1 John 5:13-20

Intro:

Exposition:John starts in verse 13 by telling us that He writes “to those that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” John is not writing this letter to everyone but to those who believe in the name of Jesus Christ so that they may know they have eternal life. This is very purposeful language. John is being clear that he is not writing to those that do not believe in the name of Christ to assure them they have eternal life. And there is a reason for that. It’s because they don’t. As we have seen throughout the book of 1 John and as we see through all of scripture, only those who believe Jesus died on a cross and rose again and confess Him as their Lord and Savior have eternal life. There is no other way to heaven than through Jesus Christ. So John is very careful to not give a false sense of assurance.

Application: We must remember that Jesus is not one of many ways to heaven. He is not one of many paths to heaven. If that were true, then Christianity couldn’t be one of the paths because the Bible is very clear that Jesus is the only way to heaven. We must not allow ourselves to be tricked into believing in universalism. We must not allow ourselves into believing that because we like somebody or because they seem like a good person that if they believe something other than the gospel that they are on a path to heaven. Scripture does not give us that option.

Exposition: This is actually the third time John gives a reason for why he is writing. The first is in 1 John 2:12 when he says he writes because sin’s are forgiven for Christ’s name sake, he says in 2:21 because they know the truth and there is no lie in the truth, and in verse 26 he says about those who are trying to deceive you, referring to false teachers. So here, giving his final reason, he says so that they know he may have eternal life. John wants believers to have assurance of their salvation.

Explanation: Assurance of our salvation is something we shouldn’t take for granted. Did you know that in Muslim faith they don’t believe that you can know whether or not allah will accept them in the after life until after death. We don’t have to live with that lack of assurance. We can know that we are saved and that our eternity is secure. How many people live with uncertainty? How many are completely afraid to even think about what happens after we die. We don’t have to do that. We can think longingly on what will happen on that day.

Application: But another part of what John is saying here is the fact that we don’t always feel that assurance. Sometimes we wonder if we have truly been saved. I don’t know that we will ever truly know what that is. Why are we led to doubt our salvation. For whatever reason, this happens. And throughout the book, John has given us the reminder that the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is a sign of true salvation. When we feel conviction for sin and when we feel that guidance that can only come from God that is the presence of the Holy Spirit in us.

Exposition: John tells us that a part of that assurance is the confidence we pray with. John says in verse 14, “And this is the confidence that we have toward 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 we have asked of him.” We need to break these two verses down. John says in verse 14 that we have such confidence towards God that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” The first part of the confidence is just that he hears us.

Application: When we pray, do we believe that God is really listening to us? When we pray do we pray as if we have the ear of the God of the universe? Maybe we do know that is what prayer is, but we don’t know that God really cares for us that much. We don’t know that God is really paying attention to our prayers for whatever reason. How often do we pray just because we know it is what we are suppose to do, but we don’t pray like God is listening. When we do this, it shows a lack of confidence towards God. I would even go as far to say, that this could be a sign we don’t truly believe the God of the Bible is real. Maybe we have lost the assurance of our salvation. Or maybe we have just allowed something to come in between us and God. But the first sign of confident belief in God is praying with the understanding that he hears you.

Exposition: He goes on to say in verse 15, “And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” Right away there are alarm bells going off in some of your heads about this verse. You’re saying, “I and everybody else I know understands you don’t get everything you pray for, but the Bible is trying to tell me that we do?” That would be a fair response if verse 15 was in isolation. But in verse 14 John is very specific. He says anything according to his will.”

Explanation: At the beginning of the Lord’s prayer, which is what Jesus gave when his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, he says, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We tend to have a warped view of prayer. Prayer isn’t a Christmas list where we just tell God everything we want. Prayer is our time to communicate with God. Scripture seems to say that there are things within the will of God that we ask for that we don’t get because we don’t ask. But that there are things we don’t receive because they are not a part of God’s will. A part of prayer is acknowledging how in need of God we are. We need him to grant us what we need. And there are going to be times where we ask God for something and don’t get it. When we pray we must pray within God’s will.

Application: Well, how can we know God’s will. The first way is by knowing God’s word. A lot of times we make God’s will for our lives harder than it has to be. God has given us His word as a way for us to know Him and His will. What if we prayed that we could be super rich so that we could have 17 cars and a jet pack. Well, if we studied our Bibles, we would know there’s a good chance that God is not going to give us that because scripture teaches us not to put our faith in wealth. We can also trust God’s Spirit. Paul tells us in Romans that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf based on the groanings of our hearts. But sometimes we won’t know whether or not what we pray for is something that is in God’s will or not. But we should still pray. But we should also pray that God’s will be done. A part of prayer is learning to have our will bend towards God’s. A part of prayer is expressing in humility our total dependence upon God and our need for his sovereign will because he knows better than we do. What do your prayers look like right now? Are you praying as if you are filling out a Christmas list? Or do you pray acknowledging who God is and asking based upon His will?

Transition: After addressing the assurance of salvation John wants his readers to have. He goes into one of the more confusing parts of the entire letter.

Exposition: John writes in verse 16, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life- to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death. I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.”

