The three books of John are referred to as “letters, however, the first was not written in the form of a letter.
For example, it has no salutation nor conclusion. In fact, it has all the characteristics of a sermon in which a pastor is revealing his love for God’s people.
To have a good understanding of the book, we have to understand some things about the city of Ephesus, from which this book was sent out. For example, look at...
A. THEIR HERITAGE
John was the pastor of the church in the city of Ephesus around the second century AD. He was the elder statesman who was one of the original twelve disciples.
Many of the believers in the church of Ephesus were children, or grandchildren of the first Christian church. Many of the glorious things that had happened in the earlier days of Christianity were fresh on their minds.
Illus: They could probably remember hearing their parents, or grandparents, talk about how Paul was in Ephesus and preached with the power of the Holy Spirit.
In fact, Paul had been so effective that Demetrius, the silversmith, who made silver images of the goddess Diana, felt that he would be put out of business.
To the believers what they were told was all second-hand information, although their fathers and grandparents had seen and heard of those things. Now, years later, the brightness of this rich heritage was wearing off.
In fact, the church at Ephesus, that had such a deep love for the Lord, was the same church of which John spoke from the Isle of Patmos, Rev. 2:4, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” They had lost their love for the Lord Jesus.
But, at the time John wrote 1, 2, and 3 John they had not yet drifted to that point.
They had had been given a RICH SPIRITUAL HERITAGE. Look at...
B. THEIR COMPROMISE
They should have stood firmly, with this rich heritage, but instead of standing firm on the teachings of Paul, and others, they were caving in to false teachings of false teachers.
When Paul had preached there many years earlier, he had raised the standard of holiness high, but the false teachers were lowering the standards.
We never help people when we lower standards.
Illus: All of us are familiar with what has happened as a result of the lowering of standards in the educational system. We have kept “dumbing” down now we lag behind. It would be better to raise the scholastic standards and then students would be challenged to extend themselves.
The false teachers of John’s day were lowering the standard of holiness.
This has also happened today. The reason so many Christians follow the WORLD’S SYSTEM is because the standards are so low and it takes no effort to meet the standards the world requires.
For example, many American men will take their sons to the local bar when they reach around twenty years of age. A dad might say to his son, “Son, let’s have a drink together. It is about time you became a man.” Dads who do this, lower the standard of living for their sons.
God knew the world would always be trying to lure Christians down to its sinful standards. This is why God’s Word orders that we be “not conformed to the world.”
That is, “Do not allow the world to squeeze you into its mold.” When one allows the world to squeeze him into its mold, then he is a carbon copy of worldly people.
John was aware that the church of Ephesus was becoming a carbon copy of the lost world in which they lived. Again, they had a rich spiritual heritage, but as time passed they were drifting farther and farther from it.
Oh how it behooves us to be on guard more and more. As Christians, daily we find we are different from most people we associate with, and are surrounded by, each day.
The children and grandchildren of the members of the first Christian church began to COMPROMISE their teachings because it was less of a “hassle” to conform to the lifestyle of lost people around them than to continue firm in Jesus’ teachings.
Again, to understand the epistles of John, we have to understand THE HERITAGE AND COMPROMISE of the Ephesian Christians. Also.
C. THEIR OPPOSITION The apostle Paul had spiritual foresight. He could foresee problems were going to come to the church of Ephesus.
Look at Acts 20:29-30. We read, “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”
Notice that Paul warned them that after he departed men would come in as “...grievous wolves...”
WHAT DID HE SAY THEY WOULD DO?
He said they would speak, “...perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”
Look at the word “perverse.” This is translated from the Greed word, “distrepho,” which means: “To distort, misinterpret, corrupt.”
WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS?
Look at verse 30, “...to draw away disciples after them.”
This is one thing many in church have always failed to understand - OUR OPPOSITION IS NOT FROM OUTSIDE OF THE WALLS OF OUR CHURCHES AS MUCH AS IT IS FROM WITHIN.
The devil has always tried to destroy God’s church from within, not from without!
Paul knew that “perverted teachers,” with their hidden agendas, would try to draw men to themselves after he was gone.
John deals with this problem in his epistles. We have seen, their HERITAGE, their COMPROMISE, and their OPPOSITION. Let us look at one more thing about this church so we may get a better understanding of this book.
