Archive for the '1 John' Category

1 John 5:21

Published on September 21, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
 
We come now to the closing verse and admonition of the epistle.  This is John’s swan’s song and also one of the last New Testament books written. 
Little children,
John’s final challenge is to the family of God (2:1,12,28; 3:7,18; 4:4).  “Children” means born ones.  John loves his spiritual family. 
keep yourselves from idols.
Following false teaching is idolatry.  It is to follow an idol of one’s own invention.  The Christian life will be severely blunted if a believer acquiesces to false teaching. 
The word “keep” expresses urgency and decisiveness: “Do not hesitate.  Do not fool with false religion because of the serious damage it can do to your soul.”  The meaning is guard, defend: “Defend yourselves from idols.  Do not desert the reality of God’s Word for an illusion.”  Anything or anyone that substitutes for God is idolatry. 
An “idol” is anything that represents itself as God. It is a substitute for the real thing.   It can be any false idea of who God is.  It could be any value that is central and most important to the believer.  It is anything that comes between the soul and the Savior.  That might be a person, a pleasure or ambition. 
The command to keep us from idols is a command to protect ourselves against spiritual corruption.  This command presents a contrast to “the true God” of the previous verse.  John pits the true God against false teaching.  Their teaching was the idolatry that John refers to here: “Since you already know the true God, defend yourself against any teaching that would violate who God is.”  How can we forsake the One who saved us and gave us operating assets for living the Christian life?
Amen
John affirms this principle by the word “amen.”  “Amen” means so be it, “I believe it.” 
PRINCIPLE:  Faithfulness to the truth is a maxim for maturity in the Christian life. 
APPLICATION:  An idol is any substitute for the real thing.  It imitates truth but it is not truth.  Whatever robs our worship of God is an idol.  It is anything that comes between God and us.  It does not have to be a statue but anything we worship over God.  It might be our job, our family or success.  If we think more of these things than we do of Christ, we commit idolatry.  God will not take second place to anything or anyone.  This is the greatest threat to our spirituality. 
Twenty-first-century idols are as real as the first-century idols.  The name may change but the principle behind it does not.  First-century people worshiped Narcissus but we worship self.  They worshiped Bacchus, the god of booze, and we addict ourselves to drugs, alcohol and things.  They worshiped Venus, the goddess of love, and we worship illicit sexual pleasure.  They worshiped Apollo, the god of physical beauty, and we worship the body.  They worship Minerva, the goddess of science, and we put great trust in science to answer the ultimate cosmological questions of life. 
God equates covetousness and idolatry. 
Lu 12: 15 “And He said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’”
Ep 5: 5 “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
Co 3: 5 “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
God wants us to guard ourselves against anything that would ruin our march toward maturity in Christ.  Anything that masquerades as truth will blunt development in the Christian way of life. 
We can tell if we are idolaters by what we give our commitment, attention, interest, energy, time or money.  Whatever controls our thoughts is our god.  What do you get animated about?  That is your god.  It is the very thing that will crush your Christian life. 
It is one thing to have faith in God but it is another to be faithful to Him.  We claim the Son of God as our Savior but we reject His sovereignty over our souls.  We give ourselves to completely different value systems.  Anything that deflects us from Jesus Christ as the center for life is an idol.  What we devote ourselves to is our idol.  The more we cultivate our loyalty to God and His values, the more free we are from our personal idols. 
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1 John 5:20c

Published on September 20, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, 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.”
 
This is the true God and eternal life
John comes to the summary climax of his epistle – the declaration of Jesus Christ as the “true God and eternal life.”  The incarnate Christ is the true God (Jn 1:1, 14) and eternal life (1 Jn 1:2; 2:25; 5:11-13). 
PRINCIPLE:  The Son of God is God almighty. 
APPLICATION:  Jesus is God Himself.  He is true deity.  As such He carries eternal life.  He shares that eternal life with all who know Him.  Note these passages on the deity of Christ:
Mi 5: 2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”
Jn 1: 1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Jn 1: 10 “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”
Jn 17: 5 “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
Jn 20: 28 “And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”
Ac 20: 28 “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
Co 2: 9 “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
1 Ti 3: 16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.”
Ti 2: 11 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
2 Pe 1: 1 “Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ…”
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1 John 5:20b

Published on September 19, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, 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.”
 
 
and we are in Him who is true,
To abide in God is to abide in His Son.  We know the incarnate Christ and we live in fellowship with Him as well.  We live in the reality of who God is when we fellowship with Jesus Christ. 
Jn 1: 9 “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.”
Jn 6: 32 “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.’”
Jn 14: 6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
Jn 15: 1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”
in His Son Jesus Christ.
Knowledge of God in the incarnation is knowledge on a personal and intimate basis.  This is our spiritual address.
PRINCIPLE:  The spiritual address of every believer is in the same status quo as Jesus Christ. 
APPLICATION:  Every Christian has status quo in God’s eyes.  When God looks at us He sees Jesus.  Jesus is perfect righteousness so we are perfect righteousness.  Jesus has eternal life so we have eternal life.  Jesus took our condemnation so we will never be condemned. 
Ro 8: 1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…”
1 Co 15: 22 “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”
2 Co 5: 17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Ep 1: 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…”
Ep 1: 6 “…to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.”
Ep 2: 6 “…and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…”
Ep 2: 10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
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1 John 5:20

Published on September 18, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, 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.”
 
