Instructions

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Assurances

 ["Click here for I John 5:1-20"]

There is a great deal of repetition in these verses, but there is also a great deal of assurance, at least 5 things are given to us as "assured gifts of God".

  1. "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God." This was a change in Hebrew thinking. Up till now, sonship was in being in the "seed" of Abraham, according to the flesh. Now, sonship is by faith, faith that is generated by the Holy Spirit, it is a gift of God, apart from any thing that you do except accept it. So you can have complete assurance of your salvation if you believe that Jesus is the Christ.
  2. "Everyone who loves God and obeys His commandments, will love the children of God. John believes that they are inseparable.
  3. "Everyone who tries to keep God's commandments, can do so and he gives several reasons why he believes this.
    1. Because they are not burdensome.
    2. Because they were born or authorized by God and anything of God can overcome anything of the Devil.
  4. "Everyone who has the Son of God has life and everyone who has not the Son of God has not life." This is an assurance that salvation comes through Jesus Christ and there is salvation in none other. Both of these are necessary to our faith.

    Remember, John is listing things of which we can be assured. It seems to all be based on Jesus being the Son of God. How do we know the Jesus was the Son of God? We have testimony to this at the baptism of Jesus for at His baptism the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove and a voice out of Heaven said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased". Verse 8 is not easily understood proclaiming that there are three witnesses to His Sonship, the Spirit, the water and the blood. We see in the above story of Jesus' baptism that the Spirit bore witness that Jesus was the Son of God, some suggest that the water and the blood bore witness that Jesus was the Son of God there on the cross when the wound, inflicted by the soldiers sword, brought forth "water and blood" from the side of Jesus.

    So we have the assurance that Jesus is the Son of God and through Him we have eternal life. John says we can be assured that the reverse is true also. He who had not the Son of God has not eternal life. This is bigotry in many circles. This is intolerance of others beliefs, yet if we are concerned for the salvation of others, especially of those who believe that they have salvation some other way, we need to declare this as an assured fact.

  5. "If we ask anything that is according to His will, we will obtain it." In this statement there are assurances that we take for granted. They are, an audience with God, the fact that He always hears, the fact that He always responds, according to His will, not always according to our will. John encourages us to pray for others, for their health and for their sins. Here John differentiates between "mortal sins" and sins which are not mortal. There is only one "mortal sin, the rejection of Christ. We are encouraged to pray that someone might accept Christ, but we must remember that this is accomplished only by the power of the Holy Spirit. The remaining sins in our lives are not mortal sins but do need praying for. We never know how much is accomplished by prayer. John assures us that this is true.

Then John makes some statements in verse 18 concerning sin and the believer that a very difficult to understand. "We know that anyone born of God does not sin." Matthew Henry explains this statement this way. "As believers, those whom John calls 'born of God', are secured against sin and against the fullness of it and the dominion of it and the guilt of it." In reference to this, John goes on the say, "He who was born of God, God keeps." We are "kept" of God and the evil one does not touch us. We are assured of being presented before God "faultless", if you can imagine this. This does not mean that we will be "faultless' but rather that our faults will be covered by the "robe of righteousness" which is a gift to the believer. Satan will touch our lives from time to time, but never again ca he touch our souls. We have this ASSURANCE because we believe on the Son of God.

These basic truths are made understandable by the Holy Spirit. Assurances are ours for the taking, they are gifts of God. To doubt them is to show lack of faith.

Guarding Against Idolatry

["Click here for I John 5:21"]

John closes by admonishing them to keep from idols. This was their greatest temptation in the world in which they lived. Each succeeding generation has faced different temptations (idols) but the word is still true, "Little children, keep yourself from whatever tempts you the most." Thus we end what has been a very good moral lecture.

THUS ENDS THE FIRST LETTER OF JOHN


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