Certainties of Knowing the Truth (1 John 5:13-21) | Adult Sunday School

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Good morning, everybody.

If you find your seats, we'll get cracking. Good morning. It's good to be in the house of the Lord, to be able to look into His Word, to see His truth, to be fed. Thank you for coming. We're going to be in the book of 1 John 5.

We're going to be looking at verses 13 -21 today, the end of the book. The title of this message is, The Certainties of Knowing the Truth. The Certainties of Knowing the Truth. We're going to be covering that.

Before we get going, let's go to the Lord with a word of prayer, if you don't mind. Father, we just thank you for your words that are found in this book called the Bible, that gives us light, that gives us a clear direction for our lives, a path that we can follow to keep us out of danger, to be able to share this faith.

The only living hope that is possible for mankind is through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you that you've provided a salvation that is only found in Him. No other way. Thank you for providing this for us, that we might be able to be with you for all eternity, to be at your feet, praising and worshiping you in the new kingdom, in the heavens and the earth.

Thank you for all that you do for us, Lord. We just give you all the praise and all the glory today. In Jesus' name, Amen. Let's read our passage this morning. 1 John 5, verse 13. Let's start there. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. Oh, excuse me, did I miss something? If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death.

There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should make requests for this. All unrighteousness is sin. And there is a sin not leading to death. We know that no one who has been born of God sins, but he who was begotten of God keeps Him and the evil one does not touch Him.

We know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we 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. Little children, guard yourselves from idols. Well, this is the last lesson in this book. And I hope that you kind of got the flavor that John's world back then is not much different than ours today.

There's the same complexities within the church. There's the same apostates trying to infiltrate. There's the same apostates trying to lead the body and the brethren astray from the truth of the Word of God.

You see that all over the world. And it's under the influence and the power of the evil one. And John has over and over again encouraged us to put our focus and our trust on the Lord Jesus Christ, on His Word, His truth, because it's light and it's guidance for us that we keep out of danger.

And it's the testimony of John, the last living apostle. He's the only one of his disciples who went all the way to the cross to see Jesus. He's the one that was there for the transfiguration and saw Christ's face shown like the sun and His garments became as white as light.

Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud said, This is my beloved Son with whom I'm well pleased. Listen to Him. And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and they were terrified.

You read that and you realize that the words of John carry some weight. He's seen the Lord. He's seen the glory of the Lord. Those that hate God always hate His Son too. And this has been the focus of this book, is that the apostates coming in, preaching a false gospel.

And John carries with him this message of Christ, follow after Him. Some say they love God and teach many kinds of teaching about Him. But when you ask them about the Son, a lot of times they him-ha around and they don't really have a solid answer for who Jesus really is.

And just because we live in this world and we face all kinds of difficulties and challenges, the ups and downs of life, it doesn't mean when those challenges come in that we walk away from the Lord. I mean, John had those challenges in his own life when his brother James was killed, which we read in Acts 12, 1 and 2.

You can read that where it says, James, the brother of John, was put to death with the sword by Herod. But he didn't use that as an excuse to walk away from the Lord like so many do today. They say, because these things happened, I'm going to walk away from the Lord.

Why would he allow these things to happen? Instead, I think we should be asking a different question. Just in how a holy God would save some out of this world, that he would provide a way for salvation for the sins of the people.

How the love of God saves some often doesn't enter the minds of people, but it should. The focus of John's gospel is primarily to bring forth the deity of Christ. And when you go back and listen to those messages that Jim preached over and over again, you hear that, the deity of Jesus being proclaimed.

And we see something similar in 1 John as well. Because in John 1, 1, it says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And in 1 John 1, 1, we see something similar.

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. This is defending the deity of Christ. Over and over again, you see that inscription.

It's something we all should be able to do well. Because how many times are we confronted by people that say, well, who is Jesus? Why do I have to believe in him? It's something that we should be able to defend and have an answer for in our own lives.

Can you defend it? If someone were to ask you right now, what would you tell them? Would you be able to have an answer that was easy to understand and succinct? John's three epistles also direct our attention to truth and love.

It's not just all about the deity of Christ. It's about other things. It's about truth and love. When you know Jesus, you know the truth. When you know his truth, you have a love for one another. That's another avenue that John has preached in this book, is that when you know Jesus, you have a different kind of love.

You have an agape love that is a self. I mean, you just, it's a deeper kind of love for the brothers. And when you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, it isn't really a question whether or not you have eternal life.

