Living Right in a Wrong World

We live in an “upside-down” culture where biblical values are often met with skepticism or hostility. In this 16-part study of 1 John, Pastor Chuck Swindoll explores how believers can maintain their spiritual equilibrium in a world that has lost its way. This “little letter of significance” provides the essential benchmarks for distinguishing truth from error, dealing with sin, and walking in the absolute assurance of God’s love.

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1. Living Right in a Wrong World (Introduction)

• Overview: Sets the stage for the series by addressing the powerful momentum of secular culture. It calls believers to a life of distinctiveness rather than conformity.
• Key Fact: To live “right” requires a conscious decision to anchor one’s life in the eternal truth of God’s Word rather than the shifting opinions of society.

2. A Profound Preface (1 John 1:1–4)

• Overview: John begins his letter with an eyewitness testimony of Jesus Christ, the “Word of Life.” He emphasizes that our fellowship with God is rooted in historical reality.
• Key Fact: John’s primary goal is that his readers’ “joy may be made complete” through a shared relationship with the Father and the Son.
• Scripture: 1 John 1:1 – “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes… concerning the Word of Life.”

3. God’s Light and Our Blight (1 John 1:5–10)

• Overview: Explores the contrast between God’s absolute purity (Light) and our human tendency toward sin (Blight). It introduces the essential practice of confession.
• Key Fact: Walking in the light doesn’t mean being perfect; it means being honest with God about our imperfections.
• Scripture: 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

4. Family Rules for “Little Children” (1 John 2:1–2)

• Overview: John writes so that we may “not sin,” but he quickly provides the remedy for when we do: we have an Advocate with the Father.
• Key Fact: Jesus is our “Propitiation”—the sacrifice that satisfies God’s justice and restores our family standing.
• Scripture: 1 John 2:1 – “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

5. The Believer’s Badge (1 John 2:3–11)

• Overview: How do we know we truly know Him? The “badge” of a believer is a life of obedience and a sincere love for other brothers and sisters.
• Key Fact: You cannot claim to walk in the light while simultaneously harboring hatred for a fellow believer.
• Scripture: 1 John 2:10 – “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”

6. Strong Talk on the Cosmos (1 John 2:12–17)

• Overview: A warning against loving “the world” (the cosmos)—the system of values that excludes God. John identifies the three great lures: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life.
• Key Fact: The world is passing away, but the one who does the will of God abides forever.
• Scripture: 1 John 2:15 – “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

7. The Disturbing Realities of Our Times (1 John 2:18–23)

• Overview: Addresses the “last hour” and the presence of antichrists—those who deny that Jesus is the Christ. It urges believers to stay grounded in the truth they have heard from the beginning.
• Key Fact: True believers are marked by their perseverance; those who “went out from us” were never truly “of us.”
• Scripture: 1 John 2:19 – “They went out from us, but they were not really of us.”

8. Dealing with Deceivers (1 John 2:24–29)

• Overview: Provides a defense against false teachers. The “anointing” (the Holy Spirit) helps the believer distinguish between the lie and the truth.
• Key Fact: The best way to deal with deceivers is to let the Word “abide” in you so deeply that error has no place to take root.
• Scripture: 1 John 2:27 – “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you.”

9. Our Lord’s Return: What Then? (1 John 3:1–3)

• Overview: Focuses on the “blessed hope” of Christ’s return. Seeing God as He is will finally transform us completely into His likeness.
• Key Fact: This hope is not just a future comfort; it is a present motivation for purity.
• Scripture: 1 John 3:3 – “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

10. That Nasty Three-Letter Word (1 John 3:4–10)

• Overview: A hard-hitting look at sin (S-I-N). John contrasts the “children of God” with the “children of the devil” based on their habitual practice of righteousness or sin.
• Key Fact: A true child of God cannot live in a state of habitual, unrepentant sin because God’s seed abides in them.
• Scripture: 1 John 3:9 – “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him.”

11. Love and Hate: Where Are You? (1 John 3:11–18)

• Overview: Contrasts the spirit of Cain (murder/hate) with the spirit of Christ (sacrifice/love). Love is defined not by feelings, but by “deed and truth.”
• Key Fact: Love is the evidence that we have “passed out of death into life.”
• Scripture: 1 John 3:18 – “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”

12. You and Your Conscience (1 John 3:19–24)

• Overview: Addresses the problem of a “condemning heart.” John reminds us that God is greater than our hearts and knows all things, providing peace for the troubled conscience.
• Key Fact: Confidence in prayer is linked to a conscience that is clear before God through obedience and faith.
• Scripture: 1 John 3:20 – “In whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”

13. Distinguishing Truth from Error (1 John 4:1–6)

• Overview: The command to “test the spirits.” Not every spiritual experience or teacher is from God; the litmus test is their confession of Jesus Christ.
• Key Fact: The one who is in us (the Holy Spirit) is greater than the one who is in the world (Satan).
• Scripture: 1 John 4:4 – “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

14. The Supreme Significance of Love (1 John 4:7–21)

• Overview: A profound exploration of the statement “God is love.” Our ability to love others is the direct outworking of God’s love being perfected in us.
• Key Fact: Perfect love casts out fear, especially the fear of judgment.
• Scripture: 1 John 4:18 – “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.”

15. Believers, Overcomers, Witnesses (1 John 5:1–12)

• Overview: Defines what it means to “overcome the world.” It is our faith in Jesus Christ that gives us the victory over the cosmos and its lures.
• Key Fact: God has given us an internal witness—the testimony of the Spirit—that we have eternal life.
• Scripture: 1 John 5:4 – “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

16. Absolute Assurance (1 John 5:13–21)

• Overview: The series concludes with the “Knows” of 1 John. We can know we have eternal life, know He hears our prayers, and know we belong to God.
• Key Fact: John wrote this letter so that believers could move from “guessing” to “knowing” their standing before God.
• Scripture: 1 John 5:13 – “These things I have written to you… so that you may know that you have eternal life.”