S - Epistles of John Pt. 14 (1 John 5: 13-21)
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18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.
19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
20 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 by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
In the past we’ve talked about truth, how we can know truth. Last week we even talked about how God has taken it upon Himself to give evidence of Himself to the rest of the world. I want to ask you guys some questions about what you see and feel.
I need 3 people to come on up and hold some things in their hands and share with everyone what these things feel like. It’s not anything scary but here are the three things I have:
Wet towel
kinetic sand
Foam
Ask each volunteer to tell the crowd what those things feel like. Sandy, soft, wet, squishy.
ask each volunteer: Do you know for certain that it feels that way? How do you know?
By experiencing the way these things feel you can know for certain that these things feel wet, or soft, or squishy. Did you know, that in your Christian walk you can know truth for certain?
In the next couple of verses we are going to hear John say something along the lines of: And we know, and you may know, and you can know. John is communicating to each of us that thanks to God we can be certain of many things. Today we are going to see the 5 things we can know for certain if you walk with Jesus.
In the same way we can know some things for certain about Mia. We can know that when she came out of the water that was behind me, she was wet. We know that if she is saved, and I believe she is, that it was Jesus who saved her and not herself, or me or anyone else but Christ alone. We also know for certain that she has decided to follow Jesus and we can see that through her commitment to getting baptized in the same way our savior was so long ago.
I read this a few days ago and I really appreciate what it had to say:
Christianity is not an “i hope so” or “I think so” faith. It is an “I know so” faith because what has been revealed in the Bible was given to us by God, a God who speaks and a God who speaks only truth.
There is so much we can know for certain, and today I want to share 5 things Christians can know. But let’s read God’s Word together and pray:
13 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.
I believe that the entire book of 1 John has been leading us to this truth. As a matter of fact, this is not the first time John has said something similar before. I want to read those verses again as a way of reminding us what John has shared with us over the last 2 months:
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
12 I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.
13 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.
So this entire time John has been writing to Christians and he is encouraging them by saying: God wants you to know that no matter what, it does not matter if your world is falling apart, it does not matter if the people you love hate you, it does not matter if life is hurting you and life is hard. Regardless of what is happening around you you can know, with 100 percent certainty that you have eternal life.
If you are a Christian, you have eternal life. That is something nothing can take away from you, not even your own sin. So, first thing on the list that Christians can KNOW:
We have eternal life
Having the confidence of eternal life shows us something really important. the first things is that we can trust God and trust in His words. How many time have you been lied to? I can’t count how many times people have lied to me. Knowing that God won’t lie to me is amazing. Why? Because I know I can trust Him.
But knowing that thanks to Jesus I have eternal life gives me the confidence that my God is a strong God. No one can beat Him, not even the threat of death. God is stronger than anything and anyone and He’s on my side? Praise God! The person who defeated death and the grave is the one that leads me through life and no matter what comes my way, I will always have the hope of eternal life. And that is a gift that NO ONE can take from me.
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them 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 you should pray about that.
17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
The 2nd thing that Christians can KNOW is:
Have eternal life
God answers prayer
God answers our prayers. John says this in:
22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
So John is reminding us that God answers our prayers. You can know that for certain. But he points out what requirements we must meet in order for God to answer our prayers.
Must keep His commands
We must ask according to His will
I think it’s important for us to recognize that you are capable of asking God for something that He does not want you to have. If you ask God for something that isn’t good, should He give it to you? Absolutely not! You would not want God to give you bad things.
But I don’t think that we go out of our way to ask God for things that are bad, but sometimes we can ask God for things and we don’t know if it’s good or bad for us. Sometimes our prayers look like:
God I want....
We ask God for what we want and we never ask Him for what He wants. We never ask for God’s will. Can I share something with you about God’s will?
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
God’s will is pleasing and perfect. So instead of asking God for the things we want all of the time, we should ask for His will. God wants you to have good things, but sometimes as His children we don’t know what’s best for us.
Look at this way: I have a dog, you guys know His name. I have a picture of Him:
I love Dobson so so much, and you know what Dobson loves? Dobson would love it if I gave Him chocolate everyday. Did you know that chocolate is really bad for dogs? and that if you give a dog chocolate they could die?
Does Dobson know that chocolate will kill him? no he doesn’t. Does Dobson still want chocolate? Every single day. Do I give him chocolate? I don’t and he gets disappointed. And sometimes we behave the same way with God. We aren’t dogs right? But sometimes we want something so bad and we ask God for it and he may not give it to us.
God sometimes does not give the things we want, because what we want may hurt us. And God does not want you to be hurt. We need to learn to ask God for HIS will instead of ours.
Now, if we ask God for things according to His will, and if we are obeying His commands, He will provide those things for us. You and I know for certain, that He will answer our prayers.
