Little Children, Faith and Warnings

Teaching

In this chapter we have come to the last major division of 1 John. In the first part of this epistle, we saw that God is light. In the very extensive center section, we saw that God is love. The subject of this final chapter is God is life.

Victory Over the World

In these first five verses, John talks about victory for the believer over the world. The “world” here is the Greek word “cosmos” in the sense of the present world system of order or arrangement under which Satan has organized the world of unbelieving mankind upon his cosmic principles of force, greed, selfishness, ambition, and pleasure. This world system is imposing and powerful with military might; is often outwardly religious, scientific, cultured, and elegant; but, seething with national and commercial rivalries and ambitions, is upheld in any real crisis only by armed force and is dominated by satanic principles. As this world system is primarily established on the principle of “the love of money is the root of all evil,” the higher status in the hierarchy the more corrupt it is. This is what we are seeing today as Satan majors on “the lust of the flesh,” “the lust of the eye,” and the “pride of life.” The subject for this chapter is GOD IS LIFE. John is going to say that it is possible for the child of God to have a victory right down here over this world!

Read verse 1. God is life, and that life comes through being born of God. John makes it very clear here that you become a child of God through simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In John’s gospel we read in 1: 12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power (the right, the authority) to become the sons of God, even to them that (don’t do any more nor less than simply) believe on His name.” This means that when we trust Christ, we trust who He is as well as what He did. What He did has no value if He is not who He said He was. John has made it clear that belief in Jesus as the Son of God produces the New Birth. When we trust the Lord Jesus Christ, we are born again, and God becomes our heavenly Father. He is God the Father, and He becomes our heavenly Father. If He is our heavenly Father and we are begotten of Him, then we will love Him. Being born of God hasn’t anything to do with the fact that we have joined a church or followed certain rituals. In this epistle John brings it all together about the evidences that we are a child of God:

• “If you know that he is righteous, ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him.” (1 Jn. 2:29) A child of God will practice righteousness in his life—it is to be the practice of our life if we are His child.

• “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 Jn. 3:9) A child of God will not practice sin. He will not live in it, revel in it, or make it his life-style.

• “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” (I Jn. 4: 7) A child of God will love other Christians.

• “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (1 Jn. 5:4) A child of God will overcome the world.

• “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” (v. 18) A child of God keeps himself from Satan. We will discuss these last two in our study today.

Read vers 2. The commandments he is referring to here are the commandments for believers today. Paul in 1 Thessalonians the 5th chapter lists what every born-again child of God needs to do to please Him. Paul addresses this section to the children of light: watch and be serious, put on the breastplate of faith and love and a helmet of salvation, encourage one another, build up one another, acknowledge and appreciate and respect the brethren and leaders, be at peace with others, warn and seriously advise those who are disorderly, encourage the weak souls, be patient with everybody, keep your temper, show kindness and seek to do good, be happy in your faith, rejoice continually, persevere in prayer, rejoice in the Lord in all circumstances, do not quench the Holy Spirit, do not depreciate prophetic revelations nor despise inspired instruction or exhortation or warning, test and prove all things, abstain from evil of any kind.

Read verse 3. John is saying that the child of God wants to keep His commandments and is not a burden. We want to keep them because we love God. We are to express love in real action. Jesus in John 13: 35 said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” If we love the Lord Jesus, if we love our heavenly Father, we are going to love other believers. It is not what we have to do—it is something we get to do! When we learn to obey, we learn the joy that’s available in the Christian life. Obedience and rejoicing come together. Once we get to know the Lord Jesus Christ, we learn that His commands are not grievous or burdensome. Dr. Adrian Rogers said, “It is a lie from Hell that doing the will of God is painful and makes you miserable.”

Read verse 4. How do we overcome the world? It is faith that saves us, and it is faith that keeps us. We are saved by faith; we walk by faith and it is the only way in which we will be able to overcome this world around us. It is faith that sustains us when we face difficult circumstances. If we are to enjoy the spiritual blessings which are ours, we need to recognize that we have a battle to fight; the enemy holds the territory, and he is not going to let us have any kind of deliverance or victory without a battle. Today we are facing battles on many fronts—at home, abroad, in our families, and personally. This is a time when our faith is being tested. Do we believe that God is truly in control and that He will rule and overrule to bring about His good plan? God handled every detail when He delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. He parted the Red Sea, He went before them to make the way in the cloud, He provided food and water, and clothes and shoes that didn’t wear out for 40 years! Is there anything too big for our God to handle? Now is the time that we must follow the commands in 1 Thessalonians 5 and trust that God is going to bring victory to reveal Himself in mighty ways at such a time as this!

