1 John 1

 

Jesus is the Word of Life to mankind from the Father Creator

 

1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was revealed, and we have seen, and bear witness, and show you that Eternal Life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us;)

 

  • John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.

 

3 What we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we write these things to you, that your joy may be full.

 

  • John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves me, he will keep my words: my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.
  • Psalm 16:11: in your presence is fullness of joy…

 

5 This then is the message that we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and are not doing 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, cleanses 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.

 

  • Walking in light is walking in Him and His word because His word is where we get light and know Him. (Psalm 119:105, Psalm 119:130).
  • We are forgiven because of Christ’s work on the cross, not because we confess a sin.

 

10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

 

                                                1 John 2

 

Jesus is our advocate and the covering of our sins

 

1 My little children, I write these things to you so that you not be sinning. And if any man does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:  2 And he is the atonement for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

 

  • When an attorney today represents a client who is guilty, he places himself in an awkward position.
  • But our attorney in heaven made full restitution Himself; Jesus paid for all our crimes before God in full.
  • We, therefore, not only go free, but the record is wiped clean.

 

3 And by this we know that we know him, if we keep his commands. 4 He that says, I know him, and does not keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God is truly perfected: by this we know that we are in him. 6 He that says he abides in him ought to walk as he walked.

 

  • John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.

 

7 Brothers, I do not write a new command to you, but an old command that you had from the beginning. The old command is the word that you have heard from the beginning. 8 Again, I write to you a new commandment, which is true in him and in us: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shines. 9 He that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loves his brother stays in the light, and there is no offense in him. 11 But he that hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 12  I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. 13  I write to you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father.

 

  • John 14:9 Jesus said to him, … He that has seen me has seen the Father…
  • Colossians 2:9 For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
  • James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, or shadow of turning.

 

14  I have written to you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

 

  • Revelation 3:21 To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and have set down with my Father in his throne.

 

15 Do not love the world, or the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world passes away, and its lusts: but he that does the will of God remains forever.

 

  • Lusts are strong desires, desires that take control of our thinking and exclude God who is the source of our life and all good things.

 

God has anointed us with His Holy Spirit

 

18 Little children, it is the last hour: and as you have heard that antichrist will come, even now are there many antichrists; by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be revealed that they are not of us. 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.

 

  • Ephesians 1:13 (Jesus) In whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise

 

21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and no lie is of the truth.  22 Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son, that one does not have the Father: the one who confesses the Son also has the Father. 24 What you have heard from the beginning, let that remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you will continue in the Son, and in the Father.

 

  • There are many lies, but this is the basic definition of a liar: this is the foundation of lies.
  • Revelation 22:15 For outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.

 

He has promised us eternal life

 

25 And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life.  26 These things I have written to you concerning those that seduce you. 27 But the anointing that you have received of him stays in you, and you do not need any man to each you: but the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you will abide in him. 28 And now, little children, stay in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that every one doing righteousness is born of him.

 

                                               1 John 3

 

1 See what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we are called the sons of God: therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know him. 2 Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we will be: but we know that when he appears we will be like him because we will see him as he is.

 

  • Ezekiel 1:26 And above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, appearing like a sapphire stone: and on the throne was the likeness of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from his loins upward, and from his loins downward, I saw the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. 28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

 

God revealed His Son to destroy the works of the devil

 

3 And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. 4Whoever commits sin transgresses the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And you know that he was revealed to take away our sins; and no sin is in him. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning: whoever keeps on sinning has not seen him, or known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that keeps on sinning is of the devil for the devil sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed that he might destroy the works of the devil.  9 Whoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

 

  • Just like a baby cannot be unborn, so God’s seed in us cannot be undone.
  • The sin being spoken of in this passage is the sin of rejecting Christ as God’s son and the one who died for our sins.
  • John has already told us that we do sin in other ways.
  • 1John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If 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.
  • 1John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son, that one does not have the Father: (but) he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

 

10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are made apparent: whoever does not do righteousness is not of God, neither he that does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 Not like Cain who was of the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not marvel, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brothers. He that does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

 

God loves us enough to die for us

He is greater than our hearts and knows all things

 

16 By this we have known the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother having need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God dwell in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 19 By this we know that we are of the truth, and will assure our hearts before him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, then have we confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment, That we believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us. 24 And he that keeps his commands dwells in him, and he in him. By this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

 

  • John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and will be in you.
  • John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our dwelling with him.