You know that you do. You know that you have eternal life living in you. And that's the focus of verse 13, isn't it? These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

We need to be reminded of that all the time, don't we? We're just forgetful. We run around in the struggles and trials of our lives. And sometimes we only hear that when we come back to church, when we only come here to be reminded that, hey, by the way, these troubles and trials that you face are going to go away someday.

Because you can be confident that you have eternal life living in you. And you can get over these challenges, no matter what is happening to you who believe in this verse, are referring to the believers.

These are the ones comforted by these words because they do believe in the name of the Son of God. They do understand. And I think being secure in your faith is something to be prized. It's to be cherished because nobody can take that from you.

You were granted eternal life from all eternity. Did you know that? If you're in Christ, you were granted eternity. Titus 1 -2, Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness in the hope of eternal life, which the God who cannot lie promised from all eternity.

All eternity. He's promised and he's given you eternal life before you even knew you had it. Eternal security of the believer is important to have a confidence and a strength for anything that life throws at you.

Because that's what faith does. It provides that strength within you. To who? To the elect. That's what that verse in Titus says. To elect is to choose who are God's elect. The elect are those individuals whom God has chosen to save.

He promises them eternal life from all eternity. How long is eternity?

Long time.

This is the difference though that we have versus the unbelieving world. The unbelieving world fears. They don't understand. Death to them is a mystery. And so, sometimes they struggle with that. There's fear.

They're unsure of what happens when they die. Not so for the believer, right? It's a time for rejoicing. It's why Christian funerals are different than unbelievers. Unbelievers mourn and they struggle.

But for the Christian, it's a celebration. Because that person is with the Lord. Their bodies are changed. They're different. Their spirit is there. And then, you think about the confidence that brings.

Knowing that you have eternal life. Knowing that you have that security. It provides within the believer a sense that you can't be shaken. You can't be moved in your faith. No matter what is happening on the outside, your inside says you can't be moved.

Look at verse 14. And this is the confidence which we have before Him. That if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. In verse 15. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked for Him.

So, knowing that eternal life brings that confidence to come before the Lord in prayer. You're not afraid to come before Him. And it's a critical component of prayer in a believer's life. Someone who heard Martin Luther praying said this, I quote, What a spirit!

What a confidence was in his very expression! With such a reverence, he said, as one begging of God. And yet with such hope and assurance as if he spoke with a loving father or a friend. Your confidence and boldness comes to you because of your belief in God.

Salvation brings a person into conformity with God. And you're not ashamed to pray. Look at Saul, Acts 9 .11. And the Lord said to him, that is Ananias, Rise up and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul.

For behold, he is praying. Saul had just met Jesus on the Damascus road three days later. And here he is praying. It doesn't matter whether you're a new believer or been saved for 30 years. There's a confidence that we need to be on our knees praying.

But see, for the believer, for the unbeliever, excuse me, who cares little about their sins, what motivation do they have to pray? We pray for all kinds of things, but an unbeliever doesn't have that same thought process going through them.

John says, come. And he includes himself here in the mix here when he says, and if we know that he hears us, John includes himself with the believers. We have confidence before God to ask him for anything, anything.

Notice the prayer here is to God. God is who we are praying to. Remember, Jesus is our mediator. That's why we say in Jesus name, please help us, Lord. But it has to be according to his will. That's what this verse says.

There is your will and then there's God's will, right? It's impossible to know God's will in every situation in our lives. So we lift up our prayers anyway. The Bible isn't clear on what job you're going to get or which one you should apply for.

All he says is, is pray, lift up your request to God anyway, because you don't know what God's going to do sometimes. If it's his will, it's going to be accomplished. If it goes against scripture, don't pray for it.

If you already know that, don't pray for it. The believer asks for things according to his will. That's what we do. We understand the scriptures. We understand that God is going to lead us into the good things of life.

We don't pray for things that are going to lead us into danger. Matthew 6 10 says, pray then in this way, our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, and then what? Your will be done.

Not my will.

It's not your will. It's whatever God's will is. That's what's going to be done. But yet he commands us to pray. These are the things that please him. It is God's will that you pray for your enemies. We see that in scripture.

It's God's will that you pray for other brothers. We see that in 1 John and so many other things that God asks us to pray about. Verse 14 says, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. We just ask and then we rest.

We pray and then have patience knowing that God hears us. He understands our requests that are before him. And I think that's important to just know that he hears us. Unbelievers don't have that same ability.

And it's kind of one of these things where, have you ever kept a book of the prayers that you have prayed and then go back and look and see, well, which one of these has God answered? It's a good way to kind of see God moving in your life.

All your prayers have been answered in some way or form or fashion, right? Some are yes, some are no, and some are not yet. We see that all over the place. You can understand and be patient knowing that in God's sovereignty, if he chooses to do it, he will.

