1 John

Today we begin a study of 1 John. 1 John is one of my favorite books in the Bible. It is a gold mine that can never be fully mined. You can study it the rest of your life, and there would still be nuggets to be gleaned from this wonderful epistle. 1 John. First of all, we want to set some of the background for this epistle. 1 John.

The authorship, of course, in today's world and among so-called scholars, there is nothing that is not controversial and debated, but there are three pieces of evidence which prove that John the Apostle wrote this epistle. The writer states that he is an eyewitness of the early life of Christ. Look there at verse 1. 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. So the author says, I am an eyewitness of all of that. 2 So surely that would apply to the Apostle John. 2 And then secondly, he speaks with an air of authority.

Such an air of authority, if you look at chapter 4 and verse 1, the air of authority that John uses in this epistle. John was quite a contrast in one sense of study.

On the one hand, time after time in the Gospel of John, John writes the Gospel of John in the third person. And he refers to himself as the Apostle whom Jesus loved, the one who was leaning on his breast at the Passover that when Jesus Christ instituted the symbols of the new covenant Passover.

In John chapter 4, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone into the world. And one of the things that we'll talk about that he is combating, especially Gnosticism and some false prophets that had arisen in the Church.

Hereby we know the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ, and this verb is in the progressive sense, is coming in the flesh is of God. Of course, the Gnostics denied that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, and as they had a dualistic view, of human nature. Remember the Sabbath that in the Bible study that I took the time to go over Gnosticism. I had the board up here, the line all the way across, they said it's pure light of God, and then emanations from God going down to blackness, to the demiurge, that which is without light, the demiurge, so-called creator of the physical world, and God and Christ would have nothing to do with the physical world because they were pure, good, all light, and hence did not create the physical world, and also would say that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh because God would not have anything to do with flesh, that flesh had to be purified, and the way for purification was through knowledge and going back through these various bands of light.

Now verse 3 here, in every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. So, very strong authoritative statement. What are we talking about? The internal evidence that John is the author. An eyewitness, he speaks with great authority. He that says that is that the spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world, the spirit of antichrist. Of course, the spirit of antichrist was when Satan rebelled, in essence, the spirit of antichrist came into the universe.

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. On that Passover evening when Jesus Christ instituted the symbols of the new covenant, he told them to be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Verse 5, they are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them. Now, this is the verse of verses with regard to authority. We are of God, he that knows God hears us, not the false teachers. Those that are of God hears us. He that is not of God hears not us, hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So the great deciding point John says is if you hear us. And the third thing, the similarities of thought and verbal expressions between the Gospel of John and 1 John are very striking. It would be doubtful that you would have different authors who write such similar verses. For example, we go back to 1 John verse 1. Back to 1 John verse 1. That which was from the beginning. Okay, if you go to John, the Gospel of John 1 1, if you want to turn there to John 1 1, and what you'll see there. By the way, this Hebraic expression in the beginning, in Hebrew thought, it was understood that the term in the beginning meant before anything else. It is the point of origin. And as far as origin is concerned, both the father and the son are eternal. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And as I have pointed out, there are three things that are shown here in this verse 1 of John 1 1.

In the beginning was the Word. The Greek word for was, e-e-n, is equivalent to the English to be or to exist. So in the beginning, the Word existed, and that is before any physical creation, because He is the agent of creation. Through Him all things were made. So obviously, it is before anything was made. In Hebrews 7, 3, 4, Hebrews 7 verses 3 and 4 says, without father, without mother, without descent, without beginning or end of days, abides one eternally after the order of Melchizedek.

And the Word was with God, showing relationship. The father and the Word had an intimate, personal relationship from in eternity. And of course, Philippians 2 tells you how that the Word humbled Himself and took on the form of a man. And then the Word was God, showing the identity of the Word. So the writer says that he's an eyewitness, that he had authority, and it shows that authority in the epistle, and the similarity between the Gospel of John and this epistle. It seems little doubt that the Apostle John is the author. He says he is, so.

The date is in dispute sometime probably between 65 and 85 A.D. The place of writing is Ephesus.

Let's talk a bit about Ephesus. Ancient Ephesus was located in the southwestern part of Asia Minor. Ephesus was on the coast of Asia Minor and on the Aegean Sea.

