April 23, 2023
Morning Service

I John is the second of the Apostle John’s writings as his gospel was written first.  The gospel was evangelical as its purpose was to bring people to saving faith in Jesus.  He followed that up with this letter to give reassurance to his readers of their salvation and call them to walk in the light they have been given.  He writes this letter to churches that were not novices in the faith but well established in Christian truth.  John writes this with a fatherly tone as he lovingly shows concern that his children in the faith are being threatened by worldliness and false teachers. John emphasizes many of the basic truths (foundations) of the faith in this letter, but more than anything else he stresses the importance of having a close fellowship with God.  Knowledge is important in our walk with the Lord, but it is relationship that we need to focus on.  I need Him.  He begins the letter emphasizing that he is an eye witness to much of what Jesus said and did and testifies of the revelation he has been given of His true identity.

  1Jn 1:1-4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—  (2)  the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—  (3)  that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.  (4)  And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

            John shares his testimony of his time with Jesus.  He walked with Him, talked with Him, touched Him and knew Him; he had fellowship with Him.  He proclaims to us that Jesus was who He said He was; the “Son of the Living God who takes away the sin of the world.”  The great news of this discourse is that in verse 3 that he is telling us that “you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”  Think about that for a moment.  We are being invited to enjoy fellowship with Jesus with the same intimacy that John, often called the beloved, had with Him.  This fellowship is not a burden we must carry but John is explaining it to us so that it is through this fellowship/relationship that our “joy may be full.”  He quoting Jesus there from his gospel.

 

Joh 15:9-11"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  (10)  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.  (11)  "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

            Abiding in Christ, having fellowship with Him and building your relationship with Him is the key to fulfilling your joy.  To have our joy fulfilled has nothing to do with our circumstances or our successes on earth, but it lies solely with our knowing Jesus intimately (abiding in Him) and walking daily with Him by your side.  He fills in all the gaps that we are lacking and completes us.  “We are complete in Him!” (Col 2:10) and we need nothing else. I need Him to complete me.  John writes this letter to us inviting us to that kind of intimate relationship with the One who died for us.  Come and enjoy what you were created for and experience contentment, peace and joy unspeakable full of glory.  If your whole life you have thought something is missing, this is it; abiding in Christ.  I need Him to make my joy full.  It begins with what we talked about last week of being a “doer of the Word and not a hearer only.”  See the shortcoming in the mirror and do something to fix it.  Walk the path you know to be true and right establishing your step to follow Him.  How can we tell if we doing it?

 

1Jn 1:5-7 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  (6)  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  (7)  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

            It is our life that reflects what our heart believes.  John tells us that we can’t say “I’m following Jesus” and live a life of wickedness and sin.  My Bible has a subtitle that I like here that says “Walk in the Light.”  That is not hard to understand and we can easily look in our spiritual mirror and see the truth about ourselves.  Again the key is what we do about it.  There is a change that happens within in us when we truly and fully accept that call from Jesus to “Follow Me.”  We come into the light and know that God sees us just as we are; sinners who fall far short of deserving Jesus’ love and fellowship.  BUT, in the light, we also believe that He has cleansed us from all our sin.  It is not that we are no longer sinners, but now sinners saved by the grace of God.  This new relationship begins right there with our recognition and admission that we are sinners falling short of all that God desires us to be and then it goes forward from there.  John gives us a lot of a very big word here in these next very important verses; IF.  Notice that each time he uses the word if, it points to an action that we are or are not doing.

 

1Jn 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  (9)  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (10)  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

            IF we deny that there is sin in our lives, then we are not living in reality because Romans tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) We cannot follow Jesus and have a false idea that in any way we resemble perfection.  Doing so only deceives ourselves.  A heart that God owns is humble and honest before Him.  Realizing we are sinners is just the first step of this process of forgiveness.  Notice what comes next.

            IF we confess our sins then He is faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us.  John is writing here to established followers of Jesus.  Once we begin our journey with Him does NOT mean we live perfect, sinless lives.  It is not if we sin, but when and God knows we are created in that way.  This is the process He has designed for us to erase our shortcomings in His eyes.  We must come to Him openly and honestly and tell Him of our failures; I need Him as my Savior.  When we face the truth of the cost that had to paid for our sin, that should make it very humbling for us to come to Jesus and admit our sin to Him.  It should never be something that we take lightly or in a frivolous manner.  Think of how hard it is to go to your spouse and admit that you have failed them in some way; it is the same thing with Jesus.  If we do honestly and humbly confess our sins, God promises to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness; it really is that simple.  He is not interested in our excuses, but only our honest, open heart admitting our failure to Him and wanting another chance.  This step is VITAL in our walk with the Lord.  I must face the sin in my life and confess it to Him knowing I cannot do this without His forgiveness; helping us to realize I need Him as my Savoir.  Notice what ignoring it shows about us.

            IF we say we have no sin, we call God a liar and have no part of Him.  That is crystal clear isn’t it?  The process is almost too simple, but it must be followed.  We must recognize the sinful actions in our lives and then confess them to God in a manner of repentance.  Repentance means we are sorry for what we did AND we do not want to do it again.  It is a cleansing of our soul and a restored resolve to do better in the future.  You can see the issue that occurs if we use confession as a crutch to just continue to sin (doing what we want not what God is calling us to) (Not a doer).  It is like using duct tape over and over again.  The first time it sticks well, but when you keep removing it and reusing it, it becomes less sticky and effective.  When we continue living in sin and confessing the sin without a repentant attitude it loses its effectiveness until finally we just quit confessing and accept the sin as a normal part of our life.  God help us!  We have died to sin (Rom 6) and are to live to God not to ourselves!  We must continue to strive to grow our relationship with Jesus, by removing the sinful actions in our lives and putting on the righteous attributes of Jesus.  “To become a little more like Jesus and a little less like me.”

            Today we have been shown by John a very easy to understand process in which we can fulfill our joy and have an intimate relationship with Jesus.  It begins with admitting our sin and confessing it to Him with a repentant attitude. The sin and many failures in our life keep us dependent and focused upon our need for a loving, forgiving Savior.  I need Him to forgive and restore me. That leads to us living a life in which we seek to both avoid the darkness of sin and walk in the light of our salvation. I need Him to empower me. Seeking to put Him first in all we say and do because we realize the price for our sin was paid for by Him.  We love Him because He first loved us.  That is where our joy will be full, that is what we are long for and are created for; a close relationship/fellowship with our Creator and Savior.  I need Him.

 

Heavenly Father, we come to You this morning confessing our unworthiness to You.  We ask humbly for Your forgiveness and cleansing this morning.  Draw us near to You and allow us to walk intimately with You each day, hour, and moment.