1 John 5 Bible Study

1 John 5:1

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him.

John has used the term “Born of God” few other times in this letter, but here he tells us how we are born of God.

By believing that Jesus is the Christ.

Even though most of this letter has dealt with loving one another, John wants to ensure that we understand that no amount of loving one another will get you into heaven.

You must believe and be born again.

That being born of God has two effects.

1. We love God.

2. We love one another.

This brings us all together at common ground.

You may have heard the expression “The ground is level at calvary”.

Race, wealth, knowledge, political affiliation, denominational ties.

None of these things that normal divide men matter at the cross.

We are all on the same ground with the same need for the same savior.

Loving one another is easier when we realize that without Christ’s work on the cross, all of us would be bound for the same hell.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

2 This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey his commands. 3 For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,

How can we love each other when sometimes each other gets on our nerves?

We love to find excuses to get out of doing what God has told us to do, just like our own children try to find ways to get out of what we tell them to do.

There are going to be Christians that come along that will literally get on your very last nerve.

Some of them will even cause others to begin to get on your very last nerve.

So, how do we love these insufferable people?

We first keep God’s commands.

It’s easier to love the children when you have a greater relationship with the Father.

Loving one another begins with a love for God.

A simple love for God, the kind of simple love that our own children have for us, will drive us to obedience of God.

Jesus said in John 14:15

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commands.

And these commands are not a burden.

The commands of God the Father, the commands of Jesus, the commands of the Holy Spirit,

These are not burdensome.

What becomes a burden is what man has added to the commands of God.

Religion will choke the faith right out of you.

There are so many things that man has added to the Word of God that aren’t Biblical at all and some of it is even contrary to the Bible.

But they are preached and believed as if they were the word of God itself.

I remember a time when I wholeheartedly believed that no one that came into the church that wasn’t wearing a suit and tie or a dress was clearly the lost that we were called to evangelize.

And this wasn’t and idea that died when I left the Pentecostal Church, the Baptist folk were teaching it too.

Because we will sing “Just as I am” and we will say “Come as you are”, but in reality what we mean is come just like me.

And anyone who doesn’t fit that description is clearly lost.

Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, it didn’t matter what service it was, if you were are in the church house, you better look like that is where you are headed.

If not, people were going to know that you weren’t saved or that you hadn’t been living right all week long.

It was all about the way that you looked on the outside.

And this is just an example, I’m sure you all have probably heard other things that were preached from the pulpit as if it were the gospel that you couldn’t find any scripture to back it up with.

God’s commands are not a burden.

They don’t wear you down or wear you out.

And He gives you the Holy Spirit to guide you and help you to keep His commands.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

4 because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.

5 Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

We have and we will overcome the world.

Nothing that the world has to offer or can do to us can take away the victory that we have in Jesus through faith.

This isn’t just that initial faith needed for salvation, this is that persevering faith that endures to the end.

The world would love nothing more than to overcome the church and silence our message,

But Jesus has overcome the world and through our faith in Him, we too will overcome the world.

No matter how hard they push, they will never push the church all the way out.

No matter how hard they try to defeat it, they will never over power the church of Jesus Christ.

She will persevere to the end.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

6 Jesus Christ—he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify:, 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement.

Jesus, whom we believe is the true Christ.

He was not merely a ‘good teacher’ or as some believed, ‘too holy’ to have literally come in the flesh.

He was the Son of God incarnate.

He literally lived in the flesh so that He could die in the flesh and that water and blood could come out of Him.

John 19:34

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 19

34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.

The water, the blood and the Spirit all testify to the same thing, Jesus is fully God and fully man.

He was baptized, not because He was a sinner, but so that He could identify with sinful man.

He was crucified, not because He was guilty, but so that sinful man could be born again.

The water reveals that He was flesh.

The blood reveals that He was flesh,

The Spirit reveals that He was divine in the flesh.

And these three still bear witness of His divinity and holiness.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

9 If we accept human testimony, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that he has given about his Son. 10 The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son.

You know what man does?

He lies.

About everything, all the time.

Politicians lie, cheaters lie, gamblers lie, spouses sometimes lie, teachers sometimes teach lies,

But you know what God cannot do?

He cannot lie.

About anything, ever.

His message is consistent from beginning to end.

His promises are sure.

His Word never changes.

His mind never changes.

If His mind could change it would imply that He learned something and who is there that can teach God?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a God that has to be taught by man.

I don’t want a God who’s mind can be changed concerning anything.

I want the God of the Bible who works everything after the counsel of His own will.

The one who believes has the testimony of God within himself.

The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God.

The one who does not believe has made him a liar.

We haven’t made God to be a liar in the sense that by unbelief we have proved Him wrong,

We have called Him a liar by not believing His testimony.

This is the only unforgivable sin.

The sin of rejecting the call of the Holy Spirit.

Blasphemy is hearing the knock on your hearts door and turning and walking away from it.

The only sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin of rejection of the gospel of God.

And why shouldn’t it be?

Why should a holy God have to forgive men that stand in His face and call Him a liar?

Is that justice when there are people like you and I that believe every word that He said?

Not at all.

So, there is a place reserved for those that call God a liar, it’s hell.

The place where the wrath of a holy God is poured out for all eternity.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This is God’s testimony:

That He has given us eternal life.

Remember that all of the letters of the New Testament are written to Christians.

There’s not a single letter in the Bible that was written to the lost.

John isn’t writing to the world in an effort to convince them to be saved.

He is writing to the saved to give them assurance of their salvation.

The one that believes the testimony of God and receives His Son, this one has life.

The one that calls God a liar, rejects His testimony and rejects His Son, this one does not have life.

There is no life apart from Christ.

This is what man is always looking for.

Life.

Meaning.

Purpose.

And they will look just about anywhere in just about anything to try to find it.

Songs have been written about it,

Books have been written about it,

Philosophies have been created about it,

Cults have been created to try to give it,

Drugs and alcohol have the appeal of bringing it,

But nothing brings, gives, or creates life except God.

This is such a simple message and really a lot of the teachings of 1 John have been simple teachings.

You could teach through this book to children and they would easily understand it, much more than many other books in the New Testament.

But that is the intention.

A simple call to believe in Jesus Christ.

A simple reminder that we are the children of God.

A simple assurance that by believing in Him we have eternal life.

To so many who aren’t saved, the gospel seems too good to be true.

We live in such a backwards world full of liars that it is almost impossible to believe anything that you hear.

John, in his day, dealt with the same mindset.

And he gave this very simple reminder that the gospel is not too good to be true, it is in fact the only truth that gives eternal life.

As long as my salvation is totally dependent on Jesus and as long as I understand that me being here has nothing to do with me and everything to do with HIm.

I have this assurance that my salvation is forever settled in heaven.

I am here because He called my name.

I am here because He chose me when I couldn’t chose Him.

I am certain that my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life because when He called my name, I opened the door and let Him in.