The testimony of God, 1 John 5:6-12

As the Apostle John is bringing his epistle to a close he is bringing to a conclusion various streams of arguments that he has made concerning how you may know that you have eternal life.  The purpose of this epistle is found in vs 13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  In that statement, John is saying this is how you may know how to be saved, and this is how you may be assured that you are saved, and this is how you may know that others are saved.  All three of those elements are expressed in that statement, and have been argued previously in the epistle.  Now John is bringing that argument to it’s conclusion.

The means by which John says you may know you have eternal life is believing in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God.  He said in the previous section, in vs 1, that “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”  And in vs11 he said, “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”  To be an overcomer is another aspect of being born of God.  They essentially both speak of the same thing, which John also refers to as eternal life. But the means of eternal life is believing.

So what John makes clear, which we have talked about extensively, is that believing in Jesus Christ is not simply believing that a man named Jesus really lived 2000 years ago and He said some great things, He taught about God. But as the titles Messiah and Son of God indicate, it’s believing in who Jesus is, that He is God in the flesh, and as the Messiah He was sent to the world to be our Savior, which He accomplished by taking our place in death as the punishment for our sins, so that we might be given eternal life.

It’s also important to understand what is meant by eternal life.  Eternal life does not mean simply a long, long, long life.  It’s not even talking necessarily about going to heaven when you die.  But it’s speaking of spiritual life from God, which is given to those who have faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished, so that they now have the life from God, spiritual life, which is eternal, which is righteous and holy.  It’s eternal life, but notice that in vs 12 John just refers to it as “the life”. He says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”  Jesus is the source of the life, which is the life from God.  It’s spiritual life, it’s everlasting life, it’s the life of God in us. So we must have the Son of God in order to have the life.  We must have received Him, believed in Him, trusted in Him as our Savior.  He is the way to life, the only way to life.  John wants to make that crystal clear.

So to support the statement that he made which is that we have to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, he is going to give us some further evidence that will help us to know all that is involved in believing.  And so what he gives us here i this passage is three strains of testimony about who Jesus is.  Just like in a court case, when you want to present evidence of something, there is no more powerful evidence than to bring forth testimony from eyewitnesses, or some credible witness who can provide testimony as to the truth of the claim, so John gives three testimonies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who fulfilled His Messianic ministry on earth, so that we might know that we have eternal life.

John says in vs 6, “This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.  For there are three that testify:  the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.”

Now the statement at first glance may seem a little obscure.  But John didn’t deliberately try to be obscure.  He wrote it, I’m sure, to be descriptive.  To illustrate three ways in which God testifies of Jesus. And by the way, I don’t want to spend too much time on this particular point this morning, but those of you following along in a KJV or NKJV may have noticed that your version adds more to vs 8 than what I read.  What the best scholars seem to be in agreement about is that while the extra text in vs 8 is not untrue, at the same time it does not seem to be original to the text.  The shortest answer I can give you is that  the earliest those words were found in a Greek text was about the 15th century.  It seems as though before that it was found in the margin notes of a Latin text, and later was eventually added to the Textus Receptus, which is the manuscript that the KJV was translated from. But the earlier manuscripts do not contain that text.  It doesn’t change anything theologically one way or the other, but it’s probably best not to recognize it as inspired.  So we won’t read it that way.

But the main point is this; that there are three who testify of Jesus.  And we need to understand what John is referring to.  So it is believed that when John says that the three testimonies are the water, the blood and the Spirit, he is talking about Christ’s baptism, death, and Pentecost; all of which testify to who Jesus is, and what He accomplished.

If you will recall, the Mosaic law stated that in order to confirm something as true, it was to be on the basis of two or three witnesses.That goes back to Deuteronomy 19:15, that testimony had to be confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Jesus also emphasized that in Matthew 18 in regards to church discipline, that any charge brought against someone needed to have the affirmation of two or three witnesses. And also in 1 Timothy 5:19 it says that no one should bring an accusation against an elder or pastor in the church unless it’s confirmed by the mouth of two or three witnesses. We see this principle again and again in scripture. And so here God does the same thing in John’s closing argument. Verse 6, “This is the one who came by water and blood and not just water and blood, but” –  and then in verse 7 – “it is the Spirit who bears witness.” God Himself has chosen the maximum of three testimonies – from water, blood and Spirit – in this summary to affirm His witness concerning Jesus Christ so that we might be assured of what we believe.

So first of all, let’s talk about the testimony of water.  God gave testimony of Jesus Christ at His baptism. And as I said earlier, the testimony is that Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, and that He is the Son of God.  Now we find the record of Jesus’s baptism in Matthew  3:13, “Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him.” And then it says in vs16 “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] lighting on Him,  and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

This event was the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ.  The scripture says that following His baptism He went about in Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit.  But very clearly here we see that God Himself gives testimony of who Jesus is.  And we also see the testimony of the Holy Spirit, coming down out of heaven to rest upon Jesus. 

