#361 1 John Series# 2, Really Good News

#361 1 John Series# 2, Really Good News
By: Zach Sloane

1 JOHN 1:5 – 2:6

RECAP: PURPOSE FOR WRITING
1. Jesus Was God Manifest- The Word of Life – The Full Picture of God.
2. We Experienced Him Fully – touched, tasted, handled, heard, seen!
3. Enjoy The Same Fellowship – with each other and with God.
4. Overwhelmed with Joy.

CONTEXT: To whom
Not written to you but is FOR you.
Written to a Christian community that was a mixed group. From the letter we know that it was a divided community, filled with all sorts of people.
1 John 2:19 talk about those who “went out from us, but who didn’t really belong to us.”
1 John 2:26 talks about those trying to “lead them astray.”

Different audiences, different issues being addressed, all in same letter.

Teachings that denied reality of Jesus and Incarnation, Docetism.
Denied reality of sin and that life in the body matters, Gnosticism.

1 John 1:5-10: a general recap of the overall message.  Its written to non-believers and to believers who need to hear a re-cap of the basic message, so they don’t get caught up in the false teaching, and to those who have never heard the Gospel before.

1 John 1:5-10(NIV)
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

John with all life experience with Jesus says: this is the message “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges:
“No figure borrowed from the material world could give the idea of perfection so clearly and fully as light. It suggests ubiquity, brightness, happiness, intelligence, truth, purity, holiness. It suggests excellence without limit and without taint; an excellence whose nature it is to communicate itself and to pervade everything from which it is not of set purpose shut out. ‘Let there be light’ was the first fiat of the Creator; and on it all the rest depends. Light is the condition of beauty, and life, and growth, and activity.”^[1]

Darkness is actually the absence of light – it’s not really a thing. Its where God is not.

All that is to say this… God is not a mixture of Light and dark, good and evil. He is Light and that Light was manifested in the person of Jesus Christ.

Not saying, “hey if you do wrong things, things associated with darkness, like secret sins etc. yet still claim to have fellowship with God you are a liar.

If you are in Christ you are in the light. God is light… and Jesus came as God… as the Light that God is in a human form.

John 12:46 (NIV)
46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

John 8:12 (NIV)
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 1:4-10 (NIV)
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcomeit. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

Jesus is the light. You are in Him or out of Him. So, you too depending on whether you are in Christ or out of Christ are in darkness or light.

Ephesians 5:8 “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”

I Thessalonians 5:5 “For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.”

Colossians 1:13 “God has rescued you, delivered you from the power of darkness, and transferred you into the kingdom of His Beloved Son.”

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NKJV)
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Once in the light…these are the benefits:

1.) We have fellowship with one another.

Churchy word but really powerful.

koinōnía(a feminine noun) – properly, what is sharedin commonas the basis of fellowship(partnership, community).

1 Corinthians 1:9 “God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, is faithful.”  YOU AND THE FATHER HAVE JESUS IN COMMON.

2.) The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

If already in Christ, blood cleanses you once and for all.

Hebrews 9:24-28 (NKJV)
“…but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many….”

Puts away = athétēsis– properly, annulment (cancellation), i.e. what is rendered “no longer in effect” (literally, “no longer having a place”).

Sin is a noun… it’s not a verb in 1 John 1:9. Sin is a thing that almost has a life of its own. It is the combined power of an ignorance induced selfishness that comes from failing to see God, yourself or others correctly.

Not saying cleanses you from your sinning as often as you do it.

Lots of times when you read sin, your sin, etc. in the NT you need to read it as a noun. Not talking about things, you do as much as a thing called sin, out of which you do bad things.

Verse 8, is another give away that he is actually talking here to non-believers. Its says If we say, “we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truths not in us.”

Diatribe – where you parrot your opponent’s perspective. You say what they say, but you include in your writing.

People need to know sin is a problem.
Strategy: make everyone feel miserable. vs. H. Spirit and Jesus strategy: “convict of sin for not believing in Jesus.” e.g. Peter – Reveal God’s overwhelming goodness.

Luke 5:4-11
“…8 When Simon Peter saw it,he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken…they forsook all and followed Him.”

Sin is an issue. BUT…Good news: 1 John 1:9 “If you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Only couple times in Bible after the cross is forgiveness described as a verb, as something that God does. Usually, after the cross forgiveness is a noun, its a thing, its something that God gives.

Jesus said in Luke 24:47 “
“…that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

Acts 5:31 (NKJV)
“Him [Jesus] God has exalted to His right hand to bePrince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

Both cases forgiveness is a noun. It means áphesis(from 863/aphíēmi, “send away, forgive” ) – properly, “something sent away”

Your sins are forgiven, as in He doesn’t hold them against us (2Corinthians 5:19), but until you accept Jesus, they still remain on you and affect you. Sin still affects you even though God doesn’t hold it against you.

2 Words for forgiveness.

Two Greek words are used to translate the word “forgive.” The first is charizomai, from the word charis, which means “grace.” This word appears 27 times in New Testament. It means “to bestow a favor unconditionally; to show one’s self gracious, kind, benevolent; or to grant forgiveness, to pardon.

By contrast, our word, aphiemi, means “to send away.”

1 John 1:9 is the word aphiemi. Sends away. And he does this in your life through placing you in Christ and what he accomplished 2000 years ago.

So, do believers need to acquire forgiveness every time they sin? No!
It was accomplished at the cross.

Do believers need to come out from under the power of sin every time they sin? No!

To confess your sin its simply this: to you say the same thing about sin that God does, Say this : In christ you are forgiven, sin’s power is broken and put away, “I am free.”

1 John 2:1-2:6 (NIV)
2 My dear children, [those who have embraced Jesus, who do believe and are in the Light]I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Not a warning to not sin, or invitation to stir up flesh… but a promise and impartation through the preaching of the cross. The Gospel brings with it its own power…

I write this to you that you may not sin. BUT… if anyone does sin. If you do..

The greek word advocate is παράκλητονparakletos,  Strongs #3875. OR “comforter” or “helper.”

Greek word for “with” πρόςpros strong #4314, as “moving toward a destination.”

Jesus moves you towards the Father so you will see that even if you are in Christ, in the light, and you do a dark deed.. He is still your Father, the Father of lights (of you). You are still a child of THE Light.

And the one that does this, that moves us toward the Father, is none other than the one who is Himself “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

SO heres the deal:

He is writing to help you know you are in Christ, what that means for you, how you can get in Him, and then to share a message that has enough power in it to make you not sin. BUT THEN, even if you do… Jesus, Him who’s very being screams our at-one-ment with God, is there to help redirect our focus to the Father and reassure you that you are still a child of the Light.

And if that’s not enough, he has more good news.

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.

 1 John 3:23 “And this is his commandant, that we believe in His Son Jesus Christ, and the we love one another, just as he commanded us.”

 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.  On the contrary:

“5 …if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Read these statements as tests and apply them to yourself, you are ignoring the reality of the Good News he just shared.

And that’s this: God is Light and that Light is Jesus. If you are in Him, you do have fellowship with Him and His blood cleanses you once or all. If you are not in Him, don’t lie and say you have no sin and you are ok. Instead, just say the same thing about your sins that God does, that they are done, put away, destroyed in and by Christ and His blood, and he will release you from sins power in your life by placing you in Christ.

And then, what’s even better is that the power of this Good News, that God is Light, and you are in Him, is powerful enough to make you free, and if embraced and believed, it has the power inherent within it to make you walk like Jesus did, and manifest the complete love of God everywhere you go.

THATS ALL REALLY GOOD NEWS!

            ^[1]http://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_john/1-5.htm. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges.

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