The Baptism of Jesus and Baptism in General

 
I thought it was about time to write out an article on the subject of Jesus Baptism, many questions have arisen over why Jesus got baptised, and it stems from the baptismal regeneration crowd (Those who say Baptism is necessary for salvation) and between those who say baptism is not required for salvation.

Of course we will use the KJV Bible and the help of the Holy Spirit to shed light on this subject.
Now, the main argument both sides will bring up is the question of why did Jesus get baptised?

To answer this question, we are going to do some serious studying of the scriptures to come to a straight forward biblical conclusion. It is important to understand that in order to come to the right conclusion was must employ sound biblical, grammatical and exegetical techniques.

In order to gain an understanding we must first look to where baptism began, with the man, John the Baptist and we will dive into the purpose and goal of his ministry.

 

The Purpose of John the Baptist

 
In the gospel according to Matthew we read the following:

 

Matthew 3:1-2 "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, ² and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

 
In the gospel according to Mark we read the following:

 

Mark 1:4-5 " John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.⁵ And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins."

 
In the gospel according to Luke we read:

 

Luke 3:2-3 "Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.³ And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;"

 
And in the gospel according to John we read the following:

 

John 1:6-7 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe."

 
From Mark and Luke we read that John the Baptist came preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. To understand what the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins means we need go a little further back in the gospel according to Luke Chapter 1 prior to his birth.

 

Luke 1:11-17 "And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.¹³ But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. ¹⁴ And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. ¹⁶ And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

 
Verse 13 tells us that an angel spoke to Zacharias (John's dad) that his wife Elisabeth will give birth to us son, and that they will call his name "John".

John's birth was a called a miracle birth as earlier in Luke chapter 1 we read that his parents were both stricken in age.

Verse 15 is interesting, we read details that John received the Nazarite/Nazirite Vowel from birth. I'm not going to go into this vowel but you can read details about it in Numbers 6:1-21, and Numbers 30:-1-16.

Now verse 16 and 17 gives us insight into his purpose and helps explain the meaning the term "baptism of repentance for the remission of sins".

For some reason, I always find myself explaining what the word repentance means, I guess it's because too many people pervert the meaning of the word.

Breaking down the term "Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins"

 
Baptism (and its many variations): The word baptise means to immerse, to completely cover, or submerge an object fully into another substance or object.

People errantly think any mention of baptism automatically means being dipped in water, this is wrong and perverts many passages in the bible. 

We must rightly divide the word and look at the context that the word is used in.

Repentance:

means to change one's mind about something, to turn from one thing to another, to change from one course of action to another, to change your mind about something.

We read that God repents more often in the bible than anyone, this would be a whole sermon in itself, to explain that God is not a man that he should repent…

IT DOES NOT MEAN TO STOP SINNING!

Remission:

to cancel, forgiveness, the cancellation of a debt, charge, or penalty.


So now that we have our definitions let's take a look at what this statement is NOT saying.

People will look at this statement and say see, we have to get baptised to cleanse us of our sins; this not only defies the grammatical structure of the sentence, but goes against what is taught in the bible.
We know that Salvation is dependant only on one thing, and that is BELIEF or FAITH on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I will put an Amen to that!

A careful analysis of the sentence structure we can conclude that there are two parts to this sentence.

 
The sentence starts by with the word preached or preaching, so John is delivering a sermon or religious talk to a group of people and what is his preaching called?

 

BAPTISM of REPENTANCE for REMISSION of Sins

 
So I've coloured the breakdown of the sentence to show you the two parts. Let's get on with the explanation.

The first part we will put it into its literal meaning: John preached the immersion, in this case immersion in water of a change of mind or turning from something, we'll get to that something soon. So this is saying we get baptised because we have had a change of mind about something.


The second part goes like this:

What does the word "for" mean or used to denote about a sentence?

FOR: With the object or purpose of. For example "to run for exercise."

So we read literally "for the purpose of forgiveness of sins."


The first half of the sentence is the object or subject or the action and the second half tells us the reason why it is done.

Now we need to figure out what that something is that they have to repent of?

Let's start with the verse in Mark first.

 

Mark 1:5 "And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins."

 
So all these people from Judaea and Jerusalem came out to get baptised by John, confessing their sins. Let's make one thing clear here, if we know that nowhere in the bible does it teach that you have to repent of your sins to be saved, then we cannot interpret this verse to say they got baptised because they turned from their sins.

This verse does not say they turned from their sins, the word "Confess" means to acknowledge, so these people are acknowledging their sins. They have acknowledged that they are sinners.

So this verse is still a little muddy or unclear as to why they got baptised.

Now let's go to Matthew.

 

Matthew 3:1-2 "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, ² and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Matthew 3:5-6 "Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, ⁶ and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins."

 
So in Matthew's account we read that John proclaims for everyone to repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, so here John is telling us to change our minds about something because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And in verses 5 & 6 we read the parallel to Mark's account.

