[This message is part of a series through the book of 1 John, entitled "Salvific Assurance Through Testimony," preached by Pastor Senter].
"Who would think that this "writing" would have had such an impact on the degradation of the sanctity of life?"
Last week we talked of the origin of the testimony of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ. We looked at the scriptures and specifically passages that talked about the Son of God and His ministry. We considered the testimony for God in the scriptures, how this testimony also speaks of the Son of God, and that this Son would save the world. Considering challenges to life and salvation we discovered that accepting the Son of God was the way in which we can enter the eternal kingdom. This promotes a change in life and life’s perspective. This is life, a focus upon the eternal not the temporal. We also considered the testimony against God, and that men were attempting to tear down the Word of God. This is the testimony against God then, the testimony of man and His rebellion against God and the things of God. Then turning our attention back to God, we found first, clear testimony of His great love for us, of the Son providing life, and of the great gift of eternal life. We also found a testimony of provision where God provides great grace and peace in times of strife and difficulty. We considered the fact that God actually provides these things to the living, because He is a living God of living people. Moving to our testimony, we found that we can testify of our possession of eternal life and an eternal perspective through all that we are. This can come from the way we live, and it presents itself in the way we may die physically. It will manifest itself in the way we live and where we go after we are physically separated from this world. If we never take life in Christ Jesus, we will never have life to begin with. This is truly a matter of life or death.
We opened last week with an example and discussion about the atheist’s hypothetical origin of man. This week, for the sake of identification, we do much the same thing.
Please look at 1 John 5:13. There is a simple question to ask in this section. What impact can written words have on the lives of people who do not even read them? Can people’s lives be indirectly affected by something they have never even read? The answer is below and it might shock you to see some of these historical examples.
We just saw a presidential inauguration. I found it interesting that when I did a search for “written for” the first listing was President Obama’s speech. The author of that article claims it was written for America, and applied to the world. We would probably find the phrase “written for” related to laws that are supposed to make our lives better. Most of these laws end up changing lives more drastically than the individuals authoring them think they would. This really is the case in so many things that man writes.
We talked about Darwin’s hypothesis recently. Who would think that this “writing” would have had such an impact on the degradation of the sanctity of life? Darwin, when he wrote it, was attempting to explain life’s origination outside of the existence of God and the truth – scripture. He would never conceive that the effects of his writings would impact millions of lives. In his limited contemplations, he could never envision Hitler, Stalin, or the socio-economic population control plans that are being considered today as improvements to our lifestyles and cultural survival. We have Planned Parenthood now. Planned Parenthood began as a population and environmental control plan just for women. In its beginning, it was simply billed as a way to control conception. Now, however, the forces behind this organization are the dominant abortion supporters of today who would advocate the sterilization of some people, as their founder did. Unborn and innocent children are not the only targets for these thoughts. There are efforts in this country oriented toward legalizing the euthanization of the elderly because they are unproductive. There are numerous studies on “productive populations” that categorize elders as unproductive and “burdensome.” Hitler, Stalin, Hussein, and other murderous dictators have advocated procedures that reduce the unproductive or undesired within a population to make room for the chosen ones. A recent article I read said that of over 3,100 doctors participating in a survey, 11% reported assisting people in suicide. Ladies and gentlemen, these efforts come about because there is little emphasis placed on the value of life. People are considered to be equivalent to other animals here on the big blue marble. We are simply just another living organism, just a little more complex living organism. To many of these societal engineers, life’s purpose is simply to be productive. Further, since the highest and greatest form of life there is on earth is man, this productivity must be proven to and repeatedly displayed to man. Once this productivity disappears, there is no further need for the individual. Life then becomes subjective, something that has value which is determined by certain people. These people set criteria based upon their own reason which includes their personal ambitions. This is the ultimate level of relativism – where relativism turns deadly. The things that Darwin wrote were for scientists to help analyze life’s beginnings from an atheistic point of view. Extrapolation of man’s reason in godlessness has drawn this out to the deadly relativistic end. Perfectly healthy babies are regularly slaughtered because of the inconvenience they might be to the expectant mother. She might not have “a life” after she has that baby. What happened to life’s fulfillment in motherhood? Inconvenience is no cause for extinguishing another life. Choices were made–face the consequences. Abortion is about to be approved for even the most viable life. What was the purpose of the writings of Darwin or Nietzsche or any of those supposedly brilliant men? They were written to explore the possibilities without God. Now we have these possibilities ,and they are slowly becoming realities. The possibility and reality is that life becomes cheap. So many have taken to these beliefs that we may some day be in a position to have to justify our very existence through productivity in our society. What does this say to the welfare recipient? Think about it. When votes are no longer needed…..
