1 John 5:13These 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.

Gnosticism in the church

One of the reasons John wrote the letter is because he was confronting in his time a rather confusing heresy that later history has called Gnosticism.

Gnostics said “What is material is bad; what is spiritual is good,” by definition. They believed Jesus was born by natural conception, whether legitimately or illegitimately. Then the Christ (or the Son or the God-person) came upon Jesus at his baptism and thus revealed something of God and his truth by his teaching during the days of Jesus’ ministry.

Then, when Jesus was finally hung on the cross, this Christ or this spirit entity left him. That’s why Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, salvation, in this view, doesn’t finally depend on an atonement, on a sacrifice, on a God-man dying for us.

The roots of that philosophy were centuries earlier, but they had spread throughout the Roman world. He appeared to be a man so he could give us his message, but he wasn’t a real human being.

John’s 2:22: “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist.” Chapter 4,;2: “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”

Throughout the letter, John’s words are carefully chosen. “Jesus Christ … has come … in the flesh …” The whole thing. It’s not that Christ clothed himself in flesh for a short while and then left. “This is the spirit of the antichrist: the one that denies that this Jesus Christ in the flesh is from God.

2 John 1:9. “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

One of the things that transpired in the wake of this movement was a certain arrogance and coldness a spiritual haughtiness, that eventually had this whole group moving out from the church. It finally set up its own camp, its own little religion.

The disputes about who Christ is have to do with God’s means of providing us with salvation. They have to do, ultimately, with whether or not we may have eternal life. Here, is the object of Christian faith. It turns on a space-time revelation by God himself, complete with explanatory words.

What are These Things?

1 John 5:13These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.

John certainly envisages it as possible to believe in the name of Jesus Christ and yet not have adequate assurance. Otherwise, why should he write these things in order that you should have adequate assurance?

How did you loose your assurance? We must ask this question.

Well, when did you start losing this confidence that you had in Christ?

Are you still praying?

Are you hiding something big from the Lord and from other Christians?

Well I do have this major sin in my life, will that hurt my assurance?

You see, the reasons for doubt may be many. It does not mean that it is right, but it is a fact, so we must deal with it.

Some things that are very clear in the matter of assurance.

1John 1:6If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

In the Bible, light, as applied to God, commonly refers to two things.

First, God’s self-disclosure, his revelation. He shows himself and reveals himself to man.

Secondly, his purity, his integrity, his holiness. You can make all the claims of being spiritual, but if it has no bearing on your ethical life, you are not walking in the light.

1John 2: 3: “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.”

John gives us three test that can help assess our eternal state.

Those who talk and those who perform,
Those who love the world and those who love the Father,
Those who are antichrists and those who are Christians.

Those who talk and those who perform. John, three times in these verses, … “If a person says …” “If anyone says …” “If a man says …”

John is dealing in part, with some competing religious claims. It turns out they are made by people who once worshiped with his community, and these people claim to have a deep and intimate knowledge of God, even while they did not think obedience was very important, and even while love did not characterize much of their lives.

This is part of ancient Christianity. The old command is the message you have heard. And that message is, “God is light and in him is no darkness at all.” If we are to be conformed to him, we must increasingly reflect his light.

Those who love this world and those who love the Father.

The word world John’s uses most commonly means the moral order, human beings in defiant rebellion against God. The world is;

1.The world is the cravings of sinful man. It’s all those desires that emanate from us as physical people where we want things simply for ourselves.

2 The world is the lust of the eyes. The focus is on external things that we go after, that we desire. self-centeredness, but now this desire to acquire things. The boasting of what one has and does, a fixation on the things of this world and a proudness for all that belongs to me in this world.

Those who are antichrists and those who are Christians.

1John 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already.

We Are to Remain In Christ

1 John 2:27 “His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit; just as it has taught you, remain in him.”

Paternity to God or the devil is marked out be observable righteousness or observable sin.

We must continue in Christ, not sin. 1 John 3;9 “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

In the history of the church, there have been a number of interpretations of this sort of passage. Some have taught this teaches sinless perfection is possible for Christians.

John has told us that if we say we have no sin and are not guilty and do not sin, we kid ourselves, we’re liars, and we call God a liar. There, we are told the proper thing to do is to confess our sins and remember Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

Others have suggested this is talking about what we will be on the last day. The problem with that is, verse 9, in its context, is talking about Christians here and now, not what we will be.

The particular construction “he cannot go on sinning,” everywhere it’s used in the New Testament … “He cannot do something,” in this particular construction, is not dealing with something that is impossible, but something more shocking.

He says, “Christians don’t sin, Christians cannot sin. Sinning is not done here, for it is important to recognize every single time you or I sin, every single time, in word or thought or deed, it is inexcusable. People that are born again, committed to Christ don’t sin.

And we do all the time. Believe that, too, because unless you see that both of those truths are complimentary in our experience, you will feel none of the tension of being blood-bought, twice-born on the one hand, pressing on for glory but yet not there! You won’t fight. You won’t try. You won’t press on to be holy! You’ll enjoy nurturing your bitterness. You will use your tongue to cut people down.

