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Are You Walking In The Light? A Close Look At 1John 1:5-10 #1john #walkinthelight
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Feb 19, 2025
A few days ago we looked at 1 John 1:1-4 and in our study we concluded that the apostle John was establishing at the outset that the Jesus whom he and the other disciples experienced was indeed the Christ. John presented the empirical evidence as well as the backing of the words of the prophets and the law. Today we’re going to be directing our attention on v5-10. We have to read these verses in light of their background. As I mentioned in my previous presentation ( while I was exploring v1-4), we established that another reason why John wrote this epistle was to counter false teaching. Gnosticism had infiltrated the church and the gnostic teachers believed that the way one lived in his physical body didn’t matter at all. They were wrapped up in mysticism and secret knowledge. They promoted licentious living and you can see how that could destroy the integrity of the church. So keep this in mind as we go through v5-10
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hello good morning this is taiva
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tives.com
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and today we're going to continue our
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study on the book of
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first john now on last week we looked at
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first john 1
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verse versus 1 through 4 and today we're
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going to look at verses 5
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through 10 and the title that i chose is
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are you walking in the light this is
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important and i want to give you a
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background before we get into
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looking at uh those verses so basically
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um as we looked at uh first john 1 verse
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1 through 4 last week
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we concluded that the apostle john was
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establishing at the outset
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that the jesus whom he and the other
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the other disciples experienced was
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indeed
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the christ so john presented the
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empirical evidence as well as the
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backing of scripture so he wasn't just
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relying on his experience with jesus but
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he was also saying that jesus fulfilled
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the law and the prophets he fulfilled
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the prophecies of the old
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testament so um what i want to do today
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is this i want to give you a quick
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uh background into entering uh verses
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5-10
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so one of the things that john was doing
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when he was writing that episode he was
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he wanted to counter false uh teaching
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because there were false teachers
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that had come into the church and they
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were preaching pretty much our
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gnosticism and we talked about what
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narcissism is
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basically they were wrapped up in some
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kind of mysticism they denied
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the physical body they're saying that
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whatever you do with your physical body
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doesn't really matter
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all that matters is your spirit and your
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your your connection with god so
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they were all they were like putting a
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lot of emphasis on experiences that were
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like weird
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and we we see a lot of narcissism today
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in our churches there's a lot of things
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that are happening in churches
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that are really not biblical they're not
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scriptural
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so john when he was writing this this
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chapter he was actually
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attacking that kind of mindset so that's
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what we're going to be talking about
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and then this these are gnostic teachers
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they were promoting uh licentious living
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and you can see how that can destroy the
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integrity of the church so
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john was like set on a mission he wanted
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to refute
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those guys and he wanted to expose their
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lives so that's the background basically
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so let's get into
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the verses so i'm gonna go versus uh
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verses by verses okay
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so we're gonna start with verse five now
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this is what john says in verse 5.
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this is the message we've heard from him
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and proclaimed to you
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that god is light and in him there is no
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darkness
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at all so that's what john says about
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what jesus told them about god okay
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so basically john is telling his
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audience i'm relaying a message that
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i've heard from jesus
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this is what jesus told us that jesus is
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the christ
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so basically remember he he established
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are they outside that jesus is indeed
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the christ
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and since jesus is the christ he
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constitutes the absolute
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in the sense that whatever jesus says is
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what goes
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in other words the only teaching that
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matters is the teaching of jesus
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nobody else's teaching matters but jesus
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is teaching
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so now we're going to look at isaiah 5
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20
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to understand what it means for god to
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be light in isaiah 5 20 the prophet says
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woe to those who call evil good
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and good evil we put darkness for light
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and light for darkness we put bitter for
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sweet
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and sweet for bitter basically what
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isaiah the prophet is doing is this he's
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doing a contrast between light
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and darkness evil and good so basically
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he's putting an emphasis on
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there has to be a distinction a clear
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distinction between what is evil and
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what is good
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and he's saying some people have twisted
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things up what is evil they call good
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and what is good they call evil and what
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is light they call
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darkness and what is darkness they call
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light and he also uses
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uh bitter and sweet basically he's
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putting that contrast there
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for us to understand what it means to
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forgot to be in the light
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basically what we can infer from this is
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this
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the best human definition we can have is
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that god is the epitome
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of all that is good god is
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the epitome of all that is right all
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that is lovely
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there is no imperfection in god god is
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morally perfect
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there is no trace of evil in god not
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even one
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ounce of evil in god because he is god
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in essence
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basically god is good he's good in
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essence what i'm saying
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he is good this is god his god is good
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no one is righteous like god no one is
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as good as god because
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god is the definition of what is
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whatever is good whatever is lovely
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whatever is perfect god is good
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god is light so and and then let's go to
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and then we're going to jump to verse
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six because he has to establish at the
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beginning because
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john has to he's he's trying to let his
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his audience know listen
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god is light god is good
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there is no traces of evil in god at all
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okay so in verse 6
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if we say we have fellowship with god
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while we walk in darkness we lie and do
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not practice the truth
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so what does that mean what does that
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mean
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we have to go to second corinthians 6
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and 14.
