1-3 John - 1st John 5:1-3 Our Relationship to God - part 1

We're moving into first on five. I just wanted to look at last week Roger had some good questions and this is kind of it's good to review a little bit and to maybe help us a little bit today. So we're John is telling us God is love quite a bit, among other things, just continually repeating these truths. What does it mean to say God is love?

That's his character. That's who he is. And it depends on what the definition of the word is. I'm not trying to be political or anything. It's a state in which someone continually dwells. So it's who God is. It's His character. What single word describes we abiding in Him and He in us? We are in Him and He is in us. So there's fellowship and there's relationship there. What is the purpose of this message from John? I think it's fellowship. For fellowship, yeah. So we can know him. We can behold him.

It's kind of cool that when it says God is love, I think that's something that you kind of continue to learn over time. I think until we come into Christ, we don't know what love is. You know, if you had great parents, There's a love there, but most love is conditional that we experience in the world. God's love is a whole learning thing, don't you think?

Yeah, I think just like grace, we continually learn the depths of that grace, and we learn the depths of love. He always is love. Yeah, he doesn't change. There's never anything but love come through him. Since Christ went to the cross. So let's read 1 John 5, 1 through 4. Let's just go through 4 just to tie it all together. Will someone read that, please?

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. So let's look at the word whoever in the first verse.

Will someone read 2 Peter 3.9? The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. So this is the same word I have underlined here. So what does whoever What's the definition of whoever? Anyone. Everyone. Yeah. All. Yeah.

So, Romans 6.8.

But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So this includes all, doesn't it? Where were we before we were believers? We were unbelievers. We were sinners. We were in sin. That was our identification. the old man, the same nature. It gives you an idea of how much he did love you. That's right. And that's all he does.

So whoever believes, believes the second word there. I'm not going to read the whole part of Romans 3, 21 through 26, but in 22, it says, for all those who believe. So that includes the whoever and what they do, they believe. I want to contrast that phrase, whoever believes, with another doctrine. Are there only certain chosen people allowed to believe? Does this verse support that? No. Is the act of one's will not a part of the equation? Are we disengaged? Are we forced to believe? We are engaged. We are not forced to believe.

So here's a diagram that I really like and I think it fits here. So the middle of this, it looks like an egg. So the yolk is mind, emotions, and will. And on the physical side, so the white part of the egg, half of it is the physical realm and so our mind, emotions and will is our brain. On the spiritual side of the egg is the soul includes the mind, emotions and will. So our will is engaged in the spiritual realm. And this is a spiritual thing, is it not? Whoever believes. And we'll find out what the whoever, what we believe, is.

1 John 5, 13-20. Will someone read that, please? These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. I'm sorry, that was 13 and 20, not 13 through 20. So what do we see in this? Is our mind not engaged? Are there things that we can know? Are there things that we can understand?

Yes. And what is that? It's truth. Him who is true. And it's based on, well let me finish verse one, or just after, whoever believes it says that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. So this is what one believes. So Jesus, he was a man and he was crucified. So he was the Savior, THE Savior. So this is THE Christ.

So this is something important to think about when we think of the Jewish leaders at the time of Jesus' time. What did they think of the man Jesus? Or what did most of the people at that time, not just the Jewish leaders, think of the man Jesus? Well this was a period when the agnostics did not believe that Jesus was the Christ. Right. And I think there was quite a bit of turmoil going on in the church at that time.

But he has set the commandment straight that Jesus is the Son of God. Yeah, this is kind of a little different thought on believing. This is in John 6, 65. It's Jesus speaking. Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my Father. Now, it seems like a puzzling verse. I guess maybe you could argue that he's granted everyone that right, but I guess some did not believe. He says, but there are some of you who do not believe. And it goes on, therefore I have said to you that no one can come to my father, can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my father.

I'm wondering if in the context, because if you are Jewish, you just thought you could come into the kingdom of heaven. That was your right as a Jewish, as being born Jewish. So I'm wondering if he's contrasting that. if that's what he was meaning in context. Because Jews thought, I'm in. I'm Jewish. And Jesus came to teach them the right way, to tell them that, no, you have to come to believe through me. I'm the only way. In this context here, it's important to link Jesus the man with the Christ because the Jewish leaders at that time, and a lot of the Jewish people, They didn't associate a man being crucified with the Savior. Because they had these two ideas.

