I am going to begin a series of messages through the Book of 1 John. This is a short book, but it is an incredible, power-packed book, it is a transformative book, and I believe it is a timely message for our church in this season. I am going to give you a lot of facts and background to the book in the front end. So, if you have your Bibe with you, please turn near the end of the Bible to the Book of I John.
While you are turning there, chronologically, that means if you were to read the Bible the way it was actually written before it was Canonized, which means, after Jesus had risen from the dead, the New Testament writings are attributed to people, to Apostles and Disciples of Christ that had actually seen the Risen Savior. I John would have been the last book written. It was written after the Book of Revelation, and after 2 and 3 John.
Just to give you some Biblical history. If I were to ask you “Who wrote the most words in the New Testament,” what would your answer be?
- Luke wrote the most with 37,000 words in two Books – Luke and Acts
- Paul, with 32,000 words in 13 letters
- John, with 28,000 words in the Gospel of John, Revelation, and I, II, III John
Another fact is that some would argue John was not the author, and I think they do so just for the sake of arguing – you ever meet anyone like that? But there are several reasons I believe John is the author: First, Historically, the Book was written somewhere between 88 A.D. and 100 A.D. Which would fit the life span of John, and attested to by early Church father Iraneus (130 AD) and Tertullian (160 AD) who would have had first hand eye-witness accounts of John being the actual author of the Book. But secondly, the style of writing matches John’s other writings.
For example, John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the Word was God.” Now look at I John 1:1, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.” John also writes repetitiously. In other words, he repeats things over and over again to drive a point home. The Apostle Paul writes in a very linear manner, meaning point A will get you to point B which will get you to point C. But John goes all over the place, but always comes back to the main point.
John’s writings are also simple. In fact, if you are studying Greek in Bible College, more likely than not, the lessons are going to begin with John, because his writings are simple to understand. They are not going to start with Paul, because his writings are to confusing and complex. For instance, in Romans 7 Paul says, “The things I know to do and the things I’m not supposed to do, I do – do.” Where John says something like, “My little children . . .” Now that is not very hard to understand is it?
John is believed to be the only Apostle that did not die a martyr’s death. Now grant it, they did try to boil him alive, then he wrote the Book of Revelation. So John lived to be very old, and the church had begun to be established, and some of them had begun to have issues in the church. John, living in Ephesus, It is believed that in his old age, John would be carried into these churches to speak and they would sit him down, and crowds would gather, and John would say something like this, “My little children, love one another . . .” And that was it. His messages got shorter, and I believe that is because the further along in life you get, the more you realize what’s important. John didn’t give a dissertation like Paul that would cause you to fall out of a window and die . . . John just gave a simple message.
If I were to give you an outline of I John, it would go like this:
- Intro – I John 1:1-4
- God is Light – I John 1:5-3:10
- God is Love – I John 3:11-5:10
- How to be Assured – I John 5:11-5:21
By way of introduction, John begins in verses 1-4 by addressing the issue of Gnosticism that has risen in the church. Gnostic did not recognize Christ as both 100 percent man and 100 percent God. So John is reiterating “That which was from the beginning . . .” What was from the beginning? THE WORD. The same Word that was given to describe “The Angel of God” in Daniel chapter 10, and Daniel chapter 3, He is mentioned again as the Fourth man in the fire, “Being in the form of the Son of God.” So Jesus was “In the Beginning!” (Read verse 1-4)
GOD IS LIGHT
Then we come to verse 5, and John has a specific message to share. That message is “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
This is a character statement about God. He has no darkness AT ALL; He has no skeletons in His closest; There is no Hyde to His Jekyll. The term “God is light,” is meant to illuminate the moral perfection of God. GOD IS LIGHT.
Listen, you will not find any fault in God. You can find fault in me; you can find fault in Richard; you can look around this church building this morning and find fault in every person sitting here – but you will not find any fault in HIM.
That’s why you and I can stand on the mountaintops and Proclaim God – because there is nothing to hide or be ashamed of about God!
You see God has no scandals, no issues, no dark side. But here is our problem – WE DO. We all have a past, don’t we? And it is that past that makes the next few verse very difficult to deal with.
Verses 6-10 say, “If we (those of us who have scandals, those of us with a past) say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 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 cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
Here’s the deal, If “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all,” where are we supposed to be? IN THE LIGHT. And that’s a problem for us, because the truth is, there are probably some things that have happened in our lives this past week that we would not want projected up on this TV screen this morning. And though I have not listen to every word my wife has said to me this week, I am still called to live my life in the LIGHT.
SO here I am – I once walked in darkness, but by God’s grace and through my faith in His Son, I have come out of the darkness and into the Light – I have nothing to hide from God anymore. That doesn’t mean I don’t fail, or sin – but I don’t LIVE there anymore. But when I fall, when I sin, when I come up short – I “confess my sins” – and guess what, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I’m not going back to the dark.
To “Live in the light” means people will see your struggles, your shortcomings. And they will use them against you. “Living in the Light” means that we are vulnerable.
And for most of us, we want to walk in the GUISE of PERFECTION rather than walk in the BEAUTY OF HIS GRACE.
“Living in the Light” means that sometimes we are going to mess up and our mistakes and failures will be illuminated. The Bible doesn’t say that we sin occasionally – it says we are sinners!
So why would God want to take people who have walked in darkness, bring them into the Light, only to begin highlighting their shortcomings?
Well, God’s grace is being perfected in what? OUR WEAKNESS! I am immoral and I am imperfect and Jesus SAVED ME!
So how do we start learning to LIVE IN THE LIGHT? That brings us to the second message from John. Look at Chapter 3:11:
“For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
Remember, the first message was that GOD IS LIGHT, and the second message is:
LOVE ONE ANOTHER.”
How is the world going to know that you and I are in the Light? By our Fruit of Love!
Chapter 2:10 says, “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light.” If God has forgiven me for all the darkness in my life, who am I to hold your darkness against you, or anybody else for that matter?
And according to verse 3:11, we know that we are walking in the light and that His loved is perfected in us when we do what? LOVE ONE ANOTHER. That has been and will always be the message of this church.
Fighting for My Pea Patch 