1 John 1:1 Wednesday PM 3-4-2026

Looks exactly like the book of John as far as writing style.

So we're just going to go with it to book.

It was written by the apostle John because that's what all the

all the evidence really points to.

So that is my I don't know. I whenever I get to the point

where I'm reading it and I'm listening and I'm reading,

reading the scholars talk about, well, there was a guy that was

around called Elder John. And maybe he did Hey guys, or it

was just John. Let's just, you know, let's just

say that. So anyway, they, they sometimes

they can frustrate me, but I did look into it and it's, and we'll

get into that as far as just the similarities between this and

the book of John. So we'll just go through and

read it real quick. Verse one.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,

which we have seen with our eyes, which we have handled

concerning the word of life. The life was manifest, and we

have seen and bear witness and declare it to you, that eternal

life which was with the Father, and was manifest to us.

That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that

you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our

fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

And these things we write to you, that your joy may be full.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare

to you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in

darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have

fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His

Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we

have deceived ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us

our sins and declare us our sorry, to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness. If we say that we have not

sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in US and Lord

just just be with us and speak to us here tonight.

I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.

So John was with was with Jesus from the very beginning in

Matthew 48. Sorry, 4/18.

It actually talks about starting in verse 18 and Jesus walking by

the Sea of Galilee saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and

Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were

fishermen. And then he said to them, follow

me and I will make you fishers of men.

They immediately left their Nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son

of Zebony and John, his brother in a boat with Zebedee, their

father mending their Nets. He called them and immediately

they left the boat and their father and followed him.

So he was he was one of the the first right he was He's with

with Jesus from the very beginning.

And the the fun thing with that is John first hand knowledge.

John got to see things like Jesus changing water into law,

into wine, feeding thousands of people with with a few bread and

some few few fish and some bread, healing the blind,

healing the death, curing the sick, the injured and the

infirmed. He he cast out evil spirits.

He walked on water. He calmed storms.

He he raised people from the dead, not not just not just one

or two, but himself as well. Right.

And, and for John at this point, the, the, the other thing that

John can testify that that there's power in Jesus is that

at this point, church history would say that he'd they tried

to boil him in oil and he didn't die.

So he has he has a testimony, right.

And that's something as we go through this guy's that that we

need to share with people. I can I can get into the word

and I can tell you all the things that Jesus did and what

it says here, but what's he done to me, right?

What's how's he affected my life and and he has completely

changed my life. John goes on in I have my tabs

right in John 21 verse 24. John says it like this and, and

John 21:24

really my life and I would imagine your life if you've been

a believer for very long, I could I could write this

starting in verse 24. It says this is in chapter 21 of

John, verse 24. This is the disciple who

testifies of these things and wrote these things.

And we know that his testimony is true.

And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if

they were written 1 by 1, I suppose that even the world

itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Amen. And that's, that's Jesus in my

life, right? When I go through it's, it's

not, it's not all that it's not all the big things every day.

It's it's or it's not the big things every once in a while.

It's the little things every day, all day long, right, That I

just get to see Jesus working in my life.

And that's that's John here. This is he goes on.

You know, the beginning here is that which was from the

beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our

eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled

concerning the word of life. So he ties it back to to his his

Gospel right, which is he ties it back with the word with the

beginning and the word and John 11 says in the beginning was the

word and the word was with God and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things that were made through him.

All things were made through him and without him nothing was

made. And the importance of that

statement at John's time, this is this book was written between

80 and 90 AD They they figure which is and Jesus was crucified

between 30 and 36 ADS. So this was between 50 and 60

years after Jesus died and what's the importance of that or

after he rose from the dead. The importance of that is 50 and

60 years. There is no John's telling them

things that they can check out, right?

I, I look at it, I'm reading a book right now that was written

by an English guy, but it's about Abraham Lincoln's life.

And it's, he, the, the book was put into print in 1917.

And the nice thing about a book from 1917 about Abraham Lincoln

is that, that he didn't have an axe to grind.

