Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1791
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:13.
How very simple this all is! John had an eagle’s wings with which to soar aloft and an eagle’s eyes with which to penetrate into great mysteries—and yet of all the writers of the Old or New Testament he is one of the simplest. He never endeavors to show you the greatness of his mind or the grandeur of his rhetoric. On the contrary, he speaks as a child to those who are children in the school of love. I would that all of us who try to teach others would remember this and sink ourselves in our lesson.
It is equally notable how practical John is. When he writes, he always has a worthy intention in every line. “These are written,” he says, and he explains the design with which he penned the record. These Epistles are not written to dazzle you, nor to lead you into speculation, nor to gratify your curiosity—but these are written “that you may know that you have eternal life.” The practical objective may seem, to the high-soaring votaries of modern thought, to be commonplace, but John had a deep veneration for matters which moderns despise. The commonplaces of theology are the greenest of the pastures wherein the sheep of God feed and lie down. It is infinitely more to our benefit to know that we have eternal life than to be able to predict the future of empires or to forecast the destiny of kings! It is of more practical importance for us to know that we have eternal life than to be able to explain all mysteries, or to speak with tongues.
John acts according to his loving heart when he writes to lead his Brethren into the assured knowledge of their personal possession of eternal life. When he tells us his design, it is that he may help to accomplish his purpose—for by informing men of understanding why he is writing, he stirs them up to see his purpose and to fall in with it. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Dear Friends, if this is the design of the inspired Apostle, let us not be slow to cooperate with him, but let us pray, this morning, for the full assurance of faith, that we may know for sure that eternal life is pulsing in our hearts! May you who have not believed in Jesus feel a fervent desire within your spirits to take that preliminary step and become believers in the Son of God! Come, then, to the text, and consider with us, first, to whom it was written—“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.” Secondly, to what end it is written—“That you may know that you have eternal life.” This will lead us, thirdly, to consider how that which was written in this Epistle conduces to this blessed confidence. And then, lastly, I shall have to call your attention to an added matter which is never forgotten by John, even when he writes with the design of promoting the highest form of Christian attainment—“That you may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
They already believed on the sacred name, yet it remained a part of John’s design to confirm them in that faith and conduct them to higher degrees of it. May the Holy Spirit make our meditation profitable!
I. First, then, briefly, TO WHOM WAS THIS WRITTEN? It is important to observe the direction of a letter, for I may be reading a communication meant for somebody else. And if it should contain good tidings, I may be deceiving myself by appropriating the news. This Epistle, and this particular text in it, were written for all those who believe on the name of the Son of God. In part of the Epistle, John says, “I write unto you, little children.” Then he says, “I write unto you, young men.” Further on he says, “I have written unto you, fathers.” But now he writes to babes, to young men and
to fathers under the one comprehensive description of those who have believed on the name of the Son of God! Our discourse is, therefore, for all of you who are believers in Christ.
Little child, you who have just begun the spiritual life, we would have you attain to the confidence that you have eternal life! Young man, sternly battling with sin, we would have you strengthened for your conflict by knowing that you have eternal life! And you fathers, let us hope you have not come so far without this knowledge, but whether you have or not, these things are written that you, in your mature years, may rise to the full conviction that the life of God is strong within you! No person, young or old, is excluded from this text, unless he is an unbeliever. To unbelievers this text is not written—it is for all who trust in Jesus—and it is for no one else.
If you enquire why it is not addressed to unbelievers, I answer, simply because it would be preposterous to wish men to be assured of that which is not true! John never wished that a man who had not believed in Jesus Christ should even think that he had eternal life, for it would be a fatal error. “He that believes not shall not see life.” How, then, could he have an assurance of possessing it? Faith is a necessary preliminary to assurance—you must have the blade of faith before you can have the ripe corn of assurance. Dear Friends, do not dream of being sure that you are saved apart from making sure that you have trusted yourselves with the crucified Savior! The Atonement presented by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, gives assurance of salvation to all who trust in it, but to no one else. It would be taking things out of their due order. It would be doing you real and, perhaps, fatal mischief if we should lead you to presume that you have eternal life before you have unreservedly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ! “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.”