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Dear Father in Heaven, please fill the Pastor's spirit this evening for the sermon, and please give us all ears to hear to receive wisdom from the sermon this night. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. So we're starting a new book tonight, 1 John, and actually, as far as Wednesday night series go, this is the only New Testament book left to do on Wednesday nights, because it's going to take me 23 and a half years to preach through the entire Bible on Wednesday nights. Of course, I'm 17 years and change in, so I've got six years to go, but I've already done the whole New Testament. So why did I wait this long to do 1 John? Why is this the last New Testament book? And someone might think that it's because I was avoiding it, but it's actually the reverse of that. It's that this is such a favorite book of mine that I've already literally preached every verse of the book of 1 John repeatedly in my Sunday sermons. I'm constantly using 1 John. I'm constantly going verse by verse through literally every part of this. There's not a part of this that I haven't already preached through verse by verse many times, and so therefore, it was kind of hard to justify it as an official Wednesday night series when it's like, I've already talked about this so much, but I was thinking about it and it's kind of been a while since I've preached a lot out of 1 John. So I think now's the perfect time to pull this out and get it done. I absolutely love the book of 1 John. I love all the books that John wrote. That's my favorite gospel is the gospel of John. I love the book of Revelation. I love these three epistles of John, and so this is great stuff. Starting out at the beginning, you can tell right away the connection between this book and the gospel of John, right? Because it starts out similar because how does the gospel of John start out? In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. This starts out in verse number one, that which was from the beginning, right? So not exactly in the beginning, but a very similar beginning, and then when we get into the light and the darkness, those same elements are all at play in the gospel of John chapter one as well. So you can see a lot of the same subject matter, a lot of the same style between the gospel of John and the epistles that John wrote. So it says in verse number one, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life. So right away in this chapter, we have the same teaching found in the gospel of John chapter one, that Jesus is the word, calling Jesus the word of God or the word of life, because he starts out saying that which was from the beginning. So that wording right there, isn't the wording of a person as much as a thing, right? We say that which was from the beginning, we're talking about a thing, and that thing is the word of God. That which was from the beginning, the word of God was from the beginning. But then there's a shift as we go through this, because it starts out, we're talking about a thing. We're talking about the word of God, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard. That makes sense that we've heard the word of God, which we have seen with our eyes. It's like, okay, you know, you saw it written down. Okay. That makes sense. Right. But then he says, you know, which we have looked upon. Now that's really an emphasis on, you're looking at something, and our hands have handled of the word of life. You know, now it starts to become obvious that we're actually talking about the person of Jesus Christ, because it says for the life was manifested, and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the father and was manifested on us. We're talking about the person, Jesus Christ in the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, and it says all things were made by him. Now all of a sudden, it's a person, right? All things made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. And of course, if you know the gospel story, as found in the book of John and in the other disciples, the disciples, they literally did handle Jesus, right? Meaning that they didn't just hear him. They didn't just see him, but that they actually physically touched him. We know that John in particular was leaning upon Jesus' breast at the Last Supper. He was literally touching him, literally leaning on him at the Last Supper, and he was in his bosom at that Last Supper. And not only that, but we know that when Jesus Christ rose from the dead and showed himself alive unto his disciples, and this is in which gospel? The Gospel of John, where we have the Doubting Thomas episode, that's in John's gospel. And in that Doubting Thomas episode, he says, Thomas says, well, I need to put my fingers into the prints of the nails, you know, I want to see so that I can believe. And of course, Jesus says, okay, go ahead, Thomas, put your hand in my side, put your fingers in the print of the nails and be not faithless but believing. And then what is it that Thomas says to Jesus? He says, my Lord and my God. He confesses Jesus as his Lord and even as his God. And of course, that's found in the Gospel of John. You look at the synoptic gospels, you'll find references to the disciples actually touching Jesus after he rose from the dead, touching him, handling him, etc. Now this is very important because we have to understand that the Gospel of John is obviously being written and sent to the whole world as just a message of Christ's life, his death, his burial, resurrection. And it claims at the end of the book of John to be written so that you would believe and that believing you might have life through his name. So it's the gospel that makes the statement of why it's being written as so that people can get saved. So that's why it's a great book to use to get people saved because there's so much great material in the Gospel of John about salvation. Now what is the purpose of this epistle? Well, he says in verse number four, these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. So he's writing to people that are already saved and he's, you know, wanting to increase their joy. Okay, that's part of the purpose. But as we read through this epistle, what you're going to find out is that it's pretty clear that John is dealing with some specific false doctrines, some specific heresies that he's laying to rest in first John, second John, he's dealing