 fine class we pray and we can get started for today so would somebody like to lead in prayer for the last to begin please okay anyone lead in prayer we can get started did you have me there okay yeah sure sure thank you father we thank you for this wonderful week I have Lord Jesus and we thank you that for this day today as we come through there and learn Lord Jesus make your spirit and you're know it can be open and see and we even open up our heart so that we can understand what what your you've already teaching to us so that we can accept and you can use me on that but I pray that your spirit to be with all of us it's one of us if those who are joining with those who haven't yet joined I pray that you'll be with us and help us and guide us and through this process and the name of Jesus thank you thank you there so let's begin once again with one John so we will have a quick review of what we had discussed in the last class the main themes that were covered in one John chapter one we stopped somewhere you know around verse 14 I think of chapter 2 so we will continue from there but we will first have a small recap so would anyone like to share some of the common themes that we discussed in chapter 1 you can look at your bibles you can look at you know the passage to see what is mentioned over there that's fine so you can look at it and tell me common themes what did we discuss okay someone will have to share so that we can move forward so whatever you remember the common thing is love of God yes Thomas you said love of God and then I couldn't hear your voice love of God and divinity Jesus correct okay divinity okay great yes that's something we saw you know God's love and the divinity of Christ we saw the fact that the Lord Jesus even though he was fully man that you know he's fully God and there's a very strong emphasis that John lays on he says that we have seen we have heard we have known so he is talking about the humanity of Christ and confirming that you know the Lord Jesus was not a Michael logical figure in those days you know there were there were all kinds of philosophies where people believed that the Lord Jesus was probably not human that he had some sort of supernatural powers which is why hanging on the cross did not really hurt him or he did not feel the pain of it but we are very clear from what John is saying he's saying that the things which he's sharing he's sharing by way of being an eyewitness so he emphasizes that and the divinity of Christ comes through even as he emphasizes the humanity of Christ okay so that is something we saw we saw that the Lord Jesus is spoken off as the word of life okay he's spoken off as the word of life are there any other titles that you see or any other descriptors of the Lord Jesus that you see in chapter one if you could please tell me okay so the same Jesus whose humanity is emphasized is also called a son of God so when John says that we fellowship with the father and the son so he is declaring the deity of Christ we also notice that the Lord Jesus he is in the light and there is no darkness in him so in God there is no darkness that's again an emphasis that John has there and all these things reveal that God is God is perfect that there is no sin in him and that God has invited us to have fellowship with Christ okay so these were some of the things that we observed we also saw that though it's not talking about salvation this is the message here is for a believer and we began by saying that the believer can have a fellowship with God and this fellowship is once the believer is accepted this eternal life and the zoe life of God is flowing in and through the believer on an ongoing basis we can have that shared life with our God and that is the beauty of what John is saying he saying that it's not just about forgiveness of our sins but on a continual basis do we can enjoy the oneness with the Godhead and he says you know our fellowship it's with the father and with the son and I also talk about the fact that though the Holy Spirit is not mentioned here we know from scripture that we are called to have fellowship even with the Holy Spirit so the beautiful life of a believer is this ongoing communion this ongoing fellowship with the Godhead now if that connection is missing right that's when we may be believers but we are not in sync with the life of God the life of God has been granted to us but it is for us to take and it is for us to walk you know we've seen that also mentioned here but if we walked in the light he says so it's about living the life it's about following after God it's about receiving that life and releasing it okay on a daily basis so you know this is something that shows us that a believer can have a very fulfilled life here on the face of the earth it's not just about purpose it's not just about accomplishing what God has called us to do but it can be a beautiful co-working partner in fellowshiping, communing relationship with God and that is what God has called us to and we will have that kind of fellowship when we walk in the light it says okay and we talked about how light and darkness refer to righteousness and sin so when a believer who has already made been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus walks in that righteousness so there is a positional truth but there is the truth that we live out through our actions and our choices so when a believer lives out that life in the truth he can have that continuous fellowship with God because we are walking in the light and we've already been told that God is light and there is no darkness in him so in a sense what John is saying is he's saying that this is the true Christ he is both man and he is God there is no sin in him and you and I can have fellowship with him and the other persons of the Godhead but for that we have to have a walk of righteousness okay if we are not walking in the light then it is very difficult for us to claim that we are tapping into the life of God you know we are we are receiving that life and we are walking in that light so that is the reality which we talked about and then we also saw how we are encouraged to always keep a check on our walk with the Lord if there be any sin we said that we can confess okay we can confess and God is faithful to forgive us we also saw how the blood of Jesus cleanses us from our sins so God has made provision for us to have that continual fellowship with him God has made provision for us to walk in victory every resource for a victorious living has already been given to us okay