1 John
Some
Bible commentators I looked at, in preparing this study series on 1 John,
stated that this letter jumps around to many different theological points and
there is no consistent theme. One
example …
First John is, in many
ways, a smorgasbord
of theological concepts. It is virtually impossible to construct a convincing
and decisive outline, and its themes/purposes are everywhere mentioned (cf., e.g., 1.3, 4;
2.1, 12, 13, 14, 21, 26; 5.13), yet
no unifying theme or purpose can be easily construed from them. (1 John:
Introduction, Argument, and Outline By: Daniel
B. Wallace , Th.M., Ph.D.)
But I
believe there is a very definite theme to 1 John.
God is not a postmodernist who views things as
subjective or relative. In other words
with God everything is truth or lie, light or darkness, love or hate. If we say that He is our Lord and we follow
Him we must understand the truth of God.
We must bring our ideas and motives in line with the Truth that is God
by His Word. John understood this
concept probably better than any other Apostle because in all his letters there
is a recurring theme of opposites. This
is why I have titled these lessons in 1 John by asking the same questions John
asks? Are you walking in light or
darkness? Are you obedient or disobedient, truthful or a liar, abiding or
shrinking away? Do you have new life or
are you living in sin? Do you love or
hate? Do you believe in Christ or
antichrist? Do you love or fear? Do you believe or are you on your way to
death? Are you in Christ or in the
power of the evil one? These are the
questions that John asks which are a test both for believers and unbelievers.
Background Information
John is the author of the Gospel of John as well as 1, 2
& 3 John. Which came first, the
Gospel or the epistle? It is the
majority view of scholars that the Gospel of John was written in 65 AD, then
the epistle was written in the late 60s (c. 66-69). 1 John was written to a group of people, possibly
in more than one Asiatic community, with whom the author was personally
acquainted and who were threatened with the same types of false teachings. False teachers had left the church (2:19),
but were harassing the church and enticing it from a position outside. John’s
audience needed reassurance that what they had embraced—viz., that Christ had
come in the flesh—was true. John assures his audience of this truth—as well as
the truth of the Gospel in general—on two grounds: (1) he was an eyewitness to Christ
(1.1-3), and (2) the Spirit bore witness to their spirit that these things were
true (2.20, 27). First John lays the
basis by describing the Person in Whom we as believers have life, and the proof
that He is who He said He was.
1 John 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what
we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched
with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—
1 John 1:2 and the life was manifested, and we
have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with
the Father and was manifested to us--
1 John 1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim
to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our
fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:4 These things we write, so that our joy
may be made complete.
Jesus Christ testified about Himself that He was from the beginning. In fact He stated that He was God and always had been God.
John 8:58 "I tell you the truth," Jesus
answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"
John heard this and wrote it down in the Gospel of John. John states that the disciples heard, saw, looked at and touched Jesus and therefore they could testify and proclaim what He was to the world. They had heard Jesus confirm that He was the Son of God.
Luke 22:70 They all asked, "Are you then the Son
of God?" He replied, "You are right in saying I am."
John 5:25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and
has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those
who hear will live.
They saw Jesus Christ with their own eyes. They followed Him, saw His miracles, listened to His teachings and believed on Him as Messiah.
John 1:14 The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,
the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and
truth.
Acts 10:39-40
"We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the
Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised
him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.
The disciples also looked at and touched Jesus. This is especially referring to the fact that they actually looked at and touched Jesus after His resurrection. First of all they saw the empty tomb.
John 20:1-8
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary
Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the
entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the
one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and
we don’t know where they have put him!" So Peter and the other disciple
started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter
and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of
linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him,
arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as
well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was
folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who
had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
There were then many appearances of Jesus Christ to more than 500 witnesses after His resurrection, but particularly to the 12 disciples. Remember the story of Thomas?
John 20:24-29 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the
Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told
him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless
I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and
put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." A week later his
disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors
were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with
you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands.
Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him,
"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have
not seen and yet have believed."
Those who had not seen are those other than the 500 witnesses. That would be all of us today. So there had to be a record of those who were firsthand eyewitnesses and that is what we have in the books of the New Testament. To establish a fact in any court it has always been held that you have to have the word of at least two firsthand eyewitnesses. We have more then 500 who testified to Jesus’ resurrection in the Bible!
The Word of Life was manifested to us so that we might have eternal life. If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we then have fellowship with other believers and with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our joy is then made complete because we have become one with Christ as His bridegroom.
Mark
10:9 Therefore what God has joined
together, let man not separate."
We are to keep the bond of unity we have in Christ by being children of the Light and living in that Light.