They had the Messiah being David and the Messiah being Joseph. And one was going to be crucified Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David was going to resurrect him and Messiah ben David was going to be the conquering king. They never associated those two with being the same person and a lot of times they didn't They focus more on the king, the reigning king, rather than the suffering, the sacrifice of Jesus, or Messiah Ben-Joseph. What was the two messiahs? You said there was one of David? Yeah, this was Jewish teaching, but they never linked the two as being the same. Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Joseph. What's Messiah ben David or Joseph? Messiah ben David was the conquering king.

He was the one that was going to be the savior and he was going to save Israel from the Romans. And they were going to be... He was going to rule over Israel. Messiah ben Joseph was a sacrificial Savior. A suffering Savior? Suffering, yeah. So I think in the Old Testament they were talking about Jesus. They prophesied about Jesus. And they said there's going to be a King. Or they prophesied about a Messiah. So they prophesied about a King. But they also prophesied about a man who would be crucified. So in their mind that's not the same person. So they created two different people. Is Messiah Ben Joseph, is that in the scripture? No. But it's in Jewish writings.

Something else to consider that's going on in the context of 1 John here is that these believers were getting hit with a lot of Gnostic thought. And the Gnostics were specifically saying that Jesus, the person, was not the same as the Christ, the anointed one. And so John is really hitting home the idea that your belief needs to tie these two things together, unlike what the Gnostics have been telling you. And that's specific to what he says in verse 1, that Jesus is the Christ. So he is the anointed one. He's not just Jesus. He is Jesus Christ. He's the anointed one. And when you believe that, It's the Incarnation here, the idea that God's Son came in the flesh.

And so, really that's one of the key doctrines that he's trying to protect from these false teachers, these believers, that you've got to believe the Incarnation as it's been specified to you in prior teaching. You need to continue to believe that, because if you unlink the thing, and you break down the Incarnation, and your faith falls apart because You're not believing in the Jesus that we're teaching you, that we've seen and heard and know, as he talks about in the first several chapters. So, that's some of the context of what's going on here, but like Craig was saying, there's the Jewish side, the Messiah, Ben-David, and Ben-Joseph. There's also the Greek side. So they're getting hit with all kinds of false teaching. And in typical John format, he just nails the doctrine of the Incarnation in one sentence, one verse. But that's another aspect of context to keep in mind there with verse 1.

So Christ crucified for all mankind. Romans 5, 6b, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5, 8b, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. And then 1 John 2, 2, and he himself is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world. So this is the significance of the sacrifice, the crucifixion.

Whoever believes that Jesus is a Christ is born out of God. So, born is begotten, is generated from, out from, of God is out from, or source out of God. So are we children of God? Who are we, and who are we in, and who is in us? And who is one with the Father? And what does that make us? Children of God. Children of God, or one with the Father?

Who is our source? We've been placed into Christ. Christ is our source? God is our source? How does it help to know who we are, or where we are, and who we are? Does it help to know these things? Is it really that important to know God? Well, if we don't know Him, then we're dead in our hands.

And our eternal existence will not be something we like. 1 John 4.9 This touches on Christ as being born of God. 1 John 4-9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through him. 1 John 4-7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. So the next part of verse one, part B, and whoever loves the father loves the child born of them. So that love is like we've been studying. You could say it like, and whoever continually and habitually loves the father, continually and habitually loves the child begotten of him. Any questions? I got a question. This term begotten, it's the same, when you look at genealogy, so-and-so begot so-and-so.

I'm just curious, is there a doctrine or belief that Christ was created by the Father? Is this what it sounds like? I guess it's the Mormons who believe that gods aren't born and they're created beings, whereas God himself is not a created being. He always lasted. So this term begotten, I don't know if there's any light to shed on that.

It doesn't mean that he was a created being, but it sounds like it, saying that. Well, it was in Genesis, the I don't know if it's in Genesis. Well, yeah, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit were united from eternity past. And yeah, in Genesis, the word we is used. Nancy?

