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Speaker 2: So first John's
where we're gonna be.

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If you want to get your Bibles
already ready for that, that would

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be a good place for you to turn.

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It's a short book, but there's a lot
inside of it, and we're gonna have to.

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Give a lot of time and attention
to make this valuable for you.

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It's deceptively simple and
endlessly deep, and I wanna

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show you some of those things.

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But before we do that, uh, I wanna start
by encouraging you with a quote that I

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came across a while back, but found and
still find incredibly helpful sermon's.

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Title is called The Foundation
of Our Assurance is Jesus.

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And we'll come back to that in a second.

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But let me, uh, encourage
you with this here.

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Oliver Wendell Holmes is noted as saying
this, I would not give a fig for the

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simplicity, this side of complexity, but
I would give my life for the simplicity

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on the other side of complexity.

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Sit with that a second.

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See if you can track
what he's saying there.

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There's a kind of approach
to difficult topics.

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Where on the near side of complex
subjects like our faith, like theology,

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like the action of our faith and how
it works together with our faith.

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There is a, a tendency when you're early
in this stage to oversimplify something

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to the point that it's simplistic and it's
not accurate to what you're being taught.

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That is one error that can
happen with complicated

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subjects or difficult subjects.

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Complexity.

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As he says here, he says, I
would give my life however.

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For the simplicity on the other
side of complexity on the near

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side of complexity is simplistic.

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On the far side of complexity is simple.

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You're gonna find that to be true
in your study of the gospel of John,

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rather the letter of John first
John, which is closely tied to and

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connected to the Gospel of John.

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One tendency to read this letter
is to read it simplistically.

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And to see that it's circular nature
and it's circular and repeated words are

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simple to the point of being simplistic.

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And you might say to yourself,
this seems pretty obvious.

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Why would John spend so much time
saying these things over and over again?

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But as you study this book, and what I'm
gonna promise to you as you hang with me

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these next eight or nine months, is that
the more you study this, the more you put

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your mind into the, the, the letter of
First John, the more you'll find it to be.

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Incredibly rich, and yet the circular
nature of the book, its repetition is not

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meant to be understood simplistically, but
it is simple simplicity on the far side

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of complexity after studying it, after
thinking about it, after discerning it.

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So I don't want you to make the mistake
of seeing John as a simple book.

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I want you to see it simply
without oversimplifying it.

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This is gonna be important because
one of the subjects that we're gonna

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tackle with this particular letter is
the tap, this topic of your salvation

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and your assurance, uh, which is this
topic of saying, how do I know that?

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I know I'm right with God?

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How can I be assured that my
relationship with God is built to last?

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Uh, as Jesus says that my
relationship with God is built on

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the rock and not built on the sand.

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How do I know that?

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How do I know that?

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I know to quote the series title.

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And John's intention in writing is
to help you know that you know, in

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fact, that's one of the things he's
gonna say near the end of the book.

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Let me just take you there really quickly.

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First, John chapter five,
starting at verse 13.

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This is one of John's stated reasons
for writing this little letter.

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He says, one John five 13, I write these
things to you who believe, and he is

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talking to an audience of believers who
believe in the name of the son of God.

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That you may know that
you have eternal life.

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I want you to know that you
know, is what John is saying.

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And so even though there's lots
of things that we're going to read

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and study together that might cause
you pause and say, I'm not sure if

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I have what John is talking about.

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John doesn't give you a line to say
if you're this tall, you can get on

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the rollercoaster of Christianity.

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He doesn't give you clear measurements
to say, well, if you've sinned

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this many times today or this week,
you're clearly not a Christian.

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He gives you something much more practical
and more realistic, and yet also at the

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very same time, much more challenging.

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He gives you these broad and beautiful
brush strokes of what the Christian life

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is meant to look like, and his intention
is to encourage you who believe and to

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give you the assurance that your walk
with God is solid on the solid ground.

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It's making progress.

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So we're gonna read a lot about what
John has to say about your salvation,

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your faith, ultimately your assurance.

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And this is critical for us because
we live in the land called the Bible

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Belt, and some have called Texas
the belt buckle of the Bible Belt.

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You know that there's a church,
you throw a rock at any corner.

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You're gonna hit a church, you'll
hit something with a, a, a beautiful

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campus and usually really great.

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Uh, a really great landscaping,
sometimes large parking lots.

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There's churches everywhere.

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We're meeting in a church
and not all of them are bad.

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That's a great thing, by and large.

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But one of the challenges in our
particular area is that faith has

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become something that is easy.

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It's expected.

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And it's part of the cultural ethos.

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Even though things are changing in Texas
and the demographics are shifting into

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something entirely other than what Texas
used to be known for, there's still a

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reminiscent sense of Christian faith here.

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It's expected.

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It's normal.

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You talk to your server or
your barista and you say, Hey,

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where do you go to church?

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Or as Pastor PJ said recently in
a sermon, do you have a faith?

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No one's offended by that.

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At least not initially.

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I mean, we're not in Austin, so it's
a little more practical up here.

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People expect you to say, well, yeah,
I go to, I go to Prestonwood, or I

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go to Lighthouse, or I go to Compass.

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Faith is an expected thing around here,
and that's wonderful in one sense,

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but also terrifying in another because
then you can easily do something

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that Jesus s warns us against.

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And Matthew chapter seven, you can grow
presumptive or assuming that you have a

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relationship with God because you're near
people who have a relationship with God.

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Jesus says in one of the scariest
passages in the Bible, not everyone

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who says to me, Lord, Lord will
enter the kingdom of heaven.

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No one who says that.

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That is, just because you confess
with your mouth as Romans 10 says,

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doesn't mean that your heart is right,
just because you're saying Lord.

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Lord, you call it Jesus, king
and Lord, and master doesn't

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mean that you are right.

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Two Corinthians 13.

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Paul says, test yourself to see
whether you're in the faith or do you

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not realize this about yourselves,
that Jesus Christ is in you unless

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indeed you fail to meet the test.

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He says, we find that scripture
gives us some clear warnings not

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to assume and presume upon the Lord
when it comes to our relationship.

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And so on the one hand we have John
who's saying, I write these things to

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give you an assurance about your faith.

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And on the other hand, scripture tells
us in a few places, Hey, be careful that

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you're not just making assumptions about
your walk with God just because you're

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near people who have a walk with God.

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There should be clear evidence
or scripture calls fruit.

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Galatians chapter 5 22 23.

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There should be fruit or evidence
of your relationship with God.

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And so we wanna look at this letter
because we don't want to assume.

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I wanna avoid assumption.

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So the first reason we need to look at
this is we wanna avoid the assumption.

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The second reason we wanna look at this
is I want you to enjoy assurance, to avoid

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assumption, and to enjoy assu assurance.

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First, John is necessary for us
because John in, as a pastor in,

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he's very pastoral in this letter.

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One thing I've learned after
reading this thing over and over

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again is that John writes like a
man who cares about his people.

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He's not throwing swords with
his mouth and saying, you guys

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ought to be better by now.

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What's wrong with you?

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Shape up or ship out, you
know, stop acting like this.

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You ought to grow up.

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He's, he's a pastor, he's a father.

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He's a man who cares about his people.

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And consequently, because your pastors
at this church care about you, we want

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you to enjoy the assurance that comes
with knowing the God that has saved you.

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And to do that well, we have to know
what genuine assurance looks like because

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we don't want to fall prey to Matthew
seven having a false assurance note.

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Again, not everyone who says to me,
Lord, Lord, he says, many will say

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to me on the day, Lord, didn't we?

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And then they're gonna fill in the
blank with all of the good works

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that they've done for the Lord.

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These men possessed assurance
even to their dying breath,

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and they face the Lord.

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And he says, the scariest
words depart from me.

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I never knew you.

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And so we gotta be clear that
we can have an assurance that

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is misleading, a foe assurance.

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I want you to have genuine assurance,
which means we need to know from one John

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what that genuine assurance looks like.

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Most important question
you can ask yourself.

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Is going to be what is the foundation
or the basis of my assurance?

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What gives me confidence
that I am right with God?

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How do I know that?

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I know how you answer that question
is critical to your experience

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of the blessing of assurance.

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To answer it wrongly, and all
of us are tempted to do this.

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To answer it wrongly will
leave you shaky and unsure.

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You'll come to a crisis of faith where
you're saying, am I even a Christian?

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Am I even a man after God's own heart?

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I wanna be a Christian.

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I can't because I can't do these
things that you're measuring yourself

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against a standard that maybe
God doesn't want you to measure.

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And so we're, we're trying to write
attention here in this letter.

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On the one hand, I want you to
love and revel and cherish the

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grace of God in Christ Jesus.

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I want you to so savor the fact
that you are saved by grace.

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That it is a doctrine that you
clinging to for life and for

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health for the rest of your life.

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On the other hand, I don't want
you to take grace and say, well,

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consequently I could do whatever I want.

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As Paul says in Romans six, shall
we continue to sin that Grace

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May have bound by no means how?

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How can we who died to
sin still live in it?

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He says, and therefore, I
want you to avoid license.

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Don't want you to see grace as a
ticket to sin, but I want you to see

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grace as freedom to do righteous.

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To live righteously in God's sight first.

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John is going to help us
with all of these things.

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I love this letter for you guys.

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I'm so excited for the next nine months.

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God willing, we will get through
all of this, but of course, we're

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only doing a sermon a month, so
this is gonna go pretty quickly.

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Here's how you can get
the most out of John.

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All I want you to do before you
show up to this meeting every

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month is to just read first.

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John, before you get here, I would love
for you to read through the letter.

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If you're a slower reader, it
might take you 25, 30 minutes.

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Um, and because John is so deceptively
simple and endlessly deep, uh, you

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might be tempted to slow down during
certain sections, and I'm, I'm just gonna

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encourage you, just read through it.

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Just read through all five chapters
before you get here, even if you

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woke up 30 minutes early to do that
before you arrive to the sermon.

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That would really help you get
a sense of where John is going.

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And again, I don't want you to feel
anything less than John's pastoral

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heart as we go through this letter.

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Well, speaking of John, let me just
give you a couple introductory markers

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before we dive deeper into this.

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Here.

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I keep on referring to John.

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Well, what John are we talking about?

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Uh, you'll notice that the letter doesn't
begin with a a from John to these people.

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It's really and technically an anonymous
letter, and yet it's anonymity is not to

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be, is is not something that should throw
you off because based on the language.

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We're pretty confident that
this is from the Apostle John.

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This is the same John who wrote
the Gospel of John, which Pastor PJ

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preached through a couple years ago.

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In fact, if you wanted to pair Pastor PJ's
preaching, you could go back through our

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catalog, download the sermons, and listen
to them in light of our series here.

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So this is gonna be John, a son of Zedi.

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Uh, we don't have evidence in the
text itself besides the fact that

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it matches so closely to the gospel
of Johns stylistically, and even in

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vocabulary and even in the simplicity.

