We are coming to the end of our study in 1 John. This is the last message in this epistle, and I trust it has been as beneficial to you as it has to me. As I have said from the beginning, the theme of 1John is that of fellowship. Fellowship with God and with His body, the church. Last week, if you were here, we looked at the confidence of fellowship. That message is available online for those of you that are interested. This week we look more completely at the idea of assurance of fellowship, looking specifically at four assurances of fellowship with which John closes out his epistle. He wants us to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are Christ’s, and He is ours. That we abide in Him, and He in us. That we have fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And that this fellowship is characterized by eternal life, not just an endless life, but abundant life, life animated by the very Spirit of God.

John says in vs.13 of this chapter, “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.” Thirty-nine times in the epistle of 1John, he tells us that we might know. He gives us various tests and evidences and proofs that we might know we have this eternal, abundant life of fellowship with God. Now today in the closing statement of this passage, we see the word “know” used three times. And so in keeping with the theme of John’s message, I have entitled this sermon “Four assurances of fellowship.”

Let’s look then at each of them. The first assurance of fellowship we find in vs.18, “We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.” John has had much to say about sin in this epistle. He just finished saying in the preceding verses of 16 and 17, that there is a sin that a brother in Christ can commit which is not unto death, and there is also a sin unto death. Furthermore, he says, all unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death.

We talked about those somewhat difficult verses last time a great deal. And I won’t take the time to completely review them again this morning. But suffice it to say, that a Christian cannot sin unto death, because he has been given eternal life. He can sin, and that interrupts his fellowship with God, but he cannot sin unto death, because Christ has died for us in our place. God will not punish us with death when He has already punished Jesus with death on our behalf. All unrighteousness is sin, and John says there is a sin not unto death. That sin is the sin committed by a Christian. But he goes on to say that there is a sin unto death. And that is the sin of the unbeliever. He who has rejected the source of life, the Savior of mankind, such a one is still dead in his trespasses and sins. He is sinning unto death. He will die in his sins unless he is born again by faith in Christ and repentance of his sin.

So with that as our context, let us consider what John is saying here in vs.18, and why this should be a comfort and assurance for us. He says that we know that no one who is born of God sins. Well, remember in the preceding verses we just saw that there is a sin of a Christian. It is not unto death, but it is still a sin. So we need to look closer than just a superficial reading of this verse. And what we find is that in the Greek language, John was writing using the present tense, speaking of a continuous sin, a habitual sin. A pattern of continuing in sin. So he is saying that one who is born of God does not continue in sin. Sin no longer has dominion over the one born of God.

Now the key is that phrase “born of God.” John uses it twice in this one verse; once to speak of our relationship to God, and once to speak of Christ’s relationship to God. Our freedom from the power of sin depends not upon our self discipline or will power, but upon our new birth. When we are born again, we die to the old man, and appeal to God for to become a new creation. Old things are passed away, and all things become new. We are born of the Spirit of God. In this new creation, God gives us a new heart and puts His Spirit within us. In Ezekiel 36:25-27 God says, ”Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

So when you become born again, God gives you the legal standing of righteousness. He gives you the capacity for righteousness. He gives you the desire for righteousness. And He gives you the power of the Spirit that you may work the works of righteousness. Therefore, sin no longer has dominion over you. As the song we sang a few minutes ago said, “In Christ Alone,” “sin’s curse has lost it’s grip on me.” Christ has been victorious over sin and death and as His people who are indwelled by His Spirit, we have been given freedom from sin. So as a Christian we may sin, but we will not continue in sin. We no longer have a pattern of sinfulness as our characteristic. That pattern has been broken. Sin’s hold over us has been broken. And so we know that no one who is born of God continuously sins.

The second part of that verse is especially meaningful to me. We know that one who is born of God does not continuously sin, because He who was born of God keeps him… Folks, that should be a reason to shout “Hallelujah!” Jesus Christ keeps us. Listen, it is incumbent upon the Shepherd to keep His sheep. He defends His sheep from ravening wolves and roaring lions. We are His sheep of His pasture. The Good Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep. Do you think that God is powerful enough to keep us from hell, but not powerful enough to keep us from falling back into a life of sin?

Jesus said in John 10:27-30 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” I find great comfort in knowing that the Good Shepherd keeps HIs sheep. He watches over them and protects them, from their lying down to their rising up. And if you are born of God, then you can rest in the promise that Christ keeps you.

Listen, this is further evidence that vs16 and 17 are not talking about an unpardonable sin that cannot be forgiven, or a sin by which you can lose your salvation. Christ is entrusted with keeping His sheep. He will not let you go. It’s like the analogy I have said before about when my kids were little. As we would get ready to cross a busy highway, I would tell my kids, “hold onto Daddy’s hand.” And though I expected them to obey, I wanted them to hold my hand, I did not rely on their strength to hold onto me, but I held onto them, and nothing they could do would make me let go. I love my kids, and I can assure you that God loves His children, and nothing can snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

So the Only Begotten Son of God keeps them. Then notice a further provision; “and the evil one does not touch him.” I love that phrase. I am reminded of Christ’s assurance to Peter in Matt. 16:18, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” If you are born of God then you are the church of God.And as the church of God no power of hell can overpower you. I think of another verse in this epistle, 1John 4:4 “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

Listen, be confident, but not arrogant. John is not saying that the devil will not try to discourage you, that he will not attack you, that he will not try to deceive you. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians that we do in fact wrestle against forces of darkness. Eph. 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” But though we wrestle against them, we do not fight in our own strength, we fight in the power of God, through the weapons of righteousness. And through Christ, we are guaranteed the victory as John told us previously in vs 4; “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.”

So the devil cannot lay hold of us again to take us back under his dominion. We have been transferred to the kingdom of God. Col. 1:13 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” Satan cannot do anything to us, that he has not first received permission from our heavenly Father. We don’t belong to him anymore. We have been set free through Christ.

Now let’s look at the second assurance. Vs.19, 1John 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” This assurance is really just an extrapolation of the first. We are born of God. God knows His children, and keeps His children, and nothing can snatch us out of the Father’s hand.

And then John shows us the contrast. You are either in the Kingdom of God, or the dominion of darkness. There is no middle ground. You are either born of God or you are born of your father the devil. John told us in chapter 3 vs 8, “the one who practices sin is of the devil.” We do not practice sin. We who are born again do not continuously practice a sinful lifestyle. We have been changed, reborn, remade. We have a new nature, and are a new creation. But those who practice sin are of the devil. John tells us there are only two options; you either are born of God or you are of the devil.

And that is evident by the things that you love. 1John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

Now this idea of the world which the Bible speaks of, is another means of describing the dominion of darkness, that sphere of influence under the prince of this world, the prince of darkness, even the devil. The world refers to the world system that Satan has orchestrated through a system of lies and deceits and lusts in such a way as to capture the naive and hold them and ultimately condemn them to destruction.

John says that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. This world that seems so enticing, so alluring, so entertaining, is actually engineered by the evil one to entrap and be a snare. As Christians, we should not be seduced by the world’s philosophies, by her entertainments, by her materialism. For all these things will be one day burned up when God pours out His judgment upon this world. In Revelation, we see this world system pictured as a harlot named Babylon who is dressed in fine clothing, sitting upon the beast of Satan. And though she looks alluring, there are all kinds of blasphemies and corruptions within her. Rev 18:2-4 And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.” I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.”

As Christians, we must not be tempted by the charms of this world system. But recognize as James 4:4 says, that friendship with the world is to become an enemy of God. As Paul says in Gal. 4:9 “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?”

Paul speaks of this world system in Eph. 2:2 saying, “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” The course of this world he likens to a course of a river, that sweeps along in it’s current the population who seem unaware that they are headed downstream to destruction. And yet because everyone else seems to be in it as well, they are ignorant of the devil’s schemes to destroy them. The fact that they don’t realize it, serves even more the purposes of the evil one. But thanks be to God that we are born of God, have been delivered from this world system and “no power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand; till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand. “ (In Christ Alone)

The third assurance John gives us of our fellowship is the knowledge of truth. Vs. 20, “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.” Three times John speaks of what is true, or the truth. The word translated true is the Greek word alēthinos, which might be better translated as genuine.

Now in light of that, then consider what John is presenting to us; “ we know that the Son of God has come.” In other words, He that was in the beginning with God, who was God, has come down to man, to become flesh and blood, so that He might suffer for us the wages of sin, and that we might be made righteous through Him. That is the gospel; that the Son of God has come. We have come to know it through faith, and then through experience. As our faith becomes effective we have the witness within us that it is true. He says, “and give us understanding so that we might know Him who is true.”

