Intro.

1.  John, the brother of James and apostle of Jesus Christ,
        a.  wrote this book apparently to the church at large.
        b.  There are no greetings, farewells or other personal allusions.
        c.  He mentions four reasons for writing this epistle to believers:
              1.  to add to their joy (1:4);
              2.  to guard them against sin (2:1);
              3.  to warn them against false teachers (2:26);
              4.  to strengthen their faith in Christ and assure them of eternal life (5:13).
2.  The theme of 1 John revolves around the facts
         a.  that God is Life, Light, and Righteous Love.
         b.  His character calls for holy living and brotherly love on the part of believers.
3.  The word “know” or its equivalent, appears thirty times.
         a.  Thus, much stress is laid on the spiritual knowledge obtainable by believers.
         b.  May you now receive more of that knowledge
         c.  as we preach this book in simple English.

1 JOHN chapter 1

1.  About the Message of life (* or, the living Message - Jesus):
         a.  What has existed since the beginning
         b.  we heard,
         c.  we saw with our own eyes,
         d.  we watched, we touched with our hands.
2.  That life was shown to us.
         a.  We saw it.  We can prove it.
         b.  We are telling you about that eternal life that was with the Father.
         c.  This life was shown to us.
3.  Now to you also we are telling the things we have seen and heard,
         a.  because we want you to share with us.
         b.  What we share is with God the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
4.  We are writing you these things, so that you may be full of joy with us.

No Darkness in God

5.  This is the message that we have heard from him
         a.  and which we are now telling you:
         b.  God is light (* righteousness);
         c.  there is no darkness (* sin) in God at all.
6.  Therefore, if we say we are friends with God,
         a.  yet we continue living in darkness, then we are liars.
         b.  We are not following the truth.
7.  God is in the light (* righteousness).
         a.  We should also live in light.
         b.  If we live in the light,
              1.  then we have a relationship of sharing with each other,
              2.  and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, continues to cleanse us from all sin.
8.  If we say, "We have no sin!"
         a.  then we are only fooling ourselves.
         b.  The truth is not in us.
9.  However, if we admit our sins, then God will forgive us.
         a.  We can trust God; He does what is right.
         b.  He will cleanse us from every evil thing.
l0. If we say, "We have not sinned!"
         a.  then we are calling God a liar.
         b.  God's true teaching is not in us.

1 JOHN chapter 2

Obeying God

1.  My little children (* or dear children.
         a.  John was a very old man when he wrote this letter;
         b.  he affectionately referred to everyone as his “little children”),
              1.  I write these things so that you will not sin.
              2.  But when any person does sin, we have Jesus Christ--the righteous one--
              3.  to help defend us before God, the Father.
2.  Jesus is the way our sins are taken away--the way all people may have their sins taken away.
3.  If we obey what God has commanded us to do, then we are sure that we really do know God.
4.  Someone may say, "I know God!"
         a.  but if he does not obey God's commands, then that person is a liar,
         b.  the truth is not in him.
5.  When someone obeys God's teaching,
         a.  then God's love has become complete in that person.
         b.  This is how we know we are in God:
6.  If a person claims that God lives in him, then he ought to live as Jesus lived.

Love Your Brother

7.  My dear friends, I'm not writing you a new command.
         a.  No, it is the same command you have had from the beginning.
         b.  This old command is the teaching that you have heard.
8.  And yet, I write you this command as a new command.
         a.  It is true in Jesus and in yourselves.
         b.  The darkness (* sin) is passing away and the true light is already shining.
9.  A person may claim, "I am in the light,"
         a.  but if he hates his brother or sister,
         b.  he is still in the darkness (* sin).
l0. The person who loves his brother or sister lives in the light,
         a.  and there is nothing in that person
         b.  which will cause him to fall into sin.
11. The person who hates his brother or sister is in darkness.
         a.  He walks around in darkness.
         b.  He doesn't know where he's going, because the darkness has blinded him.
12. I am writing to you, dear children,
         a.  because your sins are forgiven
         b.  because of the authority of Jesus.
13. I am writing to you, fathers,
         a.  because you know the one who existed from the beginning.
         b.  I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one (* the devil).
14. I wrote to you, children, because you know the Father.
         a.  I wrote to you, fathers,
         b.  because you know the one who existed from the beginning.
              1.  I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong,
              2.  God's message lives in you,
              3.  and you have conquered the evil one.

