First JohnA Test of True Faith

Howard Buck

Overview 11/7/10

The book of 1John was written by the Apostle John

What books did he write?...

The gospel of John, 1, 2 & 3 John and Revelation.

John is special among the Apostles for a lot of reasons, he is referred to as the “Apostle of love”

• John was very close to Christ• He lived the longest of all the Apostles • He was very humble only mentioning his name in

the book of Revelation

John = The Lord is gracious or Grace of the Lord..

• John is the youngest son of Zebedee & Salome (brother is James the Apostle)

• He is the youngest disciple, probably in his early 20s when called by Jesus

• John came from a well-to-do family, his father was the owner of a large fleet of fishing boats and they had servants: Mark 1:19-20

• His father was probably influential as evidenced by John’s entry into the inner court of the high Priest: John 18:15-16

• His mother was a follower of Jesus: Matt. 27:56• He was aggressive showing little tolerance for the

un-righteous: Luke 9:54 • He grew up in Bethsaida: John 1:44..

BETHSAIDA

With these facts what picture can you draw of John?...• Led the “good life” having money and servants• Was a fisherman used to early mornings, long

hours and hard work • Was a good Jew (how else would he have access

to the priest’s courtyard?)• As a member of the family business he would have

been exposed to business management and supervision

• John was a common hard working man, without higher education..

We noted before that John was a special apostle:

He was one of the first disciples called by Jesus

He showed great faith in leaving all that he knew and all of his worldly riches to follow Jesus

He was called “the one whom Jesus loved”:

John 13:1-2

He was of the “inner circle” of Apostles with James& Peter and as such he:

• Witnessed the raising of the daughter of Jairus• Was at the transfiguration• Sat at a few feet away from Jesus as He prayed at

Gethsemane• Made the arrangements for the last supper• Laid his head on the bosom of Jesus at the last

supper: John 13:23• Was the first apostle to go to the empty grave• Was the first to recognize Him at the meal at the

seashore after the resurrection: John 21:7..

John was called a pillar of the church by Paul

Gal 2:9

John’s writings have universal appeal and are a reflection of love, tenderness and

understanding..

Later in life John was exiled under arrest on the island of Patmos. He was eventually released and returned to Ephesus where he died and like Moses

was buried in a place only known by God

When you study John you will see a progression in his spiritual development:

1. Disciple of John the Baptist: John 1:35-40

2. One of the first called: Matt. 4:21-22

3. Was a special disciple of Jesus: John 21:20

4. An apostle for over seventy years: Luke 6:13-14..

So his spiritual progression is one of:

• Seeking repentance by following John the Baptist

• Immediately following Jesus upon His call

• Then, being so devout, so unconditional in his love of Christ that he becomes especially loved by Jesus

• Responding to Jesus’ teaching and His call to spread the gospel by continuing to teach until his death..

Based on the life of John, what application can we apply to us?.....

We can see that after he responded to the call of God, (just like you have) a spiritual progression

began

That is where we are today, on a Spiritual journey, a progression of faith and drawing closer to God..

In summary:

John is a simple man from a hardworking background, lacking higher education who went

from being aggressive and quick to judge to being called the Apostle of love who writes about love

and tenderness along with forgiveness and compassion.

He became totally humble refusing to use his own name in all of his books except one.

If God can take a man like John and give him the kind of trust and ministry that John had how much

more can He do with US!!

I. Introduction: The purpose of the Letter 1: 1 - 4

II. Conditions of Fellowship 1:5 - 2:2A. Conformity to a Standard 1:5 - 7B. Confession of Sin 1:8 - 2:2

III. Conduct in Fellowship 2:3 - 27A. The Character of our Conduct - Imitation 2:3 - 11B. The Commandment for our Conduct - Separation 2:12 - 17C. The Creed for our Conduct - Affirmation 2:18 - 27

IV. Characteristics of Fellowship 2:28 - 3:24A. In Relation to our Prospect: Purity 2:28 - 3:3B. In Relation to our Position: Righteousness and Brotherly Love 3:4 - 18C. In Relation to our Prayers: Answers 3:19 - 24

V. Cautions of Fellowship 4:1 - 21A. Concerning False, Lying Spirits 4: 1 - 6B. Concerning a True, Loving Spirit 4:7 - 21

1. The ground of brotherly love 4:7 - 102. The glories of love 4:11 - 21

VI. Consequences of Fellowship 5:1 - 21A. Love for the Brethren 5:1 - 3B. Victory over the World 5:4 - 5C. Verification of Christ’s Credentials 5:6 - 12D. Assurance of Eternal Life 5:13E. Guidance in Prayer 5:14 - 17F. Freedom from Habitual Sin 5:18 - 21

“If you examined a hundred people who had lost theirfaith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?”

(C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity, p 124)..

We are somewhere around 85-90 A.D. Many of the people who knew Jesus in the flesh are

dead

The founders of the church in general, had also died and Christians began to drift away from their beliefs

They were falling prey of, or as the Word in Life Study Bible says they were “being seduced by competing doctrines”

These second and third generation believers began to be cold in their love for each other and their commitment to the truth began to die out..

John writes to refute the heresies being taught and to encourage the believers to return to their first

love, Jesus Christ

John will issue a series of tests for us in the areas of: Doctrine, Morals and Social.

Theme:

Fellowship with God the Father and with the Son

1John 1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ..