Jesus came to earth to reveal the truth of God. That we might know the character and nature of God. And we know that because we see it in Christ. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” He said to Philip, “if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” Hebrews 1:1 says, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He [that is Christ] is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of [God’s] nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Now we not only have Jesus revealing the truth of God through His nature, but also we have understanding through His Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” And John 16:13″But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” As vs6 of this chapter says, “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”

So what is the truth which we have come to know? It is the genuine truth concerning God. Jesus said, God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” That is essential, that we worship God in truth. And John says that we can know that we worship God in truth, because we are in Christ, who is the genuine Son of God, reflecting the genuine truth of God.

You know, as a pastor of this church, I am constantly aware of what we lack in comparison to other churches. I was complaining of our lack of growth the other day, and the person I was speaking to told me that if I became more like other churches, and had a high powered worship band, if I had a high octane children’s program, if I had more of the bells and whistles that we see in the popular churches, then we would be more successful. And I suppose that he is right. But let me tell you something. Jesus said you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. A high octane children’s church is not going to set your child free from sin. A youth group will not necessarily set your teenager free from the entrapment of this world. Only the truth will make you free. And the truth is found in the preaching of God’s word. You can be religious and not be set free. You can rock out to a great worship band and not be set free. The whole world can sing “merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily” while floating down the stream to their destruction, but only the truth will set you free. I want to know the truth of God, that I might have the life of Christ in me. And that is the purpose of the church.

Now back to our text, John says He, that is Christ, is the true God and eternal life.Now that’s a tremendous statement. John says Christ is the true God. We believe that God is three persons in One. Father, Son and Spirit are equally God, but with different roles in unique personhoods. Jesus is fully God, and furthermore, as Hebrews says, He is the exact representation of the Father God. He is God who was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Doctrinally this is essential to our salvation. But also this verse is essential to our fellowship. We are in Him, that is Christ. He is the basis for our relationship to God as sons. He is how we are born again, that is born of God. You have to have this relationship with Christ in order to have fellowship with God. And when you believe in Christ and His work by faith, then God reckons that faith to you as righteousness, and He gives you eternal life. Remember what we have said repeatedly about the concept of eternal life? It does not just indicate endless life, but spiritual life, the life of Christ in us. This is the abundant life that Jesus spoke of. It is the life of fellowship with the Father and the Son and with HIs bride, the church.

Now there is one final assurance that John gives us as he closes this epistle. And at first it may seem to not follow the pattern of the first three. Note that vs.21 does not have the word “know” in it. John simply closes with “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” And I’m sure you wonder, like I did, what relation this could have with the preceding verses. But if you think about it for a moment, I’m sure you will agree with me as well as with John, that obeying this principle is yet another assurance that you will have fellowship with God.

The fourth assurance of fellowship is that we guard ourselves from idols. The point that I think John is making here, is that it he has given us three assurances that are the provence of God that we might have fellowship. But now he is giving us one assurance of ourselves that we might have fellowship with God. In other words, God is sovereign and He has made sure we have fellowship with Him and will continue to have fellowship, based on His divine will and sovereignty. But there is also a responsibility that we have in our fellowship with God. I confess, I do not know where God’s sovereignty ends and my responsibility begins. God’s sovereignty began before the creation of the earth. He chose us before the foundation of the earth, the scripture says. But yet He tells us of our responsibility to believe, to repent, to confess, to obey, to love one another, to keep His commandments. So though God’s sovereignty is a great comfort and assurance of my fellowship throughout eternity with God, yet there is also a responsibility on my part to do what He wants me to do.

And so as John considers fellowship to be a product of our love for God, and our love for God producing ever more intimacy with God, then it makes sense that as the bride of Christ we should guard against committing adultery against God. Loving the world is a form of idolatry. And furthermore, idolatry is a form of adultery. James said it this way in James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Paul speaking of the Old Testament church said in 1Cor. 10:7 “Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” This really goes back to what we said at the beginning. That the world system has been strategically engineered by Satan to seduce people to become ensnared by the world, and having become trapped, to be destroyed. Satan may not be able to destroy a Christian’s eternal destiny, but he can destroy a Christian’s fellowship with God, and as such destroy a Christian’s testimony.

It’s unlikely that many of us today would bow down to an idol of wood or stone. But many of us can be found bowing down to the idols of entertainment, or bowing to the idols of sports, or bowing down to the idol of money, or career. There is no end to the idols that this world offers up in opposition to the truth of life in Christ. We are so easily led astray to worship false idols who offer us false hope of finding happiness or fulfillment outside of life in Christ. But just as hope in statues of wood or stone would be futile, so is our hope in idols of this world that sell us the lie that happiness can be found in things of this world.

Folks, there is only one source of joy and contentment and peace and love. The things of this world that are worth having when all is said and done, can only be found in the life of fellowship with God through Christ. Nothing else will satisfy. John said in chapter 1 vs. 3, “These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.” Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is the only way to the Father. And there is no greater joy, no greater peace than that which is found in fellowship with Him. Little children, guard yourselves from idols. Come out from the world and be separate from her. These idols of the world will destroy your fellowship with God. They will never bring you the joy that God can give. He is the only way to life. I pray that you will guard yourself against the seductions of this world which can never satisfy. But Jesus said, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

If you have been born of God, then I trust that the conclusion of this epistle has assured your heart of eternal fellowship with God. That you would guard yourselves from the allure and enticement of the false gods of this world. That you would cling only to the truth of Christ, and to Christ alone.

And if you are here today and you don’t know that life of fellowship which Jesus gives, I urge you to receive Him today as your Lord and Savior. He gives the water of life without cost and gives it freely to all who come to Him. If you are thirsty for that living water, come to Jesus today, He will satisfy you with the water of eternal life. Jesus said in John 4:14 “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

We are coming to the close of the epistle of 1 John. We will more than likely finish it next Sunday, Lord willing. I came into this epistle with naive expectations that we would spend a short study in it, and then we would begin the gospel of Mark as we started out the summer season. Turns out God had other plans. This is the seventeenth message in 1 John, with one more to go. This little epistle has taught me much concerning the life of a Christian, particularly in regards to what is Christian fellowship. There have been a number of interpretational challenges, as there is yet again today, but I believe God helped us navigate through them, and I for one, am the better for it.

If you have been with us during this summer, you will know that I consider fellowship to be the theme of 1 John. And fellowship with God can only be possible if you have been born again into eternal life. Eternal life is inseparable from fellowship with God. Now, as I indicated last week, eternal life does not just refer to the longevity of life, but the quality of life. That which is spiritual is eternal by definition, thus we have to be born again by the Spirit of God, in order to become spiritual, because in our natural state, we are dead spiritually. That is due to the curse of sin from the Garden of Eden, when man ate of the tree, and as God said, they surely died. Adam and Eve died spiritually. And as descendants of Adam, all have sinned according to our nature and are spiritually dead. But once having received eternal life, we have fellowship with the Spirit who abides in us, and as such we now have eternal life in Christ.

Their is another aspect of the phrase eternal life, and that’s the word used for life; zoe in the original Greek. In Greek there are three words used for life. There is bios, from which we get the word biology. It refers to the physical body. Then there is psuche, from which we get the word psychology. It refers to the soul, or the mind, emotions and will of man. Sometimes it is also called the heart. Heart and soul are interchangeable. And then there is zoe, which refers to the zest of life, a life of special vitality or animation. And that word zoe is what the apostles use to speak of spiritual life. This is the life animated by God, the divine life that is eternal, abundant, and is the source of our fellowship with God. Without zoe life, we cannot have fellowship with God.

And by the way, eternal life does not begin when we get to heaven one day. Eternal life begins at salvation. Your life in Christ will never end. Jesus said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” When He said I am the life, He used the word zoe. We receive the life of Christ, divine life, which is eternal life, the moment we believe in Christ. That zoe life is the full life, abundant life of fellowship with God when we abide in Him and He in us. As Jesus affirmed in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” He’s not talking about physical prosperity, but about the full divine, spiritual life in Christ that results in fellowship with God.

Now John speaks to this indispensable principle of fellowship in vs.13. We talked about this verse some last time, but we need to look at it again this week to keep the following verses in context. Note vs.13, “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.”

Since the very first chapter, John has been concerned that we know that we have real fellowship with God. He is concerned that we know we have eternal life. The word “know” appears 39 times in this epistle and seven times in these last verses. This whole epistle is about knowing you have fellowship with God for certain.

