"The Gifts of Christmas"

“The Gifts of Christmas”

1st John 5:18-21

Our text presents 3 gifts from Jesus Christ for us at Christmas.

The gift of God’s power (over sin) - vs. 18

The gift of our position (God’s family) - vs. 19

The gift of our perception (Spiritual wisdom) - vs. 20

Introduction - Years ago, Randy Travis sang a song called "The Gift”. The song speaks of Jesus’ birthday instead of Jesus getting gifts on His birthday, we got the gift in the person of Jesus Christ. The lyrics the chorus and crescendo of the song go:

He was the Son God sent to one and all. Put on this earth to hang there on that cross. Born to die so we could live. He had the birthday, we got the gift. There's no way in this world we could repay The miracle He gave us on that day.

He was the Son God sent to one and all, put on this earth to hang there on that cross, born to die so we could live. He had the birthday, we got the gift.

On our Savior's birthday, we got the gift.

Well we did get the gift! In our final study today from 1st John, the Apostle John concludes his letter with a reminder of Christ’s birth and the gifts He provides for us as part of our “Know-so” salvation. As a matter of fact, he uses the word “know” 4 times in these few verses! Our text presents 3 gifts from Jesus Christ for us at Christmas.

The gift of God’s power (over sin) - vs. 18

Explanation - John uses the word “know” 4 times but there are actually 2 different words for our English word “know.” The first 3 are the word “Oida” in the original language - this is a knowledge based on intellectual perception. Mental or head knowledge. Like you know 2+2 = 4. You are taught to count and early in your education, probably by visual illustration someone counted out 4 beads, or something. They demonstrated how 2+2=4 so you have accepted this as fact. This is the use of the word know here in verse 18, 19, & 20. So what does John say we know in our head? 3 things we know:

We know Jesus has transformed us & protects us from sin.

“Doesn’t keep sinning” - that’s transformation, going from being a sinner to being a saint. John goes on and explains that Satan, the evil one no can no longer grab hold of us. The phrase “does not touch him” means to lay hold of, it literally means doesn’t grab hold of him. The only other time John used this word was in John 20:17 when Mary Magdeline saw the risen Savior outside the garden tomb, apparently she grabbed a hold of Jesus and He told her not to do that because He had not ascended to His Father. No child of God can be grabbed and held on to by Satan! Jesus Himself made this promise in John 10:28-29 “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”

Now pay close attention here because people get confused. Everyone who has been born of God - that’s believers, thats you and me if you’ve trusted Jesus Christ by faith, you’ve been “born-again” - born of God. The next phrase “He who was born of God” is referring to Jesus Christ being born in the flesh - John is using a past tense of a specific event in time - the birth of Jesus Christ we’ll celebrate in a few weeks. We know from the context in vs. 20 “And we know the Son of God has come…” John specifically references Jesus’ birth! It’s Jesus who has redeemed us, transformed us & who does the protecting by giving us the power over sin! Do you recall what the angel of the Lord told Joseph to name the baby, when Joseph was trying to figure out what to do with Mary, his pregnant fiancee? He said to name Mary’s son Jesus, “for He shall save His people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21). Jesus literally means Savior!

Illustration - Early in Jesus’ ministry, one of the amazing miracles Jesus did involved a paralyzed man recorded in Mark 2:1-12. The Bible tells us Jesus was teaching in a house and there was quite the crowd, well 4 men were bringing their paralyzed friend on a stretcher to Jesus. They couldn’t get into the house because of the crowd so they tore the roof of the house and let the paralyzed man down in front of Jesus! Mark 2:5 says “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Well of course that created quite a stir among the Pharisees, the religious leaders who began to accuse Jesus of blasphemy. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Well Jesus knew their thoughts and said “What’s easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or arise take up your bed and walk?” So Jesus healed the man!Talk about an early Christmas present for that guy! Getting your sins forgiven and being healed of paralysis! Someday that man would be carried on stretcher when he got old or sick or even died, but because his sins were forgiven, he got a home in glory!

Argumentation - Just like that guy got free from his paralysis and the paralysis of sin, the first gift of Christmas from Jesus the aged Apostle John records for us is the gift of God’s power over sin! Is that some sort of anomaly? I mean after all, John is an old man, maybe he’s confused…Well listen to Paul in Romans 6:5-14! The first gift from Jesus at Christmas is the gift of God’s power over sin! Notice the second gift.