You know, it’s interesting to think about that.  We often see pictures that show a dove above Christ’s head or landing upon Him.  But it doesn’t say that a dove rested upon Him.  But it says that John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending upon Him like a dove.  In other words, the Spirit of God descended in the manner of a dove.  It does not say the Spirit of God was a dove. Notice John doesn’t see a dove, He sees the Spirit of God.

In the gospel of John, I always think it’s an interesting note, chapter 1 verse 32, “And John bore witness saying, ‘I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and He remained on Him.’”

“And I didn’t recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’” John had said, “There’s one coming. He’ll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  So the water has a tremendous testimony of Jesus, that He is the Christ, and the Son of God.  

So at the baptism of Jesus, at the beginning of His ministry, we see the testimony of water, with both God speaking and descending in Spirit upon Jesus.  And God says clearly that “this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 

But John says there is more.  He says, not the water only, but the water and the blood.  And as I said previously, the blood speaks of the crucifixion of Christ.  We can turn to Matthew 27 for an account of the crucifixion.  If you look at the scene of the cross, in verse 44, the robbers have been crucified with Him. They are insulting Him.  Then it says, “Now from the sixth hour” –that means twelve o’clock noon. “From the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.” For three hours, in the middle of the day there is supernatural darkness. This is a divine miracle. This is God’s testimony concerning the atonement for sin which Jesus was accomplishing. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?,” which means ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’” Jesus understood the symbolism of the darkness was an indication of the wrath of God against sin. God was giving testimony to  Jesus Christ His Son as the sin-bearing sacrifice in providing for our atonement.

And there is another testimony given by God in verse 51, “Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” While Jesus is dying there on the cross, God rips the veil of the temple from top to bottom, which opens up the Holy of Holies, showing that Jesus through His supreme sacrifice has provided access to God, abolishing the system of priests and sacrifices. Can you imagine the shock to the priests and officers and scribes and so forth in the temple seeing this miracle of God just when Jesus is being put to death? 

And then it says in verse 51, “And the earth shook” – God sent an earthquake – “and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs, after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.”  The temple curtain is rent from top to bottom, darkness is over all the land, and an earthquake all at the time of Christ’s crucifixion and the dead were coming out of the tombs.  What a tremendous testimony God makes that Jesus Christ was the Son of God that they were crucifying. 

So vs 54 says, “Now the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became frightened and said truly this was the Son of God.” Not only did the centurion say it, but those who were with him said it. That’s the logical conclusion for anyone that wasn’t biased against Jesus.  But from what we know the priests do not say that.  They hold onto their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God,  despite the supernatural testimony of God.

I think it’s also possible to include in the testimony of the blood, the fulfillment of the scriptures which explicitly prophesied of the crucifixion. For example, in Psalm 22 it says, “All My bones are out of joint. My heart ... is melted within Me ... My tongue cleaves to My jaws ... Dogs have surrounded Me. A band of evil doers has encompassed Me. They pierced My hands and my feet. I can count all My bones. They look, they stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”

We also see the fulfillment of Isaiah 53, which says, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.”“He was pierced through for our transgressions.” “By His scourging we are healed.”  “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

In vs 9 it even gives the details of His burial. “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. And then it speaks of His atonement, the propitiation for our sins. “But the LORD was pleased  To crush Him, putting Him to grief;  If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,

He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.”  “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied;

By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”

All of those prophecies and many more in the Old Testament were fulfilled at the death of Jesus Christ. There is no other conclusion than this is the testimony of the Father, fulfilled prophecy, physical phenomena that’s so convincing that a Roman centurion says, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

Then the third testimony of our text in 1 John 5, is the testimony given by the Holy Spirit. John says in verse 6, “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”  Jesus referred to the Spirit in HIs prayer in the Upper Room before His crucifixion as the Spirit of Truth.  The ministry of the Spirit is to reveal the truth about Christ.  

And then John says in vs 8, “There are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement.” So all three of them are in agreement, testifying to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. 

Now we have already seen that the Spirit was involved in testifying of Christ at His baptism. He became visible and rested upon Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus began His ministry. But it’s important to look at how the Holy Spirit testifies of Christ in other situations.  I happen to believe that the greatest testimony of the Spirit concerning Christ was at Pentecost. If you look at Acts 2, you will see the disciples waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit which Jesus had told them to wait for. 

I said a moment ago that Jesus referred to the Spirt as the Spirit of Truth.  Jesus said in John 15:26 "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, [that is] the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.”  Notice that Jesus says He will send the Spirit, and He will testify about Me.  He says in another place, He (that is the Spirit) will bring to your remembrance the things that I said to you.  So the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Jesus, and to teach the truth about Jesus.

And that’s exactly what happened at Pentecost.  The Spirit of God came just as Jesus said He would, Jesus sent Him to testify of Himself.  And when He came, He came with supernatural power; there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.”  That’s the baptism of fire that John the Baptist had said Jesus would baptize with.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” They spoke other languages, which just happened to be the languages of all the people who were from all different regions of the Roman Empire in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost,  who  gathered outside the house when they heard the noise of the wind.  And so the disciples came out and started speaking of the mighty works of God and everyone who was there heard them speak in their own language.  These disciples were eyewitnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God.  And over three thousand people heard them speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit in their native language so that they might believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved.

