Sola Fide

1 John 5:1-5

Preached 10/20/2024 [Previous Sermon]

[audio]

INTRODUCTION

We’ve been going through John’s first letter for a couple of years now and we have now reached the fifth and final chapter, finally. As we proceed, let’s review:

1. John wrote this letter to Christians, and his purpose (given in 5:13) is that he wants his readers, “who believe in the name of the Son of God” to “know that [they] have eternal life.”
2. To support this knowledge, John has discussed tests that we can use to evaluate the reality of a our spiritual state.
3. The tests are in three general categories: moral, doctrinal, and social, or, better, they involve obedience, truth and love.
4. And as we saw previously, especially in chapter four, the love is two-fold: love of the Lord and the love of our brethren.

As we have gone through John’s arguments, we have seen him go back and forth through these tests, hitting each of them multiple times. Now, in these five verses of his last chapter, he’s going to give us all three tests mixed together, to illustrate the larger truth of how our salvation works, and how it produces the attributes that he has been describing.

Now you are like me, as you read through these chapters you are struck with a question: How in the world does a series of difficult tests give me any assurance of my salvation, especially when I can clearly see that I have failed all of them at one time or another? Well, John is way ahead of us and today’s five verses actually unpack how these things work together to give us assurance. They do it by describing something called the new birth, or being “born again”.

John himself has given us Jesus’ teaching about the new birth, back in the third chapter of his gospel. Just about all who call themselves Christians know what John 3:16 says, and most of them (or at least most evangelicals) identify themselves as “born again Christians”.  But I would guess that a very small percentage of those who call themselves “born again” are familiar with the conversation from John 3 between Jesus and Nicodemus from which we get the term. Remember that Nicodemus was a very respected teacher in Israel who came to Jesus by night to talk with Him. He addressed Jesus in respectful terms, indicating that he at least recognized that Jesus was someone who seemed to be different from the other teachers in the land, especially in the mighty signs that He had performed. But Jesus responded to his greeting with a simple statement: “You must be born again.” In the following dialogue, Jesus describes two essential parts of how a sinner can enter the kingdom of God.

·         First, he must be born “of the water and the Spirit”. This may be confusing unless we look back to a prophesy by Ezekiel where God promises that He will “sprinkle clean water” for cleansing from uncleanness on his people and then to put “a new spirit… within [them]” (Ez 36:25-26). It is important to note that Ezekiel says the result of this will be that the recipients of this treatment will “walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules”.

·         Secondly, this new birth will not be by human effort or ingenuity. Jesus gives two reasons for this. First, “that which is born of flesh is flesh”, in other words, nothing we can do in our sinful selves can elevate us to be worthy to stand before God, and second, the process, He says, will be like the wind. The wind, Jesus observes, is invisible and we cannot see its source or where it is going except by its effects.

It is this second point that gives us a key to our passage today. The effects John is describing here are results of a reality that we did not create. Instead, they point to a rock-solid reality behind it all. I think the best way to understand how this kind of assurance - or rather this kind of re-assurance - works, is to look at the life of one of the inner three apostles, the one and only Simon Peter. Peter was one of the first apostles called by Jesus, right from his fishing boat. He is first in the lists of the twelve apostles. He was, with John and his brother James, one of the three apostles who were allowed to see Jesus in all his glory on the mount of transfiguration. And Peter was the first to openly acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. But on the day of Jesus’ arrest, Peter was the one who openly denied Jesus (as Jesus had predicted at the last supper), saying “I don’t know the man!”