I mean, it helps that he's from England, so he didn't have a

left or right axe to grind. But you just get a read about

the good and the bad in Lincoln's life and not from a

not from a skewed position, right?

And because, but he had to write it that way because there were

people that were alive that could check his facts.

I was going to, I didn't have time today, but I was going to

see how many of his contemporaries were still alive

when the book was written because the the guy calls out

all kinds of people, right? And the and calls him out good

and bad. And if he was lying, they, they

could have called him on that. Well, that's, that's John here,

right? Being being this close, John is

going to say things that are like, and you can check this

out, right? You can you, you are able to

because we live in it. We're it's at such a time in

history that this stuff is still in people's minds, right where

he says that others had sought have seen right.

Verse two goes on and says the life was manifest and we have

seen and bear witness and declare it to you that eternal

life which was with the Father and was manifested to us and

that manifested word there is just revealed what is hidden

right And John is actually in a battle in the the reason he's

writing this letter. The reason that he actually

wrote the the gospel when he wrote it and wrote the letter

later on is there are Gnostics which are just false teachers

out there teaching things like Jesus was a was he was only

spirit and not man, or that he was only man and not, not God.

And either one of those makes Jesus of no, no importance,

right? And what I mean by that if Jesus

was only God and not man, then he couldn't have died for my

sins because he didn't he, he didn't put on humanity to be

able to do that. And if he was only and if he was

only man and not God, then his death could have only he could

have. Even if he was perfect, his

death could have only saved one person.

So that's it. It's very important, right?

But what happens, and this is when I, you know, I pick on the

fuzzy thinker people. What happens is, and it's been

happening since the 1st century. They're trying to put the

Trinity into a box. And I have, I've heard the, the

Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are all God and there's only one

God. And I've heard that explained

many different ways and anybody that is good at explaining it

will start off with this illustration will break down.

It's not I can't, you know, I have, I have my, I have my body,

soul and mind, right. So that's someone guy with a

body, soul and mind. An egg has a shell, a white and

a yolk. You know, any of that stuff.

But the problem with us trying to explain the Trinity from our

position is the same thing as trying to explain to A2

dimensional being what 3 dimensions is.

And if you, if you think about that on A2 dimens a ball to to

A2 dimensional, how do you draw a ball?

It's a line. And if it bounces, it's a line

that gets shorter and gets taller, but it's a ball.

It's round. And how do you explain to A2

dimensional any but anything what round is because nothing in

their world is round. And so it's that that kind of

understand that there are things that are absolutely true and not

contradictory in the Bible that are beyond our ability to

actually grasp our head around it.

And and people can get offended by that.

But I will also say that the same thing it can be said about

the universe, right? I, I was listening to, I can't

remember the guy's name, but he's a astrophysicist guy that

says, so if you get to the edge of the universe and you throw a

spear and it goes through the through the edge of the

universe, that means there's something on the other side.

And if you get to the edge of the universe and you throw a

spear and it hits a wall, that means there's something on the

other side, right? So the universe goes on and on

and on, right? And we can't understand

eternity, You know, when you look at Jesus, and this is

what's important on this from the beginning and the eternal

life is Jesus was from the beginning.

He was, he was, he goes as far that way as he does that way,

right? He is he is he has always been

he's he was born as a baby about 2000 years ago, but Jesus has

always been and Jesus and and the thing with Jesus didn't

didn't mince words with this right.

John 539 says you search the scriptures for in them you think

you have eternal life and these are they which testify me, but

you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.

So this is him talking to the Pharisees, the religious leaders

that were thought they were the holiest man in the room, right?

And he is telling them that you search the scriptures and the

scriptures speak of me and then in and then if that wasn't like

clear enough for him 14-6 said Jesus says to him, and this is

him talking to Thomas actually, but I am the way the truth and

the life. No one comes to the Father

except through me. So when what this comes down to

and, and what John is explaining and, and Jesus cannot be a good

man, he unless he was God and the light of the world.