Peter, taking his stand before the multitude, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, preached a message to them boldly declaring that this Jesus whom they had crucified was the Messiah, the Son of God.  And he concluded his message in vs 36 saying, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified.” And as a result three thousand people hearing that testimony believed in Jesus Christ and were saved that day. 

So then, we have seen that  God then gave His testimony in the water, the blood and the Spirit. The question then remains, “Why did He give it?”  We find the answer in verse 11 - the purpose for God’s testimony.  “The testimony is this, that on the basis of Jesus’s atonement for sin, God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son.”  The reason that God gives this testimony is because God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. The only way to have eternal life is through believing in what  Jesus Christ accomplished for us. 

Notice John says, “This life is in His Son.”  There is no salvation in any other. There’s no other name under heaven given among men whereby you might be saved.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.”  God’s desire for us is that we have life.  But the only way to have the life of God is in believing in Jesus Christ. and in His finished work of atonement.

So then, what should be our response to God’s witness?  We find the answer in verse 10, and then verse 12. What should be our response? Verse 10, “The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.”  

When we believe in Christ, when we are saved, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  So in us is the testimony that Jesus is the Christ.  We receive the testimony, we believe it.  John 1:12 says “As many as received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”  And I can assure you that when you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, then your eyes become opened, your heart becomes opened, and you know in your heart that which is true, that you have new life.  You have the testimony in your own heart of the truth and the life.

But on the other hand, verse 10 says, “The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believe the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son.” So if you don’t believe God’s testimony, you’ve made Him a liar. You are calling God a liar. How is it that you have made God a liar? “Because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.” 

The testimony of God concerning Jesus is supernatural, powerfully convincing testimony.  The Holy Spirit also attests to that testimony in your heart by convicting you of it’s truth. But there are some who will refuse to believe, because like the priests who put Jesus to death, they do not want this man to rule over them.  They don’t want to submit to God.  They like their sin and don’t want to repent of it. And so they refuse the atonement which Christ died to accomplish.

John then in vs 12, restates the positive conclusion from all that has been said.  We have already discussed it in detail.  He is just restating it for emphasis. “He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”  Salvation is so simple that it sometimes seems like there has to be more.  And there is more to our salvation as we grow in the Lord.  But to be born of God, it must begin with faith in Jesus Christ.  We cannot have the life of God until we believe in the giver of life, Jesus Christ.

Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, concluded his message with this word, and I will conclude my message with it as well; Acts 2:38-39  Peter [said] to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”  You have heard the testimony of God today concerning Christ Jesus.  God is calling you to believe in Him that you may receive the life.

How to know that you have eternal life, 1 John 5:1-5

As we come to the last chapter of 1 John, the apostle brings several concurrent themes to their conclusion. And they all are elements of the  predominant theme of the epistle, which is how to know that you have eternal life. John states that in vs 13 which is the key verse, or the purpose of the epistle; “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  

Now eternal life is not just talking about living forever.  It’s a reference to spiritual life which is from God, whereby we have fellowship with God and with Jesus Christ from the point of spiritual birth through eternity.  Jesus, praying to the Father in the Upper Room before His crucifixion said in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”  To know is the have communion, to have intimacy with, to be in the presence of God, to have fellowship with the source of life.  That is eternal life.  It’s not just a time  frame, it’s not just a place. It’s not just what we think of when we think of heaven.  It begins at spiritual conception when we become born of God, and it continues in life with God forever.

You know, it’s possible to want to go to heaven when you die, and yet want nothing to do with God.  To have no interest in God, to not care very much about a relationship with God or Jesus Christ. It’s possible to want heaven, but not want God.  But the fact is, that to be in the presence of God IS heaven.  And so if you don’t love God, and desire God, then you will not be happy in heaven.  Because the goal of heaven is not a mansion, or streets of gold or any of those things, but the goal of heaven is to be in the presence of Almighty God, by whom all things exist and have their being, in whom is pure light, and there is no darkness at all, and in whom is Life, and life everlasting. To be in the presence of God is the object and the source of eternal life.

So John gives us several principles by which we may know that we have eternal life.  And we’re going to just look at a few of them here this morning, up to verse five. Many of these principles he has already introduced to us in the previous chapters.  But now he is restating them, cycling back over the same principles of our salvation again, but adding additional information in each cycle.

The first principle by which you may know that you have eternal life is to believe in Jesus Christ. John says in vs 1 that to have eternal life you must be born again, born of God, born of the Spirit. The Bible teaches that the natural man is born spiritually dead. So to have eternal life, which is spiritual life, we must be born again of God. John says in vs 1, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…” 

To believe and to have faith are the same thing.  But lets be sure we understand what it means to believe.  First of all, you must believe in Jesus Christ. Notice John says whoever believes that Jesus IS the Christ.  Christ is the Greek translation for the Hebrew word Messiah. See, the problem for Jews especially during that time wasn’t that they didn’t believe that Jesus lived and died on the cross.  Everyone who was alive when Jesus was alive believed that He was a real person, that He was alive, and then when He was crucified they believed that He died on the cross. But simply that intellectual assent to the historicity of Jesus is not the means by which they were born again.  That recognition that Jesus was a real man who lived and died during that time is not what John is talking about when he says you must believe.