Ephesians 4:3 Make every effort to keep the unity of
the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you
are light in the Lord. Live as children of light
1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from
Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness
at all.
1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with
Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself
is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus
His Son cleanses us from all sin.
God is Light. There is not one tiny bit of darkness in God. Someday darkness, death and sin will be thrown into the fire and will never be in the universe again. If we say we are children of the Light yet walk in the darkness of our old sin nature, we are liars. There are no shades of gray with God. It is either Light or darkness. If we say we are His children, then we also need to demonstrate that there are no shades of gray in our belief system and live that out. There is either God’s light and truth, or there is no light and truth at all. This is hard for us to comprehend sometimes. We cannot have fellowship with God if we are still living in darkness because He IS Light. If you are living in darkness you have no part in the Light. In pure light there is no darkness. If darkness is introduced it is because of our sin, not any defect in God. God has given us forgiveness of sins in His Son and His indwelling Holy Spirit. We are then expected to live in His Light, not go back to darkness, or live in shades of gray.
There is a distinction that John consistently makes between those who are unsaved and saved. Those who are unsaved cannot help but practice sin. Those who are saved have the power to overcome sin, repent of sin, and turn from sin. But if they practice sin they show they are not really children of the Light. To practice something means to continually go over and over something until it become second nature.
The
word “practice” is used 8 times in 1 John.
This is significant. This is a
key word to help us understand what John is addressing. The word “practice” in Greek is “poieo” poy-eh’-o meaning: do, make, bring forth,
commit, cause, work, show, bear, keep, fulfill, deal, perform, and
practice. If we say that we are in
Christ and yet walk in darkness we are lying because we show we are not
committed to the truth. We said we were
committed when we first believed, but then in actual practice we may end up
demonstrating the truth or lie of what we have said. Unbelievers do not and cannot practice truth. They have no desire to do so on a consistent
basis. Believers are given the Holy
Spirit as Helper and have the power to live in the truth. If true believers lie they confess that sin,
ask God to forgive them, and commit to telling the truth as a life
practice. People who say they are
Christians but continually practice lying demonstrate that they are not in the
Light but still in the darkness.
If we confess our sins, we have the blood of Jesus Christ
to cover those sins. If we say we are
children of Light yet continue to practice sin, there is no difference between
unbelievers and us. We don’t just have
an automatic covering for continual sin.
The covering of the blood of Christ covers sins that are repented of and
turned away from. If we find ourselves
practicing unrepentant sin over and over again then we should test ourselves to
see if we are really born again.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you— unless, of course, you fail the
test?
We must not be children of Light in name only. We must also be children of Light in practice.
1 John 1:8 If
we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in
us.
To understand this verse we have to skip ahead
again to see what some say that John is talking about in 1 John 3:7-10, that is
that a Christian just does not sin.
This would be those who are called “Holiness” teachers. That is not what
John is talking about. We will get to
that set of verses later, but this verse is written to Christians so John is
actually stating that we are all sinners.
But the difference for Christians is that they have forgiveness in
Christ. A popular saying among
Christians is “I’m a sinner saved by grace”.
But this is based on two things: Jesus death on the cross to pay the
penalty of sin and our recognition of sin and repentance from it through the
conviction of the Holy Spirit.
John 16:8 When he comes (the Holy Spirit), he will
convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
Unfortunately we have many teachers today who,
in one way or another, teach that Christians can no longer sin at all. These would be the Holiness teachers, as
well as strict Calvinists. The
Holiness teachers claim when you become a Christian you no longer sin based on
these same verses. But that is not what
John is saying at all, in fact this letter is addressed to Christians telling
them that if they claim they no longer sin they are deceived liars. Strict Calvinists teach this in a different
way with the same outcome. They teach
that once you are saved you are always saved and that God will cause you not to
sin anymore. They do not encourage
Christians to repent of sin but rather to claim the victory they have in
Christ. This is not the biblical
way. Christians must continue to admit
they are sinners saved by grace. They
must confess their sins, but the wonderful thing is that since they are
believers they have forgiveness when they confess sin.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
1 John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
So
Christians need to realize they are not without sin, but that they have a Savior
Who will forgive their sin, as opposed to unbelievers. They must not practice sin, but rather
confess sin when the Holy Spirit convicts them of it through the Word of
God. Finally they must not claim they
have not sinned because that actually makes God out to be a liar. Those who claim Christians no longer sin do
not have God’s Word hidden in their hearts, otherwise they would tell the
truth.
Psalms 119:11 I have hidden
your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
John continues on with his sermon on how God
views these issues. Last lesson he was
talking about light and darkness and the fact that if we are born again we will
then live in the Light, not darkness as we did previously. In this lesson he talks about obedience or
disobedience.