227
00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:09,570
When you learn Greek, uh, for the first
time when you go to elementary Greek,

228
00:12:09,570 --> 00:12:13,710
one of the letters that, uh, a Greek
professor will make you read through

229
00:12:13,710 --> 00:12:17,760
is gonna be First John or the Gospel
of John, because John's language is

230
00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:20,610
so simple, but he is not simplistic.

231
00:12:21,030 --> 00:12:22,140
Uh, John is far from that.

232
00:12:22,140 --> 00:12:22,740
He is simple.

233
00:12:22,740 --> 00:12:26,250
He's not simplistic, and so the
language is easy, at least on

234
00:12:26,250 --> 00:12:29,280
its face, superficially, but
challenging reading to be sure.

235
00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:31,920
The audience, who's John writing to?

236
00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,890
Well, again, notice he doesn't address
it to any particular group of people.

237
00:12:35,010 --> 00:12:38,880
He's not saying to the the Athenians, he
is not saying to the church at Ephesus.

238
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,610
He just jumps into his,
what I think is his sermon.

239
00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:45,270
And so it seems likely that who
John is referring to is likely

240
00:12:45,270 --> 00:12:47,939
the church in or around Ephesus.

241
00:12:48,030 --> 00:12:52,860
John spends his final ministry days
in this region, and consequently

242
00:12:52,860 --> 00:12:56,220
he becomes a father to all
of these people in this area.

243
00:12:56,220 --> 00:12:57,540
At least that's how we understand it.

244
00:12:57,540 --> 00:12:59,069
This makes the most sense of John's.

245
00:12:59,505 --> 00:13:00,855
Timeline and his ministry.

246
00:13:00,855 --> 00:13:04,275
So if Ephesus is the most
likely candidate, the church at

247
00:13:04,275 --> 00:13:06,314
Ephesus, they've gotten a lot of
inks spilled on the scriptures.

248
00:13:06,314 --> 00:13:07,095
You might know this.

249
00:13:07,425 --> 00:13:08,444
They get a lot of attention.

250
00:13:08,985 --> 00:13:11,595
And so John is there, he is
their pastor, at least one of

251
00:13:11,595 --> 00:13:12,555
their pastors at this time.

252
00:13:12,765 --> 00:13:16,694
But maybe this letter, uh, yeah, this
letter is meant to be a circular letter.

253
00:13:16,694 --> 00:13:18,975
So that would mean it would also
go to a lot of the churches in,

254
00:13:18,975 --> 00:13:21,345
in and around Asia Minor, perhaps.

255
00:13:21,435 --> 00:13:24,885
And that's why we think there's so
little here in terms of specificity

256
00:13:25,035 --> 00:13:26,204
to a certain group of people.

257
00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:29,610
Uh, he calls them his little children.

258
00:13:29,610 --> 00:13:31,830
In fact, this is one of the
things I love most about John.

259
00:13:31,980 --> 00:13:33,810
He's likely an age of John.

260
00:13:33,990 --> 00:13:37,920
He, you might know, he lives the
longest we suspect of all the apostles.

261
00:13:38,190 --> 00:13:41,760
Uh, he is probably in his
later years at this point.

262
00:13:42,030 --> 00:13:46,655
If we think that the gospel of John
was written around 90 ad we think First

263
00:13:46,770 --> 00:13:51,300
John was written between 90 and 95
ad, give or take, and on top of that,

264
00:13:51,300 --> 00:13:54,630
some have even suggested that second
John might have been a cover letter.

265
00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:55,830
Four.

266
00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:00,210
Uh, for First John as a way to
introduce the letter because Second

267
00:14:00,210 --> 00:14:04,320
John, very similar in language, very
similar in content, and yet in this

268
00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,680
one he actually says the elder to
the unelected lady and her children.

269
00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:08,760
There's an address there.

270
00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:12,450
That one actually functions like a
letter where First John doesn't have

271
00:14:12,450 --> 00:14:13,800
the same elements of the letter.

272
00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:15,750
In fact, first John,
again, it's anonymous.

273
00:14:15,750 --> 00:14:19,980
It doesn't say who it's from, doesn't say
who it's to, and it, it gives us the sense

274
00:14:19,980 --> 00:14:24,360
that this is more sermonic in tone, which
would account for a lot of the repetition.

275
00:14:24,870 --> 00:14:28,020
I think it's a compelling idea to
think that First John was meant to

276
00:14:28,020 --> 00:14:31,650
be a sermon read out loud by the
church that he was writing it to,

277
00:14:31,829 --> 00:14:35,459
which would be one of the reasons
you see so much repetition, so much

278
00:14:35,459 --> 00:14:37,680
circularity in John, in John's thinking.

279
00:14:37,740 --> 00:14:40,530
He's trying to do what all good teachers
do, which is to repeat themselves.

280
00:14:41,895 --> 00:14:43,064
Why does John write then?

281
00:14:43,064 --> 00:14:46,724
Well, first John is written,
we think based on the internal

282
00:14:46,724 --> 00:14:51,285
evidence, primarily because of
division taking place in the church.

283
00:14:51,285 --> 00:14:54,194
There's a large group of people
in this church at this time who

284
00:14:54,194 --> 00:14:58,995
leave the church because of a, a,
a doctrinal, a doctrinal fight.

285
00:14:59,175 --> 00:15:02,594
You're gonna read about this in
chapter two, where he says, therefore,

286
00:15:02,714 --> 00:15:05,895
uh, he says, they went out from us
that said this, this large group

287
00:15:05,895 --> 00:15:09,314
of secessionists, these, these, uh,
antagonizes, they went out from us.

288
00:15:09,705 --> 00:15:10,695
But they were not of us.

289
00:15:10,695 --> 00:15:13,575
John is trying to console them
for, if they had been of us, they

290
00:15:13,575 --> 00:15:14,925
would have continued with us.

291
00:15:14,925 --> 00:15:17,835
So John is trying to help them
wrestle through this difficult

292
00:15:17,835 --> 00:15:19,455
season of a church split.

293
00:15:20,100 --> 00:15:22,980
People that they knew and loved and
perhaps were doing ministry with

294
00:15:23,010 --> 00:15:25,980
suddenly up and leave the church,
and John's trying to reach them

295
00:15:25,980 --> 00:15:27,959
and say, guys, don't sweat this.

296
00:15:27,990 --> 00:15:29,069
Let's think this through.

297
00:15:29,069 --> 00:15:31,890
Let me give you the assurance that
you need to know that your faith

298
00:15:31,890 --> 00:15:34,980
is not in jeopardy just because
you've suffered this traumatic loss.

299
00:15:35,189 --> 00:15:38,400
In fact, let me encourage you
with this whole letter about what

300
00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:42,360
genuine faith, genuine doctrine,
and genuine love looks like.

301
00:15:43,470 --> 00:15:46,079
One of John's reasons I already
noted here is that he wants

302
00:15:46,079 --> 00:15:47,064
to assure you as his reader.

303
00:15:48,074 --> 00:15:51,344
You're gonna see three themes
repeat over and over again

304
00:15:51,704 --> 00:15:53,175
in the first letter of John.

305
00:15:53,535 --> 00:15:59,084
Uh, John is writing to help clarify
true obedience, true doctrine,

306
00:15:59,145 --> 00:16:02,535
and true love, true obedience,
true doctrine, and true love.

307
00:16:02,535 --> 00:16:07,214
You're gonna see this over and over
again, and I'll highlight them to you and

308
00:16:07,214 --> 00:16:08,685
point them out as we come across them.

309
00:16:08,805 --> 00:16:11,775
It's true obedience, true
doctrine, and true love.

310
00:16:12,135 --> 00:16:16,425
That's really the flavor that John
gives us as we're trying to ask and

311
00:16:16,425 --> 00:16:19,665
answer the question, how do I know
that my faith is legitimate, is real?

312
00:16:19,875 --> 00:16:22,065
Well, the fruits he's gonna
point to is true obedience,

313
00:16:22,065 --> 00:16:23,415
true doctrine, and true love.

314
00:16:24,135 --> 00:16:24,405
Okay?

315
00:16:24,405 --> 00:16:28,545
All of that is just a starting place
for getting us into the gospel of John.

316
00:16:28,755 --> 00:16:32,715
I mentioned to you John's language and
his Greek is quite simple, but as we

317
00:16:32,715 --> 00:16:36,435
enter into these first four verses,
you're gonna find that the simple Greek.

318
00:16:36,780 --> 00:16:39,450
Is deceptively simple and endlessly deep.

319
00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:43,110
Let me read along with you as we read
through these first four verses, and

320
00:16:43,110 --> 00:16:46,530
then I'm gonna slowly take us through
this section to give you a sense of

321
00:16:46,530 --> 00:16:48,240
what I think John is trying to do.

322
00:16:48,930 --> 00:16:49,890
Here's what it says.

323
00:16:50,130 --> 00:16:52,380
Read along with me in your Bibles, please.

324
00:16:53,220 --> 00:17:00,270
That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have

325
00:17:00,270 --> 00:17:05,685
seen with our eyes, which we looked
upon and have touched with our hands.

326
00:17:06,765 --> 00:17:12,165
Concerning the word of life, the life
was made manifest, and we have seen

327
00:17:12,165 --> 00:17:17,835
it and testified to it and proclaim to
you the eternal life, which was with

328
00:17:17,835 --> 00:17:20,895
the Father and was made manifest to us.

329
00:17:21,585 --> 00:17:27,165
That which we have seen and heard,
we proclaim also to you so that you

330
00:17:27,165 --> 00:17:29,625
too may have fellowship with us.

331
00:17:29,715 --> 00:17:34,185
And indeed our fellowship is with the
Father and with his son, Jesus Christ.

332
00:17:35,115 --> 00:17:39,855
And we are writing these things
so that our joy may be complete.

333
00:17:40,635 --> 00:17:41,264
Okay.

334
00:17:41,415 --> 00:17:42,345
Jam packed.

335
00:17:42,675 --> 00:17:45,465
I wonder if when you read those
first few verses you're saying,

336
00:17:45,465 --> 00:17:46,965
what is John trying to say here?

337
00:17:47,294 --> 00:17:49,274
It's so tangled and twisted.

338
00:17:49,425 --> 00:17:53,294
These are some of the most challenging
verses in the New Testament.

339
00:17:53,985 --> 00:17:56,715
Let me try to diagram for
you what I think he's doing.

340
00:17:56,715 --> 00:17:59,145
Are you able to see, gentlemen,
can you see B behind me?

341
00:17:59,175 --> 00:17:59,985
Let me back up then.

342
00:18:01,455 --> 00:18:02,835
It is gonna be important for you to see.

343
00:18:03,645 --> 00:18:04,425
Is that better?

344
00:18:05,175 --> 00:18:05,625
Great.

345
00:18:06,975 --> 00:18:07,545
Okay.

346
00:18:08,715 --> 00:18:12,945
John begins with four relative clauses.

347
00:18:13,485 --> 00:18:16,065
It is, they're describing something
without giving you the verb.

348
00:18:16,725 --> 00:18:20,115
So he begins by saying, he's starting
this whole thing, saying that, which was

349
00:18:20,115 --> 00:18:22,005
from the beginning, which we have heard.