but the believer has to walk in these things and that is what we are being called to do here okay the provision is already made but the believer has to take it the believer has to acknowledge it the believer has to live in it so we were told that a believer must walk in the light secondly a believer must not claim that you know he is sinless if there be anything in his life which keeps him out of fellowship with God he can confess and he can come back to God because we saw that the Lord Jesus himself has become that advocate for us paracletos the one who comes alongside the one who fights for us and we also saw that he has become the propitiation for our sin or he has become that sacrifice for our sins and therefore you know what a victorious life we think about it a believer has everything he needs or she needs for him or her to walk clean here on the face of the earth and walk victorious free from sin so a believer can keep short accounts because already the Lord Jesus has paid the price and the blood of Jesus is cleansing the believer okay then we went on to see in chapter two we saw a couple of things we said that if anyone if we claim that we know him we should also keep his commandments okay so if we are saying that we have fellowship with the Godhead we must walk in the light if we are saying that we have fellowship with the Godhead we must not think that you know we are self righteous if there be any sin in us we must be willing to acknowledge it okay thirdly we see here that if anyone claims to know God we must obey his commandments we must walk in his commandments so you notice it's all about lifestyle it's all about daily living it's all about right attitudes towards God okay which makes our walk with the Lord fulfilling otherwise imagine a believer who is not following whatever we are discussing right now yes in essence we have been rescued we have salvation but can we have a fulfilling can we have a flourishing thriving wonderful fellowship with God you know by living in sin it's not possible that's what John wants us to remember he's saying look there is a certain lifestyle which is fruitful which is blessed you know which is which is so satisfied and I want you to walk in that way okay therefore get rid of all sin from your life and know that even if there is something that is injury I'll walk with the Lord the Lord Jesus has already made provision for it so you know we can come clean we know that the blood of Jesus and we saw that it is in the present continuous tense like cleansing that we received from the blood of Jesus that it is cleansing us so it is able to do the work which it has always been powerful to do and we must keep the commandments of God and that is the lifestyle a victorious lifestyle of a believer and then he goes on to encourage the believers you know he gives them okay yeah so we have touched upon other other aspects here how about we start from verse 7 you know once again because I think there are a couple of insights which we can talk about and then you know we will continue from that so here in verse 7 he talks about a commandment that he is giving and he says this is not a new commandment so basically he's encouraging the believer to walk like Jesus so he's saying that Jesus has already lived these commandments and that is why you know even though it may sound new to you it's not a new commandment it's it's an old commandment which Jesus has already lived out before us and he talks about the fact that anyone who says that they live in the light and they hate their brother they are actually in the darkness so you see there is a pattern that is following you know John is giving us a pattern for our daily life he's giving us a pattern to fellowship with God a pattern to receive the life of God every day and we saw how sin should be out we saw how we must walk in his commandments now the next important thing that he brings to our notice is love and love for who love for our brother so who is our brother who is our brother any thoughts on that any word yeah believers right love for our brother is usually you know the early churches to use that term for those who are in Christ so for other Christians other believers and he says that if they don't love them then the love of God is not in us look at verse 9 here verse 10 sorry he says he who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no pause for stumbling in him now verse 11 but he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes okay so here is another prerequisite for us to say that we are living right we are walking in the light we love our brothers now if so far we felt that John is only talking about fellowshiping with God he is now bringing in the horizontal aspect and that is our fellowship with fellow Christians those who have accepted Christ in their lives and he's saying that you know we cannot claim that God's love is in us while we hate our brothers and sisters okay so some of us as believers we might feel that as long as I have a strong relationship with God you know I am living this in free life I am praying and worshiping and the word it's fine because it can be very difficult for us to relate with people we may also have some very challenging relationships you know particularly challenging relationships so it might seem easier for us to actually let go of relationships and just maintain our fellowship with the Lord but the Bible is encouraging us to do is to check our life with other believers as well so our fellowship with God is important but our fellowship with human beings is also important now the reason for that fellowship to be cut off is hatred towards our brothers then you know John is very clearly saying that you know how can you claim that you have fellowship with God and you're walking in the light and you hate your own brother so vertical must be correct but horizontal must also be correct okay so for a believer who's walking right his earthly relationships with other believers is also crucial so he has to make sure that he has love in his heart because if he does not have love in his heart what is John describing that person as he say darkness has blinded his eyes okay so having that right attitude towards other believers is also important right so the genuine love we must maintain for other believers now moving forward in the next section here you know he I told you that he calls people by various titles and that is probably their way of addressing an audience so he calls some people as children and then he calls some people as young men and finally