1 John 2

We are studying the general epistles, and we'll come to 1 John 2. We need probably to review a little bit about why John wrote this epistle. So if you would turn to 1 John, you'll see in 1 John 1.4, where John says one of the reasons that he writes this epistle is that your joy might be full. Then you notice in 1 John 2.1 says that I'm writing this epistle to you so that you sin not.

Then another purpose of writing this epistle, which is not just stated out writing the epistle itself, but it's contained within the internal material that is to combat Gnosticism. Gnosticism was quite a problem in the first and second century, and the apostles had to deal with it. Paul wrote against it, and so did John, and so did Peter. So I will quickly review a bit about Gnosticism and then go from there.

So I'll use this diagram, which most of you should be familiar with. Now I think this is the third time I've put it up here. The Gnostics taught that God was pure light, and this line would represent pure light. And the goal of humankind was to merge back into the light. And then it is said that each one of these lines were also called emanations, that in each one of these lines would sew another order of beings that were lesser in strength.

And these somehow would... and I don't know exactly what the process is, and none of them can explain it, but somehow each one of these emanations would, and they use the word sew, and so we'll see that in 1 John 3, verse 9, it says that God's seed is in you. So the seed that we have in us is not dependent upon any special knowledge per se, and as you went away from God, these bands of light became lesser.

And finally, and some of this is crazy. I read a lot about it. I've taught it in the past and all that, but in recent times read a lot more about it. In this last one here, this one is called Sophia. Sophia comes from the Greek word... Sophia is a Greek word for wisdom. Now, wisdom is personified in Proverbs chapter 8. So the the Gnostics would take up certain points about that they would get from Scripture and mix some of Scripture within it. It is said that this Sophia was... she somehow fell out of the emanations, and she was responsible for creating the demiurge and the material world.

This world up here was a spirit world, and it was all good. The material world was all bad. And so when it came to Christ being incarnated, they taught a doctrine that was called Docetism, D-O-C-E-T-I-S-M, which literally means seen, that Christ was like a phantom in human form.

He didn't really make a footprint. It just seemed to be. And when they would reach out to touch him, it was like... We'd say, at times it really felt like there was flesh, but at other times it just seemed like your hand would go right through him. I know it's weird, but I mean... So the material world is Sophia, or wisdom, and what a contradiction that is.

How would wisdom be the one... somehow Sophia fell out of the emanations, and she's responsible for creating the demiurge, which is darkness, or the evil one, and the material world. And so in this position, she endured tremendous suffering, and somehow to relieve her suffering, she brought forth the one known as Jesus Christ, who was of the Spirit. And so this one, Jesus Christ, was the Savior, and through the knowledge of that and the Spirit emanations, you were able to get back to God.

So some of the terminology that is used, and some of the points that John makes, are related to this. This whole concept, this whole... this part here, we were encircled, this part. This was called the Pleroma, which means the fullness. And look at Colossians 2, verse 9. This word, Pleroma, means to fill up, or the fullness. So Paul, in Colossians 2, well, Colossians, the whole epistle, especially 1 and 2, he also writes combating Gnosticism.

You look at Colossians 2, 9, it says, and him, that is, in Christ, dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, that there are not parts to God that Jesus, in Jesus Christ, dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And so the Gnostics taught that there were these various... they spell this, not eons, not... A-E-O-N, what these emanations, not A-I-O-N, the age, that all of this together constituted the Pleroma, the fullness of God, whereas the Bible says that in Jesus Christ dwelled all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Now, the Gnostics taught that there were two classes of people. The two classes of people were the pneumaticoi, and pneumaticoi is the Greek word from which you get spirit, pneumaticoi, and the sy-ki-koi, sy-ki for the word, Greek word, mind. Pneumatic, of course, you hear about pneumatic tires, if filled with air. Pneumatic is a Greek word that's translated sometime wind, and sometime it is translated spirit.

And then sy-ki-koi, these were the Gnostics. These were the people who were really with it. These were the people who had superior knowledge. Mind, these people were... they taught there was a third class. These were the beastly kind of people in the animal kind of class.

Now, in the Bible, there are scriptures that use these two words, these two classes. So we want to go now, turn to Jude, verse 19. Jude, verse 19, these are they who separate themselves sensual, having not the spirit, having not the pneumaticoi. The sensual are those who are the sy-ki-koi, different ones.

Now, what the Gnostics did, they developed a mystical form of who constituted the pneumaticoi and who constituted the sy-ki-koi. And in the Bible, once again here, the word spirit is the pneumaticoi, and the sensual would be the sy-ki-koi. Now, you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2, these two words are used. And so, it's not what the Bible teaches, but they made this mystical kind of separation for human beings. So some of the language that John uses in this epistle is combating these various aspects of Gnosticism.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14, but the natural man, that is the sy-ki-koi, the natural man or the sensual man, receives not the things of, and this would be Numa, the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually pneumaticoi discerned. But he that is pneumaticoi judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. So they made a separation that here we have these, they're special ones.

