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.
Thirdly, that he is the King of the church.
a. But he is also King, and if I desire to know whether I possess the right faith, I further must ask myself, "Is Jesus, who is now exalted in heaven, who once bled on the cross, is he King to me? Is his law my law?
b. Do I desire to submit myself entirely to his government?
c. Do I hate what he hates, and love what he loves?
d. Do I live to praise him?
e. Do I, as a loyal subject, desire to see his kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven?"
III. WHEREVER SUCH BELIEF EXISTS IT IS THE PROOF OF REBIRTH.
"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."
1. You are born again if you believe that Jesus is the Christ, if you are relying upon a crucified Saviour you are assuredly begotten again unto a lively hope. Mystery or no mystery, the new birth is yours if you are a believer.
2. Further, faith accepts the witness of God, and more, he that hath faith has the witness in himself to the truth of God. Read the tenth verse of the chapter: "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." It is not said, "He that does this or feels that," but "He that believeth hath the witness in himself," his heart bears witness to the truth of God. Has any unsaved man an experimental witness within?
4. The moment that the sinner’s trust in placed on the finished work of Jesus he is saved. Heaven and earth may pass away, but that man shall never perish. If only one second ago I trusted the Saviour I am safe; just as safe as the man who has believed in Jesus fifty years, and who has all the while walked uprightly.
5. I do not say that the new born convert is as happy, nor as useful, nor as holy, nor as ripe for heaven, but I do say that the words, "he that believeth on him hath everlasting life," is a truth with general bearings, and relates as much to the babe in faith as does to the man who has attained to fullness of stature in Jesus Christ.
IV. WE MUST LOVE IF WE ARE BEGOTTEN OF GOD
"and everyone that loveth him that begot loveth him also that is begotten of him. "
1. We are to do this because we are of the family. We believe, and therefore we have been begotten of God. Let us act as those who are of the divine family; let us count it our privilege we are received into the household.
2. We look around us and see many others who have believed in Jesus Christ; let us love them because they are of the same kindred. "But they are some of them unsound in doctrine, they make gross mistakes." We are not to love their faults, neither ought we to expect them to love ours, we are nevertheless to love their persons, for "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God," and therefore he is one of the family, and as we love the Father who begat we are to love all those who are begotten of him.
3. Are there many feeble among you? Comfort them. Are there any who want
instruction? Bring your knowledge to their help. Are there any in distress? Assist them. Are they backsliding? Restore them.
WE DEMONSTRATE GOD’S LOVE BY KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD (VERSES 2-3)
1 John 5:2-3 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
There is no greater conflict to young Christians than their relationship to the commandments of God.
(1) There are those who teach and believe that salvation comes from keeping the law. This is absolutely refuted in the scriptures (John 3 13 & 16-18; Galatians 2 16 & 21; Ephesians 2 8 & 9; etc).
(2) There are those who take this liberty (salvation by grace alone) as a license or occasion to disregard the commandments of God. This too is totally incorrect (I Corinthians 8 9-13).
(3) Believers demonstrate their love for God by obeying His commandments
(verse 2- 3a). See also Luke 6 46; John 14 15 and 23-24; I John 3 8-10.
(4) A believer’s obedience demonstrates to others that God’s commandments are not impossible, nor difficult to keep (verse 3). The commandments of God are impossible to keep in our own strength, but they become amazingly easy to keep through the grace of God.
(5) It is the wages of sin that are grievous (Proverbs 13:15 and 14:12; Acts 9:5 and Galatians 6:7-8).
WE DEMONSTRATE OUR VICTORY OVER THE WORLD BY OUR FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST (VERSES 4-5)
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
John plainly states that the believer overcomes the world. This statement doesn’ t seem to harmonize with the defeated lives of many of God s children. All around us are those who declare positively that they believe in Christ the Saviour, yet admit they are living defeated lives.
WHAT IS A DEFEATED LIFE?
a. A life without fruit. We are commanded by the Lord to bear fruit. Jesus said, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples" (John 15:8).
b. A life without power. If the power were present, the life would not be defeated. Jesus said, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me. . ." (Acts 1:8).
c. A life without a positive influence. The life of the victorious Christian points in one direction-toward the Lord. The defeated life has no positive influence.
d. A life dominated by the flesh. The Corinthians were defeated Christians. Paul called them "babes in Christ." They were carnal, not spiritual.
e. A life directed at times by Satan. Are you saying that a Christian’s life is never directed by the evil one? If so, you are speaking against the Word of God. Simon Peter said to Christians,
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. "-I Peter 5:8,9.
James also said, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). These and many other Scriptures show that the Devil is constantly after us. Some Christians succumb to his enticing words, and they are directed for a while by Satan.
f. A life dictated by the world. John tells us, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (I John 2:15). The apostle indicates the danger of loving the world; therefore, he warns the children of God against this love. In a much stronger way, James said, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4). The Apostle Paul, knowing the great danger of a Christian’s life dictated by the world, said, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" (II Cor. 6:14). And again, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you" (vs. 17). The defeated life is dominated by the world, the flesh and the Devil- three enemies who work for the constant defeat of a Christian. God wants you to be victorious! Satan wants you to be defeated! Your soul is beyond his reach, but you can still be touched through the world and his subtle suggestions.
