True to God

Tim A. Reger

1 John Walking in the Light • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

1 John 5:13–21

Discipleship

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Introduction

Today we are concluding our study in 1 John. In John’s day, like today, there were always people who said there was no way to know whether or not a person really had a relationship with Jesus.

Last week we closed with verses 11 and 12 of chapter 5. There we read:

1 John 5:11–12 NIV84

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

John wants people to know the certainty of their eternal dwelling with God the Father. That is the beauty of these two verses. Today, we come to verse 13.

Our Confidence

1 John 5:13 NIV84

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Don’t pass over this verse too fast. The reason John wrote this letter is summed up in this one verse. He wants us to understand that when we believe in the name of the Son of God we have eternal life.

The word “believe” is the Greek word pisteuō which actually means more than just “believe” or believing facts. It means to put your “trust in,” “rely on,” “be confident in.” When you put your faith and trust—totally rely on Jesus—we have eternal life!

It is important that we know—with certainty—that we have eternal life! John wants us to realize eternal life comes out of our relationship—our relationship with God! It is in this context that we come to verse 14.

1 John 5:14–15 NIV84

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Approaching God

Stop and think about this idea. You and I can approach the very creator of the universe! Yet it seems that there are two ways people approach God.

Some people don’t believe God is approachable at all. They see God as the cosmic clock maker. They believe God created the world, wound it up, and set it on the shelf to look at. But they don’t believe he is involved with His creation. And many don’t believe God ever wanted to be involved with His creation.

Others, take this verse and want to turn God into nothing more than a Cosmic Vending Machine. All you have to do is ask God for whatever you want and you’ll receive it.

Before we get to the “Getting Whatever You Want” point—don’t forget the relational aspect of this passage.

The reason—the ONLY reason—that we can approach God is because of our relationship with Him!

Asking According to His Will

The little phrase, “according to to his will,” shows the relationship that we are supposed to have with God. You see, when I have a relationship with God, my will ought to be conformed to His will—thus when I ask for something I’m asking for things that please God.

Thus, when we our will is in line with God’s will God always hears us and answers, “Yes!”

The Great Sin Conflict

When we come to verse 16, we come to an interesting discussion. So let’s read the passage first, and the we’ll break it apart and see if we can’t gain a clear understanding of it. So look at verse 16.

1 John 5:16–17 NIV84

If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

The first thing we have to ask is what John meant by the phrase, commit a sin that does not lead to death. Many people—theologians—have thought this phrase is almost too much to understand. Honestly, I do not believe it is that difficult to understand as one might think. Let’s look at a couple of examples.

First, let’s look at 1 Corinthians 11:30.

1 Corinthians 11:30 NIV84

That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

Paul is talking about how the church at Corinth celebrated the “Lord’s Supper.” He tells them that the way they celebrate it is not good. When we come to verse 30, he uses the term, “fallen asleep.” This term means they died! Why did they die—because they did not recognize the sacredness of the Lord’s Supper. But this is not even the best passage to help us understand what John is talking about. Look with me at Acts 5:1-11. Let me share the story with you.

There was a couple named Ananias and Sapphira. They had a piece of property which they decided to sell and give the money to the apostles. In verse 2 we are told that they kept some of the money back—and we find out that both of them knew about the plan.

Now it wasn’t that they kept part of the money back, but that they presented the money as though they were giving ALL the proceeds to the apostles. Or as verse 4 tells us, “You have not lied to men but to God.” Now look at verse Acts 5:5.

Acts 5:5 NIV84

When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.

In this case—lying to God resulted in Ananias’ immediate death. If we look at the rest of the story, his wife Sapphira also lied about the money and she also fell down and died (5:10).

Two Kinds of Sin

So John tells us that there are two kinds of sins.

Leads to Immediate Death

One kind of sin leads to immediate death.

Sin that Separates Us From God

And there’s sin that doesn’t lead to immediate death, but separates us from fellowship with God. So when we see someone involved in a sin that does not lead to immediate death, we should pray for the person. Anyone caught up in sin needs our prayer.

All Wrongdoing is Sin

Verse 17 reminds us what sin is.

1 John 5:17 NIV84

All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

All sin causes a person to be separated from God. If the person is not a follower of Jesus that separation will lead to eternal separation from God. If the person is a follower of Jesus, the separation causes a break in fellowship between us and the Father. This idea brings us to verse 18.

Not Continuing to Sin

1 John 5:18 NIV84

We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.

In the first couple of chapters, John laid out the idea that everyone sins—no one no matter how strong your relationship is with Jesus is immune to sin! That’s the beauty of 1 John 1:9.

1 John 1:9 NIV84

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Here John is telling us that anyone who belongs to God—is a child of God—should not make sin a practice. Or to put it in a better way, we should not be entangled in sin for two reasons:

1. God Keeps Us Safe

2. The Evil One Cannot Harm Us

If these two things are true, then why do still struggle with being entangled in sin? Verse 19 tells us.

The World & Satan

1 John 5:19 NIV84

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

Just because we are children of God, we must remember that the whole world—the entire world—is under Satan’s control. So when you wonder why ungodly people don’t or can’t see things from the Christian’s point of view it’s because they are under the influence of Satan! And many are under his control.

1 John 5:20 NIV84

We know also 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—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

The reason Jesus came was to give us an understanding of the truth. John may be looking back to his time with Jesus. He may be remembering Jesus’ words in John 8:31-32

John 8:31–32 NIV84

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Keep Away From Idols

John wants to make sure that we keep away from ANYTHING that takes God’s place in our hearts.

When we experience an ongoing relationship with Jesus we should want to worship Him alone. To make sure this happens we need to guard ourselves from the ever present idolatry.

SO WHAT?

Our confidence comes from our relationship with God

We will continue to struggle with sin.

There are at least two kinds of sin.

The kind that causes us to be separated from God.

And the worse kind that could lead to immediate death.

Any and all sin breaks our fellowship with God.

The reason we can have victory over sin is because:

God keeps us safe.

God protects us from Satan.

The reason we continue to struggle with sin is because the world around us is under Satan’s control.