1 John 5:1-5
Notes
Transcript
Characteristics of a Child of God
Characteristics of a Child of God
Good morning my friends.
I hope you enjoyed the week, you got to see a little snow up on the mountains and it was a beautiful sight to behold.
But I promise you, seeing Jesus is going to be far better than seeing prettiest mountain scenes...
We are just a couple weeks from Christmas. And now through this wonderful holiday we celebrate the advent of our Savior, Jesus into the world.
As each day passes, I want to encourage you to eyes, your mind, the mediation of your heart upon the joy of God sending his Son into the world.
So much to treasure in the story of Jesus entrance into the world…
The love of God is seen, The call to Mary to bear the Savior, to allow her body to be the vehicle by which God’s Son would enter the world.
And then His birth, there in the most modest of places, a stable area, God’s love is revealed and confirmed to the shepherds...
How glorious..
The coming of the Son of God brings us hope. For all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And holding that hope inside of us should compel us to live righteously as His children.
And that is where John is leading us in chapter 5. He is reminding us what it means to be a child of God, I would call them the characteristics of His children.
So lets begin and look at this first thought today...
So lets look at it from this view my friends…
One of the characteristics of a child of God is
1. Right Beliefs....
You have heard me say time and time again that a child of God must know what they believe and why they believe it.
So, as a child of God we must have right beliefs, amen? Amen.
So lets look at what John says in verse 1. 1 John 5:1
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
What belief is John teaching us? First of all John teaches about faith.
Do you remember what faith is? Hebrews 11:1
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
John reminds us here that faith is the necessary first step in becoming a child of God. He says that “Everyone who believes....”
We have not see, yet by faith we believe. So faith is the component that brings us to trusting who Jesus is… Do you remember what John said in his gospel account.. John 1:12
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
So consider this, by faith we have believed that 2 things about Jesus.
A. First off we believe Jesus is the Son of God. That Jesus is the second person of the Holy Trinity, who entered this world, being born of a virgin. We believe that Jesus became flesh.
John has testified to this truth in 1 John 1:1
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
I love this, John wants everyone to understand that He and the other disciples experienced Jesus. He says they saw him, looked upon him carries the idea of they witnessed his actions, and finally he says we touched him.
He and the other Apostels knew and experienced the Son of God, Jesus.
Not only did they believe that Jesus is the son of God, but B. Jesus was the only Son of God… By faith they believed and knew that Jesus was the son of Go having come from the Father…
We know that Jesus became flesh and lived among us.. John 1:14, and John testifies to that again in chapter 4, verse 2.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
We trust, believe by faith, We believe not only did Jesus come, born into flesh, but we also believe that He is the only begotten of God as John told us in 1 John 4:14
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
So our right belief is not only is Jesus is the Christ, the long awaited Messiah but we believe that He is the Father’s Son. That Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.
This is the message that Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1:35
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
Wow my friends, we must have a right belief. But this isn’t all that John says in verse 1.
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
C. Everyone who believes has been born of God.... So we believe who Jesus is, the Christ and that He is God’s only Son. We believe, repent and receive Him by faith and are the children of God.
A right belief enables us to trust Him as the Savior, and having received Him into our heart, says we are His, His children.
D. A Right Faith enable us to Love the Father and the Son...
John tells us plainly there that this faith enables us to love the Father and the one whom the Father sent into the world.
Why, by faith our heart has been change. What we believe to be true impacts our life in such a way that love, love for God and the Son is the first expression of our faith.
How wonderful… a right belief is necessary my friends
Do you have a right belief....
Now our next thought of this passage reminds us that a true characteristic of a child of God is we must be obedient to the commands of God.
2. We Must Be Obedient to the Commands of God...
We we talk about the Love of God in our life, and John will tell us in this passage that if we love God truly, we will have a desire to be obedient to His commands.
Lets look at verses 2 and 3.... 1 John 5:2-3
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
So if we break this passage down, we see a wonderful truth.
Our ability to love others is grounded in the fact that we love God. Without the love of the Father in us, we couldn’t do anything else in and through His name.
We love Him ( that is our foundation) The love that we have for the Father, enables us to love those around us and allows us to love others, and to keep his commandments.
