We're going to be in 1 John this
morning. We spent a little time in 1 John,
the first chapter, some time back, and we're going to be a
little farther along in the last half, I guess it is, of this
chapter. And the last time when we looked
at here, it speaks of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Indeed
is the word of life, as it says here, and in the book of John,
in the book of Hebrews, all the scriptures that speak of him
as the word of life, and all the different ways that he's
revealed and taught to us in the scripture. And this morning
I'd like to actually have a couple of titles for this, but this
one is going to be titled, We Walk in the Light, We Walk in
the Light as Christ is a Light. A couple of things about the
book of 1 John that we didn't mentioned last time as kind of
an introduction to the book. It's a wonderful book to God's
people about a lot of things, and it can be also, the book
could be subtitled, Hereby We Know, and Things That We Know. And 20, let me see, 5, 10, 15,
20, 27 times in the book of 1 John it says, and we know, or hereby
we know. Those phrases and comments underline
the things that 1 John teaches us and said, hereby we know,
and a lot of those herebys are, hereby we know that we are in
Him. Or hereby we know that He is the One. And it cites why
and it gives reasons why those things. Hereby we know. It's a good book of the scripture
that shows us those things and tells us how we know those things
that we know. And you almost have to have six
hours and kind of cover the book. But we're going to look at a
few passages this morning that deal with this. I'd like to read
the first chapter. And I would like to read the
ten verses to kind of lead into verses five through ten that
we're going to be looking at particularly. 1 John 1, it says,
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 have handled, the word of life, For the life was manifested
and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that
eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto
us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that you may also have fellowship with
us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto
you that your joy may be full. This then, verse five, this then
is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto
you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If
we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness,
we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as
he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood
of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. This first chapter
is quite some introduction to the book as we'll look at it,
and when it says here in verse three, which we have seen and
declare unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us,
and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son,
Jesus Christ. And up above it, it says that
they were in His presence, and it says that they've looked upon
Him, they've heard Him. It says they handled Him, of
the Word of Life. And we can handle the Word of
Life in this form that we have, and the Lord reveals Himself
to us through this. they had him physically, and
they could do that, and they, as John says here, he was the
word of life, and they were shown that. They knew that, and they
had it, and it was manifested unto them. It said that he was
life, and he is the light of, the word of life, and the word
of light, too, light. So in verses five through 10,
we're gonna look at a couple of things that it says, This
then is the message which we've heard of Him and declare unto
you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness. That's the
message. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk
in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in
the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all
sin. If we say that we have no sin
and we deceive ourselves in the Truth is not in us. In verse
9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. These
are wonderful things for God's people to contemplate. And it
has to be, all of this has to be, the work of God has to be
in us to realize these things. There are many that can read
the Word, the written Word, and agree with that He is the Word
of life, and He is light, and everyone... to be saved from their sins must
be saved by Him. You can read those things. You
can know those things in a physical, earthly way and not understand
a bit about what it's talking about. And in this book, it reveals
some of those things to us, and it reveals and talks about those
things to God's people, ones that he has revealed himself
to. And we're going to look at a number of passages that relate to 1 John and in 1 John. Before we do that, there's a
couple of articles on the back of last week's bulletin, one
by John Newton and one by William Tiptaff. that John Newton's is
academic studies, it's titled. And it goes really well with
the one below that says, we must be taught of God. And both of
them are that coming to the Scripture and the truth of the Scripture
is revealed to His people. It's not It's not academic knowledge
or words, and it's not just being taught of another person. God uses other people indeed
for preaching and teaching and by His Spirit revealing Himself.
But it's not merely an academic. You don't put in so many hours
and you get so much back. It's not like learning math or
those type of things. So it indeed everything that
we that we that we have and possess and and and are have to be in
him and are in him in Christ himself. And we'll we'll see
a few things like that. In John, the book of John, there's some similarities between
John and 1 John, obviously, being penned by the same and some things
that are said here. And I'd like to read the first I'd like to read 14 verses of
this to start with, and it ties in nicely, obviously, with what
1 John says. It says, John 1, verse 1, it
says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was
a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a
witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him
might believe. He was not that light, but he
was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was
in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. saying
many of the same things. And if we find Scripture that
does not say the same things, we're probably reading it incorrectly
or it's not of the Scriptures. And here it speaks about Christ
being the light. John was witness of that light.
And as it says here and in other places in the Scripture, The
One that was come was indeed the Creator of everything that
has been created. And He's the true Light with
a capital L. the couple of important facts
concerning us about that in verse 13 and 14. And 13 particularly
says, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And that's a point that
as being taught of Him, and being born again is not something we
decide to do, or somebody decides to help us do, or how to get
it done. It is truly of God and God alone,
and it's just a necessity that man
be born of God. In John chapter 8, well, we're
in the book of John, a couple of more places, but chapter 8
of the book of John, and our Lord Himself speaks here. verse 12 of chapter 8 of John,
and it says, and himself saying that, speaking
of that, the light, and there's passages that we've, that we're
not going to go to them right now, but that, that the light
shineth on, on that which is evil and lights which is evil
and reveals that and shows that. And when he was in the world,
he was a light shining on the darkness in those days and that
time. And that's the only way they
were revealed. Some of that was by him doing
that, revealing that. In Galatians, turn to the book
of Galatians. In Galatians chapter 3, it's
speaking of God's people God being, Christ having redeemed
His people from their sin, from the law, the curse of the law.
