In this broadcast, we continue with John’s first epistle and the mysterious Nicolaitans who sought liberty with no consequences. These deceptive Nicolaitans are also referenced in the book of revelation, another book John authored. But is liberty without restraint pleasing to the Lord? Is the law of sowing and reaping still in effect, no matter how much ‘hyper-grace’ is bestowed? Join Carl now as he continues his verse-by-verse review of this glorious epistle…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Welcome friend to part two of the first book of John, the first epistle. I remember back in the day John Osteen would say, you know what, if I just stood up here and read a few Psalms and read a few Proverbs it would be enough, because the Word of God by itself is enough friend, and we’re going to read the Word of God here in this broadcast. Successive passages. Ooh pastor, you’re getting radical. Oh yes, I’m actually gonna read the Word of God on air. Now there are so many people who don’t even know the Word of God. There’s a what, over a hundred modern-day Bible translations. No one knows what the Word of God is anymore. Notice that I’m reading from the King James. I’ve done another series on that. I’m not gonna get on my soapbox about that.
But friend, the Word of God was given under the jurisdiction of a king and presented originally in 1611 and modified later in the 20th century for our understanding. Let me say this to you. If you wrote a letter to your beloved, and you were off fighting in some war, and then you wrote it, and then someone came over and said, you know what, I’m not gonna give you what your friend said. I’m gonna actually tell you the meaning of what they said. No, you would want a word-for-word translation, wouldn’t you? How offended would you be if someone started altering the meaning of the words that you wrote? Friend, God feels the exact same way. And I tell you, the Word of God in some translations has lost its potency, because it’s a paraphrase. It’s a made-up bunch of spiel based on what some guys thought God said, and then twisted it in modern vernacular.
And that does not justify the Word of God, friend. No. Scribes paid great attention upon parchment copying from one to another, and if they made a mistake they would go off, they would wash themselves, they would do certain acts as respect that the word must be copied letter for letter, and they would have several checks and balances to make sure that one parchment was accurately copied to the next. And friend, I am reading the Word of God because we have a biblically illiterate generation coming on the scene, okay? They don’t read, I mean, heaven forbid, let’s read seven verses in a row. I mean, how can the brain possibly cope with seven verses in a row? Oh, what about ten or twelve verses? Oh, no, no, no, no, the average churchgoer, friend, could never comprehend seven or eight or possibly twelve verses in a row. Their head might explode. Now listen, we are being dumbed down as a nation and a people, and I challenge you to dust off your Bible and get in it, all right? Because if you don’t, you’re missing out, friend. Now, I’m going to get off my soapbox now, amen, and relax, and just, yes, yes, yes, get back in the swing of things. Pastor’s blood started to rise, and he got a little feisty. Just forgive him, all right? But here’s the deal. We’re going to read from 1st John today, and we’re going to carry on this theme. And that theme is walking in the light, right? Fellowshipping with God and fellowshipping with one another, that word fellowshipping is koinonia in the Greek.
We should be walking in love, walking in light, making sure there is no darkness creeping into our soul. And then in verse 8 yesterday, we read, “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” You know, like I said before, John was rebutting and rebuking the Gnostics of that time, all right? But he was also rebuking the Nicolaitans. Now you say, well, who are these Nicolaitans, folk? Well, there was some belief in the early Church that Christian liberty allowed you to do anything whatsoever, including sin, and God was cool with it. No, friend, he is not. There’s still a reaping that comes with sin. Sowing and reaping is a law that will still work in the New Testament. That teaching was basically, you can live however you want, and there are no repercussions. Not even the desire to confess sin either was required. These Nicolaitans were also mentioned in the book of Revelation, chapter 2, verse 16 and 15, and have a guess who wrote that book, friend? That would be the Apostle John as well. So, he was very familiar with this group. This group were a hyper- grace message group.
