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An Introduction To The First Epistle Of John 9.18.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  God in heaven, what an absolute privilege and an honor it is to come here, open your word, your letter to us, gifted to us, Lord, that we might know you better, Lord, and have full assurance in our hearts.
• 0:18
  of the salvation that we have been given. Lord, guide our thoughts, guide my speech tonight, Lord, and may this study be honoring and glorifying to you as we get into it. Father, I pray these things in your name. Amen. If you guys have my notes, you basically have exactly what on Wednesdays we do try to give you guys basically what we're going to say so that you can pay attention. If it helps you, then utilize it. If it doesn't, then don't worry about it.
• 0:47
  But the idea there is so that you're able to follow along. It's really going to be basically exactly what I'm going to tell you guys tonight. As we jump into this letter, like I said, we're going to do an introduction. We're going to talk about our date and our setting. We're going to talk about the focus and the theme of John. And we're going to set the stage. It's going to be our fourth thing as we get started in those first four verses.
• 1:17
  picked out as I studied this that really stood out to me this particular time. You know, each guy, based on their study and everything, I think the Lord will draw out some things. But as I read through 1 John, in particular this time, these verses stood out to me. They're up at the top. They are from 1 John chapter 3 and verses...
• 1:40
  19 and 20 and they say by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him for whenever our heart condemns us God is greater than our heart and he knows everything when I was in Bible college I had a professor that taught us the epistles of John he
• 2:08
  taught rightfully so, that the first epistle of John, really the theme and focus of it is fellowship, and that's certainly a big aspect of the epistle. A big theme of and thrust of it is that we can have fellowship because of Christ. As I read it this time, and what we're going to kind of focus on as we go through this study, is that I really, this time,
• 2:35
  The Lord really drew me to these verses and this idea that we can have hearts that are sure, that are assured of our salvation. One of the things we taught through the book of James in men's Bible study over the summer. And that book for a little while was a bit confusing to me, especially in my early days of study.
• 3:03
  One of those books that can, if misunderstood, can actually create this assurance in the believer, right? I don't know if my faith has works, and so thus you can feel like all of a sudden you have this question of whether I'm saved or not, and whether I truly believe in Jesus. And this summer, as we studied through that, and as I was preparing for this,
• 3:32
  This book, 1 John, has done some of the same things because people have taken this to the umpteenth degree and said, if you don't become perfect, if you're not sinless, and we'll look at that as we go through this book, then you're not following Christ and you're not a Christian because you continue to sin. People read the first epistle and consider it to be something that portrays the opportunity for a sinless Christian here on earth.
• 4:02
  And so these things can disrupt our faith at times and cause doubt in our minds. And as I was reading through it this time, I saw the things that are spoken of from John to these people to do the exact opposite, to actually give them a full assurance of their salvation. To, as these two verses says, even though our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything he knows.
• 4:30
  whether we are saved or not, right? He knows his power, and his power is greater than our doubt. Assurance or trust is kind of a funny thing. It can make us do, trust in particular, can make us do some really crazy things at times. I see this in my two youngest in particular. Our oldest, Lucy, is not much of a risk taker.
• 4:59
  She's very calculated. In fact, there are times where she will even correct me and say, Dad, this feels unsafe. I don't know if we should do that. While the other two are like, yeah, we should do this. And I'm like, yeah, we should do this. And Oren and Jane both are very adventurous. And over the course of their lives to this point, we have built a bit of a trust between
• 5:28
  Myself and them, particularly around roughhousing. And thus, there have been a few times where I have gotten the wind just completely knocked out of me when I have gotten flying knees landed on me from couches and landing on my stomach when I'm unexpected. Because they trust me. There's an assurance. They think dad is always going to catch me. And so they act in a way.
• 5:56
  based on that assurance, that trust. And I believe the same as we go through this epistle, this letter from John, we're going to see that if we allow the truth, the reality, that we can have full assurance in the salvation that we have been given by Christ, there will be things that will be replicated in our lives because we have that assurance. We will take leaps that don't make sense at times because we trust a God who is trustworthy.
• 6:26
  And there will be things that will be true of our lives. And I think John is going to talk about those things because we have this full assurance. And we'll talk a little bit about the disruption that the devil wants to do as we get into this study tonight. Let's first look at our introduction. We'll go through some basic things, talk about our setting and introduction and everything. Now, we will get into those first four verses.