And we know that the Son of God has come
This is the third and last certainty expressed by the word “know” in this section (5:18-21).  Christians know with certainty that the Son of God came in incarnation.  This penetrates the point of difference with the false teaching John addresses throughout 1 John.  It is impossible to fellowship with God apart from Jesus Christ. 
The phrase “the Son of God” occurs eight times in 1 John.  Six of the eight occur in this last chapter.  This is an expression of His eternal relationship with the Father, His deity. 
The Greek word for “come” includes the ideas of arrival and personal presence.  This word denotes a state of presence.  The Son of God came in personal presence in the incarnation. 
Jn 10: 10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
1 Ti 1: 15 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”
and has given us an understanding,
Christians have spiritual understanding through the Holy Spirit (2:20).  Gnostics taught that salvation came through speculative knowledge, but not through believing in the incarnate Christ. 
“Understanding” is the power or capacity of knowing, the faculty of understanding.  Christians received the capacity to know the incarnation Christ at the point of regeneration. 
that we may know Him who is true;
Believers can know God in intimate fellowship.  “Know” here is knowledge held with assurance, not by the process of acquisition of knowledge. 
Notice the three uses of the word “true” in this verse.  “True” means real as opposed to the false.  Jesus called Himself real or genuine.  Jesus’ person and work line up with truth.  Everything He is and does is in accordance with truth.  He not only resembles the truth but He corresponds by His very nature to what is genuine in reference to God.  There is nothing fictitious, imaginary or counterfeit about Him.  God did not simulate Him.  There is no semblance or pretension in Him. 
Jn 6: 32 “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.’”
Jn 15: 1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”
Jn 17: 3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
PRINCIPLE:  The Christian life is life at its best. 
APPLICATION:  The truth of Christianity rests upon Jesus Christ as the Son of God.  It does not rest on relative thinking or pluralistic thinking, but upon an eternal person.  This truth transcends finite, human truth.  No matter how brilliant a person may be, if he has never come to know God personally, he cannot understand the Word of God or its Author.  God requires that we be introduced to the Author before we can comprehend His writing. 
1 Co 2: 14 “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Lu 24: 45 “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.”
Who wants to know anything about God these days?  We want to know how to become a success.  We are interested in the stock market and investments.  We take interest in political issues. But few of us have vibrant interest in eternal things.  People relegate God to the outer edges of the universe. 
Those who embrace the incarnation have an entirely different take on God.  They not only want to know about Him but they want to fellowship with Him.  They cannot get enough of Him. 
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1 John 5:19b

Published on September 17, 2001 in 1 John. 2 Comments
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“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”

 
 
and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one
The corollary to Christians finding their origin in God is that the world finds its origin in the world system.  This world in its entirety is under the sway of Satan.  It lies helplessly recumbent with no possibility of resistance.  It passively resigns itself to the pernicious power of the “wicked one.” 
The Christian is under the sway of a new nature.  That sets him off from the rebellion of the satanic system.
PRINCIPLE:  The entire constitution of the world system serves Satan. 
APPLICATION:  The satanic system orients to different values than that of God.  Satan fiercely defends this system.  He pulls the strings here.  It is a system entirely dominated by the devil. 
Only by regeneration [new birth] can anyone get out of the vicious cycle of lust, greed, drugs, pornography, immorality, betrayal and empty religion.  The world loves to pour people into its mold. 
Jn 12: 31 “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”
Jn 14: 30 “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.”
Jn 16: 11 “…of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
Ep 2: 1 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
We can determine whether we are spiritual or carnal by asking ourselves which nature has the dominance in our lives: “Does the new man or the old man have control of my life?  Who is running the show?”  That determines what kind of Christian we are, spiritual or carnal.  The carnal Christian and the spiritual Christian both have the same amount of salvation – eternal salvation.  The big difference is what kind of reward we will have when we get to heaven.  The issue is not whether we will get in, but what will be our reward. 
God always gives the Christian latitude when he sins.  The degree of latitude differs according to the light received – the more light, the less latitude.  The Spirit of God convicts him and disciplines him so that he gets back on track. 
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1 John 5:19

