Introduction to the Letters of John

0:44Question I have for you this morning: Are you a Christian? Are you really a Christian? Are you a true Christian? Do you know for sure? How do you know? Do you know for sure? You know, one thing I love are stories about Texas and Texans and true stories about Texans. We'll go back with me about a hundred years. To a West Texas rancher, he had lots of land. He was a rancher, and yet he was barely getting by. In fact, he couldn't make it. You know, it's one of those things where anything beats farming, anything beats ranching, and he was having a hard time with it.

1:59Even by one report, he had to rely on government subsidies to make it all work out, to get the ends to meet. His name was Ira. But little did anyone know underneath his property was a massive, massive oil reserve. The driller came in, and to this day, out of that reservoir, there has been some, by some reports, 1.5 billion barrels of oil that have come out, and the reserve to be exhausted may have another billion to go. So here was this individual, Ira Yates, a millionaire.

3:00Multi-millionaire living in poverty right on the surface of his own property. He didn't know the oil was there, even though he owned it. What a change came when he realized what was under his property. You can think of it as just below the surface, a geological formation that had brought all this oil up to the surface. He bought the land, and the former owner said there's just greasy water. That greasy water made Ira Yates very wealthy. Well, suppose for a moment somebody left you $100 million. Suppose they just put it in a bank account somewhere and didn't tell you about it. Wouldn't really do you much good, would it? It's not just, you would be very rich. Somebody left you $100 million and put it in a bank account. But if you didn't know it was there, little good would it do you. You see, it's one thing to have $100 million in the bank. It's another thing knowing that you have $100 million in the bank. It's one thing knowing you're sitting on a great having a great oil reserve under your property. It's another thing to know that you have a great oil reserve under your property.

4:31Well, John writes, so that we will know the vast reserves that we have in Christ. I just read you these words, chapter 5, verse 13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. The name of the Son of God is Jesus. I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son, so that you may know you have eternal life. So that you may know that you have eternal life. I think of the letters of John as three mountain peaks. We've just spent about four years, four plus years, in the Gospel of John. Today we're going into the letters of John. We're going to spend, won't be years. I think it'll be more measured in months. But I think of them as three mountain peaks. Maybe this will help you get your mind around it as well. You have 1 John, which is the largest of the three by far. Then you have 2 John and 3rd John, which really, if you had written them out as they were in the first century, they would have fit on a piece of parchment not much bigger than an eight and a half piece of paper, about that size. They fill up one.

6:00Peace. And so they're much smaller, but they contain information about the very same subjects as 1 John. 1 John's, or John in his first letter, wrote so that his readers would know that they have eternal life. It's one thing to have eternal life. It's another thing to know. And for them to know that they had eternal life, guess what they had to know? They had to know the difference between true Christianity and false Christianity. They needed to know whether they themselves were true Christians or whether they were not.

6:51So true Christianity and true Christians. How do you tell the difference? What's the difference? That's what John writes to clarify. In fact, you remember, as we finished John chapter 20, not long ago, the Gospel of John, you remember what John's purpose was for writing his gospel. Let me read those words to you. In John chapter 20, verse 30. Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written. So John makes a selection, right? He says, I could have written about a lot of things, but I wrote about The things that I wrote about. And why? So that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. I have written what I have written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. That's why I wrote the gospel, the good news. Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Son of God. That's the good news. And I wrote that so that you may know that, and so that you would believe that, so that by believing, you would have life in his name. That's the purpose of John. Now, look back at 1 John 5:13. You're going to see something similar, but something different. These things I have written to you. So again, John says, of all that I could write to you, I have selected certain material, and I am writing about these things. Why?

8:26And who is he writing to? To you who believe in the name of the Son of God. So he's writing to those people who have embraced his gospel and who have embraced the Jesus that he revealed in those scriptures. He's writing to those who already believe in him. And why? So that you may know you have eternal life. It's one thing to say you believe. It's another thing to know that you do. It's another thing to know that you have. Eternal life. Not hoping you have eternal life, but knowing that you have eternal life. So, John, very similar. You see, the purpose of John's gospel is to tell you who Jesus is or who the Son of God is. The purpose of John's letters is to give you assurance that you know this. Give you assurance so that you can know for sure what is true and false Christianity, so that you can tell whether you yourself are a true Christian or a fraud. That's why he writes.