All eleven of the apostles (minus Judas Iscariot) saw Jesus die on the cross, but three days later they experienced the joy of seeing Him alive again after his resurrection, manifesting that all of his promises were true. The resurrection validated their faith, and (as Paul wrote in Romans) Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God in power … by his resurrection from the dead”. But in spite of this, I think that something was broken in Peter. If we turn to the end of John’s gospel we see something unexpected. Right after John’s mission statement for his gospel at the end of chapter twenty, John shows us a scene involving seven of the eleven apostles who are hanging out in Galilee near their homes. Peter, who had been told by Jesus that he was going to become a fisher of men, announces that he is going to go ahead and be a fisher of fish, and the other apostles join him. Then, while they are being unsuccessful at catching a single fish, Jesus calls to them from the shore, asking if they have caught anything. Just like when He had called Peter three years before, Jesus told them to put their nets on the other side of the boat, and when the net overflowed with fish again, Peter realized Who was on the beach and swam back (leaving the rest to pull in the nets) and evidently sat at Jesus’ feet (like Martha’s sister Mary). Later, Jesus has a strange conversation with Peter, asking him three times “do you love Me?” When Peter replies in the affirmative all three times, Jesus reiterates his call of Peter to ministry. How does this relate to today’s message? Let’s look at 1 John 5 now and find out:

 

I  Faith Alone Saves (5:1a, 5b):

The title of point one sounds like something from Romans or Galatians, or maybe something from Martin Luther, Calvin or Zwingli, right?  As John gets to his conclusion, he is going to talk a lot about faith and the new birth. Of the ten times that John uses the verb for “faith” (or “believe”), seven of them are in this last chapter. John is going to tie these concepts together with the rest of his letter in the five verses of our text today. Note that verse one starts with belief and verse five ends with belief:

1 John 5:1a  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, …

1 John 5:5  Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

There are two important truths we can see if we read these verses carefully. Firstly, we see that belief is a by-product of the new birth. James Montgomery Boice wrote: “In the Greek text the word “believe” is present tense, indicating a present, continuing activity. The word “born” (in the phrase “born of God,” also translated “is a child of God,” _RSV) is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense indicates a past event with continuing consequences. In other words … “Our present, continuing activity of believing is the result, and therefore the evidence, of our past experience of the new birth by which we became and remain God’s children.” We believe and, in fact, do everything else of a spiritual nature precisely because we have first been made alive.” [1]

Secondly, we can see that saving faith is not a faith without content. It is not enough to just believe in anything, as if the act of believing is of any value itself. Our faith must have a worthy object, and John, the apostle of truth, tells us what the content of saving faith is in these two verses. In verse one we see the humanity of Jesus and in verse five we see the deity of Jesus.  He is the great God-man, the eternal Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1,14), the promised Messiah, or Christ, descended in a direct line from King David himself. John has told us back in chapter four that the Spirit of God Himself testifies that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh”.  

Considering these two truths, let’s look back at the life of Simon Peter. One of his greatest moments was his great declaration of faith, right? If we turn to Matthew chapter sixteen we can read the story. Jesus had asked the apostles “who do men say that I am?” When they had answered that question, Jesus then asked them directly “who do you say that I am?” It was Peter who gave the great confession of faith in Jesus: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Note that the content of Peter’s declaration of faith pretty much matches the two points that John mentions in our text. By that confession, we see that the content of Peter’s faith matches John’s truth test above. But there is more here. Peter said the right words, but was it just from his own human cleverness?

Jesus’ response gives us the answer:

Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

According to Jesus, Peter’s faith was not due to his summoning up belief through sheer will, or by a flash of human genius. Peter believed because God had revealed it to his heart.  I think we are seeing exactly what Paul talked about to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 4:6  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 6:5  And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

I believe that Jesus has declared that Peter was born again by this time. I think it actually happened when Jesus called Him from his fishing boat at the beginning of his public ministry. Remember how Peter reacted when Jesus told him to put his nets on the other side of the boat and they caught the giant load of fish? His first reaction was to beg Jesus to depart from him because, as he said “I am a sinful man”. His reaction was similar to that of Isaiah when he beheld the glory of God and lamented

Isaiah 6:5  And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Peter knew in his heart at that point Who it was that stood before him and his whole world changed perspective instantly. And he was ashamed and terrified to be in the presence of Jesus. But when Jesus called Peter to follow him, he left behind his old life to obey. Later, when many other so-called followers of Jesus were abandoning Him, Jesus asked the apostles if they would leave also, and Peter replied

John 6:68b-69 … "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God."

Something changed Peter’s heart. He wasn’t going anywhere. He believed wholeheartedly in Jesus.

