We are studying the first letter to Timothy which is the manifesto of church faith and practice. The Apostle Paul is relaying how the church is to conduct itself. He says in vs 15 “but in case I am delayed, [I write] so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

The Lord inspired Paul to write how the church is to be conducted. Jesus said, God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. So it’s important to God that we order our worship, conduct our church, according to His truth. Last week we looked at the Lord’s requirements and qualifications of the pastor, or elder, or overseer of the church. All of those titles are virtually synonymous. They all refer to the same position. But there is one more position that Paul is going to address and that is the position of deacon.

Deacon comes from the Greek word, “diakonos”, which meant servant, or waiter, or minister. We tend to think of the word minister differently than it is intended though. A minister is one appointed to carry out the commands of the master. Therefore, in political government, there are ministers of various departments of government, which administer the agenda or desires of the government. But the word itself does not denote a lofty title, but rather one who carries out the commands given to him by his superior.

So the pastor and the deacon(s) are both focused on the same agenda, and that is the support, proclamation and administration of the truth. The pastor has a different role than the deacon, but both are working on the same goal, for the same Lord. But in preparation for that, Paul has delineated the qualifications for deacons. Deacons are supporting and helping the pastor in the conduct or administration of the church. But to some extent, we are all to be serving the Lord, and following the example of a deacon. Deacons are men that are given an representative role in serving the church, but all the members of the body are to serve the Lord in a similar way. And so even though you may not be officially named a deacon, we should all follow their example as a model for ourselves.

To get a better idea of the job of a deacon, it’s perhaps a good idea to see how this position came about. We find that in the book of Acts, ch. 6:1-6 “Now at this time while the disciples were increasing [in number,] a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic [Jews] against the [native] Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving [of food.] So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.”

So that is the account of choosing the first deacons in the first church in Jerusalem. At that time there were probably in excess of 8000 people in that church. The apostles were the pastors, but it became evident that there was a practical need for men who would serve the physical needs of the congregation. The command to love one another is worked out in practical ways. A superficial view would be that these men were not much more than glorified waiters. But a closer look reveals that they were much more than that. Steven in particular was a man of great faith, and we have his last sermon recorded in the book of Acts which he preached to the men who would eventually stone him to death. Phillip became known as the Evangelist, and we have record of how God used him to minister the word of God to the Ethiopian eunuch. These deacons then eventually became preachers and evangelists and missionaries, taking their service to the Lord to another level.

The qualifications that Peter and the elders of the church at Jerusalem gave for a deacon was “men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” That hardly seems like the qualification for a waiter, but they are good qualities for a servant of God. And those qualities are a summary perhaps for what Paul gives as qualifications for deacons in 1 Timothy.

So let’s look briefly at these qualifications. And I think the first thing we will notice is the similarity between the pastor’s qualifications and the deacon’s qualifications. Paul says in vs 8, “Deacons likewise [must be] men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, [but] holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.”

You will notice that the qualifications for deacons is much the same as for pastors, but perhaps abbreviated somewhat. And in the case of both positions, being a man who is above reproach is emphasized. He must be of good reputation both in the church and outside the church. He must be a straight talker, not someone who lies. He must be dignified. That doesn’t mean putting on airs, but honorable, a man of good character.

And just as with the pastor, he is not to be addicted to wine. Wine would include any alcoholic drink. Proverbs says, wine is a mocker, and strong drink a brawler, and he who is intoxicated with it is not wise. I would go so far as to say that you are going to have difficulty being a man of dignity if you are a consistent drinker.

Not fond of sordid gain is another qualification for a deacon. Sordid gain can cover a wide area of making money. It’s probably indicating that a deacon is of necessity going to be a man of business, but he should not use underhanded business practices. He should not be engaged in any immoral business. He should not be associated with anything in his business dealings that would bring dishonor to Christ. A lot of Christian businessmen think that all is fair in love and war and making a sale. That you have to do what you have to do in order to make it in today’s world. But a deacon must not have such a low standard in his business dealings. He is to be above board, not wiling to sacrifice principle for profit.

And then Paul adds, holding to the mystery of faith with a clear conscience. The word mystery there is used again in this passage in vs 16. And what mystery means is what was once hidden is now revealed. The faith then is the gospel which has been fully revealed. And these deacons are men who hold fast their faith with a clear conscience. That means that they are not deliberately living in sin in violation of their faith. They know what they believe and they live it out. It’s not just a head knowledge, but a life that reflects the knowledge of the truth. And maybe that is a distinction between pastors and deacons. Pastors preach the truth in word and deed, deacons preach the truth by deed. They are not so much preachers as they are practically working it out towards others in the church. Their life and conduct proclaim the truth of the gospel.

Now that leads to the next qualification which is in vs 10, “These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.” In the qualifications for pastors, Paul had said they were not to be a new convert. That indicates that time was needed to mature a man to be a pastor before taking on this leadership role. And the same thing is virtually being said here. That a man must go through a time of testing before serving as a deacon. And then, when they have come through those tests, if they are without reproach, that is they didn’t fail the tests, then they are to serve the church in the capacity of a deacon.

Testing is not done to make someone fail. God isn’t trying to get you to fail the test. He is using it to prove your faith, or confirm or strengthen your faith through the test. Peter said in 1Peter 1:6-7 “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

So these men who are servants of the church are to be men who have come through the tests with a stronger, more mature faith. Their faith has been tested through fiery trials and come forth as gold.

And then stuck right in the middle of the qualifications for deacons is some qualifications for their wives. Now some have taken this verse to be a separate office of a deaconess, that is, a female deacon. But that doesn’t really correlate with all that was said about women’s role in the church in chapter 2. If you notice, the context of verses 8-12 is all about the qualifications for deacons except for verse 11. I think it makes much more sense contextually to consider verse 11 as a continuation of qualifications for deacons, but recognizing that their wives can affect their role.

Let’s notice what he says then in vs 11. “Women, [or an alternate reading is deacon’s wives] [must] likewise [be] dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.” If this were qualifications for deaconesses, then it would seem odd that their qualifications are much more abbreviated than either deacons or pastors. Instead, I think it’s an indication that a deacon’s wife can either be a great asset to a deacon, or a great hindrance. And the goal would be that she would be an asset.

It’s likely that the wife of the deacon is mentioned here because the duties of the deacon might incorporate his wife to some extent. He is serving widows, often in their homes. I can tell you that if a deacon was to serve a widow, especially by going to her home, then it would be prudent to take along his wife. For my part, I am careful not to counsel any woman alone. I will always include my wife, or I will make sure we are in a public place. But even then, it would be much better for my reputation if my wife is with me. And maybe that is the reason why Paul includes their wives in this description, since one of their primary jobs was serving widows in the church.

And the wife of the deacon, being privy to the widows needs or private affairs by accompanying her husband, must be careful not to gossip about those things which she was privy to. She also must be mild mannered, not a hot head, that’s what it means to be temperate. And faithful in all things. She is to be a godly woman of faith. I can tell you this; a man and his wife are tied together in regards to reputation. One affects the other. They may have completely different personalities, but in reputation they are tied at the hip. A wife of bad character taints the reputation of a good man, and vice a versa.

But for the deacon’s part, he must be a man who is loyal to his wife. Paul says in vs 12, “Deacons must be husbands of [only] one wife, [and] good managers of [their] children and their own households.” If the deacon is a good steward of his own household, then he will be a good steward of the household of God. And unfortunately, the opposite is usually true. If he is not a good steward of his household, then he will not be a good steward of the household of God. Whether or not that verse also is an injunction against a deacon who is divorced, it is difficult to say. I would suggest that it probably indicates that he could be divorced, but not remarried. Though I cannot be dogmatic about that from this verse.

To be a deacon then is to be a servant or a steward of the church. And as such descriptions indicate, being a servant does not always carry a very high standing in the eyes of man.But Paul indicates here that it does carry a high standing in the eyes of God. He says in vs13, “For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”

Paul gives here an incentive for good stewardship and a promise of a good reward for their service. Jesus said if you give a cup of water in His name truly he will not lose his reward. So we can assume that Paul indicates that serving the practical needs of the people of the church is not less than giving a cup of water, and such service will be rewarded in heaven.

And then as I have already mentioned, Paul gives the reasons for relaying these instructions about the church and it’s leaders. He says in vs 14 “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, [I write] so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

Now I have quoted this verse and spoken of this verse in each of our messages in 1 Timothy, but I realize not all of you have been here for the previous messages so I want to be sure you see a couple of things. First he says the household of God is the church of the living God. We are children of God by second birth. We are given a new spirit, and a new nature. We are born of God, who is our Heavenly Father. We are called the brethren of Christ. And we are considered brothers and sisters of one another. So we have a love for God and for one another that defines us as the family of God, the household of God.

And notice also that the word church is from the Greek word “ekklesia” which means called out ones, an assembly. It has nothing whatsoever to say about a building. Except in the passage in 1 Peter 2:5 where he says, “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” In other words, the people are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The people are the church, a spiritual house in which God dwells.

And finally, notice that the church’s duty is to support the truth. The truth refers to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except by Me.” So Christ is the truth, and the church’s purpose is to support and proclaim that truth, that by faith in Christ, the world might come to be saved.

That truth then is the theme of the hymn that Paul records here in the 16th verse. It is believed by many Bible scholars that this was part of a hymn that was well known in the early church. They deduce this by the word construction in the original language. I think it is very likely the case, or at least a creed that was rehearsed frequently in the early church.

Paul introduces it by saying, “By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness.” Common confession indicates it is something frequently confessed, that is possibly a hymn or creed. When he says the mystery of godliness, it is a reference to our faith in Christ. That which was hidden is now revealed, therefore he calls it a mystery. When Jesus Christ was manifested in the flesh, the gospel of God was revealed. That which had been a mystery, which the saints of old had seen only darkly as in a mirror, or in pictures and types, was now revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. And in a similar manner, this hymn that Paul repeats reveals that mystery of Christ from his birth to his ascension, and this truth going forth into all the world.

Let’s read it through. “He who was revealed in the flesh,
Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.”

Now let’s consider each line separately and say a few words briefly about each statement.

He who was revealed in the flesh. This speaks of Jesus incarnation. But it also speaks of the eternal nature of Christ. It doesn’t say he was made in the flesh, or created in the flesh, but He was revealed in the flesh. That indicates that He who existed in the heavens with God, who was God, took on flesh. John 1 says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” He was preexistent God, who was revealed in the flesh. He was Eternal Truth, which became flesh.

“He was vindicated in the Spirit.” John the Baptist said, “I beheld the Spirit like a dove descending from heaven, and He remained on Him.” He was also vindicated in the Spirit as He came out of the water and went about Galilee preaching the gospel and working miracles. The power of the Holy Spirit was clearly upon Him. And He was finally vindicated in the Spirit when He arose from the grave, having been found blameless and without sin, being evident that He was the Son of God.

The next line is “seen by angels.” I wonder if that could better be translated testified by angels. He was certainly seen as well, but I think it more appropriate to think of their testimony to what they had seen. The angels testified to the shepherds at His birth. They ministered to Him in the wilderness. They ministered again to Him in the Garden of Gethsamane. And they testified to the disciples at His resurrection, “He is not here, He is risen.” They testified of HIs coming again at His ascension, that He would return in the same way that He had gone up into heaven. So the angels played a part in the proclamation of the truth of Jesus Christ.

The next line is proclaimed among the nations. The truth of the gospel was proclaimed with power at Pentecost, and then quickly spread to all the civilized nations. Today the gospel has been preached to the entire world. That is our mandate, to be witnesses, to bear testimony to the truth, and take it to the world.

And the last line is taken up in glory. Jesus appeared to 500 people after His death. There were 120 that were gathered together in the Upper Room. So it’s conceivable that there were at least 120 people who witnessed His ascension. And as I said a moment ago, the angels were also there at His ascension as the disciples looked up in the sky in wonder. The ascension indicates so many things to the Christian. First that Jesus is the Son of God. That He is living. That He is standing at the right hand of the Father to make intercession for us. And that He is coming again to claim His kingdom and claim HIs bride to live forever with Him.

And in the power of that truth, we can live without fear, without dread for the future, we can endure any suffering here on earth, having no fear of death, knowing that because He lives, we too shall live, and we shall live with Him. And until He comes again, we will gladly support and serve the truth as the church of the living God, the household of God. May we be found faithful servants when He comes.

Paul says in Rom 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

At the beginning of a new year, a lot of people come up with a new year’s resolution that they intend to accomplish during the upcoming year.  Most of them don’t stick with it too long. I thought about a new year’s resolution quite a bit.  I plan on starting a new exercise program.  And I’ve already gotten started on my resolution. I’ve watched a lot of video’s about different workout plans.  But to tell you the truth, that’s probably about as far as I want to go with it.  Just watching all those video’s was exhausting.

It would be nice if you could get in shape just by wishing for it.  Imagine if God were to give you  one wish that He would grant you.  Well, He did jut that with a young man named Solomon. Solomon had inherited the kingdom of Israel from his father David. And after he had established his right to the throne, he sacrificed to God 1000 burnt offerings.  And in 1 Kings 3 we read that God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.” That’s what we all dream of, isn’t it?  I wonder what we might answer to that question.  If you could have one wish, what would you ask for?

Well, you know the story.  Of all the things that he could have asked for, Solomon asked for wisdom. And the Lord was pleased that Solomon asked for wisdom and not riches or long life or any number of other things. And so the Lord granted that request, making the promise that no one before or after him would be the equal of the wisdom of Solomon. And in addition, the Lord gave him riches and a long life.  Years later Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs, and he began by speaking of the importance of wisdom, saying, Prov. 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Now you will remember that James started off in his epistle, in chapter 1 vs 5,  by speaking about the importance of wisdom.  And as I said at that time, to understand what is meant by wisdom, or gaining wisdom, you have to consider the context, especially of the verses which come before.  Starting in chapter 1 vs 2, James talks about trials of our faith, and God’s purpose in them.  We learned that trials come from God, and we are to endure in them, so that God may complete our faith in us.  God uses trials as a means of maturing us in our faith.  And by the way, that’s the goal of our faith, that we might become mature  Note how James ends that passage, he says, “that you may be perfect and complete (that’s a phrase which speaks of spiritual maturity). And then he says to be spiritually mature means you are lacking in nothing.”  Lacking in nothing.  That’s a key to understanding wisdom, in vs 5.

Because in vs 5, James says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” Notice the repetition of the word “lack.”  So we go through trials that God may mature our faith, that we would be spiritually mature and not lacking in anything.  Then immediately, he follows that by telling us something that we may be lacking.  That’s the connection between spiritual maturity and wisdom.