9:41So, this morning I'm going to do a little more than just introduce you to the letters in a broad sweeping fashion. As you know, as we start a new book, what we like to do is fly over the whole book. Then we go verse by verse. So, like through the mountain ranges, we'll go verse by verse. And then, when we get done, we'll do one more quick flyover and see where we've been. Today, we're looking ahead at surveying the landscape, surveying the mountain peaks that we will climb, and then we will go beginning the next time I speak. A couple weeks, we'll be jumping right in verse by verse. So, I want to introduce these letters to you, but today I'll probably do no more than just introduce them. But as I do, I want you to test yourself. Test yourself to see if you are a true Christian. Are you a true Christian? And do you know that for sure?

10:46So you remember last time as we finished up John's gospel, you remember John found his satisfied soul or his soul was satisfied in being a disciple whom Jesus loves. You remember that? Spent a good deal of time on that. I promised you I would put that image in print for you and put it in the bulletin. So hopefully you've got that this morning. But as we survey the letters of John, we've got to remember it's written by the same individual who wrote the gospel of John. And you remember the big elements of the gospel of John? Truth. Truth was very important, right? Belief in that truth connected a person, brought life, brought light into a person's soul to understand reality as God sees it, defines it. And by believing, you are connected to life. When you believe the truth, you're connected to the source of truth, the spirit of truth. And being connected to that spirit of truth is like being connected to a life-giving stream. Life comes to the street. Out of faith, belief. So, truth and belief in the truth leads to life, a relationship with the author of truth, which brings peace, true soul-satisfying peace. We're talking about wellness, wholeness, that whole concept of shalom in the Old Testament, satisfaction, a joy that's filled everything, all the longings of humanity met in being a disciple whom Jesus loves. And out of that peace then comes, I no longer have to strive to make people love me, I am free to love others. And out of a heart who has truly understood that he or she is loved by Christ, then in turn loves like Christ. And so, out of that comes love, a sacrificial disposition to give yourself away for the well-being of somebody else. That's love. Christ demonstrated it, and when you understand you're loved like that by God, it transforms you.

13:17Of course, another theme in John's gospel is glory. Glory, what was Christ's glory? Glory was reflecting the character, the image of God Himself, Godhead, the Father. So, Jesus is. Glory was reflecting, was imaging God the Father. And so, those who receive the truth, they are born of the truth, connected to the spirit of truth, have an inner peace, an inner contentment, a soul satisfied, and out of them comes a flow of love to the glory of God, because now God is on display and manifested through his people, through the children of God. That is John's gospel. That's the good news. Now, as we make our way into the letters of John, guess what? It's the same author, same spirit. So, guess what you can expect? Some of the same stuff. You're going to see some of the same emphases in a different setting to a different audience, but nonetheless, the same truths. It's like taking a class from the same professor, taking a different class from the same professor. Sometimes you get a lot of the same stuff in there.

14:40Well, I want to start to introduce you to this by thinking for a moment about the history between John's gospel and his letters. And I'm talking specifically about the events of John's gospel and the situation in which John addressed in. His letters. The letters were likely written from Ephesus. The scholarly agreement about that. The date is anywhere from 85 to 95 AD, so they're towards the end of the first century. Ephesus, Asia Minor, some of the images are from that area.

15:25Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. But that takes us a full 50 to 60 years after the events of John's Gospel. And if you remember, the last scene in John's Gospel was Peter and Jesus walking along the beach together, and Jesus telling him, Follow me. Well, the intervening 50 years, 50 plus 60 years between the events of John's Gospel and his letters were times of great political and societal upheaval, social, cultural, political upheaval. During that time, Jerusalem was destroyed. There was a great dispersion of Jews and Christians throughout the Mediterranean world and beyond.

16:20It was also a great time of theological upheaval for the church. And if you think about what's happening, the apostles have mostly passed off the scene. The second generation, third generation leaders are now taking over. The churches that have been planted are now contending for the faith, and they are being attacked on many fronts. John is perhaps the last. And he writes to his Phoebe. He can tell he's a lot older because he's writing, My little children. This sounds like an old man, right? Talking.