And last time we showed that the way you know you have the eternal zoe life of God, that you have fellowship with God, is through the word of God. The promises of God are our guarantee, the confidence of our salvation, and our confidence of fellowship with Him. We don’t trust in feelings, we don’t trust in experiences, though those things may be significant. But we trust in the word of God. And that is why John says that these things have been written down for us, that we might know for certain that we have fellowship with God. The apostle’s doctrines which are written are scripture, which is inspired by the Spirit of God, that we may know the things of God.

Now John tells us in vs 14 that there is another proof, or evidence, that we have this fellowship, this zoe life of God abiding in us. And that evidence is answered prayer. Answered prayer is one of the most satisfying evidences of your fellowship with God. Sometimes they are major things we have been praying for, and God answers them. And sometimes there are small things we pray for, and God answers them. But whether they are big or small, answered prayer is one of the best confirmations of our fellowship with God, and one of the most tangible evidences that we share the zoe life of Christ.

But if the truth be known, answered prayer is an evidence which is sometimes lacking in our lives, is it not? We pray for things, we try to muster up faith that God will answer it, and then oftentimes He doesn’t seem to answer. And rather than encouraging our faith, it sometimes works to discourage us.

However John seems to give us this blank check that if we ask, we will receive what we ask for. But in actuality, it’s important to give full consideration to these verses if we hope to see this evidence of our life with Christ. Let’s look at the verses 14 and 15; “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”

Now let’s break this verse down. First of all, I want you to notice that we are to pray confidently. Now confidence is not presumption. Confidence is not arrogance. Confidence is not commanding God to do whatever we ask. If that were so, then we should worship ourselves, rather than worship God. If He exists to do our bidding, then He isn’t a God, He is a genie, and if we rub Aladdin’s lamp just so, and say the words just the right way, then abracadabra, God is at our service, and we get our wish!

No, that is not the God of the Bible. But we are told to be confident. We have that confidence because of our relationship to God through Christ who is our Great High Priest. Consider what
Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

This kind of confidence arises from the knowledge of two fundamental principles of prayer, which John gives us here: the certainty of hearing, and the certainty of having. Notice both of these elements: “If we ask anything according to his will, we know that he hears us.” Now also notice that there is a caveat; according to His will. Perhaps the major reason for most of the unanswered prayers of the world is they are not according to God’s will, and therefore they are not heard. John makes it explicitly clear that a prayer that is according to God’s will is always heard. Thus he dismisses all those concepts of prayer which imply that prayer is a means of getting God to do our will. Prayer is never that.

In fact, James makes it clear that prayer offered on the wrong terms, according to our will rather than God’s, will not be answered. Look at James 4:2,3; “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” The idea there is that you pray for things based on worldly lusts.

Jesus said in John 14:14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” That is the basis for the traditional ending to most of our prayers. “We ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.” That however, is not what Jesus intended. To ask in His name is not simply to tack on Jesus’ name at the end of our prayer, but to ask according to Him, according to His nature, His character. And we know that Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God. He did everything which the Father was doing. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” So to ask in His name is to ask according to His will. It means the same thing. So when we ask according to His will, John says He hears us. Or perhaps better, He listens to us.

Now that is all that John explicitly says about prayer. That is the only condition he seems to put upon it; that we ask in accordance with God’s will. But that still leaves a lot of questions unanswered. The Bible has much to say about prayer. And if you go through the Old and New Testaments, you will find a lot of principles that apply to effective prayer. But what John seems to be presuming to be understood, is that this effective prayer he is talking about happens as a result of true fellowship with God. When you are in fellowship with God, abiding in Him, He abiding in you, His word abiding in you, and you abiding in obedience to His commandments, when all that encompasses true fellowship is in effect, then you will ask according to His will and He will do it.

Now if you are living outside of His will, then that would mean you are living in sin, wouldn’t it? If you sin, John says in chapter 1, then you don’t have fellowship with God. Sin breaks fellowship with God. As a Christian, sin will not make you lose your salvation, but it will disrupt your fellowship with God. 1John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” So the answer to unconfessed sin is to confess it, and be cleansed of it, so that we can have restored fellowship with God. But in an unconfessed state of sin, then we can expect not to have our prayers answered. David said in Psalm 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”

In fact, let me expand on that principle in a positive light. After years of reading James 5 regarding what James calls “effective prayer”, I finally saw the connection. James 5:16b, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” It finally dawned on me one day that the secret to effective prayer is a “righteous man.” A man that does not regard iniquity in his heart. So James says in the same verse, “confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed.” He isn’t talking about being healed from physical illness, but from a spiritual illness. Sin being an illness that besets the zoe life and disrupts the fellowship we have with God. So confessing our sins makes us whole again, restoring our full fellowship with God. That whole fellowship is the secret to answered prayer.

Now John is going to give us an illustration that will help to explain this principle of how God answers the prayer of those in fellowship with Him. And I will admit, that I wish John had come up with a different illustration. John has a way of making something simple sound confusing. But nevertheless, it is for our own good to be challenged by this type of illustration. It forces us to consider scripture in light of scripture. But I will say that the following verses have been the source of many a debate, and not a few false doctrines. Now I don’t claim to be smarter than everyone else. But after much pray and consideration I think I know what John is saying here. I guess that God is showing that not many wise, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things to shame the wise. So in that vein, let me try to explain John’s illustration. First let’s read the word; vs.16-17 “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.”

Now as I alluded to while ago, there have been a lot of interpretations of these verses for centuries among theologians. And there have also been some false teachings that have arisen out of these verses. Some have tried to say this teaches that you can lose your salvation, or that you can somehow commit a sin which is not forgivable. Well, in consideration of time, I cannot address every false teaching here today. I will say, however, that you cannot lose what you have not acquired. Christ purchased your salvation, and God granted it to you on the basis of faith in Christ. It is eternal life that you received by grace. Not eternal, then whoops, you lost it! Eternal or better yet, everlasting life is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Remember the verse I quoted Jesus saying a few minutes ago? “He who believes on Me will never die.” There is an overwhelming preponderance of scripture which we don’t have time to review this morning which support the eternal nature of our new birth, and it would be foolish to suggest a doctrine on the basis of this one passage which might seem on the surface contrary to other scriptures which so clearly teach the perseverance and eternal security of the saints.

Throughout all of John’s epistle, he has been contrasting the true life of fellowship with that which is not in fellowship. He has contrasted the walk in the Light, with the walk in darkness. He has contrasted being born again, with being dead in your sins. Now in this passage, he is affirming the eternal life that comes in response to our faith. And he has shown multiple evidences of our faith; such as love, fellowship, keeping the commandments, and answered prayers. So in that context, the same contrast of spiritual life vs spiritual death is being shown here.

The life which is in fellowship with God, loves His brother in Christ. John has emphasized that again and again. So John says when we that are in fellowship with God see a brother who has sinned a sin not leading unto death, he shall ask and god will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. First of all then, we know that this is a fellow believer. He is saved. He has been born again. But he has sinned. However the sin is not unto death. Now what does that mean? 

Well, Romans 6:23 has the answer. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So then, God has placed on Jesus the penalty of our sin, and He crucified Christ, putting Him to death for our sin, and transferred the life-giving righteousness of Christ to us, even eternal life. The believer cannot sin unto death, since he has been made spiritually, eternally alive. So there is a sin for the believer which is not unto spiritual death. That is the plain and simple meaning. Christ has already died for their sin. To punish that sin by death again would be double jeopardy. And God is not an unjust judge.

But nevertheless, we know that God’s will is that we do not sin. And sin breaks our fellowship with God, and it carries with it the consequences of sin which can affect our mortal bodies. So as a loving brother in Christ, we pray for our sinning brother, that he might be forgiven, and that he might be restored to life, that is restored to the full fellowship with God that we are designed to have.

Now the interesting thing John is saying is that we can pray for this brother, for their restoration and God will do it. John is giving this as an illustration of praying according to the will of God. And if you remember that verse from James I quoted a few minutes ago, you will see that James said virtually the same thing. He says, “Confess your sins one to another, and pray for one another that you may be healed, (spiritual healing). The word translated healed also can mean making whole. He goes on to say in James 5:15, “and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” And then James adds, that the effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.

Now that’s a tremendous principle incorporating loving one another and answered prayer. And it’s a tremendous example of praying in accordance to the will of God. God’s desire is that we have fellowship with Him, and that we abide in Him, and He is us, and that we keep His commandments and that we love one another. And we are able to help one another and express our love for one another as we pray for each other that God will restore our erring brother.