And even if he doesn't, what does that matter to you and I? He makes decisions beyond our scope and understanding because he knows the end from the beginning. What we think is in our best interest, a lot of times rarely isn't.

And so we rest on God to provide the decisions, provide the way for us. And no matter what happens, we know that he has the best for us. And sometimes a no, even though it may be painful, might be the very best thing for us.

And we don't know it until years down the line. And then we see in verse 16, if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will forgive him. Excuse me, God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death.

There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should make requests for this. Here's an interesting verse, right? Many commentators are scratching their heads on what that means. There's all kinds of different views on this of what kind of death are we talking about?

Are we talking about physical death? Are we talking about spiritual death? What exactly are we talking about here? And I think what needs to be kept in mind always is the context of the passage. What would these readers have understood back then?

And let's start here. Let's start with sin. Sin not leading to death. John tells us in chapter three, verse four, that sin is lawlessness. Sin is that which breaks God's perfect law, his perfect standard.

It misses the mark of his righteousness. Sin divides relationships. And it's a serious matter. And believers are supposed to take it seriously in their own lives. And also when they see it in other believers.

That's what this verse is talking about. When you see your brother committing sin, it says, and seeing it, right? You're seeing another brother commit sin. You're not taking some third-hand information from somebody else.

You're seeing it yourself. And then what does he tell you? Does he say, hey, go to all your friends and tell them that Joe over there is sinning? No, that's gossip. That's gossip. We don't do that. The immediate action is to pray for your brother.

What's the point? What's the goal of it? When you see one of the precious saints in sin, what's the most thing you want to see happen? It's not for them to keep sinning. It's to bring them back into the fold.

To confront them and say, there's a better way. You're running into danger. I am your, you know, guard there against further sin. Don't do this. So whatever the sin is, it doesn't lead to death, is what it says.

And so the question is, is it physical death or it's spiritual death? You know, people land on both sides of this equation. Some say it's physical. Some say it's spiritual. And to me, the context doesn't seem to favor physical death.

Although it's, you know, not a hard 100 certain, but the context seems to make more sense. We do see in scripture where sin does lead to physical death. Ananias and Sapphira, when they lied to the Holy Spirit in front of the church, they, God struck them down.

But in the context here, we can read in verse 13, we're talking about eternal life. The context is of life. And if the believer already has life, eternal life, then it can't mean that they're going to be spiritually dead.

Verse 12 also says, he who has the son has life. In verse 11, God gave us eternal life. What I believe is in view here is spiritual death. That's eternal. That's what it seems to make sense. Any sin a believer commits has consequences, but they will not lose their salvation.

That's the sin not leading to death. Any sin short of rejecting Jesus is what he's talking about here. Remember back to chapter one, verse nine, that if you confess your sin, he's faithful and just to forgive you.

That's what a sinning believer is, you're trying to encourage him to do with your prayers. Is bring him back into fellowship. But notice that this verse doesn't say go to your sinning brother, but rather pray for him to be restored.

Praying comes out of a heart of love for the brethren. Just as we have been learning in this book, love one another. And a demonstration of that love is that we pray for those that we see are in error, or sinning, or falling away, or doing anything contrary to the scriptures.

And the full counsel of scripture also confirms other ways to bring back a sinning brother. It's not just to pray for them. Galatians 6 .1 says, brothers, even if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each of you looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted.

Notice how you are to restore the sinning brother. You are to do it with a spirit of gentleness. Like a calm, gentle flowing river, you come alongside them to restore them to the fellowship with God and the saints.

Not with harshness, because you may fall into the same kinds of temptations in your own life and may need it. A restoring hand. You also see ways that a sinning brother is brought back to the Lord in Matthew 18.

And you could go through all that and read that. John says, ask God and he will give life to the sinning brother in this verse. What does that mean, he will give life? The believer already has eternal life, so it can't be that.

Sin is destructive and it kills everything it touches. So here to restore is to bring life back into the sinning believer's world. Bring him back into the full fellowship where there is joy, where there is peace.

That's what we're doing. So we're bringing him back for those reasons. Now you see a sin leading to death. What is that all about? A sin leading to death. Notice that in the beginning of verse 16, John uses the word brother to describe the one committing the sin not leading to death.

But here we don't see any mention of the sin leading to death referencing a brother. That's because the sin leading to death is about unbelievers. It's about these apostates. In this churches in Asia Minor, the sin leading to death, what is that?

