1 John Series
Chapter One

Complete Joy
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.” —1 John 1:3–4

John begins his letter with a desire that reaches beyond himself. He wants others to know what he has seen and heard so that they can experience fellowship with him. But even more importantly, he wants that fellowship to lead them into fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
And John tells us why he is writing: “We write this to make our joy complete.”
There is a progression here that is important for us to understand. John knows Jesus. He has experienced Jesus. He has walked with Jesus. And now he wants others to know Him as well.
That is where complete joy is found.

Jesus Is ETERNAL
Jesus Himself lays out for us that He has been with God since before the world began. In John 17:5, Jesus says, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
John also writes that, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” —John 1:3
God’s testimony concerning Jesus is this: “God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” —1 John 5:11–12
The author of Hebrews tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” —Hebrews 13:8
So, what does it mean for us that Jesus is eternal?
It means that His power is eternal.
Because that power is unending, we can trust in Him forever.
Our government has elections every couple of years for Senators and Congressmen and every four years for the President. That means that every few years we go through a process of either establishing trust or not trusting our leadership at all until the next election.
The economy fluctuates based upon people's opinions, major weather events, pandemics, and circumstances that are often outside of our control. We live in a constant state of uncertainty about what is next for us financially.
But God's power is eternal, and we know that we can trust Him forever.
His character does not change. His sense of right and wrong does not change. His compassion does not change. And His promises are fulfilled.
Jesus being eternal also means that everything that lives through Him is eternal as well.
By Him and for Him we were created.
In Him we hold together.
Christ sustains our lives as we live here, and He will sustain our lives when we don't.
Paul writes in Colossians 3:4, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.”
Christ sustains our physical life and, more importantly, our spiritual life through the righteousness He delivered by way of the cross and His resurrection.

Jesus Is PERSONAL
John had the privilege of walking with Jesus and knowing Him personally. John had conversations with Jesus face-to-face.
How do we get to hear Jesus?
The first way we get this opportunity is by spending time in the Gospels. Here Jesus tells us about repentance, how to settle differences, His stance on divorce, the importance of keeping our word, how to pray, loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us, fasting, forgiveness, false teachers, and a whole lot more.
The second way that we hear from Jesus today is through godly people.
These are people who love God and love you. They are people who make knowing and understanding God a priority. These individuals know the importance of moving you closer to Christ based on His Word and not their own opinions.
A third way that we hear from Jesus is through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit always leads you toward peace.
The Holy Spirit never contradicts the Word of God.

Jesus Is Seen
Again, John walked with Jesus and saw Him daily. He writes from a position of witnessing His miracles and ministry.
We see Jesus through those who model His life and mission.
We see Him in the person who sacrifices their time and resources to make sure someone is fed, clothed, and warm.
We see Him in the person who sees the world as a mission field and shares the gospel wherever and whenever they can.
We see Him in the person who can see past someone's faults and recognize the spiritual value that they have.

Jesus Is Looked At
This phrase that John uses comes from a Greek word meaning to gaze upon. It is different than just seeing something.
It means to study it until its significance is understood.
We need to gaze at Jesus with the intent of discovering the mystery of all that He is.

Jesus Is Touched
The disciples had the chance to touch the risen Jesus and see that He was not a ghost.
Jesus said in Luke 24:39, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
This was the launching point of each of their individual ministries.
They became bold proclaimers of their faith. They transformed from cowards hiding behind a locked door to fearlessly preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We have that same experience when we serve, minister, or teach in the name of Jesus.
We put hands and feet to the gospel.
We show compassion and give mercy where it might not otherwise be felt.
We show that Christianity isn't just a myth that makes us feel good, but something real that makes an eternal impact on the lives of people who come in contact with it.

Jesus Is the Basis of FELLOWSHIP
John is writing all of this because he desires fellowship with everyone who might read it.
And that fellowship doesn't begin with him.
It begins with the Father and His Son and works out from there.
There is a women's basketball player named Caitlin Clark. She played at Iowa and broke every record that you can think of across the men's and women's game.
Because she is so fun to watch and is a good person, she has captured a following of fans that is phenomenal. She is a generational talent who clearly has worked incredibly hard to get where she is today.
And where she is today is playing for the Indiana Fever in Indianapolis.
There was a study done by the Common Sense Institute that estimated her economic impact on her home state of Iowa amounted to $82.5 million, and that her economic impact in Indianapolis would be close to $100 million.
That impact starts with her because she changed the way that people are viewing women's basketball. She is that good and made that much of a difference.
Jesus changed the world through His resurrection, His compassion, and the salvation that comes from who He is.
We follow Him and fellowship with Him because of who He is.
And we want others to do so as well because we know what He has done.

Jesus Is Complete JOY
John's last statement as he begins this letter is simply this:
“We write this to make our joy complete.”
John knows something that you and I should also know.
As much joy as he has because he knows Jesus and has a relationship with Him, his joy is not complete unless he shares it with everyone that he can.
John's complete joy comes from knowing Christ, following Christ, and sharing Christ.
There is something about knowing Jesus that creates a desire within us to make Him known.
The joy we experience in Christ is not something that was meant to be kept to ourselves. We have been given something that is meant to be shared.
John had seen Jesus.
He had heard Jesus.
He had walked with Jesus.
He knew Jesus.
And now he wanted others to experience the same fellowship that he had found.
That is the beginning of this journey through 1 John.
It begins with Jesus.
It begins with knowing who He is.
It begins with understanding that He is eternal, that He is personal, that He is the basis of our fellowship, and that knowing Him gives us a joy that is made complete when we share Him with others.
Know Christ. Follow Christ. Share Christ.
That is where complete joy is found.


Chapter 2
This Is the Message…
“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.”
—1 John 1:5
Last chapter, we started a walk through 1 John, and the whole idea of that first message was that our joy in Christ is not complete until we share with people who God really is.
We know from the first four verses that God is eternal. The power that He possesses is something that we can trust in right now and forever because He never changes. We don’t have to learn to re-trust every so often in life.
It also means that everything that lives through Him is eternal as well. We have the gift of eternity with Jesus because of His eternal power. He holds us together.
We also know that Jesus is personal. We hear from Him through His Word, through Godly people, and through the Holy Spirit. We see Him through those who model their lives and ministries after Him.
We gaze at Him, and by doing so, we contemplate more deeply who He is and how that changes us.
We also know that He is the basis of fellowship. Because of the way that He changed the world through His crucifixion, resurrection, compassion, and grace, we desire to have a relationship with Him because of all He has done.
Which leads us right into verses 5–10 of 1 John 1.