John says it’s believing that Jesus is the Christ. It’s believing that Jesus is the Messiah that’s the difficulty. Because if Jesus was the Messiah, that means He is the anointed One of God.  He is the Promised One in Isaiah 9:6 of whom it says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

Ok then, this Messiah is no ordinary man.  For this  man Jesus to be the Messiah He must also be the “mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” Now that’s what it means to believe that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Savior of the world. He is God incarnate in human flesh and He died on the cross as our representative, as our substitute, as the One who takes away our sin.  And John says that whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.  That’s how we receive spiritual life from God.  Believing in all it means for Jesus to be the Messiah is the means by which we are born of God.  We are born again by faith in who Christ is, and what He has accomplished on our behalf through His death and resurrection.

There is another element to knowing we have eternal life. And John says that it’s known by a love for the Father and a love for the child born of Him. “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.”  John is not saying is that if you somehow conjure up a love for God and a love for His children then as a result you will be born again.  But what he’s saying is that you will know that you have eternal life by your love for the Father and for the child born of Him.  That’s is a big difference.  

The former is a means of work, whereby by our love we earn our salvation.  The latter is that having born again by faith in Christ,  we are given a new nature, and that nature is characterized by a love for the Father and a love for the child born of Him.  In other words, it’s like the way a child naturally loves his parents and his siblings. That family love comes from the fact that they are born into that family. It’s part of their nature.  And if we are born of God, then it will be part of our new nature to have a love for God and a love for his children, who are our spiritual brothers and sisters.  You will know they are Christians by their love.  Jesus said you will know they are my disciples by their love.  Love is the new characteristic of our new nature.

Back in chapter 4 vs 20, John said the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. So in vs 2, John makes it clear that his emphasis is on loving your neighbor as the evidence of our salvation. He says in vs 2, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.” 

John’s guilty of what is to some degree circular reasoning here.  He says you can know you love God by loving the children of God, and that you know you love the children of God because you love the Father. They cannot be separated. You cannot love God and not love His children. But the thing most easily seen is the love for the children.  God is not visible.  His children are visible.  And so if you love His children, then your love for God will be visible.

Now that sounds great, and no one can argue that love for others is a noble and good thing.  But I can’t help but wonder if John didn’t recognize that if you have the wrong idea about what constitutes love, then you may have the wrong confidence about your salvation.  John recognizes that love may need some explanation.  So thankfully, in vs 3 he tells us what constitutes love for God. You know a lot of people claim to love God, but other than the fact that they may wave their hands around during a song or something, there is scant evidence of it in their life.

Real love for God is not based on attraction, or emotion, or feelings.  But love for God as John describes it is evidenced by obedience.  Vs. 3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” That’s an echo of what Jesus said in John 14:15; “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  So love for God is keeping His commandments.  Oh boy.  That took the fun out of love, didn’t it? It’s all joy when we can say we love God but have no responsibilities, no obligations, no commandments to keep. Many people are all for a doctrine of love, but a love without any constraints.  They want a love without limitations.

You know, back when my wife and I were dating, if she had said “O Roy, I love you so much!” But then she also said the same thing to every other Tom, Dick and Harry that came along, I would have had some serious doubt about her love for me.  Love for me is love for me exclusively.  And love for God must be exclusive, and that exclusivity is defined by the commandments.

Jesus said that all the commandments were summarized in two commandments.  The first was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and strength.  And the second was like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  In other words, when you keep those commandments completely, you will find that you keep the commandments of God.

John adds that His commandments are not a burden. Jesus said in Matt. 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  

What does that mean, my burden is light? It means that when we obey God, the Spirit of God in us enables us and empowers us to do His will.  To keep His commandments may be difficult to the natural man, but it is by the Spirit that we walk after Christ. We have a new nature, and that new nature is spiritual, governed by the Holy Spirit, and so we find our desires have changed and we have a Helper who strengthens us.  It’s sort of like, if you have to go to work to a job you hate, then it is a burden.  You dread going to work. Every hour seems to drag on. But if your work is something you love, then it doesn’t feel like you’re working at all.  The key then to keeping the commandments of God is that we have a new spirit, a new heart, that desires to keep the commandments of God and we have the Helper to give us the power to keep the commandments.

Ezekiel speaks of this change of heart as being the key to keeping the commandments. Ezekiel 36:26-27 says, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” That’s what it means to walk by the Spirit, so that you will do the will of God.  It’s only possible when you have a new spirit, and a new heart.

The next evidence by which John says that we know that we have eternal life is because we overcome the world.  Vs4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.”