And of course, the Bible is talking about those who have the Spirit of God and those who don't have the Spirit of God. Now, another great thing we'll read into this. Okay, let's begin there in 1 John 2 and verse 1. Now, one of the things that the Gnostics taught, we'll refer to chapter 1 here just a moment. One of the things that the Gnostics taught that some of them taught that they were perfect, that they had no sin.

Now, this part about not sinning, can you sin, cannot sin, plays a big role here in 1 John. You look into chapter 1 there, and John makes the statement, verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So some of the pneumaticoi said, we don't, we're perfect. We haven't sinned.

We are of the spiritual mind and we have not sinned. And then there were others in the Gnostic realm who were antinomians against the law, no law. So John says in 1 John 3, 4, sin is the transgression of the law, and it has a lot more to say about the law. So you begin to understand some of these things that John writes about and why he says things the way he does.

Now in 1 John 2, 1, my little children, and John Technion, the little children, it is thought that the way he addresses this, he says, I write unto you children, I write unto you young men, I write unto you fathers, that these are various levels of spiritual maturity. Whether or not that's true or not, I don't know altogether. But Technion is diminutive for an infant. Little children, it is Technion. It is diminutive, it is use of infants.

My little children, these things are right unto you, that you sin not. So one of the great purposes was not to sin. How do you stay away from sin? How can you lead the sinless life? And if any man sin, of course we've already read, and when we get to chapter 3 verses 6 through 9, it seems like there's a contradiction, and we'll thoroughly discuss that, because it makes it clear in chapter 1 verse 10, which we've read, if any person say that he sins not, he's a liar.

And here we say, if a man sins, then he has an advocate with a father. Now this word that is translated advocate here is the Greek word paracletos. I hope you are writing these things down. We are delving into, if you want deeper understanding of that which is spiritual, that which has to do with the very words of life, paracletos literally means one alongside.

Now there's a great debate, and we had it back in the early 2000s, in which one minister wrote an article for the ministerial journal, in which he made it sound like that the paracletos, the comforter, the one alongside, was like a different personage from Jesus Christ. Now look at John 14.23.

John 14 and verse 23. We ought to read 14.28 first. John 14.28. No, it's 26. John 14.26. But the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit. Okay, the paracletos, this same word is translated advocate. Same word that's translated advocate in 1 John 2.1. But the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the life essence of God and Christ. But the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name.

So the Holy Spirit can be personified in the name of Jesus Christ. Did you get that? The Holy Spirit can be personified in the name of Jesus Christ. Who will send it in my name. It shall, really the grammar should be He because comforter is masculine. The Holy Spirit, the word spirit is neuter. It shall, I'll just go ahead and use it grammatically. It's He. It shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. So each one of us who has received the Spirit of God has the Holy Spirit within us.

The paracletus, the comforter. It's not just alongside. It is in us. Now you look at verse 23.

So through the Spirit of God we can say that the Father dwells in us, that Jesus Christ dwells in us. We will make our abode with Him. Now this advocate is the spiritual essence of God in Christ, and we have it within us. We read that we'll be sent in the name of Jesus Christ, so Jesus Christ plays a role in it. You look at Acts 2, and Peter's sermon that was preached on the day of Pentecost. What Peter says here in Acts 2. In verse 32, this Jesus, as God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses, therefore, being by the right hand of God, exalted. Where is Jesus Christ now? He sat down with His Father on His throne. In the millennium, Christ will have His throne and the Father a throne as well. Therefore, being by the right hand of God, exalted, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has shed forth this which you now see and hear. So the Holy Spirit was sent the Comforter alongside. The Holy Spirit knows the mind of God in Christ. Christ is in the role of the intercessor. So our Hebrews 7.25 that we have quoted so often in recent times. In the role of the intercessor, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us and groanings that cannot be uttered. That's Romans 8. But don't miss the point here. God and Jesus Christ are not separated from the Holy Spirit. They are. That is their essence. God is Spirit. In Hebrews 7.25, Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them. So Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father makes intercession for us according to the will of the Father. We have an advocate, a paracletus, one alongside, one who will plead our case. Some people have used the analogy of a defense attorney, that the defense attorney will plead our case before the prosecutor. Satan, on the one hand, slanders us, tries to get us to sin, deceives us as everything he can, and then at the same time, he prosecutes us before the throne of God, who is before the throne of God, slandering us day and night. So this part about the Holy Spirit, it is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ. There is one Spirit. The same Spirit that is in God is in Christ, as in each one of us, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. Look at John 15.26. That's why the Holy Spirit is called. That's why the Father is the Father, because it is the Father who begets us. John 15.26, When the Comforter is come. And we read from John 14.26 that the Comforter is the Holy Spirit. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceeds from the Father. It's like if you want to use the analogy of electricity, you have a power station generating the electricity, and it goes out from that power station. There are lines that carry it out. The lights are burning because somewhere a power station has helped bring this light into here. And the Holy Spirit had shed on us through Christ. He plays some kind of role in it. But the source of it is the Father. It proceeds from the Father. The great split in nominal Christendom occurred circa 1000 AD between the Eastern Church, who had their headquarters in Constantinople, in the Western Church with their headquarters in Rome, over the possession of the Holy Spirit. The Western Church is the Catholic Church. The Eastern Church came to be known as the Greek Orthodox Church. And the Russian Orthodox Church is basically a carbon copy of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Eastern Church argued that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only. And so that is in agreement with the Bible. Whereas the Western Church said it proceeds from the Father and the Son.

