We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God
keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that we are children of God, and
that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also 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—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal
life. (1 John 5:18-21)
We live in a restless world. People in our society are busy. As a matter of fact, they pride themselves in being busy people. I suppose that people think that by being busy they are revealing how important they are. Busyness means that things are happening in my life.
But we have become so busy that we hardly have time to think. We are always on the move. There is never any time to rest, or relax, or think. We talk now in terms of quality time instead of quantity time. By this we try to justify our busyness. Even our vacations are jammed packed with activity. I have known some people who schedule so much activity during their vacations that they have to take a few sick days when they return in order to rest.
And the trend is not getting better; it is getting worse. A Newsweek poll found that 64% of those surveyed believe they will have less leisure time in the future than they have now. If we continue on at this rate, we will find that the wheels soon come flying off. Even Jesus would regularly come apart from the crowds with his disciples for rest. He knew that if you don’t come apart once in a while you will come apart literally. We need to slow down sometimes. An old African proverb says, "Lord Jesus, make my heart sit down." That’s good advice.
Often this lifestyle of busyness is brought over into our relationship with God. Some people think that God is impressed by our busyness. And we preachers are particularly guilty of this. One pastor once commented to a friend when his friend challenged him about never taking a vacation that "The devil never takes a day off." Then he said he thought for a moment and said to himself, "That doesn’t make sense. Why should I let the devil be my example?" So instead of adopting a pace of life that wears us out, we should rather adopt a lifestyle that enables us to rest in our relationship with God. Sometimes less is more. Jesus Himself said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
In this last section of John’s letter, he gives us some insight into how we can rest in our relationship in God. Three times in this passage he tells us that we know something. It is through what we have come to know that we will be able to understand how we can slow down and trust what God has done. Let’s look together at this knowledge that can set us free from the anxiety that plagues most of this world.
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. (1 John 5:18)
The first thing we need to see is that we have been set free by Christ’s power. When we came to Christ, He did not simply make some minor adjustments in our lives. What happened was a radical transformation. We were born again by the power of the Spirit.
The new birth is itself a radical transformation of our very inner nature. The extent of this transformation is described in Scripture by the phrase "new creation." We are told that prior to this new creation we were dead and that now we have been made alive. This is a powerful word for us. When we come to understand the true extent to which we have been transformed, it will change our lives.
John says in verse 18: We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin. John knows that we have received a new nature that is able to say no to sin. In other words, we have now been set free from sin. Before, we were slaves to sin. Paul tells us in Romans 6:17 that we "used to be slaves to sin." In other words, sin had a grip on our lives and we were unable to break free in our own power. But Christ has changed all that. Now we have been set free by Christ’s power. Let’s look again at Romans 6:17-18: "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."
This is what John is saying when he says that anyone born of God does not continue to sin. He does not mean that we will not commit a sin. He has already dealt with this earlier in this letter. He told us that when we do sin we needed to confess our sins. And he also told us that if we denied that we had sinned, that we were liars. He is not saying here that a true Christian never sins, rather he is saying that a true Christian has a nature that is free from the power of sin. And this new nature desires to please God, not to continue in sin. Sin should offend us. Sin should displease us. Sin should convict us. Sin should cause us to fall on our knees in repentance. This is the nature of the true Christian.
John goes on to say that the one who was born of God keeps him save, and the evil one cannot harm him. Of whom is John speaking here? Who is the one who was born of God? The new American Standard Bible translates this phrase "He who was born of God keeps him." The "He" referred to here is obviously Jesus Christ. The New Century Version leaves no doubt in its translation: "The Son of God keeps them safe." In other words, we are all safe in the arms of Jesus. Jesus keeps us safe and the evil one cannot harm us. We have been set free by Christ’s power. Know that.
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. (1 John 5:19)
There is something else we need to know. We need to know that we are God’s sons and daughters. We are in the family! John says in verse 19: We know that we are children of God. This is the bold confidence of every Christian who truly knows the Lord. If you know the Lord and you know what the Bible teaches about salvation, you can state with absolute certainty that you are a child of God. We saw this clearly in 1 John 5:13 where John says, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." Christians should be confident people – confident about their relationship with God.
Sometimes this confidence comes across to others as a prideful arrogance however. Ray Stedman, in his book, Life By The Son, tells of a colleague of England’s great Christian Prime Minister, William Gladstone, who once said of him, "I don’t mind that Gladstone always seems to have an ace up his sleeve; what makes me angry is his maddening assurance that it was the Almighty who put it there." Some people may look at us and wonder why we are so confident. They may, thinking we are arrogant, question why we can be so sure. We simply need to tell them that we rest our certainty on the sure Word of God’s truth – the Bible. We can say with certainty, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." But Jesus not only loves us, He has accepted us into His family. We are God’s sons and daughters. We can be confident in that.
This is in contrast to those who do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. John says that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. In other words, as Jesus said, "If you are not for me, you are against me." There are really only two choices. You can either follow Jesus, or you can remain under the control of the evil one – Satan. This is clearly what the Bible teaches.
Now, this is not good news to most people. People do not like to be told that unless they are following Jesus they are under the control of Satan. This is an offense to them. Scripture calls it "the offense of the Cross." It may be offensive but it is the truth. And while it may not sound like good news, it is true news. And it can be the first step in someone responding to the good news that Christ can set them free. We have been set free. They can be set free. We have become sons and daughters of God. They can become sons and daughters of God as well. That is the good news. The good news is that Christ died to set people free. If they reject His offer, that is on them. The offer still stands. Thank God that Jesus came so that we can become His children.
We know also 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—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20-21)
The final thing that we need to understand today concerning our relationship with Christ is that we can rest in our relationship with Him. Christianity is a relationship. It is a relationship based on what God has done in Christ, not based on what we must do to earn God’s favor. While every Christian should do good works in order to be obedient to Christ, we do not engage in frenzied activity in order to earn God’s acceptance. God’s love is not based on our being busily engaged in a multitude of activities. Christ’s salvation is not based upon our sweating out a lot of good works. The work has already been done by Christ. Our response to that is to trust Christ and rest in His work.
John says in verse 20: We know also 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 – even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. John is saying that we have entered into a relationship with God. We know Him. More than that, we are in Him. Our salvation is based on our relationship with Jesus Christ. And John says that Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life.
The key to Christianity is understanding this truth. It is understanding that we live by the power of the exchanged life (Galatians 2:20). When we received Christ, we received His life. He is living in us and through us. His power resides in us. As we rest in our relationship with Him, trusting in His resurrection life living through us, then we will tap into the power by which we can live. It is this power that enables us to do whatever work we do for Him. And if we rest in our relationship and draw upon this power then we will not grow weary in the work. We will be able to resist the evil one. We will be able to say no to sin. We will be able to enjoy our relationship as His children. We will be able to share the good news with others.
John closes this letter in verse 21 with the following words: Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. An idol is anything that takes the place of God. John is saying that we need to keep our focus on what is true. We need to keep the main thing the main thing. Our focus should be on Jesus Christ. Our trust should be in Him. Jesus Christ is the sum and substance of the Christian faith. He is the secret to walking in an abundant life.
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