Wednesday Night Bible Study
by Nathan Whitley
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: Bible study
Scripture: 1 John 1:1, 1 John 1:3, 1 John 1:4, 1 John 1:5-10, John 1:5-11

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/nathan-whitley--wednesday-night-bible-study-22
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Praise the Lord, everybody. Oh, >> I think we can do better than that. Praise the Lord, everybody. >> Praise the Lord. >> I'm glad to be in the house of the Lord tonight. Are you? >> I'm thankful to be in his house. It's great to be home. Uh it's great to be able to be back here on Wednesday night studying the word of the Lord uh with you. And uh if you've got your books, if you don't have a book, we've got those in uh the lobby at the media desk. If you need one of those, you can go out there and run out there and grab one if you need it. Uh we're going to continue our study on First John, Christ, our assurance. So, we're going to go there now. First John, and we're going to go to chapter number one. And as you're turning there, swiping there, uh, however you get to the word of the Lord, I want to say, uh, thank you for all the prayers, uh, for our trip to Spain this last week. I had a great time. Uh, few couple years ago, um, the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ, the world missions department, uh, Ashley and I had, uh, done quite a bit of traveling over to Europe over the last, oh, probably 10, 12, 13 years. And uh they had asked me if if I would be willing to help oversee uh the region of Europe and that's pretty it's a pretty large space. It's not like you know like the tri-state or something like that you know and uh it's pretty large and and I was like are you sure you want me to do that because that's pretty uh that's pretty significant and pretty uh amazing. And so we we've been doing that for the last couple of years. And so this last uh few weeks few months we've had the opportunity to go uh and visit some of our missionaries. And this this trip was special because uh there are several pastors and churches uh in Spain that are looking to uh come into the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so they put on their first conference and asked us to be there for that. And it was uh an amazing time, an incredible time there with the saints. It's great to be able to uh have what we have here and then go somewhere else and feel that same spirit and you see the same lifestyle, you see the same commitment to the gospel and to Jesus. And so it is it was just an incredible time there, but it's always nice to be able to uh be back in the house of the Lord here at FAC. So a few weeks ago uh we began our study of first John and I have subtitled this study Christ our assurance. We looked at some introductory remarks why it was written who wrote it who John uh the apostle who he was writing to churches uh in Ephesus. he was uh older. He was it was late in life that he wrote this letter and perhaps even wrote uh the gospel according to John as well. And the reason for the letter is for their assurance uh for their certainty uh in who Jesus is, who they are and what he has done for us and not only that uh what he will do in us and for us at the end. But part of that are false teachers uh what we believe to be an early form ofnosticism uh that was being preached from uh not just outsiders but it was insiders. It happened in the church. And so from this came a division. These false teachers led some some astray. We don't know how many but uh certainly enough for John to write this letter. and he is going right ahead into this attacking this false doctrine. And I mentioned that uh he he is very black and white. There's no gray area with John as he's writing these things. And so uh as he is uh addressing issues in these churches in Ephesus, he does so with um uh he uses illusions, not illusions, but illusions. He alludes to certain things that the false teachers were teaching and may have influenced uh those who had left and maybe even influencing those who remained in the churches. And so we talked about those introductory matters because it's important to know understand as we read uh a letter like like first John and Romans or or Philippians, we understand why these things were written because they were written in a real time at a real place dealing with real issues. And so the point of Bible teaching and preaching is to bridge uh between the uh the time it was written and the context of which it was written and to be able to apply it to us today 2,000 years later. And so then we went we went into our next lesson which was chapter 1:es 1-4 and we talked about God's revelation in Jesus Christ that John does not open up with pleasantries greetings uh salutations peace unto you grace and peace I hope all things are well I hear of the great things happening there none of that he goes right in and says that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes looked upon our hands have handled the word of life. He goes right into doctrine. And so, as a refresher, uh, tonight, I talked about why he begins there because everything rises and falls on the reality and the truth of who Jesus is. If we get Jesus wrong, and I I use this um illustration of the wool sweater, if you if you pull the thread of of the wool sweater, you might have that that place picked, right? But