Study Guide: 1 John 1

Hi, my name is James Rathman.

My name's Bruce Nickley.

And this is the Redemption Church podcast.

Today we're happy to have Bruce join us as we uh continue working through 1 John to support our spring Bible studies here at Redemption Church Denver.

This episode is our second time in 1 John, and this will correspond to lesson two in our Bible studies, and we'll be covering the first chapter of 1 John.

So this is 1 John 1.

Last week was, or last time, I guess, lesson one is an overview of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.

We're going to start moving into the weeds a bit more with moving into chapter 1.

So I'm looking forward to doing that today with you, Bruce.

And before we get started, this episode of the podcast is brought to you by the friendly contributions of the What is Membership class, which is this Sunday, Sunday, March 8th, right after church.

If you are interested in becoming a member of Redemption Church, this is a uh great first step to do that.

So just stick around right after church, and uh we'll meet together in my office and I'll give a rundown on what membership means, the importance of it, and uh what the next steps are for becoming a member of Redemption Church Denver.

And this podcast is also brought to you by the 2026 Parish Olympics.

The Parish Olympics are back because we have our uh uh Olympic hosts who are the Kellums, and now that they're back in the United States, they are putting together our, I believe this will be our third Parish Olympics that we've done.

It's always very fun.

So if you're in a parish, uh start uh practicing your winter sports now, even though we haven't had a winter here in Colorado.

All right, so let's get into it.

First John chapter one.

Bruce, I'm looking forward to talking through this uh with you.

Uh I've enjoyed being in a Bible study with you, and this is uh uh you've got such great insights, and you've preached through First John before.

Yes, I have.

And uh book.

Yeah.

Well what's your what's your relationship with 1 John?

Well, um we wanted to um do some eschatological work in it when I went through it.

We'll get to the Antichrist because that's such a hot topic and um ever since the 70s when Hal Lindsey got his book out on the late great planet Earth.

Actually, it's part of what led me to the Lord, to be honest.

But uh That Hal Lindsey book?

Yeah, no kidding.

Yeah, oh yeah.

And you turned on him.

I did.

But he he sufficiently scared me to look uh to the Lord for some help.

So Wow.

Is it true that that book was set in Boulder or that there is like an some inspiration for oh no, or I think this present darkness was uh the rumor was that that was about Boulder.

Yeah, wow, that may be.

I don't remember Late Great Planet Earth being that, but okay.

Yeah, I haven't read either of them, but uh uh I grew up with them in the ether, of course.

Yeah.

So um the other aspects of knowing uh with certainty about our our faith, um, our forgiveness, uh John has a lot to say about that.

Yeah.

Um I love the way he he really speaks authoritatively to answer some of those ultimate questions.

Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

I I preached to first John a while ago now, and that was the that was sort of the central thrust of what of what I remember taking away from that.

I think we named the series confidence, and it was about how to have confidence or assurance of salvation.

Yeah those are central themes of this book.

So let's go ahead and jump into the text and we'll start uh working through, see what 1 John 1 uh has for us.

Uh I'll start off and I just want to read verses uh of verses 1 and 2.

So it says, 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.

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.

So the thing that jumps out to me right away in that is it's it's so much sensory language.

It says, We have looked upon, we have touched with our hands, was made manifest, we have heard and seen.

Oh why do you think John begins with this this uh uh like like sensory language?

Well, I think he's using a uh inductive form of reasoning that says we we have valid knowledge coming through our senses um in our engagement in in the real world.

Um and and so he's relying on sight, on hearing, on touching, that he um alludes to in this first paragraph.

And those are reliable.

Um one of the great philosophic questions, excuse me, is um how do you know your senses are reliable?

Yeah.

How would you answer that one from Christian standpoint?

Well You're the philosopher here.

Yeah, yeah.

What's one undergrad?

That's like the most dangerous type of philosopher you could be.

The uh uh I I'd wanna I'd wanna uh I'd wanna tell the story of the type of thing that the world is, that creation is, the the stuff that's out there, and then the type of thing I am and how those fit so that I could trust that the things that I receive from the world that they're reliable in some way.

And in the biblical story, what we see is that the world was created by God, by his word, and so it has structure and order and meaning are uh are essential to the to the creation itself.

There is structure and order and meaning.

Something that's knowable is out there.

There are distinctions and objects, it's not just sort of a mist of matter, uh, but it's out there in a knowable way.

And so that's true of the creation in the biblical story.

And then what's true of me in the biblical story is that I am created in the image of God, so that the language of creation is understandable to me.

It's knowable to me because I'm in the image of the one who created it, and I was created to correspond to it.