350
00:18:22,005 --> 00:18:23,865
Which we have seen, which we've
looked upon in touch with our

351
00:18:23,865 --> 00:18:25,245
hands concerning the word of life.

352
00:18:25,605 --> 00:18:27,525
So he's saying a preamble.

353
00:18:28,005 --> 00:18:31,275
He's ramping up to his main
idea, but he doesn't get to his

354
00:18:31,275 --> 00:18:32,625
main idea until verse three.

355
00:18:33,435 --> 00:18:35,625
Let me show you that, which
was from the beginning.

356
00:18:35,625 --> 00:18:40,395
By the way, he's talking about Jesus
here, and yet he's not using a masculine

357
00:18:40,395 --> 00:18:43,095
pronoun to refer to him that is neutral.

358
00:18:43,425 --> 00:18:44,340
That which was from the beginning.

359
00:18:45,690 --> 00:18:49,260
Which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we looked upon and

360
00:18:49,260 --> 00:18:50,310
have touched with our hands, is clear.

361
00:18:50,310 --> 00:18:52,980
He is talking about more
than just a subject.

362
00:18:52,980 --> 00:18:55,470
He's talking about the
subject that is Jesus Christ.

363
00:18:55,470 --> 00:18:59,040
He says, concerning the word of life,
commentators are divided about what

364
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,730
he's exactly doing here, but it's
clear to me, at least however much

365
00:19:02,730 --> 00:19:06,570
you take my word for it, that he's
intending to communicate not only the

366
00:19:06,570 --> 00:19:09,690
message about Jesus, but Jesus himself.

367
00:19:10,620 --> 00:19:13,590
John loves to do these things
where he gives you simple language

368
00:19:13,590 --> 00:19:14,969
that has depth of meaning.

369
00:19:14,969 --> 00:19:18,240
That is, he's intending to say
more than one thing, even as

370
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:19,530
he says the one thing itself.

371
00:19:19,530 --> 00:19:22,350
So he's saying the that which
was from the beginning, which

372
00:19:22,350 --> 00:19:23,550
sounds a lot like John one.

373
00:19:23,550 --> 00:19:24,120
One, right?

374
00:19:24,149 --> 00:19:25,260
In the beginning was the word.

375
00:19:25,260 --> 00:19:25,949
The word is with God.

376
00:19:25,949 --> 00:19:26,520
The word was God.

377
00:19:26,820 --> 00:19:30,840
He's doing something similar here
and that he's given you simple

378
00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:33,330
ideas that have depths of meaning.

379
00:19:33,765 --> 00:19:36,765
So when he says that, he's talking
about the message, but he's also

380
00:19:36,765 --> 00:19:38,235
talking about the messenger.

381
00:19:38,235 --> 00:19:40,005
Jesus himself, who was from the beginning.

382
00:19:40,005 --> 00:19:41,535
That is the agent of creation.

383
00:19:41,685 --> 00:19:44,895
The one who's pre-existent, the one
who came and was born as a baby.

384
00:19:44,955 --> 00:19:46,935
He was from the beginning,
and we have heard him.

385
00:19:46,995 --> 00:19:48,645
We've heard him, we've heard his message.

386
00:19:49,635 --> 00:19:51,975
We've looked upon him and have
touched him with our hands

387
00:19:51,975 --> 00:19:53,595
concerning the word of life.

388
00:19:54,694 --> 00:19:55,384
Let me continue.

389
00:19:55,985 --> 00:19:58,624
Verse two is a parenthetical statement.

390
00:19:58,955 --> 00:20:01,414
You'll notice that there's two big
dashes on the front end and the back

391
00:20:01,414 --> 00:20:05,014
of M dashes is what those are called,
but they're, it, it's meant to signify

392
00:20:05,014 --> 00:20:06,514
that this is a parenthetical statement.

393
00:20:06,754 --> 00:20:08,614
There's not m dashes in the Greek text.

394
00:20:08,644 --> 00:20:09,514
You should know this.

395
00:20:09,784 --> 00:20:12,904
Uh, so what we're doing here, what
we're seeing is that an editor is

396
00:20:12,904 --> 00:20:16,564
trying to help us see, we think verse
two is a parenthetical statement,

397
00:20:16,564 --> 00:20:17,854
and I would be inclined to agree.

398
00:20:18,574 --> 00:20:21,724
So notice here John ends with
concerning the word of life.

399
00:20:21,754 --> 00:20:25,054
All of this is about the word of life,
which again, I'm gonna argue is both

400
00:20:25,054 --> 00:20:27,124
about the subject and the subject.

401
00:20:27,124 --> 00:20:28,354
Capital S Jesus.

402
00:20:28,384 --> 00:20:31,804
So we're talking about the message
and the messenger, and then John in a

403
00:20:31,804 --> 00:20:33,574
parenthetical statement says, here's what.

404
00:20:33,664 --> 00:20:34,324
Here's what happened.

405
00:20:34,594 --> 00:20:36,544
That life was made manifest.

406
00:20:36,544 --> 00:20:40,474
It was revealed to us, and we've
seen it and testified to it and

407
00:20:40,474 --> 00:20:42,934
proclaimed to you the eternal life.

408
00:20:42,934 --> 00:20:45,934
He's talking about Jesus, but
he is also talking about your

409
00:20:45,934 --> 00:20:47,614
eternal life in and with Jesus.

410
00:20:48,319 --> 00:20:51,049
Which was with the father
and was made manifest to us.

411
00:20:51,349 --> 00:20:53,899
So you again, you begin to see
some of the, the parallels here.

412
00:20:53,899 --> 00:20:58,039
Jesus fits this description, so does
the message about Jesus, and I think

413
00:20:58,039 --> 00:21:00,829
that that dual meaning is intended.

414
00:21:02,479 --> 00:21:05,149
You'll also notice in the language
that John uses here, that it sounds

415
00:21:05,149 --> 00:21:06,919
a lot like a courtroom deposition.

416
00:21:06,919 --> 00:21:09,154
We testify, we proclaim.

417
00:21:09,859 --> 00:21:12,739
We, we've seen, I saw this with my hands.

418
00:21:12,739 --> 00:21:14,389
I looked on him, I touched him.

419
00:21:14,389 --> 00:21:17,179
I, I, I, I saw the, the risen Christ.

420
00:21:17,179 --> 00:21:18,949
I saw the preen, uh,
not the pre in Christ.

421
00:21:19,009 --> 00:21:19,909
I saw Christ.

422
00:21:20,389 --> 00:21:22,459
I engaged with him and it's real.

423
00:21:22,459 --> 00:21:24,049
And I promise you, I swear.

424
00:21:24,049 --> 00:21:26,419
And it's like you can imagine John
holding his hand on the Bible.

425
00:21:26,419 --> 00:21:29,599
If there was one saying, I
testified to you, this is true.

426
00:21:29,599 --> 00:21:31,129
I am not lying.

427
00:21:32,869 --> 00:21:34,399
You'll also notice curiously.

428
00:21:35,449 --> 00:21:38,479
That when John is giving this
preamble into his subject matter,

429
00:21:38,479 --> 00:21:43,519
he uses a lot of plural pronouns
that which we have heard, right?

430
00:21:43,519 --> 00:21:47,749
We testify, uh, the life was made
manifest and we have seen it.

431
00:21:47,749 --> 00:21:50,119
So the question of course in
your mind is, well, who's the we?

432
00:21:50,629 --> 00:21:51,319
Is this a plural?

433
00:21:51,319 --> 00:21:52,879
We is this a we of majesty?

434
00:21:53,059 --> 00:21:55,909
You know, John, with the Royal, we saying,
well, we have determined these things.

435
00:21:56,719 --> 00:22:00,919
It's likely that John is intending
to communicate the witnesses, not

436
00:22:00,919 --> 00:22:04,399
only of himself as being an an
actual eyewitness, but those who.

437
00:22:05,074 --> 00:22:09,064
In the community of John, as well as
the apostles could say, this is true.

438
00:22:09,064 --> 00:22:10,984
We have seen this, we have heard this.

439
00:22:11,254 --> 00:22:13,384
There's more that could be said about
that, but I think that's a really

440
00:22:13,384 --> 00:22:15,484
good, uh, hook to leave your mind on.

441
00:22:15,484 --> 00:22:19,744
John is not talking about we plural,
we as in majesty, but the, we as in

442
00:22:19,894 --> 00:22:24,874
the apostolic community and those who
have received the testimony, there's

443
00:22:24,874 --> 00:22:28,594
a lot of, uh, in the, in this first
letter of John, there's a lot of

444
00:22:28,594 --> 00:22:34,054
arguments that John puts forth to say,
who's the authority that you rely on?

445
00:22:34,369 --> 00:22:36,529
For, for the word.

446
00:22:36,859 --> 00:22:39,949
Now, who do you rely on for
trusted information about God?

447
00:22:40,279 --> 00:22:42,049
And of course he's establishing his own.

448
00:22:42,679 --> 00:22:44,119
He's reminding his community.

449
00:22:44,449 --> 00:22:47,509
Look guys, I'm not just a a
a, a hypo, a hypothetical.

450
00:22:47,509 --> 00:22:49,219
I ideator about the gospel.

451
00:22:49,219 --> 00:22:55,339
I saw Jesus, I witnessed him, I
understood him, and he was made manifest.

452
00:22:55,339 --> 00:22:56,059
He was revealed to us.

453
00:22:56,059 --> 00:22:56,569
We've seen it.

454
00:22:56,569 --> 00:22:57,469
We testified to it.

455
00:22:57,469 --> 00:22:58,369
We proclaim.

456
00:22:58,579 --> 00:23:00,634
We're telling you we're
we're declaring to you.

457
00:23:01,774 --> 00:23:04,474
And he was with the father and
he was made manifest to us.

458
00:23:04,894 --> 00:23:06,724
John picks up again in verse three.

459
00:23:07,234 --> 00:23:08,944
So remember verse two is a parenthetical.

460
00:23:08,944 --> 00:23:12,064
Verse three is John now picking
up his train of thought, which

461
00:23:12,064 --> 00:23:13,504
is why he goes back a few.

462
00:23:13,984 --> 00:23:16,804
He goes back a a few steps and
says that which we have seen and

463
00:23:16,804 --> 00:23:18,304
heard, we proclaim also to you.

464
00:23:18,604 --> 00:23:20,614
So he's saying, okay, I, I,
I lost my train of thought.

465
00:23:20,614 --> 00:23:23,824
Or rather he inserted a different
thought and then goes back to it.

466
00:23:25,084 --> 00:23:28,564
We have seen and heard and proclaim
also to you the word proclaim.

467
00:23:28,909 --> 00:23:33,649
Is the primary verb that governs
the last two, the last two verses.

468
00:23:34,009 --> 00:23:38,029
So everything leading up to this leads
to verse three saying, I'm telling you

469
00:23:38,029 --> 00:23:40,759
all this so I can proclaim it to you.

470
00:23:40,819 --> 00:23:43,129
I'm testifying, I'm witnessing to it.