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paul tells us do not be unequally yoked
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with unbelievers
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for what partnership has righteousness
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with lawlessness
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or what fellowship has light with
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darkness so
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basically john is basically exposing the
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gnostic teachers lies
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basically he's saying this no one who
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claims to be in an intimate relationship
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with god
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will live in continual licentious living
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no one who truly abides in god will
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throw off
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all moralist restraints it's an
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impossibility
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there is no fellowship with light and
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darkness so that those who insist on
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living in darkness and claim to be
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children of god
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are liars okay and we see that today
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and and here's the thing like let me
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pause for a second
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you have a lot of people in churches
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okay they're going there and there are
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manifestations
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now i don't know if those manifestations
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are from the spirit of god
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or i don't know where those
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manifestations are coming from
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so they put so much emphasis on those
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manifestations
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but yet there is no fruit of the spirit
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in their lives
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they talk about the dreams that they've
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had and their own spiritual mind post
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them up with these false notions
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so you can see the lie because you
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continue to live in sin
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and then you have these experiences so
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basically
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you put your emphasis on the experience
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and you deny the uh
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um your body in the sense that what you
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do with your body doesn't matter anymore
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so you think well i'm still a child of
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god meanwhile
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you're living in sin so there is no
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uh there is no connection between living
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in the light and living in darkness
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there is no fellowship with that and
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that's what
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john is saying here you can't claim to
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be in the light
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and continue to live in darkness and the
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deeds of darkness are pretty clear
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that life sense just living and lassen
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shows uh um
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thrown off all moral restraints and this
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is what john was really
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attacking in this passage okay now
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here's the thing
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john also has some people in mind
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genuine believers
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they may see his words and then begin to
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get really frightened because
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sometimes you are struggling with sin
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okay you are a genuine believer but you
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have a struggle you you don't want the
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sin in your life and you you don't know
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how to deal with it
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so john has those people in mind and
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he's gonna address them in verses seven
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so let's go to see what verse seven says
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so in verse seven we read on the
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following but
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if we walk in the light as he is in the
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light
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we have fellowship with one another and
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the blood of jesus
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his son cleanses us from all sin
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basically one another means god
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okay we have fellowship with god and one
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another and the blood of jesus
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his son cleanses us from all sin if we
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walk in the light so what does that mean
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john is saying that the person that
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walks in the light the person that walk
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in accordance with the word of god
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because we're going to read in psalm 119
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verse 105
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your word is a lamp to my feet
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and the light to my path so basically
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john is saying
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the person that walks in the light walks
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in accordance with the word of god
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will experience true fellowship with god
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why because that fellowship will result
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in conviction
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confession discipline cleansing
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repentance and sanctification for god
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disciplines those who accept our sons
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and daughters
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no one who is in true fellowship with
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god can continue to live in
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licentiousness
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no one who's in true fellowship with god
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can continue to live in sin there will
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be discipline from the lord
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that's how we get authenticated and i
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want us to go to hebrews 12
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verse 4 through 11 to understand this
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better
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listen to what the scripture says in
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hebrews 12 verses 4
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through 11 in your struggle against sin
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you have not yet resisted to the point
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of shedding your blood
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and have you forgotten the exhortation
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that addresses your sons
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my son do not regard lightly the
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discipline of the lord
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nor be wary when reproved by him for the
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lord
