0:07 this is the message we have heard from
0:08 him from christ
0:10 and announced to you that god is light
0:12 and in him there is no darkness at all
0:14 now there's two possibilities here or
0:16 maybe they just both blend together
0:19 and what are they there was a group of
0:21 teachers that eventually became known as gnostics
0:22 gnostics
0:26 now gnostics uh come from the greek
0:30 uh now gnosis which is knowledge
0:32 and and what they basically claimed was
0:34 salvation was found
0:37 in this knowledge that they had
0:39 and it was a secret knowledge that's why
0:41 we call it esoteric
0:45 it was dark okay and only a few
0:47 people really had it and there's a real
0:50 possibility that at least the roots of
0:51 this group
0:54 was starting to influence here
0:57 they were saying no no no you you simpleton
0:58 simpleton
1:01 christians who have this faith in what
1:01 you know
1:04 jesus who died and rose again that's
1:05 true but now there's this
1:08 deeper knowledge that you've got to get
1:10 from us
1:12 and if you don't get it from us who have
1:14 these secrets
1:18 you're not going to heaven and
1:20 and i think what john is saying here is
1:21 no no no
1:24 god is light he's not dark he's not secret
1:25 secret
1:28 he's not hidden he has shown us
1:31 in the person of christ he has shown us
1:31 who he
1:35 is and he has shown us what he desires
1:36 from us
1:40 okay so it's not some secret knowledge
1:42 you need that only a few you know
1:45 inductees have
1:48 it's very plain also
1:51 this group was kind of they had two extremes
1:52 extremes
1:54 some of these gnostics they were all about
1:56 about
1:59 rules and regulations and they had all
2:00 these different
2:02 things you you couldn't eat and you
2:03 couldn't do this
2:05 and you couldn't do that and if you did
2:07 these things you weren't right with god
2:09 so they had there was one extreme that
2:11 said that and there was another extreme
2:13 in the same group that actually said
2:16 no the body is you know
2:19 god hates the material world he hates
2:20 the body
2:21 and so it doesn't matter what you do
2:23 with your body so you can just sin
2:26 all day long and still be a christian so
2:27 you had two extreme groups one was saying
2:28 saying
2:30 in order to be a to real be a follower
2:32 of jesus you got to follow
2:34 all these little technical rules and you
2:37 can't eat and you can't do this and you
2:40 can't do that and everything's bad
2:42 and he had this other group saying the
2:45 body's bad anyway so
2:48 let's just sin and have a good time
2:51 and john is saying this is wrong
2:55 this is wrong christianity
2:57 we are not christians because we're able
2:58 to follow a
3:01 set of rules about eating and drinking and
3:01 and
3:04 all other sorts of things we're
3:05 christians because we believe in what christ
3:06 christ
3:09 has done for us yet at the same time
3:10 john's going to tell us
3:14 if we truly believe and our hearts have
3:15 been changed
3:17 he says we are going to follow a
3:19 christian ethic
3:21 and that christian ethic is primarily manifested
3:23 manifested
3:25 well jesus summed it up pretty well
3:27 didn't he in two commands
3:28 love the lord your god with all your
3:31 heart soul mind and strength
3:34 and love your neighbor as yourself you see
3:35 see
3:36 there's a commandment in the law that
3:39 says that i should not commit adultery
3:42 i'm married i shouldn't commit adultery
3:43 that's a law
3:46 and i shouldn't do it but even if that law
3:47 law
3:50 wasn't there if i really loved my wife
3:54 would i commit adultery no
3:57 if i really loved my friend would i lie
3:58 to him
4:02 steal from him cheat him
4:06 no so you see that's how we can say that
4:08 although there is an ethic and there are
4:11 rules in christianity
4:14 that it's all summed up in this to walk in
4:15 in
4:18 love if i love am i going to be selfish
4:23 greedy hot tempered impatient
4:26 proud no none of that
4:29 you see and so what john is going to get
4:30 at is this
4:33 if you've truly become a christian some
4:36 things are going to change in your life
4:39 but he's really clear you don't become a
4:41 christian because you changed
4:43 things and by changing things you've earned
4:44 earned
4:48 salvation he's saying he's going to tell
4:49 us this
4:51 you're saved only by trusting in what
4:52 god has done for you
4:56 in his son but if you truly trusted in him
4:57 him
5:00 your life is going to begin to change
5:02 and that's the same thing jesus said you
5:04 will know them by their
5:08 fruit do you see their fruit
5:11 now let's go on he says
5:13 this is the message that we have heard
5:14 from him and announced to you
5:16 that god is light and in him there is no
5:18 darkness at all
5:20 then he says if we say we have
5:21 fellowship with him
5:25 if we say that we're christians okay
5:27 if we say that we have a relationship
5:29 with god we have fellowship with god
5:33 okay and yet walk in darkness
5:36 then we'll we lie and do not practice
5:37 the truth
5:42 now let's look at this way
5:46 he's saying this god is light
5:50 god has told us who he is he's righteous
5:54 he's holy he's loving he's compassionate
5:57 do you see god has told us this about himself
5:58 himself
6:02 god has also revealed to us his will
6:04 there are commands there are principles
6:05 of wisdom
6:07 but they're all summed up in this love
6:09 the lord your god with all your heart
6:10 soul mind and strength and love your
6:11 neighbor as yourself
6:14 now what he's saying is if we claim to
6:16 be christians
6:21 and yet we walk we live in a way
6:23 that contradicts everything god has said
6:25 about himself
