What Is A Believer?
1 John 5:1-5
August 28, 2022
Well, my records show that the last time we were in 1 John was July 24th,
So it’s been a little over a month.
But certainly you remember the purpose of our study.
We have called “Obvious Christianity”
1 John 3:10 “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”
John’s entire point of the letter is that
You can know if you are a child of God.
Knowing whether or not you are redeemed is NOT a complicated test.
It doesn’t require extensive lab work or years of observation.
There is such a distinct difference
Between the redeemed and the unredeemed
That it is possible for you to be absolutely certain
Regarding whether or not you are saved.
And the two key characteristics that give us this clarity?
Practical righteousness and Brotherly Love
1 John 2:3 “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.”
1 John 2:29 “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
1 John 3:24 “The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.”
It has been a continual point of emphasis with John.
You know a Christian by their practical righteousness.
And also by their love:
1 John 2:10-11 “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
1 John 3:13-14 “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”
1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
1 John 4:12 “No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”
1 John 4:20 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
It has been clear hasn’t it?
You can know if you are a child of God
By your practical righteousness and your brotherly love.
And THIS MORNING we continue.
In many ways it is more of the same.
John is still handing out assurance.
We still come across that favorite phrase (2a) “By this we know…”
John is still helping us to identify the genuine marks of salvation
So that we might know for certain that we are children of God.
This morning I would introduce our text by simply asking this question:
WHAT IS A BELIEVER?
It is actually a fairly common question.
Even in evangelism it is not uncommon to ask someone if they are a believer.
WHAT IS THAT? WHO IS THAT?
The typical understanding is that it is someone who believes in Jesus.
But what does that mean?
AND is it possible to tell if someone’s claim to believe is genuine?
This morning we’ll let John answer that question for us.
WHAT WE NOTICE ABOUT OUR TEXT this morning is that
It begins and ends with the concept of believing in Jesus.
(1) “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ”
(5) “he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God”
Certainly not lost on us is THE SUBSTANCE of a person’s faith.
We certainly pay attention to exactly WHAT a person believes.
John lists two things.
First that “Jesus is the Christ” which of course is a reference to Him being God’s King.
• It is to believe that Jesus is the One God promised.
• It is to believe that Jesus is the One the prophets spoke of.
• It is to believe that Jesus is David’s son who ascended to the right hand of God.
• It is to believe that Jesus is the One who will one day reign upon the earth.
It is a reminder that Jesus Christ is Lord.
It is a submission to Christ as Lord of our lives.
We also see that “Jesus is the Son of God” which is a reference to His deity.
• He is the God of creation,
• Which means He is also the Judge of creation.
• He is the Savior of the world.
• He is the perfect mediator between God and man.
So we certainly see the theological aspect here.
It matters what a person believes about Jesus.
John is certainly speaking here
Of someone who believes the truth about Jesus.
• This already EXCLUDING Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses or Muslims
who do not believe Jesus is God.
• This is already EXCLUDING Jews who do not believe Jesus is the Christ.
SO WE CLEARLY SEE THAT.
When we talk about believers
Certainly we are talking about people who believe the truth.
But there is even MORE HERE that needs to be identified.
In verse 1 when John says, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ”,
You need to know that the VERB TENSE there is the PRESENT TENSE.
What John is referring to here is
NOT someone who used to believe or who believed one time in the past.
Literally John is saying, “Whoever is believing that Jesus is the Christ…”
• We are talking about people who believe the truth today.
• We are talking about people who always believe the truth about Jesus.
• We are talking about current, right now, present day BELIEVERS.
Obviously anyone who is not currently believing in Jesus is not saved.
Obviously anyone who once believed but doesn’t now is not redeemed.
John addressed them earlier in the letter.
1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”
People who “used to believe” but don’t any more are not believers.
They never were believers.
John calls them anti-christs.
If they had ever really believed they would still believe.
Their previous claim to belief was a false confession.
I think you understand that.
But back to the question.
HOW DO YOU SPOT A BELIEVER?
• What do you look for?
