1 John 1
Notes
Transcript
How do you know if you are saved?
How do you know if you are saved?
This is a question that I am sure everybody has wondered in their christian life. It is a common question due to people having doubts about their salvation and whether or not if someone is truly saved. 1 John is the book that will gives proofs of salvation through God’s Word. The epistle also gives Christians the encouragement need to withstand the craziness of the world.
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
John begins the letter with proof of his relationship with Jesus through his own personal relationship with Him. John describes Jesus as being an actual human through explaining that we have heard, seen with our eyes, and also touched with our hands.
Jesus was God but he was also human! So many people want to believe that Jesus was only God and did not face the same difficulties that we face, but Jesus was definitely human and yet was also God. John personally did ministry with Jesus. John also explained that Jesus was in the beginning with God, thus making Jesus equal with God. In the book of John he describe what the word of life as being Jesus and being in existence before time.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus became God in the flesh for use to have salvation through his death.
3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Through what Christ has done through John then John could share the Gospel with all people so that they can have fellowship with them. By having fellowship with Christians they are then having fellowship with Christ. Christians should be in fellowship with God and by doing that their fellowship with fellow Christians will be more complete due to the connection that they have through Christ.
John then finishes his introduction with the source of his joy being through Christ.
This is a huge issue with everybody in the world because everybody wants to find joy. That joy may be instant gratification through sin or whatever makes you happy at the moment. (Sports, Cheer, Dance, even Success) But all of that happiness will soon fade, however joy that is rooted in Christ will last forever. Christians should have a life marked by joy. Does that mean that if you struggle then you arent saved?
Absolutely not! Christians struggle all of the time but they can still have joy in the suffering due to know that God is in control of all circumstances. Christians get joy through sharing the gospel with others. John got joy by writing a letter about salvation to a church of believers.
It’s crazy that we get Joy from doing what God has commanded all believers to be doing.
It’s also crazy that we lose this Joy through living in sin.
After the introduction we now get into what it means for a Christians to have fellowship with God.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
God is light and there is not darkness in him at all! Darkness is sin, thus God has no sin in Him at all which makes Him perfect. With GOD being light there is no error in HIM, He is perfect. There is a song that says GOD, you can do all things but fail! That is the truth because GOD is perfect.
This is why God can the righteous judge and condemn those who are not saved.
John says that “If we SAY we have fellowship with God” while we truly are walking in sin then we are a liar. It is a special time in a persons life when they are in fellowship with GOD through being obedient to what HE is calling us to do. But when we are living in sin and we are telling people that we are in fellowship with God then that makes us a liar.
With God not being in darkness then those who are in fellowship with him cannot be living in darkness. This not talking about darkness of sorrow or fear but rather the darkness of sin. Many times when a Christian is walking through the darkness of sorrow or fear they will typically be in very close fellowship with GOD. If you look in the Old Testament at the prophet Job and examine his life, then you will see that his life was full of sorrow but he was in fellowship with God.
John preached against the falsehood of someone saying that they were saved but they had none of the characteristics of Christ. Those who are saved should be walking in the truth and in the light rather than the darkness of sin.
7 But 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 cleanses us from all sin.
Christians are called to WALK in the light. The problem with most Christians today is that they are not doing much walking. They are more likely seen sitting in a Church pew and being stationary in the Christian life rather than living out their faith. Walking in the light involves actions. Walking in the light describes obedience to God in our lives, and the perseverance to continue on when life gets difficult. The act of walking is a continuous action rather than a single step now and then another step later.
If we walk in the light then it is evident that we are in fellowship with God. YOU should never have to tell someone that you are a Christian EVER! That should be evident in your life. Remember on the Summer Trip when Danny quoted
“Share the Gospel at all time, but when necessary use Words!”
If you have to continually tell people that you are a Christian then are probably not a good one!
When a Christian is in the light then all the actions that they take produce the effects of the LIGHT. There are alot of people who know alot of biblical knowledge and theology but are not in the light due to them have a head knowledge of God and the things of GOD but not having a heart knowledge of Him.
Light exposes darkness. When we are walking in the Light then there cannot be any undisclosed darkness in our lives. Christians should not be living a lie due to them being active in sin. We should be walking in the Light, but that does not mean that we should be walking in perfection. No one can be perfect because all are still holding on to our sin nature. We should walk in the light because the light exposes our darkness and the darkness is what can keep us from being in fellowship with God.