471
00:23:43,339 --> 00:23:46,759
Verse three, I say these things and
I've I've, I've seen these things,

472
00:23:46,759 --> 00:23:50,119
I've heard it, and I'm proclaiming
to you, I'm telling you them.

473
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:51,679
I want you to know these things.

474
00:23:51,949 --> 00:23:57,679
Imperative that you understand this John
is saying, and then he tells us why.

475
00:23:58,624 --> 00:24:02,254
So that you may have fellowship
with us, which is mind blowing

476
00:24:02,254 --> 00:24:03,214
if you stop and think about that.

477
00:24:03,214 --> 00:24:03,994
I write all these things.

478
00:24:03,994 --> 00:24:07,384
I want you to know this so you
can have fellowship with us.

479
00:24:07,384 --> 00:24:08,614
And again, who's the us?

480
00:24:08,704 --> 00:24:11,224
I think he's talking about all
of those who have bended and and

481
00:24:11,224 --> 00:24:14,314
bowed the need of Christ, those
who have received and accepted

482
00:24:14,314 --> 00:24:16,504
the apostolic authoritative truth.

483
00:24:16,744 --> 00:24:19,594
I want you to have authority,
uh, fellowship with me and

484
00:24:19,594 --> 00:24:20,764
those who profess this faith.

485
00:24:20,764 --> 00:24:23,764
And I want you to have fellowship with all
of those who call on the name of Christ.

486
00:24:23,764 --> 00:24:24,904
I think that's intended.

487
00:24:25,684 --> 00:24:26,584
And then notice.

488
00:24:26,959 --> 00:24:28,189
John drops a bombshell.

489
00:24:28,189 --> 00:24:29,269
I want you to have fellowship with us.

490
00:24:29,269 --> 00:24:33,469
And by the way, our fellowship is
not just hunky dory Fellowship.

491
00:24:33,499 --> 00:24:36,859
Our fellowship is with the father
and with his son, Jesus Christ.

492
00:24:37,069 --> 00:24:40,939
This is John dropping credentials
again to say, look, these, this

493
00:24:40,939 --> 00:24:43,939
is the authoritative community
that God is establishing.

494
00:24:44,779 --> 00:24:49,129
We're gonna find out later on in
the letter that the secessionists,

495
00:24:49,129 --> 00:24:52,489
the defectors, also claim
to have fellowship with God.

496
00:24:53,014 --> 00:24:56,824
And so John is beginning to sow
seeds of who are you gonna trust,

497
00:24:56,854 --> 00:24:57,844
who are you gonna listen to?

498
00:24:58,264 --> 00:25:00,634
You're gonna have fellowship with
us if you believe these things.

499
00:25:00,634 --> 00:25:03,814
And our fellowship is with the father
and with his son, Jesus Christ.

500
00:25:04,324 --> 00:25:09,124
So one of the reasons he's writing is that
he cares about your fellowship, that you

501
00:25:09,124 --> 00:25:11,764
are fellowshipping with the right group.

502
00:25:13,264 --> 00:25:17,164
But finally in verse four, he
says, we're writing these things.

503
00:25:17,809 --> 00:25:20,089
So that our joy may be complete.

504
00:25:20,089 --> 00:25:23,779
And so John, again, pastorally,
he's concerned not only about their

505
00:25:23,779 --> 00:25:26,809
stability and their faithfulness, but
about their spiritual temperament.

506
00:25:27,110 --> 00:25:28,309
He wants 'em to have joy.

507
00:25:28,309 --> 00:25:29,029
How much joy?

508
00:25:29,209 --> 00:25:30,199
Well, complete joy.

509
00:25:30,679 --> 00:25:31,279
Partial joy.

510
00:25:31,309 --> 00:25:32,299
No full joy.

511
00:25:32,299 --> 00:25:34,610
You remember Jesus saying a lot
about this, and so there's the,

512
00:25:34,879 --> 00:25:36,259
there's the gist of the opening.

513
00:25:37,099 --> 00:25:39,319
John is sowing seeds that
he's gonna revisit later.

514
00:25:39,319 --> 00:25:40,789
And so we'll try to do the same here.

515
00:25:41,029 --> 00:25:42,829
I just want you to see what John is doing.

516
00:25:43,099 --> 00:25:45,229
John is giving us a preamble into this.

517
00:25:45,799 --> 00:25:50,089
Extraordinary letter, and it begins
with the simple and yet profound

518
00:25:50,089 --> 00:25:52,039
declaration of who Jesus is.

519
00:25:53,599 --> 00:25:57,319
These verses, verses one and
two, are meant to point us to

520
00:25:57,319 --> 00:26:00,229
the foundation of everything else
that we're about to discuss, and

521
00:26:00,229 --> 00:26:01,279
so let's just start it that way.

522
00:26:01,279 --> 00:26:04,549
Let me just tell you point number one,
then you ought to trust in the biblical

523
00:26:04,549 --> 00:26:05,689
Christ alone for your salvation.

524
00:26:05,689 --> 00:26:06,649
That's what John is doing.

525
00:26:07,249 --> 00:26:09,589
He's pointing your attention
and his first century.

526
00:26:10,009 --> 00:26:12,259
Audience's attention, not to their works.

527
00:26:12,259 --> 00:26:15,799
He doesn't talk about anything yet except
to, let's talk about the biblical Christ.

528
00:26:15,949 --> 00:26:20,209
Let's talk about the Christ who came in
real life, who lived in real history,

529
00:26:20,209 --> 00:26:24,229
who had real flesh and real blood, and
real bones, and that Christ is the one

530
00:26:24,229 --> 00:26:29,989
that I'm testifying to when it comes
to your assurance in Christ, to your

531
00:26:29,989 --> 00:26:32,734
knowledge of whether or not you are
saved, whether you know that, you know.

532
00:26:33,874 --> 00:26:36,724
John wants you to say, let's
look first toward Jesus.

533
00:26:36,904 --> 00:26:37,624
In fact, a.

534
00:26:37,624 --> 00:26:41,524
A great saying to the faith said,
for every look you give to yourself.

535
00:26:41,824 --> 00:26:42,514
Do you know this one?

536
00:26:43,234 --> 00:26:45,964
Take 10 looks at Christ.

537
00:26:46,534 --> 00:26:47,914
You're gonna have to look at yourself.

538
00:26:47,914 --> 00:26:50,524
When you start examining your faith,
you're gonna have to look at yourself.

539
00:26:51,304 --> 00:26:54,034
But instead of having some kind
of spiritual naval, navel gazing,

540
00:26:54,034 --> 00:26:55,969
where you're stuck looking at
yourself in the spiritual mirror.

541
00:26:57,214 --> 00:27:01,924
It's good to say, let me take my first
look and even my first 10 looks at Christ.

542
00:27:02,074 --> 00:27:02,614
Who is he?

543
00:27:02,704 --> 00:27:03,604
What has he done for me?

544
00:27:03,814 --> 00:27:05,254
How have I related to him?

545
00:27:05,254 --> 00:27:06,784
How have I responded to his gospel?

546
00:27:06,934 --> 00:27:07,924
John starts there.

547
00:27:08,224 --> 00:27:09,124
He was from the beginning.

548
00:27:09,184 --> 00:27:09,844
We've heard him.

549
00:27:09,874 --> 00:27:10,534
We've seen him.

550
00:27:10,564 --> 00:27:11,404
We've looked upon him.

551
00:27:11,404 --> 00:27:12,004
We've touched him.

552
00:27:12,214 --> 00:27:14,224
This word of life, he is the eternal life.

553
00:27:14,229 --> 00:27:17,074
He's the place that my assurance
is based upon, and I can't

554
00:27:17,074 --> 00:27:18,244
do anything better than that.

555
00:27:19,504 --> 00:27:21,394
What does this mean then,
practically speaking.

556
00:27:22,494 --> 00:27:26,694
Several years ago, I got interested
in Jehovah's Witnesses, not because

557
00:27:26,694 --> 00:27:28,824
I was interested in joining their
faith, but because I was interested

558
00:27:28,824 --> 00:27:31,254
at learning and understanding
so I can dismantle their faith.

559
00:27:31,674 --> 00:27:33,324
And so I did something very foolish.

560
00:27:33,834 --> 00:27:35,964
I started attending their gatherings.

561
00:27:37,224 --> 00:27:37,614
I know.

562
00:27:37,674 --> 00:27:37,864
Thank you.

563
00:27:38,964 --> 00:27:42,434
Their services are as dry
as bones, spiritually.

564
00:27:42,909 --> 00:27:46,629
Uh, man, it is, it is very different
than what you'd expect in a gathering

565
00:27:46,629 --> 00:27:49,689
like this or any church gathering
with a, a church that is actually

566
00:27:49,689 --> 00:27:50,769
following the Biblical Christ.

567
00:27:51,189 --> 00:27:53,499
Uh, but I made friends with an
older lady who invited me over for

568
00:27:53,499 --> 00:27:54,999
a study, and I said, absolutely.

569
00:27:55,474 --> 00:27:57,039
I, I have my, I'm thinking, great.

570
00:27:57,069 --> 00:27:58,359
The Lord has given you to me.

571
00:27:58,509 --> 00:27:59,979
I'm gonna win you to the faith.

572
00:28:00,039 --> 00:28:01,809
You're gonna, you're gonna
understand that this is, you've

573
00:28:01,809 --> 00:28:02,829
been wrong this whole time.

574
00:28:02,829 --> 00:28:04,539
She's been a Jehovahs
Witness for all her life.

575
00:28:04,539 --> 00:28:07,719
At that point, I went to her home
and she opened up a little book with

576
00:28:07,719 --> 00:28:10,569
me, I think the book was called,
reasoning from the Scriptures,

577
00:28:10,779 --> 00:28:12,639
and she began to walk me through.

578
00:28:13,314 --> 00:28:17,184
Why the Jehovah's Witnesses
are right about Jesus.

579
00:28:18,284 --> 00:28:23,444
I'm a young man at this point, and I
realized at that point I was outgunned.

580
00:28:24,734 --> 00:28:26,354
This lady knew her Bible better than me.

581
00:28:28,034 --> 00:28:32,054
She showed me in her own literature how
all these pieces make sense and they fit.

582
00:28:33,764 --> 00:28:36,104
And while I was in the lion
stand, I came to this realization.

583
00:28:37,124 --> 00:28:38,569
This is incredibly
foolish of me, number one.

584
00:28:39,914 --> 00:28:44,504
And number two, if I'm ever going to
do this again, I better master my Bible

585
00:28:45,254 --> 00:28:49,574
because I have so much confusion sewn
into my heart right now because of this,

586
00:28:49,634 --> 00:28:53,294
this woman, this faithful Jehovah's
Witness, I'm, I'm a little nervous.

587
00:28:53,624 --> 00:28:55,604
How do I deal with these
texts that she gave me?

588
00:28:56,804 --> 00:29:03,854
The problem for me in part was that I, I,
I knew my Bible at least reasonably well.

589
00:29:04,724 --> 00:29:08,624
But I really wrestled to defend what I
knew to be true because I was outgunned.

