Sunday School Lesson

1. 1 John 5:1-13
Jesus Alone
July 12, 2015
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
What’s the number one thing?
The Glory of God!
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1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of
God.
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July Memory Verse:
I John 1:7 NIV
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.

2. Remember To Pray For
The Committee On Committees
Kendall Smith - Chairman
Beth Aldridge, David Gibbs,
Sherye Green, Mike Lowe,
Chris Maddux, Jim Merritt, Jr.,
Elizabeth Rich, Eddy Waller
Men's Stories
Every Tuesday, 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM
All men are invited to a great lunch and devotion
Hosted by Hal Warren -
First Baptist Jackson's Missions and Evangelism Pastor.
Fellowship Hall East
11:15 a.m. - Lunch Line Begins
12:15 p.m. - Program Begins
12:50 p.m. - Dismiss
Regular Line: $7.50
Senior Adult: $6.00
Lite Line: $5.50

3. French Camp Academy
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We have three challenges that the Education Department has placed before us
in 2015:
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1.) Memorize the monthly memory verses and know each month we are hiding
God’s Word in our heart.
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January verse: Romans 10:9
February verse: Ephesians 2:8-9
March verse: Romans 3:23
April verse: I Peter 1:3
May verse: 2 Corinthians 9:7
June verse: Philippians 1:6

4. 2.) Share your faith with one person each month and build a relationship with
them, so they will become a believer in 2015 as God uses you to plant seeds
with that person.
Luke 19:11-27
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3). Ask two Sunday School class members to share how they have seen God at
work during the week.
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Next Sunday
July 19, 2015
Revelation 1:1-8
Jesus’ Revelation
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5. Today’s passage: 1 John 5:1-13 NKJV
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1 John 5:1-13 NKJV
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who
loves Him Who begot also loves Him Who is begotten of Him.
(Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If
we love the One Who conceives the Child, we’ll surely love the Child Who was
conceived.)
MSG
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep
His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
(The proof that we love God comes when we keep His commandments and
they are not at all troublesome.)
MSG
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6. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that
has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he
who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
(Every God-begotten person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power
that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the
world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.)
MSG
6 This is He Who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but
by water and blood. And it is the Spirit Who bears witness, because the Spirit is
truth.
(He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from
the womb, but baptismal birth of His ministry and sacrificial death.)
MSG
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7 For there are three that bear witness in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Spirit; and these three are One.
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8 And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the
blood; and these three agree as one.

7. (A triple testimony: the Spirit, the Baptism, the Crucifixion - all the three in perfect
agreement.)
MSG
9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater (if we take
human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when
God gives testimony as He does here); for this is the witness of God which He has
testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in
himself; he who does not believe God (in effect calls God a liar, he blasphemes
God) has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God
has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not
have the Son of God does not have life (whoever rejects the Son, rejects life).
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know (not hope, but will know beyond the shadow of a doubt)
that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of
the Son of God.
1 John 5:1-13 NKJV
John wrote this epistle so that we may be sure that we are the children of God
(1 John 5:13).
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It would be helpful at this point to review the characteristics of God's children:
• “Everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.” (1 John 2:29,
NASB)
• “No one who is born of God practices sin.” (1 John 3:9, NASB)
• "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the
brethren.” (1 John 3:14, NASB)
• “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who
loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7, NASB).
• “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory
that has overcome the world—our faith.” (1 John 5:4 NASB).

8. If you bear these "birthmarks," you can say with confidence that you are a child
of God.
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When Sir James Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform, was on his deathbed, a
friend asked him, "Sir, what are your speculations?"
Simpson replied: "Speculations! I have no speculations! 'For I know Whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have
committed unto Him against that day.'"
2 Tim 1:12
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The Bible states in several places (Romans 6:23b, Ephesians 2:8-9) that eternal
life is a gift from God.
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Basics/gift_of_eternal_life.j

