Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

We are now to look at the last chapter of the first epistle. I do not think I need say any more on the fourth chapter; I trust I made it perfectly apparent to everyone why the expression “God is love” occurs twice, and what is the difference between the believer having the love of God in him, and the believer being in the love of God, and also his being perfected, in the love of God. These were the outlines of our thoughts on the fourth chapter. There was first the statement, “God is love,” in the descending scale, proved by two stages: by sending His Son at all, and, secondly, by His sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Then, again, the statement, “God is love,” is made, and our eye is pointed not to the love descending, but to the love indwelling and exalting, to the love that lifts us up to the full and perfect association with Christ in heaven; so that “as He is so are we in this world.”

And then the Holy Ghost, as if to make it a very practical matter, comes down from that altitude one step lower, to show that if we are thus conscious of oneness with Christ, we are not, and cannot be afraid of anything. And then that reminds me of the second line of thought in that chapter, namely, the believer having the love of God in him. That is predicated of every Christian, that every Christian has the love of God in him; so it is said, “His love is perfected in us;” it has perfectly reached us, if we believe in Christ. But it is one thing to have the love of God perfected in us, to have quite got down and reached us, and another thing for the believer to be perfected in divine love; one is true, you observe, of every Christian—His love is perfected in us; the other is stated as a matter of attainment—“He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” The love of God, if we are Christians at all, has got hold of us, has quite reached us; and then as He is, so are we; but we do not fully apprehend that. I need not make any more remarks on the word perfection. I just observe that the word perfection is used invariably in the New and Old Testament for a correspondence of soul to any revelation of God. In the epistle of John it is the revelation of God’s love, and, therefore, the perfection in the epistle of John is the full apprehension of God in that character. When I see that God loves me as much as He loves His Son Jesus Christ, how can I be afraid of anything? So I cited the seven statements of the Lord in the 17th of John, in illustration that “as He is so are we.” There are seven comparisons in that chapter, between the Lord’s own position and ours in Him.

Now, then, we go on with this 5th chapter. It says at the close of the 4th chapter, and the opening verses of the 5th chapter, that the life of God in the believer is shown in these two ways, namely, in the love of the brethren, and by the faith in Christ. It is shown in the love of the brethren in the concluding verses of the 4th chapter and the 1st verse of the 5th chapter, and then the love of God is shown by the actings of faith in Christ in the two or three following verses of the 5th chapter; and thus the actings of the divine life in the believer are set forth in those two ways, in the love of the brethren, and by faith in Christ. The fact of the combination of ideas, love of the brethren, and faith in Christ, seems to suggest that the apostle, or rather the Holy Ghost, was regarding the statement in the 3rd chapter, that God had given us two grand commandments, first, to believe in His love—to believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ, and to love one another. I need not repeat what I have said before, that these two commandments stand exactly as the antipodes of the ten commandments of Moses epitomized by the Lord Jesus. The will of God is epitomized at the end of the 3rd chapter; so that we should believe in the love of God—in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another. Well now, it seems as if the 3rd chapter was again had in view; for here again is something about the love of the brethren, and joined to faith in Christ. As the Holy Ghost returns to it, we just return to it for a moment, though there are other important matters which will take up the time, and therefore I need not tarry upon these. There is the love of the brethren. Observe, the two New Testament commands are put in the obverse order from what they were in the 3rd chapter. “We love Him because He first loved us;” and that is balanced by “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; if he loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” “And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love His brother also.” We have it already as a command in the third chapter. Then in the two first verses of the fifth chapter, the sentiment is put in a two-fold form, as is frequent in Holy Writ. What I mean is this, if a man says he loves God, God says, You will love My people then; or if a man says, he loves His people, God says, “You will love Me then.” If we love the parent, we shall love his children, (verse 1); if we love the children, we shall love the parent, (verse 2.) Thus you see the sentiment is put on either side. In verse 1, it is, if we love the Parent, our Father, we shall love all His children; in verse 2, it is—if we love His children, we shall love Him—surely. Do not, beloved friends, think that the double exhibition of the truth is not needed; it is needed. There is a tendency in some minds to lean too much weight on the one, and in some, on the other. I think I may speak “what I have on my mind—I shall be pardoned if I do; because we ought to be practical as well as exegetical. Many of us, and those who worship here on Sunday, know that what are called “brethren principles” are the truth of God. Now there is a tendency with brethren holding brethren principles either to be too lax, or too strict,—to make so much of love of the brethren, as to forget God; or to make so much of the love of God—of Christ, so that you forget and shut out His people. Either side is wrong. I own frankly, I dare not go with those who exclude Christians who are quite as good as themselves, for the sake of any action or rules of men, because they say that they must begin with Christ; nor do I, on the other hand, feel able to be so latitudinarian, as to forget the honour of Christ where doctrine and practice are certainly concerned; the love of the brethren and the love of Christ should go together. “We must not make so much of the love of God, as to disparage the love of the brethren; and we must not make so much of the love of the brethren, as to disparage the love of God. The two sentiments are combined in the first two verses of the 5th chapter. You love the child if you love the parent. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God.” You will see the other side is the love of the Parent. There is a danger we must take care of, either excessive liberality and latitudinarianism on the one side, where anything concerning the truth, and honour, and person, and work of the Lord Jesus is clearly concerned,—(I have in my mind that last device of the devil, to break up the assemblies of the people of God by that horrible doctrine of the non-eternity of punishment, which is a slur upon the cross of Christ. Men must stand up for God. You must keep your eye on the Lord),—but when persons will shut out good men on account of some rules invented by those who may have gifted minds, hear the other side of the Word of God, that if you love Him that begat, you will love Him that is begotten of Him. There you see is the working of the divine life on the one side and on the other. “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.” We have had that sentiment once or twice; therefore I do not think I need tarry here. To wit, that this is the faith that will overcome the world. I will try and present it as vividly as I can—the Lord helping me. Bear in mind the Person on whom we venture our all, is a Man that was hung. I use the word hung, instead of crucified, which word has now rather a religious air about it—a Man who was hung about eighteen hundred years ago as a felon; He was not a felon; but He was numbered with felons. We ventured everything in full view of all—we ventured everything in the conviction that He who was hung eighteen hundred years ago as a felon, is the Person who sustains creation: is the Person who made all things, and is the only begotten and well-beloved of the Father.

Now if we do truly believe in Him, we see then what a judgment of the world is here given, and if we do truly believe that He is God’s Son, we shall be like a man who knows that a ship is very sea-worthy—is certain to return with a good freight, and who is not therefore afraid of venturing all his property in that ship. It is going to foreign climes for a number of months, and it is the opinion of a great many people, that it will not have been out a month before it will sink to the bottom, and woe be to the men who have invested anything in it. But we are so confident that the ship will return, and that for all we embark in it, we shall have a hundred or thousandfold, that we venture everything; we part with everything, because we believe that the ship will come back. To outward appearance there is nothing to encourage us. To go back to the fact: the Person on whom we depend was crucified, and we now see Jesus crowned with glory and honour. We see this; we are not afraid; but yet, having ventured all upon Him, staked everything upon Him, “if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable,” We have staked our all upon the return of that ship: upon Christ sitting down at the right hand of God, and coming back; we let go this world; we embark as it were our property in the ship; we invest everything—our hopes of the future—we care for nothing if we do truly believe that Jesus, the Person who hung upon the cross, is the Son of God. If we do not believe in Him now, in proportion as we do not believe, we shall clutch this world, we shall hold it tight; the measure of our clutch of this world is the actual test of the measure of our faith in Christ. It is like a man who has ventured one thousand pounds in that ship; but who has two thousand pounds altogether. If he has a little fear that the ship will sink, he will only invest half his property; but if he is quite sure the ship will come back, he will invest the whole of his two thousand, or twenty thousand pounds, in the ship, knowing that it will come back with a deal in it. If we trust the crucified One, we can give up everything, because we know He will come back, and then it will be a grand day for us. If you truly believe, you will venture everything—you will embark everything in that ship, and the ship will return as sure as God is true, and as sure as Christ said, “I will come again, and receive you to Myself.” Oh! believer; it will be a glorious day for those who have trusted the Lord.

