First John Chapter Five Part 1

DEMONSTRATING OUR FAITH - 1 JOHN 5

"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and everyone that loveth him that begot loveth him also that is begotten of him."-1 John 5:1.

WE DEMONSTRATE THE NEW BIRTH BY FAITH AND LOVING!

I. WHAT IS INTENDED BY THE WORD "Believeth"?

1. That which our Lord exhorted men to exercise.

a. Such as when our Lord bade his disciples go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, he added, "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." The faith which was to be preached was none other than a saving faith.

b. Such as The words of Paul to the jailer in answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" was simply, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

2. This belief, wherever it exists, is the gift of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Never yet did a man believe in Jesus with the faith here intended, except the Holy Spirit led him to do so. He has wrought all our works in us, and our faith too.

3. The belief intended in the text, rests upon a person-upon Jesus. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." It is not belief about a doctrine, nor an opinion, nor a formula, but belief concerning a person.

4. True faith is reliance. Look at any Greek lexicon you like, and you will find that the word pisteuein does not merely mean to believe, but to trust, to confide in, to commit to, entrust with; and the meaning of faith is confidence in, reliance upon.

A creed will not save you, but reliance upon the Anointed Saviour is the way of salvation.

a. It was that type of faith when the Hebrews father in Egypt slew the lamb and caught the warm blood in the basin, then took a bunch of hyssop and dipped it in the blood and marked the two posts of his door, and then struck a red mark across the lintel.

b. Faith was shown to the Jews in another way. When a beast was offered in sacrifice for sin, the priest and sometimes the representatives of the tribes or the individual laid their hands upon the victim in token that they desired their sins to be transferred to it, that it might suffer for them as a type of the great substitute. Faith lays her hands on Jesus, desiring to receive the benefit of his substitutionary death.

c. A still more remarkable representation of faith was that of the healing look of the serpent-bitten Israelites. On the great standard in the midst of the camp Moses lifted up a serpent of brass; high overhead above all the tents this serpent gleamed in the sun, and whoever of all the dying host would but look to it was made to live. Looking was a very simple act, but it indicated that the person was obedient to God’s command.

d. To believe in Jesus is but to glance the eye of faith to him, to trust him with your soul. That poor woman who came behind our Saviour in the press offers us another figure of what faith is. She said, "If I may but touch the hem of his garment I shall be made whole." Taking no medicines, making no profession, and performing no ceremonies, she simply touched the hem of the Saviour’s robe, and she was healed at once.

II/ WHAT IS MEANT BY "Jesus is the Christ,"?

First, that he is the Prophet:

a. Do I this day believe that Jesus is the great Prophet anointed of God to reveal to me the way of salvation?

b. Do I accept him as my teacher and admit that he has the words of eternal life? If I so believe, I shall obey his gospel and possess eternal life.

c. Do I accept him to be henceforth the revealer of God to my soul, the

messenger of the covenant, the anointed prophet of the Most High?

Secondly, that he is the Priest;

a. Now, a Priest is ordained among men to offer sacrifices; Do I firmly believe that Jesus was ordained to offer his one sacrifice for the sins of mankind, by the offering of which sacrifice once for all he has finished the atonement and made complete expiation?

b. Do I accept his atonement as an atonement for me, and receive his death as an expiation upon which I rest my hope for forgiveness of all my transgressions?

c. Do I in fact believe Jesus to be the one sole, only propitiating Priest, and accept him to act as priest for me? If so, then I have in part believed that Jesus is the Anointed.