• 6:55
  for our study as well, but as an introduction, as we set the stage, we'll get into that now. John writes, when we consider this letter, John writes to the third generation Christians. Paul, James, and Peter, they wrote to the first and second generation of believers, those who were the first to have and were alive at the time and had seen Christ.
• 7:19
  Paul and James and Peter write to these people who had first-hand experience and second-hand experience. John, on the other hand, in his gospel and in his epistles, writes to the third generation of Christians. This is significant for us to understand and consider as we consider this reality in connection with where we find our lives today. And I'm going to speak a little bit about that as we build.
• 7:48
  out this intro but consider in your mind am I the first generation Christian the one who was fully convinced apart from my family or am I a second generation Christian or am I a third generation Christian because these things can have impact on how deeply we feel the convictions of Christianity
• 8:13
  Each generation of Christianity, there is a movement towards or away from truth. The first generation Christians tend to be ones who have been convinced, convicted of the truth of the gospel. The second generation has received these truths.
• 8:31
  from those who were first convinced. Do you understand what I'm talking about? So let's say you grew up in a non-Christian home and the Lord grabs a hold of your heart and you are the first in your family to be convinced of the gospel and accept it. There is a conviction that comes with that that is slightly different from the kid who grows up in the Christian home. And there is something slightly different from that from the person who grows up in the Christian home of the Christian home.
• 8:59
  A third generation. There are differences in conviction. I'm going to spell that out a little bit more. The first generation is filled with conviction. The second generation is moved to beliefs. To believe what they have been taught, they believe, but at times without the same conviction that the first generation of whom we're convinced.
• 9:30
  The third generation, the beliefs that were once convictions are now opinions. The third generation of believers is ripe for the picking. Where dilution of truth is there and present, an opportunity now comes in for error to be accepted as the opinions can be changed. This is the group.
• 10:00
  that John is writing to. This is a third generation church. They are ripe for the picking for error. And it is this generation which John is compelled by the Spirit to write to. And he does, John expresses his passion and his concern to them. And he does this in some familiar forms.
• 10:22
  We will notice some connections in the first epistle to the gospel of John and some of his favorite words. Just as Paul had favorite words such as faith, hope, and love, John writes and expresses these truths that he's going to give to us and to this church. He writes and uses words such as light, life, and love.
• 10:46
  And as we study this book, we will discover these words over and over and over again. And they will be often as well as too often used words. We know, we know, which I believe those are keys to us understanding this book. And especially the fact that this is written to third generation Christians who are being led astray. Date and setting as we consider.
• 11:17
  John writes to the third generation Christians. This is seen both in context as well as date. The accepted author for this book is absolutely, basically, completely assuredly John, the Apostle John. This is one of those books that you can say with almost complete conviction, we know there is almost no debate about who the author is.
• 11:45
  It's so widely held throughout even the early church till now that it basically is conclusive, meaning there is little debate about who the author is. The date of this letter most likely was written somewhere about 85 to 95 A.D. John writes this epistle in Ephesus.
• 12:07
  And our setting is this. John, whom is an eyewitness to the truth of who Christ is, begins to hear of heresy which has crept into the church. And as stated, since this is the third generation of Christians, they are ripe for themselves to allow their ears to be tickled with half-truth and deception from the enemy. One of the heresies that had crept in
• 12:33
  would later become Gnosticism. This is considering mental enlightenment as superior to an expression of faith. And that conduct by which a Christian is called, in fact, as Gnosticism, Gnosticism believed that all material is evil. They would not only consider conduct
• 12:59
  But they would deny the humanity of Christ because a perfect God could not inhabit a material world which was unredeemably evil. So they denied the deity or the humanity of Christ. And they did not believe that Christ was the God man. They believed that all material was evil and unredeemable. And because of that, they allowed that to affect the way that they acted.
• 13:27
  the body is evil and it will do evil things and thus our conduct means nothing. These false teachings had crept into the church and had begun to steal away the assurance of these believers and had in fact caused such unbelief that they were now jettisoning truths which they had been taught already. An interesting thing to note,
• 13:58
  is that nowhere in this first epistle of John's does an Old Testament quote actually happen. He does not quote the Old Testament in the entire epistle. Why would that be significant in terms of us understanding the date and the setting, particularly the setting, or who it's to? Yeah, Gentiles. Would you quote the Old Testament if you were writing to the Gentiles? Would it mean anything to them?