At this point it is still not clear of what we are supposed to be repenting of, but we read these people got baptised, and confessed their sins, so they are acknowledging that they are sinners.

Let's turn to the gospel according to John and see if he can shed light on what it is we are supposed to be repenting of.

 

John 1:6-7 "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe."

 
So in John's account we read that John the Baptist was sent from God, he came for a witness, John came to bear witness of that light we read. That light is the Messiah who we know as Jesus.

So now we get a glimpse of John's purpose, his mission, to point the people to the Christ. That all men through him (John) might believe.

Ah I see, you're thinking right now, that all men, might believe.

It's starting to become clearer now isn't it?

Let's go back to Luke's account before John was born and read what was prophesied of him.

 

Luke 1:16-17 "And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

 
Verse 16 says he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. This verse describes exactly what repentance is, a turning from something to something, in this verse we see that the children of Israel need to turn from not believing in the Lord their God, to believing the Lord their God.

Following me yet?

Verse 17 and he (John) shall go before him (Jesus Christ) in the spirit and power of Elias (Elijah), this verse is prophesied by the prophet Malachi.

 

Malachi 3:1 "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts."

 
So now we not only see John's message become clearer, but we read from here that his mission was to prepare the way for the Lord.

So a quick recap, his baptism of repentance was to show that people had acknowledged that they were a sinners, would get baptised to show that they have now turned to the Lord their God, and that John was preparing the people to receive the Messiah.

This is true when it comes to soul winning and giving the gospel to someone, it is easier to win someone to the Lord when this person acknowledges that they are a sinner and need someone to save them.

The rest of Luke 1:17 says to turn (Repentance) the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just (Righteous, there is none righteous but God); to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

So there you have it, John's mission, to get the people ready to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm not done yet showing you more evidence that John preached Baptism of Repentance to mean to turn from whatever they believed in to believing the one true God.

The bible also gives us more details on what John the Baptist preached:

 

Mark 1:7 "and preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose."

 
So now we get even a clearer message of what or who the people had to repent to, in which he says in the verse that there comes one mightier (Jesus) than he (John).

 
Now in Mark's account after John was put in prison, Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry he went into Galilee and proclaimed the following:

 

Mark 1:14-15 " Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵ and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. "

 
The time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Jesus says repent, change your mind, turn from your unbelief and believe the gospel!

 

Overview of John the Baptist and his purpose

 
So we learned the following things:

 

1. They had to repent first, from what? Unbelief and turn to the Lord their God (Believe on him).
2. People got baptised to show as an outward (public profession) sign that they have repented from unbelief and now turned to the Lord their God for the purposes of having their sins forgiven.
3. John came to prepare the way for the Messiah, to make the people ready to receive the Lord, and how did he achieve that?
4. By getting the people to acknowledge that they have sin, that they are sinners in need of the Lord to have their sins forgiven.

Now onto my next lesson, this is also key as to why John the Baptist baptised people under water.

 

BAPTISM IS A "PICTURE" OF THE GOSPEL THAT PICTURES THE DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.

 
Baptism or Believers baptism is a participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in which our old selves have been crucified and forsaken in Christ and we have been freed from the shackles of the past, present and future and given a new being through his resurrection. 

Baptism proclaims the good news that Christ has made us his own, and that it is only in him that our new life of faith and obedience emerges.

Baptism is a picture of all this.

 

Romans 6:3-6 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?⁴ Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:⁶ knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

 

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; ² by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. ³ For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; ⁴ and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"

 

Colossians 2:12 "buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."

 
Being immersed in water pictures the death of Jesus Christ dying for our sins, being raised from the water is a portrayal of Jesus' resurrection in which He overcame and conquered sin and death.

 

1 Corinthians 15:55-56 "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

 
Therefore, being baptized by immersion in water the believer visually shows the physical death, burial, and resurrection (of the spirit) of the believer's life showing that the old man has died and the new man has risen.

Water Baptism should follow belief in Jesus Christ as one's Saviour, although baptism is not necessary for a person to be saved and born again, we should do it as the first step in obedience to the Father.

The prerequisite (what must happen before baptism) to baptism however is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as it is written in the book of Acts where Philip is giving the gospel to the Ethiopian Eunuch:

 

Acts 8:35-39 "Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. ³⁶ And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? ³⁷ And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. ³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. ³⁹ And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing."

 
So there is something that must take place before one can be baptised, verse 36 we read the Eunuch asks Philip what is stopping him from being baptised, and Philip responds to him by saying that if he believes with all his heart he may.

Baptism in water is not an act that one does to obtain salvation, and no one in the New Testament was baptized who did not first believe and put their faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ not of works, lest any man should boast."

 
For that reason salvation is not merited by any ritual, ordinance or work that we perform ourselves, the only applicant for baptism is one who has already been saved. It is a public testimony of salvation, a public profession that you are a believer.

