Podcast: 1 John: Keeping Away From Idols

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
-1 John 5:21

John’s final exhortation to his audience here might catch us a little off guard. He’s been talking for a long time about how Christians act, and the power of prayer, and finally the nature of sin. And then he gives this command to keep ourselves from idols.

And this may not resonate very strongly with the modern Westerner. We don’t see many idols around the streets here. In certain parts of the world, we would see idols on street corners, but not here. The closest we get here is seeing the statue of Buddha at the Chinese restaurant at lunch.

So the temptation for us is to just ignore this part. Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever been tempted to bow down before a statue.

But the biblical definition of idolatry is a little bit more broad. Paul tells us in Romans 1:

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
-Romans 1:22-25

What Paul is telling us is that we are all worshippers. Even the most ardent atheist is a worshipper of something. The question is this – are we worshipping the Creator or the creation? If we are worshipping God, the true God, then we have it right. If we are worshipping anything else, then we have it wrong.

It may be a statue. That figure is part of the creation, and is not worthy of worship. Maybe it’s a false idea about God, birthed out of the minds of men. That too is creation, not Creator. It’s idolatry. Maybe it’s money or sex or fame. All creation. Maybe it’s reputation. Creation.

Maybe it’s more sinister. Maybe it’s the figure you’ve always wanted but could never achieve. Maybe it’s the wife or kids. Maybe it’s getting ahead at work. Maybe it’s the approval of the parent who was always criticizing.

Whatever you are chasing after, that is what you are worshipping. You don’t have to bow before money to worship it. Just ask yourself – what occupies my thoughts, hopes, fears, and time? Is it God the Creator of all things, or is it creation? You may deny that you are worshipping, but whatever it is that controls your life is your god. If your driving passion is sex, then that is what you worship. If you would sacrifice anything for that car, then that is what you worship.

We can see this in church as well. My Roman Catholic friends will bow down and pray to Mary. They say they are not worshipping, but that is the definition of worship. No amount of denying it is going to change that fact. Other churches I have seen put a certain doctrine above all else. It may be a good doctrine, but it has been elevated above the level of a good thing and has become a god thing, so it is no longer good. It could be baptism, or the nature of communion, or a certain eschatology.

John Calvin tells us that our hearts are idol factories. Our hearts seek out things to worship and them make them into little gods. It is part of our fallen nature, that we chase after creation and forget the Creator, just like our first parents did when they ate of the fruit in the Garden of Eden. Even Christians have to guard against this constantly, which is why John mentions it. If we are not on guard, helped by the Holy Spirit, then we will chase after the next thing that comes by. Go to any church near you, and really analyze what they are singing about. Are they singing about God, or themselves? Are they preaching about God, or some felt need in the congregation? If the answer is God, then they are the exception, it seems. Even the churches have turned away from God and to idols under the excuse of making church relevant. Relevancy is a nasty idol. It always wants more; it always demands something different, and it never delivers.

What do you worship? Think through your day. What or who was on your heart and mind? Where did your money go? For what did you sacrifice?

Calvin was right about us. We spend so much time chasing after creation rather than the Creator. We ignore the God who gave us life, breath, and everything, and worship some of those little trinkets that He created. This is a terrible sin and a horrible rebellious crime! Don’t pass this one over. God, by right, has claim over every area of our lives, and in rebellion we try to snatch it away from Him!

In mercy, when we confess and have faith, He is faithful to forgive us. In grace, He will give us eternal life, though we don’t deserve it. Let us look therefore to the Cross, to the place where God died for us. Jesus took upon Himself human form. He lived His life perfectly, never once making some part of creation His idol. And yet He died, taking the rightful punishment of sin upon Himself. This is the death that idolatry has earned. This is the death that should have been ours.

When we look upon the Cross, and we see such love and mercy, it is hard to worry too much about our little idols. When we see Jesus and what He has done on our behalf, it is hard to be anything but grateful and repentant. Let our eyes be focused there then. Let our eyes be turned to the one who deserves our worship, not all the stuff that does not. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Podcast: 1 John: We Are in Him

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
-1 John 5:18-20

Welcome to the Christian Pilgrimage Podcast; I’m your host, Paul Lytle.