1. The character of God is COMPLETELY REVEALED.
As we dive into this point, we need to know this: our individual characters will be shaped by the character of the god we worship.
Meaning, if we worship money, our lives will look one way and decisions will be made based on what gets me more money. If we worship popularity, our lives will look another way and our decisions will be made based on what gets us more notoriety.
But if we worship God, then our lives will look like Him and our decisions will be based on what makes us look more like Him.
So, John begins in verse 5 by laying down the very nature of God, the Father of Jesus Christ, whom we worship. He says that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all!
To say that God is light tells us of His sheer splendor.
When I was in sixth grade, me and a bunch of my friends were at another friend’s house. He had an upstairs game room that had been added in the attic. When you closed the door and turned off the light, there was absolute darkness.
I kept waiting for my eyes to adjust so that I could make out images or shapes, but it never happened. Pitch black.
We were playing a game of dodgeball in the dark. The idea was that you had to find a ball in the dark and throw it and see if you could hit someone with it. If you got hit, you had to lay down until the game was over.
The game lasted about 40 seconds before one of the guys hit his face on the wall and it began to bleed. My friend opened the door, and it immediately exposed everything that was going on.
Blood on the floor. One friend crying, another one laughing, another sprinting out the door to get his mom. It was chaos.
But the light, as I think back to that moment now, was spectacular…brilliant…and probably lifesaving in the moment.
To say that God is light is to say that there is nothing secretive about Him. He wants to be seen and He wants to be known.
His light is self-revealing and exposes not only Him, but all that is around Him.
To say that God is light tells us of His purity and holiness.
Evil things are hidden and they are done within the darkness. How many times have backroom deals been made in politics? How many times have people’s lives been destroyed by what they search for on their computer, or by people who would conspire with others to ruin their reputation by spreading rumors and lies?
God’s light exposes Himself so that He can be seen for exactly who He is.
A God of love and righteous anger.
A God of power and of holiness.
A God of forgiveness and accountability.
To say that God is light also tells us of His guidance.
One of the great functions of light is to show the way.
When we were traveling to downtown Houston last Thursday morning before the sun came up and rain was pouring down, my wife was having a difficult time seeing the lanes on the road because the lights that normally illuminate the freeway were not working.
She had to slow down so that we could be safe and not run someone else off the road.
God’s light effectively lights the road for us so that we can know the path that we need to take.

2. There is no FELLOWSHIP where there is an OPPOSING life.
John was writing this letter because there were those who saw themselves as so intellectually and spiritually advanced that sin had ceased to be a problem for them and the laws of God were made for ordinary people and not them.
John’s response is, “If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light”—if we walk in God’s steps—“we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Simply said, if we are still walking in the moral and ethical darkness of a Christless life, then we cannot have fellowship with God.
Anything that destroys fellowship cannot be true.
If I am living in such a way that causes my friends to stumble, that is broken fellowship. If I am doing all I can to undermine the spiritual authority that God has placed in my life and the lives of others in a church, that is broken fellowship. If I expect you to live by a certain standard and yet have no intention of living by that same standard, that is broken fellowship.
Broken fellowship is sin, but walking in the light brings about the purification of Jesus.
Meaning that day by day…all the time…constantly and consistently…the blood of Jesus should be carrying out a cleansing process in the life of each individual Christian.
That process of cleansing brings us closer, as a church, because it is within those shared struggles that we meld together and grow toward the same ending point, and that is becoming more like God and living in the truth of His light.

3. Self-deception HIGHLIGHTS your past and RUINS your future.
Too often when sin hits our lives, our defenses go up and we begin to look for reasons why it wasn’t our fault.
We blame our upbringing or our DNA. We blame our environment, our temper, or somebody else.
But it couldn’t have possibly been our own fault…right?
John says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
God is light. He is fantastic. He is pure and holy. He wants to be known.
We cannot possibly walk in that type of light and not recognize our own downfalls. All that does is highlight the sin that we do have and keeps us from living the life that God wants for us to live.
And that life, John says, is available through “the confession of our sins.”
John says not only do you need to recognize your mistakes, but live your life in the light where those mistakes are confessed as honest prayers and repentance.
And when we do that, God is “faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
That gives us a bright future.
But if we can’t do that, then John says that we make God out to be a liar, and by doing so His life has no place in ours.


Chapter 3
The Atoning Sacrifice
“My dear children, 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. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” —1 John 2:1–2

1. John’s HEART vs. The PROBLEM
John shows his heart as he writes this part of the letter.
“My dear children…”
This shows his affection for those to whom he is writing. John is very old at this point, possibly the last living individual who actually walked and talked with Jesus during His ministry.
Sometimes, what happens with age is that we tend to look at the younger generation with contempt.
They don’t know what it means to struggle…
They don’t respect what we fought for…
They think they know better than we did…
It’s a “get off my lawn” type of attitude that surfaces.
However, that’s clearly not the case with John here. He shows nothing but tenderness for those who are young in their faith. He knows the struggles that they have walked through and will continue to walk through. So, when he speaks to them, he does so with no harshness in his voice or judgment in his tone.
You can tell that he loves the people that he is writing to.
And because he loves them, he clearly states the problem that they will face—and that is SIN.
He wants to prevent them from sinning, yet he is way too familiar with the difficulty of that goal. He has already laid out that sin is a universal problem, and if you claim to have never sinned, then you are a liar and make God out to be one as well.
He also has established that Jesus purifies us from all sin.
John understands the human condition and that it would be possible, in the hearts of men, to use the excuse that, “Everyone sins…so it’s not a big deal; and Jesus forgives us of that sin anyway…so it’s not a big deal.”
So, if all have sinned, why worry about it? And if Jesus will forgive me anyway, I might as well not struggle with it and just go with the flow.
John understands that our default mode will be to take sin lightly.
John has given us, to this point of the letter, two main principles.

Our knowledge of God involves obedience
To know God is to know His character and His view toward things we will encounter:
The capacity to Love vs. the ease it takes to Hate.
Ministry to a problem vs. Ignoring a problem.
Self-discipline vs. Self-Indulgence.

Relationship involves imitation
To be in relationship with Him means that we imitate the life of Jesus so that our hearts match up.
Seeing everyone with the value of their Creator.
Living so that Christ is glorified and not myself.
What this means to John is that sin can never be taken lightly at all.

2. We have One who SPEAKS for us.
“But if anyone does sin…,” John writes, “we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense.”
There might not be a sweeter promise in Scripture than this one right here.
Do you remember as a child when you had done something that you weren’t supposed to have done, and you had to go and explain yourself to your mom or dad, or even your principal?
That feeling was gut wrenching.
The stress of not knowing what they were going to say, or how they would respond, would eat at you until you finally couldn’t stand it anymore.
I am convinced now as an adult that the gut-wrenching feeling was a result of not wanting to disappoint someone we loved, and we knew loved us. That’s why when we finally got the chance to stand before them, we often became emotional. We didn’t want to be a disappointment, and we didn’t want to get in trouble.
Do you also remember what a relief it was for you when your mom stepped in and said, “Why don’t you let me talk to your dad first?” Or the teacher said, “Before you go down to the office, let me visit with the principal and see what I can do?”
The same is true for us as Christians, in my opinion.
We don’t want to disappoint the God we love…and we know loves us…and we certainly don’t want to be in trouble with Him.
So, sin causes us that same gut-wrenching feeling.
This is where we get to lean into the promise that God makes through John’s writing: we have Jesus Christ to speak on our behalf.
The One who came from God.
The One who lived without any sin whatsoever.
The One who loved me enough to take on my sin and the sin of the world through death on the cross.
The One who didn’t stay dead because His power is eternal.
The One who sits at the right hand of the Father and pleads my case.
That is who John wants us to know about.
John calls Jesus the parakletos, which is the Greek word for comforter, but it also means to call someone to one’s side.
Here is the picture that we have then.
When we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just—He is a comforter.
When we stand in our sin honestly before the Father, Jesus comes to our side and speaks to His Father on our behalf because He is the Righteous One.