Understanding that side of the equation then should make it easier to understand the other side of the equation. And John expresses that as follows; “There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.” What is this sin leading to death? Should we live in fear that somehow we could fall into this sin which plunges us to eternal death, which is unforgivable? No, not at all. If the brother who sins a sin not leading to death is saved because he has received the gift of salvation on the basis of faith in Christ’s atonement, then what is the contrast to that? It’s the one who is not a believer. The one who has not believed unto salvation is one whose sin leads to death. He is still dead in his trespasses and sin.

So if you see this unsaved person leading a sinful life, John is not suggesting that we pray an intercessory prayer for such a person that they might be restored to fellowship. God will not restore someone to fellowship who has not first been born again spiritually having received eternal life. We are not told not to pray for their restoration, but obviously we should pray for such a person’s salvation. We should pray that God will bring them under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. But we cannot pray for their fellowship, because fellowship must be predicated on a relationship with Jesus Christ as our Savior.

Now John is writing to believers. He has just said he wants to affirm their faith, so that they may have confidence of eternal life, and confidence of answered prayers as a further evidence that they have fellowship with God. And so he doesn’t want to end on emphasizing the life of an unbeliever, but the life of a believer. So John says in vs.17, “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.” Sin is unfortunately a reality in the life of a believer. It should become less and less frequent, as we are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and as we grow in maturity and faith in the process the Bible calls sanctification. We learn to mortify the flesh. We become more like Christ as we draw closer to Him and walk with Him.

But as John said in chapter 1 vs. 10, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” So sin is going to happen occasionally in the life of a believer. But it is not a sin unto death. There is no death Jesus said for a believer. He has died in our place that we might have life. But when we sin as Christians, we hurt our fellowship with God, we get a guilty conscience, we hurt our testimony, and we hurt the cause of Christ. So in 1John 1:9 he gives us the antidote; “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Well, I hope that you know as John has written, that you have the eternal life which is given on the basis of faith in Christ. If you don’t know you have eternal life, then the invitation to be born again spiritually is extended to you today. Christ has paid the penalty for your sins. If you reject Him as your Lord and Savior, then you today are dead in your sins. You will one day be subjected to eternal death for your decision to reject the truth of God. But if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness and give you eternal life. Simply call on Jesus to save you today.

For those of you that are saved in the audience. I trust that you have the confidence of your salvation. I hope that you have the confidence to pray according to the will of God. And I hope that you will pray for one another, especially those that are struggling in sin, that they might be restored to the life of fellowship we were designed to live. That their joy and ours might be full. Let us pray.

If you have been following along with us in our study of 1 John, then you know that the theme of John’s epistle is that of fellowship. Fellowship means communion and union with God and with His people. John uses a number of different words or phrases which all speak of fellowship. For instance, he talks about abiding. That is fellowship. He talks about walking with God. That is fellowship. He talks about loving God. Love is the epitome of fellowship. So as I have said repeatedly, John is teaching that fellowship is the goal of our salvation. It is the means by which we have life and have it more abundantly.

Now John has been showing through various tests and proofs how we can know that we have fellowship with God. He started off in the book saying, “if we say we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” And John builds on those type of arguments throughout the book, all of which we have expounded upon in previous messages. You can review them on our website, if you like.

But now we come to the last chapter, and John is wrapping up this letter. And he is still talking about fellowship. He may not have used that word specifically in a while, but the principle is still the prevalent theme. And as John wraps up this epistle, he states that he wants us to know, beyond any doubt, that we have fellowship with God.

Notice, if you will, vs 13 “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.” Now when John says eternal life, he is not just talking about life in terms of longevity, but he talking about life in terms of classification. He is talking about our new life in Christ, our life with Christ, and the fellowship which we have. Through Christ we have spiritual life. We have the Spirit living in us, who has given new birth to our spirit, making it possible for us to have fellowship with God and with His body.

So the goal in these last verses is that we might absolutely be sure that we have that life, and it is only possible, John says, if you have believed in the name of the Son of God. As he said in vs 1 of this chapter, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Being born again is how we are made spiritual, how we are made righteous, and how we can have this eternal, spiritual life and fellowship with God. There is no other way. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, “You must be born again.” You have to be reborn spiritually by the Holy Spirit if you are to have fellowship with God and receive eternal life. That is how you overcome your carnal nature which is the predicament of all who live in this fallen world.

In vs 5, John says that we overcome the world by belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And yet John and the other apostles do not ask us to have just some sort of blind faith. But they are giving us personal, eyewitness testimony to the things they saw and heard. There was a law of Moses which required that every fact had to be confirmed by two or three witnesses. We still use that principle today in our court proceedings. And so John wants to confirm our faith by offering three witnesses to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, and the Son of God.

In vs.6, speaking of Jesus, John says, “This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.” 

Now this particular passage has been debated among theologians since the days of Augustine. It is a difficult passage to understand. And there is little agreement among even conservative, evangelical commentators. Now I’m not smart enough to debate those guys, and try to set the record straight on all the nuances and the variations in the original Greek text vs the Latin text and so forth. But what I can tell you is what the plain meaning seems to indicate. John is clearly setting forth three witnesses to the Messiahship and the divinity of Jesus Christ. That much we know for sure. And he is saying, that whatever these three witnesses are, or symbolize, they are in agreement. That means the facts of Jesus life are established, they are testified by these three witnesses.

Now since we know that to be John’s intention, let’s examine each of these three witnesses and see if we can understand what they have to say about the Lord Jesus. The first witness John puts up to affirm that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God is the water. Now as I said, there is a lot of speculation about what this may be referring to. But remember, we are expecting a testimony that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God. And when we consider all the various suggestions theologians have made concerning what water symbolizes, I would have to say that the only one which makes sense in this context is the water of baptism. We are expecting this water to confirm Jesus’s ministry as the Messiah, and that He is the Son of God.

Now that was confirmed at Jesus’s baptism, was it not? Baptism was the inauguration of Jesus’s ministry here on earth. And if you turn over to Matt. 3:16-17 we read, “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

There can be no clearer witness than at His baptism that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, and the Son of God. God Himself spoke from heaven and said “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Additionally, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove and lighted upon Him. So you have the testimony of God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the baptism of Jesus Christ. Also, you have the testimony of John the Baptist who said “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” So three witnesses, three testimonies, in this first witness of John which is the water of baptism.

The second witness John presents is that of blood. Again, what is the expected testimony of this witness? That Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. And when we see blood mentioned in scripture, it is almost always a picture of the death of Jesus. If the water was the inauguration of Jesus’s ministry, then the blood is the consummation of His ministry. On the cross, Jesus lifted up His voice and cried out, “It is finished!” He completed His ministry by dying on the cross for the sins of the world. The prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Messiah was that He would save His people from their sins. For instance, in Isaiah 53 there is the famous prophecy which talks about not only the Messiah saving His people, but the suffering and sacrifice that had to take place through Him for the forgiveness of our sins. And the New Testament speaks often of the blood which is necessary for salvation. Heb. 9:22 says “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

Now let’s consider how that bloody sacrifice elicited testimony that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. Well, though it was meant as sarcasm, there was the testimony of Pilate and the soldiers who called Him the King of the Jews, the Christ. They even made a sign to that effect and nailed it on the cross above Him. They made a crown of thorns and put on Him a purple robe. But that was sarcasm, and little did they realize they were crucifying the Son of God.

But a better testimony was the earthquake. That shook things up and got their attention. Then darkness settled over the land for three hours. Imagine that; an eclipse in the middle of the day, just when Jesus is being crucified. Certainly the heavens declared that the Creator was hanging on that cross. Then the veil in the temple was rent in two, from top to bottom. Another supernatural event that testified that a new way had been made into the Holy of Holies.

But there was a third testimony in this second witness of His bloody death, and that was the witness of the thief on the cross. He looked over at the other thief who was hanging there and hurling insults at the Lord, and this repentant thief said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” In that statement, he recognized and confessed that Jesus was sinless, and that He was the promised Messiah who would come again to take His kingdom. And that sinner was born again in that moment, so that he would receive the life of Christ, as Jesus promised him, “today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Now there are more testimonies we could present from the witness of blood, but time will not allow it. However, notice that John emphasizes the preeminence of blood in vs 6, saying “not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood.” The point being that baptism is not the means of salvation, but a testimony of our sanctification. It symbolizes being set apart, it represents dying to the world. But the blood indicates our justification. His blood speaks on our behalf at the judgment seat of God. Our punishment for our sins has been paid for by Christ’s death. We are made righteous by His blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Water washes the outside, but blood cleanses the inside. So our testimony of fellowship is not based on a superficial cleansing, but an inward purification through which we are made righteous before God, and having our sins transferred to Christ, His righteousness is transferred to us, so that we may be made righteous in Him. 2Cor. 5:21 [God] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” So not only the water, but the blood is necessary.

