In our Bible survey, we come to the epistles of St. John. 1 John, 2 John, 3 John. John the apostle, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the youngest of the apostles, the disciple who in many ways seems to mean the disciple who was Jesus' best friend on earth. The last of the 12 apostles. in that he lived longer than all the others. He's the only one of the Twelve Apostles who did not die for his faith, although he was persecuted and he was exiled onto the island of Patmos. This letter of 1 John, well also 2 and 3 John, were written by the Apostle John in Ephesus, before his exile to Patmos, where he received the revelation. John, of course, wrote John's Gospel, the last of the four Gospels to be written. In many ways, the most polished, the most insightful, the one that goes so much further than the synoptic Gospels in so many ways. And John's Gospel needs to be read in the light also of the epistles of St. John. In John's Gospel, he said, this was written that you might believe, whereas one John is written so that you might know. for sure, your salvation. And so, as the Gospel of St. John was written for us to know Christ, to believe in Christ, to come to salvation in Christ, 1 John's written dealing with assurance of salvation. The themes here, you can see clearly the themes, the key themes, and you get these words over and over, life, light, truth, sin, the world, born of God and abiding in Christ. In fact, when you think of abiding in Christ, it's got to be studied also in light of John chapter 15. When Andrew Murray, the great revivalist of the 1860 revival, when he wrote his book Abide with Christ, much of it comes from this very letter from one John. 1 John is the fourth of the seven general epistles, meaning epistles that aren't addressed to a specific church, like epistle to the Romans, epistle to the Corinthians or the Philippians. You get the letters of James, John, Peter. These are general epistles, Jude, which are not addressed to any specific church or geographic area, and so it's only known by the name of the author. Not that John identifies himself. This is unlike any other letter. There's no who it's from, no who it's to, there's no preliminaries, there's no conclusions, no personal details or personal... This is obviously meant as a general circular to all churches. But John doesn't even bother mentioning his name, but there's been no question John's the author. You can see how similar it is to John's gospel. You can see the same wording, the same emphasis, the same styles and figures of speech that the Apostle John uses. But also, the early church, including people discipled by John himself, like Polyclop, and all the early church leaders, Ignatius and others, they all identified this letter was from John. So it's known as that way, even though he doesn't mention his name in it. But then again, John never mentions his name in the Gospel according to St. John either. In the Gospel according to St. John, the names of all the other apostles are mentioned, but not John. He leaves his own name out. When he refers to himself, it's just as the disciple whom Jesus loved. So we see here, the emphasis is fellowship. Fellowship with God, abiding in Christ, keeping a person from false teaching, keeping a person from worldliness and from living in sin or wallowing in sin. The emphasis of salvation is by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ alone. And we see that the key word here is know. The word know is used over 30 times in a short epistle. So the emphasis here is know. Just like in John's gospel the emphasis was believe, in the epistle of course, John the emphasis is know, that you may know without a shadow of a doubt. You can see a lot of contrasts. There's a lot of contrasts in one John. And that's probably the best way to understand this. The contrast between light and darkness, between life versus death, love versus hate, and also love versus lust, truth versus falsehood, and truth versus lies. Righteousness versus lawlessness. God's law versus lawlessness. Heaven versus hell. Children of God versus children of the devil. Love for God versus love of the world. And ultimately, Christ versus Antichrist. Those are some of the contrasts. There's no neutrality. Here you have the great divide. either for Christ or against Him, either gathering or scattering. Choose you this day. No neutrality. The Word of God versus the world. These are just some of the contrasts that you will see here. One John was written to counteract those false teachers who denied the deity of Jesus Christ. who denied that Jesus is the Messiah, who denied that Jesus had come in the flesh. And so he's writing against Judaizers, he's writing against Gnostics, he is writing to encourage the Church to stand firm on Christian belief and on Christian behavior. You see the seriousness of sin. Obviously, many people have decided to have a less attitude towards sin, and a lot of this comes strongly against it. And it's written to encourage believers to persevere in the faith, despite false teaching and persecution. The themes are the incarnation of Christ and the Messiahship of Christ. These are two major, major emphasis. Living in the light, living in love, and loving the truth. So, it starts off with the base of our fellowship, and we see that John is an eyewitness of the incarnation. 1 John, chapter 1, verse 1. 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. This life was manifest and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you may also have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ who is full. And these things we write you so that your joy may be full. So what we have here is an eyewitness. He saw Christ. He walked with Him. He followed Him. He ate with him. He touched him. He heard his teaching. This is firsthand eyewitness. Our gospel is true and John is the last living apostle at this stage. He is around and he's able to communicate to the people what maybe it's another generation, people who might not have even been born when Jesus died. And here is an eyewitness giving testimony to the church of our basis of fellowship. the incarnation of Christ, God with us. God has come to earth and he's become man. Then from verse 5 in chapter 1 we see walking in the light, right belief. Later we'll see walking in love and right behavior, but it starts off here with walking in the light. 