The God Who Gives Understanding | 1 John 5:20

The Son of God Has Come to Give Understanding

Okay, let's turn today once again in our Bibles to 1st John chapter 5. 1st John chapter 5. We're almost to the very end of this amazing letter from the Apostle John. Almost there. This is a very powerful passage that we're going to cover today.

1st John chapter 5. I will begin reading in verse 19. God's Word says, We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so 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. Amen. So, I wanted to just briefly mention something from the previous Lord's Day sermon. And I had covered verse 19. That we are of God, and by contrast, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Those are two different worlds. The world of unbelievers and the world of believers. Only. And so, we also saw that there were a number of issues with the view that some reformed people hold to. That come from our tradition with post-millennialism.

And I think this is a minority view in the reformed world. But the standard view is amillennialism, or the belief that there is no literal thousand-year reign. And it's the standard view of the confessions and catechisms, because it teaches also a general resurrection of both the just and the unjust at the same time.

As opposed to what Revelation 20 describes as the resurrection of the just, first, before the millennial reign, and then the resurrection of the unjust after the millennial reign of Christ. So, that being said, however, the amillennial view still has many of the same problems that the post-millennial view has.

Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God

Such as the binding of Satan and spiritual warfare. Satan is not bound. It's very clear from scripture that Satan is not bound by any means. And we still have to conduct spiritual warfare and equip ourselves with the full armor of God.

To watch against all three of our mortal enemies. The world, the flesh, and the devil. He is still a threat, and he's still an enemy that we have to deal with. As well as his minions. So, that being said, you can see from today's sermon title that the focus for today will be on verse 20.

And it's about the God who gives understanding. The God who gives understanding. The God who gives us understanding. His people. His people. His chosen ones. Now, in verse 20, we've seen repeatedly the question that we want to ask ourselves up front is, Is this a law or a gospel passage?

Right? Is this a law or a gospel passage? And it's very clear from verse 20, which I'm going to read it again. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true.

And we are in Him who is true. The true one. In His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. These, beloved, are yet more gospel gems and promises from this passage. It's a continuing of these gospel promises throughout many of these verses that we've read before.

And so, this is a very powerful word from God. And it's an important reminder for us to remember what are the most important things according to God. Now, that being said, there's nothing really completely new in this verse.

We've seen all of this before in John's letter. And by extension, his gospel as well. We see the same exact doctrinal emphases here that we see throughout his letter. There is an incredible amount of deep doctrine and theology here.

It runs very deep. But it is stated in very powerfully simple ways. It's stated in a very simple way. It grabs your attention. It's to grip our attention and arrest us and say, He's saying something important here.

It's simple yet profound. The verse 20, also, it capstones. It sums up. It capstones the entire letter with profound emphases on knowledge. On knowledge. Right? And God. And God. And his son. God's son.

And what God has done for us. What he has given us. And what he is doing for us. There's also the incarnation. Right? The son of God has come. The word became flesh. Like his gospel says. There is union.

Our union with Christ. Union with God. We are in him who is the true one. Right? That's union with Christ. With God. And also, revelation. Revelation and illumination. That's the doctrine of illumination.

That God gives us understanding. That's illumination. Much like Jesus told Peter when he told him, Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. But who? But my father who is in heaven. Amen? That's illumination.

From God. To his people. Lots of many important doctrines here. That he is stating. And restating. For emphasis. So. And we see this all the way back in verse 18. We know. We know that no one who has been born of God sins.

Because we sin differently as regenerated believers. As opposed to unbelievers. We know that we are of God. We are of God. We belong to God. Because God has given us his understanding. His spirit. His salvation.

We know that the Son of God has come. Already. We know. We know. We know. Amen? And throughout this chapter. And this entire letter. You see the same repeated emphasis on knowledge. Knowledge and faith.

Belief. Believing in God. In his word. Having a knowledge. A right knowledge of God in his word. Believing God. His witnesses. His Son. His Son. And it's like 1 John 5. 1 says at the beginning of the chapter.

