[0:00] If you want to leave your Bibles open at page 991, we're going to finish up our series that we've been journeying through for the last six weeks, and that's our series on 1 John. We've been learning over this series that John has a couple of main objectives in writing this letter, and that's what we're going to talk about tonight.
[0:20] We're going to go back over his main objectives for writing this letter and therefore find his main central meaning that he wants us to take away. And so what we're going to do, normally what we do is really just work verse by verse through whole books of the Bible.
[0:35] The reason we haven't been doing that so much in the book of 1 John is because he tends to repeat himself a whole bunch, and so to avoid sort of going over the same ground, we've been picking our way through, picking up his major themes.
[0:48] And so that's what we're going to do tonight, just by way of summary of the book. And what I want to talk about tonight is, first of all, three tests that John gives us to see if we're genuine Christians.
[1:01] These are the same three tests that we've talked about just about every week for the past six weeks. I would ask you to tell them to me, but I don't want to embarrass you if you haven't got it yet. This is your last chance to get it, all right?
[1:11] Three tests that John wants you to pass if you're a Christian. If your faith is in Jesus and it's genuine, he wants you to pass these three tests. First of all, it's the love test.
[1:24] If you're a Christian, if you confess Jesus, then he wants you to love both God and his people. And this is really at the forefront of his mind as he writes this letter. He wants the people of this church that he's writing to, he wants them to love one another.
[1:39] And it's the same with us tonight. He wants us to love one another. That's a test that we need to pass if we're a Christian. The second one is the purity test or the holiness test or the obedience test.
[1:51] He wants us to hear God's words, see God's commandments, and he wants us to be obedient to them. So he wants to walk us in holiness, not indulging our sinful self, but turning away from our sin and following Jesus, becoming more and more like him as we live for holiness day by day.
[2:09] It's the second test. The third one is the truth test or the faith test. He wants us to love the truth of the gospel. He wants us to love the fact that Jesus came into the flesh.
[2:22] He lived the perfect life. That's the life that we could never live, a life without sin. And then he died, death on the cross for our sin. Then he was raised again for our salvation.
[2:36] He wants us to love that truth. While false teachers in his church might have been trying to dissuade people from loving that truth, he wants true Christians everywhere to hold on to that marvelous truth of the gospel.
[2:50] So there are three tests that we're going to talk about again tonight. And then we're going to look at three testimonies. Three testimonies to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.
[3:03] There are three testimonies that he brings out of the text. And I reckon it's probably the most difficult part of the whole book. And we're going to just run straight into that. So I'm sticking to page 991. We'll flip over eventually as we try and summarize the whole book.
[3:16] But I want to look particularly at those two sections on page 991. So I want to pray for us. Then we'll get to work. So let's bow our heads and pray. Father, thank you so much for your word in 1 John.
[3:29] We thank you so much that it's a book of encouragement to us. That even though he speaks of really black and white, good and evil, truth and falsehood, even though he speaks in stark terms, he is writing for our encouragement as Christians that we have eternal life and that we can be assured of your goodness and grace to us.
[3:51] Father, we know from the reading tonight that the whole world is in the power of the evil one. So we pray against Satan that he would not be present here tonight looking to peck away at the seeds that you're sowing in our minds, that he would not be here distracting us or distorting the truth or getting me to say anything false.
[4:11] But Lord, that you would please protect us from the evil one and that you would enable us to grow in Christ-likeness tonight. We pray for Jesus' sake. Amen. So if you look at verse 1, we're going to start there in chapter 5.
[4:25] We're going to go back over these three tests. And you might say, why are we doing this? Or why is John doing this even? And why does he keep going back to the same thing over and over again? Let me give you a little illustration of what I think John is doing.
[4:40] This is how I think the book of 1 John works. And it's not my idea. I think it's just a good illustration to explain what he's doing. All right. So as you know, when I finished high school, I didn't go to university. I did what all the smart kids do.
[4:52] And I traveled overseas. So I worked around the north of America, through the US, through Canada and the UK. And my whole idea was that I was just going to try and get work and just travel by myself as much as possible and try and survive day by day.
