BIG IDEA:
THE ASSURANCE OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD BRINGS 3 SOLID CONVICTIONS REGARDING SPIRITUAL VICTORY
INTRODUCTION:
Key phrase: “We know”
Stedman: ” Perhaps the most striking thing about the close of First John is the threefold occurrence of the phrase we know in the last three verses. Verses 18, 19, and 20 of the fifth chapter all begin with those words, we know. That is a phrase that has a bite to it in these days when we are told that we cannot know anything for sure. There is a quiet ring of assurance about it; especially when you discover that the apostle uses a word in the original Greek which refers not to knowledge gained by experience, but to an inward learning process. It is precisely that kind of knowledge to which the Apostle Paul refers in First Corinthians 2 when he speaks of a hidden wisdom from God which is not available to the world in general but which is imparted to those who are taught by the Spirit of God. That is the kind of knowledge John is talking about here.”
I. (:18) THE SOLID CONVICTION OF THE PERSEVERANCE AND PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS
A. The Perseverance of the Saints
“We know that no one who is born of God sins”
Conversion involves a changed life. There will be occasional sin; but not persistent, habitual sin as the pattern of one’s life. The inward new nature imparted by God will show itself in the form of righteousness.
B. The Preservation of the Saints
“but He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.”
Reference is to Christ as the one who keeps believers from the bondage of Satan.
Stedman: John says that the stronger One has now come and the bonds of the strong man have been broken and he can never repossess the Christian. That is an encouraging word, is it not? The enemy can frighten us, as he often does. He can harass us, he can threaten us, he can make us believe that we are in his power and that we have to do certain things that are wrong. He can create desires and passions within us that are so strong that we think we must yield to them. But that is a lie, because he is a liar. We do not have to yield to them. He can lure us, he can deceive us, as we have seen, he can even temporarily derail us, and make us fall, but the great declaration of this Scripture is, the devil can never make you sin! Once you know Jesus Christ, the devil can never again make you sin. There is never any excuse for giving in because it is all bluster on his part, all a bluff. He is trying to make you believe that you must sin, but you do not have to.”
II. (:19) THE SOLID CONVICTION OF OUR GODLY FAMILY IDENTITY
A. We are in God’s Camp
“We know that we are of God”
B. The World is in Satan’s Camp
“and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one”
Gal. 1:4; Eph. 5:16; Col. 1:13; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2; John 12:31; 14:30; Heb. 2:14 (Piper)
III. (:20) THE SOLID CONVICTION OF SPIRALING GROWTH IN OUR ASSURANCE OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
A. Historical Certainties
“And we know that the Son of God has come”
Findlay: “‘The world lieth in the Evil One’: so it was, beyond question, in the Apostle’s day, under the empire of Tiberius, of Nero, and Domitian; and such is the case to a very large extent at this modern date. ‘But (de) the Son of God is come!’ Against all the evils and miseries of the time, against the crimes and ruin of the ages as against our personal guilt and impotence, there is that one fact to set; but it is sufficient. He has come to ‘destroy the works of the Devil,’ to ‘root out every plant which our heavenly Father had not planted’; and Christ is doing this, through the hands of His servants, upon a wider scale and with more fruitful and visible results than ever before. He will not fail nor be discouraged until the work of uprooting and replanting is complete.”
B. Spiritual Understanding
“and has given us understanding”
C. Personal Relationship
“in order that we might know Him who is true”
D. Union with Christ
“and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ”
E. Growing Assurance of a Relationship with God and Eternal Life
“This is the true God and eternal life.”
Boice: “‘True’ refers to that which is authentic as opposed to that which is false, the ultimate reality as opposed to that which is merely its shadow. In John’s day the Gnostic teachers had made much of their supposed knowledge of God, but it is John’s contention that apart from the work of the Christ of history, who reveals God, such knowledge is not knowledge at all. At least it is not knowledge of the real God. Only through the real Son of God is the real God known.”
(:21) CLOSING WARNING: GUARD AGAINST IDOLATRY
“Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”
Peck: “The problem of idols is essentially a problem of faithfulness. When we come to know Christ personally we enter into a relationship of faithfulness, where he promises to stay with us, walk with us, forgive our sins, and where we promise to walk with him, obey him, and trust him. When we embrace an idol–a god substitute–we are unfaithful to that promise, like a spouse who breaks a marriage vow. The main idols Christians struggle with in our culture today are the idols of materialism, success, adventure, leisure, and comfort.”