Obviously, the Book of John is a popular book in the bible, as it is one of the four gospels.  Many people are told to begin reading the gospels when they are new to bible study (bizarre, I recommend people begin at the start).
But how often do you find people who are excited to talk about the book of 1John, 2John, or 3John?
Practically never, eh?
Some people don’t even know these books exist.
Let’s take a look at 1John today and see what we find out, and explore some of the main concepts.

1John 1:5-7
⁵ Now this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you—that Yehova is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say we have fellowship with Him and keep walking in the darkness, we are lying and do not practice the truth.  ⁷ But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of His Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin.
Please note the details in this scripture. The second sentence is conditional.  It is an if-then scenario.
We are purified from all sin IF we walk in the light.

1John 2:1
My children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Intercessor with the Father—the righteous Messiah Yeshua.
Our goal is to not sin, but we have peace in knowing that we have Messiah to intercede for us.  Many believe that having Messiah as an intercessor allows us to sin without worry. This is not the case, as we see in Numbers 15 and Hebrews 10 below. The expectation and therefore our goal is to not sin. And if we do mess up while typically not sinning, Messiah is able to intercede for us.

Numbers 15:30-31
³⁰ ‘But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he isnative-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the word of the Lord, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.’ ”

Hebrews 10:26-31
²⁶ For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Wow, did you know that a nonchalant attitude about sin is not acceptable per the scriptures?
How serious is this?
We are even told that Messiah’s sacrifice no longer covers us!!
This is a HUGE deal!!

1John 2:3-6
³ Now we know that we have come to know Him by this—if we keep His commandments. 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. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of Yehova is truly made perfect. We know that we are in Him by this— ⁶ whoever claims to abide in Him must walk just as He walked.
Please, take this scripture seriously.
Do you know Him?
Or do you not know Him, but claim to?

1John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the boasting of life—is not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away along with its desire, but the one who does the will of Yehova abides forever.
There are many things in this world that distract and destroy, and many believe these things are just entertainment.  The things of the world are not for us.  The world is passing away. Do not let the world keep you from doing the will of the Father, for that will not pass away.  The one who does the will of the Father will live forever.

1John 2:20-21
²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. ²¹ I have not written you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
In this bit of scripture, John has spoken of some who have turned away from the truth, having known of it.  How do we get to know the truth?  2Corinthians 3:14-16 explains it. If we’ve been blessed with the truth, it is very important for us to walk in the truth.  Do not be one who knows the truth and is nonchalant about it.

1John 22:23
²² Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? This one is the anti-messiah—the one who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father; the one who acknowledges the Son also has the Father.
I could spend hours on the significance of these two short verses.
But here is the gist of it:
Christianity teaches that salvation is all about Jesus.
The scriptures tell us that Yeshua Messiah (Jesus) is the beginning of our journey, not the destination.
What do I mean by this?
Yeshua tells us this Himself:
⁶ Yeshua said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life! No one comes to the Father except through Me. 
We must come to Messiah to confess our sins. He offers forgiveness to us when we come to Him in faith and humbleness.  But this is the beginning. Many people think this marks the beginning and the end, but Yeshua says we must continue on to the Father and do His will.
1John 22:23 reiterates this idea, that we must have both the Son and the Father.

1John 3:1-3
See how glorious a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God’s children—and so we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. ² Loved ones, now we are God’s children; and it has not yet been revealed what we will be. But we do know that when it’s revealed, we shall be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. ³ Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
This is a bit of scripture that many people glaze over. They read it, but they don’t study it. They don’t think about it.
But there is significance here.  Many believe we are created in the image of Yehova, but we are not — sort of…
In Genesis 1, we are told that man was created in the image of God, and this is true. Man was created without knowledge of sin, and man was immortal, just as Yehova is immortal.
But then… Eve and then Adam disobeyed. They introduced sin into the world. As a result, they lost their likeness to God.  They lost their immortality and became mortal. They lost their righteousness and became knowledgeable of good and evil; they became aware of sin, and their ability to choose sin over righteousness.
The verses above tell us that even though we don’t understand what we will become, we do know that we will again become like Yehova.
We are told that those who understand this idea will purify themselves, just as He is pure.
We know that our righteousness comes from Messiah. That is how we are purified. But then… We must continue to maintain our purity.  We do the will of the Father, which is to follow His Torah.  This keeps us from defiling our robes of righteousness.

