1 John 1:1-4, The Reality of Jesus

well tonight we begin a brand new study in the book of first John and I'm very very excited for this particular book in many ways this little epistle is my favorite book in the Bible for a number of reasons that we're gonna be talking about for the next few weeks first John chapter 1 verses 1 through 4 it's gonna go really quickly so hold on let's pray Heavenly Father we're so grateful for your love and for the fellowship that we have with one another and Heavenly Father we pray that you would speak to our hearts and that you would strengthen our friendship and our relationship with each other Lord we pray that we would experience joy Lord we pray that we would be motivated to refrain from sin and Lord we pray that you would instruct us that we would understand what's true and what's not and that Lord you would remind us of the commitment that you've made to us and the assurance that we can have in our heart and the confidence and knowing that ours is a real relationship with you and fellowship with you in Jesus name Amen 1st John chapter 1 beginning in verse 1 that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands of handled concerning the word of life the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested to us that which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our Fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and these things we write to you that your joy may be full like I said this book is an exciting book the night that I received Jesus it was March 3rd 1973 I heard the gospel preached I walked forward I received Christ into my heart I prayed the sinner's prayer and when the person who was up front who was ministering to the people who had walked forward he turned in his Bible and he read from first John chapter 3 verses 1 through 3 and the the moment I receive Christ as my savior the darkness fled I felt this tremendous release and he read these words to me behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him beloved now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be but we know that when he is revealed we shall see him as he is and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself even as he as he is pure and even though I didn't understand everything that the text said or meant I knew that what it said was that I had become a child of God and I went home that night and I read from the Gospel of John and I read this epistle of John and it changed my life forever this little book in the broadest sense possible has the theme of fellowship it will describe our fellowship with God and then our fellow ship with each other and fellowship is a word that's filled with meaning fellowship is a word that speaks of intimacy proximity love and joy and the letter is going to be built around three broad themes light and darkness that's one theme love and hatred that's the second theme and truth and error now the reason why this becomes so important to each and every one of us is because it makes the the book itself difficult to outline but he will weave these concepts light and darkness love and hatred truth and error the book this little epistle was written by the Apostle John you know that name he is one of the Twelve Apostles and on Sundays of course we're gonna be looking at character studies in all of the Apostles and this next week we're gonna be talking a little bit more about Peter James and John the author of this book the the Epistle itself has been well attested in history Polycarp papayas IRA næss all referred to John the Apostle as the author of this letter and of course in the New Testament John writes the Gospel of John and his theme and emphasis in the Gospel of John is the story of salvation and the identity of the person and the mission of Jesus and in the Gospel of John at the end of the book in chapter 20 he basically gives a key at the end of the book where he says that he wrote that book he wrote the gospel so that you would know that Jesus Christ is the Lord and by knowing that he is the Lord that you would be saved so the Gospel of John was written in a very real sense with the theme of salvation in the epistles of John the emphasis is on sanctification fellowship our present experience of Jesus in the here and the now so one way of thinking about it is that the Gospel of John is going to focus on the past and the epistles of John which we're studying right now is going to be about the present and the book of Revelation that John wrote is about the future and so in his writings john is going to focus on making jesus real real in our lives now again john wrote the book of revelation and its emphasis on the future glorification and a future hope so in a real sense we might think of the Gospel of John as the word that became flesh and in the epistles of John the Word of Life and in the book of Revelation the word who returns for us and so in the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation and the epistles of John there's keys that are given to help us unlock what he's writing about and the same is true of this letter two of the keys are found in the verses that we've just read John is going to give five keys or five purposes for writing the book and we're to come back to this he the reason or the purpose for writing is that we might have fellowship in chapter 1 verse 3 remember what it said and we that which we've seen which we've heard that we declare to you concerning that that we declared he that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our Fellowship is with the father and with his son he writes this so that we would have fellowship with each other and in verse four that we might have joy in chapter 2 verses 1 & 2 he writes so that we might not sin in chapter 2 verse 26 he writes that we might overcome error and in chapter 5 verse 13 he writes that we might have confidence or assurance of our real relationship with God through Jesus Christ and so part of the point of this letter is again to promote fellowship so that we could experience joy so that we would begin to understand what it means to walk in purity absent sin become victorious and overcoming and so that we might have assurance the other thing that is important