Prayer:  

Lord God, our heavenly Father, we thank you for the richness of your Word, for its instruction in truth, for its power to draw us to yourself, for its clarity to reveal your will to our lives, and supremely for its presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ in his divine and human personhood, and in his sacrificial and saving work for sinners such as ourselves.   

As we enter the study of 1st John today, we ask for your help by means of the guidance of your Spirit, that we might truly understand your Word, and in understanding grow closer to the likeness of our Savior, that he might be glorified through our lives, in Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.   

Sermon: 

The letter of 1 John was written by a first-century pastor to strengthen and encourage first-century believers in Jesus Christ in their holy faith. It was inspired by the Holy Spirit for the benefit of the church in all ages, including us today. If we want to be strengthened and encouraged in our Christian faith, this letter is for you and me.  

We really need this letter in our Christian lives. Some parts of it are not easy to understand, yet most of it is crystal clear. But it is the Word of God, inspired by the Spirit of God, and written by the closest human associate of the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle John. Of all the 12 disciples, he no doubt knew and understood best the life and teaching and character of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew Christ intimately, he fellowshipped with the Spirit of God, he was a veteran pastor among the people of God in their churches, and by the Spirit’s inspiration and guidance, was eminently qualified to write this letter.  

We often use this letter in our worship services in the time when we confess our sins to God. We read in 1 John 1:7, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  What a precious promise for Christian people like us who are not exempt from sin, and who need to be assured that God cleanses us of our sins when we confess them to him.  

 No name of the writer is given in the letter itself, not like the epistles of Paul where he always identifies himself, but the early church fathers agree in ascribing authorship to John the Apostle. 

One reason we believe that the apostle John wrote 1 John is because the fourth gospel, the Gospel of John, and the language and the expressions there and in the letter of 1 John are very similar. The church has always traditionally ascribed to John the Apostle the authorship of five documents in the NT: the Gospel of John, the three letters of 1, 2, and 3 John, as well as the Book of the Revelation.  

It is believed that when John wrote the epistle of 1 John he was an aged, experienced, and revered pastor of the church in the city of Ephesus, which is on the west coast of present-day Turkey.  

Paul Tripp has written about 1 John: “… The theme of this wonderful letter is fellowship with God, and John is very intent on rooting his readers in the truth that there's no such thing as fellowship with God that doesn't have its foundation in the personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Feb 8, 2021) 

In other words, Christian fellowship is vital, but it must be grounded on truth, on the revealed Word of God. As John R. Stott’s has said, “Our love grows soft if it is not strengthened by truth, and our truth grows hard if it is not softened by love.” 

Love is indeed one of the key themes in 1 John: God is the God of love, love is his nature, and he is the fountain and source of our own love for others.  The words “love’ or “beloved” are used 52 times in this letter. A key mark of a genuine Christian is that he or she has sincere love for the brothers and sisters in Christ. 1 John is pretty plain, “He who loves God must love his brother also.”  

But truth is also a major theme in this letter. It is used some 15 times. For example, “This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” 

Another one of the great themes of this letter is that of Christian assurance. It is written to build Christians’ assurance that they truly belong to God, they are God’s children, beloved by him. The word “know” is a key term in this book. God wants us his people to know certain truths. We read in 1 John 5:13, “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.” This book was not written to put doubts in Christians’ minds about whether they are saved or not, but was written to give them confidence and assurance that they really belonged to Jesus Christ and he was at work in their lives.  

Now this is a magnificent promise: how can we know that we have eternal life? It is by believing in the Son of God. Now “believing” here doesn’t just meaning we believe that Jesus existed, but it means believing in him with true faith, with sincere faith, with faith that is given by the inner working of the Holy Spirit. But true saving faith does have certain characteristics that testify its genuineness. 1 John says those marks include, first of all, believing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ that was once for all delivered to the saints through the teaching of the apostles. A second mark is having sincere love for the brothers and sisters in Christ. And a third mark of a true believer is that they cultivate  a life-style that pursues righteousness and forsakes sin.  In other words, saving faith is accompanied by verifying characteristics. It is not naked faith, but full, vibrant faith that exemplifies a transformed life, a life of holiness like unto that of God himself.  