Well, this was not meant as a political speech, it is meant to address the question concerning why these things were written in 1 John. These things in scripture were written for a reason too. They too have a much farther-reaching effect, and much greater impact than man can even fathom. Unlike the unseen effects of man though, these effects will be realized in the light of life eternal. “When we write things or read things we frequently ascribe personal value to them, and in 1 John 5:13 we should.” Since he cannot possibly see things on the millennial scale, “man cannot contemplate the full impact of his depravity; but God knows it all too well.“
I. The Writings (verse 13a)
Wesley notes that in 1:4 John identifies what he is writing to ensure a completeness of joy in the Christian believer’s heart. The comments in 1 John 1:4 are in the present active form. Now John tells us (in an aorist or past tense form) that we can look back and see this fullness in an assurance of eternal life. In John 20:31, the Apostle tells us he wrote to provide information for our ability to believe in Christ Jesus and His salvation. John’s gospel is evangelistic, John’s first epistle is salvific. In 1 John 3:23, we studied the written commandment to believe, and in this belief we are commanded to love one another.
A word in the first part of this verse should very much interest us–it is the word “oida” (translated here “know”)– that we know we have eternal life. Once again, John points not to the specific intellectual or experiential knowledge of man, but to the specific knowledge we can have in our spirit as a testimony to Christ of our existence, this personal relationship with Christ. What, then, does reading written words have to do with a specific spiritual understanding of eternal life? How do these two things go together? John has been arguing this throughout this whole epistle.
John’s epistle was written to rejoice in the proclamation of Jesus Christ. We can do this when we acknowledge sin and walk in the light. We can then love, and are obedient in this love. In this submission unto obedience, we take a path away from darkness and into the light. The whole written Word of God (and specifically here with John’s epistle) gives us the guidelines for living a more pure life. Within this guide, we find extensive exhortation to contemplate on the things eternal such as 1 John 2:15-17, 22-25, and here in 5:13. John also gives us a deadline for our thoughts to change – he tells us it is now. The phrase “There is no time like the present” rings so true at this juncture.
Because there are unbelievers among all groups of proclaimed believers, John tells us they will leave. He dealt with those emotions and our hearts, which should be focused upon God. John wrote to us about how the Holy Spirit should affect our lives and our testimony. He gave us reasons and ways to clear our consciences, and he instructed us on having confidence when we go before the Lord.
John wrote about a hope we should have as God’s children, as well as that our testimony that should always be challenged for purity. This challenge is to walk in righteousness and not the lawlessness of the world. We found in this that there are two types of children: rebellious and submissive. There are therefore no gray areas with respect to submission. We found that in submission to Him, our obedience leads to a display of love, and that knowing real love lies in submission. This, then, is the true loving heart of a saint–one that is submitted unto the Lord and His Word. This obedience, therefore, produces the ability for God to heap grace upon His children.
Grace is given to us to test the faith in others and encourages them to seek the truth that is in their spirit–is it a godly and submissive spirit, or a rebellious and hateful one that they are feeding? This godly, submissive spirit displays God’s love in us and His love for us. Conversely, a hateful spirit has contempt for all those around them because it convicts them. They therefore rebel against any call to godliness.
As this love is more evident in our lives, we become an abiding witness for Christ in all we do and are. We, through this witness, find where we began without Him and contrast this beginning with the current results of our lives, which should be changing daily. This life submits more to Him daily. In these changes and our introspective review, we become witnesses for the truth of this love and we shed a light on the falsehoods that many portray in their lives. We then convict others in this fashion. We see this conviction in many rebuttals and challenges to pure life in Christ. This gives us freedom to overcome the world’s ways and limitations as our focus becomes more eternally oriented.