about this book is if you have ever ever ever in your life asked the question I wonder what God's really like have you ever asked that question Lord what are you like what does God really like and the Apostle John in this epistle is going to provide us with the answer his simple answer is this look at Jesus if you really want to know the truth about God and what kind of a God God is how compassionate he is how generous he is how gracious he is how precious if you begin to ask and answer the question what is God really really like John the Apostle basically says if you look at Jesus and you ask the question even as the little strap what would Jesus do it's going to begin to prepare you about the nature and the character of God what can we know about God everything that Jesus tells us about God is reliable information about God and who is John the Apostle writing to he's writing to children he'll say dear he'll talk about dear children and fellowship in chapter 1 verse 3 to chapter 2 they'll talk about dear children and their enemies dear children in the Lord's return dear children contrasted with the children of Satan dear children and false teachers dear children who become assured and then warned this is a letter from a father to his children this isn't a letter from the leader of a church to the congregation this is a letter that has family in mind and by the way whenever you see the word children in the Epistle it's a very specific word that in the in the Greek language it's the word techne ax and that word may be strange you're not familiar to you but but it is it's a word that that basically means beloved or the Scottish have a have a have a kind of way of speaking about their children they call them barren but and ones born ones you know when you when you speak of your kids your children it it's it's the light of your life and and it means dear ones or beloved ones it really defies translation I think it's a word that we would use to describe our children and our grandchildren when we're trying to pour every ounce of affection into the word and I have strong reason to believe that although first John along with second and third John proceeded the book of Revelation in your New Testament I have strong reasons to believe that this is the last letter ever written in the New Testament that this letter was probably written as many as 10 to 15 years after the book of Revelation so first John 2nd John 3rd John is the final words of the oldest living apostle you know I read an article earlier this week of a man who was a hundred and seven years old and he died in September and he had the distinction of being the oldest living preacher he died in September but up until the time that he died he would open up his Bible he would read the Bible he would preach the gospel now it was said by a person that before he died that that some people in his church would just simply come up to him because they'd never seen a person over 90 years old and they just wanted to touch him they just wanted to squeeze his hand he was greatly greatly loved by his church now the reason why this becomes important to you is imagine imagine you have access that we've gathered for this Bible study and by the way John all the evidence seems to indicate that he either dictated this letter or wrote this letter or preached this letter when he was in Ephesus some of you are gonna be familiar with emphasis that's in modern Turkey it is you know about the book of Ephesians and you know this place called Ephesus according to church tradition after Timothy left Ephesus John in later years takes the mother of Jesus Mary and they make the journey to Ephesus and the final years of his life after he'd already been banished to Patmos returns he returns to Ephesus and he either dictates or writes this letter but imagine the oldest apostle the last living apostle who walked with Jesus and talked with Jesus who laid his head on Jesus chest who heard his heartbeat who witnessed his crucifixion who saw him rise from the dead and ascended into heaven and you knew he was gonna be at Calvary South Denver and he was gonna be teaching do you think you might want to show up do you think you might want to say I want to hear what he has to say and these are those words these are the final words these letters may have been dictated they may have been read but they were widely used all throughout the Roman Empire but I want you to think of something else we have every reason to believe that this letter circulated not only in Ephesus in Corinth and Philippi and Rome but the letter isn't really written to a congregation it doesn't start out like Paul's letters to the church in Rome or the church in Corinth or the church in Philippi John is going to get right to the point and the reason why I think this is important for you and for me is because this is a letter that was written to individuals and I think that the best way to study this letter and read this letter and think about this letter is as if it's a letter that was written to you that this is your letter that this is written to you that John is writing to you the Apostle wants you to understand that fellowship is better than isolation that you were meant for joy and again I want you to think even though you might not be able to think of yourself as being the recipient of this letter if you even are able to go back in time and space and you think about John this elderly apostle writing to the people who are living in Ephesus and who are living in the Roman Empire who are suffering pain who are struggling against the world in the flesh and the devil there's pain and there's persecution and there's darkness and there's isolation and there's all kinds of terrible things going on there are voices inviting you to believe lies and to not embrace the truth that that you live in a world of uncertainty and doubt and difficulty and you need hope and you need assurance and you need joy now all of a sudden it's going to begin to make sense to you and in verse one look what it says that which was from the beginning which we have heard the implication in the text is with our own ears which we have seen with our own eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life the Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus has always existed the Lord Jesus is self-existent eternal immortal so even when John uses that expression that which is from the beginning he's not talking just simply about the beginning of creation but that which existed prior to creation John the Apostle is telling everyone that Jesus was living that he possessed life that Jesus has a self existent life that the Lord Jesus never had a beginning that he was never created John Roden got in his gospel in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God in the in his high priestly prayer Jesus said in John chapter 17 verse 5 and now O Father glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was why is this important for the person who says Jesus doesn't come into existence until he's born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem they're not understanding what the Bible is teaching the Bible teaches that Jesus is one person with two natures eternally self existent God forever who acquires a second nature a human nature that will always be a part of who he is and the reason why this becomes important is because even in the first century even towards the end as you come to the end of of the of the first century there were wrong teachings about the identity of Jesus and the nature of Jesus I'm gonna suggest to you that this little epistle was written sometime after 95 AD but prior to 98 ad in that kind of timeframe most of you aren't gonna necessarily be familiar with what's going on in the Roman Empire but Domitian is dead this is the guy who banished him to the island of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation Domitian is succeeded by a man named Nerva who is appointed by the roman senate and it is during the reign of Nerva that this particular epistle is being written all the apostles are already long gone and persecution has begun to fill the empire and bad teaching has also begun to fill the Empire and Jesus gives John gives Jesus the title the Word of Life in this single passage we discover the historical Jesus is self existent in pre-existent that Jesus reveals the father that Jesus is eternal that he's a real person in time and space not a myth not a phantom not a fabrication not the product of first century fiction so when people ask you the question how do we know Jesus was even real you need to be able to say eye witness testimony has been given to us a reliable account has been recorded so that we would know the truth Jesus was a real person Jesus had a real human body and by the way in the early church false teachers were denying that Jesus had actually come in the flesh and so John was arguing that if we don't have a real Jesus we can't experience real forgiveness of sin and real fellowship with a real God john knows the implication of the accusation well what if what if Jesus isn't real and what if he never really existed what if he didn't what if it was just some sort of phantom or what if it was just some sort of wishful thinking and John says no that's not true Jesus participated in becoming a human being John in the early apostles heard Jesus saw Jesus touched Jesus with their own ears and eyes and hands and by the way the expression seen in the opening verse that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our own eyes there was a common word in the Greek language to describe when you catch a glimpse its array of or Rio is a word that you would would use to describe when you see something just sort of in a casual way you catch a glimpse of something and you just see it for a moment I don't know if you've ever seen a celebrity from far off a president or a movie star or some important person and you caught a glimpse of them this isn't that word the word that John uses here is Theo may I the root word Theo may I has the beginning prefix of the same word that we get the word theater from but Theo may I is a word which means to behold to look upon but it means even more than that the word incorporates the idea to look at carefully and then to consider completely so what is John saying John is basically saying I had the opportunity to watch Jesus specifically and carefully over a three-year period and that's the testimony in the New Testament it isn't that I just caught a passing glimpse or I had a casual friendship or a casual relationship Jesus is the Prince of life and the path of life and the light of life Jesus is the bread of life to feed on in the tree of life to abide in and the word of life in order to receive instruction and rest and so when John even uses that term concerning the word of life he's incorporating two ideas the first is La Goss which is the Express communication or the idea and life and life falls into two categories life that proceeds from other life and self-existent life and so what John is saying is that Jesus is self-existent life there's two kinds of beings in the universe a self existent being and then all other beings that come into existence and so he says the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declared to you in verse 2 that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested to us so what is John doing the expression bear witness means to testify and again I've told repeatedly that in order to be a witness a witness has to have three characteristics they have to have a knowledge of the truth they have to be willing to tell the truth and they have to have a reputation for honesty and so when John uses these terms he's using them in in a very specific way that he has every right to do exactly this to testify concerning the identity of Jesus it's as if John is raising his hand and and he was in a court of law and he raises his hand and and he's asked to swear swear to tell the truth I swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth about Jesus and that's the point did Jesus ever exist John's answer yes and he ever exists and so when a person wonders whether or not Jesus ever existed most human beings who have any sense of knowledge or a scholarship even people who don't necessarily embrace our view or believe that Jesus is the Lord most competent historians are willing to concede that a real person named Jesus showed