Episode 626: TLP 626: Biblical Families, Part 14 | the Confidence

All families on this planet are worshiping something, because every person on this planet is worshiping something.

But there are only two things that we can ultimately worship. Parenting isn't about us. In fact, parenting isn't even about our kids.

Parenting is just one way Christian dads and moms are to worship God. So welcome to the Truth, Love, Parent podcast, where we train dads and moms to give

God the preeminence in their parenting. Welcome to our final session in our biblical family devotional through 1

John. I am so excited that we've made it this far and that you have spent all of this time with you and me and your family, better understanding what it is to be a biblical family.

I hope that if you didn't have a biblical family before, because not everyone in your family was born again, that you have one now.

And if everyone in your family were a child of God when we started, I pray that your family is a more biblical family than you were before we started.

I hope that you've been growing and changing. Of course, I think we all recognize that practical daily change is difficult and often slow, but I wanna challenge you to not let that get you down.

God wants to mature us from one degree of glory to another, and we don't always know how much of a change there will be from one degree to another.

Our job is simply to focus on the growth and the change. So it's with this goal in mind that I remind you that the episode notes, transcript, life work, and related resources are linked for you in the description of this session.

Those resources are there to provide you with more tools that will help you grow faster than you otherwise would have grown.

It's so easy to mature in Christ when we have his truth constantly in front of us, but it doesn't take long for us to forget the

Lord and his commands and his grace when we get distracted and enamored by the world around us and we stop searching his word.

So I wanna challenge you to continue studying the Bible and praying every day even after this study is over.

Continue going to church, continue an active personal discipleship, and continue listening to and watching biblical truth.

You really will be amazed how easy spiritual maturity comes when you're constantly swimming in the reality of God and how easy it is to slip back into old sin habits when we're not surrounded by truth.

So let's dive into some of that truth today as we learn about the confidence our family can have as we strive to live biblically.

I hope you've been feeling more and more confident as we've gone through this study. I know the sting we talked about two sessions ago can cause us to lose that confidence as we're reminded about how sinful we are.

But then we should also be reminded of the abdicate we have in Christ and the shelter we have in the Father and the power we have in the

Spirit. And as we meditate on those truths and live in the light of them, our confidence likely will come roaring back because our confidence is not ultimately in us.

It's in God. If our confidence were tied to our power or ability or consistency, we would have absolutely nothing about which to be confident.

But our confidence is in God and that is what we are going to see today. But before we jump in,

I do want to share something very important with you. I started this ministry almost 10 years ago and ever since I've been trying to pour myself into it full time so that I could worship

God by equipping families to better know and love and serve Him. But I'm not sure that you know this, most

Bible -centered ministry doesn't pay the way some people might think. Since I started this ministry, over half of the time was spent working various other jobs just to try to make ends meet.

Now, as we approach our 10th anniversary, we're asking everyone who's benefited from our free resources like this podcast to help us become a sustainable ministry.

All you have to do is go to truthloveparent .com or use the link in the description to learn more about how you can support us financially.

We are a 501c3 nonprofit ministry. We only really make money as donors give it to us.

If we're going to be able to continue this ministry and ministering to families all over the world, we really need your help.

We're trying to raise $100 ,000 before September, 2026 in order to have enough money to pay all of our bills.

Will you please seriously consider how you can support Truth Love Family? It might be only $5 a month.

Perhaps your family could donate 10, 20, 50, or even $100 a month to help more families, including yours, be biblical families.

Listen, I've never been in this for the money. If that were the case, I never would have gone into full -time

Christian service. I'm here to worship God by speaking his truth in love. And I'm overjoyed that we can pay our bills in the process or when we can pay our bills in the process.

So please visit truthloveparent .com forward slash donate to become a monthly donor or to give a one -time gift.

And my family and thousands more all over the world, thank you for helping us create this Christ -honoring evergreen content.

All right, let's begin by reading 1 John 5, 13 through 21. 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.

There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should make request 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's 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 may 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.

There is so much encouraging truth here, so let's work through it piece by piece. Number one, biblical families are confident that they have eternal life.