The question that I never find answered in all the commentaries I read about this verse, is what does it mean to overcome the world? How do you overcome the world?  Well, I believe to overcome the world doesn’t mean that you somehow become successful in spite of obstacles in your life.  Maybe you had certain disadvantages growing up but you had faith in God to help you crawl up the ladder of success and by golly, you finally make it! You become a famous singer or entertainer or athlete, or business owner.  You have overcome the world! I think that’s the common misinterpretation of this verse. 

But I don’t think John's talking about anything remotely similar to that.  I believe he’s talking about the world system, which has been designed and engineered by Satan, to entrap and ensnare and enslave mankind in sin and death.  There is a great passage which speaks of the damning system of this world and how we are able to overcome it which is found in Eph. 2:1-5 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,  in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”

There is an interesting word he uses there in reference to this world, he says “the course of this world.”  What that speaks of is like a river that runs in it’s course, carrying everything along in it’s current.  Satan has devised a system of lies and deception that sin is fun and rewarding and not harmful, and it causes man to fall into the trap of this world, the current of this world, so that they are not even aware that they are being swept along with everyone else to their destruction.

So how do we overcome the world system that has been orchestrated to capture us and destroy us? John says it is our faith.  Our faith; faith is not the power of positive thinking, it’s not believing whatever we want to be true really, really sincerely, but faith is believing in Christ, in who He is, what He has done, and what He has promised.  And John says our faith is the victory. Our faith in Christ is the victorious means by which we are delivered, saved, rescued from the kingdom of darkness, the raging current of this world, and given a new life and a new way to live, which is by the power of the Spirit. 

Our faith is the means by which we are born of God, and thus we are delivered from the condemnation of death.  The punishment for our sins was placed on Jesus Christ, and He died the death that we deserved to die, and He rose from the grave in victory so that we too might have life and victory over death. By faith in what Christ did for us as our representative, we are forgiven, we are given the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we are given the Spirit of God to dwell in us, and we are given a new spirit, which will never die, and will have eternal fellowship and companionship with God.

As our representative, Jesus was victorious over sin and death.  That’s the great significance of His resurrection.  That He has triumphed over sin and death, and by extension, we have triumphed with Him.  Paul tells us in Eph 1:20-23  “which [God] brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly [places,]  far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” 

So we, as in the church of Christ, are raised up in the train of His glory, and share in His victory.  As Jesus has overcomed the world, so we also are overcomers, because we have been rescued from the condemnation of the world. Our faith is the victory, our faith by which we are born of God.  We that are born of God are overcomers.  That’s all that really means.  We have been saved, born of God.  We are overcomers.

And being an overcomer is the last evidence that we have eternal life.  John says in vs 5, “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”  Notice back in verse one John says that we who believe that Jesus is the Christ are born of God.  Now in vs 5 he says that we that believe that Jesus is the Son of God are overcomers.  So we can see that to be born of God and to be an overcomer is synonymous. It’s speaking of the same thing.

But John does add something in that statement of vs 5 to our theology.  And that is that the Messiah is the Son of God.  We’ve already alluded to that.  But it’s important to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  He is of the same nature and essence as God.  He is not a man in whom dwelled the Spirit of God for a time between His baptism and death.  That was the belief of the Gnostics who were the false teachers of John’s day.  And it’s a common belief of some of the cults today. But Jesus is the Son of God, and He was with God in the beginning before the world began, and He was sent by the Father to become flesh.

When Jesus prayed with the disciples in the Upper Room before His crucifixion, He speaks much of going back to be with the Father.  And in John 17:5 He says, ”Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”  There He clearly states that He was with God the Father before the world began.  Now that is the claim of Jesus Christ, that He was with God the Father before creation.  That means He was equal to God in divinity, but subjected to the Father in position.  He humbled Himself to take on human form, leaving His glory in heaven for our sake. And as He considered His crucifixion, He looked forward to returning to the Father and to His glory which He had before the world began.  Now that is either the claim of God, or the claim of a madman. We either have to believe that Jesus is God or that He was a liar.  

John 1:12-13 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name,  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  We that believe in Him, in who He is, and what He accomplished for us, are given life by God, so that we are born of God, a child of God, and are overcomers with Christ. We are overcomers by faith in Jesus Christ.

This idea of being an overcomer is such an important principle I could devote an entire message to it.  But I want to close this morning by seeing what Jesus said about being an overcomer. In the book of Revelation which John also wrote, Jesus gives seven messages to seven churches.  And in each of the messages, Jesus concludes by giving a promise to those that are overcomers. And all of these promises are given to us who make up the church of Christ. To the church in Ephesus He says in Rev 2:7  'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” Jesus promises to give eternal life to the overcomer.

To the church of Smryna Jesus says in ch 2 vs 11 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.” Jesus promises victory over death to the overcomer.

To the church of Pergamum, He says in chapter 2 vs 17, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give [some] of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.”  Jesus promises to give the bread of life, and write your name in stone to them that overcome.  

