The Message of Jesus – Part 1
1 John 5:5-10 (5-6)
December 19, 2021
This morning we move forward in our study of 1 John.
We have called this study “Obvious Christianity”
For that is exactly what John is bringing to the forefront in this epistle.
The church had been bombarded with many deceivers.
• John says that many “anti-christs” have appeared.
• They are pummeling the church with lies and deceptions and false doctrines
• Regarding the person of Christ, the reality of fellowship, the Christian lifestyle
It is apparent that the deceptions were of such a nature that
John was compelled to write this epistle to set the record straight.
John’s primary tactic is simply to remind the church
Of what is obviously true and what is obviously false.
And we are grateful for such clarity
Since WE ALSO LIVE in a world where deception abounds.
John began his epistle with a reminder about FELLOWSHIP
If you missed that segment it is important that you simply understand
• When the Bible speaks of fellowship we are NOT simply talking about people who get together and laugh and eat food.
The fellowship John is talking about is the fellowship of the Spirit.
IT IS COMMON SPIRITUAL LIFE.
John 17:20-23 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”
That passage is often read during a discussion of unity,
But it is the same thing John is talking about.
It is unity based upon common spiritual life.
And this is also Christian fellowship.
John opened his epistle with a discussion on the JOY of FELLOWSHIP
There is no other joy like it on this earth.
The spiritual fellowship through our common spiritual life
Is a tighter and more enjoyable bond
Than can be achieved anywhere else on this earth.
There is no greater or more satisfying relationship than this.
(Because this is a fellowship of spiritual life)
John reminded us of THE MEANS through which this fellowship came about.
1 John 1:3 “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
John and the rest of the apostles where given all of the truth about Christ.
• Certainly they have the relational truth of having physically lived with Him
• But they also were given the full revelation of the Holy Spirit regarding Jesus.
John 16:12-15 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
Jesus promised that the apostles would get it all.
And they did.
And John says we then relayed it all to you.
“so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
So if we could quickly SUMMARIZE what John taught us last week.
To be a part of the church is nothing short of
Sharing in the common spiritual life which is in the Father and the Son.
We all got it.
• There are no tiers to Christianity…
• There are no membership levels…
• There are not “haves” and “have-nots”…
• There are not “those in the know” and “those who don’t know”…
If you have believed in Christ,
You were given the same life that the apostles received
Which is nothing less than the very life of God.
And our fellowship is that common bond.
That is really the true blessing and joy of the church.
And if you’ll just think on that for a moment,
There is no other organization in the world like the church.
Think about her for a moment.
THE CHURCH:
• Is Chosen before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4)
• Predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29)
• Is Built by Jesus (Matt 16:18)
• Purchased by His blood (Acts 20:28)
• Powered by His Spirit (Acts 1:8)
• Entrusted with His gospel (Matt 28:19)
• The pillar and support of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15)
• Is The bride of Christ (Eph 5:25)
• The body of Christ (Col. 1:18)
• Is The flock of Christ (John 10:11)
• The building of God (1 Cor. 3:9)
• She is a Kingdom of Priests (Rev. 1:6)
• Has been Baptized into His Death (Rom. 6:3)
• And has been Resurrected into His Life (Rom. 6:4)
• She is Filled with His Spirit (Eph. 5:18)
• And Sealed for eternity (Eph. 1:13)
• Is Clothed in His righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30)
• Displays power In weakness (2 Cor. 12:9)
• Is A Voice in the wilderness (Matt 3:3)
• Light in the darkness (Matt 5:16)
• Salt to the tasteless (Matt. 5:13)
• Encouragement to the hopeless (1 Thess. 5:11)
• A source of conviction to the godless (1 Pet. 4:4)
• She is a guide to the clueless (Phil. 2:15)
• Is Promised Pardon for every transgression (Rom. 8:1)
• And Freedom from every sin (Gal. 5:1)
• She receives Mercy every morning (Lam. 3:22-23)
• And Love that never fails (1 Cor. 13:8)
• She is promised Grace in every trial (2 Cor. 12:9)
• Peace that surpasses comprehension (Phil. 4:7)
• And Hope that will not disappoint (Rom. 5:5)
• Shares in Christ’s suffering (Phil. 1:29)
• But Perseveres to the end (Jude 1:24)
• Will Overcome the evil one (Rev. 12:11)
• Inherit the world (Matt. 5:5)
• Reign in glory (2 Tim. 2:12)
• Live forever (John 11:25-26)
• See God (Matt. 5:8)
There is no other organization like her in the world.
There is no greater joy than to be a part of the fellowship of the church.