1 John chapter 1 verse 5 to 10. This is the message which we have heard from him and declared to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him and we walk in darkness, we lie and we do not practice the truth. 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. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive 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. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. This is one of the most famous, well-known, most memorized passages in the Bible. We can see here that sin is a reality. In fact, there's a whole lot of I's you can put here. It is indisputable. We do sin. It is inevitable, we will sin. It is incompatible, we should not sin. It is intolerable, we must not sin. It is indefensible, we need not sin. And so he gives here a whole lot of insights as to who God is and how we're to respond to him. In 1 John 1 verse 5 we see God is life. In 1 John 2 verse 29 we see God is righteous. In 1 John 4 verse 8 and 1 John 4 verse 16 we see God is love. In 1 John 5 verse 11 to 12 we see God is life. In 2 John we see God is truth and in 3 John we see God is good. God is light, love, righteous, life, truth and good. We here are encouraged to right belief and to right behavior. We must walk in the light. Because God is light, because God is holy, because God is perfect, we should be holy, we should be perfect. If we walk in the light, then we should have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses us from all sin. Those people who say they have not sinned, and we've met those people doing evangelism in the streets. We've met people who say, I've not sinned in 28 years. I've not sinned in 30-something years. We've met people like that. And you can only think, Are these people so blind and deluded? How many times do you not hear a person say, I'm a good person? I'm a very good person. In fact, it's more common when you ask them this question. And it continues to boggle the mind that after decades of great comfort and wear the mask of evangelism, there's still people in the street, the vast majority will say, I'm a very good person. And it's extraordinary that you can have so much self-deception. As one John says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. In fact, we make God out to be a liar. And so when a person says, I'm good, you can point out that what Jesus said, only God is good. In chapter two, We read 1 John 2, verse 1, My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. To have an advocate, to have a lawyer who's going to advocate on your side, who's going to intercede for you, who's going to speak up for you. It's often a real encouragement to have someone on your side who knows the law and is going to use it to the fullest extent to defend you in court. But we have the advocate who defends us in the highest Supreme Court in all the universe and all of history before the throne of God. Verse 2, 1 John 3, verse 2. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. Propitiation is a powerful word speaking about removing the wrath of God from us. Now, sadly, we've got dumbed-down Bible translations these days, like the contemporary English version, which brags in their forward from the translators. We have removed all difficult words from the contemporary English version, including propitiation, I think, is one of the first. Propitiation, they've gotten rid of. Justification, sanctification. And then they go down to repentance, repent. Grace. Grace. What do they put instead of grace? God's kindness. That didn't come close to explaining what grace is. God's riches at Christ's expense. Grace, undeserved mercy. Propitiation, removing the wrath of God from over us. And so how can we understand what it is to be a Christian, how to behave as a Christian, if we have dumbed down Bibles, where we have dumbed down vocabulary, where we have waged war on the English language itself, taking out of it those words that are powerful. For example, that today you have terms for evangelism that you don't even find in the Bible. Accept Jesus as your personal Savior. You've heard it so many times, it's where there's got to be a verse for it, but there isn't. There's no way in the Bible we're told to accept Jesus. He has to accept us. We're seeking entry to his kingdom. But now in the modern evangelism, it is a matter of God is knocking on our door. Jesus is knocking on our door and we've got to open the door to him. We've got to have pity on him. He's standing outside in the cold and the door handles are nearly inside the door. And there's all kinds of imaginative What should we call it? Sentimental nonsense, where you're trying to put it where God is now the one seeking us to respond. But no, it's we who are seeking, asking and knocking on his door, seeking entrance to his kingdom. God! is Lord. We are his servants, bond servants, slaves is actually the correct word. And the whole attitude now that it is turned around where God is like the magic genie who pops out and says, your wishes my command. This is more like a fairy tale that is not the gospel. And so propitiation might have been one of the things the contemporary English version wanted to remove from the Bible, but we need to understand it's not that we are in danger of the wrath of God. We read in John chapter 3 that the wrath of God abides over us already. Those who are not in Christ, those who have not been redeemed, blood-bought, who have not repented, have not been regenerated by the power of God's Spirit, the wrath of God abides over us already. Jesus comes as the propitiation of us and He takes the wrath of God away from over us and He puts the wrath of God on Himself. he takes out punishment upon himself, to take away words like propitiation, justification, sanctification, repentance, repentance, grace, is to do violence to the Scriptures. We get to verse 3, 1 John 2 verse 3. Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. These are the kind of verses that antinomians hate. The antinomians, the people of hostility to God's law, they're waging a war against God's law. I remember at a church service in Pinelands, there was a young theological graduate from George Whitfield College, and he was forced to go through the prayer book because it was a communion Sunday, and at the end, after going through the whole ten commands, he said, phew, I'm glad, we don't need to worry about any of that anymore. He sort of almost threw the book aside. So I waited till everyone else had left and I approached them towards the door of the church and said, what you said about the law is very interesting. Which of the 10 commands do you think do not apply to us anymore? He said, none of them. I said, may we worship other gods? No. May we bow before idols? He wasn't sure. Can we take God's name in vain? No, doesn't think so. Can we dishonor our parents? Well, it depends. Can we break the Sabbath? Yes, definitely. May we kill? No. Oh, come on, can't we at least kill little babies before they're born or old people through euthanasia? Can't we at least vote for parties that will kill for us through abortion and euthanasia? He wasn't sure. May we steal? No. Well, can we at least vote for political parties that will steal for us through socialism? He wasn't sure. Can we commit adultery? No. Well, can't we at least watch films that celebrate adultery and commit emotional adultery? He wasn't sure about that. Can't we at least look at pornography and commit adultery in the heart? He wasn't sure. Okay, can we covet? He wasn't too sure. Can we bear false witness against a neighbour? No? Well, can't you at least read newspapers that bear false witness against our neighbor, and read history books that lie and bear false witness against people of previous generations, or watch films that claim to be a true story that, in fact, victimize the villains and villainize the victims? He wasn't sure. Well, at least half of the commands he thought still apply today. So that was something. So what do you mean none of these commands apply? This is antinomianism. This is a hostility to God's law. And the funny thing is, those people who are hostile to God's law are quick to tell you that what you're doing or saying is against the law of some political party's law of the land. So, isn't it intriguing? God's law is evil and oppressive, but man's law you must embrace. But Jesus said his yoke is easy, his burden is light. Antinomians hate one job. Verse four, he who says, I know him and does not keep his command is a liar, and the truth is not in him. No wonder they hate this book. Those people who say they know God, but they don't keep his commands are liars. The truth is not in them. Verse five, but whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. How do we know that we are in Christ? That we start to obey God's commands. We just think. It's so easy for people who come from the world to understand this book. It's harder for people who've been born and brought up in Christian families. But those in the world, you have this business, a drug-dealing gangster involved in crimes and so on. Well, we could just take, for example, our friend Anthony Stunder. He knew he was a bank robber and a thief and a criminal and all the rest. And when he got converted in prison, He's transformed. And so the book Prison Break testifies to the transformation. You find these people who, they were thieves and now they're saved, now they don't steal, now they do restitution, now they've given their genitals. You know, people who were drunkards, now they're no longer drunkards, now they're sober. People who are drug addicts, now they're safe, now they no longer do drugs. It's very easy for people saved out of the world because they know what they were saved from. And it's this transformation. But for people brought up in the church, who think they're good people, and I've always been a Christian, and my grandfather is a Christian, and my sister's a nun, and all these kind of attitudes, these people have great trouble knowing what they're saved from, because they don't even recognize that they were sinners in the first place. But John is writing to people who know what it is to be converted. By this we know that we are in Him when we keep His commands. Just think of a person who before, they broke every command in the book, but now they're converted. Suddenly they're seeking to worship God alone, not bow to idols. Destruction of idols is one of the signs of a converted people. They don't take God's name in vain. They might have been blasphemers, now they're singing God's praise and honoring him. They didn't used to honor the Sabbath day, now they're keeping the Sabbath day, day of rest, day of worship. They used to disrespect their parents, now they honor and respect their parents. They used to be murderers, or at least murderers in heart, by hatred. Now they love their neighbor, and even love their enemies. They used to live in adultery, and now they live in purity, in faithfulness, in loyalty. They used to steal. Now they tithe and give and they are generous. It's very hard to be covetous when you're giving away. And they used to be liars. Now they apologize, they make rites, they correct the slander they used to say about people, they write and make restitution of people. They used to live in covetousness and greed, now they live in generosity and self-sacrifice. You can see the transformation of personal importance of God's law. Sin is lawlessness. Loving God is walking in His commandments. And God's laws are not burdensome, they're actually Liberty, God's perfect law of liberty, because they free us from the self-destructiveness of the world, where the world promises you heaven and they give you hell. If you can just do this, that, or the other, it's going to be the performance of all your dreams. And when you get to the other end, you find it's a nightmare. So the law is there to protect us and to spare us many griefs. Verse 6. He who says he abides in Him ought to himself also walk just as He walked. Jesus Christ suffered for us and left us an example that we should follow in His footsteps. We should walk even as Jesus walked. We should follow His example. Verse 7. 1 John 2 and verse 7. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. What's the old commandment? Obey God's word. Then verse 8, Again a new command aright you which is true in him and in you because the darkness passeth away and the true light is shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 1 John 2, verse 7 to 11 gives us the old command and the new command. The old command is obey, the new command is love. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. We need to walk in obedience and we need to walk in love. We have people who say they're true Christians, but they hate their brother, whom they should love. If we hate, we show we're still living in darkness. Because if we recognize that God is love, and how much God has loved us, and how much He's forgiven us, then how can we not reflect some of that love in being merciful and gracious to people who've mistreated us and done evil to us, especially those who are brothers and sisters in Christ? It's a terrible thing to have Christians who actually hate one another. And sadly, there are a lot of Christians like that, and I think if some Church leaders who write books attacking their father, attacking their father-in-law, attacking their mother and their father. Shocking. How can you do that to your own family? But there are people like that. I think of one man who For example, at the end of the Rhodesian War, one of Ian Smith's sons got converted and wrote a book called Now I Call Him Brother, in which he champions and praises Robert Mugabe, praises the terrorists, embraces them, and damns to hell his own father. Now, that's after he got converted. This son died childless, showing how you curse your father, you ask yourself to be cursed, which is exactly what the commandment says, the first commandment of the Prophets, to honour and love your parents. so that your days may be long in the land. And a person who could do such an evil thing. And in fact, time proved that his loving the propaganda of Mugabe was obviously false, but he wrote just about 1981 or 82, early days, and to go to France. The only book in existence from this Wicked brat who thought that praising a communist mass-murdering terrorist and damning his father, who is a God-fearing, honorable man, was a good thing to do. But there's people who do worse than that. I mean, we've come across some people who really should know better writing books against their father-in-law. Just like Gary North wrote a book against, wrote several books against his father-in-law, R.J. Raspini, who was an honorable man. And Frankie Schaefer, who decides to write books against his parents, Francis Schaefer. And absolutely hideous how people can do these sort of things. Now he's actually abandoned the Protestant faith and embraced the Orthodox Church and so on and so forth. It's just the path to apostasy, when you hate brothers in Christ and even your parents in Christ. They are blinded. Verse 11 says, he who hates his brother is in darkness. He walks in darkness. He doesn't know where he's going. Darkness has blinded his eyes. And when you speak to people who live in hate, you can see they're blind. And you can see it for the people, for example, those in this country, following the EFF, who hate all whites. And they are just filled with hatred. You can't even reason with them. You cannot even talk to them. They are absolutely blind to all reality, all logic, all facts, all history. They are blind because their hatred has blinded them and they cannot even think straight. And actually destroying themselves. 1 John 2 and verse 12, I write you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. I write to you fathers, because you have known him who was from the beginning. I write to you young men, because you've overcome the wicked one. I write to you little children, because you've known the father. Verse 14, I've written to you fathers, because you've known him who is from the beginning. I've written to you young men, because you are strong. And the word of God abides in you. And you have overcome the wicked one. See the emphasis here again, how This is not egalitarian. There's distinctions in the scripture according to age, according to station in life, male, female, old, young, servants, masters. We see this throughout the scripture. So people who want to suggest there's no distinctions, egalitarianism is not biblical, God is not egalitarian, and God is not antinomian. But see how fathers are called to know God. Young men are called to be strong, with the Word of God abiding in you, overcoming the wicked one. Resisting temptation, resisting lies, deceit, falsehood, heresies, standing firm for the truth. 1 John 2 and verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. That is seriously powerful. One of the earliest verses I remember memorizing as a new Christian, do not love the world or anything in the world. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. If you love God, you make yourself an enemy of the world. If you love the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. The world and the word are in conflict. God and Satan are in conflict. As Martin Luther said, you cannot pray, our Father, art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, without praying that every other name be brought down, that every other kingdom that is in opposition to God's kingdom be defeated and smashed and removed and forgotten. When you pray for God's will to be done, you're praying for Satan's will to be frustrated, exposed, and defeated and annihilated. You cannot be neutral. And that's what John is emphasizing throughout. 1 John 2 verse 16, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Does this not sum up Hollywood? and the whole ethos of this egalitarian, hedonistic, heathen, pagan society. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. This is the enemy. And our greatest enemy is within us, because evil comes from within. It comes from within our own hearts, and we've got to wage war against these things. But again, as a reminder, the world is passing away, and all the lusts of the world are passing away. but he does all of God Almighty's favor. Think of all the things that are coveted, whether by the socialists or by the yuppies, the factories, the farms, the cell phones, the cars, the rings, and the jewelry, and money, and all these different things. And think of the fact that in time, in 100 years or 200 years, it's all going to be dust. It's going to be on the junk heap. It's going to be lost. It's going to be buried. It's going to be broken. It's not going to be working. And in fact, a lot quicker if the socialists confiscate it, because they're able to turn productive factories and farms into just so much scrap and metal dust bowl in a very short time. All the lusts of the flesh and the covetousness of this world, it's for things that won't even last. And in their hands it'll break down even quicker. So we are told, work for that which endures. What's going to last forever? The word of God will last forever. The