Walking in the Light: Assurance, Confession, and the Joy of Grace

• The Nature of 1 John as a Personal Letter [00:25:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor characterizes 1 John not as a theological essay but as a personal letter from an old friend who knew Jesus personally, emphasizing its emotional and relational weight.
• The Historical Context of John [00:29:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes John as an elderly man (80s-90s) who outlived his fellow apostles, writing from Ephesus to a scattered church in Asia Minor.
• Combating Heresy (Docetism and Gnosticism) [00:33:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies specific false teachings (Docetism denying Jesus' physical body, and a form of Gnosticism splitting Jesus into two persons) that John wrote to refute.
• The Necessity of the Incarnation for Salvation [00:35:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that without the real incarnation, there is no real atonement, no real death/resurrection, and no high priest who can sympathize with human weaknesses.
• The Eternality of Jesus [00:36:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor begins the exegesis of 1 John 1:1, interpreting 'that which was from the beginning' as a statement of Jesus' eternal existence and presence at creation.
• Refutation of Docetism and Gnosticism [00:35:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies Docetism and Gnosticism as heresies that split Jesus into two people or view the physical world as evil, attacking the heart of the gospel by denying the real incarnation.
• The Reality of the Incarnation [00:36:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that John establishes Jesus' eternal nature and physical reality through eyewitness testimony (hearing, seeing, touching) to counter claims that Jesus was not truly human.
• God's Holiness and the Nature of Sin [00:40:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines God as light (purity, truth, holiness) and darkness (evil, falsehood), establishing that God has no moral compromise.
• False Claims of Sinlessness [00:41:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies three false claims: claiming fellowship while walking in darkness, claiming to be without sin, and claiming never to have sinned, labeling these as self-deception and making God a liar.
• Divine Faithfulness and Justice in Forgiveness [00:44:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God is faithful (consistent in forgiveness) and just (penalty paid by Christ), allowing forgiveness without compromising justice.
• The Nature of Confession [00:45:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines confession (homologeo) as agreeing with God that one has sinned, rather than groveling or begging for mercy.
• Application: Focus on Eyewitness Truth [00:46:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor urges believers to focus on the eyewitness truth of Jesus rather than cultural opinions or celebrity versions of Jesus.
• Application: Vigilance Against Heresy [00:48:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor warns that false teaching appears quickly in churches and urges returning to Scripture to correct distortions.
• Application: Honest Confession and Walking in Light [00:49:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts true Christianity (honest confession, obedience) with a desire for benefits without obedience, emphasizing that walking in light means living openly and confessing sin.
• Honest Confession and Walking in the Light [00:49:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines real Christianity as including honest confession and walking in the light, contrasting it with a desire for benefits without obedience.
• Self-Deception vs. True Christianity [00:49:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies the desire for forgiveness without repentance and blessing without Christ's lordship as self-deception.
• The Role of the Holy Spirit in Conviction [00:50:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the Holy Spirit's conviction is a sign of His indwelling presence, prompting believers to confess rather than rationalize sin.
• Assurance of Salvation [00:52:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references 1 John 5 to explain that believers can know they have eternal life, establishing confidence in their relationship with God.
• Freedom from Performance-Based Religion [00:53:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that believers do not need to perform or put on a false front, but can be open and honest due to their relationship with Jesus.
• The Nature of Sin and the Law [00:55:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the Law's purpose was to show humanity's inability to measure up to God's holy standards, defining sin as missing the mark.
• The Gospel and Salvation by Faith [00:57:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines the gospel: Jesus lived sinlessly, died for the world's sins, and purchased salvation, which is received by faith, not works.
• The Entrance Exam to Heaven [00:58:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor clarifies that the entrance to heaven is not based on doing more good than bad, but on accepting Jesus Christ.
• Invitation to Faith and Confession [00:59:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor leads a prayer for those unsure of their salvation, inviting them to acknowledge their need for Jesus and confess their sins.

• Sermon Illustration [00:23:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his collection of childhood books, toys, and old letters in his attic, using the tactile and sentimental nature of handwritten letters to illustrate the personal and intimate nature of the book of 1 John.
• Sermon Illustration [00:30:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the historical context of John writing the letter: an elderly man in Ephesus, having outlived all other apostles, writing to a scattered church in Asia Minor facing internal confusion and external pressure.
• Sermon Illustration [00:38:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a theater to explain the Greek word for 'looked upon,' illustrating that John didn't just catch a glimpse of Jesus but stared at him and studied him for three years.
