1 John 4:5

We'll turn to 1 John again, chapter 4. We aim to come to the end of chapter 5 by the end of the meeting tonight. Last night we were looking at the subject of the love that we are to display for our brethren and what it signifies. The fact that we truly enjoy fellowship with God and that we have the character of God being displayed in us and that what we are doing in that way is a response to the love of God that has been expressed toward us.

Now in chapter 4, beginning from verse 1, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try or prove the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus Christ come in the flesh is not of God.

And this is that spirit of Antichrist, for of ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

We are of God, and he that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Now in chapter 5, so try to read this chapter together. 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. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments, and this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievance, they're not burdensome.

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. This is he that came through water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood, by the water and the blood.

And it is the spirit that beareth witness, because the spirit is true. Verse 8, And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood. And these three agree in one.

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God and the testimony of God is greater. For this is the witness of God of which he hath testified, a witness concerning his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.

He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record of the witness, that God hath given us to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The witness is this, verse 12, He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

These things have I written unto you, the ones that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him.

If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. If there is sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not unto death.

We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that was a begotten of God keepeth himself, or keepeth him, and that wicked one toucheth him not. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. So in the wicked one, a bit more literally perhaps, the last time he's going to speak about the wicked one in this epistle.

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This, or he, is the true God, and eternal life, that will children, keep, or guard yourselves from idols. Now, tonight we'll not be looking at the subject of love so much, but we're looking at the subject of the doctrine that has to do with the Lord Jesus particularly.

And then we want to look at the last section of chapter 5, which has to do with a summary that deals with the assurance of the confidence of a genuine believer. He's going to end with giving them seven different times, he says, we know. We know things, he says, that these other men that claim to superior knowledge don't even have a clue about.

He says, we know. It's not that we believe only, but we know them, and we're absolutely assured of them. And those things terminate in the end of the epistle, coming back to the first of the epistle, where he begins by telling us about the one that came from eternity.

The one who was from the beginning, he says, whom we touched, we saw, we handled, we heard. He says, it was the word of light. He says, he is a true God.

And he says, an eternal life. And so he says, little children, keep or guard yourselves from idols. Now, coming back to chapter 4, this is the end of the second section down to verse 6. A section that has to do with the claim of the individual that they are truly born of God and they are children of God.

And he has been dealing with this section starting at the end of chapter 2, and first of all, touching on the subject of righteousness and that display of righteousness in the child of God, and then following that by the love that those who are born in the family of God will have for their brethren. And then again, coming down again to the same subject, and that is the subject of the right doctrine and understanding concerning the Lord Jesus. Now, I don't think I'm talking to anyone here tonight that is not absolutely confident that the Lord Jesus Christ is one unique person.

Not in the sense of being, not in the sense of, I'm not trying to say that in any careless way, but that he is one unity. Indivisible in his person. Not seen as God and then seen as man, but one in his indivisible person.

Jesus Christ, tongue in flesh, is the confession that John is aiming at. You understand, I tried to explain it, I think, that he is counteracting the kind of teaching that was so prevalent, or started to be prevalent, shall I say, among the believers in that day. A kind of teaching that was derogatory to the person of Christ.

A kind of teaching that did not rise to the apostolic doctrine that taught who the Lord Jesus Christ really was. The two aspects of it that seem to be touched upon in the first epistle of John are these. That is, first of all, there was the doctrine or the teaching that was held by a different, a particular group, the names aren't important, but it was that which taught that the Lord Jesus Christ did not have a genuine body.

It was only a phantom, it only looked like a body. Men looked upon him and they thought it was a real body, but it wasn't tangible, it wasn't touchable, it wasn't real material body. But John is emphasizing he was a genuine person.

He came in true humanity, and he's going to emphasize that a number of times in this part of the epistle. Then there were those also that claimed that while the man Jesus was born of Mary and Joseph and Bethlehem, that he was not God himself, but only that at his baptism this element of deity that was called the Christ descended upon him and indwelt him until just before he went out to the cross. And then it was only the man, Jesus, who died upon the cross.

Two errors that were very serious. We need not relegate them to the first century because they're hanging around still. Different forms, different variations on that particular theme, all of which seem to be instituted by the one that John calls the wicked one, the spirit of antichrist, which tends to and seeks to minimize the Lord Jesus and take away from the truth concerning him that is revealed in the word of God.

And so John is taking that up in chapter 4 in verse 1 once again. He's touched on it before in chapter 2. Remember in chapter 2 he said in verse 22 that he is a liar that denieth that Jesus is the Christ. He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.

