Faith - 1 John 5:1-15

By David Woods

Folk in the north part of Scotland spend a good deal of time looking at themselves and their misgivings.  One Scottish woman was endeavoring to obtain faith.  Dr. Chalmers had to cross a stream on the way to visit her.  There was a plank across the stream, but it was thin and looked rotten to the doctor.  He was reluctant to try to walk that plank.  The woman was watching from a window, and, upon detecting the fear of the preacher, she shouted, "Just trust the plank, Doctor."

He took her at her word and walked across the stream safely.  He was later seeking to help the woman, who was having difficulty with her faith and who was considering that she didn’t have the right kind of faith.  The doctor, in his effort to help the poor woman, finally thought of using his plank-walking experience in his attempt to help her.  So he said to her, "Trust Christ, can’t you?"

"Oh, Doctor, is that faith?" she asked.  "Is it just to trust Him?"

"That is faith," he replied.  "Just trust Him as I trusted that plank.  It carried me over, and if you trust God, He will carry you over."

"Oh," answered the woman, "I can do that."

     This quarter our lessons are on various "Marks of the Christian."  The introduction to this quarter’s lessons notes that there are more identifying characteristics of the Christian than just the thirteen listed in this quarterly.

Yet it is maintained that each of the characteristics noted in these lessons are true of Christians.  So I want us to think about that for a moment.

Discussion: What does it mean for "faith" to be a "mark" of the Christian?  Can you be a Christian without faith?  How much faith must you have to be a Christian?

Discussion: Maybe we should at this point define what we mean by faith.  What is this "faith" that is one of the marks of identification for the Christian?

The writer of the "Doctrinal Discussion" talks about three kinds of faith talked about in scripture.  First, there is the gift of faith.  This is a special gift that is given to some Christians, but is not required of all Christians.  It can be called miracle-working faith.

Second, there is saving faith.  This is the faith that results in one’s salvation and spiritual birth into the family of God.  Third, there is fullness of faith.

The writer of the "Doctrinal Discussion" spends some time talking about fullness of faith describing it first as "bringing perfect confidence in God and a total reliance upon His work in and through us."  Second there "comes the banishment of fear."  And a third result is "heavenly mindedness."

This is a good discussion about kinds of faith, and if you have not studied this part of the lesson yet, I would encourage you to do so.  However, I think sometimes we can get caught in all kinds of intricacies of what faith is and is not.

Simply, faith is a decision of the will to trust God at His Word.  Faith also includes a submission to the will and word of God.

Some have tried to teach that faith - even saving faith - is only the gift of God.  In other words, God has to give you the ability to believe before you can believe in God.  But this teaching does not make sense scripturally or logically.  The Bible does not tell the sinner to accept God’s gift to believe and then believe.  No, the Bible simply tells us to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."  This teaching that faith is God’s gift supports the doctrine that only those who God determines will be saved may be saved.  But that doctrine is also not scripturally sound, for the Bible teaches that whosoever will may be saved.

You see, faith is a determination of your will.  You have faith because you have determined to trust God.  This determination of the will to trust God is one of the marks of the Christian.  If you have not determined to trust God for salvation and if you have not submitted your will to God, you are not a Christian. 

Big Idea:The Christian is marked by his faith in God’s Word.

Now, why is this so important to understand?  Why is it so important to understand that the true Christian is one who has determined to trust God with his or her life?  I find three reasons in our scripture text

Read 1 John 1:1-5 (As we read this scripture, I want you to underline in your quarterly the places where the scripture says something about believing or trusting God.)

Discussion: What is the first place where these verses talk about believing God?

(Verse one, "Whosover believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.")

Now, the question someone may rightly have is, "How can we really know the child of God by his or her faith in God?"  Many people believe many different things.  Some people believe in aliens.  Some believe in the Easter bunny.  How can faith be sufficient evidence that a person is a child of God?

Discussion: What does our scripture say will confirm a person’s faith in God (and birth into God’s family)?

(The one who is born of God will: 1) love God, 2) love the rest of God’s people, 3) keep God’s commandments, 4) overcome the world.)

Discussion: If someone came to you and asked for guidance in how to be victorious over sin (and the world system of sin), what would you tell them?

Discussion: What does verse four say gives us victory over sin (the world system of sin)?

(Our faith in God.)

Does this surprise you?  Often, when we talk about being victorious over sin, we go through a huge list of things to do and not do.

• We should have a regular devotional time of prayer and reading God’s Word.
• We should avoid places and things that cause us to be tempted more.
• We should avoid people who influence us toward evil.
• We should memorize Scripture.

The list can go on and on.  But our scripture teaches us that:

1. Faith in God’s laws gives us victory over the world, vv. 1-5.

Discussion: How does faith give us victory over the world?

