The Test Of Faith To Reach Eternity

DATE: JUNE 28, 2020

TOPIC: "The Test Of Faith To Reach Eternity" 1 John 5:1-5 John speaks to us in these verses of the trials of life. Here, specifically, it refers to THE TEST OF FAITH, OF YOUR FAITH, OF THE FAITH OF EACH ONE. The first three verses mention THE FRUITS, THE RESULTS THAT THE FAITH GIVES US. These are: (1) the divine birth, (2) the love for God, (3) the love for the brothers (for believers), and (4) the obedience to God's commandments. These fruits demonstrate whether your faith is genuine or not, whether or not your faith passes the test for an eternity with God! Let's see that our faith is genuine!

I. The first result of our faith is THE DIVINE BIRTH.

A. (Vs. 1) "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God..."

1. When someone is born of God, his faith, his belief, cannot be merely the intellectual approval of the fact that Jesus is the Christ, but rather the person entrusts his own life to Jesus, as the Christ!

2. He who puts his faith in Christ, he who believes in the Savior, commits himself totally to Jesus and PLACES HIMSELF UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE LORD!

3. The word Christ means "THE ANOINTED AND KING." And Jesus means "THE SAVIOR."

4. The second result of faith is LOVE FOR GOD. If we are truly born of God, THEN WE WILL LOVE HIM!

5. The third result of faith is that WE WILL ALSO LOVE HIS CHILDREN, THE OTHER BELIEVERS!

6. It is good to keep in mind that we must love ALL BELIEVERS, AND NOT ONLY THOSE OF A CERTAIN CIRCLE OF COMMUNION.

7. (Vs. 2) And the fourth result of faith is THE OBEDIENCE TO THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.

8. “This is how we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, AND CARRYNG OUT HIS COMMANDMENTS.”

9. THE TRULY SAVED will be characterized by the desire to do God's will!

10. Don't you know how to recognize who is who, whether or not he is a true believer? Well, simple, if it is: YOU WILL LOVE TO DO THE WILL OF GOD!

11. Our love for God is expressed in the willingness to obey His commandments!

12. The Lord Jesus said, "IF YOU LOVE ME, OBEY WHAT I COMMAND." (John 14:15)

13. (Vs. 3) When John says, “…and his commandments are not burdensome.”, it means that they will not be difficult, but that they are precisely those things THAT THE BORN AGAIN ENJOY TO DO!

14. The Lord's commandments are those things that for us are the best, they are those things in which OUR NEW NATURE TAKES DELIGHT FROM THE HEART!

15. (Vs. 4) "For everyone born of God overcomes the world." Because of faith we are born again and we learn the secret of victory over the world!

16. The worldly system is a monstrous artifice, an ingenious means, to lead us to temptation.

The world is always trying to distance us from GOD and FROM THAT WHICH IS ETERNAL, AND TRYING TO OCCUPY US WITH WHAT IS TEMPORARY AND SENSUAL.

17. The people of the world live every day totally given to the things of time (hours, days, months, and years) and the senses (stimuli through sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell).

18. Be careful that you have become a victim of temporary things!

19. (Vs. 5) Only the man who is born of God truly conquers the world, because BY "FAITH" HE CAN RISE ABOVE THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD, WHICH PERISH, AND CONTEMPLATE THE ETERNAL THINGS.

20. The one who truly "defeats the world" is not the great scientist, nor the philosopher, nor the psychologist, but the simple believer who realizes that "the things that are seen are temporary", and that " the things that are not seen are eternal!"

21. A contemplation of the glory of God on the countenance (face) of Jesus dispels the glory of this world!

22. LOOK AT HIM!

23. In short, FAITH IS LIKE PROOF OF THE ETERNAL LIFE!

24. (Vs. 5) John mentions at the end that the one who overcomes the world is the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God!

25. How is your faith in Jesus? So you will know of your hope for eternal life! Affirm your faith! Amen.