EPISTLES OF JOHN - arpwm.orgarpwm.org/.../2012/02/EPISTLES-OF-JOHN-STUDY-PRESENTATION-J… · by JOEL BEEKE Thursday, August 9, 2012. STUDY 1 READ: I John 1:1-4; Introduction; Chapters

EPISTLES OF JOHNby JOEL BEEKE

Thursday, August 9, 2012

STUDY 1READ: I John 1:1-4; Introduction; Chapters 1 and 2

Gnosticism: From Greek word ‘gnosis’ meaning knowledge. Gnostics connected salvation with an experience of individual enlightenment and knowledge of mysteries given only to them through divine revelation.Docetism: From Greek word ‘dokeo’ meaning ‘to seem’ or to ‘appear’. Denied full humanity of Christ (as did Gnostics); Christ only seemed to be human. No real union of human and divine natures.What other wrong beliefs do people believe about Christ today?

Major Themes: Fellowship w/Christ’s Apostles and SaintsFellowship with GodFulness of JoyAssurance of Faith


Contrasts: Light/Darkness Loving God/Loving the World Truth/Falsehood Eternal Life/Eternal Death

Repetitive Words/Phrases:

Word of Life Eternal Life Jesus Christ Light Darkness Perfected Truth Sin Propitiation Righteousness Know Keep Love Abide in Him Abides Liar Antichrist Death Children of God Know Believe

Authentic Christian fellowship is based on apostolic truths of knowing who Jesus is, what the gospel is, and what Christ has done for us.


STUDY 2

‘God is light’ - this is where the gospel begins

How one ‘walks’ reveals either fellowship with light or darkness

Fellowship with the God of light is evidence of the power of the gospel in our lives

Confession is our heartfelt response to what God has shown us by His Word and Spirit

READ: I John 1:5-10; Chapters 3 and 4

The Gospel will not simply correct our thinking about God - it will transform our lives into the image and likeness of Christ


STUDY 3

Advocate: friend who speaks on your behalf and comes alongside to help you

Propitiation: appease or atone; peace offering so relationship can be restored

Perfected: to make perfect, complete; to carry through completely; to accomplish; to add what is yet wanting in order to render a thing full

Christ speaks for us - a privilege; Christ abides in us - His promise; we abide in Him - our duty


Essence and evidence of assurance of faith: that we know Him and obey Him!


STUDY 4

Christian love: cherishes others; values others; does good to others; seeks best welfare for others; seeks nothing in return

Love is a command, not an option; not a matter of feeling but obedience

Believers overcome evil through abiding Word of God (Jesus Christ)


God calls Christians to love one another as Christ loves us - sacrificially!


STUDY 5

World: kingdom, ruler and inhabitants, lost in sin, at odds with anything pleasing to God, all in rebellion against Jesus

Christians plucked from this kingdom and now belong to Christ - the world is our passage not our portion

The aim of false teachers (antichrists) is to separate you from Christ; the purpose of the gospel is to bring you to Christ


Antichrists love the world - not Christ nor those who abide in Him.


STUDY 6History has an endpoint and all have an appointment from which not even death can keep us.

Abide in Christ by abiding in His Word

Righteousness is the inevitable fruit of abiding in Christ

What kind of love is this - that enables us to become a full member of God’s family?

The best is yet to be - God our Father keeps the best surprises til the end!

READ: I John 2:28-3:3; Chapters 11 and 12

To be confident and unashamed at His appearing, one must sink their life into God’s truth and be nourished by it.


STUDY 7

Sin: Anomia: transgression of law, lawlessness, literally having ‘no law’; sin is anti-God

Christ came to destroy sin and establish righteousness. He Himself is the contrast between righteousness and sin

In Christ - love is an attitude to cultivate and a pattern of behavior to embrace

True love gives the best you have to the worst you can find


There is a great distinction between true and false believers and their lifestyle will reveal it!


STUDY 8

Our confidence is not based on anything we are or have done - only on who Christ is and has done

Inward witness of the Spirit revealed through a changed life: cherishing God’s commands and desire to do them

Testing, testing: A true teacher exalts Christ, a false teacher denies Him

Indwelling Holy Spirit and an open Bible enables believers to see the radical differences between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error

READ: I John 3:19-4:6; Chapters 15 and 16

Ultimate assurance: we belong to the One who is rich in mercy and does not treat us as our sins deserve. God’s salvation exceeds our sinfulness!


STUDY 9

God is love and all born of God will love

Love, as much as righteousness, is part of the Christian’s birthmark

God gives His children assurances that they are His: vv. 13, 14, 15, 16, 20-21

Fear is the darkroom where the devil takes you to develop your negatives - but perfect love will cast this out and color your world


Every failure to love and all fear can be traced back to a failure to understand the Cross and the love of God.


STUDY 10READ: I John 5:1-5; Chapters 19 and 20

We become our truest selves when we believe God, love God, and bear the yoke of Christ with joyful submission!

Saving faith gives spiritual vitality and produces Christ- centered living

Saving faith is planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit

Saving faith bears fruit: Love for God; love for fellow Christians; obedience to God’s commands; and, it overcomes worldliness


STUDY 11

Historical truth and God’s testimony: Jesus came by the water and the blood

Unbelief is a sin to be deplored for it calls God a liar

Unbelief kills spiritually and ends in a godless eternity.

Believe and live - truly live - in fellowship with God


These things written for the assurance of faith - for God does not want His children to live in uncertainty


STUDY 12

The truth - God’s truth - is not relative but absolute

Any unity with others not based on the truth is not Christian unity

‘Keep truth and the truth will keep you’

Continuing in truth is a crucial mark of true faith

READ: II John; Chapter 23

Walking in love must never be separated from walking in truth.


STUDY 13

Truth is the highest motivation for love

Walking in truth: entire life shows fidelity to the truth

Christian hospitality makes one a fellow-helper to the truth

Our love for pre-eminence obstructs our love for truth and for the church

READ: III John; Chapter 24

Walking in truth pleases God, blesses fellow workers and protects us from pride.


Documents

EPISTLES OF JOHN - arpwm.orgarpwm.org/.../2012/02/EPISTLES-OF-JOHN-STUDY-PRESENTATION-J… · by JOEL BEEKE Thursday, August 9, 2012. STUDY 1 READ: I John 1:1-4; Introduction; Chapters