 

Are there examples in the bible where people believed, got saved and did not get baptised in water?

 
Sure, and you will find many examples in the bible, let's take a look.

 

The Thief on the Cross

 
During the crucifixion of Jesus, they also crucified two other men, the bible called them malefactors (means wrongdoers, criminals, offenders, lowlifes, you get the picture). 

Jesus was in midst of the two, in other words at either side of Jesus himself; this fulfilled scripture that said he would be numbered among the transgressors.

As the two hung on the cross and time went by we read from the gospels that both these men in like manner of the certain of the public mocked Jesus in Matthew's account:

 

Matthew 27:44 "The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth."

 
In Luke's account we read more:

 

Luke 23: 39-43 "And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. ⁴⁰ But the other answering rebuked him, saying, dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. ⁴² And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. ⁴³ And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

 
So we see here one of the criminals rails on Jesus and the other rebukes that criminal railing on Jesus.

What we see here at some point this criminal that gives the rebuke has had a change of heart, and we read earlier that Jesus had spoken some words to the Father to ask him to forgive them for they know not what they do, was it this statement that was made by Jesus cause a change in the heart of this malefactor?

The Malefactor got saved, otherwise Jesus would not have told him that he would be heaven with him. 

Yes, Paradise is a synonym for Heaven, do a concordance of the word and you will find that the word Paradise is defined as heaven, it only occurs a few times in the New Testament and NEVER in the Old Testament.

Now the question stands, did the malefactor on the cross get baptised?

Obviously no, some would argue that the thief may have gotten baptised prior to being crucified?

Not only is this a far stretch, but nowhere in the bible does it mention this, and we read in this account that he believed on the Lord at that very moment on the cross, and we know that there is a prerequisite before you can get baptised.

This event also goes to prove that your good works has nothing to do with getting saved.

 

Are there people in the bible that believed but the bible is not clear whether they got baptised or not?

 
Yes, we read numerous people believed and there is no indication that they got baptised.

 

John 12:42 "Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:"

 
So the bible says here that MANY believed on him, no mention of them being baptised; they did NOT openly confess him for fear of the Jewish authorities.

 
Are there any others?

 

John 19:38 "And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus."

 
So we read Joseph secretly was a disciple of Jesus. Now, if Baptism is a public profession of one's beliefs, then why would the bible tell us that Joseph was a secret disciple for fear of the Jews?

 
So let's recap what we have learnt so far:

 

1. People got baptised to show as an outward sign that they have repented from unbelief and now turned to the Lord their God for the purposes of having their sins forgiven.
2. John came to prepare the way for the Messiah, to make the people ready to receive the Lord, and how did he achieve that?
3. By getting the people to acknowledge that they have sin in their lives, and that they are sinners in need of the Lord to have their sins forgiven.
4. Baptism is a picture of the death, burial and resurrection
5. Baptism is a believers public profession of their saviour the Lord Jesus Christ
6. Baptism does not save, works does not save.
7. There is a condition you must meet before you can get baptised, and that is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
8. There are examples of people who did not get baptised after Salvation had occurred.

 

Is there only baptism by water or is there other types?

 
Yes, John the Baptist himself proclaimed and made distinctions to different types of baptism. Let's take a look at all the scriptural accounts.

 
Starting with Matthew's account:

 

Matthew 3:11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:"

 
So we read here that John makes a clear distinction between his water baptism, baptism of the Holy Ghost and the baptism of fire. 

So in this verse we see 3 distinct separate baptism mentioned here.
Let's look at Mark's account:

 

Mark 1:8 "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost."

 
Here we read John stating that he baptises with water, but he (Jesus) shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost. Mark's account gives us two distinct baptisms.
Let's take a look at Luke's account:

 

Luke 3:16 "John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:"

 
Same thing said as in Matthew's account, Luke's is parallel with Matthew's account. 

But what we see here is a distinction between John's baptism of water and the Lord Jesus Christ Baptism of the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Before Jesus ascends back to heaven in the Acts of the Apostles, he tells them the following:

 

Acts 1:4-5 "and, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.⁵ For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence."

 
So they have not received the Holy Spirit as yet, he is the gift, the gift of salvation that indwells every believer; the promise of the Father.

 

John 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;"

 
Jesus said to his disciples that this other Comforter will never leave us.

 

So what's the difference between being baptised with the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit?

 
Baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs only in the New Testament, on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts Chapter 2 when all the believers received the Holy Spirit.

This baptism occurs at salvation. I'm not going to go into major details about it because I have written articles that explain this in greater detail on my blog site.

Both Old and New Testament people could all be filled with the Holy Spirit in times that God needed to use these people to achieve certain goals.

But realise that there is a clear distinction from being filled with the Spirit and being baptised by the Holy Spirit.