D. THEIR HERESY
Gnosticism was the heresy that was widespread in the church of Ephesus. It is somewhat difficult to understand because it takes on many forms. The Gnostics believed...
* All matter was essentially evil. Only spirit things can be good. Therefore Gnostics despised the body.
* Knowledge is the best of all, better than virtue. John used the word “KNOW,” 31 times in his epistles.
Gnostics also taught...
* Only a select few can understand the “true” meaning of the Scriptures and explain them to others. They discouraged Christians from studying God’s Word for themselves. They were not to read God’s Word unless there was a Gnostic there to tell them what was being said.
In other words, they thought like the commentators on today’s news broadcasts think.
Illus: That is, we can listen to the President speak as the commentators do, but they believe we are so dumb that we can not think for ourselves so someone comes on television as soon as the speech is done to tell us what the president said.
Gnostics also taught that...
* God could not have created the world by Himself since there is evil in the world, and God is not evil. So, they say He created one being a little less nice, who created another being a little lesser nice...eventually one of them created the world.
* Jesus could not be both human and divine since spirit and flesh can not mix. Some thought He was just a divine ghost.
* There can be no resurrection of the flesh.
* And, like all false teachings, they discredited the deity of Christ Jesus.
It is obvious that John was greatly concerned as he wrote to the Ephesian Christians in these three epistles and tried to warn them of the spiritual danger of gnosticism. He was not going to sit back and allow that heresy to be taught without dealing with it.
Before saying what he wanted to say about the false teachers, he first established his credentials. Let us look at...
I. HIS CREDENTIALS
John, the elder statesman, presented them with the true facts. Look at verses 1-4. We read, “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; (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 ye also may 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.”
The heretics taught two things:
1. They denied the reality of sin.
2. They denied that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.
John was not going to allow the false teachers to attack the deity of Christ without attacking them back.
If John had been like some folks in some churches today, he would have sat back and said they should not attack other religions even when they were obviously not Biblically Christian.
But John knew their were some things worth fighting for, and there were some things worth dying for! We ought to do everything we can to expose false religions for they damn souls.
So, when they attacked the deity of Christ, John countered by attacking them.
Remember, in the introduction to this sermon I pointed out Gnostics taught Jesus was no more than a divine ghost. In other words, the true stories the parents and grandparents told them about the risen Lord was only a myth. Gnostics implied He never really existed - He was no more than a divine ghost.
But look how John defends the deity of Christ.
Look at verse 1. We read, “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.” Then John goes on to say, in verses 2-4, “(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 ye also may 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”
Look at the word “manifested,” which is translated from the Greek word, “phaneroo,” which means: “To render, appear, show forth.”
This elderly statesman, one of the original twelve disciples, John, assured the churches that the things he knew about Christ were the things he had, heard with his own ears, seen with his own eyes, and touched with his hands. These were HIS CREDENTIALS. He saw, heard, and touched Jesus.
After John stated HIS CREDENTIALS. He then went on. Look at...
II. HIS CLAIM
John said that he had not only seen, heard, and touched Jesus, but that he wanted to tell them about the Savior that He had known so personally.
In the next verses he lays out his case like a Philadelphia lawyer. He showed them TWO things:
A. JOHN’S CLAIM
Look at verse 5. We read, “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.”
John said of the Savior HE SAW, HEARD, AND TOUCHED, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
Light represents what is good, pure, true and holy. Notice, what he said about “light,” “...in him is no darkness at all.”
For example, we walk into a room and turn the light on and we say that the room is light, but if you look closely you will find there are places in the room that are brighter than other places in the same room. That is, there are degrees of lightness in the room.
But, when it comes to God, there are no degrees of light. IN HIM THERE IS NO DARKNESS -- GOD IS LIGHT!
* God is not 95% holy. He is 100% holy.
* God is not 95% pure. He is 100% pure.
In Him is NO DARKNESS AT ALL!
John, who SAW, HEARD, AND TOUCHED JESUS, CLAIMED THAT THIS WAS THE KIND OF SAVIOR HE PERSONALLY KNEW.
Then John said that if you claim to know the Savior that he knew there are some things you need to consider.
Look at...
B. OUR CLAIM
Look at verse 6. We read, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.”
Remember the Gnostics taught that it does not matter what we do with our flesh because God only cares about the spirit of man.
But John, who had known Jesus personally, said, THAT IS NOT THE CASE! John said that GOD IS LIGHT, IN HIM IS NO DARKNESS.