Let’s look now at the third witness that John presents; the Holy Spirit. “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” If the water represented the inauguration of Jesus’s ministry, and the blood represented the consummation, then the Spirit is the validation of His ministry. So how does the Spirit validate or give testimony that this was the Christ, the Son of God? Well, one we have already mentioned. At His baptism the Spirit of God descended and lighted upon Jesus in the form of a dove. So that’s one, and the next closely follows it.

After His baptism, John says He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when the forty days of temptation were finished, when Jesus had overcome all the temptations, Luke 4:14 says that Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit, and He began to preach the gospel. And Jesus stood up to preach in His home town saying, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

Listen, I want you to understand something. Jesus’s miracles were a testimony of the Holy Spirit, but of no greater import than His preaching. The Spirit of God anointed Him to preach the gospel. Jesus said in John 6:63, “the words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and are life.” Miracles were just illustrations of the gospel. But the life giving gospel is proclaimed by preaching, and preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the same is true today. In 1 Cor. 1:18 Paul declares that it is by the foolishness of preaching that men are saved by the power of God.

And let me emphasize in vs 6, John says that it is because the Spirit is the truth. Jesus said that the truth would set you free. So it was evident when those held captive by sin were released, as Jesus preached, that it was by the Spirit of God.

A third testimony of the Spirit of God that we might mention, is that of Pentecost. Pentecost was evidence or testimony that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. That though the Jews had crucified Him, He had risen from the dead, He was seated at the right hand of the Father, and as He had promised, He sent the Comforter to help them proclaim the gospel. The many different nationalities that were assembled there for the feast in Jerusalem all heard the gospel presented in their own language. And again, the testimony of the Holy Spirit was the message that was preached, proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. In Acts 2:32-33, 36 Peter says “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. … “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ–this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now this testimony of the Holy Spirit is the testimony of God Himself. And John says that this testimony is the greatest testimony of all. He says in vs.9 “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.” In other words, John is saying that if we so readily accept the testimony of men, whether they be professors, or scientists or religious leaders or philosophers, how much more should we consider the testimony of God as true? John already told us in vs.6 that the Spirit of God is truth.

And there are two ways in which he says we can know that truth through the Spirit of God. One is the testimony in ourselves, if we are truly born of God and have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. He says in vs.10, “The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.” So there are two sides to this issue. The first is the one who has believed, he has the testimony of the Spirit in himself.

Paul speaks to that principle in Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” How does that work, you might ask? How can we recognize the Spirit testifying with our spirit that we are the children of God? Well, it’s as I alluded to earlier. You now are a new creation, having new life. Before you did not have an appetite for spiritual things. Now that you have believed, you have a change of heart, a change of desires. You have a hunger for the word of God. You have a desire for being with the people of God. And you have a desire to do the will of God. That is the evidence that John has been speaking of all along. If you love God, if you say you have fellowship with God, then you will keep His commandments. You will love one another. There will be a transformation on the inside that will work its way outside in your behavior. There is an internal witness of the Spirit in you.

On the other hand, the one who denies the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon his life, and denies that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, that same person John says in effect is calling God a liar. Because he doesn’t believe the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. Some of you here today may fall into that category. You have rejected Christ as your Messiah, as your Savior, as your Lord. And perhaps you think that is a harmless decision, a purely intellectual matter. But John says it is tantamount to calling God a liar to His face. The evidence and witness that God has provided is more than enough to hold you accountable, and make you culpable of the most grievous of sins. As Romans 1:19-21 declares; “because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Just looking at the expanse of the ocean before you today, teeming with life, is evidence of God. Just observing the heavens and the sun’s movement through the skies, and the clouds and birds and so forth, is evidence of the eternal attributes of God, which cannot be denied.

Now there is one more important way in which the Spirit of God bears testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And again we go back to vs6 for an indication of what this is. John says, “the Spirit is the truth.” Well, what should we consider truth? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” So Jesus is the truth, and in John 15:26 we read that Jesus said I will send the Spirit of Truth. So the Holy Spirit speaks the words that Christ spoke. He teaches us the truth of the gospel. And in Jesus’s high priestly prayer in John 17:17, Jesus said in prayer to God; ““Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

Ah, so the word of God is the truth of God, written down for us, that it might be the ultimate testimony of God to the truth of Jesus Christ. And so we read in vs 11-13 “ And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 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.”

So the testimony of God, John says, is what he has written to us, that we may know we have eternal life and that this life is in HIs Son. That is the gospel in a nutshell. That is the message of the Word of God condensed into one paragraph. The word of God is the best evidence we have that we have fellowship with God, that we have the life of God abiding in us and we in Him. The word of God confirms His promises. The word of God probes deep into our hearts to quicken us, to plant the seed of truth in us, to cause new life to spring up in us. The word of God is the means by which God communicates with us. How we can know what God desires, how we can know how to please God. It is His covenant with us that cannot be broken. It is HIs manifesto of love for the lost world, and the blueprint for how we can be reconciled to God.

And the word of God is authored by the Holy Spirit. Peter said in 2Pet. 1:21 “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” And Paul is another witness to the inspiration of scripture in 2Tim. 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

A third testimony of scripture is Heb. 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” It is the word of God, working in our spirit, and is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword.

Listen, you want assurance of your salvation? It is found in the word of God. You want fellowship with God? its found in HIs Word. You want to know how to please God? God has declared it in HIs word. You want freedom from sin, and the captivity that comes with sin? It’s found in His word. Psalm 119:11 “Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

This is the means by which we assure our hearts before God. This is the way we can know that we have fellowship with God which can never be severed. John says, “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.”

I hope and pray that you do not leave here today without that sure knowledge that if you died today, you would go to be with the Lord. I pray no one here today rejects the testimony of God concerning His Son. He came that we might have life, even eternal life. Spiritual life. A righteous life in and through Jesus Christ. That we might have the abiding presence of the Spirit of Truth to lead us and guide us into all truth, and that the truth would make us free. If you don’t know that kind of assurance today, then I hope you will come up after the last song and let me explain to you how you can know the joy of salvation; of having your sins forgiven, of having fellowship with God, and having eternal life through Jesus Christ.

My kids are some of my greatest critics. If you have kids, then you know what I mean. Especially now that they are older, they have heard all my old stories again and again. And so now days, they never fail to let me know when I am repeating myself. We are usually driving in the car or something like that, having some sort of a discussion, and I start to launch into this story which I think illustrates the point, and they say something like, “Dad, you’ve told us this story before.” And I say, “I have?” with this real disappointed tone to my voice. And they say, “Yes, several times already.” And of course I’m crestfallen. But not always. Sometimes, if I feel really indignant about the subject, I’ll tell them I’m going to tell it again anyway, because you need to hear it again. After all, repetition, it is said, is the mother of all learning. Or, as the famous pirate quote goes, “The beatings will continue until the morale improves.” I like that one. So today some things may seem a bit repetitious, but its for your own good.

Now John is probably an old man when he is writing this epistle. And if you have been following along in our studies, then you will realize that also John has a tendency to repeat himself. But actually, John is deliberately repeating certain things over and over again. It’s part of his strategy. His teaching style is to cycle back over certain truths again and again, but if you will notice, each time he seems to add a new nuance, or a new perspective to each cycle, so that you learn more and more as you go through this book about these essential doctrines.

The primary principle that I believe John is presenting in this book is that of Christian fellowship. Fellowship is the goal of the Christian experience. Fellowship with God, and fellowship with Christ’s body, which is the church. Fellowship is the source of life, it’s the source of strength, it’s the source of love, and it’s the design of God for this new life in Christ.

Today in our study, we are going to hear John bring up many of the same themes regarding fellowship that he has talked about before many times. He talks about loving God, loving one another and keeping the commandments. All of which are essential to fellowship. But in today’s message as he cycles back through these now familiar topics, he adds another dimension that has not been fleshed out to the degree we see here in this text. And that new aspect of fellowship that he presents is faith. So I’ve titled today’s message The Faith of Fellowship. And as we examine this text, we are going to look at three aspects of faith, which are essential to our fellowship. First we see the family of faith, then the fidelity of faith, and finally the triumph of faith.