 

The Baptism of Jesus

 
Now we have established the fundamentals around Baptism of Water let's dive into the weight of the matter, why did Jesus get baptised?

 
Like all proven bible students we must start from a firm foundation, so we will dive into the 4 gospels to get a foothold into why Jesus got baptised.

We know part of John the Baptist mission was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. 

He was to create an ideal environment for the Lord to operate in.

Let's start in Matthew's account:

 

Matthew 3:13-14 "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. ¹⁴ But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?"

 
And in Mark's account:

 

Mark 1:9 "And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan."

 
And Luke's account we read:

 

Luke 3:21 "Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,"

 
I'm not going to touch on John's account yet because his account details more of the actual baptism than Jesus rocking up.

Now what is interesting here is only Matthew's account do we read that as Jesus turns up, John forbids Jesus, he says in verse 14 "…I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?"


So John is saying to Jesus that he needs to be baptised of him (Jesus), and instead you (Jesus) come to me (John)?

 
Jesus replies:

 

Matthew 3:15 "And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him."

 
The word "suffer" means to allow, allow it to be so now: for hence or consequently it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness. What does that mean?

To do what is right. But let's elaborate this further, because a lot of misunderstandings have resulted on the subject of baptism.

Now we know that baptism in water itself does not cleanse us from sins, to say so is otherwise heresy and voids the significance of the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is what Peter says about the water and what it symbolizes:

 

1 Peter 3:21 "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:"

 
Out of context this verses almost looks as though it says baptism by water does save us, but this is an incorrect understanding of the verse.

In context the verse before this is talking about how in the days of Noah, only 8 souls were saved by water, Peter then goes onto say in the above verse that "The like figure" Baptism in water pictures or symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Notice in the parenthesis he emphasises "not the putting away of the flesh" as in washing in water, "but the answering of a good conscience toward God," notice this part of the sentence defines what repentance is also.

Now, to fulfil all righteousness, what does that mean?

Let's review what we know Jesus.

The scripture, we can know that Jesus is both fully God, and fully man. His father is none other than heavenly Father himself whom by the Holy Spirit came upon Mary (a Virgin), and thus he was also born of a woman.

 

Matthew 1:18 "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost."

Matthew 1:21 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

 

So we read above that his birth is a miraculous birth, conceived by the Holy Spirit. 

There are religions out there that deny the virgin birth, they even go on to say that God the Father himself came down in his bodily form and had an actual physical union with Mary to conceive the Messiah; what absolute trash, this is one of the fundamentals of Christianity, to deny this is to deny Christianity!

Next we read how Jesus came into the world as we know it, the same manner as every other human born baby.

 

Matthew 2:1-2 "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, ² saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him."

 
And in Luke's account we read the following, it's interesting to note that Luke's account contains a very detailed description of the Lord's birth:

 

Luke 2:7 "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."

 
So we can see that the Lord being born in the same manner as all men, what is interesting though is that we read that men came to worship him (baby Jesus). Now let's see if we can find anything out about his childhood.

Now it is important to note that I am not covering precisely what the bible records about Jesus from his birth but only listing what is relevant to our topic in question.

But after Jesus birth, we read that on the 8^th day he gets circumcised according to the covenant between God and Abraham which can be read in Genesis Chapter 17.

 

Luke 2:21 "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb."

 
Then we read the following:

 

Luke 2:40 "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him."

 
As the child Jesus grew, he became strong in spirit, FILLED with wisdom, now does it say he always had wisdom? 

No, he was filled with wisdom as he grew, which mean he was just like us, human in nature and we read that the grace of God was upon him.

Joseph and his mother attended every year in Jerusalem to take part in the Passover, Jesus was 12 years old at this point and as they fulfilled the custom of the feast they returned from Jerusalem a day's travel before they realised that Jesus was not with them so they turned back. 

After 3 days they find Jesus sitting amongst the doctors, this word means teachers.

 

Luke 2:46-49 "And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. ⁴⁸ And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. ⁴⁹ And he said unto them, how is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

 
The key passages here that we need to understand for this topic is verses 48 & 49.

In verse 48 Mary addresses Jesus that she and his father (Implying that Joseph is Jesus father) had been seeking him worried sick. 

In verse 49 Jesus responds to her, he says how is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?

Jesus is pretty much saying, how can you and this man, who you say is my father be seeking me? My Father is in heaven, he knows where I am, and I am about HIS business, preaching and teaching the Word of God!

And there we have another clue which we will eventually tie it all up.

We then read in verse 52 the following:

 

Luke 2:52 "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."

 
Just like what most men strive to do, to increase in wisdom and stature, but unlike Jesus, some men deny God and seek to increase their wisdom and stature with other men, rather than God.

Now we move onto Jesus Baptism, in Luke's account he gives us the age at which Jesus got baptised.

 

Luke 3:23 "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,"

 
So we find that Jesus was baptised at the age of 30, coincidentally King David started his reign as King when he was 30 years of age. So Jesus Started his ministry at the age of 30, just like King David started his reign as King!