If John could be here to preach to today’s church and knew how many professed to be saved but still walked “in darkness,” he would say, very compassionately, perhaps shedding tears, “You are deceiving yourselves; you are not saved.”
Some would be quick to accuse John of being a legalist, but John was not practicing legalism! He was simply telling all who claim to know Christ that when we are saved by the grace of God, we no longer practice sin in our lives.
You see, every mortal on earth was born in sin and has sin in his life. There is not a person in church this week who has lived a perfect life.
Illus: The difference between we who are saved by the grace of God, and those who are not saved, is the way we approach sin.
* THE SINNER, lives for, and in, sin. He does not make any plans to even try to please a holy God.
* THE SAVED, may also find themselves involved in sin, but it is a thing resulting from a moment of weakness. Once committed, the saved person is remorseful and asks God to forgive him and help him not to sin again.
But, the Gnostics were teaching that it did not matter what one did with his human body. They taught that God did not care about the physical body, all God cared about was the spirit of the man.
SO, JOHN SAID THAT HE HAD A PROBLEM WITH THAT. WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?
John said the problem was this, verse 5, “...God is light, and in him is NO DARKNESS AT ALL.” Again, if we WALK IN DARKNESS and we ABIDE IN HIM, that would mean GOD COULD NOT BE A GOD OF LIGHT IN WHICH IS NO DARKNESS! But GOD IS NOT A GOD OF DARKNESS.
John said that the Lord HE SAW, HEARD, AND TOUCHED is a God of light and if you claim to be His child and you walk in darkness, then, John said, you are a LIAR!
John is known for his gentleness, but when he heard that the Gnostics were teaching one could be a child of God, saved by His marvelous grace, and walk in darkness, John told the believers that everything the Gnostics were teaching them was NOT TRUE!
This gnosticism is widespread today in our churches. All across, “Christian” America there are people who claim to be Christians and claim to be WALKING IN THE LIGHT, BUT ARE WALKING IN DARKNESS AT THE SAME TIME. There have been times in America when people in churches...
* Could not have joined a Bible-believing church if they were living a sinful lifestyle.
* Could not hold an office in a church if they dressed and/or talked in ungodly ways.
* Could not sing in the choir and go to ungodly places.
* Could not be an usher if they were known as “deadbeats” around town.
Yet today some of the most ungodly people on earth claim to be children of God while living like children of the devil and church leaders allow them to be leaders in churches.
Jesus told a crowd who came to Him, Luke 3:7, “Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
Listen, if Jesus had been like some present-day pastors and had seen a multitude coming to Him to be baptized, He would have said, “Wow! Man I am good! Look at this multitude of people who have come to Me to be baptized!”
Jesus did not say that because He knew those people were ungodly and they did not want to do what was right. Jesus went on to tell them that just being descendants of Abraham would not save them. He told them to “Bring forth...fruits worthy of repentance...” and then come back and He would baptize them.
Illus: In many churches today people go into a baptistery dry sinners and come out the other side wet sinners.
John was saying that the Lord He SAW, HEARD, AND TOUCHED, IS THE GOD OF LIFE AND LIGHT AND IN HIM IS NO DARKNESS, AND if a man claims to walk in that light and fellowship with Him and walks in darkness, that man is a liar.
Conclusion/Summary:
John let us know this wonder Savior, Who has come down from heaven to die for our sins. HE CAN DO NO MORE THAN WHAT HE HAS DONE!
A farmer was out plowing his field one spring morning. He came to one particularly wet place and his tractor became stuck in the mud. The harder he tried to free it, the deeper it became mired.
Finally he walked over to his neighbor’s to ask for help. The neighbor came over and looked at the situation. He shook his head, then said, “It doesn’t look good, but I tell you what. I’ll give it a try pulling you out, but if we don’t get it out, I’ll come sit in the mud with ya!”
Jesus humbled Himself enough to “sit in the mud,” with us when He left the portals of heaven to come and live among mankind.
BUT THE LORD IS NOT GOING TO WALLOW IN THE “MUD” OF SIN WITH ANYONE!
The Gnostics, who were teaching it does not matter how we live in the flesh, that God only cares about the spirit of man, were, and still are, false teachers! John has warned us. Now it is up to us to not be misled.
I. HIS CREDENTIALS
II. HIS CLAIM