3. We have One (and we don’t need more)
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but for the sins of the whole world.”
The concept of atonement in Christianity through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is unique and is not shared with any other religion worldwide.

Christianity
In the Christian belief, the death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection is seen as the ultimate sacrifice for sin. This act alone reconciles humanity with God through their faith in Jesus and not by any other act.
Ephesians 2:8–9 says:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Our gift is eternity with God, our Creator, and that is more than enough. That is all we desire.

Mormonism
First, Mormons believe in a concept known as the plurality of gods, and their concept of God and Jesus differ from that of Christianity.
They also believe that the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are three different beings altogether, which differs from what Christianity believes concerning the Trinity.
Their atonement is part of a broader “plan of salvation” that includes pre-mortal existence, earthly life, and post-mortal existence.
Essentially, they believe that they lived with God before living on earth and that their actions and choices in this life will determine their status after this life, including the potential to become a god themselves.

Judaism
Here atonement is sought through repentance, prayer, and acts of charity. Jewish theology focuses on a covenant relationship with God where atonement is tied to moral living and adherence to the Torah.

Islam
Atonement is achieved by seeking forgiveness directly from Allah themselves. Believers are encouraged to repent sincerely for their sins and engage in good deeds to earn God’s mercy.

Hinduism and Buddhism
Both of these religions operate on the concept of karma, or the law of cause and effect. Atonement is more about performing good deeds and improving one’s karma in this life so that your future rebirths will elevate your status in the lives to come.
Hebrews 9:27 says:
“Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.”

1. God loves us and desires a relationship with us. (John 3:16)
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

2. Sin separates humanity from God. (Romans 3:23)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”

3. Jesus’ perfect life died on a cross for our atonement. (1 Corinthians 15:3–4)
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…”

4. The promise of eternal life. (John 10:28)
“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

5. We are called to a new life in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”


Chapter 4
The Importance of Loving Each Other
“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.” — 1 John 2:9–11

As we come back to John's letter, it helps to remember where we've been. John is writing to a group of churches gathered around Ephesus, and everything he has told them so far has been building toward this moment.
He has already made clear that God is eternal in His power, which is exactly why we can trust Him at all times — that trust is what gives us eternal life. John has shown us how personal Jesus really is: we can hear from Him, see Him at work in the lives of those who follow Him, gaze at Him for deeper understanding, and even put our own hands and feet to His ministry. John has told us that God Himself is the basis for real fellowship, because Jesus changed the entire narrative of what a godly relationship looks like. And because of that, we have complete joy in Christ whenever we share who He is with someone else.
We know who God is because His character is light. There is no darkness in Him at all, which means He wants us to know Him completely. And here's the catch: we cannot fully know God and live a life that opposes who He is. When we try, we only deceive ourselves — and worse, we make God out to be a liar. Last time, we sat with the truth that Jesus is the atonement for our sins, the One who speaks to the Father on our behalf. We miss out on the fullness of who He is whenever we try to handle our sin on our own.

It's Either Love or Hate — There Is No Indifference
John sees our personal relationships in terms of black and white. You either love someone, or you hate them. There is no middle ground, no neutral zone to retreat into. And John isn't only talking about our relationships with immediate family, or even with those we're spiritually connected to. He's talking about how we treat anyone we come into contact with on a daily basis.
Take a moment and think about everyone you deal with on any given day: your spouse, your children, your siblings. Your boss, your coworkers, your customers. The people you play golf or pickleball with. The people at the grocery store or the restaurant. The people on the road, or the person calling about a bill you owe. John isn't just talking about the people who are easy to love. He's talking about the ones who make you want to climb the wall.
He writes, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.” John is telling us plainly: that person is separated from God. They can't experience Him spiritually, and they can't see what He might have for them next. In that state, we have a far greater capacity for sin — even severe sin.
Think about the last time you really lost it with someone. For whatever reason, they caused you to “lose your religion,” even if only for a moment. Your words were probably hateful, condescending, belittling — maybe even a vicious attack on their character. Your mind was busy composing everything else you should have said, and it probably wasn't kind either. Your heart went callous, and in that moment you didn't much care whether you'd made them cry.
What part of any of that looks or sounds like Jesus? None of it. And chances are, every one of those moments brought you regret once you'd had time to calm down and think it through.

What Does Hate Look Like, and What Is Its Effect?
The real question we have to answer is this: how do we regard the people in our lives? There are a few common ways we do this poorly.
We regard people as negligible — we live as though their needs, their sorrows, their welfare, and their salvation have nothing to do with us. We make plans without ever considering them. That says far more about us than it does about them. It says we're prone to being self-centered, that in our world, no one else quite matters but us. And the most unsettling part is that it's usually the people closest to us who bear the weight of this.
We regard people with contempt — we assume their opinions don't matter because we never respected them to begin with. They aren't as smart as we are, or we quietly rank them as inferior to whatever it is we believe ourselves to be. So we brush them aside.
We think of people as a nuisance — he may be my little brother, but I don't want to have to play with him. Just because I work with you doesn't mean I want to deal with you, or be stuck on a project with you. Your lack of resources or your sickness isn't my issue — but I'll deal with it if I absolutely have to.
And perhaps the most frightening way we regard people is as our enemy — people in the same profession, people going for the same position, Christians who see their own church as competition with the one a few blocks over.
The effect of living this way is that we are blinded by the very darkness we're walking in. We don't know where we're going. Our ability to judge a situation clearly is obscured. Personal animosity takes root. And there is no version of any of this that looks like Jesus.

What Does Love Look Like, and What Is Its Benefit?
But if instead I regard someone as necessary — their emotions, their needs, their welfare, their salvation become critical to me. I start making plans because of them, and my life becomes centered on others before myself.
If I regard people with respect — their opinions matter. I don't see them as inferior. And I certainly don't brush them aside as though they don't count.
If I regard people as a blessing — I start looking for opportunities to be around them. I relish the chance to work alongside them or share a meal with them. I see their lack of resources or their sickness not as a burden, but as an opportunity to return the blessing they've been to me.
And if I see people as a friend or an ally — I encourage them in their endeavors. I root for them to succeed. I even praise God that the church a few blocks over gets the chance to lead people to Christ.
The effect of this kind of love is that I am walking in the light of God, and nothing in me causes me to stumble. We grow in our spiritual lives because love draws us closer to one another — and it draws us closer to God.