II. The gift of our position - vs. 19 (In God’s family).

Explanation - Here again John uses the word “know” - head knowledge, a fact. Not only is there a certainty of God’s power, but there is a certainty of our position (v. 19). Again this is nothing new. John is revisiting what he has already written. He has already told us in 1 John 3:10 that everyone lives in one of two spiritual families: Jesus Christ or Satan. Take marriage as an example. You are either married or you are not. You are not married until you both say “I do” and the preacher says “You did!” Until that takes place, you’re not married. In the same way you are either in the family of God or you are not. Notice the contrast in verse 19 between “we” and “the whole world.” We have our spiritual origin in God. The rest of the world lies in the power of Satan. The language John uses here is interesting. The implication is that those who live under the power of Satan are lulled to sleep in that condition. They are spiritually apathetic, asleep, blind, and dead.

It is important to notice how John makes use of the word “world” in verse 19. Here John contrasts believers (“we”) with all living unbelievers (“the whole world.”) John indicates that his readers who were once unbelievers were a part of “the world,” but no longer is that the case. First John 5:19 makes the point that “the whole world,” all living unbelievers, is under the sway of the devil.

There is a deep contrast here between the position of the believer who has been adopted into God’s family. The contrast is as profound as daylight and dark! How in the world can these people who believe it’s okay to murder a baby at any point in a pregnancy, much less even up to the point of birth; how can they believe that? Because they are under the sway of Satan! John calls him the “evil one.” The word is “poneros” where we get our word pornographic from! Literally Satan is the pornographic one! Lost people act, think, believe and behave the way they do because their are lost! I said this last week in our virtual Bible Study on the armor of God that people are not our enemy, Satan and his evil forces are our enemy. These people outside of God’s family are people Jesus Christ died for and He wants us to reach them with the good news! Our hearts ought to be broken that the world lies under the sway, the power of the evil one. Paul said we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, (Eph. 6:12). Our battle is fought for the souls of men and women, boys and girls who lie under the power of Satan. The certainty of our position in God’s family is an amazing gift; but with it comes the sobering responsibility there’s a lost world outside the walls of this church who desperately needs to know of the gift of salvation! How will they know if we don’t tell them?

Illustration - We have an “alphabet soup” of names of our church membership family. Alexander, Baxter, Bickham, Bickham, Blair, Blankenship, Brown, Carrell, Creager, Crisp, Davis,

Eason, Flores, Fowler, Gaines, Gaines, Gibson, some guy and gal named Green. We have a Greenwood, Haynes, Heald, Heflin, Jennings, Jones, Malone & Malone, Martin & Martin, Perez, Pickens, Plimper, Plimper, and Plimper, Ponce, Raef, Ramos, Riley, Rix, Salge, Salinas, Sanders, Sanders and Sanders! I better not forget the Schumachers, Smiths, Stantons, Stotler & Stotler, Tatum, Villanueva, Wessels & Wessels, Wilsons, & last but certainly not least Worsham’s.

Those are the families on our current membership roll. Every single one of those family names identifies them as part of their physical family and they are part of our spiritual church family. There’s nothing they can do to change their family. Oh sure they could go to court and change their names but they won’t. Why? Because they are proud of their family! I’ve met all of these folks and you know something? Not one person has ever said “I’m ashamed of my name! Please don’t call me that.” They don’t mind being identified by their family name. Well guess what? There’s a new name written down in glory & it’s mine, & it’s yours! And the white robed angels sing the story, A sinner has come home!

Argumentation - The Apostle John has talked about this earlier in 1st John 3:1-2 (Look at it with me.) You’re a COG! Check out Paul’s expression it in Romans 8:12-17. Not only do we have the gift of God’s power over sin, the gift of our position in God’s family; but notice the 3rd gift we know:

III. The gift of our perception - vs. 20 (Spiritual Wisdom)

Explanation - John says Jesus has come (in the flesh); again he’s writing to combat the false teachers known as the gnostics who denied Jesus had come in the flesh. Three times John uses the word true here in verse 20. It is objective truth, it is fact that Jesus has come in the flesh and He is the Son of God. He is the true God and He is eternal life. Maybe John was remembering that day years earlier hearing Jesus proclaim unequivocally “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but my Me.” that he recorded for us in John 14:6. Now in case you’ve forgotten, John has news for us: Satan is a liar! He is the inventor of all the worlds false religions - they are all false except Christianity! He’s the inspirer of false philosophies and he has deception suited for everyone. John has the antidote for all that, and in verse 20, he throws down a straightedge of truth alongside Satan’s most brilliant lies. To do so John only needs two words: “know and true” so hammers them home and pounds them into our hearts. Heresy is always going to raise it’s ugly, slithering lying head. John is the last surviving Apostle, who knows what other lies Satan will invent? John urgently and passionately brings the church back to foundational truths and certainties, When we grasp these, the world’s lies, Satan’s lies are null and void.

