1 John 1

2. And it is cleansing: it is therefore compared to fountain-water (Zechariah 13:1). The Word is a glass to show us our spots, and Christ's blood is a fountain to wash them away; it turns leprosy into purity (1 John 1:7): The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all our sin. There is…

It is a high calling, first, because we are called to high exercises of religion. To be crucified to the world, to live by faith, to do angels' work, to love God, to be living organs of his praise, to hold communion with the Father and the Son (1 John 1:3). 2. It is a high calli…

Third, when the Spirit does refresh the heart with comfort, it comes not only with its anointing, but its seal; it sheds God's love abroad in the heart (Romans 5:5) — this is to enjoy God in an ordinance. (1 John 1:3): "Our fellowship is with the Father and his son Jesus." In th…

At that day shall all mouths be stopped, and God's justice shall be fully vindicated from all the cavils and clamors of unjust men. Use 4. Comfort to the true penitent: As God is a just God he will pardon him, Homo agnoscit, Deus ignoscit (1 John 1:9): If we confess our sins (th…

Quest. What shall we do to resemble God in holiness? Resp. Have recourse to Christ's blood by faith; it is Lavacrum animae, legal purifications, types and emblems of it (1 John 1:7). The Word is a glass to show us our spots, and Christ's blood is a fountain to wash them away.

He sees the treason of the heart, and punishes it. Use 1. Is God infinite in knowledge (1 John 1:5). He is Light, and in him is no darkness; then how unlike are they to God, who are darkness, and in them is no light, who are destitute of knowledge, such as the Indians, who never…

1. That he may grow more like God: as Moses on the mount had some of God's glory reflected on him; his face shined. 2. That he may have more communion with God; (1 John 1:6). Our [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], our fellowship is with the Father.

He was carried up in divine raptures towards heaven. This day a Christian is in the altitudes, he walks with God, and takes as it were a turn with him in heaven (1 John 1:3). On this day holy affections are quickened: the stock of grace is improved, corruptions are weakened.

Do we send forth the ship of prayer there, which fetches in returns of mercy? Is our communion with the Father and his Son Jesus (1 John 1:3; Philippians 3:20)? 5. Are our lives heavenly?

Say that God were righteous, if he should strain upon all we have; if we confess the debt, God will forgive it. (1 John 1:9) "If we confess our sins, he is just to forgive;" do but confess the debt, and God will cross the book. (Psalm 32:5) "I said I will confess my transgressio…

It is the wise man's demand (Proverbs 20:9): Who can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? And the Apostle John with confidence lays down the assertion (1 John 1:8): If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 2. The command expect…

And herein, further to explain the text and ground this great point well upon it, and more particularly to discover what the condition of a child of God thus in darkness is, we will first inquire what is meant by walking in darkness here in this place. First, walking in darkness…

First, that God would be a Father to all those that did obey his voice, and come out from among the Jews, Heathens, and Gentiles, and separate from their false ways, and superstitious worship, and touch not the unclean thing, and he will receive you; and you shall be his sons an…

For it belongs to the absolute rectitude of his nature so to do. So says the Apostle, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (1 John 1:9). The forgiveness of sins is on all accounts an act of mercy which is contradistinguished to righteousness in…

He had used the same note before in the same manner (ver. 21), where we omit the emphasis of it without cause. And in other places the same Translators render this particle by, truly, as they do here (1 John 1:3). But he does not so much assert a thing by it that was dubious, as…

The Church, or the souls and consciences of men, were really cleansed, purified and sanctified with an internal spiritual purification (Ephesians 5:25, 26; Titus 2:14). It was washed in the blood of Christ (Revelation 1:5), and is thereby cleansed from sin (1 John 1:7). And Heav…

Secondly, as it is sprinkled, it worketh the second part of this effect. And this sprinkling of the Blood of Christ, is the communication of its sanctifying virtue to our souls, see (Ephesians 5:26, 27; Titus 2:14); so does the Blood of Christ the Son of God cleanse us from all…