• Sermon Illustration [00:39:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the physical intimacy of John's relationship with Jesus, mentioning touching his shoulder, leaning against him, or Jesus leaning against him at the last supper.
• Sermon Illustration [00:47:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Barnes and Noble as a place where one can find any version of Jesus they dream up, contrasting this with the biblical reality of Jesus as the God-man.
• Sermon Illustration [00:56:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of an archery target to explain sin: just as an arrow that misses the bullseye has 'sinned' by missing its mark, sin is failing to measure up to God's holy standard.
• Sermon Illustration [00:53:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the historical context of John writing his letter as an old man who had buried friends and watched the church face enemies, distilling the essentials of the faith for his children.

• Pastoral Charge [00:22:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pick up a frog and prayer guide, place it in a visible location, and pray for Vacation Bible School.
• Pastoral Charge [00:46:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > Focus on the eyewitness truth of the apostles rather than modern opinions.
• Pastoral Charge [00:49:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > Return to the Bible to verify teachings against false doctrine.
• Pastoral Charge [00:50:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > Confess sins when convicted by the Holy Spirit and rejoice in His presence.
• Pastoral Charge [00:49:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > Return to Scripture to verify truth against cultural distortions.
• Pastoral Charge [00:51:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > Confess sins, including minor ones and self-deceptions, to maintain fellowship with God.
• Pastoral Charge [00:55:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stop relying on moral performance for salvation and recognize the insufficiency of human goodness.
• Pastoral Charge [00:58:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > Place faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone, rejecting self, works, or church as the basis for salvation.
• Pastoral Charge [00:59:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray to acknowledge the need for Jesus Christ and place trust in His sinless life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
• Pastoral Charge [01:00:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray to confess specific sins, own up to them, and express a desire to stop walking in darkness.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:00:00] You're here, and thank you for joining us online. Let's worship.

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:00:13] Eternal, we can rest in that truth today. We proclaim the powerful name of Jesus in this place.

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:18:57] God, we worship you. We honor you for who you are. We love you, Jesus. It's in your holy name that we pray. Amen.
[00:19:04] Thank you for joining us today. You may be seated.

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:19:15] Hey, Venture family. Welcome to church. I'm Jamie, and we're so glad that you're here today, whether you're with us in person or joining online.
[00:19:23] If today's your first time with us, we'd love to meet you.
[00:19:26] Stop by the welcome desk in the lobby on your way out.
[00:19:29] We've got a gift for you, and our team would love to say hello and answer any questions that you may have.
[00:19:34] If you're new around here or you've been with us for a while and you're ready to take a next step, Starting Point is the place to begin.
[00:19:42] You'll hear our story, what we believe, and how you can find your place at Venture.
[00:19:47] Now, for our families, there's a lot happening this summer.
[00:19:50] summer. Vacation Bible School is here. If you've walked through the building today, you've seen it.
[00:19:56] The lobby, the kids area, and the auditorium have all been transformed, and our teams have poured so much into making this a VBS to remember. Keep our leaders and volunteers in prayer as they serve
[00:20:07] our kids this week, and if you haven't signed up your kids yet, there's still room. We'd also love to invite you to Equip Parents, a two-week class designed to give you practical tools and encouragement to lead your kids in their faith because you are the most important spiritual
[00:20:23] influence in their life and we'd love to partner and walk alongside you and wind shape camp is coming later this summer if cost is ever a concern we have financial assistance available just stop by the kids check-in at adventureland and let one of our team members know we'd love
[00:20:39] to help your kids be there visit our website or tap your phone on the little circle in the seat in front of you to learn more about anything we talked about and more. Last week, our students
[00:20:50] were at Student Life Camp, worshiping, growing, and building friendships that will last well beyond the week. And some of them were able to go because of people in this church that chose to sponsor them. And that's the heart of Venture. When you give, you make room for someone else to experience
[00:21:06] God in a way they couldn't have on their own. You can give through the Venture app, online, or through the offering boxes around the campus. Thank you for your generosity. This morning we're kicking off a brand new series through the book of 1 John called Dear Church. Think of it as a letter from
[00:21:24] an old friend, someone who actually walked with Jesus and who wrote to remind us what it looks like to know him for real. We're so glad you're here for week one. Let's hear from God's word

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:21:35] this morning. Good morning Venture Church. Good to see you. Welcome to the jungle, right? This place is looking awesome and it's going to be an incredible week at Vacation Bible School this week. Hey, on your way out today, we want you to pick up a frog on the back table back there and
[00:22:37] a little prayer guide. This is just a reminder. So put this in your kitchen table or on your bathroom sink or on the dashboard of your car. And when you see this little frog, just remember
[00:22:46] to pray for Vacation Bible School and all the kids that are going to be here. The frogs gives you a little you know uh families relationships outreach guide salvation this gives you a prayer guide for how to be praying and so and just pick up the little frog on your way out but it is going
[00:23:02] to be an awesome awesome week so i'm excited that we're starting our new summer book study uh through the book of first john i don't know if you do this um but i keep a box of childhood
[00:23:17] books and toys and collectibles that i've been collecting now for over 50 years in my attic and i still have it how many of you have a box like that of uh old stuff yeah okay many of many of
[00:23:31] you do every once in a while i'll be up in the attic to get something i'll see it and i'll sit down and i'll open it up and just kind of paw through some of that stuff and look back and
[00:23:40] reminisce and remember back back in the day i have a collection of old letters and old birthday cards that I've received from people who, unfortunately, are no longer alive.