Consider these two as the natural by-products of our love for the Father.
And on the same token, if you don’t love others and if you don't keep his commandments, can we even say that we love God??? NO! Heavens No!
So verse 3 tells us…The love of God is only real in our lives when we keep His commandments.
John Stott says “...Love for God is not an emotional experience so much as a moral commitment.”...
We are called to keep His commandments. What did Jesus say in John 14:15
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And John reminds us of something we need to consider… He says very plainly that the commandments of God are not burdensome…
What does that mean?
Well it doesn’t mean that they aren’t demanding, they do require a loyalty that is only in one direction.
But the commandments of God are not oppressive, they will not crush a person, they will never be a terrible weight that they cannot live under...
So think of that… the moral standards are high. They call for us to never live in a selfish, self-centered way of life.. But we know in keeping the commandments of God, He will give us grace to be able to live up to the standard.
David Hiebert said this “...Love prompted obedience is not a crushing burden that exhausts the believer strength and destroys his sense of freedom in Christ.”
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they tied up heavy loads and put them on Men’s shoulders … Matthew 23:4…
Instead Jesus invites us to bring our burdens to him, He overs in turn a easy yoke and a light burden. Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The commands of God when seen and loved through the love of Jesus is not a terrible, oppressive force upon the life of the believer.
Instead it is an invitation to walk with the Savior, learning his ways and therein we find that it is easy to keep His commandments and loving Him is the beginning of all that we know of God the Father, His Son and His Holy Spirit.
Do you truly love God? True love lives close and understands the blessing of obedience..
Now just one last thought in this passage my friends today..
3. Overcome the World....
Now the world I speak of is not the mountains and trees, the oceans and atmosphere. It instead is the ungodly ways and influences that are espoused by the prince and ruler of this world and those who follow his ways...
So to overcome the world, we are speaking those things that wants to hurt and oppress our lives. Lets look at our text today.....
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
So John says that every born again believer overcomes the world. That victory started when we said yes to Jesus.
We heard the message and found faith.. Romans 10:17
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
We heard the message and faith developed in us, and then we exercised faith and believed and suddenly everything in our life changed.
So being born again, those who are the children of God are able to keep his commandments.
Why?
We have been given power to overcome the negative influences that would prevent us from obedience and overcoming.
What is our power? It is the Holy Spirit! He fills and indwells the believer.
His very presence in our life is a testimony to the minions of the the evil’s world that we are the children of God. He convicts us, guides us and teaches us in this life so that we might be able to stand.
Consider Paul’s words to the believers at Ephesus. Let me share Eph 6, verse 13.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Taking up the whole armor of God isn’t a physical action, we don’t have an armorer’s area to take to get dressed and gather our weapons of war....
No, what we can do is a call to be read up, prayed up and lived up for Him so that you can live in the power of the Holy Spirit and be able to stand against the kingdom of darkness.
We hold the true faith in our hearts my friends, and so the power of the new world operates in us.
The power of His Kingdom operates in us and we are about to not just stand but to overcome the world.
And let me add this, since we have His Kingdom in us, there is no room or place for anything else… it is either God or nothing...
Please don’t think it is what we have done, No. it is what Jesus has already done for us.. Jesus told us plainly this news...
Listen to Jesus in John 16:33
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
The words are wonderful to hear my friends, encouraging. He tells us plainly to expect hardship in this life. He says in the world you will have tribulation.
But listen Jesus says he has taught us all these things so that in Him, we will have peace.
But in the midst of that trouble, take heart, I have overcome the world. So the only faith that overcomes is the only faith that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Remember what John told us in 1 John 4:4… Greater is He that is in you than he that is the world...
Being born from above, this truth that John has emphasized over and over again is the fact that we are the children of God, He is in us. And knowing that we are His children sets the stage for everything else we see and affirm in our life.
Also, being His, (born from above), means we love the children of God and they love us.
That love reminds us that we are to keep His commandments and in doing so, keeping his commands we overcome the world my friends.
Your life in Christ is where all that you want and need is found my friends,
In Jesus we have life, peace and the joy that overcomes the struggles of this world as we await the coming of His return
What are we to do my friends..
Love the Lord Your God,
Love others
Keep His commandments
And finally stand...
Pray.