So I can trust that the uh things that I hear, those are uh legitimate sounds and they're knowable.

The they can be named because God uh built a name into them.

That the the land I can call land, the water I can call water.

Uh I can do that by looking at it, and the images that I perceive, uh, they correspond to the to the meaning that's actually in there.

So because the image of God in me and the uh nature of the creation itself, I know that they can be corresponded to and I can name them in true ways, ways which reflect the naming of God.

Yeah, I was thinking of Psalm 94.9 that says, uh, he who formed the eye does he not see, he who formed the ear does he not hear.

Right.

I mean, he's using his uh own self senses.

Um they're not um physical, well, I guess they would be in some sense.

Yeah, in some sense.

He's hearing what's going on right now when we're talking here.

Uh he has an ear and he has an eye to see.

So um it's going back to the image of God that really justifies our sense perception.

Yeah.

Um he wants us to be in contact with the creation that he has made and understand it and function in it and do the work of dominion that he's called us to do.

We can't really do that without reliable senses.

Yeah, that it's true.

It's true.

If there was if we were constantly in a place of doubt of the things that we were, that just we ordinarily perceive, um, we wouldn't be able to move forward.

But there's also without that story, we don't have a justification for why we would ordinarily perceive them.

Right.

Like I I think in a um, you know, we're if we want to be like silly philosophers for a second, and we and we and start to ask those questions that you know philosophers ask, and everybody else rolls their eyes and says, Come on, what are we talking about?

Yeah, then we would say, well, how why is it that we could trust our own senses?

And you see that in if we have a uh a godless frame to try and understand that in.

And if we receive a theory of our existence like the theory of evolution, then we would think that, well, the the end of our senses or the purpose of our senses is not to uh convey truths of reality.

It may happen to do that, but that's not why they're there.

They're there just to support reproduction of my genes.

And that means that I can't really trust them to do anything other than that.

All that I can trust them to do is to relay to me information which corresponds to the reproduction of my genes.

And it doesn't mean that it maps on to reality or it's not giving me a picture of truth uh in any way.

So in that sense, I'm sort of detached from the world, and all that I am is just an experience of some survival drive.

And it's manifesting the world, my senses are manifesting the world to me in correspondence to that.

And that could be that that's uh something which uh is barely even you can't really have fellowship with that because it's uh we can't we can't even we don't have a sense in which we're uh we have a shared reality.

All that we have is a shared competitive mating landscape.

That's all that we would have.

And is that really real?

And is that really real?

Yeah.

I went through in my college years, I was telling you, uh before I came to know the Lord, it was a dark hole, but it I came to later understand the philosophy I was adopting was known as solipsism.

And my understanding of at that time was their only reality that exists is reality that I subjectively perceive.

Right.

So I was paranoid about whether there's reality behind me that I can't perceive.

Yeah.

And it wasn't until I I came to know the Lord um of creation that um basically assured me that there is reality behind behind me.

Yeah.

And uh, and I was made to function in that reality, and he gave me the senses of the physical body to do so and navigate the world to accomplish what he wants me to do.

You know, in both of those things, there's a sense in which the biblical view of how our senses correspond to a reality that we all share becomes a mechanism of fellowship.

So we can all look at the same thing and know we're seeing the same things.

And these other frameworks to that describe our understanding, they always lead to isolation, where there's nothing shared among any of us.

So you can't have fellowship around reality in these other, you know, epistemologies.

Yeah.

That's he's gonna be talking about fellowship here.

Um, but have you ever noticed the correspondence between the the um five senses and the faculties of the soul?

Oh, I love this.

Is why I wanted Bruce.

Okay.

All right, so what are the five senses?

You got sight, uh-huh, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, right?

Um which which of those five senses would correspond to the the mind?

Which of them?

Yeah.

I mean, they're all gonna be somewhat related to the mind, but specific uh and more so than the others.

Uh sight?

Sight is a very probably our first perceptor.

Uh-huh.

And hearing?

Hearing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's how we receive our first knowledge.

Right.

And and and even develop continual knowledge of hearing truth and knowing it.

Um what of those senses corresponds to the um affections?

I call them the appetites of the of the body with the affections of the soul.

Touch.

Touch?

Why do I touch?

Uh because if you want to show affection, you touch.

Well, that's true.

That's what I was thinking.

Yeah.

But you were thinking more maybe taste?

Yeah.

Appetite?

Taste and smell.

Taste and smell, yeah.

Our our boy, when those things get revved up, man.

Just smell you put steak down that you desire and you want them.

Yes.

And then touch.

The smell of all the senses is such a ripoff.

I know.

I've never I've never had a satisfying smell.

I've had a lot of unsatisfying smells.