In our abilities to have victory over the world’s temptations, we develop further witness and testimony for our Savior. People will begin to attack us on a variety of levels, even quoting scripture to us in attempts to quiet our convictions. The witness is of a new life and the rebuttals are attempts to encourage a holding-on to a desired or old life. Satan and His minions influence world events and all those without Christ in order to squelch these witnesses. As this testing goes on, and the Christian succeeds, this life then becomes a stronger testimony that continues to reveal the evil of Satan and his demons. This is what was written.
This book is about your testimony for Christ, how this abiding testimony affects the world around you, and how, through this testimony, you are continually assured of eternal life. The question is, do you have an abiding testimony as it is written in this epistle, or have you ignored the precepts within these scriptures? Do you really have assurance of your eternal life or do you still waiver concerning your witness for Christ?
What is the audience of this epistle though? To whom exactly were these things written?
II. The Audience (verse 13b)
Actually, John quite specifically states that these truths are given in a present tense form. We are often not supposed to read too much into tenses. Here though, we find that these things are presently true in John’s day and in ours. Today, this very day, these very people, the people who read these very words are the intended audience. As we look at this passage we have to admit the verse expressly states, “the ones believing” (tois pisteuousin), which is a literal translation of the articular participle. Even more directly, John states the ones believing in the name of the Son of God. The specific audience is believers. We do not know if John expects that only believers will read or hear this epistle. This thought is highly unlikely though, as we have demonstrated at numerous points that John knows that the audience will be mixed. He writes here in a present active form, knowing that secessionists are in the audience.
It is possible that John is attempting to witness to these secessionists through this specific plea that would include them. This seems almost universalistic in the salvation message though. This is almost as if to say everyone here in the audience will have eternal life. Since we know the secessionists believed that they were able to attain eternal life by knowing more about the things of God, and no one will come to the Father except through Christ Jesus, these secessionists were lost – unrepentant and unsaved. This system leaned on a Platonist misconception that every human had a divine soul trapped in this physical material body. We find these beliefs in Liberalism, Mysticism, Charismaticism, Christian mysticism, and other forms of worship that overemphasize the spirit and its release. Some phrases have been coined such as “express yourself.” These phrases are born from the belief systems that would have you “release your inner spirit” or “let yourself go.” Many believe if man were just able to release his spirit, creativity would abound. With full knowledge of this false system that actually worships man, not God– it is highly unlikely John is indicating some universalistic salvation. More likely John is attempting to point out to the audience that only believers will actually heed the message that is being given. All those in attendance will hear the words; but only true believers will be comforted in their quest for Christ and assurance of eternal life.
All those present, then, who do not seek the Savior, but in some way see their own abilities to manage their salvation in the things of the world–they will only hear what their individual wills permit them to hear. They will either chafe at or ignore the remainder of the message. I know people who, when discussing issues, will lock in on one specific word and ignore the remainder of the conversation or argument but instead be upset or emotionally distraught over a single word usage instead of looking at the overall discussion and placing that word in context. Admittedly, people do not use the proper words all the time. It is a challenge for man, especially me, to communicate clearly. However, looking at an overall argument and assessing the overall discussion in context is vital. Individuals who seek ways in which to “pick a fight” so to speak will practice this exegesis in minutia on man during conversation. John is saying, look at the whole of this written epistle and understand that it was written for your edification and encouragement in the Savior for eternal life. The Apostle writes knowing that there are those who will hear this epistle read, who will not then believe. In addition, he presses again for faith in God’s only Son for salvation. He presses for all who may hear this great testimony to believe in the eternal life of the Son. He presses for this belief and offers the fact of an assurance of eternal life.
The question you must ask yourself is, Are you a Gnostic? Not literally, but here in this time, in this position, as you read this, are you a secessionist? Are you one of those who would sit under the clear understanding, preaching, and teaching of the Word of God and bristle at what it would call you to do? Are you one who would sit here and proclaim you can work out your own salvation without what is given here in the Word? Would you sit here and have a will at enmity with God that would say you can work out your own salvation and your eternal life with God–that you don’t need this instruction, you don’t need what is in this epistle, you don’t need what John is espousing? Would you say you are confident that, as challenged in 1 John 2:28, when you approach God, that you have submitted wholly unto Him and all the commandments in His Word?