Jesus is either who he said he was or he isn't anything right.

And I'm sure that you guys have heard that he is either a liar,

a lunatic, or God because he either knew that he wasn't God

and lied about it. That makes him a liar.

He thought he was God. That makes him a lunatic or he

was God. Well, on the third day when he

rose again, he proved he was God, right?

I mean, he healed people, He did many miracles, but on the third

day when he rose again, he proved he was God and had power

over over the grave, right, John?

First, John 1/3 says that which we have seen and heard, we

declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us.

And truly our fellowship is with the Father, with his Son Jesus

Christ. And these things rewrite to you

that your joy may be full. And this is John not just

wanting to make it clear to them all that Jesus has done, but

and, and the other apostles and all of that, that it was true

and could be trusted, but more that it was truth.

These truths were a source of joy, right?

They're not just, they're not just facts on a page.

This is this is joy. If Jesus came and rose again on

the third day and and forgives me for my sin, I have eternity

with him. This is a joy, no matter how bad

my life sucks, right? Embracing the suck is the thing

I talk about, but it's that's what we get to embrace.

I was, this isn't in my notes, but I was listening to, I'm

doing one of my classes and the pastor was talking about at the

Passover meal, the the lamb was slain and his blood was put in a

bowl and then the family had the blood in the bowl.

So in the house, there was a there was a sacrificed lamb,

there was blood in a bowl. But until they took that blood

and applied it to the doorposts, they weren't covered.

So it's important for us to apply that right, to apply that

to our lives. One of the fun things about the

the doorposts and I'll it's there's only a few of us here.

I'll ruin it for us in the when we're in Exodus when we get to

Passover. So how long has the cross been

in existence? Right.

The Romans came up with crucifixion, but Passover lamb

3500 years ago, God told them to put the blood on the on the

Mantel and on the doorpost. And if you take it, take some

hyssop and you put it in a bowl. Or you put blood in the bowl and

you take some hyssop and you put it in the bowl and then you put

it on the you put it on the Mantel and then you put it on

both doorposts. What did you just do right out

of blood and tell me that ain't just cool, right?

I mean, that's, that's Jesus being being there then, right

They were that, that blood dripping from the from the

doorpost down and then on both door.

This is this is the cross before it was even a thing, right.

So just a just one of those fun pictures that I mean, we know

the Passover lamb is a picture of Jesus, but that is just a

like direct connection. Verse 5.

This is the message which we have heard from him and declared

to you that God is light and in him is no darkness.

And Jesus said he's the light of the world.

And Jesus is reminded or John is reminding us of Jesus's words,

right? John 812 says, then Jesus spoke

to them again saying, I am the light of the world.

He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light

of life. And I, I talk about it a lot,

but being in Christ, right, it's raining outside right now.

And if, if I knocked out those windows, we would be affected by

that rain, right? If I, if, if I walked outside,

I'm no longer in the building and now I'm getting wet.

And the idea being in Christ is we are in Christ.

We're in his light, but he is not he is not a slave.

He is not a forceful parent, right?

He he allows us free will and will allow us free will until

the day we come to see him. And that means that I'm in

Christ, but I can reach out of him.

And Nehemiah, they, it, it's like breeches in the wall.

And when I, when, when I starting breaking windows out of

this building or knocking holes in the walls, suddenly this

building is a whole lot harder to keep warm, right?

I'm, I'm, I'm a lot more affected by the outside world.

So the importance of walking in his light, being in him and and

having that be our focus on a, on a daily moment to moment

basis, right. John 16 says if we say that we

have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do

not practice the truth. And this is this lie that he's

talking about is like I talked about on Sunday is about our

where is our heart? Are we are we in it for what I

can get or what he's already done and do I think that at any

point I deserve to be in Christ and that I mean the Pharisees

and we'll get into that at the end of this that you know, they

got it in their head that they had something to offer.