 

                                               1 John 4

 

The greatest One is in us

 

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are from God: because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  2 By this know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God:  3 And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God: this is that spirit of antichrist which you have heard is coming; and even now is already in the world. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

 

  • Psalm 95:3 the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
  • John 14:20 At that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

 

God is love

 

5 They are from the world: therefore they speak from the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are from God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not from God does not hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is from God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God. 8 He that does not love does not know God; for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was revealed toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation/mercy seat for our sins.

 

  • John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

God’s love is perfected in us

 

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he has given us his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

 

  • John was the one God sent as a witness to testify to who was His eternal Son.
  • God told John that when he saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descend like a dove on a person. That was the one who was His Son.
  • When this happened, God’s voice spoke from heaven saying, You are My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
  • John 1:33 And I did not know him: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same One said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.
  • Luke 3:22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.

 

God is love

 

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. 17 In this our love is made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he loved us first. 20 If a man says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And we have this commandment from him, That he who loves God love his brother also.

 

                                               1 John 5

 

1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loves him that Fathered also loves him that is Fathered by him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

 

  • Verse 1 settles the dispute about who are Christians and who are not Christians.
  • ‘Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.’
  • It’s not about us and our works but Him and His works.
  • The book of James makes it clear that those who believe will have works.
  • But the works are not what makes them Christians.
  • James 1:18 Of his own will he Fathered us with the word of truth, that we be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

 

Jesus is the Son of God

God’s witness is greater than man’s witness

 

4 For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.  5 Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.  9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God that he has testified of his Son.

 

  • Jesus’ works showed who He was.
  • No other person in history controlled the forces of nature, stilling the storms and withering the fig tree with a word. 
  • He controlled all disease. He walked on water and raised the dead.
  • This is the witness of the Father.
  • There were so many eye witnesses to these events that they couldn’t credibly be denied while the witnesses were alive.
  • We still have 4 credible eyewitness accounts in the gospels.
  • John 15:24 If I had not done among them the works that no other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

 

10 He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself: he that does not believe God has made him a liar; because he did not believe the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that has the Son has life; and he that does not have the Son of God does not have life.

 

  • When we don’t believe what God has said, we are calling the Maker of the universe a liar, the One who holds are life and breath in His hands.

 

13  I have written these things to you that believe on the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the person of the Son of God. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us: 15 And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 16 If any man sees his brother sin a sin that is not to death, he will ask, and he will give him life for those that sin not to death. There is a sin to death: I do not say that he should pray for it.

 

  • This is the most amazing provision in the world. Whatever we ask!
  • Also we can pray for others who sin and God will forgive them and put them back in fellowship with Himself.
  • But God will not do this if it is a capital crime punishable by death according to His law such as kidnapping, rape, murder, witchcraft, idolatry, etc.
  • Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; why will you die, O house of Israel?

 

17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. 18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he that is begotten of God guards himself, and that wicked one does not touch him. 19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness.

 

  • ‘lies in wickedness’ is correctly translated ‘carried sleeping in the arms of the Wicked one.”

 

The Son of God has come and has given us understanding

He is the true God and eternal life

 

20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols. Amen.

 

  • Idols are anything we love and trust more than God.
  • If we love anything more than God we are missing out on life’s most astounding blessing.
  • All the delightful and wonderful things of this life are tiny compared to the wonder that is God.
  • And He died to bring us into a relationship with Himself.
  • John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
  • Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to abide his indignation.

 

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SUMMARY: 1 John 1-5

 

  • Jesus is the Word of Life to mankind from the Father Creator
  • Jesus is our advocate and the covering of our sins
  • God has anointed us with His Holy Spirit
  • He has promised us eternal life
  • God revealed His Son to destroy the works of the devil
  • God loves us enough to die for us
  • He is greater than our hearts and knows all things
  • The greatest One is in us
  • God is love
  • God’s love is perfected in us
  • God is love
  • Jesus is the Son of God
  • God’s witness is greater than man’s witness
  • The Son of God has come and has given us understanding
  • He is the true God and eternal life