Read verse 5. When we really trust Christ, it is not a question of our own power, but we are kept by the power of God through faith. We have faith in Christ for salvation in the future and faith in Christ for salvation from the world here and now!

Read verses 6-9. John’s writings both in his gospel and here in his epistles reveals the Gospel of Life—proving that Jesus Christ is God the Savior coming as life to reveal Himself. When we consider the details in John’s account of the Lord’s crucifixion, we have to keep that emphasis in mind. The Gospel of John includes signs, or figures, such as the Lamb of God, the living water, and the vine to communicate spiritual realities to us. These figures impress us in a way that words alone can’t. This is true of the blood and the water that came out from Jesus’ side. Read John 19: 33-37. The Roman soldiers intended to break the legs of crucified prisoners to hasten death, but when they came to Jesus, they found He was already dead. They did not break His legs, fulfilling the prophecy from Exodus 12:46 and Psalm 34:20 “Not one of His bones will be broken.” This symbolic detail underscores Jesus’ role as the sinless, sacrificial Lamb of God, whose death was both voluntary and divinely orchestrated. To confirm Jesus’ death, a soldier pierced His side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out. This event fulfilled Zechariah 12: 10, which prophesied: “They will look on me, the one they have pierced.” The piercing also symbolizes the outflow of grace and the birth of the Church, as the blood and water represent atonement and spiritual cleansing. God’s plan was completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ. John witnessed all the details of the crucifixion of Christ. He noted that when that soldier pushed the spear into the side of Christ, there came out blood and water—not just one element, but both elements. Here is his epistle John makes application of this. He emphasized it in his gospel, and now he comes back to it here. In John 3:5 Jesus said to Nicodemus, “…Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” The water is the living Word applied by the Spirit of God—the Word of God that the Spirit of God uses. Water is also a symbol of cleansing. “And blood” refers to the death of Christ. It is by blood that we receive redemption from sin. As we follow the blood in the Bible it represents life, sacrifice, covenant and redemption. The blood in the Bible traces a divine narrative or plan—from the life of creation, to covenantal sacrifice, to the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and finally to eternal cleansing and victory. In Leviticus 17:11 God states “For the life of flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” That establishes blood as the means of forgiveness and reconciliation with God. It is not merely a physical substance but a powerful symbol of Divine love, justice, and salvation. Life comes to us by the washing of the water and by the sinless blood of Christ. In Exodus 24:8, Moses sprinkles blood on the people after God made the Covenant at Mount Sinai, declaring: “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you.” This act symbolizes the binding agreement between God and Israel, sealed with blood. Therefore, even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book of the covenant itself and all the people saying, “This is the blood of the Covenant which God commanded you.” And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. At the consecration of the House, or of the Priests; at the birth of a child; in the deepest penitence on account of sin; in the highest festival; always, and in everything, the way to fellowship with God is through the blood alone. This continued for fifteen hundred years. At Sinai, in the desert, at Shiloh, in the Temple, on Mount Moriah it continued till our Lord came to make an end of all shadows.

John spells out the three witnesses we have in heaven and on earth—Father, the Word—Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus made it clear and He came to do the Father’s will even to death on the Cross. Then He sent His Spirit to dwell within believers. The Holy Spirit will take the Word of God and apply it to our heart. These three bear witness on earth—the Spirit uses the water of the Word and applies the blood for our salvation. These three all agree in one—that is, they want to get us saved and keep us saved. Today we are hearing lots of false witnesses speaking misinformation and disinformation. We are at a place today where it is difficult to receive the witness of men. The public is swallowing it hook, line and sinker. A person’s influence or popularity is determined by what the news media say about them. The biggest frauds in the world can be built up by the media—Hollywood, has done this for years. Most people do receive the witness of men; they are taken in by it. If it is said over television or on social media or put into print, they will believe it. There are many people who believe whatever they read or hear, but they will not receive the witness of God! THE WITNESS OF GOD IS GREATER! His news is good news, and it is about His Son who died for us on the cross.