So James says that if we are to be mature in our faith, nothing lacking, then we need the wisdom of God. We need to know the plan of God, and how we fit in that plan.  We need to know His plans  for us.  We need to know His will, that we may be obedient to it. Wisdom then is knowing God’s truth, knowing God’s will, knowing God’s plan, knowing what God’s purposes are for our lives, and for the world.  Strong’s concordance of the Greek word sophia from which comes our word wisdom, gives several definitions of wisdom.  But the one which I think applies most here says, “wisdom is the the knowledge and practice of the requisites for godly and upright living.”

I think that wisdom is absolutely vital for the second phase of our salvation.  The first stage being justification, the second is sanctification, and the third is glorification.  All three are necessary phases for our salvation to be complete.  Hebrews says concerning sanctification, that without it, no one will see the Lord.  So Christian maturity, or sanctification, is essential, and without it, then the Bible says you aren’t saved.  That’s what the scripture says, not me.

So I think James uses “wisdom”  as a synonym for the gospel.  Jesus said concerning Himself and His gospel, in Matt. 12:42 “[The] Queen of [the] South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”

James has a unique writing characteristic whereby he brings up a subject, makes some remarks about it, lays down some principles, and then later on circles back around to expand even more on that subject.  And that’s what’s happening here in chapter 3. He has just finished giving an argument at the end of chapter 2 about someone who says, or claims to have faith, who claims to be saved, and yet there are no works to support or give evidence of that salvation. James says if there is no evidence in his works, then there is no saving faith.

He then went on to show in chapter 3 the incongruity of someone who says they have faith, and yet their talk betrays them as someone who has not been changed by salvation.  James says can a fountain bring forth both blessing and cursing?  These things must not be.

Then continuing in that theme James addresses wisdom again. In a similar fashion as when he discussed faith vs works,  In this section he is going to show the difference between true wisdom which is from God, and a false wisdom which is from the world.  And so he begins with true wisdom.  He says in vs 13, “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.”  

What James says there is similar to what he has said about faith.  He says, if you have wisdom, then you will exhibit it by your works.  If you have salvation which produces spiritual maturity, then you will show it by your deeds.  Wisdom cannot be divorced from it’s evidence.  Wisdom then is not the accumulation of knowledge and facts, even knowledge and facts about God, or about the Bible.  But it is shown by one’s deeds.  Wisdom is not just knowledge, but the application of knowledge which is evidenced by the way you live.

And let’s take note of how he describes that evidence.  He says it’s good behavior, deeds performed in the gentleness of wisdom.  The KJV uses the word meekness instead of gentleness.  And I like that word better, though they both say the same thing.  But the idea of gentleness or meekness is not to be confused with weakness.  It’s not a mealy mouthed, limp wristed behavior.  The best way to understand meekness is strength under control.  It was used to describe a horse that had been tamed. You still hear the term gentled as a way of describing horses that have been tamed.  They still have tremendous strength and power, but it is under control.  

So it is with meekness, gentleness.  It is being under subjection to the Lord.  It’s being under the control of the Spirit of God.  It’s submission to His plan, His way.  Other Bible translations use the word humility instead of meekness.  And that is ok as well.  Humility is bowing to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life.  It’s esteeming others as more important than yourself. It’s not being proud, arrogant. 

The opposite of humility then is to be proud, arrogant.  And that’s the defining quality of the world’s wisdom.  Vs 14, “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and [so] lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.”

Let’s be sure to notice this reference to the truth that James makes in that verse.  Wisdom is founded on the truth of God’s word.  God’s word is wisdom.  It is absolute truth against a world of relevance and deception and double meaning.  Today we often hear people saying they believe in science.  As if science is truth and God’s word is fallible.  The Bible says, “let God be true, and every man found a liar.” I’m not saying that all science is a lie.  But I will say that God’s word is true, and when so called science contradicts God’s word, then such “science” is a lie.  More often than not, it seems that science is influenced by a political agenda, more than any unbiased,  empirical evidence.

Now the apostle Pau speaks to this idea that James contrasts between godly wisdom and the world’s wisdom. He gives a similar statement in Galatians 5:19-23, but substituting the idea of the fruit of the Spirit vs the fruit of the earthly nature. He says, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,  idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,  envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

The first set of behaviors are deeds of the flesh, which are evidence of the wisdom of this world, which are of the natural man, the carnal man, and even worse, are demonically inspired.  You cannot be a child of God, supplied with the wisdom from God, and have those things characterize your life. 

You know, the original sin was pride, which is selfish ambition.  Satan said he would be like the Most High.  And perhaps all sin stems from pride and selfish ambition.  Caring more about yourself than about others.  Of course in Satan’s sin of pride there must have also been jealousy.  And so James identifies these as motivations for sin, whereas Paul identifies the sins themselves.  But make no mistake, pride and jealousy and selfish ambition are the root of all sins.  And if your behavior exhibits those things, then James says you don’t have godly wisdom, but you are operating under the wisdom of this world, which is demonic.  He says, “where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”  Such attitudes produce evil.  Godly wisdom produces good behavior, but worldly wisdom produces evil behavior.  It’s just that cut and dry.

The world system champions selfish ambition.  Movies and television glorify those who sacrifice anything and anyone for the sake of climbing to the top.  The end justifies the means.  Selfish ambition is a synonym for ego. The world tells us the way to happiness, to fulfillment is to feed our ego, to satisfy our ego.  But God’s word tells us to slay our ego.  To lay it aside for the sake of building up others. To be humble, to do good deeds in the spirit of meekness.  Quite a contrast that James presents here between godly wisdom and the wisdom of the world.

But then he leaves off worldly wisdom and goes back to talking about godly wisdom and gives us a description of it, so that we might be able to recognize it, and also to utilize it and put it into practice.  He says in vs 17, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”  Seven characteristics of wisdom. Let’s think about each of them briefly.

First, it’s pure. I think it’s significant that pure is first.  Because I believe that when he says wisdom is pure, he is speaking of being holy.  God is holy, and as Peter said, we are to be holy because He is holy.  But pure also has the connotation of chaste.  Chaste is the word from which we get the word chastity.  It has the meaning of avoiding extramarital affairs.  And when we think of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, then that is how we should think of our relationship to him.  We are as Paul said in 2 Cor. 11:2  to be a chaste virgin.  He says,  “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you [as] a pure virgin.”   We don’t leave our devotion for Christ to have an affair with the world.  We have pledged our life to Christ, so we must be chaste in that regard.

Peaceable is the next description.  Peace loving is another possible translation. Heb. 12:14 says,  “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”  So the author of Hebrews says that peace is essential to sanctification. We are to be conciliators, We love peace.  We don’t love dissension, or making trouble, or strife. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

Gentle is the next characteristic.  We have already talked about gentleness, meekness. Meekness is strength under control. Being submissive to God and to authority.  Not egotistic.

Then reasonable: it means of sound judgment. Not acting rashly, not speaking before you think. Able to be reasoned with.  Listening to reason.  God’s wisdom is reasonable.  He is not asking us to live unreasonable lives, to do some crazy thing, or to take a vow of poverty, or a vow of silence.  But to live in a way that shows love for our fellow man, and our love for God.   Reasonable means willing to yield, not being stubborn. It has a lot to do with peaceable.

Full of mercy and good fruits.  I suppose mercy and good fruits are actually speaking of the same thing, so it’s counted as one characteristic.  Mercy is a fruit of wisdom. If you have godly wisdom, then it will be evident by showing mercy. In other words, he reaches out to those around him. He puts into practice the words of Jesus who said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” We show mercy to those who don’t deserve it. Otherwise it is not mercy. We follow the example of Christ who showed mercy to sinners.  And mercy is what James calls good fruits.  Good deeds.  Deeds of mercy.  Not merely feeling sympathy, but showing sympathy by your deeds.

The next characteristic of wisdom is unwavering.  That speaks to something James spoke of earlier about a double minded man.  Unwavering is without dubiousness.  Without duplicity.  Without uncertainty.  We can know for sure how we are supposed to live because the Bible is unambiguous.  It is God’s certain word.  And so we can be unwavering in our resolve.  We can be stedfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

The final characteristic of wisdom is without hypocrisy.  The Greek word for hypocrite means an actor on a stage, who performs for the applause of men.  So to be without hypocrisy means to not act for show, to be seen, to gain approval from men. But we seek to gain approval from God.  It means to love one another with sincerity, without having an ulterior motive.  It means not wearing a mask. Not hiding behind a false face.

The conclusion then to this section of James argument concerning wisdom from above versus wisdom from below, is found in vs 18.  He says there, “And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”  James uses the analogy of a farmer who sows a seed and expects to get a harvest of what he planted. And so what he’s saying is that we plant righteousness by our good behavior, by our good deeds.  And we plant that righteousness in peace when we make peace. 

That statement is difficult to parse as the translation is one that is difficult.  But what we can be certain that James is saying, is that the fruit, or the evidence of wisdom is righteousness.  Wisdom is carried out by peacemakers, and when we are peacemakers, then righteousness is our fruit.  Jesus said, “You shall know them by their fruits.”   So you will know those who have the wisdom from God, because they will show the fruit of righteousness in their lives.  Their life cannot produce bitter water and sweet at the same time. They cannot say they have faith and not have works. So then if they are  wise and have understanding, then they will show by their good behavior their deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.  

Listen, in all of these examples of faith, of the tongue, of wisdom, James has been trying to show the difference between those who claim to be saved, versus those who really are saved.  And the point that must be understood is that to be saved requires a complete transformation from the carnal natural man, to be a new spiritual man, with a new heart, a new spirit, and a new nature.  This transformation is not something you can achieve on your own.  Just as a baby cannot orchestrate his own birth, neither can a man orchestrate his own salvation, which is called the new birth.  But as Jesus said, you must be born again.

And by being born again, God gives you a new heart, a new spirit, and a new nature, that has new desires, that is able to be like Christ. Only when you have been born again can you ever hope to be the sort of person that James says is a person of wisdom.  Only then can the Spirit of God be in you, and work in you, and lead you into the paths of righteousness.  And the only way to be born again, is to confess that you are a sinner, you are earthly, natural, carnal, corrupted, and ask God to cleanse you, to change you, and to renew a right spirit within you. God promises to answer that prayer on the basis of what Jesus Christ did for us by dying on the cross, and paying the penalty for our sin, that we might receive His righteousness.  Only when you have first received the seed of His righteousness, can you expect to have the harvest of your righteousness.  I pray that you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today so that you may come to know the wisdom which is from above.

We are continuing in our study of 2 John today.  Last week we looked at the first four verses, in which the word truth is used five times. The importance of the truth is the theme of this epistle.  As we continue in our study of the remaining verses, you will notice that we no longer see the word truth.  But nevertheless, the truth is still the focus of the passage, it’s just referred to in different ways.

For instance, starting in vs five John refers to the truth as the commandment.  God’s commandments are truth.  He is not merely talking about the 10 commandments, but about all the commands of God, all the word of God, the truth of God.  

Then in vs 7, he speaks of deceivers.  To be a deceiver is to be someone who speaks the opposite of the truth, or who subverts the truth.  You must have a standard of truth in order to determine if someone is a deceiver. 

Then in vs 9 John speaks of the teachings of Christ.  Well, Christ taught the truth about God.  He said He was the way, the truth and the life. To speak of Christ’s teaching then is just another way of speaking of the truth.  So the thrust of the epistle is the importance of the truth.  And I think ultimately he is writing to the church to defend the truth. John just refers to the truth in a variety of ways so that we understand the full scope of what constitutes truth.

So this little epistle is about the truth.  It’s about defending the truth, living in the truth, as he said in vs four, walking in the truth.  Jesus said that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth.  Jesus said that the word of God was truth.  And Paul said that the church is the pillar and support of the truth.  So John writes here to a particular church and the congregation of that church, whom he calls the chosen lady and her children.  He uses a euphemism or an indirect way of addressing the church in order to perhaps protect them from undue persecution.  But he writes them a warning to defend the truth, to uphold the truth, to abide in the truth in light of the deceivers that are working to destroy the church.

John is reaching the end of his life, probably in his nineties at this point.  And like Peter and Paul who have since died, he recognizes that in the life of the church since Pentecost, there are many deceivers, many antichrists that have risen from among the ranks of the church, whose diabolical goal is to destroy the church.  

Paul spoke of that happening many years previously as he was leaving the church at Ephesus, which John was now the pastor of.  Paul said many years earlier, in Acts 20:29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;  and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

And John sees that very thing happening.  He has already written in 1 John 2:18 “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.”  And he says virtually the same thing in this letter to this church in vs 7, saying, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ [as] coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”  The deceivers are those who have subverted the truth about Christ.

So in vs 4, which we looked at last time, John said he rejoiced to see that some of the lady’s children were walking in the truth.  He’s referring to some of the congregation of this church.  That’s the goal of our instruction, that a believer walks in the truth.  To walk refers to a lifestyle, to your manner of living.  To live in accordance with the truth.

Jesus said to the Father concerning His disciples in His prayer before His crucifixion, “Sanctify them in the truth, Your word is truth.”  Sanctification is the progression of our walk with Christ.  To walk in the truth speaks of the process of sanctification.  And sanctification is an essential part of our salvation. Heb. 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”  Sanctification is the process of living holy lives, being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  Sanctification happens as a result of, and following our justification. In the full scope of salvation, we are first justified, then sanctified, and then glorified.  All three elements are essential to salvation.  Sanctification is our walk in the truth.

John says though, in order to walk in the truth, we must love in the truth.  He says in vs5 and 6, “Now I ask you, lady, not as though [I were] writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.”

Notice the sequence.  John says we must walk in the truth.  Then he says we must love one another.  And then he says love is to walk in His commandments.  So to walk in the truth is to walk in love, and to walk in love is to walk in the commandments.  That’s an echo of what Jesus taught in John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

This is critical to understand; you cannot separate obedience from love. You cannot say “Oh, how I love Jesus,” and not keep His commandments.  John said back in 1John1:6  “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”  You cannot say you love God, you have fellowship with God, and walk in sin, or not walk according to the commandments.  If you say that, you are lying, and you do not practice the truth.  There it is again, the correlation of truth with the commandments, the teaching of Christ.  The idea of practicing the truth is the same as to walk in the truth. It doesn’t mean you are perfect, but it does mean you get better at it with practice.

But on the other hand, he adds to that principle in the next verse, 1 John 1:7, “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.”  Notice the sequence there.  If you walk in the Light, that is you walk in the truth, then you have fellowship with one another.  In other words, walking in the truth produces love, or fellowship with one another.  It’s interesting, that he doesn’t say that walking in the truth produces love for God, but he says that walking in the truth produces love for one another.  We show our love for God by loving one another, and we love one another by keeping His commandments.