Let’s look first then at the family of faith. John says in vs 1, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.” The ultimate fellowship that man can have is to have fellowship with God. But Jesus said that God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. The problem, according to the scriptures, is men and women are not alive spiritually. We are dead spiritually. We have a sin nature inherited from our forefathers, traceable back to Adam and Eve in the garden. When they sinned against the word of God the punishment for that sin was that they would die, and their spirit died immediately. Their body took a few years longer. Sin brought about death, first spiritual, then physical. And Adam passed on that sin nature to every human being born on this planet. As a result, Romans 3:23 says, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

But God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins, that we might be restored and reconciled to God. Thus John says that those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, that is the promised Messiah, our Savior, then that person is born of God. That means that we who have faith in Christ have been born again, spiritually. We now are now spiritual like God, born into the family of God, and have the capacity to love God and worship God in spirit and in truth.

So if you would have fellowship with God, then it begins with faith in Christ. You must be born again. You cannot belong to Him, you cannot have fellowship with Him, you cannot have spiritual life through Him unless you have been born of the Spirit of God into the family of God.

The question is, how are you born of God? Well, John says in vs1, that it is by faith. By believing. Paul teaches the same principle in Romans 1:17 saying, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” Faith, or believing in Christ, is the basis for receiving righteousness. Paul explains this further in Galatians 3:6-7 “Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” So there we see that faith and believing are the same thing, and that faith is the means of being granted the righteousness of Christ in exchange for our sins.

But let’s be clear. What constitutes faith/believing in God? Not just believing or hoping that He exists. The Bible says the devils believe and tremble, but they are not born again. Faith is trusting in Him as your Savior and Lord. Faith is believing in the ministry and the message of Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through Me.” He was teaching not just three different aspects of His deity, but also He was teaching that these three aspects are synonymous; the way= the truth=the life. And I will warn you, that if you start to tamper with the truth, then you do so at your own peril. If you keep deleting ingredients from an antibiotic, soon you will be left with a placebo, and a placebo has no power to save. Jesus’ gospel is the truth, about life, about God, about righteousness, and that truth is the way to reconciliation with God, it’s the way to life, abundant life, spiritual life, and eternal life. Faith encompasses all of that truth as God has revealed in His word.

There is a word there which may need clarification, Christ is the Greek translation which means Messiah. You can see in vs 5 that John uses Messiah interchangeably with the Son of God. So the gospel is that Jesus is God, who became flesh, who suffered the penalty for sin upon the cross, who is risen and seated on the throne in heaven, and faith in Him and His work is the means of our righteousness, the means of spiritual life, the source of all truth. All of that encompasses believing in Jesus as your Messiah, which is the means of being born again.

And one other word which we should clarify is the word faith. Hebrews 11:1 gives us the Biblical definition of faith; “Now Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is trusting in the truth; what God has promised concerning Himself and the life which He gives. Faith is not mustering up some emotion, or a belief in something which isn’t true in order to make it true. Faith is believing in what God has declared is truth. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Natural man is spiritually dead. Jesus is the truth that sets us free from the bondage of death, He is the truth that gives life.

If we skip ahead to vs11-13 we read about this life; “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 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.”

So we are born again spiritually by faith in Christ to new life. And now, having been born into the family of God, John says in vs 1 that we love God and love His children. This love for God and for one another should be a natural outcome of our new birth. Children automatically love their parents. They should automatically love their siblings as well. So our love for God should be the result of our new life. We love our heavenly Father, and we love those who are born of God, those who have the same Spirit as us.

The question arises though, who are the family of God? John answers that in vs.2, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.” Simply stated then, the family of God are those that love God and observe His commandments. This is how we recognize them. They exhibit the character and nature of God. If they say they love God, but they don’t exhibit the love of God towards others, and they don’t keep His commandments, then John tells us in 1 John chapter 1 that such men are liars. They are not born of God. But on a positive note, we know the family of God because they exhibit the nature and character of God dwelling in them.

Now there is also a love we are to have for those that are unsaved. There is a love we are to have for our neighbors. There is a love we are even to have for our enemies. All of that love is predicated on the realization that they need to know the truth to be saved, and we can show God’s love for them so that they might know the love which God has for them. The object or goal of our love is that they might be saved. But there is a special familial love that we are to have for the brethren. Those that are our brothers and sisters in the Lord are to have a special relationship with us. These family members make up the body of Christ. And how can we not show a special love for the body of Christ? There should be a closeness and a fellowship which is deeper than even the family ties of the natural man.

So we can know the family of God, as those who love God and keep His commandments. Jesus said in John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Now let’s move on to the second characteristic of faith, which is the fidelity of faith. Fidelity means faithfulness, trustworthiness, integrity, loyalty. We not only claim to believe, we not only claim saving faith, but we act in accordance to what we believe. Fidelity is often used in relation to a husband and wife. They keep their vows to one another. They love one another with an exclusive devotion. They love one another with a selfless, sacrificial love. The Bible teaches that marriage between a husband and a wife is a picture of Christ and the church. We submit to our husband, who is Christ. We honor and obey Him. This fidelity of our faith is realized in the faithfulness of our love, to honor and obey Him.

Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” And so John urges us in this text to be faithful in our love by keeping His commandments. Vs.3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”

This idea of submission and obeying has fallen out of favor in marriages today. But in divine love, it remains true that if you love Him, you will obey Him, you will submit your will to do His will. The divine love that God has intended for us is sacrificial love. It’s the love of the will. And we are to love one another as Christ loved us. So we love with a sacrificial love, giving up our prerogatives so that we might do His will.

Now though that may sound oppressive or burdensome to the modern ear, yet it should not be. If you love someone, you should want to honor them, to please them, to serve them. It’s not a chore, it’s a labor of love. It reminds me of the story of a young man many years ago, long before the days when it was possible to get in your car and drive to school, and he was often seen carrying a little boy on his shoulder. And as one particular passerby noticed, the little boy that was being carried on his shoulder was lame. So he walked up to the young man who was carrying the lame boy and he said, “Do you carry him to school everyday?” And he said, “Yes sir, I carry him everyday.” “Well that’s a very heavy burden for you to carry,” said the stranger. And the young man replied, “He’s no a burden, he’s my brother.” His attitude illustrates what a difference love makes in carrying out the commandments of the Lord God.

And let me add, that HIs commandments are not a burden, because His commandments are for our benefit. God has made it possible for us to have new life, spiritual life, eternal life, abundant life, through faith in His Son. But He has also made a plan that we might know how we are to live. His commandments lead us in paths of righteousness. HIs commandments prevent us from going off into dangerous territory. His commandments are not meant to bind us up, but to free us to live a life that will be blessed. As someone once said, God’s commandments are not a wall to restrict us, but a guardrail to protect us. They are for our benefit. So then we should not find His commandments burdensome. If we love Him, we will want to please Him and we should realize His commandments are for our benefit.

Furthermore, Jesus has promised the Holy Spirit to be our Helper, so that we might be able to keep His commandments. When we have the Spirit of God working in us, He lightens the load and helps us. Jesus said in Matt. 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

On the contrary, when we go against His will, and disobey His commandments, we cause ourselves to be weighted down with sins, which come with consequences that can weigh heavily upon us. So the fidelity of faith is our willingness to submit to God’s will, to keep His commandments as a testament of our love for God.

Finally, let’s look at the last characteristic of faith in this text, and that I call the triumph of faith. Let’s read the text in vs 4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

I want you to notice something in this verse. John says whatever is born of God. Not whoever, but whatever. Now what does He mean by whatever? Well, he gives the answer at the end of the verse; our faith is the whatever. So then we must understand that our faith is born of God. Now I don’t want to get mired down in some deep doctrinal issue here, but I do think it’s important to realize that God gives us faith to believe. Eph. 2:8 says “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Now you may argue that can speak of either salvation or faith being a gift, but I think that the Bible teaches both are true.

For instance consider Heb. 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” He is the author of our faith, and the completion of our faith. So faith originates with God.

So what I think John is getting at, is that the object of our faith is the important thing here. Some people get focused on the size of faith, as if we somehow can muster up enough faith to accomplish some great miracle or something. But the emphasis I think John is giving us is that it is the object of our faith, Jesus, is the victory that has overcome the world. It is not the size of our faith. Jesus said if we had as little of faith as the size of a tiny mustard seed then we could move mountains. The point is not the size of our faith, but the object of our faith. We can have faith in what God has promised and who Christ is.

And Jesus has promised in the gospel of John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Listen, we have faith in God’s promises which are fulfilled in Christ. Not in wishful thinking, not in hoping for some miracle of my own design, but our faith is in the written word of God. We have faith in what Jesus has accomplished and has promised to accomplish. And He has overcome the world.

Please understand what is meant by the world. The world is the world system. It is under the dominion of the prince of this world; Satan. Though God created the world and all things in it, Satan has subjugated the world system to his plan, to sweep mankind along in the course of this world to their eventual destruction. To trap mankind in the mire and muck of this world so that they miss the life giving truth of God.