Read verses 10-12. If we have trusted Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit indwells us and He testifies that these things are true. What things—the record—that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Eternal life is to have Christ. Remember we said that John is teaching us about Life—to be saved means we trust Christ and it means we have Christ as our Savior—He’s our lifeboat—He’s our lifeline. He’s our only hope. We are lost without Him, but if we have Him we have life. One of my favor songs is “Just Give Me Jesus.” Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. He died upon the cross because He alone could pay the penalty for our sins. He rose again, and He is living right this moment at God’s right hand for us. He is the living Christ. If we have Him we have life!

Read verse 13. John has a twofold purpose in writing this epistle: 1. That we may believe on the name of the Son of God”—that’s salvation, and 2. “that we may know that we have eternal life”—if we have Christ, if we have believed Him, we have life. The question is—Do we believe God—do we believe the record? John said in John 20: 30-31, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” If we have the Son, we have life. It is not a matter of how much faith we have or how we feel about it, it is whether or not we trust Christ! That is what our speaker said Sunday!

Read verses 14-15. If we know that we know that we have eternal life in Christ, then we will have assurance and confidence or boldness in prayer as a child of God. If we are in fellowship with Him, walking with Him, then our prayer for Him to have His way in every circumstance will be answered. Hebrews 4: 16 invites believers to come boldly before the throne of grace; “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” This means approaching God with confident humility, knowing that through Jesus Christ—our great High Priest—we have direct, unrestricted access to God’s presence. We can come boldly before the Father because Jesus, who was tempted in every way yet remained sinless, has opened the way to God’s throne. His sacrifice tore the veil of the temple, symbolizing that access to God is now available to all who believer. We receive mercy for our failures and grace to help us in our time of need—spiritual strength, comfort, guidance, and peace. It’s not pride, but faith. Boldly does not mean arrogantly, but with the confidence that comes from knowing we are accepted through Christ, not by our own merit. It is wonderful to know that you and I have a heavenly Father. If we are in fellowship with Him, if we are not regarding sin in our lives, and if there are no other hindrances to prayer in our lives, we are not going to pray selfishly. When we are walking in fellowship with Him, when we are following Him, we can have the confidence that He will hear what we ask and answer our prayer. We are not to come to Him with mistrust, or in a begging attitude, but we are to come with boldness to ask that God’s will be done.

Read verses 16-17. These scriptures are difficult to understand but a pastor friend in 1976 explained them to me and gave me peace. Death refers here to physical death. It has no reference at all to spiritual death because the child of God has eternal life. John is saying that believers can commit a sin for which their heavenly Father will call them home; that is, He will remove them from this life physically, perhaps because they are disgracing Him. Let us look at some examples in Scripture. Moses and Aaron committed a sin unto death. Moses got angry when the children of Israel kept begging for water and, instead of speaking to the rock as God commanded him, he smote the rock twice. He shouldn’t even have touched that rock. It had already been smitten once before, and he should have rested upon that. The rock was to be an example and a type of Christ. Paul wrote, “And (the children of Israel) did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.” (1 Cor. 10:4) Christ died only once, and Moses spoiled the type by striking the rock twice. “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” (Num. 20: 12) There was for this man Moses a restoration in that he could continue leading. However, he began to plead with God to forgive him and to permit him to enter the land, but the Lord told him in effect, “Although I have restored you to your place of leadership, you are not going to enter the land.” When Moses kept after the Lord, the Lord said to him,”…speak no more unto me of this matter.” (Deut. 3: 26) Moses and Aaron both had sinned a sin unto death—physical death. In the New Testament we have another example of this in Ananias and Sapphira. They were a part of the early church, and they were guilty of a lie. (Acts 5: 1-11) They had been willing to give a false impression to the early church; they were willing to live a lie. Because of that, God removed them from this earthly scene. John is not speaking of an unpardonable sin. He is talking about a sin unto physical death, not spiritual death. These people were God’s children. He would never have taken them home if they had not been His children. The Lord doesn’t whip the Devil’s children—He whips only His own. When His children sin unto death, He will take them home. What is this sin? For Moses and Aaron it was one thing—they lost their tempers, and they destroyed a type of the Lord Jesus. Ananias and Sapphira were living like hypocrites. In other words, these were high profile people in places of prominence and leadership and had influence over a large number of people as His servants. There actions were reflections upon God and His witness to others. Rather than allow it to continue, God rendered divine action and took them physically away. That was exactly what happened to the person that was taken suddenly at an early age. I had prayed that whatever it took to change them that God would do it. God knew that they were not going to change so rather than have His name defamed, He took this person. They are in heaven, but the rewards they could have received were cut off. If a child of God goes on disgracing the Lord down here, the Lord will either set him aside or take him home by death. God doesn’t mind doing that in order to protect His character and name. John makes it very clear that all unrighteousness is sin and none of us are righteous and have done things that are wrong but we confess that sin and are forgiven according to 1 John 1:9. However, the warning is for His born-again children who are rebellious to the point that they will not repent and are a disgrace to God’s kingdom. God allows them to experience a premature death. Hebrews 10:31 sheds more light on this matter; “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” This is a solemn warning about the consequences of willful, persistent sin after receiving knowledge of the truth. The fear arises not from God’s desire to punish, but from His holiness, justice and omnipotence. Believers are to fear losing their confidence and facing God’s discipline—especially if they persist in unrepentant sin. The fear is not of losing salvation, but of facing God’s judgment. We are called to persevere in faith, humility and a continual reliance on Christ’s sacrifice, to remind all that while God is loving and merciful, He is also just and will not tolerate unrepentant sin.