We now come to the more important subjects in this chapter. First we notice where this eternal life is. We have seen how we get it; through the love of God descending, indwelling, and exalting. Now observe where it is. I should like, before I go any further, to clear the passage a little. Bear in mind the word witness, record, testimony, and such words which are here translated differently, are all one single word in the original. “This is the record,” is the same in the original as, “This is the witness.” I want you to bear this in mind. That is the first thing to clear up before I comment upon the passage—just to clear the obstacle away. Again, the 7th verse should read “for there are three that bear record; the spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three are one.” That is how it should read, as any critical commentator will tell you; the words I omitted were not written by the apostle John, and were not inspired by the Holy Ghost; they were put in by some lazy monks, I suppose, or some ecclesiastics of olden times, as an easy proof of the doctrine of the Trinity—which proof is not needed. The words here which are not God’s words, are these, “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.” Let me be understood; of course I believe in the doctrine of the Trinity with all my heart and soul; but those words were not written by the apostle John. There are plenty of Scriptures that do prove the Trinity; but that particular expression is not God’s Word. It contradicts other scriptures. It says, “There are three that bear record in heaven,” and one of the three is the Holy Ghost. Now the Holy Ghost does not bear witness in heaven; the place where the Holy Ghost bears witness is on the earth. The Holy Ghost has come down from heaven, and in a personal, and special, and peculiar manner, is on the earth now, as He was not before the day of Pentecost. The place of the testimony of the Holy Ghost now, is upon the earth, and not in the heavens; and therefore the expression referred to cannot be correct. It clashes with other scriptures, and therefore cannot be God’s Word; for God never contradicts Himself.