17:04Well, theological uncertainty and moral confusion were destroying the relational fabric of the church. Listen, wherever you have theological confusion, theological uncertainty, moral confusion, you will have relational division. This church is about relationships. The church at Ephesus is probably first founded sometime around Paul's second missionary journey by Priscilla and Aquila. It was strengthened by Paul on his third missionary journey. Acts chapter 19, you can read that. Paul spent about three years pastoring the church there at Ephesus, a very significant place.

17:54Culturally, it had the temple to Diana or to Artemis. The Ephesians, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was close to the land bridge between Europe and Asia. It was a place of commercial. It was a very significant place for education, a very significant area. And Paul ministered there. And Paul, when he came through on his third missionary journey, he called the elders to himself. And he says this in Acts chapter 20, verse 29: I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves, men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. So Paul has prophesied to the Ephesian elders that savage wolves are coming, false teachers are coming. In fact, that's the very reason why he left Timothy in Ephesus. In 1 Timothy 1:3, Paul says, As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines. So it's happening even in Paul's day there at Ephesus. And then in 2 Timothy 3:1, just as Paul's about to Pass off the scene. He says this, but realize this: that in the last days, difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women, weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, that's a laundry list: savage wolves.

20:27How does Paul instruct Timothy to deal with them? I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge of the living and the dead, and who, by his appearings of his kingdom, or who is judged, who is to judge, I'm sorry, don't have my glasses on, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. Timothy, that's how you're going to address these issues. Preach the word.

20:58Well, so now towards the end of the First century, as John picks up his pen to write, the prophecies of false teachers are now realities in the churches there in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. And John uses three words to describe these false teachers. Three words. He calls them false prophets in 1 John 4:1. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. False prophets.

21:39He also calls them deceivers and antichrist. 2 John 1:7, for many deceivers have gone out into the world. Those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 1 John 2:18, children, it is the last hour. And just as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have appeared. And from this, we know it is the last hour. But the prophecies of the false teachers at Ephesus and the surrounding churches had become a reality in John's time. And so he writes to strengthen the churches during this time.

22:28And he gives them. Three tests of Christianity. He wants his readers, he wants the church to know what true Christianity is and whether or not they are true Christians. Very simple, right? So the church, if the church doesn't know anything, they need to know this, right? What is true Christianity? Need to be able to tell the difference between true and false Christianity, and they need to be able to tell whether or not they are truly Christian themselves. So one is personal, one is doctrinal, so to speak.

23:06And so he gives these tests of true Christianity, and they test, and for two purposes: one, to expose the false teachers, but second, to affirm true believers, to expose the false teachers, and to affirm true believers. Three major areas, tests of true Christianity. And as we go through these, ask yourself: am I in a church that's truly Christian? And number two, am I myself truly a Christian? John gives three tests, and really to summarize his work.

23:54He keeps coming back to these three tests. Are you in the faith? Are you a Christian? Do you know? And the first test of true Christianity happens in the realm of theology, in the realm of theology. False teachers err in their theology. They had a wrong view of Jesus. 1 John 2:22 says this. Who is the liar? But the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is the Antichrist. The one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. The one who confesses the Son has the Father also. Triune.

24:42Relationship. Father, Son, one. The ones who deny that do not have a right relationship. We'll get into that more as we go verse by verse. But true Christians have a right view of Jesus. False teachers have a wrong view of Jesus. A right view of God does not happen with the wrong view of Jesus. What about you? What's your view of Christ? Is he truly Christ? And I don't mean just can you say that he's Christ because you've read it in the Bible. I mean, has your heart embraced your Messiah, the one appointed To judge the living and the dead.

25:38True Christians have a right view of Jesus and they come under his lordship. They recognize they are not in rebellion or in a fight with him. They submit to him. That's a fundamental characteristic of true Christians and true Christianity, a right view of Christ. Second test of true Christianity that John gives us involves the area of morality. Morality. You see, false teachers err in their morality. Their wrong theology happens in conjunction with their errant morality. Listen to what Pastor John says in 1 John 1:5.