I mean, you either have unsatisfying smells, it's like revulsion, or it's just telling you about the thing you don't have yet.

Well, and touch is the main uh uh function of the hands.

Yeah.

Um to manipulate things, to do things.

I I remember sitting in my college class or uh dorm room, um 14th floor of Williams Village in Boulder.

Willville.

And I had my feet up on my desk and I was looking at my hands and I go, golly, these are incredible.

Yeah.

And you know, I can see it and understand what they're meant for.

They're meant to do things.

Yeah.

So I had a meaning for them, but when I looked inside my own soul, I had no meaning for me overall.

Yeah.

And that was a terrifying thought, too.

Yeah, for sure.

Um, so sense perception is a wonderful thing.

And he's describing especially the sense perception of Jesus Christ.

Right.

His experience of the Son of God.

That he looked at him, he heard him, he saw him, he touched him.

That's uh it's uh it's amazing that those could be uh that the life, life itself, was made manifest in a way that could be experienced as as salient as anything that you could pick up and touch, or as a as a as your friend is.

Yeah.

I think he might even have an allusion to the resurrection here.

Remember how Thomas, the doubting Thomas, was encouraged to put your hand in my side and your fingers in my nail prints.

But John says here, um And have touched with our hands?

Yeah, it's the plural we have seen with our eyes and we have looked upon and touched with our hands.

Yes.

So there's speculation that others came up and didn't have to be able to do that.

They did the same thing.

Because there there were some remaining doubts among the the uh other apostles too.

Yes.

They they could see it, but they still had trouble believing it.

There's something so humane, just like uh uh you you have to receive yourself as the created thing that you are, uh, that does where you do trust your senses in order to reach out and trust Jesus and say that's uh I can know because I've touched him.

Yeah.

You know, that really does confirm.

If our senses aren't reliable, why would Jesus encourage proof of his resurrection through the sensation of touch?

Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

Uh yeah, it's one of those things that like we I think we sort of take for granted at a because it can kind of sound silly to talk about like, well, of course, like if you touch something, you know that it's real.

But there's uh but I think it's it's actually very easily easy to get lost in um uh kind of a world where you can't you don't trust that anything is real.

And I think that it's actually unique, Christianity is unique among world religions in recognizing the reality of the world that we experience rather than thinking of it as just an illusion or just a dream that's to be escaped.

It's that there's a goodness in it that we correspond to, which uh we're meant to participate in.

Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Yeah.

So he uh he describes there's there's uh such a personal credibility that he has, and him and the other apostles have in their in their personal and their experience of Jesus in these very manifest ways.

Do you think, well, that's a wonderful fellowship?

You think of John as you know leaning up against Jesus at the Lord's Supper, uh-huh.

That type of intimacy, of fellowship that he has with uh with Jesus.

And then he goes on and he says, that 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.

So that that type of intimacy of fellowship that he experienced, by his proclamation of it to us, we are invited to fellowship with him, and that fellowship with him is a fellowship with the Father and with the Son.

So there's this invitation into that into that fellowship that he brings us into.

Yeah, and I think when when you have so that in verse 3, so that you may you two may have fellowship with us.

That's a purpose clause.

Yeah.

This the whole purpose of what's gone before, of even speaking about the incarnation of of the Lord and their sense perception of him, is designed to bring us into fellowship with the Father and the Son.

Yeah.

So it's not just a it's not just like a, hey, look what I got, you don't get it.

It's a look, I got this for you.

Yeah.

So that I could proclaim this to you, and you could res you could be welcomed into that same fellowship.

Yeah.

And receiving what he proclaims.

One of the questions in the study of the first chapter was um, how many times does he say we, us, and our?

Yeah.

Uh I counted 17 times we, seven times us and our three times, three times.

Yeah.

So he's putting himself right with the believers, even though he he had the special privilege of being an apostle and witnessing the resurrection and being with Jesus for three years.

Um he's bringing all that to bear upon those believers that they are now united in Christ together.

Yeah.

Um, with them.

There's no, there's a distinction of office between the apostles and the and the believers, but no distinction in privilege.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, that's it.

That's really true.

That's a great point.

It's not a distinction of fellowship with Jesus.

Right.

Yeah, we have that the same.

Yeah, that's pretty incredible.

So I just I th I see that whole first uh this whole first part of this letter as like an invitation into this credible fellowship with the Lord.

Uh but in what they're proclaiming.

That's like the point of it.

And he does it with words.

Yeah.

You know, uh he talks here about the word of life, and that yet we see him using words to communicate all this.

This isn't mystical um feelings um projected from them.

It's it's words in uh understandable language.

