First John Introduction by Dr. Bob Utley (new)

I want to quickly talk to you why I think it's so important that we study the Bible through books I think we're as guilty of sin of pulling parts of the Bible out that kinda sorta maybe could be saying what somebody told us and using that as a proof text to judge other Christians by I just tried to kick you right in the face I don't know if you felt it but I did the only inspired person in Bible study is the original author all the time I hear Christians say well I think that says and I think that means who cares what you think what it means I mean who are you we have been brought up in denominational homes by people have influenced us by certain teachers by certain books and we get the idea that what we think is what God thinks that is so dangerous all of us are sinful all of us are struggling to understand the Bible if it is true that the only inspired person is the original author then the only way to study the Bible is to try to go back and put the book in its historical cultural and contextual his setting and go from there and we never do that our Sunday School lessons take four verses scattered all over the Bible whip it into a Baptist lesson and save us say it's Nashville and we swallow it hook line and sinker I'm going to I wish I had more time to do this principles behind what I'm going to do I think in February on a Saturday I'm going to do a seminar on how to interpret the Bible I hope you'll plan on being here for that satury because I want to lay out for you I want to lay out for you the principles in the process to be a better interpreter of the Bible not to agree with me Amen to be a better interpreter of the Bible I know enough to know that I don't know but I'm afraid some Christians don't know that and we get ugly to each other over things that have nothing to do with the Bible and a whole lot to do with mama favorite preacher what we always done in our house and we've got to get beyond that now how do you study an ancient book I really believe and it's a faith presupposition on my part that the Bible is a unique book from God to human beings it tells us what his will is it tells us how to be saved it tells us how to live but it's written to an ancient culture I don't want to reinvent first century greco-roman world or a BC Old Testament Society but I desperately want to understand what the eternal God was saying to those people at that time and then by the grace of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit applied that truth to my life I think when we stand before God we're not going to have to pass a theology test amen we are going to be judged by what we believe the Bible said and how we live that out by faith now I am going to use my notes a lot because there's information going to be coming at you faster than you're used to the notes are meant to let you have the evidence that I have tried to find it what I'm going to try to do is back up what I say from history from context from grammar from word studies from parallel passages I'm going to try to give you ever of what I believe and then give you the dignity to go and pray and study on your own and come up what you with you believe and live in light of that does that make sense and I'm gonna try to I'm gonna try to overwhelm you with information you've never seen before so that you're going to know what the riches of this book is for those who are willing to pay the price to know it the one danger of a wonderful church like this is we come to church once a week get a high and think that's Christianity if you're not reading and self feeding on the Word of God and living a godless life 24/7 you've misunderstood what Christianity is all about the book of first John is a practical book on how do we live how do we know and I really I really want to challenge it at the end of these sessions you have a question you have a comment you would like to share with me your understanding we're going to meet over two sides so we have to keep everybody here but I will be here as long as you want to talk about what I say and why I say it is that fair and again we're not looking for unanimity we can't find that anywhere we're looking for sincere godly people that believe the Bible is relevant for today and then how do we find that out now if you have my notes I'm going to start on but first John I need to do this historical setting because without the historical setting you cannot understand this book if you never heard of Gnostics you cannot understand this book let me let me clarify that I think when people read the Bible the Holy Spirit helps people understand how to be saved you can have no education you could have never seen a Bible you puke whatever the Holy Spirit helps us to know to feel a hunger for Jesus and to know how to respond that's always true of every scripture text but if you want to understand how do we approach this how do we understand this book it is impossible to do it without some understanding of the historical setting and reading the whole I hope next by next week you'll have read the five chapters of first John two or three times in different translations and you will ask before you come that the Holy Spirit help you to understand what his will for you in this Bible study is if you will prepare before you come it won't seem like a Bible study coming out of a firehose if you just wait to come sit in here you're about to be amazed at how much you don't know about first John now they might be like to embarrass you I hope not because I know how much I don't know about first John I do that to show you the wealth that's available to seeking hungry Bible oriented Christians in our day and it is available this is not a letter like some of the other letters this is there's no personal greetings there's no personal clothes I call this an impassioned memo from headquarters this was written for all the churches what we would call Asia Minor or western Turkey this is written and I really think that this might be a cover