To the church of Thyatira Jesus says, in ch 2vs 26 'He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS.”  The overcomers shall rule and reign with Christ.   To the church of Sardis, Jesus says in chapter 3 vs 5 'He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Overcomers receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and Christ will say that we belong to Him. Listen, that is the basis for how we enter into heaven.  Because we can say, I belong to Him.  He paid for my entrance.  I’ve been made a child of God by faith in Christ and He will never forsake me.

To the church of Philadelphia Jesus says in ch 3 vs 12 'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.”  I can’t really be certain of how all of this will look, but in effect Jesus is saying you will have the Father’s name and His name and heaven’s name written on you.  That’s like being triple certified. Full assurance.

And to the church of Laodecia Jesus says in ch 3 vs 21 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”  Again, Jesus promises that we will reign with Him, seated next to Him on thrones.  Amazing promise that as He has overcome the world, so shall we overcome the world through Him. 

I pray that you are an overcomer.  That you have been born of God into eternal life, and will live with God forever.  You know what is required to be born of God. Repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and He will give you life in the spirit, that you may be a child of God and that you may overcome the enslavement and condemnation of this world.

By this we know, 1 John 4:13-21

Last night after dinner, I found myself in the somewhat unusual position of having finished writing my message and had finished preparing everything for today’s service and so having a couple of hours before bedtime I decided to watch a movie on youtube.  This movie that was suggested to me was billed as a Christian movie.  I know it sounds terrible, but I usually avoid Christian Hollywood style movies.  I can’t really enjoy them because I’m too busy analyzing  their theology, or lack of it.

But this one featured a number of mainstream Hollywood actors, and one of them was an older man who I think is a fine actor and my wife and I have enjoyed many of the Westerns that he has been in over the years.  I was kind of surprised to see his name as one of the leading characters so I decided to watch it.

As those type of movies go, it was probably better than most from a dramatic point of view.  But I’m not sure if I could go so far as to call it Christian.  The other lead actor played a young golfer that was trying to go professional, and he had a meltdown which was broadcast on national TV.  And he ends up being mentored by this older gentleman who of course used to be a pro golfer as well.

But the part that bothered me was that as the older man mentors the young golfer, he is presumably trying to help him turn to God so that he can get a new lease on life. But there is very little mention of God in the movie and no mention of Christ.  There is no mention of sin at all - just some bad attitudes that can affect your golf swing.  There is mention of truth, and once or twice a mention of faith, and a few glances up in the sky. At one point the old man gives him a Bible, but it’s never opened or referred to.  All of that is pretty vague though.

As the movie comes to it’s climax, it seems like the young golfer has some kind of experience.  After a talk with the old man, he starts to tear up, and he looks up in the sky for a moment, and they kind of nod at one another through misty eyes. And then he writes down all the negative stuff that he has thought about himself or others have said about him on a piece of paper, and he buries the paper in a box in a shallow grave.  

Now that’s about the extent of the religious experience in the movie.  Except that after this experience, he starts to say “God bless you” on a couple of occasions.  And of course, after this experience his golf game radically improves and he goes on to win a major pro golf tournament.  So I suppose that is the Hollywood version of what it means to find God.  That’s what it means to be a Christian.  But I’m not sure anyone watching, nor even the character himself could really know for sure what it is that supposedly happened, or why.  But that’s probably indicative of most people’s view of Christianity.  You are in some sort of a crisis in your life, you sort of turn to God to help you, and you hope that somehow God helps you to find yourself, or the best version of yourself, or at least your best golf game.

Well, the apostle John would never cut it as a Hollywood screen writer, I’m afraid.  But he has written a book in which he definitively writes what it means to come to know God, but not just to know about God, but to have fellowship with God, to be reconciled to God, and to have eternal life from God. In the last chapter of this book, John gives us the overarching theme of his epistle.  He says in chapter 5 vs 13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

It’s important that you know that you have eternal life.  Not just have some vague experience that you’re not sure what happened, or if anything happened, or that doesn’t actually result in being reconciled to God. John has given in this book a number of assurances of our salvation, so that we may know that we have eternal life.  And to do that, he gives a number of tests which give evidence that you know God, or have fellowship with God.

For instance, he gives some doctrinal tests.  John says you need to have a right view of man in his sin, and a right view of Christ in His salvation. And then there are some moral tests or some behavioral tests. And really they can be summarized as two tests; obedience to the Word of God and love for the Lord and His people. You can, by these, test the validity of your claim of salvation and thereby gain assurance of it.

So as we finish up this chapter John is once again giving us some assurances of our salvation.  And they fit in the two categories of doctrinal and behavioral. So we see three times in this last passage in which John either says or implies the phrase, “by this we know…” Three tests which yield assurances of our salvation.

The first test is in vs 13. “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us.”  What follows then are the doctrinal tests of our salvation.  That’s what to “abide in Him and He in us” refers to. It’s talking about our union with Christ.  It’s talking about fellowship with God. It’s talking about the life which we have in Christ.

