Children of God, 1John 3: 1-3

John has several reasons for writing this epistle, which is actually a letter, to the churches.  Back in chapter 2 vs 26, he mentions one of the most pressing reasons for writing them.  He said in vs 26 “These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.”  Now we learned that “they” refers to false prophets and false teachers who John calls antichrists.  These are people who have come out of the ranks of the church, who claimed superior knowledge of spiritual things, but who are teaching doctrine which is the opposite of Christ’s

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The promise of eternal life, 1 John 2:25-29

John is writing to the Christians in the churches because false doctrine had crept into the church and was deceiving many.  He says that in vs 26, “These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.”  The false doctrine was especially perpetrated on the church by what was eventually called Gnosticism, which means knowledge.  They professed that there was a special knowledge, a secret knowledge of spiritual things, which they wanted to teach the church.  But it was false knowledge, and so John calls them false prophets.  In fact he calls them antichrists back

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The Spirit of Antichrist vs the Spirit of Truth, 1 John 2:18-24

Last week, we looked at the previous passage of John’s message, which was not to love the world, nor the things of the world.  And we learned that the world was not speaking of creation, nor of the people of the world, but he was speaking of the world system.  We learned that this world system is orchestrated by Satan, to deceive the people of the world, to mislead them, to hold them captive by it’s deceptive philosophies, until it eventually leads to their destruction.  We said that the world system is in opposition to the heavenly system.  The divine

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The wrong kind of love, 1 John 2:15-17

Last week as we looked at the preceding verses, we talked about spiritual maturity. After our new birth, when we are born again spiritually, John described  three stages of spiritual growth which he titled as little children, young men and fathers.  And what we determined last week was that the goal of spiritual maturity is to become like Jesus Christ.  That is what spiritual maturity accomplishes in our lives.  We grow spiritually to become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  That process of becoming like Christ is what the Bible calls sanctification.  Sanctification is becoming more like Christ.  Sanctification is

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Three levels of spiritual maturity, 1 John 2: 12-14

The apostle John has been showing in this epistle the contrast between those who live in sin, and those who are righteous.  He has been showing a contrast between those who walk in the light, and those who walk in darkness.  He has been showing a contrast between those who keep the commandments, and those who do not keep the commandments.  And the basic difference between these two types of people is that one is saved, and the other is unsaved.  Those that are unsaved may claim they are saved, they may claim that they know God, but they show

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A new commandment, 1 John 2:7-11

What John has been teaching up to this point is that a life of sin and new life in Christ are incompatible.  He says in chapter 1 vs 6 that you cannot walk in darkness, that means walk in sin, and say that you have fellowship with  God.  He also makes it clear in the next verse that fellowship with one another is predicated on being right with God. Now that is the positive perspective, being right with God is being in fellowship with God and with one another.  From a negative perspective, John says that sin breaks fellowship with

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The positive proofs of knowing God, 1 John 2:3-6

As we continue in our study of 1 John, we are looking at line of reasoning which John has been presenting concerning the reality of our faith.  The great concern of his as he is writing this epistle has been the false teaching that has arisen in the church.  That false doctrine is what is called Gnosticism.  Gnosticism comes from the Greek word ginōskō which means to know.  John uses the word know 26 times in this epistle, and introduces it in the verses we are looking at today in vs 3-6.  For instance, John uses it twice in vs

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Christ our Helper and Propitiation, 1 John 2:1,2

At the time of the writing of this epistle, this letter to the churches, John is about 90 years old.  His writing, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit, is brilliant.  His writing is pure, divine truth. He pens one statement of absolute truth after another, in a cyclical fashion, each statement building upon the other, oftentimes restating the same truth but from a different perspective.  It is really brilliant stuff that deserves our careful study and contemplation.  And it must be careful study, because even though every word that he writes is inspired truth, there are certain statements that

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Three false claims of false Christians, 1 John 1:6-2:1

In the first century, Christianity was facing a problem which we still have with us today. The problem was a false gospel, a false Christianity, propagated by false teachers. That has always been a threat against the church, and it remains so today.  The enemy works to destroy the church from within and without, and attacks from within are sometimes more difficult for us to discern and to deal with. So John’s epistle is addressing this by looking at the doctrinal distinctive’s of the gospel, and in this passage, presenting a contrast between the message of God, and the message

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God is Light, John 1:5,6

In the first few verses of 1 John, John is declaring to us the Word of God, which is the message of God, which is the truth of God.  And he says the truth of God produces in us the life of God so that we might have fellowship with God.  He said in vs 1, the Word of God is eternal, that which was from the beginning. He said in the gospel of John chapter 1 that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He goes on to say

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