The Power of Knowing Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Quick Recap of series
Two main themes that we have gotten from John
Recognize false teaching
Know that we are saved
over and over he repeats, “So that you know...”
Today we will finish the series, 1 John
there are a couple of verses in this passage that can be hard to understand
I think sometimes are misinterpreted
but when we take them as a whole, and look at them in the entirety of the letter, they make more sense
6 Jesus Christ—he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
7 For there are three that testify:
8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement.
9 If we accept human testimony, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that he has given about his Son.
10 The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son.
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.
16 If anyone sees a fellow believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, he should ask, and God will give life to him—to those who commit sin that doesn’t lead to death. There is sin that leads to death. I am not saying he should pray about that.
17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that doesn’t lead to death.
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the one who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway 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 the true one. We are in the true one—that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
PRAY!
Power Over Sin...
Power Over Sin...
We last finished with verse 5
Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Apart from this truth, there is no power or victory over sin
Remember the argument of the gnostics
the real true, holy god of all would never enter into a broken place such as this
that John has been warning us through this letter that those who do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, are not true believers, are not saved
this is such an important warning… why? Because it is easy to play the game
now he is giving us the evidence that the gnostics are wrong
6 Jesus Christ—he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
7 For there are three that testify:
8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement.
9 If we accept human testimony, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that he has given about his Son.
10 The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son.
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Not only did God come to earth, but came in the form of a man
Born of a virgin, he grew in wisdom and truth
He was baptized by John the Baptist - testimony of water
He lived a perfect life
He died a brutal death on the cross to take the full wrath of God due us upon himself - testimony of blood
This was not an imposter, or somebody simply claiming to be the messiah
Jesus himself claimed to be God in the flesh
imagine that for just a moment, as John writes in John 1:1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
The author and sustainer of the entire universe came here, to the very planet that we are currently living on to save us
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
We have the testimonies of the Apostles, who all died a martyrs death proclaiming the life death and resurrection of Jesus
As John states in a our passage, we have the testimony of God of who Jesus was
Through the miracles that Jesus performed while on the earth
Nicodemus confesses that nobody could do the things that Jesus does unless God was with him
admitting that only God could do such things
But the very words of God about Jesus
Matthew 3:17 after Jesus is baptized, God states, “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 17:5 on the mount of transfiguration God interrupts Peter and said, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”
Any Jesus that you create that is not the Emmanuel, God with us, is a different Jesus
In a different Jesus, there is no power for you life
there is definitely no power over our sin!
John wants us to know, that anyone who believes in Jesus, has life
that sin has been conquered
that you are no longer looking at death, which is the penalty for sin
but you have life… notice the language in v13, not that you will have life
you have that life right now!
Power In Prayer…
Power In Prayer…
There is a saying in Christian circles… “my prayers are going no higher than the ceiling.”
we say this often when we do not feel like our prayers are not being heard by God
I like to believe that we are not blaming him in this saying, understanding that it is us, not him
14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.
16 If anyone sees a fellow believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, he should ask, and God will give life to him—to those who commit sin that doesn’t lead to death. There is sin that leads to death. I am not saying he should pray about that.
17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that doesn’t lead to death.
v14 “this is the confidence…”
We have confidence not in the asking, but that we are His, have eternal life
looking at the testimony of who Jesus is and what he has done
all that God has orchestrated so that we can be saved, should there be any doubt that he will not hear our prayers
He is more than powerful
He is more than loving
at the same time, living with the understanding of who we are and what He has done
why would we ask for anything other than his will
His will is not always easy to pray for
To often we will pray for our opinions, and think that He is not listening when he doesn’t answer when and how we want
Praying in a disagreement in a family about going into a home
we begin to not pray for our opinions, but for God’s will to be done, on earth as it is in Heaven and that we would submit to it
John gives an example of praying in the will of the father in v 16
If you see a fellow believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, ask and God will give him life
We get caught up in what that sin might be instead of hearing the instruction
we should be praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ
how can we love them anymore than that
that we would be praying for their walk with the Lord that they would be growing closer to the Lord
praying for their quiet time
that they would be in His will, that there would be nothing between them and the Lord
what is the sin that doesn’t lead to death, or what is the sin that leads to death
John is speaking of two different people with these two different types of sin
the sin that doesn’t lead to death is that of a believer
what can separate the believer from God… NOTHING!
the sin that leads to death
is there any sin that exempt from being forgiven?
Blasphemy of the Spirit… is this what John is speaking about, maybe
taking into context all that John has talked about in this letter, I lean towards those who he has written about throughout
those who do not believe in Jesus as the Son of God
they do not believe the gospel message and accept the free gift of grace offered
unbelief is sin, and we see Jesus condemn it over and over throughout the gospels
We can pray for somebody that doesn’t know Jesus
are we praying that they would stop this small sin
or are we praying that they would know Jesus!
But our motives of why we want to know these two sins express our love or lack of love for God
Are you looking to see what you can get away with
Are you mourning your sin, desiring to honor him
that we are heartbroken over our sin and the sin of fellow believers
Power Over Satan…
Power Over Satan…
John makes statements that when we do not take them in context with the rest of the letter is easily misunderstood
v18 is one of them
we know that John does not believe that as believers, we never sin
he has told us early on, that if we are faithful to confess, God is faithful to forgive
I spoke about this when we went over 1 John 2:1, I encourage you to go back and listen if you have questions,
John is basically speaking that we as believers do not live in blatant sin
that we are not willfully ignoring God in disobedience
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the one who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway 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 the true one. We are in the true one—that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
I believe that John is speaking of the cleansed believer
you are holy… a royal priesthood
do I sin? Yes, because of the battle between the born again heart and my flesh
yet before God, right now, I am cleansed
So we do not live in willful sin and Satan, the evil one cannot touch us
that does not mean that he doesn’t try
He constantly accuses us
1 Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
Here is the High Priest of Israel standing before God and he is being accused by Satan
meaning Satan is standing and giving a report of the sin that Joshua has commited
see Satan like to tell God of everything you have done, a little snitch, as if God doesn’t know
showing that he underestimates the omniscience of our God
He doesn’t let up either… accuses day and night
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been thrown down.
He is constantly tempting us to sin
14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.
15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
But Satan has been defeated… Believer you have conquered the devil!
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been thrown down.
11 They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; for they did not love their lives to the point of death.
the world is under his influence, his power, his sway
but not you… we belong to God
we are people of truth
we can see the truth, we know the truth
we must guard ourselves in worshipping anything else!