1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these
things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
1 John 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for
our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
John was an older man by the time he wrote his three letters. Perhaps not as old as during his last book, Revelation, but he is now an elder in the church and a number of the disciples have already been martyred for the Faith. John uses the term “my little children” because he is a foundational apostle of the Church and those to whom he is writing heard the Gospel and were discipled through him. They were still relatively young believers in Christ.
John gives the reason for his writing this letter. “So that you may not sin”. Again, since this letter it written to Christians this proves that Christians still sin. But as we discussed before they are no longer bound to the habit of sin, they no longer practice sin. Instead they have an advocate with the Father and forgiveness of sins if they repent of them. If Christians do not repent of sin they prove they wish to practice sin. It is only because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we have accepted by faith whereby we can be seen as righteous before the Father with forgiveness of sins.
Philippians
3:9 and be found in him, not having
a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is
through faith in Christ— the righteousness that comes from God and is by
faith.
2 Corinthians
5:21 God made him who had no sin to be
sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
When Jesus Christ died on the cross he
sacrificed His life for all your sins, past, present and future. He did this for the whole world. Yet most of the world does not believe in
Him. It is only by believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ that a person can be born again and receive the indwelling
Holy Spirit.
Romans
10:9-10 That if you confess with
your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that
you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess
and are saved.
What is it that we confess
with our mouths? First of all that
Jesus is Lord. Second we confess our
sins.
Acts
3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God,
so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the
Lord,
Acts
2:38 Peter replied, "Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
When you receive the Holy Spirit you then have
the power to resist practicing sin, to be convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit
and realize your sin, and to repent of sin.
The unbeliever does not have this available to him. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is a
once-for-all payment for the penalty of death which is the wages of sin. But until a person believes that Jesus
Christ is Who He claimed to be, that is God, and recognizes, confesses and
repents (turns from) their sins Christ’s death on the cross is of no use to
them. Some Universalists and others use
this verse that Christ died for the sins of the whole world to try to argue
that all men will be saved. That is not
the case. The perfect Lamb laid down
His life as a sacrifice for many, but few will believe and accept that gift. Jesus Christ only makes His children holy by
his death on the cross.
Hebrews
10:14 because by one sacrifice he
has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
1 John 2:3 By this we know that we have come to
know Him, if we keep His commandments.
1 John 2:4 The one who says, "I have come
to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth
is not in him;
1 John 2:5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the
love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
But there is a way to tell if a person has
truly believed and repented of their sins.
That is if they obey the Lord.
There are many today, particularly false apostles, false teachers, false
prophets and false Christs who claim, “I have come to know Him”. But it is by their obedience to the Word of
God that we will know if they are telling the truth. This is the criterion for someone who is truly born again.
John 14:23-24
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.
My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He
who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are
not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
Be careful of those who claim to love the Lord when they do not obey His Word. It is one thing if they are shown that they are disobeying the Lord and they repent. But false teachers almost never repent. They believe they are above repentance. One thing I have learned about false teachers. They claim to love the Lord but when they are confronted with their false teaching and false prophecies they lie. This is the mark of an unregenerate person.
It is worthy to note that John begins to lay out a fact that has been forgotten today in the churches and which is elaborated by Paul. If a person is a clear false teacher and has been confronted with their false teaching and does not repent of it, we are no longer to listen to that person.
Rom. 16:17 I
urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put
obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep
away from them.
But some
continue to listen to false teachers saying they can “chew the meat and spit
out the bones.” But God does not view
them that way. He says clearly “the
truth is not in them”. If they are
found to be liars, then everything they do and say has lies running through
it. God calls false teachers who are
unregenerate and who lie, because they do not obey the commands of God,
“evildoers”.
Matt. 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord,
Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform
many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from
me, you evildoers!’
So we
know we are in the Lord if we keep His commands, obey His Word. Then we know that the love of God is perfect
and being perfected in us. It is
perfect because we are truly born again if we obey the Lord. It is being perfected because, once the Holy
Spirit is in our lives and we obey Him, we will become more and more like
Christ.
Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all
this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that
for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
1 John 2:6 the one who says he abides in Him
ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
What is this talking about? You have to go back to the verse before to
understand that John is telling us that we need to walk in obedience to Jesus
Christ and His Word just as the Son walked in obedience to the Father.
Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the
one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one
man the many will be made righteous.
Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do
my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
So if we say we abide (stay, remain) in
Christ, then we will demonstrate it by walking in obedience to Jesus Christ
just as He walked in obedience to the Father.
1 John 2:7 Beloved, I am not writing a new
commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the
beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.
