1 John 5:1-5 (Teaching)

[0:00] Good morning. Good morning. Today we get to start with the fifth and final chapter of the book of 1 John. Last week when we ended the fourth chapter of 1 John, the fifth chapter begins much like the fourth chapter ends.

[0:23] So it's kind of a continuation as far as how we would perceive it. I've said it before, but I will again remember that when this was originally written in Greek, there were no chapter divisions, there were no verse numbers, nothing along those lines.

[0:44] The continuation isn't in vain, it was all part of one big letter that John wrote to the recipients thereof.

[0:56] So while it may seem strange to us, when John wrote it, it wouldn't seem a bit strange to him. Certainly not to the people that received it, but last week when we were ending 1 John chapter 4, the last couple of verses talks about the love of God and how it's basically an impossibility for us to say that we love God, but to hate our brother.

[1:24] And I said the fifth chapter of 1 John begins along those same lines. And the last verse, verse 21 of 1 John chapter 4 says, in this commandment we have from him, that he who loved with God loved his brother also, and that gives us the segue into chapter 5 of 1 John.

[1:50] So the first verse of 1 John chapter 5 says, whosoever believed that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loved with him, that beget, loved with him also, that has begotten of him.

[2:04] And really and truly, if you back up to verse 20 in the fourth chapter, he's basically saying the same thing in this verse that he said in verses 20 and 21, really of chapter 4, but he says, whosoever believed that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and we addressed this in chapter 4, a few verses previous to this, where John writes basically the same thing, but when we addressed it a week or two ago, we used the analogy of, well Satan believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but I can promise you Satan has no part in heaven, or Satan is not born of God, he's certainly not born of God, he's quite the opposite, he's Antichrist, he's against Christ, he's against everything that is for Christ, he is instead of Christ, so whosoever believed that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loved with him, that beget, loved with him also, that has begotten of him.

[3:13] So in other words, John here is saying those that believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and we've addressed it before, but we'll do it again, how deep does that belief go?

[3:26] What exactly do we believe? Because anybody can come up to us and say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but what do they believe about Jesus Christ?

[3:37] Do they believe in the Jesus Christ that was born in Bethlehem to a virgin woman? If the answer is yes, that's great. Do they believe in the Jesus Christ that taught and preached in the area around Galilee, in all those towns and regions thereof?

[3:57] And do they believe in that Jesus Christ in the lot that he lived, that he lived a perfect and a sinless life, and if they say yes, that's wonderful. Do they believe in the Jesus Christ that was crucified, that shed his blood, that died for you and I, and died for the remission of sins, and if they say yes, that's great.

[4:16] Do they believe in the Jesus Christ that ascended, or that resurrected first? Do they believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ that he came back from the dead, that he was literally dead, and he was literally brought back to life by a collaborative effort?

[4:32] Really, of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and Scripture backs that up. Do they believe in this Christ that resurrected, and if they say yes, that's great. Do they believe in the ascended Christ, the one that's making an intercession for you and I, for all who believe, the one that is mediator between God and man, the one that sits at the right hand of the Father, the same Jesus Christ that Stephen saw as he was being stoned, and he saw him at the right hand of the Father.

[5:01] Do they believe in that Jesus Christ, and if they say yes, that's great, and that's fine, and that's well. But then we come to the Jesus Christ of the Book of Revelation, and that's the one that people don't want to believe in.

[5:16] That's the one that people have a hard time with. That's the one whose feet is his brass, which speaks of judgment, and his eyes are like fire. That's the one that says in Revelation 19, he doth judge and make war.

[5:30] Most people don't want to believe in that Jesus. They want to keep Jesus here on earth in some sense or another. They want to keep him as the meek and the lowly Jesus, not the Jesus that on his thigh was written a name, King of King, and Lord of Lords.

[5:47] They don't want to think about that Jesus, and they don't want to believe in that Jesus. If they don't believe in that Christ, they do not believe in the Christ of the Bible. They do not believe in the same Jesus that I do, because that's the Jesus that I serve.

[6:01] Jesus Christ, the one that's coming back to take me home one of these days, he's not going to come back in the form of a baby, and he's not going to come back in the form of a homeless man that depended on his friends to shelter him and to feed him, and he's not going to come back to be crucified yet again, and he's not going to come back for any of these things.

[6:23] He's coming back to claim his church, and he's coming back once and for all to put Satan in his place. He's coming back to be the promised seed that was to bruise the head of the serpent.

[6:34] That's the Savior that I worship. That's the Savior that I serve right now, because that's the Savior that he is right now. He's already been a baby. He's already been a man. He's already been crucified. He's already been resurrected, and he's already ascended, but he is coming back.

[6:51] We don't believe in that aspect of Jesus Christ. We don't believe the cross to that level. So when the statement is said, whosoever believe that Jesus is the cross is born of God.

[7:04] They have to believe every one of these facets of Jesus Christ that we just spoke of, that he is Messiah. He is the Son of God. Everyone believe that Jesus is the cross.

[7:15] This is the same statement that Peter made when Jesus said, whom say men that I am. Of course the apostles are like some say you're this one, some say you're that one.

[7:26] He said, but whom say ye that I am? Who do you say that I am? Peter said, thou art the cross, the Son of the living God, and he was recognizing Jesus as Messiah when he said that.

[7:40] He was recognizing him as the promised seed. He was recognizing him as the one that should be born in Bethlehem as the prophet Micah said. He was recognizing him as the one that's brought up throughout the Psalms and the one that's brought up in the book of Isaiah, the one that's mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, the one that's mentioned in the book of Daniel.

[8:01] No, not mentioned by name, but there was a promised Messiah and Peter was recognizing Christ, thou art the cross, the Son of the living God.

[8:12] Amen. Thank you. This is the Jesus that we must believe in. This is the Jesus that anyone, if they confess him as Christ, that's the cross that they must confess.

[8:23] Every aspect of him and everyone that loved with him that begat, well who's him that begat? That's God the Father. We have to be born of God, right? We have to be born out of the Spirit.

[8:38] And then you've got Romans chapter 8 says that if any had not the Spirit of Christ, where none of his, we have to be born out of God.

[8:49] Right? So in everyone that loved with him that begat, loved with him also that has begotten of him. I said he's saying the same thing that he said in chapter 4 and verse 20. He's just using different words to do so.

[9:06] And the begat would be God. Anyone that loves God, loved with him also that has begotten of him. In other words, we love our brothers. Now last week we talked about because verse 21 in chapter 4 says, and this commandment, have we from him that he who loved with God, loved his brother also?

[9:25] And John is specifying a brother or sister in Christ, those of locked faith, those that have been born again. He is specifying that there.

[9:37] We also know that the commandment given by Jesus Christ was to love God and to love your neighbor. It's to love God and love everyone around you.

[9:48] Love God and love everyone that we have contact with. Everyone that loved with him that begat, loved with him also that has begotten of him. In other words, I can't say that I love God just as we spoke up last week when we got to verse 20 in chapter 4. I can't say that I love God and hate a brother or sister in Christ.

[10:08] I can't do that. It's impossible the way that I'm reading it here. It's impossible to do that. Now, once again, last week we went over it. Are there brothers and sisters in Christ that are easier to love than others? Absolutely. Absolutely. But it doesn't mean that I don't love them.

[10:26] I don't care for them. I don't want to see them grow. I don't want to see them succeed in their Christian walk. I don't want to see them grow in their Christian walk.

[10:37] I don't see everybody grow in their Christian walk. I want to see everybody grow closer to God. Everyone that's born again, everyone that has a locked faith, locked mind. I want to see this in them. So everyone that loved with him that begat, loved with God, loved with him also that has begotten of him.

[10:58] Verse 2, by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. By this we know that we love the children of God. Notice here in verse 2 of chapter 5 of 1 John.

[11:12] He doesn't say, by this we know that we are children of God. He says, by this we know that we love the children of God. When we love God and keep his commandments. Well, how so? It's impossible to love God and not loving brother. It's impossible.

[11:34] Those two are intertwined. The Bible says in fact right here in 1 John we read it a few weeks back when we were going through this book. It says, we shall know we have passed from death into life and calls. We love the brethren.

[11:47] Because if y'all were anything like me, you hated the church before you would say it. You hated the things of God. You hated gospel music. You hated people to talk about the Bible. You hated people to talk about salvation. And you certainly hated people to talk about your sin.

[12:04] I think no different now than we're saved. We still hate people to talk about our dead sins that we all have. But that's a whole other lesson. By this we know that we love the children of God. That we love brothers and sisters in Christ. By this we know this.

[12:19] He says, when we love God and keep his commandments. This kind of sorter goes right along with what's written in the book of Ecclesiastes. I said just two, three weeks ago that you can take the book of Ecclesiastes and take it way out of context.

[12:37] Go way out left field with it and you can justify any sin that you can dream of by using the book of Ecclesiastes until you get to Ecclesiastes chapter 12.

