 Welcome back everyone. We will continue with the last two verses of 1 John chapter 1. Before that Manu has a question here in the chat section. She says, what will happen if Christian doesn't repent of their sin? Will God punish them? In continuation, she says, if believers do what they want and not going according to God, then God is something for that believer. Is God going to punish them? Manu asked the same question twice. The answer to that is yes, if a believer does not repent, we have seen that in the verses that we have read some time back as well, where the believer is walking in a light. So verse 6, 1 John chapter 1, it says, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, meaning living a life, darkness, which means there is sin in the life, like consistently, then what happens? We lie. So that shows us that we are not in step with God, we are not obedient to God. But God is faithful in drawing us back to Himself. Whenever we read the word of God, obviously we know the word of God is like a double edged sword. It works within our hearts. So the word of God works. Then we have the Holy Spirit. We are told in God's word that the Holy Spirit convinces of sin righteousness and judgment. So the Holy Spirit is also speaking to our hearts. Now when God is faithful to bring us to a point of realization, the next thing that needs to be done is our response. When we say, okay God, you are talking to me about this sin in my life, I repent. I will let go of this habit or you set me free, deliver me from this habit or this sin. And God, I will walk righteously before you. So that is what a believer needs to do when the Holy Spirit is ministering and the word of God is ministering to that person. But if they don't, this thing about we lie and we live a lie, that is a life of self deception. So then what happens? Are there consequences? Will God punish that person? You know the way we must look at this is, God will continue to minister to us because he is long suffering according to the word of God. But consequences to our wrongdoing, which that is not God's, you know, God imposing a certain punishment on us. But when we, just for example, if we are proud, the Bible says pride goes before a fault. So pride goes before destruction. There is a consequence to my arrogance. So I face that consequence, not because God is punishing me, but that action has a consequence. So we will experience the consequence of our sin. And in the long run, we are told that it is possible for people who are unrepentant to completely fall away from God. If you study the episodes that Peter wrote, he talks about those who fall away from God. What happens? What exactly happens? People go so far away from God that at some point their conscience is very hard and they are not able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit anymore. So they are completely cut away from God, completely cut away from receiving the blessings of God and thereby their life may seem like, you know, there is their experiencing punishment from God or things like that. But that's how it is, Manu. We bring a lot of things upon ourselves. It's not that God is punishing us, but yes, at some point if we become so rigid and fall away from God and also Hebrews chapter 6 talks about such an experience that for people who have fallen away, got too far from God, it's even difficult to come back. And we go away from the umbrella of God's protection. So things can happen in our lives where Satan destroys, Satan attacks, Satan brings in so many things into our lives and it may seem like the punishment of God. I'm reminded of Saul in the Old Testament. You remember when he became disobedient, the blessings which he experienced initially it wasn't there because the entire cover of God's protection slowly it just started leaving him and his life towards the end was quite sad to see. So that's the answer Manu, that it's not that God is going to punish us for our sin but there are regular consequences that follow. And yes, at some point when we are so rigid, even God takes notice and we can add to what we have said so far. We can also say that for disobedience, God can also kind of break in that judgment over our lives but invariably we ask for it. God is so faithful and so long-suffering that he never wants that to happen. So the quicker we respond to God and say, God I'm sorry, the better. So the Lord's Prayer, once again I'm reminded of that where we are told every day, right? We pray that every day, we pray it very often, we say forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. So be cautious on a regular basis that yes, there can be things in my life where those things are not right, I'm not perfect. Okay God, I repent of these things that you're committing me about and please bring me out of it. But that should be our daily walk and that's what Apostle John is actually writing. He said that you live in that sense of awareness of any form of sin and if you notice any sin, know you repent of it and God has already made provision for our cleansing through the blood of Jesus and that blood will cleanse you, it will clean you up. So Manu, does it make sense? Yes, thank you so much. Okay, great. Thank you. So that's a very good question which Manu asked. Now moving forward, we were at verse 8 of 1 John chapter 1 and it says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. In continuation to what we just mentioned, we lie, okay and we deceive ourselves. What is deceive ourselves? You know it's a state of mind where we think we are right but we are not actually right and nobody