That indicates that love is not a sentiment, it’s not a feeling that you have towards someone, or an attraction that you have, but love is a commitment to obey God by serving others.  I conducted a marriage ceremony yesterday, and I was reminded in the vows that in marriage we do not just make vows to one another.  But we make a vow to God to love one another with a sacrificial, serving love. That’s why the marriage vows are binding for as long as you live.  Because you made a vow to God, which is not predicated on how you feel now, nor on how you may feel 30 years from now.  But it’s a vow to obey God which is to love one another until death brings separation from that vow.

Now back in our text, John says that the command is not new, but it is old, one we had from the beginning. What is he talking about here?  Well, Jesus answers that in His response to a lawyer who asked him what was the greatest commandment.  Jesus said in Matt. 22:37-40 ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”  

So these two commandments, given hundreds of years before, were the summary of all the commandments.  All the commandments hinge on loving God and loving your neighbor.  So as Paul said in Romans 13:10, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”  And he said in 1Cor. 16:14 “Let all that you do be done in love.”  Love is the result of walking in the truth, of walking in the commandments.

So, John admonishes the church to walk in the truth, and then love in the truth, and then his final point, guard the truth, or defend the truth.  This is a vital function of the church, to guard the truth, to defend the truth.  Because the truth is and always has been under attack since the beginning, and that attack continues today.  In fact, I would say that the truth is being assaulted more today than ever before.  In the past, it was pretty much a front on attack.  But today, it’s much more insidious than that. It’s a flank attack or even an attack from the rear. The attacks against the truth today are camouflaged as being sensible, as being relevant, as scientific, as more contemporary interpretations of the truth.  And instead of many attacks coming from outside of the church, they are coming from within the church.

John starts this admonition with a warning; vs 7, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ [as] coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.  Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.”  

Back in 1 John 4, John said in vs 1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  These false prophets John calls deceivers, antichrists who are filled with the spirit of deception and who seek to destroy the church.  When I speak of the church, I’m not speaking of an institution, but of the Christians that make up the church.  And these false prophets destroy the church by undermining the truth.

Notice that John says there are many deceivers.  Not just a few. I would dare to say that the majority of the mainstream churches today have gone so far astray from the truth today that it is unlikely that anyone in their congregations can understand enough truth to be saved.  Satan has skillfully infiltrated the church pulpits with pastors that have abandoned the authority of scripture, they have abandoned the doctrine of absolute truth; they have abandoned the principle that there is no other way to be saved than through Jesus Christ, they have abandoned any teaching about sin, they have abandoned the inerrancy of scripture in regards to creation, or the doctrine of the judgement of God upon sin, and about hell.  They preach another Christ, another gospel, which is really not another gospel at all, but the doctrine of demons.  That’s why John says they have the spirit of antichrist.  

Antichrist means another Christ. A Christ who didn’t come as God in the flesh to die for sin as a substitute for sinners, to pay the penalty for the judgment of God. But a Christ who just set an example for how we are to live.  The false prophets of John’s day were saying that Jesus wasn’t God, but that He was just a man upon whom the Spirit of God came at His baptism, and left when He died upon the cross. If that were true, then Jesus was not God incarnate, and He could not atone for sin, and He could not accomplish forgiveness for our sins. But false prophets offer many varieties on that false doctrine.  But the end result is they diminish Jesus Christ and His gospel, and subvert the truth so as to lead people in destruction.

John says to the church, “watch out for yourselves.”  Don’t be duped, don’t be deceived by the reasoning of false teachers. This is not just some theoretical exercise, but false teachers and false doctrine is dangerous to you and to your loved ones.  John says if you fall prey to it,  It’s possible to lose what you have accomplished, to lose your reward.  Now he isn’t talking about losing your salvation here.  Salvation is not a reward for our behavior, but it’s a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.  Salvation is by grace, and therefore, according to Romans 11:29,  “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” If God gave it to you, He isn’t going to take it away.  

So then what is John referring to, when he says you might lose your reward? I believe that it means you lose the reward which God will give for those works of righteousness which we have done for the kingdom of God.  The Bible teaches us that there are rewards in heaven for the things we have done as Christians for the kingdom of God.  But if you become duped by false teachers and adopt false teaching, you stand to lose out on your reward because you will be found to be following a doctrine that retards your sanctification and consequently makes to no effect your work for the kingdom.  But there is a reward for those that walk in the truth and fulfill their stewardship as servants of Christ.  Jesus said in Rev. 22:12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward [is] with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”

So we have been warned to guard against deceivers, to beware of false prophets because they are working to destroy the truth.  That truth John correlates to the teaching of Jesus  Christ.  It’s what in other places is referred to as the apostle’s doctrine.  It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And that means all of the apostle’s doctrine.  Not just a segment of it, or cherry picking bits and pieces of it that you like, and discarding those you don’t.  But the acceptance and belief in all of Christ’s teaching.  That is the truth.

John continues his warning about abandoning the truth in vs.9, 2 “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.”  I think that when John says here “anyone” or in some versions, “everyone”, I believe he is referring to those false teachers he spoke of in vs 7.  He is describing them as someone that has gone too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ.  They have left the path of truth, and taken off down a rabbit trail that may seem to be connected to the truth, but in fact is a diversion.

What he says is the way you can know if someone is a false prophet, is an antichrist, is whether or not they abide in the teaching of Christ. If they don’t abide in Christ’s teaching, then he says they are not of God, and you should not listen to them.  Think of the cults for a moment.  All the major cults either add to the scriptures, or they add to the gospel of salvation, and they usually add another apostle, who they won’t admit has the same authority as Peter, Paul and John, or even Jesus Himself, but in practice they give this person even greater authority to define, and determine what scripture is really saying.  People like Joseph Smith, who started the Mormons.  Or Mary Baker Eddy, who started Christian Scientists.  Or Ellen White who started the Seventh Day Adventists. Or Charles Russel who started the Jehovah Witnesses.  All of these people’s writings are prodigious, rivaling scripture. And their disciples consider them to be of the same authority as the scriptures. 

But according to John, we can know that they are false by the fact they don’t abide in the teachings of Christ. But those who abide in the teachings of Christ, John says, have both the Father and the Son.  You should remember what Jesus said concerning His teaching – that He spoke the things from His Father.  In John 8:26, Jesus said “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” And in vs 28  Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [He,] and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”  So there is no disparity between what the Father says and what Jesus says.  If you abide in His teaching, then you have both the Father and the Son.

John feels so strongly about the truth, he feels so passionately about the deceivers who are trying to subvert the truth, that he says we should have nothing to do with them.  We should avoid them, abstain from their teaching, and abstain from fellowship with them.  He says in vs 10, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into [your] house, and do not give him a greeting.”

In the early church, they usually met in one another’s houses.  There were no church buildings such as is common today.  So John is saying if someone comes to your church bringing a teaching that is not in accordance with Christ’s teaching, then don’t even let them in the building.  Don’t give them a platform to air their deceit. Don’t welcome them into your house.

See, there is a limit to love. Love must be in the truth. Love doesn’t accept everything and everyone that comes down the pike when such people are really deceivers who are trying to destroy the truth.  Love is jealous of the truth.  Love guards the truth, defends the truth.  Love does not give place to that which will hurt the child of God, which deceives the Christian, which defrauds the church of her reward.  There is a time and place to be vigilant, even to be militant for the sake of the truth of the gospel.  Love doesn’t mean we accept those false teachers and give place to them.

You know, there is a place for righteous anger.  I get angry at the false teachers which proliferate the so called Christian television stations.  I get angry because they are able to come right into the living rooms of people’s homes and far too many naive Christians welcome them with open arms and naively accept their false teaching.  I get angry over that.  I’m sure some of you think I shouldn’t get angry.  But I think Jesus got angry and yet did not sin.  He got angry at the deceitfulness that was going on in the temple, which was the house of God.  He said you have made my Father’s house a den of thieves.  And He took a bullwhip and cleaned out the temple and kicked over their tables and chased them out.

Paul spoke to Timothy about false prophets and deceivers who he said they were to avoid.  2Tim. 3:6-8 “For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these [men] also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.” 

Now I think Paul is not denigrating women there, but using a metaphor for spiritually weak people in the church, who allowed false teachers into their homes, who may have sincerely had a desire to know the truth, but were unable to do so, and in fact were deceived because they were learning from false teachers who were opposed to the truth. And so I think we are justified in feeling some anger towards those people who put a stumbling block before others, who prey on the weak.

But of course, when we call out these false prophets,  we risk being accused of being unloving.  I saw a story the other day on the news about a father whose son came home from school and said that a man had approached him at the bus stop and did some things that made him feel uncomfortable.  And so the father staked out the bus stop the next morning.  The man in question jogged by the bus stop at his usual time, and stopped to speak to the young boy, and reportedly touched the boy inappropriately. This jogger by the way, was one of the pastors of a local church.

Well, when the father of the boy saw this man touching his child that way, he took off and tackled this guy and from the looks of the photo, he permanently rearranged the culprits face.  Now you may not think that was very nice.  But I happen to think that is what love looks like.  That father loved his son so much that he would take whatever action was necessary in order to assure that this creep would never get the chance to take advantage of anyone again. Now I am not advocating violence against false teachers, however I am advocating that we avoid them like the plague, that we do not give them any platform, not even extend to them a Christian greeting, lest we find that we share in his evil teaching of subverting the truth, and putting a stumbling block before the naive.

So in this little letter to this unnamed church, John wanted to make it clear that the truth is essential, that walking in the truth is the means by which we show love for one another, and that the defense of the truth is critical to the life of the church.  He goes on to say that there are other things he wants to tell them, but he will wait until he sees them face to face.  These things he wrote about he felt were too critical to wait, but the rest he will tell them when he comes, so that their joy may be full.

And then he closes his letter by saying, 2John 1:13  “The children of your chosen sister greet you.”  I think that is merely the way in which he references the people in his church who are sending their sister church their greetings.   And I am sure that the Spirit of Truth, writing through John, speaks to our church the same things, that we should walk in the truth, love in the truth, and defend the truth.  Let us be on guard against deceivers who are preying on the church and distorting or subverting the truth.  

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with my history, I grew up as a pastor’s kid. I actually was born during the time my dad was in Bible college and he became a pastor shortly thereafter.  So consequently, I spent most of my early life in church. I grew up hearing the gospel, the stories of the Old and New Testament, singing the hymns, participating in some sort of church service at least three times a week, and sometimes more.

But when I was about 21 years old, I left home, pretty much abandoned my faith, and ran as far away from my upbringing as I possibly could.  The result was that I reached a point when I wasn’t sure what I believed anymore.  During those years I had also been exposed to certain doctrines  from churches which called themselves Christian, but which were in opposition to a lot of what I had been taught growing up, and the result was I was very confused.

When I finally came to my senses, to use a phrase from the parable of the prodigal son, I surrendered to the Lord one evening in a garage in Redondo Beach, California.  I had been wrestling under the conviction from the Lord all day, and finally came home to a party going on in my apartment, which I had no interest in joining in, so I went down to the garage and shut the door and tried to pray.

At first it seemed that my prayers bounced right back at me off the ceiling.  They didn’t seem to go anywhere.  And at that moment fear gripped my heart as I thought perhaps I had gone too far, and God would no longer hear me.  Desperate at that point, I cried out to the Lord in earnest, crying out loud, “Lord, have mercy on me! Please hear me!”  I knew I had gone astray.  I needed to be saved from my sin, delivered, cleansed, restored.  And God heard me, and He cleansed me, He forgave me, He renewed a right spirit within me.

I prayed a lot of things to the Lord in that garage, but one thing that was foremost in my prayer that I remember clearly, was saying to God that I wanted to know the truth. I  didn’t care if the truth was different than everything I had learned growing up in the church, but I wanted to know the truth, and I said if God would show it to me, then I would be obedient to it.

Well, after I finished getting right with God in the garage, I went upstairs to my room, and I found a copy of the New Testament and opened it to the gospel of John.  I read the entire gospel in one sitting.  Not that big of a feat, by the way.  You can read  it through in a couple of hours or so. 

And towards the end of the book I came across a particular verse which seemed to answer my prayer about knowing the truth.  It’s in 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.”  Later on, I found another verse speaking of that same principle in 1John 2:27 which says, “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”   

Now let me make it clear that those verses are not saying that we don’t need to hear the preaching of the gospel, or to attend a Bible study, that we don’t need to be taught anything.  It’s not saying that.  There are a lot of scriptures instructing pastors to preach and teach the church. But what they are saying, is that it’s possible to know the truth.  The Holy Spirit, which John calls the anointing in 1 John 2, is given to us so that we might know the truth.  God wants us to know the truth.  The truth matters to God, and the truth is essential to our salvation and sanctification. 

It should be patently evident, that not everything you hear in the church today, or read in some Christian book, or see or listen to on Christian media, is the truth. John spent quite a lot of time in 1 John warning us that there are antichrists in the church, false teachers in the church, that deceive, that twist the truth, pervert the truth, and obscure the truth.  So we must be discerning, and we can be discerning by the Spirit of Truth who is in us, who will guide us in the truth as we are obedient to the truth.

So God confirmed to me through scripture that I could know the truth.  It may take perseverance and obedience to learn the truth, but God wants us to know the truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life.  He said you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  So it’s critical that we know the truth.  Jesus also said, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”  In His high priestly prayer Jesus prayed to the Father, “Your word is truth.”  He also said He would send us the Spirit of Truth to guide us in the truth. So we cannot be saved without knowing the truth, and we cannot worship God unless it’s in accordance to the truth.  Adherence to the truth must be paramount in the Christian life.

So the truth must be of paramount importance in the church.  I started this church out of a passionate desire to proclaim the truth.  There are a lot of churches out there, but I felt a need to start a church that is founded on the truth and does not deviate from it.  My calling to preach the gospel is due to the conviction that I had that the truth needed to be proclaimed in a direct, and unequivocal way. 

One of the verses that I based my calling to preach upon is Paul’s admonition to a young pastor named Timothy which is found in 2Tim. 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

So the scripture is the source of absolute truth. And through the guidance of the Spirit of truth we must study the word so that we might know the truth. There is no other reliable source of absolute truth.  And that means that the source of truth in preaching is the truth of the word of God. That means that the foundation of the church is the truth of the word of God.  Paul said in 1Tim. 3:15 “but in case I am delayed, [I write] so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” That means that the basis for Christian fellowship is the truth of the word of God. You know, a lot of people put their desire for fellowship at a higher premium than their desire for truth. But there can be no unity without unity in the truth.  Our fellowship is to be based on a common belief in the truth.

Now all of that is perhaps the longest introduction to a message I have ever given.  But John has a lot to say about truth, and particularly in this little epistle of 2 John, we see a great emphasis on the truth.  For instance, just in the first four verses he mentions truth five times. Altogether, John speaks of truth some 37 times in his writings.  So truth is important to John, it’s important to God, it should be important to the church,  and the truth’s essentiality is the reason for this letter.