• What are their characteristics?
• How would you know if you are one?
It all begins with this statement:
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”
Again, literally:
“Whoever is believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”
In other words, the chief characteristic of a genuine believer
Is that they have been born again.
There is no such thing as a genuine believer
Who has not been born again.
John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
The gift of new birth is for “as many as received Him…those who believe in His name”
If someone has NOT been born of God…
If someone does NOT have God’s Holy Spirit…
If someone is NOT regenerated…
If someone is NOT born again…
THEY ARE NOT A BELIEVER
They may claim to be a believer.
They may even say they believe.
But GOD IS THE DETERMINER of who actually believes
And God testifies to those who believe
By causing them to receive the Holy Spirit and be children of God.
Remember when Peter was called to testify regarding Gentile salvation?
Acts 15:7-9 “After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.”
Who was the official testifier that Gentiles were in fact saved? (God was)
And how did God testify that they were true believers? (The Holy Spirit)
So in a simple sense we might say that you spot a genuine believer
By the fact that they have been “born of God”
But again, what does that look like?
How can you tell?
Well John gives you 5 characteristics.
If this is you, then you can know you are a believer
And that you have been born of God.
If this is not you, then you are not a believer,
Regardless of what you might think.
#1 LOVE FOR THE FATHER
1 John 5:1b
Very simply put John says, “whoever loves the Father”
Now certainly John is going beyond this to point out that
Love of the Father is accompanied by love for God’s other children.
We see that is where he is headed.
But not to be overlooked is the first reality that
Being born of God first shows up in a genuine love for God.
Paul explains the reality.
Romans 5:5 “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Paul is NOT there saying
That when the Holy Spirit moved into your life that God started loving you.
Listen, God loved you when you were still a sinner.
God loved you in your unredeemed state.
What Paul IS talking about is that
When God’s Spirit moved in to your life you were given a great love for God.
This is one of the great realities of salvation.
This is what the end of Romans 8 speaks of as well.
• This love you have for God is not from you.
• This love you have for God did not originate with your will.
• This love you have for God is nothing less than the supernatural love which Christ has for God.
• It is the love which was given to you by the Holy Spirit.
Paul pondered this love as he examined the reality of persecution.
Romans 8:35 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
He ISN’T asking if those things will cause Christ to stop loving you.
Of course not! He IS asking if those things can make you stop loving Christ?
That’s a real question isn’t it?
But what is the answer?
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Even those things cannot cause you to stop loving God.
Because the love that has been poured into you is the same love
“which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”
And this is reality for those who believe.
They have been given a love for God.
So there is the first sort of preliminary question.
DO YOU LOVE GOD?
The greatest commandment is:
Matthew 22:37-38 “And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment.”
The goal of the gospel is:
1 Timothy 1:5 “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”
DO YOU LOVE GOD?
Believers do.
Now, we don’t stop there because it might be that many could answer yes to that question without giving it much thought.
I could ask, “Do you love God?”
And you might say, “Oh sure.”
But let’s see what it looks like when someone genuinely loves God.
Love For the Father
#2 LOVE FOR GOD’S CHILDREN
1 John 5:1c
Here we complete the statement John was making.
“whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.”
This is the statement John just spent the end of chapter 4 defending.
We spent 3 weeks going through the passage
Where we learned all about brotherly love.
ATONEMENT DESERVES IT
1 John 4:11 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
ASSURANCE DEPENDS ON IT
1 John 4:17 “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.”
AUTHENTICITY DEMANDS IT
1 John 4:20 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
And the point is brought back to our mind.
If someone says they love God but they don’t love God’s children
Then their love for God is not genuine.
Someone who does not love the children of God is not a real believer.
• They evidence that they have not been born again.
• They evidence that God’s Spirit has not been given to them.
When God’s Spirit moves in to a life, the fruit of God’s Spirit comes too.
And what is the very first fruit listed?
“The fruit of the Spirit is love…”
TRUE BELIEVERS LOVE OTHER BELIEVERS.