Well, now having cleared up the obscurities in the passage—notice, please, what is the witness, or the record, or the testimony? The witness, or record, or testimony, is two-fold: that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son; the life is in Christ, and God has given it to you. That is the twofold witness on which so much emphasis is thrown by the Holy Ghost. First, God has given us eternal life. I think I have previously remarked that you hardly ever read of eternal life in the Old Testament, only twice from Genesis to Malachi, and then obscurely; but now you read of it continually, especially in the writings of John; for whilst Paul’s theme is grace, John’s theme is the root of grace— Christ, who is the life. At the beginning of this epistle we read that the life was manifested, and came down on purpose to reach us. I never read of angels having eternal life; I believe that they will ever exist; but eternal life is the nature of God; it is not the same thing as existence; Christ has come down, who is one with the Father, and has brought us into union with Himself. God, because He wanted children—because He wanted those who should be able to worship Him with full intelligence—because He wanted those objects on which He might expend His love—because He wanted those who should be very near and dear to Him for ever—chose to pick up a number of wretched outcasts of creation, and give them eternal life. That is the first part of the testimony which God has given; it is not a thing to be attained; it is a thing that God freely gives to those who believe. Then comes the other part of the testimony—“this life is in His Son.” Say you, “Well, I can’t always feel this life; sometimes I do feel able to joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ; but you may be a good man, and know more of the Word of God, and the love of God, than I do; but sometimes I feel almost as dead as a stone.” Believers, you must bear in mind what the testimony is; the testimony is not that the life is in you; but that the life is in Christ’, that is the difference. “God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Sow.” Ah! you are looking in the wrong place for it, when you say, “I feel so cold and wretched; “you are not looking at the right place; the life is in His Son. You are rummaging about, and trying to feel and to glow, and then, because you cannot feel and glow as you like, you say, “I fear I have not eternal life.” The life is in the Son; it is not in our keeping; it is in Christ. Say you, “Surely if I am a believer, I have life in myself?” The life comes to you; but observe, the very first act of divine life will lead you to cling more to Christ, and more to Christ, and more to Christ! I was thinking, as I came along, of some illustration, by which I should be able to make plain to you how that, though the life is continually flowing down unto you, yet that the source is reserved in Christ. Let me try and make plain what I am to illustrate, before the illustration; that as a believer, the life is continually flowing, moment by moment, into you and out of you. “He that believeth in Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” At the same time Satan might, as it were, be able to stop the stream a little; but he can never touch the source; for the source is Christ, who is our Lord, and only He can touch the source; our life is hid with Christ in God, beyond the reach of harm. Oh! how very many times Satan does get at you so far as to check the outflow of that divine life, and you are conscious of it! An improper look, an unholy word, a passionate thought; many, many, many such things continually occur in our walk through life, so as to interfere with the outflow, with the easy flow of that water of life into us, and out of us! But the source is beyond Satan’s reach, and we have been united to the living Christ. The source of our old life was in Adam: and the devil could get at the source of that life—and very wise he was, in his way, when he attacked that life in its source and ruined Adam; so that through Adam, as a source, there has flowed sin and death to all his posterity. But now this life is too precious a matter to be entrusted to our keeping; it is in Christ’s keeping; no, it is not in Christ’s keeping solely; our life is hid with Christ in God! hid with Christ in God! God must die, before the life that has flowed down to you can be cut off. In order to make it plain—how it is that you are occasionally conscious of a state of torpor and numbness in your spirit? You will excuse the homeliness of the illustration. As I walk along the streets, I occasionally see great flaring jets of gas outside large buildings; then there comes a strong gust of wind and blows it sometimes half out, sometimes nearly all out, and I have thought if the wind should blow very strong, it will blow it quite out—and it has appeared to go quite out; but one or two of the jets remain in, and in a moment the wind ceased, and the gaslight flared again from end to end. It is the same with the divine life, only that although the gas might be blown out by the wind, the devil’s temptations cannot touch the source of our divine life. For why? The testimony is that this life is in His Son; it is not in you. It is flowing down to you continually; flowing into you continually; flowing out from you, in proportion as you give yourself up to the Spirit; flowing out from you; but the source—as the 7th of John says—the source of this divine life is in Christ risen and glorified. Oh! what a source f the risen Christ! You know Mr. Speke is noted as the person who discovered the source of the Nile; that was something; but, beloved friends, the Holy Ghost tells us the source of our life is in Christ glorified, and it is flowing on, and on, and on, and down, and it has flowed into us, and flows out from us; because the testimony is, that God has given us this life, and the life is hid in His Son.