590
00:29:08,624 --> 00:29:12,044
I was outmaneuvered functionally,
I was biblically illiterate.

591
00:29:12,494 --> 00:29:13,484
Here's why that's important.

592
00:29:14,294 --> 00:29:17,684
If you're gonna trust in the
Biblical Christ stands the reason

593
00:29:17,684 --> 00:29:21,434
you gotta know his word, you gotta
know who he is from his word.

594
00:29:21,614 --> 00:29:22,904
You gotta master the word.

595
00:29:22,904 --> 00:29:24,824
You gotta have a sense of
who the Christ is that you're

596
00:29:24,824 --> 00:29:26,204
trusting by knowing his word.

597
00:29:27,284 --> 00:29:31,784
I mean, this is why John calls him
the word of life in the first verse.

598
00:29:32,354 --> 00:29:34,394
I can't trust the Christ
that I don't know.

599
00:29:35,474 --> 00:29:38,474
I can't put my faith in him
if I don't know who he is.

600
00:29:38,504 --> 00:29:41,564
It is critical that I
know the word of life.

601
00:29:42,614 --> 00:29:46,004
Jesus must reveal himself to us
through His word so we can trust him.

602
00:29:46,754 --> 00:29:50,294
You can't trust in someone you don't
know, and which is why I think when

603
00:29:50,294 --> 00:29:52,574
it comes to your faith and your
assurance, you have to make sure

604
00:29:52,574 --> 00:29:56,234
that you are in the word frequently.

605
00:29:57,334 --> 00:30:04,744
One of the, uh, ex-members of DC talk
deconstructed, and one of the things

606
00:30:04,744 --> 00:30:09,094
that he said in an article was this,
I don't think that God rather, I don't

607
00:30:09,094 --> 00:30:12,394
think that God that I believe in is
going to just all of a sudden ignore

608
00:30:12,394 --> 00:30:15,634
me because I don't believe every single
thing that's written down somewhere.

609
00:30:15,634 --> 00:30:17,434
Did you catch what he said?

610
00:30:18,679 --> 00:30:20,899
I don't think that the,
God, lemme try that again.

611
00:30:21,109 --> 00:30:25,819
I don't think the God that I believe in
is just going to all of a sudden ignore

612
00:30:25,819 --> 00:30:29,389
me because I don't believe every single
thing that's written down somewhere.

613
00:30:30,489 --> 00:30:31,959
Uh, okay, okay.

614
00:30:31,989 --> 00:30:32,529
Maybe.

615
00:30:33,279 --> 00:30:34,389
But you notice what he did there.

616
00:30:34,389 --> 00:30:38,139
He undermined the very foundation
of his trust in the Lord.

617
00:30:38,259 --> 00:30:39,669
What God does he have in mind?

618
00:30:39,669 --> 00:30:41,469
If it's not informed by the scriptures?

619
00:30:42,039 --> 00:30:44,649
How can you trust in the
God that you do not know?

620
00:30:45,804 --> 00:30:50,214
This is one reason men, we are, we are
almost fanatical about making sure that

621
00:30:50,214 --> 00:30:53,574
you're in the word because we care so
deeply that you are informed and shaped

622
00:30:53,574 --> 00:30:57,984
by the word more than you are even shaped
by my preaching, pastor PJ's preaching,

623
00:30:57,984 --> 00:30:59,274
pastor Mark's preaching, et cetera.

624
00:30:59,544 --> 00:31:00,594
We wanted to be men of the word.

625
00:31:01,359 --> 00:31:02,559
You're gonna trust in the Biblical Christ.

626
00:31:02,559 --> 00:31:04,209
It has to start by trusting his word.

627
00:31:04,389 --> 00:31:06,999
Secondly, what we want you to
trust in the Biblical Christ,

628
00:31:06,999 --> 00:31:08,439
instead of second rate Messiahs.

629
00:31:08,769 --> 00:31:11,079
This is related to what we were
talking about with Jehovah's.

630
00:31:11,079 --> 00:31:13,929
Witnesses mean you could talk
about the Mormons, but even then

631
00:31:14,049 --> 00:31:15,729
take, take them outta the equation.

632
00:31:15,999 --> 00:31:18,969
Lots of people have a second rate
Messiah, they just don't know it.

633
00:31:20,069 --> 00:31:24,119
But Jesus that many people carry
around in their minds is not one

634
00:31:24,119 --> 00:31:25,679
shaped and informed by scripture.

635
00:31:25,679 --> 00:31:28,049
It's shaped by sentimentalism.

636
00:31:28,644 --> 00:31:32,009
It's shaped by some Hallmark
cards, perhaps maybe a few blogs

637
00:31:32,009 --> 00:31:33,269
that they read online somewhere.

638
00:31:33,269 --> 00:31:37,409
Maybe an influencer that tells 'em about
Jesus on the, on the web somewhere.

639
00:31:37,889 --> 00:31:41,759
Uh, people have an idea, uh, of
their messiah, of Jesus that's shaped

640
00:31:41,759 --> 00:31:42,929
by something other than scripture.

641
00:31:42,929 --> 00:31:45,749
This is why John begins with,
we've seen him, we've touched

642
00:31:45,749 --> 00:31:47,189
him, we've looked upon him.

643
00:31:47,459 --> 00:31:49,439
This is the real deal.

644
00:31:50,144 --> 00:31:52,994
There are many false Messiahs out
there, and we could talk about all the

645
00:31:52,994 --> 00:31:56,384
different cult groups and the different
opportunities to, to be misled, but

646
00:31:56,384 --> 00:31:57,524
I'm, I'm less concerned with that.

647
00:31:57,524 --> 00:32:00,704
They're, they're a threat for sure,
but I'm more concerned with the Jesus

648
00:32:00,704 --> 00:32:02,234
that you have in your own imagination.

649
00:32:02,894 --> 00:32:05,954
All of us have deficiencies
when it comes to Jesus.

650
00:32:06,014 --> 00:32:09,854
Our job is to discern where there's
deficiencies are by again, measuring

651
00:32:09,854 --> 00:32:12,329
ourselves and measuring our understanding
of him according to his word.

652
00:32:13,904 --> 00:32:16,514
You'd be able to define the
biblical Jesus, which is why

653
00:32:16,514 --> 00:32:17,534
I put that in our point here.

654
00:32:17,534 --> 00:32:20,084
It's the Biblical Jesus, not
the one that we've invented.

655
00:32:20,654 --> 00:32:22,244
The biblical Jesus is meek and mild.

656
00:32:22,244 --> 00:32:25,514
To be sure he is full of grace and truth.

657
00:32:25,934 --> 00:32:31,094
He is wonderful and glorious,
and he's also the judge.

658
00:32:32,174 --> 00:32:36,674
He also loves us enough to
discipline us for our disobedience.

659
00:32:37,244 --> 00:32:40,904
It's important that we have a full
orbed image of Christ instead of

660
00:32:40,904 --> 00:32:42,434
trusting in a second rate Messiah.

661
00:32:43,124 --> 00:32:45,884
John later on in his, in his
little letter here, is gonna

662
00:32:45,884 --> 00:32:46,814
say something to this church.

663
00:32:46,814 --> 00:32:50,504
He's gonna say, beloved, do not believe
every spirit, just because the spirit

664
00:32:50,504 --> 00:32:54,164
comes to you in a polished, uh, a
polished looking display, or it's a

665
00:32:54,164 --> 00:32:55,724
great looking video, highly produced.

666
00:32:55,724 --> 00:32:59,834
Don't believe every spirit, but test the
spirits to see whether they are from God.

667
00:33:00,524 --> 00:33:02,894
For many false prophets have
gone out into the world.

668
00:33:03,734 --> 00:33:07,184
Your vision, your image, your
understanding of Jesus will be shaped by

669
00:33:07,184 --> 00:33:10,124
somebody and something is it Scripture.

670
00:33:10,874 --> 00:33:13,034
And those whom you trust to
open up scripture with you.

671
00:33:13,934 --> 00:33:19,334
Third, we trust in the biblical
Christ instead of our performance.

672
00:33:20,114 --> 00:33:23,294
And notice that John says, we
proclaim to you the eternal life.

673
00:33:23,804 --> 00:33:27,314
John anchors your faith in
Jesus, and he never wants you to

674
00:33:27,314 --> 00:33:31,484
look at yourself as the primary
arbitrator of your faith in Christ.

675
00:33:31,784 --> 00:33:34,544
He doesn't want you to look at yourself
and say, oh, have I done well this week?

676
00:33:34,574 --> 00:33:37,424
And is that evidence of my
faith in the ultimate sense?

677
00:33:37,874 --> 00:33:40,724
You will look at your performance, you
will look at the works that you're doing.

678
00:33:40,724 --> 00:33:42,374
You will look at your sin tendencies.

679
00:33:42,584 --> 00:33:46,634
You will look at the, you will have
to look at them of necessity, but

680
00:33:46,634 --> 00:33:52,034
again, I'm looking primarily at
Christ, my faith, my hope, my trust

681
00:33:52,034 --> 00:33:57,034
is in Christ, the eternal life that
was with the Father took on flesh.

682
00:33:57,424 --> 00:34:01,414
He lived the obedient life that we
have never and could never live.

683
00:34:01,774 --> 00:34:04,114
He went to the cross bearing our sin.

684
00:34:04,819 --> 00:34:09,649
And judgment that we deserved, and he
rose bodily on the third day, Jesus.

685
00:34:09,649 --> 00:34:11,539
Amen to uh, God's Amen.

686
00:34:11,539 --> 00:34:15,168
The Father's amen to Jesus was
demonstrated by raising him from the dead.

687
00:34:15,409 --> 00:34:17,029
He is who we put our trust in.

688
00:34:18,129 --> 00:34:22,089
We never graduate from
the gospel you never do.

689
00:34:22,089 --> 00:34:25,149
Gentlemen, if you know the
gospel, praise God, you'll only

690
00:34:25,149 --> 00:34:26,649
ever go deeper in the gospel.

691
00:34:26,649 --> 00:34:28,688
You will never, ever move beyond it.

692
00:34:29,679 --> 00:34:31,659
The gospel must anchor your heart.

693
00:34:32,109 --> 00:34:35,799
In every single thing that you
do, you'll never forget like

694
00:34:35,799 --> 00:34:37,509
the Apostle Paul that you are.

695
00:34:37,748 --> 00:34:41,679
And once were an object of God's wrath
and apart from Christ, you possess

696
00:34:41,708 --> 00:34:44,259
nothing of value, your values in him.

697
00:34:44,379 --> 00:34:48,849
And consequently, we trust in
him instead of our performance.

698
00:34:48,849 --> 00:34:51,039
But again, we're trusting
in the biblical Christ.

699
00:34:52,333 --> 00:34:56,918
You might remember Luther in his
95 thesis, he, he wrote as thesis

700
00:34:56,918 --> 00:35:00,339
number one, he says, when our Lord
and master Jesus Christ had repent.