So Ephesus was in the ancient world, one of the most important and greatest seaports in the ancient world. It was a place where Paul had visited and had raised up the church there, and it was a place where the Apostle John eventually went to Ephesus. Ephesus was a great city in the ancient world. It was at the mouth of the Castor River, and in addition to that, it was on the seacoast, the Aegean Sea, so a very important seaport. Three major roads led from the seaport. One road went east towards Babylon, modern day Iraq by way of Laodicea, another to the north by way of Smyrna, and a third south to the meander valley. So it had both sea lanes for shipping, and it had overland routes to go to other parts of the Roman Empire. Located in Ephesus was the Temple of Artemis. The Temple of Artemis is considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was dedicated to the goddess of the hunt.

Some of the foundation still resides there in ancient Ephesus today.

It says here that one column remains of this temple, which was measured 425 feet long, 220 feet wide, and 60 feet high. It was quite a sight. There was another wonder of the ancient world in the Aegean Sea area, and that was the Colossus of Roads on the Isle of Roads, the Island of Roads.

John states in Revelation that he was on the Isle of Patmos when the Book of Revelation was revealed to him, and Patmos was one of the many places that the Romans would send political prisoners, people that they would exile. And Patmos is, I'm estimating, maybe 50, 60 miles, maybe not that far, almost immediately due west from Ephesus. So you're on the coastline, and you look out, maybe, I'm guessing around 50 miles, would be the Isle of Patmos. Patmos was 10 miles long, and an average of three miles wide. At the widest point, it was six miles. So it was about 30 something square miles, the Isle of Patmos. So that's where Romans would send people that they wanted to banish. Now, according to, and I did quite a bit of research on this both past and in recent times, in 95 AD, according to tradition preserved by Irenaeus, I wrote an extensive paper one time in graduate school on Irenaeus. Irenaeus was the bishop of Lyon. Lyon is one of the principal cities in France in the southern area. My wife and I spent the night there in Lyon once upon a time. Beautiful area in France. So Irenaeus, Eusebius, Eusebius is a famous church historian in Jerome, and some others, wrote about John, and to a large degree, confirmed this, or supported whichever word you want to use, of what happened to John. John was exiled to Patmos in the 14th year of the reign of Domitian.

And the reason was he would not stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now, when you look at some of the people in the New Testament and what they did and what they went through, in comparison to us, I mean, it's like, where are we? I mean, when Jesus Christ started his earthly ministry, and he went about calling out his disciples. Here's Peter, James, and John. And Peter had a very prosperous, apparently, fishing business, and it says, you know, leave your nets, leave your fishing, come and follow me. I'll make you fishers of men, and not just going out to fish for food to eat. And so they apparently gave up basically everything, and they became what we might call today itinerary preachers going all over Judea.

They ate together, they traveled together, and they witnessed so many things, and Jesus Christ performed all of those miracles. And yet, at the same time, they really didn't get it until he opened their eyes of understanding, as it says in the last chapter of Luke 24.

The last chapter is chapter 24, and they began to really understand what it was all about. But even just before the ascension in Acts chapter 1, they asked, will you restore the kingdom at this time?

Jesus said, this gospel of the kingdom will have to be preached in Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

And so these people went through unbelievable suffering, hardship, and carrying out the mission that had been given to them. John would not stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The gospel declares that Jesus is Lord and the Son of God, but Domitian decreed that he be called Dominus et Deus, Lord and God, or Dominus et Deus. To shut him up, Domitian had John thrown into...

he brought him to, according to the legend, he brought him to Rome, to the Colosseum, and they prepared a pot of boiling oil, and they put John in the pot of boiling oil, and it did not kill him. He came out of the pot, and Domitian beside himself, a pot of oil didn't kill him, didn't shut him up, so he exiled him to Patmos.

But John suffered no injury, so the only way that Domitian could get rid of him was to exile him to Patmos. Domitian had already exiled one of his wives. It was here on this island that the apostle wrote a revelation, the Apokalipsis, and John, during his exile in Patmos, lodged in a grotto, which is really a cave, which they claim is still there today. It's called the Apokalipsis.