There are several doctrinal distinctions that we must adhere to which provide evidence and assurance of our salvation. And John says that the first one whereby  we know that we abide in Him and He in us because  He has given us of His Spirit. Because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.  Jesus said in John 6:63, ““It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Now how do you know you’ve been given the Holy Spirit? How do you know that you have received the Holy Spirit? Not because you have experienced some sort of emotional event which made you feel something you thought was supernatural or spiritual. Not because you heard a voice or felt some ecstasy.  But you know that you have received the Holy Spirit because you have the believed the words of Christ, what we call the gospel.

Look at vs 14, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son [to be] the Savior of the world.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” You cannot believe the gospel apart from the Holy Spirit. Your belief and confession in Jesus as the Son of God is evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

The Bible tells us that the natural man is spiritually dead because of their sin, and until their eyes and ears are opened to see and hear they cannot believe.  As I talked about last week, the Spirit of God quickens you so that you can believe. Ephesians 2:1 says, “And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins.” It is the Spirit who gives life to that which is dead. You can’t even understand the scripture properly if you don’t have the Spirit of God in you because that which is spiritual cannot be naturally appraised. And the Spirit gives us new life, and the power or the desire to do what God has commanded us to do. We walk by the Spirit. Not in our strength, but in the strength which God supplies through His Spirit.

So how do I know that the Spirit of God has taken up residence in me? Because I believe what can only be believed if it is revealed by God. And how do you know that you have the Spirit? Because you believe the gospel. And the gospel is what we just read in vs 14 and 15.

Let’s read them again.  This is the gospel in a nutshell; “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son [to be] the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”  John words this carefully and it’s important to take note of what he is saying. It’s not just believing that Jesus was a man who was born in a stable.  But what John says is that God sent Jesus to the world. That means that Jesus was in the beginning with God, that He was God, and then God became flesh, became man in order to be our Savior, to be our substitute who died for our sins upon the cross, that we who believe in Him might receive His righteousness and everlasting life in Him.

And because we believe in Jesus as the Son of God, the Savior, we are made righteous and holy by His righteousness and thereby we can receive the Spirit of God in us.  He abides in us, and we abide in Him. His Spirit abides in us, and we abide in Him by accepting Him as Lord of our life.

The third aspect of the doctrinal test has elements of a behavioral test.  Because you cannot separate doctrine from behavior.  Some people think that you can have a correct doctrinal perspective  and that’s all that counts, your behavior doesn’t really matter.  But the truth is that your behavior comes out of your doctrine. And so we find the third aspect of the doctrinal test in vs 16 “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

That means that we have assurance of our salvation because we have received the love of God, and we express that love to God and to one another.  “We have come to know” speaks of our doctrine. We believe the doctrine of the gospel.  And the gospel is that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)  So love is from God to us, and having believed that, we abide in love. We have love for God and love for one another.  And because we abide in love, we abide in God and God abides in us.  The end of vs 16 is almost a word for word recap of what was stated in at the beginning, in vs 13. To abide in Him and He abides in us is another way of speaking of our salvation.

Now the next assurance of our salvation is found in vs 17.  And though he doesn’t begin with exactly the same phrase as before, as in “by this we know…” I think we can safely interpret it to mean the same thing.  John says in vs 17, “By this, love is perfected with us…” Love is perfected with us is yet another way of referring to the completion of our salvation. It’s referring to God abiding in us, and we in God.  For example, back in vs 12, John said, “if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.” So perfect love, and God abiding in us are both speaking of the same thing; our salvation.  We can have assurance of our salvation because love is completed or perfected in us.

And there are three aspects to this perfected love that John gives us here.  The first one is that we might have confidence in the day of judgment. Not confidence in our golf game, but when everyman will one day stand before the judgment seat of God, we can have confidence.  He says, “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment.”  We can have confidence because of the promise of the gospel.  We that have trusted in Christ have been forgiven of our sins.  You know, that is one thing you should have felt when you were saved.  I’m not big on feelings as measure of your salvation.  But when you know you are a sinner, and you repent and confess that to God, and He forgives you, there is usually accompanied with that forgiveness a sense of a great weight which has been lifted.

In salvation, there needs to be forgiveness.  Some of you here today have perhaps never come to the point of acknowledging that you are a sinner.  You might have come to God thinking you could use some improvement in your handicap, but actually you’re a not such a bad guy.  But the fact is that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  And because of your sin, you deserved the punishment of death.  By faith we trust in Jesus who took your punishment and in believing in His propitiation for your sins,  you were forgiven.  If you haven’t been forgiven, then you haven’t been saved.

But if you’ve been forgiven for your sins, then you can have confidence in the day of judgment.  Because you know that Jesus paid for your sins. And God will not be guilty of double jeopardy.  He cannot charge you again, because Jesus paid it all.

The second aspect of perfected love is still in vs 17, “because as He is, so also are we in this world.”  "As he is so are we in this world." That simply means that as Christ is now, invisibly, we are, in this world, visibly. We alluded to that in our last week’s study, which was spoken of in vs 12, “No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”  What John was referring to then was that the world cannot see God, but it can see us.  The world cannot see Christ, but it sees us following in Christ’s footsteps, doing the things Christ did, carrying on the ministry of Christ.  As Christ said that He came into the world to seek and to save those that are lost, so we walk as He walked, and we seek and save those that are lost.  Love received and then poured back out is completed love. And if we love our brothers we will seek to save our brothers.  There is no greater love than that.

