Let Me Drop Some Knowledge

Intro: We are finally at the end of 1 John, in just 5 power packed chapters John has dropped some knowledge on us. How many of you have learned something from 1 John, I know I have! Knowing was important to John, to John knowing truths about Jesus was more than just knowing facts about Jesus. To John knowing was transformational, life changing because knowing is believing.

In fact a quick survey of the 5 chapters of John here are some of the things John says we can know:

1) We can know that we know God (2:3, 13, 14; 4:7).

2) We can know that we are in God (2:5).

3) We can know that it is the last hour (2:18).

4) We can know the truth (2:21; 3:19).

5) We can know that Jesus is righteous (2:29).

6) We can know that we will be like Jesus (3:2).

7) We can know Jesus appeared to take away sins (3:5).

8) We can know that Jesus is sinless (3:5).

9) We can know that we have passed out of death into life (3:14).

10) We can know no murderer has eternal life (3:15).

11) We can know love (3:16; 4:16).

12) We can know that God abides in us (3:24; 4:13).

13) We can know the Spirit of God (4:2).

14) We can know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error (4:6).

15) We can know that we love God’s children (5:2).

16) We can know that we have eternal life (5:13).

17) We can know that God answers prayer (5:15).

18) We can know that we will not practice sin (5:18).

19) We can know that we belong to God (5:19).

20) We can know that the Son of God has come (5:20).

21) We can know that the Son of God has given us understanding (5:20).

22) We can know Him who is true (5:20).

In these last 9 verses things we can know dominate the passage. 7 times john uses the word know! God through the words of the Apostle John is telling us there are some things I want you to know, you can know with a certainty, and if you put your trust in these truths, they are life changing. So what is it that God wants us to know?

Read 1 John 5:13-21 - I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 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 that we have asked of him. 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. 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. We know that we are from God, and 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. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

I. God Wants You To Know You Have Eternal Life

A. If you believe

Belief is more than just the knowledge that you know of a person named Jesus, who died on the cross and rose again. To believe is to put your trust in, to be faithful to know. On October 22 1994, I was standing at the altar, staring into the eyes of my beautiful wife. Together we made vows and commitments to each other, we both said I do. Together we were putting trust in each other to remain faithful and committed to making our marriage work, no matter what may come.

This is what John means by belief, you are putting your trust in Jesus the Son of God, to remain faithful to him no matter the what may come.

B. How do I know I am a Christian?

This is what John has been answering us throughout the book of John, John has been writing I want you to have fellowship with us and with God. I want you to have eternal life and this is how you know you are his follower. Throughout the book he has given us characteristics of a Christian.

1. Those who believe in Jesus, believe what the Bible says about Him.

2. Those who believe in Jesus will live like Him.

3. Those who believe in Jesus will Love others like he loved people.

Does this mean we are perfect after we believe in Jesus, absolutely not! John says, 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. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

Our attitude toward sin has changed, instead of enjoying sin, taking pleasure in sin, now we hate when we sin, recognize what sin is and what sin does and we confess are sins to Jesus our advocate.

C. John says if this transformation/life change describes you then you have eternal life, not when you die, you have it now.

II. God Wants You To Know He Hears You

A. With assurance of life eternal, comes another confidence, God hears and answers prayers.

1. We have confidence- the word uses here means boldness or freedom of speech. John uses it 3 other times in his book, 2 times concerning having confidence when Christ returns and 2 times when we come to him in prayer.

3:21 - 22 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

2. ASK - God wants you to ask from him, bring your cares, desires, your issues, problems, cries, he says come to me!

3. His promise is I will hear and I will answer. Sometimes his answer is yes, sometimes its no and sometimes its wait.

B. Qualification

1. John does give us a qualification - “if we ask anything according to his will” we will have the requests we have asked of him.

2. Many times we think of God and prayer as a shopping list, God do this, do that, don't forget about this, oh yeah i need that. In Jesus Name Amen.