The apostates are in these churches in Asia Minor and what are they doing? They're preaching a false gospel, aren't they? They are presenting a different Jesus, a different gospel. They are denying the Lord.

Well, because they've twisted the truth about the true identity of Jesus. And countless others in our day do the same thing. And there's consequences for doing that. There's consequences. Revelation 20 verse 14 says this, then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death, the lake of fire. What is the second death? Well, what's the first death? First death is your physical body dying. But the second death is what? Your separation spiritually from the Lord for all of eternity is the second death.

The sin leads to death should remind all of us about the warning passages that Jim has been preaching about in Hebrews. And just to refresh your memory in Hebrews chapter 10, a few highlights. For those that continually reject Jesus, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

That's terrifying. Only if you're an apostate. Then it also says, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of fire, which will consume them. How much worse punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the son of God?

Remember, these apostates were among believers. And it says here that you have no part in them. They have no part in eternal life. Remember, the apostates were among them. 1 John 2, 9 says they went out from us.

They were in our body. They were here, but they were not really of us because they didn't really embrace the Jesus of the scriptures. They were not of us. They did not have the same spirit as us. They would have remained with us had they done that.

They would have kept following if they had the spirit of Jesus within them. But they didn't. But they went out. They left the church so that it would be manifest. It would be clear for us who they really are.

It's good to know your enemy. So when they go out, you're like that person right there. That's the one to avoid. That's the apostate right there. They have rejected Christ. And John says, I do not say that he should make requests for this.

We're talking about prayer here. Prayer for the sinning believer to bring him back. But here John says, see these apostates? Don't make any requests for them. You don't go after them.

Why?

You let them go because they're not coming back. They've been abandoned by God because of their continual rejection of Christ. They know what they're doing. They know what they're doing. God says, let them go.

Don't run after them. Don't chase after them. It's a harsh truth because sometimes you think, well, hey, we can save them. We can go after them. And God says here, don't do it. They have made their bed and now they're going to have to lie in it.

That's why following the Lord is so very important. The apostates were preaching a false gospel. And there's consequences to knowingly rejecting the faith that we have. And I just want to make a clarification here.

Remember that there's a difference between apostates and those that are deceived. Apostates aren't going to be returning, but those that are simply deceived can be confronted with the truth and come back and be saved.

Deceived people can be saved. Then we look at verse 19, the son of God has come. We know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his son, Jesus Christ.

This is the true God in eternal life. What has given us understanding about the, what has he given us understanding about? In this passage, it says he did. He's given us understanding about salvation.

He's given us understanding about who the true Jesus is compared to the false one of the apostates. Believers know this and unbelievers run from that truth. They don't want to submit to the Jesus of the Bible.

Apostates hate this truth as we read in 1 Peter 2, 1, because it says, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. He has given us understanding. It's because he saved us and the Holy Spirit now lives in us.

He has given us the Bible to read. He's given us great preachers. He's given us tools that we can learn of him and understand what the mind of God is. And the plan for all of mankind can be known. The Bible has laid out the storybook of how life begins and how it ends.

There's no mystery for us. See, there's uncertainty in the world because they don't really see the full plan of God. So when they see turmoil running all over the place, rampant now, there's an uncertainty and a fear, if you will, because the future is unknown to them.

But to us, we know it and we should be secure in our faith no matter what happens. It may be difficult and may be challenging, but at least we understand why it's happening. Christ leads us into the truth.

The world is relative though, isn't it? But with God, it's absolute and we can know it. Your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth is a lie. Somewhere along the line, you have to have absolute truth.

You have to have it. Spirit of God is what guides and directs you into the truth. The truth about religion, the truth about Jesus as the only savior, and the truth about the plans of the devil. We can understand it.

The biblical lens you now look through filters the worldly influences through scripture so that when you see what's happening, you understand it and are not shaken. Truth helps you understand what's going on around you.

When you read verses like this one where John says, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. You know why it's that way? The unbeliever has no idea of the devil's plans. The power of the evil one.

What is the power of the devil that he's speaking of here? What is it? How does he have all this influence and power over this world and what is it? It is the power to control and influence nations and people.

He is moving them into a unified one world government that will one day come on the scene. That's what he's doing. And the ones being influenced to serve him have an anti-Christ spirit. They are contributing to the work of the devil knowingly or unknowingly.

Remember though, I think this is something that we want to remember that God is the one that allows it. He allows the devil to have this kind of control and influence over the world system. But we know how the story ends.

Some will go into the everlasting kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. And some will go to a Christless eternity in hell. There are no other options. And I think that's why John ends this book this way.

