First John 1:5-10

Introduction

Lets review what we have learned quickly before we tackle the passage at hand.
• In the Introduction we learned the theme of First John is ASSURANCE. Assurance is being sure that someone is a Christian. John states the theme in 5:13. He writes to believers so they may know they have eternal life. This is significant. John is saying you can know for sure you are an actual believer. This is awesome because there are some religions who do not offer this, and I think it is safe to say ONLY Christianity offers assurance that someone has eternal life. Other religions teach try as hard as you can and you may have eternal life, you may go to heaven, then again you may not, there is no way you can know. These believers John is writing to were in a state of doubt because there were these people, the Gnostics, who were teaching salvation was found in a special knowledge that was given by God. There faith was thrown into confusion.
• In 1:1-4 John taught us that assurance comes only to those who have a correct view of the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is fully God and fully man. In order for someone to have assurance that they are Christians they must have a biblical view of Jesus Christ. This is where it all starts because no one can become a Christian unless they have a correct view of Jesus, if someone view of Jesus is off, everything is off, and there is no way they can have assurance, because there is NO WAY they can ever be a Christian.

As we start our next study we are going to cover 1:5-10. These verses are jam packed with the truth. We see John gives three counter claims to the Gnostics and what they taught. This lesson will be a little different than the last one because the passage is different. We will do the application as we learn what John is saying.

My Assurance Comes From the Character of God, v.5

In verse five John shifts his thought from what was said in the opening of the letter. John says this is the message we have heard from Him, Him being the word of life, the eternal life, Jesus Christ, that God is light. One thing that will strike anyone who reads this is there is no account in the gospels of Jesus ever saying this. Jesus never said God is light. But this should not be taken to seriously as if John is making this up. On the contrary John is not.

The word John uses here for light is used six times in this book and twenty three times in the gospel of John. This certain word for light is only used seventy-three times in the whole New Testament. This means much of the uses are with John therefore I believe we must understand how John uses the word light in order to understand what John is saying here.

• John uses light in connection with life: John1:4, In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
• The light enlightens: John 1:9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
• Jesus is the light of the world, John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Once again here we see the light of life. John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

These are some of the different uses that John has of light. There are a few others but will not be covered here. But the question we must answer is, is John using light in the same sense here as he is in these few uses we have seen. Is there something different perhaps we are missing, from a look at John’s gospel?

The first thing to look at is John wrote God is light in a context where he is addressing the reality of sin and the need for believers to confess their sin. So in light of this it is best to look at God is light as reflecting His holiness, His moral perfection if you will. God is holy and God alone. John is making a clear statement here about the character of God, it cannot be viewed any other way although some just see this as a launching point for John to talk about ethics. John is making an explicit statement about the character of God. Because in order to talk about ethics and the way one should live YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF GOD. You must there is no way around it.

John really wants to drive home his point that God is light so he contrasts it with darkness. You can see this better is the Greek, the Greek literally says darkness in him no is none. John uses two different words to prove his point. It is very emphatic. John is saying there is no darkness in God whatsoever. If light refers to holiness then darkness refers to sin. There is no sin in God whatsoever, if there were then He is not God. He cannot be holy and sinful at the same time. It just can’t happen. But John drives home his point God is holy and there is no sin in him at all.

John uses this statement to point these readers to the Character of God. This is how John assures his readers. There can be no assurance apart from the character of God. We can be assured that we are Christians because God is Holy, because He is righteous, because He is sovereign. Because of who God is we can be sure we are believers in Jesus Christ, we are Christians. There are two ways in which verse five flows with the purpose of assurance. First off John assures his readers that the message that he preaches and the message that they believed in was from Jesus. This was not something that John made up or had some epiphany or dream about, but it was from Jesus. Secondly John wants his community to rest in the Character of God, in verse seven he shows us true believers seek to mimic God’s character and be like him. To assure his readers in this verse John points them back to that character of God. This would have been necessary. Think about how we as Christians act many times when we are faced with hardships in our lives. Everything get so crazy and we fail to remember first off that God is still there in our lives and second how easy is it to forget what the character of God is. If we go through a rough season how easy it is to forget that God is sovereign over that situation. How easy it is to forget that God is working everything out for our good, and that good is to be more like His Son Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:28-29). John’s community was very confused and did not know what to believe so John pointed them to the character of God and was saying hey this is the God we serve. It is not the god of the heretics, but it is the true God.