[5:09] And it was a great experience. And it was a really exhausting experience. It was a lonely experience. But it was really beneficial to me in just growing up. And so when I was in the UK, I spent some just beautiful, beautiful days in the north of Wales.
[5:26] If you've never been to the UK, then when you do go there, you need to go to Wales and the north of Wales. It's this rough, beautiful coastline. I stayed in a cottage where the fireplace was from the third century.
[5:40] So it's old. It's an old place. And one of my favorite memories was when I just met some friends. And we got a hire car.
[5:50] And we drove around the north. And we came to this place called Conwy. C-O-N-W-Y. Conwy. And there's a castle there right out on a sort of a peninsula overlooking a harbor.
[6:01] And it's this castle that was built in, I think it was 1283 or something, 13th century. Really, really, really old castle. Still standing in really good condition. And this castle, the way it's built is that there's a big courtyard, just beautiful green lawn right in the middle of it.
[6:20] Centerpiece is this beautiful courtyard. And all around it, these massive walls that go right to the cliffs. And at intervals, there are these big towers with turrets. And all throughout these towers, there's a central spiral staircase going up to the top.
[6:38] And at sort of random intervals, they have these arrow slots. The stone arrow slots. So that if anyone did penetrate through the walls of the castle and made it to that central courtyard, they could stand up in these towers and shoot down from all different random places, so as to cover every perspective, every angle of the courtyard.
[7:00] And in moving around the castle and walking up these towers, I got to see the different sort of perspectives and angles of this central courtyard.
[7:10] And I think that's one John. I think that's how one John works. So John has this central truth that those who trust in Jesus have eternal life. And around that central truth, he gives us these three tests sort of to encourage us that we, yes, we have eternal life.
[7:29] We love the truth. We love obeying God's commandments and we love his people. So we have that. We have that eternal life. But the way that he does it throughout the five chapters is he sort of looks down at that truth from different perspectives, different arrow slots in these spiral staircases.
[7:48] And so he comes back to this same truth but looking at it from different angles. You get where I'm going with this? The thing about arrow slots is you can only see a certain amount of what's down there from an arrow slot.
[8:00] They're very narrow so no one can shoot back up at you, right? And so that's what happens in the book of 1 John. Though there's a central truth, you see it from different perspectives and John only lets you see a little bit of this central truth as he goes.
[8:13] There's one or two places where he reveals these three tests that we're going to talk about all at once. I think it's chapter 2 and then it's right here, the first five verses of chapter 5.
[8:24] So that's where we're going to go now. We're going to see him sort of come out at the top of the tower and look down on that truth in all its glory, all together. Those three tests. One more time.
[8:36] All right? I want you to remember this. The other reason I think he repeats things on that spiral so often is because he wants us to remember. If you're like me, you don't tend to remember things very well and things from the Bible, you know, it's hard for them to stick.
[8:50] But he wants this to stick, all right? Three tests to encourage you that you're a believer. Let's read verse 1 through 5 and then we'll break it down. He says, Three tests.
[9:39] Love, obedience and faith or truth. Let's just break it down. Verse 1 says, Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.
[9:53] There he's not talking about the father-son relationship between the father and Jesus. He's not saying, if you love the father, then you love the son. He's saying, if you love the father, you'll love his children, the church.
[10:05] Remember John, all throughout this letter, his other letters and indeed in his gospel, the gospel of John, refers to believers as those who have been born of God.
[10:18] Born again in John chapter 3. If you're a believer, the Holy Spirit is dwelling within you and you can call yourself a child of God because you've been born again.
[10:29] You have an old life, a past, dark, sin, Satan, folly. And then you have conversion, being born again. And then you have a new life, an eternal life.
[10:44] And so he says, if you love God, everyone who loves the parent or the father loves the child, loves his children, the church.
[10:55] Once again, this is a really convicting truth for us to grapple with tonight. If you're like me and you find it hard to love the church, I put my hand up and say it quite often.
[11:08] I find it much easier to love those who aren't in the church. I gravitate towards people quite often who aren't Christians. But John is reminding us, if we claim to be Christians, we must not only love the father, but love his children as well.