he calls you know some people as fathers so this indicates to us that in our spiritual walk with God there is a journey which we make and in that journey we must progress move you know one level at a time into the next phase where God is calling us so some could be children and we we have been children when we accepted the Lord Jesus and we have experienced the forgiveness of our sins you know that is the first experience isn't it we come into salvation and we are rather new in our faith the common experience that all the young believers have is that sense of forgiveness I remember I met one brother who had accepted Christ very very shortly after he accepted Christ and the topic that he was talking to me about was the song amazing grace and he said you know whenever I think about that song it makes me cry because I can think about the forgiveness of the Lord Jesus the way he has forgiven me the life that I was living and now that I'm in Christ Jesus all that guilt shape is removed and I can experience the joy of God's deliverance in my life so that calming knowledge of young believers is forgiveness even by way of experience so he's saying you know little children because the sins are forgiven he's addressing the group of people and he knows that in any community healthy community there will be people at various stages of growth so it's not just children who exist there but you have people in other stages so he addresses the next stage here he says I write to your fathers because you have known him who is from the beginning so you notice here fathers are people who have made that journey with God and how beautiful he says you have known him so for us to go to that level of becoming a father and a mother in the Lord we have to know him and that knowing does not come overnight it's a pattern of living that we adopt it's a pattern of living that we develop step by step in our meeting of the word in our responding to the the direction of the Holy Spirit in our understanding of the word in our fellowship with God in our fellowship with people in our acceptance and surrender to what God is calling us to do what is happening you know we are just moving into maturity we are moving higher and higher and then you know we come to this place if you look at fathers and mothers what is their specialty they are mature yeah we call them mature because they're able to make decisions they are able to nurture others they are selfless okay where they think about their children more and you know they they're okay to forego certain things or go through some hardships hardships for the sake of the younger ones and that is why we honor them because you know they take care of us they are mature they have wisdom so just think about the pattern that one needs to develop over the long term now again we're all moving towards maturity so it's not to make anybody feel guilty oh no you're not a father you're not a mother no that's that's forgot to tell right like who has grown into that kind of maturity but the point I'm making is we can all aspire we can desire to grow in the Lord and come up higher and you know come to that level where we too can be called as fathers or mothers where we have a contribution to make to the body of Christ so he's addressing some of these people as fathers and what is their uniqueness they have known him okay so we have developed a pattern of fellow shipping with God and then he also addresses another group where he says young men okay young men because you have overcome the wicked one so young men could be the people in the in-between stages you know they have learned to apply the word they have learned to live victoriously and we know that in this world our enemy is Satan and we are fighting against the attacks of the evil one so a young person in their walk with the Lord is somebody who has learned to apply the truth okay and thereby experiencing victory in their walk with God so he's addressing you know people of different levels and he's talking to them and he says yeah and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one so he's continuing to speak to the audience which is the believers now he's bringing in a new message so far we were told about what will help us have a strong connection with God have strong fellowship with God okay and he's addressing a group that is composed of people in various levels of maturity now comes another theme that he's going to address which is for us not to love the world okay so he says verse 15 do not love the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him okay so now he defines one more aspect which will keep us away from our fellowship with God what is that love of the world okay and then he uses the term world this is cosmos cosmos is the pattern or the systems of the world and he is telling the believers that a love or you know a very deep interest a deep desire for the patterns of this world will keep us away from the love of God so our desire for God has to surpass our desire for worldly things and we'll want to see you know what what exactly he wants to say verse 16 for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world so he says that in the world you have certain things that draw your attention or they lure you what are these things he says the lust of the lust of the flesh okay the lust of the flesh so lust of the flesh has to do with us experiencing certain things that gratify us for example I would like to eat delicious food because it satisfies me okay or you know I would like to have certain experiences because it satisfies me you know I want to travel I want to touch something I want to wear something so the things that satisfy me when I engage in them so the lust uses the term lust lust is an unhealthy desire okay it's a it's an unhealthy strong desire for things which God does not want for us okay now is it wrong for us to experience the good which is in the world definitely no because what does God's word say he has created all things for our pleasure right he has created things for us to experience as a blessing but the term lust there is to show us that a normal desire is now blown out of proportion and it's not healthy anymore so when our normal desire becomes lust that is not Godly okay and we are told here the lust of the flesh things that we want to experience to gratify our flesh that is not all God then he says lust or be eyes there can be certain things that we look at which gratify us okay we may not do it we may not necessarily engage in those things but just having a look at those