I John 5:21

I John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. We think of an idol as a statue to worship made of gold or silver or stone. But there are other idols that we might worship today. An idol is anything that we put ahead of God. Some people put work ahead of God. They don’t have time to go to church on Sunday; they have to work to make more money. Work is their idol. Some people put their car ahead of God. They wash it and wax it and take such good care of it. They have to go out and drive around on Sunday so that other people can see them in their nice car. A car is their idol. Can you think of an idol that someone might have today? Can you think of an idol that you might have? Wait! Don’t answer out loud! Just think about it. We shouldn’t have anything ahead of God. What a great verse to end the book of I John on!

I John 5:14,15

I John 5:14,15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. God has given us a promise: if we come to Him in Jesus’ name, He will hear us. And our verses say that if He hears us, He will do something about it. But remember, we have to ask according to Jesus’ will. We know that if we ask according to Jesus’ will, God the Father will hear and answer. But remember, God can answer in one of three ways: He can say, “Yes”, He can say “No”, or He can say, “Wait”. The word petition means an official request to do something. We know that God hears and answers prayers. And the best part is that He loves us and will only give us what is best for us. If we ask and don’t receive, God may be saying “No, that request isn’t good for you.” Or God may be saying, “No, not now. I just want you to wait a while”. Both of these are answers from God. They may not be the ones that we want, but they are the ones that we need. God will only give us what is best. That is because He loves us so much.

I John 5:11-13

I John 5:11-13 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. These are absolutely wonderful verses. These three verses are our spiritual birth certificate. Let me explain. When each of my four children was born, Kathy and I received a birth certificate from the hospital. The birth certificate had my name, Kathy’s name, and the baby’s name along with their little footprint. That piece of paper was official. That proved exactly when and where they were born. Our verses for today contain our spiritual birth record. Verse eleven starts by saying that this is the record. This is official. Then verse twelve goes on to say that if you have the Son, you have life and if you don’t have the Son, you don’t have life. It is as simple as that. Salvation is found only in Jesus Christ. And finally, verse thirteen says that these have been written so that we may know that we have eternal life. It doesn’t say that we might have eternal life. It doesn’t say that we can have eternal life. It does say we can know – for sure – that we have eternal life. Remember, I John 5:11-13 is our spiritual birth certificate. And God says that it is official!

I John 5:7

I John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. A couple of days ago we talked about the Trinity. Do you remember what the Trinity is? The one true God is in three persons. The beginning of a word is called its prefix. The prefix of Trinity is tri-. Do you know what the prefix tri- means? How many wheels does a tricycle have? Three. How many sides does a triangle have? Three. Tri- means three. So getting back to our lesson, the word Trinity with its prefix of tri- is made up of how many persons? The Trinity is three persons. And our verse mentions all three: the Father, the Son – the Word, and the Holy Spirit – the Holy Ghost. God the Son has bought our salvation with His own blood on the cross of Calvary and the Holy Spirit lives inside of us as Christians. And God the Father is up in heaven in control of everything. Isn’t it great to know that God is in control of everything?

I John 5:4

I John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. When the Bible talks about the world, it could mean several things. John 3:16 says that God loves the world. This verse means that God loves everyone who is in the world. I John 2:15 tells us not to love the world nor the things that are in the world. This verse is talking about the evil world system and all of the evil things that are in the world. Our verse for today is talking about the wicked world system that Satan is in charge of. Our verse tells us not to be afraid of Satan nor his world system because Jesus has already defeated him on the cross. Our verse tells us that we have the victory in Christ, and that if we have faith in God, we too are overcomers. God has overcame the world, and by faith, we have overcome the world too!

I John 5:3

I John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. If we say that we love God, we will do what He says. We will do His commandments. The last word grievous means hard. God’s commandments are not hard to keep. They are not grievous. God would not expect us to do anything that would be too hard for us to do. God is reasonable. God loves us and wants us to obey Him. If we obey God’s commandments, we will be happy.