·       Author of 5 New Testament books - One of those closest to Jesus – Very prominent member of the early church – Most of all he knew that he was the “disciple whom Jesus loved” which is a self title that we need to all embrace.

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·       Hebrew name means “Jehovah has been gracious” or “Jehovah has graciously given”.

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·       John is said to have lived to a very old age there is a story given to us by tradition that says that they attempted to martyr him in Rome in a boiling pot of oil . He got out of the oil without a burn on his body and because of this miracle many people believed.

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·       John and his brother James were given the name “Boanerges” which means “Sons of Thunder” for their feisty attitude and zeal.

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·       Asked Jesus if He wanted them to call down fire and brimstone on a Samaritan city because they would not welcome the disciples and Jesus.

·       John was present at the transfiguration of Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane and was the only disciple there at the crucifixion.

·       Jesus gave John the responsibility to watch after his mother when He knew His time was short.

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·       Most importantly he was the disciple whom Jesus loved.

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·       Only one of the disciples to live out his life and died of natural causes possibly to the age of 104.

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·       Wrote the Gospel of John, 1 2 and 3 John and Revelation - 2nd only to Paul in the number of NT books.

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·       1 John is about Joy and Abiding in Christ!

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·       It is written not to unbelievers but to those who have already placed their faith in Christ.

·       John affectionately refers to the recipients of his letter as “little children” and “beloved”

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·       The Gospel of John is written to those who have never placed their faith in Christ in fact it states its purpose in John 20:30-31 - Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. (only Gospel that tells us the purpose)

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·       The Gospel of John is written to establish relationship while 1 John assumes the relationship has already been established

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·       Written so that you may enjoy the relationship to the fullest!

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·       The key word in the Gospel of John is “believe” which occurs over 90 times but the key word in 1 John is “abide” which occurs 22 times!

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·       No one knew better than John – The disciple whom Jesus loved and the disciple who chose to be close to Jesus - what it means to abide in Christ and experience the full Joy of salvation!

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·       It does not read like a normal letter that is addressed to an individual with an opening and closing but instead is directed towards a group of believers.

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·       It is also to difficult to date this letter as well but most give a very late date somewhere around 90 AD which was almost 60 years from the time that Christ was crucified.

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·       Reason for this date is because of Gnosticism. We know that in the letter John speaks about “antichrists” or those who are already spreading false teachings about Christ.

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·       Gnosticism was a form of teaching spreading through the church that was becoming popular that stated that all matter is evil and only the spirit is good. Gnostics even challenged the belief that Jesus Christ was fully flesh and said that He was only spirit.

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·       John says in chapter 1 that he saw Christ, he heard Christ and he even touched Christ to rebuke this thought. He is making it clear that Christ really did live and because of that He really did die.

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·       Gnosticism was one of the first early satanic attacks on Christ because if you can take away the human nature of Christ you take away the blood sacrifice that was made and that was necessary for Jesus to be our Passover Lamb.

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·       Hebrews 9.22 says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. So if you take away the blood of Jesus you take away forgiveness of sins.

The Text

Chapter 1

Read 1:1

·       John makes clear in the first verses of chapter 1… Jesus is real! He really walked this earth! I saw Him! I heard Him! I touched Him!

·       In Vs. 4 – “These things we write so that our joy may be made full”

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·       The purpose of John writing this letter is so that you will have joy and enjoy your relationship with Jesus to the hilt and it gives him joy to share that message with us.

·       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

Introduction

Sermon text with italics and bold and John 3:16 and v. 20.

Heading 2

Text with an outline.

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