Love reaches the world with the gospel of salvation.  Love goes, love tells, love saves. And doing that is evidence of our salvation, and because of our salvation, we may have confidence on the day of judgment.  Because we did what love demands we do. Love is the assurance of our salvation. Love which is perfected is love that is made visible in deeds. We saw that in Chapter 3, Verse 18, "Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth." Love, even God's love, can never find its end, its perfection, until it is expressed in a deed or word or compassionate act.

The third aspect of perfected love is because there is no fear in love. Vs18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

Perfect love casts out fear. Why, how? Because we are obedient.  Because we do his will.  And his will is to love one another, to reach the world with the gospel.  When we love others as Christ loved us, then we complete love, we have perfect love. When you are obedient in love, out of love, then you don’t fear punishment.  God doesn’t punish us that are saved.  He has punished Jesus already for our sins.  He may correct us, He may discipline us, but He doesn’t punish us that are saved. That may seem like a minor distinction, but it’s actually a very important difference between those that are saved and those that are not. If you have rejected Jesus Christ as your Savior, then your punishment remains on you.  But if you accept Him as your Savior, then Christ has taken your punishment upon Himself so that you may go free.

There is another aspect of this idea of fear though. Many Christians don’t witness or give testimony to the gospel because they are fearful.  But when we obey the command to love, it casts out fear.  God will help you when you commit to obey Him.  And so when you obey you find that the fear goes away, because God is working with you and going before you.  His strength takes away the fear  of rejection or other people’s reactions, because our love for God is greater than our fear of man. 

The last category of the assurances of our salvation is found in vs 19.  And I am going to add the phrase, “By this we know” at the start of the verse because I think it’s implied there.  I can’t be dogmatic about it, but I think I’m right none the less and I hope you will humor me for the sake of my outline.  So let’s read it like that; vs 19, “[By this we know] we love.”

By this we know perfect love. By this we know that we are saved.  By this we know the fellowship with God. God is love.  And we can only say we know God if we have the love of God in us and we express His love to others.  There has to have been a change in our nature, there must have been a new life created in us that has this capacity for love that wasn’t there before.  

And there are three aspects of this love.  First, we love, because He first loved us. Because God loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, so that He might be the Savior of the world, that we might be made righteous and receive the Holy Spirit to abide in us, because of that love in action, we have the love of God in our hearts.  We love God and love others.  But we need to remember that God didn’t love us because we were lovely. But He loved us when we were enemies of God and sinners, and rebellious.  His love initiated our response.  And our response is love for God and a love for one another.

And that introduces the second point, we have perfect love because we love God. John says in vs 20, “If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”  In this statement, the foremost commandment is implied, and it’s consequence is indicated. But let’s not miss the foremost commandment in that verse which is understood but not directly stated.

Jesus said the foremost commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and your strength.  That is the primary, foremost commandment.  And Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Loving God is first and foremost above every other love.  Jesus said in Matt. 10:37  "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”  Our love for God is to be preeminent.  Our love for God is expressed by obedience.  It’s the motivation for doing what is pleasing to God.

And the third aspect of this perfect love is we love God by loving one another.  John says in vs 21, “And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”  Jesus when He gave the foremost commandment, added that the second was like unto the first, that you should love your neighbor as yourself.

There is a love for one another that certainly includes those of the faith, a love for the body of Christ, His church.  But the love for one another is not limited to just the church. It should be a love for our neighbor, and our neighbor may be a stranger, may be someone we have never seen before, someone we do not know.  But we love them as ourselves.  And Jesus said we should even love our enemies.  God loved us when we were enemies, and we are to love like Christ loved. As John said in vs 17, “because as He is, so also are we in this world.”

John concludes this section by reiterating the command to love.  It’s not an option.  Our motivation to love comes from God’s love towards us.  But because we have that as our motivation does not mean that we always feel like it.  So perhaps that’s why John emphasizes the aspect of the command.  We need to love whether we feel like it or not.  Perfect love is sacrificial, and what we often have to sacrifice is our priorities for the sake of God’s priorities.  We may have to sacrifice our natural attraction for what may not be attractive. But if we love God, then we will keep His commandments.

To reiterate what John said earlier in chapter 3 vs 18, “let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him.”  Our obedience to His commands are yet another assurance that we are of the truth, that we know God, and that He abides in us, and we in Him.

Well, as we read at the beginning of this message, John has “written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Do you know that you have eternal life? Do you know that? You can know it and be certain of it, and have no fear in the day of judgment.  Believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that He died on the cross for your sins, and that He rose again to give us new life in the Spirit. And you will receive eternal life from God. Jesus paid the price, it’s up to you to receive His forgiveness and His righteousness so that you might abide with Him, and He with you.