with heresy and he talks about antichrist doctrines that are out there. And he uses that word a lot, antichrist. And he talks a lot about those who deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist, he says. And so apparently some of the things that he was dealing with in these epistles are that there are a lot of people who are apparently denying the Trinity because he really hammers the Trinity, both in his gospel and in his epistles. There are apparently people who are denying the Trinity, denying the deity of Christ, denying the bodily resurrection of Christ, or denying that Jesus Christ was even a physical person that was bodily here in the flesh among us. You know, there are a lot of new agers today that sort of believe in a Christ spirit or a Christ consciousness or something of that nature. And so there was a lot of gnosticism we know in those first few centuries after Christ. And so this gnosticism or a new age type doctrine, if you want to call it that, was something that I think John is dealing with in these epistles. And he's also dealing with people that are denying the Trinity, Judaizers, what have you. And so those are the type of things that we're going to see pop up. Now in the book of 1 John, there are definitely some very clear salvation verses, even though that that is maybe not necessarily the biggest thrust of the book. Just to give you a little bit of a sneak preview of this, you know, flip ahead to chapter four and look at verse 15. You know, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God. Look at chapter five, verse one, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that has begotten of him. Of course, 1 John 5 13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God. So who's he writing to? He's writing to the saved. As we mentioned a minute ago, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. So he's giving assurance to people that are already saved, that they may know that they have eternal life. And then he says, and that you may believe on the name of the son of God, meaning that to the unsaved reader, he's giving them a plea to get saved. So he's written to those that believe that they would know that they have eternal life. And in case you're not saved, I'm writing to you so that you may believe on the name of the son of God, because that's how you get saved, of course. So back to chapter one, let's work through this verse by verse. The key thing to get out of verse number one here is, of course, that Jesus, the word made flesh and that Jesus Christ was from the beginning, right? He didn't come into existence in Bethlehem's manger. He wasn't born as a baby and that was his first existence. No, no, no. He said before Abraham was, I am. Isn't it interesting he said that in the Gospel of John, because the Gospel of John really hammers the deity of Christ and the sonship of Christ and this thing of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I mean, look, if you want to preach a great sermon about the Trinity, all you need is the Gospel of John. You don't even have to leave the Gospel of John. You could do a series of sermons on the Trinity from the Gospel of John alone and you could do it with the rest of the Bible tied behind your back and you can prove everything about the Trinity from that one book. And if somebody said, preach on the Trinity from only one book, I'd say Gospel of John. I wouldn't even have to think about it because there's so much great teaching, literally scores of verses that I would use in that sermon. And in fact, I did that. I preached that sermon. I already did that. It's called, I think, Oneness Pentecostalism Debunked and it was nothing but John, whole sermon. Yeah. So, he says here, that was from the beginning. Our hands have handled and what we want to emphasize with that is the bodily resurrection of Jesus, that after Jesus rose from the dead, they touched him. He ate fish. He ate honeycomb. And he said, a spirit, this is from the Gospel of Luke, a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me to have. So the Jehovah's false witnesses are heretics, they're in a cult and they got their little tower of doom set up with all of their stupid magazines that nobody wants to buy, nobody wants to pay for. Thankfully, they're too stupid to give them away for free, thankfully. Don't tell them that it would be smart to give them away for free. No, they sell them, but I'm glad they sell them because then less people read them because the Jehovah's Witnesses today believe that Jesus did not bodily rise from the dead. They don't believe that he rose from the dead physically. Here's what they say, well, the resurrection, that's just when his spirit left his body. That's called dying. Gave up the ghost. Folks, Jesus showed them the holes in his hands. He showed them the hole in his side. He ate and trite, they handled him. But here's what the Jehovah's Witnesses say to that, well, that body was a loner body. He borrowed a body just so that he could show up and do that. Well, it's interesting how he borrowed a body with the exact same damage and scars of his physical body. You know, let's apply Occam's razor. Think a simpler explanation is that he actually bodily rose from the dead like the Bible says. In the Gospel of John chapter two, he said, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. He spake of the temple of his body. He wasn't talking about his spirit or his soul. He said, I'll raise up this body after three days. And so they handled Jesus. Verse two, the life was manifested and we've seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the father and was manifest unto us. You don't have to turn there, but in the Gospel of John at the, actually, you know what it's not in the, it's in this, what am I doing? It's in chapter five of the same book. Flip over to chapter five, verse 20. It says, and we know that the son of God has come and have given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true. Even in his son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life. Jesus Christ is the true God and Jesus Christ is eternal life. That's why in Luke, when the baby Jesus is lifted up by Simeon in the temple, what does Simeon say in Luke chapter two about the baby Jesus? My eyes have seen thy salvation. By looking at Jesus, he said, I looked at salvation. Jesus is the true God and eternal life. And so at the beginning, when it says the life was