The invalidating of these lies is accomplished through two great feats. The first is the incarnation of the Son of God: “And we know that the Son of God is come” (5:20a). About that there can be no doubt at all. John could summon the herald angel Gabriel to bear witness. He could summon Elizabeth and Zacharias, Mary and Joseph, the wise men from the East, and the shepherds. He could summon aged Anna and old Simon, as well as John the Baptist and all the disciples. He could appeal to the Father and to the Spirit, and he gives witness himself: “The Son of God is come.” Significant figures from the prophet Isaiah to the apostle Paul testifies, “The Son of God is come.” The second person of the Godhead contracted to the span of a virgin’s womb. What a feat! God, who had been manifest in burning suns and blazing stars, has now been manifest in flesh. Let ten thousand false teachers arise to deny it, the truth remains—“The Son of God is come.”

The second great feat John points to is the illumination of the sons of God. Our understanding is not based on human reasoning or human understanding. Our understanding is based on divine inspiration and illumination! It is based on the truth of God and the truth of God’s Holy Word the Bible!

What’s interesting is the 2nd know in verse 20, is actually the 4th time the word know has been used. Now remember the first 3 “knows” are mental understanding; but this last word know is major shift: it is the word (ginosko) know based on experience! John has moved us from head knowledge to heart knowledge. So we could read it this way: “And we know mentally the Son of God has come and has given us understanding (spiritual wisdom), so that we may experience (know) Him who is true!” We experience Him when we embrace Him by faith! What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, since Jesus came into my heart! I have light in my soul for which long I had sought! Since Jesus came into my heart! Have you experienced Jesus Christ? Has He saved you, changed you and made you His child? Share the ABC’s.

Finally John says something wonderfully inspiring - well it ought to be b/c the HS inspired it! “We are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” What a contrast to verse 19, the whole world is in darkness, living under the lies and falsehood of Satan; they are literally wrapped in Satan’s lies. Believers on the other hand are in Christ with Spiritual perception and wisdom; we are wrapped in truth! John nails this truth down and you can literally take it to your grave in confidence!

Illustration/Argumentation - Think about the lies wrapped around the world contrasted to what we know is true from God’s Word:

1. World: “Follow your heart” - Bible: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can can know it?” Jer. 17:9

2. World: “You can go your own way.” - Bible: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it’s end is the way of death.” Prov. 14:12

3. World: “All roads lead to God, be sincere.” Bible: “Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Jesus Matt. 7:13-14

4. World: “People are basically good.” Bible: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23 - Also Paul “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) nothing good dwells…” Rom 7:18

5. World: “You need to live in fear of ______” Bible: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a sound mind.” 2nd Tim. 1:7, 1st John 4:18-19 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” 1st John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”

Truly God has given us a gift of perception, spiritual wisdom to combat the lies of the world with the truth of God! We are wrapped in truth, surrounded by the truth of Jesus Christ!

Applications -

This Christmas season, in a world gripped by fear and uncertainty, rest in God’s gifts of Christmas; His power over sin, your position in God’s family and the spiritual wisdom God has given to you through His Word.

Remember along with our position in God’s family & our security in Christ, comes with a great responsibility to share Jesus Christ with others! How can we sit on the greatest gift of all eternity? Jesus Christ!

Close – John gives a final piece of instruction in vs. 21: Keep yourselves from idols! One of Satan’s biggest traps and lies is to get us to move Jesus Christ off the throne of our hearts and substitute ourselves as the most important object of worship. Someone asked me one time “what’s the sin most often committed.” I think they were expecting me to say “I’ll have to think about that one. Without hesitation I said “Oh that’s easy, idolatry.” The greatest gift is we can worship Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world this Christmas, we don’t have to be idolaters so come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!