letter for the Gospel of John I think to understand the Gospel of John you need to read first John first so I it is a different kind of letter it's a cyclical letter it's much like Ephesians and Colossians although Colossians is written to a specific place Ephesians is another cyclical letter with no personal greetings and no personal clothes and it's written for a large number of churches that means it has great relevance and if you don't know what a gnostic is you can't interpret a Clausen's and ephesians either because that's the background of those two books just like it's the background to the gospel now follow with me if you would if you have the notes it's it's really surprising that this kind of letter is written to so many churches because it's trying to prepare them for false teachers now in our day you're a false teacher if you don't agree with me as a teacher you know you know you want to cuss me call me a liberal there's nothing more offensive to me and some you're just a liberal what liberal means and southern badness life is you don't agree with me well it'll put you up is the standard no I submit to you there are false teachers what is the characteristics of a false teacher they wear robes in the pulpit they don't use our hymnal they go glory hallelujah periodically that's what we think about false teachers that has nothing to do with false teacher false teachers are not a personality and not a tradition on how to worship false teachers have to do with content about the person of Jesus Christ and how somebody is right with him and they're false teachers all around us and what scares me to death is God's people have seemingly no ability to differentiate in their own mind and heart who is from God and who is just a real dynamic personality and the only way to do that is to know the Bible for yourself this book is written for false teachers if you're following me I'm going uniqueness of the book number see this is a tremendously powerful theological treatise it's about two at least two major Christian truths number one Jesus is fully God and fully man now that may not surprise you because we hear that a lot but I want you to know even in our day that's being questioned in the ancient world people had no problem saying Jesus is a God they had God's everywhere but they had a real problem saying Jesus is a man in our day it's completely flipped but the same problem Jesus Christ Superstar Godspell The Da Vinci Code all of these news new movies Jesus is really one of us he picks his nose he has girlfriends he runs around he's really one of us but now we deny he's really God first John for one through three says if you do not believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man you or of little a Antichrist spirit now that's a heavy that's a heavy truth so this book is about Jesus who is Jesus and how are we right with God this is a book about salvation this is a big book about doctrinal truth this is a book about how are we saved the second thing is about is how do we live I think there are three theological and practical tests for true Christianity three theological and practical tests of true Christianity here they are brotherly love obedience to the gospel and rejection of a fallen world system now they're going to come back again and again if we say that metadata we lie and do not know the truth and there are at least four or five or six people that look religious and John's gonna say you're a liar you do not know the truth so it becomes a very practical way the other thing and I'm amazed at how much this is needed in the church so I want to do a questionnaire real quick just look around when I do this how many of you have ever doubted in your Christian life that you're saved would you raise your hand please would you look around for a moment the devil makes us think that nobody else ever thinks like that the devil makes us think I'm a bad person because I doubt my salvation I bet that eighty to ninety percent the Christians I know and have talked to as a pastor tell me there are times that I begin to doubt this book is about assurance the word know at least two forms of it maybe are used over twenty-seven times you can know and this word at least one of them means to know experientially this book is written that God's people will know who they are why they are where they are and have a great hope if there is no joy in your Christianity you do not want to miss the next four Sunday nights three now because this books about joy this books about love this book is about where Christianity hits the daily lifestyle it's a powerful book it is a powerful book now it is always interesting that John's riding both the gospel the letters are some of the most simplest Greek that that isn't anywhere in the Bible we teach second semester students how to read first John because the grammar is so simple and so easy and yet I want you to know some of those profound statements anywhere in the Bible are in this write this section of writings God is love God is light these are the kinds of statements on makes and it with whirls of implications and throughs this is simple grammar and unfathomable theology and I think you're going to when you get into your scan I really love it I also wanted to mention to you that it looks to me like the gospel has an evangelistic thrust the Gospel of John I've written these things that you might know about the truth that's chapter 20 beginning about verse 31 or so first John is about now that we know how to be saved how do we live how do we live Monday with a grip' boss how do we live Tuesday with a marriage problem how do we live with Andy when the business Falls how do we live under problems and pressures so here we have two writings one how do we know God - how do we stay in fellowship with God and oh these truths needed in our day now John's gonna write in very different ways from you this is not the kind of literature you're used to this is not just picking up some simple childlike writing today it's so