This is a good place to note one thing about the way John writes. Many times John will use a positive statement and back up what he is saying with a negative statement. Such as God is light which is the positive and back it up with a negative, there is no darkness in him at all. This backs up what John is saying, pay attention to this because it is all over this book.

My Assurance Comes From A Biblical and Correct View of Sin vs. 6-10

John initially in this passage points he readers to the character of God. He assures his readers by telling them look to God and who He is. If you notice what we have learned so far all goes back to looking to God and Jesus Christ it is only through this a person can have true assurance of salvation.

Now John tells these believers that in order to have assurance of salvation a person must have a biblical view of what sin is.

In these three verses we find something unique. If you remember from our last lesson we said that here in chapter one we see John’s direct response to the Gnostics, the false teachers. We say in 1:1-4 that John was an eyewitness to what they denied had happened, the incarnation. In verses 5-10 John is dealing with their view of sin. We find this is verses 6,8,10. John gives three counterclaims to how the false teachers view of sin, was wrong.

Verse six is the first of three counterclaims that John gives. The heretics believed that they had fellowship with God, but one thing was missing from that claim. They did not live like people who were in fellowship with God. One reason this would have been the case is because of the tests we looked at earlier. They believed wrongly about Jesus, which led them to live sinful lives. The heretics made a false claim and the reason John could say it was false was because of how they lived their lives. John says that people who make this claim, but live otherwise, are deceived and they do not practice the truth. The live in sin, they practice sin and do not practice the truth. John assures his readers that those who claim to be in fellowship with God will live a life that will back up that claim. One who believes rightly will live rightly.

Verse eight is the second counterclaim that John gives here. The first one was in verse six, but this one states a different belief that the heretics had. The Gnostics believed that since they had received this higher knowledge from God, knowledge superior to that of the Apostles, they also believed, because of this knowledge, they had reached a state of perfection. This knowledge was their salvation; therefore they did not need Christ or the atoning work of Christ. The Gnostics thought they were now perfect and therefore they did not sin any more. The last three verses of chapter one deal with sin. Verses eight and ten are counterclaims, and verse nine is instruction to believers for what to do when they do sin. Since the heretics believed that they had no sin, John says that people who think and believe that are deceived. The reason they are deceived is that God has declared that all of humanity is sinful. Every person in this world is radically depraved. They are sinners by nature. They sin because they are sinners. The Gnostics deceived themselves and believed something that was in direct opposition to what God has said. Not only were the Gnostics deceived because of this belief, but because they held such a belief, the truth was not in them. The truth could not be in them because the truth is that everyone everywhere sins. The Gnostics had not reached a state of perfection, because there is only one that lived on this earth that was perfect and that was Jesus Christ.

The third and final counterclaim that John gives is in verse ten. Once again the Gnostics believed they had reached a state of perfection. The Gnostics claimed that they no longer sinned. John says that if anyone says he has not sinned they make God out to be a liar and God’s word is not in them. This is a serious indictment from John here. The Gnostics John says here are making God out to be a liar and His word is not in them. They make God out to be a liar because God has declared that all men everywhere are sinful. This is God’s word. The depravity of man is all over the pages of scripture. So to say that you have not sinned is to say God you are wrong. I have never sinned I have reached a state of perfection. God’s word is not in the person who claims that, nor do they know the word of God. The person who claims this is in direct opposition with God, and that is why John can lay out this serious indictment here in verse ten. The church to which this letter was written can be assured that they have fellowship with God and they know Gods word because of what they believe about sin.

A believer realizes the reality of sin in their lives, and in fact they realize it to the point where they confess their sin. Sin is a real and present thing, and there is no one ever who can escape it. David said he was born in sin, while he was in the womb he was a sinner by nature. Everyone in this room is a sinner. We all have a sin nature, it is real, and if we were to deny it we would be like the Gnostics and what John said in verses 6,8,10. A believer will confess their sin to God.

What does it mean to confess sin to God. It means to agree with Him that our sin is wrong and it offends Him. A Christian will confess sin. As believers we will continually need to confess our sin, because even though we have a new nature we still sin, even though we may not want to. Notice what happens though when we confess our sins. John tells us God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us. How can God be faithful and just in forgiving sinners if we know that God is light, holiness, and there is no darkness in him at all, sin? How can this happen?