Well, that leads me to the next point. You see what the witness is—that is, the record, or the testimony. Then observe the manner in which it is brought to us, so that we get it. “This is He that came by water and blood”—“that came,” that reached us; for the Lord never stops half way—He does not mock us—He came to us who were in a state of death, in a state of sin, He came to reach us. This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ—not by water only, but by water and blood. I believe the allusion in that passage is clearly to the scene which ensued on the soldier piercing the side of the Lord Jesus. You remember, we are told by the evangelist, that there came out from His side blood and water, and “He that saw it bare record, and ye know that His record is true.” The allusion seems clear, indeed we have no doubt that it refers to the fact that the Son of God’s side was pierced with the soldier’s spear. Of course the allusion in the blood and water is to our two-fold need. There was our sin to be put away; the blood does that; but the putting away of our sin is not all we want, is it? I want life. It is not enough that God should see no sin in me; that is very precious; but what God gives besides is eternal life. He does not merely forgive my sins. He might forgive me, for aught I know, and take no more notice of me. But God wanted children, and so not only puts away the sin, but the Lord Jesus communicates life. He does both—He could not communicate the life before He put away the sin; the life could not flow into you until your sin was gone. “Not by water only, but by water and blood.” There was something between. You could not, for instance, send a telegraphic message from Edinburgh to London, if midway between the two ends of the telegraph wire there was a break. You could not send an electric shock through an iron chain if the middle link were wanting—could you? So the Lord Jesus could not pour that life into you till the sin that was between you and God was gone; “not by water only, but by water and blood.” The blood was needed to make the connection perfect, the communication complete; and when the communication was complete, then flowed in the life; it is life from a risen Saviour; there is no union with Christ before His death. The Lord Jesus had to see that the sin was put away. I have something which Christ wanted; Christ has something I wanted. This you see is the first link of connection; I have got sin; Christ has blood to wash it out. There is the way in which the union commenced, by which I am brought to Him. I have got sin, and I want forgiveness of it; His blood can put it away; thus I am drawn to Him, and not only get my sin put away; but He communicates life—“Son, thy sins be forgiven thee; go in peace,” and life and joy flow into my spirit through a risen Christ. I do not think I need enter here upon any discussion of an important point, namely, that although the saints in the Old Testament had life, it certainly was in a very different form from that of the saints now-a-days. The apostles experienced different stages of spiritual life. The first was Jewish life; it was life in a sense, but it was of a Jewish form; for they clung to the Lord Jesus Christ, and did not know that He was to die and rise again; it is clear they did not. Then, as soon as ever Christ was risen from the dead, He communicated that life in a resurrection form; you remember, He breathed on them, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” “What was His object? I remember, many years ago, being perfectly muddled with the statement in the gospel of John, that Christ breathed on them. What did He mean by it? what was the object of it? The allusion is to the scene in the Book of Genesis, where God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul. So the life of Christ in resurrection was communicable! The life had been pent up in Him before; it oozed out at times; but now it might flow freely out, because the sin was gone by water and blood. The soldier’s spear opened the fountain of life, that the life that was in Christ should flow out to us. He breathed on them; and thus they passed into another state, and now had that eternal life freely flowing into them; because the vase of ointment was broken, and its odour flowed out on every side. But presently the Holy Ghost came down from heaven; that is the crowning work of God now, not merely to give us life in a risen Christ; but to give us the Holy Ghost, through a glorified Christ, and thus thoroughly to unite us to the Lord Jesus. There was first the life flowing out from a risen Christ into us, and then came the Holy Ghost; that came to pass at Pentecost. Christ communicated life when He said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost;” and yet He did not give them the Holy Ghost personally then; it was not until after He was ascended. What is meant is, I conceive, that Christ reached us—He came to us; before we could come to Christ, Christ must come to us. We have not a long journey before we can get to Him. That is a precious thought! We have not a long way to go to Christ. The Word is “nigh” to them—one look at Him, and you are saved! What a precious thought! When we use the words, “Come to Christ,” it does not mean a long wearisome journey; but if we jusf call on the Name of the Lord Jesus, we are saved! It is because He has reached us, and thus is so close to us that we can touch Him, and we are at once made whole and clean every whit. He came to us, observe, before we can come to Him. This is He who reached us by water and blood. Thus, then, we get the two testimonies, that this life has been given to us, and that this life is in His Son. These are the two witnesses.

