1 John 5

CHAPTER 5THEME: God is life; victory over the world; assurance of salvation

1 John 5:1

GOD IS LIFEIn this chapter we have come to the last major division of this very wonderful little book. In the first part of this epistle, we saw that God is light. In the very extensive center section, we saw that God is love. The subject of this final chapter is God is life. VICTORY OVER THE WORLDIn these first five verses, John talks about victory for the believer over the world. The “world” here is the cosmos, that is, the world with all of its organizations, all of its governments, all of its selfishness, its greed, its sorrow, its sickness, and its awful sin. John is going to say that it is possible for the child of God to have a victory right down here over this world. God is life, and that life comes through being born of God. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God"this is the method, this is how one is born again. John makes it very clear here and in the opening of his Gospel that you become a child of God through simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power [the exousian power, the right, the authority] to become the sons of God, even to them that [don’t do any more nor less than simply] believe on his name” (Joh_1:12). This means that when you trust Christ, you trust who He is as well as what He did. What He did has no value if He is not who He said He was. Again I must say that the virgin birth is very essential. Who is this that died for the sins of the world?

It was not an ordinary man who did that because an ordinary man is sinful himself and could not even die to obtain his own salvation. He could die only a judgment death, being eternally separated from God. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” It is faith which produces the New Birth. Once you have been born again, how do you know that you have been born again? Do you have some great, overwhelming experience? Do you enter some ecstatic state? Not necessarily; some people do I am told, but that is not the usual procedure. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.” When you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, you are born again, and God becomes your heavenly Father. He is God the Father, and He becomes your heavenly Father. If He is your heavenly Father and you are begotten of Him, then you will love Him.

But it doesn’t stop thereyou are also going to love the one who is begotten of Him. In other words, you are going to love other of God’s little children. John has said this before, and he has said that it is not something new with him. In 1Jn_3:11 we read, “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” And the Lord Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one to another” (Joh_13:35). This expression, “born of God,” is very, very important. Being born of God hasn’t anything to do with the fact that you have joined a church or gone through a ceremony. If you are born of God, I hope you have joined a church and that you take part in the ordinances of your church, but following certain rituals does not make you a child of God. The important thing is: Are you born of God? Have you been born again? You are born again when you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and the proof of it is that you love God. You love your FatherHe begot youand you are going to love His other children because they are your brothers and sisters. This cannot be confined to a certain denomination, church, race, clique, or group. The one who is born again will love others who are born again. This is the epistle on how you can have the assurance of your salvation, and all along John has been giving to you some of the evidences that you are a child of God.

1. “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him” (1Jn_2:29). A child of God will practice righteousness in his life. This does not mean that righteousness is the unusual thing, the abnormal thing, or that once in awhile you practice it. It is to be the practice of your life. You will slip and fall sometimes, but righteousness will be the practice of your life if you are His child.
2. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1Jn_3:9). A child of God will not practice sin. He will not live in it, revel in it, or make it his life. The life-style of a sinner is sin; he lives in sin all the time, and you don’t expect him to do differently. We all lived in sin until we came to Christ.
3. “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God” (1Jn_4:7). A child of God will love other Christians. This is another test that will give assurance to you that you are born of God: Do you love other Christians?
4. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (v. 1Jn_5:4). A child of God will overcome the world.
5. “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not” (v. 1Jn_5:18). A child of God keeps himself from Satan. Two of the evidences, two of the birthmarks of a child of God are given right here in this chapter. We will discuss these last two in more detail as we come to them. John is going to emphasize certain tests of true sonshiplove, obedience, and truth. No one can quarrel with these words. Love, obedience, and truth are marks of the child of God.

1 John 5:2

What does John mean here by “his commandments”? The commandments, as I understand it here, are not referring to the Old Testament law at all, but they are the commandments which the Lord Jesus gave when He was here. For example, we find not ten commandments but about twenty-two in the fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians: “Rejoice evermore” (v. 1Th_5:16); “Pray without ceasing” (v. 1Th_5:17); and “Quench not the Spirit” (v. 1Th_5:19), etc. These are the commandments for believers today. Every child of God wants to keep these commandments as the practice of his life. This is something that he desires to do, something that he longs to do.

1 John 5:3

The New Scofield Reference Bible has changed “grievous” to burdensome. I’m not going to quarrel with that because it is a good translation, but the literal is really, heavy. His commandments are not heavy. This does not mean that they are difficult to keep but rather that they do not impose a burden when they are kept. John is saying that the child of God wants to keep His commandments. It is something that he wants to practice; it is not difficult for him to do these things at all.

