Disciples Have More Assurance

Message in Print
Scripture: 1Jn 5:13-21

 

1Jhn 01 - Disciples have Fellowship - 1Jn 1:1-4

There is trouble in Christianity
Trouble like we've never seen before

The World is creeping into the church
The Philosophies of the World are infiltrating the church

Christians think they can live like the World,
even LOVE the World - & still be Disciples of Christ

There's even a move to DENY
the basic truths of WHO Jesus Christ IS

People are picking & choosing the teachings of Jesus
that go with their own desire & plans

With all this going on it's getting harder & harder
to even tell WHO is a true disciple
or WHAT a true disciple even looks like

Someone has got to lay out the fundamentals of what it means
to actually follow Jesus Christ as Lord - AMEN ???


Now - wait a minute - guys - I just listed the concerns
the Apostle John had for Christians in the FIRST CENTURY

Everything I just said relates to what was happening
in the Christian church - Less than 70 years after the Resurrection

Did YOU think - I was describing the state of Christianity TODAY??
or at the end of the FIRST CENTURY ???

MAN - Some things NEVER change !! - DO THEY??

Today we begin a Verse-by-Verse series in 1John

& the battles we have to be True disciples of Christ TODAY
are the SAME battles the believers had in the FIRST CENTURY

Let's Pray - & we'll start this great book


As we approach 1 John
we approach one the last books of the bible to be written

There is only ONE of the original 12 Apostles still alive -
& he is OLD - maybe nearing even 100 years old

& as the aging Apostle gets ready to finish his work
What's his Battle Cry to the church in 1John ?

in the midst of a Faith that was ALREADY being watered down
by the "Mixing In" of the philosophies of the world

1John calls us back to - - the Basics of Discipleship

& it just so happens that God is calling us here at CCN
back to the Basics of Discipleship

so it seemed like a pretty good fit to me

When 1John was written
Christians were being deceived by teachings - - -

that MIXED Christian truth - with the Philosophies of the world


& John writes this epistle (reads more like a sermon)
to encourage true discipleship,

in order to strengthen & build up the church,
& to limit the damage done by those misleading the believers

That approach makes 1John perfect for the 1ST CENTURY
& for the 21ST Century


Doesn’t it blow your mind - that by the turn of the 1St Century
there was already a strong influence

to combine the Gospel message
with the Worldly Philosophies of the day

this Combo-Mix, of the Gospel with Worldly Philosophies
eventually became known as Gnosticism

which ended up taking on different shapes & sizes,
because it combined different philosophies

But The BIGGEST TRUTH
that Gnosticism worked so hard to DENY

was that Jesus Christ was God MANIFESTED in the flesh,
in fact - they denied He was actually physical at all

& the LURE - of One Branch of Gnosticism - was that,

because physical bodies didn't mean anything
a believer could do WHATEVER they wanted
with their physical body

with NO adverse affect on the Spiritual Life
& I'm pretty sure - THAT was
the first MAN-MADEChurch Growth Campaign


In Ephesus - where this letter was circulated
there was an easy familiarity with Christianity
. . . say like . . . the United States today

the church in Ephesus was now
2nd & even 3rdGeneration believers

& it seems maybe the newness had worn off,
the thrill of those early days was kinda fading away

What an incredible city Ephesus was
when Paul had been there teaching daily about Jesus

& Challenging the idol worship of ARTIMUS
to the point of a full scale RIOT (Acts 19)

But Ephesus was "cooling off" in their PASSION for Christ

& they were heading to that devastating letter
addressed to them in Rev Ch 2 - where Jesus says to them in

Rev 2:4 - NKJ
4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

See - In Essence - the Christians in Ephesus - - -

They wanted to believe they could live in BOTH
Light & Darkness - - at the same time

& that is STILL one of the enemies cleverest traps
to keep people from truly following Jesus

& so - the last Apostle - in one of his last letters

addresses the exact same concerns
that we should have aboutourselves today

That is - WHAT MAKES a true Disciple of Jesus Christ ??

What separates a True disciple - from a False disciple??
& how can we tell the difference?