kingdom of God will last forever. The people and the creatures of God will last forever. Invest in eternity. Live your life in light of eternity. Don't live for just those things that the world is distracting you with, dangling in front of you. These things which are to tempt us and distract us from the things that are really ultimately important. John writes this book to promote harmony, and happiness, to protect holiness, to prevent heresy, and to provide hope. 1 John 2, verse 18. Little children, it is the last hour. And as you've heard, that Antichrist is coming. Some translations put the in front of it, but actually there is no the in the Greek. Little children, it is the last hour. And as you've now heard, this Antichrist is coming. The should be in italics, because it's not in the original Greek. You might have a footnote which says that the early manuscripts don't have the word the. Anyway, when you talk about Antichrist today, many people say, the Antichrist, the beast, 666, and they put them all together. There might be one the beast, but there are many Antichrists, as becomes clear. In the spirit of Antichrist, 1 John 2 and verse 18 says, Antichrist is coming, even though many Antichrists have come, by which we know that this is the last hour. there is quite a lot about Antichrist. We go down to verse 22. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son. So, what is Antichrist? Whatever is against Christ and whatever seeks to put itself in the place of Christ. And so, Protestants, in all the great Protestant declarations from the Helvetic Confession, Sind of Dort, Westminster Confession, Augsburg Confession, all Protestant confessions from the 16th century identify that papacy is Antichrist, Catholicism is Antichrist. Because the Pope claims to be the vicar of Christ, the mouthpiece of Christ, the representative of Christ, Christ himself ruling on earth, He has a crown, a triple crown, which has blasphemous names written on it. He claims to be the Holy Father and His holiness. Jesus said, no one is good except God alone. Don't call anyone a father. You have one father in heaven. And he's called Holy Father? Jesus used the word Holy Father only once, and that's addressing the Father in heaven in his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. For any human being, sinful, fallible as they are in particular, to claim to be Holy Father, His Holiness, and how many Protestants even refer to the Pope as His Holiness? The papacy is anti-Christ. They've persecuted the church, they've banned Bibles, they've burned Bible translators, they've decapitated people for believing in the faith. Queen Jane, the nine-day Queen of England, and Lady Jane Grey refused the Inquisition and refused to renounce her faith. She was beheaded. You think of all the different people through the years. William Tyndale being burned at the stake for the crime of transphobia. English, no wonder the Protestants have always seen Catholicism as Antichrist. But Islam is also Antichrist. All the Reformers, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, they're all taught Islam is Antichrist. The papacy and Islam are two legs of the Antichrist, just as you can see in the great statue of Daniel chapter 2, that the Roman Empire split into two, and one part of the Roman Empire was taken over by the Roman Catholic Church, and the other part was taken over by Islam. And so, you see, Islam is one of the two horns of antichrist, and one of the two legs of the beast. Islam is antichrist, it persecutes the church, and it denies Christ, but also Judaism is antichrist. Who is the liar, verse 22, but he who denies that Jesus is the Messiah. Judaism denies Christ as the Messiah is Antichrist. The World Council of Churches is Antichrist. Humanism is Antichrist. The United Nations is Antichrist. Hollywood is Antichrist. The spirit of Antichrist has gone throughout the world. And so as verse 18 says, many Antichrists have come. And so we should reject everything that is against Christ and everything that seeks to put itself in the place of Christ. everything that resists the truth that Jesus is the Christ, and Christ is Greek for Messiah. Christos is Greek for Al Mashiach in Hebrew. And so when we hear the word Jesus Christ, Jesus is the Hebrew, it's from the Hebrew word Yeshua, and Christ is Greek, it comes from the Greek Christos. Jesus Christ, you see, the Hebrew and the Greek in one name. And of course, this is rejected by Judaizers today, Christians who claim that you may only use the Hebrew terms, you're not allowed to use the Greek, but the New Testament was written in Greek. In fact, Jesus preached in Greek, such as Sermon on the Mount. And the New Testament had to be translated into Hebrew because it was first revealed in Greek. Just like today, many Afrikaans people speak in English when evangelizing, Abri, Elishka, they go to Tanzania, they speak in English, not because that's their home language, but because that's what the people understand. So our Lord Jesus on earth, most of his preaching and teaching on earth was done in Greek. As is plain from the words used and the fact that the New Testament was written in Greek, by even Hebrew apostles of Jesus, Matthew Levi writes the Gospel of Matthew in Greek. If Jesus had taught in Hebrew, he would have written in Hebrew. But of course, what I've just said is a thought problem in the eyes of many of the Judaizers today to whom any other language but Hebrew is anathema, and God won't even listen to your prayers unless you pray to him in Hebrew. And he won't even recognize that he's being spoken to unless you use the Hebrew name. So all the people who've prayed in the name of Jesus Christ, who have used other languages throughout all the ages are apparently false, and their prayers weren't answered, and they weren't saved, because the Lord only listens if he's addressed Adonai, Elohim, El Shaddai, Yeshua El Mashiach, and this is what the Judaizers teach today. They cut themselves off from the tree. They're sitting on the outside of the branch, over a high cliff, sawing off the branch, and they don't realize that they're cutting themselves off from the root of the vine. And so we see, verse 19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might be manifest that none of them were of us. Lack of loyalty and lack of perseverance shows a person didn't actually belong. And so we get to 1 John chapter 2 and verse 24. Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you will also abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he has promised us, eternal life. Verse 26, these things I've written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. This is a constant emphasis. There's a lot of deception. Do not be deceived. Beware of deception. We must abide in the truth. We must abide in the word of God. If you abide in the word of God, the God of the world will abide in you. So we've been dealing with right belief. Right belief, or walking in light, all the way through until 1 John 2 and verse 27. Then from 1 John 2 verse 28 we get the second part of John's letter. Right behavior, or the behavior of fellowship, or walking in love, living in love. Verse 28 starts this new section. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him. What is one of the fruits of a regenerate life? Fruits of spirit? Well, righteous lifestyle. When you see a drunkard who's now sober, you know something's happened. When you see a drug addict who's now free of it, a thief who's doing restitution, you know this is fruit of salvation. There's a change in their life. Chapter 3, verse 1. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed in us that we should be called the children of God. We are not only forgiven sinners, we're adopted sons and daughters into the family of God. Behold what manner of love that the Father has bestowed in us. Just like the wicked son, the prodigal son, came back saying, Father, I've sinned against heaven against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired servants. And that's what he wanted, just to be made one of the high servants. And the father does more than that. He forgives him, he clothes him, puts a ring on his finger, throws a feast for him, and makes him a son and heir again, even though he's squandered his inheritance. The Lord's love is so much greater than forgiveness. He adopts us into his family. And that's an example to us, because this extravagant grace, we should be extravagant in our grace. Verse two, beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. So we can see that we too live in love. 1 John 3 and verse 4. Whoever commits sin commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. Antinomianism, the hostility to God's law, is by definition sin. It's lawlessness. The people who claim that God's law doesn't apply today, they are committing one of the first heresies which has been condemned by all the apostles. And so we can see in verse 8, John chapter 3 verse 8. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifest, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Jesus came to set the captives free. He didn't come to make it safe and easy for us to sin and get away with it. He didn't come to transfer property ownership from the owner to the thief. Restitution is still expected. A change in lifestyle is expected. The Lord came to destroy the works of the devil. Now, many people looking at these chapters of whoever is righteous and born of God will not sin. Now, this, of course, is a bit frightening because we all know we do sin. But John recognizes that. He says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. But the word here is present continuous sin. it would be most accurate to say, he who has been born of God does not continue to live in sin, does not continue to practice sin. It's sin, not as a noun, not just as a verb, but as a present continuous tense verb. It's speaking about living in sin. So, there's a big difference between a person trying to follow Christ, trying to do what is right, practicing righteousness, and occasionally slipping into sin. regretting it, repenting of it, doing restitution, getting back up, and falling fast again. Huge difference from that than a person wallowing in sin. Like the difference between cleaning a lamb and the lamb running amidst the meadow, and cleaning a pig that goes and rolls back in the mud immediately afterwards. There's a huge difference in the nature between a lamb and between a pig, between a regenerate person who hates a sin, regrets a sin, repents of a sin, and tries to live a righteous life and occasionally slips into sin. There's a huge difference and divide between that and a person who wallows in, enjoys, revels in, boasts in their sin, and is not at all feeling guilty or remorseful about it, or repentant. They are, in fact, championing and parading this. For example, you come across a person who's been redeemed out of a gay lifestyle. It's not gay, it's actually perverse. And they hate it! And now they seek to live an honourable and God-fearing life. versus people who walk around parading their sin, boasting about it, and having in the gay pride marches mock crucifixions of Christ and things like this. You can just see that one has repented of the sin, the other is reveling in and boasting of it. The contrast is colossal. True love is seen in action. So here we see 1 John chapter 3 and verse 16. By this we know love because he laid down his life for us and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. True love is seen in action. True love is measured by sacrifice. Christ showed how much he loved us by how much he sacrificed for us. We show love for God by how much we sacrifice for him. Love is seen in action. Put feet to your feet. Verse 17, but whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. By this we know that we are of the truth, and we assure our hearts before Him. For if our hearts condemn us, God is great in our hearts. He knows all things. And so, again and again, we can see here, sins of omission are important. It's not just bad things we've done, but good things we've failed to do. Matthew 25 describes the Day of Judgment mostly in terms of good things we've failed to do. We come to 1 Peter 2 and verse 23. 1 Peter 3, verse 23. And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us command. So, we to abide in Christ, we to abide in His love, we to obey His commands. And this is written so that we should not only believe, but know, and not only know, but do. Verse 24 of chapter 3. Now he who keeps his commands abides in him, and he in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit which he has given us. Abiding in the Spirit. 1 John chapter 4 in verse 1. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. There's a lot of warning against deception, a lot of warning against false prophets, false shepherds, false teachers, and false spirits. It's not virtuous to be gullible. And these people who think that to be a Christian means you've got to be gullible and believe everything. And it was shown just a while ago, somebody posted the verse from Matthew, where Satan says to Jesus, worship me and all these things will be yours. And he posted it and there were hundreds of likes. from Christians, even pastors, hundreds of likes and amens and so on and so forth. And there were very few who recognized that that's the words of Satan. Just because something's in the Bible doesn't mean it's from God. God also reports what Judah said and what Satan says and so on. And for people to have so little discernment, that they will post and like and share verses like this just to show how lacking in discernment. Test all things. We should be, when a person stands up, and I've heard some dumb things said in public with lots and lots and lots of amens. For example, just recently, some American false prophet was in South Africa saying that he had this vision and he had seen and God appeared to him, and there's Nelson Mandela standing at the right hand of the Father in heaven interceding for South Africa. And that's bad enough, but the amens and hallelujahs around the church... even more mind-boggling. Nelson Mandela wouldn't pray on earth for bad prayer, for bad a minute of silence, abolished prayer in Poland, abolished prayer in schools, and now we're meant to believe that this person who testified on earth that he is an atheist and he was a Communist Party member, that now he's in heaven at the right hand of the Father interceding for us, that is anti-Christ. Putting anyone in the place of Christ is anti-Christ. Thousands of Salafi Christians went, Amen, Hallelujah, and just to see the people waving arms, eyes closed, and raptures of excitement over this revelation from this false prophet. Staggering. But we are told, again and again, by this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ to come in the flesh is of God. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ to come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of Antichrist, which you've heard, which is coming, and is now in the world. Now, 1 John 4 verse 4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than him who is in the world. Christ in you is greater than whoever is in the world. One person with God is a majority. We don't need to care what the rest say. Verse 5. They are of the world, therefore their speaker is of the world, and the world hears them. Verse 6, we are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. The world listens to its own. When you see a church leader who is super popular with the world, and where the world just loves what they say, This is the spirit of error. When you see the world hating someone, this is a pretty good indication that they're of God. The world hates Christ. Christ is in opposition to the world. If we put ourselves on the side of the world in popularity, we put ourselves against God. To be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God. 1 John 4 verse 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifest towards us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Verse 10, and this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. And so you can see, love epitomized God, and therefore love should epitomize his followers. Love God, love a neighbor. Love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength. So here you see an unswerving, unwavering, steadfast, abiding love. Love is not a feeling. It's an act of your will. Love is an attitude. Love is not sentimentality. It's not warm, fuzzy feelings. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is polite. Love perseveres. It's beyond deep affection. It's abiding loyalty. And it's generosity and it's sacrifice. To understand love, we've got to understand there's four words in Greek for love. There is storge, which is... How do we describe storge? Storge is like kindness and it's love for your friends. Philio is love for the family, love for the family. Eros is sexual love and agape is God's love. Now, the Greek language had storge, philio and eros before, but the Gospels introduced a new word in Greek, agape. And agape means God's love. So when it says God is love, it's saying God is agape, agape, God's love, which is a perfect giving love, a self-giving, a sacrificial love. And so you've often got to see the difference between these loves. And when we say God is love, because people have tried to twist this, the perverts and the homosexuals, saying God is love, therefore our lust is God, and therefore you've got to accept all of our lusts because God is lust. They've done such a twist because they've put Eros love in the place of Agape. And they start off with, God is love, therefore you can't forbid our kind of love, because we call it love even if it isn't what the Bible calls love, it's what the Bible calls lust. They have twisted and distorted it. Again, if we just know the scriptures and know the words, understand the meaning of the word, it would make sense. And so it speaks about God's love being perfected in us. If we go down to 1 John 4 verse 17, Love has been perfected amongst us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect love. We love him because he first loved us. Christian James Kendi asked me when we first met, Peter, what comes first, regeneration or repentance? And I said, regeneration. Ah, he must be a Calvinist. Because the Arminians say, first you repent and then God rewards you with regeneration. Reform faith says, God regenerates us so that we are able to repent and believe. It's not that we found God, he found us. Not that we loved God, he loved us. Even when we were his enemies, he loved us. Many people have false concepts of who God is. They believe in a God that doesn't exist. They believe in more like the magic genie of Father Christmas. Verse 20 of 1 John chapter 4. 