26:21This is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 1 John 2:4, the one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Strong words. Very clarifying, right? You see, there is no fellowship with God without righteousness. The one who grows in their sinful habits, who doesn't give Christ his rightful place in their lives, this individual has no clue who God really is, regardless of what their profession may be. Those who are born of God will begin to reflect the character of God. You see, theological error and immorality go hand in hand. We're masters at adopting a theology that fits with our morality, as were the false teachers.

27:44They wanted what their hearts wanted, they wanted what their sinful inclinations were, and they were masters about developing a theology that would allow them to go and get it. And we're no different today. We may not embrace the same heresy they did, but we know how to adopt a theology that makes it, that completely satisfies our mind and our conscience so that we can pursue that which we know is wrong. True Christians are marked by obedience to Christ. There will be a measure of conformity to Christ. A true believer is no longer content to go in their sin, to continue in their sin, or to find excuses for their sin.

28:33I had an individual come in to me one day and say, Pastor, many years ago, Pastor, I'm involved in it with a married man. What do you think about that? I said, Take up your phone right now, write a text, and say, I am sorry for the sin that I have entered into with you on this. You terminate this relationship right now via text, and you never pick up the phone again. You never seek connection again.

29:09A person was really distraught with me. Pastor, you don't have any grace. And you have no life. You're not what you think you are. And somebody's got to tell you: if you persist in this way, you are going to meet Christ as your judge. He is not who you think he is. You are not in a right relationship right now with him. And somebody has to tell you. You cannot continue in sin and think you're right with him. And John is saying, it's clear you don't have to be deceived on this issue.

29:47Friend, take your sin very seriously. I don't care where you are, and maybe you think you've sinned beyond what you can imagine that God would ever forgive, but there is always a way out. matter where you are, but it begins by truly getting in a right relationship with Christ and following him. Let who he is drive how you act. No matter who you are, no matter where you are, there is a way out that pleases him. And I encourage you this morning to seek that, to believe in him, embrace him, follow after him.

30:27You know, the book of 2 John, one of those little mountain peaks, it's really an admonition not to participate with false teachers. Listen to what 2 John 1.8 says. Watch yourselves. Speaking to the lady there, it's a personal letter. She was inviting people into her house who were teaching false doctrines. She was probably doing so innocently. But this is what John says. Strong words. 1.8, watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished. Verse 9, anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teachings of Christ does not have God. Verse 10, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting. For the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

31:18Strong words from the apostle, we call the apostle of love. And yet this is love. Admonishing. With truth. Third test for true Christianity involves love for one another. So the false teachers erred in their theology, they erred in their morality, and they erred in their love for one another. They had a severe lack of love. Listen to what John says. 1 John 2:6, the one who says he abides in him ought to himself walk in the same manner as he walked. How did he walk? He loved, right? He loved. He loved. 1 John 2:9: The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. If you are content with growing separation and despising other people, you're in the darkness. 1 John 4:20. If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

32:35You see, where love for God is not present in those who do not love one another. Plain and simple. But true Christians genuinely love one another. They genuinely love one another. There is an effort. There is a work. There is a movement in oneness of relationship, not contentment. Growing separation into two-ness. In fact, the whole book of 3 John is one big example of an individual who was a false teacher, and you can tell he was a false teacher because of his lack of love. His name is Diotrephes. And John writes, and he says this in 3 John 1:9, I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. Unjustly accusing us with wicked words and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren either. And he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church. Diotrephes loved himself. He didn't love the church. He didn't love the truth that brought the church into being. He didn't love the apostles who brought that truth, who first preached the truth. He wanted no part of that, and it shows up in his love. He did not love the brethren. False teacher. John's like, it's not hard to see. He's a false teacher because he doesn't love like Christ loved. You don't see that characteristic. So John's letters at the same time expose false teachers, but also affirm true ones.