[12:48] And you see where Solomon writes, this is the conclusion of the whole matter. To fear God and to obey his commandments. That was this conclusion of the entire matter. So anything you read in the book of Ecclesiastes, you have to remember that next to last verse in chapter 12.

[13:06] Because anything you read in there, I said taking out of context you can justify any sin that you want to until you get to that. The conclusion of the whole matter is to fear God and to keep his commandments. John here writes about this.

[13:18] We know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. So this is how we know that we love the children of God, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Because we love God and we keep his commandments.

[13:32] Therefore it's going to come natural to us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Folks, when I was born again, I was born again. I was made new. I was a new creature in Christ just as the Bible describes that we become when we're born again.

[13:45] And if we're a new creature in Christ, we're imparted a new nature and that new nature is of God. And in his God's nature that he imparts to us, yes, we still war with sin. Yes, we still war with the flesh.

[13:58] Now I understand all these things, but nevertheless we're imparted a new nature and part of that new nature is to love my brothers and to love my sisters. The Bible says that God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son.

[14:13] And if God so loved the world and he is imparted his nature, his good nature, to me, I am to love the world. Not just my brothers and sisters in Christ, but I am to love the world just as God.

[14:25] For this is the love of God. Verse 3. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous.

[14:41] This is the love of God. If you have a hard time understanding, and I have a difficult time with this sometimes too, understanding how keeping God's law is an expression of love.

[14:58] Read through Psalm 119 sometime. Read through Psalm 119. There's 176 verses to that Psalm. I talked about Psalm 119 one time. But every few verses you read something about someone delighting in the law of God and delighting in the judgments of God and the statutes of God.

[15:23] Why would they delight in that? Folks, once again, fast forward to the New Testament time. If we are born again and we've gotten the nature of God, the healing, to us, if we have a new nature about us, that will be our first desire is to please God.

[15:42] If he is our first love, it will be our first desire to please him. John adds this little line at the end of this verse here, says, and his commandments are not grievous.

[15:55] That's how the world views the commandments of God. That's not how church people, that's not how saved people, and warning in people should view the commandments of God. We don't keep the commandments to keep salvation. We don't keep the commandments to be saved.

[16:10] We keep the commandments because God has spoken those commandments and that's what God expects of his people and we keep them to please him. I've already been saved, but I want to keep his commandments and I want to delight in his commandments and in his statutes and in his judgments and in his law because that's what delights him.

[16:30] Think of your relationships. Think of your relationships for just a moment, whether it's husband, wife, wife and husband, son, daughter, father, mother, whatever the case is.

[16:46] But the best example is of a husband and a wife. If I go home and I box missy around, first of all, I wouldn't get away with it.

[17:03] I wouldn't get away with it for long, I promise you. She'd call me out. And rightfully so, rightfully so. I mean, I'm a born-again husband. She's a born-again wife. A born-again husband shouldn't belittle his wife, shouldn't berate his wife, shouldn't talk down to his wife.

[17:22] But at the same time, Peter writes, wives be in subjection to your husbands. Now, a lost man will hear that and he'll say, well, the Bible says you're to do what I say.

[17:39] And really and truly, that's what it does say. But a lost man is the one that will belittle and berate his wife. A saved man's not going to go in there, not going to walk into a room or walk in from work or walk into the house, whatever the case is.

[17:58] And especially out in public, my goodness. You all ever seen people do that? They'll sit there and they'll talk to their wife like they're a dog out in public. And the flesh in me wants to creep up when I see that.

[18:10] And I want to go grab people by the collar and sling them against the wall. And we won't even get into the hands of that. But I want to be very worldly when I witness that.

[18:24] But if a saved man treats his wife like a saved man should, loves his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, as Paul did, if he loves her like that, she'll have no problem being in subjection to him.

[18:42] Folks, that's how God loves us. And we should have no problem being in subjection to his laws and to his commandments. I said Wednesday night while I was teaching the third chapter of the Vitechus, I said then God loves us with the same love that he loves Christ.

[19:02] And if that's the case, if he loves us with that kind of love and he does, I mean my goodness, was it, was it, say Romans 8 says we're heirs to God and we're joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

[19:15] I am a literal son of God. Yes, I'm adopted and yes, I'm grafted in. But I have the same benefits as the actual only begotten Son of God.

[19:26] He loves me with the same love. I'm not saying I can be savior of the world. That's not what I'm saying. Only Christ, it was and is able to do that. But I stand to inherit it all with Christ.