This understanding of the Holy Spirit, even in our fundamentals of belief, we've been looking at that. I really... it needs to be updated a little bit with regard to... it sort of captures it, but it could be clearer. It does say the Holy Spirit, the life, essence of God in Christ.

So this advocate...

We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. So here we see that this advocate, the paracletos, the one alongside, is Jesus Christ through the Spirit. He's not separated from His Spirit.

And He is a propitiation for our sins. Now this is not exactly the same Greek word that's used in Romans chapter 3, but it... there's no need to try to go into the details of the difference between those two words. This word is hilasmos, and it's one who goes in your stead, in your place. He is a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now remember, there are three Greek words that are translated world. This word is cosmos. It means the total order of the universe. And then there's aeon, oftentimes translated age or world, and also chronos, which is sometimes translated world or time.

In hereby we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. So here it shows that antinomianism is not correct. Literally, antinomianism means against the law. So the law is in effect, no matter what the Gnostic says. There are two brands of Gnosticism, one aesthetic, denying the flesh, the other is like, well, we are spiritual, we have this superior mind, the flesh is nothing. You can just let the flesh do anything it wants to, fulfill the desires of the flesh. We're above all of that. I know it's crazy, but this is some of the things they dealt with.

And you really think about it, it's no crazier than some of the things that you deal with today. You can't have it both ways. Basically, that's what the world has tried to do, is have it both ways. And hereby we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. So there's no need to talk about whether or not the law is in effect if we read here that we don't even know Him if we don't keep His commandments. Then verse 4 is one of the strongest verses in the whole Bible with regard to that. He that says, I know Him...

This word, no, means to know. If you really know Him, He that says, I know Him and keeps not His commandments is a liar.

I mean, how more direct can you be? And the truth is not any.

Now John, the Apostle John, is called the Apostle of Love. The Apostle John is called the Apostle of Love. And of course, he defines love in 1 John 5.3, for this is the love of God, and we should keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. So you see the emphasis and the connection between commandments and love. They are inextricably linked together. And one of the great internal evidences, of course, between who is the author of 1 John and the Gospel of John, is the commonality of the language. Let's go to the Gospel of John now, and look at this. About, if you know Him, you'll keep My commandments.

In John, the Gospel of John 15, verse 10, If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

Notice the commonality. These things have outspoken unto you that My joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. Almost the same as 1 John 1.4. You cannot have full joy and have this sense of guilt that John talks about in 1 John chapter 3. A sense of guilt and a condemnation of self. And if your conscience has not been seared, you will have a sense of guilt when you disobey.

So once again, 1 John 2.4, He that says, I know Him and keeps not His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. But who so keeps His word in Him verily is the love of God perfected. How do you perfect the love of God? By keeping His commandments, doing what He says. Hereby know we that we are in Him. You know, Christ's prayer in John 17 is, I in them and they in me, that we might be one as you and I are one. Christ's prayer of the Father to the Father about oneness. Now this word that we'll see in verse 6 is a word that we must spend some time with and come to understand along with one other word. 1 John 2.6, He that says, He abides in Him, ought Himself also to walk even as He walked. Now the word abide, the word abide, the Greek word is spelled M-E-N-O, mino, longo, mino. It is translated 27 times as abide. Matthew 10-11, And into whatsoever city or town you enter inquire in it, who is worthy, and there abide till you go there. So in this case, it has to do with staying in this house, abiding in it. This word has several different nuances and meanings. Now I'm reading from Luke 19 verse 4. And He ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was to pass that way. Zacchaeus was a wee wee little man, and a wee little man was he. Zacchaeus climbed up into a sycamore tree for the Lord He wanted to see. So this is about Zacchaeus. So it's Luke 19-5, And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw Him and said unto Him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide in your house.

So several times, this word mino is translated abide. It means, it can mean to stay in a place, to live in a place. It's also translated abideth twenty times. It's translated abode twelve times. It's translated dwell ten times. It's translated remain eight times. And it's translated continue seven times. And it's translated tarry, or wait, tarry is the word in the King James translation, six times. It would not do violence to the Scripture to say, if He that says He continues in Him ought Himself also so to walk even as He walked. If you're abiding with someone, you continue in that position. Now to go into a house, you may abide there for three or four days or three or four months. But when it comes to God abiding with us, it is a continual process. Now you've got to keep this in mind. So we look at John 15 again, and notice this connection here with abiding and staying in it. And in this case, the it is in God and Christ.

