1 John.1

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Psalm 4 NIV

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David. 1 Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. 2 How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? 3 Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. 4 Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. 5 Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord. 6 Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?” Let the light of your face shine on us. 7 Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound. 8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Prayer

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Prayer

Worship Through the Word:

Blessed Assurance!

When I moved to Colorado Springs, I had no home or job. My son and I lived with another family who attended the Bible college and we had never met before the night we moved in. When I learned I had been accepted at the Bible College, I had expected to move to The Springs later in the summer after making a trip to find a job and a place to live. However, the Bible College said, no I should not wait. I needed to come in May (basically 2-4 weeks away). They said the jobs and housing would be filled come late summer but if I moved immediately and was there in May, I would have the best chance of finding a job and home. The college offered to put us up with another college student family. This was a common practice and provided us quarters until we found something. So, a few weeks later found my son and I on the road headed for Colorado Springs. A moving truck would be delivering our stuff a week or so later.

The first thing I did was to set about looking for a place to live but I found everything was very expensive (1995-like $1,200-1,500/mo). It quickly turned out that the better deal for us was to buy a certain town home that was for sale ($800/mo). I made an offer and wrote out a check for the earnest money amount needed. The company looked at me unsure and said, “You know, you will need a job which pays at least $9/hr to qualify for a loan for this place. Such jobs are near impossible to come by here in the Springs. Most only pay minimum wage ($4.50/hr at the time). “Are you sure you want to risk your earnest money amount,” they asked? If my memory serves me correctly, this was the last town home they had available or the last one in my price range. I really felt that God had led my son and I to find it so I said, “Yes, that I knew I had to have a job and I believed I would have one in time.”

The next day I went straight to an employment agency. I had not even finished filling out the employment application when the agent came and told me that she had just had a call for a job that required someone with my experience in road construction payroll. She sent me to the company forthwith for the interview. The interview went very well, and this job paid $9/hour which I had been told by more than one person was very rare. As the interview came to an end, the interviewer told me things sounded good but that they had just released a notice of the job and I was the first to apply and be interviewed. They would wait and interview a few more before making a final decision.

I left feeling extremely confident that things would work out. I had a time issue occurring as the bank could not approve my home loan until I had a job, and I had no idea how much time this company would take to interview other people. However, the circumstances were so unusual, I felt assured that God was in it, and He would work out the timing.

The peace and assurance I felt was contrary to anything I had ever felt before. Most people would have been biting their nails fretting whether they would get the job and the home. So, how did it turn out?

Well as soon as I arrived back at the house from the interview, I was given a phone message. The company had called my previous employer and they decided to hire me on the spot and increase the pay to $10/hour. Within 24 hours of paying the earnest money, and filling out the bank application, I had a job that not only paid the required $9/hr but was making even $1 more.

We can have this same kind of peace and assurance about our salvation. Let’s face it, many people live life never knowing what will happen to them after they die. If you ask them if they believe in life after death, they will tell you they hope so. If you ask them if they believe in heaven and if they will be there, and again, most will say, “I hope so!” But isn’t it far better to have full assurance and know so?

Last week, we celebrated Jesus resurrection from the dead which provides us the opportunity to be saved. He assures us that if we place our trust in Him and follow Him, we will be saved! That is, after we die, we will live with Him for eternity. But at what point do we gain the full assurance of that? Can we have it now or do we have to wait until the rapture occurs or our death happens to find out the answer?

These are questions that we all wrestle with at some time or other. But can we get past these once we are saved? The answer is a resounding “yes!” I am not the only one who believes so. The apostle John believed so as well and it was important to him that others knew and had this same assurance. For this reason, he wrote an epistle to encourage the church on this subject. It if found in our Bibles as the book of 1 John near the end of the Bible.

John wanted people to know beyond any doubt that the gospel is true, and to have full assurance of their salvation. It is so important to him that we have this assurance, that he uses the word “know” 43 times in this little epistle.

So, let’s jump into it. I am reading through 2:6 for continuity’s sake, but today we will only be dealing with the first 4 verses.