[19:39] I stand to have it all with Christ. I stand to reign with Christ according to what I read in Scripture. And if God loves me with that kind of love, I should have no problem being in subjection to his laws.

[19:54] I shouldn't look at his laws and say, well, it's just hard to do that. It's hard to keep that. Yes, it's hard to keep it. None of us could do it. That's why Christ had to come and die for you and die for me because we couldn't keep it.

[20:08] But that's no excuse to continue in it. Paul said, should sin abound the grace, me looks more abound. God forbid. No, that's not how we should look at sin.

[20:20] No, that's not how we should look at grace. That's a direct abuse of grace. That's an abuse of the grace that God has given you and given me. And an abuse of the mercy he's shown us and the forgiveness that he's given us.

[20:33] When we say, well, I should just send up this worship. God can dump more grace. That's an abuse of the grace of God. But this is the love of God that we keep His commandments.

[20:44] And His commandments are not grievous. His commandments, what he expects of his children, they're not grievous. And they should be. They should thrill us to keep the commandments of God.

[20:56] Why? First of all, because God saved you from the unworthy soul. And He saved mine from the unworthy soul. And if that's what makes him happy, we should go out of our way to do that. Same way with the husband and wife or whatever the case is.

[21:10] If something makes them happy and it's not illegal, it's not immoral, something along those lines. And if we're saved, it won't be those things. But if it makes them happy, we should delight in doing it for them.

[21:24] And we all struggle with things like that. We all do. Why? Because we have pride. We have pride in ourselves. Even with God, even with God, we struggle with it.

[21:37] I don't want to do that. I don't want to keep this. And I don't want to keep that. And I just, I feel like living a little bit loose today. Folks, that shouldn't be our attitude. They may say, just go out and blatant sin, or that's what you're thinking of.

[21:51] I'm saying it should thrill us to know in to keep the commandments of God. They are not grievous. The commandments of God are not grievous. Verse four, for whatsoever is born of God, over cometh the world.

[22:07] And this is the victory that over cometh the world, even our faith. What is born of God? I am. If you're sitting here saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, you are.

[22:21] Whatsoever is born of God, over cometh the world. I want you to notice something I know, we concentrate a lot in Sunday school, on tenses, and English grammar.

[22:32] It's important. It's important to really understand a verse of scripture that you pay attention to. I try not to turn it into an English lesson, but it is important. He says, for whatsoever is born of God, over cometh the world.

[22:46] That word whatsoever in the Greek is singular, just like it is in our English translation. We could make it plural if we wanted to, but it's singular. So what is John talking about there?

[22:59] He's talking about the church. The church is a whole. The church has the bride of Christ, not a bunch of brides of Christ. The church has the body of Jesus Christ, not a bunch of bodies.

[23:13] So whatsoever it's singular. Whatsoever is born of God, over cometh the world. The church will overcome the world because the church is all that is born of God.

[23:29] I understand God made everybody. And there's a lot of people that latch on to that fact. They say, well, God made me, I'm his. I'm his son.

[23:40] I'm his daughter. That's not the case, not if you ain't been grafted in, not if you ain't been saved, not if you ain't been born again. Yes, you're still his creature. And yes, he still has complete and total control and dominion over the lost world.

[23:54] But whatsoever is born of God, the church, that's what overcomes the world. And this is the victory that over cometh the world, even our faith.

[24:07] It's as simple as that. There's no lines to read between. There's no gray area there at all. He says, this is the victory that over cometh the world, even our faith.

[24:19] Our faith in what? That's what we spent the first, biggest part of this lesson covering. Faith in what? The Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one that was promised, the one that came, and the one that's coming back again one day.

[24:37] Our faith in Him, that is what overcomes the world. And that is what gives us victory. And this is the victory that over cometh the world, even our faith. Some people don't know this.

[24:49] I'll just throw it in there as a little side marker that word victory in Greek. We all know it. It's a word called naki. And it's spelled the exact same way that your shoes are spelled.

[25:01] And it's pronounced the same way that your shoes are spelled. That's the Greek version of that. The Roman version of that is victoria. Victoria was the Greek, or the Roman goddess of victory and of speed.

[25:17] That's why sometimes when you see paintings of victoria, the Roman goddess, you see wings on her. That's why, well, there's several other, several other things that you won't get into.

[25:29] That's just a little side note that the Greek word for victory is naki. This is how we, this is the victory. It's not how we obtain the victory.

[25:42] Only Christ could obtain the victory, and He did. And the victory is still His. They say, and this is the victory that over cometh the world, even our faith.