[00:23:51] I have handwritten notes and letters from people that give me just a glimpse into what they were thinking at a particular moment in time.
[00:24:00] I can read these notes in their actual, original handwriting, and I'm kind of sentimental like that.
[00:24:07] I like that.
[00:24:08] I love old things.
[00:24:09] I love antiques.
[00:24:10] How many of you love antiques here?
[00:24:12] All right.
[00:24:13] Okay.
[00:24:13] So, okay.
[00:24:13] Lots of you there.
[00:24:14] I love antiques.
[00:24:16] I collect old coins. I've always been a bit of an old soul, you know. I've just always loved the old things. I can sit around and watch Andy Griffith reruns, you know. That's my kind of
[00:24:27] day there. And you know, when you have a letter that's handwritten, that's really kind of special. You know, an email can be deleted, a text message gets buried, and hundreds of other text messages. But when you have a letter, it's in an envelope and you open it up and you unfold it and
[00:24:46] you see the person's handwriting. It kind of even reflects a little bit about who they were and you see their original handwriting. I don't know, there's something about that. Well, we are starting our summer Bible study today and we're going to go through the book of 1 John. And I want you to
[00:25:05] think of the book of 1 John just like one of those old letters that you may have tucked away in your Attic. It's a personal letter from someone written to people who he very much loved. He was writing
[00:25:18] not a theological essay. He wasn't writing a legal document. He was writing a letter from an old friend. Now imagine that you were the recipient of this letter and it was a letter from someone who
[00:25:35] actually walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus. This isn't a story that's been passed down through generations. This is someone who actually heard his voice, someone who actually saw his miracles firsthand, someone who leaned against him at the Last Supper, someone who was intimately
[00:25:57] knowledgeable about Jesus. Now you receive this letter, if you just let your minds go back there, you're you're in the midst of a bustling city in asia minor life is hard there's all kinds of
[00:26:11] craziness going on false teachers are spreading confusing ideas about jesus even inside the church and then a letter arrives from really the last surviving apostle this is a man who knew the lord personally so this particular letter carries with it significant weight because i mean this is
[00:26:35] the last apostle who knew Jesus. And that's what we have in the book of 1 John. So I want you to just, in your mind's eye, get a picture of what we're going to read here today. If you have your
[00:26:49] Bibles, I encourage you to turn to the book of 1 John. We'll begin reading in verse 1. We're going to read the whole chapter. He writes, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which
[00:26:59] we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at, and our hands have touched. This we proclaim concerning the word of life the life appeared we have seen it and testify to it and we proclaim
[00:27:11] to you the eternal life which was with the father and has appeared to us we proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with
[00:27:23] the father and with his son Jesus Christ we write this to make our joy complete this is the message we've heard from him and declare to you God is light and in him there is no darkness at all
[00:27:34] if we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not live out the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another
[00:27:45] and the blood of jesus his son purifies us from all sin if we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he's faithful and just and will forgive
[00:27:55] us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness if we claim we have not sinned we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning
[00:28:09] and God, we open up this very personal letter written by the Apostle John. Lord, we know it was written to a specific audience at a specific time, but you recorded it in your word because
[00:28:21] the contents of this letter carry important truths that are just as valid today as they were some 2,000 years ago so God as we study this word I pray that you would open our eyes
[00:28:33] to things you'd have us to see and may our ears be able to hear God what you would want to say to us through the power of your Holy Spirit and and through the reading of your word so Lord we
[00:28:45] just dedicate these moments unto you and God I pray that you would use me in a powerful way to speak your truth to your people Lord we love you and we praise you in Jesus name amen so the man
[00:28:55] writing these words is the Apostle John. By the time he writes this letter, he's an old man.
[00:29:03] Most likely he's in his 80s, maybe even his 90s. Again, he's one of the last original 12 apostles still alive. In a world that John was in at this particular time, the life expectancy, the average
[00:29:18] life expectancy was around 30 years old, but that was because the child mortality rate was extremely high if you lived outside of childhood then your average age was between 50 maybe 55 maybe 60 John here is in his 80s maybe even his 90s and so he's outlived everyone he's outlived all of his
[00:29:40] friends he's outlived his fellow apostles Peter was crucified upside down Paul was beheaded James was killed by the sword one by one his friends had been taken and now John remained alone and so if you think about what it must have felt like for John he had watched this small church that
[00:30:09] started in a little upper room grow and expand throughout the region of the Roman Empire he had seen revivals and he'd seen martyrdom. He'd seen the rise of heresies and then the fall. He had
[00:30:25] outlived his closest friends and other fellow eyewitnesses to who Jesus was. And now he's most likely in the city of Ephesus, which is in modern-day Turkey, and he sits down and he writes a letter to those that he loved these words carry the weight of a father who was writing to his
[00:30:49] children who realized that in all reality he doesn't have much time left on this earth and there's some things that you need to know there's some things that you need to make sure that you
[00:30:58] hang on to as you read through this letter you're going to see these kind of tender you know statements in language. He says, my little children, beloved, dear friends. You know, this is a man who
[00:31:12] loves these folks and he wants to give them the truth. And so he's writing as a, he's writing as a spiritual father. He's not writing as some kind of a distant theologian. He's, he's, you know,
[00:31:26] writing really as a pastor, as a shepherd. He's, you know, he's known these people. He's walked with them through the journey of life. He celebrated their marriages. He's cried with them at funerals. He sat with them at the confusing times and points in life. And he
[00:31:43] loved them and he was concerned about them. Most likely, this is a group of people who were scattered across the region of Asia Minor. Most of them were probably Gentile Christians who never really saw Jesus on their own. He had passed away before they were born or when
[00:32:02] they were very young and so most of them have not actually seen Jesus on their own maybe they'd come to faith through the apostle Paul or John or some of the other missionaries who are out there
[00:32:13] preaching and teaching probably a lot of them are former pagans because that was the society in which they grew up and they they grew up with idol worship and worshiping all these different kinds of gods and so they faced the pressure from really the surrounding Roman culture they face
[00:32:31] hostility from the authorities and now here they are at this time and they're facing confusion from inside the church itself. Some people who were part of the church originally had left but before they left they began to plant seeds of doubt. They began to spread false ideas inside
[00:32:54] the church. So let me give you a just kind of a quick picture of what John felt he needed to say and to kind of push back against these this false teaching some of the false teachers were
[00:33:09] saying that Jesus was not really human they taught that he appeared to have a body but didn't really have a body he was more like a ghost or a hologram this idea was known as docetism from the Greek
[00:33:26] word meaning to seem and in their belief Jesus only seemed or only appeared to have a body but didn't really have a physical body to them it seemed beneath God to actually take on human
[00:33:39] flesh with its all of its imperfections and hunger and sweat and pain so that well God would never endure those kind of things so Jesus must have been different he must not have had a real body
[00:33:51] so they rejected the idea that God could truly become flesh or genuinely suffer and as a result then they denied the incarnation that jesus was born of the virgin mary and took on flesh they denied the crucifixion because you know he wouldn't be able to kill him if he didn't have a
[00:34:14] physical body therefore they denied the resurrection so you see here that this belief system really destroyed the gospel so paul's like and this is actually being taught within the early church and so he had to write those letters whoa let me tell you some things here there was a man that was
[00:34:33] really kind of John's nemesis his name was Sorinthus and he taught that that Jesus now stick with me here Jesus was a physical man but not God but that at the baptism of Jesus by John the
[00:34:51] Baptist, the Spirit of Christ came upon this man named Jesus and was on him throughout his life until just before the crucifixion. Then the Spirit of Jesus left him and the man Jesus is the one who was crucified. Well, this is heresy, right? Because it split Jesus into
[00:35:16] two people rather than recognizing him as the God-man fully divine and fully human. Now these two ideas that I've just shared would later kind of come together and grow into a teaching known as Gnosticism which viewed the physical world as evil and the spiritual world as good. But
[00:35:40] whether you're talking about Docetism or Gnosticism at the end of the day they both attacked the very heart of the gospel because without the real incarnation there's no real atonement without the real death and resurrection of Jesus Christ there is no real salvation without