After Domitian died in 97 AD, it is reported that John returned to Ephesus and lived out his life there, dying at an old age. It was said he was the youngest of the apostles. You remember those last few verses there in the Gospel of John, where Christ told Peter that he would be crucified down. And then Peter said, well, what about this one here, about John? And Christ said, well, if he lives till I come, what is that to you? Those standing by said, well, he's saying that John is not going to die. But then it says in the Scriptures, he did not say that John was not going to die, but that if he lives till Christ comes, so on. So you could read the last few verses of John 21. The cave where John supposedly received these visions in writing the book of Revelation is still there, and Patmos is very much a tourist site. I think, well, he has said in his lack of wisdom, Mr. Lucas, that he's going to Turkey for the feast as he's traveled far and wide.

I doubt they visit Patmos, but they might visit Ephesus in some of those areas retracing the seven churches mentioned in Revelation. So several historians, Thucydides, Pliny, Strabo, Tertullian, who was called one of the pre-Nicene church fathers, they lent credence to this legend of what we've just talked about about John. When John was in those latter years, he trained a man named Polycarp, who became the bishop of Smyrna. And this was important because Polycarp was able to carry John's message to future generations, sort of like the condition that we're in today in the church in which we are.

We know that so many of us are reaching the end of our life's journey in the flesh, and that we need to be training young men to stand in the gap and to take our place.

Polycarp taught Irenaeus, passing on to him stories about John. Irenaeus wrote a book, and you could probably find this book online. I know I had a copy when I wrote the paper that I wrote on the life of Irenaeus and some of his teachings. It's called Against Heresies by Irenaeus, spelled I-R-E-N-A-C-U-S. Against Heresies, Irenaeus. And Irenaeus relates how Polycarp told a story of John, the disciple. That John went to bathe at Ephesus and perceiving that Serenthus was in the bathhouse, rushed out of the bathhouse without bathing, exclaiming, let us flee lest even the bathhouse fall down, because Serenthus, the enemy of the truth, is within. And of course, John uses strong language in 2 John, 3 John about having nothing to do with those who are enemies of the truth.

If we look back at verse 1 once again, John 1.1, 1 John begins similar to the Gospel of John, which we've already noted, in asserting that Jesus Christ existed in eternity, but was made flesh and dwelt among us. Now, once again, keep in mind the Gnostic teaching that said that man has a dual nature, that man is flesh and material, but he has the divine spark which religious people today in the Protestant world would call the immortal soul, and that the way back to God was through knowledge and through going through these bands of light, to eventually reach the status that you once again are in the pure light and have reached, once again, the status of Godhood. But John says, look, that's not true. We have seen him. We've actually handled him, his flesh. We've heard him. We've seen him, and everything that goes with that. We have touched the flesh of the Savior of humanity. There's no doubt that he lived in the flesh.

John was standing there at the stake when Jesus was crucified. In fact, Jesus looked down and said, woman, look at your son, referring to John, that he is now the one who will be taking care of you, paraphrasing. The Gospel of John was written. You look down in verse 4.

One of the main reasons why he wrote it. In verse 4, it says that your joy might be full. There were several other reasons that he wrote it. 1 John 1.4, these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. We'll talk more about the structure of the epistle as we go along. Also, we look at verses 14, 21, and 26 in chapter 2, where he uses this term, I have written because such and such. In 1 John 2, verse 14, I have written unto you fathers, because you have known him, that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. In verse 21, he once again uses this term, I have written. Verse 21, I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. So these people are supposedly seasoned people who know the truth, but some had departed from the truth. Remember these epistles that we started with James, and then 1 and 2 Peter, and now with 1 John, they're called general epistles. Why are they called general epistles? Some call them Catholic epistles, which means universal. It's not addressed to any particular church, but it's general. It's for everybody, for all time.

Then in verse 26, once again he uses this term here, I've written. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. So there was a matter of the false teachers. And then in chapter 5, one of the most powerful statements and one of the main themes that's in the book in chapter 5 and verse 13, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.

So those are the incidences in which he uses this term I've written unto you for specific purposes. So the gospel was written that our joy might be fulfilled, and we read those verses of why he had written.

In the epistle, John combats the false teachers who had left the church, but were harassing the church and enticing it from a position outside, trying to draw away followers, trying to draw away people from the church. So John's audience needed reassurance of what they had embraced was indeed the truth, that Christ had come in the flesh, that he had died for the sins of the world, that he is now our intercessor, and that we are to live as he lived.