The little girl who was carrying a big, heavy baby was asked by a concerned woman, “Little girl, isn’t that baby too heavy for you?” The child replied, “He’s not heavy. He’s my brother.” It makes all the difference in the world, you see, when he’s your brother. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” The point is that they impose no burden on us because we are keeping them through love. The story is told about a man and his family who years ago drove into a little town in Oklahoma in a covered wagon. They stopped at the town store to talk to the owner as he sat on an apple box out in front of the store. “What kind of town is this here?” they asked him. The storekeeper said, “Well, what kind of town did you come from?” “Oh,” the man said, “we came from a wonderful town. Everybody there seemed to know each other, and had a concern for each other. They were very wonderful people. We really hated to leave, but we wanted to move west.

We’re not sure where to settle down. What kind of town is this?” The storekeeper said, “This is just the same kind of town which you left. It’s that kind of town.” The man said, “Well, then, I think maybe we’ll settle here,” and they drove on down the street. In a little while another covered wagon drove up in front of the little store. The man asked the storekeeper, “What kind of town is this?” So the storekeeper again said, “What kind of town did you leave?” “We were glad to get away from it,” the man said. “They were some of the meanest people that I have ever met. They were never very neighborly or very helpful. We never had any friends there, and that’s the reason we left.” The storekeeper told him. “Well, I think you are going to find this is the same kind of town. We are the same kind of people.” And the second man decided to drive on. Another citizen of the town who had been sitting there with the storekeeper said, “Wait a minute! What do you mean by giving those two men two different viewpoints of this town?” And the storekeeper replied, “I’ve learned that any town will be the same kind of town that you have leftbecause you will be the same kind of person.” May I say to you, the child of God ought to recognize that he is not to be looking for someone to do something for him, but he is to be expressing love in real action and in real concern for others. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (Joh_13:35). If you love the Lord Jesus, if you love your heavenly Father, you are going to love other believers. You will know that you are keeping His commandments, and they will not be a burden to you at all. The Lord Jesus said, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mat_11:30). It will be heavy unless you have the real love for the Lord and you truly want to serve Him. Then church work and other ministries will never become difficult. Dr. Ironside taught this epistle of John while I was in seminary, and he told us this story: Some time ago I read of a man who spent a few months in India. When he came back, he was discussing India at the home of some of his friends, and the talk drifted to missions, and this man, out of his wide experience, about five months in India, said, “I have no use for missions and missionaries. I spent months there, and didn’t see that they were doing anything; in fact, in all that time I never met a missionary. I think the church is wasting its money on missions.” A quiet old gentleman sat near. He had not said anything, but now spoke up and said, “Pardon me; how long did you say you were in India?” “Five months.” “What took you there?” “I went out to hunt tigers.” “And did you see any tigers?” “Scores of them.” “It is rather peculiar,” said the old gentleman, “but I have spent thirty years in India, and in those years I never saw a tiger but I have seen hundreds of missionaries. You went to India to hunt tigers and you found them. I went to India to do missionary work and found many other missionaries.” It’s owing to what you are looking for, my friend. Are you concerned about God’s work today? Are you concerned about getting out God’s Word? Some folk say, “Well, I don’t see that much progress is being made.” You just don’t happen to be where the action is, for the Word of God is going out, and it is having its effect in hearts and lives.