1 John 1:1–2:6NIV

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete. 5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God!

I. Blessed Assurance

In his book Light for Anxious Souls, George Cutting told about a farmer who lacked the assurance of salvation. He foolishly prayed that as an evidence of his acceptance, the Lord would cause 10 sheep of his flock -- and only 10 -- to gather in a certain shed out in the pasture.

Later that day, when the farmer anxiously approached the shed, he was relieved to find exactly 10 sheep. That gave him a temporary sense of peace. Doubt returned with the shocking thought that it may have been just a coincidence. So he asked the Lord that 10 different sheep might gather in an opposite corner of the pasture. And they did!

When the farmer was asked, “Did this give you assurance?” he said, “No, nothing gave me certainty until I got the sure Word of God for it.”

Cutting concluded, “He was all in a fog of uncertainty until he planted his foot firmly on the ‘Thus saith the Lord.’“

That seems simple but in a world that shares so many various beliefs and challenges, how do we know for sure we have it right? That is where the church was at the time of the writing of 1 John. The church had moved past the severe outside forces determined to persecute Christians and put them to death. Now, a second kind of threat had crept up from within. False doctrines were increasing. Two of these often seen in John’s day were the...

False Doctrines:

• Gnosticism

• Antinomianism

Gnosticism. These were people who did not believe Jesus had a physical body. They believed His body was only spiritual. They declared that all physical was evil and all spiritual was good. For this reason, they denied Jesus’ humanity. They held two extremes. Either you totally indulged in sin believing there was no escape from it, or you had to live a totally monastic style of life denying all pleasure as any pleasure was viewed as evil.

Antinomianism. Around the time of John’s writing of this letter, there was a group called “The Libertines.” Both Peter and Jude addressed this group directly in their epistles. Though Paul’s teachings in Romans fit well also. These Libertinesbelieved we were liberated from the law through God’s grace. So, we were not held to the law at all anymore.

I have always loved Paul’s response to this idea found in Romans 6.

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

As these false doctrines continued to grow, people began to doubt and question what they had come to believe. So, John writes to bring assurance to the believers and squelch the influence of these false doctrines. In so doing, he is strengthening them in their fellowship with God and with each other. Lack of assurance brings division, but full assurance brings peace and unity.

As I mentioned earlier in my introduction, this letter was written by John, the disciple of Jesus. You remember, James and John? The ones Jesus calls “Sons of Thunder?” Very obviously a pet name. However, when we compare John before the resurrection and after the resurrection, we find a completely different man. I very much doubt that the pet-name fits any longer. John knew what it was to have doubts, but he also came to a place of complete assurance. This becomes evident in the different personality we find in John after Jesus’ ascension. James and John (Sons of Thunder as they were called) fought for favored seats in Jesus’ service and even once offered to pray for God to send His fire to destroy those who opposed Jesus. Later, when John wrote his gospel and other epistles, we find a much softer, gentler man calling for love and compassion. He has undergone a life changing event, and it shows.

John wrote this letter late in life. He wrote it to both Jew and Gentile believers and it is believed to be possibly the last of the books of the bible to be written. Some say John was 100 years old at the time of writing. As a mature Christian at this stage, one who had experienced everything about Jesus as well as his own Christian experiences, we can be assured of his experience enough to share God’s truth on this matter. John begins by providing evidence of his authority on this issue. That is where we will focus our attention today. Here we find that John has…

A. The Authority of an Eye - Witness 1 John 1:1-2

The false doctrines infiltrating the church were coming from people who knew the gospel second hand from others. They found the doctrine hard to believe or accept so they were changing it to be something that fit their own ideas. Not so much different from the Pharisees who were so good at changing God’s law to fit their own narrative.

John was different. John was an eyewitness. But what was John an eyewitness to? All of it! But let us begin at the beginning.

1. John Witnessed the Life of Christ . (vv 1-2)

1 John 1:1–2NIV

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

The Word of life John is talking about is Jesus (John 1-“In the beginning was the Word…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”). John was one of the first disciples called to follow Jesus. He and his brother did so with no hesitation. This means they were witnesses to all of Jesus teachings and miracles firsthand. They experienced the sense of loss at his death and the incredible elation of discovering Jesus had been resurrected from the dead.