Now there's one report. Reportedly, the bishops of Asia Minor, that would, I guess, be all of these seven churches are mentioned in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, that the bishops of Asia Minor requested him to write his gospel to deal with the heresy of the Ebionites, or some call them Ebionites. The Ebionites asserted that Christ did not exist before he was begotten in the womb of Mary. That is a heresy that has arisen in the Church of God in recent times. And in fact, I wrote a paper combating the paper that one wrote who was an elder, no longer in united, and I just read a big thing from a person who sent this out last Sabbath.

He goes through a long thing about studying the names of God, how that the names of God reveal the nature of God and who he is. And after going through it, there were some interesting insights with regard to what the various names of God reveal. But when it got down to it, he wound up where Arius wound up, where the Jehovah's Witnesses wind up, and where so many wind up, that Jesus Christ, saying that Jesus Christ was a created being.

And thus, he has embraced the same error of Arius. I mean, it's so easy to combat that because Jesus Christ is the agent of creation, the one who became Jesus Christ the Word, because it says in Colossians 1, we should turn there, anyone who wants to say that what this person says is similar to the heresy that was developed by this man in Australia who has a following. He's on the web. He's on the web. That God created what would call the Council of Gods, spelled with a little G, little Yahweh's, I guess, and that one of these was over the rest, and he's the one that became Jesus Christ. But how can that be when you look at Colossians 1?

In verse 15, well, let's read 14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, that's Christ, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creation.

He was the firstborn of many brethren from the dead, Revelation 1.5, for by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible. Thus he cannot be a created being if all things were created by him.

Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him.

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning of the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Now, you look back there in Philippians chapter 2, and these three or four verses here in Philippians are among the greatest proofs of all proof that Jesus Christ pre-existed, and that he was on the God plane co-eternal, co-essential with the Father. Co-essential means of the same essence, of the same spirit. Colossians 2.6, As you have therefore, and I'm reading Colossians, I thought I'd turn Philippians. Philippians 2 and verse 5.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being, who Jesus Christ, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery or pachmos but a thing to be seized, because he was already on that plane to be equal to Isis with God.

He was equal in the sense of quality, not quantity, because he submitted himself, humbled himself, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant.

So if he's in the form of God, if he's in the form of a servant, if he wasn't in the form of a servant and died on the stake for sins, well then we don't have a Savior. The form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion, as a man he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the stake wherefore. So that this is why he gave up the glory that he had with the Father. He gave up his glory, but not his divinity. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, John 1.14. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I don't see...if you read the Bible, I don't understand how people can go off on these various tangents that they go off on. This man must have spent...well, he said, of course he talked about how if you wanted to be able to come to this knowledge that he had come to, you would have to pray and fast and do all the things that he did, so you'd come to understand this. But I mean, you can take two or three scriptures and just... in two minutes, basically everything he said.

So, the bishops in Asia Minor requested him to write this gospel to deal with the heresy of the Ebionites who said that Jesus Christ didn't exist until he was in the womb of Mary. However, they accepted him as the Messiah and Savior and held to the observance of many of the tenets of the Mosaic law. They label the Apostle Paul as a heretic. Because they thought that Paul was saying, doing away with the law, which he was not. Now, this book is called a letter. It's called an epistle, but it reads more like a homily since it lacks the salutation and closing which were characteristic of ancient letters. So, the overriding theme, 1 John, is in many ways a smorgasbord of theological concepts. So many different topics are dealt with. That's why it's like a gold mine. You could dig forever and you wouldn't get everything out of it. We're going to try to squeeze, and we've already been squeezing things out of it. Sort of like the example of, if you're at a pond, you take a handful of rocks, you can throw them out one at a time, or all together, and the ripples go out. And these ripples overlap each other. And so, in studying 1 John and the Gospel of John, both of them are somewhat repetitive. But even though it's written, they say that the Gospel of John is written on an eighth grade level. But it is, on the other hand, viewed as one of the greatest pieces of literature ever penned because of its simplicity and directness and the way that it comes across. I would say that the unifying theme of the Epistle is to present the authoritative evidence of whether a person is in the faith. Therefore, now listen to this, because of that, whether or not a person is in the faith, there are several verses that we're going to read in just a moment. So if you're preparing for Passover, this would be one of the ways you could determine whether or not you're ready. And we'll read those in just a moment. Once again, present authoritative evidence of whether a person is in the faith. You say that you're in the faith? Let's say you say you are anostic? That you really have knowledge? Well, let's test it out. Let's see.