Uh-oh, have I treaded on some toes. Hyper-grace movement, who believed that they could do anything they wanted under grace, and their flesh would suffer no consequences. Friend, it is true that we are new creatures in Christ Jesus, that old things are passed away. That is a truth. But we are still subject to the presence of sin, because we live in mortal bodies that are subject to sin because of the flesh. Oh man, I wish I could cast that flesh out. I can’t do it. I have to crucify it daily. Paul said, “I die daily.” It’s a choice. Demons can be cast out. The flesh must be crucified. Don’t get them mixed up, friend. You can’t be casting out the demon of gluttony when you’re staring at that cookie. It’s a decision, right? The devil didn’t make you do it. It was a choice. And then in verse 9, we talked about confessing that sin and being cleansed from all unrighteousness. And there’s a positive side to confession as well. Most people think of confession as just negative from a sin standpoint. Oh, I’ve got to confess my sins. But friend, Jesus upholds our confession. Let us lay fast a hold of our profession of the faith, fighting the good fight of faith. We need to confess God’s Word positively. Confession isn’t negative only in the sense that we’re releasing sins when they occur. We need to declare and confess the truth of God over our lives and allow that transformation in our soul. Now, friend, let’s go to chapter 2, verse 15. Very famous passage here. Pay close attention.
It says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.” And check this in verse 17. “And the world passes away and the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abides forever.” Wow, what a powerful set of scriptures here. Friend, I ask you, are you loving the world? Well, it’s interesting in John 3:16, Jesus gave himself for the world. That God loved the world, that he gave his own Son. But now we’re commanded not to love the world. That word world is cosmos, the world system. The system that by default is Satan’s threshold in this world. For those who don’t know Christ Jesus, he’s the ruler, prince, and God of this world, ‘little g.’ We are thrust into this world with little knowledge, and through the key of knowledge, which is God’s Word, we become illuminated to the truth that we’re on enemy ground, and we need to accept God the Father in our hearts as we sojourn through this lifetime on to our destination of eternal life. But friend, if you love this world, if you love money, if you love fame, if you love fortune, if you love your own self more than God, then the love of the Father is not in you. Powerful scriptures, friend.
People who serve themselves have their own best interests at heart, but a true Christian is going to have the Father’s interests at heart firstly, okay? Then his family, and then his job in that order. Some people are trying to climb the corporate ladder, and when they get to the top, they find out that the ladder is on the other side of the building, because they may have reached their destination, but they may not like the destination when they get there, because as they climb that corporate ladder with a wrong or impure motive.
Don’t get me wrong, you can climb the corporate ladder with God, I’m not saying you can’t do that, but if your motive is wrong, you’re not gonna like yourself when you get there, because the actual climb is gonna change you. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life are the three temptations that were core, that the ‘Nachash’’ came to Eve, and then Adam, and beguiled them with these three temptations. The eyes are never satisfied, friend. The flesh is never satisfied. Once you get some more, you want more, because the soul is never satisfied. Lust is never satisfied, right? You know I’m speaking the truth. The Bible says that the world was corrupted through lust. Lust is a corrupter.
We have people a-lusting everywhere, okay? All over this world, lust, lust, lust, but the irony is it never satisfies, it never fulfills. Not even for Mick. Old Mick, you know, he said like, um, you know, I can never get any satisfaction, like, you know, I mean, this is so hard, you know, I’ve been singing for like 40 years, I can’t get no satisfaction, you know what I mean? Sorry, I tried to do a Mick Jagger, didn’t quite work out, but Mick never got any satisfaction, because he wasn’t looking in the right place, and he’s had about, what, 300 girlfriends, and he’s in his 70s, and I don’t know who’s keeping that guy alive, man, but I can tell you right now, he is never satisfied, and he never will be until he receives Christ. I think the Lord just convicted me. Pray for Mick, guys, pray that he would get saved. But friend, the world is gonna pass away, verse 17. Everything that is temporary, that is brief, that is fleeting, is gonna pass away, and then all we’re left with is the motive of why we did things, and the God we served, and God’s keeping account of that. Then verse 18, little children, it is the last time, and as you have heard, the Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time. And again, John’s talking about the last time 2,000 years ago, right? And the Apostles truly believe they were living in the last times then.
Verse 19, “they went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they may be manifest, that they were not all of us.” In other words, there were people out there who were Antichrist types, all right? We talked about Antiochus Epiphanes, right, that Syrian who desecrated the temple, etc. There are many typologies of Antichrist. We can see them down through the millennia, the Napoleons, the Hitlers, the Stalin’s, the Lenin’s, take your choice, the Pol Pots, whatever, okay? There are types of Antichrist out there, but the Antichrist, the son of perdition, hasn’t arrived yet. Then in verse 20, but you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. Now the reason he said that is that unction is also a word for anointing, and the Holy One lives inside of you, and the Holy Spirit, he can teach you, friend.
