Handling the Word of Life

1 John 1:1–10 KJV 1900

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

History: Why did John write these letter?

I love John.

Last writer, writing the last books of the NT.

Of the four gospels, John is written last.

Mat, Mark and Luke were written from current events and revelation - what they had just seen and experienced.

John is written from that perspective BUT with the added observations of a man who had seen and experienced the maturing power of God working in lives…

The first 3 were written from looking forward, John’s writing were looking back...

Written probably to Ephesus.

Setting:

False doctrine was decimating the church.

Docetism (doh-see-tiz-uhm) - early form of gnosticism

Only the spirit matters, don’t matter what you do in the flesh (sounds familiar)

Jesus did not really, physically come

The book of 1 John is about how the church is to deal with false doctrine.

It would be after Timothy’s death in 97 AD and John’s death in 99 AD that the church would become apostate...

By 325 AD at the Council of Nicaea they would began a 1000 year process that would combine paganism and monotheistic Judaism into one religion based on the polytheistic doctrine of the trinity.

John could see what was coming and trying to deal with it.

Two millennia latter, the church is fully settled into John fear...

Sitting on the plane on the way home reading John, having just experienced the greatest frustration of my trip to Israel; the influence of false doctrine, the power of John writing hit home!

Key Insights:

Jesus came in the flesh, there is eye witness proof

To ovoid false teaching

Walk in the light

Seek forgiveness

Love each other

Read 1:1-4

Discuss the Word of Life

How do you handle the Word of life?

How is our Joy full?

So what do we do with false doctrine?

Embrace the Light - where there is no darkness at all

Three “If we say...” statements

Read 1 John 1:6-10

1 John 1:6–10 KJV 1900

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Light and dark cannot coexist

Sin and truth cannot coexist

The Word and lies cannot coexist

Conclusion:

1 John 2:1–2 KJV 1900

1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Just walk in the Light!

Word of Life