He also presents the truth about the nature of Christ, that He was made flesh, He dwelt among us. The role of Jesus in the salvation process, without Jesus there is no Savior. It's about sacrificial love and the necessity of separating oneself from false teachers. Now, let's look at several verses here that have the words, hereby we know. Write that in your notes. Hereby we know. How do you know whether or not you're in the faith? So, an examination as we approach Passover, I'm going to read each one of these in 1 John 2.3. 1 John 2.3. And hereby we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.

In order to have fellowship, in 1 John 1, verses 5-6, it says, and our fellowship is with one another and with the Father and with Christ.

In fellowship, fellowship has to do with knowing, and knowing has to do with fellowship. Through fellowship, you can get to know. And, in order to fellowship, you have to know. Fellowship is dependent on knowing, and knowing is dependent on fellowship. You can't really get to know people unless you have fellowship with them. Now, fellowship with God and Christ are dependent upon believing and doing what they say. In other words, one must live by faith. So, this 1 John 2.3 again, and hereby we know that we know Him. In other words, hereby we know that we can have fellowship with God if we keep His commandments. We can't have fellowship with God if we don't. That's what it's saying. And we can judge ourselves whether or not we're doing that. In 1 John 2.5, But whoso keeps His word in Him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in Him. That's sort of another way of just saying what we just read in verse 3. But whoso keeps His word in Him. In other words, if you want to have the love of God perfected in you, you have to keep His word. That's what it says. But whoso keeps His word in Him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in Him. Now, chapter 3, verse 16. Once again, this is a standard. This is the criteria. Hereby we know. How do you know whether or not? 1 John 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God. So how do you know that God really loves you? Of course, this is almost parallel to the Gospel of John 3.16. God shall love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So this is almost parallel. Hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So then you get into this sacrificial love. And it is also to take Passover, reconcile to God, and reconcile to each member of the body of Christ. Hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down His life for us. How did He prove that He loved us? Well, He gave His life. And John 15 says, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down His life for His friends. Verse 19. 1 John 3.19, and hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. And that is preceded by the verse 18 to love in deed and action, and not just in word. 1 John 3.24, and he that keeps his commandments dwells in Him, and he in Him, and hereby we know that He abides in us by the Spirit which He has given us. Do you know that you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you? Well, obviously if you're not keeping the commandments, it would be doubtful.

And he that keeps His commandments dwells in Him, and he in Him, and it's through the Holy Spirit that we can dwell in Him, and hereby we know that He abides in us by the Spirit which He has given us. So you are the temple of the living God. His Spirit dwells in you. Now, chapter 4, verse 2. Chapter 4, verse 2. Hereby know you the Spirit of God. Every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh is of God. So there are many spirits out in the world. The first part of that chapter says, try the spirits, because many spirits are going out into the world, and these spirits are deceptive. I have had people back in, especially in 1995, just before things broke the way they did, who came to my house with gifts saying, I appreciate the stand you're taking, and I want to give you this. This is one of my special collection. And within three or four weeks later, saying, I would like to talk to you, I have come to a different conclusion. There's a spirit behind that, let me tell you. There's a spirit behind that. And once that spirit grabs hold of a person, it is very difficult to shake it loose, get rid of it. Verse 6, we are of God. This is 1 John 4, 6. We are of God, He that knows God hears us. He that is not of God hears not of us. All we would rather get our information off of Facebook, because they really know what they're talking about. No, that's hearsay. Sometimes it might be direct. In fact, I confronted one person who was putting things on a website that obviously had to have come from someone in the know. And I said, there's no other way that they could have done that. And I said, there's no other way that that knowledge would be known unless someone there had put it out. And that website shut down.

Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error. If you hear us talking about the apostles, inspired of God, moved by the Holy Spirit, verse 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit. Now there's another phrase, and this will be some duplication. The next one is two words. We know. We know. How do we know? Okay, we're going to read those verses. So we'll go back to chapter 2. Let's go back to chapter 2. And as I said, we'll also, in this, we will be duplicating the Hereby we know. We won't spend as much time. But if you write these verses down, you'll see this is a good way to take stock to examine. What was the overriding theme of the verses that we just read? If you just put it in everyday language, you have to keep the commandments of God.