manifested, what are we talking about? We're talking about the word. We're talking about Jesus who was manifested. God was manifested in the flesh. We've seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the father and was manifest unto us. Folks, Jesus was with the father before he came to this earth to be born. That's why the Bible says the father sent the son to be the savior of the world because the sons with the father and the father sent the son. That's why the Bible says Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He made himself of no reputation. And it says that he was found in fashion as a man. And so Jesus is up in heaven. The father, the son and the father sent the son to be the savior of the world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And so Jesus was with the father and he was manifested unto us, meaning that we literally saw him, heard him, touched him. Now obviously we didn't because we're living in 2023, but humanity in general did, didn't they? I mean, Jesus showed himself on this earth to humans and people literally saw him and walked and talked with him. Verse number three, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. Notice the emphasis on the Trinity. You got the father and you've got his son, Jesus Christ. So it's a great book for debunking oneness, the Pentecostal oneness, the Jesus only crowd that says that Jesus is God, the father, which is absurd. Jesus is the son of God, the father. God is eternally existing as father, son, and Holy ghost. God is a Trinity, but also I want to home in on this word fellowship. What does fellowship mean? Fellowship means to have something in common. If I said my fellow Americans, we have something in common. We're both American, right? That's what fellow means. Fellow carpenter, fellow athlete, right? Fellow American. And so how do we have fellowship? He said, look, we are declaring unto you what we have heard and seen so that you will have fellowship with us because you're going to believe the same thing that we believe. We're preaching to you the word of God. You believe it. We believe it. Now we have fellowship. Now we don't have fellowship. If you don't know that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world, if you don't believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, if you don't believe that Jesus was in the beginning with God and that he was God and that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world, how can we have fellowship? We need that common ground. And that's why he's going to say in his second epistle, if they're coming unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. He said, whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the father and the son. You know, and he says, if somebody comes to you, bring in some other doctrine, have no fellowship with them. Receive him not into your house. Don't bid him God speed. He that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. You see key essential doctrines about Jesus are necessary for us to have fellowship, right? So we, we're not going to fellowship with a oneness Pentecostal. We're not going to fellowship with somebody who says that Jesus is not God. Somebody who says, Jesus is a creative being. Jesus is Michael, the Archangel, he's just a creative being. We can't have fellowship with that. Okay. That's heresy. It's damnable heresy. John is writing these things and declaring what he's seen and heard because he's saying, I want to have fellowship with you guys. I want to be on the same page with you guys. And guess what? I'm on the same page with God and with his son, Jesus Christ. I'm on the same page with the Lord and you need to get on this page. That's what John is saying. And these things, right? We unto you that your joy may be full. There's a lot of wonderful things and beautiful things in the book of first John that bring a lot of joy to the believer. And we're going to see that as we get, you know, we're only looking at the first 10 verses tonight. Obviously this is a short chapter, but we've got this big old chapter two. We got chapter three, chapter four, chapter five, and it's just a tour de force of great stuff that we're going to be going over over the next four weeks. But what are we dealing with in chapter one? It says in verse five, this then is the message which we have heard of him and declaring to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Okay. So this is kind of an introduction here. In him is no darkness at all. God is light. We find the same thing in John chapter one, where the Bible says of Jesus in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended that not right. The darkness comprehended it, not the darkness didn't understand, didn't get it. He came into his own, his own received or not. So what does darkness mean? What does darkness represent? Well, if we use the context that we find in chapter one of the Gospel of John, where he says, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not, you know, darkness represents a lack of understanding. You know, the apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews talks about being saved as being enlightened, having your eyes open, being enlightened. People that are not saved are in darkness. Okay. They don't get it. So one thing that darkness represents is it represents a lack of comprehension, a lack of knowledge, a lack of understanding. Right? So that's the big thing that darkness represents, ignorance. That's one thing. That's probably the primary thing, but darkness doesn't only mean that. Also in scripture, darkness also just represents evil in general. So for example, the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 13, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. And what is he specifically saying there in Romans 13? Well, he, he lists some sins that should not be a part of our life when he says, you know, let's cast off the works of darkness, let us put on the armor of light. He says, let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering, which chambering is probably like shacking up. You could say chambering and wantonness because chamber is probably referring to like a bedroom chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lustre of. So according to the apostle Paul, putting on the armor of light is synonymous with putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and putting off the works of darkness