1 John 5:21 [21] “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” John is closing this great epistle with a final word of warning. He reminds us to keep ourselves from idols. This may seem like a warning that would not be relevant for us today. I am sure that most readers would say that they do not have wooden statues, or graven idols, hanging on their wall, or sitting on the mantle in their living room. Most of us would agree that we do not bow down to an image each morning, or pray to idols of this kind. Although …

1 John 5:20 [20] “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” Our verse contains two great finds, and two great facts. First, we that are saved have found the Son of God, and through him we have found spiritual understanding. These are riches that money cannot buy! To be saved, and have understanding removes all fear, and gives us hope in …

1 John 5:19 [19] “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.” When you read this verse, notice that there are two separate truths placed before us. The first truth is about the saved, and the second truth is about the sinner. We are reminded of the great difference between the child of God, and the world that we live in. While we may be in this world, we are definitely not of this world. As the song writer has said, “This world is not my home”.  God’s children live in complete assurance …

1 John 5:18 [18] “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” I see two facts, in this verse, that prove that a believer belongs to Christ. What a blessing to be able to read the Bible and find the blessed assurance that we have been born again. This gives us great comfort, and victory, over the wicked one mentioned here in our text.  The first fact is that a true child of God cannot continue on a course of sin, without …

1 John 5:17  [17] “All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.” The question is often asked, “Does the Bible say this is wrong?” Or, you might have heard this one, “Where in the Bible does it say that this is sin?” Usually these questions are attached to hard subjects with little reference to them, if any at all. They are gray areas that most would rather avoid than try to answer. Others feel that if they cannot find a chapter and verse that spells it out in black and white, they can automatically assume that …

1 John 5:16  [16] “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.” Three people in the Bible come to mind whenever I think about sinning a sin unto death. Moses was the meekest man in all the earth, but his patience ran thin, and he allowed the bad behavior of others to affect him. His disobedience to God cost him the promise …

1 John 5:15  [15] “And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” I thought about a certain prayer request that was on my heart. It was not something that I desired for myself, but for the church that I pastor. I’ll be honest, the petition looked impossible. In fact, my flesh told me repeatedly that there was no way it would be granted. In spite of my flesh, my Father said to me, pray. I sought God about it, earnestly asking him to answer the …

1 John 5:14 [14] “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:” Learning to pray is a blessing, but learning to pray with confidence is an even greater blessing. Every believer faces battles in prayer. If we are not careful, we will get discouraged in our praying, and lose confidence. This causes us either to abandon the prayer closet altogether, or pray defeated prayers that never amount to anything.  God not only wants us to pray, but he wants us to pray with confidence. He …

1 John 5:13 [13] “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.” John is going to bring this epistle to a close very soon. He emphasizes in our verse that he has written to believers, “these things”, so that they will know that they have eternal life. His purpose is clear, and the content of his epistle has been just as convincing. The things he has given, will help …

1 John 5:12 [12] “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” When I read this verse, there are three things that comes to my mind, nearly every time. Those thoughts are: what a person, what a possession and what a problem. I don’t know if you see them in the verse, but they stand out quite vividly to me. Let’s look at them for our devotional thought today. First, notice what a wonderful person is in this verse. John is still talking about Jesus. Jesus, the Son of …