And of course in the first three verses of chapter 1 he's already introduced his subject in this respect. You might find it interesting and helpful to trace through this epistle the occurrence of the time when he speaks about this particular theme in relation to Jesus Christ and coming in flesh. We notice it in chapter 2, if you read again, through the denieth that Jesus is the Christ.

And then in chapter 4 and verse 3 he says every spirit, chapter 4 verse 2 and 3, that Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God. And then down to chapter in verse 15 he says whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abided to him, and so on. In chapter 5 in verse 1, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.

That is, that is the evidence of the divine birth the new birth, that he recognizes and believes that Jesus is the Christ. And then in verse 5, who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Now I think that if you put those five expressions together you'd understand that John is using the expression Christ not in the way that is oftentimes used by the apostle Paul where there it signifies the Messiah.

The anointed one of God, the one that was promised from the Old Testament Scripture. But John is saying that this one who is the Christ is the Son of God. And he's looking at them as virtually equivalent expressions and he's emphasizing the fact that this one who is Jesus is the Son of God.

He's the eternal God and he's come in flesh and he's taken up his abode in flesh in a permanent sense. And so you look at chapter 4 and verse 1 where he says, beloved, stop believing all these different ones that are coming among you. He says, believe not every spirit.

And he's not speaking about the spirits themselves so much but he recognizes that there are spirits behind these false teachers that are coming and seeking to lead them astray and pervert the teaching concerning the Lord Jesus. You'd recognize that today when there are those that deny the deity of Christ, God would simply say there's an evil spirit that is motivating that and doing everything possible to dishonor and degrade the person of the Lord Jesus. There are those we've already mentioned that have variations on this same kind of a theme.

Whether they be Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons that believe that the Lord Jesus was not God or whether they believe, whether those that are associated with Christian science or those that identify with the unity school of thought or the different ones that go along with this perhaps. But all of them unite in this one aspect. And that is that the Lord Jesus Christ is not truly God and he's not truly man.

That's what the Word of God teaches. So he says, stop believing every spirit. Try these spirits.

Analyze what they're saying to you. You know that in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, in the early days of the church, there were those that had the gift of discerning the spirits. And that was necessary before they had the Word of God.

But John is really writing to them at the point where they have the majority of the truth written down and available to them. That's not all of it. And he says, you try those spirits.

You do what you can to determine whether they're telling you the truth or not. I think that over, I may be going on a false trail here, but I think that you come back to Revelation chapter 2 and verse 2, the Lord Jesus says, concerning them, the believers in Ephesus, that thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars. I would take it they have tried them by comparing what they have been teaching with the apostolic doctrine that they have received.

We have the truth of the Word of God today. That's what you and I need to always be totally familiar with as much as possible so that we can hear, we can recognize what is truly of God and what is not of God. So we can recognize that this is contrary, the right doctrine, because we have the faith, as Jude speaks, that was once for all delivered unto the saints, and that faith is the body of doctrine, the body of teaching that's so imperative for you and me to seek to study it and to understand it.

So he says, try the spirit to prove them, test their origin, test their conformity to the Word that you have received, and recognize them whether they are of God or whether they are not of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. They've gone out to spread their wrong teaching, and they've gone out that they might bring confusion, and they might ruin the testimony that is for the sake of the Lord Jesus. Here's the test, he says in verse 2. Hereby know ye the spirit of God.

In the end of chapter 3, rather, he has been speaking about the spirit which he has given us. In verse 1, they're to try the spirit, whether they're of God or not. Verse 2, he says, here's how you will know the spirit of God.

A seventh time, the last time he speaks of the spirit of God in the epistle. Every spirit that confesseth. Now, you need to perhaps just put this a little more literally to get the implication of it.

Every spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ come in flanks is of God. That's the confession. It's not just the fact that he has come, and that he entered this world, and that in some way he has taken up his abode in a way somehow among men, but the idea of this expression is that Jesus Christ has come into a permanent possession, a permanent experience of flanks, which is genuine humanity.

There are three elements of this confession that are very important. The first is the name, Jesus Christ. Because what these false teachers who are trying to do is divide Jesus from the Christ.

They're trying to make a division between the man and the aspect of the person who came from God, who is God himself. They're trying to divide those things, really saying that Jesus Christ is indicative of his unity, the absolute unity of the person of the Lord Jesus. Then he says he has come.

That's preexistent deity. He has come from somewhere. He came from heaven, he says, in chapter one of verse one, he was from the beginning.

So he is the one unique person, indivisible, who has come from preexistent deity, in flanks, is the emphasis on his perfect humanity. And that word come in flanks signifies a permanent, continuing result. He's not only come at a point in time, but he's come and he continues to be in flanks.

So you and I are fully convinced, I hope, that the one that came and was born in Bethlehem's manger was the one who was from eternity. He took his abode up among us. John chapter one of verse 14 says we beheld, rather, the word became flanks.

The word became flanks, not was made flanks, but became flanks. And that indicates a permanent state that exists even today. He became flanks and tabernacled among us, here temporarily in this world, but still in flanks today.

Not flanks and blood, but flanks and bone that we can speak of. He says a spirit hath not flanks and bone. So the confession has to do with the Lord Jesus.

And this confession in verse two involves a number of things. First of all, it's their continuous, the tenor of their teaching, of their confession. Not just what they might say at one time, but it's the expression of the conviction of the heart that Jesus Christ come in flanks.

Then it's not just the confession of a doctrine, but it's the confession of a person. It's the understanding of the uniqueness and the character of the person of the Lord Jesus. More than just doctrinal statements, but an inward absolute certainty that is based upon the word of God.

And it embodies in it, in verse two, a full truth of the incarnation. As I've said already, he did not come into flanks, but he came in flanks. To indicate to us a permanent state in which he is still today.

So it's a permanent incarnation, even now he is in flanks. That's so vital because John is going to link righteous living with a certain knowledge of the truth concerning the Lord Jesus. He's going to link loving our brethren with the knowledge of the truth concerning the Lord Jesus.

He will link the fact that we have assurance in our hearts before God with the knowledge that we have concerning the Lord Jesus. Everything is based upon a right knowledge of him. And what John Newton wrote so long ago is still true.

What thinking of Christ is the text. That's the text, and that's what he's putting to them here. Now in verse three he says, Every spirit that confesseth not Jesus Christ coming to flanks is not of God.

Now this is that spirit of Antichrist where you've heard that it should come and even now already is it in the world. That is the ultimate expression of Antichrist will ultimately be a manifestation of the same spirit in the epitome of it. For the man himself will see himself in the temple of God showing himself that he is God taking the place of Christ and receiving the worship that should pertain to him alone.

So he says that spirit is already in the world even now. But then he gives them a word of confidence in verse four. Notice he says, Ye are of God, children, and overcome them.

They have overcome who? They have overcome the false teachers. They have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. That is, I would take that to refer to the spirit of God.

But the spirit of God dwelling in the believer is much more, much greater and is much more powerful than any of these false spirits, these evil spirits that motivate these false teachers that were coming among them. He says you have within you, going back to chapter two, the anointing or the anointing which is the spirit of God that teaches you all things and you overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You know, a child of God does not have to be overcome by any element or any wrong teaching that exists in the world today.

Don't be taken in by all the different ideas that float around and the different opinions. It's amazing what some Christians can be taken in by. You know, your mind goes back to a time when there was a thing going around about the Lord's coming at a certain date.

They had it all figured out. And I wondered where it all came from. And there were other things that different believers get involved in.

It's only the result of not knowing the truth of the word of God. And so you and I, we need to allow the spirit of God to teach us by spending time in careful study of his word. We have overcome them because the spirit of God in us is greater than he, that is the evil one, the wicked one that is in the world.

Now, they of course is referring to the false teachers. Ye refers to the children, that is the believers. They are of the world.

Therefore speak they of the world. That's their origin. They're identified with the world and therefore the world heareth them.

Says they are of the world, the world readily hears them and receives them. You shouldn't be surprised when different wrong teachings that exist today in our world find such a number of adherents. That's the amazing thing about the human heart.

We would rather believe a lie than to believe the truth. There's just something about it that seems to attract the unsaved mind. And we see large numbers supposedly joining some of these different groups.

And he says the reason is those that speak are of the world. They're not of God at all. Therefore the world hears them.

But notice that he says, verse 6, we are of God. Now John is very careful in his use of the pronouns. It's not always the same but normally in his epistle when he uses the word we he's referring to the apostles.

Not always. Sometimes he's included the believers too. But always he has it at the basis of it we the apostles teaching you right doctrine are of God.

And they are of the world. So he makes a division between them. We are of the world and he that knoweth God that is knoweth God experientially heareth us.

And he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So you notice that in these verses we've read together here that there are two basic tests that can be applied to these that are coming among them that teach these doctrines that are wrong concerning the Lord Jesus these heresies.

The first is whether they are it's a test as to their attitude to the truth of the Lord Jesus. What do they think about Christ? And the second test is in verse 6 their attitude toward the apostolic doctrine what they believe are in agreement with the teaching of the word of God. Another test of course could be included in verse 5 and that is the question of who listens to and who follows them.