Little children, guard yourselves from idols. This is an abrupt way to end this book, isn't it? It's kind of like this. Little children, guard yourself from idols. And that word little children is technia, which literally means little born ones.

For us, we know how the story ends. We just do. And this guard yourself for idols. For those in the military, you know what that means, right? You know what it means to guard something. You're guarding a ship or a base or something of that nature, some other structure.

The believers in Asia Minor are to be on guard. What are they guarding? They're, say that. Yeah, guarding and standing watch, defending the truth against any and all enemies. The truth John has been defending throughout the book is the deity of Christ.

That's what he's defending. And he says here, guard yourself from idols. Well, what's an idol? Simply put, an idol is whatever becomes the object of your affections other than God. Anything that replaces God is an idol.

When you replace the sufficiency of him for anything else, you're practicing idolatry. And I kind of think of it in idols in two different categories, if you will. I think of the tangible. These are the ones fashioned by man.

You know, John wrote from Ephesus where the temple of Artemis was. And, you know, we read other places in the Old Testament or in the New Testament where they had made idols and silversmith and created them.

So I think of that. They're physical, real man-made images of various deities. They're not as prevalent today. You don't see as many in openness. I mean, there are some obviously in Hindu temples and other places where you see physical idols.

But there's also intangible idols. These are idols that are based around an ideology, a belief system that replaces God. The heart of this is the lack of trusting in the sufficiency of God. Intangible idols come in various ways.

The Christian counselor deals with fear, anxiety, depression, anger in the people that they counsel. They become idols. They all speak to it. Those conditions have replaced God. Fear because they don't trust.

They're anxious because of a weak foundation. They're depressed because they don't have the joy of the Lord. And they are angry because they don't have the peace of God ruling in their lives. See, these things have replaced the confidence and trust we have in a holy God.

Religious systems fall into this category of intangible idols as well. We see it here. The Gnostics, their teaching, their philosophy, their ideology was contrary to the scriptures. We also see it in our world today, which is the most popular secular humanism.

The dominant belief in our world today is a belief system that trusts man's ways over God's ways. And you see where that's gotten us. John leaves us with this very critical directive. Guard yourself from idols.

Because if you take your eyes off Jesus and put your faith in anything else, you harm yourself. His message is keep your eyes on Jesus. The sufficiency of scripture is all you need. Nothing should be replacing God in any way in your life.

If you'll turn to Isaiah 44, I want to close with this. I want to demonstrate the amazingness of God and the futility of idols in your life. And there's no need for you to put your trust in idols. God is more than sufficient to take care of all of your needs.

Look at the amazing God that we serve, starting in verse 6 of Isaiah 44. Thus says Yahweh, the King of Israel and his Redeemer. Yahweh of hosts, I am the first and I'm the last. And there is no God besides me.

Who is like me? Let him call out and declare it and let him tell it to me in order. From the time that I established the ancient people and let them declare to them the things that are to come and the events that are going to take place.

Do not be in dread and do not be afraid. Have I not long since caused it to be heard to you and declared it? And you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? Or is there any other rock? I know of none.

He is sufficient. He is holy. Cast all your cares upon him for he cares for you. This is the sovereignty of God on display for us. There is no other God who can do these things. That's the reason why there's a futility of idolatry.

When we place our confidence and our strength in other things. And we see that starting in verse 9. Let's read that. The futility of idolatry is this. Those who form a graven image are all of them futile.

And their desirable things are of no profit. Even their own witnesses fail to see or know so that they will be put to shame. Who has formed a God or cast a graven image to no profit? Behold, all his companions will be put to shame.

The craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves. Let them stand up. Let them be in dread. Let them together be put to shame. The man crafts iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals.

Forming it with hammers and working it with his powerful arms. He also gets hungry and has no power. He drinks no water and becomes weary. Another crafts wood. He extends a measuring line. He outlines it with a stylus.

He makes it with planes and outlines it with a compass. And makes it like the form of a man. Like the glory of man. So that it may sit in a house. In order to cut cedars for himself. He takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest.

He plants a fir and the rain makes it grow. Then it becomes something for a man to burn. So he takes one of them and warms himself. He also kindles a fire to bake bread. He also works to produce a God and worships it.

He makes it a graven image and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over this half he eats meat as he roasts. Makes, excuse me, as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, Aha, I am warm.

I have seen the fire. But the rest of it he makes into a God. His graven image. He falls down before it and worships it. He also prays to it and says, Deliver me for you are my God. They do not know. Nor do they understand.

For he has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see in their hearts. So they will have no insight. No one causes this to return to his heart. Nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, I have burned half of it in the fire and also half baked bread over its coals.