is able to convince us that we are wrong including ourselves. So in terms of psychology and all that, they say that you live in another reality. You are not able to accept the reality or the truth of what's going on. You live in a separate reality. But everyone knows, maybe you yourself do know it deep within that that is not the truth but you are unable to accept it. So deceive ourselves. The most important thing that we must preserve is our conscience because the Holy Spirit ministers to us and conscience is that voice that speaks and echoes what the Holy Spirit is talking to us. And when the Holy Spirit keeps us in check, when our conscience keeps us in check we can live a righteous life because I can hear these voices inside me, show me what is right. But imagine, I have completely shut down to the voice of the Holy Spirit. He's speaking and speaking and saying, oh don't do this, it's not good for you. It's destroying you, it's destroying your family. I'm not listening. Worst case scenario, my conscience is alerting me and it's saying, don't walk in that path. You're going to fall off the cliff very soon. Stop, stop, stop. But I have come to a place where I'm not listening to my conscience also. Self deceived. That is extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. And you know, every believer must be careful to keep their conscience alive keep their conscience as an echo of the voice of the Holy Spirit and that responsibility lies with us. Now I'm reminded of Paul writing to Timothy when he talks about ministry. He says, ministry with good conscience. It's a very beautiful thing. So we have to preserve our conscience and the voice of our conscience. And that will not only help us be good believers to fellowship to have true fellowship with the Godhead but also it will help us have true fellowship with one another and keep us moving forward in our walk with the Lord. But if our conscience is not good, we are deceptive you know, no amount of listening to the truth will make a difference because we have convinced ourselves that what I am saying is correct. In other words, we are saying that God is a liar because the Holy Spirit is saying something but our truth is opposite to the voice of God. So what are we actually saying? You are saying God, your word is a lie and I will do whatever I want to do. That is the most dangerous place for any believer in self-deception. We deceive ourselves. See that's what verse 8 says. If we say that we have no sin, any believer? Yes, we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Yes sin shall not have any dominion over us. But does this positional reality in Christ Jesus mean that you and I do not commit any sin in our daily walk with the Lord? I am sure all of us agree that we do fall sometimes. We do make mistakes, right? We do intentionally or unintentionally commit sin. But when we maintain this attitude of seeking repentance for that sin we should not say that I am perfect. The moment we say I am perfect, that's a path to destruction. So we don't say that there is no sin in me. No, there are a lot of things, there are weaknesses that I see and God I pray that you would forgive those sins. I want to change. That attitude of I want to change that is a precious gift which a believer must maintain throughout his lifetime. So never say that I have no sin in me. We say that we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But verse 9 it says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is an action required on our part and that is confession. So does it mean that if we forget to confess some of our sins God cannot forgive us? Not at all. That's not the point that John is making here. But he is actually emphasizing the importance of self-awareness. He is emphasizing the importance of aligning ourselves to the truth of God's word. He is emphasizing the importance of confessing when we fail. Acknowledging, noticing that I am not perfect. In these areas I do carry weaknesses and I have made a mistake. What do we do? We confess or we acknowledge it to the Lord and say God I repent. I am sorry I did this. So you accept it. So if we confess our sins then what happens? God is faithful to forgive us. And he is also just. Does God push our sins under the carpet and behave as if nothing has ever happened? Not at all. It says he is faithful and he is just. How is he just? He has paid the price for every sin by putting it on his son, the Lord Jesus. The father has done that and the son has paid the price for our sins. And in that way he is just to forgive us because the price is already paid. Somebody has to pay the price for the wrongdoing. Someone has to pay the penalty. If the penalty is not paid and you let go the offender then that is injustice. Because who is going to pay the fine? But in our case what has God done for us? He has paid the penalty and therefore he forgives us. He lets us go. And we are told that God is able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He is able to clean us up because of what Jesus has done for us. So John is affirming that confidence which we have in the work of the finished work of the cross. And verse 10 he says if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not enough. And I have already made that point. So this is about walking with God, walking in the truth, walking with humility. And experiencing the powerful cleansing work of the cross or Calvary. At no point, if you look at it in a practical sense, in a believer's life, generally when we start out in our journey as believers, at the beginning when we are born again, we