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1 John 5:1-5 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. [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.

[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?

1 John 5:1-5 MSG

[1-3] 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. The reality test on whether or not
we love God's children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his
commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his
commandments and they are not at all troublesome.

[4-5] 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. …

Notes:

1 John 5:1-5 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. [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.
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5:1-2 When we become Christians, we become part of God’s family,

with fellow believers as our brothers and sisters. God determines who
the other family members are, not us. We are simply called to accept
and love them. How well do you treat God’s family members?

Illustration:
Ina’s Online Class - 10 in a Group; 5 of them where already together
last school year, and they get to choose 5 more….

B. Sound Doctrine (5:1a)

John now concludes the tests of life. Here he resumes the test of
doctrine, or we might also call it the test of faith. In the first three
verses, we are given the results of faith.

These are:
• first, the divine birth,
• then love for God,
• then love for one’s fellow believers,
• and finally obedience to God’s commandments.
First of all, then, we have the divine birth: Whoever believes that
Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Belief here is not a mere
intellectual assent to the fact, but rather a committal of one’s life to
Jesus as the Christ.

C. Love and the Obedience It Produces (5:1b-3)

5:1b If we have been truly born of God, then we will love Him. And
not only so, we will love His children as well. It is good to notice here
that we are to love all believers, and not just those of a certain earthly
communion or fellowship.

5:2, 3 The fourth result of faith is obedience to God’s

commandments. By this we know that we love the
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children of God, when we love God and keep His

commandments. Those who are truly saved will be characterized by
a desire to do the will of God. Our love for God is expressed in
willing obedience to His commands. The Lord Jesus said, “If you love Me,
keep My commandments.”

When John says that His commandments are not

burdensome, he does not mean that they are not difficult, but rather
that they are the very things which born again people love to do. When
you tell a mother to take good care of her baby, you are only telling her
what she loves to do. The commandments of the Lord are the
things which are best for us, and the things in which our new nature
takes a wholehearted delight.

5:3-4 Jesus never promised that obeying him would be easy. But the
hard work and self-discipline of serving him won’t be a burden to those
who love him. Even if your load starts to feel heavy, you can always trust
Christ to help you bear it (see Matthew 11:28-30).

Illustration:
When you do something you love doing, what is difficult becomes easy
(not burdensome). When you do something you don’t love doing, what
is easy becomes difficult (burdensome).

[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?

D. Faith That Overcomes the World (5:4, 5)

5:4 Next we learn the secret of victory over the world. The world
system is a monstrous scheme of temptation, always trying to drag us
away from God and from what is eternal, and seeking to occupy us with
what is temporary and sensual. People of the world are completely
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taken up with the things of time and sense. They have become the
victims of passing things.

Illustration:
GLU owner of vast lands in Dgte. Realizes how temporary properties
can be during the Ceres / Yanson Family feud happened.

Only the man who is born of God really overcomes the world,
because by faith he is able to rise above the perishing things of this
world and to see things in their true, eternal perspective. Thus the one
who really overcomes the world is not the great scientist or
philosopher or psychologist, but the simple believer who realizes that
the things which are seen are temporary and that the things which are
not seen are eternal. A sight of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
dims the glory of this world.

CT Studd
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”