Read verses 18-19. As we have seen in this epistle, you and I have two natures; an old nature and a new nature. That new nature will not sin. It never sins but has a desire for God and for the things of God. That old nature will sin, and it is because of it that a believer does sin. There is a constant battle between the two natures for control. The one we feed is the one that will dominate. While the devil can never take us out of God’s hands if we are truly born again, he can influence and cause grief in our life. James 4:7 gives us the solution: “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” True resistance begins with humility and surrender to God’s authority. This means yielding our will, thoughts and emotions and life to His guidance, trusting in His grace and sovereignty and actively resisting the devil. It involves standing firm through spiritual discipline—saturating our mind with Scripture, staying alert, praying persistently and living in community for accountability. The devil will flee because of Christ’s victory at the cross. Satan cannot withstand a believer who is rooted in God’s truth and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Remember the promise from last week in 1 John 4:4, “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” We are not fighting alone! We are a warrior in Christ’s triumphant victory! We can overcome the world and the devil because Jesus is for us and with us! We are soldiers of the cross are called to wake up the sleeping world and even some people in churches that are dead in trespasses and sins.

Read verse 20. Christianity is not a religion. It is a Person, and that Person is Christ. If we have Him, we have salvation—and it is not a religion. As Shelia warns us in her book—we have been greatly deceived by the religion of the Gentile church. It is time for us to cast off the deeds of darkness and put on Christ as the Acts Church did! God helps us to grasp His Word, not merely so we can amass an impressive body of religious knowledge, but so that we can know, love, obey and enjoy the Lord and His purpose for our life. In the words of Hosea, “Sound an alarm! Set a watchman! Blow the trumpet! Come, let us return to the LORD!”

Read verse 21. This is the closing exhortation of the apostle John’s letter, urging believers to remain faithful to the true God. The Greek word “keep” means to guard or defend oneself. This warning is not limited to physical statues or pagan deities but extends to anything that takes priority over God in one’s life—such as wealth, fame, pleasure, success, relationships, or even false teachings. There is something simple in these words of the aged apostle John and yet they contain a depth of yearning towards his converts. John loved his Lord Jesus so passionately, and longed that nothing would estrange these converts from the only path of righteousness, peace and joy. Anything made or unmade, visible or unseen that is placed before the Lord or alongside Him, is deemed to be an idol, for He will never share His honor with another. When we place greater importance on the things of this world in preference to the rightful position in our own lives that the Lord Jesus demands from each of His blood-bought children it is an idol. John contrasts this last verse with the declaration in the previous verse. “This is the true God, and eternal life.” The command to avoid idols is a call to protect one’s spiritual integrity by ensuring that nothing—no matter how good or seemingly harmless—comes between the believer and their relationship with Christ. This warning remains deeply relevant today, as modern “idols” include self-reliance, materialism, and the pursuit of identity through achievements or social validation. The verse concludes with “Amen” affirming the truth and seriousness of the command. As John’s final words, it underscores the need for continual vigilance, love, and devotion to the one true God revealed in Jesus Christ. Amen means “so be it.”

Let’s end with this prayer:

Heavenly Father, I know how easy it is for people and things, activities and customs, to creep into our life and push You from the throne of our life. Help us to stay ever close to You in thought, word, and deed, knowing that only as You are lifted upon the throne of our life, will the things of this world take their proper, subordinate place. In Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN.