Three Little Letters

Here is a link to last week’s series, Three Little Letters.

We have reached the last chapter of the first little letter from John. There are many key elements to learn from the fifth chapter of 1 John. Let’s deconstruct the passage to find these helpful basic values to our faith.

Our faith gives us the ability to be obedient to God’s commands. Do you recall some of the commands that we have already talked about? 1 John 5:1-21 (NLT)

• Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ child of God.
• Everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 
• We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. 
• Loving God means keeping his commandments
• His commandments are not burdensome. 
• Every child of God defeats this evil world through our faith by believing that Jesus is the Son of God

God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit gave us their own testimonies so that we would believe. (1 John 5:6-11)

Why not go back and read the account of Jesus’ baptism? (Matthew 3:13-16) There you will see the testimony of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

• When Jesus was baptized, He was revealed as God’s Son in water then by shedding his blood on the cross
• But Jesus also was revealed by the testimony of God’s voice after His baptism and by the testimony of the Spirit, who is truth. He confirms this with his testimony. 
• So, the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree. 
• All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true.
• Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12 (NLT)

So, here’s the deal. God does not want us to be mystified about Him or our faith. He wants you to know right where you stand.

“I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:14

When you hear people in the world say things about God being distant or cold, that should tell you they don’t know Him. God is loving and kind. He is mighty and powerful. He never loses control. He has perfect wrath for sin. He has perfect love for you.

Here is the rest of what God wants you to know.

• We can have confidence that He hears our prayers when we walk rightly with Him. 
• When we don’t pray from sinful hearts, we can be sure he hears us and will give us what we ask for because we won’t ask outside of His will.
• We are to pray for fellow believers caught in sinful lifestyles.
• True believers do not practice a lifestyle of habitual sin.
• God’s Son holds believers securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. 
• We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.
• True believers have assurance that the son of God has come.
• We live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.
• Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. 1 John 5:21

Next week we will open John’s second little letter.

Go and share the Good News in your world!

Isaiah 52:7

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.