Forgiveness Is Found In Christ Series

Forgiveness is found in Christ

1 John Bible Study, Part 2

1 John 1:5-10

Introduction

- The author of this letter (or epistle) is the disciple, John

- This Epistle was probably written in Ephesus between the years 95–110.

-- It was written to counter Docetism: belief that Jesus did not come "in the flesh"

-- It was written to counter that Jesus only appeared as a spirit.

- Additionally, it defines how Christians are to discern true teachers:

-- By their ethics, their proclamation of Jesus in the flesh, and by their love

- It is important as we draw closer to God ourselves that we are able to learn

- Read 1 John 1:5-10 / Pray

∆ Point 1 – God is Light (5)

- The message John declares is that God is light; all that He is … is LIGHT!

-- There is no darkness in Him; darkness is in complete opposition to who He is

- John 1:4-5, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

- The light shines in the darkness; it literally replaces the darkness

-- APP: There are not different shades of darkness; but light casts it out

-- In a dark room, you can shine one light and change the visibility immediately

-- Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

- Light is literally a word picture for the word “truth”; stands for honesty

-- There is no darkness (also refer to as deception, falsehood) in God/Son/Spirit

- “The message we declare to you is that God is light” … it’s a simple fact

-- For the Christian, we have to first reconcile this truth before we move on

- TRANS: One sentence builds upon the rest of this passage …

∆ Point 2 – God Purifies (6-8)

- Once you understand the difference in light and dark; John’s begins to read us

-- Note: He may be the disciple of love – but this brother is mature in his walk

- What he says is simple: NO person (repeat) can claim fellowship if we lie

-- If we are walking in darkness repeatedly, there is no way we can claim light

-- APP: We cannot enjoy our sin and call ourselves faithful followers of Christ

-- James 3:10, “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”

- On the other hand, when we walk in the light we have two things happen

• We have fellowship with one another (unity)

• We are purified by the blood of Christ (God’s gift to us)

-- APP: This is where grace is so critical: It comes from God, not from us

- To be purified from all sin is a present tense phrase; it’s a continuous action

-- We might tend to look at this from a judicial standpoint, but there’s more

- Yes, it includes the forgiveness of past sins at the moment of salvation

-- But it ALSO leads us to a life-style change of desiring God’s righteousness

-- It is a life-long purification process; or a character transformation process

-- To be like Christ is to have His mind, His will, His desires, and His actions

- This purification by the blood is more than just a ticket to Heaven

-- It is more than some sort of back-stage pass to the concert of your dreams

-- APP: It is a complete transformation where you are no longer your own

-- John understood how this changed his life, and he desires we’d know this truth

- Why? (v8) Because if we say we are good to go we are only fooling ourselves!

-- There are two kinds of sin that we must contend with:

• Doing things we know we should not do, and,

• Not doing the things which God has commanded us to do

- The first is an obvious one: it means we do things that God disapproves of

-- The second is the painful one: it means we should do what Jesus would do

-- Jesus demonstrated how we ought to live; He was clear in His instruction

-- APP: The unrepentant looks Him in the eye and deliberately says “no”

- We look at Jesus and tell Him “no, we do not need to be different …”

-- This is the greatest deception; it’s where the Spirit pushes on us the hardest

- APP: We cannot lie to ourselves in this; honesty is the key

-- You know who you are and what sins you deal with … and so does God