Whether the world or those that are born of God that would be an indication of course of their souls. So you see that he's dealing with the Christological that is the doctrine having to do with Christ that it would be a test concerning those that claim to be children of God. Now let's look down to chapter 5. This is really in a different section of the book.

This is more dealing with the practical reality of love and faith that is in a believer's life it's development and expression in regard to your life and mine. But notice in chapter 5 in verse 1 he says that whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That is the result of the new birth is that one knows with absolute conviction who the Lord Jesus is.

That's the mark. That's the indication of one that is born of God. And he says everyone that is that love of him that begat that is they love the Lord Jesus they love God loveth him also that is begotten of him.

So by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. Now notice verse 2 very carefully because in verse 2 we have three things that are linked together very closely. We have the love for God linked with the desire to obey his commandments.

And both of them are linked with the love for our brother. He's saying that if we have a love for God in reality we will also have a desire to obey his commandments and we'll also have a love for our brother. You could almost put it in a triangular shape, couldn't you? And you could say they're all joined together.

They all touch each other. So the genuine love for God will be expressed in these ways. Love for my brethren also will be an indication of a love for God and a desire to obey his commandments.

And obeying his commandments indicates I have a love for God and it will result in a love for my brethren. So you look at all three points of that triangle and you can see how they all are joined together. Very practical.

So you can't say you love God and not seek to keep his commandments. And neither can you say that you love God and not love your brother. Now I'm not going back over old ground.

We looked at that last night. But notice that he is emphasizing that because the Word of God makes it clear that our Christian experience is a practical outworking of what is spiritually made real to us inwardly as a result of the work of God himself. You know, God wouldn't have any use for this kind of thing where people claim to believe but they don't demonstrate the reality of their life.

No change, no indication of longing to praise the Lord and do his will. No concern about obeying the Word of God. No love for my brethren.

They would say that there is something missing and it's a love for God. The missing factor is that person is not born of God at all. But he terminates verse 2 by speaking about keeping his commandments and he says his commandments are not grievance.

He wants to assure them that out of love for the Lord when it comes to seeking to do what he says, it's never a burden to do it. The heart that's in love with the Lord just delights to do what is pleasing to the Lord. It's what the Lord himself had expressed when he came or before he came into the world as thought before us in Hebrews chapter 10 is that coming into the world he could say sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not.

A body has now prepared me lo I come to do thy will O God. I delight to do thy will is the literal thought. And the delight of the Lord's heart out of love for his Father and his God was to do the will of God no matter what it costs.

So your love for God, your love for the Lord Jesus and mine as well will be measured and expressed by our desires of the obedience to his word. And it's not a grievous thing. It's not a burdensome thing.

It's not beyond the ability of the child of God because we have a new nature and we have the Holy Spirit within. Now we need to quickly move on because time is moving faster than I am I'm afraid. Notice that he says that whosoever or whatsoever rather is born of God overcometh the world.

Now that's very interesting because it's a neuter expression. He's not speaking about the individual only but whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. Now that could be taken as that new nature that we have received as a result of the new birth.

And it could also involve the fact that the believer is seen in conjunction with the Holy Spirit and through that means we have the ability to overcome the world. Now there are three times he speaks about overcoming in these two verses. He overcometh the world.

That is the continual expression. That is what is going on continually. That one who is born of God, that one who has the new nature within and the Spirit of God to empower him continues to overcome the world.

He's not overcome by the world. And all the things that are in the world but he rises above it and he is a victor over it. And that should be the characteristic of your life as well as mine.

We go back to chapter 2 if you want to touch on the world that he's speaking about. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world and so on. Now he says that the child of God has within him the essential power to overcome the world.

Then he says this is the victory that overcometh or has overcome the world. Even our faith. That is looking back to a definite event.

And I would take it that it's linked to the moment when you and I personally came to know Christ as a Savior. But that moment we in that sense overcame the world and all that would hinder us from coming to Christ. That could be put in this way that faith has brought us into the sphere of victorious living.

So the victory that has overcome the world is our faith. That is the faith in the Lord Jesus. Now then in verse 5, who is he that overcometh the world? Now that could be put this way.

Who is the overcomer? Who is the person that overcomes the world? That is the description of the individual. And it says the one that overcomes the world is he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. So that has given us power.

That has given us the ability to be set free from the shackles and the limitations of a world that's absolutely opposed to God and has no desire for Him. Now from verse 6 on down to verse 13 or verse 12, these really were the subject of a witness or the testimony. Every one of these words are the same actually in the original.