Praying is not designed to demand things from God, he is not at your beck and call to get whatever you want. I know many of us pray and at the end we say “in Jesus name”, that is not some magic formula for us to get whatever we want from God.

Praying in Jesus’ name means, in our prayers we are making the requests Jesus would make. This is why John said in 1 John 3:22 - and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. and in our passage “ask anything according to his will”.

This implies we are in God’s Word, we know his commandments, we know and do what pleases him, and if we know God’s Word, know his commandments, desire to please God in every area of life then we will pray God centered, God glorifying, God exalting prayers.

John Stott says - “Prayer is not a convenient device for imposing our will upon God, or for bending his will to ours, but the prescribed way of submitting our will to his”

Prayer, just like God’s word is designed to make us more like Jesus, not to make Jesus more like us.

C. John gets specific

1. Pray for your brother who is sinning

notice John says to pray for them, not to gossip about them, share their story with others that do not need to know or gossip about them. John says pray for them. This reminds me of Paul’s exhortation to the church in Galatia

English Standard Version Chapter 6

6 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

John says pray for the so they may be restored back to life.

2.There is a sin that leads to death

What is John talking about, to the people John was writing to, they were most likely aware of this terminology, so there was no further explanation needed. There are are a few different views here:

Roman Catholicism - say this is talking about venial and mortal sins. Mortal sins lead to death. We know this is not the case because in just a few lines John says all wrongdoing is sin , then Paul says in Romans the wages of sin is death, meaning all sin leads to death.

Some think John was talking about the false teachers who are leaving and rejecting Christ, which is possible.

Church Discipline -

I believe John is talking about the unpardonable sin, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 12:22-34. The Pharisees, religious leaders of the day have every opportunity to see Christ. They witnessed the miracles, seen the healings seen Jesus cast out demons, heard him preach and teach with authority. they had all the evidence before them and instead of making there heart softer to the truth of the Gospel, there hearts became harder and harder they ended up crucifying him.

They became so hardened to the truth of the Gospel there was no desire to turn away from there sin, they were like Esau who sold his blessing

Hebrews 12:16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

You see Esau had regret, he wanted the blessing, he just didn’t want the one who gives the blessing. So he was rejected. There comes a point when a heart is so hardened there is no desire to turn away from sin and turn to God. That is why I believe the sin is unpardonable, because it is a heart that doesn’t desire to be pardoned.

Only God knows when a person reaches that point, I don’t know, Bryan, Mark Ben, Brandon, Tim any of the other campus pastors don’t know only God.

Forget about the pharisees for minute. Lets talk about us in this room. There is a danger walking through those doors week after week, hearing the Gospel message preached week after week and telling God to wait- i will do it some other time, when i get older or after I have some fun.

Some of you may water down, you say I believe in Jesus but do i really have to do what he says, everything. I will come to church and fellowship but i still want to do my own thang.

Some of you waiver, I will decide to follow Jesus, then later say nah maybe its not for me. I need some more evidence.

Listen to the Spirit today, come to Jesus and heed the warning from Hebrews 3:7 - 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

III. God Wants You To Know You Have Victory Over Sin.

A. If you are born of God, you are victorious over sin.

Paul puts it this way

English Standard Version Chapter 6

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

1. We are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. In the new birth God begins to change our desires, our loves. We know longer want to sin because we are alive to God.

2. We have a new master and we live in his kingdom, his domain. Jesus our new Lord provides everything we need to live free of sin. When we do sin, Jesus is our advocate, he is faithful and just to forgive us when we come and confess our sins to him.

B. God Protects Us and Guards Us

Jesus keeps us now, he protects us and guards until the end. This is one of the theme’s of the NT.

John 17:12- “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me, I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

1 Peter 1:5- “Who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Jude 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…”

Danny Akin - Jesus, by His work on the cross, obtained my salvation. Now, by His work in heaven, maintains my salvation (see Heb. 7:25).