[00:35:58] the real humanity of Christ there is no high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses so John is writing to the young church here and he's saying listen do not be deceived by these false teachings that are percolating throughout the churches because I was there I was there
[00:36:21] I'm the last person alive on this planet who saw Jesus and so he writes this letter to set him straight so let's look back at point number one which is in verse number one right out of the
[00:36:40] gate in his letter he starts off by saying that which was from the beginning let's stop right there beginning of what beginning of time he's saying jesus was there at the beginning of time therefore he is eternal he was there at creation so right at the very beginning of his letter he
[00:36:58] establishes the fact that jesus is eternal god always has been that was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked at and our hands have
[00:37:09] touched this we proclaim concerning the word of life the life appeared and we have seen it and testify to it what's john saying here right out of right out of the gate he's saying listen
[00:37:22] i'm not giving you theories or secondhand information i heard him i saw him and i touched him so he's he's attacking docetism and narcissism right here i saw him i heard him and i touched him
[00:37:41] so don't tell me this stuff that he wasn't really man he wasn't really God the eternal God did enter our world as a real human being and he appeals to really the eyewitness order of you
[00:38:04] know I mean the highest you can have here he says listen he piles them on top of each other he says I heard I've seen I've looked upon and I've touched he's not piling them on you know here
[00:38:15] is some form of poetry he's saying listen with every human faculty that I have I'm telling you I can confirm that Jesus was real and he was indeed God the word looked upon in Greek is the
[00:38:32] it's the root word of which we get the English word theater what he's saying here is listen I didn't just catch a glimpse of Jesus when he rode through town I'm telling you like in a theater I
[00:38:48] stared at him I was watching him I was there for three years I studied him I know him these hands that wrote this letter they touched him listen I've put my hand on his shoulder I
[00:39:07] leaned against him or he leaned against me at the last supper I'm writing this letter didn't let you know he was real he was flesh and blood and bone and I know it because I touched him verse 3 he
[00:39:28] He says, so that you may know, so that you too may have fellowship with us.
[00:39:35] And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
[00:39:39] And then in verse 4, and we are writing these things, why?
[00:39:43] So that our joy may be complete.
[00:39:46] You see, because joy and true community comes from a right understanding of who Jesus is.
[00:39:51] Because you can't have real fellowship with God if you believe in a false version of Jesus.
[00:40:00] John is protecting something very precious here joy the joy that comes from having found and believing the real gospel now we see some important truths here in this letter verse 5 he lays out the first major theological declaration in this letter in in verse 5 he says
[00:40:25] God is light and in him is no darkness this is one of those statements that when you first look at it go yeah that's okay that's that's good but there's really a lot of meaning here in this
[00:40:37] because light to the readers that he was talking about in the culture that they were at their light represents purity represents truth represents holiness represents life he's when he when he says jesus is light god is light he's saying that everything that you know and understand to
[00:40:56] represent you know purity truth holiness and life that is light darkness on the other hand represented evil and falsehood spiritual blindness and death so when John says here that God is light he's saying he's saying that God is utterly holy and that there's no shadow of moral compromise
[00:41:17] in him there's not a hint of darkness not an ounce of deception in him and this is important John begins to lay out the false claims that people were making in the church he says hey
[00:41:35] listen you're hearing these false things and i want to set the record straight on these things false claim number one is the idea that we have fellowship with god but we live however we want
[00:41:45] verse six if we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not live out the truth john calls this what it is a lie he says listen you can't
[00:41:58] live in moral darkness living in ongoing unrepentant sin and then claim fellowship with God who is pure light you see these two things are incompatible that doesn't mean that Christians never sin it just means that there is a genuine direction in a believer's life that we're actually
[00:42:18] walking towards the light we're not walking towards the darkness and he warns him there false claim number two it's this idea that we have no sin at all we see it in verse eight for
[00:42:33] For if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
[00:42:38] So this was being taught by false teachers that believed that maybe they used to be sinners, but once they reached a certain spiritual knowledge, they had elevated to the place where they no longer sinned.
[00:42:52] And so there was a group that were saying that they no longer sinned.
[00:42:59] And John says, listen, that is self-deception at the highest level here.