Witness, testimony, and record. And you have in different ways, of course, in our King James Version. So what he is saying is that God has given in regard to the Lord Jesus, God has given an adequate witness, a sufficient testimony so that not only men might believe on Him, but the believer might be assured in the sense that they know Him and that they have eternal life.

It says really that the witness is the Spirit. This is He that came through water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not in the water only, but in the water and the blood. And it is the Spirit that bear witness because of Spirit.

Now, we could take a long time on this verse. Because there's a difference of manner, there's a difference of manners in which different ones would seek to interpret this verse. I'll just tell you what I think, what I believe it means in view of the context.

I have a number of books that I've read where they've commented on this verse, and I find it very interesting that some commentators, and you need to be aware of this, some commentators seek to tell you what a verse means without considering the context, without even looking at the teaching that is going on already in the epistle. Lift it out and say this is what it means. For example, some would say the water and the blood refer to baptism and the Lord's Supper.

I don't know where you get that out of the verse. Some would try to tell us that the water and the blood refers to the Word of God and I don't know exactly what the other, I can't remember all these different ideas. But nevertheless, you get a variety of ideas what is signified when John speaks about the water and the blood.

And the only one that really satisfies me in the context of the epistle of what John is dealing with is that John is saying that the same one that came, his deity was attested to when he was baptized. He came into his public ministry by means of the water. That's when he began his public ministry.

And when he culminated that ministry, entering into the full work of redemption by the blood, which signifies his sacrifice on the cross. You see, the kind of teaching that John is counteracting is the idea that you can differentiate, you can separate between the man, Jesus, and the Christ, which is the God aspect that came upon him for a period of time. John is saying no.

The same one that was baptized was the same one that died. And the same one that was attested to by the Spirit of God on the day when he was baptized, when the Spirit of God came down like a dove and the voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. That was the same one who shed his blood in Calvary and who has accomplished the work to bring about redemption.

Now there, you may not agree with that. That's all right. We won't be disagreeable if you don't.

I've read what Mr. Vine has said, I've read what Mr. Kelly has said, and I've read different thoughts that different ones have had, and I can understand it's a very difficult verse. Don't let it confuse you. What the Lord is, what John is saying is that we have a very sufficient testimony.

We have a witness that has been given to us to the reality of all that is pertaining to the person of Christ. To prove to us that he is truly God, to prove to us that he is genuine man, and the one who is God, who became man, is the one that died upon the cross. So you can't bring about a division in this person.

And he says in all of these things, the Spirit himself is the one that bears witness and proves to our hearts the reality of the truth concerning the Lord Jesus. That's what he takes up again in verse 8, that there are three that bear witness, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree in their essence. They agree in a perfect, complete way.

They have one purpose, and that one purpose is to prove the reality of the claims that are made concerning the Lord. Now, you might see that passage, you can satisfy yourself for it, but I think that really in the context, because so much was being made by these false teachers that would touch upon the Lord Jesus in relation to the moment when he was baptized, and he commenced his public ministry before the people. What about displaying the attributes of Godhead, the evidence that he was truly God manifest in flesh? John wants us to know that person, that very same person, leaving nothing behind, was the one who shed his precious blood and suffered and died upon the cross.

Now, he says that we receive the witness of men. I would take it that in verse 8, he's emphasizing the agreement of the witnesses. You remember when it came to condemning the Lord Jesus, they had a number of witnesses, but none of them agreed.

And he says, here are three witnesses, and they all agree. Perfect agreement. So, we have the certainty of the agreement of the witnesses in verse 8, concerning the Lord Jesus.

We have the certainty of the witness in verse 9. He says that we receive the witness of men. If we believe what men say, if we are willing to put our confidence in what men say, he says, the witness of God, the testimony of God is greater. And it's greater, of course, because it is the testimony of a God who cannot lie, and it's the testimony of the Father regarding the Son.

So, who should know better than he? But the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God, which he hath testified concerning his Son, his own Son. And God is going to tell you and me the absolute truth concerning the one who is his Son. So, he that believeth on the Son, this is the reception or the rejection of the witness in verse 10, the reception or the rejection of the witness, he that believeth on or into the Son of God, that word, that verb, or preposition, rather, in the Greek language simply is more than just believing facts about, but it's believing into, so that I am brought into a relationship with him.

He that believeth into the Son of God hath the witness in himself. That is, I take it, that he has received fully and personally all that the Spirit has witnessed to, that results in him having genuine convictions. And he has in his heart and soul with absolute certainty.

He has received everything that the Holy Spirit has made known to him concerning the Lord Jesus. And he rests upon it with absolute confidence. It's not deriving that source of confidence and assurance from external sources.