See, we'll see how this verifies what I just said.

In John 15, verse 4, abide in me. I mean, continue in me. Live in me. You're not going anywhere else. It's not like you went to this house and you major abode there two days. This is abide in me. Stay there. Abide in me and I in you. Abide in me and I in you. We have this symbiotic relationship.

Of course, it's not symbiotic in the sense that God or Christ doesn't depend on us. For existence, as in a, I guess you would call it, true symbiotic relationship. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. You cut the vine off from the branch, the vine dies. So you have to continue. Abide in me. Accept it, abide in the vine. No more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branch. As he that abides in me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. The ability to do things spiritual depends on this abiding that you're connected to the analogy, the branch, that you're connected by the Holy Spirit to Christ and to God. Verse 6, if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. So this emphasis in the Gospel of John, this word abide is, in the companion Bible, it has, I guess there's probably a list of about 25 or 30 words here that are unique to the Gospel of John. Unique in the sense, not unique in the technical sense of one and only, but he uses certain phrases more than anybody else. In the Gospel of John and in 1 John 1, 2, and 3, John writes four books in the New Testament. 1 John 2 and 3 are only one chapter. This word abide is used in the Gospel of John 41 times. Believe is used 99 times. The Father is used 121 times. Now just by comparison, the Gospel of Matthew uses abide three times. The Gospel of Mark uses abide two times. The Gospel of Luke uses abide seven times. John in his Gospel uses it 41 times. Now that's not counting 1, 2, and 3 John. When you count those, he uses it 67 times in all. So this continuation of being connected to God and Christ through the Holy Spirit. Abide in me and I abide in you. That's very important in what he's going to say in chapter 3 as well. So we keep that in mind. Now we go to verse 7. We'll read 6 again. We'll read 6 again.

Brethren, I write, Now that old commandment, what John is called the Apostle of Love, and what he's going to launch into here, has to do with loving your brother, loving your neighbor. Now let's go back to Leviticus 19 and verse 18, and we can see the old commandment. Leviticus 19 and verse 17. In Leviticus 19 and 17, Notice this. This is Leviticus 19 and 18. Notice this. This is Leviticus 19 and 18. Notice this. This is Leviticus 19 and 18.

So he says, It's an old commandment which you have heard from the beginning. Now there is a new aspect of it. In 1 John 2.8, So even in the law, the Pentateuch, verse 5 books, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness has passed. See, there is no demiurge. There is no darkness in God or Christ at all. And the true light now shines. It's not any kind of light that the Gnostics teach. The new commandment. Now look at John 13 and verse 34. The Gospel of John 1334. The Gospel of John 1334. Guess what? A new commandment I give unto you. So you see the internal evidence between the Epistles very often. A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another. The new part here is, as I have loved you.

As I have loved you. How much did he love them? He loved them so much that he gave his life for them. A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have loved one to another. Now under the terms of the Old Covenant, to a large degree, the manifestation of your love to God was, did you do all of the things contained in the Mosaic law perfectly? Now we did read Leviticus 19-18, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Now we go to 15 again.

In 15 again, verse 12, This is my commandment, you love one another, as I have loved you, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. It's just over and over again. Now we're going to get into the kicker of how this love is manifested to a large degree in chapter 3.

So here's the guy who breaks into the house, points the gun, you step in front of your wife just before the gun is fired, you lay down your life for your wife in that sense. Or the neighbor's house burns down and you're quick to help him. And there are so many different ways that you can serve in that sense. But we'll be talking about something more in chapter 3.

So verse 8, 1 John 2, 8, Again, a new commandment of right unto you, which thing is true in him? And in you because the darkness is past and the true light now shines. He that says he is in the light, so the Gnostic emanations, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. 1 John 4, verses 15 and 16 also addresses this. You cannot love God and not love your neighbor. They are reciprocals. You can't have one without the other.

And of course, that is a great mistake that connected with what has been made with so many in the church through the ages. I don't have to care for them. I love God. What he does doesn't bother me. Faulted reasoning.

Now verse 10, He that loves his brother abides, see he lives, he's in the light continually. We've already stressed that. He's in the light continually. He remains in the light. He doesn't leave the light. He's in the light all the time.

He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. See, once again, for this is the love of God, we should keep his commandments. Commandments are grievous. If you, of course, there's a verse that says that if you love, then you have fulfilled the commandments. But then you've got to define love. Now verse 11, So if you don't abide, you're in the darkness.

Notice that for his namesake. See, God has kept his promises through the ages for his namesake.