Published on September 16, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”
 
We know
This is the third and last “we know” of this section.  We know two truths in this verse: 1) we know that God is our Father and 2) that the world system is under the dominion of Satan.  One is positive and the other negative.  We are either a child of God or a child of the devil, one or the other. 
2 Pe 1: 2 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
that we are of God,
We enjoy certainty of our relationship to the Father.  In this verse, John shows the distinction between those who find their origin in God and those who find their origin in Satan.  The divine capacity/nature is inherently sinless while the sin nature lies under the sway of Satan. 
3: 9 “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”
5: 1 “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.”
5: 4 “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
PRINCIPLE:  Life is correspondent with its source. 
APPLICATION:  When a Christian sins, he steps out of character of his spiritual heritage.  The partition between the believer and Satan’s world system is as great as separation between God and Satan.  The essential division from the satanic system occurred at the point of salvation so Christians have an entirely new way of living.  Previously we walked according to the norms and standards of this world.  Apart from God there is no satisfaction.  When the Christian sins, he is fully aware that he is acting out of character. 
The cross is an offense to this world system (Ga 5:11).  People living under this system do not want any authority over them and especially they do not care for God’s authority over them.  They do not like to be told that to lie and undermine your fellow man is not right.  They desire that privilege if it is convenient to their plans.  They will deceive anyone to accomplish their purposes.  All of this occurs because Satan deludes them.  He blinds their eyes and minds.
Jn 8: 44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
2 Co 4: 3 “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age [Satan] has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
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1 John 5:18d

Published on September 15, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”
 
 
and the wicked one
The word “wicked” means the malice one.  Satan is out to hurt Christians if he can.  He is very active in his opposition to believers.  He is not content to relax but he is pernicious in his attempt to corrupt Christians.  With all his attempts to undermine the Christian life, he cannot corrupt the new nature in Christ. 
does not touch him
The New Testament uses the word “touch” in two places, here and in John 20:17.  The idea is to lay hold of or snatch up.  Satan cannot snatch us out of God’s hand.  Satan cannot “touch” believers because they do not belong to him.  Christians are in God’s family and belong to Him.  Satan cannot assault that relationship because the new life in Christ is impervious to sin (Ep 4:24; Co 3:10). 
PRINCIPLE:  God assures us that we have capacity to have victory over sin and the Devil. 
APPLICATION:  Satan does not have absolute sovereignty over us.  God limits the sphere of his influence on us because we are His children.  God allows him to tempt or induce us to sin but He does not give the devil absolute right over our souls (2:13).
Job 1: 10 “[Satan speaking to God about Job] Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”
God puts a hedge about the believer so that nothing can touch him unless God concurs with it.  The devil protested against this hedge (Job 2:5).  Although we live in an evil world and are subject to the influence of Satan, we are not alone in the world.
Ro 16: 20 “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”
Some people say, “The devil made me do it.”  Satan may tempt us but he cannot make us sin.  The devil cannot recapture the true believer.  The devil might intimidate us to do this but it is only a hollow threat.  He can make us question our salvation but he cannot take it from us.  He can derail our fellowship with the Lord but not our relationship with the Lord.  He cannot make us sin but he can set the context for inducement to sin.
We do not have to keep ourselves saved.  A Christian can no more keep himself saved than he could save himself.  It is Jesus that safeguards us.  He provides and protects.  The One who saves us in the first place keeps us in the second place. 
The Christian cannot serve the Lord with confidence until he or she believes in eternal security.  Otherwise, everything he does, he does with the idea of keeping himself saved.  His priority is to stack up brownie points with God.  This results in the energy of the flesh. 
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1 John 5:18c

Published on September 14, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”
 
 
but he who has been born of God keeps himself,
We could translate this phrase like this: “The one [the believer] fathered by God, He [God] protects him [the believer].” This is why the “wicked one” does not touch him – he has a new capacity or nature protected by God.  He has the presence of God’s eternal life living in him. 
The word “keeps” suggests keeping guard.  God sets the new nature in the believer as an eternal guard over his soul.  This new nature is a constant monitor over our attitudes, words and behavior patterns. 
PRINCIPLE:  God has the responsibility of keeping us saved. 
APPLICATION:  It is misery not to know for sure that you are a Christian.  Christians like this live in despair.  They never know whether they are in or out, saved or lost.  They do not have the confidence that they will make it to heaven. 
Some believe that they can turn salvation on and off: “I accepted Christ five years ago but now I am lost.”  That is like saying, “I was a human being but now I am a mule!”  A human is a human and not anything else.  A Christian is a Christian and he or she can never be anything else.  There is no way to become unborn as a human being.  There is no way to become unborn believers because the Lord is the Savior of our souls, not us.  He does it. 
Jn 10: 27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one [neuter –“no thing”] is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”
Note the neuter – “Nothing” can pluck us out of the Father’s hand.  We cannot do it, others cannot do it, Satan cannot do it, nothing can do it.  Some people are out because they were never in.
Ro 5: 10 “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life [the Son is still saving us by interceding for us].”
Ro 8: 38 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
He 7: 25 “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost [through any and all sin] those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
He 10: 14 “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
2 Ti 1: 12 “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”
2 Ti 4: 18 “And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”
Ju 1 “Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ…”
1 Pe 1: 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Ju 24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 “To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.”
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1 John 5:18b