As we look at this letter, we see that the writer identifies himself only as the elder.  And he writes to the chosen lady and her children.  The conservative view is that ancient Bible scholars have always attributed this letter and the next letter as from the apostle John.  John would have been in his 90’s at this point.  He is the last living apostle.  It’s possible that the term elder is indicative of his age. But it’s also probable, and more likely, that he uses elder as a title, which he has not only over the church in Ephesus, but over the church at large. He obviously considers himself the elder to the lady he is writing to, and she is obviously not in his church in Ephesus.  So more than likely it is a term that has superseded the term apostle, since his apostleship is not in question by this point, and furthermore, he is the only one still living.

So it’s well accepted that John is the author.  What’s not so universally agreed upon is who is the chosen lady.  There is a lot of debate on this point.  Some see her as an individual lady who he is familiar with, who has children that he knows, and who is well loved by the churches. Others see the phrase “chosen lady” as a reference to a particular church.  John is writing at a time of persecution of the church, and so he may be deliberately disguising his name and the name of the church in order to avoid persecution.  I guess I tend to lean towards the idea that he is writing to a church.  Though in the next epistle, he writes to an individual man by the name of Gaius, so it’s possible that he is writing one letter to a woman, and another letter to a man, but in both cases, the letters have a broader audience than just the recipient.  But I suppose that it’s best to look at it from the perspective that he is writing to a church and her children would refer to the members of that local body.

Now there are four points that I think John makes concerning truth in the opening four verses of this passage.  And the first point he makes is that the truth unites us.  I have already alluded to this principle which is found in many places in scripture. It is the truth that unites us. Look at verse 1. “The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth and not only I but also all who know the truth.” 

What John is saying there is that our commonality is the truth. Our unity, our fellowship is not based on a denomination. It’s not based on some perception of spirituality. Our connection to one another is based on a body of truth, the word of truth, the revealed truth. It is the truth that unites us. As Christians, our common denominator is that we hold to the truth taught by the scriptures.  There are certain doctrines that must be held in common for us to have fellowship with one another. True believers are linked not by an organization, not by some nebulous testimony to Christ or God, but by a common knowledge of and belief in the truth of the gospel. John says the basis of their relationship, the basis of Christian love, is the truth.  Without that shared truth, there would be no relationship, no fellowship, no unity, no love for one another.

To be honest, I get a little exasperated with some Christians who seem to have this insatiable desire for fellowship at the expense of truth.  They may come to our church, they at least tacitly acknowledge that we teach the truth, they seem to appreciate that.  But then they go to other churches, other “Bible studies”  or whatever you want to call them, for the sake of fellowship.  But from the little I know of a lot of such groups or churches, they don’t hold to the same truth that we hold to.  They remind me of the warning that Paul made concerning the latter days, in 2Tim. 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,  and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”   We need to have a greater desire for the truth than a desire for fellowship, especially fellowship with those who don’t teach sound doctrine, who have turned away from the pure truth of the word for doctrines designed to please people. For teaching that tells you what you want to hear, rather than what you need to hear.

So John says it is the truth that unites us, that we have fellowship in. Secondly, John says that the truth indwells us, in verse 2. He goes on to say about the chosen lady, “whom I love in truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.” We’re not only united by the truth, we’re indwelled by the truth. The truth abides in us and will be with us forever.

Back in 1 John chapter 2 vs 20, which I quoted earlier, John says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.” So you can know the truth because the Spirit of Truth has come upon you.  If you are a Christian, then the Spirit of Truth dwells in you, to teach you, to guide you in the truth. 1Cor. 2:12 says, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.”  That’s the Spirit’s primary purpose, is to guide us in the truth.  He has revealed the truth primarily through the scriptures, and then He gives us insight so that we can understand the scriptures.

This is a very critical passage in which Paul explains how we are indwelled by the Spirit of truth so that we might know the truth.  1Cor. 2:12-16 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,  which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual [thoughts] with spiritual [words.]  But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.  But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.  For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”  We are indwelled by His Spirit, the Spirit of truth, so that the truth of Christ is in us.

And by the way, the indwelling of the Spirit is not some sort of second blessing that you have to seek, you have to have some ecstatic experience in order to receive.  You receive the Spirit upon conversion, at salvation.  Paul says in Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”  So if you’re saved, you have the Spirit in you.  If you don’t have the Spirit, then you are not saved.  You receive the Spirit instantly upon salvation.

So how important is the truth? It is the source of our salvation, it is the source of our fellowship, and it is our abiding confidence. Notice John says there in vs 2, “for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.”  The truth will be with us forever.  1Peter 1:25  says,  “BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.” And this is the word which was preached to you.” I believe that’s a reference to the fact that the truth is eternal.  It will never pass away, or become irrelevant.  It is eternal. And so the truth is with us forever.

But vs 2 also indicates that we can put our complete trust in the truth of God’s word.  God’s word will never fail.  His promises are going to be fulfilled.  We can trust in the truth of God’s word as if our lives depended upon it.  Because our lives do depend upon it. Our eternal destiny depends upon it. And God has written it down so that we might be even more certain of it’s truth, and of it’s fulfillment.

Jesus said in[Matt. 5:18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” The truth abides with us forever.That gives us confidence as we live our lives here on earth.  God’s word never fails.  

That confidence in the truth of God is saving faith, by the way.  We’ve talked recently about what is involved in saving faith.  How much faith do we need – faith in what exactly – what constitutes saving faith?  Well, saving faith is not a deeply held wish, or even a fervently held belief, but it’s trusting in the word of God.  Trusting in the promises of God.  That’s what it means to believe in Christ for salvation.  Believe what He has promised.  Believe in the promises of God. That’s saving faith. And that’s why knowing the truth is so important. Because we need to believe the truth, what the Bible declares is truth.  Not just what we want to be true or hope is true. But you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

That leads us to the third point that John makes regarding truth, and that is that truth is the source of blessing. Vs. 3, “Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.”  The blessings are grace, mercy and peace.  Thats a common New Testament benediction used by a number of the apostles. But that doesn’t mean that we should gloss over it.  These are real blessings for the believer that come through God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father.  I want to point out that in this statement John presents Jesus Christ as God, as being on the same level with God.  That was one of his major points in the first epistle of John, to establish the deity of Jesus Christ. And John does so here without fanfare or explanation.  But even so it’s a great statement of the deity of Christ. 

Now as to these blessings – grace, mercy and peace.  To the carnal mind they may not seem like too much to be rejoiced over.  We love to talk about how God blessed us with a new job, or a windfall of money, or some new possession that we can enjoy.  But these are spiritual blessings.  And sometimes we tend not to think of them quite so highly as we ought.  But let me remind you that grace is the means by which you were saved.  It’s not by your own merit, but by the gift of God that you were made righteous and declared holy unto the Lord. There is no other means by which we are saved than by grace. Grace is a gift of God, and as such a great blessing.

Mercy speaks of not getting what we deserve.  Grace is getting what we don’t deserve, which is life, which is righteousness, which is an inheritance in heaven.  But mercy is not getting what we do deserve, which is death. The wages of sin is death, and we are all sinners. Christ paid our debt to sin, so that we might be free. Mercy speaks of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is a great blessing.

And then peace.  Peace means peace with God.  We who were enemies are now made His friends.  Even more than friends, we are adopted into His family.  We have peace with God.  He is on our side.  He is not against us, but God is for us.  Peace with God, a very great blessing. And John says these blessings come through the Father and the Son, “in truth and love.”  These blessings could only be realized as we come to know the truth of the gospel.  Only as we worship God in spirit and in truth, can we realize these blessings of salvation.

And love speaks of the great love which the Father had for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  This is love, that Christ died for sinners so that they might be forgiven and receive life in Him. That is the truth about the love of God for us, which makes all the blessings of God possible. 

The final point is found in vs 4. We said that truth unites us, indwells us and blesses us. Truth also controls us. “I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.” Now we are taking it to mean that in this church John found some of them walking in the truth. To walk in the truth is to be obedient to what God says in His word.  It means the same thing as walking in the Spirit, being guided by the Spirit. To walk in the truth means that you are obedient to the truth shown by the Spirit, and then you continue to be obedient as He reveals more truth. It’s continuing in the truth.

Notice John says to walk in the truth is the commandment from the Father. It simply refers to the idea of a believer who confesses the truth of God’s word and then lives in harmony with that word. Everything he says or does portrays a life that is governed by God’s truth.  To walk indicates action, it indicates application.  It means living out what you have been shown to be true.

But notice what did John say he found? Some of your children walking in truth. That’s probably a universal appraisal of the church.  Unfortunately, not all who believe are walking in the truth.  Some people in the church are sporadic walkers at best. They walk for a while and then they get distracted.  They become interested in something else that distracts them from their devotion to the Lord. Or some may have been walking at some point, but they no longer walk in the truth.

I’d guess that in the life of the church, about only half of the people at any given time are actively walking in the truth.  I think lethargy, and laziness, and complacency are more the order of the day for a lot of people.  And that should be a scary place to be.  It’s kind of like working out, trying to stay in shape.  You have good intentions, you start off on some new program, and you’re all gun ho for a while.  Then you start getting distracted.  You start making excuses why you don’t need to work out today.  And before you know it, you’re out of shape again.  And that makes it twice as hard to get back into shape, doesn’t it? It’s harder than ever to get back in the routine of going to the gym, and the workouts seem so strenuous that you end up giving up. 

That’s what happens when we stop actively pursuing our walk in the truth.  When we stop coming to church on a regular basis.  We start skipping devotions.  We make excuses why we can’t go to Bible study or attend some special event at church. And sooner or later, without realizing it, we are backslidden.  We have abandoned the truth for a lie.  We think we can live without abiding in Him, without walking with Him, without walking in the truth.  We fall for the lie of the devil. 

John said I was happy to see some of your children walking in the truth.  Any pastor, any elder of the church is  happy to see his people walking in the truth.  Because  they know when a person stops walking in the truth, it’s like walking down hill.  You find it easy at first, and then you start picking up speed, and then before you know it, you’re falling head over heals, and end up bruised and broken.

 I urge you today to examine your walk in light of the truth which we have been preaching today, and see if you are abiding in the truth, and the truth is abiding in you.  If it is not, then I urge you to call on the Lord to forgive you, to restore a right spirit within you, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness, so that you might be brought back into fellowship  with Him. 

We have finally come to the last message in the book of 1st John. I’m a little saddened by that. John has a unique style of writing, and a particular message which is absolutely essential to the Christian life. His whole epistle is a series of dogmatic declarations concerning how we may know that we have eternal life. And that theme is summarized here in these last verses by a series of doctrines which he says enables us to know that we are born of God.

The theme of the entire letter was summarized in vs 13, which 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.” We can know that we have eternal life, by faith in, by believing in the name of the Son of God. To believe in the name means that we believe in the entire ministry of Jesus Christ; that He is the Messiah, the incarnate Son of God, who came to earth to live without sin in order to be our Savior, who died for our sins upon the cross, so that we might have our sins forgiven, and be given His righteousness, and be born again of His Spirit who lives in us. That is what it means to believe in the name of Jesus.

Then John said that another way we know that we are born of God, is that He hears us when we pray, and He answers our prayers that are in accordance with His will. Being the children of God is evidenced by the fact that our Father listens to our prayers and answers them. That’s a particular privilege of being a child of God. The unsaved person does not have that assurance.

Now as we come in our message today to verse 18, John gives us yet another assurance, another principle by which we can know that we have eternal life. He says in vs18 “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.” Greek scholars tell us that the proper translation of the word “sins” is to read it as continues in, or practices sin. John isn’t saying that a Christian never sins. He said back in chapter 1 vs 8 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

So the point is not that we never sin, but that he who is born of God does not continue in sin. He doesn’t practice sin any longer. Sin no longer has dominion over him. He is not under the power of sin. Jesus died on the cross not only to purchase our pardon for the penalty of sin, but also to deliver us from the power of sin over us. In our natural state we were enslaved to sin, but in our new life we are set free from sin. So we no longer practice sin. As John said previously in chapter 3 vs 9 “No one who is born of God practices sin.”

In other words, the Christian life is incompatible with sin. A Christian has been given a new nature, the nature of the Spirit within him, and so he practices righteousness. He is no longer controlled by sin. As one theologian said, “A child of God may sin, but his normal condition is one of resistance to sin.” So we can know we are born of God because we have a new nature that does not practice sin any longer.

Now that is true because of the next phrase in vs 18, because as John says “He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.” He who was born or literally, begotten of God keeps him. John is speaking of Jesus Christ as the One who keeps the person who is born of God. Jesus prayed on the night before His crucifixion, in the gospel of John 17:12, 15 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. … 15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil [one.]”

So the Lord Jesus, the good Shepherd of the sheep, keeps His flock, and protects them from the evil one. The evil one is, of course, Satan. How does Christ keep us? What does that mean? It means that He keeps us from falling from grace. Jude says, in Jude 1:24-25 “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior, [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

Jesus said in John 10:28-30 “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.” So you have a double guarantee that no one, not even the evil one, can snatch them out of the hand of God. Jesus keeps those who are His.

Jesus keeps us from the evil one. Satan cannot touch us without God’s permission. We need not fear the devil because greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world. Now for those of us studying Job on Wednesday nights, we know that God did give permission to Satan to touch Job, but God did not allow the devil to take his life. Satan had said to God, “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side?” That is, I believe, the normal situation for the one who is born of God. God has a hedge of protection around us. Satan cannot touch him. He has to get permission.

You might remember that Jesus speaking to Peter said that Satan has demanded permission to sift him like wheat. And on that occasion God obviously gave the devil permission to tempt Peter. And Peter gave into that temptation and denied knowing Christ. But even though Peter fell, yet Christ sustained him. He kept him and came to him after His resurrection and restored Peter to full fellowship.

So Christ keeps us from the controlling power of sin, and the condemnation of sin, so that we who are born of God cannot continue in sin. We know that we are safe in the arms of Jesus from all attacks of Satan to try to take us from our position as a child of God.

John then states another thing we can know in vs 19, that we can be assured of. Vs19 “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in [the power of] the evil one.” John repeats a similar statement that he made back in chapter 3 vs 2, “Beloved, now we are children of God.” We have been given new life from God, born of His Spirit, so that we are now the children of God. We belong to His family. We belong to the kingdom of God. Such a tremendous privilege we have, to not only belong to the kingdom, but to be the children of the King. And we know that God is sovereign over all the affairs of men. We have the power and authority backing us of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords and we are His representatives on earth. We belong to Christ.

But John contrasts our security in Christ with the fact that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The world speaks of the opposing kingdom. The kingdom of this world, whose ruler is the evil one, Satan. Don’t misunderstand something, Satan does have a certain amount of power and authority. But its not equal to the power and authority of God. God has allowed him a degree of power and authority over the world for a limited time and in a limited capacity.