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discipline the one he loves and
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chastises
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every son whom he receives it is for
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discipline that you have to endure
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god is treating you as sons for what son
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is there
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whom his father does not discipline if
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you are left without discipline
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in which all have participated then you
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are illegitimate children and sons
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you know illegitimate children and not
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sons
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besides this we have we've had earthly
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fathers would discipline us
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and we respected them shall we not much
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more be subject to the father of spirits
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and leave
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for they disciplined us for a short time
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as it seemed
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best to them but he disciplines us for
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our good
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that we may share his holiness okay
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for the moment all discipline seems
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painful
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rather than pleasant but later he yields
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to peaceful fruits of righteousness
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to those who have been trained by it
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basically that's what john is trying to
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convey here john is trying to say if we
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walk in the light
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as he is in the light we are fellowship
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with one another and the blood of jesus
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christ
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cleanses us from all sin so if you're in
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true fellowship with god god will not
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let you get away with
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living without any kind of
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accountability you're going to be
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exposed to the word of god and the word
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of god is going to cut you to the heart
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and that's going to cause you to repent
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of your sin and then when you confess
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your sins
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you get cleansed by the blood of jesus
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so basically
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he's talking about again you have to
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remember
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what we have at stake here is that the
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false teaching from the gnostic
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gnostic teachers they were pretty much
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saying that it doesn't matter what you
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what what you do with your body and john
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is refuting that with every
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scripture or any reverse that we see
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here he's saying
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you can't be in fellowship with god and
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continue to live in sin because if
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you're truly in fellowship with god
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the word of god will expose your
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darkness and then guess what you're
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gonna repent of it
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okay so he's not saying that you are
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sinless but he's saying that if you when
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you sin
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you're going to be exposed you're going
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to be disciplined by god and that's
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going to lead
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to repentance that leads to righteous
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living
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let's keep going verse 8
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so if we say we have no sin we deceive
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ourselves and the truth
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is not in us now there's two kind of
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people now john
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also has some folks in mind who might
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have like a very shallow
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and narrow view of the righteousness of
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god
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these are folks who may appear like
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religious
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and do all the external like right
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things but have a very shallow view of
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the nature of god
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and his righteousness because if you
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truly understand what deuteronomy 6
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verse 5 says it says this you shall love
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the lord your god
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with all your heart with all your soul
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and with all your might
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this is something that no one can
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achieve
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unless they are endured with the holy
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spirit in a sense that only
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god can do this what god is demanding
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here is
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absolute devotion dedication to his
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uh his kingdom day and night
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and jesus is the only one that truly
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lived it out
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so when we say we have no sin we are
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basically saying
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we are basically denying this and we
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deceive ourselves
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and you are deluded okay so jesus said
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somewhere
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unless your righteousness succeeds that
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of the pharisee you will not enter the
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kingdom of god that's in matthew 5
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verse 20. so basically the pharisee had
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like this a shallow view of the
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righteousness of god
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so jesus takes that to a higher level
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he's saying listen if your righteousness
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doesn't exceed other
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pharisees because they were considered
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the standard you will not
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enter the kingdom of god so if we say we
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have no sin
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we are deluded you deceive yourself and
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this is what john is trying to
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communicate here because he knows that
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there are some people
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that have this self-righteousness and
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he's attacking that as well
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okay so let's go to our verse 9.