1 John 4 verse 20. Someone says, I love God and hates his brother. He is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen. How can he love God whom he has not seen? And this is the command we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also. Which is why we are told, if your brother is something against you, leave your gift at the altar and first make right to them. You may think your worship is the highest priority, yes, but part of our worship is to make sure we write with fellow believers. And notice it's not if you've got something against someone, it's if someone's got something against you. So it means you can't just leave it up for the person who you think is guilty. Even if you think of the victim of it, you should be making right with them as much as is possible. insofar as it's possible. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 1. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, is born of God, and everyone who loves him, who begots him, also loves him who is begotten by him. By this we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commands. Again and again we see regeneration should lead to righteousness. Your doctrine leads to your duties. Your belief leads to your behavior. And we come to verse 3 of chapter 5, For this is the love of God, that we keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome. For whoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. We can overcome the world through our faith. We call to be overcomers. That's the emphasis in The seven letters in the beginning of Revelation also reveal to John how to overcome the world. We're called to overcome, not to be victims, but to be victors. And one of the greatest verses in the Bible about the Trinity, 1 John chapter 5 verse 6, This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth, the spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree as one. Here you see reference to the incarnation and to the atoned. You see also reference in a sense to, because we're born in water and blood, but Jesus was baptized and he died for us, shed his blood for us. So you can see a reference to incarnation, to the baptism of Christ and to his atonement. And also, these three are one, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 11, we start to see the rich rewards that come from our belief and our behavior. This is the testimony that God has given us, eternal life, and this life is in the Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life. I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you may have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Here you see perseverance of the saints. We know there's perseverance of the saints. Then there's warning about apostasy and the sin that leads to death. The sin that leads to death is apostasy, people rejecting Christ and turning away from Him. Jesus is referred to as the Christ, the Messiah, 10 times in this letter. The emphasis here is to walk in the light, to live in love, to stand for the truth, to expose falsehood, to oppose error, to resist idolatry. The last word of this book is, little children, keep yourselves from idols. Idolatry is the sin most condemned in scripture. We have a true gospel. We have forgiveness. We have a new life. We have a new way of living. We have the Holy Spirit. We have new love for the brethren. We have fellowship with God. And therefore, we're commanded to recognize false teachers by what they teach and by how they live. We see seven tests to see if we are in the faith. Walk in the light. Confess your sins. Obey the word. Follow the example of Christ. Love the brethren. Do not love the world. And persevere in Christ. We see rich rewards, assurance of eternal life, the power of prayer, and victory over the world. We see that we call to know God and to make him known, to abide in truth and abide in love, and therefore to stand fast for Christ and to confess our sins, to walk in loving fellowship, to walk as children of God, to walk in love and to walk in knowledge. In 2 John we see we are to walk in truth, In 2 John, it's love and truth. In 3 John, it's war and truth. In 2 John, we see we should not invite false teachers into our home. And 3 John, we should not imitate false teachers. In 2 John, do not reject the truth. In 3 John, do not refuse love and hospitality. We to test all things by the word of God. We're not to be too soft-hearted. That's missed in 2 John. But in 3 John's, do not be too hard-hearted. Do not neglect love. We're not to neglect the truth, 2 John. We're not to neglect love in 3 John. These are different extremes you've got to watch out for. And you can see the truth is repeated over and over in 2 John. To the lady and her children whom I love in truth, not only I, but all those who've known the truth, because the truth which abides in us and will be us forever, and grace, mercy and peace in truth and love. Truth is so important. John is balancing light and love, the wrath of God and the love of God. Truth and love. One John, Jesus is the life. Two John, Jesus is the truth. Three John, Jesus is the way. John 14 verse 6, Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father except by me. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. Jesus is the life. We are lost. Jesus is the way. We are deceived. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and life. One could also see in 3 John, he speaks about two people, Gaius and Diocletes. Gaius is helping the kingdom. Daryl Trappist is hindering the cause. So the question is, are you helping advance the kingdom, or are you hindering in the service of God? We are called to be fellow workers for truth. Two and three, John, are two of the shortest letters in the Bible, 13 and 14 verses, but the simple message there is love the truth, walk in the truth, stand up for the truth. Let us pray. Lord God, we thank you and praise you for your love and mercy, for your grace and loving kindness, for all the good things you give us. Help us not to be neutral in the great conflict, the great divide. Help us to stand for the light against darkness, for your life against death, and your love against the lusts and hates of the world. Help us, Lord God, to stand for the truth against the falsehood and lies of the world, for your righteousness against man's lawlessness, We pray, Lord God, that you'd help us to live consistent as children of God, resisting the children of the devil, to love your word, not the world. We thank you, Lord God, for the position you put, that you are light, that you are love, that you are righteous, that you are life, and that you are truth, that you are good. Help us to abide in you, to persevere in the faith, to stand for you, and to know you and to make you known. We pray this in Jesus' precious and holy name. Amen.