One of the characteristics of the structure of 1 John is that he sometimes repeats major themes or concepts – he returns to them at different places in the course of the letter. Themes such as love, truth, eternal life, and assurance.  

This letter is not an evangelistic document, like the Gospel of John – it is not trying to win people to faith in Jesus, but it is seeking to establish current believers in the faith. It is written to establish them, exhort them, and assure them.  

One helpful mark of this letter is that it presents a balanced view of sin in the Christian life. On the one hand it commands us to abstain from sin, but on the other hand it recognizes the reality of sin in the Christian’s experience and leads us to repent of sin and trust in Christ’s all sufficient cleansing blood to remove the stain of sin. In other words, John is saying, “Stay away from sin. Avoid it like the plague. But if you do sin, and (I know you will, you haven’t reached perfection), the blood of Jesus is well able to cleanse you and restore you, and put you back on the road to ministry and service.”  

I want us to look at these first four verses of 1 John and analyze it, break it down, in these four ways:  

I. John’s personal witness to the incarnated Jesus Christ 

II. John’s first reason for beginning his letter this way 

To establish believers in doctrine.  

III. John’s second reason for beginning his letter this way 

To strengthen  fellowship with the brothers and sisters 

IV. John’s third reason for beginning his letter this way 

So that the apostles and believers joy could be complete.  

I. John’s personal witness to the incarnated Jesus Christ 

The way John begins this letter is very instructive. It sets the tone of the whole letter and throws weight on what is crucial. He actually begins with a description of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

He says in verse 1, “That which was from the beginning…” He is probably referring to that which was there at the beginning of creation, really the person who was there at the beginning of all things, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was always there from the very beginning of all things.  

It’s talking about a person, because John says we heard him, we saw him, and we even touched him. He is talking about the incarnation of Jesus Christ. God sent his Son to earth to take upon himself our full human nature.  

At that inauguration of the Lord’s Supper on the night he was betrayed, John was there, leaning on Jesus’ breast. It was no ghost he was leaning on, but a full blooded Jewish male who was a carpenter by trade.  

What John is doing here is stressing the historical reality of the incarnation of the Son of God. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary and really did possess a full human body.  

Notice that John uses the pronoun “we” rather than “I,” as in the first verse, where the word “we” is used three times. Probably he does this is because he’s referring not just to himself who saw, heard and touched the Lord Jesus but to all the other 11 apostles who also saw him, heard him speak, and touched him.  

John and his companions, the other apostles, are stressing clearly and strongly the physical characteristics of the Lord Jesus; he was no phantom, no ghost, but a real, physical, human being. They are doing this because there were some people in that day, maybe even some who had come into the church at Ephesus, who were teaching that Jesus was not really fully human.  

Listen to 1 John 2:22-24,  

²²Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. ²³No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. ²⁴ 

^{What is John saying here? He is saying that anyone who denies that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ, is a liar. And even worse,he or she is the antichrist. What is an antichrist? As the term itself indicates, ‘anti-Christ’ means against Christ, the enemy of Christ.}  

^{Jesus and the Father are so closely linked that to deny the Son would mean a person is also denying the Father. But whoever confesses the Son also has the Father.}  

^{Chapter 4 in 1 John goes on with a whole paragraph about the antichrist. We read in 4:22-23, 22}Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies

the Father and the Son. ²³No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 

Evidently some teachers had infiltrated the church there and were teaching that Jesus didn’t really have a real human body – he only appeared to be fully human. But if Jesus wasn’t fully human, then he couldn’t have died on the cross and he couldn’t have died for the sins of his people. Thus, Jesus’ mission and ability to be the Savior of his people was destroyed.  

It appears that in his description of being able to hear, see, and touch the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, that John was appealing not only to the 3 ½ years when his apostles walked with him, ate with him, slept with him around campfires at night, but he’s also referencing Christ’s physical appearance to his disciples after his resurrection from the dead. For example, we read in Luke 24:36-42, 

³⁶As they were talking about these things, ^(AW)Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” ³⁷But they were ^(AX)startled and ^(AY)frightened and ^(AZ)thought they saw a spirit.³⁸And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. ^(BA)Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, ^(BB)he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹And while they still disbelieved ^(BC)for joy and were marveling, ^(BD)he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish,^[b] 43and he took it and ate before them.  

