1st John - It's About the Heart

8/7/2025

1 John 1... “and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

And written 10 minutes later depending on how quickly his 80-year-old hands could write...

“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. 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. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

“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.

“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”

You’ve heard this 10,000 times, but I’ll say it again: those who claim to never sin are liars, as well as those who defend sin and have no conviction about sin, only thoughts about what they desire and how unfair God is, with no desire to please him. Those also are liars if they claim to be disciples.

Is it obvious there’s no contradiction between 1st John 1, 1st John 2, and 1st John 3?

There is no contradiction! It’s about the heart and “perfect obedience” will only be after we see him face-to-face, and we will GROW from one degree of glory to another into the full measure of the stature of Christ—every day in the meantime. Because we chose Him as King and we want to!

I have been chewing on those passages from John along with the heartache of some recent difficult conversations/situations...

Question: What would you call someone who lives among a genuine body of believers, who continues day after day, week after week, year after year, WITHOUT...

•making actual progress towards becoming like Jesus
•helping others do the same (+1)
•exhorting and being exhorted daily
•voluntarily opening their heart to others,
•calling the sin and struggles in their life what God calls it (confession) and repenting of those things

According to John (the one whom Jesus loved), that person is a liar.

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of Light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and will not come into the Light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the Truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:19-21 )

“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is Light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the Truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His Word is not in us.” (1 John 1:5-10)

“We know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commands. Whoever says, “I know Him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the Truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys His word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:3-6)

John lists “if we claim to be without sin” and “if we confess our sins” as the two contrasting options. Clearly, it would be the ultimate self-deception to claim to be without sin. But John is clearly implying that if you are not—at the very least—living in the costly transparency of Light-walking, that the resulting impression is that you are claiming “to be without sin.”

What you believe, in this context, is irrelevant. You don’t get to be the exception simply because you believe the right things or even sincerely want to do the right things. Hanging out with Christian friends or doing “Christian” things counts for nothing. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6).

“If you love me, you will be like me/obey me” with “ever increasing glory.” It is the prophecy in the former Covenant of the very nature of the New Covenant itself.

Perfect song for what was sent a few minutes after you sent this!

Be the One

“Be the one who helps the hurting”—the one at Jesus’ feet will do this. The one who worships themselves instead will say, “That’s me, that’s me—I’m the hurting! Help me, help me, you must!”

For anyone that desires “cheap grace” without the Cross, read Luke chapter 12, chapter 13, chapter 14—and see in Jesus’ own words EXACTLY what JESUS HIMSELF said a “Christian” is. Anything else is a “false gospel” and a lie from Satan. JESUS DECIDES—and HE insisted on Luke 12-14!

•  TEST of Any SALVATION That GOD Recognizes