We have considered the things that John has written, and the audience to whom he wrote. Now we should consider the purpose in his epistle.
III. The Purpose (verse 13c)
We first have to turn back to our word “oida.” We can have knowledge of an acquaintance with a person, the Son of God. In this knowledge we can also know we have eternal life. This is the purpose of John’s epistle. This word,”oida” presents the unique experience that not only is the individual who has the knowledge a living being, but the object about Whom the knowledge is gained is also a person. This is not knowledge about a book or some idea or some arbitrary thing. This is knowledge about an individual and His gift.
“Oida” is used about 318 times in the New Testament. When we survey these uses, we find that most frequently it is used as knowledge between two people. We find uses such as in Matthew 6:8 where the Father “knows” what you need before you ask Him. The Father has special knowledge of you and knows your specific needs. We also find this in a father’s or mother’s knowledge of what will be good things for their children, even though they are inherently evil. We do instinctively know, as parents, what good things are as apposed to bad things. We can see the personal use of “oida” in knowing Jesus has authority over earth to forgive sins as he heals the paralytic in 9:6. In 12:25, Jesus responds to the Pharisees because He knows their thoughts. He knows because His spirit knows man’s true heart. In 15:12, we find the disciples asking if Jesus knew that the Pharisees were offended (hurt in their spirit or heart) by what Jesus was saying. There is not enough time now to study each use; however we must note that this word is not used exclusively in this fashion. There are instances where “oida” can be interchanged with “ginoskō” as a synonym. For instance, in John 10:14 Jesus talks about knowing His sheep, and His sheep knowing Him. The “know” words in this verse are all “ginoskō .” What is significant is that in John’s epistle (1 John) he tends to use this “oida” as an opposing word to ginoskō or intellectual/experiential knowledge. He does this to point to the requirement of a very personal spiritual connection with God through the Holy Spirit sent from Christ Jesus to an individual who receives the gift of salvation. I believe this usage of “oida” and “ginoskō ” in 1 John is purposeful and specific.
We have made a point that today’s universalism is the current day Gnostic. Their beliefs are that all will attain eternal life and the more exposure that one receives from the religions of the world, the closer they are to releasing their inner spirit of man to freedom. This, once again, places man in control of the entire spiritual experience and salvation. It puts man in a position to make himself a god or attain deific state on his own. Man got that idea from Satan in Genesis 3:5, and is still seeking that position: to be like God. Universalism, Mormonism, Buddhism, Christian Science, and any religion that teaches reincarnation or a works-for-eternal-existence-form of perpetual life therefore teaches man can be his own god. Satan was successful with this ploy in the beginning, and he remains successful even today.
The purpose is for us to know and understand we can know Christ Jesus and His salvation for us. This brings us to two issues: the subject of the purpose, Jesus Christ, and the gift in this subject, eternal life.
A. The subject
Turning to Acts 4:10-12 ,we find John specifically challenging Annas and Caiaphas, and other high priests concerning the healing of a paralytic on the Sabbath day. Only the Christ is here to heal and to save, no other. The subject of this purpose, the real reason John is writing, the focus of his entire argument in this letter is Jesus Christ and the salvation of man through Him. We find Jesus mentioned or referred to almost 100 times in this epistle. If we take verse 5:20 (This [His Son Jesus Christ] is the true God and eternal life) literally, we should also count all occurrences where “God” and the pronouns referencing “God” are used, There are more than 200 occurrences. The first reference to Jesus is “the Word of Life” in very first verse. He is also called the Son of God, Jesus Christ the righteous, only begotten Son, the propitiation, the Son, Savior of the world, the Christ, the blood, and the true God and eternal life. Ladies and gentlemen, there are only 105 verses in this epistle. There are only 2,498 words total. Christ is mentioned 8 times, Father 13 times, God(s) 64 times, Jesus 12 times, and Son 22 times. These, coupled with the pronouns, make up over 10 percent of the total words of the epistle as references to God, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. Anyone who would attempt to deny the subject of this epistle being that the testimony is of the Son of God by God the Father and through the Holy Spirit is a liar and cannot face the truth. This epistle, therefore, is a testimony of the faith and belief in the triune God we have in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who give themselves to us for eternal life. It testifies clearly of their divine work together that brought about our reconciliation with the great triune God in order for our salvation to be realized. This epistle is about God loving us. These three Persons love us enough to give themselves as ransom for all mankind. That is our great God, that is what John believed, and this is the subject about which he writes.