We know that Jesus is born of the tribe of Judah from the same bloodline as King David.

There are other attributes of Jesus nature as man that we can find in the bible.

The shortest verse in the bible is this:

 

John 11:35 "Jesus wept."

 
We know he wept.

 

Mark 3:5 "And when he had looked round about on them with anger…"

 
He got angry,

 

Mark 4:38 "And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?"

He also slept!

 
So from what we have gathered so far let's go down the list.

 

1. Jesus miracle birth
2. Jesus born like any other human baby
3. As he grew, he also grew in wisdom
4. We know he is 100% God and 100% man
5. We know he has taken on human nature

 
From this information we can see that Jesus is, every bit as human as we are, and lastly of all he could die like us. So suffer it to be so now…

 

Matthew 3:15 "And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."

 
To fulfil all righteousness takes on a new meaning doesn't it?
Jesus came to fulfil the law and the prophets:

 

Matthew 5:17-18 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

 
If we know that that Jesus came to fulfil the law, in which no man has done, Jesus who is God, made manifest in the flesh, in other words God took on human form and nature, and don't you think it was only fitting for God to do this to save us?

And here lies the answer:

As Jesus came to 'fulfil all righteousness' it seems to best to say that He came to perform perfect obedience to Gods Law.

This obedience not only included all the ceremonial, civil and moral laws given to Moses, but as Christ was not only God but man, He must also submit to the ministries of Prophets that was sent by God.

Also we see that the level of awareness that Jesus, as a man, had of His purpose and ministry seems to have taken a sudden increase after His submission.

Matthew 3:16-17 “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: ¹⁷ and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

For it is hear that God declares from a voice from heaven and a visible token of His Spirit anointing Him for His ministry that he is the One whom God loved, that He is the Messiah, and also the suffering servant who He was well pleased with.

Peter put's it perfectly in Acts chapter 10:

Acts 10:38 “ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”

And we also have revealed to us the Triune nature of God, whom all are present at the moment of the Lord baptism.

To say that God is three separate Gods is to contradict all scripture in the bible, the concept of the Trinity is best what describes the true and living God, which is 3 separate personages that make up our one true God, also called the Godhead.

So His baptism was to fully comply with all Laws in order to have a righteousness that He could provide to sinners while the sins of the world were placed upon Him in return. 

Take a note what John the Baptist says:

 

John 1:29 "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

 
Remember how earlier we learned that baptism was the foreshadowing of his death, burial and resurrection?

Jesus was presenting Himself as the Lamb in Baptism, to suffer all the sins of men punishable under the Law of Moses.

Jesus was the focal point upon which this baptism had meaning, for water does not cleanse, only the blood of the Lamb. 

Amen.

Bible Study Series - The 1st General Epistle of John Chapter 5

1 John 5

Authorized (King James) Version

 

1 John 5:1 "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him."

 
Anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, you need to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and in doing so you become born again, born of God, and if God is a Spirit; it means you are born again in the spirit.

"Him that begat" The Father, whom begot the Son, if we love the Father, we also love the Son.

Now recently I have been at spiritual war with an online you tuber with the alias of "Arod Peace" (This guy is an absolute evil tree, reprobate whom refuses to answer whether he is born again, who seeks to pervert the Word of God) now he claims that the Jews believe in God, so there is no reason of them to repent of unbelief because they already believe in God. 

This is as such a folly of a view, because throughout history since Abraham, we learn how many of them did not believe and perished.

Jesus himself said the following to the Jews, particularly the religious leaders:

 

John 8:19 "Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also."

 
Jesus states that they don't know either the Father or himself, in fact they that reject Jesus, Reject the Father also.

 
Heck, they don't even believe Moses, read what Jesus says to them in the following:

 

John 5:46-47 "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. ⁴⁷ But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?"

 
Jesus says that Moses wrote of him, if Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Holy Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, also known to the Jews as the Torah) that means we lose the practitioners of Judaism right at Genesis 1:1! Rather, these Jews believe on the rabbinical writings of the satanic Talmud, this is a collection or a large volume detailing the "traditions of the elders" or the oral law.

This satanic volume also blasphemes our Lord Jesus Christ, his mother Mary among other heinous commentaries. 

They absolutely despise the Apostle Paul, they hate him more than Jesus and label him as a traitor. Do a Google search on the Talmud if you're interested in learning more about the minds of Judaism.

~

1 John 5:2 "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments."

 
The completeness of the commandments that Jesus gave to all of us was caught up in the one word, and that is "love". 

He said love God first, and then love your neighbour as yourself. 

His commandment is love.

We read the following in:

 

John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. ³⁵ By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

 
If we love one another, people who see us doing this will know that we are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is discipleship. 

We are already saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and now we are to love one another to show the world that we are His disciples. 