1 John is a letter of edification in that John chooses to build us up in our faith as he corrects our errors in

doctrine, morals and social behavior

Written to long time Christians probably in the Roman providence of Asia which is in modern day Turkey

The letter specifically refutes three heresies circulating during this time:

Gnosticism

Docetism (doe-set-ism)

And a similar belief taught by a man named Cerinthus..

The Area of John’s Letter, Modern Day Turkey

Gnosticism has it’s origin in the Greek word gnosis which means knowledge

The Gnostic says that spiritual and material are sharply distinguished

Matter is impure and knowledge is supreme..

Ryrie says of the teachings of Gnosticism:

1. Knowledge is superior to virtue

2. The non-literal sense of Scripture is correct and can be understood only by a select few

3. Evil in the world precludes God’s being the only Creator

4. The incarnation is incredible because deity cannot unite itself with anything material such as a body

5. There is no resurrection of the flesh..

This belief system, these teachings led to low ethical standards

They felt that their superior knowledge made them better, almost in a different and better

class than the typical believer

It led to separation..

Docetism (doe-set-ism) teaches that Jesus’ humanity was not real He only appeared to have a body

Cerinthus was a man who lived in the area where this letter was first circulated, Roman Asia

He opposed John and taught that Jesus was a man on whom the divine Christ descended at the baptism

This divine Christ departed just prior to the crucifixion

John summarized his feelings of these teachers by calling them Antichrist’s..

What modern day beliefs fit some of these beliefs?...

Catholics believe that only the church leadership can truly understand the scripture

New Age teaches the spiritual Christ conscience

The Mormons and JW’s both have hidden ceremonies and practices that you can only know

about if you are enlightened by their belief..

John will build a case proving that we need to possess and action faith rather than a knowledge faith

As John develops his case he will say:

You know that:

God is light -- do you walk in the light, obeying God’s commandments?

You know that:

God is righteous -- do you live righteously as one born of God

You know that:

God is love -- do you show it by loving our brothers even as we love God..

One of the true beauties of these letters is the fact of John’s black and white stand on Biblical principles

There is no gray in his presentation

The Word in Life Study Bible offers this

comparison:

The choices presented in 1JohnEither Or Text

Light Darkness 1:5-7, 2:9-11

Truth Deception 1:8-10Keeping God’s Commandments Not keeping them 2:3-6A new commandment The old command 2:7-8We love God We love the world 2:15-16Christ The Antichrist 2:18,22Truth Error 2:20-21,

4:1-3Child of God Child of the devil 3:1-10Righteousness Lawlessness 3:4-9Life Death 3:13-15, 5:11-

12Love Hate 3:15-17, 4:20-

21Spirits confessing Christ Spirits not confessing 4:1-3We are of God We are not of God 4:4-11Love Fear 4:18-19

The study Bible goes on to say that this letter is built on the principles of binary

mathematics

A binary system breaks down choices into two, and only two alternatives:

On or off, plus or minus, yes or no

I think all of Christianity is this way, a right choice and a wrong choice -- there is no

gray!!

A commentator, Stott makes this observation:

Today we live in an age of fundamental insecurity. All things are changing - nothing is stable. New nations are constantly being born. Social and

political patterns are continually evolving.

Stott continued:

The survival of civilization is in doubt due to nuclear threat.

We are insecure. Even the message of the church is softened and weak and is spoken without

conviction. Christians are filled with uncertainty and confusion and a lack of knowledge…

Stott continued:

Then comes the letters of John - assurance - knowledge - confidence - boldness all adding up

to Christian certainty.

John teaches us to perceive - to know with confidence of attitude and boldness of speech..

(John Stott)

As we study this book we will have our true faith tested and reviewed

One thing for sure, when we finish we will know beyond doubt if we are true believers

or not!!

Notice how the book opens, no “hi how are you” just a straight to the point opening where John:

Unfolds the purpose of God from eternity to eternity:

That which was from the beginning… so that our joy may be made complete

Contrasts another beginning:

Gen 1 beginning of time

John 1 beginning of the incarnation

1John 1 beginning of the gospel (“word of life”)..

As chapter one continues John explains that we have fellowship (koinonia) with:

The Apostles

God

Fellow Christians

And that we are continuously being cleansed from sin..

Chapter 2 opens the Christian testing John will put each of us through:

• Moral Test 2:3-6• Social (love) Test 2:7-11• Doctrinal (belief) Test 2:18-27

These areas of our Christian walk, our Christian belief will be visited over and over throughout the

rest of the book..

As these tests develop John will ask:

Do you keep his commandments 2:3

Do you love your brother 2:9

Do you profess Jesus as the Christ 2:22..

Then, just when we take a deep breath thinking we possibly have at least achieved

a passing grade on these 3 tests, John comes right back at us again:

• Moral Test 2:28-3:10

• Social Test 3:11-18

• Doctrinal Test 4:1-6..

So, as John refutes Gnosticism, Docetism and the teachings of Cerinthus he uses

the opportunity to constantly and consistently force us to examine our own

heart and weigh our lifestyle and our believe system as compared to what it

should be Biblically..

HB’s summary of the book of 1John:

Jesus came in the flesh, He is God and eternal life is in Him alone

Our walk will show obedience to God’s morals and His righteousness.

Our walk will demonstrate total faith in Jesus as evidenced by our love and acceptance of our

brothers in Christ..

If we all come out of this book with this understanding, we have taught well and the Holy Spirit has successfully opened our minds and hearts to God’s message

for each of us!!!!!