1 John 2:8 On the other hand, I am writing a new
commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is
passing away and the true Light is already shining.
1 John 2:9 The one who says he is in the Light
and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
1 John 2:10 The one who loves his brother abides
in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
1 John 2:11 But the one who hates his brother is in
the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going
because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
The old
commandment is the same as the new one.
That is “obey the Word of God”.
In one sense there is a new commandment because the Light is now “in
you”. When the Light is in you the
darkness begins to pass away. It
doesn’t all pass away instantly. It
begins to pass away with the help of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God
and our obedience to them. A major
evidence that the Light is in us from God will be that we no longer hate our
brothers. It is not clear whether John
is talking about your brother being your fellow human being or your brother
being your fellow believer in Christ.
Different commentators differ on this. John Gill says this refers to
both. Matthew Henry says it is
referring to believers only. In any
case we are sure that we are to love our brothers in Christ, and we are also
not to even hate our enemies.
Matt. 5:43-45 "You have
heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell
you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be
sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the
good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Notice that God has blessed all men with the benefits of life and His creation. Therefore we must view all men with partiality. We can hate the deeds of people, but we need to keep in mind that our goal as believers is to win them to Christ.
There are a number of things God hates:
Isaiah 61:8 "For I,
the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness
I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Malachi 2:16 "I hate
divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man’s
covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the
LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.
Notice that God
hates sin of various kinds, yet He still reaches out to people to save
them. When we look at Islam today and
all the violence they cause in the world we can hate their worthless idol Allah
and their “covering themselves in violence” but we must not hate their
souls. We must find ways to reach
people with the Good News, especially those trapped in false religion and
violence.
We are also called
to love our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.
Galatians 5:13 You, my
brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge
the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
1 Peter 1:22 Now that you
have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love
for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
These passages are
talking about loving our brothers in Christ.
So we must be careful to walk in the Light, not in the dark ways of the
world, the ways of hatred and racism.
In point of fact, there is no such thing as racism because we all one
blood having come from a common set of ancestors, namely Noah and his wife and,
before that, Adam and Eve. Yet hatred
because of perceived differences in blood persists. If we continue to walk in those ways we prove we are not in the
body of Christ and we are really stumbling around blind in the dark. The Light of the Lord is the Light of
love. We must never forget that,
especially in the times we live in. If our
world is taken over by Islam, will we love our enemies, try to witness to them,
pray for them? Or will we join in the
hatred and darkness of the world? That
will be a major question in our generation.
1 John
We have studied so far and learned that we are to walk in the Light and obey the Lord. False teachers and deceived Christians think that you can walk in some darkness and disobey the Lord sometimes and still be in unity with Him. But that is false teaching. In today’s lesson we will look at the fact that we must choose between a relationship with the Father and a relationship with the world. There is no in-between with God. We can either rightly call Him Father by becoming His children or we can only call Him our Creator while we remain children of the world and of the devil. Skipping two lessons ahead to 1 John 3:10 we read this:
1 John 3:10 This is how we know who the children of
God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not
do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his
brother.
John addresses the Christians he wrote this letter to as “little children” again. We are little children of God if we do what is right in the eyes of God and love our brothers in the Lord.
1 John 2:12 I am writing to you, little children, because
your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.
John reminds the Christians that, if they are
truly born again, they have their sins forgiven in Christ. Those who are not born again have to believe
in Jesus Christ and repent of their sins to be forgiven. The sacrifice is there for them, but they
have to commit to the Lord and serve Him in order for the Father to forgive
them.
John then writes to three groups of people,
basically covering every age group in the body of Christ … the elders, the
youth, and the children. This would
cover both men and women, but it is important to note that the man need to take
special heed to this passage because they are called to be the head of their
households and of the churches.
1 John 2:13 I am writing to you, fathers, because
you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young
men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you,
children, because you know the Father.
The fathers have a deeper knowledge of God. They have studied the Scriptures and been
through experiences in life that have taught them about the Lord. The younger men may not have the depth of
knowledge of the elders, but they have been born again and, though they still
struggle with the flesh as young people do, they have overcome the evil one by
repenting and turning from sin. The
children have just been saved and have come to know that they have a Father in
heaven. They have a long road ahead of
learning and walking with the Lord ahead of them, but they have the Father to
help them.
1 John 2:14 I have written to you, fathers,
because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to
you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
This verse seems like a repeat of verse 13 but
it really isn’t. He does repeat what he
said to the fathers, the elders. This
is to remind them that they have wisdom from God and are to help the younger
Christians. Anytime something is
repeated in the Bible we are to take special note of it. The fact that he repeats this message to the
fathers means that they hold a greater responsibility. They must teach the younger believers and
they must lead by example. The more you
know God and walk with Him, the more responsibility you have to be an example
to others.