Now that doesn’t mean we don’t honor teachers in the flesh, otherwise that wouldn’t be a part of the fivefold ministry. Teachers are needed, and they can exposit the word, they can highlight the word, they can expound the word, okay? I’m trying to be a teacher on the radio, amen? Forgive me if I’m not, but you know, there’s a benefit to listening to these people. Verse 21, I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist and that denies the Father and the Son. Friend, I hate to say it, but the Muslim religion is an Antichrist religion. Now, you can hold back on the letters and postcards. Based on this description, anybody who denies the Son of God, that is Jesus Christ, he is an Antichrist that denies the Father and the Son. And clearly in the text of the Quran, it states that Allah has no son. And any claim that he does is a lie.
And friend, unfortunately, the guiding, motivating force behind the Islamic religion, unfortunately, is satanic. And that sounds so hateful, yet it’s the truth. Whoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father. But he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Did you get that? Jesus the Son was the door, the way, the passage to eternal life. And anyone who denies the Son will not gain entrance into heaven, regardless of their religion. Friend, let’s pick it up again tomorrow.
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/gods-boundaries/
https://www.bible-commentaries.com/source/johnschultz/BC_1John.pdf
Title: Commentary on 1st John: Part 2
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Six Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Who were the Nicolaitans mentioned in the Bible, and what was their teaching?
The Nicolaitans were a sect mentioned in Revelation and rebuked by John in his epistles. They taught that Christian liberty allowed believers to sin without repercussions, promoting a lifestyle of lawlessness under the guise of grace. Their belief minimized the need for repentance or confession, falsely assuring followers that sin would have no consequences.
2. Does “hyper-grace” teaching imply that there are no consequences for sin?
While hyper-grace teachings emphasize God’s forgiveness, the Bible still upholds the law of sowing and reaping. This means that actions have consequences, and although believers are new creatures in Christ, they must still reckon with the effects of sin in their lives. Liberty in Christ is not a license to sin without restraint.
3. Is the law of sowing and reaping still effective in the New Testament era?
Yes. The principle of sowing and reaping—reaping what you sow—is a universal spiritual law that applies throughout Scripture, including the New Testament. Even under grace, choices have consequences, and believers are called to live in obedience, confess sin, and pursue holiness.
4. What does it mean to “walk in the light” according to 1 John?
Walking in the light means living in fellowship with God and one another, avoiding sin and darkness in the soul. It involves confessing sin honestly, pursuing truth, and manifesting love. John encourages believers to walk in love and truth, keeping away from the temptations and corruptions of the world.
5. How does loving the world conflict with having the love of the Father?
According to 1st John 2:15-17, loving the world—the fleshly desires, pride, and lust—opposes the love of the Father. The “world” here refers to the system under Satan’s influence, and attachment to it can displace God’s love from the believer’s heart. Christians are called to focus on God’s will and eternal things, not the temporary pleasures of the world.
6. What is the significance of confessing sin according to 1 John?
Confession is not only about admitting sin but also about cleansing and transformation. When believers confess their sins, they receive forgiveness and cleansing from unrighteousness, which restores fellowship with God (1st John 1:8). Positive confession of God’s promises and truth over one’s life is also vital for spiritual growth and victory.
Carl is an authority. He is a biblical scholar, minister, author, husband, father, and life coach. In his mid-twenties he had a powerful encounter with God and saw miraculous healings as a result. Carl is a unique researcher who investigates current affairs, societal trends, prophecy, technology, cults, and end time events, all through a biblical lens.
Carl holds a Doctorate in Theology (Th D). His Alma Mata includes: Salford University, Manchester, UK, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, UK, Rhema Bible Training College (Tulsa), and Southwestern Christian University (Oklahoma City).
Carl Joseph Ministries empowers believers in Christ to fulfill their God given potential. Join Carl every other Monday on the Lions Unchained Podcast, available on Spotify, iTunes and other mainstream platforms.
He currently resides in Colorado, with his lovely wife Amy, and their three children.
