1 John - Chapter 1

John, the fisherman and disciple of Jesus, wrote the Gospel of John, three letters, and Revelation. This letter was written to encourage believers and warn against false teachers. John affirms that Jesus is God and emphasizes the importance of love. Fellowship with God and one another brings joy. God is light, without darkness. Confessing and repenting of sin brings forgiveness and cleansing. Living in truth and walking in the light are essential. I am Julie Callio, your host, and thank you so very much for taking time out of your busy schedules to tune in with me today. By chance you want to contact me, you can do that at zab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we're looking at the first chapter of 1 John. John was a fisherman with his brother James, the sons of Zebedee, whom Jesus named the sons of thunder. This is found in Mark chapter 3 verse 17. John was one of the three in Jesus' inner circle, and at Jesus' death he appointed John to take care of his mother. At that time Jesus' half-brothers were not believers. There is little debate that John wrote the Gospel of John, the three letters or general epistles of 1, 2, and 3 John, as well as the only prophetic book of the New Testament, Revelation. Traditionally it is believed he stayed in Jerusalem until Mary died, then went to Ephesus where he wrote his Gospel and these three letters approximately late 80s to early 90s AD. This letter was written to a local church or group of churches, possibly in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey. Some believe that it may have gone to the churches that are mentioned in the book of Revelation. He is writing to encourage the believers and to warn them against false teachers that are within and outside of the church. Ken Easley said, John opened his letter, however, not by attacking falsehood, but by affirming truth. First John chapter 1 verse 1, What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. Do you remember how John started his Gospel, the good news about Jesus? In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. When we discussed the Gospel of John, we learned that John's Greek was simple, yet his meanings are profound. In both his Gospel and his letters, he does not start them, John the Apostle of Jesus Christ. Do you remember how John addressed himself in his Gospel? He described himself as his disciple whom Jesus loved. This is found in John chapter 13 verse 23, How wonderful it would be if we as believers in Jesus understood what John understood. We are loved and that we would say, I am a disciple whom Jesus loves. We will see as we read this letter that love is a big deal to John. Now do you see in this intro that John is saying that Jesus was from the beginning, which declares that he is God. Yet he is making a point that John and the other disciples heard Jesus, saw Jesus, observed what he did, touched Jesus with their own hands. In other words, Jesus was also in the flesh. This is a big deal in this letter. The Son of God became flesh. And then he says concerning the word of life. Curtis Haunt said John called Jesus the word in John chapter 1 verses 1 and 14. And Jesus called himself the life in John 11 verse 25 and John chapter 14 verse 6. Verses 2 and 3 concerning the word of life, that life was revealed or made manifest or appeared or made known publicly. And we have seen it to stare at or look intently at to perceive or to understand by experience to learn as to burn into memory. And we testify and declare to you that eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. Morris Baker said academic knowledge can be learned, but only God can reveal spiritual truth. What we have seen and heard, we also declare to you so that you may have fellowship, which is the Greek word koinonia, which means common sharing partnership or joint participation along with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. So here John is saying we have fellowship with one another and all our fellowship is because and in the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Then in verse 4 John says one of the reasons for his writing is that our joy may be complete. One thing we see in this passage as a believer in Jesus, we are not alone. We fellowship with one another and with God and our joy is complete when we koinonia together. Verse 5 reads, now this is a message we have heard from him and declared to you. God is light and there is absolutely no darkness in him. Ken Easley said, in short whatever God does is always right and holy. Absolutely no evil or sin can ever be related to God's character and actions. God is 100% right and good all the time. Without this foundation in place, nothing else in Christianity makes sense. My dad's death was a long drawn out process. Sometimes I'd go home after being with my folks and cry out, God why don't you take my dad, please oh please take my dad. The daddy that could do anything it seemed from this daughter's perspective now needed help to go to the bathroom. Plus the stress in the home was so oppressive. There were many trips to the hospital, many blood transfusions. Then we'd have a good conversation about his life or about his faith and then I'd cry on my way home and say thank you God that you've not taken my dad yet. He was placed in a home and two weeks after burying my mother-in-law we got the call that my dad was dying. That too can be a long process. We rushed down there right after Easter morning service. I decided to take the stuff for my son's wedding rehearsal dinner which was that coming Friday night with his wedding on Saturday. On Monday night I kept feeling as if God is just playing with me. I was so stressed out and then I read this verse. God is light and there is absolutely no darkness in him. God's not playing with me. He's not trying to make me crazy. There is no darkness in him. Everything he does is perfect and his timing is simply amazing. I had peace whatever and whenever things happened because God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Tuesday morning my mom and I went to the home and we walked in and it looked like he had died. We got the nurse and found out he had. He was at peace. Now let me tell you how great God's plan was. Since hospice had already been called in they could do a quick funeral. The visitation was Thursday night. The funeral was Friday morning. We picked up food for my son's wedding rehearsal and went to the rehearsal Friday night. Saturday morning I had time to get ready for my son's wedding which was Saturday afternoon. And because my dad had died my niece and her family who lived in Colorado which were not going to be able to make the wedding were able to come to the funeral and therefore could come to the wedding too. God is light and there is absolutely no darkness in him. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we are lying and are not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. According to Edward A Macdonald the Greek is present tense continually cleanses us. The fellowship is a holy fellowship. It provides the continuous cleansing of its members enabling them to live in union with God and one another. Now some of these words John uses a lot like darkness and light but especially truth. Truth is used nine times in first John and true is used six times. In the gospel of John chapter 8 verse 12 Jesus declared that he is the light of the world. The only way to be in the light is to walk in truth. The word walk refers to how we live our lives. We can have courage to walk in truth because Jesus shed his blood on the cross for our sin. Verses 8 and 9 if we say we have no sin this is the singular form so it may mean our sin nature. We are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sin he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Dr. Booker calls verse 9 God's bar of soap. Ken Easley said the Greek verb rendered confess actually is a compound of two terms. One that means to speak and another that means the same. Therefore to confess sin literally means to say the same thing about it that God says. He also said the verb forgive implies the cancellation of a debt. The verb cleanse implies the removal of stains. In sign language for forgive you take one hand palm side up and then you take the other hand palm side down and wipe it across your palm like you are erasing a chalkboard. It is erased. Our sin is gone. Verse 10 if we say we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Edward A. McDowell said the author has in mind both the initial confession accompanying conversion and the daily confession to God that the believers make as a member of the fellowship. Daily confession as a duty of disciples was included by Jesus in the prayer he taught his disciples which we call the Lord's prayer which is found in Matthew chapter 6 verse 12 and Luke chapter 11 verse 4 which says and forgive us our debts or our sins as we also have forgiven our debtors or as we forgive those who have sinned against us. So let me ask you ladies do you enjoy fellowship with the father and the son and brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you believe that God is light and there is absolutely no darkness in him or do you feel like he's messing with you? Do you live in truth about yourself about your family about your job or school about your sin? Do you believe that Jesus shed his blood for you which cleanses us from all sin? Have you confessed your sin for salvation? As a believer do you have some sin that you need to confess today? Do you know that you are loved by your creator and savior? Do you share in the joy of the Lord today? If you have heard his voice please don't harden your heart today. Instead let us walk in the light as he is in the light. Let us listen and obey. Until next time and thanks so much for listening.