Don't Love the World!

15. Don't love the world or the things in the world.
         a.  If someone loves the world,
         b.  the Father's love is not in that person.
16. These are the evil things in the world:
         a.  wanting sinful things to please our bodies
         b.  wanting the things that we see
         c.  being proud of the things that we have.
              1.  None of those things come from the Father;
              2.  each one of them comes from the world.
17. The world is passing away
         a.  and everything in the world which men want is passing away too,
         b.  but the person who does what God wants lives forever.

Jesus Is the Christ

18. Little children, the time of the end is near!
         a.  You have heard that the enemy of Christ (* or, anti-Christ) is coming.
         b.  And now, many enemies of Christ are already here.
         c.  Therefore, we know that the time of the end is near.
19. Those enemies of Christ were in our group, but they left us.
         a.  They didn't really belong with us.
         b.  If they had really been part of our group,
              1.  they would have stayed with us, but they left.
              2.  This shows that none of them really belonged with us.
20. You have the gift (* literally, an anointing)
         a.  that the Holy One gave you.
         b.  This is why you know all things.
21. Why did I write you?
         a.  Did I write because you don't know the truth?
         b.  No, I wrote this letter because you do know the truth!
         c.  And you know that no lie comes from the truth.
22. So, who is the liar?
         a.  It is the one who claims that Jesus is not the Christ!
         b.  This person is the enemy of Christ.
         c.  He does not believe in the Father or in His Son.
23. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father,
         a.  but the person who confesses the Son
         b.  also has the Father.
24. Be sure you continue to follow the teaching which you heard from the beginning.
         a.  If you continue in what you heard from the beginning,
         b.  then you will stay in the Son and in the Father.
25. This is what God promised us: He promised us eternal life.
26. I wrote these things about those people who are trying to fool you.
27. God gave you a gift (* literally, an anointing).
         a.  You still have this gift inside you.
         b.  You don't need anyone to teach you.
         c.  The gift that He gave you teaches you about everything.
              1.  This gift is true; it is not false.
              2.  Because of this, continue to live in God, just as His gift taught you.
28. Yes, my little children, live in Him.
         a.  If we do this, we can have confidence
         b.  and not be ashamed on the Day when Christ appears.
29. You know Christ is righteous.
         a.  You know that every person who does what is right
         b.  is God's child.

1 JOHN chapter 3

Be a Child of God

1.  Look at the kind of love that the Father has given us:
         a.  We are called children of God.
         b.  And, we really are God's children!
              1.  The people in the world don't understand it,
              2.  because they have not known Him.
2.  Dear friends, we are now children of God.
         a.  It does not yet appear what we will be in the future.
         b.  We know when Christ comes again, we will be like him.
         c.  We will see him as he really is.
3.  Christ is pure
         a.  and every person who has this hope based on Christ
         b.  makes himself pure like Christ.
4.  Every person who sins is breaking God's law.  Sin is breaking God's law.
5.  You know that Christ appeared to take away our sins.  There is no sin in Christ.
6.  So, the person who lives in Jesus does not make a practice of sinning.
         a.  Every person who continues to sin
         b.  has never really understood Jesus or known him.
7.  Little children, don't let anyone fool you.
         a.  Jesus is righteous.
         b.  To be righteous like Jesus, a person must do what is right.
8.  Since the beginning, the Devil has been sinning.
         a.  The person who continues to sin belongs to the Devil.
         b.  Why did the Son of God appear?
         c.  To destroy the Devil's works.
9.  When God makes a person His child, that person does not continue to sin,
         a.  because God's seed remains in him.
         b.  That person is not able to continue to sin,
         c.  because he has become a child of God.
l0. This is how we can clearly see who God's children are.
         a.  Also, we can know who the Devil's children are.
         b.  The person who doesn't do what is right is not a child of God.
         c.  The person who does not love his brother is not a child of God.