(I would suggest two main ways faith gives us victory over the world.  First, faith gives us victory in the sense that as a sinner we are spiritually defeated.  Therefore, in our spiritual baptism and resurrection with Christ (see Colossians 3:12-15) we are given victory over sin and death through the victory Christ accomplished for us on the Cross.  This victory is made "full" when we are entirely sanctified in that Christ’s death on the Cross does not just provide us forgiveness for sins committed, but also cleansing of inbred sin.  Secondly, faith gives us victory in an ongoing sense in that by our refusal to sin and our determination to obey God’s Word we exercise faith in God and His Word - that His laws are good and perfect and are the best for us.  To commit sin then is a denial of the goodness and provision of God.)

Discussion: If it is our faith in God that gives us victory over the world, how should that affect how we respond to temptation?

Read 1 John 5:6-12 (Again, as we read these verses, I would like you to underline the scripture that talks about belief or trust in God.)

This part of our scripture talks about something that I think the church may not talk enough today - the witness of the Spirit.  John was writing this letter to believers whose faith was being hammered by deceptive false teachers.

John was writing to encourage them in their faith.  They had become uncertain about the Gospel.  Was their faith in God sufficient for salvation?  Or did they need to get some extra special knowledge that these false teachers claimed to have?

John, in these verses, teaches us that the Holy Spirit will witness to the true Christian that he or she is indeed the child of God.  This witness has been described in different ways.

John Wesley said that his heart felt strangely warmed.  Others describe a peace that they have never felt before or an indescribable, lasting joy that cannot be attributed to the circumstances of life.

Discussion: How does John say this witness comes to the Christian?

(The person who believes in Christ has the witness in himself.)

Discussion: Does this witness come before or after this person trusts in Christ for salvation?

(After.)

2. Faith in God’s grace gives us the witness of the Spirit, vv. 6-12.

    Now, maybe you are wondering why I am making such a big deal about when the Christian is given the witness of the Spirit.  Why am I insisting that faith comes before the witness of the Spirit?  Would it really matter if it were the other way around - if the witness preceded faith?

Well, first, I believe it is important that our doctrine be scripturally and theologically correct.  But secondly, I think a misunderstanding of how the witness of the Spirit comes has resulted in some people feeling discouraged and even condemned and in others a presumptuous attitude about their spiritual lives.

Let me illustrate what I am talking about.  When I was a kid, I went to the altar one service.  I confessed my sin to God and asked for His forgiveness.  Everything I knew was wrong spiritually - I gave that to God and put my trust in Him for forgiveness and cleansing.  But I didn’t feel anything.  So I assumed something must still be wrong.  So I kept on praying.  Finally, my father and others helped me understand that receiving God’s forgiveness is not about a feeling.  Rather, it is about appropriating God’s grace by faith.  Faith is the engine of train.  Feelings is the caboose.  The caboose may be a ways back, but it will come.  That helped me out a lot.  I trusted God - I would let the feelings come whenever they did.  But I still stayed knelt at the altar.  They asked me if everything was okay.  I said, yes.  But the problem now was that my legs were "asleep" and I couldn’t get up! ;-)

Some Christians struggle with assurance of their faith from a similar misunderstanding.  They think that they must feel something or have some kind of "religious experience" like they have seen others have.  But they haven’t, so they feel like they aren’t saved.  They misunderstand what grace is about.  Grace is the not result of some feeling.  Grace is received through our faith in Christ’s provision made on the Cross.

On the other extreme, there are some who have had some type of religious experience that makes them think they are saved - sometimes, even though their lives are a complete contradiction of their supposed profession.

I was once speaking with a man who told me, basically, that he was okay spiritually because some time in the past he had had three different religious experiences.  Oh, he figured that God would like for him to visit His house more often, but he was "okay" spiritually.  Sadly, in all likelihood, that man is living presumptuously and is in for a startling wake-up call when he enters Eternity and finds Heaven’s gates barred.

How do we receive the witness of the Spirit?  We submit our lives in faith to God.  Then, when He desires, the Holy Spirit bears witness to our heart that we are His and He is ours.

Read 1 John 5:13-15 (Underline the scripture that talks about belief.)

Discussion: What phrases did you underline in this section of the scripture?  Did you include verse fourteen where it says, "This is the confidence that we have in him"?

Discussion: What is this "confidence"?  Is it faith itself or the result of faith?

Discussion: Can we really be confident that if we ask anything according to God’s will He will hear us and give us what we have asked?  How or why can we have this confidence?

3. Faith in God’s provision gives us the object of our prayers, vv. 13-15.

Discussion: Can we be so confident that before we actually receive the answer to prayer we can tell others we have that answer? (see verse 15)

Discussion: Do you pray regularly with such confidence?  If not, why not?

The main point of this lesson is that the Christian is marked by his faith in God’s Word.  We have stated that faith is one of the identifying characteristics of the Christian.  Why is it so necessary for the Christian to trust God at His Word?

As our scripture states, faith gives us victory over the world.  Faith gives us the witness of the Spirit.  And, faith in God’s provision gives us the object of our prayers.