simple John's gonna write in very black and white terms so characteristic of the Gnostic false teachers and the whole cultural milieu in which John Cain this stuff is very characteristic of the writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls it's the way these people thought they did not think in shades of meaning they thought in black and white terms it's either a or it's B that's kind of how John writes and you're gonna find that difficult because he's gonna say some things that are gonna gonna bother you when it comes in that kind of stark reality but that reality is meant to jar you to think about the opposite of that truth I'll show you especially that when we get to it by the way this dualism is very different from the gospel and the in the gospel there is a vertical dualism above and below all over above and below in the first John there's never the above and below there's the right with man right with God it's the horizontal and vertical relationships of the cross don't tell me you know God and hate your brother that's John that's first John it's this idea that if you tell me you're a Christian it's got to show in the way you live the way you love and the way you'll be powerful stuff I am NOT gonna fight over the authorship with you I believe it's John the Apostle there others believe that it was John's truth but written by men who kept those traditions in Ephesus or Asia Minor I think that's not the issue and I want to come back and tell you why I think it's not the issue I do not know who the human authors of the Bible are there are many books we don't know who wrote them or when they were put together or how they were put together but I have a faith presupposition with evidence that says that the ultimate author of Scripture is God amen now it helps me to understand the book if I can understand who the author is and the historical setting but my faith commitment is that God's God's Spirit was uniquely involved in inspiring this book to say what he wanted to say to that generation that culture of Christians and now the Holy Spirit will help us understand how to apply that truth to our day so I'm not going to deal with date with author the date I think is somewhere between 85 and 95 it depends on what kind of book you look at and what we do not know it seems to be later in the first century I think that first John was written before the gospel I think that the gospel was delivered with first John before it so they read one and then the other made more sense but you can just see it if you buy that later on now who is it written to Christians who are facing turmoil in a church well there's all of us somebody said if you try to find the perfect church and you join it you'll screw it up churches are made up of fallible sinful selfish egotistical human being saved by the grace of God amen now whenever that happens their problems these churches had problems this unique kind of problem is caused by false teachers there was an exclusive ISM there was an I know more than you know there was a come join our group there was a weird the elite ones and I most the churches that I've been a part of through my a ministry have had people just like them I want to deal with the heresy of Gnosticism now Gnosticism is just the Greek word know gnosis we're talking about people who claim to have special insight special revelation special knowledge about God now follow with me this will make so much more sense when I get into the book they believe this these are Greek intellectuals trying to make the gospel relevant to the to the people of their day they would say that God is spirit and spirit is good and that Adams material is evil and that both are cold eternal an ontological dualism there has always been God spirit and there's always been Adam's stuff and if God is good spirit and stuff is bad Jesus can't be fully God and fully man because a holy God can't be in sinful matter now do you see what they've just done they've just gutted the biblical truth about the person of Jesus Christ with the Bible claims is fully God and fully man and they would say that between a holy God and sinful matter because a holy God cannot even farm much less create sinful matter is a series of angelic levels they would call them eons and the last one of those eons is Yahweh of the Old Testament and that it's Yahweh that forms matter and the way you're saved is not Jesus dying on the cross for your sins and you trusting him by faith oh no you joined their group and they'll give you a secret password that lets you move through these angelic spheres back to a holy God what they've just done in attempt to make the gospel relevant is destroy the biblical truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ it looks so spiritual it had all the vocabulary and terminology of religious truth they carried our book but they did not have Jesus as the central doctrine the central way the central till you take Christ out of Christianity and you just have another ism and we are awash in isms in our day now the other thing I want to mention to you is that these heretics came in two forms one of them said I know truth I'm saved by what I know therefore it doesn't matter how I live they separate truth and life have you ever wondered how the local pastor runs off with a secretary have you ever wonder how godly people get they're just crazy sin they say I know the truth I'm saved by faith so it really doesn't matter friends John says it matters how you live the other group says oh oh I've got to eat certain things and I can't eat certain things and I can't drink certain things and I can't touch certain things and I can't go to certain places and I'm talking to some of you right now you think your Christianity is made up the abundance of things you don't do and the more don't you have the more spiritual you are you desperate you to hear first John I want to tell you this has been the problem with the church from the very beginning in the ancient Roman Catholic Church the monks were said