things might satisfy us for example you know you a lot of people when they are fasting right they're not eating food but they don't mind looking at pictures of food why because it gives them a sense of okay when I finish my fasting I'll go to this restaurant I'm going to have this food it's so delicious just looking at it satisfies you right so now we know that in the area of sexuality right a lot of believers struggle lust of the flesh is to engage in immoral sexual activity to receive gratification from it so you do it to get the satisfaction but lust of the eyes is when people don't really do anything but you know they they watch stuff on the internet they might watch stuff you know or like anything some picture just has their attention and they look at it the first look they say we say is not your mistake because you didn't know there was such a picture that's going to show up on your computer or on the billboard but when we take a second look it is a choice that we are making okay so that is the lust of the eyes because you want to look at it because it makes you satisfied or at least the illusion of satisfaction because we know in Hebrews we are told that sin entangles okay it's an illusion of satisfaction but it can never satisfy you it let me take you deeper and deeper into worse things that will entangle or make you a slave of that particular habit so the lust of the eyes where an individual does not really need to engage in sin as an activity but just having a look at stuff can satisfy them so the lust of the eyes and then there is the pride of life he talks about the pride of life where our reputation and our image before man is more important to us than our image before God right so what can we do as believers you know we might try to do different things that make us look good you know have certain you know resources have some products that make us look like wow oh do you know this person wow you know they're so they they're so great they're so rich or they're so powerful they're so influential so that image which we want to project to the world at the cost of our relationship with God and that's not something God wants for us and he says even don't go by all these things because it's it's not real okay it only put you on the wrong path promising satisfaction but there will be no satisfaction now if you look at this verse 16 of 1 John chapter 2 you will be able to relate with what happened to Eve okay so what happened to Eve in the garden any thoughts she was deceived by the devil correct correct she was deceived by Satan and can you relate what happened to her with this verse babe can you try the loss of the eye and the loss of the flesh yeah when when when the devil described how it's so lovely to eat so lovely to taste yeah yes very right very right so same thing no exactly exactly so when she saw the fruit the last of the eyes it was good okay and you know she thought over this it'll be good to taste and you know the last of the flesh where you want to experience it so why did she want to eat it because the enemy had deceived her and told her if you have this then you will be like God you know you will have you know all things and she wanted that pride of life so all three things and this is the deceptive work of the devil and we generally say that don't be ignorant of the tactics of the devil until you notice his tactics remain the same what he did in the garden he continues to do today in our lives okay so be there John is saying look believer I want you to be stable I want you to have a strong relationship with God and don't make that relationship a facade but let it be a real life experience of fellowshiping with the Godhead continually walking in the truth walking in the commandments of God loving God loving people faithfully genuinely okay and not loving the world and always be aware that the enemy is out there to tempt us and he might try it in different ways okay the temptation might come in different ways but don't give into a believer be stable so in the book of John we one John John is actually writing about the lifestyle which will keep us stable in God okay and we'll see further what he says in verse 17 he's saying and the world is passing away in the lust of it but he who does the will of God abides forever so why is John warning the believer about giving into the lassi saying look this world is temporary you know and for us we can easily be swayed by temporary things if we are not careful but remember we said the fathers you have known you have known God you have known him he writes to the father right the fathers or those who are mature so how would they know the how would they know God over time see how a desire for God has to surpass our desire for worldly things because we realize the difference between eternal things and temporal things now again let's not think that you know God only wants us to live like monks or you know go off on a mountain somewhere and leave the world behind so that we don't get tainted or tempted by the world that's not the message that John is bringing he's saying when we are in the world there is that temptation but you know from within if we prioritize eternity we will invest more in eternity and the temporal things will not get our attention so what is the focus here the focus is eternal things we must know the value of eternal things and ultimately the things of this world for example you know he was talking about lust isn't it it was 70 he's saying why would you invest in the world or cosmos this this world system because that's also passing away and you are not going to have any eternal rewards from there so have the love of God as your you know the main thing your main focus and don't let temporal things sway you away okay are you all with me so far any thoughts any questions or it's fine it's fine man okay great okay wonderful okay let's move on to the next passage here okay the next passage you know he begins to talk about the antichrist and he also uses the the term plural like many have come who have been like this antichrist so would you want to read the passage or i'll just go ahead and explain what would you all prefer have you read and come okay so if you read and come that it makes sense for me to just keep going have you all been able to read it okay we can go ahead this one so that's the same yeah okay great great then we we want to read it like line by line fine so here even he's talking about the last hour in verse 18 and he says that you heard that the antichrist is coming even now many antichrists