But please listen carefully
John isn't writing to encourage us to Judge someone ELSE

he's writing to encourage us to judge OURSLEVES

Near the end of the book we read in 1 John 5:13 - ESV
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

1John gives us some very clear ways to KNOW
that we HAVE Eternal Life

James MacDonald calls them MARKS of a True Christian
Like a BRAND on a cow

& our desire - is to HELP you make sure
that you are BRANDED by Jesus Christ

That you may know - Absolutely without a Doubt
That you HAVE the Assurance of Eternal Life


But I need to tell you something
that is of Great Concern in today's Christian Church

This Verse DOES NOT say - IF you've repeated the Sinners Prayer -
You may KNOW that you have Eternal Life

I've actually seen this verse used 10 sec after a person
has said the Sinners Prayer
to GUARANTEE them of their salvation

But guys - if that person walks out
& NEVER shows One SIGN - & Never has One MARK
of being a True Christian

Then that person who Guaranteed them their salvation
LIED TO THEM - & possibly to their eternal destruction

1John 5:13 says - at the END of the book;
I write these things to you . . .
that you may know that you have eternal life.

The question must be - WHAT things did he write

What things did John WRITE that give us TRUE ASSURANCE
that we have Eternal Life ??

& over the coming weeks - we will find out exactly what was written
that will give us Absolute Assurance of our Eternal Life



Now - There's just one "Technical Thing"
we've got to know going into this book

1John is Very Hard to outline
it doesn’t really go in ANY logical order

But instead - it kinda bounces back & forth
among the MARKS of a True Disciple of Christ

& the over-riding goal
is to Spell-Out the MARKS that give us TRUE ASSURANCE

So that - that we may KNOW that we have Eternal Life

So in General - We'll be looking at Subjects that Fall
into THREE AREAS of True Discipleship

1) True FAITH
2) True OBEDIENCE
3) True LOVE

& as we dive into these Three Broad areas of True Discipleship

Not only will you be able to tell
if you have the MARKS of The Assurance of Eternal Life

But you'll know exactly how to get the MARKS of Eternal Life
in case you don't have them yet


OK - Ready to DIVE IN ?

1John starts & ends with the same FOCUS
The Eternality of Jesus Christ

(Warning - big words)
John starts with TWO incredible Truths -
The ETERNALITY of Jesus Christ
& The INCARNATION of Jesus Christ

& then he says he's PROCLAIMING these two truths
because they are a REQUIREMENT for True FELLOWSHIP

These first THREE vs's are actually ONE long,
complicated sentence in the GREEK

So let's read all 3 Vs's

1Jn 1:1-3 - ESV
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you,
so that(powerful conjunction) you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Notice - From the END of the sentence,
the PURPOSE of these incredible truths is

SO THAT - you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

John starts with the same magnificent theme as his Gospel

(turn over) Jn 1:1-4 - ESV      
(turn over) Jn 1:1-4 - ESV
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
THEN - One more Verse
Jn 1:14 - ESV
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

NOTICE - The ETERNALITY of Jesus Christ
& The INCARNATION of Jesus Christ

Now - KEEP that in mind - & flip back to 1John

1Jn 1:1-3 - ESV
1 That which was from the beginning (the Eternality of Christ), which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands (the Incarnation of Christ), concerning the word (logos) of life—
2 the life was made manifest (Incarnation), and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father (Eternality) and was made manifest to us (Incarnation) —
3 that which we have seen and heard (Incarnation) we proclaim also to you,
so that(Requirement) you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (True Fellowship)

That's a lot of information! - WHY is it Sooo Important ??
Guys - listen to me please

You can go around ALL DAY
saying Jesus Christ was a GOOD TEACHER

You can go around ALL DAY
saying He's just one of many Equal RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Your UNBELIEVING Friends may appreciate that

But we can’t FOOL ourselves into thinking we are Christians
or that we have Eternal Life (Fellowship with God)

As long as we believe that WORLDLY PHILOSOPHY


BUT - when we start Proclaiming what John is Proclaiming here
NOW we've got a whole different game on our hands

It seems nice & Politically Correct to say
Jesus was a Good Teacher
& just one of many good Religious Leaders

But when start Proclaiming that Jesus Christ
is ETERNAL
Was BEFORE time with the Father, making Him equally God
That NOTHING exists without HIM creating it
That in HIM only is LIFE - & He is the ONLY "Giver of Life"

NOW - you're going to get HEAT from the Unbelieving World
& NOW - you're going to HAVE - Eternal Life

Because that True Faith - is going to put you in FELLOWSHIP
with the Father & the Son


But WAIT - There's MORE

WHAT IF that
Eternally Existent
Equally God  
Creator of all that's been Created
Source of ALL Life . . .