If you do not believe in the triune God, and His great salvation, you have not really read this epistle. I commend it to you. Study it, read it, soak it in for all its great glory and edification. Let God love you through a study in this epistle, and you will truly know the great God we serve.
What is the gift that we are given in this epistle then? What is this eternal life?
B. Gift
The promise is that we may know we have eternal life. This is only if we know we have the Son, which means we have the Holy Spirit residing within us. This happens in our testimony folks. Yes, we are back to that. We are supposed to be Christians, not Christians in disguise. Our answer for all our life is supposed to be Christ and Him crucified. Our gift is eternal life folks, and if you are not sharing that gift with others in your testimony, in your life, in your communications, and in your attitude and aptitudes, you are not focusing on the gift; instead you are trying to hold onto it while keeping an eye on the world.
I have always made it a point to my children that you are what you practice. If you do not practice paying a mortgage, you will not be ready to handle it. If you do not practice saving money, you will always be a spend thrift who is unable to save money. The point is, we should be practicing the things we say we are or claim to be. If we are ready to buy a house, we should be able to put money aside every month to pay a mortgage. If we say we are good at saving money, we ought to be able to put some money away every month to save that money. If we do not do these things, we cannot identify with the benefits they offer. We also cannot take advantage of the freedoms that they offer.
This same situation exists with respect to the possession and knowledge of eternal life. If we say we have eternal life but act as though this world is all we care about; if we say we have eternal life but act as though it really matters to us what the world thinks of us; if we say we have eternal life and act as though we need to have this world and the things in it to survive–then we are not practicing the claim of possessing eternal life. If you do not exist in the mindset and practice the belief and faith that you possess eternal life, how then can you say you have the Son of God? If you do not regularly live in His great gift, how can you say you possess it?
I read an article about political correctness the other day. It takes the position that forces under the control of Satan are pushing political correctness to stifle the testimony of believers and the remaining Christian values of the nation. The point was that stifling speech that people claim offends them as an “oppressed” group simply results in repression of thought and speech. It was a good article; however, the issue it missed entirely was that we should operate in a knowledge that those who claim oppression do so because they do not have the gift of eternal life and so we should speak the truth in Christ, which can give them freedom from their self- imposed oppression. If we truly believe in our eternal life and freedom, we cannot be repressed, for even in repression and persecution we are made stronger. Do not live for the world and concern yourself about some satanically-influenced nuance of man. Live daily for Christ and boldly proclaim His name. This is living in the freedom of the knowledge of Eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Do not fear man, but fear God. Man can only hurt the body, God can affect the soul.
What then have we covered in our discussion today?
We opened today looking at the written testimony of an extremely naive man who considered himself wise. These writings have had deadly effects upon millions of lives, and have resulted in a murderous influence, and calloused impersonal and hateful thoughts toward man. We then looked at the writings of John the Apostle and found that they were given for our strength in faith, our edification, our encouragement, and our exhortation for a better testimony. We considered the audience and admittedly, this is for believers. However, in the testimony that would call out the believer, we also found that the unbeliever would find himself or herself convicted. Finally, we looked at the purpose of this epistle. First we found extensive evidence and proof that this was a letter focused upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit and their ministries to man. Finally, we addressed the gift of eternal life and how we should act if we know and believe we have this great gift of God.
The question for you, ladies and gentlemen, is, Where do you stand? Do you stand with one foot toward God, and your hands reaching out for the gift, attempting to grasp it, yet not liking everything involved with it; therefore, you have the other foot pointed straight back behind you toward the world and your head and neck are twisted grotesquely in that direction longing for the things you still want there. Do you find yourself yearning for approval of all those around you here on earth, whether they are with or without God? Do you see what they have, want it, and organize yourself to have those things? Alternatively, do you take what the Lord would give you and strive to be different from the world in a testimony of your faith in Him? How do you live to show you know what you possess in eternal life?
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