is casting off things like drunkenness, rioting, chambering, wantonness, strife, and envy, right? Covetousness, drinking, partying, fornication, those types of things, casting off those things is getting rid of the works of darkness. You know, the Bible says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them for it is a shame even to speak of those things, which are done to them a secret. And so darkness, not only does it represent ignorance or lack of knowledge or understanding, it also represents just sinfulness, evil, things like that. Now it makes sense when the Bible says that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Does God have any sin in him? Does he have wickedness or iniquity in him? Absolutely not, right? There's nothing unrighteous or unjust or impure about God. He's all light and no darkness at all. Okay. Now again, you know, think about the world at the time that this is first being written and you think about the fact that there are all these other religions out there, just like there are today, you have other religions out there, even though we live in a culture that is dominated by Christianity. And of course the main dominant religion in the United States is going to always be some form of Christianity. But if we went to other parts of the world, Hinduism would dominate. And another part of the world, yet Buddhism could dominate. Another part of the world, Islam would dominate. And in these other places at the time of Christ, you'd have all kinds of pagan polytheistic religions dominating what we would call today folk religions. And you've got all the different Zeus and Apollo kind of religion and all that. And you know, if you think about the gods that the pagan Greeks worship, these gods were not all light and no darkness at all. I mean, these gods had sinful attributes about them. The claim was not even made about these gods, that they were perfect, that they were without sin, that they were totally righteous, that they were love. And no, they had all kinds of sinful attributes. I'm not an expert on Hinduism, but from what I've seen and understood of Hinduism, I don't think you would say of the Hindu gods that the Hindu god is light and his name is no darkness at all. You think Hindus would believe that about their gods? Because of the fact that their gods, I mean, one of their gods is called Shiva, the destroyer. And I don't think he's really a god of light. And it's not a destroyer. I mean, there's just a lot about the Hindu gods that's just darkness. You know, you look, just look at the pictures, my friend. Look at Kali or whatever, right? Mouth open, tongue out. It looks like a demon. Do you think that the Hindus would say, well, Kali is just all light and in her is no darkness at all? You know, folks, the God of the Bible is distinct in this, and a lot of false gods don't necessarily even claim to have these attributes. God has no wickedness or guile or malice or evil or iniquity in him. And also God is all knowing. And so therefore there's no darkness. He's not ignorant or lacking understanding in any way, shape, or form. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. So God is not this hybrid or mix. He is all the way 100% on the light side, the purity side, the righteousness side. He's not this complex character that has some evil wickedness in him or something like that. So we don't want to misunderstand that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Jesus Christ was totally without sin, 100% tempted at all points, like as we are yet without sin. And the Bible says in verse six, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. Now this particular verse, this is not talking about salvation necessarily. It's not saying that, you know, well, if you walk in darkness, you're not saved because it is possible for saved Christians to be ignorant on certain things, to be lacking in knowledge and understanding, and it's always possible for them to indulge in sin. That's why the apostle Paul has to say to Christians, cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. If it were automatic, then Paul wouldn't have to tell them that. And in fact, in this very chapter, lest you get the wrong idea, the Bible flat out says, if we say that we have no sin in verse eight, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So he's not saying if we walk in darkness and you know, uh, we're not saved if we sin, we're not saved because guess what? We all sin and yet we're saved because we have believed on the name of the only begotten son of God. As John repeatedly reminds us, that's what it takes to be saved is to believe in Jesus. But yet, even though we believe in Jesus, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. There is not a just man upon the earth that do with goodness and if not, that's what the Bible says. But if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. You see, it's one thing to be saved and then it's another thing to have fellowship with God. Okay. For example, I could have a biological son or daughter that I don't necessarily have fellowship with, right? And I guarantee you that there are many people in this world who have physical offspring that they don't have a relationship with. Now that biological connection is still there. Your son will always be your son. Your daughter will always be your daughter, but fellowship takes a little more than that, doesn't it? So you could be saved. You could be born again. You could be a child of God. But what about your relationship with God? It could have its ups and downs. Your walk with God could have its ups and downs because there could be times when you're very close to God, you're reading your Bible, you're praying, you're excited about church and serving him. And then there are other times when you backslide and you're not so excited about serving God and you're not so deep into the things of God. And probably all of us are going to spend various times at different spiritual highs and lows over the course of our Christian life. And so our fellowship with God is going to wax and wane as believers. There are going to be some times when we have more fellowship with God than others. How do we have fellowship with God? The Bible says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. If we're out there living in chambering and wantonness and strife and envy and drunkenness, are we walking in the light? Are we having fellowship? No, that's