9. Romans 6:23 NKJV
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it
is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
God will not take something back that He has promised to give you, that He has
already given you.
Your eternal life has already begun.
It is a present possession, not merely a future hope (John 3:36; 5:24; 6:47, 54;
10:28; 1 John 3:15), though it is not fully manifested in this life.
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You have been saved (past tense) from the penalty of sin – Justification.
You are being saved (present tense) from the power of sin – Sanctification.
You will be saved (future tense) from the very presence of sin – Glorification.
There will come a day in the future when the eternal life believers already
possess will no longer be incarcerated in their sinful, fallen flesh.
On that glorious day, they will experience their “adoption as sons, the
redemption of the body” (Romans 8:23; cf. Phil 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
Then the glory of eternal life—the power of the Trinity that works within them
(Ephesians 3:16-19)—will shine through them unclouded by their mortal bodies.
(glorification)

10. The reason that you can know that you have eternal life is because of the
character of the One Who promised to give it to you.
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Therefore, your eternal life is not dependent on how well you live the last two
months of your life.
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In its most basic sense, eternal life is living forever with God in Heaven (Matthew
25:46; Mark 10:30).
The term does not refer primarily to duration of life, but to quality of life.
Eternal life is to know Jesus Christ (John 17:3), Who Himself is eternal life (1 John
5:20), and to share in His life.
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11. John 17:3 NKJV
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ Whom You have sent.
1 John 5:20 NKJV
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an
understanding, that we may know Him Who is true; and we are in Him Who is
true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
The apostle assured them that if they passed the doctrinal and practical tests,
they could know for certain that they had eternal life.
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That ye may know (ina eidhte) - to know with settled intuitive knowledge.
• John wishes them to have eternal life in Christ (John 20:31) and to know
that they have it, but not with flippant superficiality (1 John 2:3).
1 John 5:11-12 NKJV
11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does
not have life.
The Essence of Our Faith
With this passage (5:11-12), the letter proper comes to an end.
• What follows is in the nature of a postscript and the end is a statement that
the essence of the Christian life is eternal life.
The word for eternal is aionios.
It means far more than simply lasting forever.
• A life which lasted forever might well be a curse and not a blessing, an
intolerable burden and not a shining gift.
There is only one Person to Whom aionios may properly be applied and that is
God.

12. In the real sense of the term it is God alone Who possesses and inhabits eternity.
Eternal life is, therefore, nothing other than the life of God Himself.
What we are promised is that here and now there can be given us a share in the
very life of God.
It may be pointed out, in fact, that the assurance of one's salvation always rests
fundamentally and sufficiently on the direct promises that God makes to that
believer.
• In other words, one's assurance rests on the testimony of God.
In God there is peace and, therefore, eternal life means serenity.
It means a life liberated from the fears which haunt the human situation.
• In God there is power and, therefore, eternal life means the defeat of
frustration.
It means a life filled with the power of God and, therefore, victorious over
circumstance.
In God there is holiness and, therefore, eternal life means the defeat of sin.
Eternal life means a life clad with the purity of God and armed against the soiling
infections of the world.
In God there is love and, therefore, eternal life means the end of bitterness and
hatred.
It means a life which has the love of God in its heart and the undefeatable love
of man in all its feelings and in all its action.
In God there is life and, therefore eternal life means the defeat of death.
It means a life which is
indestructible because it has in it
the indestructibility of God Himself.
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13. It is John's conviction that such a life comes through Jesus Christ and in no other
way.
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If eternal life is the life of God, it means that we can possess that life only when
we know God and are enabled to approach Him and rest in Him.
We can do these two things only in Jesus Christ.
The Son alone fully knows the Father and, therefore, only He can fully reveal to
us what God is like.
• As John had it in his Gospel: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son,
Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known" (John 1:18).
And Jesus Christ alone can bring us to God.
It is in Him that there is open to us the new and living way into the presence of
God (Heb 10:19-23).
Hebrews 10:19-23 The Message
19-21 So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the
Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of His sacrifice, acting as
our Priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is His body.
22-23 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out.
Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps His
word.
Hebrews 10:19-23 The Message
Look at this simple analogy: If we wish to meet someone whom we do not know
and who moves in a completely different circle from our own, we can achieve
that meeting only by finding someone who knows him and is willing to introduce
us to him.
That is what Jesus does for us in regard to God.