If you remember when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil, the scripture says the devil took Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment’s time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”
Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’”

Notice that Jesus didn’t rebuke the devil for lying when he said that the kingdoms of this world had been handed over to him. I think that is true. But Jesus, as the Son of God, knew that it was God who gave him that authority, and that the devil’s dominion was only for a short time. Jesus said in another place that the devil is the ruler of this world, but that one day he would be cast out. Paul in 2 Cor. 4:4 calls him the god of this world. From the account of Genesis 3, we know that by deception Satan took control over this world. So the whole world lies in his power. But Satan knows that his time is short before Jesus comes back to claim this world and vanquish him forever.

The world worships the devil, though they may not realize it. They bow before the idols that he has set up in the world system which seek to captivate people by empty promises of peace and prosperity and happiness. The devil has so orchestrated the course of this world as to take advantage of man by lies and deceit and enslave him to trying to find in satisfying the lusts of this world. And as such it is what the Bible calls the dominion of darkness. It’s populated by people who are attracted by the bright lights of this world, but the result is that they are blind and they cannot see that the real light of the world is Jesus.

But we are the children of God, and we belong to the kingdom of light. Paul said in Colossians 1:13-14 “For [God] rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

That leads us to the third thing that we know. Look at 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.” This is the last time John writes, “we know.” I think there are 33 references to the word “know” in this little epistle.

This time, however, John wants to remind us that God became incarnate, became flesh, and dwelt among us that we might know God. God revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:1 says that “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 is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His 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.”

We could not know God unless God revealed Himself to us. And John and the other apostles teach that God revealed Himself perfectly in Jesus Christ. He is the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of His power. If you want to know what God is like, then look at Jesus. As Jesus said to Philip, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”

But in contrast, Satan doesn’t reveal himself as he really is, does he? He is a liar, and the father of lies. The Bible says he masquerades as an angel of light. He pretends. He deceives. But Jesus is the truth. And John says that He has given us understanding. How does that work? I will tell you how. It is through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our teacher. Back in chapter 2, John told us that the anointing, that is the Spirit, teaches us the truth. He says in vs 27 “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

You know, there are a lot of misunderstandings concerning the Holy Spirit that are being taught in some of the churches out there. A lot of them teach that the purpose of the Spirit is to give us a feeling, an experience, by which we can validate our Christianity. And as a result they only seem to be concerned with the showy gifts of the Spirit.

But Jesus said that the Spirit’s primary purpose was to glorify Him. He said in John 16:13-14 “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. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose [it] to you.” So the Spirit’s primary function is to reveal the truth to us, and help us to understand the truth of Christ. The Spirit of God has inspired the word of God, so that we might know the truth. And then He gives understanding to the child of God, that they might grow in the knowledge of the truth.

John says that in addition to learning to know God, “we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.” In other words, we have fellowship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. We abide in Him, and He abides in us. As Jesus prayed in the upper room before His crucifixion, John 17:20-21 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, [are] in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Now practically, how do we experience this oneness with Christ? I believe it’s by the word of God and the Holy Spirit. We read the word, study the word, believe the word, and act in accordance with the word. And the Spirit of God in us helps us to understand the word, and to obey the word. That’s what it means to abide in Him, and He in us. To walk where He leads, to walk in the Spirit and by the Spirit. And it’s also how we grow in the knowledge of God. That’s why we place such a premium in this church on reading and studying the word of God. There is no other way by which we can grow in our relationship with God, and grow in maturity in our faith.

Notice in this closing statement, John declares the deity of Jesus Christ. He says “we are in Him who is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” This is the basis of the gospel, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Without faith that Jesus is God in the flesh, we cannot be saved. He can give eternal life only if He is eternal, if He is immortal, if He is God. There can be no atonement, no forgiveness, if Jesus was not God. Only God can forgive sins. Only God can make atonement for the sins of the world.

The other night at Bible study we had a discussion about what kind of faith do we have to have to be saved. What do we have to believe to be saved? Because the Bible says that the devils believe in God and tremble, yet they are not saved. People in Christ’s day believed that He was a living, breathing person and they saw Him die on the cross, yet they were not all saved. So what constitutes saving faith?

Well, I alluded to the answer earlier when we talked about believing in the name of Jesus. To believe in the name of Jesus is to believe all that His name represents. All that He taught. All that was prophesied of Him and which He fulfilled. We were talking about Job the other night, and what he believed about God, and how little revelation he had received, and yet how deep was his faith.

We have been given tremendous revelation. We have been given 66 books containing God’s word. Job had none. We have been given the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. He is the greatest revelation. And we have the testimony of many, many eyewitnesses to Him, and practically all that He did and said recorded for us. So we who are given much, much shall be required. But at the very least, to be saved we must believe that Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, the fulfillment of all Old Testament pictures and symbols and prophecy. And that He is the Son of God. That is He is deity. He was in the beginning with God, and He was God.

Then we have to believe in the finished work of Christ in His ministry on earth. That He lived a perfect life, to be our example, and to be our Savior as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He came to earth to die for my sins. And by trusting in Him and all that He is, and all that He has done to redeem me, I have forgiveness of my sins, and receive the Spirit of God in me as a deposit on eternal life. We need to believe all that. Because all of that is incorporated in the fact that Jesus is God and eternal life is in Him.

There is one last sentence with which John closes this epistle, and at first glance it may seem out of place. It seems disconnected with all that has previously been said in this passage. But when you think about it, John has been making a contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. He has been contrasting the kingdom of God’s Son, and the dominion of the evil one.

So now at the close, I believe he is merely extending that contrast by showing that while we worship Christ, the Son of God, the true God, yet the world worships idols, they worship false gods. And so John warns us to stay away from the idols of the world, because they are the means by which Satan controls the world.

Now what is an idol? Do people really bow down to idols today? Do they have little statues on their mantle that they light candles to, and say prayers to? Well, maybe some people do that sort of thing. But I believe most of the idols of the world we live in are a little more subtle than that. The devil is good about disguising his idols so that they don’t look like idols. Idols may look like a career. Idols may look like a savings account. Idols may look like a vacation home. Idols may look like a beautiful woman or a handsome man. Idols may look like sports or entertainment stars, or movie stars.

John lived in Ephesus, one of the worst cities in ancient history in regards to idol worship. There was the temple of Diana which sat on a hill overlooking the city, which employed prostitutes, priests, craftspeople, vendors, and all sorts of officials who promoted worship of the false god Diana. She promised fertility, prosperity and all the carnal pleasures of the world that were attractive to the people. And so John was well familiar with the evils of idol worship.

But today we can worship the false promises of our idols as well as the idols themselves. And the world system that Satan has orchestrated has an idol to fulfill every desire of the flesh and the mind. So we have to guard against that strategy of the devil which seeks to turn our affection away from God, and turn it to this world and the things of the world.

Paul identifies idolatry in Col. 3:5 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” I think he is saying that all of those things amounts to idolatry. Christians are susceptible to idolatry as well as the unsaved. So as Christians, Paul says we must mortify the flesh. Put to death the things of this world. Consider them as dead. And look to that which is life indeed.

But for the unsaved who may be hearing the gospel this morning, who are perhaps worshipping the god of this world, the things of this world, striving to find fulfillment in tangible, temporal things which are passing away, I would like to close by asking you a question from Mark 8;36 which records the words of Jesus saying, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Jesus gave His life so that you might be forgiven for your sins and receive everlasting life. Trust in Him as your Savior and Lord that you might be saved from the system of this world which seeks to keep you in bondage to sin and it’s penalty, which is eternal death. As John said in chapter 5 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.” Turn to Jesus today and receive eternal life.

As we enter this last section of chapter 5, John is summing up all that has been said up to this point in what you might call the epilogue.  John’s style of writing is one where he uses repetition to teach us certain doctrines and principles.  And each time he repeats a principle, he usually adds some new dimension to it.  But now that he has reached the conclusion, he makes his final statements regarding these reoccurring themes.

Probably the most frequently repeated principle that John makes is the assurance we can have of our salvation.  Not only has he explained the means by which we might know that we are saved, but he has shown the evidence of salvation, so that we might be fully assured.  And also the other aspect of that was to reveal those who were not really saved, but who may have claimed to be, but they were actually false prophets.

This has really been the central theme of the epistle – how to know that you are saved.  John states this concept of salvation several different ways.  For instance, in chapter one he referred to it as having fellowship with God.  In chapter two he said it was to know God. At the end of the chapter he refers to it as abiding in God.  In chapter three, John refers to salvation as being the children of God, or born of God. In chapter four he says we are from God, or of God.  And in chapter five he calls our salvation the life, or eternal life. All of those terms are used to describe  our salvation and he uses them interchangeably and repeatedly throughout the epistle.  All of them speak of some aspect of our salvation.

The other much repeated principle he teaches frequently is that we may know.  John uses the word know around 33 times in this epistle.  He wants us to have assurance of certain truths, certain principles.  And the most essential principle that he is concerned about is that of our salvation.  He wants us to have assurance of our salvation.  So repeatedly he has given us assurances or evidences or tests that we might know that we are saved.  John believes that we might know that we are children of God, not that we might hope we are, but that we might know it and have any doubts or uncertainty about our eternal life settled here and now.

So now as he concludes this epistle, he says in the 13th verse; “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 have referred to this verse at least a dozen or more times since we started studying this epistle. And yet like John, I realize that repetition is an aid to learning.  And furthermore, some of you may not have been here for some of our previous teaching.  So at the risk of repeating myself, I want to briefly expound on the major points of this verse, for the sake of greater assurance to those who have already heard, and the benefit of those hearing for the first time.

John’s summary statement says he has written these things.  These things refers to the entire letter up to this point.  But the main point that he is making is that faith in Jesus Christ, or to believe in Jesus Christ, is the essential key to the assurance of our salvation.  There is salvation in no one else.  Peter, preaching in Acts 4:12 said, ”And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

But when the apostles speak of the name of Jesus, they do not mean merely saying the name, or believing that simply repeating the name Jesus has some magical power.  But to believe in the name of Jesus Christ is to believe in the full revelation of the Son of God.  That full revelation then includes His deity, His work, His ministry, His teaching, His word, His work of atonement, His life and death and resurrection and ascension into heaven to sit at the right hand of the throne of God.  All that the gospel teaches concerning Christ is included in the name of Jesus Christ.

So to believe then does not merely mean that we believe that Jesus lived and died 2000 years ago. Or that He was a good teacher, or a rabbi, or a prophet.  But as Peter said in Matt.16:16 in answer to Jesus’s question, “whom do men say that I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God.” To believe that He was the Way, the Truth and the Life.  And that the words He spoke were truth and life.  To believe that He bore our sins on the cross and died in our place, that we might receive forgiveness of our sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

That belief is the means by which John says we may know that we have eternal life.  And as I have said almost every week, eternal life is not just life that never ends, but it’s the life of God in us.  It’s spiritual life. It’s fellowship with God.  As the wages of sin is death, so righteousness is life.  And the righteousness we receive from Christ gives a life that will never pass away.  This body will one day pass away, but our soul and spirit will not pass away, and at the resurrection will be joined to a glorified body just as Christ has, an immortal body that will be forever with God. Life with God is eternal life.

And we can be assured of eternal life because of His promise to us.  John said back in chapter 2 vs 25 “This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.”  Jesus promised eternal life to those who believe in Him.  For instance, Jesus said in John 11:26 “and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”  Jesus promised eternal life, and we can have assurance because of His promise.  God cannot lie.  His word endures forever.  His promises never fail.  And He gives us the Holy Spirit as a deposit on the fullness of that promise.

Now that leads John to assure us of another promise we have from Christ.  And that promise is that He hears us when we pray, and He will answer our prayers.  The fact that God answers our prayers is another assurance by which we know that we have the life of God.  John said back in chapter 3 vs 21 “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;  and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”  Notice John says we have confidence when we ask of God.

So building upon that principle John reassures us of our salvation by the promise that God will answer our prayers.  He says in chapter 5 vs 14 “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.”  Notice, John uses the same word, “confidence” in regard to prayer in this verse as he did back in chapter 3 vs 21 which we just read concerning receiving what we ask of God.

What he mens is that because we have eternal life, the life of God in us, we have the confidence, literally, the freedom, to approach the throne of God in prayer at anytime.  I remember a famous photo of the President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office.  The Oval Office is probably one of the most restricted areas in the world, and yet in this photograph you could see the President’s young son playing under the desk.  That young boy had the privilege of being the President’s child, and so he had unrestricted access to his father.  We have that kind of confidence with our Heavenly Father, to come to Him in prayer at anytime.  That freedom to come in prayer to the Father is an assurance that we are a child of God.

Not only do we have the privilege, we have the freedom to ask for whatever it is that concerns us, because we know that our Father hears us. John says if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.  To hear us, means that He will grant our request.  But notice that there is one caveat.  The caveat is that we ask according to His will.  So this is not a blanket promise that if we ask anything at all, we will get what we ask for.  Many of the false teachers on television teach a name it and claim it type of so called faith that is based on a wrong understanding of this verse and others like it. They teach that if you have enough faith, God is obligated to answer your petitions in the way that you want them answered.  The only condition in their minds, is your faith, or lack of faith.  They teach that if you aren’t healed, or you didn’t get that new job, or whatever,  it’s due to your lack of faith.

But John is clearly saying that the condition for a child of God receiving what you ask for is not faith, but is whether or not it’s God’s will.  Even Jesus, the Son of God, understood that His prayers were contingent upon it being God’s will. When He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, “not My will, but Thy will be done.”  And we know that God did not answer His prayer to let the suffering of the cross pass from Him.  So if God didn’t answer even Jesus’s prayer, then we should know that God will not answer every prayer we make if it is not according to His will.

Jesus, when He taught the disciples to pray,  said pray in this way, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  The Father knows what is best, not us.  We often pray not knowing what God’s will is.  We cannot possibly know what God’s will is in every situation.  So as much as possible, we study the word of God that we might know the will of God, and then we can know how to pray in accordance with His will.  But there are some things we can’t always discern from scripture as to whether or not it’s God’s will.  So we pray anyhow, “if it be your will, then grant me this thing.” And then we need to be satisfied with the answer that we get.  

Not every prayer that we pray receives the response that we want. So we should be ready to accept a negative answer and understand that God knows that which is good for us and good for the kingdom of God, much more than we do with our limited understanding.  Even what sometimes seems to us to be not so good in the short run, may be good for the purposes of the  kingdom of God from an eternal perspective.  And that also means that timing is God’s prerogative.  God will answer us in His timing.  So we need to be content not only with His answer, but with His timing. 

