Forgiveness is found in Christ
1 John Bible Study, Part 2
1 John 1:5-10
Introduction
- The author of this letter (or epistle) is the disciple, John
- This Epistle was probably written in Ephesus between the years 95–110.
-- It was written to counter Docetism: belief that Jesus did not come "in the flesh"
-- It was written to counter that Jesus only appeared as a spirit.
- Additionally, it defines how Christians are to discern true teachers:
-- By their ethics, their proclamation of Jesus in the flesh, and by their love
- It is important as we draw closer to God ourselves that we are able to learn
- Read 1 John 1:5-10 / Pray
∆ Point 1 – God is Light (5)
- The message John declares is that God is light; all that He is … is LIGHT!
-- There is no darkness in Him; darkness is in complete opposition to who He is
- John 1:4-5, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
- The light shines in the darkness; it literally replaces the darkness
-- APP: There are not different shades of darkness; but light casts it out
-- In a dark room, you can shine one light and change the visibility immediately
-- Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- Light is literally a word picture for the word “truth”; stands for honesty
-- There is no darkness (also refer to as deception, falsehood) in God/Son/Spirit
- “The message we declare to you is that God is light” … it’s a simple fact
-- For the Christian, we have to first reconcile this truth before we move on
- TRANS: One sentence builds upon the rest of this passage …
∆ Point 2 – God Purifies (6-8)
- Once you understand the difference in light and dark; John’s begins to read us
-- Note: He may be the disciple of love – but this brother is mature in his walk
- What he says is simple: NO person (repeat) can claim fellowship if we lie
-- If we are walking in darkness repeatedly, there is no way we can claim light
-- APP: We cannot enjoy our sin and call ourselves faithful followers of Christ
-- James 3:10, “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”
- On the other hand, when we walk in the light we have two things happen
• We have fellowship with one another (unity)
• We are purified by the blood of Christ (God’s gift to us)
-- APP: This is where grace is so critical: It comes from God, not from us
- To be purified from all sin is a present tense phrase; it’s a continuous action
-- We might tend to look at this from a judicial standpoint, but there’s more
- Yes, it includes the forgiveness of past sins at the moment of salvation
-- But it ALSO leads us to a life-style change of desiring God’s righteousness
-- It is a life-long purification process; or a character transformation process
-- To be like Christ is to have His mind, His will, His desires, and His actions
- This purification by the blood is more than just a ticket to Heaven
-- It is more than some sort of back-stage pass to the concert of your dreams
-- APP: It is a complete transformation where you are no longer your own
-- John understood how this changed his life, and he desires we’d know this truth
- Why? (v8) Because if we say we are good to go we are only fooling ourselves!
-- There are two kinds of sin that we must contend with:
• Doing things we know we should not do, and,
• Not doing the things which God has commanded us to do
- The first is an obvious one: it means we do things that God disapproves of
-- The second is the painful one: it means we should do what Jesus would do
-- Jesus demonstrated how we ought to live; He was clear in His instruction
-- APP: The unrepentant looks Him in the eye and deliberately says “no”
- We look at Jesus and tell Him “no, we do not need to be different …”
-- This is the greatest deception; it’s where the Spirit pushes on us the hardest
- APP: We cannot lie to ourselves in this; honesty is the key
-- You know who you are and what sins you deal with … and so does God
-- It is here that we must plant our feet firmly and cry out to Christ for mercy
- TRANS: Once we submit like THAT … we have real/true forgiveness
∆ Point 3 – Forgiveness comes from God (9-10)
- The lead off word here ought to be your first clue something is different (v9)
-- John comforts us with a hard truth with a harder application action for us
- “If” we confess, then He does the cleaning and the salvation
- Now, here is the application for us to allow God to read us …
- Forgiveness happens first when we ask for salvation
-- It is at this moment that we are forgiven and the Holy Spirit lives within us
-- Paul writes in Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
- However, it is not a license to sin and live however we want …
-- If this were so, then John conflicts Jesus’ instruction of prayer (remember?)
-- Matt 6:12, “And forgive us our transgressions…”; current state of forgiveness
- IMP: It is a constant fellowship and relationship with God through Christ
- The forgiveness John writes about is mainly parental; not judicial forgiveness
-- Judicial forgiveness is where we are forgiven from the PENALTY of sin
- Turn to Romans 5:6-11
- Our sin does not cause us to lose our salvation … Turn to Romans 8:37-39
- We confess our sin out of love and respect for the One who saved us
-- It is relationship building at its finest … there are to be no secrets with God
-- He already knows, so why we try to think He wasn’t looking is foolish
- Jesus is the one who is just and able to forgive our sin; and we stand on that
-- It is in this justice of Christ, which God has given, that we come to him boldly
-- Jesus already paid the penalty for the sin, and coming to Him brings freedom
- Then John takes us right back to identifying ourselves again (v10)
-- If you act like you are all good, you make the One who is out to be a liar
-- You claim to live above all that God has called you live by; it’s devil’s lie
- HUGE: This is the lie the devil has been selling Christians for eons now
-- “You are good, don’t worry about that, God still loves you so you’re good”
- WRONG! God does love you, but the devil just robbed you of something
-- He has just robbed you of true forgiveness, peace, and joy in Christ!
- APP: Why? Because you would now be living without total freedom in Christ
-- You are now living by your own standards of goodness; and leaving His
-- Your life has taken on an “ignorant blindness” to your own sin
-- This leads to doing your own thing, worshiping your own god, etc.
-- I believe more people today are under this bondage than ever before
- John lovingly tells us that we need Christ, more than anything ever before
-- It is not about what we bring, but what He has done through God’s power
- TRANS: Let’s try to land the plane for tonight …
∆ Big Ideas
• If we live in the dark, God does not live within us – He is NOT Lord
• If we live in the truth, He is within us and we walk perfectly with Him
• Repentance is more than words; it’s choosing to LIVE fully for Christ
- The forgiveness that Jesus provides is because He has already paid the price
-- He is the righteous One who speaks as our advocate to the Father (Judge)
- Consider it this way: He is the defense attorney we require for immunity
-- If we turn our backs on Him (1:9), how can we ever really live freely?
- Pray