BUT these realities have also made her the CHIEF TARGET of the enemy.
The apostle Paul made a unique and profound statement
In his letter to the Colossians.
Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”
Paul is NOT SAYING that in some way Christ didn’t suffer enough.
• Christ most certainly did finish all His required suffering.
• Christ totally satisfied the wrath of God
• And thus secured salvation for all who believe in Him.
But while Christ did satisfy the wrath of God
He did not satisfy the wrath of Satan.
Satan is not yet finished persecuting Christ.
• But since Christ is no longer on the earth, his focus is now turned to His bride.
• And that is what Paul is referring to.
The church suffers today because she is so unique.
• She suffers because she is the bride of Christ.
• She suffers because she shares in common spiritual life.
And Satan has never stopped attacking her.
• Sometimes those attacks are outward and of a physical and violent nature.
• Sometimes those attacks are internal and of a deceptive and destructive
nature.
• But he never stops attacking Christ’s bride.
Her unique privilege also makes her hated.
The attacks John addresses in this epistle are those INTERNAL attacks.
The church is the most amazing fellowship to be a part of
So it is no wonder that Satan sought to infiltrate it.
And that is what you are SEEING NEXT in John’s epistle.
• The first 4 verses reminded us of the joy of fellowship.
• This next segment points to the imposters who have tried to enter it.
Before we start just working through the text,
LET ME SHOW YOU THOSE IMPOSTERS FIRST.
They are actually easy to see in the text because John identifies each of them
With the phrase “If we say…”
In other words, there is a bit of a litmus test.
Not everyone who associates with the fellowship of the church is actually part of the fellowship.
There are those whose fellowship is only a physical fellowship.
• They attend…
• They gather…
• They sing…
• They outwardly participate…
They are a part of the physical aspect of fellowship,
But they are not a part of the true spiritual fellowship.
They are non-believers who outwardly associate with the church.
They don’t have the life of God within them
So there is no true spiritual fellowship.
From the earliest formation of the physical church this has been a reality.
• There have always been tares that were sewn among the wheat.
• There have always been those spiritual apostates who masquerade in the church.
Some do it MALICIOUSLY, some do it IGNORANTLY,
Some do it APATHETICALLY,
But they have always been there.
Jude told us how to handle them.
Jude 20-23 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”
While the primary model is that evangelism is to take place outside the walls of the church, the reality is that at times evangelism must also take place inside.
There have always been, and I suppose there will always be,
Those inside the church who are yet unredeemed,
And we seek to preach the gospel to them so that they may be saved.
But how do you know which is which?
That’s a good question.
• Especially if they are those who claim to be Christians…
• Especially if they are those who may have even been baptized…
John gives lot of tests to help us see it
And part of this text does just that.
John shows us 3 imposters here and I’ll show you them right off the bat.
• THE FRAUD (6)
• THE DELUSIONAL (8)
• THE BLASPHEMER (10)
THE FRAUD
(6) “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;”
We’ll talk more in a moment about what that fully means, but simply put you see that they are lying about their fellowship with God.
They say they have it but they don’t.
And we know they don’t because they “walk in the darkness”.
THE DELUSIONAL
(8) “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
Simply put, this is the person who is self-deceived.
When they look in a mirror they wear rose-colored-glasses.
They think themselves to be “a good person”
And are LACKING the necessary HUMILITY and REPENTANCE
That is an absolute staple of the Christian life.
THE BLASPHEMER
(10) “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
The distinction here is that not only does this person think themselves to be good but they also ignore God’s testimony to the contrary.
• They ignore God’s word and His judgments.
• They are their own standard for truth
• So they are also void of humility and repentance.
THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT IN THE FELLOWSHIP.
• That doesn’t mean they don’t claim to be.
• That doesn’t mean they don’t attend worship services.
• That doesn’t mean they don’t volunteer and serve.
• That doesn’t even mean that in some cases they aren’t even in the pulpit.
They are physically present but they are not actually part of the church.
We might say that their name is on the church roll
But it is not in the Lamb’s book of life.
And these are the ones that John will call the church to watch out for.
• These are the deceivers.
• These are the anti-Christs
And if you are following JOHN’S REASONING,
The reason they are not part of the fellowship
Is because they have failed to respond appropriately
To the message of the apostles.
WE SAID IT LAST WEEK,
How does a person get invited into the fellowship?
1 John 1:3 “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
A person enters the fellowship of the church
When they hear and believe the message of the apostles.
We call it “the gospel”.
When you hear and believe the gospel
You also are granted the same spiritual life
And are granted access into the fellowship of the church.
