"Yes, We Know, And We Ought To Know We Know” 1 John 5 V 18-21 Series

“YES, WE KNOW, AND WE OUGHT TO KNOW WE KNOW” 1 John 5 v 18-21

1John 5 v 18 We know that no one who is born of God sins, but He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him. 1John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 1John 5:20 We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 1John 5:21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

Christians are not ignorant, and if they are, it is generally their own fault. In today’s passage, John hammers out the things we know as he concludes his letter. If we don’t know these things, then we must do something about it, and go to learn from God, because the things we ought to know in theses verses, are elementary things.

WHAT WE KNOW – CHRISTIANS NOT IN HABITUAL SIN

Verse 18. This verse begins the list of “we know”, or, the list of “we knows”. There are probably 6 of these in these few verses, three “knows” mentioned, and three implied. The first one is, “We know that no one who is born of God sins,” and this truth we have done in earlier messages. The Christian is capable of falling into sin, and that is why we have those precious verses in 1John 1 v 8 – 2 v 2. Verse 18 means habitually sinning; being under the control of sin. No Christian should be in the camp of sin, and if he has wandered there, he needs to depart the place very promptly. No one who has experienced the new birth of God can feel happy about sinning. Sin will smite the new nature, the conscience, if you like.

WHAT WE KNOW – CHRISTIANS ARE KEPT BY GOD – SATAN HAS NO CLAIM

The second thing we should know in verse 18 is that “He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.” The Christian believer is kept, kept very securely if fact, in the hand of the Father and of the Son so that no one can pluck him or her out of the Father’s hand. In this verse the One who does the keeping is the One who is born of God. That is the only-begotten of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten of John 3 v 16, and the One born of the virgin Mary.

The verse ends with “and the evil one does not touch him.” Be absolutely certain of this fact, that Satan has no claim whatsoever over you. You belong to God and the devil can’t lay a finger on you. O, yes, he may oppress you, may buffet you, may organise opposition against you, but he has not the slightest claim on you. We belong to the Lord of Lords.

WHAT WE KNOW – CHRISTIANS ARE OF GOD

Verse 19. There are two things we ought to know from this verse. We know our standing and we know where the world stands. Let us think about our standing. John says, “We know that we are of God.” Do we know that for sure? How can we know that? How do we know that we belong to God?

Surely this verse is touching on what we call assurance. Young Christians may question their salvation and have doubts that they are really saved. Can we think back to the early days of our own faith, and did you ever have the thought, “If the Lord came back, would I be left behind?” Assurance is the steel foundation that holds our belief system in place. Correct? It is also true to say that “Our belief system is the steel foundation that holds assurance in place.”

Well you might say to me, “How can I have this assurance that I do belong to God?” Years ago we used to hear speakers say, “God has said it. I believe it. That settles it.” I suppose that is a good basis, for it relies on what assurance is. Assurance is the fruit of the tree of faith. Plant faith trees in your garden, and the fruit will be your strength. I want to share a verse with you – {{Romans 10 v 17 “Therefore faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”}} Assurance develops from faith. You gain faith from hearing, which means giving attention to, and heeding. Your hearing springs from God’s word, so there we have it. Your assurance is critically locked into the bible. Christians with weak assurance have a weak link to their bibles.