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.