701
00:35:00,849 --> 00:35:05,949
He will, that the entire life of
believers to be one of repentance.

702
00:35:06,729 --> 00:35:08,949
I only take one small
issue with that word.

703
00:35:09,369 --> 00:35:12,609
Um, in that I would've loved for
him to articulate its repentance

704
00:35:12,609 --> 00:35:14,469
and faith, it's ongoing.

705
00:35:14,469 --> 00:35:15,339
And I, he intended that.

706
00:35:15,339 --> 00:35:19,449
I, I'm confident I'm not, I'm not,
uh, criticizing Luther by any stretch.

707
00:35:19,449 --> 00:35:23,019
Not in my league, but I would
say all of life is repentance,

708
00:35:23,019 --> 00:35:23,949
but all of life is faith.

709
00:35:24,444 --> 00:35:27,414
It's like when you become a Christian,
you realize that the doorway to

710
00:35:27,414 --> 00:35:29,544
Christ is repentant faith in Christ.

711
00:35:29,664 --> 00:35:32,574
But then when you open the door and you go
into the house, you realize, oh, the whole

712
00:35:32,574 --> 00:35:36,684
house is repentance In faith, the rest
of my life is repentant faith in Christ.

713
00:35:36,924 --> 00:35:40,284
My whole life, I, I open the door every,
the whole Christian life, the whole

714
00:35:40,284 --> 00:35:41,724
Christian mansion is repentant faith.

715
00:35:42,824 --> 00:35:47,274
Knowing that, you know, begins
with knowing who you know.

716
00:35:48,279 --> 00:35:51,579
Your faith and assurance have
to be grounded in who Christ is.

717
00:35:51,849 --> 00:35:52,749
Anything short of this.

718
00:35:52,749 --> 00:35:54,879
And you will perpetually
struggle with knowing whether

719
00:35:54,879 --> 00:35:55,869
or not you're right with God.

720
00:35:56,709 --> 00:35:58,449
Knowing what you know begins
with knowing who you know.

721
00:35:59,529 --> 00:36:04,329
Okay, uh, these next two points here,
um, we're gonna, these next two points

722
00:36:04,329 --> 00:36:06,009
are tangential to the main point.

723
00:36:06,009 --> 00:36:08,319
My main point here is, is as
we start this, Jesus is the

724
00:36:08,319 --> 00:36:09,609
foundation of our assurance.

725
00:36:09,849 --> 00:36:10,689
That is the main idea.

726
00:36:10,689 --> 00:36:13,029
If you don't hear these next two
points, that's okay, but they're

727
00:36:13,029 --> 00:36:13,899
related to what John is saying.

728
00:36:13,899 --> 00:36:15,579
Lemme show you here verses three.

729
00:36:15,639 --> 00:36:16,629
In fact, let's just
stick with verse three.

730
00:36:17,709 --> 00:36:19,779
Remember he's picking up again
that which we have seen and heard.

731
00:36:19,779 --> 00:36:22,929
We proclaim also to you so that
you two me have fellowship with

732
00:36:22,929 --> 00:36:26,079
us and indeed our fellowship is
with the father and with his son.

733
00:36:26,469 --> 00:36:30,219
This concept of fellowship is, is
front loaded in, in John's letter.

734
00:36:30,219 --> 00:36:33,759
You're, you're gonna see this next time
we meet, but here he says it twice.

735
00:36:33,759 --> 00:36:35,019
We're gonna see it just a little more.

736
00:36:35,109 --> 00:36:38,079
He's trying to paint the picture here
that when you become a Christian,

737
00:36:39,279 --> 00:36:46,209
when you become united with Christ,
that union is not merely to Christ.

738
00:36:46,614 --> 00:36:49,014
That union is to a fellowship.

739
00:36:49,044 --> 00:36:50,004
It's to a community.

740
00:36:50,004 --> 00:36:56,954
As others have said, upon conversion,
we gain both a new father and a

741
00:36:56,954 --> 00:36:58,934
new set of brothers and sisters.

742
00:36:59,204 --> 00:37:03,404
You are saved not only to the Lord,
but you are saved to a community.

743
00:37:03,764 --> 00:37:05,054
John is trying to highlight this.

744
00:37:05,054 --> 00:37:05,864
We've seen him, we've heard him.

745
00:37:05,864 --> 00:37:07,364
We proclaim to him so that you too.

746
00:37:07,484 --> 00:37:10,244
The reason why the purpose clause so
that you too may have fellowship with us.

747
00:37:10,964 --> 00:37:15,044
I want you to see that there is a vital
connection between faith and fellowship.

748
00:37:15,464 --> 00:37:17,774
John moves quickly to this idea.

749
00:37:17,834 --> 00:37:20,804
You're saved, you're made right
with Christ, but you're saved

750
00:37:20,834 --> 00:37:24,134
for the purposes of being united
to a community of believers.

751
00:37:24,644 --> 00:37:26,114
I like how Joseph Hellerman says that.

752
00:37:26,114 --> 00:37:29,714
He says, indeed, the phrase
personal relationship with God

753
00:37:29,714 --> 00:37:31,964
is found nowhere in the Bible.

754
00:37:33,314 --> 00:37:38,324
The phrase personal relationship with
God is found nowhere in the Bible.

755
00:37:38,894 --> 00:37:39,614
I'm just quoting here.

756
00:37:40,619 --> 00:37:47,179
He says, according to the New Testament,
a person is saved to community.

757
00:37:47,809 --> 00:37:49,699
And I thought he said that so
well, because that's so true.

758
00:37:49,879 --> 00:37:54,829
You find that much of the imperatives and
the indicatives in scripture are plural.

759
00:37:55,009 --> 00:37:57,289
They're written to a community
of believers, and that's

760
00:37:57,289 --> 00:37:58,789
not incidental to the time.

761
00:37:58,789 --> 00:38:01,159
I think that's intentional by
the spirit of God to say, you're

762
00:38:01,159 --> 00:38:02,959
saved to a community of faith.

763
00:38:03,469 --> 00:38:04,044
That's critical.

764
00:38:04,849 --> 00:38:06,289
You're saved to a community of faith.

765
00:38:06,529 --> 00:38:09,169
So I want you to see these
vital connections, uh, vital

766
00:38:09,169 --> 00:38:10,339
connection number one here.

767
00:38:10,609 --> 00:38:10,939
Uh, vi.

768
00:38:11,029 --> 00:38:14,089
The first vital connection is
that faith produces fellowship.

769
00:38:14,599 --> 00:38:16,639
That's the vital connection
your faith produces.

770
00:38:16,639 --> 00:38:18,889
It, it's a, it's a tag alone.

771
00:38:18,889 --> 00:38:21,049
You ever seen those motorcycles
with the sidekick on the,

772
00:38:21,049 --> 00:38:21,769
on the, on the other side?

773
00:38:21,769 --> 00:38:24,859
I'd love to do that one day who
ride the motorcycle foot, pastor

774
00:38:24,859 --> 00:38:28,219
PJ in my sidekick and just roll
around town, show up to church.

775
00:38:28,219 --> 00:38:31,099
It'll have the Compass Bible
Church logo on it with lights.

776
00:38:31,189 --> 00:38:32,419
Great day if you ask me.

777
00:38:33,184 --> 00:38:37,954
When you are saved, when you are given
the gift of faith it produces, it leads

778
00:38:37,954 --> 00:38:40,264
to, it comes alongside with fellowship.

779
00:38:40,294 --> 00:38:42,724
You cannot separate what
God has joined together.

780
00:38:42,874 --> 00:38:45,154
These things are intended to go together.

781
00:38:45,334 --> 00:38:47,014
This is why John so quickly jumps to this.

782
00:38:47,014 --> 00:38:49,684
We want you to have fellowship with
us, and indeed our fellowship is

783
00:38:49,684 --> 00:38:51,094
with a father and with his son.

784
00:38:51,694 --> 00:38:53,224
You are united to a community.

785
00:38:53,344 --> 00:38:55,204
You are saved to the family of God.

786
00:38:55,354 --> 00:38:58,864
John calls his audience
little children, implication.

787
00:38:59,104 --> 00:39:01,774
He's a spiritual father
among spiritual children.

788
00:39:02,329 --> 00:39:05,179
Your relationships are no
longer merely biological.

789
00:39:05,179 --> 00:39:10,609
If you even have that, your relationships
are spiritual and they are more enduring

790
00:39:10,609 --> 00:39:14,179
than even your closest biological
relationship For those who are not

791
00:39:14,179 --> 00:39:18,169
Christians, if you have a biological
relationship with another Christian,

792
00:39:18,229 --> 00:39:19,879
you share some DNA, that's amazing.

793
00:39:19,939 --> 00:39:21,469
You're, you're doubly close.

794
00:39:22,039 --> 00:39:24,259
But scripture speaks about our
relationship in the deepest

795
00:39:24,259 --> 00:39:25,789
and most intimate ways.

796
00:39:26,179 --> 00:39:29,084
This is a privilege of
your relationship to God.

797
00:39:30,124 --> 00:39:31,474
Whether you wanted it or not.

798
00:39:32,044 --> 00:39:34,774
The men around you are
your brothers in the faith.

799
00:39:34,984 --> 00:39:38,464
If they have professed saving faith
in Christ, these are the men that

800
00:39:38,464 --> 00:39:39,964
you will live with and die with.

801
00:39:40,114 --> 00:39:42,004
This is how God designed this to work.

802
00:39:42,064 --> 00:39:42,994
You want assurance.

803
00:39:43,054 --> 00:39:47,614
Assurance is gonna happen amidst the
community of God's men and women.

804
00:39:48,124 --> 00:39:52,504
He wants you to experience that within
the community, and he, I think, rarely

805
00:39:52,504 --> 00:39:53,309
gives it to you apart from this.

806
00:39:54,664 --> 00:39:58,114
Because what we find out is that we need
one another, which is why there are so

807
00:39:58,114 --> 00:40:02,374
many in the scriptures to call each other
out to help stir one another, up to love

808
00:40:02,374 --> 00:40:04,144
and good deeds to encourage one another.

809
00:40:04,144 --> 00:40:09,064
And all the Bos you see the day drawing
near, we need each other critical.

810
00:40:09,664 --> 00:40:12,934
In fact, I could say it the other way,
fellowships strengthens your faith,

811
00:40:13,174 --> 00:40:15,304
so you ought to experience this.

812
00:40:15,784 --> 00:40:19,864
Fellowship is a gift of faith,
but it also strengthens faith.

813
00:40:20,329 --> 00:40:24,529
Once you are saved to the community
of God, you are now empowered to serve

814
00:40:24,859 --> 00:40:26,899
through God's strength in that community.

815
00:40:28,219 --> 00:40:31,129
John says, we write these things so
that you two may a fellowship with

816
00:40:31,129 --> 00:40:34,039
us, and indeed our fellowship is
with the Father and with his son.

817
00:40:34,489 --> 00:40:36,259
What you have is an upside down T.

818
00:40:36,649 --> 00:40:36,979
Okay?