somewhere else there's a compromise in in the garment. It's the same with uh truth. If we anywhere if we are unraveling Jesus at any point in whether it's his humanity or his deity or his work of what he did for our redemption, if we if we are uh off just a little bit on any of those things, other parts of our doctrine will be compromised. Okay, that's why he begins there. He begins there because if there has been a division, if there has been a a a schism of some sort, uh especially over who Jesus is, then he needs to address that and as and and as he does so, he will correct other things as well. So he begins with uh God's revelation in Jesus Christ and we talked about at the end verse four he says so we write these things unto you that your joy may be full or your joy may be complete. We want joy right? Well joy comes from certainty. Joy comes from certainty. Happiness is based upon circumstance. Well I'm not happy today. Well why? Well, I got cut off in traffic or I was late or I missed my appointment. Whatever it is, happiness is dependent sometimes upon circumstance. But joy, joy is different because joy is not based upon circumstance. Joy is based upon certainty. Because when you have certainty of certain things, then nothing can take away your joy. Right? Now your mood may change, your emotions may change, but you got joy. Right? this joy that I have, the world didn't give it to me. So, the world and the circumstances of the world can't take it away. So, I have certainty or assurance in Jesus of who he is and what he's done, what he's doing in me, and what he will do. And that gives me joy. Someone say, "Amen." >> So, uh again, I'm giving you some introductory matters, refreshing your mind on what we've covered so far. especially if you haven't been here, I want to catch you up so you don't feel like you're you're behind in any way. So again, I I introduced this in the booklet. Again, I I didn't necessarily go chapter by chapter with this study like I have with other ones because John repeats certain themes um repeatedly over and over in this, but he'll say it a different way. he'll say the same thing a different way and you're thinking well he's already said that and so he's like a good preacher you know some or even a great teacher you have to repeat certain truths or principles so you can get it in your spirit and so you say one thing and then you repeat it in another way to give it emphasis and so instead of us going chapter by chapter and maybe repeating certain things as we go along for the sake of time I've done this as a thematic study so we're going through all these themes so the first one we did was God's revelation in Jesus Christ, which is the first four verses. Tonight, we're going to continue and we're going to begin in chapter one and we're going to begin at chap or verse number five. And our theme tonight is God is light. But before we begin, I think it would be important for us to pray. But I want us to pray specifically tonight. We've I know we've had a time for of prayer for others, but I would like for us to pray specifically at this moment that God would speak to you and reveal things unto you from his word because that's our theme tonight that God is light. So would you help me pray for a moment? Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your spirit. We thank you for all that you've done for us. But now, Lord, we have come to your word. And your word is a lamp unto our feet. It's a light unto our path. It illuminates, it reveals, it exposes. And I pray as we study this great theme of your attribute, that you are light, that you would shed light in us, maybe expose something hidden in us and help us to see clearly. Give us great understanding. Lord, I am a jar of clay. I'm just a frail vessel and I pray that you would help me tonight to clearly to communicate your word of truth despite my frailities. In Jesus' name we pray and everyone said amen. So let's begin at verse number five of chapter one. Chapter number one beginning at verse five. This th this then is the message which we have heard of him of Jesus and declare unto you that God is light. Highlight that. Underline that some way in your Bible. That's a great a great truth to remember. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say, now again, if you would like to uh mark in your Bibles or highlight in your Bibles or if you do that on your device, highlight this. If we say, he's going to do this again here in these verses we're reading tonight. If we say that we have fellowship with him, Jesus, and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, because he is light, he just said, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. Again, here we go. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, we lie to ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You need to highlight that and let that be a promise that you repeat and recite to yourself repeatedly. You need this promise right here. If we confess, but there's a big word there. If the only sin that God does not forgive is an unconfessed sin. The only sin that God doesn't forgive is an unconfessed sin. But if you confess, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Here we go again. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. God is light. I want to give you some attributes on light and darkness as we begin here because I want you to understand as I want you to that that that John is using these metaphors and the Bible's full of metaphors and uh he they use metaphors to convey truth. Uh they use uh metaphors, things in nature, things that we know of to uh to reveal truth. parables. Jesus spoke in parables, right? And he would use earthly things to reveal spiritual truths. So John gives us this contrast of light and darkness. Light shapes life. It reveals what is real. Light purifies and heals. Light guides and gives direction. Plants grow with light. Warmth, clarity, and order depend on it. When light shines, you see the world as it is. But darkness works in the opposite. It hides danger. It feeds decay. Mold grows fast in dark spaces. Pests thrive in darkness. Darkness weakens vision and disrupts growth. I'm not sure if you know this, but like in the this time change. I hate it. Like I hate it. Like it gets dark at like noon. Like can we stop? Like I feel like I'm in Russia already. Like it's like, oh yeah, you got like three hours of light in here today. You know, it's like can we stop with this? Can we just get it back to way it needs to be and stop messing with it? That was for free. I'm so sorry. It gets dark so early. Imagine the people in the central time zone where it gets, you know, it's like dark all day long. But anyway, but darkness weakens our vision. It disrupts growth. It confuses. It chills. Anybody been chilly lately? Yeah. People lose their sense of place when they can't see. Crime patterns follow this same divide. Studies show robbery and burglary rise after dark. Offenders use darkness as their cover. When cities increase lighting, crime often goes down because light reduces space for hidden activity. Fear also rises in the dark. Children fear the dark because they can't see threats or perceive threats. Adults feel heightened anxiety in dark rooms and streets. Heart rate studies show heart rate and stress climb when visual certainty disappears. Darkness creates tension because the mind can't judge what surrounds us. Darkness distorts perception. People misread shapes and sounds when light is absent. The unknown grows larger in the dark. Yet light settles the mind because it reveals and removes confusion. And so as we read first John and other parts of John's gospel that he is using this metaphor of light and darkness and as we're studying tonight he says God is light. So begin to think about that. What does the scripture say about this? Those are natural things I've just talked about. Those are natural things. But what about the spiritual? What does the Bible say about darkness and light? Darkness according to the Bible blinds the heart. In John's gospel chapter 12, it shows people unable to believe because darkness closes their eyes to Jesus. John 3, darkness hides evil. Jesus talks about people love darkness because their works are evil and and they do not want exposure. Ephesians 2 and chapter 4, darkness marks spiritual death. Ephesians 4, darkness produces ignorance. Darkness enslaves. Paul says in Colossians 1 that we've been in the domain of darkness and have been transferred into the kingdom of light. Darkness confuses. Paul opens Romans 1 showing that darkened thinking twists judgment. Darkness resists the truth. In Acts 26 speaks of turning people from darkness to light so they can receive forgiveness. So over and over and over again we see that darkness in the scripture is a picture for evil or sin and death. Right? So the opposite of that. What does the Bible talk about when it talks about light? And this can be studied for several weeks. John 1, go with there. Can you go to John chapter number one? I want to read these. I sent these to uh to brother Derek. He's going to help me a second here. John chapter number one. How about this verse five? And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but he was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lightth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came into his own, and his own received them not. Why? Because they're in darkness. They love their darkness. They love the darkness. Light exposes sin. Ephesians 5 says that light shows what is unclean so that it can be forsaken. Jesus says that he is the light of the world. He's the light of men. Psalm 119 calls God's word a lamp to the feet and a light to the path. light. According to what we've read already in 1 John chapter 1, walking in the light brings shared life with God and with one another. So over and over again, this contrast between light and darkness is found in the Bible. So when we're talking about light and darkness, when someone turns off the lights in this room, it gets dark. And now that's that's important that then somebody turns the light on. But there is a spiritual point to all that. What John is saying, he's not just simply talking about lights going off in a room and the lights coming back on. He is saying and what the scripture is saying is that darkness is is the sin. It is it is the disobedience. It is the rebellion. It is the evil deeds that we do that that we must have exposed by the light. And so John begins this letter by saying that God is light and in him there is no darkness. There is not even there is as James would say there is no shadow of turning. There is if you look at God in any way no matter which way you turn him no matter which way you