1 John 5.1-10
1 John 1:5-10
Oil Lamp
Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather off the California coast for several days. As night fell, the captain noticed the patchy fog and decided to remain on the bridge.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, "Light. Bearing on the starboard bow".
"Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain asked.
The lookout replied, "Steady, captain," which meant the battleship was on a collision course with the other ship.
The captain called to the signalman, "Signal that ship. You are on a collision course. Advise you alter course 20 degrees."
Back came the answering signal, "Advisable that you change course 20 degrees."
The captain said, "Send another message. I am a senior captain. Change course 20 degrees."
"I am a seaman second class," came the reply, "Change your course at once."
The officer was furious. He spat out, "We are a battleship squadron. Change your course 20 degrees."
The flashing light replied, "I am a lighthouse."
The squadron changed course.
· “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all”.
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· Recap – The last couple of weeks we talked about the author of this letter who is John. He was the disciple who Jesus loved and it is no accident that he was chosen to give us this encouraging letter.
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· It is not a letter written to unbelievers like the Gospel of John but instead is written to believers so that they may enjoy their relationship with Christ to the utmost.
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· The key word in the book is “abide” and John tells us how – now that we have a relationship with Christ through our faith we can have fellowship with God the Father and enjoy the gift of the personal relationship that has been given to us.
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· We learned that there was some false teaching creeping its way into the church and John is writing this letter to debunk some of that teaching including some early Gnostic teaching stating that Christ was not fully human.
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· The Gnostics believed that all flesh was evil and therefore Jesus, if He was fully God could not have come in fleshly form. If the flesh is evil and all that matters is spirit then you can do whatever you want with your body.
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· John makes clear that him and other disciples were there, they saw Jesus, they touched Him and they heard Him! Jesus Christ was real and did walk this earth.
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· The purpose of this satanic attack against the humanity of Christ was to take away the blood that Jesus shed for you and for me. If you take away the blood there never could be forgiveness of sins.
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· It was also their excuse for being able to commit vile sins because if all that matters is spirit and all matter is evil then its okay to go and visit the local prostitution house, its okay to engage in drunkenness – both a common practice at the time.
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· His purpose for writing this letter was because in vs. 4 it says it brought John great joy to share with others the truth about “abiding” with Christ! The disciple “whom Jesus loved” and who reclined on His breast at the dinner table – The disciple who knew that true intimate relationship with God came by being in the presence of the Savior gave us the gift of this great letter.
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· I am going to present some views that may be different than what you may have been taught growing up…. I am so very committed to the truth and that is always my goal….
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· Read 1 John 1:5-10
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· If I had to divide these verses up I would do it in 3 sections. 1. There is no sin in God 2. There is sin in us 3. God forgives our sin.
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· Let’s look at vs. 5: “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is love and will do anything to get your fellowship” ….
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· That’s not what it says! It says God is Light! And there is no darkness in him at all.
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· In these verses John talks about “darkness” and that is a synonym for sin and he uses it about 10 times in this letter. God is Light and sin is darkness.
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· Knowing God does not begin with His love but begins with His holiness. There is no darkness in Him at all..
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· As I told you a couple of weeks ago the key attribute or characteristic of God is not His love but His Holiness. It is the only perfection of God that is ever repeated 3 times in Scripture… holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty! It says in Revelation 4:8
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· Our human heart is so utterly wicked that it spits in the face of God’s holiness. Jeremiah 17:9 - “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
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· One day I hope to teach about the human heart and just how wicked it really is.
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· It is nothing short of a miracle when God can come into a person and change their heart. One of the most phenomenal feats ever accomplished!!
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· How wicked is the human heart? The Bible says that before knowing Christ we were all dead so it depends on…. Just how dead is dead!
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· Turn to Ephesians 2:1 - It says: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins … indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God,(talk about But God) being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
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· Did you know that you were created for good works? We always quote Ephesians 2:8-9 but forget about verse 10.
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· God did not save you and perform the awesome miracle of transforming your heart so that you can be comfortable and live out the rest of your life all happy ever after…
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· Although eternal life is a great benefit!! You were created for a purpose and God has already planned out your purpose even before you were born.
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· So what is your purpose? Number 1 is to glorify God and to find out more you just suit up and show up and God will reveal the rest to you.
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· Back to 1 John
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· The only solution to our wicked heart is found in vs. 7.
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· The blood of Jesus has cleansed you from all sin!
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· I want to talk about two different kinds of guilt.
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· One is what I would call false lingering guilt and it comes from satan and the other is true moral guilt.
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· False lingering guilt is that kind of guilt that we are so good at beating ourselves up over. I confess to you I am the master of this so I am speaking to you on great authority as I know this guilt all too well.
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· Satan loves to throw our past right back into our faces.
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· He has been doing this for a real long time and he is the master at reminding you of every wicked and vile thing you have ever done.
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· Now that are here trying to do what is right for your life I can assure you that satan and his legions of demons are working over time on you.
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· They are trying to convince you that you are unworthy – “You have already tried to get clean 100 times before what makes this time so different” he says.
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· Look at all those people you hurt because of your drug use –
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· You are never going to make it. As soon as you get out of here you are going to go and use again anyway so you might as well leave right now.
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· God has given up on you already – He already gave you a bunch of chances and you blew then all… He surely will not give you another…
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· How many have had thoughts like that?
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· Surely God doesn’t love you… You are so unworthy of His love…
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· And that is so true… we are so unworthy… But God!!
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· The answer to false lingering guilt is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin like it says in vs. 7!
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· All of it has already been nailed to the cross!
· Read vs. 7 – “we have fellowship with one another” refers not to fellowship with other people but fellowship between us and God!
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· The second kind of guilt is what I call true moral guilt.
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· This is the kind of guilt that comes when you know that you have done something wrong.
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· It could come from our conscience that is built inside of us or it come as a direct conviction from the Holy Spirit.
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· Either way the solution for this kind of guilt is found in 1 John 1.9 and the answer is confession.
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· We confess our sins to God and when we do we are immediately restored back into fellowship with Him.
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· Asking for forgiveness is not about our position with Christ... we are still children... it is about relationship… a son is always a son... but he may need to go to his father and ask him for forgiveness.
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· When a believer loses personal touch with the God of light, he begins to live in darkness. But confession of sin is the way back into the light.
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· God knows your sin so don’t try and hide it from Him… chicken nugget story
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· In many ways we are like my children… thinking we will get away with our sin and God will not find out.
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· God knows about your sin. Long before you were even born and He still loves you and He still sent His Son to die for you.
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· So we confess our sin to God and we count on His forgiveness.
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· Read Vs. 10 and talk about perfectionism.
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· Since we have been talking about light let me end on this and give you some hope.
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· The same John who wrote our letter today was given a vision of the future in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 21.22-23 speaking of the new heaven and the new earth he says:
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· And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Is there anything that you guys need??
May The Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
