Book of 1 John - Ch. 5, Vs. 9-21 (09/15/2002)

The Witness of God and the Son

The fifth chapter of John. We'll start with the ninth. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his son. There's many many people who believe whatever they read in the paper, but they will not receive the witness of God.

The witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his son. God today is not giving out news on every subject. His news is good news, and it is about his son who died on the cross for us.

That's his message. He that believed on the Son of God hath the witness. 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 his son.

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. Please note that, in himself. God does not witness through you to someone else. He witnesses to you. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.

If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit indwells you, and he testifies that these things are true. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar. When you don't believe God, there are those that don't, you add to your other sins by implying that he is a liar.

Yes, yes it does, because you can add up sins that you will have to answer for. You follow? Well, that's true, but it's not just going to.

Hell. Your punishment will be more severe. Yes, yes. I fully expect Hitler to be.

Judged much, much sharper and go deeper than somebody that just died, that never done anything. It's not just a matter of going to heaven or hell. There's rewards in heaven, there's punishment in hell.

But this person, by implying that he's a liar, God says, trust Christ and I'll save you. If you say, I don't need Christ to be saved, then you're calling God a liar. This is the record that God has given to us, eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

What is the record? God has given his Son for eternal life. Eternal life is to have Christ. It boils down to this one point. This is the gospel in a nutshell. This is the simplest test that can be made.

Do you love Christ or not? He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. He didn't say, he that belongs to the church has life. You might say, I'm a Baptist, or I'm a Methodist, or I'm a Presbyterian, or I'm a Nazarite.

I belong to the Church of God. It doesn't matter what church you belong to. Your church membership does not mean that you're saved. Then what does it mean to be saved? What does it mean, David? Just that simple.

And he that hath not the Son hath not life. Can it be made any more clear than that? Let's forget about religion. Let's forget about all of this church, and let's forget about all of this gimmetry that is going on in today's world, taking little Bible courses, going through little rituals, and all that sort of thing.

Forget about it. The important thing is, do you have Christ? Is he your Savior? Thirteen, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may have, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Assurance of Eternal Life and Confidence in Prayer

John has a twofold purpose, I think, in writing this epistle. One, that you may believe on the name of the Son of God, that's salvation. And two, that you may know that you have eternal life if you have Christ.

If you have believed on him, you have life. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. Now, most people like to read that this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything, he hears us.

But it has to be according to his will, doesn't it? Joy, how you gonna know his will? Our prayer, our prayer must be according to the will of God. Now, if you've never used the Holy Spirit, you think, you've never asked anything, that doesn't mean that you can ask him anything.

If you and I are walking in fellowship with him, walking with him, then our prayers will be answered, not because we prayed. George Miller put it like this, prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, it is laying hold of his willingness.

Is it not trying to get, it is not trying to get God to do something while he's reluctant to do it, but prayer is to be our thinking, or his thoughts after him. This is the thing which gives us confidence when we turn to God in prayer.

And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him. Isn't it wonderful to know that you and I have a Heavenly Father? Isn't that wonderful? I can't put it into words.

If we are in fellowship with him, if we are regarding sin in our lives, if we're not regarding sin in our lives, and if there are no other hindrances to prayer in our lives, we are not going to pray selfishly.

When we are walking in fellowship with him, when we are following him, we can have the confidence that he will hear whatever we ask and answer our prayer. We are not to come to him with mistrust or in a begging attitude, but we are to come with boldness to ask God's will be done.

The Sin Unto Death and the Believer's Two Natures

If any man see his brother sin of sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give him life for, 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.

Now, in looking at this sin, first of all, it has to be a physical death. It can't be a spiritual death, because Russell, a child of God, never loses that. So it has to be physical death. It has no reference at all to spiritual death, because a child of God has eternal life.

John is saying that believers can commit a sin for which their heavenly Father will call them home. That is, he will remove them from this life physically, perhaps because they are disgracing him. Someone might ask at this point, what is a sin unto death?

First, let me be clear that John was not speaking of the unpardonable sin. We're talking about a sin unto physical death, not spiritual death. What is this sin? What is it specifically? Well, for Moses and Aaron, it was one thing.