819
00:40:37,279 --> 00:40:41,509
You have a vertical relationship, a
vertical fellowship with God that is

820
00:40:41,569 --> 00:40:45,649
intimately connected and entwined with a
horizontal relationship with one another.

821
00:40:46,939 --> 00:40:49,204
You remember in one Peter
chapter three, it says this.

822
00:40:50,104 --> 00:40:53,614
He says, husbands live with your wives
in an understanding way, showing honor

823
00:40:53,614 --> 00:40:57,904
to the woman as the weaker vessel, since
you remember this part, since they are

824
00:40:57,904 --> 00:41:00,274
heirs with you of the grace of life.

825
00:41:00,784 --> 00:41:03,784
But as you share a common destiny,
you are equal footing when it comes

826
00:41:03,784 --> 00:41:05,104
to your relationship with God.

827
00:41:06,214 --> 00:41:07,834
He says so that your
prayers may not be hindered.

828
00:41:08,614 --> 00:41:11,944
That's true for your wife, who is
your fellow heir if she's a Christian.

829
00:41:12,964 --> 00:41:16,029
But I think it's also true in our
relationships with one another.

830
00:41:16,984 --> 00:41:20,794
And I could make this case more, more
succinctly if I had a little more time.

831
00:41:20,794 --> 00:41:24,784
But I would go to first Corinthians 11
to develop this idea that God cares so

832
00:41:24,784 --> 00:41:26,494
much about how we treat one another.

833
00:41:27,004 --> 00:41:30,214
That he would much rather
discipline us to the point of death

834
00:41:30,724 --> 00:41:33,109
than to let us mistreat and Ms.

835
00:41:33,109 --> 00:41:35,974
Love the Bri, the bride of
Christ and the body of Christ.

836
00:41:36,454 --> 00:41:37,894
So we have an upside down T.

837
00:41:37,924 --> 00:41:38,854
These things go together.

838
00:41:38,884 --> 00:41:42,604
Horizontal relationship, horizontal
fellowship, vertical fellowship with God.

839
00:41:42,754 --> 00:41:43,534
They go together.

840
00:41:43,534 --> 00:41:44,554
They are not to be separated.

841
00:41:45,619 --> 00:41:47,539
You ever think about how
hard this is for us as men?

842
00:41:48,649 --> 00:41:53,659
I know for a fact that there are men who
are very dissatisfied with the community.

843
00:41:53,659 --> 00:41:54,439
God has placed in men.

844
00:41:55,429 --> 00:41:58,699
Um, heard things like,
and I, I I don't have.

845
00:41:59,089 --> 00:42:00,739
The kind of relationships
with these men that I want.

846
00:42:01,579 --> 00:42:04,459
They're not saying these words, but
let me just make this make sense.

847
00:42:04,549 --> 00:42:05,629
Superficial.

848
00:42:05,689 --> 00:42:07,549
They're not running as hard as I am.

849
00:42:07,789 --> 00:42:10,399
Um, they're, you know, they, they
don't, they don't show up to these

850
00:42:10,399 --> 00:42:12,859
events and I, I wanna hang out with
them and they don't do those things.

851
00:42:12,859 --> 00:42:16,549
And when we talk, we're only talking about
things like the rangers, I, yada, yada.

852
00:42:16,879 --> 00:42:18,109
And I think, okay, I get that.

853
00:42:18,169 --> 00:42:21,499
I understand you want depth,
you want, you want a greater and

854
00:42:21,499 --> 00:42:22,729
deeper relationship with these men.

855
00:42:22,729 --> 00:42:25,069
And, and more than just a superficial,
let's talk about the weather.

856
00:42:25,069 --> 00:42:26,119
Let's talk about the sports things.

857
00:42:26,389 --> 00:42:27,019
I get that.

858
00:42:27,649 --> 00:42:28,669
But remember what Paul says.

859
00:42:29,224 --> 00:42:35,074
In, in chapter 15 of Romans, he says,
we who are strong have a responsibility

860
00:42:35,554 --> 00:42:37,714
to bear with the failings of the weak.

861
00:42:38,404 --> 00:42:42,724
If you count yourself strong, one of the
challenges I would offer you when you

862
00:42:42,724 --> 00:42:46,564
experience fellowship that is deficient in
your mind, not reaching to the level that

863
00:42:46,564 --> 00:42:50,554
you want, is to look at your own soul for
a second and say, maybe I'm the problem.

864
00:42:51,334 --> 00:42:54,814
Maybe, maybe my expectations are
too much and, and maybe I'm asking

865
00:42:54,814 --> 00:42:57,214
to be served when God is putting
me in a position to serve others.

866
00:42:57,979 --> 00:43:01,009
And maybe my attitude, even if I
just keep it to myself, bleeds out

867
00:43:01,009 --> 00:43:03,289
and it, and it hinders the way that
people want to connect with me.

868
00:43:04,009 --> 00:43:06,829
And maybe I just need to be okay that
this is providentially where God has me.

869
00:43:07,929 --> 00:43:09,669
Might be true too, that
God's moving you along.

870
00:43:09,939 --> 00:43:10,689
That's possible.

871
00:43:11,049 --> 00:43:13,389
But I just wanna bring up in your
mind when you think about fellowship.

872
00:43:14,034 --> 00:43:16,494
Whether it's in your community group
weekly, which I think is great, it's

873
00:43:16,494 --> 00:43:19,044
a great way to make sure that it's
structured into your schedule, or

874
00:43:19,044 --> 00:43:21,804
whether it's you meeting for some for
breakfast with somebody opening up a

875
00:43:21,804 --> 00:43:24,714
couple of chapters of scripture or just
talking about how's marriage, how's life?

876
00:43:24,804 --> 00:43:25,734
Just keep in your mind here.

877
00:43:25,824 --> 00:43:30,504
God intends for you to use this
vehicle fellowship to strengthen

878
00:43:30,504 --> 00:43:31,494
your relationship with him.

879
00:43:32,304 --> 00:43:38,694
The vertical fellowship, these things are
built by God for you to grow, and when you

880
00:43:38,694 --> 00:43:41,034
find people irritating or frustrating, or.

881
00:43:41,364 --> 00:43:44,394
You know, they don't listen or their
breath stinks or they talk too loud,

882
00:43:44,394 --> 00:43:46,254
or I don't like what they talk about.

883
00:43:46,464 --> 00:43:50,664
Just know God is sanctifying you
through these very same people and

884
00:43:50,664 --> 00:43:52,224
he charges you to care for them.

885
00:43:53,304 --> 00:43:57,534
Charges you to Philippians
two, to consider others as more

886
00:43:57,534 --> 00:43:58,794
significant than yourselves.

887
00:43:59,724 --> 00:44:04,104
I think 98% of our fellowship issues
would evaporate if we approached

888
00:44:04,104 --> 00:44:05,304
our relationships that way.

889
00:44:05,574 --> 00:44:09,324
Our community groups, even our, our
small groups that we have outside

890
00:44:09,324 --> 00:44:10,409
of community groups, our, uh, our.

891
00:44:11,364 --> 00:44:12,834
Just our normal gatherings.

892
00:44:13,934 --> 00:44:16,844
Fellowship is part of the way
that God gives you assurance.

893
00:44:16,904 --> 00:44:18,584
When he saves you, he
saves you to a community.

894
00:44:19,684 --> 00:44:20,164
They're hard.

895
00:44:20,164 --> 00:44:24,634
I'm not gonna deny that, but notice how
he ends and we are writing these things

896
00:44:24,634 --> 00:44:29,284
to you so that our joy may be complete.

897
00:44:30,634 --> 00:44:34,384
Where the prior plurals, I think were
speaking to the apostolic community,

898
00:44:34,474 --> 00:44:37,384
the authorized agents of orthodoxy.

899
00:44:38,179 --> 00:44:41,989
I think our here refers to
his audience and himself.

900
00:44:42,589 --> 00:44:46,249
I'm writing these things to you
so that our joy, my joy, as one

901
00:44:46,249 --> 00:44:50,719
of your pastors and your joy as
one of my people may be complete.

902
00:44:52,459 --> 00:44:59,509
I want you to see the connection between
joy and, and write doctrine about Christ.

903
00:44:59,509 --> 00:45:01,309
Write, belief about Christ,
and write fellowship.

904
00:45:02,689 --> 00:45:06,079
I think joy here is a
byproduct of those two things.

905
00:45:07,189 --> 00:45:10,159
I would love for you to realize
that full joy is a byproduct.

906
00:45:10,189 --> 00:45:17,749
It's a happy tag along to right
thinking about Christ and Real

907
00:45:17,809 --> 00:45:23,059
Fellowship with brothers and
occasionally sisters in Christ,

908
00:45:24,159 --> 00:45:28,059
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together,
one of my favorite books about community.

909
00:45:28,059 --> 00:45:31,359
By the way, you should read at least
the first two chapters of that book.

910
00:45:31,569 --> 00:45:32,259
Excellent.

911
00:45:33,774 --> 00:45:39,534
He says God has willed that we should
seek and find God's living word in

912
00:45:39,534 --> 00:45:43,974
the testimony of other Christians
in the mouths of human beings.

913
00:45:44,664 --> 00:45:50,664
Therefore, Christians need other
Christians who speak God's word to them.

914
00:45:51,764 --> 00:45:55,334
And another book, one
author says it this way,

915
00:45:56,434 --> 00:45:56,724
oops.

916
00:45:57,824 --> 00:45:58,479
We will skip that.

917
00:45:58,479 --> 00:45:58,839
Actually,

918
00:45:59,939 --> 00:46:03,719
I could show you in the gospel of John,
John 1511, Jesus says these things

919
00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:08,129
I've spoken to you that my joy may be
in you and that your joy may be full.

920
00:46:08,909 --> 00:46:13,199
Jesus intends for the Christian to
have a full joy in following him.

921
00:46:13,769 --> 00:46:16,439
Here's how you do this according
to what we're reading here.

922
00:46:16,499 --> 00:46:20,519
So I, I would love for you pursue your
joy by deepening your knowledge of Christ.

923
00:46:21,569 --> 00:46:24,719
Deepening your knowledge of Christ, you're
never gonna expand it to the point of ha

924
00:46:24,749 --> 00:46:28,409
learning something, perhaps brand new,
uh, but deepening your knowledge of Christ

925
00:46:28,409 --> 00:46:29,849
will help you understand him better.

926
00:46:30,329 --> 00:46:32,819
I mean, think about the friends
that you've had for 20 or 30 years.

927
00:46:32,819 --> 00:46:33,449
Anyone have that?

928
00:46:33,764 --> 00:46:34,934
That's a special thing.

929
00:46:35,174 --> 00:46:39,974
If you have friends who are 20, 30 years
in the making, you realize that that

930
00:46:39,974 --> 00:46:43,484
friendship is special in ways that someone
that you've known for 20 days, even if

931
00:46:43,484 --> 00:46:46,094
you're firing in all cylinders, you like
them, you talk about the same things.

932
00:46:46,094 --> 00:46:48,434
You have similar
lifestyle, similar seasons.