a bad walk with God. That's a bad relationship with God. It doesn't mean that you're not saved, but it means that the fellowship has been hurt. Just like a physical child is still your child, you just don't have fellowship. You don't have a relationship. And sin can cause a rift in that fellowship. So if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. If we're totally ignorant of biblical doctrine because we're not reading our Bible, we're not going to church, and then we're not living a Christian life, well, obviously we don't have fellowship with God. There are a lot of people who talk a big talk about how spiritual they are, but if they say they have fellowship with God and they're walking in darkness, they lie and do not the truth. And so a lot of people, they go to church services that are very emotional and they get really worked up through music and through tear jerking illustrations from the pulpit and they feel like they really are close to God. But if you're living in fornication, you're not close to God. If you don't read the Bible, if you don't know what the Bible says, if you barely know any doctrine, how can you say you're close to God? How are you close to God when you spend 99% of your time on worldly things and, you know, maybe if you're lucky, 1% of your time even thinking about anything, God would, okay? Obviously that's not a relationship with God. That's not fellowship with God. And so there's a lot of people out there that think that they have more fellowship with God than they really do. And that's what John is saying here. He's saying, look, if we say that we have fellowship with them and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. You know, we can look at somebody's lifestyle and tell, Hey, this person doesn't have fellowship with God. They might be saved. We don't necessarily know whether they're saved. All we can go by is what they say. And if they give all the right answers and if they claim to believe that Jesus Christ, the son of God, and they claim to be trusting Christ, their savior, then I'll take their word for it. Somebody tells me that they believe in Jesus and that they have all their faith in him. I'll take their word for it. But if I look at their lifestyle, I'm not going to say, Oh, you're not saved because guess what? We're not saved by works. I'll take their word for it. But I, but I would be able to look at a lifestyle and say, you know, you don't have fellowship with God. You're not walking with God. You're not a disciple of Christ. You are saved. You're a child of God, but are you walking with God? Are you living for God? Are you close to God? Do you have fellowship with God? Well, if you're walking in darkness, the answer is no. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Again, what's the definition of fellowship? We talked about it. So we walk in the light as he is in the light. Now we have something in common. I'm walking in the light. God is light. Boom. That's a basis for fellowship. I'm walking in the light. You're walking in the light. We have more of a basis for fellowship, don't we? If we believe the same things about who Christ is, that's another basis for fellowship, right? Something that we have in common. We walk in the light as he is in the light. We have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. So here's what the Bible is saying. It's saying, look, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, that's what gives us fellowship. And even though we're, quote, walking in the light, that does not mean that we are sinless. And that's why that's what he's going to say in the next breath. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves in the truth and not in theness. So we don't want to misunderstand verse number seven, because some people would twist verse number seven to say, well, in order to be saved, you have to be continually walking in the light or you're going to lose your salvation. That's not what the Bible is saying, because of course, John in his gospel and in the book of verse John hammers the fact that you have eternal life and that you can't lose your salvation. Okay. And that salvation is by faith, by believing, and it's not of works. That is hammered in the gospel of John more than any other book, even more than the apostle Paul, if you can imagine that. But John really hammers salvation by faith. First John makes it clear that salvation is by faith. What the Bible is saying here is explained more in chapter two, verse one. Okay. Let's compare what we just read with chapter two, verse one. It says, my little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. He's saying, look, I don't want you to sin because he just finished telling us in verses eight and 10 that we're all sinners. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. But he says, my little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. Yes, we're all sinners, but don't sin. Obviously we're all sinners. Obviously nobody's perfect, but don't sin. Don't use that as an excuse to go out and sin, right? God doesn't want us to sin. These things write unto you that you sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. So he's saying, look, don't sin, but if you do, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, we're covered. Okay. Amen. To know that. So God's not telling us that it's okay to sin. He's just saying, don't sin, but if you do, thank God for the blood of Christ. That's the same thing he's saying in verse seven of chapter one, he's saying, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. Here's what he's saying. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, but that doesn't make us perfect. And since we're not perfect, it's nice to know that as we walk in the light, albeit we're not sinlessly perfect, the sins that we do have, those are covered by the blood of Jesus. Does everybody understand what he's saying? He's saying, look, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and whatever sins we have, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. So it's sort of like where he says, Hey, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father. Hey, even though we're walking the light and we're not perfect, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from whatever sins we do have. So we're covered in that sense because of course in verse eight, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. You see, if it were necessary to be sinlessly perfect in order to be saved, every last person would be on their way to hell. All of us would go to hell. If you had to stop sinning to be saved, every single person is going to hell. And you know, the vast majority of people realize that. That's why we go out so many, 99% of people already believe that everyone is a sinner because you have to be crazy to think that you're not a sinner. It's literally almost a mental illness to say, I don't sin. I mean, it's crazy. Very rarely does anyone tell me that, but every once in a while you'll run into one of these oneness, Pentecostal types or holiness types. And they'll make this claim that they no longer sin or that they don't sin. And you know, one person I can think of in particular that would, that would make this claim was this radio host guy, Jesse Lee Peterson. And this guy, Jesse Lee Peterson, he interviewed me and he argued with me about this. And he was making the claim that he doesn't sin. He never sins. And he's just, and he's like, uh, do you sin? And this is, this is how he talks, okay? Do you sin? And I'm like, yes. And you know, if we, if we say, what kind of sins do you do? And I said, well, you know, I'm not going to sit here like I'm in a Catholic confessional booth and tell you about my sins, but why don't you just rest assured that I am not perfect. And then what kind of sins do you do though? What kind of sins do you do? Why won't you tell me what sins you do? And this guy just claimed to be, he claimed he's, he doesn't sin. He never sins. And of course, later on he was exposed as being involved in all kinds of filthy, wicked sin. Oh, I'm so shocked. Really? Wow. And that's why the Bible says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves because you're not deceiving pastor Anderson. You're not deceiving virtually anyone because look, Jesse Lee Peterson was really popular for his political views and for political interviews, but even Jesse Lee Peterson's own followers on that particular video, we're just filling the comment section saying, Hey, pastor Anderson's right on this one. Nobody's without sin. Get real. And they're like, I love Jesse, but he's way wrong. Even his fans were telling him why? Because he's deceiving himself. Even his fans aren't deceived. I'm not deceived. You're not deceived. Anybody who says they have no sin is deceiving themselves because nobody else believes them. Nobody else knows they're a liar. We confess our sins. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar. Watch this. And his word is not in us. Now let me ask you this. Is anybody who claims to be sinless saved? No, because if we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his words not in us. Well, guess what? Every saved person has God's word in them, right? I mean, every saved person has Christ living inside them. The Bible says Christ in you, the hope of glory that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Every single one of us that is saved has Jesus in our heart. We have Christ in our heart. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We have Christ in us. Metaphorically speaking, we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, literally, okay? We have God's word in us. So if the Bible says, if we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us, that's a good way of saying you're not saved. Also flip over to chapter five quickly. In chapter five, it talks about how there are two kinds of people in this world. Those who believe on Christ and those who make him a liar. As in first John five, 10, he that believeth on the son of God hath the witness in himself. And the witness in the context is the Holy Spirit. He has the Holy Spirit in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believed it not the record that God gave of his son. And so you see right there, there's two kinds of people. There's those who believe on the son and there are those who make God a liar. Which one are you if you're claiming to be sinless? You know, the Bible says, if we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. You're making God a liar because you're an unbeliever because you're not saved. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, right? And again, that seems to be a pretty strong statement of the truth is not in you. And this is why when we witness to people, the first thing we establish is you're a sinner. I'm a sinner. Why? Because that's sort of a prerequisite for getting saved, isn't it? What are you being saved from if there's no issue, there's no problem, right? We got to be saved because of our sinful condition. We can't just skate into heaven being perfect because none of us is perfect. You know, it's not like we're going to get to the gates of heaven and say, well, I didn't do nothing. And then it's like, oh, well, come on in. It's absurd because we've all sinned, every single one of us. Now the Bible says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Look, we're talking about an ongoing state of fellowship with God because there's obviously the element of forgiveness that has to do with salvation, which is a one time thing. Meaning that Jesus is the son of God, confessing with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believing that God raised him from the dead. That's where we get saved and nothing can separate us from the love of God, which in Christ Jesus, our Lord, we can never lose our salvation. Just as my son will always be my son, we will always be God's children, right? Behold what manner of love the father bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, the Bible says in the book of 1st John. And so we will always be God's children, but what about this? What about if my children break my rules or do something terrible or say something terrible, right? You know, there's a breach in fellowship there and there might be forgiveness needed on an ongoing basis as far as just restoring the relationship. So when it comes to being saved from hell, yeah. In that sense, our sins are forgiven because of the fact that all our sins are washed away and you know, we're saved, so we're going to heaven. There's that sense of forgiveness. But then there's also the type of forgiveness of, you know, my wife and I are married and it's till death do us part and that's a permanent bond that's not temporary, right? That's a permanent relationship that my wife and I have as long