First John 5 .13, 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.

I mentioned at the outset of this study that 1 John is the go -to for when a Christian brother or sister finds out that someone else is struggling with the assurance of their salvation.

It's right there in this verse, assurance. But it's not just about reading some uplifting and inspiring content that makes you feel good and or distracts you from any doubt that you might have had.

It's about a checklist, a rubric, a set of identifiers to which you can look to know if you truly do have eternal life.

Of course, the scriptures are full of such truth. We did a whole series called The Evidence of Spiritual Life from the book of 2

Peter. That series not only helps you to determine if you or someone you love is truly born again, but it also sets the trajectory of our spiritual maturity.

Listen, you're not perfect. You sin, so do I. But if after working through this study, you clearly see how

God is working in your life to convict and change and empower you to glorify him, then you can be abundantly confident that you are a child of his.

Number two, biblical families are confident that God hears their requests. 1

John 5, 14 through 15. 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.

Now, I wish I could spend a lot of time here because I don't want any of us to be confused on this point. So please listen carefully.

God is not promising to simply give us whatever we want, whatever we ask for.

He's very clear that he will answer our requests as long as they are according to his will.

That is a very important caveat. Our request needs to be in submission to the desires the father outlines in his word.

It's not good enough to say, well, God just wants us to be happy, so pray for whatever will make us happy. That's not what the Bible says. Let's see one very clear example.

Let's say that someone in your family is still not born again. They're living in the dark and do not confess

Christ. So you ask the Lord to save that family member because you know that the Bible says in 2

Peter 2 .9 that God is not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Does that mean that your unsaved parent or sibling or cousin is definitely going to be saved just because you requested it in 1

John 5 .5 says, we know that we have the request which we have asked from him. If we're students of the word, then we also know what

Jesus says in Luke 13 .34. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.

We also know that Matthew 22 .14 says that many are called, but few are chosen.

And Romans 9 .15 through 18 makes it abundantly clear that God is sovereign in this matter. The passage reads, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom

I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy.

For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I raised you up in order to demonstrate my power in you. And in order that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.

So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires. Now, this is a significant and weighty truth, but I bring it up here not to answer any ancient debates, but to point out that we don't know

God's will for your unsaved family member. If they come to know Christ, then we can be certain that it was the father's pleasure to save them.

But if they reject his truth, their salvation was not according to his will.

Now keep this in mind when you're praying for things that you think absolutely have to be something good, but the Lord doesn't answer the request the way you wanted him to answer it.

He knows best. We should strive to conform our requests to his clearly revealed will.

Then and only then can we be confident that he hears and will answer in a way that glorifies him. Number three, biblical families are confident that they can intervene for their brothers.

Verses 16 through 17 read, 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.

Now I read all of that, and again, I just have to say it's not my intention to grapple with the super weighty truths in this passage.

The question of God's will and sins leading to death are very important ones, but they lay outside the scope of this study.

However, John MacArthur provided a short, biblically faithful answer to this question about what are sins leading to death, and I'll link it for you in the description.

You can read that and get a very clear, concise understanding. Our consideration for today, though, focuses on the fact that we can be confident that God wants us to interact with and engage our family in discipleship.

We talked about the one another's earlier and saw how they're an important part in our discipleship in which we're all supposed to engage.

Now we have so many resources about discipleship in the family. We frequently talk about the disciples' responsibilities to teach, approve, correct, and train.

We have a series called The Discipleship Spiral, which focuses on us as the disciples and our part in it.

And whether it's praying for our sinning brothers and sisters in Christ, or it's what we learn in James 5, 19 through 20, my brothers, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

We are confident that God wants us intervening. We know for sure that he wants to use us in the spiritual growth of our families through prayer and through verbal discipleship.

And that will lead us to number four. Biblical families are confident that they can sin less.

First John 5, 18, we know that no one who has been born of God sins, but he who is begotten of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.

Again, I want to remind us that John is communicating here that no one who has been born of God repeatedly and unapologetically and consistently, perpetually, habitually sins, right?