[11:23] It's not enough to have this vertical relationship. You've got to have the horizontal one as well to test for us. And he wants you to think about this and to say, yes, I love my brothers and sisters.
[11:37] Therefore, I can be confident that I've been born again. All right, let's move on. Second test. That was the one of love. This is the one of holiness or obedience. Verse two.
[11:48] By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this. For the love of God is this.
[12:01] That we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God conquers the world. What he's saying is this.
[12:12] If you claim to love the father. And he's just saying the same thing that he said the last few weeks. If you claim to love the father. If you claim to be a Christian. Then you must obey his commandments. There are those today who will say that you can love Jesus.
[12:25] You can follow Jesus. But you don't need to worry about living a godly life. That was probably one of the teachings of the false teachers that John's arguing against here. That you can just live a licentious life.
[12:37] That is, that you think that you can just do whatever you like. Say, no, no, no. A Christian not only loves Jesus, but he lives an upright life. She lives a holy life.
[12:51] Obeying the commandments of God. Then he has a little bit there. It's a little bit confusing about how those who love God have overcome the world. He says in verse 3, His commandments are not burdensome.
[13:03] For whatever is born of God conquers the world. I think what he's getting at there is that people in the world. People who don't have the Holy Spirit.
[13:14] People who haven't been born again. Find the commandments of God to be very oppressive. That's why when you get guys, false teachers saying that the commandments of God don't apply.
[13:27] The commandments of God are outdated. The commandments of God are evil. People flock to that kind of teaching. Because to the world it seems like finally we don't have to obey the commandments of God.
[13:37] That we don't have to be oppressed by this law anymore. That kind of teaching that we don't need to be obedient is really, really, really attractive to those who don't love Jesus.
[13:57] To the world. But what he's saying is this. If you love Jesus. If you've been born of God. These commandments are not burdensome anymore. We can overcome what used to be a burden to us.
[14:11] And love God's commandments. Because we've been born again. Because we've been given a new heart. Because the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We learn to love obeying the commandments of God.
[14:23] We delight to do his will. Even the hard ones. About sex before marriage. And drunkenness. And greed.
[14:35] We learn to love those because we seek to walk in purity. We want to follow Jesus. We love him. And are that close to him. That we never want to be outside the realm of his will for us.
[14:51] So the test of love. The test of holiness or obedience. And now the test of truth. Second half of verse 4 to 5. He says. And this is the victory that conquers the world.
[15:03] Our faith. The truth of the gospel. Our faith. Who is it that conquers the world? But the one who believes what? Believes what truth?
[15:15] That Jesus is the son of God. That's the truth that he wants us to love. And there when he says Jesus is the son of God. He wants us to call to mind all of the great truths of the gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
[15:31] He wants us to love that truth. So once again. Let's just take some time. Some time tonight. When you get home. Sometimes during the week. When you wake up.
[15:42] Take some time. Just to check yourself. How are you going with these tests of genuineness of faith? How are you going with loving the people around you? How are you going with walking in holiness and obedience to God's commandments?
[15:55] How are you going with loving the truth of the gospel? And if you're not going well. Don't be defeated. We're going to see right at the end tonight.
[16:06] That John. Is very eager to tell us. That those who. Who aren't doing so well in these regards. Aren't defeated. They have an advocate with the father.
[16:19] Jesus Christ the righteous. Who is quick. To forgive sin. Talk about that in a little bit. Let's move on from three tests.
[16:30] That we've heard before. The three testimonies. Which are coming right out of left field I think. If you're like me. And you really struggle with this text. So I think this is really. A pretty perplexing section.
[16:42] But we're going to do our best. And work through it. Alright. So three testimonies. Concerning the son of God. He says. Verse six. This is the one who came by water. And blood.
[16:53] Jesus Christ. Not with the water only. But with the water. And the blood. And the spirit is the one that testifies. For the spirit is the truth.
[17:04] There are three that testify. The spirit. And the water. And the blood. And these three agree. If we receive human testimony. The testimony of God is greater.
[17:15] For this is the testimony of God. That he has testified to his son. Some confusing language there. Some stuff we haven't heard before in John.