By the power and efficacy of this darkness are men kept at a distance from God, and know not where they go. This is called walking in darkness (1 John 1:6), whereunto walking in the light, that is, the knowledge of God in Christ by the Gospel, is opposed (ver. 7). On this accoun…

See Isaiah 1:18. & 55:7, 8, 9. The number and greatness of your sins, should not in the least hinder you from coming to Christ: his Blood cleaneth from all sin (1 John 1:7). All manner of sin (Matthew 3:1). You dishonor him, if you think otherwise; and submit not to the way of t…

I press toward the mark, for the price of the high calling of God. It is a high calling; 1. Because we are called to high exercises of Religion; to die to sin, to be crucified to the world, to live by faith, to have fellowship with the Father, 1 John 1:3. This is a high calling,…

And as some think, the prayer of Stephen was a means of the conversion of Saul. 5. Also we note that before prayer for pardon of sin, must go a confession of sin: for whereas we say, forgive our debts, we confess before God that we are flat bankrupts and not able to discharge th…

The third question is, what is the fruit of this sacrifice? Answer: The whole effect thereof is contained in these four things: 1. the oblation of Christ purges the believer from all his sins whether they be original or actual: so it is said, If we walk in the light, we have fel…

God the Father gives leave or issues forth an authentic act and decree in the court of heaven; as Esther by the grant of the King was supplied out of the King's wardrobe. Then there is Christ's merit; the stream wherein we are washed flows out of Christ's own heart (1 John 1:7):…

Secondly, the blood of Christ is a purgatory of our sins. 1 John 1:7: Christ's blood purges us from all our sins. Hebrews 9:14: It purges our consciences from dead works.

Reason 4. Whoever will merit, must fulfill the whole law: but none can keep the whole law: for if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves (1 John 1), and he that sins against one commandment is guilty of the whole law. And what can he merit, that is guilty of the breach of th…

Then, as it is prophesied of the Jews — Zechariah 8:23 — men would say, 'We will go with you, for we have heard that God is among you.' It is the fellowship your souls have with the Father and with the Son that draws out the desires of others after fellowship with you — 1 John 1…

Sin, as to its condemning power, has no place in this state (Romans 8:1). All the sins of them that believe are expiated or done away, as to the guilt of them in the blood of Christ (Hebrews 1:2; 1 John 1:7). This branch of the dominion of Sin, which consists in its condemning p…

This experimental and saving knowledge has trial (1 John 2:13): I write to you fathers, because you have known him that was from the beginning: expound this with the 33rd of Ezekiel 33, when this comes to pass, then shall you know that a Prophet has been among you: that is, when…

And as some think, the prayer of Stephen was a means of the conversion of Saul. 5. Also we note, that before prayer for pardon of sin, must go a confession of sin: for whereas we say, forgive our debts, we confess before God, that we are stark bankrupts, and not able to discharg…

The same figure of speech is by no means unusual in the New Testament: "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them" (Matthew 28:19); and the opposite form, "O namely [illegible] Homer — "He has a way beside the road, and the birds of heaven devoured it" (Luke 8:5); and, "I am…

VI. True theology is that knowledge of the divine mind and will which God Himself requires. See (Psalm 119:27; Jeremiah 22:15, 16; John 17:8; 1 John 1:3, 4, and 4:7). Now that knowledge of Himself and of His will which God requires is pleasing to God (1 Chronicles 28:9; Hosea 6:…

Furthermore: the things that are said on the one hand about all the unregenerate, and on the other about the communication of this theology, are such as to exclude them entirely from all communion with it; they cry out, indeed: "Every one of you is a stranger." They are "blind,"…

What sort of persons they gathered into Christ's fold they themselves everywhere teach. They were born again, called with a holy and effectual calling, godly, faithful, holy, washed, justified, separated from the world and from all evil, children of God, instructed and anointed…

