1 John 5:1

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 145:10-13, 21
• Hymn — O Worship the King (#219)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 10, Section 1
• Hymn — The Apostles' Creed (#560)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — 1 John 5:1-5
• Sermon
• Hymn — Not What My Hands Have Done (#435)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The Fruit of Regeneration

Scripture: 1 John 5:1-5

I. The Fruit of Faith

A. The Greek construction of verse 1 is key: "believes" (present tense) flows from "has been born of God" (perfect tense — a past definitive act with ongoing effect)

1. Regeneration precedes faith — the new birth enables belief, not the reverse
2. Cf. John 3:3 — unless one is born again, he cannot even see the kingdom of God

B. The Westminster Confession affirms both realities: God enlightens the mind and renews the will, so that the elect come "most freely, being made willing by his grace"

1. Calvinism does not deny free will — it affirms that regeneration restores proper affections so that the believer runs freely to Christ
2. The gospel is the means by which the Spirit regenerates; it must be freely proclaimed to all

C. The passage is bookended by faith with objective content (1 John 5:1 and 1 John 5:5): faith that Jesus is the Christ / the Son of God

1. The church's victory is not philanthropy or good works, but the good confession: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God"
2. Commentator Alfred Plummer: John emphasizes not the victorious person but the victorious power — it is the new birth from God that conquers
3. William Tyndale: upon the rock of this faith, no sin, hell, devil, or lie can prevail

II. The Fruit of Love

A. 1 John 5:1b — "everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him": regeneration brings adoption into God's household

1. Adoption, like justification, is a legal declaration — union with Christ means entering the family of the Son
2. Love for the brethren flows organically from adoption

B. The defining model of this love is 1 John 4:10 — propitiation: the Father pours out wrath on the Son for us

1. This is cross-shaped, vulnerable, costly love — not comfortable or philanthropic
2. C.S. Lewis: to love is to be vulnerable; a heart locked away becomes unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable

C. Cultural "love" is rest-stop philanthropy — praised, painless, and moveable; it carries no vulnerability and no cost

1. The declining marriage rate and birth rate reflect a culture avoiding the cost of committed love
2. Christ at Gethsemane is the model: "not my will, but yours" — vulnerability placed into the Father's hands for the sake of his people
3. The Lumineers: "It's better to feel pain than nothing at all — the opposite of love is indifference"

D. Cross-shaped love on earth anticipates painless, glorified love in heaven — suffering gives way to glory

III. The Fruit of Obedience

A. 1 John 5:2-3 — love for the children of God is demonstrated by loving God and keeping his commandments

1. Biblical love is not primarily emotional but moral — love and commandment-keeping belong together
2. The organic trickle-down effect: regeneration → faith in Christ → love for God and his law → love for the brethren

B. The tenth commandment (Romans 7) exposes the need for a heart change — covetousness reveals that commandment-keeping requires the new birth

1. Obedience to the full law (love of God in the first commands; love of neighbor in the last) requires regeneration

C. His commandments are "not burdensome" — a closed canon of Scripture provides clarity, stability, and direction for love

1. Open-canon, culture-driven love is ever-changing and extraordinarily burdensome
2. The closed canon is the instruction manual — ignoring it produces confusion and self-inflicted burden
3. The commandments of God, received through Christ by the Spirit, are an easy yoke and a light burden (Matthew 11:30)

D. Closing paradox: the cross — the cruelest instrument of death — is not a burden, because behind it is the power of God written on the heart by the Spirit

1. Cross-shaped, closed-canon, obedient love overcomes the burdensome world
2. Paul's example: the love of God in Christ made even death no burden — "I have Christ"