March 17, 2019
Evening Service

This morning John gave us the “litmus” test for us to be able to “know” that we are on the right path. It comes down to the question of “are we doing what He asked us to do?”  In verse 3 John says: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”  Jesus told us that we display our love for Him as we keep His commands in the gospel of John 14:15.

Joh 14:15  "If you love Me, keep My commandments.

        Our motivation for following Jesus and keeping His commands must be our love for Him.  We prove or act out our love for Him by striving to keep His commands in our life to bring glory to Him.  In so doing we, through our faith, become overcomers in this world and can celebrate the certain victory of our promise of eternal life.  John finally makes his message simple to understand as he says: “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”  This is a scenario that we should know which side of the fence we stand on.  When we are following Jesus we know that we have life.  He is all we need.

            Starting with verse 13, John states the purpose for which he wrote this letter as well as he had stated it with the writing of his gospel message.  He wanted us to know we have eternal life through believing in Jesus Christ.

 

1Jn 5:13  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.

            John wrote this letter to build our faith and so that we can know that Jesus is the Son of God and through Him we have eternal life.  This is based on fact not feeling.  If you believe Jesus is the Son of God and have accepted His invitation to “Follow Me” we should have no doubts that eternal life, the Holy Spirit, and heaven are all in our possession.  John wrote to assure us again of this foundation of our faith and to make a reality in our day to day walk with Him that we can cling to.  He now closes this letter with four other realities of which the believers can be certain.

 

1Jn 5:14-15  Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  (15)  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

            The reality John is bringing out here is that we can have all confidence that our needs will be met through prayer.  “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”  A believer’s heart will belong to God and His prayers will be in harmony with the Lord’s will as He is prompted by the Holy Spirit.  What a comfort to know that we are not alone.  We can cry out to God in our times of need and times of plenty and He promises to hear us.  Prayer equals results.  We can ask anything from the One who gave His all for us as the Roman letter explains:

Rom 8:32  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

 

 

1Jn 5:16-17  If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.  (17)  All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

            The next reality that we can be certain of is that our prayers matter in the lives of others.  Here John says we can pray for a brother that has fallen into sin and our prayers will help to restore him to the faith.  The “sin which does not lead to death” could mean his physical death, but more likely means to his spiritual death.  John may have been speaking of those who had begun with them in the Lord’s church, but had left to follow one of the many false teachings he warned us of.  Here also in verse 17 is one of the 5 definitions of sin that we discussed a few weeks ago.  “All unrighteousness is sin.”  Anything that does not line up with living a righteous life of obedience to the commands of Christ is sin.  Again the point John makes is that we need to continue to pray for those who aren’t following the righteous path of God’s design but have taken a detour.  A mother never stops praying and neither should we.

 

 1Jn 5:18-19  We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.  (19)  We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

            The fourth reality John brings out as we close out this letter is our deliverance from the evil one.  We are the children of God and members of His family which no one can remove us.  Our hearts belong to Him and we are working to remove sin from our lives and be perfect in His sight.  When we sin we confess it and God forgives us (I Jn. 1:9).  Our enemy will continue to buffet us with trials and temptations, but he cannot remove us from the hand of our Lord.  Jesus said this as recorded in in John’s gospel:

Joh 10:27-28  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  (28)  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

When we have truly and willingly cast ourselves into the hand of God we are safe and secure as “neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”  This is a reality we should not use as a crutch to do whatever we want, but as motivation to live closer to the One who holds us.

 

1Jn 5:20-21  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may 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.  (21)  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

            The final reality John points out here is that we can have an understanding that His way is true.  God has created us to be able to understand and identify truth.  The Holy Spirit within us allows us to know the Son and know that all He says is true. 

Joh 8:31-32  Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  (32)  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Joh 14:6  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

            These statements of Jesus should build our faith that we are on the right path.  With the Holy Spirit to guide us we can follow Jesus along this journey of life and know that we are going the right direction.  He can be our GPS system that never has to “recalculate.”  As we prayerfully read and study God’s Holy Word, all the truth that we encounter will dove tail together into one grand plan that God has designed for those who love Him.  He has designed it so that we can understand what He is up to and be a tool in his tool belt to be used by Him to fulfill His purpose in the world.  We all play a part in the making of the kingdom of God.  We are all created for a purpose and God will use us if we yield ourselves to Him.  In that perspective lies true peace, joy and contentment.

 

Father thank You for these realities of serving You and help us to stand upon them in the midst of the many storms of life.