1 John 5:4

Since we hear so much about “victory” in the Christian life today, it may seem strange to you that it occurs so rarely in the New Testament. What is it that overcomes the world? It is our faith. It is faith that saves us, and it is faith that keeps us. We are saved by faith; we walk by faith. We are born children of God by faith in Jesus Christ, and faith is the only way in which you and I will be able to overcome this world around us. Now we have an enemy, and John has talked about this enemy before: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world (1Jn_2:15). There is in the world that which is of the flesh, that which is of the world, and that which is of the Devil. As Wordsworth put it, “The world is too much with us.” As believers we are in the world, but we are not to be of it. This world that you and I are in is a big, mean, bad world. We can be caught up in it very easilywe can be trapped by it. There is an illustration of this in the Old Testament which I think might be helpful to us at this point. It is the story of Joshua and the children of Israel entering the Promised Land. First, I must say that the Promised Land is not a figure of heaven. Our songs which talk about Canaan being heaven and the place to which believers are going simply do not fit what God teaches us in His Word. Actually, Canaan represents a condition in which believers ought to be living down here. We can live out in the wilderness, and there are a great many wilderness believers today. They do not have any fun at all, although they think they do at times. There’s no fun out in the wilderness. The wilderness march was not easy. But the land of Canaan is where we are blessed with all spiritual blessings. When Joshua entered the land, it was not handed to him on a silver platter. If you and I today are to enjoy the spiritual blessings which are ours, we need to recognize that we have a battle to fight; the enemy holds the territory, and he is not going to let us have any kind of deliverance or victory without a battle. When Joshua entered the Promised Land, therefore, there were three enemies that stood before him. Until he overcame them, he was not able to take the land. The first enemy was Jericho, and Jericho represents the world. That was the first place Joshua struck. It was obvious that what he was trying to do was to split the land into two divisions and then take one at a time. Then the second enemy was little Ai which represents the flesh. Joshua sent a small contingent up there, thinking it would be easy to take, but that is the one place where he received a telling defeat. Many Christians overcome the world, but they are always overcome by the flesh.

In other words, there are many saints who don’t engage in worldly practices, but they go to church and gossipthey indulge the flesh. They can blow the trumpet around Jericho, but they don’t blow the trumpet around Ai. Then finally there were the Gibeonites who represent the Devil. They deceived Joshua. The Devil was a liar from the beginning. He still deceives and works wilily. Let’s come back to verse 1Jn_5:4 and look at it in reference to Jericho. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” If you are a child of God, you are going to overcome the world. How will you gain the victory? “And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” It is not by fighting but by faith. How did this man Joshua overcome Jericho? Jericho was the enemy which was out in front of him, and he had to take the city. How was he going to take the city? By fighting it?

He did not fight it at all, but God told him what to do. God said, “I don’t want you to use a battering ram to try to get through the gate. The thing which I want you to do is to march around the city. Instead of putting only your elite army up in frontthe Marines or the special guardsI want you to also put the priests up there with the ark of the covenant. And the priests shall carry horns, and the trumpets are to be blown as they go around the city. But you are not to make an attack upon the city.” It was a most unusual method which God gave to Joshua! I am confident that the city of Jericho had braced itself for the onslaught of these people who had crossed the Jordan River at flood stagewhich must have seemed to Jericho to be an impossibility and a foreboding of things to come. So they shut up their city, ready to defend themselves against Israel. I think that their guard up on the gate gave the signal. “Here they comethe whole army of Israel!” As Israel marched up to the gate, you must remember that there was an army on the inside ready and waiting for them. But when the children of Israel came up to the gate, they made a right face and kept on marching. They marched once around the walls of the city, and then they went back into camp! You can be sure that there was a meeting of the general’s staff in the city of Jericho that night to try to figure out the strategy that Israel was using against them. As best they could, they prepared themselves for the next day when the guard on the gate again yelled down and said, “Here they come!” They braced themselves for the battle in case Israel tried to break through the gates. Probably there were soldiers up on top ready to pour boiling oil or water down upon them and to shoot arrows, but Israel didn’t attempt to come through. They simply marched around the city again, and they repeated that for six days. By that time, the army staff inside the city of Jericho had just about gone crazy. They didn’t know what in the world was taking place. On the seventh day, when Israel had gone around one time, the general’s staff heaved a sigh of relief and said, “It sure looks like they’re not going to take that city. They are just doing something very crazy.” From the world’s viewpoint, it was very crazyyou must admit that this was an unusual strategy. But this time the guard said, “Wait a minute! They are not returning to camp. They are marching around again!” And Israel proceeded to march around the city seven times. Then what happened? The priests of Israel blew the trumpets, the people shouted, and the walls of Jericho fell down! The children of Israel probably completely encircled the city, and when the walls of Jericho fell down, the army on the inside was certainly taken by surprise. How did the children of Israel take the city of Jericho? By fighting? They did not fight at all. They were marching around according to the order given not by Joshua but by that unseen Captain of the host of the Lord. Frankly, I used to have a problem with this incident in Scripture. My problem was not with the walls of Jericho falling downthat fact has been pretty well established by archaeological excavationsbut the thing that disturbed me was why a man of Joshua’s proven ability as a military leader would use tactics like this. It is true that God commanded it, but I still think that Joshua might have disagreed with the tactics. The answer lies in that earlier incident when Joshua saw the man with the drawn sword standing at the edge of the Israelite camp (see Jos_5:13-15). Joshua went out and said to the manif you want it in good old Americana"What’s the big idea? Who told you to draw a sword?” Joshua’s question was, “…Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” (Jos_5:13). That’s the way our translation gives it, and it is a good translation, but probably Joshua really meant, “What’s the big idea? Who gave you an order to draw a sword?” Joshua thought he was in charge. But when the man turned and answered, Joshua realized that He was a supernatural person.

