In his sermon 'An Introduction to 1 John,' David Green explores the epistle's authorship, themes, and historical context. Although the author does not name himself, early church history and tradition attribute 1 John to the Apostle John, who was among Jesus's closest disciples. The sermon emphasizes the epistle's themes, such as fellowship with God, joy, holiness, and security in faith, which are applicable to all Christians. These themes are explored through the lens of both historical context and modern relevance. The sermon also highlights the consistency of John's writing style across his Gospel and letters, pointing out his unique apostolic authority and pastoral warmth. Green encourages listeners to read 1 John to grasp its timeless lessons on faith, which address both the challenges faced by early Christians and those encountered by believers today.

The epistle of 1 John, chapter 1, beginning at verse 1. Beginning in verse 1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, of the word of life. For the life was manifested, we've seen it, and bear witness, I show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

These things write we unto you, that your joy May be full. Let's again go to the Lord in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for the day. We thank you for the privilege of prayer because we know that when we come before you that you hear us. We thank you for it.

We thank you, our Father, that you've answered prayers. Lord, we've seen so much evidence of that in our lives through the years. Lord, we come before you as a needy people even this morning asking you to be with this service and that truly we'll be able to worship you in spirit and in truth that will leave the cares and the concerns of the world behind it. Lord that we may find a find that your word may find lodging place in our hearts and our minds. Lord, I pray for those who cannot be here.

Lord, you know the needs of each one. I pray that you'll be with Jill this morning. And Lord, I pray for others as well, members and visitors alike. Lord, I pray that you'll be with the Bible conferences that are going on in other places and those who are preaching there. I pray for the missionaries on the field and I pray that you'll give them fruit for their labor.

I pray that you'll be with us. There will be a light and testimony to you in this world that we live in. Lord forgive us of our sins and our shortcomings. For it's in Jesus and then we pray. Amen.

I heard a preacher say one time that the pulpit is the throne for the Word of God. I like this statement. The pastors are to preach the Word according to 2nd Timothy 4 and verse 2, to feed the flock, 1st Peter 5 and verse 2. One of the qualifications of the pastor is to be able to teach according to 1st Timothy chapter 3. I know of no better way to fill that mandate than to take the Word and to open it up to a book and to begin preaching and teaching through it.

And today, since we just completed our series on the Gospel of Mark, today, Lord willing, we're going to start a new series on the Epistles of John. Of course we'll continue Lord willing and our journey through 1st Corinthians And then on Wednesday nights we'll continue through Genesis, at least up until chapter 11. I still haven't decided if I'm going to go through the whole book or not. But this morning, during this hour, we'll take a look at 1 John. 1 John and then probably 2 John and then 3 John, but not all this morning.

That'd take a little while. Although these are small epistles. They're not very big. In fact, 1st John is the larger of the three. John wrote some other things besides these three epistles.

He wrote the Gospel of John. He also wrote the Book of Revelation. In my ministry, I've preached through John's Gospel and twice I've preached through Revelation, just not here. They are, of course, all part of God's Word, but very, very rich writings. And I've never preached through the epistles.

But the epistles of John are very rich, which I believe will be a blessing to this church and to all who hear. It's been a blessing to me to be able to study in these and will continue to be a blessing as I study them. The author of 1st John, well this is God's Word, but all of God's Word has a human author. And as you read through 1 John, you can read and re-read all five chapters, and you will not find the name of the writer. In fact, as I thought about this, there's one other epistle, one other similar book that bears no author's name, and that is Hebrews.

However, with Hebrews there's a lot of controversy. Hebrews, some people says, well it was written by Paul, others say Apollos, some people say someone else. We just don't know for sure. And it's been debated for many, many centuries. All we know is that it's God's Word.

And we may not know ever who really wrote Hebrews, as far as the human writer goes, this side of heaven. However, with 1st John, it's not even a debate. Even though his name is not written there, from the earliest times of church history all the way through until this very day, it's been identified as being John's epistle. And this is important and kind of interesting because John was the last of the apostles to live. And so when you go back in early church history, there were men who actually knew John, and they identified this as being John's, John's epistle.

Summarizing evidence from the early church, the fourth century church historian Eusebius, he wrote this. He said, but of the writings of John, Not only his gospel, but also the former of his epistles, 1 John, has been accepted without dispute both now and in ancient times. So this goes way back. This history goes way back. And again, this isn't John the Baptist, this is John the Apostle.

Over in Luke chapter 6, Luke chapter 6. Chapter 6 verses 13 and 14. When it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles, Simon, whom he also named Peter and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew. So as he lists the apostles there, We see John being listed among them. John would have been well known among the churches, being one of the apostles, one of the twelve.

Being so prominent as an apostle, which would explain why he wrote the way that he did. In fact, if you go back into the epistle itself in 1 John, look at Look at chapter 4 and verse 6. 1 John 4 and verse 6. As he writes, We are of God. He that knoweth God hearth us.

He that is not of God hearth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." It's a very bold claim. But this was coming from an apostle, and he had apostolic authority. His readers would have known, hey, this is John speaking, and even without his name being on the letter, even without the title being stamped on there and all that sort of thing, they would have known. And there was something about John too.

John outlived all of the other apostles. But even when they were all together, John and his brother James, they were the sons of Zebedee. But Jesus gave them another nickname in Mark chapter 3. Read chapter 3 and verse 17. James the son of Zebedee, John the brother of James, and he surnamed him Boa Nerges, which is the sons of thunder.

So we called these two men the sons of thunder. In fact, John was one of the three most intimate associates of Jesus. Part of the so-called inner circle, if you will, along with Peter and James. If you follow the apostles going with Jesus and the things that they did. Yes, there were 12, but there were three that were special.

They were kind of in our Lord's inner circle. So for instance, in Matthew chapter 17, I think I've made mention of this before in other sermons, but it's fascinating to me as you study the life of Christ to see this, In Matthew 17, the Mount of Transfiguration, it says, and after six days Jesus taketh the twelve, no, he taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light." So Jesus only took those three. Chapter 26, another example in Matthew, Matthew chapter 26 and verse 37. Let's start with verse 36.

Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. So when Jesus, the night before he was arrested and before he was taken to be crucified and all that, we see him at the Garden of Gethsemane. The Garden of Gethsemane. And with him are these three including Jonah.

Were there more? Yes, there were twelve. Of course Judas was out doing judicy things, but there were still others. But there were these three. In fact, he was indeed, as he said in the beginning of his epistle, gentlemen, as he wrote, he was an eyewitness and a participant to Jesus's earthly ministry.

In addition to writing those three letters, as I mentioned a while ago, he also wrote the Gospel of John, And in that Gospel, he identified himself of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Chapter 19 and verse 26. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, He saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son." And there's other passages we could look at, but we see him being identified as the disciple that Jesus loved. This is John the Apostle, the one who wrote this letter, 1 John. But besides external evidence that we could talk about, we could talk about the evidence coming from here or there or whatever, there is internal evidence that we can look at.

There's much we could say about that too, and we will as we journey through the Epistle, and we pick up on these things, but writing stops. It's always intrigued me. The Holy Spirit inspired men to write. It is of truth, all scripture is God-breathed. The writings of Moses, God's Word.

The Psalms, God's Word. The Prophets, God's Word. In other words, all of the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets, the Psalms, all of it is God's Word. The same time, the writings of the New Testament, The writings of Paul, Peter, John, James, are all God's Word. And all scripture is God-breathed, regardless of whether you're reading from something that Paul wrote or something that John wrote.

But at the same time, this inspiration, it didn't kill the creativity, It didn't kill the writing styles of these men. And so when you read an epistle that's written by Paul, for instance, you read one letter written by Paul, it's gonna it's gonna read like Paul wrote it. And when you read a letter that's written by Peter, it's gonna read like Peter wrote it. And So it is with John. And so we'll see some similarities in John's writings.

Let's look at one that we can pick up on right away. We read a while ago the beginning of 1 John. Let's read it again over in 1 John chapter 1. 1 John 1, beginning of verse 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested, we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.

Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." Alright, so that's how he begins the letter. Talking about the things that he's seen, that they've seen with being able to look upon and handle the word of life, the life was manifested, we saw, and bear witness. What's he talking about? Huh, well, over in John chapter one, In the gospel that he wrote, as he begins this gospel, He doesn't begin with John the Baptist.

He doesn't begin with the babe in the manger. No, no. This is how he starts. He says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life. Life was the light of men and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. And so then as you go on down in verse 14, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. And the glory is of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth." And so the connection is made.

What's he talking about there in 1 John chapter 1 when he talks about the Word of Life. Oh, he's talking about Jesus, you see. In fact, in fact, this, the similarities in this beginning of 1st John and the way that his gospel begins have led some commentators to believe that when the Gospel of John was distributed among the people and the churches and the places that it went, that it may have been accompanied at the same time with this letter of 1st John. That may or may not be true, but it is a possibility. Either way, even if it wasn't accompanied with the gospel of John Right away, the fact remains that when he wrote this letter, the assumption was made that they had access to what he had already written in the gospel.

Who was this written to? Who was 1 John written to? You know, we pick up and study 1 Corinthians. We know right away that 1 Corinthians was written to the Church of Corinth. But who was 1 John written to?

It's a letter. Who was it written to? Well, this letter is what's called a general epistle. A general epistle. Meaning it's not addressed to a particular church or a particular group of people.

It is a general letter. It is a general letter. The truths contained therein are applicable to all Christians. And so there may be some things in there that we say, well, this is actually something that would be for churches. Like, for instance, 1 John chapter 2 and verse 19, where he says, They went out from us, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, they might be manifest that they were not of us. You know, things like that. But overall, this is not a church letter. Think of it this way, If you were writing a general letter to go out to America to all Christians, you're going to address some things, but being that you're a Baptist, being that you're a member of a church, there's going to be some church things that's going to show up in your letter.

It's hard not to do. But overall, there are some, what we'd say, fundamental truths that are applicable to Christians all over America that need to be addressed. And so, sometimes those may, there may be scenarios where that happens. And this is one such type of letter that's written, and we'll see that as we go along. When was it written?

Well, the timing of it is kind of hard to determine because there's no clear indications of date in 1st John, But it was probably later in the first century. John was in advanced age. He ended up being the last living apostle. And his writing of Revelation closed the canon. So it was not the last book written, but close.

It's interesting as you go through the Book of Acts, for instance, and you're reading the rest of the New Testament, you don't have any kind of recorded sermon of John, you don't have anything like that. It seems like that his writing, no cross-references of his writings that I'm aware of, like Peter writing about, Paul's writings, and so on and so forth, It seems that John was writing later in life. As a matter of fact, his writing of Revelation closed the canon. And so with his writing of Revelation, when the ink dried on the Isle of Patmos, that was it. There's no more Bible books to be written.

So we know that 1 John was written by the last writer of the New Testament. But we know that 1st, 2nd, 3rd John were not the last books of the Bible. But they were close. They were close. Could have been as late as 95 AD.

Okay, as late as 95 AD to put a date on it. But probably not that late, but it could have been. Could have been as late as. The themes of this epistle are a call to the basics of Christianity. In very simple terms, he deals with the certainties of the faith and the truths that we stand for.

John's writings are warm and pastoral, like a man who has a concern for his readers. He is harsh when he needs to be harsh, but he does help to encourage people as well. He deals with such things as happiness. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 4. If we say we have not, or sorry, 1 John 1 and verse 4, look here, it says, and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full.

So he's writing that your joy may be full. Well, we know he's writing for Christians, and so for the Christian, this is a book that's going to make you joyful and happy. But also in chapter two and verse one, another theme that we find here is holiness. My little children, these things right I am to you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

And so holiness is another theme that we find in this epistle. We also find in here security, and there's others, but just doing a bird's eye look here, chapter 5, verse 13. He says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. Social security, the security of the believer, and these things are important. Security of the believer, holiness, happiness, joy, these things are all very important.

And so, so we see that here in the in the text. So as we kind of think about these things, you know, it's, it was, it was like thinking about the church, the churches today, the Christians today, there are problems that we face. There are issues that we have in our world. And as he writes to them, you know, they had problems. They had issues.

And when we read, we remember that these are first century Christians that are being written to. They are first century group of people that live the world away in another culture, speaking another language, in another setting that's different than ours. But at the same time, when we read and we understand the context of it, at the same time we understand that these things are preserved for us because we have similar similar issues. There's no question of it. I keep seeing this thing over on Facebook and it says something like, what if Paul wrote a letter to the American church?

Wonder what it would sound like. And that's, I understand the premise of that, but the reality is that a letter has been written to the American churches. We've got everything applicable we need right here in the Word of God. The things that were written to the Church of Corinth, the things that were written in 1 John, the things that were written to the Churches of that Asia Minor, they're all applicable to us. Their problems are very similar to our problems.

Their solutions are our solutions. Their God is our God. So, I'm looking forward to preaching this epistle. I hope you're looking forward to it, too. I don't usually assign homework, but here it is.

This week, just go home and read 1 John. All the way through, it's only five chapters. It probably won't even take you an hour to read it Lord willing we'll we'll begin our study in the actual text beginning next week. So I trust it will be a blessing and may God give us what we need through the preaching of His Word. Thanks for watching!