Among other things, he is faithful to his promise. For example, when the spies went out, brought back the evil report from the land of promise, and the people rose up going to kill Joshua, Caleb, Moses, Aaron, and Moses interceded. And one of the things he said in his intercessory prayer was, well, what would the nations think? You know, think about your name. Think about your reputation. They will say that this one who claimed to be the great God was not able to keep his promises.

And so, from the Garden of Eden, when the Redeemer was promised to the present day, God has kept his promise. His name has not been besmirched. So this phrase here, your sins forgiven you for his namesake.

He provided a Redeemer to buy us back. Now you see this, I write unto you fathers. I've been using the expression, I write unto you little children, the techni. And this Greek word is pater, literally father or parent. I write unto you fathers because you have known him. That is from the beginning, I write unto you young men, and young men here is Nianiskos, youth, generally thought to be anyone under 40. I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children because you have known the father. So in whatever age group or maturity level you find yourself, John says I'm writing unto you. I've written unto you fathers because you have known him. From the beginning, I write unto you young men because you are strong. And the word of God abides in you. It's living in there.

You have overcome the wicked one.

So how do you overcome the wicked one? One of the main ways. How did Jesus Christ overcome Satan in his temptation?

He quoted Scripture. For it is written.

Love not the world.

Once again, it's cosmos, this order of things. Of course, Satan the devil has dressed up the world with a glamor and glitz of this world. And we have talked about in the announcement session how the morality of this world has plummeted so much in the past year or two.

And people, there is a tyranny of the politically correct, or whatever you want to call them, the in-group, the crowd. You cannot be elected to public office if you openly take a stand against what I'm talking about. You might be on the local level or maybe even on the state level, depending on the state, of course. And I wonder even now about Texas, the fastest growing cities, well, three of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. are Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston. Houston has added 35,000 people in recent times. 35,000. As has been said, there will be another Houston by the early 20s. And as they come in, they bring with them the culture or whatever it is. And with every time that you try to, even if you try to amalgamate the cultures, generally it is the prevailing norm. And here are the stupid politicians who try to placate a certain group in order to gain their vote. Regardless of what they stand for, let's play up to them. Love not the world. Of course, James makes this point. He says, if any man love the world, the truth of God is not in him. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Hopefully we begin to see one of the things, the points that I made when we launched the study of the General Epistles. A lot of people say, and back several years ago, people would say, oh, the General Epistles, that's the milk of the word. No. I mean, if you fulfill what the General Epistles say, you are on your way to great spiritual maturity. The Epistles of Paul tells you how to get going. Of course, there's some going on to perfection in Paul's Epistles. But here is the bottom line here. It has to do with you've got to be a mature person to be able to do the things contained in the General Epistles. Verse 16, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, this lust is epidomea, longing, forbidden desire, to want something that you shouldn't have, to desire it to the point that you're willing to sin, that you're willing to covet, to steal, to do whatever. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. This mass murder that took place up there where these people were killed. Can you imagine they said this little boy, ten years old, I think he is or was, was probably tortured and they were actually beaten to death. Can you imagine bludgeoning someone to death? I mean, is it about money or is it just because you're that evil? Maybe he was on ice, this so-called new form of meth. There are three different kinds. Australia has declared it an epidemic because of what it's doing to the young people there. And of course it's here as well. It's a synthetic form that causes one to be far more aggressive and violent. The lust of the eyes and the pride of life. You get on this ice, it's like there's a high and a person feels invincible and their strength is increased. And so they can conquer the world. Don't get in my way. The lust of the eyes and the love and the pride of life. And the temptation that Satan offered Jesus Christ, first of all, to jump off the pinnacle of the temple. Well, first of all, it's turned the stones into bread. Of course, he was really hungry. You could call that lust of the flesh. Jump off the temple as angels will bear you up.

And then the pride of life. He will bow down and worship me. I'll give you the kingdoms of the world. In all cases, Christ resisted the devil by saying, it is written. The pride of life. Oh, you can rule over the whole world. You can do whatever you want to do if you just go with me. If you'll be politically correct, if you'll be tolerant, if you don't take a stand, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And guess what? Verse 17, And the world passes away in the lust thereof, but he that does.

Now we are introduced into one of the main words in Paul's John's epistle here, Poaio. Spell P-O-I-E-O. If you don't do anything else, you need to learn about abides and poaio.

We're going to look at poaio because it plays an important part in explaining some of the things in chapter 3 that are difficult to explain.

He that does the will of God abides forever, continues ever. Of course, you have eternal life. Poaio is P-O-I-E-O and it's pronounced poi-a-o. It means to make or to do, to commit, to continue. So this word, poi-aio, I've got to find it once again here. This word appears 596 times in the New Testament. 596 times. It's translated do 198 times. It's translated did 53 times. It's translated done 52 times. It's translated made 51 times.

