Thursday Night Study (I John 5:1-13)

I John 5:1-13

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“Loving God” •  5.21.20  •  Calvary Christian Fellowship, Thursday Night Study (Covid-19 #14)

Intro.

- The book of First John is one of the most direct books in the New Testament. Even with it's compact structure, the book has been definitive in it's character and unwavering in it's convictions.

- As John draws his epistle to a close, he does, in his own inimitable fashion, what most of the other Bible writers do.

- Having grounded our minds in what we are to believe, he now guides our hearts toward how we should behave! He answers our questions regarding the implication of what he has taught us.

- In John's mind, life boils down to two commands: Love God and love your brother! That is how he divides this final chapter, which we will take in it's two parts.

- What does it mean for us to love God? How does He receive that love? How can we express it toward Him? Prayerfully, we'll have a better idea as progress. Verse 1.

Text

• I John 5:1-5 : "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him." : Look at this first section as a whole and mark the definition.

- Does this not perfectly summarize the Apostle John's way of communicating with his dearly loved children in Ephesus?

- Verse 1. "Whoever believes." Verse 2. "By this we know." Verse 3. "For this is." Verse 4. "Whatever is born of God." Verse 5. "Who is He who overcomes."

- This reminds me of the finale of a fireworks show! John releases one missive after another, making his final case as airtight as possible! John begins where you should: At the beginning.

- This is where a Christian's life begins: Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God! Don't discount the word "believes." This is a current state of believing and trusting.

- This is not agreement alone, though agreement is involved. This is complete trust, to the point of altering previous points of trust!

- Whoever is believing that Jesus is the Messiah has been brought forth out of God! We have been regenerated, born again as a result of our belief in God's Messiah, Jesus!

- For those of you that would like a refresher course in what it means to be born again, please consult the message that we did in John 3.

- While we don't have time to re-examine that entire section, I will say that John has seen fit to make this remark again, to let us know that there is a quality of life that is bestowed upon believers.

- We have in us a different kind of life, one that is given to us by God. In reality, it is God's life lived through us! This cannot be understated.

- Christian life is not a matter for imitation. It's a matter for inhabitation! God, by His Spirit, inhabits the person who has believed upon Jesus Christ. Haven't you heard this already?

- Listen: John doesn't care what you think you have heard! He wants you and I to be clear that there is no Christian life that is possible without this fundamental exchange having taken place!

- You must be born again! You must be begotten of the Father. That relationship between us and Him will issue in a natural love, as one naturally loves their Father.

- Everyone loves Him who begot, the Father, also loves him who is begotten of Him? Who is John referring to? We could say that John is referring to Christ, as He is the only begotten!

- This would be true. The Father and the Son are inseparable. The Godhead is united as One! Loving one is to necessarily be loving toward the other. This is true but not what John is referring to.

- He is offering his summation of all of Christian life! If you love God, the one who has brought you to life, you will also love those that He has brought to life!

- Loving God and loving our brothers proves to the world that we belong to Him. This assures our hearts that we are genuinely born again. That knowledge is vitally important to know. Verse 2.

• I John 5:2-4 : "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 burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. " : John isn't content with leaving a person with guesswork regarding their relationship with God. By this we know. We have experiential knowledge.

- This love is the kind of love that God exhibits. It operates in us. It doesn't wait to express itself, nor does it limit itself to it's own preferences. It acts toward's it's object's best interest.

- Seeing that this love is necessary in us toward God's kids to prove our relationship to God, it's vital that we know that we are loving them. So how can we know?

- We are loving our fellow brothers and sisters when we are loving God and keeping His commandments! The best thing that I can do for you is to be as close to Jesus as possible!

- Who hasn't lived in a home or been a part of a "family" where one person's sin hasn't affected the rest of the members? How much better is that family when all are living righteously!

- When I am living in that way, it alleviates your stress and helps you to align yourselves toward the same goals. When things are going that way in your life, that's the ticket to joy in mine!