to be spiritual if in the winter they didn't wear clothes and if they didn't eat and if they didn't marry and if anything your body wants you say no that means your spiritual no it means you're really strange there were times in the writing of the church when a monk would walk by and they would say the holiest month is the one that had the most lice fall off of them I don't I don't I don't I don't I don't is not biblical Christianity it's human pride and arrogance masks by biblical Christianity and there's so many of us who are so guilty if I don't do that I wouldn't do that and yet we have no love no respect no prayer John is a hammer to us if we'll just let God use it in our lives it's really really really an important book I want to make four statement then I'll get into chapter one this heresy is alive today if the spirit of this heresy is present with us today when people try to combine Christian truth with other systems of thought you ever met a Christian that believes an incarnation reincarnation you ever met a Christian who also goes to pyramid power a weekend you never met a Christian who likes elements of Hinduism Taoism Buddhism and Shintoism it's this mixing it's this all of us believe the same thing we're all going to the same place and all religions have the same truth if that's true the Bible's alive it's this mixing and amalgamation of humanism that's a problem in our day number two the spirit of this heresy is present us today when people emphasize correct doctrine to the exclusion of personal relationship and lifestyle faith there are people who've said to me you don't believe in the five points of Calvinism you're not even saved where is that in the Bible that came out of the mind of Calvin and the Lakeman and you're gonna send me to hell because I don't agree with you on five things that aren't even in the Bible I've been sick to hell for my millennial position well another story besides who who says you got correct doctrine God put a tattoo on your hiney it says correct doctrine that makes you think you've got threat doctrine well I'm a presbyterian spell that the spirit of this heresy is present with us today when people turn Christianity and to an exclusive intellectual elite nurse have you ever met a liberal they think they know and if you don't agree with them you don't know and they're the ones that are I just soon throw up the spirit of this heresy is precedence today when people turn to asceticism don't don't don't don't don't our antinomianism I'm saved I'll do what I want to I'm going to heaven goodbye the three grace of God I'll just live it up both those if you've been to a college campus both of those live in a dorm and both of those are in this auditorium tonight trusting and what I don't do and taking Christianity as a license for what I want to do okay turn me to chapter one verses one through four I believe that paragraphs are the smallest unit we ever ought to interpret therefore let's look at verses one through four and the time we have I want you to read through it quickly I want you notice for a few things with me number one it starts out with not who but what so I would think it would be who was from the beginning well the see this is like first John man like John 1:1 but not exactly like John 1:1 in the beginning was the word the Word was with God the Word was God that goes back before Genesis 1:1 but first John is going to talk about the Incarnation using the same kind of phrase in the beginning but the beginning of the gospel truth that begin with the Incarnation and particularly with the life and teachings of Jesus so it looks like John 1 going back to Genesis 1 but it's used in a different sense it's neuter I would say this the gospel not listen to me see if you buy this the gospel is a person to be received amen the gospel is truth about that person to be received and the gospel is lifestyle like that person to be lived and if you take any one of those three personal doctrinal and lifestyle away it's not biblical Christianity and oh how we love to pick one of those three I submit to you you need all three now notice what was from the beginning in the back of those notes if you happen to get them is a definition of Greek grammatical terms I'm not trying to impress you I want to base the evidence of what I say on the only some of these verb tenses you can check me it is not hard to do that this is an imperfect verb it is talking about continual action in past time or the beginning of an action here is continual action in past time in the beginning was that's the same way it is in John 1:1 this is one of the evidences of pre existence I think there are so many biblical passages that talk about that the Christ existed before Bethlehem that was not the beginning of the Christ that that's not his her--they life was not the end before Jesus was ever born Christ was already with God look at John morning I've listed all the verses for you here in John's writing anyway I hope you'll look at them from the beginning and then what I've tried to do if you have the notes I'm sorry I brought 200 copies that's all I've got every one I had in the office and so if you don't have it look at your neighbors and it if you haven't bought one I have to eat to buy one John one compared to 1st John 1 they're parallel look at this in the beginning from the beginning Lagos Lagos Zoey life Zoey life light in Jesus light in God light revealed light revealed darkness witness to light they're exactly parallel John is doing this on purpose that's why so many people see the similarities in vocabulary and style and patterns between the gospel and the letter of first John now who is the week here well I think it's the Apostolic witness go look look at those verses one through four look at all the $0.05 words what we have seen what we have heard what we have handled John is saying Luke he is really one of us I heard him I saw him I ate with him I touched him he's really human now don't you see how that fits in to a group of false teachers