The First Epistle of John:Lesson Sixty-Five

"He who believes in the Son

has everlasting life;

and he who does not believe

the Son shall not see life,

but the wrath of God abides

on him."

John 3:36

********************

Hello again! Let's begin with prayer...

"Holy Father God, our Lord and Savior, I come to you today to give thanks and praise for all that You have done and all that You do. You alone are worthy of our praise and worship for You alone have given us eternal life through Jesus Christ, Your Son. I thank You, Father, for that eternal life. I thank You that You have spared me from Your wrath and now I have life everlasting because of Jesus.

I do seek the forgiveness of my sins because I know my sins keep me from You and I do not want to be far from You. I pray for Your cleansing. I pray that You wash me clean and release me from the bondage of my sins. I pray that You will fill me with Your Holy Spirit this day and guard my speech.

I lift up each lady reading this study to You, Lord. I pray that You will go to her and comfort her as she goes through the many challenges of her day. I pray that she will earnestly seek You through You word. Walk with her, come alongside her, and give her that peace that only comes through You.

In Jesus' name...amen."

***************************************

The Certainty of God's Witness

In today's study, we will continue our look into what it means to have God's witness and what that witness is to us. John made it clear how important an earthly witness is since he himself was a witness to the many things Christ did in His earthly ministry. But John doesn't want us to rely solely on that earthly witness of men as the Gnostics did. He wants us to know and learn about God's witnesses: the Father, the Spirit, and the Word.

We were told in the last lesson that God puts His witness in us when He saves us. We have that eternal witness us ourselves when we become His own. It is that Spirit of God that opens our eyes to what the scriptures say about Jesus. And it is that witness that leads our paths down the right direction in life.

Now we will learn about the testimony of God, that testimony that "God has given of His Son"....

1 John 5:11-12

"And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

John begins by telling us what that testimony is: those who believe have life, those who do not believe do not have life.

As John the Baptist said in our opening verse, he who believes has everlasting life. He who does not believe suffers the wrath of God. It is as simple as that.

It is we Christians who forget this testimony most of all, in my opinion. When I hear of a Christian suffering from depression (as I did) or suffering from alcoholism, gambling, sexual sins, etc. all this can be traced back to the Christian forgetting that he/she has life already!

Theologian Herman Bavinck wrote:

"They seek God down below and he is above. They seek him on earth and he is in heaven. They seek him in money, property, fame, power, and in passion, and he is found in the high holy places, and with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit. They seek him, and at the same time flee from him" (As cited in The Epistles of John, 2006, p.200).

As Christians, we are at our lowest point when we forget that we already have life.

John 17:3

This is the testimony of God. We already have fellowship with Him.

1 John 1:5-7

*********************

Consequences

It is obvious that John is reminding the believer that there are consequences to our beliefs: to know Christ is to live, to deny Christ is death.

We were dead on our trespasses and sins.

Eph 2:1-3

We once walked according to our flesh and were in death. But it is through Christ that we now live. When we forget this and go back to walking in the flesh, then death creeps in to steal away our joy. There are many things in this world that are scary: disease, wars, famine, natural disasters.

But John wants us to remember that we should fear the Holy God who created all things more than the creation itself. Without God we die spiritually as well as physically.

And because of Christ we now have life everlasting! Death no longer should bring fear to the Christian.

Ps 23:4

Is 25:8

Rom 6:8-11

We are alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord! Praise God.

*****************************************

"...he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

Notice how John writes this statement. "He who does not have the Son of God..."

To know God through Christ is taking personal possession of Him inside ourselves. It is more than an outward statement, but an inward possession. We have all seen those who raise their hands in church after the "invitation" to receive Christ as Savior is given. We have seen people walk down the aisle to pray at the nave of the church and ask God to enter their hearts.

Those people made "professions" of faith, but how many actually took possession of Christ or vice versa?

John wants us to know that if we have Christ, we have eternal life. If we do not have Christ, we are still in death and sin reigns within our mortal bodies. Remember the purpose behind this book written by John: that we may know, abide, remain, endure, have fellowship, assurance, or our salvation for those who believe in the name of Jesus Christ.

We all know those who are not believers. It hurts to see our friends or family members dying in their sins especially when we know what lies ahead for them after this life: complete and total separation from God.

As long as they walk this earth, they still have some semblance of the presence of God among them: the beauty of creation, Christians proclaiming God's truth in love, and the Church.

But once they are taken from this earth, they will no longer have any of these to rely on. Creation, Christians, and the Church have the Light of Christ. Without these there is no Light....only complete darkness. And then the Wrath of God.

When Christ comes to remove us from His creation, with us goes any semblance of morality or law.

Matt 24:9-13

During the tribulation, lawlessness will abound because all morality will be taken up with believers when Christ takes us up. Imagine the earth without laws! You think it is bad now, and yet we have laws causing some to still hesitate. When those laws are removed, no one will hesitate.

This is the wrath of God of which you have been spared. It is real. But so is God. He called you before the foundations of the world to be His. He claimed you as His own. Now you have taken possession of Him within yourself and He has taken you as His own.

This is what John wants to remind you of this day, thousands of years later, with his letter. It is the doom of every Christian when we forget!

So, take time today to meditate on all that God has spared you from today. Really think about what it is that Christ has done for you.....taken you and made you His own. Praise Him for this and truly treasure these verses of John into your heart for those days when the things of this world get you down: you are saved.

*************************

Life Application

Why is it that if we have eternal life as our inheritance that we eat with the swine?

When I studied the parable of the Prodigal Son years ago in order to teach it at the prison, I found so many truths in this one little story Christ told that it was hard to keep my lesson down to 30 minutes. John MacArthur just wrote a whole book on the parable!

But it is so true that once we have our blessed inheritance that came at such a great cost, we toss it aside to live among the dead of this world and act as they do. Why?

Because we forget who we are in Christ.

I can easily look back on the darkest and saddest parts of my life and see that these times happened when I was farthest away from Christ. I had put down my Bible thinking I already knew all about it and set out on my own like the Prodigal Son did. I left my First Love.

That is why I love the book of First John so much. In this letter we find ways to know that we are a child of God, assurance of our salvation, who is not a believer, and how to remain in the presence of God.

How wonderful is that? How loving is our God that He provides a way to come to Him and know Him better?

And when I finally awoke in the pig slime realizing what I had done, I stood up and returned to my Father in hopes that He would at least keep me near Him as a servant if nothing else. But when I finally came back, Jesus was there waiting for me:

Luke 15:20

"And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him, had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him."

When we remember who we are and what we already have, this world pales in comparison. When we concentrate on what lies ahead instead of dwelling on what is behind, we are filled with joy. It is easy to only see the things of this earth, but John longs for us to turn our "eyes upon Jesus...look full in His wonderful face....and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."

Remember who you are in Christ.

******************************

"Man longs for truth and is false by nature. He yearns for rest, and throws himself from one diversion upon another. He pants for a permanent and eternal bliss, and seizes on the pleasures of the moment. He seeks for God and loses himself in the creature. He is born son of the house, and he feeds on the husks of the swine in a strange land. He is as a hungry man who dreams he is eating, and when he awakes, finds that his soul is empty. Science cannot explain this contradiction in man. Man is an enigma whose solution can be found only in God."

-Herman Bavinck 1854-1921 (as cited in The Epistles of John, Dr. Joel Beeke, 2006, pp. 200-201)

Blessings,

Ruth