But listen to John: "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (I John 5:4).
Who is born of God? Look at I John 5:1: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: Who overcomes the world? The one who is born of God. When you become a child of God, the victory begins. You are saved, eternally saved. All of the essentials for victory are in your possession. Plainly ,John tells us that no one can overcome the world save he who is born of the Spirit. Are you born of God? Then you are an overcomer. But how do we overcome? The answer-by faith. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."
By the same faith through which you were saved, you overcome the world. This victory is not accomplished all at one stroke. It is a lifelong business. We are to be overcomers day by day as we exercise our faith. Now here is a big verse that we need to remember-Romans 10:17, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." This was so in salvation. We had to hear the Word of God; we were convicted by the Holy Spirit, and we received Christ as Saviour. It is so in the life of conquest. If there is to be overcoming faith, then we must turn to the infallible Word of God.
WE DEMONSTRATE WE BELONG TO GOD THROUGH THE INTERNAL WITNESS THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD (Vs 6-10)
1 John 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
1. The acceptance and confession of one’s faith in the deity and redemptive work of Jesus Christ is a demonstration of one’s salvation (verse 6).
2. Verse 6 is perhaps the most difficult verse in all of the First Epistle of John to understand. However, it is one of the most important!
3. There have been many interpretations given for the words "water" and "blood". However, if you will remember the context of I John where he is addressing the Gnostic heresy (which is still around today), you can more easily understand this verse. The Gnostics denied the virgin birth and the sinless life of Jesus Christ. They believed that deity ascended upon Him at His baptism.
4. They also declared that His deity departed before He died on the cross. In that context, you can understand the profundity and the meaning when John declares that Jesus was deity at His birth (breaking of the water); that He was deity at His baptism; and He was deity when His blood was shed upon the cross of Calvary.
5. Furthermore, some of John’s opponents taught that Christ’s deity came at baptism, but denied that He came by blood (the death). This accounts for the Apostle’s emphatic assertion that Jesus came not only with the water, but with the water and the blood. It was inconceivable to the Gnostics that the divine Christ should suffer the pain and shame of Calvary. But to John, and to all believers, what happened at the cross is the heart of the gospel.
1 John 5:7-8 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit,
and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
1. The acceptance and acknowledgment of the Doctrine of the Trinity is a demonstration of one’s salvation (verses 7-8).
(a) God has revealed Himself to man in history in three distinct persons, as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1 and 1:26).
(b) These three are one (John 1:1).
(c) This trinity was demonstrated on earth (verse 8 and Matthew 3:13-17).
(d) This doctrine of the trinity was declared by the Apostles (Acts 7:55 and I Peter 1:2).
(e) This doctrine was declared in the early church (II Corinthians 13:14).
(f) This doctrine was to be perpetually declared in every baptismal service (Matthew 28:19-20).
1 John 5:9-10 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
We do believe the words of men (v. 9). To doubt or deny a person’s word would greatly offend that person.
How inconceivable that one would believe the words of men who can and do lie and not believe the Word of God who "cannot lie" (Titus 1:2).
If you believe on the Son of God and deny or doubt your Eternal Security, it means you do not believe the record (the Bible) that God grave of His Son and you call God a liar
(v. 10).
Furthermore, if you think or believe that God lied about Eternal Security, then how can you believe anything else God said?
If you do not believe this part of God’s Word then how can you know that any other portion of God’s Word is reliable.
I’M GLAD THAT I BELIEVE ALL OF GOD’S RECORD INCLUDING HIS RECORD OF ETERNAL SECURITY!
WE DEMONSTRATE THAT WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH FAITH IN GOD’S PROMISES
(VS 11-12)
1 John 5:11-12 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
1. What does the word "given" mean? (v. 11). The word "given" is an aorist tense verb. The aorist tense in the Greek refers to a completed action in the past tense with an abiding result in the present and future. A person is saved one time and that has an abiding and continuous result. If something is a gift, than it does not have to be worked for, earned, or bought. The Bible repeatedly stresses that salvation is "a gift of God" (Rom. 6:23, Eph. 2:8-9, Gal. 2:16-21, etc.).
You will find that those who deny Eternal Security believe in salvation by works. Multitudes believe in salvation by works alone. However, there are many who believe that the initial act of regeneration is by faith, but salvation is maintained by works. However, the Word of God makes it clear that salvation from start to finish is a gift of God that is received totally by "believing on the name of the Son of God" (v. 13).
2. What does the word "eternal" mean? (v. 11). This same Greek word is translated often "everlasting" and "world without end". Now, if you had never met a theologian and read the word "eternal" what would you think that meant? If I had something for two weeks and lost it would it be eternal? Suppose I had it for fifteen years and lost it, would it be eternal? Suppose I had it for a thousand years and lost it, would it be eternal?
3. What does the word "hath" mean? (v. 12). The Greek word here is a present tense participle which refers to continuous, unceasing activity. The Word of God makes it very plain the instant a person believes in Jesus Christ they become the recipient of eternal life. It is not something we will have in the future but we have in the present tense right now. No wonder Paul could write "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21). No wonder God says "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (II Cor. 5:8).