that saying Jesus is a spirit but he's not really a man he really is God but he's not really one of us so John starts this book with all of this sense-perception verbs I really knew him I was really with him and he passes that on to us the word word of life I wish I had time to do this study about the lagos what John did particularly in the gospel but also here is take a word that was used in the greco-roman world the philosophical world if you want to see where this is if you're looking that outline back in the Gospel of John under introduction number see I give you the Greek background to the word Lagos Heraclitus all those guys I've quoted in it's so impressive I hope you look the Hebrews also use this word and for the Hebrews think of me just for a minute about the Old Testament God spoke and creation comes into existence God says my word does not go out from me voyage without accomplishing bats which I purpose isaiah 55:11 the patriarchal blessings once given can't be taken back Jesus is called the Word of God in there is a there is in the Hebrew thought a power to the spoken word it's God's self given for accomplishing his will why do you think we call Jesus the Word of God the law goes it's that Hebrew background John wanted to grab those philosophers and bring them in by the use of their terms and also use a term that Hebrews knew and like I want to remind you again that all the New Testament writers except Luke are Hebrew thinkers writing in Koine Greek so where do we find out the meaning of these words we don't go to a Greek dictionary we go to the Septuagint which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament that all these guys know and use and so the way we find out what words mean is not just their Greek usage but the usage in the Septuagint I'll show you more of that as I go through this look at verse 2 in that life now this is there are two words for life by us and Zoe by us we get biology from it Zoe we get zoology from it by us always speaks of earthly life animal life physical life Zoe particularly in John also in Paul also speaks of resurrection life new age life God's kind of life we're not just given an extension of biological life heaven is not just an extension of this earth no no it's a new order it's a new age it's a new relationship with God it's a heaven is exactly what the Garden of Eden was meant to be but afforded by the fall after this way salvation is nothing more than the restoration of the image of God in man that was damaged in the fall and now restored in Jesus Christ the purpose of creation was fellowship with God man rebelled against that Jesus Christ has come and done everything necessary to restore intimate fellowship with God God wants to know you put it in Augustine's term you've got a god-shaped hole in your life and nothing will fill that but God and God is running yearning reaching trying to fill that hole he's running after you and that's what this life is all about this life was manifested now this word basically means to bring to light that which is already present this truth was in the world but men did not know it so in Jesus Christ the love of God is fully and completely manifested and explained I put it this way it's best metaphor for me on the cross it was not the nails that kept Jesus there it was God's love you when I see Jesus dying for sinful mankind I see the love of God exposed in such a vulnerable fragile way this is how much God loves you and this was not mean to be taken advantage of it was mean to break our hearts and to help us come to him and notice John says I testify I proclaim to you if you have the notes I hope you'll look at the special topic at John chapter 1 verse 8 where I listed all the people and things that testify to Jesus Christ it'll amaze you how often it is said particularly in the Gospel of John what testifies to Jesus Christ the law of Moses God the Father truth so many witnesses and John adds himself to this list proclaim what was with the father I'll put it this way not only is pre-existence important another imperfect tense what was with the father but I'm listening to me now follow with me don't lose me here what is God like sometimes I read the Old Testament and I don't want to join that group you try to save the ark from falling and God takes your life God says kill everything that breathes in that city men women children ducks donkeys if it breathes it guys now that kind of God scares me how do I know what God's really like how do I know what God's person is like ah when I see Jesus Christ I fully and completely understand what God the Father is like he is the perfect representation of the invisible God and so he came to show he was with the Father he was the only witness and he was the true witness to know Jesus is to know God now most which says verse 3 so that you too may have fellowship with us I've been amazed this word fellowship is the word Koinonia is used in a lot of ways in the New Testament but it's used for an intimate kind of relationship and its present tense which means it's an ongoing relationship but it's a subjunctive which means that it's it's conditional every human being doesn't have this relationship I think every human was created to have this relationship but saying damage this but God is working actively in Jesus Christ to restore this lost love affair but it's conditional on human repentance and faith so there is a there is a condition here there is a contingency here notice if you would the list of these this word is used for close association with a person with the son listed the verses with the spirit list of the verses with the father and son verse John 1:3 and with the covenant brothers and sisters several times in Paul and first John 1:7 it's also used of a close association with things with the gospel in Paul with the blood of Christ with suffering you mean that knowing God brings us into intimate fellowship with suffering have you read Philippians lately what we want is health wealth and prosperity what the