When he says testify, um I thought, I think I shared this in our Bible study, but um Greg Bonson debated a lawyer by the name of Tabish.

And um this guy, he Just had a hatred of the God of the Bible.

He just didn't like him.

Yeah.

Because he thought he was mean.

And I thought, okay, here's a lawyer that understands the importance of testimony.

And I wanted, if I was there, I wanted to ask him, okay, you just came out of a court case that you won.

Yeah.

The testimony of two or three witnesses.

Yep.

Would their testimony be just as true tomorrow as it is today?

Or or next week?

Yes.

Or next year.

Seems like it would.

Yeah.

But he he just mocked the testimony of the apostles because it's so logical.

Right.

The truth value doesn't change with time.

Absolutely not.

Yeah.

And if we if we take Especially if it's written down.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's these are the most reliable ancient documents in the history of the world.

But testimony is very important because it contains the proclamation of the eternal life that's in Christ.

Yeah.

And it he says to conclude this, he that, or this sort of introduction, he says, and we are writing, John Rikes, we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

So he gives us the so the uh uh like these things have happened so that you might be invited into this fellowship, and these things have and we are we are doing this, we are inviting you into this so that our joy may be complete.

I guess the question asks is maybe like how could their joy be incomplete without the invitation or without the um the sharing of of this?

The testifying to Jesus?

You could even make the case, he's being a little self-centered here, isn't he?

Yeah, that's right.

Okay, so this is just so you have joy.

Okay, I'm glad you're doing it for your sake.

But I think he brings out a uh a very important point here is that they are not going to be what um one of my college seminary professors says dead ends for truth.

Um the the word of God that they are speaking about here now in in these words needs to be communicated.

Yeah.

It needs to be passed on.

And one of the key things I think when we get um dry in in our Christian life, and yet we're still reading the Bible all day and and going to church, and we're just kind of dry, um it's not that we need more input.

It it means that we need more output.

Yeah, it's an exhaust problem.

And you you're familiar with the Sea of Galilee versus the Dead Sea.

The Sea of Galilee is uh you know filled with life and vitality.

Uh the Dead Sea is dead because there's no outlet.

Yeah.

Um Galilee has water coming in and going out.

Yep.

And and uh we need to be like that.

Yeah.

Man, that's a great word.

That's a great word.

I I don't think we I think we wouldn't even uh often consider that.

Like we wouldn't have we wouldn't arrive at that ordinarily when we're diagnosing our own sense of spiritual dryness.

Yeah.

Is from not passing it on.

Well, in in John 7, Jesus has a pretty bold statement.

He says, If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.

He who believes in me, as the scripture had said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.

Now, this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Um you just see this picture of outflow.

Yeah.

These the the living water that feeds us needs to be something that flows through us to other people because um they need that same word.

Yeah, for sure.

Um sometimes God gives us a direct strike of encouragement in his word.

Yep.

Um, but the guy sitting next to you at church, he didn't give that same direct strike because he's not maybe in the word that much.

Yeah, but he still needs that word.

Yeah.

And so for you to encourage him with that word is just the way I think that fellowship really is enriched in the church.

That's really good.

That's really good.

And so and John is just doing that.

See, he he knows he's and he's conscious of that pattern, and so he's doing it consciously.

He's saying, I'm writing this so that my jo our joy, the joy that I share with the apostles in this fellowship that I've described to you, it may be complete with your with uh us sharing it with you.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's really good.

So he goes on.

He says, This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

So we talk of, you know, God is love gets a lot of reprints.

Yeah.

God is light, doesn't get as many reprints, but it's still in there.

That's true.

What's the um uh he said the he says the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you is that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

Light and dark are going to be a theme that he uses throughout this letter.

What is he what's what does it mean that God is light?

I think he's referring back to the first uh chapter of his gospel.

Yeah.

When he says in verse 9, uh the true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

Um I mean, darkness is is such a uh uh sobering reality.

And we hate it.

I mean, if have you ever been in a totally dark w place where you can't even see your hand in front of you?

Yeah, we went to the Cave of the Winds this summer.

Oh and they did, you know, they turned off all the lights in there, and it was very dark.

I uh I went by myself through one of the lava tubes on the big island in Hawaii.

Uh huh.

And it was about a mile from one end to the other.

Ugh.

And I had a lantern, and I go, what if this lantern goes out?

Yeah, that's a thin margin.

And being the courageous man that I am, I turned around and went back.

Yeah.

Because I didn't want to face that complete darkness.

Yeah.

Um, and so it's used in scripture as um an analogy for um ignorance, um, sinfulness, uh-huh, uh, evil.

Yeah.