The apostle Peter warned the Christians about false teahers. We read in 2 Pet. 2;1-3,  

“…there will be false teachers among you, who will ^(C)secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master ^(D)who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. ²And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth ^(E)will be blasphemed. ³And ^(F)in their greed they will exploit you ^(G)with false words.” 

So John, in his letter to the churches, did not delay in dealing with false doctrines. He immediately declares and affirms the historicity, the actuality, of the full humanity of the Son of God.  So this heresy, this false teaching, was dangerous and it was serious. It really destroyed the Gospel, the Good News of what God had done to save his people in Christ. So since the very heart of the Gospel was at stake, John combatted this heresy at the very beginning of his letter by stressing the actual physical, literal, historical incarnation of the Son of God. The very Gospel itself was at stake, and John had to deal with the false teaching immediately and decisively.  

So, what does john do in this letter we call 1 John? He presents the truth of Jesus’ incarnation and he warns about the Christ-deniers at the middle of the letter. To deny the Son is also to deny the Father. 

II. So this is the first reason for John beginning his letter this way.  

He had to refute error and establish the truth. The apostle Paul was of the same mindset in trying to protect the churches from false teachings. In his first letter to Timothy, his son in the faith, he wrote,   ³If anyone ^(E)teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with ^(F)the sound^[b] words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching ^(G)that accords with godliness,^4 (H)he is puffed up with conceit and ^(I)understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for ^(J)controversy and for ^(K)quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,⁵and constant friction among people ^(L)who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, ^(M)imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 1 Tim. 6;3-5 

III. John has a second reason for beginning his letter this way 

Let’s look at our text. At the end of verse 1 John refers the “word of life.” They had looked upon and touched with their hands the “word of life.” This is a reference to Jesus himself, for if we go back to John’s gospel we read in John 1:1-4 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In him was life,^[a] and the life was the light of men. 

Verse 14 of John 1 states, ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son^[a] from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

Now look at v. 3 of 1 John 1,  ³that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ 

So John’s second reason for beginning his letter this way, of focusing on the actual, literal incarnation of the Son of God, was because he wanted to strengthen  fellowship with the brothers and sisters.  

Now this doesn’t mean that he didn’t have a fellowship relationship with them already, but he wants to strengthen those bonds of fellowship. It is evident throughout this letter that he knows these people thoroughly. At several points, he calls them “little children” – a tender form of address, indicating a father and his children kind of relationship.  

For example, we read in chapter 2, verses 13-14,  

I write to you, children,     because you know the Father. ¹⁴I write to you, fathers,     because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men,     because you are strong,     and the word of God abides in you,     and you have overcome the evil one. 

You see, John knew these people. He knew the different levels of maturity of the people within the church. So there was already a firm relationship between him and these people.  

But John wants to not only combat the threatening false teachings, but he wants to strengthen the bonds of fellowship with the people. The word “fellowship” here, which as some of you know is “koinonia” in Greek, means a participation, a sharing together in something significant. What the apostle and the people in these churches had in common was the most important thing in life – they had a common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The basis of their fellowship was in the Lord himself, so to strengthen these people, John’s method was to strengthen them in the knowledge of Jesus.  

You may remember that Paul had a great desire to go to Rome. He wrote that church and we read in Romans 1:9-11:  

without ceasing I mention you ¹⁰always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. ¹¹For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you… 

Previously Paul had addressed the church at Rome in this way,  

⁷To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: 

The facts that these believers were love by God and called to be saints did not lessen the need for them to be strengthened in their faith, that is, specifically, strengthened in their knowledge of the Son of God. The more we learn about Jesus, the greater our knowledge of him will grow, and the greater will be our maturity in Christ, and the better equipped we will be for spiritual warfare. The more we Christians knew of our Savior, the greater will be our joy and strength in him.  

So John is building up these believers in Ephesus in the very basic but crucial knowledge of the incarnated Son of God. He’s building them up in Gospel Truth which will strengthen their common bonds of fellowship.  

You and I in our church have much more in common with believers and churches which are conservative theologically and Reformed in their understanding of God’s salvation, than we do with liberal churches which water down the gospel and the word of God. So we go to conferences, we read books, we listen online, to those ministers and ministries which will strengthen us in the sound Biblical, Reformed theology that we already believe in.  