14. Eternal life is the life of God and we can find that life only through Jesus Christ.
Are you trusting Him in such a way that no one on Earth or in Heaven can shake
your confidence in Him?
If you haven't come to that point, you haven't come anywhere at all.
To be saved means you trust Christ, and it means you have Christ as your Savior.
"He that hath the Son hath life."
He's our lifeboat, He's our lifeline.
He's our only hope & we are lost without Him, but if we have Him, we have life.
The question is:
Whom do you believe?
Not what do you believe, but Whom do you believe?
Do you believe God?
Do you believe the record that He gave?
He says that if you have the Son, you have life.
Do you believe that?
John didn't say if you feel like it or if you have joined something, but if you
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is not a matter of how much faith you have or how you feel about it, it is
whether or not you trust Christ.
That's all important.
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15. Having this assurance of eternal life will do something for our Christian life here
and now – and for later! (See 1 Timothy 4:8)
1 Timothy 4:7b-8 NKJV
7b exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but
godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of
that which is to come.
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THE RESPONSE TO GOD'S TESTIMONY
1 John 5:10 NKJV
10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not
believe God (in effect calls God a liar, he blasphemes God) has made Him a
liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.
What people do with God's testimony to Jesus Christ determines their eternal
destiny.
There are only two possible responses: to believe God's testimony, or to reject it.
There are two questions that God will ask everyone:
1) What did you do with My Son?
2) What did you do with what I gave you?

16. 1) What did you do with My Son?
 Determines whether you get into Heaven or not.
2) What did you do with what I gave you?
 Determines your rewards once you get into Heaven.
No one can remain neutral, for as Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against
Me.” (Matthew 12:30a)
The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.
He who has the Son (abiding in him), has eternal life!
Since true faith perseveres, those who turn away from the Gospel reveal that
they were never saved in the first place.
On the other hand, the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar.
To deny that Jesus Christ is Who God said He is, to refuse to believe in the
testimony that God has given concerning His Son, renders God a liar—which is
the severest of all blasphemies since God is perfect truth and cannot lie.
God cannot lie: Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Titus
1:2; Hebrews 6:18.
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Blasphemy is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for
God.
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17. Etymology - The word "blasphemy" comes from Greek words that mean
"utterance, talk, speech" and "injure".
• From blasphemare also came Old French blasmer, from which the English
word, "blame", came.
It denotes also any kind of calumny, or evil-speaking, or abuse (1 Kings 21:10;
Acts 13:45; 18:6).
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Christian theology condemns blasphemy.
It is spoken of in Mark 3:29, where blaspheming the Holy Spirit is spoken of as
unforgivable—the eternal sin.
Mark 3:29 NKJV
28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever
blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—
The strong man (Matthew 12:22-30 ).
Jesus healed a demoniac who was both blind and dumb (Matt. 12:22-24), and
the scribes and Pharisees used this miracle as an opportunity to attack Him.
(Also in Mark 3:22-30)
Mark 3:22-30 NKJV
A House Divided Cannot Stand
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,”
and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”

18. 23 So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan
cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot
stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if
Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an
end. 27 No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he
first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
The Unpardonable Sin
28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever
blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— 30 because
they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Mark 3:22-30 NKJV
In this passage, Mark introduced a new word -parables - (Mark 3:23; 4:2, 10-11,
13, 33-34).
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Jesus explained the kingdom, not by giving a lecture on theology, but by
painting pictures that captured the attention of the people and forced them to
use their imaginations and think.
Our English word parable comes from two Greek words that mean "to cast
alongside" (para—alongside; ballo—to throw or cast).
• A parable is a story or figure placed alongside a teaching to help us
understand its meaning.
It is much more than "an earthly story with a heavenly meaning," and it certainly
is not an "illustration" such as a preacher would use in a sermon.
A true parable gets the listener deeply involved and compels that listener to
make a personal decision about God's truth and his or her life.

19. http://thewellcommunity.org/media/series/parables.jpg
So penetrating and personal are parables that, after they heard several of them,
the religious leaders wanted to kill the Lord Jesus! (see Matt. 21:45-46)
A parable begins innocently as a picture that arrests our attention and arouses
our interest.
But as we study the picture, it becomes a mirror in which we suddenly see
ourselves.
If we continue to look by faith, the mirror becomes a window through which we
see God and His truth.
How we respond to that truth will determine what further truth God will teach us.
(see John 14:21)
John 14:21 NKJV
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And
he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest
Myself to him.”
Why did Jesus teach in parables?
His disciples asked Him that very question (Mark 4:10-12; and see Matthew
13:10-17).
• A careful study of His reply reveals that Jesus used parables both to hide
the truth and to reveal it.
Matthew 13:10-13, 16-17 NKJV
The Purpose of Parables
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in
parables?”