Everyone who believes. What? That Jesus is the Christ. Has been born of God. Has been born of God. You're not born of God because you believe. You believe because you have been born of God. That in itself is deeply profound.

And everyone who loves the one who gives new birth. Loves also the one who has been born of him. Our fellow brothers and sisters who have also been born of God. This is the truth of God. This is a part of the truth of God.

God is God. Because he is true. That makes him God. Because he is true. He is like. Like verse 20 says. He is the true one. The true one. That is a defining characteristic of God. He is the true one. The one who is true.

He is the truth. Amen. God is the truth. Remember that from John's Gospel. When Jesus told his audience. I am the way. And the truth. And the life. No one comes to the father but through me. I am the truth.

I am the source of truth. It all comes from me. From God. And his son. His spirit. And so. We know then. That the son of God. Has come. The son of God has come. And this beloved. Is a powerful Christmas verse.

So don't be surprised if you find me using it. And up this next Christmas. Time. Because. And if the sermon feels a little bit like Christmas. I definitely will not apologize for that. Because that is what this passage deals with.

Right. It is about Christ coming. Christ came. In his incarnation. It is like 1 John 5 .6 also says. If we read there. 1 John 5 .6 says. This is the one. Who came. By water. And by. Blood. Water. His baptism.

And blood. His death. Jesus Christ. He came. Note that he came. He came down. Not with the water only. But with the water and with the blood. It is the spirit who bears witness. Why. Because the spirit is what.

The truth. The spirit is the truth. That predicate. That adjective truth. Applies to every single person of the divine Godhead. Of the Trinity. God is true. He is the truth. He is the true one. No. None else.

There is no one else. But God. The true one. The singular true one. That is why. We know. That. He has come. And has given us understanding. So that we may know. Him who is true. Him who is the true one.

Which also refers to the father. The true one. In that verse. Now. What what. What does this understanding. That Christ gives us entail. What does this entail. What does it also point to. Why else. Why else did the son of God come.

Why else did he come. Yes it's to give us understanding. What does that entail. Let's turn over to Galatians chapter 4. In Galatians chapter 4 verse 3. We see a powerful passage from God's word. Describing the life of Christ.

Redemption, Adoption, and Freedom in Christ

And a precise answer to this very question. Why else. Did. The son of God come. Why has he come. Galatians chapter 4. Verse 3 says. So also we. We believers. While we were children. While we were unbelievers.

While we were ignorant. Immature. Lacking knowledge. Lacking salvation. Because God at that point had not given us. His understanding. We're enslaved. Under the elemental things. Of the world. Does that sound familiar.

We just read it in verse 19 of chapter. First John 5. We formally. Belong to the whole world. That lies in the power of the evil one. We were enslaved to the elemental things of the world. Much like Ephesians 2 also tells us.

But when the fullness of the time came. God sent forth. His son. The son of God therefore came. Because God sent forth. Him. Born of a woman. Born under the law. So that. Why. So that. He might redeem.

Those. Who were under the law. Under the guilt and condemnation. Of the law. Of God. Capital L. Like the LSB. And you American Standard Bible. Puts it. That we might receive. The adoption as sons. As his sons.

And daughters. Of God the father. And because you are sons. God sent forth. Not just his son. But the spirit of his son. The Holy Spirit. Into our hearts. Crying. Abba. Father. Abba. Father. Therefore.

You are no longer a slave. But a son. An adopted son. And if a son. Then an heir through God. However at that time. When you did not know God. Notice that phrase. When you did not know God. You lack knowledge.

Of the truth. You lacked his understanding. You were slaves. To those. Which by nature are no gods. You were lost. Because you believe lies. You believe falsehoods. You believed in idols. And false gods.

Instead of believing. The truth of the one true God. But now. Look at this verse. This is amazingly. It's the same message. That we just saw in 1 John 5 20. But now. Having known God. Or what? Rather.

Having been known. By God. Rather having been known. By God. How is it that you turn back to the weak and worthless. Elemental things of the world. To which you want to be enslaved. All over again. This is a serious rebuke.

To the. Galatians who were bewitched by false teachers. And legalists. The Judaizers. Serious rebuke. And he warns them that if you believe. Another gospel. You don't have the right gospel. You are anathema.

You are condemned by God. So there's obvious. Many obvious parallels here. To what we read in 1 John chapter 5. And much of what. 1 John. In the entire letter. Speaks to us. Teaches us. Reveals to us.

Double Imputation and the Gospel of Justification

The reason. So the reason. That we belong to God. The reason we are saved. Beloved. Is because of what we did. It was our choice. Okay pause there. Did you catch that? Is there a problem with what I said there?

Is it because of what we did? Was it our choice? I mean. The obvious. Answer to that. The answer should be obvious right? Based on everything we've already read so far. The answer is no. The reason is because.

The reason we belong to God. Has nothing to do with what we've done. The reason is because the son of God. Has come. On our behalf. He came on our behalf. To live out. To satisfy. To fulfill. The gospel promises.

Of forgiveness. For all our sins. And of receiving. His perfect righteousness. Because he. The father. Made him the son. Who knew no sin. To be sin. He made him who knew no sin. Sin. Like the Greek literally says.

On our behalf. So that we might become. The righteousness of God. In him. Beloved. In him. 2nd Corinthians 521. That is beloved. The beauty of. Double imputation. That's called double imputation. Doctrine is beautiful.

Beloved. There's a lot of pietists and. People who are immature in the faith. Who say well doctrine is dry and boring. And divisive nonsense. Nonsense. The doctrine. Of God's double imputation. Is the gospel.

Defined. Because in it. According to this doctrine. God takes our sin. And puts them on Christ. He takes all of them away. And in turn. Christ gives us. His righteousness. His perfect righteousness. And this too.

Beloved is why. The son of God has come. That's exactly why. The son of God has come. To give his life. A ransom. A redemption for many. Now. What is imputation? What does that mean? We just saw it in 2nd Corinthians.

And we saw it at the very least. Implied in many of the passages. That we've read thus far. What is imputation? R .L. Dabney. In his systematic theology. Explains that imputation. Imputation means to reckon.

To reckon. Or to render. Or to account. To anyone. To credit something. And it is sometimes employed. In the English scriptures. As a translation of various words. It's not so much a word. As it is a doctrine.

Imputation is a doctrine. Logizdomai. Elogeo. These words in the Greek. And similar words in the Hebrew. They refer to this doctrine of imputation. It's used many times throughout scripture. It is a legal term.

It's a legal term. It's forensic. Or legal. It is courtroom language. It is courtroom language. Of God's courtroom. It is judgment language. And it is transaction language. It is transaction language.

Of judgment. Of translating judgment. From one to the other. That's what it pertains to. Rendering judgments. Judgments of guilt. Or righteousness. Guilty or righteous. That's what we need to always have in mind.

This is the most important thing in scripture. What does God see you as? Guilty or righteous. And why? The why is key. The why reflects whether you have Christ's understanding that he has given us. Or not.

It is an extremely important Bible word. And doctrine. Though many often don't realize this. Or lose sight of this. Most important of doctrines. The Son of God, beloved, has come, in other words, to give us.

To give us a double imputation. To give us a double imputation. A double reckoning. A double crediting. Whereby he debits our sins and credits his righteousness to us. In Romans chapter 4, beloved, we see more of an explanation of what this doctrine means.

Of imputation means. Romans chapter 4, verse 22. I'm going to read a few passages from Romans chapter 4. Over in over there. To see what this amazing doctrine, this beautiful doctrine of imputation is all about.

I'm going to read from the New King James version because it uses the actual word imputation or impute. It's an older English term for those other words. To count, account, or credit. Legally. Romans chapter 4, verse 22.

And therefore it was accounted to him, to Abraham, for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it, that righteousness was what? Was imputed to him. But also for us it shall be imputed righteousness to us who believe.

Who do what now? Who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised up because of our justification. Amen. Amen. This is just this is just a sample of this doctrine.

It's laying it out. All throughout Scripture. In various different ways. Such as we also saw in 2nd Corinthians as well. Now I want to I want to focus on something here because it's very relevant to the attacks that the church has been facing today.

Luther, Rome, and the Biblical Doctrine of Justification

You will find if you go on social media, on YouTube a lot of the religious atmosphere you will find that often times Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox defenders or apologists claim that Luther invented this doctrine of justification of imputation.

He invented it to count someone as just or righteous even though they are not actually righteous in themselves in and of themselves and did not earn it themselves. According to them, this kind of justification and imputation was completely foreign to how the ancients thought including the early church.

They claim that it did not even really exist prior to Luther's breakthrough. Luther's breakthrough of his understanding of justification. This breakthrough this is from a very helpful article by Michael Reinhardt.

This breakthrough hinges on Luther's understanding of the righteousness of God. Because he initially thought that the righteousness of God always condemned him because he couldn't live up to it until he understood something what the Bible actually taught about it.

Early understandings of God's righteousness that means, in other words, ancient understandings of God's righteousness were often based on Aristotelian thought and Cicero's concept of justice. These were ancient Greek philosophers and rhetoricians, Roman ones and Greek ones.

As giving to each person their due what they deserved. But if the righteousness of God means giving each sinful person what was coming to him or her, where was the good news in that? If God only gives us what we deserve then what do we deserve?

Nothing but the punishment and wrath of God because we're sinners. We don't deserve anything good. That's the problem. Obviously this is a Biblical concept of justice as well. God will render each one according to his deeds whether evil or good.

But there's the righteousness of God goes beyond that. It extends beyond that simple definition. That's what we find in Romans chapter 4 as well. Verse 6. If we jump back to verse 6 in Romans chapter 4 we will find an amazing explanation of this doctrine that Luther himself discovered when he studied the scriptures when he studied them for the first time and plowed through them and read what the other early church also had taught regarding this matter.

Men like Augustine in many respects. So what does God say about this? What does God say? That's ultimately what matters. And what did the ancient holy men of God speak and say? That God used to move by his Holy Spirit to write his words down.

What do they have to say about it? Romans 4 chapter 6. I mean chapter 4 verse 6. Just as King David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness righteousness apart from what?

Apart from works. God imputes righteousness apart from works performed by the man. And he is blessed because of it. It is not because of his works. It's apart from works. Verse 7. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

Why? Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. He shall not impute sin. This is once again the doctrine of double imputation. Instead of imputing our sin to our account to our legal status before God he debits it away from us.

And instead he credits us, he imputes us the righteousness extra nos. Outside of ourselves apart from works. That's what the reformers found. The righteousness is a righteousness extra nos. It is that of another.

The only righteous one. Jesus Christ. His son. Amen. This is the only gospel. They are lies. What Rome and what the eastern church teaches in the name of God and of Christ is a lie. It is a false gospel.

And not only not only is God and his word clear about this matter of justification being imputed through the righteousness of Christ apart from works. But by faith alone. Through faith alone. That's why the reformers came up with those slogans.

That's why the reformation it is by grace alone. Through faith alone. And Christ alone. To the glory of God alone based on the ultimate authority of scripture alone. Final authority of scripture alone.

That's what the Bible teaches us. But not only that. On the contrary God condemns he condemns those who seek to justify themselves by their good works. That's what we see in the conversation that he had with the rich young ruler or with the lawyer in Luke 10 29.

Because he sought to justify his own self. What did Jesus repeatedly say? I didn't come to call the righteous. I didn't come to call the self righteous. I came to call sinners. To repentance. Not so that they can earn their righteousness but so that they can repent of their fallen worthless self righteousness and trust in the only righteousness that counts in the eyes of God.

That is the only righteousness by which we can be credited as perfectly righteous before God beloved. Imputation. The imputation is one of the main reasons that the son of God has come. Imputation is one of the main reasons that the son of God has come.

Christ’s Righteousness and the Believer’s Freedom

It is to take all our sins away. Nailing them to himself on that cross to bear the wrath of God and to give us instead his perfect righteousness. His life. His death. His understanding like 1st John 5 20 says.

This understanding which is what the word teaches us. His eternal life. His eternal life. That's what it is. And I love how our Baptist confession of faith explains much of this. Whereas the guilt of Adam's sin was imputed to.

Adam's sin was transferred or imputed to and their corrupted nature passed on to all their posterity. Every single one of us without exception. Christ alone accepted because he is the God man who was born through the virgin birth.

By ordinary birth we are all sinners by nature and by imputation. Because of Adam's sin he represented us. Their descendants are therefore conceived in sin and are by nature children of wrath. The servants of sin, the slaves of sin, the subjects of death and all other miseries.

Spiritual, temporal, eternal. Unless the Lord Jesus sets them free. But what did Jesus say beloved? You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And you shall be free indeed because Christ gives us his truth to set us free.

Amen. In another section the confession also explains but those whom God effectually calls he also freely justifies apart from works. He does this not by infusing righteousness into them but by pardoning all their sins by forgiving all their sins and by accounting and accepting and imputing accounting them as righteousness through an imputed righteousness not for anything done in them or by them.

Not by works but for Christ's sake alone. They are not justified because God imputes or credits as their righteousness either their faith itself or even the act of believing. That does nothing to save us.

It's merely the channel, the empty hand by which we receive Christ and his righteousness by trusting Christ and agreeing with his gospel, his truth, his saving truth. They are not righteous because God imputes the act of believing or any other act of obedience to the gospel.

None of it makes us righteous. They are justified solely by God imputing Christ's active obedience to the whole law of God and his passive obedience in his death on the cross. That's it. That's it. That is double imputation, beloved.

That is the gospel. That is the gospel. By faith they receive and rest on his righteousness and his, this faith they do not have of themselves for it is the gift of God. Everything good comes from God as a gift.

It's a gift from God, this faith. We can't, we didn't earn it. It's a gift, like Ephesians 2 also says, many other passages. That's what it means to impute something. It is to account or to reckon, to credit something legally.

Knowing the True God and Eternal Life

These gospel treasures, beloved, are all, they all come from the one true God who gives us himself. The God who gives us himself. I love how that hymn from, that hymn Amazing Love, how can it be that thou my God shouldst die for me.

Thou my king shouldst die for me. God gives us himself because that's what it took. It took the perfect righteousness of God becoming a man to make us, to declare us righteous, to impute and to count us as righteous by the righteousness of Christ being counted to us.

The God who justifies us freely by grace is the God who gives us his own beloved son. And his son, his son has given us understanding. This understanding, knowledge, truth, doctrine of his word so that we may know the true one, his father as well.

The true God. Knowing God then, beloved, means to know God means that we know true things about God. That's what it means. It doesn't, people say, well, there's a difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus.

That's a false distinction and Scripture doesn't teach that. Having a knowledge about God, a true knowledge of God means that you know God when you agree with it as true, when you believe it to be true.

It is to know sound doctrine which is true things about God. That's one definition of sound doctrine, of theology proper. It is to know true things about God because it agrees with what the Scriptures teach about God and his salvation and all of the other things which our confession summarizes the most important doctrines of.

It is to know true things and accept them as true. It is not a mystical thing. It is not a pietistic thing. It's not about trusting a person versus believing a creed. No. Believing a creed is trusting the person.

That's what Jesus said and taught repeatedly. My words are what? My words are spirit and life just as I am the way, the truth, and the life. Amen? That's what the Bible teaches. It is understanding and believing the truth of God in this letter and beyond this letter.

Those who do not know God therefore are not saved. That's very plain. All throughout Scripture, all throughout 1 John, he makes this emphatically clear because they believe lies and falsehoods which leads to eternal death.

It is the truth that saves and sets us free and leads to eternal life. You have to believe something. You have to believe something true about God and his Son and his Gospel. By contrast, then, knowing the one true God equals eternal life.

Knowing the one true God equals eternal life. That's literally what verse 20 says. This is the true God and eternal life. Jesus is eternal life. He is our eternal life. And Jesus gives us his eternal life.

He credits it to us as a reward for his obedience, not for our obedience. It's his obedience. Wow! This is the true God, the one true God and life eternal. Turn with me in the Gospel of John, beloved, in an amazing passage in Jesus' high priestly prayer.

Jesus’ High-Priestly Prayer and the Gift of Eternal Life

John 17, verse 3. This is an amazing passage which brings out more and more of what everything that 1 John has been teaching us in his other letters. The Gospel of John, chapter 17, verse 1. Jesus spoke these things in lifting up his eyes to heaven in his high priestly prayer.

He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you, even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he, the Son, may give eternal life.

It's a gift, eternal life given. And this is, this is eternal life. What is eternal life? This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have, what?

Whom you have sent. Christ is just restating, the Apostle is restating what Christ taught and prayed, the one true God. This is the true God and eternal life. This is the true God and eternal life, beloved.

That's what it's, that is what it's all about. The Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is the true one, in his Son, Jesus Christ.

And this is, beloved, the one true God and his eternal life that he gives us. It's a gift, as Christ also taught. And more, so if the Apostle is strongly emphasizing and repeating these same things all throughout, there's a reason for it.

We need to pay attention to those things. Throughout all of his writings, as we've seen, it is because God thinks it's important. And so should we. So must we. This is what we need to know from God by way of application.

Truth, Love, and Union with Christ in 2 John

Now, there is much more of this to look forward to in the near future, beloved, because if we turn over to the second letter of John, we find the same exact things again and again. Second John, verse 1.

The elder to the elect lady and her children, the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth. And not only I, but also all who know the truth. For the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love. Amen. Those are inseparable things. You cannot separate truth from love, and you cannot separate love from truth, because it's all from God.

God is love and God is truth. Therefore, they cannot be separated. Now, we saw again, verse 20. We believers are in Him who is the true one, in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is a very, it's easy to miss this, but there's a very important emphasis that the apostle states here that we don't want to miss.

F. F. Bruce, a Protestant scholar, does a good job of explaining this. Not only has the Son of God made the true God known, His Father, through faith union with Him. His people abide in the true one. And to abide in the Father and to abide in the Son are two ways of stating the same thing.

It's the same experience. This brings me to my public service announcement for today, beloved. Because to be in God is to be in Christ. It's the same thing because it's the same God. The same Triune God.

To be in God is to be in Christ. And consequently, to be outside of Christ is to be outside of God. No man can come to the Father but by me. Right? To be in God is to be in the Son, Christ. And to be outside of Christ and His knowledge and His understanding is to be outside of God.

Because He is God. And God is His Father. And the Spirit is God. The Spirit of the Son and of the Father. Amen. This is inseparable. And the Apostle tells us so, emphatically. That's also why we saw earlier in the letter, beloved, in 1 John chapter 2, verse 23, a very clear explanation or drawing out of this doctrine of union with God and with Christ.

Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father. Exactly what we just saw earlier. The one who confesses the Son has the Father also. Consequently, as for you believers, let that which you heard from the beginning abide in you.

If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, if you believe it, you receive it as a gift, you also will abide in who? In the Son and in the Father. Both. And this is the promise which He Himself made to us.

What promise is that, beloved? It's the Gospel promise of eternal life. It is eternal life. Amen. It's all throughout these letters. John's writings. The same themes, the same topics, the same doctrines, the same emphasis.

The Gospel as God’s Power for Salvation

And that, beloved, brings me to my final point. And that is that of conclusion here. One of the most important gifts that God has given us is the gift of understanding, beloved. The gift of His understanding.

The gift of a right understanding of who He is, who His Son is. That is the power of God's knowledge. God's knowledge and doctrine is so powerful that it brings us salvation. It brings us eternal life.

The Gospel is the power of God unto what? Unto salvation. To all who believe. The Jew first and also the Gentile, the Greek. God's knowledge given to us is eternal life, beloved. Never lose sight of that.