And let me just pause here to make a small PRACTICAL APPLICATION.
This is one of the areas where we talk about church attendance.
• No, you can’t save yourself by going to church…
• Yes, you can worship God anywhere (and you should)…
But what does it say about your love for God’s children if you have no desire to fellowship with them?
Do you remember the early church?
Do you remember what happened after they were saved
and the Holy Spirit moved in?
Acts 2:43-47 “Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
What do you call people like that?
• People who hang out “together”
• People who have “all things in common”
• People who meet each other’s “need”
• People who are of “one mind”
• People who break bread “from house to house”
You call people like that: FAMILY
So, do you love God’s people?
Do you love the church?
Is fellowship something you desire?
Love for the Father, Love for God’s children
#3 OBEDIENT LIVING
1 John 5:2-3a
You are seeing how none of these attributes
Operate independently of the others.
THEY ARE ALL INTERTWINED.
Love for God is evidenced by loving His children.
Here you see how OBEDIENCE is intertwined with loving God’s children.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments;”
Now there is a statement we should ponder a moment.
How do you know if you REALLY love God’s people?
Is it just because you like to be around them?
That is NOT what John says.
John says there is a better way to tell
If you love God’s children or even if you love God.
HOW?
OBEDIENCE.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.”
Did you know that your obedience to God is a reflection of your love for your brother?
Our Sunday school class just finished up the book of Malachi.
I think that’s where we are going next when 1 John is finished.
But let me go ahead and give you a little preview of it real quick.
Malachi 2:10-12 “Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? “Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god. “As for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers, or who presents an offering to the LORD of hosts.”
Now if you notice the indictment.
God says that they “deal treacherously each against his brother”
The issue of the passage is a lack of brotherly love.
WHAT WHERE THEY DOING?
“for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god”
LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT.
Some guy married a foreign woman and God said that this was a sin against his brother? (Yes)
That flies in the face of our culture doesn’t?
Our culture thinks sexual sin is none of your business.
• If I want have sex outside of marriage…
• If I want to live with someone I’m not married to…
• If I want to divorce and remarry outside of God’s permission…
• If I want to have an affair…
That’s none of your business.
Do not judge!
That’s what our world thinks isn’t it?
BUT GOD SAYS that sins like that are a sin against your brother.
How?
• Tell me why did God kick Israel out of the Promised Land? (idolatry)
• And who introduced idolatry? (Solomon and his foreign wives)
Something you need to know: SIN SPLATTERS
Remember that man at Corinth who was sleeping with his father’s wife and the Corinthians were laughing it off?
1 Corinthians 5:6 “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?”
In other words – “It will spread!”
Go read what Jesus had to say about putting a stumbling block before one of these little ones…
And by the way it’s not just sexual sin that is a threat,
And any all disobedience is a sin against your brother.
For you are setting an example for your brother
That will make it easier for him to sin as well.
Walking in disobedience is a sin against our brother because we are actually leading him into sin by our example.
• Do you think your sin has no effect on people who are watching?
• Have you not seen your children or grandchildren imitate your dress or your speech?
• Do your kids not adopt your attendance habits to church?
LISTEN the purest love for your brother
Is for you to walk in obedience to the commands of God.
Certainly that is also love for God as John said:
“For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments”
John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
But it’s not just about loving God.
It’s also about loving your brother.
SO don’t say you are a believer if you don’t love God.
AND don’t say you love God if you don’t love your brother.
AND don’t say you love your brother if you don’t walk in obedience.
Obedience is how we show love for our brother.
Love For God, Love For God’s Children, Obedient Living
#4 LOVE FOR GOD’S LAW
1 John 5:3b
It is a great statement.
“and His commandments are not burdensome.”
That is certainly true.
After all Jesus taught us that His “yoke is easy” and His “burden is light”
But more than just reality here, John speaks of a CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE.
• No genuine believer hates God’s Law.
• No genuine believer hates Christ’s commands.
After all, we already established that
We are believing that “Jesus is the Christ”
How can we say that we believe Jesus is the King
If we hate doing what He says?