So last time we talked about the sin that leads to death, and it may be our temptation to get a little freaked out when we hear things like, “There is a sin that leads to death.” Immediately, the thoughts that will probably jump to mind are, “Well, what is that sin? What if I accidently commit it? I’m just walking down the street and BOOM, I commit that sin and it’s too late? What if I have already committed it? Am I doomed to hell now? Is there anything I can do?”

It’s the natural reaction whenever we speak of a sin that will not be forgiven. But that’s exactly the opposite reaction that John intends for us, because he is writing the letter to encourage us. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). In other words, he is writing this letter to be encouraging!

And it’s the fault of teachers like me on why it isn’t. There is a very natural break in the text there between those verses and these verses, and so we split up our messages, just like I did. We put them a week apart, and that’s a week to dwell on the sin unto death without the relief herein. My apologies. Hopefully you’ve spent the week in repentance and prayer.

John tells us why true Christians should not be afraid of this sin. It’s because true Christians do not continue in sin. You have to continue in sin to be guilty of the sin that leads to death, because that sin is a continual rejection of the Gospel. Christians are protected from that. John tells us, “he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” Now, “he who was born of God” could refer to Jesus, because John has already told us “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). Jesus is the only begotten of God. So John has already explained how we are protected in that way. But John has also spoken of how we are of God, adopted children, if we truly believe.

And that would make sense here too, based on everything that John has been telling us. So much of this letter speaks of the fruit of repentance. It talks about the love and righteousness that comes about in us if we are truly saved. It is not that this love saves us, but is the result of salvation.

John tells us first that we are all sinners. We do not deserve the life that God offers, but it is offered because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Jesus bore the punishment we deserve for our sin. For those who will be saved, the Spirit of God prompts in them repentance, a turning away from sin. Over time, we become repulsed by our own wickedness, our selfishness, lust, and greed. We turn from our sin and toward God.

In faith we are justified, forgiven of that sin and granted eternal life in Jesus. We are given the Holy Spirit to indwell us, conforming us more into the image of Christ. So we begin to love more. We begin to desire to follow God and His commandments – not out of obligation, but out of love. God, to borrow the phrase from Ezekiel, takes away our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh.

Now tell me. If you have come to a knowledge of the wickedness and filthiness of your own sin; if you have come to realize that only by Jesus’ death on the Cross do you even have a chance; if you have come to know, by the power of the Spirit, the sweetness of the grace of God; and if you have come to turn from your sin and bow before God for mercy; if you have been given the indwelling of the Spirit to guide you; if you have begun to grow in love and righteousness – if all of these things are true, and they are true not just by our human efforts, but by the efforts and security of an infinite God, then how is it possible that you would turn, abandon all of that, and live the rest of your life refusing to repent?

Our own hearts will no longer allow such sin! We have been reborn in Christ! To walk away now is unimaginable, and impossible. John tells us that those who walk away from this never really knew it in the first place.

The knowledge that keeps us to this narrow path is not our own, but given by Jesus through the power of the Spirit. We know it as a part of our justification. It is part of that Grace that has been granted us. That is why we will not fall away into the sin unto death – because we are supernaturally secured. The world may belong to the evil one, but we belong to one far stronger, and He will not let go!

The understanding that the Son gives to us brings us to the Father and to truth. These are all wrapped into one – the way, the truth, and the life. These are the words Jesus said of Himself. Only through Him is there hope for eternal life, because He is that life. He is that truth, and we are in Him who is true, both the Father and the Son. How can we fall away?

Be assured of your salvation, my brothers and sisters. Be assured. The Spirit is at work in you, if you are in Christ, and will not let you go. If by the Spirit you no longer remain in sin, you are assured of your election. I do not say, “if you do not sin,” for we still sin. But if the Spirit is turning you from sin and toward God, then you can be confident in your salvation.

We can be confident not because of ourselves, but because of Him. “He is the true God and eternal life.” This passage interests me, because it is not clear whether this speaks of the Father or the Son. The ESV renders the subject “He,” but the Greek says “This.” Still, the “this” clearly refers to either Jesus or the Father. Jesus was the last to be mentioned, so perhaps Jesus is the true God and eternal life. Perhaps it is the Father, for the Father was prominent also in the previous sentence. The pronoun may be a little unclear, yet it is true either way. The previous sentence says that God the Father is the truth, but also did Jesus tell us of Himself, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

This is the true God, and no one member of the Trinity claims that distinction over the others. God the Father is true, as is the Son, as is the Spirit. If you are in the Son, then you are in the Father, and you have the Spirit indwelling. You are secured for eternity by their power and efforts. God the Father elected you, the Son bought you, and the Spirit leads you. You are His. Thus can you know that you have eternal life!