It's translated make 47 times. Doeth 34 times, which we see here. And do S 14 times. Fourth, F-O-R-T-H, 14 times. Doing 8 times, bring it 7 times, making 7 times, bring 6, make it 6, rot 5. So you begin to see here, one of the rules of proper exegesis has to do with translation and the meaning of the word. What does the word mean and how is it used? So we look at made in Matthew 19.4, and he answered and said unto them, Have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female? And so it's poi-eo. The best, probably the best translation in this is what we have here in 1 John. Like, for example, in 1 John 37. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that does righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous.

Another meaning of poi-eo means to exercise, to continually do it. So you have abiding continually in Christ and you have doing continually. We'll see how that plays out.

Abiding continually and doing continually the will of God. But he that does the will of God abides forever. Little children, it is the last time. Now this word time in the Greek is ora, H-O-R-A, and it literally means hour. It is the last hour. It's not just the last time. He says it is the last hour. And as you have heard that Antichrist shall come. The Gnostics were Antichrist because they were docitus. That is, they taught that Jesus Christ did not literally come in the flesh, but he just seemed to be. So Antichrist are those who deny that Christ is coming the flesh the way that John uses it here. That Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last ora, H-O-R-A, the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not of us. Why did they go out? Well, probably because they became deceived by this, quote, special knowledge. We have special knowledge. If you just understood what we understand, you know, if you understood all of the things that were contained in Judaism, it would give you so much more understanding today. So some people take up on going through what ancient Israel went through with regard to dress and to the various decorative items that they would put on their being. And this gives you more understanding. Well, I doubt it. They went out from us because they were not of us. If they had been, they would have continued with us.

This word continued here. Guess what this word is? It's mino. It means to stay, to abide, to continue to dwell. So we have had people that would leave and not continue with us because we're not righteous enough for them.

But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But you have an unction. This word, unction, here is an interesting word. It is chrism.

It means an actual, it means smearing or rubbing in, like you take ointment and you rub it in. And it is within your skin, it is within your being. We have an unction from the Holy One. And that unction, of course, is the Holy Spirit. We have this Holy Spirit, the very essence of God within us. And you know all things. You don't need special knowledge. It doesn't mean that you know all things of every last physical or even spiritual thing. You have sufficient knowledge under salvation. I'm not written under you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. How many lies are contained in Gnosticism? Well, it's a mythical, philosophical construct that contains elements of Platonism, what Plato taught, Greek philosophy, with a little bit of words from the New Testament thrown in.

I've written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denies, here we have it again, that Jesus is the Christ. He is Christ. He came in the flesh. He came to pay for the sins of the world. He is any Christ that denies the Father and the Son. Whosoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father. It's just like you can't say that you love God at the same time hate your neighbor. But he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also.

Let that therefore abide in you. Continue what is abiding in you? Well, God and Christ through the Holy Spirit. Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. The Spirit of God, the truth of God. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, what is that word, remain? It is minot. The same word that is translated, abide. If you continue apart from me, you can do nothing. Abide in me, but if you separate from the vine, cut off from me, you can do nothing. So you could just as easily translate it, the beginning. You have heard from the beginning, shall abide in you. You also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. Who makes their abode in you? I read it, John 14, 26. We shall make our abode in you. And this is the promise that He has promised us, eternal life. These things have a written unto you concerning them that seduce you. So how do they try to seduce them through special knowledge, various forms of Gnosticism? It seems so unbelievable, but one thing that you need to understand about the ancient world, that when Alexander the Great conquered the Western world, basically it went as far as India. Greek became the language, first of all, of the educated, and then it was also, to a large degree, what was spoken even in Palestine. It was Aramaic and Greek. It talks about the Hellens in Acts 6. And so the Greek language was like universal. Now, the good part about that is that it allowed so many more people to be able to be exposed to the truth in the Bible. See, Alexander the Great conquered the Western world. He founded the city. One of the great learning centers of the ancient world was Alexandria. There were three great learning centers, Jerusalem, Alexandria in Egypt, and Tarsus in Asia Minor. In Alexandria, in the late 200s, say circa from 250 to 300 BC, the Jews who spoke Greek translated the Old Testament into Greek. And so it became more available and readable to more people. But they didn't have a Bible like we had. They just had scrolls. This translation is called the Septuagint, meaning of the 70. The 70 scholars translated the Bible into Greek. The Bible is the Greek, Christ, and the apostles. Basically, when they quote from the Old Testament, they quote the Septuagint. The Masoretic texts were not even developed until between 700 and 1000 AD, almost 1000 years after the Septuagint. Now, a lot of people talk about the Masoretic texts, and they don't really know what they're talking about, but that's the facts of it.

