I. Faith and love are inseparable.

A. Believing that Jesus God’s Son has come in the flesh is a requirement. 1. Faith is a sign of being born of God. 2. Being born leads to right behavior. 3. Being born of God prevents us from habitually sinning. 4. Being born of God causes us to love others. 5. Faith is not only a sign but a condition of the new birth.

B. A person who loves and respects a father will also love and respect his child. 1. A believer must love the Father and the other children. 2. A sign we love God is our love for other Christ followers. 3. The antichrists were acting hatefully toward Christians; the Ephesians needed the contrast of love with hate.

C. A sign of maturing love is our personal attitude toward the Bible. 1. Not simply obedience to the Word of God but joyful obedience. 2. He does not want us to obey out of fear or necessity but out of love. 3. The secret to joyful obedience: a. Recognize that obedience is a family matter. b. A woman wanted to post some of her poems on her friend’s blog. He asked what the poems were about, love she said. Well, read me one, the world could certainly use a lot more love. The poem she read was filled with moons and Junes and other sappy sentiments, and it was more than the blogger could take. I’m sorry he said, but you just don’t know what love is about! It’s not moonlight and roses. It’s sitting up all night at a sickbed, or working extra hours so the kids can have new shoes. The world doesn’t need your brand of poetical love. It needs some good old fashioned practical love. c. Every Bible should be bound in shoe leather. - D.L. Moody d. We show our love to God, not by empty words but by willing works. 4. One of the tests of maturing love is our attitude towards the Bible, because in it we find God’s will for our lives revealed. 5. A Christ follower who experiences God’s perfecting love finds himself or herself enjoying the Word of God and truly loving it. The Bible is not a text book but a love letter.

D. God’s commands are not burdensome. 1. God’s laws are not oppressive or crushing. 2. God gives Christ followers the grace to live up to his high moral standards. 3. He gives commands that reveal to us the heart of God and direct our hearts to God.

E. The reason why God’s commands are not burdensome is that obedience to them enables believers to overcome the world. 1. Our faith is embraced in the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 2. The Greek goddess of victory was Nike, also the name of a United States aerial missile. 3. The Greek word Nike means victory. 4. Living in the real world it is not easy to obey God. It is much easier to drift with the world, disobey him, and do your own thing. 5. But the believer, born of God, has the divine nature within him or her. It is impossible for this divine nature to disobey God. 6. Our victory is a result of faith. 7. The more you love someone the easier it is to trust that person. 8. We grow in faith as we grow in love. 9. Faith and love mature together. 10. Believers do not have to walk around defeated, because Jesus Christ has made us victors. Now, by faith, claim his victory.

II. Jesus is God. (5:6-12)

A.Faith is based on the revelation and reality that Jesus is the Christ. 1. First witness – the water. Jesus baptism with the voice of God and the dove. 2. Second witness – the blood. The supernatural darkness, the earthquake, the torn veil and even the testimony of the Centurion, “Truly this was the Son of God” all give evidence to the truth. 3. Third witness – the Spirit. The Spirit was given to bear witness to Christ. The Holy Spirit was present at the baptism and at the crucifixion. His witness is our inner confidence that we belong to Christ – a confidence God gives us.

B. His baptism, his death, and the Holy Spirit all testify that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. 1. The law required two or three witnesses for a matter to be settled. 2. You may say, I wish I could have faith. Everyone lives by faith. All day long people trust one another. We trust the doctor, the pharmacist, the cook at the restaurant, even the person driving in the other lane. 3. If we can trust people, why can’t we trust God? 4. To not trust God makes him a liar! 5. Jesus is God: this is the first Christian certainty, and it is foundational to everything else.

C. Closing Argument: Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Challenge: Have faith in the Son of God today and receive eternal life!