Introduction to the 1st Epistle of John
This section
is made up of two sets of connective expository sermon transcript
series which cover all five chapters of the 1st Epistle
of John. One
set is the sermon transcript series given by Pastor Joe Focht
of Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia. The
other set is given by a pastor somewhere in New England who
wishes to remain anonymous. The following introduction is an excerpt
from Dr. Michael Brown’s fine book “Go
and Sin No More” [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/GoandSInnomore.htm
].
What is the Purpose of 1st John?
“It is
one thing to struggle [with sin]; all of us do. It
is another thing to be a deliberate, willful sinner. It
is one thing to slip and fall; who doesn’t? It is another
thing to habitually and consciously say yes to the flesh
and no to the Spirit. Those who live like that—as purposeful,
willful, deliberate, continual sinners—behave like
God’s enemies, not His friends—or His servants. How
can we call Him “Lord”? (See
Luke 6:46; Matt. 7:21-23.)
Even
the apostle John, famous for his emphasis on the love of
God, has some strong words to say about walking in sin:
No one who lives in Him keeps
on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen
Him or known Him….He who does what is sinful is
of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the
beginning….No one who is born of God will continue
to sin, because God’s seed remains in him: he
cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 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 (1 John 3:6,8-10).
Now,
it’s obvious that John was not saying that anyone who
claims to be a believer and sins even one time is not truly
saved. Of course
not! After all,
John was the one who wrote the famous words, too:
If we claim to be without
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make
him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. My dear children, I write this to you
so that you will not sin. But
if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father
in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He
is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for
ours but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 1:8-2:2).
Thank God, there
is provision for our sin—before we are saved and after
we are saved. If we claim to be sinless, we are deceived
and we deny the testimony of God. So
we must confess our sins to Him, and He will be faithful
to wash us clean. And even though God’s will is for
us not to sin, if we do sin, (and we will)
Jesus pleads our case with the Father. He
is our Advocate!
Certainly
these are glorious truths, and they bring me comfort and
encouragement every day of my life. But
I am afraid many of us put the emphasis where it doesn’t
belong. You see, John was not making excuses for our sins,
nor was he giving us license to sin, nor was he treating
sin lightly. It
was sin that nailed John’s dear Savior to the cross. Remember,
John was an eyewitness. There
was nothing John hated more than sin. The whole purpose of his first epistle
was to call his readers to reach higher in their walks with
the Lord. And so, encouraged them to holiness as
a father would lovingly exhort his children, challenging
them to put one foot ahead of the other, to grow and mature
and develop, yet encouraging them when they fall short.
But
make no mistake about it. John’s
emphasis was on growing, not on falling short. And
no honest reader of 1 John would think for a moment that
he was telling his readers it was fine to sin freely, as
long as they just confessed their sins along the way. Hardly! Instead, 1 John 1:9 affirms the words
of Proverbs 28:13: “He
who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses
and renounces [or forsakes] them finds mercy.”
The
rest of John’s first Epistle makes this perfectly
clear: He emphasizes and repeats that believers
must live radically differently from unbelievers. The
former live in light; the latter live in darkness. The former walk in truth; the latter
walk in lies. The
righteous do what is right. They
are children of God, full of love, and they overcome
the wicked one. The
unrighteous do what is wrong. They
are children of the devil, full of hate, and they are
under the power of the wicked one (see 1 John 5:19).
In
fact, immediately after we learn that Jesus Christ pleads
our case with the Father when we do sin,
John goes on to say:
We know that we have come to know Him if
we obey His commands. The
man who says,
“I know Him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the
truth is not in him. But if anyone
obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in Him. This
is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus
did (1 John 2:3-6).
Now,
it is true that John is not telling us how we
can live like this, but he is telling us that this is how
we are to live. After all, he was only reinforcing standards
that God had already laid out in the Old Testament centuries
before—spiritual standards that Jesus and His followers
took even deeper. (See the Sermon on the Mount for the best
example of this.)
Through
the prophet Isaiah the Lord said, “Wash and make yourselves
clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!” (Isaiah
1:16,17). The
psalmist asked, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who
may stand in His holy place?” (Ps 24:3). His
answer was direct and clear: “He who has clean
hands and a pure
heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear
by what is false” (Ps. 24:4). That’s the one who can live in God’s
presence.
In
fact, all the prophets, with one voice, brought the same
message from the Lord to His chosen people: “Turn from
your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance
with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey
and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets” (2
Kings 17:13). Now,
by the Spirit, we can fulfill the Law’s demands (see
Romans 8:1-4; 6:12-14). Now, holiness is written on our hearts
(see Heb. 8:10; 10:16; Ezek. 36:26,27 [and Jeremiah 31:31-34]).” [Excerpts taken from Go and Sin No More pp. 98-100, and p. 101, par. 1, written by Dr.
Michael L. Brown, who is now working on the new Messianic
Prophecy Bible over in Israel with Zev Isaacs.]
The whole theme
of 1 John is between sin and righteous living. One
final thought before you begin this awesome expository series
on 1st John. Buried in the middle of John’s
letter, he defined sin, gave a very simple definition of
what sin is. Most
of the very grace oriented denominations pass right over
this definition without so much as a howdy do. The
Torah observant groups pound away on the definition and demand
obedience or else. The balance is in the middle. John says we all sin, stumble, but shouldn’t
be doing it habitually. But
let us not forget what sin is. For
how can one possibly put sin out of his life, if he doesn’t
know what sin is? Let’s see right away what sin really
is. John defines what sin is, basically giving
us the Bible’s definition or what sin is, putting words
to the concept of sin. There is no doubt what sin is in a believers
mind when he reads John’s definition for it. Here it
is: “Whoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is
the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). The
word “sin” and “transgression of the law” are
interchangeable terms. Transposing “transgression of the
law” for the word “sin” gives the word
a whole new meaning. But grace oriented churches and denominations
cringe at the thought, while Torah observant groups pound
the concept home, sometimes giving the impression that we
must obey God’s law regardless, all on our own, obedience
is everything to them, even above love. John ties this concept of obedience to
loving one’s brother and neighbor—i.e. having
the agape-love of God operative in the believer. It
is God that enables obedience in the first place, by and
through his indwelling Holy Spirit that empowers us. The
Comforter, as John quoted Jesus in John 14, brings God the
Father and Jesus Christ right inside of us, enabling our
walk, enabling our obedience.
Two basic groups within the body
of Christ, theologically
One
final point: There
are two basic groups within the body of Christ, theologically
speaking, one being the Torah observant groups (often called legalists,
but I find that a slanderous term)—which are more often
than not Sabbatarians. The
other group is made up of the grace oriented churches and
denominations. One group believes the Old Testament law
of God has not been abrogated, but should be combined with
Jesus’ and the apostle’s magnification of the
law found in the New Testament. The other group believes the New Testament
defines the law which we are to observe now, and call this
law the “Law of Christ”. This
is a simplified definition of the two groups: One
group observes the Ten Commandments, including Sabbath and
Holy Days of Leviticus 23, brought to their spiritual intent
(cf. Matthew 5:17-48). The other group observes “the Law
of Christ”
found defined throughout the New Testament, which is simply
9 out of the 10 Commandments, brought to their spiritual
intent (cf. Matthew 5:17-48). The simplistic definition (and only definition
I can find the Bible giving) of the new covenant is this: For those entering into the new covenant
God promises “to write his laws upon their hearts and
in their minds” (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:6-13). There
is no mention within this Bible definition of the new covenant
which “set” of laws God promises to write in
the believers heart and mind—just that he would do
the writing. In
Romans 14:1-23 we find the freedoms given under the new covenant
defined, which seems to allow the believer to choose which
set of laws he would prefer God to “write upon his
heart and mind.” If
this is true, then all the grace oriented churches have been
wrongfully beating up on their Sabbatarian brothers because
they simply chose to exercise their God-given freedom in
this area, and chose the Old Covenant version of God’s
law to have him write upon their hearts and minds. This
was a hotly contested issue in the early Church of God in
Rome and throughout the Christian churches within the Roman
Empire, and that’s why Paul addressed it in Romans
14. Understand
this. This sermon transcript series is friendly to both theological sides of
the body of Christ, Torah-observant Sabbatarian and the grace
oriented, Sunday observing churches and denominations. Believers
from both these groups can be nourished spiritually without
fear that they are going to be somehow swayed from their
choice of which “set”
of laws they would like God to write upon his or her heart
and mind. This whole website abhors the thought of such tactics. This
controversy raged in the early church. [For more information about the early
church, be sure to log onto the early church history section
at http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm.]
Now
go and enjoy these two sets of expository studies of 1st John
chapters 1 through 5. Pastor
Joe Focht’s series goes through 1st John
1-5 at a faster pace. The other series goes more slowly and
thoroughly through 1st John 1-5. I
advise going through Pastor Joe’s series first to get
the basic concepts, and then dig deeper into the subject
in the other series.
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