as we both shall live. Well here's the thing though, might there not be times that I still need to forgive my wife or that she needs to forgive me or might not there be times when we need to forgive our parents or that our parents need to forgive us or that we need to forgive our children? Now of course in this situation we never need to forgive God because he never makes a mistake. He never does anything wrong, but in real life our parents might do wrong and we might need to forgive them. We might need to forgive friends. It doesn't mean we're not friends anymore or that we stopped being friends and now we started being friends again. Look, my wife is always going to be my wife, but if we do each other wrong, confession may need to take place and forgiveness may need to take place, right? And so if a child comes to me and says, dad, I screwed up, I'm sorry. And I say, I forgive you son. It's not like he just got reinstated back into the family. It's not like, well, you weren't my son anymore, but now you are. He was always my son, but now fellowship has been restored. The relationship has been restored. Whereas if sin that's not dealt with, sin that's not confessed, sin that is just kind of there and you know, it can, it can create a rift in a relationship. And so forgiveness is so important, right? Well, here's what the Bible is saying. The Bible is saying that if we confess our sins, if we don't be this bozo claiming that we're not sinning and trying to just claim that everything we do is right all the time, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so one thing that we should do on a regular basis is confess our sin to God. And this should just be a part of our prayer life. When we go to God in prayer and we're asking God for things in prayer, because the primary meaning of the word prayer is to ask for something, right? Prayer is asking and receiving from God, that's prayer. But in addition to praying, in addition to asking for things for God, you know what we should, what should we do? We should tell God, Hey, here's something that I did wrong today. Now obviously God already knows what we did wrong, but he wants to hear it come out of our mouth. He doesn't want us to acknowledge and admit that we did wrong and admit that we sinned. He doesn't want us to have this prideful, arrogant attitude that just acts like we don't do anything wrong. I don't even understand how anybody could even think that way. It's crazy. You know, and the only person that you really know truly deeply is yourself and you probably know the people in your immediate family pretty well, but you really know yourself, right? Can you really look in the mirror and say, man, I rarely sin and you know, I rarely sin and I'm pretty awesome spiritually. You know, I'm not going to go around saying this to other people because it'd be bragging, but you know, just between, you know, me and my reflection in the mirror here, you know, I'm pretty, I'm pretty stinking godly. I mean, could any, I mean, you're an idiot. If that, if that thought enters your mind, even for one second, I'm a great Christian. I'm one of the best. I'm an MVP. You know, I'm one of the most zealous church members of faithful word. I'm one of the most godly. I'm one of the most separated man. Sometimes I just kind of impress myself. That thought even comes into your mind for one second, slap yourself in the face and confess that pride and arrogance and just stupidity is a sin because you know what? I'm constantly humbled thinking about how like, man, I'm just, I'm coming short. How did the apostle Paul feel in Romans seven? He's like, man, I do the things that I hate and I don't do the things that I should do. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death and see, I get up and tell you the truth and say, you know what? I know that in me that is in my flesh dwell with no good thing. And I'm constantly having to confess sin to God and cause, and, and, and you, you know, the fools would say, oh, well, pastor Anderson's just admitting how carnal he is. You know, that's just because pastor Anderson's so carnal, of course he's gonna, you know, have no issue confessing sin to God daily. Look at him. He's carnal, you know, but, but folks, here's the thing about that is that maybe I just know more rules than you do. You know what I mean? Maybe I've just studied the Bible so much. Maybe that I'm just so used to seeing God's holiness and God's righteous and God's justice in the word that every time I look at this, I come way short. And that's why, maybe that's why I'm constantly feeling inadequate. Maybe that's why I'm constantly feeling humble. I'm constantly feeling like it's such a blessing and a privilege that I don't deserve to be saved. That I don't deserve to be a pastor, that I don't deserve to be an ambassador for Christ. That basically I am a recipient of God's mercy and his grace, and that I always feel like Job in a sense. How did Job feel? Because you say, well, you know, these other pastors, they don't talk that way cause they're just so godly. But I'm thinking of the really godly people in the Bible. Like if I wanted to think of the big time godly people, the first person I would bring out, if you just said, bring out the most godly person in the Bible, I would just say, well, Job, because the Bible said that he was the most godly. The Bible literally says the most godly person in the whole planet at that time. So I don't have to wonder, you know, who was more godly, Peter or John? I don't know. You know, I don't have to wonder about Job because the Bible just says, there's none like him in all the earth. A man that fears God in a shoe with evil, he's the, he's the greatest Saint upon the earth at that time. So I would go straight to Job as a guy that we know for sure is the number one most godly man on the planet at that time. That's pretty remarkable, isn't it? Who knows who the most godly person on the planet is right now. I guarantee you it's not me. I promise you that, but I don't know who it is and whoever it is, they don't know it's them because if they did, they'd be arrogant to think that way. Because what did Job say? What came out of Job's mouth? You know what he said? He said, I loathe myself. I loathe myself and I repent in sackcloth and ashes. He's like, I don't even know what I'm repenting of. But I repent and I loathe myself and I'm an idiot. I suck and you're awesome. That's the