- How many times have you watched a person or group of people fall into sin? How grievous is that to you, even if you are not personally involved!

- Certainly, to fall into sin, or to slacken your pace in the things of God hurts you first.

  - God is not affected by your sin, but you relationship with Him is unneccessarily strained, perhaps even broken. The people it really hurts are the members of your family in Christ!

- So, for the love of the brethren and I'd encourage you to name their names: Love the Lord and keep His commandments! That is what it means to love God!

- There is no uncertainty in John's mind. This is the proof that you love anything: You conform to the standards that allow you to remain in that relationship!

- God's commands are the standards by which He has relationship with His people. It is His house and He, like any householder, has rules.

- Every single one of God's commands are meant to give the Christian a life that is full of joy, peace and wisdom. God wants you to live free and fearless lives. That's what His commands issue in!

- A Christian's life is running as intended, at it's peak efficiency when this is the case. For a person living in that reality, they will find that their lives are smooth and unburdened. Why?

- Because the commandments of the Lord for a Christian, are not burdensome. The KJV calls them "grievous." The word refers to weight, as in a load to bear!

- This isn't suprising to anyone who has ever been in love! When you finally find someone that you love, you are happy to change your whole way of life to accomodate that person!

- Who hasn't lost weight, cut their hair, changed their wardrobe, stopped watching certain things or began watching certain things for the sake of love? Nobody in this condition objects.

- When I think about this passage, I'm reminded of Jacob's experience with his Uncle Laban, who offered his daughter Rachel in exchange for seven years of labor.

• Genesis 29:20 : "So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her."

- For a person who loves the Lord, whatever God commands us to do, we are happy to carry! It isn't heavy at all! This was the Lord's word to His disciples.

• Matthew 11:28-30 : "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." : If you are questioning the veracity of this word, think of what it is like to live in the slavery of the world! Think of what a hard life you had without God!

- As difficult as our walk with the Lord is, it's nothing compared with what we were without Him! Let us always remember that. His presence in us has caused us prevail over this World!

- We have not been conquered by the world, but have, by virtue of the new birth, overcome it. The world has holds no true influence over us as we walk with Him!

- Our faith in Christ has brought us this victory. John continues in verse 5.

• I John 5:5 : "Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" : We have victory over the world because of where we have placed our faith! It begs the question: Have you overcome the world? Have you believed upon Jesus?

- Notice the way that Jesus is described here. Earlier, in verse 1, John calls Jesus the Messiah, the Hebrew concept for the Greek word "Christ." Here, John calls Jesus the Son of God!

- The conclusion is that to believe in Jesus is to believe in the Messiah, who is the Son of God!

- The Messiah refers to His mission, Son of God refers to His position. This is a direct knock to the Gnostics, whose teaching denied these aspects.

- They would claim that Jesus could not have been fully human, because matter was evil. Nor could He have been God, because God cannot die!

- The truth is that our sin could not have been settled without God Himself taking on a representative human body. That's the testimony of scripture. That is where we have placed our faith!

- We are not ones who have the luxury of redefining who Jesus says that He is. We are in the position of accepting that as truth or rejecting it. Is our faith unreasonable? Not at all! Verse 6.

• I John 5:6 : "This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth." : It is almost universally agreed that this is the most difficult part of this epistle. Before we look at the particulars, take note of the general purpose for it.

- John is speaking of Jesus, whose ministry was attested to by every witness that mattered. Our faith is in an object that is properly attested to and that none can deny without denying reality!

- The difficulty begins with what John means to communicate by using the symbols of water and blood. The NLT represents one of the views with it's translation of verse 6.

• I John 5:6 (NLT) : "And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony."

- Does water refer to baptism? That is when the Lord's public ministry began, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove and when God declared Him to be His well pleasing Son!

- Those who espouse this argument believe that this is what water and blood refer to, the beginning and the end of Christ's earthly ministry respectively.

- Others will pose that the water and blood speak of the Lord's natural, physical birth, while the blood speaks of His physical death.