Podcast: 1 John: The Sin Unto Death

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life — to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
-1 John 5:16-18

Okay, we definitely have our work cut out for us today. This is one of the most difficult passages that John gives us in his epistles, one of those we are apt to scan right over when we are reading, and yet it has been placed in the Word of God for a reason, and we need to tackle it. So what is the sin that leads to death?

First, let’s do a little defining. John tells us that “all wrongdoing is sin.” Previously, he told us that “sin is lawlessness” (3:4). Sin is a word we use fairly often, but I’m not sure that everyone has a good understanding of it. A lot of times sin is dismissed. “Everyone sins,” people will say, brushing it off, as though it as small of a matter as going a couple of miles per hours faster than the speed limit.

Others think of sin as only the really big stuff, like murder or rape. Still others will acknowledge sin in society, like racism or sexism, but don’t really acknowledge personal sins. I heard one person on the radio today talking about sin as merely not living up to your full potential. God would be disappointed in you when you sin, but it’s not really a crime.

John teaches us the truth about sin – it is lawlessness. It is wrong doing. It is, in other words, rebellion against God’s perfect Law. Our sins offend God. He is perfect, worthy of praise, but when we sin, we mock His holy Law, we turn away from the greatest good in the universe, and we say that our way is better than the ordinances set down by a flawless God.

Paul tells us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and it is a death we all deserve, but it is not one that we have to endure, for “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That is what Jesus was doing on that Cross – He was paying the debt, the death, that we owe for our sin. For those who repent and believe, we can still have eternal life, not by our own actions, because we cannot earn it, but by His.

So this is what John means when he tells us that there is sin that does not lead to death. We Christians sin. John has emphatically told us that before in this letter. We sin. But we are also forgiven, if we are children of God, because of Jesus’ action. He is our intercessor with the Father when we sin.

So if I fail today (and I probably will), but if I fail today, and I lie to someone on the street, then I will be forgiven. Pray for me, for God is the source of life, and I do not deserve that life, but He will grant it. If you come to a person in your church who is sinning, pray for that person, so there may be life.

So this is something we can understand, but what is the sin that leads to death?

For that, let’s get some context. Remember that John has already addressed people in the church who leave the church. He has said of those people, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (2:19). Remember also that he is writing this letter to assure Christians of their secure salvation, so this passage is not meant to make us afraid. He is intending for us to remember exactly who he is talking about – those who had heard the truth, professed Christ, but never knew Him, and so they left, thus proving that they were never a part of the true Church in the first place. And the most immediate context is the power of prayer, that Christians should go to God in prayer according to the will of God, and so by this he is showing how powerful that pray can be, even to bringing about forgiveness for all sorts of sin.

But there is one sin that will not be forgiven, and it lines up exactly with what John has been talking about with apostates – those who leave the church. This sin that will not be forgiven is spoken of also in Matthew 12:31: “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” A lot of people have gone online to deny the existence of the Holy Spirit, thinking that is what this passage is talking about. It’s not. It’s the continual resistance to the call to repent. It’s the lifelong ignoring of the truth, the rebellion against God. At some point, He’s going to those who resist him over to their own sin. The sin that leads to death is the rebellion against the truth.

That is what those people did when they heard the truth in the church, listened, understood, but still left. They never had a saving faith in Jesus, and so they went about their own ways, embracing their own sins instead of God’s grace. If you resist God’s grace, my friends, then payment for your sin will be expected of you. The wages of sin is death.

It is not forbidden to pray for those who have willfully denied the truth of the Gospel their whole lives, but it is not encouraged. There is no life for those who will not repent. While there is breath in a man, let us pray that God gives him the gift of repentance and faith, but if the truth is always denied, and at last death takes him, he cannot be saved.

How do we know if someone in our congregations have not truly repented? Of course, we cannot know for sure. We cannot know a man’s heart. And yet there is a way to know if we are in the light or in the darkness. If we continue in our sin.

When we become Christians, the Spirit of God indwells us, and it is just the natural result of that indwelling that sin becomes harder and harder. When I first became a Christian, my life did not change all that much, but sin gradually became harder for me to commit. Those habitual sins started to become sour to me. I didn’t like them.