Then comes the third witness, namely, the Holy Ghost, and “it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth;” the Holy Ghost becomes a third witness; and then the apostle brings them altogether: “There are three that bear record—the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one;” that is, agree in one testimony, or in one witness. There is the word witness again, and you see the meaning of it. “There are three that bear witness”—that is, to you and to me—“the Spirit, the water, and the blood.” The blood which washes you, and by which God established the communication: because as long as there was sin, there was no communication. Secondly, the water whereby the life from a pierced Christ flowed into your soul; and thirdly, the Holy Ghost, which God has given to them that believe. There is the threefold testimony, and they all agree in one witness, or record, or testimony, namely, that our old nature is not a whit better; that our old Adam is not at all improved; but that it is a new life, and a new nature, and that you have been grafted into a new stock, and that the life from that new stock is flowing into you continually. These are the three testimonies, or witnesses. I have turned them the other way, from the order in the text; because there they are considered from God’s point of view, and it is well to look at them from our point of view. They all agree that our nature is too bad to be mended. God never mends that which is bad, never repairs that which is hopeless; but He begins a new work, a new thing; He makes a living union with a living Christ. Thus the three witnesses agree in one. I do not know whether you will see any coincidence in a type that I will just refer to from the Old Testament; it is a singular corroboration of the epistle under examination, and may help some to comprehend the epistle better; for one scripture, when there is a reference to it, always throws light upon the other. It is a singular fact, that God’s priests were anointed with three things—they were anointed with blood, water, and oil, as you will find, if you refer to the consecration of Aaron and his sons. The antitype of Aaron is Christ; the antitype of Aaron’s sons is His church. If you want to see your proper position in the Old Testament, you must look at Aaron’s sons, who were anointed with blood, with water, and with oil. That is a similar sentiment to that conveyed in our chapter, that there are three that bear record. I must here remind you of one fact. When they were anointed, do you remember which part was anointed first—which part of the body of Aaron’s sons—the ear, the hand, or the foot? It was their ear which was anointed first. Oh! it seems to me to convey such a lesson. That is the way to drink in God’s love, to have the hearing ear; that is the way to be a holy child—to do just what God says. They were anointed first on the ear; but they were anointed with those three things—the blood, the water, and the oil.

Well, there is the record. I have tried to show you what the witnesses are, and how they agree. You must not be at all downcast, if twenty times a day you feel as bad as can be; you must still gaze on Christ, and the love of Christ; and the more you look, the more will you enjoy that life which is in Him.

Well then the next sentiment in this section shows us what the position of the unbeliever is. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.” When a man is an unbeliever, he is not blamed for not having life, but for his unbelief, he is blamed for making God a liar. An unbeliever says, “I have not life; “but God says, “I have given it in My Son, and if you believe in My Son you have it.” The fault is in making God a liar. God has given His Son; God has revealed Himself in His Son; and the man who hardens himself in his sin, and shuts up in himself all the iniquity, and corruption, and death that is in him, and refuses to have connection with the light and purity that is in Christ, he is making God a liar. He prefers to keep his death to himself—rather than to live out of himself, and to live upon this risen Christ.

I do not know that there is anything else calling for remark in this passage. It is plain the life was in Christ, or else it could not have flowed out; and that it was meant by God to be communicated to us is plain from the fact that it did not stay in Christ. When the soldier’s spear pierced Him, it flowed out. If you say it flowed out for the good,—no, says God, it flowed out for the bad. It was opened by the soldier’s spear. Oh! I have sometimes been melted by that fact, that what brought out the love of God was the extreme depravity of my heart—that what drew out the manifestation of the love of God was my hatred of Him. It was my hatred of God that occasioned that exhibition of the love of God. You and I, you and I, you and I, each had a hand in that spear; we all, as it were, held that spear that went into Christ’s side; we all had a hand in it; we all helped to do it; we all helped to hold it. And how did God treat you when you took the spear and said, “Kill Him, kill Him,” as I did and you did? Did the heavens become dark, and lightnings flash, and thunders roll, and did God say, “Let that wretch go to hell?” No, God spoke, and the blood and the water came out. There was forgiveness of sin and everlasting life for that hard-hearted wretch that said, “Kill Him, kill Him.” The blood that touched that spear said, “See, I put away your sin; and there is life for you, and union with My Son.”

Well, having spoken of where this life is, the apostle closes the statement by saying, “He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life; these things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God.” These things have I written unto you, “That ye may know that ye have eternal life;” that is how it should read—“that ye may know that ye have eternal life who believe.” The fact is that since our translation was written, many old manuscripts have been discovered; so that now many passages of the New Testament are better understood than they were even fifty years ago. The words which John wrote were these,—“These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, who believe on the name of the Son of God.”

