1 John 5:1-5 Part One: John's Test To Confirm One Has Been Born Again
How do you know that you are in a right relationship with God?
How do you know that you are truly born again?
In our text this morning, 1 John 5:1-5, John gives us a way to answer these questions. He says,
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. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
These verses can be summed up by saying, “One who has been born of God will continually have proper faith, the proper love and the proper obedience.” Let me show you how I arrived at this thesis.
First, we see that the one who is born again will continually have a proper faith. We see this at the beginning of our text when John writes, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” (1) We see this again at the end of our text when John writes a rhetorical question, “Who is it who overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (5)
Secondly, we see that the one who is born again will continue to have a proper love. John writes, “...and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” (1b-3)
Thirdly, we see that the one who has been born of God will continually display proper obedience to the commands of God. John says, “And His commandments are not burdensome. For who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. (3b-4)
This morning I would like to draw your attention to two particular things concerning this text.
First, we will look at who is supposed to use this test.
Secondly, we will explore what it means to say that a believer will continually find evidence of a proper faith, a proper love and a proper obedience.
First, notice that the word ‘Everyone’ is found three times in our text.
Every believer will have a proper faith.
Every believer will display a proper love for God and for others.
Every believer will display the proper obedience to the commands of God and they overcome the world.
The apostle John gives ‘everyone’ three ways to evaluate if they are born-again. He gives ‘everyone’ three ways to determine if they have been saved and are abiding with God. This is a universal test that ‘everyone’ can apply to their lives.
Are believers being careful to use these three proofs? Or do we find that these proofs are being neglected and overlooked? Instead of using the method that John describes in this text it seems that we have chosen to use different methods to evaluate something as important as this?
If you were to ask people today how they know they are saved they may say something like:
I am saved because I said a prayer in the past.
I know I am saved because I was baptized in the past.
I am saved because I was raised in the church.
Many might say that they are saved because they are a member of the church or because they attend services.
Others are confident that they are saved because they believe they have lived a moral life as compared to others.
They are confident because they are not as bad as others, even some of those who are in the church.
You can see the problem of using these other methods to evaluate whether or not you have been saved. John is not saying that this is just one of many ways that you find the answer to these questions. John says that you are to evaluate whether you are born-again by whether you are displaying the following:
a proper faith in Jesus Christ who is the Son of God
a proper love for God and the people of God
and a proper obedience to the commands of God and are overcoming the world
These proofs will be evident if a person has been saved because they are only possible in the person who has the life of God dwelling in him. These proofs are more reliable than our feelings and emotions. A proper faith, love and obedience are signs that someone has been united with God.
Secondly, you will notice that in my thesis statement I have added a word that may intimidate many of us and it may make us lack confidence in the fact that we are truly saved. See if you can identify the word that I am talking about when I say, “One who has been born of God will continually have proper faith, the proper love and the proper obedience.” I have said that a born-again believer will continually display a proper faith, a proper love, and a proper obedience.
Why did I use the word continually? What is meant by the word ‘continually’? Does this disqualify all of us here who have not continually believed, loved and obeyed this week?
Let me explain why I have chosen to use this word. Let’s look at 1 John 5:1, “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.” In this verse, the word ‘believe’ and both words for ‘love’ are in the present tense. So, a person who has been born of God will be believing and loving presently.
In verse 2 and 3 we read, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” Here we see that twice the word ‘keep’ is found in the present tense. And twice the word ‘love’ is mentioned and they are also in the present tense. A child of God will be presently loving God and other believers. And they will be keeping the commands of God.
In verse 4 we read, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” Here the word the word ‘overcomes’ is in the present tense. So a child of God will give evidence to the fact that they are overcoming by their faith in Jesus Christ.
And in verse 5 we read, “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.?” In this verse the word ‘overcomes’ and ‘believes’ are also in the present tense.
All of this means that believing, loving, keeping, and overcoming are graces that are manifested in the children of God presently, continually, consistently, repeatedly, over and over again. These graces are to be defining attributes in the one who has been born of God. A true believer can say, “I am a Christian not only because I repented and believed upon Christ back on this particular date; but I know that I have been born-again because I can see proof of a proper faith, a proper love and a proper obedience to God.”
This does not mean that a believer is perfect in doing these things all the time. Is there any believer among us whose faith is as perfect as it can be? Is there any among us who loves as consistently and as fully as Christ has loved us? Is there any among us who perfectly obeys God in heart, mind, soul, and body all the time and in every moment? Dr. Douglass O’Donnell puts it this way, “The idea here is not that Christians keep the commands perfectly, but rather that believers keep them characteristically.”
Let me give you an example of how God faithfully produces these things in a believer even though they remain weak and imperfect in the flesh. Last week we discussed 1 John 4:17-21 and I weaved in and out of that text a story about a man named Howell Harris who was saved from a life of sin. Mr. Harris was the best friend of George Whitfield. Together they labored faithfully in preaching and evangelizing during the revivals associated with the Great Awakening. There was no one that George Whitfield loved and trusted more than Mr. Harris.
There is, however, a dark cloud that appeared for a time over the life of this man. For a season he began to act in ways that were not in line with the proclamation of his faith. There is not the time to give a full account of this season of Harris’ life but let me give you a few examples.
His attitudes and his statements became extreme and unbalanced. One day he would speak highly of someone and then the next day he would berate them and disparage them severely. He was not loving his wife, his friends or the other believers as he should have.