Satan my tempt you through doubts, friends who fall away , the world’s philosophies and pleasures and fleshly enticements. But if you are born of God Satan cannot touch you.

IV. God Wants You To Know You Belong To Him

A. One of the truths we have learned from John is that we are in a global conflict. There is a war between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Darkness.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

I am writing to you, young men,

because you have overcome the evil one.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

B. In this Global struggle, John lets us know the world lies in the power or the kingdom of darkness, but those who have been born of God belong to God.

Many of us desire freedom, to be free of any master, but in reality we are going to serve someone, that is how we were created, we were created to serve and bring glory to God, but because of sin, John says people with out God are under the power of the evil one.

Freedom is the war cry of our culture. Many equate freedom with anarchy (no laws), freedom is not anarchy. Tim Keller says Freedom is the fulfillment that comes when you’re doing what you most deeply desire. This why when you walk down the aisle to get married you feel free, because you are doing, at the moment what the heart deeply desires. But yet at the same time you are entering into a covenant marriage, you are saying I commit to you and forsake all others. You are limiting your love and devotion to one person.

That doesn’t sound like freedom in the world’s eyes, but in reality you are maximizing your freedom by making a covenantal, committed relationship with one person.

This is why a person born of God is transformed from the inside out, he is a new creation because God has to give us the desire to love him, he implants in us the desire to love and live for his glory because Freedom is the fulfillment that comes when you’re doing what you most deeply desire. When you surrender to Christ’s call, you are entering into a committed covenantal relationship with Jesus, saying I will serve you and no other. You are changing who you will serve, and you are in kingdom of God now. You belong to him. Isn’t that awesome. It is to me, because I grew up in a single parent home, with a dad i never knew, but now I have a Father in heaven who loves, works out all things for my good, he gives me life, he listens to my concerns, he provides victory over my sin, he wraps his arms around and says you belong to me now son.

V. God Wants US To Know Jesus

In Just one verse John tells us a whole bunch about Jesus.

A. Jesus Is

1. the Son of God

2. Who has come into this world

3. Jesus gives us understanding to know him

4. Jesus is true

5. He is the Messianic Savior

6. He is the true God

7. Jesus is Eternal Life

B. God says I want you to know Jesus who is true, by entering into a committed relationship with him you will be in Christ and have life, he will hear you, provide victory over sin, you will belong to God because you know Jesus.

John’s Final Command

I have always found 1 John 5:21 interesting, it is an odd way to close a book, but God knows us, we are people who can place our gaze on someone or something else.

John Calvin says “the heart is an idol factory”. Our heart can just pump out idols like an Ford assembly line. An idol is anything we place in our lives before God. Many times we think of idolatry and think of bad things, drugs, alcohol, etc. But idols can be good things too work, family, marriage, sports etc. When we take a good thing, and make it a god thing, it becomes a bad thing, an idol.

Here is the problem, what happens to us, i have been serving the Lord for 36 years now. There have been times in my life where I have taken my gaze off Jesus and put it on something else and it causes me to stumble, it is because of idolatry.

Tim Keller says “the ultimate reason for any sin is that something besides Christ is functioning as an alternative “righteousness” or source of confidence—and is thus an “idol,” a pseudo-savior, which creates inordinate desires.”

Think about to some time recently you have sinned, think about why you sinned… Keller says here the reason we sin is because in that area of our life we are not trusting in what Jesus says, so whatever that sin is, you are placing your trust and confidence in over Christ. That is idolatry.

If it is stealing, you are not trusting Christ to provide for your needs.

When live for something other than Christ our desires change according to what you are after, you take you eyes off of eternal life, your begin to pray less and sin more, instead of victory over sin we experience defeat, become complacent , we begin to feel like we don’t belong to God, we lose focus on who Jesus and how he provides all we need. Little Children, keep yourselves from idols.