Don't Hate!

11. This is the message
         a.  that you have heard from the beginning:
         b.  We must love one another.
12. Don't be like Cain (* see Genesis 4:1-8).
         a.  Cain belonged to the evil one (* the devil).
         b.  He killed his brother Abel.
         c.  Why did Cain kill his brother?
              1.  Because the things which Cain did were evil,
              2.  but the things which his brother did were right.
13. Brothers, don't be surprised when the people of this world hate you.
14. We know we have moved away from death and come into life,
         a.  because we love the brothers.
         b.  The person who doesn't love stays in death.
15. Every person who hates his brother is a murderer (* see Matthew 5:21-26).
         a.  And you know that no murderer
         b.  has eternal life in him.
16. This is how we know what God's love is:
         a.  Jesus gave up his life for us.
         b.  So, we ought to give up our lives for the brothers.
17. Suppose a brother is rich enough to have all the things he needs.
         a.  And, he sees another brother who doesn't have the things he needs.
         b.  What if the rich brother doesn't help the poor brother?
         c.  How can God's love stay in him?
18. My little children,
         a.  our love should not be mere words or talk.
         b.  No, our love must be true love in action.
19-20. That is how we know we belong to the truth.
         a.  And when our consciences make us feel guilty,
         b.  we still may have peace before God,
              1.  because God is greater than our consciences.
              2.  God knows everything.
21. My dear friends,
         a.  if our consciences do not make us feel guilty,
         b.  then we can have confidence when we come to God.
22. God gives us the things for which we ask.
         a.  We receive these things because we obey God's commands
         b.  and we do what pleases Him.
23. This is what God commands:
         a.  that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
         b.  and that we love each other, just as He commanded.
24. The person who obeys God's commands lives in God and God lives in that person.
         a.  How do we know that God lives in us?
         b.  We know it because of the Spirit whom God gave us.

1 JOHN chapter 4

Test the Spirits

1.  My dear friends, many false prophets are now in the world.
         a.  So, don't believe every spirit.
         b.  Test the spirits to see whether they are from God.
2.  This is how you can recognize God's Spirit:
         a.  One Spirit says, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ.
         b.  Jesus came to earth and became a human being."
         c.  That Spirit is from God.
3.  Another spirit refuses to say that Jesus Christ came as a human being.
         a.  That spirit is not from God.
         b.  This is the spirit of the anti-Christ (or enemy of Christ).
         c.  You have heard he was coming and now he is already in the world!
4.  My little children, you belong to God.
         a.  You have conquered the false prophets,
         b.  because the One who is in you
         c.  is greater than the one who is in the people of the world
         d.  (* God is much more powerful than Satan).
5.  Those false prophets belong to the world.
         a.  The things they say are also from the world.
         b.  The world listens to what they say.
6.  We are from God.
         a.  The people who know God listen to us,
         b.  but the people who are not from God don't listen to us.
         c.  That is how we can recognize the Spirit who is true and the spirit who is false.