Explanation: There is not a lot of clarity here about what this is talking about. The Greek is extremely hard to translate and commentators are at odds over what John is talking about. The first question is what is the sin that leads to death that John is talking about? Is it a sin that God punishes right away and the person dies from it? The explanation that makes the most sense to me is that he is referring to false teachers. John has already in this letter expressed his desire not to see his readers be duped by false teachers. He wants them to know that anybody that preached about Jesus as other than the Son of God was a false teacher. And the idea that a false teacher is the sin that leads to death makes sense because it is a refusal to believe the gospel and the very act is trying to take others away from the truth of the gospel. But since there is so much confusion about what that even means, I don’t want to spend a ton of time there.

Exposition: There are two things that I think we must focus on. The first is when John says if we see a brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life.

Illustration: The U.S. Military has a creed it lives by that says, “No one gets left behind.” The idea is that when U.S. Service men get wounded, captured or even just pinned down in battle, we don’t just leave them behind. We go and get them. We as Christians should have a similar mindset. When we see other believers caught in habitual sin, we should not just look the other way. We shouldn’t just try to ignore it because we think it will be awkward to bring it up or we fear that the person will get mad. We need to have the commitment to seeing that person freed from the grasp of that sin. We need to be in prayer that God would convict that person of that sin and free them from it. We cannot just allow our brothers and sisters in Christ to fight the battle with sin by themselves. We must have a desire so strong that we are taking it to God in prayer.

Exposition: The second part I think we need to consider is verse 17. John writes that all wrongdoing is sin. Do we believe that? I think we believe it about others. I think we believe it when we see people do things they shouldn’t or we have people say mean things to us or do mean things to us. I think we are very quick to say that is sin. But we aren’t very quick to do it with things in our own lives.

Application: When we say something mean to somebody, something we know we shouldn’t say, do we think of it as sin? When we talk back to our parents, do we think of it as sin? When we tell lies, do we think of it as sin? Are there things in your life right now that you know shouldn’t be there. You know they are wrong doing. But you try not to think about them as sin? All wrongdoing is sin. Young people, please hear me say this. We cannot act like sin is not a big deal. And we are really good at looking at things that become habits in our lives that we know we shouldn’t do, but we convince ourselves it’s not that bad. This is a dangerous game to play. We need to acknowledge sin as sin and repent and turn away from it. We need to confess it before God as being sin. And if that is something that you need to ask for help with, come see me. I would be more than glad to talk with you about it. But wee need to acknowledge the seriousness of sin.

Transition: As John closes his letter, he gives a few final reminders to the people he is writing.

Exposition: Verse 18 says, “ We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him” John is bringing up something here that he talked about a few chapters back. That those who are born of God do not keep on sinning. This is not to say that true Christians never sin. That isn’t true. But what John is saying is that it is no longer our custom. We are not ok continuing forward in our sin and instead our lives are defined by Christ. Not just that, but John says that the God protects those born of God and the evil one cannot touch Him.

Explanation: There is nothing that a person who is saved by grace through faith can do to lose their salvation. It is held for eternity. No matter what temptations the devil throws at us. No matter how we may stumble, John says that he can’t touch us. The word touch has the meaning of grabbing someone or something with the intent of harm. The devil cannot do this because we are held in the eternal safety of God. It doesn’t mean bad things can’t happen to us. But it means that our eternity is secure in Christ.

Exposition: But that’s not the case for everyone. We as believers know that we are from God. The world on the other hand, lies in the power of the evil one. And we see this every day. We see people chasing after things that will not satisfy them. Maybe it’s popularity. Maybe it’s affection. Maybe it’s a temporary high. But we see that they are going down a road that leads straight to hell. We see that the world has no hope. They chose things that they say make them happy, but all the while end up even more unhappy. Isn’t this the pattern of our world?

Exposition: But John tells us what we should know in verse 20. He reminds us again that Christ has indeed come. The Son of God has come. John himself saw Christ. Already in the text he has made it clear he saw him. He tells us how Christ has given us the understanding we need to know him, the ultimate truth. He has made a way for us to have assurance of our eternal life and it is through Jesus Christ.

Conclusion: John ends with a statement that seems random, but it’s not. He says, “Little Children, keep yourselves from idols.” You see if there is one true God, unfortunately there are false gods. There are things that take the place of the one true God. I don’t think there’s any of us who are worshiping statues. But are there things that you allow to become more important than God. Let me ask it this way, “Are there things in your life that you think it would be less difficult to live without than to live without God? These don’t even have to be bad things. But if they are taking the place of God then they are idols. Maybe it’s not an item. Maybe it’s an activity. Maybe sinful maybe not. Maybe we just don’t think we could give it up? That’s when it has become an idol. I want to close tonight by asking you to examine your lives. Is God sitting on the throne of your life, or is something else. You see, all of these other things, they can’t save us. All of these other things will let us down and disappoint us at some point. But God will not. He will sustain us when everything else is shaken. And he has loved us to the point of death on a cross. So what are we allowing to take His place? Maybe tonight you realize you have never committed to making Jesus the Lord of Your life. Come talk to me. If you feel God placing something on your heart, don’t let the moment pass.