Um, and you know, the the scriptures tell us that God um who inhabits eternity dwells in unapproachable light.

And I can't even picture that.

Uh we've got the sun, you can burn your eyes out by looking at it.

But what does that gotta be like to have to be able to see a light that is unapproachable?

Unapproachable like that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That there's a it's it's such a creation, you know, it just like in his gospel, how how he begins within the beginning was the word, and then describing the light that has come into the world.

Uh and the uh there's such a there's such uh an element of you know, the the first thing that God does is says, let there be light.

At the very beginning of the creation, there's this uh uh it's almost like uh there's something like an existence itself or being itself is in the is in the light.

That this is the first ordering is by light being in the world.

And I and how we we can't we can't move without it.

There's no there's and I guess it's you know it's just like these very fundamental levels.

Uh there's no like without the sunlight, there's no food.

There's no there's no there's no anything.

Yeah, and then when you break down light into the different colors of the prism, it's just I've never understood it, but it's an amazing thing.

Yeah, totally.

Uh the diversity there that comes into together to into this wonderful unity of bright white light is truly a mystery of how it works to me.

Um I like what John further goes on to say in John 3, verse 19, he says, and this is a judgment that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

John 3:19

For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may clearly be seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

Um and and Jesus said, Be prepared for that.

Yeah, you you fellow believers.

And John, I think, is writing in order to prepare the church that he was ministering to, the churches that he was ministering to here, uh, to expect that.

Um, you know, um, John 15, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you.

Um those are John's recorded words of Jesus.

When when um I I always for those verses, I uh grew up in Florida and we had horses, and so we had a tack room, and I'd have to go down and feed the horses, and I would turn on the uh light in the tack room, and there'd be like three seconds of just roaches fleeing.

Yeah, you know, because it's Florida.

Right.

There's so many cockroaches.

That's a great analogy.

And I used to just dread it, but you turn on it's like you turn on the light and they're like, I'm not doing that, and they go and hide, and you don't see them anymore, but you know they're all still here with me somewhere hidden.

And that's like what that's what we're like with Jesus.

That there's this um when the light comes into the world, we we're repulsed by it.

It's repulsive.

And it and there's a division to what he's talking about.

Some are attractive.

For some it's good.

Yeah.

And then for others it's uh repulsive.

Yeah.

But yeah, less his deeds should be exposed.

Yeah.

That's that's the I think Jesus said if it had not come into the world, you would not be guilty of sin.

Yeah.

In some specific ways with the Pharisees.

Right.

But now that now that you know, now that it's been exposed.

And now that you say you see.

Yeah.

Uh you you think you have light, but uh as I think uh where is it, John that says uh if even the darkness, if even the light is his darkness to you?

Right.

How dark is that darkness?

Right.

Yeah.

Even what you think you know is actually a lie?

Yeah.

How trapped.

Oh boy.

Yeah.

That's talk about bad presuppositions.

Yeah, it's very scary.

And so we but there's this this relationship here.

If we say we have fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

So there's a relationship between fellowship and light and not having fellowship with him and darkness and lying.

Those are those are related themes.

And it it it uh what what it makes me think of, and sort of the the the fear of it, is the the lying is like a self-deception.

You know, it's like a lying, it's a lying in your to yourself by this d this uh uh denying the exposure of the sin that's in you.

As though if you hid it within yourself, that it would be a place that God would not see it.

But there is no such place where God doesn't see it.

There's no there's no place that we can hide from God.

There is no darkness that we can go in to not fall under his gaze.

He is he is the light, even the darkness is his light to him.

I am grieved as a lot of believers have been over the years with some of our great leaders who have um fallen.

Yeah.

Um and I can't help but think that um this is a reality that um not that they weren't true believers, but saying we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness um that can go on for years.

Yeah.

That's kind of astounding.

It's hard, hard for me to fathom how that can happen.

But it has.

Yeah, for sure.

It has, and it's sobering when it comes to light.

Yes.

Ministries are ruined, lives are shattered, families are destroyed.

Yeah.

Um because we will not practice the truth.

Yeah, that fellowship is broken that we thought was there.

Yeah.

Isn't that interesting how you can you really can deceive yourself into thinking, you know, I'm I'm good with God.

We're we're tight.

Yeah.

And and yet, and and talk about it and and project an image to others that say, yeah, they're old, what's his name?

He's he's really tight with the Lord.

Yep.

And yet he's walking in darkness.

Um the potential for self-deception, I guess, is really, really high.

And you know, there's a there's a comfort, there's another side of that which is a comfort, which because the the world can feel so opaque and our our own human fellowship can feel so opaque.

And it's like you wonder if is there somebody who finally knows?