Paul speaks of this world system in Eph. 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” The course of this world then is the world system conspired by Satan to sweep mankind to destruction in their ignorance of the truth.

But thanks be to God, Christ has overcome the world. He overcame sin. He overcame the devil. He overcame death. He has overcome the world. And our faith in Him overcomes the world as well. By faith in Him we can overcome the world system. We can escape the trap of sin that leads to death. Christ has come so that we might know the truth, and the truth would set us free. So that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

That leads us to vs5, which says because of Christ, we who are born of God can overcome the world as well. “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Listen, as children of God, as children of the King, we have been given all the weapons necessary to overcome the world. We have been given the light of truth, we have been given the sword of the Lord, which is the word of God. We have been made righteous, we have been given the helmet of salvation, and the shield of faith. And through the Spirit of Christ working in us, we can be overcomers. We can overcome the world. I believe that means we can overcome the world system that is trying to trap our children. We can overcome the world system that has trapped sinners in it’s web. We can overcome through the blood of the Lamb.

Listen, we were made to be overcomers. The church is designed to overcome the world. The problem with the world system is that it is designed to look so enticing, that we feel we are missing out on all this fun stuff or exciting stuff that it offers. But the benefit to overcome the world is so much the better. The course of this world leads to death, but overcoming the world leads to life.

John wrote another book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. And in the first 3 chapters of Revelation Jesus gives John messages for 7 churches, which encompass not only 7 actual, historical churches, but also all the churches of the ages until He comes back. And in every one of those messages, Jesus says something about being an overcomer. To the church at Ephesus Jesus said, “To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” To the church of Smyrna Jesus says, “He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.” To the church of Pergamum Jesus says, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.” To the church of Thyatira, Jesus says, “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.” To the church of Sardis Jesus says, “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” To the church of Philadelphia Jesus says, “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” And to the church of Laodecia Jesus says, “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

Those are some wonderful promises, aren’t they? The greatest treasures of this earth at best are only temporary and cannot compare to the reward God has planned for those who love Him and who overcome this world. I pray that you by faith in Christ will be an overcomer. I pray that if you have never been born again that you would receive the faith that overcomes this world. That you would be given the righteousness of Christ and receive eternal life in Him. And I pray for you that have been born of God, that you would overcome the world through the testimony of your faith, by sharing the truth of God with others. I pray that you would find freedom from sin through your faith which overcomes the world.

And I will close by saying this; we overcome the world through our faith, and our faith produces love. Love is the way we will win the world to Christ. Love God, obey His commandments, and love one another even as Christ has loved you. Share the love of God towards sinners, that Christ has come to reconcile us to God, that we might be born of God, and have the everlasting life of God.

Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” And essentially what that means is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth of life. It is the source of life, and it’s the way of life. Belief in Christ’s gospel gives us life, and it teaches us how to live. You cannot truly live unless you have accepted this gospel as truth, and trusted in Christ as your Savior. Without that new life, the gospel teaches us that you are essentially dead in your sins.

Now a lot of people are attracted to religion for a variety of reasons. Far too many reasons to speculate on today. But John tells us in chapter 4 verse 1 that not everyone that claims Christianity is of the truth. He says there are many false spirits, deceiving spirits that have gone out into the world. So we are to test the spirits to see if they are from God. But John is writing this epistle primarily to people who are already supposed to have this new life in Christ. They are supposed to be born again, to be saved, to have become followers of the truth of Christ. They already have received the source of life that faith in the gospel provides.

So John isn’t primarily writing to people who are unsaved, to those who are still dead spiritually, but he is writing to people who have received this new life, and he is writing to make sure that they know the way to live. You understand the distinction? He’s not primarily teaching people how to become born again, how to have new life, (though the truths of salvation are evident in this epistle) but he is teaching believers how to live this new life.

And the major principle that John has been teaching is that if you are truly made alive in Christ, you are a new creation, then that new life will be characterized by fellowship with God. I believe that practically everything that John is presenting here in this book can be characterized as an aspect of fellowship. Fellowship is essential to this new life. This life cannot be lived as God designed it to be lived without fellowship. Now if you want to investigate this further, I would suggest that you go on our website and read some of the past sermons in 1John, and hopefully you will learn all the principles of fellowship and the benefits and blessings of it.

But as an introduction to today’s message, let me revisit one important principle of fellowship that John has stressed again and again. And that is that fellowship with God will produce love for God. The natural result of fellowship is love for God. You can illustrate that principle by looking at a couple that is dating. The more they hang out together, the more they learn about one another, the more they know the other person, the more they begin to love that person. So in like manner, fellowship is communing with God. Fellowship is spending time with God. John likes to use another word to indicate fellowship, and that is the word “abide.” To spend time with someone to the point that you never leave. And of course, in human love, that’s when the couple get married. They become one. They abide with one another. And their happiness and contentment comes from that abiding, or that fellowship. And that is the goal of our fellowship with God. That we would become one with God, that we have HIs Spirit abide in us, and we are in Him, that we communicate with Him through His word and through prayer, and the more we know Him the more we love Him, and the more we love Him the more we want to please Him. So the principle is that fellowship results in love.

The problem when we start talking about love is that the world’s concept of love falls far short of God’s definition of love. There is a tendency in the church today and in music and in teaching to present the word “love” as a euphemism for God. You hear this in contemporary Christian songs quite a bit, they talk about love coming down, or something to that effect, instead of using the name of Jesus. But the Bible never presents God and love as being synonymous. The Bible teaches that love is an attribute of God, it is defined by God, but God is not solely defined by love. And to attempt to reduce God to a one word description is to slight the name and character of God.

However, the possible basis for this misappropriation of God’s character is found right here in this chapter. Twice in this chapter it says “God is love.” Vs.8 and vs16. These are the only two places in the Bible where you find this statement in these exact words. But we need to understand that this statement does not limit God’s character to this one dimension. But rather John is just expounding this dimension of God’s nature, not excluding other essential attributes of God like He is holy, He is righteous, He is just, He is omnipotent, He is sovereign, He is light, He is Spirit, He is truth, He is light, and He is life.

But let me explain this attribute of God is love by saying that what John is teaching through this phrase“God is love”, is he is giving us a synopsis of the gospel. It is the gospel in shorthand. He isn’t talking about some sort of affectionate feeling from God. In fact, John himself interprets this statement for us in vs.10 which says, “Here is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” To say that God is love is to say that he sent the Lord Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for our sins. That’s the apostle’s definition of divine love.

Now to take that a step further, to fully comprehend “God is love” you must also understand what God hates. God hates sin. Sin is antiGod. In that it is the opposite of God’s nature and God’s intention and design in creation. Sin is death, God is life. Sin put the curse of death upon God’s creation. And God hates sin so much that He sent Jesus His Son to die on a cruel, horrible cross; beaten with a whip to within an inch of death, His head lacerated by a crown of thorns, HIs hands and feet pierced through with great iron nails. God put your sins and mine on Christ and let Him hang there naked and bleeding and hardly able to breathe and watched Him writhe in agony and torment and called it “love.” Now that is what “God is love” means.

Furthermore, God is love speaks of divine love. Not romantic love, not sentimental love, not sexual love – that’s how man speaks of love – but the love of God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. That divine sacrificial love is the type of love that God desires for us to have in this new life. And as a spiritual new creation, if we truly have the life of God, then we have been given the capacity to love like God loved us. And God wants us to love like He loves so that our fellowship may be complete. That’s the title of my message today; the perfection of fellowship, or the completion of fellowship. John uses the word perfection, or perfected four times, which in every case might be interpreted as complete. God’s design for us is that we might have our fellowship, our love, completed.

Now John gives us a few principles which will help us to see how that is accomplished. How we can have complete fellowship with God. First fellowship is completed through the Spirit of God abiding in us. Vs. 13 says, “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” Remember, John started this chapter by saying that we should test the spirits to see if they are from God, because not all are. So you test the spirits how? How do you test to see if a spirit is from God? Well, the answer is that you test the spirits by the word of God. Because the Holy Spirit is the author of scripture.

Peter said in 2Peter 1:21 “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” So scripture is authored by the Holy Spirit, and since God cannot deny Himself, we can verify the spirits by the word of God. That’s the primary job of the Holy Spirit; to teach us through the word of God. Jesus said that “He will lead you and guide you into all truth.”

When you are born again, you are born by the Spirit of God. The Spirit lives in you. He abides in you, and you know this John says, because He has given us of His Spirit. That simply means that our spirit is reborn with God’s Spirit, so that our spirit has life, it has the interior witness of God’s truth as we read His word. We know that God is speaking to us. We are able to come to know God, to have communion with God. The Spirit of God in us is the foundation of our fellowship. He indwells us, so that we have communion with God. This is the first and foundational step of perfect fellowship with God. We must be born again by His Spirit and His Spirit must live in us.