These things have a written under you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing, and here the word is charisma, from which we get charismatic. The charisma and the gift, charisma is also associated with gifts of the Holy Spirit. But this anointing, this charisma, this rubbing in, which you receive of Him, abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things. And of course, some people read this and say, oh, we don't need any teacher, but of course, I'm not going to... I'll just refer to Acts 8, 9, 10, where Philip was sitting up in the chariot. I mean, the Ethiopian eunuch sitting in the chariot, Philip comes along and says, do you understand what you're reading? And the Ethiopian eunuch says, how can I, unless someone teach me?

And so one of the offices in the church, of course, was teachers. The same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him. Once again, that word, abide, continue, stay there, live there, be there. And now, little children, abide in Him, abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. It is continually this thing of abide in Me, Him abiding in you, this continual communication between God and Christ, the Word of God, the Spirit of God, continually.

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that does righteousness is born of Him. Now we're introduced, once again, to the word, ganowal.

Ganowal is spelled G-E-N-N-A-O, longo. Ganowal. It means when you use the action of the Father to beget, when you use the action of the Mother to give birth, to bring forth. He that does righteousness is begotten of Him.

Behold, what matter of love the Father has bestowed upon us, Chapter 3, that we should be called the sons of God, the weos, H-U-I-O-S. In this case, though, this sons is the Greek word teknon, that is in other places translated as little children. What love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the little children of God, therefore the world, the cosmos, knows us not because it knew Him not. The world hasn't really known the Father. The Father hasn't really revealed Himself to all of the world. Jesus Christ came to reveal the Father to the world. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. This, once again, is teknon, little children. And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. It says in Revelation 22, verse 4, I've started, for the most part, closing funerals with Revelation 22 and verse 4, where it says, and we shall look on His face, and we shall see His face.

For we shall see Him as He is.

No man can look on God and live, so that means that we are in a glorified state in resurrection. And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure. This word purifies as hagnidzo. H-A-Z-I'm sorry, H-A-G-N-I-Z-O. H-A-G-N-I-Z-O. Hagnidzo means to make clean. He sanctifies, ceremonially or morally.

And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure. Whosoever commits. What do you think this word commits is? It is poiello. Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law. For sin is the transgression of the law. And you know that He was manifested, that is Jesus Christ, to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. Now these next four verses are four of the most discussed and probably misunderstood in the Bible. It's among those. It has to do with what the Protestants call eternal security of the believer. It has to do with whether or not obedience is required for salvation.

It has to do with a lot of things.

Now, see there, the alternatives here, you can read it one way, it sounds like, that if you're really abiding in Christ, you cannot sin.

On the other hand, it may sound like that, in some way to use verse 9, in the sense that, because Gedal is involved there, that once you are resurrected, you cannot sin.

I taught General Epistles for years at college, and I'm not saying that is any kind of credential, I'm just telling you what I taught then. And if you want to say, well, when was it? Was Mr. Arthur O'Dellalog? Yeah, he was. With regard to this verse, these series of verses.

So, verse 6, Whosoever abides, and we have talked a lot about it, continues, remains, lives in me, I live in them, Whosoever abides in him, sins not. Now, John is not contradicting what he said in verse 10, that he who says that he is without sin is a liar, and the truth is not any. He's not contradicting 1 John 2.1, if a man sin, he is saying, look, if you are really abiding in God and Christ, it is possible to overcome, to basically live a sinless life. Now, what we're talking about here is the guts that really needs to be understood. See, the Bible teaches that we can overcome. To say that we will never be free or subject to sin is not true, because as long as we're in the flesh, we have the possibility of sinning.

But it is possible to conquer sin. How many times in the book of Revelation, he that overcometh, and here is the victory that we have overcome, even our faith. So it is possible to overcome.

Look at Romans chapter 8.

You know, some are saying, yeah, we want our services to be an hour and a half. We want to do a good little 35-minute sermon and get you out of there, and you'll be happy, and you'll come back. No, we're not going to the days of three-hour Bible studies.

Look at Romans chapter 8. I don't know what better use one can make of time if they are truly wanting to keep the Sabbath day holy than to study the Word of God. In Romans chapter 8, verse 2, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son, and the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. How did Christ condemn sin in the flesh? He showed that you could live in the flesh, be tempted in all points, and yet without sin. That is not to say that we can be perfect. See, the Gnostics taught, we talked about some of the Gnostics taught that they were sinless, that they were pneumaticoi, that they had the spiritual mind, they were above everything, and in that spiritual mind, they did not sin. And John says, if any man says he doesn't sin, he's a liar. And here he says that if we abide in him, we're not going to sin. And as we shall see, as a practice. But that's off the point right here, right now. Verse 4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. You see, if you walk after the spirit, you obey the spirit, and the spirit and the word are equated.

For they that are after the flesh do mine the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. See, how did Jesus Christ condemn sin in the flesh? He lived in the flesh, and he perfectly obeyed. Are we going to perfectly obey? No, we're not. But we can overcome sin to the point that we are, I guess you could use the word, we are not habitual sinners. We don't. And if you are truly abiding in him, as he wants us to abide in him, you can't overcome.