 

II  Faith That Saves is Not Alone (5:1b-4a):

John fills the area between his two “faith brackets” with the fruit of the new birth. And in these two and a half verses we see a quick recitation of his three tests of salvation. But instead of giving a longer section to describe each one, he now twists them into a rope of three cords that can’t be separated. Let’s read, and then parse, these verses:

1 John 5:1b-3  ¹ … everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. ² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Remember that the sequence John seems to give is

(a)     a person is born “of God”,

(b)     then they believe in - or have faith in, or trust in - the Jesus of the Bible, who is the Son of God, the Christ, 

(c)     then they bear fruit in their lives in the areas of love, truth, and obedience to God.

The first fruit of salvation is a worship of Jesus as He really is, not another Jesus. Wait, is there more than one Jesus? No, not in reality. But hearts of the unsaved create an idol in their hearts that is more to their liking and worship and serve the false “Jesus” rather than the real one. You can see the word “Jesus” or “Christ” used all over the place, but when you ask whom they mean you will see they have created a Jesus who is comfortable for them, who is not so holy, or who will never be a judge, who will never send people to eternal punishment, who approves whatever sin society has determined to be moral this week, etcetera. Paul warned the Corinthians of the danger of people coming and preaching “another Jesus” (2 Co 11:4). A born-again person loves Jesus as He really is – as He is revealed in the word of God.

The second fruit of salvation is love for God and for God’s other redeemed children. If you are saved, you are adopted into God’s family and you have a huge group of forever brothers and sisters.  Note John’s use of absolutes: “Everyone who loves the father loves whoever has been born of him.” This LOVE is a true sign of a born again heart.

John says that the third fruit of salvation flows from and is an indicator of the reality of the second one. If we have that love for God and for his children we will obey his commandments. This is no great revelation. Jesus himself told the apostles

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

True obedience always comes from love, and one who has been born again loves God. And love says “his commandments are not burdensome”. Love motivates. It makes us want to please the person that we love. No act of love is a burden. For someone who is not born again, every one of God’s laws are an annoyance – something that takes away our fun or restricts our freedom to sin. But a reborn heart says, like the psalmist:

Psalm 119:97, 103   ⁹⁷ Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. [and] ¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

It is good that John said back in chapter one the importance of confessing our sins to God as believers, otherwise we would take this as a statement that a born again person is a person who is perfect in all they do. Rather a true believer will be like Paul who spoke of his frustration because of his lack of perfection that clashed with the longing of his heart to obey God perfectly. But his heart was in love with God and desired to conform to his image. And, though he had not reached perfection yet, still he said “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:14)

Now let’s apply this to Peter. In the aforementioned account from the end of John’s gospel, we have seen a discouraged Peter, falling back into his old profession of fishing… for fish, in spite of the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead. Certainly he believed in Jesus. He had been the first one to go into the empty tomb and he had met the resurrected Jesus more than once. So if he did not doubt Jesus, why does the scene seem so somber? What does he need? What do we need when our conduct is unworthy of our calling? I think Peter needed some encouragement. He needed to understand that his calling from God was irrevocable. Though he had perhaps mouthed off a bit too often, he had actually had a pretty good run. But his cowardly denial of Jesus in that moment of weakness must have weighed heavy on his heart. Now Peter had certainly manifest the signs that John mentioned in this epistle. He had not abandoned the faith, he had not left Jesus, he was still with the disciples, he loved Jesus – he jumped out of the boat and swam 100 yards to the shore to be with Him. So Jesus encourages Peter with a question: “Do you love me?”