Published on September 13, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”
 
 
is born of God
John again picks up the idea of the family of God (3:9).  Father and son carry similar characteristics.  Since Christians possess the same nature as God, they manifest His distinctive viewpoint on life. 
does not sin;
The phrase “does not sin” carries the idea of abiding results.  The believer born of God at one point in the past remains a child of God with permanent sinless constitutional orientation (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4).  The new nature is inherently sinless so it cannot sin under any condition. 
By being “born of God,” Christians have a new nature or capacity that does not sin [just as in 3:9].  The sin capacity can sin and the divine capacity cannot sin.  A sinful life is not compatible with the “new man” or the divine capacity to relate to God.  Divine life received from God at salvation is sinless; it does not have the capacity to sin.  God rules this new life in Christ.
Anyone that comes from God cannot sin because God is absolute.  The divine dimension of the Christian’s life cannot sin.  His sin nature/capacity will sin, but not his divine nature/capacity.  If there is no inkling inside a person to please God, he is not a Christian. 
2: 18 “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 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 they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”
PRINCIPLE:  The divine life received from God at salvation is sinless and sets a radically new orientation toward life in the believer.  
APPLICATION:  Conversion is a result of the new nature indwelling the Christian.  That is why accepting Christ is so revolutionary.  God puts into the believer a dynamic new bearing and attitude of life. 
The new nature/capacity of the believer makes a powerful claim on us.  It makes compelling demands on the direction of his life.  There is no way that we can become a Christian and not significantly change our way of life. 
Every truly born again person has the capacity to meet temptation and the wiles of the Devil.  His new life in Christ makes him abhor sin.  This does not imply that he will be sinless but that the new divine capacity within him cannot sin and moves him to resist sin. 
Ability to resist sin lies within every Christian.  We do not master sin personally but we have the nature of the Master over sin dwelling within us.  By imparting His nature to us, we have a whole new capacity for life.  That capacity cannot sin because it is absolute as an entity from God Himself.  God cannot sin and anything that He gives is perfect. 
The Christian sins by his old nature or his sin capacity.  It is not necessary for the believer to follow the dictates of his sin nature.  The only way a Christian can sin is to allow the old nature to have dominance over the new nature. 
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1 John 5:18

Published on September 12, 2001 in 1 John. 2 Comments
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“We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”

 

Now we come to the epilogue of the epistle (5:18-21).  John here summarizes the leading thoughts of 1 John. 
We know
John concludes the epistle with three clear and candid certainties, each introduced by the word “know.”  There is no hesitation here, but rather dogmatic affirmations beyond dispute.  He fixes the truth with these facts:
·        Christians “know” that their divine capacity cannot sin because it originates from God’s nature (2:1,14,20; 3:6,9; 4:13; 5:4)
·        Christians “know” that their origin is from God (2:29; 3:9; 5:4,5)
·        Christians “know” with assurance that they have eternal life coming from their new birth (2:3,27; 3:2,24; 4:7,12,15,16)
There is no speculation here.  “Know” has to do with intuitive knowledge, knowledge divinely imparted.  We know not because we academically learned it; we know by inner assurance. 
that whoever
“Whoever” indicates that the subject is more than spiritual Christians, mature Christians, veteran Christians; anyone with a divine nature does “not sin.”  All true believers are in view here.  There is no exception to the sinlessness of the new nature. 
3: 9 “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”
PRINCIPLE:  Once it was nature to sin but now it is unnatural. 
APPLICATION:  God divinely imparts intuitive assurance to Christians that they have a status quo and capacity to gain victory over sin and the devil.  The believer has the power from his new life in Christ to gain victory over sin (2:1, 14, 20; 3:6, 9; 4:13; 5:4).  This power comes from his new birth.  We appropriate this power by addressing the sin issue in our lives (2:29; 3:9; 5:4,5). 
5: 1 “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.”
It is crucial that we understand our status quo in the battle against sin.  We must remember who we are.  We have God’s sinless nature dwelling in us.  That nature cannot sin.  We have another nature that can sin.  The new nature or divine nature protects us against the power of the devil.  We have all the capital we need to conquer sin.  The non-Christian does not have these resources.
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