Those who are the imposters either never heard that message
Or they heard it and have not truly believed it.
And since THE MESSAGE PLAYS THE CENTRAL ROLE in this process
John now will give it to you again.
Notice what he says in verse 5
“This is the message…”
Is that clear enough for you?
John said earlier that “what we saw and heard we proclaimed to you”,
But you know there’s always that guy in the back of the room who says,
“Wait! What? I wasn’t paying attention. What was the message again?”
So John spells it out.
“This is the message…”
More specifically “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you…”
This is not our message, this is Christ’s message.
Jesus came to this earth and He preached to us the gospel.
• He told us everything we needed to know pertaining to life and godliness.
• He gave us the message.
The Holy Spirit reiterated and clarified and brought that message back to our memory so that we could share it with you.
This is the message of Jesus.
This is the message of the church.
This is the truth that must be believed
If one is to be saved and enter the true fellowship of the church.
“This is the message…”
• This is the message that produces fellowship.
• This is the message that exposes imposters.
• This is the message of Jesus which became the message of the apostles and has now become the message of the church.
Are you ready for it?
#1 GOD IS HOLY
1 John 1:5
• How is that for Christianity 101?
• How is that for obvious truth that you’ve always known?
I’m telling you, John desires to make it simple.
“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
If you just want simple Christianity
Then even a child can understand the analogy that
“God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
Even if we want to keep this on a simple level
We understand the difference between LIGHT being a picture of good
And DARKNESS being a picture of evil.
There’s nothing overly cryptic about the statement.
There is a surface level truth to be easily gleaned there.
But there is also some depth which is perhaps why John says
“God is Light” instead of just saying that God is holy.
So let’s talk about the wording John uses for a moment.
Light can be a reference to good in contrast to evil.
Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
• You think about evil deeds being called “deeds of darkness”
So to say that “God is Light” is a reference to His goodness.
Light can be a reference to hope in contrast to hopelessness.
Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.”
• Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel”
To say that “God is Light” is reference to Him as our hope and salvation.
Light can also be a reference to understanding in contrast to ignorance.
1 Corinthians 4:5 “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”
• We might say, “So and so was kept in the dark”
So to say that “God is Light” is a reference to His omniscience and truth.
Light is also a reference to life in contrast to death
In the opening chapter of John’s gospel he wrote:
John 1:4-5, 9 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it…There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”
There is a link for John with the Life and the Light.
Remember Jesus’ statement?
John 8:12 “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
• There again you see Jesus almost use the statements interchangeably.
• There is a sense in which Light is a reference also to Life.
So to say that “God is Light” is a reference to the fact that
He is the giver and source of spiritual and eternal life.
So in a basic sense to say that “God is Light”
Is a reference to His HOLY NATURE, His SAVING HOPE,
His OMNISCIENCE, and as the source of SPIRITUAL LIFE.
And John goes even further when he says:
“God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
That means that there is never even a shred of darkness in God at any time or in any amount.
• God is never evil or sinful
• God never fails or falls short
• God never sits in ignorance or lies about anything
• God never brings spiritual death
God is always holy and never anything else.
Now what we also then understand is that
Man, on his own, is none of those things.
Man is not naturally good, he is evil.
Romans 3:10 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;”
Man has no natural hope for salvation.
Ephesians 2:12 “remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”
Man has no true wisdom of the things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
Man has no life within himself.
Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death…”
So while God is holy and never anything else,
Man is evil and never anything else.
So what is clear to us from the outset, when you want to go a little deeper
Is that there is A CLEAR SEPARATION between God and man.
• Man was created good…
• Man was created in the image of God…
• But man fell into sin and with that sin came hopelessness and ignorance and death.
This is very basic and obvious Christianity.
GOD IS HOLY AND MAN IS NOT.
They are separated.
And you have seen this separation throughout the Bible.
From the beginning in the garden we saw it.
• We saw Adam and Eve removed from the garden and never permitted to enter again.
We saw events like Isaiah seeing God on His throne and wanting to claw out his own eyes because he knew he did not belong there.
But the greatest depiction of this great separation came in the form of the veil.
When the writer of Hebrews described the physical appearance of the earthly tabernacle he then told us what it signified:
Hebrews 9:6-8 “Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing,”
In other words, that veil had one message.
“OFF LIMITS”
You are not welcome here.
There was a separation between a holy God and sinful man.
GOD IS HOLY
He is not like you.
You are not like Him.
1 Timothy 6:15-16 “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.”
There is a separation.
And John says “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you…”
This is Christianity 101
• God is holy
• He is separated above sinners
• He is above us
• He is beyond us
• There is a great divide and on your own you cannot get to God.
