Keeping ourselves free from Idols
Notes
Transcript
Keeping ourselves free from Idols
Keeping ourselves free from Idols
18 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. 19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 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. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
How I have longed to meet again and look at you in the eye, and impart truth and hope from God’s word.
If we have ever lived in a time where we should be able to clearly see that God is Sovereign yet we feel that in tension against a world that lies in the power of the evil one, it’s right here right now.
Many times we as believer will read the OT and ask, “How could God’s people be so blind? How could they forget his Love, Grace, Mercy, Justice, Holiness, Power or promises?”
Yet we are here and living in a time when his people are doing the exact same thing. As a newly redeemed family we are allowing ourselves to be divided by our own opinions, becoming entangled in the affairs of this life, and picking sides in alignment with the world’s ideas rather than uniting around the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are sinners and we are ever in need of our Savior and in desperate need of the Spirit’s work in pointing us to him everyday, especially in these days. We need to approach God’s word today with an awareness of our sin, lest we think that we are without sin and so become liars. I am aware of mine, I hope you are aware of yours. And with that in mind I want to remind of my job as Paul told Timothy what his role was to be in the church.
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
My job is to discharge the duties of my ministry in preaching the word, and Today I feel that weight more than ever. I want to repent to you all, for I have sinned, and I have fallen short and I have struggled these last 3 months. I could have shepherded better, I could have prayed more, and I could have done a better job speaking and being silent… Yet I am but a man that needs forgiveness and my Saviors grace and mercy daily.
I am a nobody, trying to tell anybody, about somebody, who could save everybody. And some days I would rather be a fisher of men than a keeper of the tank for those fish that have been caught in the nets of Christs mercy.
I cannot preach this text until I ask you first to extend to me, the grace and mercy by which God in Christ has extended to you. Because I am sure there are things that need to be said and the opportunity for the enemy to divide is ever present unless we are more committed to the Gospel that unites us. So please forgive me if I have failed you in this season, and I will forgive all those that I have not thought of charitably in this season as well. We have no right to hate, but it starts in the house of the Lord first.
Let us look to the text.
18 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.
As the Apostle John is concluded his first letter to the church, writing from Ephesus, dealing with false teaching that is attacking the church, and promoting love for God and each other, he reiterates a vitally important principle that he has covered already.
Nobody who has been given new life in Christ goes on living in an unbroken pattern of sin. He is not saying that people who are converted to Christ will no longer sin, He already dealt with those who tried to say they have no sin...
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
So we understand that yes, even as believers we will still sin. This is a problem that will not be completely eradicated until Christ returns and the living and the dead are judged, and we enter eternal life with Christ in his new kingdom.
But until then believers will not reach a point in this life where they no longer sin. That is why John has taken the time to explain that Jesus is not just a savior for his people but an advocate for them when they do sin.
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
John is actually assuming that we will continue to sin, and we will need Christs’ intercession on our behalf. But that should not be a constant pattern, and we should be willing to confess it and repent, or turn from it. Even if it takes a while or even a lifetime of confessing we will still be making progress and not continuing, or as he puts it, does not keep on sinning. And we can be sure that this is part of the Christian life because God is Just and faithful...
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
With these thoughts in mind, as his people we need to be quick to realize when we are sinning and even quicker to confess those sins and repent from such sins.
This is what the Christian life will look like. But that is different from the way we used to live. Before we were saved we were not able to not sin. We were sinners without hope and without God, by nature objects of wrath that walked in darkness following the course of this world.
Once we received Christ and have been made new, for the first time in our lives we are free to choose not to sin. Our will was bound before being set free and now we actually have a choice. And when we realize that we have chosen wrongly, we confess and repent, and we are then forgiven and cleansed. What a wonderful savior we have that continues to forgive and heal and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. but look again at that verse in 1 John 5.
18 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.
A believer can never fall back into a pattern of unbroken sin, meaning they will sin until they die and never repent of such sin, because HE WHO WAS BORN OF GOD PROTECTS HIM.
