The Epistles of John
Miracle Life School of Power Ministry
Week 5 – 08 Nov 2011
Outline of 1 John
The Great Testimony of John :
• The Son of God has come to earth 1:1-5
• The three misconceptions of man 1:6-2:2
Misconception 1
Man can fellowship with God and
still walk in sin 1:6-7
Misconception 2
Man is not totally Sinful and depraved 1:8-9
Misconception 3
Man can become sinless and righteous on His
own 1:10-2:2
Misconception 3
Man can become sinless & Righteous on His
Own, 1:10-2:2
1. We can become righteous & sinless on our
own
2. The truth : We are sinful, but we should not
sin
3. The Provision is made if we do sin
a. Jesus Christ, the Advocate, the one who pleads
for us
b. Jesus Christ, the propitiation, the atoning
sacrifice, for our sins.
Misconception 3
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There is the great provision.
The believer is not to sin, but if he sins
he has the most wonderful provision –
that is Jesus Christ, the son of God
himself.
1. Jesus Christ is our “advocate” the one
speaks to the father in our defense.
2. Jesus Christ is the propitiation, the
atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Introduction
Our Advocate
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Advocate or defender : someone who is
called into standby the side of another.
The purpose is to help in any way
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possible.
– Picture of a friend called into help a person
who is troubled or distressed or confused
– Picture of a commander called into help a
discouraged and dispirited army
– Picture of a lawyer, an advocate called into
help defendant who needs his case pleaded
Our Advocate
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One word that can adequately translate
“paracletos”
The word that probably comes closest is
simply helper
Sin causes the believer to be distressed and
confused, discouraged and dispirited.
Sin separates the believer from God and
makes him guilty of transgression and worthy
of condemnation and punishment.
But Jesus Christ is the believer’s advocate
Jesus Christ stands before God and pleads the
case of the believer
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Our Advocate
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What is that gives the Jesus Christ the right to plead
the case of the believer?
Jesus Christ is the righteous one.
He is the son of God who came to earth and lived a
sinless life as man.
He is the one who secured the perfect and ideal
righteousness for man
Therefore, Jesus Christ is the only person who has the
right to stand before God.
Why? Because God is perfect, and only perfect person
can stand in God’s presence
This is the reason man must approach God through
Jesus Christ: He alone is perfect and righteous
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Our Advocate
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He alone has the right to stand in the court of
God as the Advocate and Attorney to
represent man.
There is no other righteousness, no other
goodness that is acceptable to God; only the
perfect and Ideal righteousness of Christ has
been approved to stand as the Advocate in the
court of Heaven.
Meaning : God will never turn down a person
who has Jesus Christ as his advocate.
The person who has Jesus Christ to approach
God for him will never be turned down, for
Jesus Christ has the right to stand as the
Advocate before God in the court of heaven.
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Our Advocate
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What is that gives the Jesus Christ pleads?
He does not plead :
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the reputation of the believer
Good works of the believer
Not guilty, that the believer did not commit sin
Personal righteousness of the believer
The believer has been as good as he can be
He pleads His own righteousness. How can He
do this?
Rom 8:34, Heb 2:17, 4:14-15, 7:25-26, 8:1,
9:24
Atoning Sacrifice
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Means to be a sacrifice, a covering, a satisfaction, a
payment, an appeasement, for sin.
To turn away anger or to make reconciliation between
God and man.
Remember God is Holy and Just. He is perfect love,
but He is also perfect holiness and justice.
Therefore he must execute justice against the sinner.
He must judge and condemn sin.
His justice must be perfectly satisfied : His justice has
to be cast against the perfect sacrifice.
if there was a perfect and Ideal man, then that man
could accept the guilt and punishment for sin.
The perfect man could step forward and bear the
punishment for sin and satisfy the justice of God.
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Atoning Sacrifice
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This is the glorious gospel, the wonderful love
and provision of God.
Jesus Christ is the ideal and Perfect man.
Therefore, He sacrificed His life for man and
His sacrifice covered all men.
As the ideal man, Jesus Christ accepted the
guilt and punishment of sin for all men.
He died for all men. When He died, He died as
the perfect sacrifice for sins.
Therefore, God accepts His death….as the
sacrifice, covering, satisfaction, payment for
the penalty for our sins, appeasement of His
wrath against sin.
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Atoning Sacrifice
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When Jesus Christ carries a man’s case
before God, he pleads His own righteousness
and death, and God accepts His righteousness
and death for man.
It is by this, by the sacrifice of His death for our
sins, that we become acceptable to God.
Jesus Christ is the propitiation the atoning
sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. He is
the eternal son of God, ideal and perfect man.
All that he ever did covers eternity. His
sacrifice for sin covers the first man ever born
and spans all of time over to the last man, and
then continues right on throughout all of
eternity.
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Atoning Sacrifice
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Jesus Christ paid the penalty of sin for all sinners of all
generations.
He died for the sins of all people, no matter who they
are or what they have done.
Vital fact : A person has to come to Jesus Christ and
trust Him to be His advocate before God.
Jesus Christ is the only person who has the right to
stand as an advocate in the court of God’s perfect
justice.
He is the only person who can present man’s case
before God and have man declared righteous.
Therefore, a person is not covered by the advocacy of
Christ unless he comes to Christ and has Christ
represent him before God. Heb 2:17, 1 John 4:10,
Luke 18:13.
Deeper study : Atoning Sacrifice
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Section III
The proof that
one really knows God :
Seven Tests 2:3-29
Do we really know God?