I personally believe that He was none other than the preincarnate Christ. Then Joshua fell at His feet and worshiped Him. So you see, before the battle of Jericho, this man Joshua learned that he was not really in charge. General Headquarters was not in his tent but in heaven with the Captain of the host of the Lord, for that is how the Stranger identified Himself, “…Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come …” (Jos_5:14). In other words, the Lord was telling Joshua, “This battle you are fighting is a spiritual battle as well as a physical one, and I’m the Captain.” So General Joshua was now going to take his orders from the “captain of the host of the LORD,” and the Captain said, “March around the city.” With this incident in mind, I don’t have any trouble understanding Joshua. If you had met him and asked him why in the world he was using such a crazy maneuver, I think he would have agreed with you, “Say, this is crazy, isn’t it?

But after all, I’m just taking orders.” If you have ever had any army experience, you know that a buck private never talks back to a captain. That is, when the captain says, “Go, do this,” the private doesn’t stop and say, “I’ve been thinking this over myself, and I think there is a better way of doing it.” Did you ever hear of a buck private saying that to a captain? No! He says, “Yes, sir! I’ll go do it.” And he goes and does whatever the captain has commanded. When I was in the National Guard, some fellows got into trouble by slipping out during the night.

The next day, the captain gave them an order to dig a hole. He said, “I want this hole six feet long, I want it three feet wide, and I want it five feet deep.” The fellows dug the hole and then went in and reported to the captain. The captain came out, looked at the hole, and he said, “Now I want you to fill it back up with the dirt.” They had to fill it back up! That sounds sort of crazy, but they had to obey orders. Joshua was obeying orders. He was being obedient. He believed the Captain. Hebrews 11 tells us, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down …” (Heb_11:30). It wasn’t by fighting or military skills but by faith that the walls of Jericho fell down. What is the lesson for us today? You and I cannot overcome the world by fighting it. This is one reason that as a pastor I never engaged in any reform movement, no matter how worthwhile it wasand I agreed that many of them were good. I would never serve on the committee, nor would I have part in it as pastor of a church because I do not think I was called to get into that at all. You don’t overcome the world by fighting it. I knew a former movie star many years ago who called me when I was a pastor in downtown Los Angeles and asked if I would serve on a committee to help reform downtown Los Angeles.

Downtown Los Angeles needed reforming then, and it still does, but I never felt I was called to do that. I refused to serve on the committee, and she couldn’t believe it. She said, “Do you mean to tell me that you won’t serve on the committee? As a preacher you are not interested in that?” I said, “I didn’t say that. I just won’t serve on the committee.” And I told her why. I said, “The Lord called me to fish in the fishpond, but He never told me to clean up the fishpond.

So my business is fishing, giving out the Word of God. I let the Spirit of God do any cleaning up that’s to be done. That is the department He is in, and I’m not in that department.” She didn’t like it, but she had to accept it, of course. I don’t fight the world today. I’m not in any great reformation movement. I’m not trying to straighten up our government, although I think it needs straightening up.

I think that both the Democratic and the Republican parties are in a shambles today. We are without leadership as a nation. Although I recognize all of this, it is not my business to try to change it. My business is to give out the Word of God. Although he had the army, Joshua’s business was not to fight. His business was to believe God. He believed God, and the walls fell down. My friend, today we are saved by faith, and if we are going to overcome this world, we’ll not overcome it by fighting it. We are going to overcome it by faith. That is the only way you and I can deal with this world in which we live, and that is the great message which is here for us.

1 John 5:5

When you really trust Christ, it is not a question of your own power, but you are kept by the power of God through faith. We have faith in Christ for salvation in the future and faith in Christ for salvation from the world here and now.

1 John 5:6

ASSURANCE OF SALVATIONYou will recall that at the crucifixion of Jesus His bones were not broken in fulfillment of Scripture. In order to hasten death, the Romans would sometimes break the legs of those who were hanging on the crosses, but John tells us in his Gospel: “But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe” (Joh_19:33-35). John was present at the crucifixion of Christ, and he noted something that no one else noted. Chances are that he was closer to the cross than any of the other apostles. He noted that when that soldier pushed the spear into the side of Christ, there came out blood and waternot just one element, but both elements. Here in his epistle John makes application of this. He emphasized it in his Gospel, and now he comes back to it here and says, “He that came by water.” “Water” speaks of what? It speaks of the Word of God. The Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, “…Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (Joh_3:5). The water is the living Word applied by the Spirit of God. “He that came by water"the Word of God that the Spirit of God uses. “And blood” refers to the death of Christ. “Even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood.” “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” It is the Spirit who can make these truths live. May I make this rather startling statement: The Lord Jesus told the disciples that between His death and resurrection and the day of Pentecost they were to tarry in Jerusalem and to do nothingthey were not to witness. Why? They could not witness effectually without the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if anyone is to be saved, not only is Christ’s redemptive death essential, but also that the Spirit of God work in hearts and lives. I am encouraged by letters from listeners to our Bible-teaching radio broadcasts because they demonstrate that the Word of God taken by the Spirit of God can apply the blood of Christ to hearts and lives.

Christ died for our sins, but the Spirit of God must make that real to us. Only the Spirit of God can make the death of Christ real to you, and only the Spirit of God can make the resurrection of Christ real to you. In verse 1Jn_5:7 it looks as if there are added three more witnesses which are in heaven

1 John 5:7

In a very scholarly presentation, Dr. A. T. Robertson states that this verse is not in the better manuscripts. I heard Dr. Robertson lecture when I was a student in seminary, and he probably knew more Greek than anybody who has lived in our generation.

I remember that when he got up the first day to lecture on the Epistle to the Romans, he had a great big sheaf of notes. He didn’t even look up at the class because he was busy just straightening out those notes. Then he looked up and said, “I don’t see how the apostle Paul ever wrote the Epistle to the Romans without my notes!” Of course, everybody roared at that. Well, Dr. Robertson was a great Greek scholar, and he makes the statement that verse 1Jn_5:7 is not in the better manuscripts but was probably written in the margin by some scribe. You must remember that the Bible at first was handwritten.

The first book printed was the Bible, but that was not until Gutenberg invented the printing press which was a long time after John and his day. Evidently some scribe put what we have as verse 1Jn_5:7 in the margin, and then later on another scribe came along and thought it was to be included in the text. There is nothing wrong with the verse, but we do need to recognize that it is not in the better manuscripts. If we want to be scholarly and accurate and to be able to defend the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Bible, we need to know these things. In other words, there are not six witnesses presented here. The three in heaven given in verse 1Jn_5:7 would do us very little good down here on earth, but it is the three witnesses on earth which we are concerned about and which have a direct bearing on us. That is what needs to be emphasized.

1 John 5:8

What is the agreement which these three witnesses have? Well, they agree in one purpose, that is, the purpose of presenting Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world who shed His blood upon Calvary and paid the penalty for our sins. “There are three that bear witness in earth,” and these three are right here right now. The Holy Spirit will take the Word of God and apply it to your heart. You are reading this book long after the time I actually wrote it. I believe that the Holy Spirit is here, leading right now as I write. When you read this, the Holy Spirit will be there to take His Word and apply it to your heart. He bears record, if you please, and He is a witness. His witness is that you might come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. How are you going to come to that knowledge? Through the Word of God. You see, the blood of Christ delivers us from the penalty of sin. The Word of God delivers us from the defilement of sin in the world today. This is my reason for being a fellow with a one-track mind. All I have ever emphasized in my ministry is the Word of God. I just have one tune that I playI just have one message that I give. I hope it doesn’t get too monotonous but, my friend, the Word of God is the only thing which can clean up your life even as a believer, and it is the only thing which will keep it clean. This is something very important to know. We are living in a day when a great deal of attention is given to cleanliness, in fact, too much attention. You are led to believe that if you don’t use a certain miracle bar of soap, you will be out of it, you may even lose your job, and certainly all of your friends are going to desert you. But if you use a certain brandit’s a “miracle” substanceit will clean you up, and even clean your clothes up. It will clean up everything but what is on the inside of you; it won’t clean up that. Only the Word of God can do that. The only true miracle cleansing agent in the world today is the Word of God. It can clean you up; it can save you: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1Pe_1:23). For the Word of God presents Christ who shed His blood for your sins and my sins. He died for our sins; He was raised for our justification. Not only can it save you, but the Word of God can also keep you clean while you are down here. You can use every kind of spray deodorant there is, you can rub it on, you can pour it on, you can buy it in the giant economy size, put it in your swimming pool, and swim in it, my friend, but it won’t clean you on the inside.