may have a very sort of like a vulnerable attitude towards God when we are open and we are sensitive and we respond to God easily. But as we continue our journey, there is a possibility for pride to kick him. There is a possibility for this kind of self-deception to kick him. It's along the journey and usually at times when we are experiencing great victories in God. Many of us here in the class are also part of the ministry and we are serving and you would agree with me. There are times when ministry goes well, that everyone is praising you. You feel like, wow, this is fine, like I'm okay. There's nothing wrong with me. And in our prayer lives, we might lean towards, okay, thank you God. I'm favored, I'm blessed and there's nothing wrong with that. But our tendency could be for us to just stay there and never be sensitive towards God, to acknowledge some of our weaknesses as well. So especially when we are doing well and doing well in the ministry, we have to be careful. And we have to look at ourselves and see like, Lord, am I living my life according to your truth, your standard, oh God, because that is the real truth. And that is the real standard. If there's anything I'm missing out, Holy Spirit convict me today. I walk humbly before you. So particularly when we are doing well, we have to be conscious of coming to the Lord and checking our hearts and checking our conscience and saying, God, I will remain sensitive, even more sensitive at this time when I'm doing well. Because if we are not careful, it is in moments of great victory and great accomplishment in our walk with the Lord that we might put our guard down. And that is what brings us down. So be sensitive before the Lord at all times, especially when you are doing well. And if there is something that needs to be confessed, go ahead and do that because we cannot compromise on our fellowship with God. And we cannot compromise on our fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And for both of this to be effective, what we have learned today in 1 John chapter 1 is that we have to walk in the truth. We have to walk in righteousness. We have to walk in the... as John uses the term, walk in the light. And God is light in if there is no darkness. That is our standard. When we walk in the light, then we can experience that beautiful communion with God and beautiful communion with our brothers and sisters. So that is 1 John chapter 1 for us. I will briefly pause for any of your comments to be added and your questions to be shared. And after that we will move on to chapter 2. So yes, please feel free. Anything that you want to ask right now, you could do so please. Okay, glad that it's okay so far it's clear. That's very nice. Okay, no questions. Okay, it's all clear. Great, wonderful. Let's continue then. Yes, we will move on to 1 John chapter 2 and we look at some of the main themes there. This is a very, I mean comparatively a longer passage so I'm not sure how much I can complete today. But let's try to read till verse 17 please. 1 John chapter 2 verses 1 through 17. Again, we could all read 4 verses at a time. Anyone, just jump in and read the first 4 verses. I think this is to you, my children, so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have someone who bleeds with the Father on our behalf. Jesus Christ is the righteous one and Christ Himself is the means by which our sins are forgiven. And not our sins only but also the sins of everyone. If we obey God's command, then we are sure that we know Him. If anyone says that he knows Him but does not obey His command such a person is a liar and there is no truth in him. Thank you, Arun. Thank you so much. Another person could continue. But whoso tippeth his word in him rarely is the love of God perfected. Hereby, know we have we that we are in Him. See that says hereby rest in Him out himself also so to walk even so he walks. But then I write no new commandment unto you but an old commandment which he had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which he had heard from the beginning. Again a new commandment I write unto you which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is past and the true light now signeth. Thank you, babe. The next person could read please. He who says he is in the light and brother he is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in light and there is no cause for a stomach in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. The spiritual state, I write to you little children because you are sin forgiven you for his name's sake. I write to you fathers because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you in man because you have overcome the wicked one. I will write to you the children because you have known. I have written to you fathers because you know him who is from beginning. I have written to you in man because you're strong and the word of abides in you. And you have overcome the wicked one. Thank you. may be the next three verses still was 71 other person could read please do not love the world or things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the love of the father is not for all that is in the world and the world is passing away and the lust of the flesh but he who loves the world and the lust of the flesh the lust of the flesh the lust of the flesh that could be fine because we will read till 7 o'clock thank you so much for the day alright so let's continue with chapter 2 and as you have observed already he is moving forward with the same theme about confessing our sins about acknowledging the truth of God's word about walking a life of obedience unto God and walking in the light living truthfully not having sin not covering up sin in our lives so he begins by reminding the believers and uses the term like my little children you know this is an exhortation it's a way of you know when we speak these days we use terms like friends we love it so in that manner they had a the teachers had terms that you would use they would use for the students and the listeners so that's why John is using these terms he says my little children as he is teaching young curious honest people he's calling them little children these things are right to you so that you may not sin so why is he and the way of writing also know it's like coming back again touching on the same point saying something and saying something else but the theme remains the same that we must acknowledge acknowledge our sin we should not sin first of all but if we do then we must come out of it so he is repeating and he's saying the reason I'm doing this is so that you will not sin why is it dangerous to sin why do you think it is not okay to sin and why is John trying to protect the people from sin what is your opinion on that why should we not sin anyway Jesus has provided for our forgiveness no yes Thomas yeah yeah Jesus forgiven and set us free actually sin destroys us sin destroys the person that is why Jesus want us to give a life that is why he set us free and cleansed us and we are created in the image of God we are called to represent and show the God to the world we are called to reflect Jesus on the world so when he forgives it's not you know license or grace to or something to continue on sin because sin destroys a person and person's life and we cannot show the God and his image on the world that's why we have to leave the sin and walk in holiness yes thank you Thomas excellent points there and I'll add to that first and foremost there is no sin in God and that is the reason and we haven't created in the image of God and God does not want anything in us which is not in him so and sin is darkness and John has already written about it so in addition to what Thomas shared sin is not part of God and sin is not a part of us and God doesn't want that in our lives so sin is separate from us and we do have the power now now that the Lord Jesus died on the cross for us as Romans chapter 6 says sin shall not have dominion over us so we can overcome sin and stay away from it and rightly as Thomas put it it will destroy our lives and God knows that and that's the reason he wants us to have nothing to do with sin so yes so John is encouraging the believers but look at you know John's point here about Jesus being our advocate okay once again the whole Trinity theme comes in and John is pointing out that the Father is separate and then he's pointing out that Jesus is separate so even that concept of Trinity is seen in the next portion of the verse here he says if anyone since we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous so he is describing the Lord Jesus as a person who can take away our signature advocate here in the Greek it is paracletos and paracletos means a comforter okay comforter or somebody who will take care of us take care of the sin for us so Jesus has already done that on the cross of Calvary for us so John is actually encouraging and he's saying look the gold standard is don't sin because that way you will have a blessed life you don't have to worry about any consequences don't have to worry about the fact that sin will destroy you but you're walking strong with the Lord however if you happen to sin again there is an encouragement don't worry you have an advocate for you who is the Lord Jesus okay and he has already done the work of taking away our sin and verse 2 he says and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for us only but also for the whole world the point that I made earlier that Jesus has paid the price for us and that is why God is just God is righteous in forgiving us when we accept what Jesus has done on the cross for us notice John says that this forgiveness is offered to the believer and it becomes a part of the covenant for us so we can receive it by faith but it is also available for the whole world so those who have not done to the Lord the forgiveness of Jesus Christ is also available for them but what do we need to receive it we have to believe that the hearts we must confess with the Lord Jesus then we are saved so it is important for us to be saved to receive this available forgiveness but is forgiveness available for the entire world yes it is available for the entire world but it is not applicable until we accept the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ so seems like Thomas has a question Thomas please go ahead I see you have raised your hand sorry ma'am phone fell down that's why he has just pressed it sorry my mistake is it phone has fell from my hand yeah no problem no problem yeah then we will carry on thank you okay so we have done two verses moving on to the third verse here it says now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him so the point is coming back to our walk or the way we live the way we overcome sin in our everyday lives to live a righteous life see it positionally is it true that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus yes okay and now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus that's the reality and nobody can take it away from us stated cannot accuse us positionally while that is the reality we also have to live it out so that living it out is it must be seen as us keeping the commandments of God commandments of God is the standards of God so we keep the standards of God it's only then that you know our claim of knowing him is valid otherwise we are living a self-deceived life that I talked about earlier you know we are saying we know God we are saying we God's will and all that but in practice we are living a completely different life so John tells the believer not to live that you know hypocritical life saying one thing but doing completely doing something completely different so he's also bringing a tag on such a believer and he's saying that if you don't keep the commandments of God you are a liar and the truth is not in him so obviously because they are continuing in sin but whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in him by this we know that we are in him so what proves that we love God that God's love is abiding in us and that you know we truly know this God that we are talking about it is our obedience so without obedience a believer you know you can't wholeheartedly claim and you will agree with me you know we know deep with it right we have that sense of something is not okay I'm not doing this right or you know what if someone finds out or you're going to church to worship God and you're not able to concentrate you're not able to focus you're not able to fully lavish that worship of God because something with the view is tricking you you haven't dealt with the sin in your life and when we do that I mean I don't know about you but it has happened to me at times when I was a young believer and there were a couple of things that I really needed to overcome and I had those things in my life and I continued going to church every Sunday I remember telling myself when I go back home today I will not do this go back home today I will not waste my time go back home today you know I will live right just leave so something with you when you don't change and you don't walk in the truth right it will prick us it will prick us and John is very strongly saying that when we continue a lifestyle of disobedience it's as if we are liars and the truth is not in us we actually don't know that knowing is like knowing God very well the very nature of God but we actually don't know Him we may know Him in theory but through our lives we are proving that we don't know God verse 6 he who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as he walks so he is saying this is the true test of knowing God it's a life of righteousness that you live righteously now it's not referring to you know these one of things that happen sometimes we stumble not intentionally but you know it just happens so he is not referring to that but he is referring to a continuous giving into a simple lifestyle and he is saying that the believer should not have that kind of a life verse 7 President I write no new commandment to you but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning the old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning again a new commandment arrived to you which thing is true in Him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining so you notice he is talking about a commandment but basically what he is saying is you know the things that we have seen in Christ the earlier verse what did he say that we must walk just as he walked so that commandment has already been seen in the life of Jesus that walk of obedience, that walk of loving the Father that walk of displaying the agape love of God how has it been done? you have already seen that is what he writes that commandment was already given to you and again a new commandment arrived to you basically he is reintroducing that same point that we must live the way Jesus lived and it has already been demonstrated to us verse 9 he who says he is in the light and hates his brother so far we saw the person who is not living in the light is the person who has sinned in their lives and they are not ready to acknowledge it so they have deceived themselves that is what we have seen but now verse 9 he says person who does not have light in their lives is also somebody who hates his brother you notice hate is a rather strong word which he has used here and let me just share with you what it means in the Greek it is from the word Greek what we see and it means detest detest detest is you can't stand you are disgusted by something you detest somebody you hate them it's not like you don't like them but it is worse than that you hate them and John is saying look when we say that our life is in the light and if we look into our hearts when we find that we are detesting and he uses the term brother brother was usually used for somebody who is also in the faith so it's a believer another believer if you hate your believer then you are still in the darkness we can't claim that we know God or know God it's a sign of maturity so that maturity is lacking how do we see that there is proof in our lifestyle we don't acknowledge our sin we are disobedient to God and now what's happening there is hatred in our hearts not just dislike but detest other believers and all this proves that we are still immature that we are not we don't know God very well and was said he who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him so one of the ways in which we can make our walk secure is to walk in love so whenever we use this term walk it is living out the life and also relating relating to God and relating to God so when we have love for God and we have love for our brothers we are in a secure position it says that there is no cause for stumbling in him love is very important the love of God in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Romans 5.5 says that will keep us stable in our Christian walk verse 11 but he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness so carrying bitterness in our hearts and we are saying oh I am such a good believer I am a faithful believer I am a mature believer but what does the scripture say we can we can claim all these facts about ourselves because it may be we are very regular church we are part of many Bible studies we know lots of scriptures by heart all that is correct nothing wrong with it but there is hatred in our hearts for our brothers so when that happens John is pointing out to the fact that something is not right with the maturity there is some darkness in us we do this and we are walking in darkness and we don't know where we are going he says and darkness is blinded our eyes so you see there is the spiritual reality but there is also the living it out and both have to be congruent if the spiritual reality is different from the way we are living our claiming that we know God our claiming that we are matured that we are spiritual that makes sense to God God is noticing disobedience hatred in our hearts and we can't deceive God we may even be able to deceive ourselves but we can't deceive God verse 12 onwards he is addressing the people who will listen to he is addressing the people who will get his letter and he is saying I write to you little children you for his namesake so he uses little children you will see he is using different gradings to probably talk about spiritual maturity and he uses children for those who have experienced the forgiveness of their sins because we know this is the first experience that we all have right that our sins have been forgiven early on in our Christian world that is our experience he is referring to those young believers as little children then he says I write to you fathers because you have known him who is from the beginning I write to you young men because you have overcome the wicked one I write to you little children because you have known the father so he brings in the next level here young men who have overcome the wicked one so obviously those who have grown from just experiencing the forgiveness and walking in their authority they have overcome the evil one they are living victorious Christian lives John is terming them as young men and he is calling the more mature people who have known God from the beginning or rather he is just pointing out that there are mature people who know God very well they have lived their life, they are living their life and they also know the spiritual truth so these kind of people he is calling as fathers he also shows us that there is a journey of maturity that every believer has to make just because we are born again it doesn't mean that everything is perfect in our spiritual work no, there are levels there are gradations there are milestones of growth and we must make the journey and slowly go from being little children to being young men and also becoming fathers and verse 14 says I have written to you fathers because you have known him who is from the beginning I have written to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one basically he is writing to people at every stage of their spiritual growth and next he brings a message about not giving into worldliness so far he talked about obedience he talked about living in the love of God being truthful to God being truthful to ourselves and now he is going to talk about staying away from the world I think at this point I am going to pause to just give us some time to share your thoughts and questions if any if not we will wrap up and we will continue from where we left in the next class any thoughts that you may want to add to what I said so far Kiran do you want to say something yes ma'am little doubt is there ma'am how John knows before that believers is doing something different so he wrote a little see Kiran I told you that he was providing guidance as an apostle two churches so obviously he knows the kind of believers that worship in these churches what their lifestyle is in the passage you don't find him pointing out sins and saying this sin that sin if you recall to the Corinthians Paul will write and he will say there is life among you there are divisions among you there is sexual sin in your congregation so he points out different things but here John is not pointing out but you know it's like a message which can be given to all the churches during his time that is why it sounds very general but I am sure each church as they receive the letter they understood what John is talking about so he knew that believers were living kind of a deceptive life and he needed to address that fine sure alright so let's close here I would request somebody to please say a word of prayer we have a minute to go and then we are done with today's class right would like to pray Manu can you close it ok sir Father God I pray to you Lord Jesus whatever be and from this class Father God Lord Jesus what God work to in our life Father God and Lord Jesus I pray to you Lord Jesus bless us Lord Jesus Lord Jesus we pray to you Lord Jesus thank you Father Lord Jesus you help us Lord Jesus to study and Lord Jesus thank you Father Lord thank you Lord Jesus thank you Lord I submit all prayer in the name of Jesus I ask amen amen amen amen amen thank you Manu thank you everyone you're free to log off and join your next class I'll see you again next Monday to go through the Epistles of John God bless thank you bye thank you