Through firsthand knowledge, John was able to pass on what Jesus had taught and to inform others of the miracles that Jesus performed. These were all demonstrations that Jesus was in fact, the Messiah. The Son of God manifested here on earth. Because John had touched Jesus and eaten with Jesus, he could testify to the physical body that Jesus had which was in direct conflict with some of what was being taught by those who never knew Jesus.

Not only did John witness Jesus’ life but...

2. John Witnessed Jesus’ Death & Resurrection (vv 1-2)

John was also an eyewitness to Jesus’ death. He stood right near Jesus’ mother. He would have witnessed the spear being stabbed into Jesus’s side and the water that came forth demonstrating that He was truly dead.

John was one of those first to see the empty tomb and later, to touch the holes in his hands, side, and feet. All of these speak to his authority on this subject.

He was chosen by Christ to be one of the church leaders. That is why he was with Jesus as one of the twelve. In fact, Jesus trusted John enough to give His mother into John’s care when He died, and I am sure that continued even when Jesus returned to the Father.

Jesus chose those twelve men to walk alongside of Him and minister alongside of Him, so they could be witnesses and lead in truth. He knew others would challenge the truth. So, they were there to be eyewitnesses for the truth.

When any kind of case goes before a judge, they do not allow hearsay. They will only accept the account from an eyewitness because they are in the best position to know the truth.

But it is not enough to witness it. John had a responsibility as a witness.

3. John’s Responsibility Was to Proclaim the Truth He Witnessed. (v 2)

1 John 1:2NIV

2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

This makes John an authority on the subject and calls for him to be heard above those who have no firsthand knowledge.

Now there is a second reason that speaks to John’s authority. It is...

B. The Authority of One in Fellowship With Christ 1 John 1:3

1 John 1:3NIV

3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

John was not just some Looky-Lou from the outside masses when it came to Jesus. He was in Jesus’ inner circle. He saw everything from the best vantage point.

If a fight takes place in a neighborhood and the police are called, whose testimony carries the most authority for the officers. The man standing right in front seeing and hearing everything or the man down the block with some limited visual perspective? The one on the front row. He sees everything that happens. He hears everything that is said. He understands best what happened. John had this front row perspective because he was a close friend and follower of Jesus. Not only that, but he continues to hold that fellowship with Jesus. Jesus did not die, and Jesus appointed the Twelve to His service. They were now Jesus’ hands and feet when it came to the church.

These others coming in with their new ideas are coming from the outside. They are bringing in their own new ideas, but these have evolved from their own minds, not from the Words of God. The church was moving along, and things were going well. The persecution had slowed down. The church was growing and bang, some new upstarts begin to bring in their own interpretation. They were obviously not part of this “fellowship.”

I witnessed this same kind of problem when I went to the Nazarene Bible College. We would be in class and the classwork flowed smoothly. Class discussions would quickly progress due to the cohesion of fellowship of people who believed the same things, for the most part. Then a new student would come in who was of a different denomination. Instead of listening and sorting out in their minds what they agreed or disagreed with, they always seemed to decide it was their job to teach the rest of us their own idea of the truth. Of course, this was based on their own interpretation. They were students just like the rest of us, but they seemed to think they were smarter than the rest of us and they would begin challenging everything that came up in class. It caused frustration and strain and slowed down how fast we advanced in the curriculum. We felt like we couldn’t get through the class materials because some person was busy side-tracking us on his or her opinion. It caused division. The fellowship we had felt would be gone. (I am not against discussion of such things, but there is a right time, a right place, and a right way to do so. Discussion is good, determination to persuade can get messy).

John is in fellowship with God the Father and the Son. He wanted others to be a part of that same fellowship. However, that fellowship could only be achieved if they were on the same page regarding the essentials which had been taught by Jesus. You cannot say you are in fellowship with Jesus and then refuse to believe what He taught.

