Let’s turn together to First John and chapter five. First John, chapter five. As you do so, let me quickly say: it’s been a real joy for me to have been with you the last few days. Some of you, we’ve managed to catch up here and there, chat a little bit, know what’s happening in your life and it’s been very, very encouraging to me to also realize that some of you have really been relating through social media without me knowing. That’s been another aspect that has really encouraged me, that I’m not coming as a total stranger among you, but I’m coming as a true friend over the years, so that’s great. I’m still around in your country for an extra week, well almost a week. This coming Friday is when I rush back home. We have a leaders’ meeting that begins Friday night up to Saturday around midnight.
We have been looking at First John and we have seen that it’s around a topic that he mentions, in the fifth chapter actually, as he’s beginning to wrap up, and it is found in chapter 5 and verse 13, where John specifically says that, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)
We’ve seen that “these things” have likely comprised two things, and that is believing the truth and living a transformed life, and the emphasis there being living a life of love. Over and over again, John has said this in one way or the other, challenging us to examine ourselves so that we don’t end up with that which is false. He will come back to that in this chapter, but I hope you noticed as we went into chapter 4 yesterday, that’s essentially what he again dealt with. He began with test the spirits so that you don’t end up following deceivers. Make sure that you don’t just believe everything that you hear because it’s in the context of the church, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. And if that was being said in in John’s day, it is worse today. And then we also saw in that fourth chapter, how he went to town, as it were, on this issue of love. Love. Examine yourself, because if you are still a warped little soul that’s always thinking about me, myself, and I, then you do desperately need salvation. You still have not been saved by Christ.
We are back to chapter five now, and I have entitled my message: “The transformation that results from believing.” The transformation that results from believing. And again, as we enter into this, I want you to see how John is still very concerned about not being deceived on the one hand, and yet at the same time, about celebrating that which is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we don’t end up being destabilized by false teachers. And again, this issue of being deceived is vital and so he wants us to really believe, and in believing, experience abundant life.
Do Not Be Deceived
Many years ago, a friend of mine was invited for a conference in South Africa from Zambia, and he was a pastor and he started off this journey. As he got to the Zambian border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, he then exchanged his Zambian Kwacha for South African Rands. He made one blatant, well, let me not say blatant, but one major mistake, and it is that the changing of these currencies were done (was done) by the roadside. The guys were offering a better exchange rate than what he was going to get in the bureau or what he was going to get in the bank. And so, with that, he continued his journey: went through immigration, crossed the entire country of Zimbabwe, arrived on the South African border and that’s where now he was about to pay in order to enter that country. And when they put it through the machines, it was a false Rand note. Well, the second one was false, it was fake, the third one, it was counterfeit. And by that time, obviously, he began to realize what had happened. So, he handed over all the notes, and the guy looked at them and said to him, by passing them through, back into his hands, (that) they were all false.
So, what he had to do then, was to borrow money from some other Zambians in order to make a U-turn and head back home. He missed the conference all together. But you can imagine how this only dawned on him when he had almost arrived, almost. While he was going, he was blissfully ignorant, enjoying the journey with everybody else, chatting politics, the weather and so on, until bang at the border, (he was) turned back.
Well thankfully, the following year he went. This time, he went into a bureau and got the right currency, yes? He may have thought it was a lower exchange rate, but (hey!) he was wiser this time. And he attended the conference. He always testifies about that.
The difference between that and what we look at here is this: that if you think you’re a Christian and you’re deceived, and you enjoy the journey all the way to death, and then discover then that what you had was a false Christianity, there’s no second chance. There’s nothing like, “Okay, head back and we’ll invite you again next year.” (And this…) There’s nothing like that. It is too late. And that’s why it’s crucial for you to make sure you have the genuine article.
How many of you have read Pilgrim’s Progress? It’s a very common book. Okay, if you haven’t, please. You can download. It’s really an excellent book, an excellent book. It’s the world’s number two bestseller. Number one is the Bible. Number two is Pilgrim’s Progress. Pilgrim’s Progress. Just make sure you read it before you die, or the sooner the better, because it has a lot of teachings about Christianity.
But later on, somebody wrote another book that is called “The Celestial Railroad.” It is the exact opposite of Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s much smaller, by the way, and you can download it also from the internet. It’s brilliant. And the reason why it’s brilliant is this: that in Pilgrim’s Progress, the person is a real Christian who continues this journey all the way to heaven, with all the difficulties along the way. That’s why you should read it. In “Celestial Railroad,” it’s a guy who thinks he’s a Christian all the way, until he crosses the river that is supposed to lead to the Celestial City. And he’s in a little boat, he thinks he’s going to the right place. And then the guy who is actually rowing the boat, as soon as they leave the shore, smoke begins to come out of his ears and nostrils, and he laughs with a hellish laugh. That’s how it ends! In other words, the guy realizes too late that, “I’ve been deceived. I’m not going to heaven. I’m in the hands of the devil. I’m going to hell.”
What Genuine Belief Produces
And this is what is being handled by John here, wanting us to make sure that we are not deceived because there are many deceivers. How does he handle it? Well, first of all, he deals with this aspect of believing and how, out of genuine believing, there is going to be the fruit of love, the fruit of obedience, and the fruit of victory. Genuine belief in the Son of God produces love, obedience and ultimately, victory.
So, let’s quickly read verse 1 down to verse 5. John is speaking in his usual cyclic ways, but you can’t miss his point,
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God…” (1 John 5:1a)
Okay so, the new birth produces faith and consequently we believe.
“…and everyone who loves the Father, loves whoever has been born of him.” (1 John 5:1b)
So, you can see the love aspect coming out. So, believing the truth and this life of love.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” (1 John 5:2)
Okay so, you can see there again, believing producing love, producing obedience.
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3)
Allow me to add, because the Holy Spirit is in our hearts and is inspiring us, not only to love, but to obey God in all his commandments so they are not burdensome. If you are unconverted, they are burdensome, and you just wish you didn’t have to obey God.
Verse 4,
“For everyone who has been born of God…” (1 John 5:4a)
There it is again. The new birth produces faith and then faith produces all these other things: love, obedience and now listen to this,
“Everyone has been born of God overcomes the world.” (1 John 5:4a)
In other words, victory is certain.
“And this is the victory that has overcome the world (we are back to square one)—our faith (our faith). Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5)
And where did we begin? Listen to chapter 5:1,
“(Whoever) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God….” (1 John 5:1)
So, the basic point that John is dealing with as he’s drawing towards the end, is God infuses spiritual life into us. We were dead. He infuses spiritual life into us. Our eyes are opened. We see the danger we are in. We flee. We see the sufficient saviour. We embrace him. We experience a real transformation, seismic transformation in our entire lives that produces love, obedience, and ultimate victory. That’s the Christian life.
That’s the Christian life and all that happened is somebody preached the gospel to you. That’s it. Just preached to you Christ and him crucified. But that person who shared the word of God with you is a co-worker with God. He’s speaking and God acted and bang, look at what has happened. John is saying, “This is why I am so confident about you. This is why I know that, with all the mess that is around, you will be victorious.”
Genuine Belief Is Based On God’s Testimony
But in the second place, he goes on to speak about why this faith is built on solid ground. Why? And it is because it is believing God’s own testimony. What we have come to believe is not the…