Remembering the Benefits We Have in Jesus
As John writes these verses, he's thinking of everything he's putting on the page in this moment, everything he's already written, and everything he still has left to say — and all of it is designed to remind Christians of who they are in Christ, and all that Christ has already done for them.
Your sins have been forgiven. You know the Creator. You have overcome the evil one. You are strong because the Father Himself lives in you.


Chapter 5
But You Have an Anointing...
“But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” — 1 John 2:20

The Antichrist Versus Many Antichrists
The word antichrist can mean one of two things: the opponent of Christ, or the one who seeks to put himself in Christ's place. Just as Christ is the Holy One, the anointed King of God, the antichrist is the unholy one — the king of all evil. Christ is the incarnation of God and goodness. The antichrist is the incarnation of the devil and of evil itself.
It's worth pausing here to clear up a common confusion: Satan and the Antichrist are not the same being. Satan is certainly a direct opponent of God, but he remains an angel — one who will give his power to the Antichrist. Revelation 13:2 tells us, “The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and his great authority.” The Antichrist will be a visible figure on the earth, the essence of evil made flesh. The world will worship him because of the power and false signs he performs. He will speak blasphemies against God by deifying himself, setting up images of himself to receive worship that belongs to God alone. He will be a formidable political figure, and he will be given power to wage war against the followers of Christ.
Paul speaks of this figure in 2 Thessalonians 2:9–10: “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.” The idea of the antichrist runs throughout John's letters, and its supreme characteristic is always the same: a denial of the incarnation of God in Christ.
You've probably heard some version of this line before: “We all worship the same God. You have one name for Him, I have another, but that doesn't matter — we're just taking different roads to the same destination.” Here's the question worth asking in response: “Was your God perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ?” If the answer is yes, then we do have the same God. If the answer is no, then whatever you're worshiping is not the God of the Bible.
Revelation paints the fullest picture of the Antichrist, and it does so in several forms. In 11:7, he is the beast from the abyss who slays the two witnesses in Jerusalem and reigns for forty-two months. In chapter 12, he is the great red dragon who persecutes the woman giving birth to the son — identified as the old serpent, the devil himself. In chapter 13, he is the instigator behind the persecution of the church. And in chapter 17, he is presented as a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns, with Babylon seated in his lap.
That is the Antichrist, with a capital A. But John also warns us about the many antichrists who have already come:
“Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.” — 1 John 2:18
“Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist — denying the Father and the Son.” — 1 John 2:22
“...every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” — 1 John 4:3
“I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.” — 2 John 7

So how do we recognize these people? The first thing John writes is, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.” That single line tells us a great deal. At some point, these people identified themselves with Christian communities. But their faith was probably never in Christ Himself — it was in the people who represented Him, or in the system built around Him. They worshiped a great speaker or a pastor instead of Christ. They worshiped a denominational way of thinking instead of Christ. They enjoyed the fellowship of other Christians right up until the personalities involved fell out with one another. And when the failure of one of those people or systems was finally exposed, they blamed the God they'd never actually been worshiping for the failure of the ones they had.
Another thought worth sitting with is that history is full of powerful people opposed to God who became attached to political systems — Nero with Rome, Napoleon with France, Mussolini with Italy, Hitler with Nazi Germany, Stalin with the Soviet Union. It shows how strong a personality can become once a powerful government gets behind it. And it never fails that whenever a new election rolls around, whichever politician someone opposes on social issues — or believes plays too loose with the truth — gets labeled the antichrist by someone.
But the ones I find most dangerous are the ones who veil themselves as Christ-followers while leading in a direction so subtly unbiblical that they attract thousands to follow their message — and, by default, to follow them instead of Christ. These people show up in nearly every corner of our world: churches or pastors who won't teach the full Word of God, only the parts they're comfortable with, quietly reshaping the parts that make them uncomfortable. Musicians, celebrities, and athletes who always give God the “credit” but never seem to walk in the light of the God they're crediting. Politicians who quote scripture to score political points without knowing where the verse is even located, let alone what it means. The “cool” parent who checks every spiritual box in public but lets their kids and their kids' friends run wild with illegal parties and activities at home, reasoning that “they're going to do it anyway — at least they'll be safe doing it here.”

But You Have an Anointing
When we hear the word anointing, we may picture oil being poured over someone's head, marking them for a holy purpose — set apart for missions, ministry, or leadership. We see this pattern when Samuel is sent by God to anoint David as the next king of Israel:
“The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.’ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.” — 1 Samuel 16:1, 13
But the anointing John is referring to here is something different — the anointing of the Holy Spirit. When we come to faith in Christ, confessing who He is and believing that God raised Him from the dead, the Bible teaches that we are baptized with the Holy Spirit in that very moment. Paul calls the Holy Spirit the “seal of our salvation” in Ephesians 1:13–14.
The wonderful thing about this anointing is that everyone who belongs to Christ shares in it. We possess the resources for knowing the truth. This mattered a great deal to John's original readers, because many of those who had “gone out from them” were Gnostics — people who claimed to possess a special knowledge unavailable to the “ordinary” Christian. That claim left many believers feeling unworthy and incomplete in their faith. So John's words here were meant to comfort them and strengthen what they already had.
The same is true for us today. We have the essentials of the faith to live a life that can tell godly things from ungodly things. A life that can worship in the fullness of relationship rather than live in doubt about where we stand with God. A life that can boldly and confidently share the gospel of Christ for the growth of His kingdom.



Chapter 6
Children of God
“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” —1 John 3:2

As we dive back into 1 John, let’s do a quick recap of what we’ve looked at so far as John is writing to this group of churches that are popping up around Ephesus.
John has made clear that God is eternal in His power, which allows us to trust Him at all times and gives us eternal life as well. John talks to us about how personal Jesus is and how we can hear from Him, see Him in the lives of those who follow Him, gaze at Him for deeper understanding, and even put hands and feet to His ministry.
John says that God is the basis for fellowship through Jesus because Jesus changed the narrative of what a Godly relationship looked like. And we have complete joy in Christ when we share who He is with others.
We know who He is because God’s character is light. In Him there is no darkness, which means that He wants us to know Him completely. We cannot completely know God and have an opposing life to who He is. We deceive ourselves when we try to do that, and we make God out to be a liar.
We’ve also looked at the truth that Jesus is the atonement for our sins and that He is the One who speaks to the Father on our behalf. We miss out on the fullness of Him when we attempt to handle sin on our own.
And then we left off with John showing us that with God there is either love or hate…there is no in between.

1. By GRACE we become the children of God.
Christians have the privilege of being called the “children of God.”
John reminds us of the privilege that we have in being called the children of God. It is a title—or a name—and it reminds us to whom we belong.
It is customary in many Christian homes for children to be given biblical names. Those names carry meaning and set a standard for how lives are to be lived.
Aaron means teacher and mountain of strength. David means well-beloved. Elizabeth means the oath or fullness of God. Gabriel means God is my strength. John means the grace or mercy of the Lord.
In other times, last names were given because of what someone did for a living.
When we were naming our children, we wanted to carry on family names to be a reminder of their past and hopefully set a legacy for those who would come after them. Stone Bryant Cox carries the maiden name of my mother, the maiden name of my wife, and my last name.
By being called children of God, we bear the name of the family of God, and that is something that should compel us to make right and sound decisions that glorify and honor the One that we are named after.
Not only are we “called” the children of God; we “are” the children of God.
To be “called” the children of God is a gift from God Himself, for we are by nature created by Him. However, it is by salvation that we become children of God.
There are two words that help us to better understand this thinking: paternity and fatherhood.
Paternity describes a relationship in which a man is responsible for the physical existence of a child. Fatherhood describes an intimate and loving relationship.
So, in the sense of paternity, we are children of God. In the sense of fatherhood, we are children of God because of His approach toward us and our response back to Him.
There are pictures of this in the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, Israel is the covenant people of God. God, by His own doing, made a special approach to Israel. They were to be His people and He was to be their God. This relationship was dependent upon the laws that God had given them to keep. This was the covenant relationship.
However, in the New Testament, there is the concept of adoption. It is by a deliberate act on the part of God that every Christian enters into His family. Not because of laws that we have to keep, but because of the loving grace of God to have an intimate relationship with us…and us with Him.

2. Basic TRUTHS about sin.
Sin is to obey oneself rather than obey God.
This is where we understand where our loyalty lies because, make no mistake, dual loyalties cause uncomfortable conflicts.
When we attempt to ride the fence spiritually, we make God out to be a liar, and we compromise our own integrity and values.
Here’s how this works. Everybody wants to win. Doesn’t matter what the prize is…we all want to win.
What happens when the prize that we want to win means that we have to ignore a principle that God has told us to live by?
If I choose God…I win spiritually, but lose the sale, or the promotion, or the praise from my friends and family. If I choose the sale, or the promotion, or the praise…then I lose my ministry to others and my relationship with God has taken a huge step backward.
If you choose yourself one time, chances are you will be choosing yourself more and more in the future until you’re not even concerned about the Godly principles that you’ve broken to get here.
And when the reality of who you’ve become sets in…life becomes incredibly uncomfortable for the Christian who knows that God has been ignored.

To sin is to bring back what Christ came into the world to abolish.
When John the Baptist was baptizing people and he saw Jesus approaching, he made a statement about Jesus’ purpose here on earth:
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
That was specifically what Christ came to do—to remove the stain of sin. And when we choose to obey ourselves instead of God, we bring the filth right back into our lives.
This brings about a broken relationship with God where we feel unable and unworthy to approach Him.
I want everyone to allow yourself to think back to a time where you failed someone that you really cared about. Maybe deliberately, or maybe just by chance…but you failed them.
Do you remember how hard it was to approach them and give them that news? Or did you just hope that the subject wouldn’t come up?
The stain of the failure made you think of all the worst possible outcomes…the worst conversations…you didn’t want a part of any of them.
The stain of sin causes us to not only feel horrible about ourselves, but it deteriorates the relationship with our Father in Heaven who loves us.
And the problem with that is that it causes more sin to take place in our lives.

Sin comes from the failure to abide in Christ.
Our failure to abide in Christ increases the possibility for sin and sinful things to enter into our lives.
It has often been said that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” because people who have nothing to do will find something to do.
Those people who are abiding in Christ will find things to do that are pure and beneficial. They will glorify the relationship with Jesus.
Those people who are not abiding in Christ will find whatever might be personally satisfying.
Remember our first truth about sin: you obey yourself rather than God.
The same is true in a marriage relationship. The more time that the two of you spend together intentionally and considering one another first, the healthier that marriage will be.
And the flip side of that is true as well. The more time that you spend with other people and putting your spouse down the list, the more difficult your marriage will be.

We sin for the pleasure we think it will bring us.
No one wakes up in the morning and thinks to themselves, “I wonder how much damage I can do to myself and my family today?”
People don’t pursue sin because of the consequences; they pursue it because of the pleasure they may temporarily gain from it.
This pleasure can be emotional or physical, but for the Christian it always ends in remorse. The non-Christian doesn’t battle with sin the way that we would, but the Christian will always…eventually…be forced to come to terms with their sin.
For the Christian that is abiding in Christ, their joy is found in that relationship and the recognized blessings from God.
We don’t have to seek other pleasures…and we are less likely to go looking for them.

Sin is conquered by Christ.
1 Peter 2:24 says:
“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”
Notice the phrase, “so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”
He bore the sin of the world so that we would be made alive and seek a different life.
He didn’t die for sin then hope that we would just continue to seek a sinful lifestyle.
Sin is conquered by Christ and we acknowledge His sacrifice by living a life that is worthy of the sacrifice that He made.

Chapter 7
Do Not Be Like Cain
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. —Genesis 4:8
“Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.” —1 John 3:13

1. What are some things that the world says about Christians today?
There are many things being said about Christians today. Some say that many self-proclaimed Christians in America do not represent Christ’s teachings. Others argue that Christianity has been hijacked and weaponized by political elements for the purpose of attaining political goals.
There are accusations that Christians advocate positions that cause harm while doing so in the name of Christianity. There are criticisms of Christian leaders who have abused their power and of denominations that have attempted to cover up that abuse. Others say that media coverage isn’t portraying Christians negatively, but that many modern-day Christians are portraying themselves negatively.
And there are those who believe that the hatred toward Christianity is a reflection of the hate and abuse that people have experienced in the name of Christianity.
Within those statements, there are legitimate reasons for people not liking Christians.
Abuse of power…judgment…failings of those in leadership.
However, I can’t help but point out that people who are not Christians are making judgments on those based upon a Jesus that they have manipulated inside their own mind.
They know Jesus as the embodiment of love, where all are accepted and Jesus just gave whatever someone needed to them without hesitation. They have picked the parts of Jesus that they want to believe in, and that benefit their argument, and use it as a mirror to judge those of us who have come to know Jesus’ character in greater detail.
For instance, Jesus fed the five thousand when they followed Him and wanted to hear what He would say next, or what miracle He might perform, and no one bothered to pack their own lunch. Some use this as an argument for socialism and that Jesus would give to everyone equally no matter what.
What we know is that God’s Word teaches us that “if a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10), and Paul in Colossians 3:23–24 says that we are to work willingly at whatever we do as though we were working for the Lord and not man.
We also hear people use the argument that Jesus hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors and the worst of the worst as a way to promote a Jesus who accepted everyone no matter who they were and what they did. They use this argument to tell us that everyone will go to heaven and that you’re fine just the way you are—that love is the only tenet of the gospel.
We know Jesus does in fact love everyone because we all sin. However, He told the woman caught in adultery, after everyone threw down their stones and walked away, to:
“Go now and leave your life of sin.”
We know Jesus said in Luke 5:31–32:
“I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
And we know that John writes in Revelation 21:27, when speaking about the New Heaven and the New Earth:
“Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

2. What do statistics say about Christians today?
Barna’s report titled Incidence of Biblical Worldview Shows Significant Change Since the Start of the Pandemic, released on February 28, 2023, by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, reported that only 4% of Americans held to a biblical worldview. This was down from 6% in a similar report three years prior.
If those statistics held true for a gathering of 150 people, that would mean only six people in the room held to a biblical worldview.
The research also showed that the younger a person was, the less likely they were to have a biblical worldview. According to the statistics cited in the sermon, only 1% of adults under 30 had a biblical worldview, compared with about 5% of those ages 50 to 64.

Biblical worldview defined
Barna defines a biblical worldview according to belief in the following:
That absolute moral truth exists.
That the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.
That Satan is a real being or force.
That a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works.
That Jesus Christ lived a sinless life.
And that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the world who still rules the universe today.
Here is the truth of the situation. The majority of people who call themselves Christians don’t have a biblical worldview.
I would venture to say that those who don’t call themselves Christian absolutely do not hold a biblical worldview.
The average Christian statistically has a fifth-grade level comprehension of Scripture. The average non-Christian’s is less.
So, the problem is clear. There are those who represent Christianity poorly and give people legitimate reason to dislike Christianity. And Christianity is also being judged based upon a Jesus that non-Christians have put together to satisfy their own selfish beliefs and misunderstanding of Scripture.

3. Why bring up Cain and Abel?
Let me give you another reason the world hates Christians.
Your righteousness will provoke hostility in the minds of those whose actions are evil.
Another way to say this is that “Your life that looks like Jesus is a walking rebuke to those who love the world.”
Our righteousness is not from ourselves…it is from God alone through Christ.
We are called holy because of Christ.
We are called saints because of Christ.
We are adopted into God’s family because of Christ.
John tells us that it is impossible to know God the way that we do and not live a life that imitates His very nature and character. We cannot understand who He is and choose to live the opposite of what we know to be true.
And when we live a life where the fruit of our words, thoughts, and actions glorify God and make Him known in all things, it is a testimony that penetrates all aspects of society and causes discomfort in those who have chosen to love themselves and the world first.
Divided loyalties create uncomfortable situations.
When people are uncomfortable spiritually, there are only two paths that are pursued:

Repentance or War.
In repentance, we seek Christ and we surrender to Him a life that was lost. He becomes our King, and our lives become His to use.
In war, they lash out at the very thing that makes them uncomfortable and they do everything they can to destroy it.
They will attack the individual and seek to destroy their character or their life. They will attack the Bible as the outdated, homophobic, racist dogma of Christians. They will deny the existence of God and Jesus. They will portray both in ways that are contrary to who they really are.
All so they can feel better about the sin in their life that they refuse to let go of.

4. Here is John’s response.
John writes:
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence:
“If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we keep His commands and do what pleases Him.
“And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us.”

Let me ask you this question this morning.
Does the world hate you because you have given them legitimate reasons to?
Do your actions with your words and your heart differ from the faith that you profess to follow?
Or does the world hate you because your righteousness in Christ and your love for your brother or sister causes an uncomfortable reality for those who know a Christ that is incomplete and unbiblical?
Your answer to yourself dictates how you respond to this message.

Chapter 8
Discernment Defeats Deceit
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” —1 John 4:1

1. Testing the spirits…a little background.
This statement may sound a little strange to us today, and the reason is that we don’t talk much about spirits.
We watch shows on TV about houses that are haunted and people who go and try to contact the spirits that are caught there and unable to rest peacefully. We see ghosts ring our doorbell every Halloween asking for candy. And every once in a while, we will hear a sermon on the Holy Spirit.
But if we are honest…the spiritual world is not something that is at the forefront of our minds.
That was not the case at all when John was writing this letter. In the early church, the spiritual world was very prevalent. The whole world back then believed deeply in the presence of spirits and demons. Every rock, tree, river, or mountain had spiritual power. People would not walk outside alone after dark for fear of being overcome by a demon or spirit.
The fear was that these demons or spirits would enter into the body, take over their minds, and destroy them, their families, and their livelihoods.
Also, in the early church, the coming of the Holy Spirit seemed to be a much more visible phenomenon.
You see this in Acts 2 when a large crowd was gathered at Pentecost and the winds blew and tongues of fire landed on the people, and they began to speak in different languages. People thought they had been doing some early morning drinking.
Then again in Acts 8, there is the story of Philip in Samaria and a sorcerer named Simon.
To say that the early church thought and dealt a lot with spiritual things would be an understatement.
So, with that background, John tells them to test these spirits that they will no doubt experience.
He is telling them that you can’t trust every magical thing that you see or every extraordinary event that takes place, because not everything is rooted in the truth of God.
In our lives, this means that we have to be very careful as well.
We need to be critical of what we consume, and the reason for that is that everything is teaching something.
The internet is full of websites that we don’t belong on. Movies, music, and books are constantly selling ideas that shape our worldviews in ways that are contrary to biblical thinking.
Then there are the people that we allow into our lives—friends, acquaintances, TV preachers or churches, podcasts, and YouTube videos.
These are all things that can easily draw us in because they are so creative and fun to participate in, but we have to ask the questions:
“Does this align with Scripture?”
“Does this honor Christ?”
We have to use wisdom and discernment for guidance in every situation and then act on the direction that the Holy Spirit is pointing us toward.

2. If the source is truth…the product is valid.
Then in verse 2, John lays out a simple way that we can better know what to do in each situation:
“Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”
God coming in human form by way of Jesus is central to our faith. It is a cornerstone that we as Christians rely on.
Without Jesus, we don’t know God as well as we do.
We see His heart…His grace…His mercy.
We understand His teachings better, we comprehend what love really looks like, and we experience what it means to forgive and to be forgiven.
When we hold the example of Jesus up against anything, we should be able to see it for what it really is.
Is this website pushing a worldview where its only desire is my time and money, but cares nothing about my spiritual growth?
Is this TV preacher more interested in me financially supporting a ministry that makes her or him the central figure of the whole thing?
Is this person that I have become friends with challenging me to grow closer to Christ, or challenging my relationship with Christ by urging me to make choices that go against who Christ is?
There isn’t anything in our lives that we can’t hold Jesus next to and find some answers pretty quick.
The problem is most people don’t really want to do that.
We would rather laugh about sin…tell ourselves that it’s no big deal…or walk constantly in the gray areas of life, rather than do the hard work of evaluating what we are involved in.
It’s easier when we avoid conflict.
It’s easier when we just laugh things off.
It’s easier just to tell ourselves that God isn’t sending me to hell for this “little thing.”
We need to know if the “things” or “spirits” that are in our lives acknowledge what I know to be true, and that is that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, and that changes everything for me!

3. Appealing doesn’t mean that it’s good.
John says in verse 3 that:
“Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God…”
In our pursuit of truth, we have to be very careful that what we see and experience is real.
Things can sound really appealing, but that doesn’t make them good…or even right.
Take Scripture, for instance. There are a lot of reasons that we may misinterpret the Bible when we study it. One of those reasons is the filters that we use when reading Scripture.

The filter of denomination.
If I come from a Catholic, Baptist, or Pentecostal background, then I will read what I want the Bible to say based upon the “truth” that I was brought up under.

The filter of personal experience.
If I come from a background with a loving family and had everything I ever needed, then I will comprehend Scripture in one way.
If I come from an abusive background, unstable family life, and struggled to make it to this point today, then I will comprehend Scripture in an entirely different way.

The filter of culture.
This happens when we read Scripture and, instead of understanding its context—who it was written for and why, and what is the principle that God is teaching—we compare that Scripture with something that we read in a magazine or heard Oprah talk about on one of her shows.
We know that:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
—2 Timothy 3:16–17
So, we have to use Scripture to help us better understand the character of God so that we can maneuver in this world; not maneuver in this world and try to get God’s character to align with it.
And that is exactly what John finishes verse 3 by saying:
“This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”

What are some ways that we can help ourselves “test the spirits”?
1. We must have a working knowledge of Scripture.
Know God’s character.
Follow God’s principles.
Mimic His heart.

2. We need to surround ourselves with people who love God and love us.
Belong to a church family that teaches the whole Bible.
Do ministry with others in a small group setting.
Teach what you have been taught.

Chapter 9
Proof of Love
“This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.” —1 John 5:3

1. The 2 greatest commandments and the love of family are one and the same.
As we deal with this first verse, let’s remember that John walked with Jesus and lived His ministry with Him. He would have remembered the conversation that took place between Jesus and a teacher of the law where Jesus was asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
Mark 12:29–31 says:
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
To John, these were inseparable. You cannot love God and not also love His creation. You cannot love God and not also love His children.
For John, this takes on the natural law of family love.
Children naturally love their parents, and they just as naturally love their brothers and sisters. What John is saying here is that if we love the Father, then we also love His child.
Everyone who has come to faith in Jesus is our brother and sister because we have all been adopted into the family of God.
If family is so important—and it is—then what constitutes a healthy family?
Strong communication. Mutual respect. Shared values. Loyalty to one another. Positive conflict resolution. Affection. Quality time together. Setting and adhering to clear boundaries. Supporting individual needs.
John circles back to an idea that is always close to the surface of his mind, and it’s that “obedience is the only proof of love.”
We cannot prove our love to someone other than by seeking to please them and bring them joy.
But John also makes a statement that anyone who has lived the Christian life for any period of time balks at to some degree. He says:
“…His commands are not burdensome.”
Make no mistake, Christian love is not an easy matter.
It’s not an easy thing to love people we don’t like. People who have hurt our feelings or injured us in some way. People who go out of their way to make our lives miserable.
And yet, we are told to love them in spite of those things.
Then you place on top of that the perceived burden of keeping the commands of God, and Christianity can seem overwhelming.
One of the most difficult parts of being a Christian is taking your first steps into Christianity.
I mean, you’re excited…you’re eager to take your next step…and then you realize life isn’t perfect.
You’re still struggling with an addiction that you had just the day before. You said some words you shouldn’t have when something didn’t go your way.
Why is this happening?
Just a few days ago, you couldn’t believe the incredible feeling that you had when you surrendered your life to Christ. There was hugging from those around you. There may have been tears. And there was certainly a moment of being ten feet tall and bulletproof spiritually.
So, what happened?
Well, life happened.
You realized that Christ sees you as holy, but the world still sees you as the same person you were before. You realized that life is not perfect, and it is still going to come at you with everything it has in order to knock you down a peg or two.
And this is where you begin to realize that where God gives you vision, He also gives you power.

2. Where God gives you VISION, He also gives you POWER.
One of the most exciting things in life is being able to see the big picture of where something is going and what it could be.
For instance, the relationship that you have with someone that you are dating and realizing that they are the one that you want to spend the rest of your life with.
A business project that has the potential to make millions of dollars.
Or a church building that will house your growing children’s ministry.
All of these are incredible visions of what could be, and yet they can be incredibly scary because although you can see the greatness of the outcome, there are details that you have no control over whatsoever.
The person you’re dating…do they feel the same way? You can’t make them love you. You just have to have faith that God is working in both of your lives the same way.
The business project requires things to happen that are outside of your control, and you have to trust that God has already developed a plan for success.
The church building will require money to be given, a step of faith in the coming budget that will increase, and people to come and be a part of the church family that we haven’t even met yet who will help all of us be a part of accomplishing something that only God can control.

We have to, in these moments, lean in on the promises of God.
Matthew 6:33 says:
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Philippians 4:19 says:
“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”
Matthew 19:26 says:
“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
There are so many moments when we must trust God in light of the circumstances.
The reason is that in our own power, the circumstances will defeat us, but in God’s power, the circumstances are the glory of God.

3. “He’s not a burden, he’s my brother.”
There is another wonderful truth we find in these verses, and it’s that there is nothing too difficult or too great where love is involved.
Things that we would never do for a stranger, we eagerly will do for someone that we love. Something that seems like an impossible sacrifice for someone we don’t know becomes a gift we will give everything to give for someone that we love.
There is a story about someone who met a young boy going to school long before the days of transportation being available.
The boy was carrying on his back a smaller boy who was clearly lame and unable to walk.
The stranger said to the boy, “Do you carry him to school every day?”
The boy replied, “Yes.”
“That’s a heavy burden for you to carry,” said the stranger.
And the boy looked at the stranger with confidence and said:
“He’s not a burden, he’s my brother.”
The commands of Christ can be difficult for us to carry out, but they are not burdensome.
Christ has never asked anything of us that He has not given us the strength to carry out.
Where temptation is concerned, 1 Corinthians 10:13 says:
“…God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
Isaiah 40:29 says:
“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
Every command laid on us provides a chance to show God our love.

4. FAITH conquers the world.
John makes a defining statement in verse 5:
“Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
This is the belief in the incarnation of God. It is in this belief that we know that, in Jesus, God entered the world and took our human life upon Himself.
When He did that, He showed us that He cared for us in ways that we cannot fully comprehend.
God gave up His power to be limited within the human body, which is an act of love beyond our understanding. He gave up His power in order that He might sacrifice His eternal goodness and perfection in the place of our human failings, so that we might be able to live with Him forever.
He shared in our sufferings.
He shared in our trials and temptations.
And by doing so, He fully understands everything about us and still laid His life down to give us the gift of salvation.
So how does that belief help us conquer the world?