• 14:29
  helps us to see that John is probably writing to a Gentile church, and in fact, probably to Gentile churches in Asia Minor. And so he intended this to go out to churches that were being stoned, the truth was being stolen away from them. The word beginning occurs ten times, for that was John's ultimate answer to these
• 15:00
  He went back to the beginning and he says, I was there. As we will see in these first four verses especially, he's going to draw a very clear contrast between him and those who are teaching this heresy and the qualifications of the two. So our setting is...
• 15:26
  85 to 95 AD, and he's writing from Ephesus, and he is trying to combat this heresy of Gnosticism, and the most important of which, Christ was not fully man. 95, he was an old man. He was a very old man. This is similar, not too far away from when he writes Revelation.
• 15:56
  And this would have been towards the end of his years for sure. So he's 85 to 95 A.D. We're quite a ways away from Christ's death. Some of those people who would have heard and seen firsthand would have already died. And so definitely older in years. So good question. Which leads us to what I'm going to say next. John was an older man.
• 16:26
  when we go under our focus and our theme, he's older at the point of writing this epistle. As we read through this letter to these Christians, we feel, I believe we will feel the weight and the concern of these years as John is so very aware that his days on earth are numbered and thus the importance
• 16:53
  The importance of these churches grasping this truth and not walking away from the importance of understanding that Christ was fully God, fully man, and what that gives us in terms of assurance of salvation was vitally important. And so you get this idea as we read through this letter how important it was of John, how concerned he was that this truth not be jenisoned and forgotten.
• 17:21
  As I said, he finds himself in Ephesus, a pagan and debauched city. It is likely that John finds himself here trying to escape the Roman war, which is ravaging his homeland at this time. John writes with a passion and a focus as he combats the failing of these Gentile Christians to stand for truth, which is affecting their Christian conduct and assurance of salvation.
• 17:50
  interesting how the enemy works, how the enemy comes after us. Very rarely does Satan come at us directly. God will speak really directly to us at times, and I believe he does very directly in his word speak very clearly and directly. The enemy works a little bit different. He doesn't come at us with direct blows, but with subtle corruption.
• 18:25
  Here we see, not that they have stopped believing that Christ came. John, as he writes this letter, is not going to say, you have forgotten that Christ existed. Satan doesn't bring the heresy in that says that Christ never came. He knows that would be silly. There's too many eyewitnesses. He can't do that. So instead, he does this subtle switch.
• 18:50
  where he says it couldn't possibly be true, because of all this evil we see in the world, couldn't possibly be true that God, this perfect God, could come down and take on the body of a man and be fully man. That couldn't possibly be true. And so he tempts them to jettison this belief that God, that Jesus comes down and was fully God.
• 19:21
  They, in fact, started to have whispers that he might have perhaps been a ghost or somehow he would have been corrupted by the darkness. If he took on the body of humanity, then he would have been corrupted by this dark world. And thus the enemy goes after this truth of who Christ is.
• 19:49
  that erodes, so then do two other things. When he is able to erode our belief in who Jesus is, that will affect most certainly two things. As the certainty of who Christ is is brought into question, we then come to a place where certainty, the assurance, the confidence in our salvation
• 20:17
  is taken. As this assurance is taken, or perhaps better yet, given away, we become ripe for the picking, ripe for deception, giving meaning to why John writes in chapter 2, verse 26, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. As we start to doubt,
• 20:47
  who Christ our Savior is that will steal away from us the confidence that is intended for us to have about our salvation. And as deception happens and assurance is given away, we then change how we live. We no longer take those leaps of faith. We no longer walk with confidence. My kids no longer jump off the couch and spear me.
• 21:16
  with their knees, because they're no longer confident. We act differently when confidence is taken away or given away, and that is why he comes for this, why Satan comes for this. We become doubters, ones whom have lack of action, as action can only happen when one is certain of our steps, right? If I don't know what the ground is like, I'm going to be very cautious.
• 21:45
  About how I go forward. Think about if you come to a bridge. And that bridge looks old. We went on a hike. When we were up at the men's retreat. This last weekend. And we were hiking. And we came up to. What looked kind of like a makeshift bridge. It was fairly official. But it was interesting. Because.