[17:26] About blood and water. And I think it's difficult for us. To really understand what he is getting at here. Partly because we're not in the context. Of the people that he's writing to. So though this letter is for us.
[17:39] And it's absolutely inspired by God. For our good. We weren't in the original hearers of this letter. And so John as you know. When you write a letter.
[17:49] You sort of use language. And you know that the person receiving the letter. Or the email. Understands what you're talking about. Maybe there's an in joke. Maybe there's some colloquialism there. That they will understand.
[18:00] And so I think that's what's going on here. He's speaking to his readers. Writing to his readers. Using language that they understand. Because they're in the context. Of who he's talking about. Okay. So let's just get to the bottom of this.
[18:12] I think this is the answer to it. There's a few different ideas. About what he's talking about here. I think this is the best one. Okay. If you don't have a chance to go through. All of the theories. Behind what he's getting at.
[18:22] I'll give you what I reckon is the best one. And it's this. In the context that he was writing to. Remember. He's planted a church. And then he's probably planted a few other churches.
[18:32] And he's writing to this group of people. And the situation there. Is that there are false teachers. Who used to be members of his church. They used to lead community groups. They used to help out with communion distribution.
[18:44] They used to be on the welcoming roster. And so since they were members of his church. They have now left the church. They have completely changed their theology. They have completely degraded Jesus.
[18:56] To being just a mere man. Or someone who didn't really die on the cross. They have completely distorted the truth about Christians. Saying that we don't really need to obey Jesus commandments.
[19:07] We don't really need to listen to his word in the Bible. And so he is. John is speaking and writing to his church. Saying forget about what they're saying. Don't listen to what they're saying.
[19:18] They are deceived antichrists. Sent by Satan to deceive you. They are deceived. And they are trying to deceive. Now if you want to find out what these deceivers.
[19:33] What these false teachers were teaching. Though we don't have records of exactly what they were saying. You can do what's called a mirror reading of the text. Anyone can do this.
[19:44] You don't have to be a theological student or anything like that. You can just see what John seems to be really banging on about over and over again. By way of correction. And then sort of stand on the other side.
[19:58] And figure out what he's teaching against. And that's what the false teachers were teaching. Alright. So what he's rebuking. That's what the false teachers were trying to communicate. That false theology.
[20:10] Alright. So you can find out from that. And you can read commentaries about this. That the false teachers. One of their big things. Probably. Was that they didn't think that Jesus.
[20:22] God in human flesh. Died on the cross. You know how we believe that Jesus. Was fully God. And fully man. And that he died on the cross.
[20:32] As the perfect man. The God man. And because of that death. Because of his resurrection. We too can have the forgiveness of sins.
[20:44] It was his death. On our behalf. Right. We believe that as a central truth of Christianity. It was something that John counted as a central truth. It wasn't something that the false teachers believed.
[20:57] Probably what they believed. Was that. Jesus was God in human flesh. Kind of. He was. During his ministry. He sort of proved that he had God. In him. By the miracles that he did.
[21:08] Raising people from the dead. You know. Calming the storm. Feeding 5,000. Doing these kind of things. That kind of proved that he was. God in human flesh. So yeah. We. We admit that he was.
[21:19] The God man. That he was Jesus Christ. During that time. When he was doing his ministry. But then before he died. That bit left him. The God bit left him. And then he was just Jesus.
[21:29] The carpenter. Then he died on the cross. Because their big problem was this. How can God die? That's not right. God can't die.
[21:40] Is what they were saying. So now. What he. What John is getting at here.
[21:50] With that in mind. Them believing that Jesus. Was Jesus Christ. During his earthly ministry. That God left him. Before his death. He's correcting them.
[22:01] By saying. This. There is the one. Who came by. Water. All right. Stop there. The water bit. This is referring to. Jesus ministry. Of baptism.
[22:12] Jesus went around. Doing like. We've done. Last week here. Baptizing Elijah. Doing like. We're going to do. In a couple of weeks. With Rob. Baptizing him. He went around. Baptizing people. For the forgiveness. Of sins.