Now it's important to know that not everyone who gets saved will go onto picking up his cross to follow the Lord, the parable of the sower is about discipleship as well, remember there were 4 groups, 1 group is unsaved, the other 3 are saved, but 1 group goes onto produce fruit, that group is discipleship!


But understand this, whether you are seeking discipleship with the Lord or not, we are to take heed of his commandment to love one another.

~

1 John 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

 
If we love God, we keep his commandments, if you have been following this study from the beginning, you will know there is a difference in "keeping" and in "Doing" or "Obeying".

As born again believers, we should strive from the moment of Salvation, that point where we are spiritual babes (milk) and to make that conscious choice to be a disciple of the Lord (meat).

Not everyone received the call from the Lord for believers to become His disciples (Pick up your cross and come follow me) very well. In fact, you can read from the Gospels that the Lord himself denied certain people because he knew it was not for them.

The call to Salvation had but one condition, that you believe; the call to Discipleship had many conditions and could be summed up in these words: you must forsake all that you have, and come, follow me.

Not all believers could do this, or were willing to do this, does that mean that they weren't saved?

 
Does this mean they lost their Salvation because they didn't follow the Lord?

 
No!

 
Many confuse Salvation with Discipleship, especially those who preach the gospel according to Lordship Salvation, this theology is a damnable teaching, preachers like John McArthur, Paul Washer Raul Ries, John Hagee, Sam Gipp, Michael Yousseff, and YouTubers like Levi Price among many who flood the world with satanic deception.

 
They like to mince words and mix free grace (Salvation) with costly grace (Discipleship) and mould it into a gospel of poison, and works of iniquity.

 
The Lords commandments are not grievous, to love one another is all we have to do, and in stark in contrast to the burdensome man-made religious traditions of the Jewish leaders:

 

Matthew 23:4 "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."

 
This also includes the religious scene in our world today, they are just as guilty in enslaving every poor soul back into the works of the Law to be saved and stay saved. The Lord said, his yoke is easy, and his burden is light!

There is perfect peace and rest in the Lord, when we keep His commandments. There is no fear, when there is perfect faith like the Lords to rely on.

~

1 John 5:4 "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

 
Whatever is born of God overcomes the world, what does that mean?

 
We'll come to that in a second, whoever or whatever overcomes the world is born of God, even our faith, our faith with lead us to overcome the world, the word "overcome" is the key word which will be explained in the next verse, read on!

~

1 John 5:5 "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"

 
Who is he that overcometh the world?

 
We who believe that Jesus is the Son of God is overcome the world, overcome means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that is our Faith!

Jesus overcame the world, death and the adversary; we who believe on Jesus are made partakers of that victory and we are more than conquerors now that we are in Christ:

 

Romans 8:37 "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

2 Corinthians 2:14 "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place."

 
We know that without faith, it is impossible to please God. So what is Faith? Let's take a look in Hebrews 11:

 

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Hebrews 11:3 "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."

 
To please God, we must believe in our heart of the love of God, which we cannot see with our naked eye, the love of God, even though we cannot see it with our naked eye; it is more real than anything else.

Our very life and eternal fate is determined by believing in salvation through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The victory over this world is when the world becomes unimportant in our life. Christians are in this world, but not of this world. We are dead to fleshly lusts of this world, and are putting our faith and trust in Jesus.

Our life is living towards that day when we are finally redeemed by the Lord, the day he comes back for us, so that we can be with him forever and to our final home, the new heavens and earth forever eternal lasting.

~

1 John 5:6 "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. "

 
John now starts to tell us in the next few verses the testimony that God has given to us that Jesus is the Christ.

This is he that came by water, remember this is a testimony to confirm witness that Jesus is the Christ. 

Remember when Jesus got baptised in water?

That was the anointing or the ordination of Jesus and the start of his ministry, remember John the Baptist's mission was to reveal who the messiah is to the people. 

At that moment, people witnessed, the Father speaking from heaven, the Holy Spirit coming down like a dove and resting on Jesus; that was the witness by water.

Secondly the blood is witness as well, speaking of the Lord's crucifixion, his blood spilling for man on the cross.

The Holy Spirit bares witness, and there is nothing false about the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is TRUTH.

~

1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

 
Why all this commotion about this verse? Because this verse proves the triune nature of our one true God.

You know what's real funny is the Mormons, they call God the Father "Elohim", which is not his name at all but a Hebrew word for God (plural form), but then again, they don't worship the true Father nor the true Jesus do they?

For there are 3 that bear witness in heaven, who is in heaven right now? 

The Father, the Word which is Jesus before he became flesh, and the Holy Spirit; and these 3 are one. 

Amen.

The Old Testament Laws required two or more witnesses to establish truth:

 

Deuteronomy 17:6 "At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death."

 
So from these verses you can see the correlation with the number of witnesses being given about Jesus being the Christ.