First off God can be faithful in forgiving sin because he has promised to do so. In the New Covenant passage in Jeremiah 31:34 God said I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sin no more. In order to be faithful to His own word, God must then forgive those who confess their need of a Savior. The minute God ceases to forgive, and to be faithful to His promise of forgiveness, He ceases to be God, because He has lied. God is faithful in forgiving sins because He promised he would do so.

Secondly, how can God be just in forgiving sinners? How can God forgive those who have offended him? The problem we face here is God is Holy and we are not. We are sinful to the core. Everything we do is tainted by sin. We are sinners by nature. So how can God forgive those who are opposite from Him, a people who are not holy? How could this ever be possible? James Montgomery Boice answers the question well, “The answer to the question of the justice of God in forgiving sins is found in Romans 3:20-28, where Paul explains how it is that God is both “just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus” (v. 26 KJV). It is possible he says, through Christ, who, being God and therefore having no sin of his own, was able to and did die for us. God punished our sin in Jesus Christ. Jesus became the “propitiation” for our sins, meaning that by him God’s just wrath against our sins was satisfied.” God can forgive because Jesus on the cross bore our sin so we could be forgiven, and God can be just in forgiving us. The answer really is simple yet so profound, it is because of Jesus.

Notice that John says God will forgive us. There is a certainty here. Is we confess our sins God will forgive us. There is no reason to doubt whether you said the right words or anything like that. God will forgive when we confess. Notice how He forgives. He forgives us of our sins and cleanses us from ALL unrighteousness. He forgives and He makes clean. He cleanses us from ALL unrighteousness. John does not say here God cleanses us from some of our unrighteousness, but from all of our unrighteousness. Is that not an awesome thought or not? God cleanses us from all of our sin. Not just some of it.

A believer then must the have a biblical view of sin. In other words they are to agree with what God has said in His word concerning sin. In order to have assurance we must have a correct view of sin. If our view of sin is off then there are some important things we need to learn from the scriptures and how God feels about sin. He hates it.

The Christian Walk, v.7

There is still yet one more verse to cover. This verse is full of truth and conviction.

John goes on to say that those who walk in the light as He is in the light, they will have fellowship with one another. The person who walks in the light will want to have fellowship with other people that walk in the light. Those who walk in the light will have fellowship with other believers. James Montgomery Boice says about this verse that our vertical relationship with God will show up in our horizontal relationships with other believers. The Gnostics did not claim this rather they broke fellowship with all believers. They claimed fellowship with God, but did not want the fellowship of other believers. This is not the only effect of walking in the light. The second effect of those who walk in the light is that the blood of Jesus cleanses their sins. Look at how John words this though, the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from ALL sin. The word all here is a wonderful and an assuring word. John is not saying here that all people’s sins are cleansed. But he is saying that for those who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, ALL of their sin has been cleansed. The Greek word here that is used for cleanse is, καθαρίζω,(kath-ar-id'-zo) which means cleansed form the defilement of sin , the same word is used one other time in this book in verse nine of this chapter. All of their sin has been cleansed. There is not one sin that the atoning work of Christ on the cross cannot overcome. The reason being that He lived a perfect and sinless life and therefore He was the perfect spotless and sinless sacrifice. His life and death overcomes all sin. Even the sin of unbelief so that we may come to belief in Him, Jesus paid it all. All sin can be overcome. The dirtiest sin that you can think of can be overcome because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Christians will seek to have the character of God. We are to be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1). In order to do this we must be holy. You know what the good thing is? God has given us an example, Jesus Christ. God has given us four books, the Gospels, where we can learn how Jesus lived, what He did, what He said.

Conclusion

Before we end let’s summarize what we have learned.
• Assurance comes from the Character of God. Because of who God is we can have assurance.
• Assurance comes from a Biblical view of sin. There may be times when we feel doubts and we may be in sin, and we do not know it, because our view of sin is not a biblical view of sin, God’s view of sin.
• As believers we are to walk in the light as He is in the light. We are to be pursuing holiness every second pf every day. This is our goal and aim as believers to be imitators of God.