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How do we know if we really know God?
We live in a day when people are not even
interested in knowing God.
They could care less about knowing God
They want to live like they want and get all the
possessions and enjoy all the pleasures of the
world they can
To know God is the furthest thing from their
minds
But this is dangerous ground, for if God really
exists then the rejecters of God are going to
miss out
Introduction
Do we really know God?
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They are going to miss out on the purpose,
meaning, and significance of life; they are
going to miss out on real love, joy and peace
and the abundance of a rich and full life both
now eternally.
If God really exists and they fail to know Him,
they are going to miss out on all of what life
really is.
God created life and He knows what life should
be
Therefore, if we do not know God, God who
gave us life, then we miss out on everything
that God meant life to be.
Introduction
This is not all
Do we really know God?
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If God exists, then it means that all those
who reject Him must face His holiness
and justice.
They must stand before Him having
rejected Him and face His judgment.
We must know God. But how can we tell
if we really know Him?
There are seven tests that will show us.
Introduction
Seven Tests 2:3-29
a. Test 1: Obeying God’s commands 2:3-6
b. Test 2 : Loving one’s neighbour 2:7-11
c. Test 3 : Remembering your Spiritual growth
2:12-14
d. Test 4 : Not loving the World 2:15-17
e. Test 5 : Guarding against Anti-Christ’s or
False teachers 2:18-23
f. Test 6 : Letting the Gospel remain in you
2:24-27
g. Test 7 : Continuing, Abiding in Christ 2:28-29
Test 1 : Obeying
God’s commands 2:3-6
1. The Test : Do we obey God’s
commands? v3
2. The professing man :
Says he knows God but does
not obey His commands v4
3. The obedient man:
Obeys God’s Word v5
4. The responsible man :
Lives up to his profession v6
Test 1 : Obeying
God’s commands 2:3-6
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How do we know if we really know God? There is a
test that will show us.
Do we obey God’s commands?
Man faces an enormous problem, a problem that
any thinking and honest person can see.
If God really exists, man can never know it – not by
his own reasoning and energy or effort.
No matter how much thought or creative thinking
and inner feelings man may have, man can never
know for sure if god exists.
There is a clear reason for this.
Man lives in a physical and material world, and the
physical and material world cannot penetrate or
cross over in to the other world.
Test 1 : Obeying
God’s commands 2:3-6
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If man is ever to know the spiritual world, if he is
ever to know God, then God has to enter the
physical and material world and reveal himself to
man.
This is exactly what God has done. God has sent
His son Jesus Christ into the world to tell man the
truth.
This is exactly what Jesus Christ and His followers
said time and again.
No man has ever crossed over into the spirit world
and returned, no man but Jesus Christ.
John 3:13, 6:33, 38, 6:50-51, 8:42, 13:3, 17:5
Test 1 : Obeying
God’s commands 2:3-6
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Jesus Christ came to save man from perishing and
to give man a full, abundant life both now and
eternally.
John 3:16, 3:36, 5:24, 10:10
Jesus Christ said that God has sent Him to make
God known.
John 5:38, 6:29, 7:28, 8:26, 12:45, 14:7, 16:15,
Col 2:9, 1 Tim 3:16, Heb 1:3.
This means something very significant : if we are to
know God, we must know Jesus Christ.
God has revealed himself and made himself known
through Jesus Christ and through Christ alone.
Test 1 : Obeying
God’s commands 2:3-6
• If we know Jesus Christ, then we
know God.
• V3 We know that we have come to
know him if we obey his
commands
• 1 John 3:23 God’s chief
command is this : that we believe
in the name of His son Jesus
Christ and love one another
Test 1 : Obeying
God’s commands 2:3-6
1. To know God we must believe
on the name of His son Jesus
Christ. If we believe in Christ,
then we come to know God, for
Jesus Christ came to earth to
reveal God. By believing in
Jesus Christ we keep God’s
commandments
Test 1 : Obeying
God’s commands 2:3-6
2. To know God we must love one
another. Love covers all the
commandments of God. If we love
one another, we will not hurt or
cause pain for one another. We
will not offend or sin against one
another. We will be obeying all the
commands of God. Rom 13:8-10
How do we know if we know
God? Take a test
• Do we obey God’s commands?
• Then we believe in Jesus Christ, that
He is God’s son, and we love one
another.
• We surrender all we are and have to
Jesus Christ and to loving one another
• Unless we are doing these two things,
we do not know God.
• No matter what a person may say, he
does not know God if he has never
given his life to Jesus Christ
How do we know if we know
God? Take a test
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And He does not know God if he criticizes,
grumbles, and back-bites his brother and commits
adultery, kills, steals, lies, covets, or does anything
else against his brother.
If a person really knows God, he wants to please
God.
He wants to know more and more about God, and
the only way he can know more and more about
God is to follow God.
He has to do the things that God does, to walk and
love as God walks and loves.
If we obey His commands we know Him.
John 7:16-17, 8:31, 8:51, Hosea 6:3
How do we know
if we know God? Take a test
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Some people seek to know God. They seek after
God, but they do it in the wrong way.
Some speculate about God. This is the route most
people take in trying to know God.
They imagine what God is like and hold that image
in their mind and try to live by what they imagine.
They have their own teachings and their own
images of what god is like, and they govern their
lives by that image.
Some try to seek and know God by mystical or
emotional experiences
They seek to know the spiritual world and its focus
through spiritists, astrology, magic, and a host of
other man made mystical experiences.