Now if you keep reading John says this:
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them 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 you should pray about that.
17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
It seems like John is beginning to talk about some sins here, and he is, but what John is getting at is prayer. Pray for the people in your life that are:
Christians
Have been sinning
John knows that even though we are Christians, we can still sin. And let’s be honest, you will more than likely sin everyday. But someone who loves Jesus hates the fact that they sin. So the when we sin, we will feel shame and regret.
God says, pray for Christians who sin. They won’t loose their salvation if they are real Christians, but they also can’t keep living in sin. So pray that God will take that sin away from their life and give them life.
And then John says: There are sins that lead to death, and sin that doesn’t but all sin is wrong. In other words, some people will sin and because they don’t know Jesus, they don’t care that they’re sinning and they’re going to keep doing what they’re doing and those sins lead to death because they refuse to listen to Jesus. But, for those of us who love Jesus, when we sin, God will help us through it and help us be better. But both of those sins are wrong.
John says:
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
God does not want us to sin, but if we do Jesus will defend us. Knowing that God will defend us from sin though, can cause us to try and justify out sins. We may say things like:
“I know I sinned, but God will forgive me”
or
“Just this one time God, and I won’t do it anymore”
But let’s see what John says:
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.
See, clearly sin is going to continue in our life, and no matter how hard we try sin will continue to follow us. But John is saying that we won’t continue to sin if we are Christians. But Pastor Luis, I just sinned yesterday? What happens now?
Well: 1st of all, no sin is stronger than the blood of Jesus. And no matter what happens, you are still saved. But not only that, this verse is telling us that:
If you are a Christian, sin is no longer a pattern in your life.
Sin is no longer in control of you, sin no longer own you, you are no longer a slave to sin. So we have our list of what Christians can KNOW:
1. Christians have eternal life
2. God answers prayer
3. Christians have victory over sin
See, sin is powerful, it really is. We are born with this nature that wants us to seek sin instead of God, but if we place our faith and ask Jesus to help us He will give us victory over sin. Now, this victory is not the kind of victory you get like when you win a race, or a coming in first place in a competition:
It is a victory that Jesus has won. See, the Bible teaches us that Jesus took on sin all on His own. He fought sin because no one else could. And He was the only one who could win. But when we read what John says that God will keep us safe from sin. Jesus himself is the one who is victorious over sin, and we did nothing to obtain that victory but none the less, Jesus hands you and me the victory.
Another thing you and I can know is:
1. Christians have eternal life
2. God answers prayer
3. Christians have victory over sin
4. Christians belong to God
19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
I want to point something out that’s super important for us to know and recognize. The world itself doesn’t belong to God. Have you ever heard the song: “He’s got the whole wide world in His hands”?
I like that song, and although God created the world and everything that’s in it. He gave you and me control over the world at one point. God created the world for us. But you know what we did? We took that world and we handed it over to satan. John calls this guy: The evil one.
It’s a horrible truth. God’s precious gift was given to us out of love and we handed it over the the evil one. And now he is in control of the world. That’s scary to think about isn’t it? So now Christians are walking around and living in a world that is not in God’s control, it’s in satans control.
But, we still belong to God. God will protect you, and be beside you all of the time.
The last thing we can know as Christians:
1. Christians have eternal life
2. God answers prayer
3. Christians have victory over sin
4. Christians belong to God
5. Christians can know what is true
20 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 by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
I know for a fact that I don’t know everything. And this world is littered with confusion and not everything is clear. People don’t even know who or what they are anymore. But, when you give your life to Jesus, you gain clarity.
God teaches us what is true, He gives you and identity, He gives His Holy Spirit so that it can lead you through confusing moments and He gives you His Word so that you can always know what is true. And this is the thing John says that I love the most:
“God has come and given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true”
That person who is true is Jesus. We might not be able to learn everything in the Bible. Last I checked I don’t anything about doing our taxes. Yesterday I was having some car troubles with my old truck and I couldn’t find the instruction manual for my old 04 Ford Ranger. But you know what I could find?
The gift of salvation. I found truth. True justice. I found a God that loves me enough to find His way to the cross to pay for all of my sins. I found Jesus. The man who gives me victory over sin and the solid rock that no matter what I go through in life He will hold me, sustain me, and provide the freedom I need in order to follow Him wherever I go.
My prayer for you this morning is 2 fold:
if you know Jesus, be encouraged that you can know these 5 things on the list
1. Christians have eternal life
2. God answers prayer
3. Christians have victory over sin
4. Christians belong to God
5. Christians can know what is true
2. if you don’t know Jesus, you can today. If you don’t know what it means to follow Jesus, please come talk to me.