6:27 and contradicts everything god has said
6:29 about his will and his commands
6:32 then we're lying when we say we're a
6:34 christian now he uses a real strong word
6:36 he says you're lying
6:43 purposeful deception it can be self-delusion
6:44 self-delusion
6:47 but you're lying and that goes back to
6:48 what jesus said
6:51 again you will know them by their
6:54 fruits and that's a very very
6:58 important truth a very important truth
7:02 now a person who truly becomes a christian
7:03 christian
7:07 they will begin to bear the fruit of a christian
7:08 christian
7:11 does that mean that they become perfect
7:12 the moment they're saved
7:15 no does that mean they attain perfection
7:16 in this life
7:20 no does this mean they'll no longer sin
7:23 no we'll struggle with sin what it means is
7:24 is
7:27 there's not perfection but there's a
7:30 change of direction
7:32 and yes sometimes it'll be two steps
7:35 forward and three steps back
7:37 and sometimes it'll be two steps forward
7:38 and one step back
7:40 it'll be a struggle all our life but
7:41 when you look at a person you're going
7:44 to be able to see this
7:50 they're they're loving god they're
7:52 loving people
7:54 they're trusting in the son something
7:57 has happened to them
7:59 now a lot of times people will say
8:01 things like this and it's well-meaning
8:02 but it's not well stated
8:04 they'll say something like this when god
8:06 saved me he changed me
8:08 that's true but we need to look at something
8:10 something
8:13 when god saves a person
8:16 they are fundamentally a new creature
8:18 paul says that in ii corinthians if any
8:20 man if any person be in christ
8:23 he's a new creation okay
8:27 so believing in christ something happens
8:30 it's a new creation our hearts are
8:33 changed by the work of the holy spirit
8:36 okay so in that way yes the moment we
8:38 trust in christ we
8:41 are different
8:45 and yet that difference in us
8:47 begins to work itself out let me give
8:49 you an example
8:53 i hate to say this but before i was a
8:55 christian and even after i loved books
8:59 books were important to me and um
9:02 and also before i was a christian i was
9:03 a great liar
9:05 and i was a tremendous liar i'm not
9:07 kidding i had i would go in
9:09 with a friend of mine and lie and when
9:11 we would walk out he would go you know
9:13 you're the scariest person i ever met in
9:13 my life
9:15 and i said why he goes i knew you were
9:18 lying and i believed you
9:20 and and i remember after i became a christian
9:21 christian
9:23 went into the bookstore me and this
9:24 other guy
9:26 and there were only two books left of
9:28 what we wanted
9:30 okay and i pulled the books out and i
9:33 immediately saw
9:35 that one of them was tore a little bit
9:37 like that much on its jacket
9:39 well for me that won't work i love books
9:41 so i pulled them both
9:44 out and i handed him the tor one
9:47 and the moment i did it it was like i
9:48 wanted to throw up i mean it was
9:50 literally like someone stabbed me in the heart
9:52 heart
9:55 and it was so like what on i knew it was
9:57 wrong i couldn't stand it
9:59 but man i just i bucked up again you know
10:01 know
10:02 i love books he doesn't i started
10:04 reasoning he won't read it anyways you know
10:05 know
10:07 and i make it back finally to my dorm
10:09 room and i am so miserable we have cell
10:11 phones in that day we like send smoke
10:13 signals and things
10:16 but i had to i had to
10:19 get on the phone and call him and say look
10:20 look
10:24 i am so sorry i gave you a book i knew
10:26 that was tore a little bit because i
10:27 love books and he goes you are out of
10:29 your mind i don't care i won't even read
10:31 it i said it doesn't matter
10:33 i'm coming over right now and we're
10:35 trading books
10:38 why did that happen new creature
10:42 something happened did i did i sin as a christian
10:42 christian
10:46 yes i did i put myself first didn't i
10:49 did i fight against it even when i knew
10:51 it was wrong yes i did
10:56 could i hold out no eventually
10:59 i had to fix it do you see
11:03 it's the same way today i'm 57 years old
11:04 and i have a three-year-old daughter
11:08 oh my gosh call me abraham and
11:11 but i have i have my children and there's
11:12 there's
11:14 so many times that i will have to go to
11:15 them like
11:18 my my 12 year old daughter and say
11:22 hey rowan while ago in the kitchen i was
11:25 so impatient with you
11:28 and i'm so sorry and she'll always say
11:30 oh that's all right dad and i go no you
11:32 remember what i taught you it's not all right
11:33 right
11:36 you you have to forgive me and
11:38 to have your 12 year old daughter or
11:41 your eight-year-old daughter or son say
11:43 okay dad it's true you were impatient
11:45 with me
11:47 but i forgive you and they know that in
11:48 the greek it means
11:51 i release you you're free
11:54 i have nothing against you you see it's
11:56 not that we're perfect
11:59 it's not that we no longer have some
12:01 sort of a relationship with sin
12:02 it just means that our relationship with
12:04 sin has changed
12:06 before i was a christian it was like we
12:08 walked arm in arm i not only did i love
12:11 to sin i boasted about it i can outsin you
12:12 you
12:15 but then it's not that we were totally separated
12:16 separated
12:18 but it's like sin is going that way now
12:19 and i'm going this way and that's what
12:21 john's trying to get at them here
12:23 he goes look these people who are
12:24 telling you
12:27 that yeah you can know god and love god
12:28 and just
12:31 live in evil in darkness they're lying
12:32 to you
12:35 god is making a new creation he's making
12:36 new creatures okay