• 22:14
  We come up to it, and they had larger than railroad ties, but they looked like railroad ties. They were huge, just gigantic, right? And there was three of them. One of them was broken, right? It didn't look rotted. But I can tell you guys, when I saw that, I walked across, even though the other two that were there looked completely...
• 22:44
  They didn't look like they have any integrity issues. They looked safe, all of that. I walked differently across those two because that one had broken. I think it's the same way for us. If Satan can deceive us, if he can cause doubt in us, we Christians will walk differently. If we don't have...
• 23:14
  Full assurance of who Christ is. And thus our salvation. There are certain steps we might not take. The enemy comes for our minds. He comes for our confidence. Because as that confidence is eroded. He knows there are then easily. People who are easily deceived. And our conduct will then follow. Consider Genesis.
• 23:44
  And I've outlined it for you guys here briefly. Genesis 3.1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord had made. Then Genesis 3.4. But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. You will not surely die. And before that he says, did God really say? Did God really say? He causes this doubt in Eve.
• 24:15
  And then we see that this deception and this doubt then leads Eve to do what? Adam and Eve are led to sin. She took of its fruit and ate. That's what it's supposed to be. She took of its fruit and ate. Sorry, I was typing and reading. And she also gave, not fave, some to her husband.
• 24:45
  Who was with her. Do you guys see that? Do you guys see how clearly that is laid out in Genesis as the fall happens? Satan comes. He's a deceiver. He's crafty. He comes and he creates this doubt in Eve. And then it changes the way she acts. It changes who she is. Warren Wiersbe says this. Satan often spreads his lies even through religious groups. Not every man standing.
• 25:16
  In a pulpit is preaching the truth of the word of God. False teachers and preachers have always been among the devil's favorite and most effective tools. Brothers and sisters, we must be on guard for heresy, for half-truths, because they can erode.
• 25:40
  Our faith. The focus then is the enemy's attempt to dismantle the Christian's conduct and assurance through deception. And the theme then takes its cue from this. That's the focus, what John is trying to combat. And our theme then takes this. John weaves three ideas, three words through this letter. Obedience, love, and truth. We see obedience.
• 26:07
  spelled out in 1 John 1.5-2.6. We then find love in 2.7-17, and finally truth in 2.18-29. These are not the only areas where we will see these themes, but they are clearly developed over these opening portions of John's letter, and we will thus find some contrasting themes.
• 26:37
  show what truth is, what the obedient and loving and true Christian will do to combat the dismantling of Christian conduct, we will see a contrast in themes put forth by John. One is that we will see a spirit-controlled mind knows and understands truth. A spirit-controlled heart feels love. A spirit-controlled will inclines us
• 27:06
  To obedience. And on the flip side of this. We will see the negative theme presented as well. John really likes contrast. Which is one of the reasons why I love his epistle. Because he creates absolute clarity. This is this. This is that. This cannot be that. So do this. He's going to present the negative theme. As well as we see a disobedient Christian's life.
• 27:35
  Looks like what it looks like when we are out of fellowship with God. And with our brothers and sisters in Christ. They have disobeyed God's will. They are no longer getting along with believers. And they then believe lies. And are then living a lie. These contrasting themes are put forth not to bring about doubt.
• 28:05
  As we read some of these things that the non-believing or these Christians were doing who had been led astray as they started to believe this heresy, as their conduct changed, this is not put forth for us to be doubting, but instead for us to look at this and see the call to love each other and that as we feel that, we have assurance because who else but Christ, but the Spirit, could compel us?
• 28:34
  To love. We consider our lives according to these. If we consider our lives according to these. We can see the spirit at work. When we look at these contrasts that John puts forth. We can look at our lives and see the spirit at work in us. And thus see the love of God displayed in our lives. And find confidence.
• 29:13
  that we are indeed, as John says, in the light as he is in the light. That is our date, our theme, our introduction, and our focus that I believe we will find in this first epistle of John. We're going to jump into these first four verses now. I'm going to read them for us. John 1, 1 says this, That which was from the beginning,
• 29:44
  which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.
• 30:10
  That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, this is amazing, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. John wastes zero time in his epistles.
• 30:41
  He doesn't introduce himself. He doesn't sign his letters as Paul does. He doesn't start his letters as Paul does. John gets down to business right away. He's writing with a purpose. That purpose is to combat what? Heresy, right? That Jesus was not man. That he was not the God man. And he wastes zero time in combating that.