You will sin, but how you respond to that sin is key. Do you run to Jesus, your advocate?

Do you confess your sin, ask for forgiveness and commit to change? If so, then God will use this process to mature you.

And by his grace, you will find that sins you used to commit are no longer a temptation. Of course, depending on your age and life experiences, you won't be surprised to hear that there will likely be some temptations that will forever haunt you, but you won't give into them as often or to the degree that you used to.

John has been calling us into the light of God's righteousness and holiness. Do you remember 1 John 1, 5 -9?

God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not do the truth.

But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We can walk in the light. We can live righteously. We can be confident of this fact.

Number five, biblical families are confident that they belong to God. I know it might have made sense to mention this point earlier, but we're just working through the passage.

Verse 19, it says, we know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Christians can and should be confident that they do not belong to this world system. The world is floundering in the dark.

Its beliefs and rules and expectations should mean nothing to us. We are of God. That means that we are new creatures who should function differently.

We have a different set of expectations, a divine power, new life, and a heavenly city toward which we should be living and moving.

This means that we don't need to worry about the criticism this world levies against us. I'm not saying that unsaved people can't be used by God to convict us of things.

That happens all of the time. I love when unsaved kids in your school understand better than you seem to that professing

Christians shouldn't do the kinds of things you do. What I'm saying is that their secular criticisms, secular criticisms that contradict the scripture don't have to impact us and definitely shouldn't influence us.

And we're confident of this because, number six, biblical families are confident that Jesus has come, that they can know him, and that they are in him.

First John 5 .20, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may 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.

If you're still doubting who and what Jesus is, then I understand your lack of confidence that the scriptures show us how to live the best way possible.

I get why trusting God and wanting to please him is such a struggle. But those of us indwelt by the

Holy Spirit believe with all of our hearts that Jesus is fully man and fully God. He came to this earth to live a perfect life, die a substitutionary death, rise again in defeat of sin and hell, and ascends back to the

Father to rule as king. And because of that, we have absolute truth and eternal life. And because of that, number seven, biblical families are confident that they must worship

God and reject all other worship. First John 5 .21, little children, guard yourselves from idols.

I love how John ends this letter. There is no Pauline goodbye. In fact, some have been confused by the abrupt and seemingly disconnected sentiment at the end of this letter.

But I believe there could have been no better way to end. This statement sums up John's whole heart for us, his audience.

First, John reminds us that he loves us. Yes, his letter is blunt, uncompromising, and could even sound harsh to those who are currently lying to themselves.

But all through, he has communicated as a fatherly figure by clearly and lovingly guiding us through the necessary steps to knowing for certain whether or not we are children of God and what

God would have of his children. Second, the command to guard ourselves from idols is at the very crux of what it means to be a biblical family.

All families on this planet are worshiping something because every person on this planet is worshiping something.

But there are only two things that we can ultimately worship. There are all sorts of secondary forms of worship, but there are only two primary forms.

We will either worship God or worship self. The worship of anything other than the God of the

Bible is a form of self -worship. It is the worship of self that leads into the darkness or keeps us there.

It's the worship of false gods that will damn us to eternity without the true God. Now, even though you may be confident that you are a

Christian, please understand that all of your sin is a result of self -worship. In order to explain this and help you grow in your understanding of biblical worship,

I've included links to the Mears Christianity and two messages I've preached called Your Responsibility in Worship.

The sermon links will take you to the Evermind app where you can access the messages for free. Now, again,

I wish we had more time to dig into this, but these introductory remarks will suffice for now until you listen to those other resources.

Worship is nothing more or less than showing what we value. If we value God and his commands and his light above all else, we'll obey him.

But if we value our own way, we'll do what we want to do. In that moment of sin, it was worth it to us to disobey

God. Our worth was tied up in what was right in our own eyes. That is idol worship, that is self -worship, that is sin.