up in time and space and so when John says which was with the father and was manifested to us with the father from eternity Jesus existed before he came to the earth the father sent the son and the son was sent to reveal God and make fellowship possible and that's going to be his argument remember the theme of the book is fellowship fellowship is only possible if God is willing to make it happen and so John is going to argue right from the start God loves you and wanted to have fellowship with you and because he loves you and wanted to have fellowship with you the father prepared a plan to send the son the father sent the son to reveal the father to make fellowship possible is this the only reason no in 1st John chapter 3 verse 5 and then again in verse 8 and then in chapter 4 verse 9 John will add and you know that he was manifested to take away our sin so why did Jesus come John will say he came so that fellowship would become possible why else did he come to make sure that your sin would go away and in chapter 3 verse 8 it says he who sins is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil so John is gonna argue Jesus comes since you can have fellowship Jesus comes so that your sin will go away Jesus comes so that the problem of the devil will be and so in first John chapter 4 verse 9 it says in this the love of God was manifested toward us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him so apparently it isn't just simply fellowship it isn't just simply so that our sin would go away it isn't just simply so that the problem of the devil might be resolved it's so that we could experience what Jesus talked about in John's Gospel in John chapter 10 verse 10 where it says he said I've come that they might have life and have it more abundantly in John chapter 5 first John chapter 5 verse 11 it says that he was made known to us when was Jesus made known to us when we were born again that's when Jesus was made known to us you may have grown up in a world where you heard about Jesus and you saw movies about Jesus you heard people preach about Jesus but Jesus doesn't become real and Jesus doesn't show up in your life and an in your heart until you confess your sin and the need to know him and be known by him and so in 1st John chapter 5 verse 11 says this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son who has life the believers who doesn't have life in 1st John chapter 5 verse 12 it will give these words he who has the son has life he who does not have the Son of God does not have life what does that mean that the an unbeliever breathes and walks around and their heart is beating he's not talking about physical life he's talking about a spiritual on ending life that comes in a right relationship with God in Christ so who has life believers who doesn't have life the unbeliever what is the characteristic of life temporal probationary or eternal it's eternal and what does eternal mean forever and ever and ever and so in verse three he says our real relationship with Jesus look what it says in verse three that which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our Fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ the word fellowship by the way is going to occur four times in this chapter twice in this verse and once again in verse 6 where it says if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and then again in verse 7 but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another it translates a Greek word Koinonia some of you are familiar with that word Koinonia comes from an adjective which means common but not common in the sense of ordinary but rather common in the sense of shared so we use the word common to describe something that everyone shares in and so in this particular instance when he says that we have seen and heard and declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us he's making the statement that includes the idea of communion and partnership so what does John saying he's saying that we share a common Savior and because we share a common Savior we share a common salvation and because we share a common salvation we have a common forgiveness we have a common love we have a common hope we have a shared future and so this becomes one of several signs of genuine saving faith that's going to appear throughout this epistle if you've ever asked the question and wondered how can I know that I'm really saved how do I know that my wife is really saved or my husband is really saved or my children are really safe how do I know if anyone has genuine saving faith in this opening salvo that John gives he's going to remind that we have a common Savior an account of and salvation and and we have a common fellowship with each other and so the implication becomes one of the several signs of genuine saving faith is do you love God's people and if you don't love God's people if you're fed up with God's people if you don't like people in general and you don't like Christians but in particular if you go you know what in the grand scheme of things I'm not too fond of people this becomes a problem do you love God's people do you enjoy fellowship with Christ do you enjoy fellowship with the redeemed people the Bible says let though they let the people of the Lord say so if your answer is yes if you go yes I love God's I love the Saints I love the young and I love the not-so look young and I love the mature I love this the saints of God then you're in good shape if the answer is no then John questions your fellowship because the further later on he's gonna say well but you don't understand I I love the father and I love the son and John is going to argue how can you say that you love the father who you can't see when in fact you don't love the people who you can see let me be blunt this word fellowship it's not something that you can do by yourself that makes sense to you right now again I want you to connect the dots John is writing this in part so that you would experience fellowship you can't have fellowship by yourself in order to have fellowship what do you have to do you have to be with each other and for some of you go I know that's what's really hard well that's what's really tough you know in the early church