[00:43:03] you know this is this is wrong you're blind if you don't think that you sin the truth is not in you he's saying false claim number three is that we have not sinned verse 10 if we claim that we
[00:43:18] have not sinned we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us see the third claim is stronger than the second one the second claim says i was a sinner but now i no longer sin the third
[00:43:29] the third statement there that he's you know going against says that i never sinned it's saying that you know, listen, I, you know, I've never sinned. And John says, listen, you're making God a liar
[00:43:43] because God's word makes it clear that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
[00:43:49] So we've got this weird teaching in the early church about, you know, sin. And John's not writing to create anxiety. He's writing to, you know, really help them understand and to give them some incredible promises. And one of the most incredible promises is found wedged between
[00:44:09] verse 8 and verse 10 which is verse 9 and it's a passage that you probably all know very well if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us
[00:44:18] from all unrighteousness that's an awesome verse amen I mean that is an awesome verse amen I mean that is fantastic here we see two words that stand out he is faithful and he is just
[00:44:36] God is faithful meaning he's not going to change his mind about forgiveness and about how he feels about you.
[00:44:43] God is faithful.
[00:44:44] I'm glad God isn't going to wake up one day and change his mind about me.
[00:44:47] Amen?
[00:44:49] And he is just.
[00:44:52] Meaning his forgiveness isn't just a wink at your sin.
[00:44:56] It's grounded in the reality that the penalty for your sin and my sin has already been paid and Jesus paid it in full on the cross.
[00:45:08] He's saying, listen, God can forgive your sin without compromising his justice because his justice has already been satisfied in christ so then we confess it's not groveling it's not trying to beg god to be merciful confession is agreeing with god that we've
[00:45:31] sinned calling it what it is the word confess homo logeo homo meaning same um logeo words basically saying same words agreeing with god it's saying i did it it's just saying i did it god i'm
[00:45:48] a sinner. I've done things that I shouldn't have done. So what does this have to do with you and me 2,000 years later in Naples, Florida? How does this letter affect us today? Well, let me give you
[00:46:06] four applications and I'll wrap up. Number one, in a world filled with opinions about Jesus, focus on the eyewitness truth. Go back to the original. What do the people who know and knew Jesus what did they say so many people today have their own version of Jesus don't they
[00:46:29] ever seen these celebrities whenever somebody takes a stand for a you know a particular position and uses a bible truth to argue it then you know there'll be a celebrity let's say well my God is
[00:46:40] a loving God and he would never do this my God is this and they create all kind of versions of Jesus Jesus is the moral teacher he was a good moral teacher he was a good guy I'll give you that he
[00:46:55] was a good guy Jesus was the social activist I mean look what look at all the things that he did in the crowds that he you know got all fired up I mean really Jesus was more like a cosmic life
[00:47:06] coach you know just kind of coming along to kind of point you in the right direction here some people think well Jesus was just some kind of like a spiritual energy force listen you go
[00:47:17] to Barnes and Noble you can find whatever version of Jesus you can dream up if you want to but John says the real jesus is the eternal son of god who became flesh who lived a sinless life who died for
[00:47:30] our sins and then rose bodily from the grave he's not a metaphor he's not a symbol he's not a spiritual concept he's the god man and i touched him i saw him i was with him you know we live in
[00:47:47] a society that's filled with spiritual interests but often they're short on theological rootedness people are spiritually hungry sadly they're sitting at the wrong table instead of opening up the word of God and listening to what does the Bible say they're looking for answers all
[00:48:07] over the place so what do we do as a church it's our job to come alongside and point them to the truth I point them to the church point them to the truth point what what does the word of God say
[00:48:22] what does the word of God reveal about Jesus we don't save people we point them to a savior so what does the Bible say about Jesus secondly don't be surprised when false teaching shows up
[00:48:41] inside of churches we're talking first century stuff here one of the apostles had to correct heresy that was already spreading in the church in the first century and we're talking within decades of when it happened in real life there were already people making up false doctrine
[00:48:58] and it's been happening ever since then.
[00:49:01] They say, why are there so many churches?
[00:49:04] Because there's so many different people that have added to it, twisted things.
[00:49:13] That's why we go back to the word of God.
[00:49:15] What does the scripture say and teach?
[00:49:19] Go back to the word of God.
[00:49:27] Third, John says, real Christianity includes honest confession and walking in the light.
[00:49:37] People today want the benefits of Christianity without the obedience. They treat it as if it's a life insurance policy, or it's some kind of eternal policy that, oh, at least I get to go to heaven. I'm going to live however I want,
[00:49:52] but I want just enough Christianity that I get into heaven. They want forgiveness without repentance. They want God's blessing without Christ's lordship. John says, hey, listen, that's not true Christianity. That's self-deception. Walking in the light doesn't mean you're perfect.
[00:50:13] none of us are perfect right it means that we live openly and honestly before God that we regularly confess our sins and we trust in the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ it means when the Holy Spirit of God taps us on the heart we don't rationalize we don't seek to justify our
[00:50:39] behavior we confess it when you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your life you should be so glad for it because that means the the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God is in your life
[00:50:58] and he's saying hey listen shouldn't do that that wasn't right so then what are you supposed to do then you confess it what does that mean it means you say I did it God I'm gonna own it I'm gonna
[00:51:15] own up to it I did it I shouldn't have done it I did it I knew better and I still did it and I was wrong and I'm sorry we're confessing and again we're not confessing it to get saved again we're
[00:51:26] confessing it because we want a right relationship with God we want to walk in fellowship with God we want to we want to live a life that pleases him so we confess not just the big things even
[00:51:39] the little things the little lies we tell ourselves the habits that we don't really want to examine John says listen my friends walk in the light avoid the deeds of darkness we'll develop that more throughout this series finally you can have real assurance of your relationship with God
[00:52:03] you're going to learn through this incredible letter that john says you may know you may know when we get to first john chapter five he says he's just going to come right out and say
[00:52:22] that you can know that you have eternal life and he's writing this to give us confidence but he's establishing you know right up front here that what it really means to walk in light and who Jesus was the fact that we walk in light and avoid the deeds of darkness are signs that we
[00:52:49] have a genuine relationship with God that we have fellowship with him listen we uh because of Jesus we don't have to perform for God right we don't have to put on a false front and act like we've
[00:53:12] got everything together we don't have to hang our heads and live in shame we can just be open honest and truthful about who we are and the freedom we have because of our relationship with Jesus Christ John wrote this letter when he was an old man he buried his friends he'd watched
[00:53:34] the church face enemy after enemy and here he is he writes this letter because he wanted him to understand something and he distills it down to really into you know some essentials he says let
[00:53:47] me tell you about the real Jesus. Let me tell you what it means to have real fellowship. Let me tell you that real life comes from walking in the light and avoiding the deeds of darkness. Because he
[00:54:00] wanted his children to walk confidently with the real Jesus. Not some made-up, manufactured version of Jesus. Not some comfortable, cultural Jesus that they found at Barnes & Noble. John wanted him to walk with the Jesus that he knew, that he saw, that he talked to, that he walked with,
[00:54:30] that he worked with, that he saw die, that he saw rise again, that he walked with after his death and resurrection, that Jesus, a Jesus that was forgiving and loving and kind and good, the Jesus that died for them, for us, and for you, the Jesus that rose from the dead for you
[00:54:56] and the Jesus that's alive and well and present here today.
[00:55:05] Listen, if you're a person here today and the reality is you don't know for sure you're going to heaven.
[00:55:12] You don't have that confidence.
[00:55:14] Even though John in his letter says you can know, you're struggling with that.
[00:55:19] Maybe you're here today and you're watching online or listening in a podcast and you just don't really know.
[00:55:23] You just don't have that assurance.
[00:55:25] You just aren't sure.
[00:55:29] Well, can I just tell you, first of all, it's not about your performance. If you're thinking that this has to do with you being a good enough person to get into heaven, could I just tell you, my friend, you will never be good
[00:55:44] enough, nor will I. We can't be good enough because we can't live up to the standards. Do you realize that that was the whole point of the law? The whole point of the Ten Commandments was not the
[00:55:56] fact that we can measure up to those. It was pointing out the fact that we can't have no other God's before me do not lie do not steal do not covet don't take the Lord's name in vain honor
[00:56:09] your parents we've all broken every one of those right he's saying listen you can't measure up because God is so holy God is so perfect and when we fail to measure up to these high standards
[00:56:30] it's called sin what is sin sin is an archery term if you if you were to take a bullseye and put it over there and get your, get your arrow and you shoot it and you're shooting for the target
[00:56:42] and you miss. It just goes far right. You completely missed the target. It is said that the arrow sinned. It missed its mark. It missed its target. Sin is the fact that here's God's holy standard
[00:56:56] and we missed the mark because we failed to measure up. The reality is we can't. We'll never, we'll never do it because we've all sinned we all fall short of the target we all fall short
[00:57:12] of living at the glory of God that's why Jesus came he's the only one who did live out the glory of God he never sinned once he went to the cross and he took upon himself the work the sins of the
[00:57:33] whole world my sins your sins the sins of the entire world and he paid a price justice demanded a verdict jesus was on that cross and he paid the price he purchased our freedom he purchased
[00:57:50] our salvation and it's ours to receive by faith that's why my friends you don't have to wonder you don't have to worry you don't have to hope you can know if you've just put your faith in
[00:58:01] jesus christ if you trust in him stop thinking the fact that you've got to do more good than bad to get into heaven i'm here to tell you right now that when you get to heaven the entrance exam
[00:58:11] is not going to be, did you do more good than bad?