have come by way we know that it is the last hour so he is talking about an opposing spirit that denies Christ okay so the opposite of Christ is antichrist or somebody who is not for acknowledging the Christ is antichrist so he refers to an individual who will show up in the last days as the antichrist but he also says that a lot of such people now many have come he says even now many antichrists have come by which we know that it is the last hour so the apostles in their writings you know some of them they want about these deceptive people who do not acknowledge Christ as the Son of God okay so all these deceptive people can be called as antichrist because they're opposing who the Lord Jesus is but among them stand one person stands out as the antichrist and we know you know we've especially your batch who have studied the end times you know about this antichrist who will arise and he will lead the tribulation and you know how things from then on will move to the culmination of the world as we know it and you know certain events that follow after that so now he's basically warning about deception in the last days you know once again John's message is about stability he's saying be stable believe all these things are due to happen and he talks about some of these people who do not acknowledge Christ and he's saying some of them went out from us okay so by that what does he mean he means that there were people who probably pretended like they accepted Christ but they were never really obedient to the message of Christ and finally what did they do they have got out from among the community of believers to live a life which does not glorify God so he makes the point and he says that they're probably people who never really accepted Christ that is why they have gone astray in this manner so I'll read that verse for you for clarity verse 90 they went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us so he's saying the people who have gone astray in this manner no they were never really a part of us okay so these kind of incidents happen now is John talking about a believer who has left the community no he's not talking about just you know a believer for whatever reason he needs to come and you know he's talking about somebody who is deceived to the point of rejecting Christ who has gone out of the community of believers with the intention of not following Christ at all and on the other hand opposing the same message of the gospel so you know somebody who has gone out in that way they're probably never really accepted Christ is what he is saying and then when he goes on to say that we as believers we can have a discerning spirit so remember he said that stability for a believer is important he says look at the last days there will be deceivers of this kind but one good thing is that God has given us the Holy Spirit and he uses the term anointing the anointing from the Holy One who is this anointing from the Holy One he is the Holy Spirit and what can we do through this Holy Spirit you know this Holy Spirit he knows all things and John teaches us and he says that he will teach us right he's in you and he will teach you the truth he will teach you you know discernment so that you would know who these people are and how you ought to live your life in fact verse 27 if you just jump all the way to verse 27 he says but the anointing which you have received from him abides in you and you do not need anyone teach you but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie and just as it has taught you you will abide in him so basically you know he's calling the believer to abide or to live with Christ and how can a believer maintain that stable walk and dwell stay abide with Christ that constant fellowship even by through the instruction of the Holy Spirit okay so John say the Holy Spirit will teach you all things now does it mean that the believer does not need you know any teachers of the word not at all you know we whenever we interpret scripture we interpret it in the light of other scripture now we know that God is the one who has given teachers right in the body of Christ so there was no need of teaching the word of God why would there be teachers obviously there is a role which teachers play however every believer has this beautiful privilege of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who's also termed here as the anointing so the anointing in you will teach you all things now if you recall Romans chapter 8 and verse 60 where Paul wrote and he said that the Holy Spirit in you will bear witness okay so the bearing of witness about what is right what is wrong who what you know who is this antichrist what is deceptive in the world we have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to teach us all these things so a believer need not be afraid he can continue to trust God that God will help him or her to live a stable Christian life okay so that is the point that he's making and over here the key word for us is abide abide in him remember even in John 1 John chapter 1 the whole point was to say have fellowship with God okay and abide is what abide is state it's only when we have fellowship see when we have very strong fellowship we tend to spend more time with whoever you know our friends if you have a very close friend you might spend more time with that friend in comparison to others who are just you know regular friends but what is the difference the staying right longer with that close friend now take it a step higher to living abiding dwelling like if you're staying together to stay together that shows that you really want to spend a lot of time in the presence of that individual so in that same way we are invited to actually live with God and to never move out of his pavilion you know the way Psalm 91 he would dwells in the secret place of the most time will abide under the shadow of the Almighty and what does John the Apostle want for the believer not theory he say on the earth without being corrupted by the sin of this world without being deceived by you know even the so-called antichrist we can live a stable life we can live a very satisfying fruitful life fellow shipping with the Godhead right here okay and that is the privilege of a believer and he's inviting every believer to live in that manner so what we'll do is at this point we will stop we will come back we'll pick up from the last few verses of chapter 2 and continue into chapter 3 okay do you have any questions please do bring it up in the next session okay let's go for a break now thank you