[22:23] They would repent. And be baptized. And be born again. As Christians. And so. John is using. That water metaphor. That. That baptism ministry. As a sort of.
[22:34] Summary of Jesus ministry. As a whole. All right. So. Jesus came. Here we go. Let's read it again. This is the one. Who came by water. His baptism ministry.
[22:46] His ministry. So. He's agreeing. With the false teachers. There. He came by water. And. Blood. Jesus Christ. Not with water only. Not with baptism only.
[22:57] Not with his earthly. Ministry. Only. Not. With water. Only. But with water. And the blood. That's his death.
[23:08] Can you see what he's getting at now? If there are people teaching that Jesus Christ. God in human flesh. Only did the earthly. Baptism ministry. But wasn't. Killed on the cross.
[23:20] John is saying. No. No. No. He came by water. Earthly. Ministry. And by blood. And by death on the cross. He was Jesus Christ. God in human flesh. Even on the cross.
[23:34] You see the error that he's trying to correct here. He is. Jesus. Christ. Not Jesus the carpenter. Jesus. Christ. The Messiah. God in human flesh.
[23:44] Not with the water only. But with the water. And the blood. So. God in human flesh. So that's two testimonies. Here's the third. And the spirit is the one that testifies.
[23:56] For the spirit is the truth. So there are three that testify. The spirit. And the water. And the blood. And these three agree.
[24:09] If you know your Old Testament history. You'll know that. When you're trying to prove a case. It was really important to have three witnesses. And you couldn't just have three witnesses. That you pulled out of a crowd. And this guy thinks one thing happened.
[24:20] And that guy saw another thing. And this guy wasn't even there. You have to have three witnesses that agreed. All right. They all saw the same thing. Therefore we can believe their testimony. So that's what he's getting at here.
[24:31] There's three witnesses. And they all agree. The water. Baptism. Ministry of Jesus. Agrees that he was the Son of God. He did miraculous things in his ministry.
[24:42] So his earthly ministry. Agrees. Testifies that he is the Son of God. Then you've got the blood. His death on the cross. This testifies that he is the Son of God.
[24:53] He died a perfect death on the cross. For our sins. He was raised again for our salvation. His atonement. Speaks to the truth. That he was the Son of God. That's two out of two. They both agree.
[25:04] Then you've got the Spirit. And in John. The Spirit. The Holy Spirit. One of his major tasks. That he does day by day. And all through the history of the world. Is to testify to the truth about Jesus.
[25:16] That he is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit inspired the Word of God. Which tells us the truth. That Jesus is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit testifies.
[25:27] Even in our own experience. For those who are Christians. He testifies in your own experience. That Jesus is the Son of God. You agree with him in that. And so three witnesses.
[25:39] Ministry. Death. And Spirit. All agree. Jesus. Jesus. Is the Son of God. The Lamb of God. Who takes away the sins of the world.
[25:52] So don't listen to the false teachers. And listen. All this feels a little bit disconnected. Doesn't it? Because I'm talking about context. And false teachers. And early church.
[26:03] But this is happening today. Isn't it? Do you know your false teachers today? There's a bunch of teachers today. That's trying to tell you. That Jesus wasn't really the Son of God.
[26:14] There are even. That specific teaching is alive today. That Jesus. Well yeah. He had God in him. And he sort of had a divine presence. That meant he could do these miracles. But God can't die. So therefore.
[26:25] You know. God must have departed. God left the building sometime. Before Jesus died. Others who completely.
[26:37] Disassociate them from the gospel together. And say that. Jesus was just a good man. He was just a wise teacher. He was just a sage. He was just a kind of a. A good guy. But he wasn't the Son of God.
[26:50] And he certainly didn't die. For the sins of the world. God was telling his church. And he's telling us tonight. That this truth. That Jesus is the Christ.
[27:01] That he's the Messiah. That he's the chosen one. That he's the Lamb of God. That he's the atoning sacrifice. For our sins. That is an absolutely. Non-negotiable truth.
[27:12] That we have to hold. If we're going to be followers of Jesus. That he's the Son of God. They're the ones who overcome the world. Those who believe in that truth.
[27:23] The gospel. So you've got three tests. Love. Faith. And obedience.