As the Scriptures clearly talk about that, overcoming. You look at Romans 8 and verse 13, which makes it imperative that you do overcome the flesh. Romans 8, 13, if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you, through the spirit, do put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. Once again, it doesn't mean we'll never sin, because we read the 1 John 2, 1, which says, I write unto you because I don't want you to sin, but if any man sin, he has an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So obviously, John is denying the possibility of sin, and if you do sin, you have that advocate with the Father. You can confess your sins, repent, and he's faithfully just to forgive you of all unrighteousness, and you maintain a right standing with God. And that right standing is maintained till you come to the point that you break that lifeline between you and God.

So, look at 1 John 3, 6 again. Whosoever abides, continues in, lives in, connected to. In him sins not. Whosoever sins had not seen him.

This is horaio, H-O-R-A-O, horaio. It means to stare, to discern clearly, physically, or mentally, by extension to attend to Hebraism, to experience. Whosoever sins have not experienced him, has not clearly seen him, has not really abiding in him, neither known him. So it is possible to overcome, but it is not to say that you will never sin. But if that abiding in that communion is what God intends it should be, you can overcome it. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that, and here we have that word, poi-eo, he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. Now we have, he that commits sin, poi-eo, who exercises, who habitually lives in sin, is of the devil. To just say, okay, you are here today, and did you sin at all last week in mind or spirit or any way? I would venture to say that every person probably sinned in some way last week. Did that make you of the devil? Well, if you continue in it, it makes you of the devil. So this word poi-eo, one of the meanings of poi-eo is to practice, to continue, to do it habitually. It's not to say that you will never slip. He that commits sin, or sins habitually, continually in it, is of the devil. For the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Now, some might sit there and say, now, wait a minute, I want it both ways. You cannot have it both ways. On the one hand, John says, John 1.10, that any man says he is not sin, he's a liar. Truth's not any. He says, if you do sin, you have an advocate. So to say that he that commits sin, you sin one time, you say, okay, now he's of the devil. It leads into, I got a message from Mr. Holiday this morning about a person at the home office talking about justification.

I don't think we really understand justification as we should. You know, the Romans 3.25, being justified freely, that by faith, if we say, this is a lie here in your sins here, you are justified here. How do you move from this side of the line into that side? And how do you move from this side of the line into this side, once you're justified? There are two basic things here. One is repentance, and the other is faith in the sacrifice of Christ. By the deeds of the law? No, but by faith. So once you repent, exercise faith in Christ, you are in a justified position. Now, some people view this almost like the barber's pole of a snake back in 2, or that one minute you're over here, the next minute you're there, and the man is like that. That's not the way it is. If you are justified, you remain in this position until you have cut off the lifeline, and the lifeline is broken, and it is impossible to renew that person to this position. So to say if I sin one sin, like if I have the wrong thought right now in sin, and I drop dead with a heart attack, am I over here? No. But if I, we could use any kind of thing that stretches, if this is the lifeline, the Holy Spirit, if I began to disobey and go the wrong way, this line becomes thinner and thinner, which I can't do adequately with this chalk.

Finally, you're out here, and it's broken. You're cut off. And once you're cut off, you're back here, and there's no way back to here. So if you habitually sin, then you are of the devil. To commit one sin is what the devil does. The devil is a sinner, a liar, and murderer from the beginning. So let's read that 8 again. He that poi eos sin, commits, continues, is of the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. So the devil has the power of life, the power to destroy us if we continue in it. But Jesus Christ came. Look at Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2 addresses this very thing. In verse 14, inasmuch then as the children of partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the scene that through death he might destroy him, that hath the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Then we come to verse 10. Whosoever, and historically we have wanted to say, okay, and it's true, this statement is true, whosoever is born of God. Now the word born is canal. It can mean begotten, or it can mean to bring forth, and resurrection is equated with birth. So we can say whosoever is resurrected as a spirit being does not commit sin. Well, that's obvious. For his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he is born as a spirit being. Well, that's obvious. But what John is more talking about is this. Whosoever is begotten of God does not continue in sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he is begotten of God. He cannot practice sin, and yet at the same time claim to be a son of God. So this verse 9 remains a conundrum to some degree. Now look at, I'm sorry that I never believed I would be going overtime, but I am. But anyhow, in verse 9, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin for his seed, and this word remains is minnow, continues in him, and he cannot sin because he is begotten of God. In other words, those who have been begotten of the Spirit of God do not habitually practice sin because the seed of God is in him. Now, you could also, the other way is to say, okay, I just believe that John here jumps track, and he's just saying that once you're resurrected, you cannot sin. As a radiant, glorious Spirit being, you cannot sin. But obviously, that's true. Okay, we'll pick it up here next time in our Bible study in, what's this month? This month is May, so I guess it's June. I hope that you will seriously consider this, the whole Bible study, and what it means in the total sense of to really abide in God and Christ.