gospel offers know him in a world like ours and you will be persecuted lack of persecution says something about how we've missed what the gospel is all about and and not with darkness it's a second Corinthians and that's these relationships again and I would say this the word I don't know how to put this I want to put it as strongly as I know how Christianity is not an individual thing yes we come to Jesus one at a time although I submit to you that in the past they came with tribal groups and whole people groups came and it's so different from American individualism that I think is messed up the gospel everything is not individual as a matter of fact the minute we say yes to God's offer we become part of a body part of a building part of a field did you know the word Saint never appears in the singular anywhere in the New Testament except Philippians 4 where it says greet every Saint which is plural it is impossible to be a saint and not in relationship with other Saints Christianity is a family it is a body we desperately need each other there are no lone ranger' Christians if there is no we there is no him I'm speaking to American culture as strongly as I know how to speak to it we think I was baptized I signed up the little track I trusted Christ that's all there is why in the world do we think getting saved is the end of anything it's the beginning and if you don't love your brother first John says something wrong with the way you met Jesus if you don't have compassion and care for others if you think tearing the place up for your doctrinal purity is what God wants you have read first john doctrine i'll put it this way I like this little metaphor I don't know what I got it from your gun can be so straight and the barrel so straight you can be so doctorally pure and if the bullet is not love it's not God's gun love not doctrine is the key way of understanding who belongs to him because I've met some dr. Lee correct people that I don't want to go to eat lunch with not Louisiana but in California okay follow with me verse four and these things we write to you this so that your joy may be complete this is the one of the purposes of the book Christian joy joy real joy wonderful joy what's the rest when Jesus comes into your heart if you think you have Jesus in your heart and you have no joy you desperately need first John joy is one of the purposes of this book joy assurance doctrinal correctness real joy now the purpose is I think if I had to say theologically why did Jesus come I would say number one he come to reveal the father number two he came to pay a price that he did know but we couldn't pay and number three he came to give us an example to follow we're to live like him if I'm looking at first John I would say he's come for intimate corporate fellowship he's come for intimate personal joy and he's come that every believer might know that they're saved Oh you saw how many hands went up here about many of us have struggle with assurance and our Christian life I want to a chapter five will bless your heart we we are meant to know who we are and why we're here and the character is our lifestyle are the evidence that that I think the Spirit uses to show us that we are the people of God now I got a little time left let me go to - I think chapter one verse five ought to go all the way to chapter two verse two the chapter divisions the verse divisions of your Bible are not inspired it was done by some dude in the Middle Ages and I think his stage coat hit many a bump and this is one of the bumps to that stage coat hit so I think it's one five through two - followed with me if you would and the message we have heard is from him now John is saying this not my message that's not my opinion I am passing on to you what was given to me I am passing on the traditions that I got as an eyewitness and of Jesus Christ from him this is look at your Bibles now the only pronoun in this whole next paragraph that has so many pronouns the only pronoun that refers to Jesus Christ is this one right here in verse five every other pronoun refers to God the Father I try to do this humorously and I think I can get by with more radical statements if I try to make it funny I don't always succeed but I do try the Episcopal talked a lot about the Father the Baptist talked a lot about the son the charismatic talked a lot about the Spirit we have got to get the band back together there's just one God amen and that's dividing up the Trinity because of our denominations it's ridiculous there is one God amen Father Son and spirit say well I like him and I'm nervous that well you're in trouble I mean they you get into this family you got three of them that's what you get from him God is light there's one of those little statements with such power now what would that mean in nature we're so used electricity we're so spoiled the ancient world feared the darkness night was a time of all kinds of problems and dangers God is light is an ancient way of saying something about God is his revelatory truth it's a way of talking about God his purity as fire was a way to cleanse things and purify things God is light he is truth he is revelation he is the way to know God and in him there is no darkness at all so it's a way of asserting who God is that this kind of information this kind of love and forgiveness and message that comes from him no darkness and Greek this is a double negative which is a way of emphasizing no or not there is no darkness in him there is no sin in him this whole thing starting back with Alfred North Whitehead that says that God's becoming a person like we're becoming a person and sin is just a part of the system and sin is a way that God develops that's a bunch of all in him there is no darkness if we say no if you have the notes please look at one six you're going to see this occurs over and over if we say that if we say that this is called diatribe and this is the way that truth is presented in the book of Malachi in the book of Romans and the book of first John