John wanted us to know beyond any doubt what those truths are because it is only through the truth that we can find “full assurance.” And with assurance comes peace and joy!

1 John 1:4NIV

4 We write this to make our joy complete. Says John.

God wants us to live complete and joyful lives. He promises us peace.

John 10:10NIV (Jesus says)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

This means good lives. Lives full of peace, joy, and confident assurance of our salvation! It does not mean that we live perfect lives here on planet earth where Satan rules for a time, but it does speak to our confidence of better days and peace that God has our backs.

Gnostics didn’t believe that Jesus was fully human. Therefore, Jesus’s could not understand us. We could never begin to hope to achieve any kind of holiness so why try? Libertarians believed that Jesus’ death provided for sin, so the law no longer mattered. Both are devastatingly ignorant of God’s truth which Jesus taught. We have some similar doctrines floating around today that echo some of these same damaging lies.

· “God is love and therefore would never send anyone to hell.”

· “If you have enough faith, you will never suffer any hardship but will be delivered from every form of illness or struggle in life.”

· “Jesus was not God’s Son, He was just a wise teacher/prophet. Therefore, He cannot remove our sin, He only shows us how to live by works.”

I love the quote by C. S. Lewis that says, “Jesus Christ was either a liar, a lunatic, or He was who He said He was.” If He was who He said He was, then we must believe all that He taught.

I read a story about a man whose family were Christians, but he had never surrendered to Christ. He just found it hard to believe that God would become a man and live among men. One Christmas morning, his family went to church for Christmas service. He went out to the barn to do some chores. It was a windy, cold, snowy morning. As he went about his chores, there were some birds huddled outside the barn trying to find shelter from the cold Nor’easter wind. He tried to gently shoo them into the barn where they would be protected, but in fear of him, they scattered into the wind. As they gathered back at the barn wall, he thought perhaps he could set some food out for them to lead them to the barn. However, their fear of him prevented them from doing so. They just could not understand that he was trying to help them. His heart was broken as he really loved animals and he hated that they were suffering in that cold northeaster storm. As he returned to his house, it suddenly occurred to him that this was what God did. God saw people and loved them. God had compassion for people just as he had compassion for those birds. But where the farmer had no means to become a bird to aid them, God had the power and the desire, to become a man so that He could share His love and truth with them. By the time the family returned home, this farmer was a new man. He finally understood and he had given his heart to Christ.

Conclusion

What is John’s desire for those he writes to? That our joy may be complete through fellowship with God the Father and the Son, Jesus who provided the mean for our salvation. And through that fellowship, we are forever joined with all believers down through the ages, even John himself. However, joy is defeated by doubt. So, John wants us to have assurance, the same assurance he had that he belonged to God and was saved and live forever with God.

John trusted in what he had seen with his own eyes. What he had experienced for himself, and we can do the same thing. When we receive Jesus as our personal savior, we often experience a sense of peace and fulfillment. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. However, when troubles come or our belief system is challenged, we can sometimes step back and doubt what happened. However, if we remember that time, we can trust in our experience and the Holy Spirit will renew our confidence. Not only that moment but our life changes as well. We look at what our life was like before and how it changed after, and we can trust that experience. But John is not through with his instruction. There is more we can learn from John in this epistle in regards to finding the assurance that brings deep joy and peace. We will continue to look at those in a couple weeks.

Prayer:

Father, we are so thankful to You for sending Your Son to pay the penalty for our sin. We acknowledge that this does not invalidate Your law. It just provides for us the needed sacrifice for the sin debt, and it provides the Holy Spirit within us to gives us the passion to fulfill the Law. Like You proclaimed in the book of Ezekiel, “the Laws are no longer written on stones, but written on our hearts.”

Nowadays, we no longer have the Twelve disciples to be the eyewitnesses, but we are thankful for Your inspiration that led to their testimonies to be written in Your Word. This now declares truth from the mouth of God directly. Help us to hold on to all aspects of that truth and for the assurance that comes through Your Word and through Your Spirit into our lives every day. Amen.

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