In today’s passage, John says farewell to his Christian readers, wherever and whenever they may be. He has one final thing to say to them, after reminding them of all he has said in his letter about belief, rebirth, love, obedience, and righteousness that we talked about last week; and that is to remind them of what a special relationship it is to know the Lord and walk with Him. He doesn’t want any Christian to misunderstand or to feel doubts or insecurities, but to understand clearly for all generations to come what a blessing it is to be a child of God.
Join me if you will in 1 John 5:13-21, and pay close attention to phrases John uses like “that you may know” and “we know” because those are the firm foundations we can stand on. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 16 If anyone sees his brother or sister committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will, for him, give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death; I am not saying that he should ask about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death. 18 We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 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. This is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” (NASB)
If you were listening for those key phrases, you’ll notice that you heard them a few times. John once again states that this letter 1 John is ultimately “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God.” Now that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything in the letter for non-believers, and in fact I’m sure that John would say that if a non-believer were to read this letter they would certainly read the gospel of salvation in Christ in it. But John’s main audience is Christians, and as I said before, in closing this letter, his purpose is to give us one final word of encouragement so we know exactly who we are as believers.
There are 6 things highlighted here that John encourages us with: that you may know you have eternal life, that you may know God hears you when you pray and answers you, that you may know you are protected from evil, that you may know you are a child of God, that you may know you have spiritual knowledge and understanding, and that you may know you are in Him who is true.
For our encouragement this morning, we’re going to dig into each of these six and be reminded of the nature of the relationship we have with God.
John says that he writes so that you may know you have eternal life in verse 13. We often think of eternal life just as everlasting life, life after physical death when our spirits or souls are reunited with our Creator in His Kingdom. Though this is certainly part of what eternal life is, this is not how John has previously defined eternal life. We look back at 1 John 1:2-3, “and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (NASB) The life, the eternal life John talks about here isn’t necessarily everlasting life, but rather it’s life in Christ, who is the life, and having fellowship with the Father and the Son.
John 17:3 also adds this to our understanding, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (NASB) Eternal life, though it includes everlasting life after death, really means that we have abundance of life and blessing in God because we have fellowship with God through belief in His Son Christ Jesus. This is eternal life: knowing God. So John’s encouragement is that if you know God as we have been talking about, then you have eternal life because you know Him and knowing Him is eternal life. There is no doubt that because we know Him, we have life abundantly, here, now, forever.
In verse 14 John says that he writes so that you may know that God hears you when you pray, and He answers. Again we must understand that John’s letter here is to Christians. This is an assurance to believers that if we ask anything in line with God’s will, it will be given. He hears our prayers, and answers them. It’s encouragement that he repeats from these words in the gospel he wrote, “If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7, NASB)
The encouraging thing about these passages isn’t that we get whatever we need whenever we want like God is some magical genie. It’s that we have encouragement and confidence that God’s will is always done. No matter what, His will is always done, no matter how people may act or not act or what the enemy might do, God’s will is always done, and in part that we get to be part of His will being done through the prayers of faithful Christians. This is encouragement because we know that when God hears our prayers, it implies that in hearing our prayers, it means He is already acting, already moving to bring about His will before we even say, “Amen.” So, we know that we have encouragement that God’s will will always be done, and we get to be a part of it.
In verse 18 John adds this, “We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.” As believers in the Son of God, Christ Jesus, we can be encouraged that we are protected from evil, that the evil one does not and cannot touch us. Does this mean that we can never experience evil from the evil actions of other people? Does this mean we’ll be spared pain and brokenness because of the evil in the world? Sadly, no. That isn’t what John was speaking about.
See, he talks about sin, how the one who is born of God, that’s us, believers, do not continue to go on willingly sinning after being born of God. So what John is talking about when he says that Christ keeps us from the evil one is that when we become believers we are no longer held by the power of sin, the power of the evil one over us. We can and do have victory over sin as Christians! We do not have to choose to sin, and we can live a life that is no longer characterized by sin and death, but rather by truth and life. We are protected by the effects of evil over our souls because we have been set free from sin and death, and that is great encouragement.
In verse 19 John goes on, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” You know that you are of God, born of God, a child of God. As we talked about last week, when we are reborn of God we become righteous, pure, because He is righteous and pure and we are born of Him. As great as it is to know we are righteous and pure because of who He is, it’s even more amazing and encouraging to know that as God’s children, we are not in the hands of an imaginary or arbitrary God who might at any point decide to desert us. He isn’t going anywhere like a dead-beat parent. He is your Father, you are His child, and He’s not going anywhere! He will not leave you or forsake you. You are His child.
In verse 20 John adds, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true;” We have encouragement that we know the Son of God has come and part of His purpose was to give us spiritual knowledge and understanding so that we may know God. In Christ, we have spiritual knowledge and understanding. This means that we have the capacity as believers, because of the Holy Spirit given to us, to understand spiritual things.
Remember Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (NASB) The Holy Spirit helps us understand the word of God which is one of the ways God reveals Himself to us. The Holy Spirit makes the word of God come alive in our hearts, He makes it active to us. Think about how many times you’ve read a passage in the Bible that you know you’ve read before, but then one time it really takes root and grabs you and changes you. That’s the work of the Spirit in you to give you a better understanding of spiritual things.
John says this in his letter, 1 John 2:20-21, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.” The Spirit’s anointing helps us understand the things of God, and through that understanding our relationship with God grows. We have the capacity to know God personally, to have a relationship with Him, and to know as much about Him as any human possibly can. We have the ability to walk and talk with God just like Jesus did, and just like we were created to do, and that is very good encouragement.
And John’s last encouragement is the rest of verse 20 and verse 21 helps us understand it in context, “and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” We are encouraged here by the truth and the power of God compared to the idols of the world.
In ancient times these idols were of stone and wood and gold, but now we have different idols that we worship: money, power, achievement and accomplishment, success, fame, deeds that leave a legacy, the self. They take a different form than those of ancient peoples, but the end result is still the same: an idol is anything that we make a god over the One True God. These idols we make are false pictures of God that cause you to stumble and fall away from a relationship with the true God.
But we have encouragement that through Christ we have a relationship with the One True God who truly does have power. In Him only we find truth, goodness, love, mercy, justice, righteousness, and compassion. You will not find these things in full measure from anyone or anything else, which is why John warns us to stay away from other beings or things that we might be tempted to worship above God. We have encouragement that we do have a relationship with the only One who is all those things and more so there is no need to seek these things elsewhere. We have truth because we know the One who is truth.
This is the end of 1 John, and as we consider all that the letter has been about, and it’s covered a lot, the biggest thing we want to take away is that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are in God and He has poured out His blessings upon us, but that He also calls us to a higher way of living, a life out of the darkness of the world in His light only, walking in His love, obedience, and righteousness.
1. Grow UP with God: What are some of the “idols” that tempt you to live apart from the true God? How can you overcome the temptations of these idols? What practical steps can you take this week?
2. Grow DEEPER with the body: In verse 16, John talks about a sin that leads to death. Doesn’t all sin ultimately lead to death? How does Matthew 12:22-32 help us understand what this sin is? What does that sin look like in your words? How might a believer be guilty of this sin? What could you do for such a person?
3. Go OUT: Think of a pre-Christian you know. Which of these assurances might be important to that person? Which do they really need right now given circumstances they may be going to? How can you share this assurance that they can have through a relationship with Jesus?