Sermon Tone Analysis

Secular -

Historical/Cultural Context -

The book of 1 John is one of the five books in the New Testament that was written by John the Apostle, brother of James.

They were known as the sons of thunder.

This letter was written between A.D. 85 to A.D. 100.

First John was written to a church or group of churches in crisis—churches who were being attacked by false teaching.

Some individuals who had once been associated with the church had accepted heresy and had left the church.

After they left they continued to spread their false teaching to the church.

They went so far as to organize and send out itinerant preachers to various churches with the goal of converting those in the churches to their beliefs.

This created confusion and plunged the churches into crisis.

In response to this situation, John wrote 1 John, following that up with 2 and 3 John.

His goal was to stop this false teaching and to bring comfort to the Christians in these churches.

Biblical Text -

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - Believers Walk In God’s Holiness, Will Not Remain In Sin, And Need To Be Careful Of Deceivers.

Life Point- Believers Walk In God’s Provided Holiness

Exegetical -

1 John 3:1–3 (NKJV)

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Homiletical -

There is something that makes absolutely no sense to the world.

That is the miracle of a regenerate person before God who is now just not a new creation, but being called a child of God.

To be called a child of someone means that person walks with the authority and the responsibility of the father or family from which they come.

To be called a child of God means that we walk with both authority and the responsibility that God has given us.

What kind of authority, you ask? Well here are two examples:

1) over demons

Now here is an example of some people who were not saved by grace, trying to use that authority:

2) The most important authority.

The authority to share the Gospel and see a new life born into God’s family.

Going back to our main text in 1 John, which says, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Here is the responsibility, one of many, but they can all flow out of this concept.

Illustration -

Seeing as how we are talking about holiness and one’s behavior should be:

Little John had been misbehaving again and was sent to his room.

After a while he emerged and informed his mother that he had thought about what he did and then prayed to God about it.

"Fine", said mom who was both pleased and proud.

"If you ask God to help you not misbehave, I am sure He will help you."

"Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me not misbehave," said John. "I asked Him to help you put up with me."

Life Point - Believers Will Not Live In Sin Indefinitely

Exegetical -

Homiletical -

Lawlessness - This is an interesting word choice by John.

It reflects what will happen to the unrepentant, unbelievers.

In the Original language it means ‘to live as though there were no laws,’ ‘to refuse completely to obey the laws,’ or ‘to live as one who despises all laws.’

Here this isn’t talking about the laws of society but the command, or laws of God.

What did John just say?

No one can do this apart from the power of God and his free gift.

You can’t become a new creation on your own.

Nor can you become pure on your own.

You need Holy Spirit to work and cleanse you and make you into the image of the Son of God.

This process is called Sanctification and it is by the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to make it happen.

You cannot work that up in and of yourself.

By the way the word filthy here is literally from the Hebrew word meaning “the bodily fluids from a woman’s menstrual cycle.”

Old disregarded hygiene products.

That is how God sees you in His eyes apart from His saving work.

Jesus came into the world to deal with sin.

Those things that fall short of God’s holiness.

We have a hole in our lives, in our innermost being.

That hole can only be filled by Jesus!

That is why He came into the world.

Remember John 3:16?

How does one come to Him?

We may sin and fall, but that is not our natural state of being.

The regenerate man.

The one who has been made new in Christ can never be taken away from Christ.

does that mean you are perfect?

NOPE!

It does mean when you sin, you ask for forgiveness from God and from everyone involved and then move on in God’s cleansing power and victory over sin.

Illustration -

In one of his meetings, D.L. Moody was explaining to his audience the truth that we cannot bring about spiritual changes in our lives by our own strength.

He demonstrated the principal like this: “Tell me,” he said to his audience, “how can I get the air out of the tumbler I have in my hand?”

One man said, “Suck it out with a pump.”

But Moody replied, “That would create a vacuum and shatter it.”

Finally after many suggestions, he picked up a pitcher and quietly filled the glass with water.

“There,” he said, “all the air is now removed.”

He then explained that victory for the child of God does not come by working hard to eliminate sinful habits, but rather by allowing Christ to take full possession.

(Today in the Word, September, 1991, p. 30).

Life Point - Believers Need To Watch For Deceivers

Exegetical -

Homiletical -

John says to not let anyone deceive you.

This means there are people in the church, speaking universally, not in this church.

Who will have a guise of righteousness but inwardly the unregenerate, unrepentant sinners.

These people like to pretend they are of God, but aren’t.

So what does this mean?

This means there are false teachers or people who call themselves prophets who aren’t, and they are amongst the people of God.

When you look into their lives there is no fruit that shows righteousness.

What kind of fruit is this?

There are even people in the church who deceive themselves and think they are Christ’s, but they aren’t.

There is that word again, lawlessness.

Back to our main text:

What is the Devil’s main work?

He brought temptation to the children of God, so that they may sin against God.

What does it mean to sin against God?

It means to rebel against God

You know that little white lie?

That’ll send you to hell just as much as murder