Listen, don’t be deceived here by false spirits. Being born again by the Holy Spirit is not some supernatural or emotional or ecstatic experience by which we think we have come to know God. Being born again comes through faith; through believing in the truth of Christ’s propitiation for our sins. When we come to God as a sinner, and confess our sins, and call upon Christ to forgive us our sins and make us a new creation, to give us a new heart, then God answers that prayer and transfers our sins to Christ, and gives Christ’s righteousness to us, and once we are made holy and righteous He gives us a new spirit and the indwelling of His Spirit, so that we might be the children of God. We cannot have complete fellowship until we have the Spirit of God abiding in us.

So the Spirit in us is the internal witness to our fellowship. But there is an external witness as well which is closely correlated. We have already introduced it; it is the gospel of Christ, the word of God, which is the testimony of the apostles. Look at vs.14 “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” John is speaking of the testimony of his fellow apostles. The apostles doctrine is the foundation of the church according to Ephesians chapter 2. So there is an external witness to our fellowship, and that is that we hold to the testimony of the apostles to Jesus being the Savior of the world.

We confess, we agree with the gospel as recorded by the apostles. His word abides in us, and that is evidence that He abides in us. Look at vs.15, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” To confess means to agree with. So that’s the completion or perfection of fellowship. We have the Spirit of God in us through salvation, we confess, that is agree with that testimony of the apostles, and the word of God confirms that we have God abiding in us and that we abide with God.

Listen, God is love means God is truth. Love comes from faith, and Rom 10:17 says that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” And if there is not this relationship of faith, belief in the word of God, there cannot be the life of God and there cannot be the fellowship with God and there cannot be the love of God. So faith in God’s word confirms God abiding in us. As you read and study HIs word, the Spirit confirms your faith.

John states this principle succinctly in vs.16 once more; “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Now that is the perfection of fellowship. We have come to know the love of God because we have believed in the gospel by faith. As a result we have the abiding Spirit of God in us. And we abide in Him through obeying or abiding in His word.

This is how our love or our fellowship is perfected. We have faith in His gospel, we have His Spirit abide in us, and we abide in Him through obedience to His word. That is the perfection of fellowship says John in vs.17, “By this, love is perfected with us…” By this faith in the gospel, by this indwelling Spirit of God given to us as a result of our faith, and by our faith and obedience to His word. By this love is perfected within us. Now as a result of this love, this fellowship completed, John gives us three benefits or blessings of this perfect fellowship which are described in vs17 and 18, “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

The first benefit is that of no fear of judgment. Because we have this fellowship with God through the inner testimony of the Spirit and the external witness of the Word, we have confidence concerning the judgment that is coming upon the world. We know we have nothing to fear when Jesus comes back because we love Him and He loves us, we are His bride and He is our bridegroom. The rest of the world will mourn that they rejected Christ as their Savior, but we will rejoice as a bride rejoices to see her husband.

Further, John says we have confidence because as He is, so also are we in this world. We have confidence that we are as He is because we keep His word. Because we keep His commandments. Listen, if we disobey His commandments then we have reason to fear. But if we truly love God, then we want to please God, and Jesus said if you love Me you will keep My commandments. So if we are keeping His commandments then we have no reason to fear. As He was a light to the world, so are we lights to the world. As He did the Father’s will, so we do the Father’s will. As He kept the Father’s word, so we keep the Father’s word. As He ministered in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit, so we minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. And we are able to keep His commandments because we have His Spirit abiding in us. Jesus is not just our Savior, but He is our example for how to live as God would have us live. He is our pattern as Peter tells us in 1Peter 2:21 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” So as He is, so are we in this world.

The third benefit is that we have no fear of punishment. We have no fear of punishment because we have the love of God perfected in us. When the love of God is completed in us, when we love God as we are loved, then we have confidence in judgment, because there can be no punishment for those who have been forgiven. Now I want to make a distinction between punishment and discipline. The author of Hebrews tells us that if God loves us, He will also discipline us. Heb. 12:6-7 “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” So discipline is a necessary part of being a child of God, so that we might learn to walk as Christ walked.

But John isn’t taking about discipline here, he is talking about eternal punishment. The word punishment could also be translated as torment, as in eternal torment. I was speaking with a man in prison the other day, and during his incarceration he has become very knowledgeable about the law. And in the law is a principle called double jeopardy, which prevents a person being tried or punished twice for the same offense. I was telling this man that God has placed his punishment on Jesus. Christ has paid the penalty for our punishment. God being just and holy cannot punish twice for the same offense. So that is what John is getting at. We need not fear that God will punish us in eternal torment because God is love means that God has already punished Jesus for our crimes against Him.

Now there is one more point John makes concerning this completed fellowship, or the perfect love. And that is what we might call the expression of perfected love. The expression of love. In other words, the love of God does not stop with us. It is designed to flow through us, to be given out again to one another. Love is not just self directed, it is not selfish, love is self less. Love isn’t completed when it finds me, but when I love another as God loves me.

John declares this great principle in vs 19 “We love, because He first loved us.” Now this statement is so simple yet it is so profound. There are two major principles that are incorporated in this little statement. First is that our love for God is predicated on His love first finding us. As I said at the beginning, we cannot come to love God, to have fellowship with God without first coming to know the love of God towards us. That is the basis for our relationship. We have to first come to believe in God’s love for us that He sent His only Son into the world to save sinners by dying on the cross for our sins. That is how we are saved and how we are given the capacity to love.

But there is another application of this principle as well. Not that we are loved, but that we love others because He first loved us. Because we have the love of God in us, we are able to love like God loves. We are to love one another as we love God. There are two commandments Jesus said that are the foremost commandments of God. All the law could be contained in these two, which we read from Mark 12:30-31 “AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” So we are to love God and love one another in fulfillment or completion of the love of God towards us.

Now John illustrates these two commandments in the following verses. First, the commandment of loving God, John says, cannot be completed if you do not love others. Vs. 20, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

John doesn’t give us an easy out. If we say we love God, but don’t love our brother, then we are a liar. We don’t really love God. Because if we have the love of God, then we share the nature of God, and God’s nature is to love. And he gives us only two options; you either love your brother or you hate him. You are either one way or the other. You either exhibit the nature of God or you do not. We tend to measure our Christianity by degrees. “I may not be perfect, but I’m better than this guy, and I’m not so bad as that guy.” But God measures our Christianity by Christ. He is perfect, so we are to be perfect. Peter said it this way in 1Peter 1:15-16 “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” We either love our brother or our Christianity is a lie. That’s the options John gives us.

And the last illustration of this love of God, which is the love we are to have, is simply restating the commandment in vs.21, “And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.” I said last time that this is a mandate, it’s not a suggestion. Jesus said in John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” And His commandment is exactly what John has just said; the one who loves God should love his brother also. Our love for God is evidenced by our love for one another. We love others not because they are lovable, not because they are loving towards us, not because they deserve it, but we love them because God first loved us even when we were sinners, even when we were in rebellion against God. So in like manner we love others in order to manifest the love of God towards them. God uses His people to reveal His love to people. It’s that simple.

If we love God then we will love the things God loves. We love God enough to love those that God loves. And when we exhibit this kind of love, then the circle of fellowship is complete. There is so much talk today about how much God loves me. And He does. Thank God for His love for me. But I don’t reciprocate that love by just singing it back to Him. Or by saying it back to Him. We reciprocate God’s love by being obedient, and if we are obeying Him, then we will love one another because that is His commandment to the church. This is the template for fellowship. This is the way of life which God has designed for us to live. This is the way to fulfillment, to joy and contentment. Love one another, even as God loved us, giving up His life for us, revealing God’s truth to us, that we might have life in Him and fellowship with Him.

I cannot help but wonder if today there is someone here who does not know the love of God. You cannot say you have fellowship with God. You cannot say that you have the abiding presence of His Spirit within you. But perhaps today the Holy Spirit has convicted you of your need for forgiveness, your need for new life. I am here to proclaim to you today the good news. God sent Jesus to take the punishment for your sins, so that by faith in Jesus Christ, you might be born again by His Spirit, that you might come to know the truth, and that the truth would make you free. Jesus has paid the price for your salvation, all that remains is for you to recognize that you are a sinner and that Christ has paid your penalty, and by faith in Him as your Savior you can receive eternal life right now. Call on Jesus today, and He will save you. Today is the acceptable day of salvation. Let’s pray.