I still sin. I mess up constantly. But it is the continuing in sin that John is addressing. This may look different for you if you are a young Christian verses an older Christian. This looked different for me when I first started and was still pursuing a lot of my old crimes. But God is working on weaning you from sin. He is moving you closer to Himself and away from sin. So are you a Christian? Look at the sins in your life. Are you continuing in them? Are you becoming less content in your sin? Has there been a change?

The Spirit is going to convict you of those sins, and when we repent, that is we turn away from sin, we will be moved more toward righteousness.

And in that repentance, in faith, we will be forgiven. All wrongdoing is sin, and yet for the Christian, it will not lead to death. We have an advocate with the Father in Jesus Christ. Because of His atoning work on the Cross, He is stepping between us and the wrath we deserve.

Podcast: 1 John: Heard, Assured, and Alive

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
-1 John 5:12-15

There’s a lot of talk now about how all roads lead to God. It seems like a growing part of the population believes that everyone’s worshipping the same god, just with different names. So it really doesn’t matter, these people say, what religion you are part of. God has revealed himself differently to different people, but it’s really the same. Just try to be a good person.

It’s true that the moral element in most religions is very similar. And that’s the way it should be, because the Law of God is written on our hearts, as Paul tells us in Romans 2:15. So it totally makes sense that the moral law is consistent all over the world. All cultures agree on these things – that lying, stealing, murder, adultery, etc, are wrong.

So does it really matter it we follow Jesus or Mohammed or Buddha? To hear John speak, it completely matters, because “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Eternal life is found in Jesus alone, and there is a very good reason for this. It’s because, while the moral law is shared commonly with all people, no one keeps it. We are all liars, thieves, and blasphemers. We withhold the truth, or even tell outright lies. We take things that are not ours, even if it is just to download music or spend time at work doing personal stuff and still accepting pay for that time. We use God’s name as a curse word, or we use it in a flippant way, which is blasphemy.

More than that, God is going to judge us not just by our actions, but also our hearts. So we may not physically murder someone, but when we have that desire in our hearts, then we are guilty. We may not have sex outside of marriage or cheat on our spouses, but when we look at porn online or have lustful thoughts about people around us, we are guilty.

So the religions may share this moral law, but we don’t keep it, so we cannot be justified by that law. We cannot hope to earn eternal life by our own actions. If God is just, and He is, then we should expect nothing but condemnation for our thoughts, words, and deeds.

That is why there is no salvation except through Jesus, because we cannot earn it ourselves. We need someone to take the punishment we deserve upon Himself. In this action, He would satisfy justice. It would be like if I owed a fine to the court that I cannot pay. If someone paid it for me, I would be free.

But I cannot pay your fine, because I cannot even pay my own. Since no one is sinless, I cannot expect a savior from another person.

Except that Jesus was sinless. He is God in human flesh, come to earth to live the life that I failed to live. He died so that God’s children may live. If you repent, turn away from your sin and toward God, and have faith in Jesus, then you too will live.

You cannot be forgiven by believing Mohammed or Buddha. They cannot pay your fine. So we can agree on the moral law with them, but that doesn’t mean anything, because you can’t keep that law. By the law, we cannot be saved.

That is why John says with confidence that there is no life outside of Jesus. This passage transitions into our next major section of the book, in which he tells us why he is writing the letter – to assure those who believe that we have eternal life. He’s been talking a lot about how Christians are in God, and God in us, and that the presence of God will begin to reveal itself in our lives in love. We’ve gone through these passages before, but John here is reminding us that he is not trying to make us feel guilty, but in fact he is trying to make us feel reassured. He is answering the common question amongst Christians – how can I be sure that I am saved?

And John points us to the Cross. In Jesus we have life. Have you believed? Look back over your life to the hour you first believed. Have you been changing? For some, I know, the change is very quick. For me, it was gradual, but I can see it. I can see the change in me that brought about greater love for others. I can see the fruit of the Spirit – which is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23) – manifest itself in my life.

These are not things that save me. They are a result of being saved. I love more because I am in God, and God is love. Don’t slip here – we cannot save ourselves by trying to love more. We have already failed to save ourselves. We love because God first loved us.