~

1 John 5:8 "And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one."

 
So in the previous verse we have Heaven bearing witness, now John writes to tell us that the witnesses on earth also agree.

~

1 John 5:9 "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son."

 
Man's witness is in part, because of the limited knowledge he has. The witness of God is in power and operating with full knowledge. 

The witness of God was when the voice came from heaven and called Jesus His Son. 

This happened a few times when God's voice was heard speaking from heaven recorded by the 4 Gospels.

If man gave us a testimony, God's is greater, and the previous 3 verses is God's testimony of his Son.

~

1 John 5:10 "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son."

 
Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have the witness also, we have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us, whom testifies to us that Jesus is the Christ. 

Whosoever doesn't believe, God has made him a liar, because they don't believe the record that God gave of his son.

~

1 John 5:11 "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."

 
Boom! And what is this record that we've been talking about?

The record is this: That God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, if you believe on the Son, you have eternal life. 

Amen.

~

1 John 5:12 "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

 
If we die without the Lord Jesus Christ, we end up in hell, if we die with Christ, we have life, everlasting.

~

1 John 5:13 "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

 
The Apostle John has always written to us in all his epistles and the Gospel for one main reason, so that we might believe on the name of the Son of God, and that is he whose name is Jesus; and that by believing on him, we know that we have eternal life. 

Never once does John mention anything else other than to believe, if repentance or more precisely repenting of your sin was so important to getting saved, don't you think he would have made a grave mistake in not saying so?

 
Would we not see him use the word "repent" at least once?

 
No, it is not found anywhere in the writings of John, he writes for the purpose that we might be saved by one thing only, belief.

~

1 John 5:14 "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:"

 
Christians can know with absolute confidence that God answers prayer in accordance with His will, when they approach the throne of grace. 

Hebrews chapter 4 says the following:

 

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

 
To pray according to God's will is to pray in accord with what He would want for us, not what we would desire or insist that He do for us.

 

Matthew 6:8 "Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."

 
The Father already knows what you need even before you ask him, some people will say why pray if the Father already knows?

 
Well, for starters, of course the Father knows all things, all glory to the Father! But, think about it, it would be sinful for us to ask for things, because we just want it, some people are foolish enough to ask for wealth, prosperity and material goods that aren't profitable to advance the Kingdom of Heaven.

We should be asking ourselves before we pray to God, should I ask God for something that worldly that will only profit my carnal needs or should I ask something that will profit other people?

 
Am I profiting for the glory of God or for my own selfish needs?

 
Am I stroking my own pride or should I ask for guidance, wisdom, meekness, remember what the Lord says, to do your prayers in secret, so that the Father will reward you in secret. 

Avoid repetitions like constant chanting (Roman Catholics are one group that does this) of words hoping the Father will hear your prayers, for the Lord says, they have their reward.

John already stated that answered prayer also depends on obedience to God's commandments and avoidance of sin; remember what was said in this study series in Chapter 3?

 

1 John 3:21-23 "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. ²² And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. ²³ And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment."

 
And the Psalmist wrote:

 

Psalm 66:18 "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

 
James Chapter 4 is a great chapter to read as well, he says the following:

 

James 4:3 "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

 
Those who regard, respect or favour sin in their hearts, the Lord will not hear them. We should be consciously aware of what we ask for, if we ask for what it is according to our own desires, we shall not be heard. 

However, you should pray to be delivered from these temptations, for wisdom and guidance to overcome these temptations.

 

James 1:2-7 "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; ³ knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. ⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. ⁵ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. ⁷ For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."

 
James says when we are confronted with many different forms of temptation, when this happens our faith is being tried, and our faith should work in patience, patience allows us to have that perfect work, or perfect result so that we may be perfect wanting nothing; that nothing being given into that temptation. 

If we lack the wisdom to overcome that temptation we should pray to God for that wisdom to help us discern the right thing or choice.

 
Jesus says the following to his disciples in John chapter 14:

 

John 14:12-14 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. ¹³ And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."

 
For the born again believer, we go from spiritual babes (Moment of Salvation – Once Saved Always Saved) and grow into mature spiritual adults (Discipleship – Continued growth to advance the Kingdom of God); the more we learn from the Word of God (Studying the Holy Bible) the more mature we become, and then we can teach others and win more souls and spread the Gospel in love and truth.

The cost of Salvation to us is free, but it cost the Father His son and by His grace he gave us the opportunity to become his children and joint heirs of the kingdom; we can't lose our salvation. 

But the cost of discipleship is steep, and may cause you to lose everything and everyone that you love, the rewards is something that cannot be described with mere earthly words!

God will answer your prayers if you are in living in obedience to his commandments: believe on the Son of God, and love one another as we love him.

~

1 John 5:15 "and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."

 
If we know that he hears us, knowing that he hears us is because we have faith in him, it is very important to believe that you receive the thing you are praying for. It is your faith that is the key to getting prayers answered.