His theology began to contradict the Scriptures and some of his beliefs became unorthodox. This eventually was a big reason why the church discipline was administered.
He began to throw the believers into confusion by his actions and teachings.
He began to claim that he was divinely led in his decisions and beliefs, and was increasingly intolerant of any contradiction.
He surrounded himself with people who were not a healthy influence upon him. They promoted his pride and they did not help direct him in godly ways.
Up until this moment, Mr. Harris’ seemed to be a great example of what John describes in our text today. Until this moment his faith and message had been Christ-centered. Until now his disposition toward God and His people had been loving and he displayed great self-sacrifice for the good of others. And until this moment Harris obeyed the commands of God and taught them accurately. But during this season he was wandering from true doctrine and from those who would help him repent.
Nobody really knew what had happened to Howell Harris that made him change so quickly in these ways. Looking back, however, it was easier to see that one of the contributing factors to all of this was that Mr. Harris labored so hard in the ministry that he became mentally and physically exhausted. Because of his trustworthiness and faithfulness many people, including George Whitfield, entrusted him with more and more duties and responsibilities. Mr. Harris continued to ignore the warning signs and he continued to minister without taking much time to rest and addressing these things.
The breaking point came when he was ministering at an evangelistic meeting. While ministering a man hit him so hard in the head that he was clearly hurt. It was in that moment that some say he probably had received a brain injury. Despite this Harris told everyone around him, “I have received no hurt!”. However, after this happened his behavior became more and more characteristic of the sins that we mentioned above. Eventually his friend George Whitfield had to confront him and bar him from speaking in churches.
All of this was a good thing because this forced Harris to rest and over time he began to recover. He recognized the sinfulness of the things that he had done during this period of his life and he repented. He apologized for his former indiscretions and fellowship was restored with the other believers. Over time he even began to do some itinerant preaching again. From this point on he faithfully labored for the Kingdom of God till the end of his life in 1773; yet never with the vigor and strength that he had had in his younger years. (Arnold Dallimore; George Whitfield)
James Montgomery Boice said, “The life of God within makes obedience to the commands possible, and the love the Christian has for God and for other Christians makes this obedience desirable.”
Because of the new life that Mr. Harris had in Christ, he desired to obey God and he desired to spend his life and energy serving Him. But because of the weakness of his own flesh he eventually entered into a dark season where these three attributes that John speaks of in 1 John 5:1-5 seemed to disappear (proper faith, love and obedience). Yet, the life of God was still in him and it one day reappeared. Mr. Harris is a good example of how a weak man with the life of God in him can over time consistently express these three traits: a proper faith, a proper love, and a proper obedience.
The 1689 London Baptist Confession speaks of some of the reasons one might go through such seasons in life; but it also gives a true believer reasons to have assurance of grace and salvation in these dark seasons. The confession says, “True believers may have the assurance of their salvation in many ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation by God’s withdrawing the light of His countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him to walk in darkness and to have no light, yet they are never destitute of the seed of God and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived, and by the which, in the meantime, they are preserved from utter despair.”
This week Mindy and I watched a fixer-upper show where they sanded down their floors and stained and varnished them. At one point the owner was so happy with the way that it turned out she wanted to put her hand prints all over the floor while it was still wet! Instead of putting hand prints all over the floor she settled for putting a single thumb print in the floor.
Similarly, there may be seasons when a believer can see lot’s of evidences of the hand of God upon them. But there are other seasons when we may wonder if there is even one thumbprint for us to find. If you are in such a season as this let me encourage you to keep looking for these proofs of grace. Until that moment comes, do not neglect to rejoice in the promises that God has made to save you, preserve you and one day glorify you. God knows where His fingerprints are in your life even if you do not.
Practical Applications:
1) In a couple of weeks we are going to have someone get up and share their testimony about how God used 1 John 5:13 to save them. I love testimonies because they are so exciting and encouraging. Having said that, we have seen today that your life right now as it is being lived consistently and faithfully by faith, love and obedience is a wonderful testimony that should be encouraging you and many others. When you are asked how you know you are saved, do not answer as so many others do; instead tell them about these evidences that John has spoken about today: proper faith, proper love and a proper obedience.
2) Howell Harris was fruitful and gifted in his life. But don’t make the same mistake he did. As gifted as he had been by God he was not to bear the burden alone. He was not supposed to say yes to everything. Eventually this burned him out and caused him to go through a dark season until he was humbled. Some of you may be headed in that direction right now. Be warned by this part of his life.
George Whitefield was no slacker himself, yet he unknowingly gave Howell Harris too much responsibility at that time in his life. There is always a delicate balance in the life of a church. Some need to do more and others need to do less. But we all need to do whatever we do by faith and by the strength of God. Are you to do more right now? Are you to do less right now? We are all called to help carry each others burdens in the church so how is God calling you to do that?
3) Spend time getting to know people in this church and find out if they are in a fruitful season or in a season of darkness, doubt and despair. You may be in a fruitful season and as you speak of these blessings the person next to you may be getting more discouraged. We are all called to obey Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” To obey this command we need to know who is next to us and what season of life they may be experiencing.
4) As we will see next week, this text is not so much about how we produce these graces but it is about how God produces them in us. For every one look that you take of yourself take ten looks at Christ. He is the object of our faith.