Doesn't the begotten refer to his incarnation? His earthly incarnation. He is the only incarnation of God. We are adopted sons. Jesus Christ is his begotten son. They were God, as Craig just said, from eternity past. Jesus Christ was one with the Father. Jesus was one with the Father at that time, but then as his incarnation, he became the begotten son. So it's referring to his birth. Yes. I mean, it's a real birth. Yes. Which makes him completely man. as well as completely God. It's a very significant word. Very. Thank you. Verse 2.

By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe His commandments. Commandments. No, Pat's ears perked up when he saw that. So, by this we know, or understand, that we habitually love the begotten children sourced out from God when we habitually love God and habitually observe or practice is, and I put the word in, new commandments in there. But let's look at how do we know that we love the children of God? When we love God. Yeah. the second part of that verse, it's connected.

And we'll find out more how connected that is. Well, do we need to look at what are the commandments, His commandments? Because it's in 1 John here. It's real clear. That's 1 John 3. to leave in the name of the son of his son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us commandment. What verse was that? It's 1 John 3, 23. That's a summary verse. Again, John says it really succinctly. on him whom he has sent.

And a little later he says, love one another as I have loved you. It's a totally different level from the commands of the law of Moses. Yeah, and there's a coincidence that he, in verse 1, he talks about what you have to believe there as well. a real big deal of this, that we ought to be obeying the Ten Commandments. But what are His commandments is what it says. We'll get into that a little bit more. But yeah, that's a good point. You don't get one without the other. What's that? You don't get one without the other. You can't love God and not love the children. Think of it again. So we can't love the children of God without being in fellowship with God.

When Jesus, towards the end of his ministry, just before the crucifixion, he was starting to introduce the church. And he used this terminology, new commandment, in John 13, 34, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And before this, when he would refer to the Law of Moses, he would say the Law or the Law of Moses. But now this is something new and different. And even he would say his commandments or my commandments. 1 John 2a. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him and in you. And I think the verse that you brought up, Roy, was a really good one.

1 John 3.23 This is His commandment that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He commanded us. So it tells us this is the commandment and He commands us. This really is the outflow of the new nature isn't it? I mean it isn't who we are in Christ, that we are going to love one another. And of course we're going to love the Father as evidence of that. There's no way that we can do this in the flesh. Right. Is it possible? Donna? No, I just can't. This also brings up the fact that it's all of grace, everything up there. Everything up there.

A question I have is he uses the term commandment and commandment. So are there other commandments of Christ? Because this is the only one I can think of outside of the law of Moses which is not for us. the grace of God. And so the commandment is to love one another?

Well no, believe on him whom he has sent and love one another as I have loved you. That's why I use the verse in 1 John here because it summarizes both of those. Whereas in the gospel you had a But that makes it plural. I don't know of any more. Does anybody else?

Well, there's a number of instances where he doesn't specify exactly all the commandments that he is in the scripture, but he talks about it coming from the Father. My Father has given me commandments, and you're to hear what I'm saying. And so, while in this particular case, in John, you're referring to John, John 13, 34, a new commandment I give to you, and that's an instance where it's a specific commandment singular, but he talks very often about commandments, and you know the commandments, don't do this, don't do this, and he talks about, I received in John 10, 18, this commandment I received from my father, that I have the authority to lay down my life, And that commandment I received from my father. So John 10, 18 talks about even his ability to lay down his own life was a commandment that he received from his father.

One of the thoughts that I had here, and I'll just throw this out for discussion, as grace-minded believers and as those that understand and cling to the identification truths, when we seek commandments, we instantly think law. But, even though we are sourced out of God and have the ability to, by faith, allow Christ to live through us, we still need guidance as to what those things are.

So, we don't just wake up in the morning and say, without the Word of God in my mind, without God's commands from a New Testament perspective, I'm going to just walk by the Spirit not knowing at all what He has said. So when we get to these commandments, sometimes it's referring to specific things, other times it's referring to God's direction for our life in this age that we live. And at this time, when they were writing this, all the commandments hadn't been completed.

There were still more of God's word to come. So sometimes it's being very specific about a commandment, like you're talking here, and then other times it's being used observing his commands and it's not so much there's all these things you have to do in fact that the whole idea of verse 3 is that it's not burdensome there's these things that God asks of you to do in this age as believers with Christ being your source with you having all the identification truths that we've already talked about but it's not burdensome you got commands yeah but it's not law it's not it's not that kind of thing it's not burdensome and so that that last little part is really a clever way of John being an encouragement, saying, you're not carrying around this big, heavy 613 laws. Yeah, we've talked about commandments in the New Testament. Jesus has talked specifically about this new commandment, about loving others. And there's other instances where Jesus gives us commands. We're going to have a lot to keep in mind as we walk this life, but it isn't burdensome.