And the moment we start doing that, we are, we are reckoning,

we are we are thinking that I mean, my sin at that point is my

pride that I'm the one doing this and being when it says

walking in darkness, that's practicing sin, right?

That's that is that is when I I wish I could remember what I

said being Faye were talking about something years ago.

And I said something to the extent of never think that God

is okaying your excuse to sin, right?

It's I have anger issues. So it's OK that I yell and

scream at people, you know, and doesn't mean it doesn't mean

that I, that I never, I never sin.

When I sin, do I say God's OK with it?

I mean, that's, that's that walking in darkness.

When I say it's OK, it's how I'm made.

That's that's when, that's when you're, when you're walking in

darkness. You have chose, you have chose

to say, I know I'm sinning and God isn't happy with this, but

he's OK with it and I'll just keep doing it.

You know, and that's, you know, say somebody those, those I've

never had this problem, nor do I plan on ever having this

problem. But I always wonder about a, a

man that gets into an adulterous affair.

So he's going to church and he ends up sleeping around.

How does he think that's going to end?

I mean, there is no, there is no, there's no way out of that.

You, God's not going to allow you to continue.

There's going to be some grace and some time for you to repent

and, and, but you're going to have to repent, which means

you're going to have to come clean.

And if not, that's going to walk you off a short pier.

Sooner or later, you're light's going to happen, right?

Everybody's going to know. And that goes for all.

I mean, so that's a big sin that that I can I can use here.

But that goes for all of our sin, right?

If God's talking to us about about sin in your life, that's

something that you need to take serious and say, Lord, I want

that. I want what you want in my life,

right? I understand that I'm not where

you want me to be and I want to be where you want me to be.

So change me, right? He gives us that grace, but this

is how we're to do this. Romans 611 Likewise you also

reckon, reckon yourselves to be dead, indeed to sin, but alive

to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. So being in him in that position

is how we we reckon ourselves dead, right?

If I got up here as a dead guy, I wouldn't have any nerves at

all, right? I mean, you could set me up on

stage in front of 1,000,000 people and I'm not going to

sweat at all because I'm dead, right?

So dead people don't don't sin because they don't gratify the

flesh because they're dead. I always John Malkovich in Reds

too. I think John or Bruce Willis

takes a needle out of his lapel and shoves it into his hand.

John Malkovich ends up being alive, but he he takes that like

a like he's dead. And that's literally how if

we're dead, if we're dead to our flesh, that's our response to

things is just it is no, it's nothing to us, but our flesh is

definitely something that needs to be killed daily and sometimes

hourly, right. Six Romans 618 says, and have

you have been and have been set free from sin, you became slaves

of righteousness, which is go back to verse 16.

Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey,

you are that one slave whom you obey, whether sin leading to

death or obedience leading to righteousness?

And that when we trust and rely on Christ as our Lord and King,

right? That trusting and relying on

Christ, imagine being in the room with your King and he asked

you to do something and you say, I'll think about it, that that's

not going to go well, right? That's when we gave our lives to

Jesus. That's what you're agreeing to,

right? You're agreeing to he is in

charge of my life and not he is in charge of my life where I

feel like letting him have charge of it.

It's my answer to him when he asked me a question is already

yes, it was yes before he asked it.

There's the that scene where you don't want to be a Peter on a

roof when God lowers down a blanket and says kill and eat

and Peter says not so Lord. So that is like an oxymoron.

Saying no and Lord at the same time it is an impossibility is

if he is your Lord, the answer is yes or OK, but it can't be

refusal because at that point he's not your Lord.

Verse 7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we

have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ

his Son cleanses us from all sin.

And that's that's the thing guys.

When I when I knock out a window and I decide I'm going to step

outside, it is exactly 1 turn to come back in and he seals the

window up. But it takes repentance, which

is just turning around and calling sin what it's what it

is, right? Confessing my sin and that

doesn't, unfortunately, I tell people this as a on a regular

basis. Unfortunately, when we confess

our sins to Christ, He does forgive us our sins.