John then
adds to his admonition to young men.
He encourages them because they are taking a strong stance against
sin. He encourages them because they
have studied the Word of God and it is abiding in them. He then reminds them that it is because of
their repentance and obedience to the Word of God that they are able to
overcome the evil one.
1 John 5:4-5 for
everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome
the world, even our faith. Who is it
that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Romans 12:21 Do
not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The progression that we see in verse 14 is
really what the older fathers have already been through. We must repent of our sins and believe unto
salvation. We must then fill our lives,
hearts and minds with the Word of God so that our faith will be built up and we
can overcome the evil one.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the
things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not
in him.
This is simply one of the most direct verses
in the Bible. This is a perfect way to
test yourself and others to see if you are in the Faith. When I look at the money preachers on TV I
see people who call themselves lovers of the Father but who demonstrate that
they are in love with the things of this world. Again we have to realize that he is talking about Christians who
“practice” loving this world. This is
why the teaching of Word of Faith teachers is so evil. They teach Christians to covet the things of
this world more than the love of the Father.
In fact they claim that God wants them to have everything they want in
this world. That is a lie from
hell. When you see people who are
focused on the things of this world … on money, culture, society, family, politics,
employment, pleasure, sex, power, fame and greed … you are seeing people who do
not have the love of the Father in them.
We need to test ourselves with this test. Are our lives more focused on the things of this world than on
the love of the Father? If we are
focused on this world then perhaps we do not really have the love of the
Father.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life,
is not from the Father, but is from the world.
1 John 2:17 The world is passing away, and also
its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
These two
verses could take up a whole bible study course. John, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, hits on three
things in all human beings that are at the root of all sin, which are not from
the Father but of the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life. This is what Satan
used to snare Adam and Eve.
Gen. 3:1 Now
the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from
any tree in the garden’?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat
fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit
from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it,
or you will die.’" "You will not surely die," the serpent
said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will
be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the
woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the
eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate
it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then
the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so
they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man
and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in
the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the
garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" He
answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was
naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat
from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me— she gave me
some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Then the LORD God said to the
woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The
serpent deceived me, and I ate."
Right from the very beginning we see the three sins mentioned by John were what caused sin to come upon the whole world. First Satan gets the woman to question God. Did He really say not to eat of that tree? Then Satan lies to Eve by telling her she will not die. Not only did Adam and Eve begin to die that day physically, they died spiritually. Notice they hid from the Lord; they no longer walked with Him. But the part that shows the three sins happens after Satan tempted Eve. She (1) “saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food” (2) “and pleasing to the eye” (3) “and also desirable for gaining wisdom”. She saw that she wanted the fruit, which was pleasing to her eyes; her flesh said it was good for food, and in her pride she wanted wisdom like God. There you have the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life all in one sentence. Notice what happens immediately after the disobeyed God. They hid from Him and then lied to Him. They do exactly what people do today. They tried to put the blame on someone else. Adam put the blame on Eve, Eve put the blame on the servant. If you read on you will discover that they all we cursed by God, starting with the Serpent, then Eve, then finally Adam. The ultimate responsibility for this terrible incident that sentenced mankind and all creation with sin is laid at the feet of Adam. He was to be the leader who ultimately resisted Satan. So his sin is just as bad, yet in some ways worse than Eve’s.
On the other side of the coin we have the story of the One Man who replaced the man of sin, Adam.
Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of
the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the
one man the many will be made righteous.
There are other places in the Bible where these three basic sins of man are demonstrated. But there is no place more important to the salvation of men than when Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil. The amazing thing is that Satan used the same basic human sins of the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life to try to tempt Jesus in the desert.
Matt. 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the
desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights,
he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of
God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is
written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from
the mouth of God.’" Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him
stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of
God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "‘He
will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their
hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’" Jesus
answered him, "It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the
test.’" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed
him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will
give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the
Lord your God, and serve him only.’" Then the devil left him, and angels
came and attended him.
The devil starts out by tempting Jesus with the lust of the flesh. Jesus was starving at the end of a 40-day fast. Yet Jesus answers Satan by quoting Scripture and not giving in to His hunger. In the second temptation Satan tempted Jesus with the pride of life by telling Him to jump off the highest point of the temple. This would have made a wonderful show and the whole Jewish world would have likely crowned Him king. But then He never would have been crucified for the sins of the world. Jesus again overcomes this temptation by quoting Scripture. Jesus quotes the Word of God three times as an example to us. He could have simply waved His hand and disintegrated Satan with one thought. That is because He created Lucifer who became Satan. But he used the Word as an example for us and to show that the written Scriptures are the Word of God, His Word. We can use it to overcome the temptations of the enemy. The third temptation appeals to the lust of the eyes. Satan showed Jesus all the nations of the world, but then asked Jesus to worship him. Satan appeals to the lust of the eyes in Jesus while displaying the pride of life himself. Jesus answers a third time from the Bible with the verse that probably applies to Satan more than any verse in the Bible: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’". Lucifer sinned and was cast out of heaven because he wanted to be worshipped there.