So we are assured because we see the presence of the Spirit in our lives. This should give us all the more incentive to pray. Because we are in God, we know that God will hear us. Isn’t that a great reason to pray?

People tell me, “Oh, I’m good with God. I pray all the time.” I do not doubt that these people pray, but may I suggest that the important part is not the prayer itself, but who is listening? There is an assumption in our culture that God hears all prayers, even by those who are not Christian. We have no such assurance from the Word. God listens to His children. Those who are in Him can be assured that He is listening, but not someone who is praying to some nameless god or the false god of another religion. Only the true God hears prayers, and we must pray to Him in faith. James tells us that the person who does not come to God in faith “must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord” (1:7).

And for what should we pray? We should pray according to God’s will. God is not going to go against His will just because you want a new car. This is not so strange as we may think. It is sometimes very clear whether we are praying for our own will or for God’s will. God has told us that He will provide for us what we need, so clearly a prayer for that provision is a good prayer. A prayer to be freed from a marriage because you have your eye on another woman is a sinful prayer.

When we have commands, we know the will of God. We should pray in humility and selflessness. But this verse is not saying that we cannot pray for a future event simply because we do not know God’s will in that event. We do not know how His hand will move, but this verse is specifically addressing God’s revealed will.

Let us pray for tomorrow. Let us also be sure that we can talk to our Father about our pain, our confusion, and our desires. We may not receive an answer right away, as Job discovered. And yet if we do not know how things will go, let us hope more for God’s will than our own for the future. Ultimately, God is better at being sovereign Lord of the universe than we are. He is working all things together for our good, if we are in Him (Romans 8:28), so even when things take a bad turn today, His will ultimately will prove better than our own best-laid plans. He is leading us to a future that will be eternally good. In the end, we will be more content and more hopeful in leaving those plans to Him.

Podcast: 1 John: Water, Blood, and Spirit

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

This is he who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
-1 John 5:6-11

I wasn’t really looking forward to it because this passage has just about as many interpretations as there are commentators. Albert Barnes, for one, lists six interpretations, and that’s in one commentary alone. The ultimate meaning of the passage as a whole is very clear, and very wonderful, but trying to figure out the particulars is pretty hard. Very honestly, I’m not sure what John is getting at here. I have an opinion, but I don’t know that John had this particular thing in mind when he wrote it. So I’m going to give this one a stab and see what we come up with, but with the hope and understanding that it is getting us to verse 11 here, which is the real wonder of this passage. Hopefully we won’t let this business of water and blood distract us from where John is going. It is that clear conclusion that should draw us, even if we don’t understand the rest.

We’ll get there. Stick with me. “This is he who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.”

Deuteronomy 19:15 tells us that “Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.” Both Jesus and Paul make reference to this “two or three witnesses” idea, and John is here giving us the witnesses to the truth of Christ.

The real sticking point here is the “water” is the passage.
Most people say the blood is His death, but the water is more difficult. So I’m going to throw out some possible interpretations. The water, some say, is for His baptism. He was baptized by John the Baptizer, and the Spirit bore witness to that. Some say it is OUR baptism, as a symbol of our salvation, bought by His blood. Others will say it refers to when blood and water mixed came out of him when he was speared on the Cross.

The water represents, I believe, His baptism, at which time the Father identified Jesus and the spirit descended on Him. That Spirit becomes another witness, for the Spirit helps guide Jesus through life without sin. His words, His actions, and even His thoughts were perfect, and people could see that. If you read the Gospel accounts and watch for the account of the crowd, they can tell that there is something different in Jesus. They tell us that no one ever spoke as He did.

The blood is the final witness, for upon the Cross He died a death that He did not deserve. It is this Blood that saves us, for He was dying for God’s children. The passage tells us that Jesus did not come by water alone. John the Baptizer baptized by water, and it was a baptism by repentance. And repentance is great, except that it doesn’t satisfy justice. There is still a price to be paid, and the writer of Hebrews reminds us that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So Jesus came by water and blood both.

The Cross is such an amazing testimony for who Jesus is, for it is the culmination of redemptive history. God loves us so much, and He wants us to be saved, but we, like wayward children, have gone about our own pleasures and wickedness. We have sinned against a holy and just God. We have embraced inequity rather than righteousness. We have sinned, and that sin is not some minor thing. Sin is crime against God. Every greedy, lustful, or prideful thought is a sin against Him. Those sins deserve punishment.