But notice what it says here in verse 3,  

³that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.  

John’s goal is not only to strengthen the bonds of fellowship among believers but emphasizing that this human fellowship is really based upon the fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Fellowship among believers is important and such a blessing, but fellowship with the Father and Son is even more basic and important.  

As these believers came to understand in a clearer and more firm way what God did in sending his Son, their faith and knowledge and understanding grew and their love and gratitude to God grew, and their fellowship with the Father and the Son was strengthened.  

John says here in the last phrase in verse 3, “and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.  

The Apostle John had probably known Jesus Christ more intimately and deeply than any other apostle. The Lord Jesus had turned over the care of his mother to John as he hung on the cross. So in his conversations over the remaining years of her life he had probably gained additional insights into the life and character of the Lord Jesus. 

But, he like all believers, enjoyed this fellowship with the living God, with the Father and the Son, by the enablement of the Holy Spirit. And John’s desire, the desire of all the apostles, was to bring believers into a deeper, stronger, more intimate relationship with their God.  

In another of his letters, John wrote to the believers in 3 John 1:4,  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.  

Why did “walking in truth” give the apostle John such joy? It’s because he knew this was the real key to spiritual growth, to more intimate fellowship with the Father and the Son.  

This brings us to the fourth point of the teaching today: 

III. John’s third reason for beginning his letter the way he does:  

1 John 1:4 says, ⁴And we are writing these things so that our^[b] joy may be complete.” 

So John was writing to these believers to establish them in sound doctrine, secondly, to strengthen the fellowship among believers, as well as strengthen the believers fellowship with the Father and the Son, and now the third reason he had begun his letter like he does is to that “our joy may be complete.”  

Interestingly, some of the ancient manuscripts have “so that your joy may be complete,” instead of “our” joy. But there is no great difference – the two joys are intimately related. If your joy in the Lord increases, it gives me joy. The mutual joy we all share in knowing the Lord, and in knowing him in greater ways, is a joy we have now, a joy that is increasing, and a joy that will only increase in the future.  

How do we grow in fellowship with the Father and the Son? It is the same way, we must grow in our knowledge of the truth of the Word of God.  

In the letter of 1 John the word “know” is used 40 times. The more we know of God, of Jesus, the stronger our faith will be, the greater our joy will be.  

This is what we have seen today: 

I. John’s personal witness to the incarnated Jesus Christ 

II. John’s first reason for beginning his letter this way 

To establish believers in doctrine.  

III. John’s second reason for beginning his letter this way 

To strengthen  fellowship with the brothers and sisters and all of their mutual fellowship with the Father and the Son.  

IV. John’s third reason for beginning his letter this way 

So that the apostles and believers’ joy could be complete.  

So John began this letter by establishing his readers, the people in the churches of his day, in the knowledge of the physical, visible, hearable, touchable incarnation of the eternal Son of God in human flesh. The Son of God had to become fully human in order to be our substitute on Calvary’s cross. He had to live, die, and be resurrected in his body.  

John and the other apostles were with him, they lived with him for more than three years. They saw him alive and well and physical over a period of 40 days after he was resurrected from the dead.  

John wanted these believers to know these facts, to believe them, and to rejoice in them. Thus they could recognize error and false teachings and reject them and instead cling to the truth.  

So, dear believer, be assured that the Son of God came among his people, that he lived administered, died, and rose from the dead, appeared to his disciples, and then ascended back to heaven to the right hand of the Father. 

Let us know these truths, embrace them, rejoice in them, and proclaim them to our world so that many more will come to know the joy of knowing the true God and the eternal life that is in his  Son.  

We’ll learn more about this great epistle in the weeks to come. Amen.  

Let us pray: 

Thank you, gracious Father, for the wisdom of the Apostle John as he sought to ground the believers of his day in the certain truth of Christ’s incarnation so that he could be the propitiation for our sins, the one who bore the wrath of the Father that we deserved.  

Thank you that because Jesus died and rose, we too will rise at the last day when he returns. Strengthen us now to proclaim this great Gospel of Jesus Christ, to live it out day by day by your kind and powerful grace. Glorify yourself through our lives, we pray In Jesus’ name. Amen