ACTUALLY - Became a MAN - & DWELT Among us - NOW WHAT?

If that Eternal - All Creator - Source of Life - GOD . . .

Became a MAN - then WE, would HAVE TO,
Actually Follow Him - Wouldn’t WE ??

& THAT - is the exact problem

because if we Truly Believed all those truths about Jesus
then certainly we would have to actually follow Him as LORD

THAT was the problem JOHN was dealing with in the 1st Century
& THAT is the problem WE are dealing with today

Everybody's happy with an Ambiguous God

But when you PROCLAIM
That there is Only ONE GOD
That He alone is the CREATOR of all - & the SOURCE of Life

& that this ONE GOD became a MAN
& He Dwelt among us
& He told us exactly what was required for Eternal Life


Now THAT - is what the Philosophies of the World
just can’t stand for - & continually fight against


But I need you to know
Faith in these Truths - are a REQUIREMENT

for you to have fellowship with the FATHER,
& with the SON . . . ANDother believers

There is only one SOURCE of Life
The WORD (LOGOS - Expression) of God

& this True & Full God - Actually, Physically,
became a MAN - & Dwelt among us

to Live - & to Die - in our Place

& 1John says - We Proclaim these EXACT truths

because Faith in them is a REQUIREMENT
for Fellowship with the FATHER, the SON, & all BELIEVERS

The word "Fellowship" here in Vs.3 = KOINONA
= Sharing in Common with others

& please hear me when I say
If we don’t Believe these truths . . .

Then we have NOTHING in common
with the Father, Son, or True Believers



In the FIRST Century -
the Gnostics DENOUNCED one Primary Truth about Jesus

That He was Literally GOD - in the Literal FLESH

& we have MANY False Religions today
that just have ONE Problem with Jesus Christ . . .

They just don’t want us to Say
That He was Literally GOD - in the Literal FLESH

& some of them will say - at your door (Jehovah's Witness)
that they are Christians just like you

But listen - today we're dealing with
the TRUE FAITH that makes a TRUE CHRISTIAN

& John says without Faith in these Specific Truths
You CANNOT have fellowship with God - or other Christians

Let's read these incredible 3 vs's - one more time - from NLT

1Jn 1:1-3 - NLT
1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, (eternally God) whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands (real Lit incarnation). He is the Word of life (life in expression).
2 This one who is life itself (the source) was revealed to us, and we have seen him (literally). And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is (exists as) eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.
3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that(requirement) you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
1John starts - not with a Bang - with an EXPLOSION !!


& now the final verse in this introduction

& since we're reading from the NLT
let's look closely at V.4 there

1Jn 1:4 - NLT
4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

John says - Look, I'm telling you these things
so that you may fully share our JOY

How many friends & family members
have you had say to you -

Man, don’t push your religion on me!
(as their life is in Raging Self-Destruction)

Push my religion on you?? - Are you kidding

I'm sharing these things with you - so that you can share my JOY
including the Joy of Eternal Life

Because the only TRUE God
Who became TRULY Man
Said that TRULY Believing these things
Is the only TRUE way
To have TRUE Fellowship with God, including Eternal Life



Guys - we AREN'T Christians because
We live in a Christian Culture
Adhere to basic Christian Principals
Or believe that there's a Higher Power

We are Christians because we've put our Full & Complete faith
in the God of the Bible

NOT picking & choosing
the parts that fit our own Philosophies

But fully believing
in the Eternal & Incarnate Jesus Christ

& believing enough
to actually follow Him - As our Lord


If you have never that commitment to Christ
I'd like to give you a chance to right now

If you've never Fully Embraced
these Foundational Truths about Jesus

Please Receive these Truths into your life

We say - with the Apostle John in

1Jn 1:3 - ESV
3 We proclaim to you what 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.

Let's Pray