That’s part of all of Christian life, caught between the struggles of those two poles.

I grew up in a time when in our public school you were not allowed to chew gum in class. Even up to the seventh grade, boys had to wear their button up shirts with tales, inside their pants, and this was a public school. Failing to do that could cost you three licks from the paddle. Back to the gum chewing, most of teachers were adamant you could not chew gum in class, but someone always did. So, when she says, there is not gum chewing in here, one could stand up and say, but I am chewing gum.

The point is, that all of the kids would be reminded, that is not what we do, and eventually get to the point where they would not come to class with gum in their mouth or even on their person.

John says Christians don’t sin to remind us of that tension, yes we do, but we are daily working not to. It would be like us getting up every morning and the first thing we do, is Say Out Loud, No Sinning in this Body Today. It would be a reminder all day that, that is not what we are about and that would help us discipline ourselves where necessary.

Those That Love Each Other

Paternity to God or to the Devil is equally marked out by observable, demonstrable love.

John says, “if this God, gives us birth, if we’re born of him, if by his Spirit he works in us so that something of his nature is pulsating within us … if it is of the essence of his character, of his nature, that he loves … then how could it be thought that his children don’t?”

1 John 4:15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.

1John 3:11“This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. He belonged to him.

Cain is the only Old Testament figure mentioned in this book. What a mark against the human race! According to Genesis, the first baby born is a murderer and the second is the one murdered. Paternity is marked out by our emotional relationships as well as by our obedience or lack of obedience to Christ. Why did Cain murder his brother? John wants to know and asks the question himself. Because, we’re told, his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

The murder came when Cain, acted like a child, was hurt because his brother had won some approval from God Cain himself did not receive. Jealousy, bitterness, and envy, sometimes that is the root of a fair bit of the prejudice against Christians. Sometime people look at Christians and just don’t like the fact they do have their lives together, if they do in a particular case, which is almost reason enough to hate them right there.

The Determination of Christ Followers

1 John 3:3 “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

Purity, holiness is conformity to the living God, and one day our conformity to him will be complete. That’s what the new birth is about. We’ve been changed from the inside. We have those sorts of desires. So much so, so much of the rest of this chapter turns on this truth, quite frankly, if you do not have desires for holiness, if you do not have desires to be pure, check again whether you really have been born again.

There is a transformation from inside so we have a God-centeredness that simply was not there before. It doesn’t mean we don’t fight against sin. It doesn’t mean we’re free from all temptations. It means precisely the opposite! We have temptations and now see them! We fight against them because we don’t want sin. We’re embarrassed by it.

If you hate sin, if you fight it, if you’ve discovered forgiveness from him who is faithful and just and who cleanses us from all unrighteousness, if you see some signs of growth in your life, not what you would like, but you still see those signs of growth and you thank God for them.

We must always understand and remember, that the sole basis upon which you have access to the presence of God is by the death of his own Son, Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Because the gospel is powerful, it does change us. Our lives committed to Christ are observable, they have to do with obedience.

There are Certainties of the Christian Faith.

1 John 5:17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. 18We know that whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not; but he that was begotten of God keepeth himself, and the evil one toucheth him not. 19We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one. 20And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

“We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God …” This is probably a reference to Jesus. “… keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.” He cannot ultimately destroy him.

We know that there is genuine perseverance amongst those truly born of God. Unlike those in the previous verse, who have sinned unto death (they don’t persevere), genuine Christianity always perseveres. There is a kind of Christianity that seems, to all outward appearances, entirely genuine, but it doesn’t persevere.

There is perseverance built into the very structure of genuine born-again-ism. If you are begotten of God, then the one who has been born of God, Jesus himself, keeps you safe and the Evil One cannot harm you.

“We know we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” That is to say, we live in between the times. We maintain the faith and struggle on, on the victory side but still in a world that is divided all around us.

“We know also that the Son of God has come, Christ in the flesh who died on a cross, and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.” That is, we have not deduced these things ourselves by superior intellect. This, too, has come from his grace. This is the ultimate self-disclosure of God. He is himself the true God and eternal life.

We Have to Work To Preserve Christian Faith.

1 John 5:21My little children, guard yourselves from idols.

What does he mean? In the Jewish world, idols had a noxious flavor. Any vision of God, short of the vision of the God who has disclosed himself, is idolatrous. You can talk about spirituality, but if it is not connected with the Holy Spirit, it is idolatry.

In the moral, material, intellectual sphere, in our vocations, in our goals, in our doctrine, in our relationships, if we prize anything above the God who has disclosed himself in Jesus Chris, it is all idolatry.

Lord, send us enough pain that your peace, when troubles comes to us, will be a wonderful salve. Give us perseverance, faith, stability, endurance, quiet confidence in You, the living God. Give us Your joy as our strength, wisdom enough to detect the idols that are all around us, and the stamina and courage to remember that it is written, “Keep yourselves from idols.”

Help us to persevere.