Now having said that, I don’t want to negate the confidence that we are to have in regards to our prayers being answered.  The principle is that a further assurance of our salvation is that we have our prayers answered.  So God wants to answer our prayers.  The problem usually  isn’t that God doesn’t want to answer them, but the problem is our prayers are asking for the wrong kind of things.  We aren’t asking for things to advance the kingdom of God, to further the purpose and will of God, but instead we are asking for things to satisfy our selfish pleasures.  James said in James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend [it] on your pleasures.”  He says in that passage that we are too consumed with the lusts of the world, rather than being concerned about the kingdom of God, and so our prayers are not answered because they are not things concerning the purposes of God.

So we are not to pray just for our personal needs or desires, but we should pray for the kingdom of God.  And one of the things we should be concerned about is the spiritual life of our brothers and sisters in the Lord.  That’s been a prime subject of John throughout most of this book, that we should love one another.  And there is hardly any measure of love greater than to pray for one another.  To pray for one another is an act of love.  

John then says that as members of the family of God, we should pray for one another.  And especially we should pray when we see a brother or sister committing a sin. So he gives specific instructions to that regard in vs 16; “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.”

John has had much to say on the subject of sin in this epistle. He has spoken of it in every chapter. He’s made it clear that sin and the life of Christ are not compatible.  Sin has to be dealt with, it has to be confessed, we need to be cleansed from sin. John said in chapter 1 vs 9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  

But there will be times when a Christian, who is known by the fact that he doesn’t practice sin, does indeed fall into some sin.  John says in the verse immediately following 1:9 that “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”  But there is a way to deal with sin in the life of a Christian, and that is to confess it, and be cleansed from it. 

But John speaks here of a sin which is practiced, which is not confessed, which is held onto, which is cherished, which is rebellion against God.  And he speaks in that context of a sin unto death. Now understand that he is not talking about the so called “unpardonable sin.” That’s a different subject for a different sermon.  But he’s speaking of unconfessed sin in the life of a brother. In other words, a Christian who has fallen into sin and refuses to ask for forgiveness. 

Notice first of all we are instructed to pray for a brother that sins.  We often do not know the extent of the sin.  We don’t know the heart of the brother who sins.  We can’t be the judge and jury of someone who has fallen into sin.  Our first instinct should be compassion.  It should be fear.  We should pray for that person who has fallen into sin.  And according to the template for prayer previously given, God will answer our prayers.  John says if he has not sinned a sin unto death then God will give him life.

Now this life that God gives him is not eternal life.  It’s not “the life.”  If this man is a brother, then he already possesses that life from God and that life is eternal.  It cannot pass away.  But what John is referring to is not spiritual life, but his physical life.  John is saying that there is a sin not unto death, and a sin unto death.  There may be a point when God decides to take that person’s life because they continue in persistent, rebellious sin and they are unrepentant. And so we pray that God will give them life.

But in the case where God has decided to take such a person, then John says that it’s not going to do any good for us to pray for that person’s life, because it’s the will of God to take his life. Now for a lot of you here this morning, this is perhaps a shocking, upsetting principle that you would maybe rather not believe is true.  But nevertheless, John is laying out a Biblical principle of how God sometimes deals with erring Christians.

I say it’s Biblical, because there are a number of examples in scripture that we can see God doing that very thing.  The most famous of course is that of Ananias and Sapphira, whom God struck dead in the middle of the church service. Their sin was they lied to the Holy Spirit by claiming to give an offering that they really did not fully give.  They wanted to be seen to be generous and giving, but in fact had lied about how much they had received  for their property. Now that sin of lying about their offering doesn’t seem nearly bad enough in my estimation to be worthy of death.  But I believe God wanted to set an example right at the beginning of the church, that the gifts and the offering given to God are holy unto the Lord. So God took them because He wanted to make the church realize that He was holy and He was not to be lied to. 

The Apostle Paul also referenced a severe punishment leading to death for those who willfully sin against God and do not repent.  He spoke of judgment for coming to the Lord’s Supper with unrepentant sin.  Paul said in 1Cor. 11:29-32 “For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.  For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. (sleep there is a way of speaking of death for a Christian) But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

One last reference I’ll give to that principle is found in the statement of Paul concerning a person in the church who had unrepentant sin.  He said, in 1Cor. 5:5 “[I have decided] to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” In other words, the man was saved, but his flesh was destroyed, yet in his spirit is saved.

I want to stress though what I said when I began this subject, that is that God sometimes brings judgment to the point of death for the unrepentant believer.  I happen to think that for the most part, mercy triumphs over judgment.  Thankfully, God doesn’t always strike dead the Ananias’s and Sapphira’s in the church, but rather, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  I think if God struck down Christians every time they sinned, then it would be no time at all till we had no Christians left in the church. 

But I will say that in the wisdom of God, there are times when it seems that His will is to remove a person who is willfully sinning for reasons that we don’t always understand.  One possible reason might be that such a person is putting a stumbling block before to other Christians.  For the protection of the greater church, God might take one away who is being a stumbling block. 

I will say this, by the mercy of God, most of us don’t get what we deserve. You know, there was a time in my life when I was a young man that I had stopped living for the Lord and started living to fulfill the lusts of my flesh.  Over the course of several years, I went further and further from the Lord.  It was not apparent to anyone that I was a Christian, and I will confess that after a few years I started doubting my own salvation.  

I had a close friend that I had gone to Christian high school with.  He had grown up in a Christian household like me.  And like me, he too had gone astray from the Lord.  His name was Ivan.  He was from a wealthy family, I was not.  But otherwise, we were pretty much the same.  He was no worse a sinner than I was. I was no angel.  I remember one night we were driving back from a vacation at the beach, and he began to unburden his soul.  He talked about how guilty he felt about things, and how he sometimes wondered if he was even saved.  I was so far away from God I didn’t feel comfortable even talking to him about it too much.  Eventually, I managed to change the conversation and we talked about how he was going to start a new job in a couple of weeks as an airline pilot, and how cool his new job was going to be. 

That night we each went our own ways. I went back to Atlanta and continued living a life of partying and living in sin. Ivan started his new airline job.  And then a couple of weeks later, I got a phone call from another friend who told me to turn on the television.  There was a new story on tv about a terrible plane crash.  Ivan had been on a training flight at his new job, and for reasons that are still unknown, there was an explosion in mid air and  the entire flight crew were killed in the crash. 

I’ve often wondered if maybe God took Ivan in order to turn me back to the Lord.  I don’t really know. I know that Ivan wasn’t any worse than I was.  But God in His wisdom gave me mercy and yet took my friend. I  believe that tragedy did eventually serve to turn me back to God.  But we don’t always understand God’s ways of accomplishing His purposes.

What John is saying is that when it comes to answered prayer, there are times when God won’t answer our prayers, even when it seems like He should. We have to trust God in such situations, and pray not my will be done, but thine.  And then John reiterates the principle of sin.  He says in vs 17, “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not [leading] to death.”  And I think that’s the prevailing principle. Yes there will be times, I think rare times, when God will take the life of someone who is persisting in sin.  So there is a sin unto death.  But the prevailing principle is that  all unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not leading to death. God does’t strike dead everyone that sins. But yet at the same time we recognize that He is able to do so, and He is justified in doing so.

We have a recourse for sin, which does not lead to death, but leads to life.  And that recourse is found in 1 John 1:9 which we quoted earlier.  Let me restate it again in closing;  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Listen, I can assure you that the prayer of repentance is a prayer that God always answers.  He hears our confession and forgives us, and cleanses our unrighteousness so that we might be restored to full fellowship with Him. 

As the Apostle John is bringing his epistle to a close he is bringing to a conclusion various streams of arguments that he has made concerning how you may know that you have eternal life. The purpose of this epistle is found in 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.” In that statement, John is saying this is how you may know how to be saved, and this is how you may be assured that you are saved, and this is how you may know that others are saved. All three of those elements are expressed in that statement, and have been argued previously in the epistle. Now John is bringing that argument to it’s conclusion.

The means by which John says you may know you have eternal life is believing in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. He said in the previous section, in vs 1, that “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” And in vs11 he said, “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” To be an overcomer is another aspect of being born of God. They essentially both speak of the same thing, which John also refers to as eternal life. But the means of eternal life is believing.

So what John makes clear, which we have talked about extensively, is that believing in Jesus Christ is not simply believing that a man named Jesus really lived 2000 years ago and He said some great things, He taught about God. But as the titles Messiah and Son of God indicate, it’s believing in who Jesus is, that He is God in the flesh, and as the Messiah He was sent to the world to be our Savior, which He accomplished by taking our place in death as the punishment for our sins, so that we might be given eternal life.

It’s also important to understand what is meant by eternal life. Eternal life does not mean simply a long, long, long life. It’s not even talking necessarily about going to heaven when you die. But it’s speaking of spiritual life from God, which is given to those who have faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished, so that they now have the life from God, spiritual life, which is eternal, which is righteous and holy. It’s eternal life, but notice that in vs 12 John just refers to it as “the life”. He says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Jesus is the source of the life, which is the life from God. It’s spiritual life, it’s everlasting life, it’s the life of God in us. So we must have the Son of God in order to have the life. We must have received Him, believed in Him, trusted in Him as our Savior. He is the way to life, the only way to life. John wants to make that crystal clear.

So to support the statement that he made which is that we have to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, he is going to give us some further evidence that will help us to know all that is involved in believing. And so what he gives us here i this passage is three strains of testimony about who Jesus is. Just like in a court case, when you want to present evidence of something, there is no more powerful evidence than to bring forth testimony from eyewitnesses, or some credible witness who can provide testimony as to the truth of the claim, so John gives three testimonies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who fulfilled His Messianic ministry on earth, so that we might know that we have eternal life.

John says in vs 6, “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 the statement at first glance may seem a little obscure. But John didn’t deliberately try to be obscure. He wrote it, I’m sure, to be descriptive. To illustrate three ways in which God testifies of Jesus. And by the way, I don’t want to spend too much time on this particular point this morning, but those of you following along in a KJV or NKJV may have noticed that your version adds more to vs 8 than what I read. What the best scholars seem to be in agreement about is that while the extra text in vs 8 is not untrue, at the same time it does not seem to be original to the text. The shortest answer I can give you is that the earliest those words were found in a Greek text was about the 15th century. It seems as though before that it was found in the margin notes of a Latin text, and later was eventually added to the Textus Receptus, which is the manuscript that the KJV was translated from. But the earlier manuscripts do not contain that text. It doesn’t change anything theologically one way or the other, but it’s probably best not to recognize it as inspired. So we won’t read it that way.

But the main point is this; that there are three who testify of Jesus. And we need to understand what John is referring to. So it is believed that when John says that the three testimonies are the water, the blood and the Spirit, he is talking about Christ’s baptism, death, and Pentecost; all of which testify to who Jesus is, and what He accomplished.

If you will recall, the Mosaic law stated that in order to confirm something as true, it was to be on the basis of two or three witnesses.That goes back to Deuteronomy 19:15, that testimony had to be confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Jesus also emphasized that in Matthew 18 in regards to church discipline, that any charge brought against someone needed to have the affirmation of two or three witnesses. And also in 1 Timothy 5:19 it says that no one should bring an accusation against an elder or pastor in the church unless it’s confirmed by the mouth of two or three witnesses. We see this principle again and again in scripture. And so here God does the same thing in John’s closing argument. Verse 6, “This is the one who came by water and blood and not just water and blood, but” – and then in verse 7 – “it is the Spirit who bears witness.” God Himself has chosen the maximum of three testimonies – from water, blood and Spirit – in this summary to affirm His witness concerning Jesus Christ so that we might be assured of what we believe.

So first of all, let’s talk about the testimony of water. God gave testimony of Jesus Christ at His baptism. And as I said earlier, the testimony is that Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, and that He is the Son of God. Now we find the record of Jesus’s baptism in Matthew 3:13, “Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him.” And then it says in vs16 “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like 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.”

This event was the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ. The scripture says that following His baptism He went about in Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit. But very clearly here we see that God Himself gives testimony of who Jesus is. And we also see the testimony of the Holy Spirit, coming down out of heaven to rest upon Jesus.

You know, it’s interesting to think about that. We often see pictures that show a dove above Christ’s head or landing upon Him. But it doesn’t say that a dove rested upon Him. But it says that John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending upon Him like a dove. In other words, the Spirit of God descended in the manner of a dove. It does not say the Spirit of God was a dove. Notice John doesn’t see a dove, He sees the Spirit of God.

In the gospel of John, I always think it’s an interesting note, chapter 1 verse 32, “And John bore witness saying, ‘I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and He remained on Him.’”

“And I didn’t recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’” John had said, “There’s one coming. He’ll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” So the water has a tremendous testimony of Jesus, that He is the Christ, and the Son of God.

So at the baptism of Jesus, at the beginning of His ministry, we see the testimony of water, with both God speaking and descending in Spirit upon Jesus. And God says clearly that “this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

But John says there is more. He says, not the water only, but the water and the blood. And as I said previously, the blood speaks of the crucifixion of Christ. We can turn to Matthew 27 for an account of the crucifixion. If you look at the scene of the cross, in verse 44, the robbers have been crucified with Him. They are insulting Him. Then it says, “Now from the sixth hour” –that means twelve o’clock noon. “From the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.” For three hours, in the middle of the day there is supernatural darkness. This is a divine miracle. This is God’s testimony concerning the atonement for sin which Jesus was accomplishing. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?,” which means ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’” Jesus understood the symbolism of the darkness was an indication of the wrath of God against sin. God was giving testimony to Jesus Christ His Son as the sin-bearing sacrifice in providing for our atonement.

And there is another testimony given by God in verse 51, “Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” While Jesus is dying there on the cross, God rips the veil of the temple from top to bottom, which opens up the Holy of Holies, showing that Jesus through His supreme sacrifice has provided access to God, abolishing the system of priests and sacrifices. Can you imagine the shock to the priests and officers and scribes and so forth in the temple seeing this miracle of God just when Jesus is being put to death?

And then it says in verse 51, “And the earth shook” – God sent an earthquake – “and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs, after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” The temple curtain is rent from top to bottom, darkness is over all the land, and an earthquake all at the time of Christ’s crucifixion and the dead were coming out of the tombs. What a tremendous testimony God makes that Jesus Christ was the Son of God that they were crucifying.

So vs 54 says, “Now the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became frightened and said truly this was the Son of God.” Not only did the centurion say it, but those who were with him said it. That’s the logical conclusion for anyone that wasn’t biased against Jesus. But from what we know the priests do not say that. They hold onto their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, despite the supernatural testimony of God.