~

1 John 5:16 "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it."

 
What is this sin unto death?

 
This sin is rejecting God's grace. 

The bible says that when a man constantly and totally rejects the message of the Gospel, and that salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, and is by His grace through faith; he becomes a reprobate (rejected), God whom will give this person over to their own vile affections (Read Romans Chapter 1) and lusts of the heart. 

This person is an unsaved, God rejecting soul who is on the eternal path to damnation, this person has no more constraints to hold them back from doing what is vile and filthy.

 
God will not override the will of the person being prayed for, the prayer of intercession is a powerful prayer; It is an unselfish prayer for others. 

It is God's will that everyone be saved, but he will not take that choice from us, we must make that choice of our own accord.

The intercessory prayer for others is effective however, to those have not completely rejected God.
James says in chapter 5, "is there any sick among you?"

 

James 5:13-16 "Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. ¹⁴ Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: ¹⁵ and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. ¹⁶ Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

 
James is talking to the saved, the brethren when he says "is any among you?"

It is correct or right for us to pray for the infirmities and sins of others to be forgiven.

The only time this would not be answered, would be if the person had totally rejected salvation in Jesus Christ. 

You cannot give a person something that they will not take or accept. 

I know that it is seems futile to pray for loved ones in false religions, deceived by wolves and they refuse to hear the truth, and they are no more any different to a reprobate whom have chosen to reject the truth, but in hopes of one day, before it is too late that they will receive the truth and their eyes be opened. 

If God will not force them to believe, we shouldn't either.

~

1 John 5:17 "All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death."

 
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12 the following:

 

Matthew 12:31 "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men."

 
All manner of sin and blaspheming against the Son of man shall be forgiven (Should you seek forgiveness) but blaspheming the Holy Spirit is not forgivable, what is this sin against the Holy Spirit? 

Well if we go to Mark, he tells us exactly what it is:

 

Mark 3:29-30 "but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: ³⁰ Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit."

 
In verse 30 we are told it is because the Jews claimed Jesus was performing all these miracles not by the power of the Spirit of God, but by an unclean spirit, they are attributing these works to the devil, thus calling the Holy Spirit of God a devil or unclean. 

They are reasoning this in their minds because of unbelief, Jesus said they are in danger of eternal damnation, because they refuse to believe that Jesus is working through the power of God (The Holy Spirit).

So refusing to believe, and seeing the work and power of God's Spirit is the sin that will lead you to eternal damnation in hell; and at the final destination of the Lake of Fire, which burns with brimstone and fire for all eternity, where the will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

It's the same when you give the gospel to someone, they start hearing the gospel, and the power of the Holy Spirit is working away, revealing the truth to the unsaved person and then suddenly at the moment they decide to make the choice they say nope, they reject the gospel, don't believe it, they reject the Spirit.

~

1 John 5:18 "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."

 
All believer may know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; believers are still capable of falling into sin, so what does it mean that whosoever is born of God does not sin?

We are have been made righteous by the blood of Christ. We have put on Christ, through him we are made righteous, it is our standing with the Father through Jesus that makes us righteous, whom our Lord Jesus Christ forever lives to make intersession on our behalf that we may approach our Holy Father by the blood of the Lamb which covers our sin forever and ever!

Those who are born of God is protected by God, the devil has no power over you, and he cannot harm you because you are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, our Lord.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, whom overcame with victory over hell, and death and ultimately victory over the devil himself.

~

1 John 5:19 "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness."

 
All who place their faith in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ is of God who worship the Father in spirit. 

There are two families of this world that the bible speaks of, you either belong to the Family of God, or you belong to the family of that wicked one. 

Those who belong to that wicked one belong to the world, living in their own desires and lusts of the flesh, these are they who reject the Son of God, my Lord and my God, his name is Jesus the Christ; who is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, The only High Priest and my Saviour!

~

1 John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."

 
Those who confess that the Son of God did not come are of anti-Christs, we who believe are born of God and he has given us understanding (we understand through the Holy Spirit, whom he dwells within us, the Spirit of Truth) through the Spirit are we able to know that this testimony is true, because he is truth and because we are in him we may know this, because we are in his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. THIS IS THE TRUE GOD, AND ETERNAL LIFE – this statement is true.

 

2 Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

 
I testify also that this is a true statement, I have seen the power of God work through many people and rejoice and glorify the Father when they come to accept the truth and become a born again believer!

~

1 John 5:21 "Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen."

 
Beloved brethren, keep yourselves from idols. John makes distinctions with the term "idols" and with "the true God" of verse 20.

He puts a reference here to the false teachers who withdrew from the brotherhood with which they had been formerly associated with in 1 John 2:19.

Their false beliefs and practices are the idols from which the readers are commanded to protect themselves from.

Paul tells of a similar thing in Acts Chapter 17 when he tells the men of Athens to repent from worshiping idols to the one true God.

Amen.