Like, is there can somebody look into the hearts and finally make a true judgment on what's happening?

And there is.

Yeah.

There is.

He is the light.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

So it goes on in verse 7.

Say, also, just a last thing, I guess, on this, on these verses five and six.

There's a sense in which he gives this like uh invitation to fellowship.

And then right out of the gate after that, he's describing he's like, if you're going to receive this invitation, uh there are two ways before you.

There's the way of light and way of the dark.

And the dark means no fellowship and lies.

And the light means fellowship and um uh truth.

And those will that sort of becomes the interplay for the book of like maintaining this fellowship by walking in the light, and then the attacks uh on that fellowship by false participation in it and seeking to seeking to sow darkness or bring bring um false teaching, lies into the into the body.

It's like he's pro excuse me, he's protecting the light right out of the gate in those in those first couple of verses.

So he says, Yeah, do you have any?

Well, it's um I think from a pastoral perspective, um our people need to be uh very much aware of their own soul and the health of their soul.

Yeah.

Um because it's it's easy to think that things are really good with me and God.

And um if you find yourself kind of withdrawing from fellowship among believers, that should kind of be a red flag.

Yeah.

Um because what what is shame?

I mean, shame doesn't want to be around other people.

Yeah.

And shame comes from usually some kind of sin.

Yeah.

Going way back to the garden, they were ashamed to stand in the presence of God because of their sin.

Um so be aware that if you're kind of saying, I'm just withdrawing from fellowship, uh, there might be a real uh problem of undetected sin yet, or suppressed sin.

Yeah, if you will.

Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

Because it's like a desire for darkness.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't want I don't want people I don't want people to know me like I really am.

Yep.

Um this is my secret sin, and I'm gonna keep it that way or try to.

Yep.

So he he gives us some sort of like how to be in the light almost instruction.

It says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

There's a there's a uh throughout this book, he'll he'll never allow things to become merely theoretical.

They always are connected to the fellowship, they're always connected to the body.

Just like what you were saying.

It's like there's there's if there's if you have this theoretical goodness with God and it's drawing you away from the body, that isn't you you can know it's not.

Yeah.

Uh it's it's not uh fellowship with God.

Right.

That's drawing you away from the body of believers.

Big self-deception there.

Big self-deception.

Because it we in the light is fellowship with one another.

Yeah.

And the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin.

Uh that's good news.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin.

I think it's like, you know, I describe the cockroaches, and you think of flipping the lights on, and that that's a normal disposition of our heart is to flee from the light, because we know what's in us.

And the question is, well, how could I possibly desire the light if I have any sense of what's in me?

And the only way that that could be possible is if I know that the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin.

Right.

If it's if it's uh my own efforts or my own ability to cleanse myself or any anything like that, it will never be sufficient to make me desire the light.

There has to be somebody, Jesus has to cleanse me of my sin in order to make the light desirable.

Right.

I have to know that if I go there, I will receive cleansing.

And I think if we if we all understand that of one another, that as Jesus um taught Peter, you know, he who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but he's clean all over.

Um that's I think the a commentary on the nature of our soul before God.

Um, but our feet, our feet get dirty.

And I think he's has an allusion there to to the battle that we have with our flesh.

Yeah.

And we can presuppose that every true believer has a pure and right heart before God.

Um, but we can also know for certain that they have their own battles with their flesh.

Right.

And your battles are not going to be necessarily the same ones as me.

Um, but if we all know, hey, we're all in a battle here, uh, and we need to encourage one another in that battle to fight the flesh, to not grant its desires, to put to d death the deeds of the of the flesh and the body.

Um I think that will really help encourage our fellowship.

We're not playing games of, oh, I'm I'm so spiritual I don't I don't battle with my flesh.

Well, you're living in La La Land.

Right.

If you're not if you're not fighting the good fight against the remains of corruption in your flesh, um you better s ask the question whether you have the spirit of God in you to begin with.

Yeah.

That's a great point.

It's a great point.

And there is such there's such a I I think it's helpful for people to know, it's helpful for us to know that you you will have a battle with the flesh until you die.

Yes.

That is uh the ordinary state of the Christians.

Normal that that's what the that is the shape of the Christian life.

And so to act like we don't is to walk in darkness in a sense.

It's to walk in a lie that we don't.

And to even to walk as though you shouldn't, or as though you uh as though like uh this shouldn't be here right now, uh and if I were a true Christian, this wouldn't be here right now.

That's maybe the better way to say it, then that's walking in a lie.

And what it leads to is uh a misunderstanding of the the uh the nature of the Christian life being a battle against the flesh, and would lead to every sin that uh can be repented of and moved on from starts to testify to yourself as not being in Christ, which is not what it means.