20. 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For
whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but
whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and
hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for
assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see
what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Matthew 13:10-13, 16-17 NKJV
The crowd did not judge the parables; the parables judged the crowd.
• The careless listener, who thought he knew everything, would hear only a
story that he did not really understand; and the result in his life would be
judgment (Matt. 11:25-30).
• The sincere listener, with a desire to know God's truth, would ponder the
parable, confess his ignorance, submit to the Lord, and then begin to
understand the spiritual lesson Jesus wanted to teach.
Jesus placed a great deal of importance on the hearing of the Word of God.
In one form or another, the word hear is used thirteen times in Mark 4:1-34.
Obviously, our Lord was speaking, not about physical hearing, but about
hearing with spiritual discernment.
To "hear" the Word of God means to understand it and obey it (see James 1:22-
25).
Our Lord gave several parables to help the people (and that included His
disciples) understand the nature of His kingdom.
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21. The answer lies in the nature of God and in His patient dealings with the nation of
Israel.
God the Father sent John the Baptist to prepare the nation for the coming of their
Messiah.
Many of the common people responded to John's call and repented (Matthew
21:32), but the religious leaders permitted John to be arrested and eventually
killed.
God the Son came as promised and called the nation to trust Him, but those
same religious leaders asked for Jesus to be killed.
• On the cross, our Lord prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do" (Luke 23:34).
The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and demonstrated God's power in many
convicting ways.
How did those same religious leaders respond?
By arresting the Apostles, ordering them to keep silent, and then killing Stephen
themselves!
Stephen told them what their sin was: "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost" (Acts
7:51).
They had sinned against the Father and the Son, but had been graciously
forgiven.
• When they sinned against the Holy Spirit, they had reached "the end of the
line" and there could be no more forgiveness.
When the Spirit of God convicts the sinner and reveals the Saviour, the sinner
may resist the Spirit and reject the witness of the Word of God, but that does not
mean he has forfeited all his opportunities to be saved.
If he will repent and believe, God can still forgive him.
Even if the sinner so hardens his heart that he seems to be insensitive to the
pleadings of God, so long as there is life, there is hope.
Only God knows if and when any "deadline" has been crossed.
You and I must never despair of any sinner (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).

22. 2 Peter 3:9 NKJV
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is
longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should
come to repentance.
Jesus declared, All the sins and blasphemies (derogatory words vs. God) of men
are open to God's gracious forgiveness (1:4) with one exception - blasphemies
against the Holy Spirit.
In light of the context this refers to an attitude (not an isolated act or utterance)
of defiant hostility toward God that rejects His saving power toward man,
expressed in the Spirit-empowered person and work of Jesus.
It is one's preference for darkness even though he has been exposed to light
(John 3:19).
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Such a persistent attitude of willful unbelief can harden into a condition in which
repentance and forgiveness, both mediated by God's Spirit, become impossible.
This person is guilty (enochos, "liable to, in the grasp") of an eternal sin (the
ultimate sin because it remains forever unforgiven; Matthew 12:32).
Judas Iscariot (cf. Mark 3:29; 14:43-46) proved the reality of these words.
These scribes were close to calling the Holy Spirit "Satan."
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23. Rejecting God's witness concerning His Son is not a misfortune to be pitied, or
overlooked in the name of tolerance.
It is a heinous, damning sin and an affront to God's holy nature.
Those guilty of it must not be patronized, comforted, or reassured, but confronted
and called to repentance.
This is no trivial issue; the integrity of God is at stake.
John closed this section by setting out the eternal results of the only two possible
responses to God's witness to Jesus Christ:
He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of
God does not have the life.
Here again the exclusivity of the Gospel is evident, only those who believe the
Father's witness to the Son and acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior have
eternal life; all who refuse to do so do not have the Son, and so do not have
eternal life.
The glorious promise to those who believe God's testimony is that “as many as
received Jesus, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to
those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
1 John 5:13 NKJV
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know (not hope, but will know beyond the shadow of a doubt)
that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of
the Son of God.
But the sobering warning to those who reject it is, “How will you escape if you
neglect so great a salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).
THE PURPOSE OF GOD'S TESTIMONY
1 John 5:11 NASB
And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son.
The purpose of God's testimony through the water, the blood, and the Spirit is
that sinners might receive eternal life.
• Eternal life involves far more than merely living forever in a chronological
sense.

