I. INTRODUCTION

A. The book of 1John is a declaration of light, love, and life through Christ Jesus.

1. This book describes the basis of our fellowship with God and one another in terms of walking in God's "light,” which is a figure of His truth and righteousness.

2. It also emphasizes the need for the love of God and the love of one another that naturally results from God's love for us through Christ.

3. The ultimate result of this light and love is eternal life for those who are in Christ.

B. In our present lesson, we will further examine the message of 1John by considering what else we obtain by possessing Jesus as our own.

1. Before beginning this study, let us consider what it means to "have Jesus” in the context of 1John.

a. John speaks of having Jesus in the sense of having a genuine relationship with Him. John himself had obtained such a relationship through his personal experience with Jesus, and he sought to pass the benefit of that experience on to us so that we may share in this same relationship (1John 1:1-4).

b. John shows that those who have Jesus in this way believe that He is the Son of God and confess that He has come in the flesh. They also love Him by keeping His commandments, which includes having love for those whom He loves (1John 5:1-3).

2. With that considered, let us now notice what we also have when we have Jesus.

II. WHEN YOU HAVE JESUS, YOU ALSO HAVE…

A. When you have Jesus, you also have God the Father.

1. This truth is expressed in 1John 2:23 – "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.”

a. In the immediate context of the passage, John wrote concerning the "antichrist,” which is any person who denies that Jesus is the Christ and thus denies the Father and the Son (1John 2:18-22).

b. At the time of John's writing, there apparently were some who attempted to follow some of the teachings of Jesus without accepting the truth of who Jesus really is. There are still many people who attempt to do this today.

c. John refuted these people by stating that you cannot have the Father without the Son. In other words, it is impossible to have a good relationship with God the Father while denying that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. Any such attempt at religion is vain.

2. It is a simple, core truth of the gospel that no person can have a claim on God apart from Christ.

a. When Thomas asked Jesus to show the apostles the way He was going, Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus followed this statement with a discourse that shows how He alone is the key to a relationship with the Father (John 14:7f).

b. Therefore, anyone who thinks he can have God as his Father apart from Jesus is mistaken and self-deceived. Notice Ephesians 1:5 – "[The Father] predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.”

3. Through Christ, you can receive God as your true Father.

a. There is a sense in which God is Father to all (Eph. 3:14-15; 4:6), but there is a greater, spiritual sense in which God is Father only to those who are adopted into His household through Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:11-22).

b. Notice Romans 8:15-17:

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

c. Speaking of what God had done for us through His Son, John wrote, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are” (1John 3:1).

B. When you have Jesus, you also have the Holy Spirit.

1. This truth is expressed in 1John 4:2-3 – "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

2. Like the Father, the Holy Spirit is also intimately associated with the Son of God so that they are inseparable.

a. Consider Romans 8:9-11, and notice how the Holy Spirit is described as both the "Spirit of God” and the "Spirit of Christ.”

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

b. The Holy Spirit works by the authority and direction of Christ. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit all work together, and we cannot have one without the others (John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15).

C. When you have Jesus, you also have eternal life.

1. Notice 1John 5:10-13

The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

a. The "testimony” of which John speaks is the main theme throughout John's writings. It is the same testimony declared by Jesus is John 3:16 – "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

b. In this passage, John declares that his purpose in writing is that we can know that to have (believe in) Jesus is to have eternal life. This is the same purpose he stated concerning the gospel account he wrote (see John 20:30-31). The gospel of John directly speaks of this life more than forty times.

2. Jesus is so intimately connected with eternal life that He is even described as life.

a. Notice how John describes Christ in 1John 1:1-3:

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life – and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us – what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

b. As we noticed before, Jesus called Himself "the way, and the truth, and the life” in John 14:6.

c. John 1:4 says of Jesus, "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”

d. In Colossians 3:4, Paul wrote that Christ "is our life.”

III. CONCLUSION

A. Knowing Jesus is a tremendous blessing that is worth more than the whole world (Phil. 3:7-11). Knowing Him is the key to the most precious gifts we can ever have. When we have Jesus, we also have the Father, the Holy Spirit, and eternal life. No one else can offer what Jesus has made possible through the gospel.

B. Therefore, let us take hold of all that is available to us in Jesus and give thanks in His name for God's amazing grace.