I think it’s also possible to include in the testimony of the blood, the fulfillment of the scriptures which explicitly prophesied of the crucifixion. For example, in Psalm 22 it says, “All My bones are out of joint. My heart … is melted within Me … My tongue cleaves to My jaws … Dogs have surrounded Me. A band of evil doers has encompassed Me. They pierced My hands and my feet. I can count all My bones. They look, they stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”

We also see the fulfillment of Isaiah 53, which says, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.”“He was pierced through for our transgressions.” “By His scourging we are healed.” “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

In vs 9 it even gives the details of His burial. “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. And then it speaks of His atonement, the propitiation for our sins. “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.” “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”

All of those prophecies and many more in the Old Testament were fulfilled at the death of Jesus Christ. There is no other conclusion than this is the testimony of the Father, fulfilled prophecy, physical phenomena that’s so convincing that a Roman centurion says, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

Then the third testimony of our text in 1 John 5, is the testimony given by the Holy Spirit. John says in verse 6, “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” Jesus referred to the Spirit in HIs prayer in the Upper Room before His crucifixion as the Spirit of Truth. The ministry of the Spirit is to reveal the truth about Christ.

And then John says in vs 8, “There are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement.” So all three of them are in agreement, testifying to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Now we have already seen that the Spirit was involved in testifying of Christ at His baptism. He became visible and rested upon Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus began His ministry. But it’s important to look at how the Holy Spirit testifies of Christ in other situations. I happen to believe that the greatest testimony of the Spirit concerning Christ was at Pentecost. If you look at Acts 2, you will see the disciples waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit which Jesus had told them to wait for.

I said a moment ago that Jesus referred to the Spirt as the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said in 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.” Notice that Jesus says He will send the Spirit, and He will testify about Me. He says in another place, He (that is the Spirit) will bring to your remembrance the things that I said to you. So the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Jesus, and to teach the truth about Jesus.

And that’s exactly what happened at Pentecost. The Spirit of God came just as Jesus said He would, Jesus sent Him to testify of Himself. And when He came, He came with supernatural power; there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.” That’s the baptism of fire that John the Baptist had said Jesus would baptize with.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” They spoke other languages, which just happened to be the languages of all the people who were from all different regions of the Roman Empire in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost, who gathered outside the house when they heard the noise of the wind. And so the disciples came out and started speaking of the mighty works of God and everyone who was there heard them speak in their own language. These disciples were eyewitnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God. And over three thousand people heard them speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit in their native language so that they might believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved.

Peter, taking his stand before the multitude, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, preached a message to them boldly declaring that this Jesus whom they had crucified was the Messiah, the Son of God. And he concluded his message in vs 36 saying, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ–this Jesus whom you crucified.” And as a result three thousand people hearing that testimony believed in Jesus Christ and were saved that day.

So then, we have seen that God then gave His testimony in the water, the blood and the Spirit. The question then remains, “Why did He give it?” We find the answer in verse 11 – the purpose for God’s testimony. “The testimony is this, that on the basis of Jesus’s atonement for sin, God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son.” The reason that God gives this testimony is because God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. The only way to have eternal life is through believing in what Jesus Christ accomplished for us.

Notice John says, “This life is in His Son.” There is no salvation in any other. There’s no other name under heaven given among men whereby you might be saved. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” God’s desire for us is that we have life. But the only way to have the life of God is in believing in Jesus Christ. and in His finished work of atonement.

So then, what should be our response to God’s witness? We find the answer in verse 10, and then verse 12. What should be our response? Verse 10, “The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.”

When we believe in Christ, when we are saved, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So in us is the testimony that Jesus is the Christ. We receive the testimony, we believe it. John 1:12 says “As many as received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” And I can assure you that when you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, then your eyes become opened, your heart becomes opened, and you know in your heart that which is true, that you have new life. You have the testimony in your own heart of the truth and the life.

But on the other hand, verse 10 says, “The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believe the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son.” So if you don’t believe God’s testimony, you’ve made Him a liar. You are calling God a liar. How is it that you have made God a liar? “Because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.”

The testimony of God concerning Jesus is supernatural, powerfully convincing testimony. The Holy Spirit also attests to that testimony in your heart by convicting you of it’s truth. But there are some who will refuse to believe, because like the priests who put Jesus to death, they do not want this man to rule over them. They don’t want to submit to God. They like their sin and don’t want to repent of it. And so they refuse the atonement which Christ died to accomplish.

John then in vs 12, restates the positive conclusion from all that has been said. We have already discussed it in detail. He is just restating it for emphasis. “He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Salvation is so simple that it sometimes seems like there has to be more. And there is more to our salvation as we grow in the Lord. But to be born of God, it must begin with faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot have the life of God until we believe in the giver of life, Jesus Christ.

Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, concluded his message with this word, and I will conclude my message with it as well; Acts 2:38-39 Peter [said] to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” You have heard the testimony of God today concerning Christ Jesus. God is calling you to believe in Him that you may receive the life.

If you watch much television or listen to the radio, or even if you read very much, then you might think that the dominate theme of our culture today is the theme of love.  The world seems to be infatuated with the idea of love. It’s the theme of virtually every song you hear on the radio, and the theme of most books and movies.  If you were to talk to many people, it would seem that love is the supreme goal of life, and happiness and fulfillment are only possible if you experience true love.

Interestingly, this epistle of 1 John which we are studying in our Sunday morning services has often been called the epistle of love, and John it’s author has been called the apostle of love.  John has a lot to say about love. In his gospel of John, he speaks of love in 27 verses.  And in this epistle of 1 John, he talks about love in 17 verses. And the passage we are looking at today is considered by many to be one of the quintessential passages in the entire Bible on the subject of love.

Of course, if you’ve been studying this book with us for the last few months, you will know that love is only one of the themes which John is discussing.  In many cases, John indicates that love is evidence of our salvation.  In today’s passage that we are looking at, John is going to dig deeper into the doctrine of love to show us what he calls perfect love.

In vs 12, at the end of this passage, John says, “if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”  Now on the surface, that sounds like the goal of the world, to find perfect love. But I would suggest that perfect love as taught by John is somewhat different than what the world envisions as perfect love.  I can imagine for a lot of people who think of what would constitute perfect love, they would require some degree of perfection in their partner. They would imagine the perfect man or the perfect woman which would then make possible perfect love.

But the use of the English word “perfect” in the scriptures rarely indicates perfection, but rather the idea of completion.  Perfect love is completed love.  Agape is the Greek word which is used for love here in these verses.  And agape love as we have talked about many times is sacrificial love. It’s not a love which seeks reciprocation.  It’s a love that puts the other’s needs ahead of your own.  And so that’s divine love, that’s Christian love.

But in another sense, love that is not reciprocated is not perfect love. Completed love must be reciprocated.  It must be returned to be complete.  In studying this passage before us today, I have found what I think are eight aspects of love laid out for us in this chapter, that culminate in what John says is perfect, or complete love.  And I would like to work through these eight steps, so that our love might be perfected.

The first three steps are found in vs 7.  Number one, we see the command to love. John says, “Beloved, let us love one another.”  Now he may be stating that nicely, by calling us “beloved” and saying “let us” instead of “do this.”  But make no mistake, love is a command, not a suggestion.  Jesus said in the gospel of John 13:34  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”  And also John himself said back in the previous chapter, 1John 3:23 “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.” 

So as Christians, as disciples of Christ, we are commanded to love.  That illustrates an important aspect of love, by the way.  And that is that love is an act of the will.  It’s not something that you have to wait to feel before you do something.  But it’s an act of the will, a deliberate choice to love. Jesus said “if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Love is always associated with an act of the will, not just a sentiment or a feeling, or even attraction.

The second aspect of love is also in vs 7, which is the source of love. The source of love is God.  John says “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.”  Perfect love is from God.  In other words, God initiates love. He is the initiator.  John says in vs 19, “We love, because He first loved us.”

God loved us before the world began. I believe the story of God’s love for us really is illustrated in the Garden of Eden during creation.  God said “let us make man in our image, in our likeness.”  And although God previously had spoken all of creation into existence, when He made man, He stooped to scoop up clay from the ground, and formed it with His hands into a form of His likeness, and then God bent His head to breath the breath of life into man’s nostrils. The very act of creation speaks of God’s love for us.

But we get further understanding of God’s love in the story of how God made a helpmate for Adam.  God said it is not good for man to be alone, and so He purposed to make Adam a helpmate who would be suitable to him.  That means who would be like him.  But after He said that, and before He made woman, there is an unusual interlude.  During this interlude the scripture says that God caused all the animals that had been created to pass before Adam, and Adam gave names to each of them.  Then it says an interesting thing, in Gen 2:20 “The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.”  Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and God brought forth the woman from Adam’s rib.

The analogy that I think can be made is that this was a picture of the situation with God before man was created.  God looked through all the heavens and all the galaxies, to see if there was found a helpmate suitable for Him, and He found none.  And so He brought forth man from the dust of the earth, in order to be a helpmate suitable for Him.  He created mankind to be the bride of Christ.  Man was made for God, to be loved by God, and to love God and have fellowship and communion with Him forever.

Now I think that illustrates that love is from God.  He is the source of love.  We love, because He first loved us.  Even though Satan deceived man and caused him to be cursed by death, to be separated from God forever because of sin, God’s love for mankind was so great that He gave His only begotten Son to die in their place, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life and might be reconciled to God.

The third aspect of love is the evidence of love.  The evidence of love is stated positively at the end of vs 7 and negatively at the beginning of vs 8. “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God.”  That’s a point that John has been making sense the beginning of this epistle.  That if you are a child of God, then you will act like God, you will walk like God, you will love like God loves.  He said back in chapter 2:5-6  “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

In this book, John has been offering a series of tests that you might know that you are saved.   And here in vs 7 and 8 he says that the evidence that you have been born of God, that you are a child of God, is that you love like God, with a sacrificial love towards God and towards one another.  It takes a regenerated spirit to have the kind of love that God desires us to have.  Divine love cannot come from a fallen nature, but only from a regenerated nature.  And so to have that kind of love is evidence that you have been born again in the spirit.

The fourth aspect of love is the attribute of love.  This statement is probably one of the most famous lines in scripture.  It’s at the end of verse 8, “God is love.”  I could probably preach an entire sermon on this phrase.  It’s very often misunderstood and misapplied.  

Notice that I said it was the attribute of love. In this context, John is saying that love is the attribute of God.  God has many attributes.  He is not limited to only one.  It is possible to debate which attribute takes precedence.  Some may think the holiness of God is the primary attribute.  Some may think love is the primary attribute.  And there are others.  I believe the Bible teaches that all attributes of God coexist equally. All the attributes of God are in perfect balance with the others. God can be a God of justice and sentence people to Hell, and He can love so much that He saves people who were condemned to hell.  And one can be exercised without offending the other because He is perfect and His attributes are perfectly balanced.

But let me stress that God is love is not the definition of God, but rather that God defines love.  For instance, you can say, God is love, but you cannot say love is God.  This is where the world goes off track.  They want to define God by love, and particularly what they think constitutes love.  But God will not be put in a box by a one word definition. God defines love, not the other way around. Those that want to call God love, are in error.  God is the “I AM that I AM.” He is God Almighty, Jehovah.  He cannot be diminished to a one word attribute, though He personifies the attribute of love perfectly.

The problem with the statement “God is love” is how we interpret “love.” Our definition is not the same as God’s definition.  So rather than let us define God by our definition, God defines love for us. And we will look at that definition in a moment when we get to verse 10.  But before John defines love for us, he gives us an illustration of it.

So the next aspect of love is the manifestation of love.  We find that in vs 9, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”  God demonstrated love by sending Jesus Christ into the world so that the world that was doomed to death might have life through Him.

God doesn’t just say He loves us, but He demonstrates His love for us. I can’t help but think of a mother’s love. I’m reminded of my own mother’s love when I was growing up.  I didn’t have a perfect mother.  I don’t think anyone has a perfect mother.  I would go so far as to say, there is no such thing as a perfect mother.  Maybe that will let a few of you mothers let go of some of your guilt.  There are no perfect mothers.  

But in spite of that, I remember my mother manifesting love for us. My mother’s love was evidenced in her keeping the house clean. It was evidenced in washing and folding and ironing our clothes.  It was manifested in making my lunch for school every morning.  And a million other things that she did, she did because she loved me.  Love for her wasn’t just a few  sentimental pats on the head or kisses on the cheek before I ran out of the house.  Love was sacrificially doing things for me to help me have a good life.  I would even say that when my mother gave me a paddling, she did it because of love.  I didn’t think so at the time, but now that I’m a parent, I know that it’s true.

God manifested His love for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, so that I might be declared righteous in His sight, and receive life through Jesus’s death. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends.“ Jesus substitutionary death in my place manifests God’s love.  Love is action.  Love is sacrificial.  Love is not simply words or an emotion or an attraction. 

Then in vs 10 we find the sixth aspect of love, which is the definition of love. Here it is, the answer to the age old question, what is love? Vs10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.”  Well, that sounds like a restatement of the last verse, which we said was the manifestation of love.  And you’re right.  The manifestation is the definition. Love is an act of God to us, which is the act of sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

I was kidding around with my son the other day in preparation for this message.  Sometimes I get some flack around my house because I preach a lot about sin. And sometimes they advise me that I need to balance the sin with more preaching on love.  So I said to my son the other day, “I’m preaching about love this Sunday.  You ought to be happy to hear that.”  And if I heard him right, he muttered something about how he bet that I would still find a way to speak about sin.  Well, he was right.  Right here in this verse, right in the middle of speaking on this great passage about love, is the word sin.  And so I get to preach on sin a little bit.

But seriously, the only reason that Jesus died on the cross was because we were sinners.  He didn’t die on the cross by mistake.  But He resolutely left His glory in heaven with the Father to humble Himself to become flesh like His creation, so that He could stand in our place and take the stripes which were meant for us, take the nails which we meant for us, and die the death which was meant for us. 

 And what John says here is so very important. Jesus died to satisfy the Father’s requirement that death be the punishment for sin.  Because we were sinners, Christ died for us.  Oh yes, He loved us.  Yes He died for us because He loved us.  But if we weren’t sinners He would not have had to die.  He died to satisfy the requirement of a holy, just God against those who had defied His law.

You and I who were sinners, are saved by faith in what Christ did on our behalf.  If you have not believed in the finished work of Jesus through His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins, then you are not a child of God.  Jesus didn’t die to make you prosperous or healthy or happy or a myriad of other narcissistic desires that you might have.  He died so that a sinner condemned to eternal death might be given life in exchange for His life.  I hope you have trusted in Jesus as your Savior and Lord and that you have been forgiven and made righteous.  It’s by faith in what Jesus did on the cross.  And what He did is the definition of love. Love is sacrificial, it’s substitutionary. Love satisfies the requirement of God.  Love is believing in Christ.  Love is the product of regeneration.  Love comes as a result of being given new life.

The seventh aspect of love is the reason for love. Vs 11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  If you consider what we just said about the love of God in sending His Son to die in our place, if you really consider that and understand that, then how could you not love God in return?  And if you love God, then how could you not love His body on earth, which is the church? If you love God, then how could you not obey Him? 

Jesus said the foremost commandment was  “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.”