I will now ask your attention to another little fact—an expression occurs seven times in the epistle of John—that which is translated we know; it occurs altogether fifteen times; but the original word for eight of the expressions is a different one from that of the other seven. These seven are very peculiar and emphatic—words used by the Holy Ghost for we know. Of those seven expressions, five or six congregate round the close of the epistle, as if the believer’s confidence were growing. See how confidence in God seems to be growing towards the end of the chapter. First, with reference to its acting God-wards, and then the confidence we have in Him, is that “if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” There is the confidence of the saint, of the believer in Christ, growing towards God. If you remember, it has already been said similarly in the 3rd chapter, and the 21st and 22nd verses. “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God, and whatsoever we ask we receive of Him.” In our present chapter the sentiment is stated again, but in a much stronger form. In the 3rd chapter the statement was, “We have;” but in the 5th chapter it is, “We know we have;” confidence is growing. In the 3rd chapter, “Whatsoever we ask we get;” but in the 5th chapter, “We know we have what we ask for.” Oh! what a grand thing it seems to be, to know that the sin has gone by the blood; to know that there is the life communicated symbolized by the water; to know that one is united to the Holy Ghost—a child of God—one with Christ—and to walk in that simple confidence, asking God about anything that comes across us! What a position it puts the Christian into. What a grand thing to be a Christian! How different from the religion of many who are fond of talking of their dark days, and of God’s waves and billows going over them! What a difference between that and life! The darkness is past! And though in the Old Testament we read, “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light,” (Isaiah 1:10😉 yet that was before the Son of God had come, and the Lord Jesus Christ had brought light and immortality to light by the gospel. Oh! we are not to walk in darkness now; for the Sun is shining brightly. God’s Son has come, and the Lord Jesus has brought light and immortality to light by the gospel. Oh! we are not to walk in darkness now; for the sun, is shining brightly. God’s Son has come, and has lived, and died, and risen again,—and we see Jesus! The Lord deliver you who are here, and all His people, from that which makes men the centre—to that which places Christ in resurrection glory as the centre. Live upon Christ, and you will not be quoting that passage in Isaiah, which does not refer to you at all. This epistle says, “The darkness is past.”

“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.” These words, respecting the sin unto death need a little explanation. Some people at once jump to the conclusion, that what is meant here is the unpardonable sin. That is not what is meant by the apostle. What is here meant is bodily death. The idea is of a professing believer, who having grieved God, God in discipline smites him with sickness, or with death. I will cite a case or two from the New Testament. Ananias and Sapphira were professed believers—whether they were sincere or not, I will not say; they sinned grievously, and were struck with death. That was a sin unto death—bodily death—they died. Some persons come to the Lord’s table, “not discerning the Lord’s body, for this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep;” that is, in plain terms, they died. They behaved at that table as if they were partaking of a common meal. I think I have seen it myself, and perhaps have myself acted as I should not. We forget that the bread of which we partake is the communion of the body of Christ. I perhaps, on entering the room, begin talking about the weather, forgetting I am where God the Holy Ghost is present. It may be I want to show my self off, and make my voice heard, forgetting the Lord is there, and that it is His table, and that the bread represents His body; I treat it as a common meal, and the Lord says distinctly, “Many for this cause are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep,” Sleep means in that case—death. Having shown you what is meant by sin unto death, you will understand that it is not the unpardonable sin which is alluded to. “We will now look at the passage more closely. If you see a brother sin, you must pray for him. Do not become a censorious critic, and say, “What do you think,” and go babbling about that man’s sin all over the neighbourhood. If we see a brother sin, we must pray to God about it. Oh! how little of this is there, compared with what there ought to be. Pray to God about it, and say, “I saw a child of Thine doing wrong; do forgive him, heavenly Father.” How seldom is that done! We say, “What do you think so and so has done? “and we go and tell it, and rejoice about it. What we should do is speak to God about it, and say, “Father, he is Thy child. Oh, forgive him, and put away his sin.” And then God says, “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.” But if God deal with that man in discipline, it has passed beyond our judgment, and we must leave it to God. You can imagine a case like this, a man who is guilty of such fearful sin, that instead of feeling a love for him, the feeling in your mind is horror; he may in consequence of his fearful sin give occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme, and you have a feeling of horror that he could be guilty of such sin. Well, as long as he has life, pray for him; but when God deals with him in discipline unto death, you must leave him to God.