933
00:46:48,614 --> 00:46:53,534
Those are great, but those 20 years,
30 year relationships are so special.

934
00:46:54,134 --> 00:46:56,414
There's context, there's perseverance.

935
00:46:56,414 --> 00:46:59,504
They're seeing someone in all
kinds of, in all kinds of seasons,

936
00:46:59,534 --> 00:47:01,034
they know you, you know them.

937
00:47:01,454 --> 00:47:04,124
You've seen them get married, you've
seen them have kids, you've seen

938
00:47:04,124 --> 00:47:06,524
them do all sorts of things, get
fired and go through that season.

939
00:47:06,524 --> 00:47:08,324
You've seen them, you know,
struggle with their weights.

940
00:47:08,324 --> 00:47:10,754
You've seen them struggle with
their wives, you've seen them

941
00:47:10,754 --> 00:47:13,964
and they've seen you, and there's
something incredibly rich about that.

942
00:47:15,194 --> 00:47:21,074
I dare say that your relationship with
Christ is that on steroids, and it's

943
00:47:21,074 --> 00:47:23,054
not that he's learning more about you.

944
00:47:23,504 --> 00:47:28,874
You are, however, seeing more and
more of him deepening the well of your

945
00:47:28,874 --> 00:47:30,219
understanding and your love for him.

946
00:47:31,154 --> 00:47:37,394
Seeing new shades of his character, of
his nature, exploring new territories, not

947
00:47:37,394 --> 00:47:42,524
of brand new novel realities, but rather
the depths and the riches of Christ.

948
00:47:42,614 --> 00:47:46,214
Ephesians chapter three, Paul's praying
for his audience and he says, look,

949
00:47:46,214 --> 00:47:50,474
I, I'm praying that you have eyes to
see the height, the depth, and then

950
00:47:50,474 --> 00:47:52,484
the width of the love of Christ Jesus.

951
00:47:52,484 --> 00:47:53,924
I think that's what
John is getting at here.

952
00:47:53,924 --> 00:47:56,899
So I'm gonna encourage you, man,
to deepen your knowledge of Christ.

953
00:47:58,304 --> 00:48:03,194
I would argue that your capacity for
delight corresponds to your depth.

954
00:48:04,064 --> 00:48:07,364
That knowledge paves the way deeper
knowledge paves the way for deeper joy.

955
00:48:08,444 --> 00:48:11,954
Second, I wanna encourage you to
pursue your joy by investing in

956
00:48:11,954 --> 00:48:14,444
fellowship with other church members.

957
00:48:15,164 --> 00:48:17,354
Remember, John writes that
our joy may be complete.

958
00:48:17,354 --> 00:48:18,014
This is a plural.

959
00:48:18,014 --> 00:48:19,244
He's including his audience.

960
00:48:19,604 --> 00:48:22,004
He's riding so that we may have
fellowship with one another.

961
00:48:22,244 --> 00:48:25,814
I'm gonna encourage you not to lose
steam in your investing of fellowship,

962
00:48:25,814 --> 00:48:26,834
and I applaud you 'cause you're here.

963
00:48:26,894 --> 00:48:27,704
Praise God for that.

964
00:48:28,304 --> 00:48:29,654
You're here, you're doing the thing.

965
00:48:29,744 --> 00:48:34,904
I pray that you would not lose steam
in investing in fellowship because the

966
00:48:34,904 --> 00:48:38,594
payoff is there and in just like the
market, there's gonna be ups and downs.

967
00:48:38,594 --> 00:48:40,124
There's gonna be bull
markets and bear markets.

968
00:48:40,124 --> 00:48:42,314
Even in your fellowship, you're
gonna have seasons where it feels

969
00:48:42,314 --> 00:48:46,274
great, others where it doesn't, but
you have to keep on investing to

970
00:48:46,274 --> 00:48:47,654
keep committing to these things.

971
00:48:48,299 --> 00:48:51,959
John wants them to have fellowship
with him with one another, and he wants

972
00:48:51,959 --> 00:48:53,879
'em to stay in that proper fellowship.

973
00:48:54,689 --> 00:48:58,379
He's gonna fight for them to have
that two potential hindrances.

974
00:48:58,379 --> 00:48:59,519
Number one, conflict.

975
00:49:00,089 --> 00:49:02,699
I want you to expect conflict
with brothers that you love.

976
00:49:02,939 --> 00:49:03,869
Please expect it.

977
00:49:04,109 --> 00:49:05,519
Please expect conflict.

978
00:49:05,759 --> 00:49:07,589
Please know that the
church is not perfect.

979
00:49:07,589 --> 00:49:11,189
She's in progress, and that includes
everybody in your small group.

980
00:49:11,429 --> 00:49:12,539
That includes your pastors.

981
00:49:12,539 --> 00:49:14,069
Your pastors will disappoint you.

982
00:49:14,279 --> 00:49:15,299
I can promise you that.

983
00:49:15,764 --> 00:49:18,584
Just be around us long enough and we
will disappoint you with the decision.

984
00:49:18,584 --> 00:49:21,314
Or a thing that we say, a, you
know, an insensitive remark from

985
00:49:21,314 --> 00:49:22,634
the pulpit or from whatever.

986
00:49:22,784 --> 00:49:23,294
We're gonna hurt you.

987
00:49:24,014 --> 00:49:24,824
You're gonna hurt each other.

988
00:49:25,574 --> 00:49:30,554
Expect that in this community, the
difference is that Jesus gives us

989
00:49:30,554 --> 00:49:33,344
marching orders for how to deal
with that when you have conflict.

990
00:49:33,344 --> 00:49:34,694
Jesus doesn't say, Hey, no sweat.

991
00:49:34,904 --> 00:49:36,314
Shake it off and move along.

992
00:49:36,614 --> 00:49:40,064
He actually says, look, if some, if
your brother has something against you.

993
00:49:41,354 --> 00:49:43,544
You go and reconcile you, you go figure.

994
00:49:43,634 --> 00:49:46,184
If you know your brother has something
against you, you go figure it out.

995
00:49:46,604 --> 00:49:48,014
You go, you initiate.

996
00:49:49,244 --> 00:49:51,794
And then same gospel, Matthew, Matthew 18.

997
00:49:51,794 --> 00:49:55,634
He says, if, if you have something
against your brother, whose

998
00:49:55,634 --> 00:49:58,394
responsibility is it to resolve it again?

999
00:49:58,454 --> 00:50:04,004
You So either way, either way, whether
you are the offended or the offender,

1000
00:50:04,964 --> 00:50:06,194
you're, you're not released from it.

1001
00:50:06,194 --> 00:50:08,594
You have a responsibility
to resolve the conflict.

1002
00:50:09,694 --> 00:50:12,454
There are times when your conflict
will result in a parting of ways.

1003
00:50:12,514 --> 00:50:17,164
It happens, but that's not
the ordinary way that God

1004
00:50:17,164 --> 00:50:18,124
designs our fellowship to work.

1005
00:50:18,124 --> 00:50:19,234
You need to expect conflict to come.

1006
00:50:19,234 --> 00:50:22,324
Secondly, uh, if conflict is one
issue, connection is another.

1007
00:50:22,834 --> 00:50:24,934
Um, I like Proverbs 1125.

1008
00:50:24,934 --> 00:50:25,624
You can write this one down.

1009
00:50:25,624 --> 00:50:26,224
We'll end on this.

1010
00:50:26,584 --> 00:50:30,724
Whoever brings blessing will
be enriched and one who waters

1011
00:50:30,724 --> 00:50:32,284
will himself be watered.

1012
00:50:33,244 --> 00:50:36,394
If you're struggling with connection,
pour into the lives of others, serve them.

1013
00:50:37,354 --> 00:50:39,874
Think about giving without
necessarily needing to receive.

1014
00:50:39,874 --> 00:50:40,864
God will take care of you.

1015
00:50:40,894 --> 00:50:41,164
He will.

1016
00:50:41,194 --> 00:50:42,064
He will provide for you.

1017
00:50:42,064 --> 00:50:45,394
One way or another, God will provide,
give and don't expect to receive.

1018
00:50:46,324 --> 00:50:49,564
Proverbs 1125, whoever brings
blessing will be enriched, the

1019
00:50:49,564 --> 00:50:51,154
one who waters himself be watered.

1020
00:50:52,354 --> 00:50:55,264
That's our first sermon
on the letter of John.

1021
00:50:55,954 --> 00:50:58,744
I want you to realize that John's
point is that you trust in the Biblical

1022
00:50:58,744 --> 00:50:59,944
Christ alone for your salvation.

1023
00:51:00,259 --> 00:51:03,079
He points to Jesus, the real
Jesus who lived in time and

1024
00:51:03,079 --> 00:51:05,569
space in history, who was really
crucified and really rose again.

1025
00:51:05,929 --> 00:51:10,069
And then I want you to see that John
zeroes in on fellowship right away,

1026
00:51:10,249 --> 00:51:14,299
your horizontal fellowship feeding
into your vertical fellowship, both

1027
00:51:14,299 --> 00:51:16,159
of them mutually reinforcing you.

1028
00:51:16,159 --> 00:51:16,969
You need both.

1029
00:51:17,179 --> 00:51:20,179
Thirdly, John wants you to
see that joy is his intention.

1030
00:51:20,179 --> 00:51:22,849
He wants you to know the joy that
comes from having a right doctrine

1031
00:51:22,849 --> 00:51:25,669
about Christ and a real fellowship
with those who are in Christ.

1032
00:51:26,149 --> 00:51:27,289
This is only the beginning.

1033
00:51:27,289 --> 00:51:29,599
We have so much more territory
to cover, but let me pray for us.

1034
00:51:29,959 --> 00:51:31,339
As you know, head to your small groups.

1035
00:51:31,849 --> 00:51:32,149
Oh Lord.

1036
00:51:32,149 --> 00:51:36,499
Thank you so much for the gift that we
have in Jesus Christ who lived for us.

1037
00:51:36,739 --> 00:51:38,089
He died for our sin.

1038
00:51:38,149 --> 00:51:43,249
He rose from the dead, defeating
sin and death and then he ascended

1039
00:51:43,249 --> 00:51:45,739
to your right hand and we now
trust and believe that someday he

1040
00:51:45,739 --> 00:51:47,059
will return to receive his bride.

1041
00:51:47,809 --> 00:51:51,199
Until then, Lord help us to
remain faithful to the real Christ

1042
00:51:51,199 --> 00:51:52,129
that is revealed in scripture.

1043
00:51:52,414 --> 00:51:56,824
Help us to remain in, uh, intent
and investing in the relationships

1044
00:51:56,824 --> 00:51:57,994
with those who are in Christ.

1045
00:51:58,054 --> 00:52:01,594
And Lord, let us know the joy
that comes with harvesting these

1046
00:52:01,594 --> 00:52:02,824
kinds of things in our lives.

1047
00:52:03,214 --> 00:52:03,844
We love you.

1048
00:52:03,874 --> 00:52:04,894
Help us now in our small groups.

1049
00:52:04,894 --> 00:52:06,544
In Jesus name, amen.