Prayer: We’re So Glad You Came:
We walk with You day in, day out.
We worship You without one doubt.
With faith provided from the start,
We offered You an empty heart.
A life unworthy of the love,
That You provided from above.
You came and lived a perfect life.
To suffer for our sin, our strife.
To pave the way for us to live.
All our sin You would forgive.
Salvation’s in no other name.
We’re so glad you came. Amen.
Main Scripture: Read 1 John 1:1-10.
Which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it (1 John 1b-2a).
Associated Scriptures:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Colossians 1:17-19).
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us") (Matthew 1:23).
I and the Father are one (John 10:30).
Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory (1 Timothy 3:16).
Correlative Quotes:
Indeed, as 1 John 1:2 shows, "life," not "word," is personified. Thus, John was saying that his subject matter in this epistle deals with the original and well-attested verities that concern "the message about Life" - that is, about God's Son, who is Life (cf. 5:20). The Life which the apostles proclaimed is intensely personal. Not only has that Life appeared, but it is nothing less than the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to people. The Incarnation is unquestionably in view.[1] – John Walvoord
Wanting something real and finding something real are two different things. Like a child eating cotton candy at the circus, many people who expect to bite into something real end up with a mouthful of nothing. They waste priceless years on empty substitutes for reality. This is where the Apostle John's first epistle comes in. Written centuries ago, this letter deals with a theme that is forever up-to-date: the life that is real. John had discovered that satisfying reality is not to be found in things or thrills, but in a Person Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Without wasting any time, he tells us about this "living reality" in the first paragraph of his letter.[2] – Warren W. Wiersbe
That same eternal Being who is Very God of Very God, and is worthy to be called essentially Life, was made flesh and, dwelt among us, and the apostles could say, “We beheld his glory.”[3] Charles Spurgeon
Study:
Introduction
When John says in verse 2a, “The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it” he means Jesus. Jesus is the life that appeared, and John saw him and is giving testimony of that life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. He can swear to these incidents as truths since John saw all of these things happen himself.
When it came to firsthand experience, John was at the top of the list. He not only was one of the twelve, but John was considered to be in the group of three along with James and Peter. John was one of the first disciples chosen by Jesus (Matthew 4:18-22). John is an authority on Jesus since he experienced it all with his own eyes, he was there from the beginning, and he would have experienced all of the miracles that Jesus performed.
John’s firsthand encounter with Jesus defined Him. He is Messiah and the Son of God (John 1:41; Mark 1:1). He is the miracle worker, from His first miracle (John 2:1-11) to the ascension (Acts 1:6-11). He is the giver of life (John 10:10). John heard all the words, for example, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). All these things are echoed in John’s writings.
The Message of 1 John
The gospel message, the expression of salvation, addressed in the phrase “we have seen it and testify to it,” is a result of John’s direct experiences with Jesus. This message, the gospel, is John’s testimony in verse 2a.
The gospel message, as recorded by John, has its foundation in John 3:1-6 and its ultimate expression in John 3:16. Jesus is the light of our salvation.
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit (John 3:5-7).
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16-17).
Our Position in Christ
We are triune beings (1 Thessalonians 5:23). At the point of our salvation, we were born again. Our spirit part was dead (1 Corinthians 15:22) but it has been regenerated or brought back to life again through the work of Jesus on the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11).
We have a body, a soul, and a spirit. We are merely human and spiritually dead at our first birth, but are made spiritually alive by our second birth[4] – John Piper
When Adam chose sin, his spirit died and at the same time, our spirit died with him. When we choose what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, we are born again, that is our spirit is brought back to life. Through our rebirth we have become spiritually alive, we became a new creation in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” The word transformed comes from the Greek word “metamorphoo” meaning “to change”[5] from which we get the English word metamorphous.
When I think of metamorphous it reminds me of the Monarch butterfly. This butterfly begins as a caterpillar. When it is fully grown, according to God’s plan, the caterpillar forms a cocoon around itself. Once inside the cocoon, the caterpillar excretes digestive juices that transform its body into a soup. The DNA inside the soup then begins to use the old body to form a new one. The butterfly must struggle to escape the old self to become a new Monarch butterfly.
During the transformation process of the butterfly, the old becomes new and the “new” must struggle to adapt itself to its unfamiliar form. This is the same as the process of regeneration in new Christians at salvation. During regeneration, we are made a new creation in Christ Jesus. However, our struggle is not yet over. We must grow spiritually and agonize through this life, continually leaning on the power of the Holy Spirit, until we become perfect after our resurrection.
However, our salvation is secured as attested in John 3:16, the statement that guarantees our eternal life. The simple statement, “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” is the hope we need to be assured that we will live forever. The assurance of our salvation is predicated on the word “believes.”
Summary Statement:
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:6-9).
We suffer as a result of the new life we have received through our Salvation experience. However, we have the promise of eternal life that cannot be taken away from us. We have a God who loves and cares for us and His Spirit helps us through the time of suffering making us stronger when we come out the other side.
We also have a place reserved for us in Heaven. As the Monarch struggles to leave the cocoon, we battle to work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12).
But we are a new creation. We have the power, through the Holy Spirit, to conquer any crisis that comes into our lives. The light of Jesus shines in us to give us the strength to survive adversity. He alone is our strength.
We didn’t hear, see, or touch Jesus personally while He was with us. However, we have the testimony of those who walked with Him and His Spirit to give us proof of eternal life. We also have the promise of John 20:29, “Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’"
Lesson within the Lesson:
What takes place in the unbeliever at the time of their salvation?
Explain the concept of being “born again” and tell how it happens in your life.
How are salvation and spiritual growth like the life cycle of the butterfly?
Using John 3:16, explain the gospel message.
[1] John Walvoord, Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries; Bible Knowledge Commentary/New Testament Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries. All rights reserved.
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary. Copyright © 1989 by Chariot Victor Publishing, and imprint of Cook Communication Ministries. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
[3] Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Public Domain, spurgeongems.org/vols31-33/chs1926.pdf
[4] John Piper, The Free Will of the Wind, ©2015 Desiring God Foundation. Website:desiringGod.org
[5] New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.
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