That You May Know (An Overview of First John)

To Know Christ is to Walk Like Him

Closing Thought: John writes to give believers assurance, but never an assurance divorced from Christ or from obedience. Real assurance begins by looking to Christ. Real knowledge of Christ produces a real keeping of His Word and a real likeness to His life.

Christians: Do Not Sin, But When You Do...

Closing Thought: Beloved Brethren, John writes first to make us take sin seriously and turn from it on purpose, never making peace with it, believing that the power of Christ is enough to help us fight it and forsake it. Then he writes to keep us from despair when we do sin by fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ the righteous, our Advocate with the Father and the propitiation for our sins.

Confession in the Light

Closing Thought: Beloved brethren, let us not be driven to despair over our sin, but to be drawn out of denial, into the light, and into the honest, cleansed, joyful fellowship with God that is ours through Jesus Christ.

True Fellowship, True Joy

Closing Thought: John writes to draw us into the shared life of the gospel; into true fellowship with the Father through His Son Jesus Christ, into real fellowship with one another, and into the deep joy we are meant to know as we walk together in that life. Are you walking in this fellowship with great joy?

That You May Know (An Overview of First John)

Closing Thought: God does not want His church guessing; He wants them knowing. Therefore, John asks three questions: Do I believe in the true Christ? Am I growing in obedience? Do I love God's people?