[27:35] You've got three testimonies. The water. Jesus' ministry. The blood. Jesus' death. And the spirit. Jesus' spirit. They all testify to the truth.
[27:46] That Jesus is the Son of God. There's a bunch of stuff. Towards the end of this passage. Towards the end of this book. That would be worthwhile.
[27:57] You looking into. And studying. Most of it is. Kind of. Teaching that we have heard throughout. That's been reworded by him. By way of. Conclusion. And it'd be well worth.
[28:09] You going over that again. In fact. If I can just give you a plug. It'd be well worth you. Subscribing to our podcast. And just re-listening. To these messages. There's only six of them. You could knock them over real quick.
[28:20] On your way to work. But just. Hear again. The teaching of 1 John. It's so. So important. That we get this. And it's so. So life-giving. For us to hear.
[28:32] That we're true believers. That we can be assured. Of God's goodness and love. And so I'm going to do that. For you right now. Just by way of conclusion. We're going to go over again.
[28:44] What John has been saying. His major themes. And the way that we can do this. With. With. Certainty. To know exactly what he was talking about. Why he wrote the book. Is that throughout the book.
[28:55] You might have noticed. Quite often. He'll say something like this. This is why I'm writing. So that. This is why I'm writing. So that.
[29:06] This is why I'm writing. So that. Etc. Etc. So we're going to go through. These passages. That speak. That where he writes. The reason. For his writing. To these people. Just to kind of refresh.
[29:17] Our memories. As we've been on this journey together. These are things that we've heard. Time and time again. But I want them to be in our minds. As we finish this series. Okay. So six reasons.
[29:28] That John gives us. For why he wrote this letter. This will give us the central. Truth. That he's trying to get at. So if you flip back.
[29:39] I want you to go with me here. Flip back to. Chapter one. Verse four. This is the first one. Chapter one.
[29:49] Verse four. He says. We are writing these things. We are writing these things. So that our joy. May be complete. We are writing these things.
[29:59] So that our joy. May be complete. John wants you to know. John wants you to be certain.
[30:11] John wants you to be reassured. That you are a child of God. That you have been born again. That you have the forgiveness of your sins. Because of Jesus death and resurrection.
[30:23] And if you get that. And this is so important. Because so many of you speak to me so often. And say. You don't have assurance. You don't know if you are a Christian. And I felt this myself.
[30:34] And everyone in this room. If they're honest. Has felt that way. At one time or another. But he is writing. So that we might be assured. Because he knows. That if we have assurance. Our joy will be complete.
[30:45] That's where our joy comes from. The certainty. The knowledge. That we have eternal life with God. Second one.
[30:55] Two of six. All right. This is chapter two. Just a little bit down. Chapter two. Verse one. My little children. I'm writing these things. To you.
[31:06] So that. You may not sin. But if anyone does sin. We have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ. The righteous. And he is the atoning sacrifice.
[31:16] For our sins. And not only for ours. But also for the sins of the whole world. He is writing. So that we will not sin. One of those.
[31:29] Central tests. That he gives us. Obedience. Holiness. He doesn't want us to sin. But. If we sin. Or. When we sin. He wants us to know. That we have an advocate.
[31:40] With the Father. We have someone. Who is on our side. We have someone. Who is. Pleying for us. We have someone. Who has. Died. For us.
[31:50] To forgive our sins. Jesus Christ. The righteous. He is the atoning sacrifice. That means. He has done everything. That needs to be done. To make us one with God.
[32:03] To take away our guilt. Let's let that truth land on you. For a minute. Everything. That needs to be done. To make sure.
[32:14] Your salvation. And forgiveness. Has been done. Being here tonight. Won't add to that. Loving your neighbour. Won't add to that.
[32:26] Loving the truth. Won't add to that. Walking obediently. Won't add to that. Everything that's been done. Everything that needs to be done. To assure you of forgiveness.
[32:39] Has been done. By Jesus Christ the righteous. He is. The atoning sacrifice. For our sins. You make no sacrifice. In addition to his. Once. For all.