particularly and what he's going to do is quote the false teachers doctrines if we say that and then he's going to say we lie and don't know the truth so we understand what the duck what the false teachers say by these characteristics if we say that and I've listed all the places here for you that occurs one eighth one ten to four to six to nine if we say that we have fellowship with him I know God I trusted Jesus Christ I'm going to go to heaven when I die but there's no love there's no obedience there's no stewardship oh how can I say this what has happened to us that we think that if we have no love for Jesus Christ no love for God's church no love for prayer no love for praise no love for stewardship what makes us think we're a Christian well I signed the paper shoot that's we have turned salvation into a product instead of into a relationship you don't get a fire insurance policy you get a friend and companion for life and when you know him and love him you don't do things that displease him and when you know him and love him you want to be with him and you want to be with his people and you want to do the things that he loves to do don't tell me you played some prayer in the past that has no relationship to your current life and think that you have a right relationship with God well I am stepping on four spiritual laws now I am grab an evangelical Western Christianity by the fruit that has turned it into a doctrinal affirmation of four truths in 20 seconds and now you know you're going to heaven no matter what that is a biblical lie you know him you'll love one another you'll do the things that please him and you'll rejoice when we gather together as a body say I don't like that then you need to check me for you reject me see what we do I never heard that you must be wrong I tell students just because I say something you never heard doesn't mean I'm weird you may have a team I'm over it now okay if we have fellowship with him we're saying I know God everything's right and we walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth John calls several people that we would call religious liars spiritual liars it's so uncomfortable for me to call people spiritual liars but if I'm true to the witness of first John first John's inspired Bob isn't what I'm uncomfortable with is not the issue what John clearly says is the issue if we say we know him and live in godless sinful self seeking ways we don't know him now all of us sin don't don't be getting up with those black and white things I touched about John says it's a or it to be now we get all nervous because even as Christians we still struggle with sin all of us struggle with self none of us are completely pure so when John puts it in a or B depending on your personality you start getting really nervous this is the way John presents truth and you know in your heart if I'm speaking to you or not there are some people going to go to heaven doubting perfectionist or one of them I said damn three years ago well you're out I tied nine point two three one six well you're out I wasn't baptizing the right formula join the wrong Church I I didn't change my underwear for church well you're going to hell I mean people think like that it's not about you it's all about him thanks I love these sisters I'd take them on the road with me if I could we lied didn't I speak the truth but if we walk in the light God is light if we walk in the light he himself who is that God the Father he himself is with us and we have fellowship with one another this is not abstract truth this is not some kind of a ivory tower theology this is walk the streets love when you leave here is God get in your car when you get home tonight and your family is God at that dinner table when you wake up tomorrow is God the center of your life then you have intimate fellowship with him if you're wait until next week to have some more intimate fellowship you don't know him if knowing Christianity is how high you jump in some building one or two hours a week you don't know him somebody said well Bob might just tell us what you do think well the blood of Jesus I'm I'm surprised how upset people give me the piss in your background now if you're an Independent Baptist just close your ears please some believe that this is referring to crucifixion that you have to bleed Jesus had to bleed for us to be saved it was the shedding of blood the drops of blood that's how we're saved I'm an Old Testament person the blood of Jesus is a Levitical way of talking about a sacrifice the life is in the blood the blood was given as a way to help sinful men approach a holy God through the sacrificial system what we're talking about is the sacrifice remember John the Baptist John 1:29 looked at Jesus and said behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world that's the Isaiah 53 by His stripes we are healed that's the second Corinthians 5:21 God took him and knew no sin made him to become sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him this is the death of Christ now I think that if you know the Bible the blood of Jesus becomes an Old Testament way of talking about the life I'm not saying that Jesus could have been hanged or poison I'm not going that far but I am saying this when it says the blood of Christ it's talking about the sacrificial death of Christ not just the manner of his death does that make sense at all just a bit more the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin now notice this it's sin singular and it has no article what sin is it it's sin as that which separates God from it there are two things that Jesus doesn't listen up don't lose me here two aspects of sin in first John one is plural one is singular Jesus restores the relationship between God and man that was affected by human sin and rebellion beginning in Genesis 3 that is what he does in Redemption that is restoring the relationship of putting back the image of God in man that was damaged the fall that's what this is talking about it when it talks about