No.

I think we just get lost in despair.

I think on a practical level, when it comes to the fellowship around this whole concept of, you know, we're all justified sinners, but well, we're still saints.

I mean, that's that's a dual uh dilemma we have.

Um doesn't mean that when we gather together in our parishes or or one-on-one that we have to air out all of our dirty laundry and specifics.

Right.

Okay.

When you see Paul um talking about him being the chief of sinners, or when he says I'm I'm battling the this um thorn in the flesh, he he never tells us what it is.

Right.

But that's what I'm talking about.

He he knows that they knew that yeah, he's the chief of sinners.

We have to have to rehash all that.

Right.

Um and he when he even comes to Romans 7, when when he cries out, wretched man that I am.

Right.

Um, he he goes into a little detail of the conflict there, uh-huh, but doesn't get into specifics.

He it's not necessary.

Yeah, that's right.

There's a there's something, there's some sort of m modesty.

Yeah.

I I also think a part of it is, and this is like sort of part of our cultural moment, I think, because you every culture figures out ways to deal with shame.

And our culture, I'd say its current mechanism of of dealing with shame is trying a little shamelessness.

You know, if we uh if I uh if I err, and part of that I think is like turning to the crowd for our absolution, yeah, rather than turning to Christ for our absolution.

So our confession to one another is not a turning to one another for absolution, it's a way of maintaining fellowship, you know, and and walking in the light with one another.

But it's not a it's not a turning to each other for justification.

Uh which would would if we are turning to each other for justification, then it would be like, okay, let me place all of my sin on the people in my parish.

Let me place all of my sin.

You know, that's uh and then they will be able to grant me this absolution.

Yeah.

I I do think though that what James and and um Paul have in mind there is when we confess our sins one to another, um we do communicate forgiveness.

Yeah.

Um and it's important to ask for forgiveness.

I had to do this just today with my lovely wife.

Yeah.

Um I've read that can happen.

Uh yes.

Um, but it's it's not like saying, oh, I made a mistake, or you know, those things, because you you need to be specific about your confession.

You know, here's how I hurt you.

Yep.

And please forgive me.

And then wait for it to be granted.

Yeah.

Um you know, so often that that never comes, and so the offender just wonders, well, did he really forgive me or not?

Right.

And so it's important to express that in words.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that's right, it's right where it's right where he goes.

So if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So there's a I think there's the pattern right there, and that's that this study gives us memory verses, and that is a great verse to have memorized.

Yeah.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us from all to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That is uh uh so yeah.

Anything you want to say about that?

Yeah, I think um a couple words, one and done.

Yeah.

Um I've asked a lot of people over the course of my ministry that um, you know, have you confessed your sin?

Um and they'll say, Well, yes, I I have, and then I'll I'll follow up, we'll have you confess that same sin more than once.

And they'll say, Oh yeah, several times.

Um and I just ask them why.

And, you know, why are you doing that?

Because this verse says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I picture it as a a young man coming into the throne room of Christ himself and falling down, confessing his sin and saying, I was wrong, and Jesus looking at him saying, Son, your sins are forgiven.

And he gets up and says, Thank you, Lord.

And as he's walking out, he turns around and he says, Oh, but Lord, let me talk a little bit more about this, how bad I feel.

I just can't handle this.

And and I think the Lord's response is, What are you doing here?

Yeah.

I already dealt with that.

Yeah, there's the door.

Um come back when you've got something really to confess.

Unless you need to confess that last sin of unbelief, because you didn't believe me.

Spurl talks about a woman who came many times to and saying, I've I've confessed the sin over and over, I just can't find relief.

And he says, Well, you need to repent.

He says, That's all I've been doing is repenting.

He says, No, of a new sin, a sin of unbelief.

He says, What do you mean?

Well, you don't believe, 1 John 1 9.

Yeah, that if we confess, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

He's forgiven, you're cleansed.

And so I think understanding that dynamic is the key to discerning the difference between the conviction of the Holy Spirit for sin, which is one of his functions, and the accusations of the evil one.

Yeah.

If we have confessed our sins and repented of it, that's it as far as the Lord is concerned.

He doesn't want to hear about it again.

He's put it as far as the East is from the West from us.

Yeah.

Thrown it in the sea of his forgetfulness.

Yeah.

But if those fiery darts and arrows come from the evil one, but you know, you you can know from certain, with certainty, where they're coming from if you've confessed your sin and repented of it.

That's great.

And then it's a then it's a shield of faith question.

And you've got to have a verse like this to take up and hold to have faith in.

Yeah.