Jesus looked at the crowds and said:
Luke 6:46 “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”
Jesus said that at the judgment this reality will become apparent.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”
Those people could call Jesus Lord and say they believed
But their lawlessness proved that their confession was false.
Genuine believers don’t see obedience as a burden;
They love the Law of God.
Psalms 119:97 “O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.”
Psalms 119:113 “I hate those who are double-minded, But I love Your law.”
Psalms 119:163 “I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law.”
This is typically one of the first ways
You begin to recognize when someone has been saved.
You’ve heard Chris Horn’s testimony about how he came in my office one day and after visiting I asked him if he’d been saved?
• I had talked to Chris many times and for many hours and never heard anything
about loving God’s word.
• But all of a sudden this guy sat down in my office and all he can talk about his
all that he is learning in the Bible.
• It’s not hard to tell.
• God had given him a love for His word.
God does this for those who are born again.
God does this for those who believe.
THEY RECEIVE A LOVE FOR GOD’S LAW.
This is the evidence of the New Covenant
Hebrews 8:10 “FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”
When the Holy Spirit moves in so does a love for His word.
So, do you love God’s word?
Do you dread it or desire it?
Do you agree with it or resist it?
• How can you claim to believe if you don’t love God?
• How can you claim to love God if you don’t love His children?
• How can you claim to love His children if you don’t obey His word?
• How can you obey His word if you don’t love it?
You see that right?
One more attribute of true believers.
#5 OVERCOMES THE WORLD
1 John 5:4-5
True believers walk in victory.
True believers overcome the world.
WE ARE NOT SAYING that true believers never fall into sin.
WE ARE NOT SAYING that true believers never get sucked into worldly thinking.
WE ARE SIMPLY SAYING THAT CHRISTIANS DON’T STAY THERE.
When someone says they are stuck in sin and cannot stop it, that is NOT the testimony of a believer.
Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
The very presence of the Holy Spirit in the life
Is to make righteousness and obedience possible.
Jesus said:
John 8:31-32 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
“Overcome” is the Greek word NIKAO.
It’s where we get our word for Nike.
It means “to conquer”
And Christians are conquerors.
In fact:
Romans 8:37 “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”
Christians are overcomers.
We don’t have time to go study them all this morning but go read those 7 churches in Revelation and see how each church is expected to “overcome”.
THAT IS WHAT WE DO.
• And we do this because we have the Spirit of God.
• We do this because the Son has set us free.
• We do this because we have been “born of God”
We overcome the world.
• The world’s allurements…
• The world’s deceptions…
• The world’s ideologies…
• The world’s temptations…
WE OVERCOME THEM.
• We don’t walk in selfishness, we walk in love.
• We don’t walk in sin, we walk in practical righteousness.
• We don’t walk in rebellion, we walk in obedience.
We overcome the world.
“and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.”
WHY IS FAITH THE VICTORY?
Because of what John said in verse 1, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”
• When we exercise faith we are born again.
• When we give faith we get the Spirit of God and we overcome.
And that is why you get the summary verse at the end.
(5) “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
IT IS BELIEVERS WHO OVERCOME.
WHAT IS A BELIEVER?
It is someone who has been born of God.
• And because they are born of God they love the Father.
• And because they love the Father they love God’s children.
• And because they love God’s children they obey God’s commands.
• And their obedience proves they love God’s Law.
• And because they love and obey God’s Law they overcome the world.
THIS IS A TRUE BELIEVER.
IS THAT YOU?
• Do you love God?
• Do you love God’s children?
• Do you walk in obedience?
• Do you love God’s word?
• Are you overcoming the world?
Then you are a child of God!
That is what a believer is.
If those things are NOT REALITY in your life,
Perhaps it is time to ask what you are believing?
Are you believing that Jesus is the Christ? (the Lord and King of your life)
Are you believing that Jesus is the Son of God? (Savior and ultimate authority)
If not, then this morning it is time for you to submit your life to Him
That you might be born of God as well.
John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