24. The essence of eternal life is the believer's participation in the blessed
everlasting life of Christ (John 1:4) through his or her union with Him (Rom 5:21;
6:4, 11, 23; 1 Cor 15:22; 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 2:20; Col 3:3-4; 2 Tim 1:1, 10; Jude 21).
Jesus defined it in His High Priestly Prayer to the Father: “This is eternal life, that
they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent”
(John 17:3).
It is the life of the age to come (Ephesians 2:6-7), which believers will most fully
experience in the perfect, unending glory, holiness, and joy of Heaven (Rom
8:19-23, 29; 1 Cor 5:49; Phil 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2).
The eternal life promised by God in the Old Testament (2 Sam 12:23; Ps 16:8-10;
133:3; Dan 12:2) and sought by the Jews of Jesus' day (Luke 10:25; John 5:39)
comes only to those who believe God's testimony and place their faith in His
Son.
The Gospel is exclusive; there are not many ways to God, but only One.
In John 14:6 Jesus declared, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one
comes to the Father but through Me.”
“And there is salvation in no one else,” Peter added, “for there is no other name
under Heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved”
(Acts 4:12; cf. John 6:68; 17:2; Rom 6:23; 1 Tim 1:16; Jude 21).
1 John 5:12 NASB
He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not
have the life.
Christian Certainties (1 John 5:13-21)
Life in this fallen world is filled with uncertainty, with few guarantees and little that
can be depended on.
“Man, who is born of woman,” Job lamented, “is short-lived and full of turmoil”
(Job 14:1), being “born for trouble, as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7).
Illness, an accident, violence, or old age catches up with everyone in the end,
because all people “are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then
vanishes away” (James 4:14; cf. Ps 39:5; 90:10).
In the meantime, life's journey is fraught with doubts, questions, and
uncertainties.

25. Jobs vanish as companies downsize and outsource.
The volatility of the stock market, the fluctuations of the economy, and
increasing taxes create further uncertainty.
Relationships come and go, with people's faithfulness often lasting only as long
as their felt needs are being met—or until they find someone more attractive.
The uncertainty of relationships has made prenuptial agreements
commonplace, as people attempt to protect themselves against being
exploited by their erstwhile partners.
On a larger scale, natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes,
fires, and floods, can sweep away in an instant the accumulated treasures of a
lifetime.
Uncertainty over what the future holds drives people to spend a significant
percentage of their income on insurance, as they attempt to safeguard against
all of the potential negative contingencies.
Car insurance provides a measure of security in the event of an accident.
Uncertainty about fire, theft, and natural disasters leads people to buy coverage
to protect their homes.
Health insurance helps guard against financial ruin in case of serious illness; life
insurance provides money should the breadwinner in a family die.
But the most profound uncertainty with the most disastrous results exists not in the
material realm, but in the spiritual and eternal realm.
Because they reject the gospel and are without God, people are also without
hope (Eph 2:12), or protection from divine wrath and eternal hell.
Most people put their hope in false religions or personal ideologies to get them
into a happy eternal state.
And it is popularly believed that all religions lead to heaven and most people
are good, thus they are headed there.
What is not popular is the reality that only the Bible is the true Word of God, the
gospel the only way to heaven, and all who do not believe it go to hell forever.