It's like I have to I I confess this, and therefore it is the Lord has forgiven me.

Yeah.

It is gone.

Yeah.

And so I'm I've put it down.

Yeah.

So don't let don't let your feelings run the show here.

Let the word of God be the primary thing that you flee to and trust in.

Um because the person who's given you this promise is the person who is actually doing the forgiveness.

Right.

Um, so trust him.

Move on.

Yeah, it's a I think it's like I think one of the glorious things about uh repentance and this promise of forgiveness at uh at confession is the is that that ability to move on.

That's like one of the great glories.

That's like something that I feel like we've all we're we as we've moved away from uh uh confession of sin towards like um psychologizing mistakes, that you can't move on from those.

You know, they need to be processed further.

But confession and r receiving forgiveness is gone.

It's done.

Yeah.

That's that's that's great news.

Um because in I mean, verse 10, if we say we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Um not believing his forgiveness is in effect calling God a liar.

Yeah.

You're saying this verse nine is not true, because I don't feel it.

Uh you know, I think one of the great things that the Lord has given us in this is that we are in our confession to one another and in our ability in as fellow believers, the ability to share these promises with each other, that you're forgiven.

And to be able to offer forgiveness and to declare the forgiveness of the Lord by these promises.

Um I think that there's a we we can that you it's like you receive it more, you know.

Sometimes you can't you can't just do this in your own head.

Uh but to but to bring these things into the light with one another.

Yeah, and and to use words.

To use words, yeah.

Uh death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Yeah.

Um wow, there are so many verses on the power of our tongue, tongue, either for good or or for ill.

Yeah.

Um, but to say, I forgive you from someone you have offended, and as a result of a strained relationship, some of the most wonderful words you could ever hear.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

Because it means I'm I'm not gonna use this against you.

I mean it's uh you you can't necessarily forget about it, but eventually in time you probably can.

But um, yeah, I'm not gonna hold it against you.

Yep.

Um, so let's let's reestablish our fellowship together.

Yeah, yeah.

That's great.

Finally, it's the final verse of chapter one.

He says, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Uh I think but one thing that that means, at least, is that um the confession of sin uh is not for the uh sinner faction of the body of Christ that needs to be participating in the uh pattern described in verse 9, confessing our sin and being uh forgiven and cleansed.

Uh it's for everybody.

There's nobody doesn't get to be doing that.

That is the normal, ordinary, everybody will be participating in this.

This is a necessary ingredient.

Absolutely.

For if you want to do a little catechism research, uh, take a look at question 14 in the shorter catechism, what is sin?

Yeah.

Can you tell the story about JT?

Okay, well, this is pretty funny.

So when we were uh I some we were at my in-laws uh house because they live in the mountains, we were going skiing the next day, and they were hosting their Bible study, and their Bible study was on the topic of what is sin.

And so my father-in-law introduced it and he goes, So what is sin?

and opened it up to the room, and JT, my nine-year-old, was sitting next to me, and he leaned over and he goes, Dad, isn't it sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God?

And I was like, Yeah, that's right, buddy, but uh let's keep that between us.

You're gonna suck all the air out of the room if you if you say that.

That's great.

Great job of catechizing your son.

That's that's great.

Um But that's the beauty of the catechism.

It it gives uh in a case like this um the sense of omission and sense of commission.

Yeah.

Uh things that we have left undone that we should have done.

And that's honestly, that's probably not a whole lot what we think about when it comes to the yeah.

Yeah, we often just think of transgressions, things that we shouldn't have done, yeah.

That we did.

Yeah.

Yeah, those are more salient.

Yeah.

But we often think that if we just sat in a room and kept to ourselves and we would reduce our sin.

Yeah.

And it's probably multiplying like crazy for the duties and responsibilities that are required towards the people that God's put in our lives.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I think it's a it's a wonderful invitation to fellowship and just uh it's sort of like, what is that?

What is fellowship?

How could I experience that?

How can I participate in that?

And I think one of the clearest ways that's just shown right here is walking in the light.

Walking in the light means it does not mean sinlessness.

We ought not to assume that of any of us.

Right.

But it means that we trust that Jesus' blood covers us, therefore, we can confess our sins to one another, and that there is we can receive this full assurance that we will be forgiven and cleansed.

Amen.

All right.

Bruce, this was so great to work through with you.

A lot of fun.

I loved it and uh just so beneficial, so edifying to me personally, and uh thanks for taking time to do this.

Really appreciate it.

Awesome.

All right, well, thanks everyone.

Hope you uh this is beneficial for your Bible studies and and just generally beneficial.

Spend some time in the Word with us, and uh we'll see you next time.

Thanks.