God Is Love

7. Dear friends, we should love one another,
         a.  because love comes from God.
         b.  The person who loves has become God's child; he knows God.
8.  The person who doesn't love does not know God, because God is love.
9.  This is how God showed His love to us:
         a.  God sent His Son Jesus into the world
         b.  that we may live through him.
10. Real love (God's love for us, not our love for God) is this:
         a.  God sent His Son
         b.  to be the way that God takes away our sins.
11. Since God loved us that much, dear friends, we ought to love each other, too.
12. No person has ever seen God,
         a.  but if we love each other, then God lives in us
         b.  and God's love is made perfect in us.
13. We know we live in God and God lives in us.  He gave us His Spirit.
14. We have seen that the Father sent His Son
         a.  to be the savior of the world.
         b.  That is what we are telling people.
15. If someone confesses,
         a.  "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God,"
         b.  then God lives in that person and that person lives in God.
16. We know the love that God has for us and we trust that love.
         a.  God is love.
         b.  The one who lives in love lives in God
         c.  and God lives in that person.
17. Love is made perfect in us.
         a.  So, we can have confidence on the Judgment Day,
         b.  because we are like Him in this world.
18. Love does not contain fear; perfect love pushes out fear.
         a.  Love has not been perfected in the person who still has fear;
         b.  he is afraid of being punished.
19. We love, because God first loved us.
20. If someone claims, "I love God,"
         a.  but that person hates his Christian brother, then that person is a liar!
         b.  If one does not love his brother (whom he has seen)
         c.  how can he love God (whom he has not seen)?
21. God gave us this command: The person who loves God must love his brother, too.

1 JOHN chapter 5

Victory

1.  Every person who believes that Jesus is the Christ is God's child.
         a.  Every person who loves the Father
         b.  also loves the Father's children.
2.  We know that we love God's children when we love God and we obey His commands.
3.  Loving God means obeying His commands.  God's commands are not too hard for us.
4.  Everyone who is a child of God conquers the world.  It is our faith which conquers the world.
5. Who is the person who conquers the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is God's Son.

Three Witnesses

6. Jesus Christ is the one who came.
         a.  He came with water (* immersion by John)
         b.  and with blood (* dying on the cross - John 19:34).
              1.  Jesus did not come by water only.
              2.  No, Jesus came by both water and blood.
              3.  The Holy Spirit tells us this is true.  The Spirit is the truth.
7.  So, there are three witnesses in Heaven that tell us about Jesus:
         a.  the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.
         b.  These three witnesses are one.
8.  There are thee witnesses in earth which tell us about Jesus:
         a.  the Spirit, the water, and the blood.
         b.  These three witnesses agree in one.
9. We believe men when they say something is true,
         a.  but what God says is more important.
         b.  This is what God told us:
         c.  He told us the truth about His own Son.
10. The person who believes in the Son of God has the witness in him.
         a.  The person who does not believe God is really calling God a liar,
         b.  because he doesn't believe what God told us about His Son.
11. This is what God told us:
         a.  He has given us eternal life.
         b.  This eternal life is in His Son (* See Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3-4).
12. The person who has the Son has life,
         a.  but the person who doesn't have the Son of God
         b.  does not have life.

God Listens to Our Prayers

13. I wrote these things to you people
         a.  who believe in the authority of the Son of God.
         b.  I wanted you to know that you have eternal life,
         c.  and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God.
14. This is the kind of confidence we have toward God.
         a.  If we ask God for something (and it agrees with what God wants for us),
         b.  God listens to what we say.
15. Since God listens to us every time we ask Him,
         a.  we know He has already given us
         b.  the things we have asked for from him.
16. Suppose a person sees his Christian brother sinning a sin
         a.  which does not lead to eternal death.
         b.  He should pray to God for that brother.
         c.  Then God will give life to that brother.
              1.  I am talking about people whose sin does not lead to eternal death.
              2.  There is a sin which leads to death.
              3.  I don't mean that a person should pray about that sin.
17. Doing wrong is always sin, but there is a sin which does not lead to eternal death.
18. We know that anyone who has become a child of God does not continue to sin.
         a.  The son of God (* literally, the one born of God - Jesus) keeps God's child safe.
         b.  The evil one (* the Devil) cannot touch him.
19. Though the evil one is everywhere in the whole world, we know we belong to God.
20. We know that the Son of God has come.
         a.  He has given us understanding.
         b.  Now, we may know the true God and our lives are in that true God--
              1.  and in His Son, Jesus Christ.
              2.  He is the true God, and He is eternal life.
21. So, little children, keep yourselves away from false gods.

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