look at him he is light. There's no shadow. There's no there's no darkness in him. He is. So therefore, if he is light, it's not that he possesses light. He is light. >> That means that there is no evil in him. There is no sin in him. There is no unrighteousness in him. To say that God is light is to proclaim that he is holy, pure, and utterly free from evil. But in a world where human character waivers and cultural values shift like sin, this should assure us and terrify us that God is light and doesn't change. Why should it assure us? It assures us because God doesn't change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God has never changed. He's never changed. And so that gives us assurance, right? That God, we don't have to wake up in the morning wondering if God is in a good mood or a bad mood, right? I used to work for an employer many years ago and she was great when she was in a good mood. Great. like the it was the best place to work when she was in a good mood, but it unfortunately meant it was not a great place when she was not in a good mood. So, we would be like, "What's the temp today? What's the temp? H how's she feeling? How's she doing?" And you would know by some of the employees immediately whether it was a good day or a bad day. So, the best thing for you to do was to hide, right? Or try to get her in a good mood. You know what I'm talking about? Anybody know what I'm talking? You you you're around people who are just God's not like that. You don't have to wake up going, "Is God mad at me today? Is God in a bad mood today? Does he still love me today?" He doesn't change. If he loved you yesterday, he's going to love you tomorrow. If he loved you today, he's going to love you here. He doesn't change. If he forgave you five years ago, he's gonna forgive you today. >> In him, in him is unwavering, unmovable. He's immutable. He doesn't change. He's not going to change. That gives us assurance. WHAT SHOULD TERRIFY us is if God never changes and we do and the culture changes and we begin to shift away from his word, we are we should be IN FEAR. WHY? BECAUSE HE HASN'T CHANGED. >> We did. >> That gives us also confidence in his word that not only does God not change, his word doesn't change. So if if it if it was an abomination, then doesn't matter what the Supreme Court says. All right. confidence and also terrify us because light exposes, right? Light exposes. Light reveals when you're in a dark room. Few weeks ago, we took our um elementary students to uh is it the laws? Is that what it's called? That lossi, right? Someone just go Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Brother Nate, whatever we went. Yeah. And you go in there and they they can turn off the part of the of the tour is they turn off the light that they've put in there and it's complete darkness. There's no sunlight coming in and they tell you don't they tell all the kids don't scream. Don't make a noise. Don't do all the right when it might get you know freaked out. But when the light goes off you can't see your hand in front of your face. It is that dark. It's so dark it's almost like you can touch the darkness. But it's nice when somebody hits the flashlight. It eases, but it also exposes, right? It exposes what's in the dark. What darkness, what darkness conceals, light reveals. Okay. So God has given us light because he is light but he has revealed the light in Jesus Christ. Right? We we he has revealed the light to Jesus Christ. Jesus said I am the way. I am the truth and the life. But he said I am the light of the world. He fulfills Isaiah's prophecies that he'd be a light to the nations, bringing God's glory into a world veiled in spiritual darkness. And so, he has come to reveal the hidden places, not just of the world, brothers and sisters, but the hidden places of our lives. And that should scare us that he can reveal. You can't hide from him, right? Can't hide from him. So light, as John is writing here, light leads to fellowship. Someone say fellowship. >> Fellowship. >> Light gives direction just as much as it exposes and reveals. So as God reveals, as he I don't have a flashlight with me, so this is what I'm going to use here. Look at that. You see it? It's not very bright because there's light shining right now. But he turns on the light into our lives and it reveals or it exposes what we try to conceal. Now the first thing is is that he has revealed himself unto us. Right? He has revealed himself unto us. We talked about in the last lesson is that he is the revelation. He is the unveiling. He is he is the uncovering of God. He's revealed himself to us. So as we see him and that he is light and in him there is no variation. There is no shadow of turning. He is unchanging. He is light absolutely pure and holy. He reveals himself as the standard. And so as he reveals himself, he at the same time reveals us. And so what we have here is the contrast between light, Jesus, God in flesh, and us in darkness. We are exposed to our own weaknesses. We are exposed to our own flaws and failures and most importantly our sin is revealed. You walked into one of these nice hotels and you turn on the bathroom light. You're like, "Well, this is nice. It's really bright in here." And then they've got this little mirror that's on like this retractable arm. You're like, "Well, well, look at here. I could pull that mirror out and