Steven Anderson translation. He basically said that he sucks and that God is amazing and that God's awesome. I loathe myself. What does loathe mean? It means I'm disgusted with myself. It means I hate myself. I'm disgusted with myself. Why did he say that? Because he's being confronted with the power of God. He's just blown away and I don't see him saying, well, God, I am the greatest though, right? You did say I was the greatest. He's like, man, I'm trash. I loathe myself. What did the apostle Paul say? He said, I'm the least. He said unto me, who is the least, I think we just looked at this in Ephesians three on Sunday, is this grace given. Me who I'm the least of the apostles. He said also, I'm the least of the apostles because I persecuted the church of God. He said, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. So the apostle Paul, would you consider him one of the most godly people? He said, I'm the chief of sinners. Job, you consider him godly? He said, I loathe myself. I repent and sackcloth and ashes. Okay. You consider the apostle John the beloved? You consider him godly? He said, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Who are we kidding? Let's go down the list, my friend. What about Peter? What did Peter say? Peter said, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. Jesus tried to recruit Peter into the ministry and Peter's like, no, I'm too sinful. I'm too sinful to be in the ministry is what Peter said. Folks, it's not hard to see that these bunch of lying devils who say that they don't sin and that they are sinless and that they have reached a state of sinless perfection are complete frauds and that they're only deceiving themselves because anybody who actually read the Bible would know that even the greatest Christians feel their sinful condition. And they're humbled by their simple condition. And the only person I really know is myself as far as inside and out. And I know that in me that is in my flesh dwell with no good thing. The only good thing about me is Jesus. The only good thing about me is that I'm a Christian. The only good thing about me is that I've got the Holy Spirit living inside of me, guiding me into all truth that if I walk in the spirit, then I can put on that armor of light. Then I can not fulfill the lust of flesh. I can walk in the spirit, have the fruit of the spirit. That's the fruit of the spirit. It's not for me, that is my sinful flesh. And the part of me that is good is the new man that God created in true holiness, but man alive, the flesh. What a battle all the time. Then you get these idiots that get up behind the pulpit and say, oh, well, ever since I got saved, I don't even want to sin. You liar, you devil. That's garbage. It's not what the Bible teaches. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not as if we confess our sins, he is faithful. What does that mean? Faithful, reliable, trustworthy, and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I'll close on this. Here's what he's saying. He's saying, you know what? If I go to bed at night and I kneel down by my bedside and say, God, I'm sorry that I did this. I'm sorry that I did not do this thing that I should have done. I'm sorry that I did this thing that I shouldn't have done. You know what? I wonder whether I'm forgiven because I know for a fact that we're cool. I don't have to wonder, is God still mad about that? Is God still holding a grudge about that? We're cool. Now, it doesn't mean that I'm not going to face maybe some earthly consequences because let's face it, when we do stupid things, simple things, we sometimes put consequences on our own selves. And you know what? Sometimes those things can come back and bite us, but you know what? I know that fellowship is restored. And you know, one of my kids might come to me and say, hey, I'm really sorry. You know, they still might get a spanking, but fellowship is immediately restored even before, during, and after the spanking. You know, I might say, well, you know, you still have this punishment, you still have this consequence, but we're cool. And you know what? I know things are cool with God as soon as I confess my sins to God. Why? Because he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We don't have to wonder if we confess our sins to God. And if we forgive other people, we know for a fact, God is going to let it go. You know, and I've had people come to me over the years cause I'm a pastor, right? People come to me and they say things like, you know, I just feel like God is still mad at me for stuff that I did years. I did so much bad stuff. I feel like God's still mad at me. I feel like I'm still under the curse of God or that, you know, and I just tell them, look, you know, God's not mad at you, you know, for real, okay? I tell them, look, if you have confessed that sin, God is not mad at you because he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we confess our sin. I'll tell you who he's mad at, people who are refusing to acknowledge their sin, okay? That's going to make God mad. Even if they're saved, but they're just justifying everything and refusing to acknowledge their weaknesses, their sins, their faults, you know, it's wicked, it's arrogant, it's prideful, it's foolish, it's stupid. But if we confess our sins, we know that that relationship is restored, which is a blessed thing because we want to have fellowship, one with another, and we want to have fellowship with the Father and with the Son. And let's just close on this thought, these things write unto you that your joy may be full. You know, in order to have fullness of joy in the Christian life, we want to have that relationship, don't we? And if we don't have that relationship with the Lord, we're not going to have fullness of joy. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you for this introductory chapter to the book of 1 John. Lord, I pray that you bless the series. I pray that you bless the next four sermons, Lord, and that we would come to have a greater appreciation for the gospel, for the Trinity, for our salvation, Lord, and Lord, that we would have fullness of joy as we understand that although we are sinful, you love us in spite of that, you forgive us in spite of that, and we can still have a relationship with you in spite of that as long as we just confess that. Thank you for all that you've given us, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.