- From birth to death, Jesus was the human being attested to by God as being His Son. He was God's well pleasing Son at the beginning and at the very end!

- Still, the final major view sees the water and blood as the effects of the Lord's physical death, when water was mixed with blood by the hand of the Roman guard!

- Whichever interpretation you take, it is the Holy Spirit who testifies to these things. Whatever John is referring to, the Spirit of truth gave testimony toward it's veracity.

- All of what is believed to be the interpretation is actually true! Jesus did appear on earth via a human, virgin conception. He was baptized by John and water mixed with blood at His cross!

- All three views honor the point that Jesus was a verifiable human being who had taken on human flesh and died a human's death.

- Because John knows that the Ephesians knew how to interpret this, he doesn't add any further comment and it is wise to leave such things as they are.

- He continues to lay out a basis for our belief, this time from the vantage point of heaven! V.7.

• I John 5:7,8 : "For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one." : Consider what John has just said. The Spirit bears witness and He is our connection to heaven, where all three bear witness! The Holy Spirit is not an independent agent.

- The Holy Spirit is another helper, in the words of Jesus. (John 16:16) When Jesus was walking on planet earth, He confined Himself to representing the Father.

- The Holy Spirit interacts with the believing community in the same way. If He testifies that our faith in Christ is true, understand that all three members of the Godhead are in agreement!

- The Father, the Word, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. John says to us, "these three are One!" The word "trinity" is not employed, but here again, the concept is clearly spelled out!

- Jesus, the Word, belongs in the same sentence as God the Father and the Holy Spirit! Can you see the argumentation? Jesus is fully human by virtue of birth and death, water and blood.

- Heaven adds in it's witness of Christ as the Father, the Word and the Spirit agree!

- Now, at this point, it falls on me to add some confusion to this clarity. Some of you will find that verse 7 is not in your Bible. It is only found within the text of the NKJV.

- In order to understand why it is not in a non-KJV text, I have to share a little bit of a story. The Bible we have today is based upon copies of copies from original manuscripts.

- There are over 5,000 copies in existence, held is various museums across the planet. Some are older, some are later in date. The KJV and the NKJV are based upon a certain family of texts.

- These are called the "Majority Text," which is also called the "Textus Receptus." In those manuscripts, verse 7 is found in the margins, which may or may not be a scribal inclusion.

- It may be that a scribe placed this thought into margins of a manuscript and another scribe thought that it should be included here in the text.

- In the meantime, in many of the later editions, verse 7 isn't anywhere to be found. These families of texts are called the "Critical Text," which to my understanding, involves two text families.

- Codex Sinaiaticus and Codex Vaticanus are both used as the basis for the NASB and ESV.

- There is far more to say about this, but you may want me to skip to the part that matters to you: "Why does this matter to me?" It matters for two reasons.

- First, let's say that you use this verse in a debate with a Jehovah's witness or a Mormon. They are waiting for you to do so, because of the critical disagreement that is unresolved.

- If you were not aware of this, it might blindside you and make you wonder whether or not you can trust your Bible! This brings me to point two.

- The amount of "scribal error" in the Bible is remarkably low and are NEVER responsible for any part of key doctrinal portions of the Bible. These are peripheral "errors."

- Even here, this verse is wonderful if it's legitimate, but it doesn't move the needle one way or the other if it is not! The Trinity is a well documented, Biblical concept.

- One final note: Do I believe that it belongs? I'll tell you that the people that I trust are divided equally on the subject.

- One man believes that early church history affirms repetition of this material, as far north as Africa and as early as 800 A.D.

- Another man believes it is not John who wrote this, but a scribe who in some fit of praise, added this note to the margins. I am neutral. But, even without that, remember the three witnesses.

- There are three on earth: The Spirit, who represents the Trinity, the water, Christ's entry into human existence and the blood, Christ's death for human sin. These agree as if they were one!