We have the continual presence of God.
Matthew 28:19–20 says:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We have the strength to stand up to the attacks of the world.
John 16:33 says:
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

We have the indestructible hope of victory.
Deuteronomy 20:4 says:
“For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
And 1 Corinthians 15:57 says:
“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
There are those of you in here this morning who need some hope of victory.
The world feels like it is winning, and you not only don’t have a vision of the future, you don’t know what the next 20 minutes are going to bring!
You don’t need more money…you don’t need more time…and you don’t need something else to make you forget about your issues.
You need Jesus. The overcoming, never-ending, unbreakable power of Jesus.
It is there you will find peace. It is there you will find hope. And it is there that you will find salvation.

Chapter 10
Witness and Faith
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life; and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; for he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” —1 John 5:11–12

1. The WITNESS of God.
Every day we take people at their word and believe what they tell us.
The mechanic tells us that our transmission is shot and needs to be replaced. The doctor tells us our medical condition and what needs to be done. The grocery store clerk tells us there are no more of those items in the back, and it doesn’t matter how many times I look.
We put confidence in these people because they are trained in what they do, and they do it every day. They are a witness for their profession or their expertise.
When it comes to legal matters, a witness needs to be able to accurately recall details of an event, present consistent information, and appear truthful and unbiased, among other things.
In the Old Testament, in order for someone to be adequately accused of a crime, there had to be at least two or three witnesses. A single witness did not suffice in convicting a person of a crime. Only the evidence of two or three witnesses could sustain a charge.
Deuteronomy 19:15 says:
“One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
John’s position is that if two or three people are enough to establish truth, then the divine witness of the water—Jesus’ baptism—the blood—Jesus’ crucifixion—and the Spirit are even greater than that to establish the truth of who Jesus is.
And if that weren’t enough, then look at the witnesses that give testimony about Jesus in John’s Gospel.
You have John the Baptist who said:
“This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”
He also said:
“I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. And I myself did not know Him, but the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
Jesus’ own deeds are a witness to who He is. John 5:36 says:
“I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent Me.”
The Scriptures are a witness to who Jesus is. Jesus says in John 5:39:
“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.”
The Father who sent Him is a witness to Him. John 5:30–32 says:
“By Myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and My judgment is just, for I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me. If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in My favor, and I know that His testimony about Me is true.”
The Holy Spirit is a witness to Him. John 15:26 says:
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me.”
All of these things testify as to who Jesus is and continues to be to this day!
Then John uses a phrase that we must be careful to recognize. He says in verse 10:
“Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony.”

2. We believe IN Christ.
Notice what John doesn’t say.
He doesn’t say we believe Christ, because there is a huge difference between believing someone and believing IN someone.
If we simply believe someone, we do no more than accept whatever statement that person may be making at the moment as true.
If we believe IN someone, however, we accept the whole person and everything that individual stands for, and we do that with complete trust. That means that we would be prepared to not only accept everything they tell us, but also to trust ourselves to their complete instruction.
If I am in a work-related environment and I am dealing with a co-worker that I know has been less than truthful to their clients or other co-workers, there may be an instance where I might believe something that they are telling me…but I would be smart enough not to believe in that person.
I’ve seen too much to tell me otherwise.
To believe IN Jesus Christ is not simply to believe that everything that He says is true; it is to commit ourselves into His hands and trust that our lives are better because of it.
When we do that, the Holy Spirit that lives within us testifies to us that we are on the right track. It is the Holy Spirit that proves to us the value of Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit that assures us that we are right to make the commitment that we have to Him.
Now watch this. John says that anyone who does not believe God makes Him out to be a liar.
What they have done is reject the witness of Scripture…the witness of Jesus Himself and His own life…the Father who sent Jesus…and the Holy Spirit.
They refuse to accept the evidence of those who have experienced what Christ can do.
And in doing so, they call God a liar.
Charles Spurgeon says:
“The great sin of not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is often spoken of very lightly and in a very trifling spirit, as though it were scarcely any sin at all; yet, according to my text, and, indeed, according to the whole tenor of the Scriptures, unbelief is the giving of God the lie, and what can be worse?”
This constant state of rejection of God’s testimony over time can lead a person to a state where their heart is permanently hardened against God, to the place where they may be one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit.
Mark 3:28 says:
“Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
Then John writes:
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
—1 John 5:11–13

3. Eternal life is far more than just LASTING FOREVER.
This is where the letter for John is coming to an end, and after all that he has written to them and everything that he has taught, this is what he chooses to finish on…that the essence of the Christian life is eternal life.
The word used here for eternal is aionios, and it means far more than just lasting forever.
If a life just simply lasted forever, it could very well be a life that is a curse and not a blessing…a burden of an existence that would never cease to end.
The eternal life that John is speaking of here is a life that is filled with peace, and the only One who holds the power of eternity is God Himself. So, John is telling us that we may share in the very life of God.
What does that look like at a deeper level?
Where there is peace…there is serenity. A life free from fears that plague us every day.
In God there is power, and so eternal life means the defeat of frustration. Victorious over circumstances that may or may not be within our control.
In God there is holiness, which means that there is the defeat of sin. We are not only clothed in the purity of God but protected against the contamination of an evil world.
In God there is love, which means that there is an end to bitterness and hatred.
And in God there is life, which means the defeat of death. A life that is indestructible because it has the indestructibility of God.
John tells us that eternal life is available to us only through Jesus Christ and no other way.
The writer of Hebrews says it like this in Hebrews 10:19–23:
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”

 
Final Thought

Knowing That You Have Eternal Life
John began this letter by writing about something he had personally heard, seen, looked at, and touched. He was not introducing an idea or simply passing along a philosophy. He was proclaiming Jesus Christ.
That truth has remained at the center of everything we have walked through in this letter.
God is eternal. His power does not change, His character does not change, and His promises do not change. Jesus makes God personal to us. Through Him we see the heart, grace, mercy, holiness, and love of the Father.
John has also continually brought us back to the relationship between what we believe and how we live. Knowing Christ changes us. Our lives begin to imitate His character. We walk in His light. We love His children. We recognize sin for what it is rather than making excuses for it. We learn to discern what is true by holding what we encounter against the truth of Christ and Scripture.
We discover that obedience is not simply something God demands from us—it becomes proof of our love for Him. And even when that obedience is difficult, His commands are not burdensome because He gives us the strength to carry out what He has called us to do.
Through all of it, the witness continues to point in one direction: Jesus Christ.
The Scriptures testify about Him. His works testify about Him. The Father testifies about Him. The Holy Spirit testifies about Him. And those who have experienced what Christ can do carry that testimony with them.
That leaves us with the distinction John makes near the end of his letter. It is not enough simply to believe things aboutJesus. We believe IN Jesus.
We place ourselves in His hands.
We trust His instruction.
We trust His character.
We trust His sacrifice.
And we trust His promise.
That brings us back to the testimony John wanted his readers to know with certainty:
“God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”
Eternal life is more than a promise that our existence will continue forever. It is sharing in the very life of God—a life of peace, power, holiness, love, and ultimately victory over death.
That is where this journey through 1 John leaves us.
With Jesus.
The One who gives us life.
The One in whom we place our faith.
And the One through whom we can know that we have eternal life.