Be my salvation. Welcome to Walking in the Light, the podcast ministry of the Fellowship of Young Christian Professionals. In 1 John 1, verses 6 and 7, the Bible says, if we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and 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, his son, cleanses us from all sin. My name is Bill Crockett, and I am so glad you've chosen to listen with us today. God bless you as we study the Bible together. ♪ This only serves to confirm my suspicions Well, thanks for joining us today. We are in a study called the basic characteristics of Christianity. It's a study through the book of 1 John, and it pretty much deals with what John points out to us as the basics of what a Christian really looks like. You know, in a world where our values and morals and even religion is changing, what is real Christianity? What do real Christians do? What describes the normal Christian life? True Christianity is summed up in one main concept, fellowship with God. This is a partnership with God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It's not a relationship with an organization, or a church, or a denomination, or any other group. It's a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The word Christian actually means little Christ or a follower of Christ. It was first used in Acts chapter 11 and verse 26 about the believers in Antioch that had come from Jerusalem during the persecution of Stephen. You see, they acted and lived their lives just like Jesus did. And so they were called little Christ or Christians. In essence, They wanted to live just like Jesus did and taught them to live. As a Christian, we don't follow an organization or even another human being. A true Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. So, as a follower of Jesus Christ, what should my life look like? The book of 1 John was written to remind believers what true Christianity was. In this study, we'll go through the letter known as 1 John and uncover the basic characteristics of Christianity. In this first lesson, we'll explore the background of the letter. Who wrote it? Why was it written? Who was it written to? What were the circumstances at the time that prompted the letter to be written? An understanding of these things will help shed light on the principles John wrote about and why he wrote. So let's get started with an introduction and a little background to what was going on in the world at the time that John wrote this letter. I have taken an excerpt from John MacArthur's study Bible in his background and introduction section for the book of 1 John. So bear with me and let me read through what Dr. MacArthur says about the background of the book of 1 John. Although he was greatly advanced in age when he penned this epistle, John was still actively ministering to churches. He was the sole remaining apostolic survivor who had intimate, eyewitness association with Jesus throughout his earthly ministry. He witnessed the death, resurrection, and ascension. The church fathers, Justin Martyr, Arrhenius, Clement of Alexandria, and Eusebius, indicate that after that time, John lived at Ephesus in Asia Minor, carrying out an aggressive evangelistic program, overseeing many of the churches that had risen, and conducting an extensive writing ministry, for example, the epistles of the Gospel of John in Revelation. One church father, Papias, who had direct contact with John, described him as a living and abiding voice, As the last remaining apostle, John's testimony was highly authoritative among the churches. Many eagerly sought to hear the one who had first-hand experience with the Lord Jesus. Ephesus lay within the intellectual center of Asia Minor. As predicted years before by the apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20, verses 28-31, false teachers arising from within the church's own ranks, saturated with the prevailing climate of philosophical trends, began infecting the church with false doctrine, perverting fundamental apostolic teaching. These false teachers advocated new ideas that eventually became known as Gnosticism, the word that comes from the Greek word knowledge. After the appalling battle for freedom from the law, Gnosticism was the most dangerous heresy that threatened the early church during the first three centuries. Most likely, John was combating the beginnings of this virtual heresy that threatened to destroy the fundamentals of the faith and the churches. Gnosticism, influenced by such philosophers as Plato, advocated a dualism asserting that matter was inherently evil and spirit was good. As a result of this presupposition, these false teachers, although attributing some form of deity to Christ, denied his true humanity to preserve him from evil. It also claimed elevated knowledge. A higher truth known only to those on the deep things. Only the initiated had the mystical knowledge of truth that was higher even than scripture. Instead of divine revelation standing as judge over man's ideas, man's ideas judged God's revelation. 1 John 2 verses 15 through 17. The heresy featured two basic forms. First, some asserted that Jesus' physical body was not real, but only seemed to be physical. This was known as docetism, from a Greek word that means to appear. John forcefully affirmed the physical reality of Jesus by reminding his readers that he was an eyewitness to him. He heard, he had seen, and he touched. Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. According to early tradition, another form of this heresy that John may have attacked was led by a man named Serentis, who contended that the Christ Spirit descended on the human Jesus at his baptism, but left him just before his crucifixion. John wrote that Jesus, who was baptized at the beginning of his ministry, was the same person who was crucified on the cross, 1 John 5 and verse 6. Such heretical views destroy not only the true humanity of Jesus, but also the Atonement. For Jesus must not only have been truly God, but also the truly human and physically real man who actually suffered and died upon the cross, in order to be the acceptable substitutionary sacrifice for sin. Hebrews 2, verses 14-17. The biblical view of Jesus affirms his complete humanity as well as his full deity. The Gnostic idea that matter was evil and only spirit was good led to the idea that either the body should be treated harshly, which was a form of asceticism, or sin committed in the body had no connection to or effect on one's spirit. This led some, especially John's opponents, to conclude that sin committed in the physical body did not matter. Absolute indulgence in immorality was permissible. One could deny sin even existed and disregard God's law. John emphasized the need for obedience to God's laws, for he defined the true love of God as obedience to His commandments. A lack of love for fellow believers characterizes false teachers, especially as they react against anyone rejecting their way of thinking. They separated their deceived followers from the fellowship of those who remained faithful to apostolic teaching, leading John to reply that such separation outwardly manifested that those who followed false teachers lacked genuine salvation. Their