The Scripture is full to this purpose, in asserting, that not only all men are sinners as considered in their natural condition, but that even believers are sinful in part. For the same Apostle John that says (1 John 1:3), "Truly, our fellowship is with the Father, and with his…

We think the unconverted man knows neither contrition nor confession aright. But I was more confirmed that the way of Antinomians is for the flesh, not for the Gospel, when I read that Mr. Crispe expounding confession (1 John 1), makes it no humble acknowledging that the sinner…

5. In the kingdom of perfection there shall be no in-dwelling of a body of sin, no sin, no uncleanness of heart, no turning of the love and liking of the soul off God; but the most perfect in this life sin, and carry an in-dwelling body of sin with them (Proverbs 20:9; Ecclesias…

If he bore their iniquities, he must bear their apostasy, and final infidelity: or does he intercede, for all and every one of mankind? (1 John 2:1-2) compared with (1 John 1:6-10) and (Hebrews 9): He appears for us, verse 24, for those that are sprinkled, verses 13-17, and look…

He can turn justice itself for them and handle matters so that justice shall be as forward to save them as any other attribute. So that if God is said to be righteous in forgiving us our sins if we do but confess them (as 1 John 1:9 has it), then much more when Jesus Christ the…

First, because John in this Epistle does set before you where eternal life is to be had, as the verse before the text, he in sundry places sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ, as the life which we are to receive from the Father; he shows where it is to be had, and where forgiveness…

A time may come when you may be left alone, as Christ says he was. You had need engage the Father to be with you, that you may say as the Apostle (1 John 1:3): Truly our fellowship is with the Father. It is true, communion of saints is desirable, but external communion is not al…

(Romans 8:13) If by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. (1 John 1:9) If we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive them. Answer. The promises of the Gospel are not made to the work, but to the worker: and to the worker not for his work: but for Ch…

Coloss. 2. 10. and not complete of our selues, by him. Lastly, the Scripture shuts up all men under sin, even the most sanctified (Proverbs 20:9; 1 John 1:9). Job confesses he cannot answer one of a thousand (Job 9:3).

So that not only the Persons are called spiritual, as having the Spirit of God dwelling in them; but those Qualifications, Affections and Experiences that are wrought in them by the Spirit, are also spiritual, and therein differ vastly in their Nature and Kind from all that a na…

Third, this repentance that has been described, is indeed the special condition of remission of sin. This seems very evident by the Scripture, as particularly, Mark 1:4: John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins. So, Luke…

Yea, Providence has made the very place of sinning, the place of punishment, 1 Kings 21:19 In the place where Dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall Dogs lick, your blood: and it was exactly fulfilled, 2 Kings 9:26 Thus Tophet is made a burying place for the Jews, till there was…

If God has called you, and Christ has called you, you should show forth Christ's graces in your conversation; that is, live as Christ lived, and walk as Christ walked. If you say, you have fellowship with Christ, you ought also to walk as he walked (1 John 1:6). 3. Do nothing th…

4. The whole revelation and dispensation of the will of God in and by the Word, is (as was said) eminently appropriated to the Father. Eternal life (the counsel, the purpose, ways, means, and procurer of it) was with the Father, and was manifested to us by the word of truth (1 J…

I confess Plato in his Timaeus, makes it the end of philosophy, that we may thereby be made like to God. But that philosophy of his, having its rise and spring in inbred notions of nature, and the contemplation of the works of God's providence, could have no other end but confor…

So the Prophet (Isaiah 50:10), by him that walks in darkness and has no light, sets out the saddest condition of an afflicted soul. No light is not only darkness, but pure darkness; as when the Apostle John would advance the glory of God, he says, God is light, and in him there…

Solomon challenges the best and holiest upon this point (Proverbs 20:9): Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? Many other places may be alleged to the same purpose; as (1 John 1:8): If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is n…