He's not doing it because somebody else just tells him. You remember that the Lord Jesus said in response to Peter's confession in Matthew chapter 16, flesh and blood hath not revealed the Son of me, but my Father which is in heaven. And so that the believer in Christ has received the divine revelation that is made real to him and resides in his soul and the Spirit that gives him the absolute certainty that the one that he knows and claims as his Lord and Savior is God manifest in flesh.

Now, he that believeth not God, of course, hath made him a liar. Again, he's coming back to this strong language. If you look at 1 John, I'll just tell you this on passing, but in 1 John you'll find that there are four times that he speaks about a person being a liar or telling a lie, and there are at least two times that he speaks about an individual calling or making God a liar.

That God says, if you're not telling the truth you're telling a lie. And if you're not giving God the credit for telling the truth, you're calling or making God a liar, because he believeth not the record of the testimony that God hath given of his Son. He that hath a Son hath life.

That's the result of the witness. Verse 11 and 12, we have perceived eternal life as a gift from God. This life is in his Son.

And he that has the Son of God hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. So there's a differentiation between those that he says are in the light or in the darkness in chapter 1, those that are in the condition of life or in death in chapter 2 and those that are of God and those that are not of God in chapter 4. So he's written these things in verse 13 as a summary.

He's coming to the summary now. These things I've written. You that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life.

John is not writing to undermine the confidence of a genuine believer. I'm sure that you and I as we read this official book where you can mark the fact that yes, that's true of me. That's true of me.

I've had that experience. I know that truth. And it gives the assurance to know that we have eternal life.

The ones he says that believe on the name of the Son of God. And he says that that is the result. Now quickly we're going down.

The result of knowing that we are in Him and the confidence we have that is resting upon Him is that if we ask anything according to His will that's the key, of course, to answered prayer, isn't it? It's not that we ask things and we just say, well, it's in the name of the Lord Jesus. But really the idea is that I'm asking that which is according to the will of God. You say, how am I going to know the will of God? Well, first of all we need to know the word of God.

The more we know the word of God, the more we'll know the will of God. But it's also linked with the fact that we'll only know the will of God as we are abiding in Him. That is keeping close in a relationship with Him and enjoying this communion with our God and being near to Him.

You think of John himself. He was the only one that knew certain things that the other disciples didn't know. And I think it's because he was the one that leaned upon Jesus Christ.

There he was near. And he was listening. And he could speak to Him intimately and quietly.

And he could hear His voice. That's what God desired for you and me. And if we want to pray according to His will, knowing His will, we need to cultivate that close relationship with Him.

That is His will. That's His desire for each one of us. And so we need that.

We need to be abiding in Him. We need to be in knowledge of His Word. And we must be yielded to His Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God will always guide us according to the will of God. So, he says, if we want to, if we have the confidence in Him, we have this assurance that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. That, of course, would also be an assurance of a child of God that has eternal life.

If we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him. That gives the assurance, even now, before we ever receive them, that we are going to receive what we've asked for, because we know that we have asked according to His will. And when John thinks about praying and asking God for certain things, his mind goes to this.

He says, there's a brother, and I take it to be a genuine brother in Christ. Suppose he sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death. That is, there is a sin, there is something that he is guilty of, there is something in his life that is not right.

It doesn't say that we go tell everybody else about it. We begin by praying for them. Look down in verse 17, all unrighteousness is sin.

So if we genuinely love our brother in Christ, the first thing we're going to do when we're aware of a problem in our life is that we seek to pray for them. I know when it comes to sin that is not unto death, there's a wide expanse of what we could be occupied with in prayer. It would be a healthy examination for each one of us to ask ourselves, when's the last time we prayed for all the saints of the assembly? Oh yeah, you pray for the ones that are sick, and you pray for the ones that are in the hospital, and you pray for the ones that are having problems, but we may be ought to consider praying for all of them.

Because everyone needs our prayers. An expression of our fellowship and our love for our brethren is that we seek to pray for them. We may not know all that they're passing through, but God knows.

I remember a brother, it vividly comes to my mind, this is over 20, 25 years ago he said this, that he made a practice in the assembly where he was in fellowship that he would routinely in his mind go around the circle on the Lord's day when they would remember the Lord and he would think about each believer and he would pray for each one of them. That's a healthy exercise, isn't it? But all the more so when we're aware of a brother that is being tripped up or a brother that is being overtaken in a falter, there's a brother in Christ or a sister in Christ that is maybe being led astray. He says we need to pray for them.

