Welcome to "The Bible Breakdown," where we break down God’s Word so we can know God better. I'm your host, Brandon Cannon, and I'm here to guide you through the pages of the Bible, one day at a time.
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Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, 1 John, chapter 1. I am so excited about 1 John. It's one of my favorite books of the entire New Testament and we're going to call chapter 1, living in the Light. Living in the Light. We're going to do all that and, of course, one of my favorite things about chapter 1 of every book is we're going to give you some background on this wonderful book of the Bible. But before that, as always, if you have your Bibles, I want to open up with me to 1 John, chapter one. While you're doing that, if you're new around here, make sure you like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast, make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it helps us out so much and make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. They're doing an amazing job over there and the more we dig, the more we find.
Speaker 1:
Well, once again, if you have your Bibles, I want to open up with me to 1 John, chapter 1. We're going to call 1 John the theme of it sharing the fellowship of joy Sharing the fellowship of joy and the key verse is going to be 1 John 1, verse 3 and 4, where John says we proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And we are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. The goal of the writer of 1 John was so that people could share his joy. And let's dive in to figure out, okay, who it is that's writing this. So, first of all, the one who's writing this is the Apostle John. That is the same guy who wrote the Gospel of John.
Speaker 1:
John wrote the Gospel of John 1 John, 2 John, 3 John and then the book of Revelation, and we're going to talk about those, of course, throughout time. We've already talked about the gospel of John, but the couple of things to know about John is John was kind of like the best friend of Jesus. Of all the different disciples, peter was the winner or not winner, the leader, judas was the jerk. We had all these other guys, and then John was kind of like his best friend. He was the one that that really knew Jesus the most and he was the only one who actually showed up for the crucifixion of Jesus, because it was during the crucifixion that Jesus looked at John and he said John, will you take care of my mom? And we know according to history that after Jesus died and rose again, john took care of Mary the rest of her life.
Speaker 1:
And at some point after Acts 2, when we go through all of that John moved to Ephesus and in the book of Acts, at first the city of Antioch was kind of the hub outside of Jerusalem, but eventually Ephesus became a leading place, hub outside of Jerusalem, but eventually Ephesus became a leading place and John most likely used Ephesus as kind of his staging, kind of home base or headquarters for his different ministry. And he would most likely also put Mary there so she could live out the rest of her days in peace and in a place where she was able to just kind of maybe tell her stories and all of that. Which is why I love reading the Gospel of John as someone who would have known the stories from Mary. That's why we get some of the stories. I think most likely is because these are ones that Mary would have told John. And so also, who is he writing it to? Well, he's likely writing it to the church at Ephesus and surrounding churches, seven churches in total in approximately 85 to 95 AD, so around the time when he would have written the book of Revelation as well. And actually you see the seven churches that he writes to in the book of Revelation. A lot of scholars believe that John was possibly kind of in charge of those seven churches, overseeing them, and so when he's writing this first book, he is likely writing it to all of those churches for various reasons.
Speaker 1:
Now, the big idea behind 1 John is about this idea of true fellowship with God, as it is demonstrated by living in the light, walking in love and holding on to the truth of Christ One of the things that John is wanting to tell the church walking in love and holding on to the truth of Christ. One of the things that John is wanting to tell the church. Because now, at this point, there have been people who have been Christ followers for 20, 30 years. Jesus would have rose from the dead around between 30 and 33 AD, and so if it's 90 AD, we're talking 30, possibly up to 60 years that some people have been Christ followers, and so he is trying to remind them of what it looks like to live in the fellowship with God and in one another. And the reason why 1 John is important is because he talks about the assurance of salvation. He does some apologetic work about defending and discerning the truth, because there's already false prophets that were coming in and trying to destroy what God was doing. But then also there's very, very practical points on how to be a Christ follower Now to know what's going on in the world around us.
Speaker 1:
During that time, rome was in power and Rome had went from Nero to now. Domitian is actually in charge of Rome and Domitian was known for persecuting Christians. He was one of the ones that did some of the like. Nero started persecuting Christians and then Domitian took it to a whole other realm. He was the one likely who started putting Christians in the Colosseum to be eaten by lions, and he was the one who would have started a Roman candle, which is what they would do is in the city of Rome. They would actually light Christians on fire and they would do is in the city of Rome. They would actually light Christians on fire and they would light up the city town as they would burn. It's terrible, but that's what they would do to Christians. And it's actually Domitian who probably put John as a political prisoner on the Isle of Patmos.
Speaker 1:
But the other thing is is about that time there started to really rise up this thing called Stoicism and Gnosticism and Gnosticism is what he's actually going to talk about in chapter 4, because it is a thing that really downplays the physical body and really says that the physical body doesn't matter. And what they would have done as well is. They started coming against the gospel and saying Jesus was never actually human, that he was actually a spirit kind of floating around. And John was like now, I was there, I saw him Ate food with him, we slapped beside each other as we were out on the road. I know him and so he's saying no, that's not true. And if anybody can tell you who Jesus actually was, somebody who walked with him would have been someone, right.