Is. 14:12-15 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning
star (Lucifer), son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who
once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend
to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit
enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred
mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make
myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to the grave, to the
depths of the pit.
The word for Lucifer in the King
James is heylel (hay-lale) or Lucifer meaning
"light-bearer". This is why
the Bible says that Satan can appear as an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades
as an angel of light.
This is also why you must be careful not to follow false apostles today. Paul stated that they are actually ministers of Satan in the church.
2 Cor. 11:12-14 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in
order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be
considered equal with us in the things they boast about. For such men are false
apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder,
for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
I have dealt with this subject before so no need to go into detail about it now. But false apostles are those who claim equal or greater authority than the true foundational apostles of the Church like Paul and John. They are liars and are actually following in the footsteps of their father, the false god of this world.
This world is passing away. We must live that way in putting all our hopes, desires, plans and life in the hands of our Father. If we do His will we will live forever with Him. If we do the will of the evil one we will exist forever where he will end up.
In this lesson we finally get to the heart of
both the key to understanding 1 John and a main reason he wrote this
letter. We have seen so far that John
has been talking about how God views things as opposed to men. Men tend to rationalize things so that they
can leave room for sin. God sees things
as light or darkness, obedience ort disobedience, as serving the Father or
serving the world, and in this lesson as truth or lies. There is no gray area in-between. False teachers, those who lay error
alongside truth and secretly introduce destructive heresies, always try to make
lies sound like truth.
1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and
just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have
appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
John warns the believers, as he would warn his
own children, that we are living in the last hour. The history of the earth is basically divided up into
approximately three eras: the first 2000 years are the Ancient World before the
flood, the second 2000 years are the time of the establishment of the nation of
Israel and God’s covenant with Abraham, and the last 2000 years are the times
of the Gentiles who have the gift of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for
the forgiveness of sin if they will believe on Him. John lived to see the beginning of the end times. John had no way of knowing how long this end
times would last, but he was correct in stating that those he wrote to were
living in the last hour. This is why
we, at the end of the last hour, are very close to the return of Christ. The early church had been taught that an
Antichrist was coming by Paul.
2 Thess. 2:1-4 ¶ Concerning the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to
become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed
to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until
the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to
destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is
called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple,
proclaiming himself to be God.
You must realize that there are people today
who claim this prophecy took place in 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed. But this cannot be so because a number of
things in this prophecy did not happen yet.
In the NIV is uses the word “rebellion” and says it must come first. This is not an accurate translation. The word is actually “apostasia” meaning a
falling away, defection, and apostasy.
There was no falling away in 70 AD but there is today. The church is being corrupted by false
teachings and people are following after false teachers, false prophets and false
Christs or antichrists. Antichrist
actually is “antichristos” which means the adversary of the Messiah or a false Christ, a pretended
Messiah, who sets himself up instead of Christ, proclaiming that he is
Christ. Another thing that did not
fully happen was that no one set themselves up in God’s temple claiming to be
God in 70 AD. This is because if Titus,
who led the Roman army to destroy Jerusalem, had claimed to be God he would
have been executed because only the Caesars of Rome could claim to be God. Some Bible scholars claim that Nero was the
Antichrist but Nero died in 68 AD before Jerusalem was destroyed and never
stood in the temple declaring Himself to be God. Vespesian was actually Caesar in 70 AD and his son, Titus, led
the army to destroy Jerusalem. So it is
impossible that this verse was fulfilled in 70 AD as Titus could not claim to
be God and Vespasian never stood in the temple in Jerusalem making this claim.
But John states that though there is an Antichrist coming
in “the last hour” there are many other antichrists that will come first. These are all types of the Antichrist to
come in the last hour. Today we have
many antichrists, those who claim to be little gods, little Messiahs, even the
“I AM”. Here are some quotes from
well-known “Christian” televangelists and cultists saying we are God.
.“You don’t have a god in you, you are one,” (Kenneth
Copeland, The Force of Love (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries,
1987), audiotape #02-0028, side 1.)