26. The Bible reveals the truth about how the universe began, and how it will end;
about why people behave the way they do; about what is right and what is
wrong; about heaven and hell, and how people get to those places; about what
makes for good human relationships; about God's promises; and, most
significant, about the Lord Jesus Christ, including His virgin birth, sinless life,
unparalleled teaching, substitutionary death, literal resurrection, bodily
ascension, and second coming.
Scripture is filled with absolute certainties, including the reality that sin has
consequences (Num 32:23); that the Bible is true (Ps 19:7; 111:7; Luke 1:4; 2 Peter
1:19); that righteousness brings a reward (Prov 11:18); that God alone is God
(Deut 4:39; Isa 43:10; 45:6), can do all things (Job 42:2), will not act wickedly
(Job 34:12), judges according to truth (Rev 16:7; 19:2; cf. Ps 119:75), is faithful
(Deut 7:9), punishes sin (Rom 2:2), created everything (Isa 48:13)—including
humans (Ps 100:3), and is good and merciful (Ps 23:6); that Jesus Christ bore our
griefs and sorrows (Isa 53:4), is the Messiah, the Holy One of God (John 6:69; cf.
Matt 14:33; Acts 2:36), knows all things (John 16:30; 21:17), was sent by the Father
(John 17:8;25; 16:27, 30), has authority to forgive sins (Matt 9:6), will not reject
those who come to Him (John 6:37), knows those who are His (John 10:14; cf. 2
Tim 2:19), has entered into God's presence on believers' behalf (Heb 6:19-20),
and will return (Rev 22:20); that God's promise of salvation is guaranteed (Rom
4:16); that there will be a resurrection (Job 19:25-27); that God causes all things
to work together for good for those who love Him (Rom 8:28); that sinners do not
inherit the kingdom of God (Eph 5:5); that the Day of the Lord will come (1 Thess
5:2); and that God will help and support His people (Isa 41:10; 2 Tim 1:12).
John wrote this epistle to provide his readers with certainty about all that God
has revealed concerning salvation.
• The formal argument of the letter ended in 5:12, and verses 13-21 are its
postscript.
John's concluding remarks are not a collection of random thoughts, however,
but form a powerful climax to all he has written.
• Throughout the letter, John has recycled tests to identify who is a true
Christian.
Those tests serve a polemic purpose; they expose the phony believers and the
false teachers—the deceiving antichrists.
But they also serve a pastoral purpose, giving increasingly stronger confidence
and assurance to the genuine believers.

27. As the epistle builds to a great, if familiar, crescendo, John focuses on five things
that genuine Christians can be certain of:
1) eternal life,
2) answered prayer,
3) victory over sin,
4) that they belong to God, and
5) Christ's deity.
The final result, and the closing note of the letter, is assurance.
You know things with a knowledge that is unshakable, which nobody can
shatter, and no rational arguments will disturb.
What a declaration this is, in an age when everybody is telling us that you
cannot know anything for sure, that nobody knows anything for certain.
John says that we do.
We know.
We have been given an understanding.
You have a continually growing certainty that underlies your life.
As we read in John's closing note:
1 John 5:21
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Here is his final word and it is such an important one.
One that I think ought to ring in our ears every day:
Why?
Well, because the first and great commandment is, Matthew 22:37: "You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind."
That is the chief end of man.
And idolatry is loving something else as God.
What is an idol?

28. It is a substitute god.
Your God is what you get excited about.
What you save your money for.
What you spend it on.
That is your God.
What is important to you, that is your God.
Little children---you who have found the true God---keep yourselves from these
secondary idols, these substitute gods that demand your attention.
Give yourself, alone, to the One Who can fulfill in you all your heart's desires.
It is a great command, isn't it?
The command that will lead us safely through all the difficulties along our path.
There are many idols that loom before us each day---the god of pleasure, the
god of selfishness, the god - Narcissus - who makes us love ourselves, admire
ourselves, look to ourselves; the god of love, - Venus - how we follow her and
exalt her when we should not; the god, Bacchus, who makes us revel in pleasure
as if that were the chief end in life, as if fun were the reason for living.
We should ask the Lord to deliver us from these gods, these false gods that will
rob us of our faith, of our love for humanity.
We should ask Him to make us fall more truly in love with the Lord Jesus Who
alone is the only true God, Who has come to give us an understanding of
ourselves and the world around us, and has come to teach us righteousness and
how to love with a heart that is self-giving instead of self-serving.
We are exposed to the same dangers that they were in the first century and so
desperately need God’s power.

29. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 NKJV
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 14:6 NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me.”
Romans 3:23 NKJV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NKJV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
 Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
 Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to
pay the penalty for our sins.
 The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in
Revelation 21:8.
Revelation 21:8 NKJV
8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,
sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with
fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Romans 5:8 NKJV
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Romans 6:23b NKJV
23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Revelation 21:7 NKJV
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be
My son.”
 Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to accept Jesus as our Savior.

30. Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Romans 10:13 NKJV
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
If you have questions or would like to know more, Please, contact First Baptist
Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/