[25:56] Our faith in Christ. Christ has overcome, but the victory in our own lives, the victory to us personally. Is in Christ, and it's in our faith in Christ that He has obtained that victory.

[26:10] Folks, when He died, when He died, that was a victory for sinners. It was. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.

[26:22] His blood was shed, but I can promise you, had Christ not come up out of that grave, you and I would still be here in our sin. If He had not resurrected, I don't care how much blood He shed, had He not resurrected, He would not have been the Messiah that He said that He was.

[26:40] He would not have been the Messiah that the Scripture says that He was, had He not resurrected, but He did resurrect. He did overcome death hell in the grave, and He did ascend to the Father, and He is mediating, and He is intercessing for me and on my behalf.

[26:58] This is the Christ that I have my faith in. This is the Christ that we have victory in. This is the victory that's promised to us. The victory belongs to Christ.

[27:10] Folks, if we're heirs to God and join the heirs of Jesus Christ, just like I quoted a little while ago from Romans 8, if we are those things, we have, then we stand to inherit everything that is Christ, including the victory that He won, including that His victory is our victory, because we have faith in Him, and only because we have faith in Him.

[27:36] Verse 5, who is he that overcomes the world, that he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Question mark. He's asking a question there.

[27:49] Who is he that overcomes the world, that he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God? We began with this statement in verse 1, and we end basically with this same statement about Jesus being the Son of God.

[28:06] Who is he that overcomes the world? But he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Question mark. It's not a statement. He's asking. And why is that? If you go back to the first chapter of 1 John, we talked about how false teachers had infiltrated the churches at this time.

[28:25] That John was writing this letter, and how the false teachers were coming in. They were teaching heresies. They were teaching all kinds of things. The Stoics were around at this time.

[28:38] And of course the Jews were coming in saying, Jesus Christ is great and fine and well, and I'm glad that you believe in Him, but you also have to do this. There's all kinds of things just like it is nowadays.

[28:50] There's people that say, Jesus Christ is great and wonderful, but we also have to do this. No, Jesus Christ said himself, he that believes, only believes what Jesus Christ said.

[29:03] He that believes in me hath everlasting life. How much more simple can it be? But we want to complicate it. So he says again in verse 5, who is he that overcame with the world, the he that believeth, that Jesus is the Son of God.

[29:20] But once again, this believing, and again we'll go into tenses, this is perfect tense, that word believeth. Perfect tense means it's continual, it's perpetual, it's unending.

[29:34] He that believeth, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's who overcomes the world. That's who overcomes Satan, but not because that power is just us.

[29:49] It's because of who is in us. We read in 1 John a few weeks ago, the greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. That's what's great about us, and that's what's powerful about us, and that's what's strong about us, is he that is within us.

[30:04] The Holy Spirit is within us, which is Jesus Christ. In the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Father, the Son, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, it's all wrapped up in one triune God. If the Spirit of God is in me, God the Father is in me, and God the Son is also in me, you cannot separate them.

[30:22] It's impossible to separate them. How can I say that? Because the Spirit will never contradict the Father or the Son. The Son will never contradict the Father or the Spirit.

[30:33] The Father will never contradict the Spirit or the Son. They're in constant agreement with one another. And it is because of this, who is he that overcomes the world, he that believeeth that Jesus is the Son of God.

[30:48] That's who overcomes the world, and no one but that can overcome the world. We've got lost people out here that feel like they've overcome the world. I don't know how y'all were, but when I moved out, my house, the night I graduated high school, I thought I was going to take over the world.

[31:09] I thought I was going to go out there, I was going to grab the world by its tail, I was going to sling it down the ground, saddle it up, ride it around. The world turned around and left a tan grin on my face.

[31:21] And many of y'all probably had that same experience with yourselves. I thought I was going to overcome the world myself. I'm the one again child of God that is because of Christ, that I can say I'm overcoming the world.

[31:37] Because Christ overcame the world, Christ overcame sin, Christ overcame death, Christ overcame these things. And his victory is my victory. But outside of him, like I was when I was 18, I wasn't saved when I was 18.

[31:51] Outside of him, I don't stand a chance against the world. I don't stand a chance against demons and Satan. And only within me, I don't stand a chance against any of those things.

[32:04] But with Christ on the inside, with the Spirit of God with me, I have overcome the world. I've already overcame because he has overcame the world. So we didn't get very far in the first go in chapter 5, but that's okay.

[32:18] We ran out of time and I certainly don't want to get into verse 6. Anybody got any questions or comments?