Presentation 09

Presentation 09

Presentation 09

IntroductionWe have a tremendous fascination with the origin of things. Think of the current interest in family trees or of Charles Darwin’s quest in the “Origin of the Species” or the Victorian explorer's passion to discover the origin of the Nile and Amazon rivers.

This fascination with origins is also found in the realm of Christian theology - where does salvation begin? Am I brought to newness of life because I exercise faith or am I able to exercise faith because I have been brought to newness of life? Unlike questions concerning the origin of the Nile and Amazon, this question has tremendous practical bearing upon our lives. It is also of fundamental importance to the doctrine of assurance which John raised in 4.7ff.

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Love’s Priority - Faith’s RelationJohn is in no doubt about his answer to this question. He begins in v1 by underlining the fact that the new birth lies at the very heart of every true Christian experience. Faith, love and obedience all alike flow from this fundamental reality. Where does the faith we exercise come from cf v1 "Everyone who believes ... has been born of God", that is, the believing is the evidence and the result, of having been born again.

Faith is the gift of God, and is the first-fruit of newness of life, and not, as is often supposed the cause of the new birth! Paul makes the same point in Eph. 2.8 'For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and not that of yourselves, it is the gift of God.'

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Love’s Priority - Faith’s RelationJohn's opening statement is designed to increase the assurance of every true believer. The faith which causes them to cling to Christ, confessing his deity [1v1-3], the power of his death to cleanse from sin [1v7] and to turn away god's righteous wrath [2v2] and to see in his substitutionary death upon the cross the fullest expression of the love of God [4v9-10] and as the one who by virtue of a faith union with him bestows eternal life [5v11-12] is a faith which flows from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

‘I cling to him in faith only because he has first laid hold of me by grace’.

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Love’s Priority - Faith’s RelationFaith and love are indissolubly united for they come from the same source. If God has done a quickening work in my heart so that I believe in him he has also put his unique love in my heart so that I will love both him and his children. Someone has said, 'Faith that does not lead to love is meaningless and love that is not based on faith is powerless'. This relationship between faith and love is found elsewhere in scripture; 'Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord and your love for all the saints I have not stopped giving thanks' Eph. 1. 15-16. John draws from human experience and says 'everyone who loves the father loves the child as well'. And what is true on a human level must be seen to be true in the spiritual life.

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The Effect Of Faith But John is not content to leave the matter there. He doesn’t want to be misunderstood so he earths faith and love in a life of obedience. Some in the history of the church who have spoken about having faith in God and love for God but their whole experience has been self-centred, emotional and mystical.

But we find that belief in Christ, love for another, and obeying God's commands are almost interchangeable ideas in this passage! Loving God is not an emotional experience of mystical ecstasy, but a question of moral obedience - keeping the commandments of God. This faithfully echoes our Lord's own teaching in John 14v15.

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The Effect Of Faith It is obedience to God which earths our love and gives it its moral fibre. This is something to be stressed in an age which believes in the sovereignty of emotions and feelings for the word ‘love’ has been emptied of all its moral content. How quickly people are prepared to excuse their disobedience because they still feel warmly towards God. They say, 'If I did not truly love God, I could not feel as I do about God'.

All sorts of moral disasters wait those who try to separate clear-cut obedience to the law of God from their love for him.

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The Effect Of Faith Now it is not difficult for our love to express itself in obedience, for His commandments are not grievous. God's commands are good. They are the maker’s instructions perfectly designed to meet his creatures needs. One is reminded of Jesus' words in Matt. 11v28-30, "Take my yoke upon you... and you shall find rest... for My yoke is easy... "

The fact is, it is only in the contemplation of the yoke of Christ that it seems hard (remember the rich young ruler). Taking it however leads to rest, and it is proved easy. This is what John means in 3b, his commandments are burdensome only for those who do not want to do them.

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The Effect Of Faith When the will to do them is there, all else will follow, and we shall prove that the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect, Rom 12v2. As the hymn puts it, "Love will make obedience sweet".

It is a measure of how little we have understood the commandments of God that we think obedience of them an irksome duty rather than delight and joy. The contrast John points to is not that of the spiritual v carnal but between believer and unbelievers Regarding obedience, John is not saying, this is how believers ought to behave but how they do behave. If there is no evidence of obedience in our lives how can we experience assurance of salvation?

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Victory Over The WorldVs4-5 further show why keeping the commandments is a joy. For the new birth gives men victory in and over the world and every satanically inspired power that would militate against the keeping of the commandments. When a person comes to faith in Christ, the enemy's hold on that person is broken forever. Christ has opened the prison house and set us free to be our true Christian selves.

John's emphasis in v4 is on the power of the victory rather than on the persons who share in it. John directs our attention not so much to the believer but to the power that has gripped and mastered him. "It is not the man, but his birth from God, which conquers". Plummer

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Victory Over The WorldThere is an important relationship between Christ the overcomer and the believer as overcomer. John repeats the phrase 'overcomes the world' three times in these verses. He is not suggesting that there are three quite separate things through which we overcome the world but one thing looked at from a variety of perspectives.

In each case it is related to the believer's experience: first, his new birth, secondly his faith and thirdly with his belief in Jesus as the Son of God. In order to understand the relationship between Christ as the overcomer and the believer as an overcomer, it is helpful to recognise the verb tenses John uses...

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Victory Over The WorldTwo different Greek tenses are used to describe the Christian as an overcomer The aorist tense which speaks of a ‘once for all’ act of faith. So that Christ's victory is something we have access to when we trust Christ for salvation. Secondly, a ‘present continuous’ tense is used which stresses the continuous victory that is ours through Christ. We overcome by appropriating what is ours by faith.

Some wives tell their husbands they have ‘nothing to wear’, and husbands have been known to open their wives wardrobe door and point to hanger after hanger after hanger. The wife replies, 'l had forgotten all about that and that and that'. In a sense she possesses again what was hers already.

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Victory Over The WorldThe Christian life is made up of such a series of appropriations. Each day by faith we put on the whole armour of God. Each day we affirm that sin will not have dominion over us because we are no longer under its authority.

Each day we affirm that we are not the men and women we used to be but new creatures in Christ. So many Christians are dispirited because they say they cannot get the victory over some temptation. What they have lost sight of is that Christ is victor! He has conquered on their behalf and they are to enter into that victory and make it their own.