Speaker 1:
And then, before we get into it, three interesting facts that we need to know about 1 John. Number one is the frequent use of the word know. The Greek word ginosko means to know personally. Over and over and over again, about 30 times, john uses this phrase ginosko because he wants them to understand that what God wants for us is not simply a head knowledge, but he wants us to truly know who he is. The other thing is and we're going to get to it when we get to this chapter is John has this central focus on understanding what love is, and he's got one of the most controversial scriptures in all of the New Testament when he says God is love. Well, I think that it's nowhere near as controversial as many of us have been led to believe. If we read it in context and we'll get into that we get to chapter four, and then, honestly, the other thing is is John teaches us how to deal with Gnosticism or how to deal with different false prophets who come along, and he actually says do this and don't do this in order to prove if someone is telling the truth or not. And so there's a lot going on in 1 John. That's why I love it so much, and so we're going to read this from the context of thinking about.
Speaker 1:
This person walked with Jesus. He walked with him. He was closer to him than anybody else. Now that Jesus has risen from the dead and has ascended to heaven, he now has Jesus' mother living in his house. So he's got all these different stories and he goes to write to these churches that he's now pastored for 30, 40, 50 years and he's watched them grow. He's watched what they've had to deal with and he's also been heartbroken to watch these different false prophets try to come in and destroy and ruin what God was doing. And so, in that process, he is now writing to all the churches, possibly in the city of Ephesus, maybe on the Isle of Patmos, but either way he's writing to these most likely seven churches in spite of the Holy Spirit, to really help them understand what it is to share in the fellowship of the joy of the Lord.
Speaker 1:
So if you're ready, let's get started with 1 John 1, verse 1. He says this we proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the word of life. Now, remember that would have been important because the Gnostics were saying that Jesus wasn't actually real. And he's saying oh yeah, he was. I done seen him and I done touched him. He was real and he was God, all at the same time. Verse 2, he says this is one who is life itself and was revealed to us. And we have seen him and was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the father and he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you that we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with the father and with his Son, jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. So, in other words, john is saying I had the opportunity to walk with Jesus in the flesh. It was amazing and it was awesome. But that doesn't make me elite. That just makes me the first your turn. You can walk with him as well by embracing what I know and what I can share with you, which is the gospel of hope.
Speaker 1:
Here we go, verse five this is the message that we heard from Jesus and we now declare to you God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim to have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and we are not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar, showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
Speaker 1:
Wow, so John just starts off with saying hey look, jesus was real, because I done didn't seen him. Not only did I see him, I didn't touch him and I was with him and I got to watch him. But I also got to watch that he wasn't just a man, but he was also God and he existed with the heavenly father, that there is this amazing Trinity that's going on a father, son and spirit. And I got to see the visible representation of the invisible God and it changed my life. And now I have fellowship with him. And he says and I'm telling you this because the big hope that you have that ain't just for me God wants you to have fellowship with him as well. And then he says and you know how we can live in the light? By confessing our sins to him. I love this promise. Let's actually go back to it, this promise. He says that if we will confess our sins to him, he is faithful. He is faithful, he is fateful.
Speaker 1:
Have you ever talked to somebody before who they promised you something and you hoped that they would come through? You ever had someone that you just truly loved and we don't do checks anymore, but you truly love them. And they wrote you a check to pay you back for something. But you didn't go cash it right away because you weren't really sure Back in the day. Like I said, we don't really do checks as much anymore, but back in the day, if you tried to cash a check and that check was no good, not only was it no good, but you also had to pay a fee for giving the bank a bad check.
Speaker 1:
And for many of us, that's what we think about God. We want to trust God, we want to know God. We're a little afraid to go all in, because what if it's not true? And then, if it's not true, not only will it not work, but then I'll be embarrassed if it doesn't work. But you know what God says. He says I am faithful. In other words, my check is good. I can truly wash away all your sin.
Speaker 1:
And so, as we finish up this chapter, the big question is is based on what God's word says? What can we apply today? And that is so many things. But if there's nothing else, god's promise to us is this If we claim that we have never sinned, we're fooling ourselves If we say, well, I'm not bad or I'm not a sinner, I just make mistakes sometimes.
Speaker 1:
You know what a mistake is. It's a sin, and you know what's great about that. We don't glory in our sin. We glory in the salvation of our Lord and Savior. And so if you would admit that you're a sinner, you're in the best place possible, because Jesus has come to rescue us. But he only come to rescue sinners. He can't help anybody. He's perfect. So if you're perfect, he can't help you. But if you would admit that you're a sinner and you need salvation, there's great news for you, and that is his promises. If we will confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. The promise for you today is if you will be honest and confess your sins to God, god will wash away all of our sins. Let's pray together right now.
Speaker 1:
God, thank you so much for today. Thank you for your word, thank you that we can truly know you. Lord, I'm thankful that John tells us over 30 times that we can gnosko. We can truly know you. I pray, god, as we read through 1 John, we will see you in fresh and new ways. I pray that you'll help us today to realize that, in step one, that we can live in the light. We can confess our sins to you with hope and with joy, because you washed them all. The way we celebrate you today In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. Don't forget 1 John. 1 says we are writing these things to you so that you may fully share our joy. God wants us to know him so we can have joy in his presence. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For 1 John, chapter 2.
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