And the Cross was that punishment for those who repent and have faith in Him. The Cross provides that Blood that we need to be forgiven. Jesus died the death we deserve so that we could have the life that He earned. If you wonder who Jesus is, then look to the Cross. There died not just another guy. There died not some other sinner who deserved it. There died the Son of God.

His baptism, His life, and His death, all testify together that Jesus is God.

But there is more, because these three combined make up the first of a new set of three witnesses. We know who Jesus is because of the historical truths of His life, death, and resurrection. But there is more, because God the Father also testifies about Jesus. How does this happen? By His words to us.

The Bible is about Jesus. It was started thousands of years before the birth of Christ, and yet it is about Him. The whole Old Testament points forward to Him. There are hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah, and Jesus is that Messiah. The Father testified of Him when He inspired the Old Testament. Then He testified again when He brought Jesus back to life on the third day, proving that He was God. Do you want testimony about Jesus? Look for the body. It’s not there. That is strong testimony, my friends. The Jews of the first century, when arguing against Christianity, never just took officials to the tomb and pointed inside, saying, “See? He’s still there.” That would have destroyed Christianity at the very start if they had done it, but they didn’t. They didn’t do it because the tomb was empty.

The Father testified further through the writers of the New Testament, giving them the Word of God to transmit to us in the Bible. Creation itself is a testimony, because through Jesus was everything made. The sunset tonight is a testimony to God. Creation and the Word stand as the witness of God that Jesus is the Messiah.

Finally, there is an internal testimony. This is not some warm feeling in your belly, but a change when we are saved. What has John been telling us the whole time? He’s been telling us that once we become Christians, the Spirit begins to change us so that we start actually living as we should. It is a work of God in us, because once we are saved, we are in Him. So what is this testimony? It is the change within us. Don’t take this verse out of context and say, “I have a quiver in my liver, so I must be saved!” You cannot look at the whole of 1 John and come to that conclusion.

Three witness, and they all point to the truth of the Gospel. Jesus was God, and He died for us, and yet He lives. He lives! If you deny that, then you are calling God a liar, because He has given us these testimonies to teach us of Himself.

“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” Jesus told us, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

This is the way to life. In Jesus there is life, and in no one else. You cannot earn your way to eternal life. You cannot follow some false god and expect to live. Jesus is the way. Examine the testimonies, for they are true. These witnesses all point to the Cross, where Jesus took on the sins of the children of God and died for them. Eternal life is a free gift, not to be earned, because it was already earned by the only one who could do it – Jesus.

If you are a believer, you will find that these witnesses remain with us. By water we are baptized, by Blood forgiven, and by the Spirit led.

Podcast: 1 John: Law, Grace, and Law

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
-1 John 5:1-5

This is the drum that John’s been beating for a while, and here we are at the summary of the doctrine. He’s come at it in a couple of different ways, but this is the ultimate point. True Christians act like Christians.

And John’s been very careful to specify that it is not the fact that we love each other that saves us. Not at all. And he’s been careful to state that we’re not going to be perfect, and that the Blood of Jesus still covers our sin, even when we sin after becoming Christian. And yet, even though he is careful to say that, there is still a lot of misunderstanding about what saves us and how we will respond. So let’s start from the beginning and work our way back to this point.

There is the Law. The Law was given by God to Moses. You remember Charlton Heston bringing them down in The 10 Commandments. These are the things God expects from us. These are His perfect standard of righteousness. Unfortunately, we don’t do those things. God tells us not to lie, and we do. God tells us not to covet our neighbor’s stuff, and we do. God tells us not use His name as a curse word, and we do. We become so wrapped up in ourselves that we seek our own pleasures and satisfaction rather than seeking God. The greatest commandment is to love God. That shouldn’t be hard. He created us. He gave us breath and food and everything in creation. He has given us so much. And yet we do not love Him. We say we do, but except for a little time here or there, we aren’t even thinking about Him. We’re thinking about US. We are only thinking about getting ahead, being happy, getting rich, gaining power, being recognized.

And so we’ve failed at keeping the Law. We are not righteous. We are rebellious, selfish, God-belittling, and self-exalting. We are sinners. We do not deserve eternal life, but rather we deserve the rightful punishment for sin, which is death.