- What if verse 7 belongs there and is legitimate? What would that mean? It would mean what it actually means: Heaven and earth agree that Jesus is who He said He was! Verse 9.

• I 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 has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son." : In our world, the preponderance of evidence is enough to convict or exonerate a person. Witnesses with expertise in a given field, can help to establish truth claims upon this Earth.

- Since we allow that as a valid approach to determining truth, how much more valid is it for us to have the witness of God? Without question, His witness is greater!

- His character is Holy and righteous. His understanding is beyond measure. His ability to accurately relay truth is unparalleled!

- If God was called to the witness stand to affirm or deny something, what could He swear by that is greater than Himself and what could cause Him not to be faithful to Himself!?

- With that as our background, what is it that He has testified of His Son Jesus Christ?

- The tense of the verb should cause it to read, "this is what He has and is always testifying of His Son." This will forever be the truth about Jesus. There will be no variation, addition or subtraction.

- This has been and will always be the account from the Father's proverbial lips to all of humanity! His testimony has been for men to believe upon His Son!

- Any person who has come to trust in Jesus Christ has a copy of that testimony within them. They have a living will that operates in their lives. They have believed it and have come to life.

- Those that will not believe are making God out to be a liar! The NLT translates this verse, saying that those who do not believe, "are actually calling God a liar!" These are the stakes!

- When people wonder about the length and severity of eternal conscious punishment, they attempt to view it in light of their own short lives.

- "How fair is it for God to punish men eternally for an insult against Him that only lasted at most, a century?" The issue isn't what they deserve. The issue is who has been offended!

- If you insult your neighbor, you will lose your privileges to enjoy neighborly benefits. If you insult your Mayor, you may lose far more. Think of how that goes as you go up the chain!

- If the eternal God is insulted, what might you expect in return!? Is it not the time to re-evaluate your position regarding Jesus Christ? John continues this train of thought in verse 11.

• I John 5:11-13 : "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." : Here is what you need to know. This is the the official record that God has left this planet with.

- God has given us eternal life! He has granted us the very same life that He experiences, both in quality and in quantity! It is a righteous, God-approved life and it is unending!

- Please make sure that you understand the very next phrase: "This life is in HIs Son." The only access to this life is through Jesus! There is no other point of entry!

- Hear the testimony of God in this respect: If you have the Son, you have life. You have it now, sealed, guaranteed by the Holy Spirit's presence.

- If you do not have the Son, you do not have life! It doesn't say that you "CANNOT" have life or that you "WILL NOT" have life. It says that you do not have it without Jesus Christ!

- If there is any question in one's mind of any significance, it is this one, according to John.

- "Do you have the Son?" Is the Son the center of your life? Are you willing to turn away from your sins and turn away from your claims of righteousness to embrace Him?

- Your eternal destiny rests on how you answer this question! It is so vital, that John has produced 26 chapters worth of material to convince you! This is why he has written these things!

- He wants those that have believed to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that they have, right now, presently, the gift of God's eternal life!

- We don't need an upgrade. We don't need to exchange what we have for some alternative. We already possess eternal life!

- Every other religion is banking upon doing or being enough to earn themselves a trip to heaven, but they will never know until they die and that is a terrible time to find out!

- Christians never have to guess or wonder or wish to have eternal life. John will not be satisfied and you should not rest until you KNOW this for a fact!

- Connected to that reality is the importance of continuing to believe in the Name of the Son of God. Literally, that you would "be believing" in the Name of the Son of God!

- Your confidence in having life is directly related to your continued confidence in the Son that secured that life for you! John will not be coy or ambiguous on this point!

- We have believed upon Christ and Christians continue to believe upon Christ, even up to their own last breath! We live from faith to faith!

Conclusion
- How simple is this: If you are a believer, you will love God by loving His people, loving His word and trusting in His testimony regarding His Son Jesus Christ, the Messiah!

- Do you say that you love Him? May that definition be weighed against this, in order that you might know whether or not your claim is true!

- His claims are truth: If you have the Son, you have life! May it be that you do!