True community and connection with God provides freedom from the power of Satan...

This week we are looking at the final section of this letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of 1 John. Yesterday, we looked on as John revealed a timeless truth when it comes to connecting in community in that true community and connection with God provides freedom. Just as it was for followers of Jesus in John’s day; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history; true community and connection with God provides freedom.

And in 1 John 5:18-21, we see John reveal three different areas where true community and connection with God provides freedom. First, in 1 John 5:18, we see John reveal for us the reality that true community and connection with God provides freedom from the practice of sin. True community and connection with God provides freedom from the practice of sin because God’s transforming work in our lives that results in a person becoming a child of God who is a part of the family of God also results in that person having a new heart and new desires by the power of the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus Christ that is revealed and demonstrated by our lifestyle, or practice of life.

And because of that reality, a person who has a genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God does not live a lifestyle that is characterized by selfishness and rebellion against God and others. Instead, an act of selfishly doing things that we should not do, or not doing things that we should do, that hurts God and those around us, is out of character for the person who has a genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God. 

True community and connection with God provides freedom from the practice of sin because the person who has a genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God is kept in that state of relationship and connection by God’s power. True community and connection with God provides freedom from the practice of sin because God protects the person who has a genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God from the evil one causing harm or injuring the nature of that relationship and connection.

Today, as John continues this final section of his letter, we see John reveal a second area where true community and connection with God provides freedom. So let’s discover that second area together, beginning in verse 19-20:

 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. ²⁰  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.

Here we see John reveal the reality that on earth, at any one time, there are really only two groups of people. The first group of people that John reveals for us that are present on this earth are those who are of God. With this phrase, John is referring to those who have a genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God that comes through believing, trusting, and following Jesus Christ as Lord and leader in response to God’s transformational activity in their lives.

The second group of people are those that John refers to as the whole world who lies in the power of the evil one. As we have seen throughout this series, when John uses the phrase “the world”, he is referring to everything in the world system around us that is hostile to God and that sets itself up in opposition to God and the kingdom of God. This world system competes with God for our total devotion and we cannot love both. And as John reminds the readers of his letter throughout history, the ultimate leader of the world system that sets itself up in opposition to God and His kingdom is Satan, or the devil.

John’s point here is that those who do not have a genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God because they have rejected the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel will instead aligned themselves with the world system opposes God and that is controlled and influenced by the devil. John’s point is that there are only two types of people in the world; those who have been born physically and have rejected the claims of Christ, instead choosing to align themselves with the false worldviews that set themselves up in opposition to God and His kingdom, and those who have been born physically and have received the spiritual birth as a result of God’s transforming work in our lives that gives us a new heart and new desires by the power of the Holy Spirit to believe, trust, and follow Jesus.

Then, in verse 20, John continued by explaining that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, entered into humanity with a goal and a mission to give us understanding. This word understanding literally refers to the ability to comprehend something. John’s point here is that Jesus entered into humanity to give the ability to comprehend and wrap our minds around three huge ideas.

First, Jesus has given us the ability to comprehend and wrap our minds around the reality that we may know Him who is true. In other words, Jesus entered humanity so we can comprehend and wrap our minds around the reality that we can have a genuine and authentic relationship with the one true and real God.

Second, Jesus has given us the ability to comprehend and wrap our minds around the reality that we are in Him who is true. John’s point here is that Jesus entered humanity so we can comprehend and wrap our minds around the reality that we can have the assurance that we are actually living in relationship and connection with the one true and real God, through believing, trusting, and following Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Leader.

Third, John states that this is the true God and eternal life. John’s point is that Jesus Christ is the real and true Son of God who entered into humanity to reveal and explain God to humanity and to expose humanities need for forgiveness and relationship with Him by allowing Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful life so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. And it is through believing, trusting, and following Jesus that humanity has the opportunity receive the freedom from power of selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. It is through Jesus Christ that we receive the freedom from the power of those things that place themselves in opposition to God and His kingdom.

And it is here that we see John reveal for us the reality that true community and connection with God provides freedom from the power of Satan. True community and connection with God provides freedom from the power of Satan because Jesus entered humanity so we can comprehend and wrap our minds around the reality that we can be freed from those things in the world system around us that is hostile to God and that sets itself up in opposition to God and the kingdom of God.

True community and connection with God provides freedom from the power of Satan because Jesus entered into humanity to reveal and explain God to humanity and to expose humanities need for forgiveness and relationship with Him by allowing Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful life so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.

Friday, we will see John reveal a third area where true community and connection with God provides freedom...