And remember, the Apostle John was the Apostle of love. So now we're focused on the two words we know. And there will be overlap. 1 John 2.3, and hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. Verse 5, but whosoever keeps His word in Him verily is the love of God perfected, hereby know we that we are in Him. Verse 18 of chapter 2. 1 John 2.18, Little children, it is the last time, and as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrist, whereby we know that it is the last time. So there's an eschatological, end times part about this epistle, and some read this and say, okay, John said we know that it is the last time, therefore Christ must have come in the first century. Well, if He did, then we have to throw away nearly all the prophecies in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the minor prophets. The last days are here. The last days is an Hebraic expression that is used quite often. We are living in the last days. The last days were spoken of two thousand years ago.

Chapter 3, verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know. We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Verse 14, 1 John 3, 14. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death. Verse 19, 1 John 3, 19. And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him. 1 John 3, 24. And he that keeps his commandments dwells in Him, and he in Him, and hereby we know that he abides in us by the Spirit which is given us. 1 John 4, 6. We are of God. He that knows God hears us. He that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. 1 John 4, 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us because He's given us His Spirit. 1 John 5, verse 2. 1 John 5, verse 2. By this we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. Verse 15, 1 John 5, 15. And if we know that He hears us whatsoever we ask, we know that we will have the petitions that we desired of Him. 1 John 5, 18. We know that whosoever is begotten of God or born of God, sins not, but He that is begotten of God keeps Himself and that wicked one touches Him not. 1 John 5, 19. And we know that we are of God and the whole world lies in wickedness. Verse 20. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know 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. So all of those hereby we know and we know statements are ways whereby one can examine themselves and help prepare for the Passover. Now we go to 1 John again in chapter 1. We're already in 1 John, but chapter 1 and the verse by verse. Hopefully this has given you a somewhat of a feel for the life of the Apostle John and even though he's called the Apostle of Love, which he was at the same time, in no way is he antinomian. Antinomian means against the law. Nomian is from the Greek word nomos, which means law. 1 John 1-1. That which was from the beginning that which was from the beginning we turned to 1 John 1-1, I mean to John the gospel and saw that which we have heard, which we've seen, with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled the word of life. The word which made flesh dwelt among us man does not have a dual nature. Man is, of the dust of the ground, made of flesh, does not have an immortal soul.

Verse 2. 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. He was with the Father in the gospel of John chapter 17, I think it's verse 5, that says, Restore unto me the glory that I had with you before the world began. And we talked about Him giving up His glory but not His divinity. That which we have seen and heard we declare unto you that you also may have fellowship with us. You may have fellowship with us so each member of the body of Christ, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Fellowship is what all of these hereby we knows are hereby we know and we know. All of that is a part of I guess you could use the word qualifying for fellowship with God and Christ. If you're not doing those things you can't really be in fellowship with God and Christ.

And these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. How can your joy be full be filled with this? Because when you read this and understand the import of God and Christ and what they have done and their relationship to us it should be a joyous thing. That we can be in the true light with true fellowship. We can have our sins removed. We have an advocate with the Father, as we'll see in chapter 2. This then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare unto you. Well, they were taught by Jesus Christ for three and a half years, the apostles were. And declare unto you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. God is pure light. Of course, this is figurative language. Jesus Christ says, I am the light of the world.

Well, truth is equated with light. And also, the truth is equated with the Spirit of God. John 6, 63. The words I speak, they are spirit and they are light. They are light. So there's no place with God in which there is no light. He's all truth. Christ is all truth. The Word is truth. And there's no darkness there.

There's no demiurge out here that did anything. We read from Colossians chapter 1 that through Jesus Christ, all things were created. Visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, all things were created by Jesus Christ. Verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. What is the recurring theme over and over again?

If you want to have fellowship, if you want to know whether or not you're in the faith, then you have to do what God has said to do. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, oh, I know God, yeah, I know God, and we walk in darkness, we lie. See, darkness is equated with the opposite of not doing the truth. And do not the truth, so darkness and doing not the truth is equated, are equated.