We are forgiven 100% at that moment.

You may have some worldly consequences to pay, right?

That that is that that doesn't go away just because he's, he

forgave you, right? If you stole money, you're going

to need to return it. If you, if you hurt people,

you're you're going to have to pay for that, right?

That's that is, there are still worldly consequences, but you

are forgiven when you ask to be forgiven.

It's not and it isn't a it isn't.

Well, then I can do whatever I want to and then ask to be

forgiven. That's not, that's not walking

in the light, right? That's that is that is never

getting the windows back in the building.

That's that's running around outside of the building.

And then to remember, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive

ourselves and the truth is not in US guys, we're going to fail.

And that's we just are. And that is because there of our

of our nature, right a dirt, dirt is not real smart.

We are are are starting in in just that.

I kind of laughed when I when I quit chewing and got to the end

of myself and finally gave up and said, Lord, I can't.

And he, he took it away and I had no more, no more cravings at

all. You would think that I I learned

that lesson and I would only have to learn that lesson once.

And every time I have something, some sin in my life that he's

asking me to do, I'm fighting it with all I got until I get to

the end of myself and say Lord, I can't.

And he goes, I know that's why I'm here.

That's the whole but you would think that I would learn that

and just give up, but I don't So remembering that right, John 19

says if if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to

forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So he is that big. Now the the in Psalms 103 verse

Psalms 103:12

12 it says and as far as the East is from the West.

So far has he removed our transgressions from us and and

I'm sure we've many of us have heard that, but what?

And I I've shared this here before a while back, but did you

know Jesus did not die for my sin.

He died for me and I came with sin.

And how I explain this in Uganda is so that JB has big long

trucks and some of them haul, some of them haul people, some

of them haul material, some of them haul garbage.

And JBJB buys a garbage truck and gets a good deal on it.

And he comes home and unloading all the garbage and burning it

and cleaning the truck and scrubbing it and collecting the

water and gets everything clean. And he actually didn't burn in

the garbage yet. He's got it piled up.

And, and then Mama piece, his wife gets home and the truck's

out front, but he wants, he takes her in the back and shows

her all this garbage he bought and how much he paid for it.

She'd look at him like he's stupid because he didn't.

He didn't buy the garbage, He bought the truck.

Jesus didn't buy our sin. He paid for it, but he bought us

and that's that's the thing guys is that he he is more than

willing to throw our sin as far as the East is from the West to

have a relationship with us right to have a relationship

with me. He is John.

John here is talking about keeping short accounts, right?

Is is it is way easier to say I'm sorry, right?

I mean, and, and turn around right when the mistake happens

than it is to keep going down that path and then thinking

that. And and he's not like us because

we think the farther away from him, the farther down this path

that I go, the farther away from him I am and the the more mad

he's going to be in the, the more in trouble I am.

And none of that is true. It is always one turn, but we

our flesh, our heart does not want to make that turn the

farther down the road we get. 19 quit drinking on 92931994 whole

lot of I had a bunch of court stuff I had to do in Alaska and

my dad lived in Alaska and I moved.

I went up there for I was there for three months getting getting

all this a bunch of stuff I did right after I graduated high

school taken care of and was up there for three months.

My, I got a little brother that's 10 years younger than me

and a stepbrother that's 7-8 years younger than me.

And I stayed at their house and did all the things.

And then I got on my then three months later and me and my dad

did not have the best relationship, but lived with him

for three months. And then I got on the plane to

fly home to tri-cities. And when the plane landed, I

forgot to call my dad this back way before like everybody had a

cell phone. Then I forgot to call my dad.

I'll get to it. And then a week went by and now

he's just going to complain at me.

So 2 weeks went by, 2 1/2 years went by before I talked to my

dad because he it, it just was life.

I mean, I'm not defending that in any way shape or form.

But that was the, the first few times I didn't call him was

because I forgot. But then it was I didn't want to

hear it. And that was he.

And I wasn't mad. I mean, it was lit.