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so the scripture says if we confess our
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sins
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he is faithful and just to forgive us
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our sins and to cleanse us
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from all unrighteousness so
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john is is reporting everything jesus
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told them about god
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and jesus modeled his own life because
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he is god okay jesus modeled his his own
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life
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because he's god he modeled the life
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that god desires
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because he's god and remember what he
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told thomas he said
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whoever has seen me has seen the father
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that's in john 14 verse 9
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okay because jesus said to john
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thomas was like show us the father and
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jesus said have i been with you so long
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and you still do not know me philip oh
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no he was philip i'm sorry philip
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whoever has seen me has seen the father
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how can you say show me the father
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okay so basically john tells us that if
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we truly come under conviction and
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confess our sins
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god promises to forgive us because he is
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faithful to his word
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and he maintains the integrity of his
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character see when jesus died on the
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cross
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he paid the penalty for your sins and my
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sins and he said
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it is finished so when you confess your
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sins
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god forgives you and god forgives me on
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the basis of the finished
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work of christ so he god upheld his
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justice by nailing jesus on the cross
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god was maintaining the his just
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character he wasn't just gonna let sin
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slide by
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so this is why jesus had to die because
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god was also maintaining his justice
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and then when we confess our sins he
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forgives us because he made a provision
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for us through jesus christ and he's
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faithful to his words because god
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made that provision and god said if
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anybody
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confessed their sins they now forgive
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them on the basis of christ's work and
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god
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maintains the integrity of his character
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by upholding
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his merciful attribute his justice
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attribute as well okay and he forgives
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us and he cleanses us
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from all unrighteousness so not only
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does god forgive us but he also cleanses
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us
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okay from our sin so that we can have
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fellowship with him so that our
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fellowship is not broken
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so this is so important to understand
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that like even i struggle to understand
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that like
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you have you have like the intellectual
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knowledge you get it
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but sometimes you have to live it out
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it's one thing to understand it in your
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mind
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it's another thing to live it out and to
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actually live
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because you believe it okay when you
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confess your sins
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god is faithful and just to forgive your
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sins and to cleanse you
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because if he doesn't cleanse you then
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you have no fellowship because god is
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holy
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you have to understand it and let's go
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to the last verse verse 10.
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so if we say we have not sinned we make
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him a liar and his word is not in us
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so basically again he's going back to
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what he said earlier john is saying that
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when we claim that we are sinless
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we basically make god a liar god is the
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standard for all that is right
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so when he declares someone guilty of
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sin god is right when he declares you
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and i ain't guilty of sin
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and here what you know you have to know
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what god said about mankind
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there is not none righteous not even one
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that's romans 10
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and 3 verse 10 to 11. no one is
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righteous so if we claim that we are
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sinless
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we are essentially saying that god is
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lying so and this is what john is saying
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here
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okay guys and then so what can we learn
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from all these things
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my question is this don't just read
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these words and just go home and forget
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about it
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are you walking in the light or are you
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still in darkness
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john gives us the criteria how do you
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know that you're living in the light
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john tells you if you if you claim to be
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in the light while you walk in darkness
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you deceive yourself
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because if you're truly walking in the
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light you're going to come under the
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conviction of the holy spirit
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and that's going to be repentance and
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there's going to be change and there's
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going to be a desire for righteous
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living
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because we are called to examine
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ourselves
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to see if we are truly in the faith to
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to test the genuine
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genuineness of your faith so i'll
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encourage you to do that
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because if you're not being disciplined
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by god if you if you find yourself
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constantly like resisting the word of
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god
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if you find yourself hating the word of
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god if you're living in
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sin and you're not bothered by it
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chances are you are not saved
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okay and i will encourage you to test
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yourself through the word of god because
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this is important
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you know you don't want you don't you
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don't want to deceive yourself you don't
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want to be deluded because a lot of
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people live like that
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you live in open sins and it doesn't
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bother you and you may have some
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experiences at church you may
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go to church and sing songs and maybe
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you may even shed tears while you're
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preaching or what while you
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while you're singing and that that you
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you think just because you shed it here
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therefore you're okay because the holy
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spirit has given you that you may be
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deceiving yourself maybe it's just your
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own emotions playing tricks on you
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okay so how do you know that you're
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living in in the light
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are you constantly walking in are you
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constantly coming under the authority of
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the word of god
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and is the word of god causing you to
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repent repent and believe the gospel
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that's the whole thing is come under the
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mighty hand of god
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humble yourself and let god search your
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heart
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and bring out those things that he
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doesn't like so that you can confess it
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so that your fellowship with god is
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continual
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but if you don't do that you just live
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your life you think you're okay
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and you deceive yourself because you
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have experiences
19:09
that is not walking in the light walking
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in the light doesn't mean that you are
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sinless
19:14
but it does mean that you come and you
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confess it
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and then you get cleansed and then you
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live righteously because the
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sanctification process is
19:22
evidence of the work of god in your life
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are you sinning less
19:26
and are you desiring to be more like god
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because if you truly are a child of god
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guess what
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you're gonna long after the things of
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god but if you continue to long after
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the things of the world
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then the love of the father is not in
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you so i'll encourage you to go back and
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read that chapter again
19:43
and hopefully it makes more sense to you
19:45
have a wonderful day and i'll see you
19:47
next time on
19:47
chapter two of first john okay thank you
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