the disciples according to Acts chapter 2 verse 42 it says that the early church devoted themselves to the Apostles teachings and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and the prayers David Schuler writes God calls us not to solitary sainthood but to fellowship in a company of committed men but we could just as easily have said committed women and you know it's interesting to me seaton looks for the solitary saint but the person he says I'm a loner that's who I am I'm like that Marlboro Man I sort of come on the scene and I'm by myself I come by myself I leave by myself and Satan like a lion looks for the gazelle or for the Bison or form from whatever it is in the herd that's been separated from the herd what happens to an animal that's been separated from the herd does their vulnerability increase or decrease you know the answer and that's what happens to you when you're all by yourself and so the single Saint is vulnerable like a ship that sails out without a convoy like a traveler who walks alone you become vulnerable in real life to be physically attacked in the spiritual life to be spiritually attacked and so John affirms our fellowship with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and the reason why again this becomes importantly he says remember our and truly our Fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ the Apostle John is claiming to have fellowship with the father and with the son and so when he's inviting you to have fellowship with him he's also inviting you to have fellowship with them John Wesley would say if thy heart be as my heart give me thy hand it was his way of saying do we share a common affection do you love the Lord do you love the same you're are you grateful for grace and salvation do you dream about the time when one day you'll be in heaven the Apostle John couldn't imagine fellowship apart from the Father and apart from the Lord Jesus Christ you know we may get together and have some fun we might get together and watch a Bronco game or we might get together and watch a Rockies game we might get together and watch a Super Bowl or we might get together and watch some movie or some event but that really isn't fellowship as John is describing it when he's describing fellowship he's talking about a common affection that we have based on friendship and relationship with the father and the son William MacDonald writes quote the doctrinal foundation of all true Fellowship is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ there can be no true fellowship with those who hold false views concerning him unquote and he's exactly right can you have fellowship with a Mormon who believes that Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer can you have fellowship with a Jehovah's Witness who believes that Jesus is this is the Archangel Michael can you have fellowship with an atheist who doesn't believe that there's a god or an agnostic who wonders whether or not there's God or or a Hindu who believes that Jesus is an ascended master or a Muslim who believes that Jesus is a prophet a great prophet and according to John he's basically saying whatever relationship that you have with that person whatever friendship you have with that person whatever reality you share with that person it doesn't rise to the level of what the Bible calls fellowship you've heard me say it more than once if you're wrong about Jesus it doesn't matter what you're right about and so in the first two verses I want you to think about where we've come from in the first two verses John affirms Christ's reality his eternality his incarnation Jesus is the one who is with the father Jesus is the word of life Jesus isn't a myth Jesus is eternal Jesus isn't the product of wishful thinking Jesus isn't a deception a fabrication all fellowship is firmly established in the person of Jesus and the work of Jesus and so it is concerning our fellowship how wonderful that guilty sinner should ever be brought into fellowship with god the father and with his son Jesus Christ and yet that is the very truth that is being spoken of in this particular passage and that's what he's talking about our real rejoicing so look at verse four it says and these things we write to you that your joy may be full the statement is brief and by the way the word joy is found only here in first John it won't repeat be repeated it's the revelation of joy but what's interesting to me even though the word won't reappear in the text the presence of joy is going to be saturated in the note so what is joy joy is the result of intimacy in close fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ the famous missionary East Stanley Jones said when I met Jesus I felt that I had swallow'd sunshine isn't that an interesting way to describe your salvation experience you feel like you've swallowed something that makes your heart full of joy and by the way joy is different from happiness in what way happiness is a word that we would use to describe when things go well on the outside joy is a word that we use to describe when things are going well on the inside and by the way the Greek word is Cara you know that word it means an inner gladness a deep-seated pleasure someone described this as a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful heart this is the kind of confident assurance that you can have inside of your heart even though you're in a prison cell or you're at a funeral home or a hospital bed or in a dark place in a difficult place the Lord is the source or the fountain of joy and so we speak of joy as divine the reason why this becomes such an important thing is that joy isn't something that you can manufacture and fabricate inside of yourself some of you may have even made the statement I just want to be happy rarely have I ever heard someone say I just want joy happiness is external joy is internal even the word happy remember it is related to the word happening joy doesn't depend on circumstances joy is that settled assurance and confidence in our heart that overrides everything else no matter what we're dealing with with the crisis or the catastrophe or the death and brief the Bible speaks in several cases of our source of joy number one our