But God loves us, even when we do not love Him, and He sent His Son to take our place in death. He died upon the Cross, even though He didn’t deserve it, to take our place.

We are not saved by anything we do, but what He has already done. When we repent of our sin, our rebellion, turn away from it, and trust in Jesus, then we are saved. His righteousness has earned eternal life for us, just like our unrighteousness earned death for Him.

That’s it. That’s Grace. There isn’t more to it. We are saved by Grace alone, not by our own actions. When we have faith, we are saved.

What John is talking about is what comes next. He is talking about what happens when we repent and believe. He is speaking to the Christian who has been saved by Grace, and talking about what that Grace means.

And we jump back to the Law again, but in a different way. See, we could not keep the Law before. We failed to do it. Then by Grace we are saved by Jesus, who did keep the Law. So why can we keep it now? Because we are in God and God in us.

It’s that simple. God the Son fulfilled the Law, and now God the Spirit is in us. And that Spirit guides us.

We’re back at the Law, but not as a source of salvation. Jesus already took care of that. We are back because the righteous obey the commands of God, and we are righteous in Christ.

So John speaks of these things in connection with each other. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” We have been reborn in Him, gaining His righteousness. So John repeats the phrase a little differently: “and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”

Same thing. Do you believe in God? Do you have that saving faith? Then you love Him. And what is the greatest commandment? To love God. Huh.

The writer of Hebrews gives us a clue as to why we could not obey the Law without God, and why we can with Him: “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (11:6). See, we were made to worship God, and if we don’t even have faith, how can we be doing what He has made us to do. It doesn’t matter how many orphans you feed or dolphins you save. The first and greatest commandment is to love God. If you fail that, then you fail. You must have faith.

And so with faith comes a love for God, and that is pleasing to God.

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” Again, John is making connections. If you love God, then you will follow God. That seems obvious right? You only disregard people when you love yourself or someone else more. You stick with those you love most. That is why God tells men to cleave to their wives. That is a picture of Christ and His church. It’s a metaphor for the greater relationship between God and His children. The way you cleave to your spouse is a picture of the closeness and deep love between Jesus and the Body of Christ. This is a love that causes you to follow God.

Have you ever wondered why the answer for the question, “How can I be saved?” seems slightly different in various parts of the Bible? Sometimes it says “Believe,” and sometimes “Repent and believe,” and sometimes “Repent and be baptized.” It’s because faith is going to bring about the rest of it. Faith will bring about repentance. Faith brings about obedience, including baptism. As James tells us, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). Why is it dead? Because faith brings love, and love obedience. They exist together.

And you will then naturally love other Christians, because God loves other Christians.

These commands are not burdensome. Before Grace they were burdensome, because we did not have God in us. But now we are righteous in Christ, and so they are easier. We have been turned away from sin and toward God. This was not our doing, but it was part of that Grace.

John speaks of our victory over the world. What is it? Faith. Faith. That is the ingredient that changes everything. That is the part of Grace that turns us from the Law that cannot justify us and into a place where we’re already justified, and we obey out of sheer love for God.

Jesus overcame the world in His death, and by Grace we are baptized into that death. In other words, we died upon that Cross with Jesus, and we were reborn by His power to new life. We have overcome the world with faith, because our faith is in the one who overcame the world on our behalf.

I am not suggesting that if we sin that is proof that we are not saved. John has already told us that if we say we are sinless, then we are lying. No, we’re talking about a turn here. We are not perfect, but we’ve been turned by the Spirit. This is the evidence that we are saved, not that we are sinless, because we’re not, but that we have been turned from sin and toward God.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then look at your heart. Are you being guided by the Spirit toward good works, not as a source of righteousness, but as a result of love? Do you stand by Jesus’ righteousness, or an effort to gain your own? John is telling us these things so that we can be confident in your salvation. If these words do not bring about a confidence, then look to your heart. Have you a true faith in Him? One that brings about love and obedience? If not, don’t try harder. That will not please Him. Look to the Cross for Grace. It is only Grace that can bring about this result in us.