• 31:14
  He says, that which was from the beginning we have heard and seen, which we looked upon and touched. He starts out his epistle very similar to the way he starts out his gospel as he states that which was from the beginning. This is a reference and establishment of Christ's eternality and thus his deity, right? He was from the beginning. He was from eternal eternity. He says that which has eternal life.
• 31:46
  was made manifest. John speaks directly for some reasons as to why the readers should listen to him and not these false teachers. As he first begins, as he establishes that Jesus is from eternity past and that he is from the beginning and that he is made manifest, he also sets forth immediately
• 32:14
  Why these guys, these churches should be listening to him and not these false teachers. What do you guys see in those first couple of verses that you think would give some validity, some authority to why they should be listening to John and not these false teachers? He's an eyewitness. That's right. The contrast of that would be they didn't see him. They didn't hear him.
• 32:47
  They didn't touch him. We did. I did. John was an eyewitness. He heard. He saw. He looked on and touched Jesus Christ. There are some really cool things about why John uses these words in particular. Because he was no second-hand religious experience. His was no second-hand religious experience.
• 33:14
  excuse me, that he had inherited from someone else. This was personal. This was deep. This was real for John. Some might say that John and the apostles were fortunate because they walked with Christ. We might say, well, it's easy for John to have believed, right? He was in the upper room. He was with Christ all the time.
• 33:45
  He heard firsthand all of those parables and Christ explaining them. He saw him in agony and gethsemane as he sweat drops of blood. Of course, of course he has passion. Of course he believes. If we think that we would be wrong, wouldn't we? Judas was there. Judas was there. He didn't believe. How many thousands of people heard Christ speak and did not believe? It was not close proximity to Jesus.
• 34:18
  that made these men passionate. It was close proximity spiritually that made them passionate for Christ and the message that he had shared with them. Sure, they saw him in person, but that was not the nearness to Christ that impacted their lives. It was their spiritual nearness.
• 34:44
  As John writes these words which express a closeness and a personal nature to the witness which he had, he ends with two statements, two words which really encapsulate in these first couple verses what he is establishing as he says, they looked on and they touched. You see that building that happens in that first verse.
• 35:09
  We have seen with our eyes. We have looked upon and we have touched with our hands. There's a building that happens and it gets to that looked upon. That looked upon here means to, and that's supposed to be gaze on, to put full attention. It's as if John is on his first date with Christ. You know that just zeroing in that happens.
• 35:41
  When you're enthralled with somebody, he is gazing upon Christ. He has rested his eyes on him in a way that few have. That is the meaning of these two words when he says, I have looked upon him. And then he says, touched. This goes beyond what he says when we've heard, we've seen, we've looked upon. He says, we've touched.
• 36:08
  Touched, I have touched, is also an intimate term, which is more than just a slapping of a high five or the shaking of hands. This is a man, as we know from the upper room, was so close to Christ that he actually at times would rest his head on Christ's shoulder. This, as he says, he touched, this touch comes from love and admiration. He says,
• 36:42
  Very quickly, Jesus was absolutely from the beginning. He is certainly deity. We have seen, I have an eyewitness account. Listen to mine. He gives his credentials for why they must listen to him and not these heretics. As we try to understand this idea, this truth that Christ is fully God and fully man, let's consider
• 37:09
  An Old Testament illustration. You know what John is trying to say here. As we jump into verse 2. He says. That which was from the beginning. Christ's eternality. Verse 1. Then in verse 2 he says. The life or Christ. Was made manifest. And we have seen it. And testify to it. And proclaim to you the eternal life. As we consider this. As he says that manifest. He's trying to establish. The fact that the eternal God.
• 37:38
  comes down to earth and is manifested, is absolutely coming to earth as man. As we consider this idea of Christ as fully God and fully man, let's consider an Old Testament illustration, an example. In the tabernacle and the temple, there was a thick and beautiful curtain hung that separated the holy place and the holy of holies. This was the veil that was torn by the hand of God upon Christ's death and resurrection. We see...
• 38:08
  In Matthew 27.51. This is the veil. The curtain that is torn. As Christ. Now made a way. Where there was no way. This tearing of curtain. Which symbolized Christ. We see that in Hebrews chapter 10. Verses 19 and 20. Let's jump over there. Hebrews chapter 10. Just a couple flips over. I've been.