Everybody thinks I was mad at him.

I wasn't mad at him. There was.

I just, I just didn't. Jesus is not like my dad.

But we very often act like I did right, that I don't want to do

that. I don't want to just turn

around. I don't want to just pick up the

phone because I'm going to have to hear it.

You're not going to have to hear it.

He's going to say, he's going to say, put a robe on him.

He's going to love you, right? But it has to be a sincere from

you between you and him, right? It has to be straightforward.

And it's an, it's a we Jesus doesn't play games.

We play games. The world plays games.

There's lots of manipulations and lots of, lots of ways to get

things accomplished. Jesus wants your heart and there

is no amount of acting like he has it that will give it to him.

Not a there is no religious game or checking boxes.

You know, coming on a Wednesday night or coming on a Friday

night or coming on a Sunday night, coming every day of the

week, all the days of work, the the church is open.

You are getting zero credit unless you're doing it because

you want to know him more right? It it isn't about you know, my,

my girls when they first moved out of the house were looking

for different churches and stuff as they moved away and they

well, I just haven't I'm like, girl, church is not God does not

sit up in heaven with a check box and going well, you didn't

make it to church on Sunday. That's a demerit going to have

some detention to do this. The point of this, the point of

a Sunday morning, the point of a Wednesday night, the point of it

is for the body to gather together and build each other

up. And so it's a time that we get

to care for one another. Galatians 6-7 says do not be

deceived. God is not mocked for whatever

man sows that he will also reap, for he who sows to the flesh

will reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will reap

everlasting life. And that's that's it, right?

That is our John is just saying guys don't don't think that this

is a game to be played and that you need to look a certain way

and you need to act a certain way or you don't need to look a

certain way or you don't need to act a certain way.

You and Jesus need to meet and he's got joy unspeakable to pour

into your life, but that's you and him.

I I talk every week about the get TOS of being a Christian and

really that's John here just saying the same thing.

Be in the light, right? Being in the light is a get to

if we are in Christ, we are in pure light and there is no

darkness, right. When I'm hanging out with him,

when I'm when I'm reading my Bible and I'm, I don't read my

Bible because I need to. I need to read 4 chapters today

or I need to read 3 verses today.

I want to spend time with him. I, I talk about the Bible about

if my grandfather had wrote a book all about him and his

friends specifically so that I would know him better.

And then when he died, somebody came up and handed it to me and

said, you're so Grandpa D wrote this for you.

Would I read it? Absolutely right.

That's what this is. That's why we, that's why we

read the Bible is to know him more.

And this is, this is the, the Pharisee.

And these are the two different people in the world, right?

There's, there's actually, there's, there's more, but these

are the two people a lot of times in a church building

starting at Luke 18. Also, he spoke this parable to

some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and

despised others. Two men went up to the temple to

pray. 1A Pharisee and the other tax collector.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.

God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners,

unjust adulterers or even this tax collector.

I fast twice a week. I give ties of all I possess.

And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as

raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God be

merciful to me, a Sinner. I tell you, this man went down

to his house justified rather than the other.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who

humbles himself will be exalted. And we want to be the tax

collector, humble of our of our outside worth.

His saving grace is, is all that matters, right?

In his grace, we are more than conquerors.

And that's The thing is that as I, as I say that that we need to

be humble, but know that that in that, in that humble, I'm humble

because I know who I serve. And you know, Romans 837 says,

yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him

who loved us. And that's when we're in Christ.

I can be humble because he's already 1.

I don't, I don't have to, I don't have to show up and tell

everybody how big a deal I am. I don't have to act like a

Christian. I just get to be 1.

I just get to hang out with my God and and learn about him and

enjoy him. And last, the only thing we

bring to salvation is our need for it, right?

So Lord, I just lift up this time and I lift up everybody

here and thank you for a beautiful Wednesday night and

even with the rain out there. And I just thank you for this

time. And you'd be with us all as

we're driving home. Keep everybody safe.

I pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.