Because it's walking in the Spirit. Because you're sourced out of God. That's right. And you have something as a child as we're told in other verses, that is spirit-empowered and not unlike the Jews where it was burdensome. And so that contrast is really pretty clever of John for these Jews because they're thinking, okay, we've got this new guy who's done this stuff for us and he loved us and this has definitely happened in the past several years, many years, but They were still wrestling, I think, with a lot of burden from the commands that had been laid down before them. And here you say, nope, these aren't burdensome. Not at all. And would that be an advantage, talking out loud, because there's no condemnation associated with his commandments, whereas the law had condemnation? Right. Absolutely.

And I'm open to have thoughts on that, because I know that there's a technical commandment, and we have to know, okay, what is he referring to? And then he uses commandments in a very generic sense. You know, is he referring to... We always have to know, we have to think about each individual commandment as whether or not it applies to us, but there are those that do, and this one is one of them. To love, you know, the loving of the brethren is definitely a commandment that's specific to us in this age, empowered by Christ, you know, empowered by the new creation.

But there are others that very often talks about not eating an apple of the worm or these kinds of things. No, those don't apply. But they're still commandments. They just don't apply to us today. I guess you could say that the overarching theme is the personal work of Christ and God's love. I guess you could say that's the commandment. And here I wanted to look at commandments as imperative. And like Jim said, they could be things that guide your life.

So in 2 Peter 3.18, It says, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And that grow is an imperative. You could say, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is in grace. This is not law. It says it right there. And how do we do that? Nancy, did you have something? Oh, sorry.

First Peter 2.2, long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow. And so you could say that the word long there is imperative. You could say you must long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow. And the growing at the end there is not an imperative.

And you can say too that it there is talking about our spiritual being. That what? It's about our spiritual being. Uh-huh. May grow. Uh-huh. By the word. That's right. That's right. So, under the operating system of grace, we're sourced out of God. We know truth, 1 John 15, 13 and 20. We know and we understand. We know Him who is true. and His commandments are imperatives. So in 1st Peter, 1st and 2nd Peter, are they for earthly blessing? Are they to produce earthly blessing?

Not in that text. I don't think any text, but I'm just saying. Right. It's grown the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's spiritual, like Jack said. It's the spiritual side of our mind. Perhaps we need to say How many are there? 618? 613. And all of them were for the blessing. I mean, the commandments they followed, the positive ones, would yield physical blessings, right? For the Jews. I mean, blessings in the land and wealth and I don't find that here in the New Testament other than I can think of one that, honor your father and mother and so your days will be long on the earth.

But there is that, if we know God, we know that he's out for the good. He's working every detail out for our good. And it isn't when something happens good that we from our perspective, good from his perspective. And even the things that happen that we think are bad on this earth, in the physical realm, are most likely for our benefit in the spiritual realm. the word hungry hearts, right? The hungry hearts document. It sort of encapsulates that longing for the pure milk. I mean, it's not milk, it's meat in a lot of places, but that idea.

So is it an idle or eventual growing or longing for that is being talked about here? Do we sit back and are idle, our minds not engaged, expecting to grow? I think there is a growth process. If we're in the Word, if we're in fellowship, if we are longing, And it's because our will, our mind, our will is engaged by knowledge of the truth to actively long for the Word.

So when we hear this word, commandment, it always brings up, oh, there's something I need to do. And typically it's something where, you know, maybe even if it's, if we're looking at longing for the word, it might be, oh, I need to, I need to have quiet time every morning. And are really rigid about that. But this is something that we don't necessarily do. The only thing we do is our mind is engaged in the truth and none of us would be here if we didn't long for more about the Word, about God. I just wanted to leave this up here, but I just really believe that, and maybe I'm off base, but we can discuss that, but this is what we do.