• 38:39
  reading a lot in Hebrews lately. And Hebrews is an incredible book. And Hebrews chapter 10 is awesome. It is awesome. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 and 20 say this, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us,
• 39:10
  Through what? The curtain. That is what? His flesh. His flesh. You guys are familiar with this idea of the curtain and the fact that it was crazy. How they got this thing to stay up. It was super, super, super thick. And this was designed so that those who came to the temple could not actually enter into where God's presence rested. The holy of holies.
• 39:41
  This curtain was designed to keep people safe. Because as we know, if you come into the presence of God, you will die. As Hebrews tells us, Christ becomes the curtain. As it is torn in Matthew chapter 27, verse 51, Christ becomes the curtain, our covering, our protection. There's some other...
• 40:14
  really incredible truths I want us to consider as we try to understand this doctrine that Christ is fully God and fully man. That curtain was made up of three colors. I actually didn't know this until I had started studying this. But this curtain was made up of three colors, red, blue, and purple. These colors, without looking at your notes, are very significant. Why do you think red, blue, and purple are significant? Red, blood.
• 40:46
  depicting his humanity. There is also another part of that. Red, I'm going to get to my notes so I make sure I say this. Red, speaking of the humanity of Christ, absolutely both in his sacrifice, his death, his blood being spilt, but also since he was the last Adam, right? We know he was the last Adam. 1 Corinthians 15.45 tells us this. And that name Adam, like Edom, means red. It means red.
• 41:16
  Thus tying Christ to humanity. Now the blue symbolizes Christ's deity as blue represents heaven. If you guys have taught preschool and all of that stuff, some of you ladies might know this. If you mix red and blue, what do you get? Purple. Guys, God wastes nothing. He wastes nothing. Everything is with a purpose, with a reason.
• 41:52
  Not only does this curtain protect them, but it's a precursor to identifying the fact that the Savior was going to be fully man and fully God. And there was going to be a mixing together that was going to make what? Purple royalty. It's crazy. It's crazy. The beautiful part of these colors is as the third color of the curtain.
• 42:23
  Is purple. Which represents the incarnation of Christ. As he descended to earth. And the godhood mixes with man. Just as red and blue. Mixed together and makes purple. Thus depicting the Christ. Incarnation. The godhood and manhood. Are inseparable. Just as if you mix those two colors together. They would be inseparable. They would make purple. And no longer. They would still be red and purple.
• 42:51
  And blue, right? That's what makes it up. But they would now make something truly unique. Unseparable. This truth that Jesus is the Christ, the God-man, is truly good news, brothers and sisters. And John tells us just how true and how good it is in verses 3 and 4. Jump back over.
• 43:18
  to 1 John, let's read verses 3 and 4, that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. John declares what appears to be a clear contrast between us and you.
• 43:54
  You, he says, too may have fellowship as we have fellowship. Putting forth again though here as he says that they can have this fellowship as well that he already possesses. Showing his authority and trustworthiness of his statements that he has communion, fellowship with the Father. He is essentially saying to these believers being drawn away from the truth.
• 44:27
  We were there. You were not. We know you don't. So listen. Listen. We have fellowship with God. This language used by John is decisive and direct. We really saw him. We really heard him teach. And those things we saw and heard are the very things I am going to write to you now.
• 45:03
  He follows up these decisive and direct statements with the amazing results, telling us just how tremendous this truth is that we have fellowship with them. Think about this, you guys, as we consider this book, as we consider this idea of the assurance of salvation that we have and the fellowship we have with the believer means John is telling us that we have fellowship.
• 45:29
  Even with believers of past, they have walked through this life and we have fellowship with them because of Jesus and we will certainly have fellowship with them ultimately in heaven. And even more amazing is that we will have fellowship and we can have fellowship with the Father in heaven. Think about that. Think about the fact that throughout the Old Testament, these people,
• 46:03
  The Jews, certainly the Gentiles, had to come. They had to come and have somebody offer for them. And now, all of a sudden, Jesus tears the veil. He becomes the God-man. And he makes this way where we can have direct communion with our Heavenly Father. That should never cease to amaze us.
• 46:30
  That we can have fellowship with a holy and good and perfect God because we have Christ Jesus. We have this because, as Peter tells us, we have become partakers of Christ's divine nature. This incredible truth, incredible reality brings forth an unprecedented joy. Don't worry about the persecution.