sins this is the ongoing cleansing that must occur in every Christians life all of us continue to sin all of us continue to reveal Jesus not only restore his fellowship with God he continues to cleanse us from all sin it's two aspects of cleansing initial salvation and ongoing fellowship it's kind of like the sacrificial system and Leviticus how do we stay in touch with a holy God well he continues to forgive us if we ask him if we let him if we say we have no sin now here's the false teachers and there are two groups here some would say I've never sinned in my life I've talked to two people I think in all these years and witnessing that said to me I never I never sent sin I trusted Jesus as a child I never felt like I was a sinner those three people I say to them well you have an unusual testimony because I would say that the one thing the gospel does is make people uncomfortable with their own self-righteousness the one thing seeing the love of God and the purity of God does is make a sense our own need for him I would say the first truth of the gospel is the sinfulness of all human beings that's why Romans one through three starts out with all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God so I would say if you say I haven't sinned one thing one or two things are true you're a liar or God's a liar let every man be a liar and God be true amen I think everybody is saying now how much they sense that as a child those three exceptions I don't know but these false teachers said I know the truth so I don't sin and John says you're a liar so now the other groups going to say we can sin all we want to and John's going to say no if you claim to know Jesus and your life is out of moral control you don't know him either so it's two opposite problems he's trying to address and one reason it's so hard to understand first John there are two Gnostic errors asceticism and antinomianism don't-don't-don't makes you right with God do-do-do-do-do because you can both of those are wrong and so sometimes it looks like John's trying to address one without the other okay I've run out of time I want to whet your appetite more than I want you to say oh he studied a lot yeah that's good if you enjoyed the title study I'm so grateful I'm so glad please pray for me but I'm not here to impress you I'm here to show you what a wealth of truth is available to you I'm here to make you hungry and thirsty for deeper Bible study I'm here to show you what's out there and available to any english-speaking reader of normal intelligence it's not a problem what's available it's a problem of want to I want to make you want to know more want and understand your faith want to be able to to read through these books and these words start bringing out truths and concepts and interrelatedness of passages you begin to see not only what the paragraph means what the chapter means and the book means and the Testament means and suddenly things start falling into place and and suddenly you don't have to just say well what are you say or what did so-and-so say now you've got to sit never all got problems with our understanding but you know what you believe in why and if you do that then you're protected from all the isms and all the charismatic people that are around and all the different nitpicking that occurs in every Church I believe that God has spoken and it's Scripture and God's people need the self heed and then live in light of what you believe it says for you and to love your brother and sister even if we do not fully agree on every theological point and I think God is pleased with us if we love one another and not pleased with us if we think our way is the only way even on nitpicking little issues that aren't even clearly taught please don't tear up the body of Christ over your sense of what's crucial and your thirty-five rule in your background and your mother's opinion please don't tear up the church because you think you're the only one that knows truth what we're gonna do now is we're going to have a time of clothes we always believe when the word of god is open that people are drawn to the gospel that the gospel there are some of you are having a crisis in your life right now some of you came tonight not knowing why and the Holy Spirit has spoken to you we want to say as a church we've been there we feel that we don't want you to leave hurting or confused there's a room right out those doors counselors and and loving pastors are going to be there to talk with you as long as you want to talk about any subject please don't leave we're not asking you to join this church we're asking you to come back this we're asking you if God has spoken to you let's talk through it before you go I'm going to stand right over here in this last little section if you have a comment for me a question for me insight you'd like to share brothers and sisters I understand Who am I that I should say what's true I've come face-to-face with my own presuppositions now I try to come as humbly and yet as dynamically as I can it's hard to keep those together I understand truth but I know I don't have truth so you understand those that paradox I'd love to talk to you if I've stirred you or an offended you please come talk to me if you have a question about something please come talk to me I would love to do that whatever the Holy Spirit has put on your heart we want to give you a chance to respond why because we believe there's something bigger here than just a Bible study there's eternal life there's Christian joy there's hope and happiness and fellowship and all of those things are important I'll pick up right here next Sunday night I hope you'll get a set of notes or find someone who bought them and copy them I don't care you

Channel: Free Bible Commentary

Views: 16,712

Keywords: bible, bible study, bible commentary, hermeneutics, historical-grammatical, new testament, bob utley, 1 john, first-west

Id: cwBd4L0uz9s

Length: 56min 31sec (3391 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 12 2014