And down here in verse 26 of John chapter, or Galatians chapter
3, it says, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be
Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. And here where it says, children
of God, by faith in Christ Jesus, as many of you have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. And there it's speaking of the
righteousness that He has put on Christ. provided for his people. It has to be put on. And what
he's speaking here to is not children just by flesh and blood
children, but by the Spirit and God's redeeming his people. That the only ones that are children
of God It says, by faith in Christ Jesus. And we know a passage
where it speaks to faith, and we're going to look at that in
just a minute, that if He does not cause that and put that life
in us, it's not to happen. In 1 John, turn back to the book
of 1 John, in the second chapter, And again, the book of 1 John,
so many places, tells us how we know these things. And if
this be so, then we know something else. In 1 John 2, Starting with the first verse
of chapter 2, My little children, these things write unto you,
that ye sin not. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is a propitiation
for our sins, and not for ours only, but for also the sins of
the whole world. And hereby we do know that we
know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and truth is not in
him. but whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of
God perfected. Hereby we know that we are in
him. He that saith he abideth in him
ought himself also to walk even as he walked. Brethren, I write
no new commandment unto you but an old commandment which ye had
from the beginning. The Old Commandment is the word
which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment
I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because
the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth." And
here, as it says, that we are in him, And a couple of very
important things in here. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's our advocate for His people,
and it says, Hereby do we know that we know Him if we keep His
commandments. Okay, that brings to mind a lot
of, what do you do to do that type thing? What is that referring
to? What does that mean, keep His
commandments? And we know that on the one hand, in one way,
we know that Christ Himself kept all the law in life. He came
as man, lived, a perfect sinless life, came
perfect sinless, didn't do anything to change that, and fulfilled
all the commandments that men can point to in that direction,
in that way, and much more. And in, just a second here, let me
find my spot, in 1 John, Chapter 3. Just a little farther. 1 John 3. And verse 18. 1 John
3.18 and following a bit. My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and truth. And hereby
we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before
him. For if our heart condemn us,
God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved,
if our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward
God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep
his commandments and do those things that are pleasing to him.
And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the
name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave
us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments
dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the Spirit which he hath given us. Here's a test
or another hereby we know. And Lauren used a phrase a long
time ago in a lesson. I can't remember what passage
he'd connect that with, but the phrase was a heart check. And
we have this through all of the scripture, obviously. But here
in 1 John, there's several places that show us why or how we can know
and how we can, hereby we know, as it says in verse 19. And this
here, that we can keep his commandments, where it says in verse 23, this
is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son,
Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave his commandment."
And that's like the passage, I don't
have it in front of me and I didn't think of it until actually right
now, but about where it speaks about what the work of God, you
have to do the work of God. Well, the work of God is by His
Spirit, regenerating His people. That's the work of God. And here,
the keeping the commandments is believing on the Son, on His
Son, Jesus Christ, that has kept all things. And when He said
it's finished, it was finished. And that's the only way that
we can... say that we have kept the commandment
of God is by his doing that in his people. And it says, we know
that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us.
And his Spirit in Romans it says, his spirit
beareth witness with our spirit that we are sons of God. And
not by, it's not bearing witness that
we have done certain things or taken certain steps, but his
spirit has caused that in us. And then, let's turn to Ephesians chapter
one. You probably know where one of
the places we're going to end up, but Ephesians chapter 1 speaks
to these things. Speaking again that Christ has done those things
for his people that were needful. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings, it says, in heavenly places in him. He has purchased
his people. He has predestinated his people
to be adopted as sons. And those things that it speaks
about that he has done for and to his people. And then
in verse 13, it says here, Ephesians 1, 13, in whom, speaking of,
Christ, in whom you have also trusted, after that she heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also
after that she believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory."
So that trust in that faith that says
here, the word of truth, the gospel, your salvation, to whom
that after you believed, you were sealed. And then turn to
chapter two of Ephesians while we're right here. And we're going to read the first
10 verses of this as it connects together here. It says, and you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But
God, who is rich in mercy, For his great love wherein he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, he quickened us together
with Christ. By grace are you saved. And hath
raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly
places in Christ, that in the ages to come we might show the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them." In this passage, we quote this
in this book a lot in this area. And it can oftentimes, it can
just be a kind of a byword in religious or catechism type thinking and stuff.
