I John 5:1-5 Marks of a believer

Introduction

Growing up I heard “You look like your dad” a bunch.

Or I would hear things like “you act just like your dad”

I have certain attributes of my dad that people who know my dad will say almost immediately that I look just like my dad.

When we were growing up, people would always say “I hope you don’t get the Jones nose.”

Over the course of 1 John, John continually goes back to three marks that identify us as believers

Our beliefs

Our love

our behavior

These three things should identify us with the father rather than with Satan.

When people look at us they should see our beliefs, our love and our behaviour lines us up with Jesus and not Satan and the world.

We believe Jesus is the Messiah vs. 1

John reminds us that true Christianity always points back to Christ, who He is and what we believe about Him.

Christianity is Christ!

John begins this thought with the word “whosoever”

whosoever means any one

No one who believes that Jesus is the Messiah and everything that goes with that his life, death, burial and resurrection is left out, but rather are born of God.

John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

We continually believe or trust that Jesus is the Christ.

Charles Spurgeon said about this passage “The faith intended in the text evidently rests upon a person - upon Jesus”

If we believe that any one or anything else can take away our sins we do not possess this mark of the believer

Psalm 118:8–9 “It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in princes.”

We have been born of God vs. 1,4

The new birth is a theme of 1 John that began in chapter 2 and will continue through chapter 5

This wasn’t a thought he came up with on his own, but was a subject that Jesus spent a lot of time on in John 3 when he was speaking to Nicodemus

John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

A new birth is what we receive from Salvation

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Are you a new creature in Christ?

John gives us three thoughts about the new birth in verse 1 and 4

Those who have been born of God, give witness that Jesus is the Christ. v. 1

Those who have been born of God give witness by Loving God and His Children. vs. 1

Those who have been bor of God give witness by continually overcoming the world vs. 4

Being born of God is a biblical birthmark of a Christian

Some other phrases used in the Bible are;

Born again

John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:7 “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

1 Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

Regeneration

Titus 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

To be a Christian is to be born again, you can’t separate the two.

If you have not been born again you are not a Christian.

Are you thankful though that being born again is so simple a child can do it

You must believe that Jesus the very Son of God lived a perfect life that you could never live, died a death you should have died, was buried and rose from the dead to give you salvation you do not deserve.

One commentary put the new birth this way

“In the new birth God does not just give you a new name; He gives you a new nature. He gives you the very nature of God Himself as you enter into His family.”

Jesus came to dramatically, personally, radically and eternally transform us and make us new people. It is by the new birth that He accomplishes this glorious work.”

We love the Father and His Family vs. 1-2

The word love or a form of the word love i.e loveth, loved is used 31 times form 1 John 4:7-1 John 5:3.

Love is an important mark of a believer.

In verse 1 John tells us that every one that truly loves God, loves those begotten of God which are our fellow believers. Seems simple right, If we love God, we should love those born of God.

In verse 2 John makes a statement that almost seems backwards. From our perspective it should say something along the lines that we love God because we love his children.

This is what he has been teaching up to this point we show our love for God by our love for others, but now he says we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments

Matthew 22:36–40 “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Our love for others directly correlates to our love for God. When we love God the way we should it is impossible to hate the brethren.

When we love God we keep his commandments and in Matthew 22:36-40 we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. Therefore we keep the commandment of God showing our love for God by showing the love of God to others.

We Obey His Commandments vs. 2-3

When our love for God is correct and our love for others is correct the commandments of God are not grievous.

Grievous- causing grief or sorrows

As believers we should obey the commandments of God, and its much easier with the new nature we receive through the new birth

As Christians our hearts desire should be to love and obey the Lord

Psalm 1:1–2 “Blessed is the man That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; And in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

Psalm 40:8 “I delight to do thy will, O my God: Yea, thy law is within my heart.”

Psalm 112:1 “Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, That delighteth greatly in his commandments.”

One commentator said “Loving God rightly is not just external behaviour and outward obedience. It is a longing to do His will from the heart, out of Gospel gratitude for who He is and what He has done for us in Jesus. It is not an “I have to obedience. It is an “I want to” obedience.

The way we obey the father is a mark of the believer.

We have overcome the world vs. 4

We have overcome the world through the father.

John characterized the world by three things in 1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

Overcomer's via the new birth, are no longer consumed by what they don’t have (The lust of the flesh, the Lust of the eyes) or what they do have (the pride of life).

As overcomers we are no longer long after stuff, but rather we long after God.

Ps 42:1 “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, So panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God?”

Jesus is indeed superior, and faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

Overcoming the world is a mark of the believer

We believe that Jesus is the Son of God vs. 5

John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Son of God is an important title for Jesus in the Bible

He is more than a man, he is also God. He is the God-Man

The name Jesus identifies him as a man

The name Son of God identifies Him as God

He is both fully God and Fully Man

he is so much God that it as if he had never been God and he is so much man as though he had never been God.

Jesus is the only begotten of the father, therefore Jesus can be the only object of our faith

Jesus +/- Nothing= Everything!