A Word in Season: Of God (1 John 5:19)

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We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

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So speaks the Apostle John in his first letter, chapter 5, and verse 19.

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We know that we are of God. That's a glorious certainty.

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It's not a mere supposition. It's not something we're guessing at. It's not something that we've got a vague hope about.

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It's something of which we are truly confident. We belong to God himself.

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That's our identity. That's our nature and our character. That's who and what we really are.

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And we know it because God has made clear to us by his word and spirit that we, having been brought out of darkness into his light, now belong to him, that our nature has been renewed, that our character has been changed, that that new identity is revealing itself in our love for God and for his people, our pursuit of godliness, the fact that we no longer look like and sound like the world at large.

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And that's the contrast then that is in this verse. As well as a certainty, there's a distinction, that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one, and we no longer.

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We are not under the government of the adversary, the devil, but we are under the government and the care of God.

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That's a glorious thing to consider. It's a mercy that has been bestowed.

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By nature we ourselves are as much children of wrath as any other. We ourselves used to be under the sway of the wicked one, going as he directed us, slaves to our own sinful appetites and lusts.

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But God, in his great mercy, has drawn us to himself. He has changed our nature, so that now we are sons of God.

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He has changed our character, so that though we are recognisably who we were before conversion, there has been a transformation.

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And what we once were in slavery to sin, we now show ourselves in service to God in all holiness and purity.

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And it is because God loved us when we were unlovely. This is an unmerited blessing.

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It is a gracious favour bestowed upon those who deserved damnation, but have been brought into the kingdom of God.

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If we are of God, it is a mercy that God has made us so. But it's also an honour, for now we are sons of the king.

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Now we are adopted into his family. Now we have a glorious privilege and a great inheritance to which we look forward.

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The name of God himself is upon us. He has drawn us into his family and adopted us, though we were by nature outcasts.

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And what a comfort that is, to think that despite the opposition of the world that is under the sway of the wicked one, because they hate us as they hated our master, because if we are of God then we cannot have friendship with the world and it is under the shadow of the cross to us as we are under its shadow to them, that nevertheless

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God has set his love upon us. He has given us this glorious privilege.

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He has given us this great set of promises. We are now his and no one and nothing can take that away from us.

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And with that comfort comes a responsibility, for we bear the name now of Christ.

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We have stated that we belong to God. We have trusted in him. We have been baptised into the triune name.

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We have testified that we are no longer of this world, but living for and serving the

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King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We wear the uniform of Christ Jesus.

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We show ourselves sons of God and we are then a testimony to the world of what it means to no longer be under the sway of the wicked one.

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Our lives, our words, our deeds, our relationships, our priorities, all of them testify to the fact that we are of God.

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Now, is that true of me and you? Is it clear that we are of God?

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Do we not just know it, but show it? Do all the dots of our lives join up, as it were, to declare that though the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one, that God's people truly and manifestly are of God, belong to him, believing in him and behaving in accordance with his commandments and so testifying that we are of him and for him and will one day be with him.