“The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’”

Paul tells us in 1Cor. 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”  The reason for love is that we want to bring glory to God with our life.  This life which we received through such a great sacrifice by Christ, we want to live for His glory.  That is how we love God, by living a life in service to Him.  And the way we serve Him and bring Him glory is we love one another.  We love His church and edify one another, and encourage one another, and help one another.  We serve Him by serving His body. And we do it gladly because of all that He has done for us.  If God was willing to suffer and die for us, we ought to be willing to suffer for one another’s benefit.

The last aspect of love we have already mentioned.  This is the culmination of love, this is what it has been building up to.  The perfection of love.  Vs.12, “No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”  Now at first glance it would seem as if John copied and pasted the wrong phrase into the wrong sentence.  Maybe he was working on a revision and meant to paste in something else and instead he puts these two seemingly disparate phrases together. 

What does not seeing God at any time have to do with loving one another?  Well, I think after looking at it awhile I may have discovered the reason for what John did here.  I think he wanted to emphasize the fact that man can’t see God. But we can see other Christians who have the love of God in them.  That’s the point of this verse.  The world, the church, mankind in general cannot see God, but they can see you, and you have the Spirit of God abiding in you, so that you may do the works of God.  

That’s what the scripture is talking about when it says we are to be conformed to the image of Christ.  We are to be like Christ to the world, doing the works of God, reaching the lost for God ,sharing the word of God to the world, converting sinners to saints for the kingdom of God.  Building up the church, edifying the saints, serving one another.  Loving one another.  That’s how the world will see God. They see God in us, living out love through us. And that’s the testimony that changes the world, when they see the changes God has manifested in us. We don’t act selfishly anymore.  We love like Christ loves.  We forgive one another.  We serve one another.  We sacrifice for one another. Jesus said in John 13:35  “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

That love which comes from God now comes full circle. The love of God, which is of God, produces a love in us, which is poured out to one another.  That’s perfect love.  That’s completed love.  Love from God completes us, because we love one another.  That’s perfect love.  I hope you have received the love of God  which was manifested in Christ’s death on the cross, that you might receive forgiveness of sins, and the righteousness of God, so that the Spirit of God might abide in you, that the love of God may be perfected in you. 

We come today in our study of 1 John to a very important passage for the church, and one to which I have referred to in previous messages many times.  It teaches some important principles which were essential for the church of John’s day, and which has been essential for the church ever since, and no less so for the church today.  In John’s day, the church was battling with the teachings of Gnosticism, which professed a superior knowledge of God but which John calls false knowledge, proclaimed by false prophets.  He said they were the spirit of antichrist.  That is, they worked against Christ, against the truth of His teachings, His ministry, and purported to have another way to knowledge and fellowship with God rather than strictly through Christ.

Today, we have a similar spirit of error which is working in the church to undermine and distort the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is a spirit which seeks to diminish the authority of the gospel of Christ as the means by which we come to know God.  Modern false prophets seek to teach a way of knowledge and fellowship with God as being possible through experience, through signs and wonders, which can supersede that which may be found through the word of God.

So this passage is very pertinent to the church today.  The primary point that John is making, is that as Christians, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.  But there are also deceiving spirits which are not of God, but of the devil, which seek to undermine and distort the truth of the gospel.  The devil is our adversary.  He is a deceiver.  He comes to steal, deceive and destroy. His kingdom is the kingdom of this world, and he works to overthrow the kingdom of God.  But his most effective strategy is not to outright oppose the truth to get people to stop believing, but to distort and deceive through false teaching, and thus lead people astray from the purity of the gospel.

Now John began this conversation in the last verse of the previous chapter saying, “The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”  So we know that God abides in us, by the Spirit of God whom He has given us.  Now how did John indicate that we know that God abides in us? By the Spirit of God in us.  And John says that indwelling of the Spirit is evidenced by the fact that we keep the commandments.

I said last time that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not given that we might have some supernatural experience which then confirms that we know God.  But the Spirit is given that we might keep the commandments of God.  He is the power that works in us and empowers us that we might do the works of God. That’s the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit.  And in conjunction to that, the other primary work of the Holy Spirit is to enlighten our minds so that we might understand the word of God.  The Holy Spirit is the author of scripture, so He is able to open our minds to understand what He has written. 

And let me emphasize something to you about that which is very important. The Holy Spirit speaks to us primarily through God’s word.  That is how God speaks to us.  A lot of sincere Christians are going about seeking to hear from the Lord.  And so they think to do that they need to go into some sort of meditative state and empty their minds, and just let the Spirit speak to them.  They imagine that the Spirit of God is going to somehow, in a still small voice, hear God tell them what to do, or give them some message.  Listen, I know this is true, because I used to think that way.

But the truth is, that you cannot trust the little small voice in your head.  If I listened to the voices in my head sometimes I would probably be in prison today or in an insane asylum. No, the Spirit of God has spoken already, very clearly and very distinctly.  In fact, He wrote it down so that you can know for certain what He says.  And it’s found in the word of God.  And the Spirit of God in you says Amen when you read the word.  He confirms to you the truth as He speaks through the Word of God.  Now a lot of so called Christians don’t like to hear me say that. They want to think that God speaks to them audibly almost every day.  And they can tell you stories about how they heard God say this or that and something wonderful happened. And they don’t want to let go of that.  But I will tell you this.  If you can’t confirm what you heard by the word of God, then you didn’t hear from God.  Now I’m sorry if that offends you, or doesn’t fit this idea that you might have this special relationship with God where He speaks audibly to you about the most mundane things, like where to find a parking space at the mall. 

John affirms the truth of what I am saying in ch. 4 vs 1.  He says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  We cannot see a spirit.  Spirit comes from the Greek word pneuma, which means air.  You can’t see the air, but you can feel the air, can’t you?  You can even hear the air.  Well, the same thing is true of a spirit.  You can’t see a spirit, but you can hear one.  And John indicates here that you should not believe everything you hear.  Now that applies not only to the voices in your head, but in the teaching that you hear from what John calls false prophets.

So first of all, John says don’t believe every spirit.  Don’t believe everything you hear. Just because someone comes to you dressed in the clothes of a minister, or a priest, or professes to be a prophet, don’t believe every spirit. I saw a lady the other day at a yard sale who I remember from years ago when I was taking a bunch of kids on a missions trip to Eleuthera in the Bahamas.  She called me a day or two before we flew out, to say that God had given her a dream that we had a plane crash on our missions trip and so obviously God was telling us not to go.  Well, I didn’t believe her and she happened to be wrong.  We had chartered a missionary plane for the trip which was an old WW2 Air Force plane used for dropping parachuters.  And  I will tell you that I would have been nervous enough just from the looks of the plane, not to mention having her dream prophecy to think about.  But I’m living proof that she was not speaking the truth, but whatever spirit she was of, it was not of God. In the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy chapter 13, Moses specifies the same kind of testing of the prophets, “If the things they say do not come to pass, they are false prophets.”

So just because something is spoken in a church, or in the name of God, or whatever, John says don’t blindly believe it.  Secondly, John says test the spirits to see if they are from God. Test them, examine them.  How do you test the spirits? I will tell you, there is only one definitive test for the Spirit of Truth or the spirit of error.  And that is the word of God.  The word of God is the revelation of God and it’s the only reliable standard for truth.  

2Tim. 3:16-17 says, “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.”  So every thing that a Christian needs to know can be found in the word of God.  And that means that it is the standard for truth.  That’s what this all comes down to, isn’t it? Look down at the end of verse 6, “By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” We know the word of God is truth.  Jesus said that He was truth.  And in the prayer of Jesus in the Upper Room He several times calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth.  Jesus said in that prayer to the Father, “Your word is truth.”  There is only one barometer of truth. And that’s the word of God. So it’s either the Spirit of Truth or the spirit of error. 

Heb 4:12 says, “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.” There is only one sure source of truth and that’s the word of God.  That’s the test. That’s the way we test to see if what we are being told is the truth.

What’s so important about this? Why the big fuss?  John says it’s important because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Jesus sent His disciples out in the world to preach the gospel and make disciples in every nation.  And guess what?  Satan sent out his disciples in all the world to make disciples in every nation.  He has his false prophets everywhere, infiltrating the church, broadcasting in every language in every nation on the radio airwaves, on the television, on you tube, using every available media.  I would say that if I had to guess there are far more false prophets than there are true prophets.  Jesus said that there were two ways, one was broad and there were many on it and one was narrow and there were but a few people on that way. But the broad way leads to destruction.  The narrow way leads to God. And Jesus added, “beware of false prophets.”  The false prophets proclaim popular doctrines which attract a lot of people, but it is the way to destruction. 

There are many false prophets in the world, and we need to be discerning.  By their deception they are intent on destroying the church.  And behind every false prophet is a false spirit, a spirit of anti christ.

Now the rest of the passage, vs 2 through vs 6, all speak of three specific tests of the spirits. Notice how John bookends the entire section with the words, “by this you know.” Vs.2, He begins with “by this you know,”  and then at the end of vs 6, “by this we know.”  So everything in between is a specific test that you apply through the word of God to test the spirits.

The first test is the test of the divinity of Christ. He says in vs 2, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

The spirit of error which is populated by the devil, is usually consistent in this one principle; which is denying the deity of Jesus Christ.  It’s not always evident in their teaching at first glance.  You may have to dig around a bit to discover it.  But a common theme is that they deny that Jesus is God who has come in the flesh. But all the gospel depends on that essential theology.  If Jesus was not deity, then He claimed to be something He was not.  He had no power to forgive sins.  He had no power to give life. So the doctrine of the incarnation is essential.

Notice John says, “Every spirit that confesses”.  To confess comes from the Greek word “homologeo” which means to agree with, to say the same thing.  In other words, everyone that is saying the same thing, who is in agreement with what the word of God says about Christ, that He is the Anointed One, God in the flesh, is confessing a truth taught by the Holy Spirit. 

I really think that John is using a type of short hand here when he speaks of confessing Jesus Christ as come in the flesh.  I think that he is referencing in an abbreviated style the ministry of Christ about which he wrote in expanded form in the gospel of John chapter one.  And in that gospel, in chapter 1vs1, John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. … vs 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name,  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Now that’s the doctrine of Jesus Christ. John says the eternal Word which was God, which was in the beginning with God, became flesh and dwelt among men, and because He is God in flesh, He has the right to give life to those who believe in His name.  If a teaching or prophecy is in agreement with that, then it is of God.  If it does not, then it is not of God.

The second test John gives is the Spirit of God in you. He says in vs4, “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.” Because we are children of God, because we have the Spirit of God indwelling us, we have the conviction of the Holy Spirit within us, who is greater than the spirt of deception that is in the world, the deception of the antichrist he spoke of in vs 3.

It’s a reference to what John said back in chapter 2:26-27 John says there, “These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.  As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”  

What John is saying there is because we are the children of God, because we have been born again in the spirit, by the Spirit, we have an anointing.  The anointing is the Holy Spirit who lives in us and has quickened us.  Quickened is a good old fashioned word which is found frequently in the KJV but not used too much in our newer versions.  But I like it because it speaks of being made alive spiritually. Being given life, given eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit says.  It speaks of being given discernment.  

So John isn’t saying in chapter 2 that we don’t need preachers, that we can know all truth all by ourselves, but he is saying that the indwelling, the quickening, the anointing of the Spirit gives us spiritual discernment as we abide in Him.  As we obey the truth, as we obey what we know so far, as we walk where He leads us to walk today, He will lead us in the truth tomorrow.  He will guide us.  

Perhaps ou’ve heard the expression,  “I had a check in my spirit.”  That’s a reference to a hesitation in your spirit when you hear something that doesn’t ring true with the word of God.  You can’t say “amen” because you have a check in your spirit.  And so, you do like the Berean’s, you examine the scriptures to see if these things are so.  And the Holy Spirit will guide you in all truth.

Jesus said in the gospel of John 16:13-14  “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. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose [it] to you.”  See that?  He will disclose the truth to you.  He will guide you into all the truth.  That’s the Holy Spirit’s job.  Not to  make you get goose bumps, or to cause you to run around squawking like a crow, but to lead you into the truth.  And back in our text, John says that the Spirit in us will serve to test the spirits.  The deception of the evil one is great, but the guidance of the Holy Spirit is greater, and we have someone greater in us, than he that is in the world.

The last test is the test of obedience. The test of obedience. Who do they obey? That’s found in vs5 and 6, “They are from the world; therefore they speak [as] from the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

When John says “they are from the world, and the world listens to them,” he is referring to the false prophets back in vs 1. Their theology has it’s source in the evil one. There religion is informed by the evil one. And their ideas come out of the world, out of the world’s way of thinking.  The world refers to the system which is hostile to God. In opposition to the gospel. That’s the world system John says they are of and which they speak of.  You know if you listen to a lot of the false teachers out there on television and in many of the churches, they spout a lot of pop psychology.  They talk incessantly about relationships and so forth.  They rely upon psychology rather than the word of God, rather than the gospel.  And I don’t mean to disparage psychologists necessarily, but it’s a science of the world.  It’s man’s way of understanding and dealing with life, through human reasoning and human wisdom.  I think John is speaking of man’s wisdom when he says, they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.

In other words, the world obeys them.  I’m just constantly amazed today to see how the world blindly follows the dictates and teaching of  scientists and psychologists and so called experts. But it seems everyone believes these people that are in some position of authority, whether or not the evidence really supports it.  John says the evidence that they are of the world is that the world listens to them and obeys them.  False teachers will be popular with the world.

But in contrast to that, John says “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us.”  When he says “we” he is speaking of himself and the other apostles.  He is speaking of what the Bible calls the apostles doctrine, which is the word of Christ.  The evidence that prophets are from God is that they submit to Biblical truth as delivered by the apostles in the word of God.

To listen is to obey.  If they are true ministers of God then they will obey the gospel as delivered by the apostles.  As John said earlier in chapter  2:3-5 “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.”  

And John says that is how you know  the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  To know means to discern.  This is how you discern the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  False teachers don’t obey the commandments.  Examine their walk.  They say one thing and do another.  Their lives are often marked by living in excessive luxury.  Many false prophets have been discovered to be immoral in their private lives. But as a general test, you can tell if they are of the truth or of error by watching their lives and seeing if they follow the apostle’s teaching, or if they have devised an alternate gospel that allows them to live lives which fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

Jesus said you shall know them by their fruits.  We can test the spirits by their fruits.  And the test of whether or not they are children of God is by their fruit. We need to be careful who we listen to.  Because who we listen to we end up obeying.  Paul said in Romans 6:16-17  “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?  But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.” 

I hope that you will obey the gospel. Romans 10:8-10 “But what does [the scripture] say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”–that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,  that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today, that He died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins, and the Holy Spirit will abide in you, that you may walk in the narrow way that leads to life.