34:29In the area of Theology. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Christ. Jesus is Son of God. And those who love Him walk according to His way He walks. They imitate Him. Theology drives their morality. And out of that, Jesus clearly loved His people. And so, if you love Christ, guess what you're going to love? You're going to love those that He died for. You're going to love what He loves. And so, your theology is going to drive your morality. It's going to drive how you love one another. All those tests of true Christianity.

35:05Where are you? The remainder of our time this morning. I want to think a little bit about our need to study John's letters today. Why should we read John's letters today? Why are they important to us today? Well, plain and simple, we need comfort and stability in our changing times, don't we? Our times are a lot like John's, right? We are living in times of social, political, and spiritual upheaval on a level that we have never seen in this country.

35:51Nothing seems to be stable, even in our world, across our world today, economically, politically, socially. It's all being dramatically changed. Our whole concept of family, the very foundation of society, is greatly eroded. Can't even tell the difference between a boy and a girl today. These are major, major shifts of foundational issues of society. Our society is being shaken on a level that is not ever seen before. And if you add to that, there are spiritual and ecclesiological and theological upheavals that are happening in the church.

36:52The theological defection from the truth is seen all around us. The majority of Christian universities have abandoned biblical Christianity. You don't have to look hard to figure that out. It's like our landscape is littered with a bunch of monuments to what once was a great movement. Entire denominations have no idea who the Christ of Scripture really is. Many, many. Many so-called Christians do not know him at all. They do not know what it means to follow him. And they live in darkness while affirming they are children of the light.

37:47Even as we gather this morning, there are many in this society that would shame us for gathering. And even many among our own number, so-called Christians would shame us as heartless and unloving for gathering. These are unstable times. And we need comfort, right? We need stability. And with all this upheaval and uncertainty in mind, guess what? We need some clear answers. We need to know what true Christianity is. We need to know what a true Christian is. So did the churches in John's time. And John wrote to provide these clear instructions about the fundamentals of Christianity, who we are, how we act, and what we do. We need to hear that today. And I will remind you that it was the church that provided the clear answers to the Roman world of their day.

38:50It was the church that brought the measure of stability, a measure of security, a measure of sanity to society during those. Early centuries. And likewise, today it is the church that has the answers. We have the truth. Let us not be ashamed to proclaim it. It's what our society needs. It's what we need. It's what the church needs. It's what our society needs. We need that comfort and stability in our changing times. So it's important to read John's Gospel or John's letters today.

39:30Second thing, we need certainty in our theologically confused times. Not only is our world changing politically and socially, we need certainty in our theologically confused times. We need to know what true Christianity is. We need to know on a personal level: am I truly a Christian? Well, Pastor John, the Apostle John, wrote his letters to provide this comfort and this certainty, and they're as relevant today as they were the day they were first penned. And we would do well to study them, which is, Lord willing, our plan.

40:18But I want to share a couple of thoughts. We are, in conclusion, just thinking about who we are. We are spiritual beings. And God has given us relationships. That's the primary gifts he gives us: relationships. We are spiritual beings, but yet we possess a material body. We are immaterial, and yet we are material at the same time. And what this gives us, this gives us this unique ability to make spiritual realities visible as we relate to one another.

40:57We have that ability to incarnate realities from the spiritual to the physical. Think about it like this: What is love? Can you see love? Can you go anywhere and point out love? You really can't. But you can see someone loving someone else, right? That you can see. So, you know love because you can see someone loving somebody else. You also know there's a thing called hate out there. You can also, because even though you can't see it, you see it, you know it when it manifests itself.

41:41Well, life is about relationships. Life is about relationships. And as I think about my life, and as I survey the blessings in my life, I look over the history of my life and I see God's blessings, and they are primarily. People. They involve people. It's hard to get around God's blessings without people. From the day I was born, I see a whole assortment of people that God has placed in my life. These are his blessings. These are his gifts to me.

42:17Parents, family, grandparents, friends, teachers, coaches, political leaders, all of these are people that God placed in my life to interact as one spiritual being interacts with another spiritual being. He's blessed me. Even material blessings have come through relationships with people. Relationships are so germane to God's blessing. He's given us people, treasure relationships. Think about the people who led me to Christ. Those were gifts from God into my life. Think about the church. I think about this church. I think about my wife. I think about my children. I think about the co-workers in ministry. These are all relationships that God has given me. And they are blessings. Start thinking about a blessing in your life that doesn't involve a person somewhere. Even our material blessings involve relationship.