“I am a little messiah walking on earth,..... You are a
little god on earth running around (Benny Hinn Praise-a-Thon TBN, Nov. 6 1990)
“We are the essence of God, His on-going incarnation in
the world” Bishop Earl Paulk, Held In The Heavens (Atlanta: K Dimension
Publishers, 1985, p. p. 125.)
.“God and man are one. Man is incarnate God.”(Sung
Myung Moon of the Moonies, Christianity in Crises p.5)
“The Fullness of the Godhead dwells in me ... God has
planned for me to be Christ's image on the earth” (Morris Cerullo from the
Video MANIFEST SONS OF GOD).
.“The believer is called Christ…That’s who we are;
we’re Christ!” (Kenneth M. Hagin, Zoe: The God-Kind of Life (Tulsa, OK: Kenneth
Hagin Ministries, Inc., 1989), 35-36, 41.)
.“We were created to be gods over the earth, but
remember to spell it with a little “g.” (Charles Capps, Image of You (Harrison
House, 1985), p. 34.)
speaking of Adam “I’m training a god of the earth. I
got to teach him to do what I do.”(Creflo Dollar, Our equality with God through
righteousness 1/21/2001)
“Trust God. Or if you wish, trust yourself, for Thou
Art God.” (Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue,
Book 3, Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 1998; p. 350)
.“I am the Christ of God.” (Charles Fillmore,
Statements for the Realization of the Son of God Christian Healing)
“The divine name from Exod. 3:14, “I Am who I Am,” is
appropriated by Jesus who shows us how to embrace our own divinity. The Cosmic
Christ is the “I am” in every creature” (The Coming of the Cosmic Christ by
Matthew Fox p.154)
“Within all men sits a God. That God is your true Self“
(Maitreya, Messages, p. 110)
So
we know that this is the last hour, the last era, of the world because many
antichrists have already come and one final Antichrist is coming. The antichrists, those who went out from the
true church because they were rejected as heretics by true believers, started
back in the first century.
1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they
were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained
with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not
of us.
Those who deny one or more of the core
doctrines of the Christian Faith are those who have departed from the
Faith. The fact is that they never
really believed the same things we believed, they only pretended to. Unfortunately today, because Christians are
not rejecting heretics as they did in the first century, we now have
antichrists that have full access to the churches and this is why we are in a
time of falling away. Those who are
true believers remain with true believers.
Those who are not depart from the core doctrines of the Faith and then
try to get people to follow them.
Beware of those who proselytize or try to get Christians out of their
current fellowship into another. False
teachers like Benny Hinn and all others on TV are simply trying to get
followers to themselves, thus going against God’s established way of having
local churches.
1 John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the
Holy One, and you all know.
This is an extremely important point, just as
important as it was in the first century. We have to realize that we already
have the Anointing of Christ, the indwelling Holy Spirit. We already know Him. Beware of false prophets and false Christs
who come along and claim that you don’t have the anointing but that they can
lay their hands on you and give you an anointing. There is only one Anointing, that God gives that when you a born
again. Those who come along and claim
to be able to impart an anointing are those who have departed from the
Faith. This is how you can test
them. Yet many Christians are deceived
by the claims of a transferable impartation of some kind of anointing today and
then end up following false teachers.
If you follow a false prophet or false teacher, you will end up where
they are going.
Jeremiah 27:15 ’I have not
sent them,’ declares the LORD. ’They are prophesying lies in my name.
Therefore, I will banish you and you will perish, both you and the prophets
who prophesy to you.’"
1 John 2:21 I have not written to you because you
do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of
the truth.
This is a key to understanding the book of 1
John. Christians know the truth, so why
would they follow false teachers?
Christians ought to know, because they already have the indwelling Holy
Spirit who is the Spirit of Truth, that there is no such thing as truth that
has lies in it. To God there is only
truth. Yet today people think they can
listen to and believe in half-truths filled with lies and still have a
relationship with God. But if you have
the indwelling Holy Spirit because you are born again, lies should cause you
repulsion. They should make you sick in
your spirit and conscience. No true
believer can sit and listen to lies coming from alleged “Christians” on TV or
in their church and not have to confront those lies. Lies need to be challenged and unrepentant liars need to be
rejected. We need to stay away from and
not listen to those who lay error alongside truth.
2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the
people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly
introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought
them— bringing swift destruction on themselves.
One sure way to test if a person is a false
teacher is to see if they are denying the Lord in some way.
1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but the one who
denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who
denies the Father and the Son.