This may seem confusing at first, because the first time John mentions “EVERYONE who HAS BEEN born of God” he is referring to all believers who have been saved. He is talking about you and me and every Christian to ever live. But the second reference to one BORN OF GOD is speaking about Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.
Jesus is our good shepherd who protect the flock so that the EVIL ONE DOES NOT TOUCH HIM.
Meaning that we who are saved are no longer under the control of Satan, but we have been rescued… from the domain of darkness.
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
So we are no longer in the kingdom that we were once in… hold that thought, it is of the utmost importance in understanding your Christian life. And go back to the verse in question
18 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.
It says the Evil one does not touch him. This has caused much confusion to believer who have been attacked spiritually, because they have been told that their sinning has allowed satan to attack them and bring them out from under Christs protection.
We need to understand this verse in light of the whole of scripture, and not just based on your current struggle against sin.
Satan can tempt and harass the Saints, as he did to Job and to the Apostle Peter, but he can never reclaim them back into his kingdom. The attack from Satan will never “UnSave” a Christian, because Jesus will never fail to keep the redeemed.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
So what is this verse talking ab out then?
Jesus will preserve his people until the end
Jesus will preserve his people until the end
This is one of those doctrines that makes the Gospel so Glorious.
The preservation of the Saints declares to us that even in the darkest of times to be lived on this earth, that nothing will take us out of his hand. He will preserve his people.
So then how do we understand this verse in 1 John 5? A quick look at the Greek here will show that the word translated to “TOUCH” does not mean something as superficial as reaching out to touch someone else. It actually means “to lay hold of” and was often used to describe how things were set on fire in those times.
John is telling us that Satan can set us on fire, he cannot frag us off to hell or harm us eternally. He cannot undo your salvation, you are eternally secure in Christ alone!
If this world around us is burning, but you belong to Christ, then as a piece of wood in this burning world, you are too soaked with the grace of God by the riches of Christ for you to be burned up by this world. You will escape as through the flames, we may come out the other side a little singed and crispy, but we will not be consumed, because Jesus protects us and the evil one does not touch us.
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
And just incase we were not sure of it from everything that I have said already, John here makes no complicated statement, but rather speaks plainly so we can all understand.
We can have certainty of our position. John uses a contrast between the words “we” and “the whole world”. There are 2 kingdoms. N o matter how many nations exist on this planet at any given time, there are always and only 2 kingdoms. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world.
And while this may not be new info to us who are believers, we must keep in mind that while we belong to God and his kingdom, we are also simultaneously living in this world. Which is what makes this statement so important to understand, because those in the kingdom of this world are under the power of the Evil one. Yes God is sovereign over all, but this world is still under the power and influence of the evil one.
We must always remember that this world lies in the power of the evil one.
We must always remember that this world lies in the power of the evil one.
I am not saying this to make much of our defeated enemy. I am not saying this to cause us who have been redeemed to fear anything in this life. But I need to remind us of what is really happening around us.
I would submit to you based on this text, that there are 2 reasons we need to remember that the world is in the power of the evil one.
1 - Because Satan will do anything he can to keep people from understanding the Gospel and Truth in this life.
2 - Because anything that we elevate in this world above God is an idol.
When Christians forget this truth, they are often used by the enemy to bring division into the church. Even though the church of Jesus Christ is already victorious, it too often gets entangled in the affairs of the world around it. Christians become pawns for the evil one to use, when they look more to the things around them than they do to the word of God.
So what is the answer to these things? Well first, let us be reminded that this world lies in the power of the evil one. So we should not be surprised when it rages against everything we believe or stand for. They are not able to not sin. That means that every government system and ideology of this world is susceptible to sin and and bent towards the evil ones agenda. Let it not surprise, because we live here, even though we belong to the kingdom of God. So what should we know?
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. He is the true God and eternal life.
