Life in Christ: Studies in 1 John

The Foundations of Christianity and the Tests of True Grace

Here is a God-centered exposition set that does not use any Greek words, nor difficult jargons. It is layman-friendly, but solid, powerful, heart-and-soul-searching by which I have been greatly blessed. Though the audio version of Dr. Jones' sermons are available online through their recording trust website, but due to poor-quality technology, considering these were recorded in the 1930's and 40's, I tend to lean toward the text version for clarity purposes.

The first epistle of John contains some redundancies to emphasize how exceedingly important the points being repeated are to ensure the audience truly understands and embraces them; namely, the doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is, his nature, his accomplishment on the cross, as well as the goal of Christian life, that is, a joyful "fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ". It exposes the reality of Christians, who are "of God" living in a fallen world that "lies in wickedness", the reality of spiritual warfare against 'the world', 'the flesh' and 'the devil' within which false doctrines are included. John, often called "The Apostle of Love" also covers exquisitely the test of the existence of true grace in a person by hammering over and over the importance of embracing the right doctrines, keeping the commandments, loving the brothers. Pastor Jones clarifies several times, from the redundant nature of the epistle, the true meaning of the Apostle's exhortations, being aware of the danger of the two extremes resulting from a misinterpretation, whether intentionally or not; namely the antinomianism and legalism or perfectionism, as well as the false doctrines that are still pertinent today, particularly mysticism, which I believe the Pantecostal denominations need to heed. Some verses that Dr. Jones preached are particularly encouraging to me, among which are when he covers what the "world" means in ch.2 v. 15-16, the test of a Christian in ch.5 v.19, idolatry in ch.5 v.21, in addition to the exposition on some parts that I had a hard time understanding, as in ch.3, v.6-9, 20, and ch.5 v. 16.

I can tell Pastor Jones is the kind of preacher I wish I had the privilege sitting under. Though I may not have the preaching experience of what Prof. JI Packer describes as "with the force of electric shock, bringing to at least one of his listeners more of a sense of God than any other man" but I would agree with Pastor John Piper's comment that "many of us have felt this shock even through the written form of Lloyd-Jones' sermons."