Only the Word of God can keep you clean today. That is the thing which John is emphasizing here. These three bear witness on earththe Spirit uses the water of the Word and applies the blood for our salvation. These three all agree in onethat is, they want to get you saved and keep you saved.

1 John 5:9

I don’t know about you, but many folk whom I have talked to have reached a credibility gap between themselves and the news media, the politicians, and all who are on television today. I’ll be very candid with you that there are certain news commentators whom I won’t listen to any longer. I know that they are doing nothing in the world but giving out propaganda. They are not giving facts. Everything they give is biased and distorted and twisted for a liberal position. Apparently, they are willing even to misinform you, and they are willing to withhold facts to gain their objective.

I have come to the place where it does not matter who they are or to what party they belong. I have no confidence in politicians. Therefore, we are in a place today where it is difficult to receive the witness of men, but the interesting thing is that John Q. Public swallows it hook, line, and sinker. You can tell by the different polls which are taken that a man’s influence or his popularity is determined by what the news media say about him. The biggest frauds in the world can be built up by the mediaHollywood, of course, has done this for years.

Most people do receive the witness of men; they are taken in by it. If it is said over television or if it is put into print, they will believe it. There are many people who believe whatever they read or hear, but they will not receive the witness of God! Oh, my friend, the witness of God is greater!“For this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.” God today is not giving out news on every subject. His news is good news, and it is about His son who died for us on the Cross. That is His message.

1 John 5:10

“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.” If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit indwells you, and He testifies that these things are true. This is one of the great encouragements in teaching the Word of God by radio. Many people who listen have never seen me (I guess that may a good thing!), but they have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, and when they hear the Word of God, they accept it because the Spirit bears witness that they are hearing the Word of God. This is quite wonderful, and it is the greatest encouragement in preaching and teaching the Word of God, whether it be from the pulpit, over radio, or through the printed page. “He that believeth not God hath made him a liar.” When you don’t believe God, you add to your other sins by implying that He is a liar. God says, “Trust Christ, and I’ll save you.” If you say, “I don’t need Christ to be saved,” then you are calling God a liar. I receive many letters like the one from a woman who thought that since she was a member of the church and did a lot of things, she was all right. She had to listen to the teaching of the Word of God for a long time before she realized that she was a sinner and that she needed Christ as her Savior. “Because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” What is “the record”? John is going to tell us

1 John 5:11

What is the record? “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” Eternal life is to have Christ. It boils down to this one point. This is the gospel in a nutshell. This is the simplest test that can be made

1 John 5:12

“He that hath the Son hath life.” He didn’t say, “He that belongs to the church has life.” You might say, “I’m a Baptist” or “I’m a Methodist” or “I’m a Presbyterian” or “I’m a Nazarene” or “I belong to the Church of God.” It does not matter what church you belong toyour church membership does not mean you are saved. Then what does it mean to be saved? “He that hath the Son hath life.” The question is: Do you have Christ? Is He your Savior? Are you trusting Him in such a way that no one on earth or in heaven can shake your confidence in Him? My friend, if you haven’t come to that point, you haven’t come anywhere at all. To be saved means you trust Christ, and it means you have Christ as your Savior. “He that hath the Son hath life.” He’s our lifeboat.

He’s our lifeline. He’s our only hope. We are lost without Him, but if we have Him, we have life. “And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” My friend, can it be made any clearer than that? Let’s forget about religion. Let’s forget about all this churchianity. Let’s forget about all this gimmickry that is going on todaytaking little courses, going through little rituals, all that sort of thing. Forget about it, my friend! The important thing is: Do you have Christ?

Is He your Savior?This is the reason John has emphasized that Jesus is the Son of God. I want to say to you, He is wonderful. He is God manifest in the flesh. He is the only one who can save us. He is absolutely unique. There is no one else like Him.

He’s the only begotten Son of God. He died upon the Cross because He alone could pay the penalty for our sins. He rose again, and He is living right this moment at God’s right hand for us. He is the living Christ. Do you have Him today as your Savior? That is the only question you need to answer.