fellowship with the father and the son brings joy and so remember it's fellowship with the father and the son that brings joy victory over sin death and hell brings joy that's found in John chapter 14 verse 28 repentance brings joy according to Luke 15:7 the hope of glory brings joy in Romans 14 7 and also in 1st John chapter 3 verse 1 the Word of God revelation Commandments promises the fact that God makes a promise and then keeps his promise brings joy prayer brings joy according to John 16 24 the presence and fellowship of believers bring joy first John chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 when people come to Christ convert converts we experience joy you'll remember Jesus says that the angels in heaven rejoice when one person comes into a right relationship with God in Christ hearing that others are walking in the truth in third John chapter one well actually there's only one chapter verse 4 brings joy according to 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 2 in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 3 generosity brings joy think about this fellowship with the father and son brings joy repentance brings joy the hope of glory brings joy prayer brings joy the truth brings joy people coming to Christ brings joy and in John chapter 15 verse 11 Jesus said these things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full and John chapter 15 you might not even remember what the circumstances were when he wrote when he said those words and when John wrote them down but the circumstances are the painful inevitable cross that awaits Jesus the disciples were going to experience pain and persecution and loneliness and martyrdom and so imagine you're talking with a group of people and they're in the dark they're in pain their circumstances are profoundly difficult and they need hope and they want to be able to walk in joy and so now all of a sudden we begin to understand something John is writing these words so that you would begin to understand appreciate and then cultivate what it meant to have fellowship with each other what brings lasting joy what brings permanent joy what brings deep-seated joy according to John when the gospel is proclaimed at verses 1 and 2 when we have fellowship with each other in verse 3 that's what produces joy but remember it's joy that's rooted in having a right understanding of who God is and who Jesus is what salvation provides and then the relationship that we have based on that in a few short verses the very purposes of God are revealed in just these four verses John reveals the pre-existence of Jesus the historical manifestation of Jesus and time and space the authoritative proclamation of God's plan and purpose in Christ communal fellowship among the Saints complete joy rooted in salvation and that's just the first four verses so why does John write this letter so that you can experience genuine fellowship with the father and with the son and with each other and by the way the rest of this book John is going to administer a series of tests he's gonna give a moral test he's going to give a moral test of righteousness a social test of love and a doctrinal test of truth and he expects everyone to pass the test so what are the fundamental tests of genuine fellowship and saving faith I'm gonna suggest to you what this text is suggesting to you do you have a biblical view of Jesus in verses 1 and 2 do you enjoy fellowship with Jesus and the redeemed people in verse 3 do you have a biblical view of sin that's what you're going to see in chapter 1 verse 5 all the way to chapter 2 verse 2 do you have a biblical view of obedience in chapter 2 verse 3 do you have a biblical view of love chapter 2 verse 7 in this little book you're going to learn about antichrists who depart from fellowship in chapter 2 verse 18 who deny the Christian faith in chapter 2 verse 22 who seek to deceive the Christian faithful in chapter 2 verse 26 you're gonna learn about the purifying hope that comes when we long for Jesus's return in chapter 3 you're going to learn about God's character of love in chapter 4 verse 7 and then again I wrote our requirement to love in chapter 4 verse 11 you're going to learn about the fundamental test of genuine fellowship and that is going to include our victorious life in Christ in chapter 5 verse 1 the witness of God for Christ in chapter 5 verse 6 the certainty of our Christian life the certainty of eternal life chapter 5 verse 13 the certainty of assurance of answered prayer chapter 5 verse 14 through 17 the certainty of victory over sin and Satan in chapter 5 verse 18 the certainty of what it means to belong to God verse 19 the certainty of being in real relationship and fellowship with the true God of the Bible in chapter 5 verse 20 so if you care about assurance prayer victory what it means to have a right relationship with God what it means to remain vigilant in our walk with God and our fellowship with God and then as we conduct ourselves with each other for Christ's sake then this is the book for you this is the Bible study for you this is the one I'm out of time let's pray Heavenly Father Lord we know that the writer cares about our heart and our life and our circumstances in our walk Lord he speaks to us like a father speaking to his own children warning us encouraging us motivating us to want to do what you want us to do to walk and love and so Lord we pray we pray Lord that as we begin our study in this amazing book that Lord we would seek to find ways to cultivate fellowship to express our joy to begin to think long and hard about what it means to turn from sin and to walk in humility that Lord we would begin to think about what's right and what's wrong and that Lord again we would have assurance confident assurance that our heart is right that we have real friendship and real fellowship with you with each other in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary South Denver

Views: 19,922

Rating: 4.7966104 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Gino Geraci, Christianity, Bible Study, First Epistle Of John (Religious Text), Jesus Christ (Deity)

Id: qed8k-DZa2Q

Length: 57min 21sec (3441 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 09 2015