Faith in the Son of God
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: 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.
Concluding Remarks
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
My Understanding: In my quiet time with the Lord Jesus yesterday, the Lord taught me that the book of 1 John is primarily concerned with instructing us in how we can know that we are truly in Christ Jesus, and that he is in us. He revealed to me that it is critical that we examine the primary elements in the book that let us know what is required of us by God, in order for us to be found in him (in Christ), so that we can know and can be assured that we have eternal life. 1 John teaches us that the way we can know that we have certainly come to know Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives is if we do these things:
• We obey Christ’s commands
• We believe in the name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ
• We love one another, and we don’t hate anyone
• We walk in the light (truth) as he is in the light, not in darkness
• We repent of (turn from) sin – we do not continue in a sinful course
• We walk as Jesus walked, following his example in love and ministry
• We listen to (and remain in) the Word (we do what it says)
• We do not love the world (the cravings, lust and pride of sinful man)
• We do the will of God
Today’s lesson continues with these same kinds of thoughts concerning our relationship with Jesus Christ. Today’s passage begins by reminding us that everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, we cannot take that sentence and make a doctrine out of it. We have to look at the whole of 1 John, and the whole of the New Testament to truly understand what this means. First of all, to believe means much more than just an emotional decision that we make at an altar, or an intellectual assent we might make to who Jesus Christ was and is. Faith that is not faith in action, i.e. if it is not accompanied by what the Bible teaches faith is really all about, it is not true faith (Cf: the book of James). True faith puts feet to the confession. The ‘feet’ are described in the bullets above, in summary of the teachings of 1 John. This is what it truly means to believe in Jesus Christ.
Three that Testify
To believe that he is the Christ is to believe in his deity, i.e. that he is God. When he was on the face of the earth, he was fully God and fully man. Prior to coming to earth, he was God the Son in heaven, seated in power and authority. Yet, he willingly left his throne in heaven, humbled himself, was born into human flesh, suffered as we suffer, and was tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin. He did this so that he could become our faithful, compassionate, and merciful high priest (our mediator between us and God the Father), who sympathizes with us in our weaknesses. This, I believe, is what is meant by he came by water (physical birth as a man). Others attribute the water to his baptism.
Then, he was crucified on a cross for our sins. When he died, our sins died with him. When he was buried, our sins were buried with him. When he was resurrected back to life from the dead, our sins remained buried, as he conquered death, hell, Satan and sin so that we could go free from the ultimate penalty of sin (eternity in hell), and so we could be free from the daily control of sin over our lives. I believe this is what is meant by he came by blood, i.e. by his blood sacrifice for our sins on the cross.
There are three that testify about the Son of God: the Spirit, the water and the blood. I believe the Spirit testified concerning Jesus at Jesus’ baptism, Jesus’ miraculous physical birth also testifies to his deity, as well as his death for our sins and his resurrection testify as to who he was and is. “And this is the testimony: 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.” And, the way we “have” the Son is described throughout the book of 1 John, and is summarized in bullet form in this writing. We have the Son by God’s grace and through faith, which involves turning from our sin (repentance) and obedience to Christ’s commands, including the commands to love God and to love one another, as Christ loves us and laid down his life for us.
This is Love for God
“…everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” In chapter 2 of 1 John we learn that “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.” In chapter 3 we learn, “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” In chapter 4 we learn: “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Overcoming the World
In 1 John 2 we read: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” In today’s passage we learn that God’s commands are not burdensome, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” When we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, he indwells us with his Holy Spirit, and it is the Spirit of God who empowers us and gives us all that we need to overcome the world. We cannot overcome the world if we are one with the world in thought, word and deed. We need to come out from the world and be separate. Since the world is defined here as the cravings, lust and pride of sinful man, the only way we can overcome our sinful flesh is by God’s grace, through faith, and that faith involves turning from our sins and turning to walk in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ.
Ask, and You will Receive
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” James said that we don’t have because we don’t ask, or that when we do ask, we ask with the wrong motives, that we may spend what we get on our pleasures. John said here that if we ask according to God’s will, he hears us, and we have what we asked of him. So, the way we pray according to God’s will, and not according to our own selfish desires, is we must know God’s will by reading his word and by obeying what he teaches us. Then, we can pray according to his will, and have the confident assurance that he hears us, and that he will answer.
Do Not Continue to Sin
This is a repeated theme throughout the book of 1 John. True followers of Christ Jesus will turn from their sin and selfish lifestyles, and they will turn to walk in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ. This does not mean we will be sinless, but what it does mean is that we will not persist, persevere, keep at and live on in a sinful course, because we “know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.” Jesus will help us to not sin, because he conquered sin in his death and in his resurrection. We just have to appropriate to our lives what he already did for us on the cross. He died to set us free from the control of sin over our lives, so that we no longer have to obey its lusts and desires. We can say “No!” to Satan and to sin, and we can overcome the world, and we can walk in victory, if we choose to do so, by God’s grace.
If you claim to know God/Jesus, and yet you are still following a sinful course in your life, I pray you will take these words in 1 John to heart, and that you will turn from your sin today, and will choose to follow Jesus Christ and to obey his commands. I pray that you will keep yourselves from the idols of men, and that you will give yourselves wholeheartedly and unreservedly in pure devotion to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Time is running out! Give your all to Christ today, while you still have today.
Lord, Move Me / An Original Work / October 16, 2011
Be my desire, my heart set on fire,
Lord, move me to worship You only, I pray.
Fill with Your Spirit, my heart overflow.
Lord, may I long for You; Your word to know.
Teach me to walk with You, Lord, in Your power,
And may I serve You, Lord, right now in this hour.
Lord, how I want to obey You forever.
Help me to hear You, Lord, so I will not stray.
Teach me to love You; adore You always.
Envelope me, Lord, with Your grace today.
Meet me in my need, and show me Your mercy.
Forgive me for all things, as I humbly pray.
Counsel me, lead me, direct me, and guide me,
So I follow You, Lord, where’er You lead now.
I love to hear You speak Your words to me.
I am so grateful that You set me free.
Wash me, and cleanse me, and make me like You, Lord,
And I will live with You for eternity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-0kezkuEg
Reference: “How We Know”
http://christsfreeservant.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-we-know.html
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