And the result is he says he should give them life for them that sin not unto death. That is to say that there would be a restoration to all that that life is to express and to enjoy. I don't think that in this case that this person is in danger of death but they are in danger of losing the full expression of that life that God has given them that he wants to see developed and expressed in them.

So we need to pray for the well-being of our brethren and sisters. Pray for them that they might be edified and supported and strengthened and preserved and helped in their life day by day. Now what about this sin unto death? From this of course the Catholic religion has come to the idea that there are some sins that are venial and there are some sins that are mortal.

And you know the first mortal sin in the Baltimore Catechism is missing mass. You're in bad trouble if you miss that. But that's not the idea of this at all.

It's not the thought that there are some sins that are in one category and some sins that are in another category. I think that this expression needs to be seen in the context of the Epistle. And the sin that he's speaking about unto death you notice he does not apply this to a brother.

He doesn't say if a brother sinned unto death he says if I see a brother sin a sin that is not unto death. So it's a different character of sin altogether. A sin unto death I would take it is connected with these that were guilty of apostasy.

That is they had once professed faith in Christ but they have totally rejected what they once held or professed to hold. And now they have abandoned it and they're taking the opposite side and they're doing everything possible against it. He says there is a sin unto death.

He says I don't say that you should pray for that. He doesn't say you can't pray for that. But he says I don't say that you should pray for that in the sense that you can't do so with the confidence that your prayer will be answered.

So he says there is sin that tends to death. And he says I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin and there is sin not unto death.

So we have an abundant scope for our prayers. Now you may not agree with that interpretation on sin unto death, but I think it's what fits the context of the epistle. Because John is not saying that there are certain kinds of sins that a believer can commit that would result in losing his salvation.

We don't believe that. There are sins that may result in God's hand moving in discipline. We read about that in 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. But in the context of the epistle I would take it that sin unto death is that which had to do with the total rejection of the truth concerning the Lord Jesus. And he says that that is not something that I can say that you shall pray for that.

All unrighteousness is sin. Now coming down to verse 18 because time is going to go very quickly. We know that whosoever is born of God sineth not.

Now this is the same thing he said back in chapter 3. That is he does not continue to practice sin. Sin is an accident in the life of a believer. Not a continual practice.

John says that one that has been born of God he has divine life. He has a nature within him. He has a spirit of God dwelling in him or her.

He says he does not practice sin. That's not the norm. That's not the daily activity.

It's what he may do but it's not what he desires to do and it's not what he is going to do as a regular practice. But notice what he says. It's not the well this is another verse that's a little difficult.

Notice the latter part of the verse. He that is or literally it's he that was begotten of God keepeth him. And that wicked one toucheth him not.

So that is a part of a verse that is subject to a number of possible interpretations. But I think the best one that fits the context of the epistle and fits the verse that we're looking at is that he that was begotten of God is referring to the Lord Jesus. That's looking back to a definite event indicating a certain person.

That that one that was begotten of God keepeth him. It's not that we keep ourselves. We don't have enough power to keep ourselves.

But there is one that keeps us. You know that in 1 Peter chapter 1 he says that these believers that he's writing to in verse 5 he says that they are kept. So they are guarded by the power of God through faith unto or for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

They are passively, they are guarded about and they are kept by the power of God. And reminding ourselves that that one that is greater than he that is in the world, we would have this confidence. John wants to give them confidence.

That is to assure them that they are going to be kept. They cannot lose their salvation. They cannot fall away.

They can't fail to enter into the good of what God provided for them. He says they are being guarded and kept by the one that was begotten of God and the wicked one toucheth them not. We can only go so far when it comes to the life of a believer.

Even in the Old Testament you remember that the devil couldn't touch Job without God giving him permission. And God allowed it for a purpose. And so we are being guarded and kept by the power of God by the one who has redeemed us.

He who paid so great a price for this second, he is going to keep it and bring it to himself in the coming day. So the word toucheth him really indicates the idea that the wicked one cannot lay hold of him so as to hurt him or to harm him. Now just tell me the last verses.

He says verse 19 that we know that we are of God. The premise of John in this verse is that the believers know who they are. They know they are of God.

They know that they're born of God. They know that they have the life of God. They know they have a relationship with God.

Their origin is God. He says we know that we are of God. And he's using that in contrast to those that he's speaking about who are not of God.

That's one thing a believer knows. He has this assurance for them. I am of God.

God saved me. God did a work in my life. God made something real to me that I never knew before.

And God has secured me for all eternity. He says we know that we are of God. That's the first thing.

They know who they are. The second thing is believers know what the world is. And that is that the world lies in the wicked one.