[00:58:16] The entrance is going to be, what did you do with my son Jesus?
[00:58:19] Did you accept him or reject him?
[00:58:21] That's it.
[00:58:24] The only way into heaven, there's one door, and his name is Jesus.
[00:58:30] It's the only way in.
[00:58:31] By putting your faith, your trust, your belief in Jesus, you trust in him.
[00:58:35] Not in yourself, not in your works, not in your deeds, not in your church, in him.
[00:58:43] That's what John wanted his people to know.
[00:58:46] we're going to learn more about that in the coming weeks that's what he wanted us to know so here in this first chapter he makes it clear that we're sinners we need a savior that he's
[00:59:02] faithful he's just he'll forgive us if we confess if we admit he tells us listen as children of his we need to walk in the light shouldn't have any shouldn't have any deeds of darkness we should
[00:59:16] avoid that and if we get ourselves there confess it get back and write fellowship with God so if you're here this morning you're joining us online some electronic version and you say honestly I'm not I'm not sure there's ever been a time when I've put my faith in Jesus Christ I'm going to
[00:59:33] lead you in a prayer it's not a magic prayer it's not recording scripture anyway where it's just it's just a prayer between the heart of you and the heart of God you don't have to say it out
[00:59:48] loud and you can say it in your mind between you and God but you but you better understand what it is it's acknowledging the fact that you can't get to heaven on your own that you need Jesus Christ
[00:59:59] and you believe that Jesus lived a sinless life that he was that he was crucified that he died on the cross that he was buried that he rose again that he ascended and he's coming back again that
[01:00:09] we understand the gospel and that's what we believe and that's what we put our trust our faith and our hope in not in works not in church or anything else that we can conjure up i'm gonna lead you
[01:00:22] in a prayer for that if you're here today and you say well preacher i've done that a long time ago i've been saved and i know i'm going to heaven but maybe you'd say this morning but truth be known
[01:00:31] i have this tendency to walk on the dark side i have this tendency to be drifting into darkness and doing things i shouldn't do and i know it maybe the holy spirit's just saying you need to
[01:00:54] confess that. Again, what does confession mean? It means you own up to it. It means you agree before God that I did it. Maybe this morning, one of the most freeing things you can do today is
[01:01:08] just in prayer to God and say, God, I did it. I did it. I'm wrong. I'm sorry. I don't want to continue to do this. I don't want to walk in darkness. I don't want to walk in light. I want
[01:01:21] to do what's right. So I don't know what you may need this morning. We're going to give you a time a moment, just a moment of prayer. If you're here this morning as a preacher, I think I understand
[01:01:34] now. I'd like to pray to receive Christ. I'm going to invite you to pray with me. With every head bowed and every eye closed. If you'd like to pray to receive Christ this morning, join me in this
[01:01:42] prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, I come before you this morning to acknowledge that I'm a sinner, that I've done wrong. I've broken your commandments, so many of your commandments I've lied I've cheated I've stolen I've disobeyed my parents I've put other other
[01:02:08] things ahead of you God I've done so much so many deeds of darkness and God today I acknowledge that and I say I'm sorry the best I know how I'm asking Jesus to forgive me of my sins I believe that
[01:02:30] Jesus died to pay for my sins that he was buried that he rose again I'm putting my trust in what Jesus did not in my efforts and God I want to do my best from this point forward to walk in the
[01:02:44] light to bring glory to you to please you with all that I do God I look forward to spending eternity with you because of what Jesus has done for me thank you God for saving me in Jesus name
[01:03:04] and God I pray for those this morning who may be in this room or joining us online that well your Holy Spirit of conviction is laying pretty heavy on them this morning and God maybe
[01:03:17] today they would just say if I want to have right fellowship with God I need to confess this before you God and so maybe even now as I'm praying they would just confess some things that just aren't
[01:03:27] right and they need to get right to be pleasing to you so God may your Holy Spirit do mighty work in this place Father thank you so much you're so good so kind thank you for the words of John
[01:03:38] and the lessons we've learned here this morning father we love you we praise you in jesus name and all god's people said amen i want you to know that uh myself pastor roger fernando sean
[01:03:51] matt we're here for you if you have questions you want to talk you want to come in have a cup of coffee and just ask some questions or maybe you pray to receive christ today and you'd like more
[01:04:03] information maybe you say you know what i i've prayed to receive christ i want to get baptized indicate that on a card talk to somebody to welcome desk come see us we are here for you
[01:04:12] whatever we can do to help you in your faith journey that's why we're here let's stand as we sing our final song this morning