And it connects in with 1 John where it says, in the other passage
we just read in Ephesians 1, that by His Spirit He reveals
these things to us. And it's not that, yeah, I've
been down steps 4 and 5, and the next one is, say, I believe
in Him. And it says here, again, like the commandment, keeping
of the commandment, believe in Him, is an impossible task for
natural man, can't do it. He has to put life in His people,
has to cause that. And as keeping of the commandment,
that commandment and any others that we might want to attach,
The Lord himself has done that and has accomplished all. And
when people want to speak about work, here in this passage speaks
about, and Paul does in Romans and other places too, about that
it's not, there's no work involved. The work of God is God's work
and that's, we cannot do that. And here when it says, we are
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works. Though
any work being done is, God himself to his people, and it's not the
other way around. And only because of these things
can we then go to 1 John, and he says, hereby we know these
things. If these things be so, we know
where we stand in him. And John carries that on all
the way through 1 John. Every different topic that he's
kind of speaking about, is those things that hereby we know that
He has done all these things for us. And it's not if you've
attained to this level, hereby you know that you're a good guy,
because we know that that doesn't work. We know that if that's
the direction they're headed with it, we're stuck. It has
to be here why we know, why we stand in Him, and how we stand
in Him, and why we stand in Him. And when it gets a little farther
in the book of John about love, those things, there's things
that are hard to do that we can't do, impossible for us to do.
And He has to, by His Spirit, put those things in us and cause
us to be those things. And we know it's not of us to
do that. In Romans chapter 2, let's look
at Romans for just a minute. Romans chapter 2 verse 21 to
start with for just a little bit. And this is kind of getting into
the middle of a thing, but speaking about being instructive
of others and be instructive of God, but it says in verse
21, Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?
Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou
that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit
adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the
law dishonorest God, for the name of God is blasphemed among
the Gentiles, through you as it is written, for circumcision
verily profiteth if you keep the law, but if thou be a breaker
of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore,
if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall
not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision, and shall not
uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill
the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision does
transgress the law. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit,
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of
God." circumcision of the flesh that
had been talked about earlier profits nothing. The circumcision
here, not by nature, but that is a Jew which was one inwardly,
the spirit has circumcised the heart. the true circumcision
that the physical is a picture of. And that is not something
that can be done. Man cannot do that to another
man or to himself, cannot circumcise the heart. It's just not a possibility. And then in chapter three, in the same section of it, but
chapter 3 of Romans, just over a page, and a passage through there that we
just love to read, it says, but now, verse 21, now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe. For there
is no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but
by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." And we're
going to stop that spot there. But again, that natural man in
religion wants to go through these things. And in 1 John,
I suppose there are those that take those things and say, yeah,
I do those things. And God's people look through
and say, we didn't do any of that. If the Lord didn't do that,
if Christ didn't do that, if when he said it's finished, it
wasn't finished, we're as bad off as we were before. And we're
in a terrible spot. As we saw in Ephesians, the first
chapter two there, that faith in him is created by God and
caused to be in us. It's not something that we come
up with. We're not going to go to it,
but in John, it talks about Christ in Nicodemus. And the Lord told
him, you must be born again. And he said, That's kind of tough
to do, and it's not by physical doing of it, and it has to be,
the Spirit has to do that and cause that. We must be born again
in that way, and He has to do that and does do that. We are
told to walk as children of light. God's people will walk as children
of light, because what it says, what we are by nature, we amen
to that. And what it says that Christ
has done for His people, we say, if that's not so, we are lost. We are lost. We have to stand
in what He has done. We are blessed in Ephesians,
it says in chapter one again, we are blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Him. are dependent on, as we say almost
every time the word is opened, that we follow it completely
on Him for our standing in our salvation. If we have any, it
has to be in Him 100%. There's no, and as it says here,
life cannot come from us. We cannot do the works of God.
God has to do that work. We can't keep the commandment
that's given to us to believe on Him. He has to cause us to
do that. and then His Spirit dwells in
His people and beareth witness that that. And we are caused
to believe the record that God has left us by His Spirit. We have no other means of life
but the righteousness of Christ. And when it says we have baptized
into Christ, you have put on Christ, and that is that robe
of righteousness, which is a fantastic picture of what he provides for
us in that way. And he bears witness with us
that we are the sons of God. And so in the, 1 John there,
like I said, 27 times, he says, hereby we know. And all those
times we can say, go back on what he has just said. hereby
we know. And there's a lot of those things
that we say, boy, that didn't look like what we're doing or
how things are going, but we know that in Him, those things
are so. We have those things even when
we don't feel like a certain way. We know that if we are in
Him and we are covered by His blood and righteousness, then
those things are so, and they are so. The book of 1 John is just, it's
so pointed in a lot of ways that it's a comfort to God's people,
as it says in the beginning there, so that, it writes these things
so that it says in verse 4, write unto you these things that your
joy may be full, and God's people have every reason to joy in our
Lord, who is that great light that has shined on us. And I
would encourage you to put 1 John in your reading, if
you would. And with that, as Mike usually
says about now, be free. Thank you.