I can look at my face a little bit closer." And then you notice that there's a little light on. Anybody seen these before? There's a little light on that. And you're like, "Let's just turn that off and put this back." Right? You're like, "I thought I got all the ear hair today. I thought I got it all. I thought, you know, you're, you know, I thought I got the, you know, I thought I got it all shaved down today. No, got a big spot here no one told me about. Right. And you see yourself in a new light or another light. You're like, you know what? Maybe we should just bring the lights down in this bathroom a little bit lower, right? Like, I don't need all of this light seeing all my wrinkles and seeing my bald head, right? Light exposes. And when we come face to face with Jesus, when we see him as he truly is, holy, pure, we realize I'm not that great. >> This is why Paul says we should not compare ourselves with one another because you and I are not the standard. >> Well, at least I'm not doing what they're doing. They're not the standard. Well, at least I didn't do that. Still not the standard. And so when you really come into contact with Jesus, you realize, I got a lot of problems here. I got a lot of work that that needs to be done here. I I've got I'm I'm I'm really flawed and exposed. And when you're exposed, when you're when you're exposed, you want to hide, right? You want to h you're exposed. You're out there. You're vulnerable. So when you come face to face with Jesus, YOU'RE EXPOSED. THERE'S NO HIDING. He knows ALL OF YOUR FLAWS AND FAILURES AND MISTAKES AND SIN. HE KNOWS IT >> and he came to fix it. We can't fix ourselves. And so what he does is he's he exposes us and reveals himself. And so look at what John says. In him there is no darkness at all. Verse six. If we say we have fellowship with him. If we say we can say a whole lot of stuff. If we say we have fellowship, right? Agreement. We talked about this a few weeks ago. Agreement is what fellowship means. It's more than coffee and cookies before and after church and donuts and all that. It's fine. It's great. It's more than fellowship services we have in the district. That's great. That's fine. But what fellowship really means is agreement. Agreement. Something shared here. And if we're going to be in fellowship or agreement with God, I have to agree with him. what he says about my sin. I I the prophet Amos said, "How can two walk together unless they agree?" You can't walk with Jesus and wink at the devil at the same time. >> I'm going to say that again. You can't walk with Jesus and wink at the devil at the same time. You can't say, "Well, I'm I'm in fellowship with him." And then go live like the world. IF WE SAY, YOU CAN SAY A WHOLE LOT OF STUFF. IF WE say we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness that he came to expose, we lie. and the truth is not in us. So now we've doubly sinned. We say we don't have sin and we're lying to ourselves and now we've lied and now you're guilty of sin. See how that works? If we say now, we're going to talk more about these command and under the the lesson God's commands talking about uh unity and and and and loving the brothers. We're going to talk about that in that lesson. But I want you to go on. I want you to see this. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, but if we walk in the light, here's a promise. And he is in the light because he is light. We have fellowship agreement one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin. Salvation in the Bible is never privatized. I love Jesus. I don't love the church. John says right here, you cannot have the promise of atonement outside of those who are in the atonement. Not saying GOD CANNOT REVEAL HIMSELF to somebody. He can and he's done that. But it always leads to others who have come into contact with him as well. Salvation is never privatized. There is no such thing as an isolated Christian. The church is made up of Paul would say many members. So atonement, forgiveness, fellowship, all comes from the light. Look at verse eight. But here we go. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, here's the promise. He is faithful and just to forgive us. Look at what this says here. Does that say your sins or does it say our because my God I feel it. THE CHURCH, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, is more IMPORTANT THAN SIMPLY coming and enjoying A FEW SONGS TOGETHER, GIVING AN OFFERING, HAVING A TIME OF fellowship and a picnic AND COFFEE. I LOVE ALL OF THAT STUFF. BUT THIS THING THAT WE'RE DOING HERE IS MORE THAN THAT. WHAT WE ARE DOING HERE IS A COMMUNITY OF REDEMPTION AND ATONEMENT THAT IF HE CAN LISTEN BECAUSE WHAT IT DOES IF HE CAN FORGIVE YOUR SIN HE CAN FORGIVE MY SIN AND IF HE CAN FORGIVE MY SIN IT GIVES YOU HOPE THAT HE CAN FORGIVE YOUR SIN. AND SO IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS HE IS FAITHFUL >> TO FORGIVE OUR MY GOD I FEEL HIM. WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE WHEN WE GATHER TOGETHER IS A PLACE OF HEALING, A PLACE OF DELIVERANCE. >> This is not a social club. >> THIS IS A COMMUNITY CALLED ATONEMENT. We are living BREATHING EPISTLES READ OF ALL MEN SHOWING THEM THAT GOD IS FAITHFUL to forgive, faithful to cleanse. Someone say amen. >> We have fellowship with one another. He said this earlier in verse number three that we might have that you might have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the father. So fellowship with us connects us to fellowship with the father. Now, people who walk away from truth and other believers usually have done a couple of things. Now, if fellowship is an agreement, shared common interest, right? Keep that in your mind. And those who walk away from the church, walk away from truth, walk away from other believers, they've done a couple of things. There could be a myriad of things, right? Sure. But a couple things I've wrote down. They've one either connected to those who will agree with their lifestyle and choices or they've isolated themselves from believers. To say it simply, they have found fellowship with something altogether, something else altogether. Now, I'm not saying don't misunderstand me. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that this is the only church that you can go to to be saved. I'm not saying that. I will never say that. However, if you leave the house of God because you're wanting to be with others who agree with your bad decisions and choices and maybe even your sin, >> THEY FOUND FELLOWSHIP SOMEWHERE somebody or they've they've so isolated say to themselves away from believers that they have deceived themselves. Fellowship with God is always connected to fellowship with fellow believers. >> If you want to have fellowship with us, it's with the father. Want to HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHER, it's going to be with us. And if you're going to agree, listen, if you're going to agree with him, WE'VE got to agree with him. And as soon as WE START DISAGREEING WITH GOD'S WORD, we are out of fellowship with him. >> You see how important fellowship is? If we say, if we say, he says it three times in just these lessons, what causes 8:34 got nine minutes and I'm on the second page of my notes. We'll get back to it, I promise. What causes a disruption of fellowship? Now, let's think of this practically. If you have a friendship, say you have a relationship with somebody, a friendship, kinship with somebody and they say something to you to offend you or perhaps maybe um they you shared a secret with them and they go and tell somebody and they harm your trust or there could be anything you put it just fill in the blank. there a disruption of the fellowship, a disruption of the agreement, the the unity there something has caused a divide between the two. Right? Okay. The disruption to our fellowship with God is sin. That's it. Ezekiel says, "Your sins have separated you." Sin is the divider. It is the disruption of our fellowship, our relationship with God. Someone say, "Amen." >> Amen. Both Hebrew and Greek words for sin carry the same sense of missing the mark. Paul says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Again, if God is light, he's absolutely pure, holy, and I am not. There is a divide. There is a disruption and that is sin. He is the standard, not other believers and certainly not other unbelievers. Okay? Sin separates us from God. Well, who is it? Paul says there's none righteous. No, not one. What about Grandma Susie? No, I can just hear Paul. Can you just hear Paul? He knows somebody's GONNA ASK. BUT WHAT ABOUT I KNOW sister so AND SO. SEE? NO. NOT ONE. BUT YOU DON'T, PAUL. You don't know me. No. Not one. No. Not one. I mean, we're all guilty. Yeah. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture never lets us escape from the reality of sin. Sin has left humanity's understanding darkened. It's given us a deceitful heart. The conscience has been defiled. Our flesh has been corrupted. Sin is not just something we do. It's a power within us that distorts, deceives, and destroys. Someone said this one time. You're not a sinner because you sin. You sin because you're a sinner. I'm going to say that again. You're not a sinner because you sin, but you sin because you're a sinner. All of us have been born with sin. And so John attacked this that if these false teachers have gotten Jesus wrong, if they've gotten Jesus wrong, either on his humanity or his deity, then they've probably got him wrong as we will see in his redemptive work. >> He didn't really If he's not really human, then he really didn't have blood. And if he's only spirit and and not not not flesh or if he's only flesh AND NOT SPIRIT, WE GOT A PROBLEM HERE. But he has to be all human. He has to be all God because for him to be our redeemer. He has to have real blood. But it can't be human blood. So So Acts says it's God's own blood. And so he shed his blood for NOT OUR MISTAKES, NOT OUR FLAWS, NOT OUR IMPERFECTIONS, but our sin. And our sin has caused death. >> And so he has come to do away with sin and death, right? So we can't we can't try to decrease sin. It's not that bad. You know, we're changing the language of sin today. You know, we say it, I say it, I'm not, and I don't mean to try to minimize it. Well, instead of saying sin, we'll say we got a weakness. I'm struggling with something. Yeah, you're struggling going into the bar. >> The car didn't drive itself there. That would be a struggle. Like it's your your Tesla is pulling you into the car >> and automatically taking you to Big Red Liquors. That's that's something in Bloomington. I'm sorry. I don't know what I don't know of any of the liquor stores here in Knoxville. Back home, it's Big Red Liquors. We're I'm just