Wickedness, if you want to read it that way. But ultimately he's looking at the one that is in backup. A number of times he has spoken about the wicked one.

The wicked one is the one that is in contrast to God and the fulfillment of his purpose. He says the whole world lies in the wicked one. Under his control, motivated by his purposes, and directed in a way that is totally opposite to God.

He says we are of God. We're on this side. And the world's on this side.

The world lies in the wicked one. So the believer knows who he is. The believer knows who the world is.

And knows that there's a definite distinction between them. You and I need to recognize, child of God, that we might be we are in the world. Physically.

But we're not of the world. The word of God tells us that as, we've already read that in chapter four, that as he is, so are we in this world. That would indicate that we are looking forward to that day when we will move into his presence for eternity.

We're seen in him presently, positionally, and in view of it we can have absolute confidence that his love has been perfected enough. So we are in this world, but we're not of it. And we understand the difference as we move in this world.

Verse 20. And we know. Now here he is coming right back to verse one of chapter one.

We know that the Son of God is God. Remember what he said? That was just from the beginning. What you have seen with your eyes, what you have beheld, what your hands have handled, I'm sure you know the word of life.

So he said, we know that the Son of God is God. So he's looking back to the Incarnation, the reality of that tremendous event when God became flesh in the person of Christ. We know that the Son of God is God, and has given us an understanding.

By the way, that word, is God, is in the present tense. Not only is it referring to the event of the Incarnation, but the continuation. Not that he has come, but that he is come.

So John is emphasizing not only an event where the Lord Jesus was born in this world, but the fact that he took upon himself body and flesh which continues without any termination. He has come, and then he has given us an understanding. So our understanding is from God, our capacity to comprehend divine truth is from him, and that we might know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ.

He, or this, is the true God of eternal life. Now, some would indicate that this word, he, or this, is the true God would refer to both the Father and the Son, perhaps it does. But primarily his emphasis is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God.

In contrast to all these presentations that were being floated around, and all the different ideas that were given them, and all the false teachings that was being introduced, he says this one, he, is the true God, and eternal life. So the essence of all that God has made known to you and me, is seen in one person, the Lord Jesus. And so therefore, he says, little children, keep yourselves.

Now, the word idol is the word that comes from the language of our Bible, and literally it means what is seen, whatever can be seen, whatever can be perceived with a natural mind. And in the environment in which these believers were living, of course, there were many idols. You'd find them on every hand, you'd find them in every home, you'd find them in every city, you'd have idols.

You know what an idol was? It was that which was the invention of men that was intended to represent their idea of what God was like. Some of them grotesque. Some of them totally irrelevant to what God has said about himself.

And so in one sense, he would be saying that you need to guard yourselves from any involvement in this godless, idolatrous world. You stay clear away from that, and have no part in it, because any idol is simply the opinion, the idea of man as to what they think God is. It always comes short of divine revelation.

It always fails to measure up to what the Lord Jesus really is. He says, keep yourselves from idols, no matter what it is. And, you know, you and I can make a practical application of that, because an idol is that which, first of all, perverts the person of Christ.

It's also that which preempts or takes his place. And you and I can allow things in our lives that can displace the Lord Jesus and take away from what he sought to receive, and rob him of that which we ought to be giving to him. That's what an idol does.

It may be a number of different things. But personally, I would say that as John comes to the close of this epistle, keeping it into context, that what John really has in mind is the perverted ideas of these false teachers that were robbing the Lord Jesus of his plans. The ideas in the minds of these men, the false presentations of Christ that fell far short of the apostolic doctrine concerning him.

He says, just keep yourselves away from that. Avoid it. Don't go near it.

You adhere to the truth concerning Christ, and keep yourself, guard yourselves of the idea. Put a garrison around yourself concerning anything that would give you the wrong thoughts, wrong convictions, wrong opinions, wrong ideas concerning the Lord Jesus. Guard yourselves from violence.

Brethren, we're living in an idolatrous world. Let's not think we're not. We need to be very careful that we don't allow our own ideas, or the ideas of men, or objects in this world to become an idol.

Everything in this created world has the potential to be an idol. Everything. There's a little poem, part of a poem, in a way, I think I could quote it.

It goes this way, the dearest idol of my heart, whatever that idol be, grant me the grace to tear it hence, to cast it hence, and our creator only be. That's essentially the words of it. I don't have it written down in my Bible.

But the idea is, whatever it might be, no matter how dear it might be to me, tear it out, and be only occupied with Christ. That's what John would say. Look it all from the Jesus, the author and the finisher, I think.

May God help that we might have gained something from our journey through this official, and I trust that it'll be a blessing to each one of us for the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ.