1 John - Saved?

1 John 1:5-10 

January 19-26, 2014

This week’s lesson is one of the most important lessons to learn in the pursuit of godliness.  There is so much confusion about the need to become holy and righteous. If we have been redeemed, we gain these things, but our transformation is about God's power working in us, not about our own ability not to sin.  Graham touched upon this in his message on Sunday when he said, "The intention not to sin is not the same as the power not to sin."  The verses contained in 1 John 1:5-10, explain how we access the power of God for change in our life.

For those of us who have been redeemed, the sin we once loved now causes us pain and sorrow when we think about it or walk into it once again.  We can certainly understand what Paul is saying in Romans 7:19 when he says, "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."  There is a spiritual war going on inside of us.  Our flesh (the old nature) is at war with the new creation that God created and the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us.  How then shall we overcome this struggle?  The answer is found in the verses this week.

1 John 1:9

 "If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

As we walk in the light, it reveals the darkness and sin that still remains in us.  We are to repent our exposed sin (turn from our sin) and confess it to the Lord, asking that He both forgive us and continue the process of cleansing us from all of our unrighteousness.

This process is like peeling an onion.  Once the outer layer is removed, it exposes the next layer that needs to be removed, over and over again. He is faithful, just and patient as He moves us to remove the next layer of our old nature.

So what we see in this process is not a complete and instant purity, but an ever-increasing purity as the Lord does the work of removing our old nature and replacing it with the nature of Jesus Christ His Son.

May the Lord bless you as He purifies you into the image of His dear Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Geoff

Compass now The Weekly Journey:

The name of the Compass has been changed to The Weekly Journey, but there are more changes than just the name.  We have modified The Weekly Journey in order to help the congregation build fundamental spiritual disciplines into their weekly lives.  We will be encouraging Scripture memorization, meditation, prayer, service and study throughout the week.  This document should continue to change as we use it and get feedback from you about how we can make it better and more useable.  Thank you in advance, for helping us improve the effectiveness and usefulness of this resource with the feedback that you provide.

For additional resources, please go to the resources page or click here.

1 John - Saved?

1 John 1:1-4

January 12 - 19, 2014

Over the course of church history, the Lord has used the book of 1 John to revive His church and bring revival.  I have taught through this short book several times in the past and have seen its power to bring repentance, healing and power to the people who will listen to the word of God given to us by the disciple whom Jesus loved.  Even though I have studied this book many times, recently the Lord is showing me even more of the glorious truths that exist in its chapters.  I also see how practical it is in demonstrating how to live in the light and thereby being changed and purified by the Lord.

John tells us in 1 John 5:13, that he has written these things so that we may know or be certain of the fact that we have eternal life.  It is with this frame of reference that we start this study and examine the first several verses in this very special book.  John is making several important points in the first several four verses as listed below:

1. The Lord Jesus Christ is eternal and existed from the beginning.  This point communicates to us Jesus is God.
2. The eternal Jesus came in the flesh, so that He was both fully God and fully man.
3. John and others actually touched Jesus before and after the resurrection with their own hands so that he is a personal eye witness to Jesus who was God in the flesh.  Therefore, John is declaring a reliable message to us.
4. This message that he is declares enables us to have fellowship with the believers, but more importantly with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

What a glorious message.  We can have fellowship with the King of kings and the Lord of lords and the message that we have received is trustworthy and reliable.  I pray that you would enter into this study with me as we examine what the Lord wants to communicate to us today through the disciple that Jesus loved, the apostle John.

Now may the God of all peace, Himself give you peace at all times in every way.  The Lord be with you all,

Geoff