1 John 2:23 Whoever denies the Son does not have
the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
There are many liars today who deny the Jesus is the Christ in some way. There are two criteria for exposing an antichrist here. (1) They deny Jesus is the Christ and (2) they deny the Father and the Son. Many cults and false religions today deny Jesus is the Christ. Judaism, Hinduism, Islam (Jesus is only a prophet), Buddhism, Bahai, all religions except for Christianity. Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox affirm this in their creeds but teach that Jesus is put to death again each time they celebrate the Eucharist which denies that Jesus Christ is 100% man, having died once for all, in His glorified resurrection body seated at the right hand of God. Cults also reject Jesus Christ such as Jehovah Witness (Jesus is Michael), Mormon (Jesus is the brother of Lucifer, anyone could attain to be as Jesus was), old Worldwide Church Of God, Christian Science (Jesus is only an "anointed" human and demonstrated "Christ consciousness" as a human only), Christadelphians, any Gnostic groups (Jesus spirit only), Scientology, Inglesia Ni Christo (Christ is a man only), Unitarians, Unity (Jesus is the best manifestation of the Divine Mind). But, by what they teach about Christ, many people who pretend to be true believers also reject Jesus Christ. Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, and many others teach that Jesus just an anointed man only during all or part of His life on earth, that He died spiritually on the cross, and that physical death did not provide salvation. Any teachers who treat Jesus like a vending machine for health and wealth deny that Jesus Christ is Lord and any prophets who see false visions of Jesus proven by Scriptural model are teaching another Jesus. When Third Wave teachers chant "More Jesus", Jesus is treated as a substance instead of a person. Their alleged visions of Jesus often redefine the scriptural picture of Jesus. Kenneth Copeland denigrates Jesus' death and he has even taught that Jesus is brother of Satan as do the Mormons. I saw this on a video tape recently where Copeland was doing a play where he was playing Jesus and another man was playing Satan. At the end where Jesus is supposed to destroy Satan, Copeland as Jesus hugs the man playing Satan and calls him his brother.
There is also another way to tell an antichrist false teacher. That is if they deny the Trinity, denying the Father and the Son. False religions that do not believe in the Trinity are Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Bahai, all religions except for Christianity, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox. Yet Catholicism is close to confusing the Trinity by adding Mary as co-redemptrix with Christ, and is already teaching this concept in their prayers, novenas, Catechism and with paintings showing Mary as part of the Godhead. Cults would include Jehovah Witness (denial of the person of the Holy Spirit as "God's active force"), Mormon (God is an "exalted man" with a body), old Worldwide Church Of God, Christian Science (Trinity suggests "polytheism"), Inglesia Ni Christo (Christ is a man only), Scientology, Unification Church (Trinity is man, woman and God; Jesus married the Holy Spirit), United Pentecostal Church & Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (Non Trinity, Jesus only), Unitarians, Unity (God is not a being but a force), United Church of Jesus Christ, many Apostolic Churches and any churches descending from William Branham and Azusa Street "Oneness" Pentecostals (Trinity is a doctrine of demons, Jesus only). But there are also those who claim to be true Christians today such as Benny Hinn who at one time claimed that God is a nine part God. Some of them may claim to believe in the Trinity but you have to see what the actually teach. When the Spirit is treated as a substance both Deity and personality is denied. When God is "on call" Deity is compromised and God is blasphemed. Many of the manifestations in Hinn and other Third Wave meetings lower man to beastly or sub-human levels. The Spirit's actions always raise man to the character of Christ. Thus, to call these manifestations the work of the Spirit is a (not "the") blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
We need
to especially be aware that many false teachers are saying today that Muslims
worship the same God as Christians. But
that is impossible because the Koran says:
They do blaspheme who say:
Allah is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One
Allah. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous
penalty will befall the blasphemers among them. Quran [005.073]
"Say He is God, the One and
Only God, the, Eternal, Absolute. He begets not, nor is He begotten. And
there is none like unto Him!" Qur'an [112:1-4]
It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, "Be", and it is. Quran [019.035]
The Koran is clear that Islam teaches that God
has no Son. They go on to say that
Jesus Christ was only a prophet, and not even as great as Mohammed, and that
Christ was not really crucified. You
can be sure that “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one
who confesses the Son has the Father also.”
1 John 2:24 As for you, let that abide in you
which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning
abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
1 John 2:25 This is the promise which He Himself
made to us: eternal life.
To combat this apostasy that has come on the world, because many antichrists have gone out, we need to abide or stay in the teachings that we have heard from Jesus Christ and the Apostles. That means we stick with what the Bible teaches. When some new teaching comes along that does not square with the Bible, we reject that teaching and admonish those teaching it to stop. If they do not repent and stop we are to avoid them also, warning others. How important is this type of discernment and abiding? If biblical teaching abides in us then we abide in the Son and in the Father. Does it matter what you believe? Can you mix truth with lies? Not according to God. God has promised us that if w