Whenever you are walking in the light then you are on common ground with other believers who are walking in the light. Being in fellowship together with other believers describes being in union of one goal in mind. That goal is Sharing Christ.
“If we walk in the light the blood of Jesus his son cleanse us from all sin”
If we are walking in the light the blood of Jesus cleanses us! There is nothing that can be added to Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for salvation from sins. Baptism does not add to salvation, the lord’s supper does not add to salvation, ‘walking in the light’ does not add to salvation, coming to church does not add to salvation. Jesus’ blood that was sacrificed for us is what cleanses us from sin!!!!!!
Through Christ shedding HIS blood for us those who are walking in the light ALL SIN is cleansed. Jesus cleansed all sin! There is not a remembrance of a sin that is/ was commited by a believer.
8 If we say that we do not have sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
All Christians are going to sin! This does not mean that you are lost and God has forgotten about you. When a Christians sin you are not going to feel as close to God while in sin as if you were repentant of your sins. The reason we fall into sin is due to us still having our human sin nature while on this earth.
Every Christian is going to sin and if we go throughout life telling people that we are perfect then we are deceiving ourselves and pointing our salvation as a work of us rather than a work of God. God saves sinners!
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Since all Christians are sinner then we should all be repentant. The repentance is not a one and done type of repentance but rather a constant repentance.
Remember light exposes darkness. If we are walking in the light then the darkness of sin should be exposed in our lives. When exposed we should repent of the sins.
If someone says that they have no sins then they are fooling themselves to the point of not confessing them. When we are walking in darkness we have no fellowship with God but when we repent then we are forgiven of our sins.
Spurgeon Commentary: 1 John Exposition
Do Not Be Satisfied until the Disease Is Gone
Preaching Themes: Confession, Holiness, Honesty and Dishonesty, Repentance
Suppose you go to a surgeon because you have some deadly cancer growing upon you. You want to have it removed, and you know there are a great many physicians who will profess to cure such things, but in reality only give temporary ease. You keep clear from all these. You are well aware that if only a little root of the growth should be left, it will grow again. So you say outright to the surgeon, “There is my disease; I will tell you all the symptoms of it. I only ask to have a thorough cure, cost what it may in money or pain. I make no reserve, just do whatever you feel is best in the case, but make clean work of it. If you have the knife in your hand, do not spare it out of pity for my pain, but be just with me. Cut out the disease, roots and all, so that it may be a complete cure.”
Even in the same manner, go to the Lord and say, “Lord, there is my sin. I confess it all; do not allow me to have any peace unless it is true peace; do not let me have any comfort unless I get it from Christ. And if there must be more conviction of sin and more alarm of conscience, if there must be deeper gashes and sterner cuts into my soul, Lord, do not spare me; purge me from the secret depravity of my nature, and make me pure. Your holiness is what I crave, and I cannot be satisfied until you make me holy, even as you are holy.”
Do not try to make yourself look good before God when repenting show God you complete soul. He will forgive you of your sins.
Through God being a just God He forgives those who repent of their sins because the punishment has already been by HIS SON. God’s justice demands that the sinner should be forgiven if he seeks mercy, for this reason: Christ died on purpose to secure pardon for every seeking soul.
God promises to cleanse us from all unrighteousness! Not just the little white lies BUT ALL unrighteousness.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
All have sinned and are under God’s judgement. Those who act as if they are perfect are then making God a liar, which is impossible.
Walking in the Light of God’s Word
It is easy to be a Bible scholar but that does not mean that someone is saved. By walking in the light means that you believe what the word of God has told you/ telling you.
Do you believe what God has revealed in HIS WORD?
Do you believe that Jesus was who he said he was and that He was God in the flesh?
Has your life been changed through the saving grace of God?
Look to the Blood of Christ
Never lose sight of the sacrifice in which Christ paid for your sins. All of scripture hinges on the bleeding savior. Sin is forgiven through the blood of Christ, not the keeping of any rituals or works of your own.
We must confess our sins!
Confession of sins is not a one and done scenario, but a lifelong endeavor of constant repentance. As long as we live on this earth we are going to be bombarded with sin and we need to be faithful in confessing those sins in order to remain in fellowship with God.
Confession of sins is not just a blanket statement “God forgive my many sins” but rather be intentional with the sins that you have commited. Don’t be embarrassed to confess your sins to God, because God already knows you have commited them. If you are struggling with a certain sin boldly ask God to help you.