If we are to look into God’s word, instead of the world around us, we are going to have understanding into truth. If we are going to understand the kingdom that we are now a part of, we need hear this gospel repeatedly and we need to reassure ourselves of the truth it declares to us.
First, the Son of God has come. While some may still be looking and waiting for a savior, we have one who came and fought for us and did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. And he not only won a battle for us against sin, death, hell and the grave; be he gave us understanding of who he is and what this life is all about. And he did this “SO WE MAY KNOW HIM WHO IS TRUE”!!!!
And when we know him who is true, we know who we are now! We are IN HIM WHO IS TRUE!
Here is our sure footing on the gospel. Listen to the words John is using… “WE KNOW”
Not “we think:” or “we believe”, but ”we know”. There is a tone of certainty and assurance in who Jesus is. And from that will flow who we are. We are IN HIM who is true.
This is a reality of every believer, we are IN HIM.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The Bible teaches us that the only way to know the true and living God is through Jesus Christ. No one can be saved who does not believe in Christ, there is no salvation apart from him.
But for those who are saved, those who are found in him, they do know truth. John uses the word true 3 times in this one verse in order to stress the importance of knowing truth in a world filled with Satan’s lies. But the 3rd time he uses this word points to most important truth about the gospel...
Jesus is the true God and eternal life
Jesus is the true God and eternal life
The deity of Jesus Christ is essential to Christianity. No one who rejects this truth can be saved. This is the life that the Apostle John was writing to the church about, the life in which the false teachers were teaching against. The eternal life that is only found in the true God Jesus Christ.
To this day the church is under the attack of this world that lies in the power of the evil one, and the attack is the same. It is a denial of truth in Jesus Christ and hope in eternal life. It is those that would say You need Jesus plus something else… anything else added to the simple gospel is no gospel at all.
Anything that we tie to our faith in christ as the most important thing to us, is elevating something within our heart and becoming an idol.
And so John speaks tenderly to us to remind us of truth and I through rebuke, reproof and exhorting declare the same to us today.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
John has said everything he can to fight off false teaching and promote unity between the body, and ends like this.
Keep yourselves from Idols!
He was writing this in Ephesus where they actually worshipped an idol false goddess Artemis. We don’t have statues of idols we bow down to worship like they did. But many parts of the world still does. I saw this first hand in Togo Africa. And John would say, keep yourselves from Idols, meaning worship none other than Jesus Christ the true God and eternal life.
But in this country and in these times are we to think that idols do not exist any more?
If you cannot see the world around you in the power of the evil one, and even God’s people being swept up into the arguing over humanistic solutions, to problems only a Savior can answer, then we may have idols we need to remove.
The application from this sermon is simple… Think deeply and carefully to see if there is anything that elevates above your citizenship in the kingdom of God, anything that dominates your thoughts above the knowledge of Christ, anything that moves you with more emotions and affections than the gospel of Jesus Christ. If so, keep yourself from these things, they are idols.
But how? How do we recognize things that are of this world?
Do we take to the streets and fight? Do we get online and argue? Do we demand others wake up and sign our petition? Do we shame others into taking a position and then find like minded people we can talk about them with? Do we elevate our rights and our nationality above our true citizenship?
If we can see ourselves doing these things what are we to do, how are we to keep ourselves from such things?
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
We must watch how we think. We must guard our hearts. We must guard mouths.
According to James we must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
According the Paul, in our anger we must not sin, and we should not let the sun go down on our anger.
We must remember that while we are in the flesh, we do not wage war in the flesh. Our weapons are not Guns, our weapons are not the media that slander, our weapons are not even the facts that speak for themselves… Out weapons are divine power that destroy strongholds.
The race problems, the freedoms issues, and the global pandemic health concerns are nothing more than spiritual attacks.
And so our weapons start with out repentance for engaging in a system the is under the power of the evil one, and our weapon is prayer. We take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, and pray at all times lead by the Spirit.
And our lifestyle will reflect the 2 greatest commands. To Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves!
That is how we keep ourselves from idols, Let’s pray!