The next remark I would make is, that the word “ask” in the 16th verse, is not the same in the original as the word “pray,” a few words further on. A little reflection will serve to show you that if we use the word ask, we may use it in one of two different senses, either as asking a favour; or as asking a question. Thus compare our use of “pray” and “pry.” Hence, verse 16 teaches us that if we behold a reputed brother sin; but who has not died for his sin,—who has not been dealt with thus judicially by God, we are to pray for him. But on the other hand, if he has died for his sin, as in the case of some of those who discerned not the Lord’s body, then we must leave the matter to God, and not “pry” further. Judgment has passed out of our hands. The illustration in the text is designed to show how thoroughly we may feel at home with God. Even when we are not conscious of sin ourselves we may plead with God in behalf of others. And in my opinion, this sin unto death it is still possible to commit: some may commit it now. No Christian can be lost who has eternal life; but the Lord may deal with him in discipline. I remember a man who was living about twenty years ago, and was a bishop of the church of England, a true child of God, I believe. He appointed a son-in-law of his to a high post in his diocese. Soon after appointing the man to that post, he (the bishop) was smitten with death. That was always a case to my mind when I read that passage—the Lord dealt with him in discipline. Let me be understood; I do not say that a child of God can be lost; but the Lord may lay him on a sick bed, in consequence of what he has done, and may even cause him to “sleep.” “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” It is the sleep of death, and then the matter must be left with God. The dear man I speak of looked as if the Lord received him in full favour; for I believe his last words were, “Hush, heaven!” That appeared to me to be a sin unto death, although the Lord could take him up to His bosom. That is the meaning of the passage.

Now we come to a few closing words. You will find that there are three “we knows.” These last verses are, I think, very searching ones. The Lord in these closing verses is telling you, not merely what in the world is bad, and what in the world is good; He is telling you that what is good in you is divine, and that what is of the world is from the devil. These last verses remind you that you are in a world of utter apostacy, utterly opposed to God; and that what good you have in you is divine, and that what is in the world that is not quite divine, is quite devilish. That is the sentiment in these last closing words. If you are a believer, you are living in the world with a divine nature; the Lord leaves you here to live amid that which is in utter contrariety to Him. That is the sentiment in those words, “We know that whosoever is born of God”— there is a divine nature—“sinneth not,” but “he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” The devil never can make that which is divine anything else but divine. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The Spirit never becomes flesh, nor the flesh spirit. That is the first of the three “we knows.” Please to observe that there the sentiment is stated abstractedly, that whatever is from God here is absolutely divine. Then comes the second “we know,”— “We know we are of God.” That makes it very solemn—putting the two together. If I have a new nature, the devil can never get it down in sin. “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness,” or, the wicked one. As we are said to dwell in God, and God to dwell in us, all the world that is not in Christ is said to be in the devil. By the expression “lieth in” is understood—warmed by his hellish heat; as we receive our life from God, so the wicked receive diabolical impetus from the evil one.

Then follows the third “we know,” after which the apostle indicates that everything outside of Christ is idolatry. “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.” Take heed, for the world has many ways of alluring the children of God. To attempt to benefit the world by philanthropic measures—for instance, if I as a Christian, go and join a committee of worldly men, intending to benefit my neighbours—all that is blessing the world from a philanthropic, worldly point of view. If I do that, the world may thank me; they may say, “That, is a good man;” but that is taking the world’s crown, and blessing the world from the worldly point of view. A Christian, if he understands divine things, has no business with those philanthropic movements; he sees the whole world drifting to perdition—sunk in idolatry; he dare not have anything to do with all those philanthropic movements—those penny readings, concerts, oratorios, and the thousand other ways of improving men. If he wants to bless the world in truth, really, he should point them to Jesus as the Saviour of the world—begin by bringing them to the living Christ. “This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”