departure left the other believers, who remained faithful to apostolic doctrine, shaken. Responding to this crisis, the aged apostle wrote to assure those remaining faithful to combat this grave threat to the Church. Since the heresy was so acutely dangerous, and the time period was so critical for the Church, in danger of being overwhelmed by false teaching, John gently, lovingly, but with his unquestionable apostolic authority, sent this letter to churches in his fear of influence to stem this spreading plague of false doctrine. So you can see that when John wrote the book of 1 John, there was a whole lot going on in the church and in the world in which the church was located. So let's, by way of introduction, let's take this extensive introduction given by John MacArthur, and I want to break it down and make three main observations about his introduction that I believe will help us as we study the book of 1 John to better understand what God was trying to tell us. So three basic observations about the background to this book. Observation number one, John the apostle wrote the book. Now, why is that important? Several things. Let me give you five of them. First of all, John was in the inner circle with Jesus. This was John the Apostle who wrote the Gospel of John, who wrote the Book of Revelation. He was in that inner circle, quite often referred to as Peter, James, and John. He was as close to Jesus, the real person, as anyone was. Second of all, he was with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and at the cross. He went further in with Peter and James to pray with Jesus in the garden. Number three, John sat next to Jesus at the Last Supper. This seemed to indicate he was very close with Jesus, even a confidant. For you remember, it was John, the beloved, the one who lay on Jesus' bosom, that one of the other disciples asked, John, ask Jesus who it is that's gonna betray him. And then finally, or number four, He was the only living apostle at the time of the writing of 1 John. Now this was extremely important because the Gnostics were teaching that Jesus wasn't a real man, that he was just a spirit and he just appeared to be here, but he wasn't really real. John, because he walked with Jesus, heard him, touched him, was around him, experienced him, spent all this time with him, He was the perfect person. And by the way, of all the apostles who saw Christ and who had a real physical, personal friendship with him, John was the only one still living. So his authority was authenticated by his experience. And then finally, number five, John being the author of the book is important because he lived in Asia Minor at the time, which is modern day Turkey. which was the center for all these false religious teachings. So he wrote this book, not just to be read by one or two people, but he wrote it so it could be distributed to all the churches in Asia Minor because they all needed to hear it. So observation number one, John the Apostle wrote the book, which is very important. Observation number two, several biblical truths were being challenged by false teachers, primarily the Gnostics. So the book of 1 John literally took on the form of an answer to all of these false teachings. And we're gonna go through some of those as we go through in just a minute, and then we'll look at all of them as we go through the book. So, first of all, John the Apostle wrote the book, very important. Number two, the book was written primarily to answer the challenges of these false teachers. And then number three, Christianity, as they had known it, was being threatened by these false teachers. And John had to make sure that the church was reminded of the basic truths of why Christianity existed in the first place, which then explained how Christians should live. I believe that's important because we live in a day and time today when Christianity and true following of Jesus Christ is being distorted. Morals, values, even worship, there are so many things that are being distorted today by the world to the point to where Christians, many of them are confused. They don't know what we're supposed to do or not supposed to do or what real Christianity is even supposed to look like. So I believe it's important for us to, as we start this study, to recognize John the Apostle is writing the book. The book was written to address several false teachers that are trying to distort Christianity. And it was written thus to explain and remind people of what real Christianity was. Now, there are five main themes that will be addressed throughout the book. Let me give you these. One, Jesus is God in the flesh. He is a real person. Number two, sin has been atoned for. There's nothing left to be done. Sin has been paid for. Number three, holy living is a result of salvation. Holy living or obedience to God's word and the principles of the Bible is a natural result of being saved. As a matter of fact, John is going to show us that part of the way that we know that we love God is because we keep his commandments. It's a natural response. Now, we'll also realize, as we study the book, that we're never going to perfectly keep all the commandments, which is why grace and forgiveness are also taught in the book of 1 John. However, holy living or obedience to God's word, that should be a natural result of salvation. That's normal for a Christian. Number four, loving others. is also a natural result of salvation. Learning how to love brothers and sisters in Christ and others, even our enemies, that is what happens when a person becomes a believer. And then number five, the topic of confidence. We can have confidence in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, the greatest confidence talked about in 1 John chapter five and verse 13 is we can know that we have been saved. We can know that our home is in heaven. Now, there are three sub themes that basically are the results of true Christianity, and they're simply this, happiness or joy or inner peace, holiness and security. And you're going to see these things taught in the book of 1 John. So here is a formula for real Christianity that is presented to us throughout the book of 1 John. Let me give it to you. Proper belief in Jesus, 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2, produces obedience, 1 John 2, verse 36. which generates love for God and others, 1 John 2, verse 5. And this process results in a life of happiness or joy, 1 John 1, 4. Holiness, 1 John 2, 1. And security, 1 John 2, 5 and chapter 5 and verse 13. And this is real Christianity. So let's put it all together. Proper belief in Jesus produces obedience to God's Word, which generates love for God and others. And this process results in a life of happiness or joy, holiness and security. Now that's what real Christianity is all about. So as we embark on our study through the book of 1 John, we're going to be looking at these things and we're going to go verse by verse beginning in chapter 1 and we're going to study the basic characteristics of Christianity. I hope you'll continue to listen to our podcast, study with us as we study through the book of 1 John, the theme, the basic characteristics of Christianity. All I want is to be...