If you have Him, you have lifeyou are saved. That is the record. Do you believe God, or don’t you believe God? If you don’t believe Him, you make Him a liar. My friend, John has this down right where you can get it. You cannot miss this. The only thing right now that will keep you from coming to Christ is the sin in your life that you don’t want to give up. That is the only thing in the world which will stop you. That is the decision you make.

1 John 5:13

John has a twofold purpose in writing this epistle: (1) “that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God"that’s salvation, and (2) “that ye may know that ye have eternal life"if you have Christ, if you have believed Him, you have life. A great many people say, “I just want to believe that I have eternal life.” The question is: Whom do you believe? Not what do you believe, but whom do you believe? Do you believe God? Do you believe the record that He gave? He says that if you have the Son, you have life. Now do you believe that? John didn’t say if you feel like it or if you have joined something, but if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. And if you have Him, then you have life. This is the reason John has written this epistle"that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” This was also the purpose of the Gospel which John wrote: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written [John didn’t write everything, just certain things], that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God [that’s who He is]; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (Joh_20:30-31). If you have the Son, you have lifeJohn wants you to know that, and you honor God when you know it. That simply means that you are not making God a liar, but you’re trusting Him. It is not a matter of how much faith you have or how you feel about it, it is whether or not you trust Christ. That’s all important. Having this assurance of eternal life will do something for our Christian life here and now

1 John 5:14

Our assurance will give us confidence in prayer, and believe me, we need confidence in prayer. This word confidence actually means “boldness.” “This is the boldness that we have in him.” This assurance will give boldness in prayer to the child of God. “If we ask any thing according to his will"our prayer must be according to the will of God. If you and I are in fellowship with Him, walking with Him, then our prayer would be for God’s will in every circumstance. George Muller put it like this: “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.” It is not trying to get God to do something which He is reluctant to do, but prayer is to be our thinking His thoughts after Him. This is the thing which gives us confidence when we turn to God in prayer. “He heareth us.” You can be sure that He not only hears our prayer, but He also answers our prayer. God will hear the prayers of His children, but He will not always answer them by giving us what we ask. John is saying here that we can have the confidence that He will answer our request according to the way we praywhen we pray in His will.

1 John 5:15

It is wonderful to know that you and I have a heavenly Father. If we are in fellowship with Him, if we are not regarding sin in our lives, and if there are no other hindrances to prayer in our lives, we are not going to pray selfishly. When we are walking in fellowship with Him, when we are following Him, we can have the confidence that He will hear what we ask and answer our prayer. We are not to come to Him with mistrust or in a begging attitude, but we are to come with boldness to ask that God’s will be done.

1 John 5:16

“Death” refers here to physical death. It has no reference at all to spiritual death because the child of God has eternal life. John is saying that believers can commit a sin for which their heavenly Father will call them home; that is, He will remove them from this life physically, perhaps because they are disgracing Him. Let us look at some people in Scripture who have committed a sin unto death. Moses and Aaron committed a sin unto death. You will recall that Moses got angry when the children of Israel kept begging for water and, instead of speaking to the rock as God commanded him, he smote the rock twice. He shouldn’t even have touched that rock. It had already been smitten once before, and he should have rested upon that. The rock was to be an example and a type of Christ.