Note he does not ask him questions about religious duties or ceremonies. He does not ask him “didn’t you go forward in that revival meeting that I held?”. He doesn’t ask “didn’t you pray that prayer I said to repeat?”. He doesn’t ask “didn’t you raise your hand in that dark room when everybody’s eyes were closed?”. None of those questions are ever asked by Jesus, and John does not use them in this epistle of encouragement. What did Jesus do?  He asked him a fundamental question about his heart: “Do you love me?” In other words, has your heart been made new so that your focus in life revolves around pleasing the Lord? Have you been given a new life? If the answer is positive, denying Jesus would hurt Peter’s heart, which it did. Three times Jesus asked, and the question never changed. And each time Peter truthfully answered “yes”. For every yes answer, Jesus reaffirmed his purpose for Peter’s life. But now he would not just be a “fisher of men”, now he would be a good shepherd of the Good Shepherd’s flock. Peter’s faith was given to him by God, and he never lost it. He demonstrated his understanding of this when he wrote in his first epistle (and see how close Peter’s encouragement is to John’s):

1 Peter 1:22-23  Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

 

III Faith is the Victory! (5:4b-5):

Let’s get back to 1 John to see his third point, which is in verses four and five:

1 John 5:4-5   ⁴ For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. ⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is not a new concept in this epistle. Remember back in chapter two how John developed the idea of perseverance in the faith? He spoke of many who had seemed to members in good standing in their churches that had later left them and no longer participated in the body of Christ. John called them “antichrists” that had appeared, and went on to talk about how they (the true Christians he was writing to) had an anointing from God that abided in them and that could cause them to abide in Him.

Now John is explicit. And what encouragement he gives to us. How many people who have been born of God will overcome the world?  EVERYONE. And what gives the victory over the world? OUR FAITH. And who are those people who overcome the world? The ones who have a faith in the true Jesus, who is the Son of God.

So our perseverance in the faith depends on, but is guaranteed by, our being born again. How can we be sure that we will overcome the world? Because we are trusting in Jesus, and He said

John 16:33  I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

The word for overcome here is the Greek word nikaō.  The word, from which we got the Nike brand name, is also translated as conquer, prevail, or for victory.  The word is mostly used by John, and that mostly in this epistle and in Revelation. It is especially used in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, specifically describing the rewards for true believers. In Revelation, the overcomers are told they will get to eat of the tree of life, that they will not be hurt by the second death (not go to hell), they will receive a new name, they will be given authority over the nations, they will live in God’s temple forever, and Jesus will confess their name before his Father and his angels.

So what does a Christian overcome, anyway? John has mentioned both internal and external challenges to our faith. In chapter two he tells us not to love the world. The world has three footholds that it tries to gain in our hearts: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. John also warns about false believers and false teachers in the church, antichrists who look like they belong but ultimately leave, trying to take others with them. He speaks in chapter four about the spirit of error in the world and warns us to discern what is true, especially those who put forward false Christs to draw us away from the glorious Son of God who became flesh and then died and rose again to redeem us.  But a born-again believer will have lasting faith in Jesus, and will overcome, and will receive all the blessings of salvation. God will see to it, as Paul wrote to the Philippians:

Philippians 1:6  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

 

Conclusion

So hopefully the apostle John’s strategy for encouraging believers is clear. If you are born again through a miracle of God and trusting in Christ for your salvation, but you fall on your face in your Christian walk, remember that you have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous, whose sacrifice is sufficient to pay for your eternal salvation. But Jesus did not just die for your sins – He rose again and is now at the right hand of God as your advocate.  He does not save half way. He continues forever, and as we read in the book of Hebrews:

Hebrews 7:24-25 … he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

What if you have not trusted in Jesus yet? Maybe you are a visitor just checking out the church or maybe you are watching this online – even years from now? Maybe you have been in another religion, and it was wearying just wondering if you had done enough to make it to heaven. You were on a treadmill of trying to be good enough, perhaps even living in fear about your future. Maybe you were buried under too many rules and regulations and just wanted to give up. Don’t lose hope. Talk to someone in the church, or open a bible and read it – perhaps starting in the gospel of John. Just read the words of Jesus and pray that God will give you understanding and a new heart. Then turn from your sins and forsake them. Join a local church to love and be loved by God’s people.

John wrote his gospel for you. He wrote the gospel “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his hame.” (John 20:31)

Once you do that, read 1 John, which he wrote for those “who believe in the name of the Son of God, that [they] may know that [they] have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)

My wish is that everybody who hears this will have that joyful assurance, that we can all join together to sing praises for eternity.

[Next sermon]

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[1] James Montgomery Boice, The Epistles of John, p125 (Inner quote by Boice is of Stott)