1 John Study
Lesson #3
John’s testimony - Jesus came to earth so that man might have fellowship with God & His Son Jesus Christ. However, man already thinks that he has fellowship with God. He already worships God & feels safe & acceptable in his religion. He does not need someone to show him how to become acceptable to God. He can do it on his own & resents being told that he is wrong & has no merit with God or is unacceptable to God as he is. He feels sufficient within himself. This passage strikes at these objections & reveals their fallacies. In the next three studies we will discuss three common misconceptions people make – That man can have fellowship with God & still walk in sin; That man is not totally depraved & sinful; That man can become righteous & sinless on his own.
This study will focus on the misconception that man can have fellowship with God & still walk in sin.
1. Walking in darkness
a. Without
Jesus Christ man walks in the darkness about God.
1) Man cannot see, hear or touch God. He exists in the physical world & is
limited. He can know only what his physical senses reveal to him –
what is in the physical material world. Jn.1:18
2) Man has absolutely no way to penetrate into the spiritual world on his
own. All his technology & science; all his intellectual & creative
reasoning are useless in penetrating into the spiritual realm. Jn.14:6
3) No matter what a person claims, no matter how religious they are,
without Jesus Christ they are in the dark about God & walk in
darkness.
b. The
only way man can ever know God much less fellowship Him is to have
Himself. This
is exactly what God did through Jesus. Jn.1:1-18
c. See
the foolishness of man in rejecting Jesus
1) He thinks he can find God on his own – relate to Him & be good
enough to secure His approval & fellowship.
2) Believes that through his mind & physical senses he can find out
enough about God to be acceptable on his own.
3) Believes that he can use his body & energy & do enough to please God.
If he believes in God & does mostly right, then his belief & good
deeds will put God in his debt & God will never reject him.
Therefore he can reject Jesus & still be acceptable to God.
d. Scripture
says to think & act this way is a lie & not following truth.
1) No matter how great the mind, or how tremendous the good work, it’s
still not truth. All the approaches man uses to get to God are
worthless without Jesus Christ – He is the only way.
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2) If we are to ever know God or walk in His ways He must reveal
Himself & His ways to us.
3) For a person to be saved, he cannot walk in darkness about God. He
must have the revelation that comes only from Jesus Christ. We
have to choose – continue to walk in the darkness of the world or
come into the light through Jesus Christ.
e. Other scriptures
1) Acts 17:23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects
of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN
UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something
unknown I am going to proclaim to you. (NIV)
2) John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not
understood it. (NIV)
3) John 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through
him, the world did not recognize him. (NIV)
4) John 3:19-20 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but
men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the
light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. (NIV)
5) John 4:10-11 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who
it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he
would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman said, "you
have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get
this living water? (NIV)
6) John 14:9-11 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I
have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me
has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in
me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the
Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I
say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least
believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. (NIV)
7) Prov. 4:19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not
know what makes them stumble. (NIV)
f. Darkness
also has symbolic meanings in scripture
1) Moral depravity – Ps.82:5; Prov.2:13
2) Punishment from God – Mt.8:12
2. Walking in the light
a. The light of God is the revelation of Himself. Jesus came to show us exactly
what God was like. Though Jesus & only through Him we find how God
wants us to live & exactly what He expects of us. Jn.1:18; Heb.1:1-4
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b. Therefore walking in the light means to accept the revelation of Jesus about
God & follow Him. It is listening to Jesus & striving to follow Him doing
exactly what He says to the best of our ability.
c. The result of walking in the light.
1) We have fellowship with God & His Son Jesus Christ
2) We also have fellowship with other believers because we are walking
together.
3) The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Note - Cleanses is in the
present tense which signifies a continual cleansing.
d. A point often missed is, that man is a sinner & he cannot erase the sins of his
past. He has no way to pay the penalty for them, yet that penalty must be
paid. God is a just God & justice does not allow sin to go on unpunished.
The payment for sin is death & someone who is perfect must pay that
debt. God only accepts perfect sacrifices (without blemish). Jesus came to
pay that price. He came & lived a perfect life so that His death might be
accepted by God as a payment for our sins. His blood covers our sin & we
are presented
before God as righteous. Rom.5:8,9; 2 Cor.5:21; Heb.9:14;
1 Pet.1:18,19
e. Light
also has symbolic meanings
1) Holiness & righteousness
2) The presence of God
3. Final thought – man can’t walk in darkness & light at the same time. He must make a
choice & the only choice one can make to walk in the light is to accept the
revelation of Jesus about His Father & follow Him. Jn.14:6; Acts 4:12