And the word guard here refers to soldiers guarding something precious. John is using one of the strongest words he knew to explain how hard we must fight to avoid worshiping anything other than our

Lord. It's our natural bent, it's what our flesh wants to do. But true biblical families have all the confidence in the universe that they have everything they need to worship

God and stop worshiping themselves. The entire letter of 1 John was written to show us the way. And it's in this confidence that we know we have eternal life, that God hears our prayers, that we can and must intervene in each other's spiritual lives because we know that we can all sin less because we're confident that we belong to God and can know him and live in him.

But if we're living in the dark, if we're pursuing our own worship, if we're calling God a liar, if we don't love others as God loves us, if we consistently and unrepentantly sin, then we absolutely should not have any confidence in anything we've discussed today.

But as we conclude this study, I pray that you do have this confidence. I pray that you're growing in Christ and maturing spiritually.

I pray that you're living more in the light than you were when we started. If you're not, then

I plead with you one more time to stop worshiping the puny God of self and instead worship the true

God of the universe. The book of 1 John, the whole of scripture, is this devotional and the countless resources we've shared with you can all help you better understand who

Jesus is, what he's done for you, how much he loves you, and what you need to do to believe on him and confess him and to be born again.

Now, as we bring this study to a close, I want to remind you of a couple things before we reread our passage and find out what life work we have.

First, this podcast exists to help dads and moms worship God with their parenting. We've created so many free resources and we could really use your help to continue creating these

God -honoring, Bible -rooted resources. Will you please commit in 2026 to supporting us on a monthly basis?

Help us reach our goal of raising $100 ,000 so we can continue spreading the gospel across the globe. Second, now that this study is over,

I hope you and your family will join me in our Family United in God family devotional. You can access that devotional on the

Evermind app along with those worship sermons I mentioned earlier. Normally, that series costs $50, but you can access it today for only 25.

Once you purchase it, it will always be yours to revisit in years to come. Now, let's reread our passage for today.

Follow along, pay attention, and try to remember what we studied. 1 John 5, 13 through 21.

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.

There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that we 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 may know him who is true and that 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.

All right, so some of you might be wondering why I'm assigning life work this week since we won't be meeting next week in this study.

I'm assigning it for the same reason I have all along. This life work isn't a creation of my own ideas. They're not simply my opinions.

God wants us reading his word, praying and assembling with his people and daily living out the truth of his word.

That's what he wants from us. Therefore, number one, meditate on God's word every day. It may not be a whole passage.

It may only take a couple minutes, but please spend time at his feet meditating on his truth. The more the better, but at least spend a little time each day.

Just like you need to eat and drink and breathe and sleep each day to grow physically, you need to spend time with God each day to grow spiritually.

Number two, spend time with God in prayer every day. God speaks to us through his word and we speak back with him through prayer.

But don't just always be asking him for things. You can praise him and thank him and confess your sins and advocate for others and tell him about your day and confide your trust in him.

Learn to love your time in prayer. Number three, assemble with a Bible preaching church.

We have a series about what a Christ honoring church looks like. We pray that you're part of one and meet with them regularly to build each other up into Christ the way he commanded and he constructed the church to work.

And number four, participate in your discipleship every day. It's not good enough to read the

Bible and pray and meet together with people if we're not actually going to grow and change and mature. We need to be doers of the word, not hearers only.

There are many people in this world who read and study the Bible and pray and go to church, but they're not truly born again. If you're uncertain how that can be,

I encourage you to listen to our Four Children series. Those people are rocky -hearted people and they aren't really spiritually alive and growing.

They do what they do as an act of worship to self because, well, they like it. But true

Christians are living and growing and changing and submitting Christians. And therefore, we should do this life work every day for the rest of our lives.

Of course, you can also share this family devotional and any of the other resources we have with your friends and family and church.

And you can always email us at counselor at truthloveparent .com or leave a voicemail at 828 -423 -0894 if you need personalized biblical counsel.

And for you moms and dads, I hope you'll join us next time to learn about all of our biblical parenting topics for season 35.

It's very exciting, I'm looking forward to it, and I'll see you then. Truth, Love, Parent is part of the

Evermind Ministries family and is dedicated to helping you worship God through your parenting. So join us next time as we study

God's word to learn how to parent our children for life and godliness. And remember that TLP is a listener -supported ministry.