Our mind is engaged, and this is the doing part of it. we the longing for it says it's an imperative it says we must long for and and that's something that and we couldn't we definitely couldn't do that without the Holy Spirit giving us that that energy and that opening our eyes to to God's Word in deeper ways so any questions comments When you talked about the commandments not burdensome, was there some conversation that whether those were Mosaic commandments or New Testament commandments? Is that what you were alluding to? I was saying that from a commandment, if you look at the progression of the use of commandments throughout the whole New Testament, We know very specifically what the Levitical system produced, and we know how that works. It's a nice little system.

But when we start to transition into the New Testament, we're like, OK, well what comes over and what doesn't? And there's a lot of different theological perspectives about, oh, we're going to take the moral commandments of God and leave others behind. And there are a lot of churches that do that.

We'll take all the moral commandments and we'll put them over to the New Testament. And those are the ones that Jesus was talking and referring to. and John is referring to. What commandments are we to live by as New Testament believers is outlined in the completed New Testament letters to us. Obviously Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written to the Jews.

Although there is a transition time, we talked about this yesterday with Vern, there's a transition time of Christ where he's giving specifics to the disciples, but he is seedbedding it all for the church. It's the last week of his life. He's kind of moved on from the gospel of the kingdom, and he is seedbedding these disciples for what's about to take place. The Holy Spirit's going to come on you. There's going to be a lot of things that are going to go on in Acts 2, obviously. And at that point, we start receiving additional revelation through the apostles as they start to make known what God has given to them. They start to write it in letters and give it to us.

It is a burden, even as a new... Let's just say we have these New Testament... Let's say we have one commandment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. Let's take that idea of love, that theme, that concept that's written here. We've looked at... That alone would be extremely burdensome. That one commandment would be entirely overwhelming and burdensome. if we did not have the source of Christ in us to do the loving.

That's a command to a New Testament believer that would wear me out and drive me nuts, right? So no matter what it is that we see in scripture, whatever epistle we're reading, and we see a directive, or what might be called a command to us, the idea of loving your mother and father is renewed in Ephesians. That's a renewal of an Old Testament command in the Ten Commandments, but it's been renewed in the New Testament. That alone would be burdensome. No matter what the command is, whatever we see in Scripture, we can just go through it and start looking for things.

What does God tell us to do? Anytime He tells us to do something, there's a command. Burdensome. Without Christ being our source, it becomes a burden. And so, whether it be Old Testament commands that have been renewed in the New, or even new commands that are revealed in the New, they're all burdensome, no matter what the case, without Christ doing it. And what you're saying here is really cool, because you're saying, we don't do commands. That would be burdensome.

What we do, and what we're told to do, the only one that's specifically told for us to engage in doing, is have our mind longing for the pure milk of the Word of God. And when we do that, we're becoming intimately aware of who He is, what He is going to do through us, and it's by engaging in the Word that those commands get fulfilled in our life, and God does the living through us. And so, when I hear what you're saying, it's so cool because I need to be busy about the Word. I need to be busy about longing for the Word of God.

And by doing that, I'm engaging in Christ, because Christ is the Word. And He does the commandments through me. He fulfills them. I don't have to worry about loving Him. I'm longing for the pure milk of the Word of God. And because I love God through His Word, and become intimately known, I grow in my knowledge of Christ Himself. That love for you, It comes naturally because I'm walking by the Spirit.

I don't wake up and say, man, I love these guys today. It's going to be tough. I don't really like that guy. That's not what the Word of God produces in your heart. It produces a love for Christ that says, I'm more interested in you than I am me. And what does that mean? Whatever ended up happening that day. So it takes, in a lot of church settings, we've got all these do's and don'ts, and it's so burdensome, even in the New Testament era, the church era. We're just like the Jews, walking around saying, ah, yeah, do it!

It's not burdensome to long for the pure milk of the Lord God, though, and I think that's your point, right? Yeah, that's great, thanks. No burden. And this is what we've been studying this whole time in 1 John, is knowing God and having fellowship with Him and loving God. So, I think, yeah, I think that's good. Thanks, Jim. So, our time is up. Did anybody else have questions or comments?

Okay, let's pray. Lord, we just thank you so much that you have given us your word, that you have revealed it to us and that we can know and understand and love you through it, that it gives us everything we need to be in fellowship with you. And we just ask that you give us, through your Spirit, the longing for your Word and to be in fellowship with you. In Jesus' name, Amen.