43:27And as I look over my life and I survey the Greatest moments of pain in my life. It usually surrounds the severance of a relationship. A time when a loss of a relationship, or maybe a time when I was taken advantage of, or maybe when I was used, or maybe when I was cheated, or when somebody used me to advance their own agenda or own purpose. Those painful times are the time when people were relationally disloyal to me.

44:10Right? I think we've all experienced some, but it's relational, isn't it? As I survey my life and I think about the times of sin in my life, it primarily involves relationships. Me hurting other people, me exalting myself as the one to be pleased and not others, me speaking unkindly, me being harsh, me taking advantage of. Those are the times of sin, blessings, pain, and sin. It all involves relationships, doesn't it? In fact, you want to know what satanic warfare is about?

44:55It's about destroying relationships, destroying relationships. With God, destroying relationships with one another. And do you know what his weapons are? Lies. Lies are his weapons, lies are his prison, and that is how he enslaves, manipulates, and controls people. So the question becomes: how do we deal with this pain? How do we deal with the sin? How do we deal with the pain of being, how do we deal with this warfare that's just bigger than us? Let me tell you about the greatest treasure, the greatest blessing that God has given to us. The greatest gift that God has given his people is his son.

45:55A vast treasure, a spiritual resource of immeasurable worth under the surface. You see, we need a king. God gave us his son. We need a king. And I don't mean it just in a geopolitical sense, we need a king to rule over us. At the deepest level. That's what we need. Looking forward to going to Africa again on a mission, missionary journey. One of the things, if you've been with me on those planes, you know I don't like is that transatlantic flight over the ocean. It's a long, brutal flight.

46:57And you're up there over the ocean. You hit some turbulence, and I mean, you're out there, and it could be unnerving. Now, picture for a moment all of us getting on one of these planes. We're heading over the transatlantic, and all of a sudden, I get this wild notion that I want to fly the plane. Now, mind you, I have never flown a plane. I wouldn't know, I would be completely confused with the instruments and everything. I mean, you don't want me flying a plane, especially one that you're in.

47:36I got an amen finally. Lots of biblical truth, but there's probably the best. But listen, listen, I do not need to be in charge of my life any more than I need to pilot a plane across the Atlantic Ocean. It's far more life, it is far more complicated than flying a plane. There are things we don't understand. There are things we don't see. I don't need to be in charge of my own life. And God has given us His Son.

48:13That is His greatest blessing. And there is no rival king like Him. He is the Lamb, the Lamb, a Lamb King, sacrificially giving Himself to restore a relationship between us and our Heavenly Father and a relationship with us and each other, sacrificially giving. He's also the Good Shepherd King, attentively caring for us and guiding us into those satisfying streams of relationship with God, relationship with one another. He's the good shepherd. He is our king, a wise ruler, a protective monarch. No one's touching his kids, his subjects. He is going to give us a kingdom that'll never be shaken. He'll give us a realm that will flourish. He is a vast resource, a vast treasure.

49:32Do you know him? Do you know that you know him? Does he reign in you? He is God's greatest gift to you, far outdoing a great oil reserve under your property. He is a spiritual reserve. He is a spiritual being. He is a spiritual relationship that goes on forever, and he knows he's the one who put the oil reserves there to begin with. He's master of all, and he loves us intensely. 1 John 5:13 says, These things I have written to you, so to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

50:27Those who know that they know him are like a poor man who have discovered oil beneath the surface of a barren ranchland. So I encourage you to join us in the coming months as we walk through John's letters verse by verse and we relive these rich assurances that they have provided God's people in every age since they were first written. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you for what you have revealed. Father, we thank you that there is such clarity. Father, help us to respond to you, even as we quickly surveyed these books this morning. May you give us an appetite to learn more. May you give us a conviction of soul that we would turn to you in humility and with gratitude. Call upon your name. We know your name, Jesus, and so we call upon you. Please have your way in us.

51:43In Jesus' name.