62 First John

Resources

A sermon I preached as an overview of 1 John:

Fellowship, Faith, and Overcoming the World

Fellowship Students series, by Timothy Montgomery and guests

Andy Gemmill on 1 John:

Also available via these links: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/6b9aof40lw032yi/150616_s2_andy_gemmill.mp3?dl=0 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/xpyiia2wredmxaj/150617_s1_andy_gemmill.mp3?dl=0 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/qc5rjax4dlzcxch/150618_s2_andy_gemmill.mp3?dl=0

Charles Haddon Spurgeon sermons on 1 John:

1 John 3:1-3 – Peter Mead – https://www.youtube.com/live/YAcF-KGjlag?si=nYzUFQDG8gtsnO41

Comments

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins… “When a man prayerfully begs that he may feel the power of the blood of Jesus, he is confessing sin, for is not the blood of Jesus needful because of our sin? The daily exercise of faith in Jesus Christ is a confession of sin, for nobody would need to believe in a Savior unless he had sin.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Honest Dealing with God, June 20, 1875 – https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/honest-dealing-with-god/#flipbook/

Those that know themselves to need Christ, those that truly know themselves to be sinners, and pray to God and act with others accordingly, those Christians truly confess sin. “To confess sin does not mean merely on some one occasion to repeat a catalogue of sins before God in private, nor at certain set seasons to rehearse a list of our faults, but it means a life-long acknowledgment of our sin.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Honest Dealing with God, June 20, 1875 – https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/honest-dealing-with-god/#flipbook/

The “if” is not so much a requirement for cleansing, as it is an assurance that there is cleansing for the one who confesses sin. John says that “…if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” – not that we will have an advocate if we confess, but that we do have an advocate already.

He is faithful and just… “Treat God truthfully, and he will treat you truthfully. Make no pretensions before God, but lay bare your soul, let him see it as it is, and then he will be faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Mark the beauty of that expression; God will deal with you in faithfulness. His nature is mercy, and you naturally expect that if you confess your sin to a merciful God, he will deal mercifully with you and be faithful to his nature; and he will be so.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Honest Dealing with God, June 20, 1875 – https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/honest-dealing-with-god/#flipbook/

1 John 2:1

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate… “Do not minimize your sin or excuse it away. Raise no defense. Simply take it to the one who is already at the right hand of the Father, advocating for you on the basis of his own wounds. Let your own unrighteousness, in all your darkness and despair, drive you to Jesus Christ, the righteous, in all his brightness and sufficiency.” – Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly, page 94.

“When will we receive this advocacy? The text tells us: it does not say ‘we will have an advocate’ but ‘we have an advocate.’ All those in Christ have, right now, someone speaking on their behalf.” – Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly, page 89.

1 John 2:20

the Holy One… “This expression is found nowhere else in 1 John but occurs once in the Fourth Gospel where the disciples say to Christ, ‘We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God’ (John 6:69). It is appropriate, therefore, to interpret ‘the Holy One’ here as a reference to Christ.” – Collin Kruse, The Letters of John.

1 John 3:19

There are two views which I consider to be most likely true of 1 John 3:6, 9. One view says that no true child of God sins and sins and sins without any repentance. So it’s not, if you lie 20 times in a day, that disproves your salvation. That’s arbitrary, and it misses the fact that any sin is infinitely outrageous to God. In this view, it’s not about the amount of sins we commit, but whether repentance is an ongoing reality in our lives. No matter if you think that is what John is saying specifically here or not, it is a Biblical truth.
The other view I think is likely says that the English translators have really done us a disfavor. This view holds that in the original Greek, “keep on sinning,” isn’t what John wrote. John wrote “No one born of God sins.” Now, immediately you can see why the English translators did what they did — John has already said that we do still sin as Christians. So they look at the passage, they look at the context, and they’ve added in what they hope will clarify the point John is trying to make — true Christians don’t sin without repenting. What this second view claims is this: the sin being referred to is specific, not general. No one born of God leaves the fellowship of the Father; no one born of God leaves the Apostles message of the Gospel; and no one born of God, therefore, leaves God’s true children in hatred.
I think both views are likely, but I’ll let you decide.

1 John 4:18

“What the author means by perfect love here is God’s love for them that dispels their fear. When believers love God because he first loved them (4:19), their fear of God is driven out. Love for God and fear of God cannot coexist (cf. Rom 8:15) … The type of fear meant here is fear of punishment . . . When people fear God’s punishment, it is a sign that they have not yet been perfected in love: ‘The one who fears is not made perfect in love.’ Perfection in love here involves a love for God that is based on our knowledge of God’s love for us, and this love relationship is what removes our fear as we face the day of judgment.” – Collin Kruse, The Letters of John.

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