• 46:59
  And the craziness of the world. The reality is that these Christians that he was writing to. Not only were being attacked from within. But there was war going on. And turmoil. This was a turbulent time in the Christian's life. And soon there would be Nero. Who would persecute Christians for over 300 years. Don't worry about the persecution and the craziness of the world. Get your eyes.
• 47:31
  on the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. And your joy will be full. It will be complete. As we consider these first four verses, as we consider this reality that John is writing to these third generation Christians, I think it would behoove us to consider where we fall.
• 48:07
  Where am I in that line? These are opinions about truth. I have an opinion about the Bible. I have an opinion about Jesus Christ. Do I have beliefs? Do I have beliefs about who He is, what He did, what He says? Or do I have convictions? Do I have convictions? The beautiful truth that we...
• 48:47
  have a Savior who took on the fullness of man and combined it with the fullness of God and sacrificed Himself for us, that we might have fellowship with a holy and heavenly Father. Brothers and sisters, if that doesn't, as verse 4 says, make our joy complete, I don't know what can. My encouragement to you guys,
• 49:20
  from these first four verses, and as we consider this epistle, would be to take stock of ourselves. Where are we at with our convictions? How are we doing about passing those convictions on to the next generation? And as we will see in these coming weeks, in these verses, does my life look like light is there? Like Jesus lives.
• 49:56
  in me. I appreciate the way that John writes this, the passion with which he writes it. But he also, even though he is direct, you will see, I think, love sewn throughout this letter, care sewn throughout this letter. Do you guys have any questions? As we got through our introduction, those first four verses, do you have any questions about those verses we covered about the intro?
• 50:29
  Any of that stuff. Yeah.
• 51:14
  Yeah, those two things. And specifically, it's believed that these two, those last two, have touched with our hands and looked upon. Even though there's this building of kind of emphasis, it's also referencing the fact that not only did he see Christ in his early life, he looked on and touched Christ post.
• 51:42
  death and resurrection. And so he's building this personal connection that he has, but it's also certainly, many believe, a reference to the fact that he saw Christ after he was resurrected in the upper room. Good question. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good question. I like questions, even if I don't know the answer.
• 52:19
  Most of the time I don't. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So, you'll see the same thing. Yeah, John 1.1, but John 5, we were just talking about this this week, actually. Jesus says that he has life, basically there's this idea that he has life from God the Father, right? And that they're together. And this reference here and there,
• 52:54
  is basically the only person who has the authority to give life is who? God, right? And so what he's saying, again, this is that fully God, fully man idea that he is establishing, that the word of life, so in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And he's, John basically kind of takes...
• 53:22
  His introduction of the gospel of John and builds on it a little bit here and says the word, which I'm talking about there, which was Jesus. Not only was he in the beginning, but he also says through the whole gospel of John that he has life and that he might give life abundantly. Right. But it's this idea that he is fully God because he has the ability to give life. That's the idea here is he says the word of life.
• 53:52
  another good question the question that was proposed on John 5 this week was there is depending on how you read it the potential to take it as Jesus was given life by God the Father thus giving a beginning but the reality is that this idea is this life is eternal so he was
• 54:24
  God was beginning Jesus as throughout all of eternity. Right? This life-giving cycle that happens. Other questions? Yeah. Okay. It's easier to blow off just one way than to start to blow off. Yes. Yes. Yep. Not just him. There was multiple. As you said, 500. There was many people who were eyewitnesses to what Christ did.
• 55:04
  But obviously, more than likely, referencing the apostles and disciples. We'll close in prayer. If you guys have any other questions, I'm more than willing to answer them. Father in heaven, God, we ask, Lord, that this time, we know that your word does not return void. We pray that this time would not be wasted on us, Father, that we would, as we consider this truth, that your...
• 55:32
  You sent your one and only son, Jesus Christ, to die for us that he took on. And as Hebrews says, he knows all that we experience in this life. He was tempted. He was tried. And yet without sin, that he might sacrifice himself for us and that he alone has the ability to give life. God, I pray that you would just instill in us an assurance in this, a confidence in this.
• 56:01
  That as we look at this book, our conduct might spring forward from that place. That you might build a foundation that is assured and firm in our hearts, in our minds, in our spirits. Pray these things in your name. Amen.