1John 3:4-9
⁴ Everyone practicing sin also practices lawlessness—indeed, sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that Yeshua appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. ⁶ No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who sins has seen Him or known Him. ⁷ Children, let no one mislead you! The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Yeshua is righteous. ⁸ The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. Ben-Elohim appeared for this purpose—to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one born of God practices sin, because God’s seed remains in him. He cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Oh boy…
So much here.
What is lawlessness? Not following the commands of Yehova.
Not following His Torah is lawlessness, and this is the definition of sin.  And we are told that anyone who abides in Messiah does not keep sinning.
Confessing is simply admitting sin.
Repenting is turning away from sin and no longer doing it.
The one who practices righteousness is of Yeshua Messiah.
The one who practices sin is of the devil.
There are many in the world who believe they belong to Messiah, even though they continue in sin.
Pay particular attention to verse 9 above:
⁹ No one born of God practices sin, because God’s seed remains in him. He cannot sin, because he is born of God.
If this does not describe your life, please pray about it.  This is not what our churches teach, but it is what the scriptures tell us.
Do you believe the scriptures?

1John 3:10
¹⁰ It is clear who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil by this—anyone who does not act righteously or love his brother is not of God.
This is important.
The children of Yehova act righteously.
If you do not act righteously, then you are of the devil and not of God.
Yeshua paraphrases the Torah into two main concepts in Matthew 22: Love God, love your neighbor.
How do we love God?
John 14:15
 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
John 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
John 15:10
^” If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
The scriptures, many times over, define obedience as how we are to show our love for God.  We are typically not taught this…
But it is what the scriptures teach.

1John 4:1
Loved ones, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God.
This is important.  How do we test the spirits?  We compare everything to scripture.  Everything we hear from others must be validated with the scriptures, which means we must be in our scriptures and know them.
How many countless millions of people go to churches and listen, walking out believing whatever it is they have been told?
Is this a problem?
Of course it is, if men and women are teaching things that are not true.  And of this, we can be absolutely certain, because we are told this will be the case:
Jeremiah 16:19-20
¹⁹ O Yehova, my strength and my fortress,
My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
²⁰ Will a man make gods for himself,
Which are not gods?
Do you understand what Jeremiah is saying?
He is saying that one day, everybody will realize we’ve been taught nothing but lies.
Do you believe this scripture?
People believe that since a pastor went to seminary and obtained a theology degree, they must be the experts.
Of course they are experts.
But the question is this — what are they experts in?
Are they experts of the scriptures?
Or are they experts in the teachings of men?
Yes, they dedicated years of their lives and many thousands of dollars to learn.  But what did they learn?  Truth? Or the thoughts of men?
Jeremiah tells us they have it all wrong.
Do you believe the scriptures?
Do you believe Jeremiah the prophet?
Can Jeremiah be trusted?
Jeremiah 1:9
⁹ Then Yehova put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lordsaid to me:
“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
Well, that settles it. Jeremiah is trustworthy, because his words are not his own.  His words are the words of Yehova. Yes, Jeremiah can be trusted.

1John 4:4-6
⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵ They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. ⁶ We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
This is a letter speaking of those who listen to the truth and those who do not listen to the truth.
The letter of 1John is addressing people who know and follow the truth, those who know God.
In this bit of scripture, John equates the following:
Those who are of God = those who understand their message of the truth.
Those who are not of God = those who are at one with the world = those who do not understand their message of truth.
What is the end result?
People who know the truth of the scriptures can discern who are of God and who are not of God.
Those who are of God have the spirit of truth.
Those who do not know God have the spirit of error.

1John 4:20-21
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹ And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Love Yehova.
Love your neighbor.
Simple, right?
If someone does not love his fellow man, then he cannot say that he loves God.
We don’t get to choose how much or how little we love our fellow man.
Do you hate anyone?
Are you bitter or unforgiving to anyone?
Did you know that will make you a liar?
If you have hate and bitterness, or will not forgive someone, then you do not love God, even if you say you do.
And, yes, this will prevent your entry into the Kingdom of God.
This is not an idea I have developed myself.  We are told exactly this in Matthew:
Matthew 6:14-15
¹⁴ “For if you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.

1John 5:2-3
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
Again, we are told that to love God is to keep the commandments.
And we are told that His commands are not difficult for us.

1John 5:18-21
¹⁸ We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
¹⁹ We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.