[32:49] Atoning sacrifice. That's why we're going to celebrate. The Lord's Supper tonight. It's a once. For all. Sacrifice. So often.
[33:02] So many of us. Sin. And it's normally that sin. That just keeps. Getting you. Getting you. Every time. And we feel completely helpless. Completely hopeless. Completely condemned. And guilty.
[33:14] Like. Maybe God forgives us up to this point. But he's never going to be able to forgive us again. This is one too many. And the voice of the evil one. And the enemy. And the deceiver. Speaks into our conscience.
[33:24] And we feel completely defeated. John wants us to know. He doesn't want us to sin. But if we sin.
[33:35] We have an advocate. Not someone who condemns us. But someone who advocates for us. Jesus Christ the righteous. The second reason.
[33:45] Third one is this. Just down the page a little bit. Verse 12 of chapter 2. I am writing to you little children. Because your sins are forgiven. On account of his name.
[33:57] Once again. Not going to be forgiven. If you do these things. Are forgiven. Past tense. Your sins are forgiven. On account of his name.
[34:08] I am writing to you fathers. Because you know him. Who is from the beginning. I am writing to you young people. Because you have conquered the evil one. I am writing to you children.
[34:19] Because you know the father. I write to you fathers. Because you know him. Who is from the beginning. I write to you young people. Because you are strong. And the word of God abides in you.
[34:30] And you have overcome. The evil one. He wants us. In this book. The reason that he is writing to us. He wants us to be assured.
[34:42] He wants us to be encouraged. If you read through that little hymn there again. You will see. His whole purpose for writing. His whole purpose for writing. Is to encourage us.
[34:52] Not to condemn us. But to encourage us. That we are true believers. If you are a believer. And you are here tonight. You can be encouraged. Because you know the son of God.
[35:03] You love the son of God. The word of God abides in you. You have overcome. The evil one. It is encouragement. Assurance. Now let's keep moving.
[35:16] There is another one here. It is chapter 2 verse 21. I write to you. Not because you do not know the truth. But because you know it. And you know that no lie comes from the truth.
[35:30] Same thing again. Just reinforcing. That encouragement. That assurance that you have. You know. You know. You know it.
[35:41] You know that no lie comes from the truth. You know the truth of the gospel. You are saved. You are assured. Next one is verse 26 of chapter 2.
[35:52] I write these things to you. Concerning those who would deceive you. This is another thread that has been going throughout. That false teachers are amongst us. False teachers were among his people.
[36:04] And so he is giving them a warning. Know who these people are. Know what they are trying to teach. Know that they are trying to deceive you. And therefore walk away from that. Turn away from that truth.
[36:16] Turn towards the gospel that you know and love. That is a warning. Even those who have assurance of eternal life. Need to hear these warnings. And take them really seriously.
[36:27] That if you start listening to false teachers. If you start moving in that trajectory. Away from the truth. You will end up forfeiting your faith. But those who love God.
[36:40] Those who have been born of God. Will continue. To love the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They will turn away from that false teaching. And the last one.
[36:51] Is chapter 13 of the chapter we just read. Chapter 5 verse 13. We will finish on this. This is beautiful. I think this is probably the central one. I think this is right in the middle of the courtyard.
[37:04] And finally just pops his head up over the wall. And looks down on this. Sums it all up. Verse 13 he says. I write these things to you who believe.
[37:14] To you guys. You Christians. 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.
[37:27] He wants you to know. That you have. Eternal life. Not that you are going to get. Eternal life. But that you have.
[37:40] Eternal life. It's a possession of yours now. The Holy Spirit within you. Is a seal. Of your inheritance. That cannot be taken away from you.
[37:54] Next time you feel discouraged. Next time you feel condemned. Next time Satan whispers in your ear. That this has been one too many sins. Remember this truth. And the reason that John wrote the whole letter.
[38:05] Verse 13. I write these things to you who believe. In the name of the Son of God. So that you may know. That you have.
[38:16] Eternal life. Encouraged. The whole point of the book is that you would be encouraged.
[38:31] Do you love the Son of God? If you love the Son of God. You have. Eternal life.
[38:44] It's a possession. It's an inheritance. It's going to change everything. It's going to change the way that you live.