struggling. No, you're sinning. We can We CAN CALL WHATEVER WE WANT. It's still sin. And our sin causes a disruption to our fellowship with God. So he says, "If we say claiming fellowship with God while walking in darkness, denying the presence of sin in our lives, verse eight, or claiming we have never sinned." Listen, the antidote to sin is not denial, but confession. If you deny you're a sinner, you can't get forgiveness. If you're not convinced of that, you won't confess. Right? So in order for us to walk in agreement with God, we must agree with him about our sin. But if we're always trying to excuse, it's just a weakness. This is how I was raised. I I grew up around anger. I grew up around temp bad tempers. If you keep excusing it instead of forsaking it, you don't know what hap at some point you're going to have to throw away the crutch and start confessing. >> This is just my temperament. This is how I am. This is how I GREW UP. THEN CHANGE. >> YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN. >> YOU WERE BORN INTO ONE HOME. AND I'M SORRY IT HAPPENED THAT WAY. YOU WERE BORN INTO ONE HOUSE OR ONE FAMILY. I'M SORRY IT HAPPENED THAT WAY, BUT YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN SO YOU CAN COME INTO A NEW FAMILY, A NEW HOUSE, A NEW HOME WITH A NEW LIFE. BUT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO CONFESS. STAND. STAND. Got three minutes to close this thing out. Believe that didn't get very far. a little mark here. Now, confession of sin, repentance is more than an initial salvation experience, right? It is a continual lifestyle. I want to I want to give you a couple definitions of something because this is important and I'm going to talk more about this as we go along in this study and I'm going to mess up some people's worlds and thinking and you just actually it's not me it's John but there's two words theological words they're Bible words and that's justification and sanctification. Okay. And a lot of times we get these two words mixed up. So let me quickly explain. Justification Paul writes about in Romans and Galatians is your position in Christ. So when you are saved, he says in Colossians 1, you are brought out of the dominion of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of light. So when you repent, when you have faith in Jesus, when you're baptized in the name of Jesus, when you receive the Holy Ghost, you are positionally in Christ, right? You've changed dominions. You've changed kingdoms. Okay? So, positionally, you're saved, right? You okay? Justification. Think of it this way. It's just as if you had never done it. So, he forgives you, he justifies you, he cleanses, he forgives, he wipes away the debt, and you are positionally in Christ. It's justification. sanctification. Now, let me stop before I get to that. You are forgiven of your sin at justification. Okay? You're forgiven. Old things are passed away. And behold, all things are being made new. I am a new creation. Even though I've BEEN FORGIVEN OF THE consequence of my sin in justification, in me is still the pollution of sin in this mortal body. And what I mean is that even though you are positionally in Christ in in yourself is THIS BATTLE TO CONSTANTLY GO back to the old lifestyle TO SIN, TO GOSSIP, TO LUST, all of that. It's in you. It's in your heart. SO WHILE YOU ARE positionally in Christ, what happens is as you mature and grow in Christ, the Holy Ghost sanctifies you. So sanctification is the progress of growing in Christ's likeness. Now when you are first saved, you all right? When you are first saved, you're forgiven. But when you walk out of here and you accidentally cuss, well, I'm lost. No. Sanctification's just starting. And what you've realized immediately, like, I shouldn't do that. That's called sanctification, brothers and sisters. >> It's the changing of your desires. It's the change. It's the changing of your affections. And the things that I you Paul does this this is sanctification. Romans chapter number 7. THE THINGS THAT I USED to do I no longer WANT TO DO. BUT THERE'S SOMETHING IN ME PULLING ME BACK. SO WHAT I HAVE TO DO IS EVEN THOUGH I DON'T WANT TO DO IT, MY BODY SAYS JUST KEEP ON REPENTING. JUST KEEP ON HAVING FAITH. JUST KEEP ON SERVING HIM. THE THINGS THAT I WANT TO DO, I DON'T DO. IT'S GROWING IN YOU. I'M THANKFUL THAT YES, YOU ARE SAVED, THAT YOU ARE JUSTIFIED, BUT THE HOLY GHOST IS MORE THAN JUST FOR ONE TIME AND for you to SPEAK IN TONGUES. THE HOLY GHOST IS IN YOU TO WORK AND TO CONFORM YOU INTO CHRIST'S IMAGE. AND I'M THANKFUL THAT HE'S STILL WORKING ON ME. Would you LIFT UP YOUR HANDS? OH, HE'S STILL WORKING ON ME. OH, HE'S NOT DONE WITH me yet. OH, GOD. I WISH SOMEBODY WOULD JUST PRAISE HIM FOR A second to say, "Lord, I thank you for your light. I thank YOU FOR YOUR REVELATION, BUT GOD, keep exposing the dark places of my life so I can grow in Christ likeness." >> Would you clap your hands onto the Lord tonight? Woo! My Lord. My Lord. We're going to pick up where we left off right there. Is that all right? I'm marking my notes. We'll come back to that. Lord willing on the next time we gather together to study the word of God. Greet somebody around. Fellowship with somebody around you. Agree with somebody around you. Love on them. Walk in the light as he is in the light. and we will see you Sunday morning, 10:00 a.m., Sunday night, 6:30. You're dismissed in Jesus name.