God is living in you. 588 00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:48,040 It's our actions, he says by this the universe 5. 589 00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:52,280 We know that we are in him. Sometimes it helps in studying 590 00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:59,440 Scripture to do the emphasis exercise and, and, and here's 591 00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:01,840 what I mean by that. You can read this passage and 592 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:04,320 put emphasis on different parts of the verse. 593 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:08,800 So when he says by this, we know that we are in him. 594 00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:15,280 The emphasis is on the we know God, knowing that we are in him 595 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:19,520 doesn't always make our hearts at peace and joyful, right? 596 00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:24,080 Because God may know that I'm in Him, but it's possible for me to 597 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:26,440 not truly be assured and know that. 598 00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:30,040 But He's assuring us. We do know that. 599 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:36,800 We know that we are in Him, and He wants us to know that. 600 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,760 So it's not just, well, God knows it, but we live a life 601 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:43,800 miserable with ourselves. We live a life that is unsure 602 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:46,280 and miserable. He doesn't want that. 603 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:51,880 He wants us to know that we are in Him piece that we're doing 604 00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:54,320 the right thing, that we're on the right path and we're having 605 00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:55,880 bound. You could also put the F 606 00:43:56,120 --> 00:44:00,600 emphasis on by this. We know that we are in him. 607 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:05,320 He started all this by saying that they had seen him and know 608 00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:08,760 that they are in him and they wanted to confer the same 609 00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:14,440 relationship and he's saying we are he's using we you who are 610 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:18,840 listening to this letter. John says you and me, we're in 611 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:23,600 him. By this we know that we are in 612 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,560 him. Or you could read this 1st and 613 00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:29,640 maybe all these are valid. By this we know that we are in 614 00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:34,800 him, in him, in the King himself. 615 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:37,960 We share an identity with the King. 616 00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:42,920 And I'll just leave you with some considerations from this. 617 00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:47,880 A Christian no longer has the same relationship with sin. 618 00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:51,640 A Christian no longer loves sin as he once did. 619 00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:55,360 A Christian no longer brags about his or her sin as they 620 00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:57,960 once did. A Christian no longer plans to 621 00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:01,040 sin as he once did. A Christian no longer fondly 622 00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:03,200 remembers his sin as he once did. 623 00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:07,680 A Christian never fully enjoys his sin as he might have in the 624 00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:12,920 past, and a Christian no longer as comfortable in habitual sin 625 00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:16,680 as he once was. That's part of the theme here. 626 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:19,960 It's not you made a mistake and so you're not one of his own. 627 00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:25,960 It's if you are making a habit of this sin, if that is your 628 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:30,520 practice of your life, if we, it's how we walk, right? 629 00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:33,400 That's the the analogy you use. It's a walk. 630 00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:40,360 If we are walking in making a habit of sin, he says you're not 631 00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:43,240 in him. But a true Christian will no 632 00:45:43,240 --> 00:45:48,280 longer be comfortable walking in a habit of sin and making that 633 00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:54,560 the habit of their life. Instead, a Christian will seek 634 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:59,640 and strive to walk in the light, make new habits that reflect a 635 00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:02,320 new Master and Lord of their life.