Sermon for 4/11/21 15 Minutes
Notes
Transcript
John 1:1-2:2
John 1:1-2:2
This morning I'll be reading 1 John chapter 1 verse 1 through chapter 2 verse 2.
And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.
1 John 1:1-2:2
My Believer's Bible Commentary says that According to John,,, a person is either a child of God or he is not; there is no middle ground. That’s why this Epistle is filled with such extreme opposites,,, like light and darkness,,, love and hatred,,, truth and lie,,, death and life,,, God and the devil. And we will look at some of these,,, this morning.
1 John 1:1–2:2 (HCSB)
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— 2 that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us — 3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may have fellowship along with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 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. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous One. 2 He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.
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Our Easter message,,, the stone was rolled away so that we can see,,, will continue as we go forward this Easter season.
The ability to see what God has done for us,,, and,,, continues to do for us,,, as we go forward in our walk with God,,, is so important.
These verses will help us see this as we look at them this morning
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Verse 1 says: 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—
The very foundation that we stand on,,, depends of course,,, on Jesus Christ!
We couldn't have the relationship that we have today without Him and the sacrifice that He has made for each of us.
John is testifying that from the very beginning,,, what we have heard,,, and seen,,, and touched with our hands,,, concerning the Word of life,,, would not be possible without Jesus Christ.
As an eyewitness of Jesus' life on earth,,, we have his testimony,,, and the other disciples,,, that these words are true,,, as we see in the next verse.
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Verses 2,,, 3,,, and 4 say: 2 that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us — 3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may have fellowship along with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Since John and the other disciples have witnessed the life,,, death,,, resurrection,,, and ascension into heaven,,, of Jesus,,, they are doing their best to tell everyone that will listen,,, about these things.
They are doing this,,, so that we will all have the chance,,, of fellowship together,,, with God,,, Jesus Christ,,, the Holy Spirit,,, and,,, of course with each other.
And John says,,, it is through these written words,,, that our joy may be complete.
This joy can only come through a proper relationship with the Lord.
When we are in fellowship with God and with Jesus Christ,,, we have a deep-seated joy that cannot be disturbed by earthly circumstances.
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Verses 5 through 7 say: 5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 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.
Jesus isn't quoted as having used these exact words during any of His teaching,,, but John is saying that,,, in no uncertain terms,,, God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.
By this He meant that God is absolutely holy,,, absolutely righteous,,, and absolutely pure.
God cannot look with favor on any form of sin.
We know from Hebrews 4:13 that nothing is hidden with Him, but “all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account”.
We can hide things from each other,,, but God knows all,,, and sees all!
Now it follows that in order for a person to be in fellowship with God,,, there can be no hiding of sin.
Light and darkness cannot exist in a person’s life at the same time,,, any more than they can exist together in the room of a home.
If a man is walking in darkness,,, he is not in fellowship with God.
A man who says he has fellowship with Him and continuously walks in darkness was never saved at all.
On the other hand,,, if one walks in the light,,, then he can have fellowship with Jesus and with his fellow Christians.
As far as John is concerned in this passage,,, a man is either in the light,,, or in darkness.
If he is in the light,,, then,,, he is a member of God’s family.
If he is in darkness,,, he does not have anything in common with God,,, because there is no darkness in God at all.
Those who walk in the light,,, that is,,, those who are Christians,,, have fellowship with one another,,, and the blood of Jesus Christ continually cleanses us from all sin.
All God’s forgiveness is based on the blood of His Son that was shed at Calvary.
That blood provided God with a righteous basis on which He can forgive sins,,, and,,, as we sing,,, “the blood will never lose its power.”
Jesus' blood was shed once,,, but was sufficient for all of the sins of the world,,, past,,, present,,, and future.
Of course,,, we must confess our sins before we can receive forgiveness,,, but John deals with that in verse 9,,, as we see when we look at the next few verses.
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Verses 8 through 10 say: 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
I believe that these verses are,,, really,,, explained very well,,, just by reading them.
Because of the sins of Adam and Eve,,, we are involved in sin from the time that we came into this world and that's why we need Jesus Christ as our Savior.
All we need to do is just be honest and confess,,, God knows it already anyway.
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Then verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2 say: 1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous One. 2 He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
Jesus knew that we would have trouble with "sinning no more",,, but He gave us the means to do just that,,, if we pay attention to the Holy Spirit.
It is through the help of the Holy Spirit that we have the power "to sin no more".
That's why that our prayer time,,, Bible studies,,, devotions,,, Sunday school,,, all of the things that we do to help our relationship with God grow,,, are so important.
Because it's through these things that we work toward perfection while we are here on earth.
But when we fall short,,, we have an advocate with the Father,,, —Jesus Christ the Righteous One.
Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God interceding for us today,,, making things right for us when we fail!
And He is doing that,,, not only for our sins,,, but also for those of the whole world.
The offer is there for everyone,,, all you need to do is accept His love and mercy,,, but you must make that choice,,, Jesus will not force Himself on anyone,,, He wants to spend eternity with each of us,,, so we need to be sure that we have made that choice today.
That's what John is saying,,, Jesus is there for us today,,, continuing to make things right for us,,, even as we continue to fall short,,, because God loves us so much!
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As we come to the end of our second Easter Sunday service,,, I want us to remember these verses to help us "see" what God has done for us.
We know that it's through the sacrifice that Jesus went through that gives us the ability to have our relationship with God today.
And it's through our continued study of God's word that helps us "see" more and more each day,,, as we travel toward our eternal home with Jesus.
Be sure that you take the time to thank God,,, for the ability to "see" everything that He has done for us,,, as we continue our journey,,, today!
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