Podcast: 1 John: Why We Love

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
-1 John 3:11

In the last episode, we finished up chapter 4 of John’s first epistle, but before we moved on, I wanted to take a look at the section as a whole. John’s been telling us pretty plainly for about two chapters that we are supposed to love our fellow Christians. But he hasn’t been talking about it like it’s something we should be struggling with, but ultimately as something that Christians do by nature. The reason for that is, ultimately, that faith and love are tied up together, and you cannot have faith without loving God and you cannot love God without loving those whom God loves. It’s all one. That will be the message of the first verses of chapter 5, but before we get there, let’s take another look at the different causes John gives for our love.

I picked that word – “causes” – intentionally. I’ve read a lot of commentaries that talk about the “reasons” John gives us for why we love. I don’t have a problem with that phrase. Not at all. I’m only changing it because “reasons” seems like you are trying to convince someone. Here are some reasons for doing something. We’re going to find that love is something different. It is, of course, something we can choose to do, but John presents it more as the natural effect of what is happening in us. I think we’ll see that clearly as we go.

We’ve read the command, but that phrase is repeated in 3:14: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.”

Take a close look at what he is saying here. He doesn’t say, “love the brothers so you will pass into life.” He tells us that we can know we have passed into life because we love the brothers. We love the brothers, in other words, because love is an effect of passing from death to life in Christ. He’s saying it in the same sense that I would say, “We know that we have been swimming because we’re all wet.” The wetness did not cause the swimming, but the other way around.

In 3:24 he tells us why this is: “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

If we are careful about John’s wording, we will see it here again. Love is an evidence that we are in God. God is love, and so those who are in God naturally love. Again, it is an effect. We do not love so that we can be in God, but the other way around.

4:9 defines love a little more clearly: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” And John will say that we are the beneficiaries of this love, and so we ought to love others. We should love, in other words, because we were loved. And that is exactly what it says in 4:19: “We love because he first loved us.”

It is the love of God, overflowing in us, that produces our love for others. This is very natural. It is difficult for a man, giddy with love for a girl, to be mean to others. That love overflows into everything! The perfect love of God is so much more effectual than even that. Poured out for us, it splashes onto everything around us.

“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.” In 4:16-17, love becomes our assurance of eternal life. If we have been changed, if we see that His love is overflowing in our lives, so that we cannot help but to love, we can be assured of our standing with the Father. We are secured for eternity.

And this love, spilling over in us, becomes a witness to the world about the truth of Christ. 4:12 says, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

It is love that drives us to talk to others about Jesus. It is love that persuades us to serve others so that they will see the love of God in us. It is love that changes us, and it will be a change that cannot be denied by anyone except those who refuse to see.

Am I preaching a salvation of works? Surely not. Surely you have seen from the very beginning that the love within us causes nothing, but is an effect. Love is the result, but not the cause. At least OUR love is not the cause. For truly it is love that has brought all of this about, but it is the love of God that causes, and love in us is the effect.

It is the love of God for a fallen people that caused Him to send His Son to the earth to die for us. It is that incredible love for those who did not deserve it that put Jesus upon that Cross. Make no mistake – love is a command, and it is a command that we have failed to accomplish in every day. That is the standard God has set for righteousness, and we prove with every selfish and hateful thought that we are not righteous at all. In justice, God could have destroyed us all. He could have rained down fire against us, and He would have been right to do it. Except for love. Except that God literally loved us to death, and in that death He took our punishment and paid the price for our sins. He died for us.

If I preach a salvation of works, it is the work He has already done. It is a finished work, lacking nothing. The love we show is merely an effect of the love He has already given. When we are convicted of our sin, that is the work of His love in us. When we fall upon our knees and beg His mercy, that is the work of His love in us. When we are forgiven, not because of anything we have done, but because of the work of Jesus alone, that is the work of His love in us. We find grace because of love.

Is it so difficult to understand how, once we are in the God of love, that we would begin to love as well? Is it so hard to understand that once we have been grafted into that sweet vine that we would produce the same sort of fruit? Our love is not how we earn salvation, it is the evidence that we are saved!

Please hear me on that point, because well-meaning Christians so often lie to us and tell us that just because we prayed the Sinner’s Prayer as a kid that we never have to worry about our salvation. That’s not what John is saying. He is saying, “Do you believe in Jesus? Has that belief manifested itself in how you treat others? If not, then you do not believe.”

Hear him, friends, and look at your hearts. Do you believe? Then surely you have shown the evidence of that repentance in how you see others. Look at your heart for the evidence of life in you! Then praise God for that life, and let it show in everything you do, for no one has seen God, but they will see how we love.