Jesus preached this!
John 8:21-27 “Then He said again to them, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning? “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father.”
Jesus came preaching the message of the Father
That apart from salvation men would die in their sins
And would never make it to the Father.
He is holy and they are not.
THE MESSAGE STARTS HERE.
Certainly in John’s day the Gnostics had distorted the truth of God
Into someone less than holy,
But this happens in our day as well.
The emphasis in our day
Has shifted away from the holiness of God.
Today God is primarily depicted as “A God of Love”
(Which He is, but the love they talk about is distorted
Because they do not know about His holiness)
The love they talk about is better defined as “tolerance” not love.
Biblical love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth
God’s love and holiness compliment each other, they don’t cancel each other out.
God today is rarely ever depicted as holy.
God is rarely ever depicted as set-apart.
Today,
• Sin isn’t even considered bad,
• That is if it even exists at all.
• And if salvation is even necessary it is only a salvation from disappointment.
Very few people today see the need to be saved from God.
After all, (they say)
• God is not angry.
• God is not disappointed.
• God is not offended.
• God is not holy.
God is loving and tolerant and open-minded.
• He’s sitting in the stands rooting for you
• He’s got a box of participation medals that He’s going to pass out to everyone in the end for being true to themselves.
I JUST WANT TO ASK YOU, Is that really the message of Jesus?
Is that really Christianity?
We just read that Jesus said, “you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
Jesus told those people that without Him
They had absolutely zero chance of making it to the Father.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
You can’t get to God without Him.
WHY?
Because God is Holy!
He is set apart and man cannot get to Him.
Man dare not approach Him on his own.
Ask Uzza; remember him?
1 Chronicles 13:7-10 “They carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and with trumpets. When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it. The anger of the LORD burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.”
You don’t just approach God.
God is Holy!
He is separated from sinners.
THAT IS THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE.
IF ANYONE is preaching a different message than that,
Then they aren’t preaching the Christian message.
And again, this isn’t rocket science, this is OBVIOUS CHRISTIANITY.
And that is when we will approach our first deceiver.
It is the FRAUD we talked about in verse 6.
(6) “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;”
This is a guy who says that has “fellowship with Him”
But he walks “in the darkness”
That is to say that He claims to have common spiritual life with God but…
• He lives in sin.
• He walks in sin.
• Implied here is that there is an acceptance of sin in his life.
He is sinning and he is cool with it.
Does that sound like Biblical Christianity to you?
Based on everything you’ve ever learned of God from the Scripture
Why in the world would you suppose that God
Would be in fellowship with a man who lived in sin?
When has God ever been in fellowship with sin?
Do you remember when Paul spoke to the Corinthians about being unequally yoked?
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.”
Most people apply that to marriage, which is unfortunate.
At it’s core it’s a reminder that God does not fellowship with sinners.
“what fellowship has light with darkness?”
SO THERE’S YOUR FIRST ASSESSMENT.
Just because a person attends church doesn’t make them in fellowship with God.
We have to dig deeper.
• Are they still in sin?
• Are they still in darkness?
See, (as we will see next time), Jesus came to save us from sin.
Jesus came to cleanse us.
That is the mark of being a part of the fellowship.
That Jesus takes sinners and cleanses them.
Remember Jesus telling Peter, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me”?
A man that is content to live in sin
And claim that He is part of the fellowship is a liar.
And the only reason that is even the least bit shocking to you
Is because there have been so many deceivers in our world who have tried to say that God doesn’t care if you sin or not.
This is OBVIOUS CHRISTIANITY
And this is the first leg of the obvious Christian message of Jesus.
God is holy and apart from the salvation of Jesus
You will never be in fellowship with Him.
But those who have come to Christ,
• Have been wrapped in the righteousness of Christ
• And are being cleansed of their sin daily
• And thus they are granted fellowship with the Father.
Those who have come to Jesus have left the darkness and come to the light:
• Through Christ they have left sin to pursue righteousness…
• Through Christ they have obtained the hope of salvation…
• Through Christ they have believed the truth of the gospel…
• Through Christ they have been granted true spiritual life…
But those who “walk in the darkness…lie and do not practice the truth;”
So as we clarify the fellowship just start there.
• God is Holy
• God is separated from sinners
• And the chief objective of men is to obtain holiness
• That they might be reconciled to this Holy God.
Don’t let the world’s deceptions
Distort what has always been obvious Christianity.
Without holiness you will never be reconciled to God.
This was the message of Jesus.
Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Next time we’ll talk about the next part of this message which reminds us that Jesus is the One who cleanses us so that we might be reconciled.