[38:57] The commandments of God are not going to be oppressive. They're going to be a delight. It's going to affect the way that you love. You're going to love your brothers and sisters in the church.
[39:09] Who are co-heirs with you. They're children of God with you. And you're going to love that truth. That Jesus. Is the Son of God. God. And one day.
[39:24] You're going to experience the fullness. Of that eternal life that you already have. You're going to experience a world where there is no more crying. No more death. No more pain.
[39:35] Your tears are going to be wiped away. The former things have disappeared. Death is no more. So be encouraged.
[39:49] Feel that assurance that comes. As you contemplate the truth. That you love. As you look around at the brothers and sisters. Whom you love.
[40:02] As you walk day by day. Seeking to live a godly life. In Christ Jesus. That's the book of 1 John. It's a great book. I challenge you to re-read it.
[40:15] And re-read it. And let these truths wash over you afresh. And I challenge you to join with me now. As I pray a prayer. And ask God to change us. As a result of hearing his words.
[40:26] So let's just bow our heads. We worship an awesome God. We worship a holy God. We worship a God.
[40:36] Who in his justice. Has every right. To condemn us. But because of his great love for us.
[40:48] We read in John's other book. The Gospel of John. Chapter 3 verse 16. That God so loved the world. That's every one of us. That he gave his only son.
[40:59] It's Jesus Christ. So that everyone who believes in him. That's you if you're a Christian. May not perish. But may have.
[41:10] Eternal life. Let's pray to that God now. Father. Father. Father. Thank you so much for the encouragement.
[41:27] That we have received. As Christians. In this journey through the book of 1st John. Every week you've reminded us. That we can be sure and certain.
[41:44] Of our standing. As forgiven believers. Who have eternal life. We can be sure and certain. Because Jesus Christ.
[41:56] The perfect man. Died on the cross for our sins. And was raised again. For our salvation. We thank you for reminding us tonight.
[42:08] That Jesus was God in human flesh. When he was doing his miracles. When he died on the cross. And he's God.
[42:18] In human flesh. Even now. Our advocate. With the father. He's the righteous one. Who is the atoning sacrifice. For our sins.
[42:30] Father. We just. Come before you now. And. Confess. That we are. Sinners. We're sinners.
[42:40] By nature. And by choice. That though we struggle. To live godly lives. And we want to live godly lives. Each one of us. Does sin. Each one of us.
[42:52] Is disobedient. Each one of us. Has at one time or another. Hated a brother or sister. Rather than loving them. So we come before you now.
[43:04] In just a. A mood of confession. And repentance. We confess our guilt. And ask you to please. Wash us clean of our sins.
[43:15] We thank you. That you have said. That you do forgive us. For all of our sins. Past. Present. And future. That the once for all sacrifice.
[43:27] Of Jesus on the cross. Has covered all of those sins. And so now. We walk afresh. In holiness. And righteousness. As your people. We repent. And turn away from.
[43:38] All of the darkness. And sin. And evil. That we have. Indulged in. And we want to follow you. We thank you.
[43:49] That you have given us. New birth. A new start. A new heart. You have given us. The Holy Spirit. That testifies to Jesus.
[44:00] And encourages us. In our faith. We ask that from this day forward. That you would. Help us. That you would. Make us. Live holy lives.
[44:14] Loving one another. And loving the truth. Of the gospel. Father. When antichrists. Come against us. When false teachers. Try to deceive us. When the evil one.
[44:25] The father of lives. Lies. Speaks. Deceiving. Falsehoods. Into our hearts. I pray that you would.
[44:36] Save us. From the time of trial. And deliver us. From evil. Father. I pray that we would be. A community here.
[44:47] At this church. That is marked by. Great assurance. Of our faith. And also. Great awareness. Of your warnings. To us. Please help us.
[45:00] To be sure. And certain. Of the hope. That we have. In Christ Jesus. Both in this life. And the life to come. So once again.
[45:11] We just thank you. For teaching us. Through this book. Of first John. Please let it. Sink deep. Into our hearts. And our minds. And pray this.
[45:21] For Jesus sake. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.