Paul wrote, “And [the children of Israel] did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1Co_10:4). Christ died only once, and Moses spoiled the type by striking the rock twice. “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them” (Num_20:12). There was for this man Moses a restoration in that he could continue leading. However, he began to plead with God to forgive him and to permit him to enter the land, but the Lord told him in effect, “Although I have restored you to your place of leadership, you are not going to enter the land.” When Moses kept after the Lord, the Lord said to him, “…speak no more unto me of this matter” (Deu_3:26). Moses and Aaron both had sinned a sin unto deathphysical death. In the New Testament we have another example of this in Ananias and Sapphira. They were a part of the early church, and they were guilty of a lie (see Act_5:1-11). They had been willing to give a false impression to the early church; they were willing to live a lie. Because of that, God removed them from this earthly scene. There is another incident of this mentioned in 1 Corinthians. Some of the people there had actually been getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper, and they were missing the meaning of it altogether. Paul wrote to them, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1Co_11:30, italics mine)that is, they were dead. Paul is saying that they had committed a sin unto death. Someone might ask at this point, “What is a sin unto death?” First, let me be clear that John was not speaking of an unpardonable sin. We are talking about a sin unto physical death, not spiritual death. These people were God’s children. He would never have taken them home if they had not been His children. The Lord doesn’t whip the Devil’s childrenHe whips only His own. When His children sin unto death, He will take them home. What is this sin? What is it specifically? Well, for Moses and Aaron it was one thingthey lost their tempers, and they destroyed a type of the Lord Jesus. Ananias and Sapphira were living like hypocrites. And in the city of Corinth, there were believers who were getting drunk and were disorderly at the Lord’s Table. So a sin unto death is no one thing specifically. I have a notion that for you it would be different from what it would be for me, but I am of the opinion that every believer is capable of committing the sin unto deathwhatever it is for him. You can go on in sin until God will remove you from the scene. This does not mean that every Christian who dies has committed the sin unto death, but it is possible to do that. Absalom also committed a sin unto death. I believe that Absalom was really a child of God, but he led a rebellion against his father, King David. I have observed something over a period of years. I have watched how God has dealt with troublemakers in the church. I’ve not only seen Him remove them by death, but I’ve also seen Him set them aside so that they were of no more use in the service of God at all. It is possible to commit the sin unto death. Let me repeat that it is physical death not spiritual death. Let me illustrate this. There is a mother who has a boy, Willieher little angel child, of course. Next door, though, there lives a little brat about the age of her little angel, and they play together out in the backyard. One day as she is working in the kitchen, she hears that little brat yelling at the top of his voice. She rushes to the door, looks out, and there is her precious little angel on top of the little brat next door, just beating the stuffing out of him! She says, “Willie, you are going to have to come into the house if you are not nice to the little boy next door.” He says, “Yes, Mama.

I’ll be better.” She says, “Well, if you are not, I’m going to have to bring you in the house.” So she goes back in, and about thirty minutes go by, but again she hears that familiar cry of the little brat next door. She goes to the door, and the same sight greets her. Her precious little angel is on top of the brat next door, just beating the stuffing out of him. She says, “Willie, come into the house.” He says, “I don’t want to come into the house.” She says, “I said that if you did that again, you would have to come into the house!” So what does she do? She goes out and gets him by the hand, and she takes her precious little angel, yelling at the top of his voice, into the house. He had to come in.

He may not be her precious little angel anymore, but he still is her sonthat fact never was disturbed, but he can no longer play outside. I think that if a child of God goes on disgracing the Lord down here, the Lord will either set him aside or take him home by death. God doesn’t mind doing that. I think He does it in many instances.

1 John 5:17

Believers who are alive today have all sinned but we haven’t sinned a sin unto death. We did something that was wrong, it was unrighteousness, but God didn’t take us home. If He were taking home every believer who sinned, I would have been taken home a long time ago.

1 John 5:18

“We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not.” As we have seen in this epistle, you and I have two natures: an old nature and a new nature. That new nature will not sin. It never sins but has a desire for God and for the things of God. That old nature will sin, and it is because of it that a believer does sin. “But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” This is another verse which makes me believe that the child of God can never be demon possessed. I believe that Christians can get to the place where they are oppressed by demons, but if they are actually demon possessed, I would question their salvationeven though they may think that they are born again. Why? Because “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1Jn_4:4). The Holy Spirit would not be dwelling where a demon was.

1 John 5:19

This is the text of a sermon which I have preached on several occasions entitled “When the Devil Puts the Baby to Sleep.” “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth [actually, lies asleep] in wickedness [or, in the arms of the wicked one].” In other words, the Devil has the world asleep. The Devil is saying to Vernon McGee, “Sh-h-h. Hush! You’re waking people up, and we don’t want to do that! They are very comfortable. Many people in churches are dead in trespasses and sins, and we don’t want to wake them up. Let’s leave them alone.” The Devil is concerned when people are awakened. You and I are living in a world that is asleep in the arms of the wicked oneif you look around today, you must agree with that statement.

1 John 5:20

My friend, Christianity is not a religion. It is a person, and that person is Christ. If you have Him, you have salvationand it is not a religion. John concludes his epistle by saying

1 John 5:21

Anything that stands between Christ and the believer is an idol. John says that you are to keep yourself from the things of the world which occupy your mind and your attention. Covetousness is idolatry; other things are idolatry. Many people are worshiping many things in this wicked world today. These things are nothing in the world but idols. God’s first statement to us is: “In the beginning God created …” (Gen_1:1). Among His last words to us are these: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”