But if we walk in the light, how do you walk in the light? What does David say? This is Psalm 119 verse 105. And your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. So the word of God is equated with a light, which we've already talked about. But once again, this is Psalm 119 verse 105. Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalm's written in parallelism. 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.

It is not through special knowledge that is gleaned by some person who spends a lifetime trying to figure out all the genealogies, the angles of this, that, or the other. It is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Of course, one must have, must repent and exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ in order for it to be applicable. But it is through that means, and blood is used for the life essence. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So apparently, some were saying that they were without sin, and all they needed was this knowledge, whatever that knowledge was, that they were teaching and deceiving and drawing people away by what they were saying and teaching.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we get to Psalm 103, that He removes from us our sins as far as the east is from the west, if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. And you're reminded of Romans 3.23, where Paul writes that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Actually, there should be no chapter break. I don't know why they would break it. My little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. So there's another reason for writing the epistle instead of written, it's right. My little children, these things are right unto you that you sin not. Time after time. Listen to what I say, do what I say, hereby we know. And if any man sin, we have an advocate. And this Greek word here for advocate is the same that is translated comforter. And John 14.26 says, the comforter is the Holy Spirit. Any man sin, we have an advocate, a patocletos, and say Jesus, the Holy Spirit, can be personified by the name of Jesus.

We have a patocletos, a comforter, with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We talked about two weeks ago how that Jesus Christ is our intercessor. We talked about Hebrews 7.25. He ever lives, make intercession for us, therefore He's able to save us to the uttermost. That we have this high priest sitting on the right hand of the Father, an advocate with the Father, a patocletos, with the Father, and He is a propitiation, that is Jesus Christ, Paul uses that word in Romans 3.25.

We have a propituation, and propituation means someone who went in our stead so that we would not have to die. So you see, once again, this book is a good book to read and to examine in preparation for Passover. This propituation is one that goes in our stead, hilasmos, h-i-l-a-s-m-o-s, hilasmos, for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was deemed worthy to be, to pay for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. When I had students to write back, of course after a year or two, they didn't write back about their life they had after Ambassador, this is post-1995, oh, we have this, we have this, we have praise worship! Recently I got a message from somebody in this thing they lived out toward, Edgewood or Grand Saline, I would like to know about your services, your praise worship, and so on. Of course we are to worship and praise God and song and all of that, but a lot of people now, they have what is called tradition, they have the alternate worship service, which is singing feel-good songs, and a lot of people go to that feel-good about themselves, they dress like they just can't come off a cattle drive and go to church, and the preachers dress down and all of that. Of course some places they have drive-in churches. I mean, let's get serious occasionally. Why have people lost their minds?

Verse 4, he that says, I know him and keeps not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. There's another guy, and I've got the second message from him this past week. I would imagine he's writing several of the ministers. He goes to the church website and it says contact from the website, and he writes about all of you who think you're so righteous, that you're doing all of those old things that the Jews did. Don't you understand Colossians 2, 14, 15? The handwriting of ordinance that was against us has been nailed to the cross. And here you are thinking you have to keep those holy days and Sabbath days and all of that. And so I send him back four or five scriptures and tell him to wake up and say, Hannah, such as the law is holy, just, and good, the law is spiritual, such as for this is the love of God that we should keep his commandments, his commandments are not grievous, such as circumcision is nothing, and neither is uncircumcision but keeping the commandments of God. And I say, what are you? Are you a God of God? The more sin, the more glory of God because it's his glory to pass over a transgression. Of course, that's faulty reasoning. And other scriptures as well. But he really doesn't answer those, he just comes back with another similar message. But how do you get around this scripture? He that says, I know him and keeps not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keeps his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby we know we that know we that we are in him. But whoso keeps his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. He that says he abides in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked. Okay, we're going to stop there for today. He goes off a little as a bit of a different subject is introduced here beginning with verse 7. So we will stop there. We'll take this up next time. Of course, April is going to be a very busy month here for us because we're having Gores Passover on Leaven Bread and also this hosting this ministerial conference. So it's going to be a busy month on many fronts. We're, I believe, from the I sent out the speaking schedule for the next quarter yesterday and I don't think we have a cybercast Bible study schedule for this next April. Also we have the first weekend in May, we have the GCE as well and everybody will be tuned in, the cybercast from Cincinnati on that first Sabbath in May. I think it's the second.