They lost their tempers. They destroyed a type of the Lord Jesus. Ananias and Sapphira were living like hypocrites. And in the city of Corinth, there were believers who were getting drunk and were disorderly at the Lord's table.

So a sin unto death is not one thing specifically. I have a notion that for you would be different than it would be for me, but I am of the opinion that every believer is capable of committing something.

It was unrighteousness, but God didn't take us home. If he were taking home every believer who sinned, I'd been gone a long time ago, and so would you. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not.

Now that's just a flat-out statement. Whosoever is born of God sins not, does not sin. How can that be, David? While he's spirit-filled. But Russell doesn't remain spirit-filled. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not.

As we have seen in this epistle, you and I have two natures. An old nature that is, and a new nature. That new nature will not sin. Don't try to get it to. It just won't do it. It never sins, but has a desire for God and for the things of God.

That old nature will sin, and it is because of that that a believer does not. The two natures that we have, one is godly, the other is self, or the devil. It is only while we are not in the godly that we sin.

The World in Wickedness and the True God in Jesus Christ

When the devil puts the baby to sleep, and we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth, actually lies asleep. Let me read 19. And we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

The whole world. In other words, the devil has the world asleep. He doesn't want you to wake it up. The devil is saying, shh, hush. You're waking people up. And we don't want to do that. They're very comfortable.

I dare say in most churches today, they were asleep. Many people in churches are dead in trespasses and sins, and we don't want to wake them up. Let me ask you this. Before you were saved, did the devil ever come to you and gloat about that you're not saved?

No. There was no need. He left you alone. But after you got saved, after you received salvation, did he ever come to you? All the time. That in itself is proof that you're saved. Best you can. You and I are living in a world that's asleep in the arms of the wicked one.

If you look around you today, you must agree with that statement. 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.

This is the true God and eternal life. Christianity is not a religion. Why, David? Christianity is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. If you have him, you have salvation, and it's not a religion.

Little children, keep yourself from idols. Anything that stands between Christ and the believer is an idol. Anything. John says that we are to keep yourself from the things of the world which occupy your mind and your attention.

Covetousness is idolatry. Other things are idolatry. Many people are worshiping many things in this wicked world today. These things are nothing in the world but idols. Anything that is not the worship of Christ our Lord is an idol.

God's first statement to us is, in the beginning God created. Among his last words to us are these. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Yes. No, it doesn't teach us to ignore him because he's real.

She didn't. I guess your answer.

Resisting the Devil by Turning to the Lord

But I was always, if I read the history of who he was and is, his mind was always busy about the will of the Father. That is true of anything, that is true of the will of the Father. If you put the thoughts of Christ first on him, and ignore even your own thoughts, let alone any other thoughts that go on in your mind, I would think that that would be an example.

I think, may I say something? Yes.

I've heard Diane say that phrase before, and I think, Fred, and I've tried to do it before you, but I think that your way of resisting doesn't mean you don't believe him. No. But I think that you have to carefully use that with other people, because they may think you need to deal with him in the wilderness, in the country.

You're right, he's about to visit. But, when Satan came in his face, he had to turn and deal with him. For a short season, he had to deal with it. I think that's a good picture of what it means for us to resist the devil, which means that he doesn't confront us.

We don't turn and confront him, we turn and face him, and we resist him with our, like Russell said, with our armor, our faith. And I think Diane really is saying, I resist him by going immediately to war.

That's right. That's what I'm saying. And I don't think about him. No. Yes. He's got to be there. Either one of us, when we're dealing with the spiritual realm that we're in, our thoughts either come from God or Satan, one or the other.

Then that's where we have our choice of who we want to deal with.

The choice is ours, sin is in the mind, and if you just ignored him completely, you're saying he doesn't exist. So, her approach to this is, I go to the Lord, and that's right. That's right. That's right.

That's right. That's right. Is there anything else? Joy. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes. That's right. Yes. Yes. That's true. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Let's stand and be dismissed. Oh, next Sunday, David, I've got to go back and teach the first lesson in 1 John because it got messed up on the tape and we wanted to redo it.

So next Sunday, it'll be the first lesson that we had in John. Russell dismisses.