1 John 5:13-21
Notes
Transcript
Background
Last week we looked at the first section of 1 John 5, and talked about being born of God. The overall theme of the book is knowing who God is, believing in His Son Jesus Christ, and having assurance of eternal life.
13 These things I have written 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 which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
We begin this last section with the very purpose of why John wrote this letter. We have seen throughout the letter his thesis, and now we’ve come to his conclusion.
This is the theme verse of the letter.
Passport to Purity/Identity
4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.
John is writing as a father to his children, he wants them to know the most important truths about their faith, and he is concluding with the greatest truth.
This message applies to believers only.
All of the last 5 chapters serves to give assurance that the believers may KNOW they have eternal life.
What does “eternal life” mean? We talked about it last week - having a new, unending life with God.
3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
If we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then we can know with certainty that we will live with God forever.
If we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then we can know with certainty that we will live with God forever.
Not only this, but we see that we can make requests to God. We’ve discussed this before.
There are some ground rules:
We must be believers in Christ.
11 “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?
12 “Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?
13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
We must ask according to His will.
22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
We must ask with right motives.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
What do we learn here? Being a believer makes us children of God. We can make requests to our Father.
16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.
17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.
18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and that 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. This is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
This is a tricky section because it’s essentially the only Scripture that refers to sin “not leading to death.”
Notice that this is still talking about asking God.
The context here is witnessing.
Now does not all sin lead to death?
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin has been a common topic of discussion in this letter.
The witness is to pray for the sinning brother/sister.
Intercession is a vital part of our spiritual journey.
What is sin NOT leading to death?
First, recognize that all unrighteousness is sin.
But we just talked about KNOWING we have eternal life.
7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
We also saw earlier from ch. 2 that if we sin, Jesus is our advocate.
So sin NOT leading to death must be sin that can be forgiven. It appears that all sin can be forgiven…?
What is sin leading to death?
32 “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
28 “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;
29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—
Blaspheming has something to do with this. How can one do this?
We’ve talked about the role of the Holy Spirit, what He does.
6 This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
7 For there are three that testify:
8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.
10 The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.
So blaspheming the Holy Spirit would be a rejection of His testimony.
4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
All of these passages tell us the same thing:
Someone can receive the knowledge of the truth, be enlightened, taste of the heavenly gift, be partakers of the Holy Spirit, taste of the good word of God and the things to come, escape the defilements of the world through this knowledge.
AND THEN they can fall away, become entangled again in the defilements of the world, and go on sinning willfully.
This is not simply making a mistake. This is a conscious choice to reject the experience and testimony of (blaspheme) the Holy Spirit.
With this distinction made, it is important to understand that any other sin is forgivable.
19 My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back,
20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
John then distinguishes between the 2 camps:
Those born of God, and those of the world.
Having discussed this earlier, we know that v. 18 isn’t saying that believers NEVER sin - it means practicing a lifestyle of sin.
Jesus protects us from the clutches of the evil one.
The world is within the evil one’s power.
36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
We know Christ.
God has given us eternal life through His Son Jesus.
God has given us eternal life through His Son Jesus.
John’s final exhortation is to guard against idols.
An idol is anything that can be set up in your life that takes the place of God.
This is in contrast to the “true God” of v. 20.
Idols are of the world, and pull us away from God.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
If we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then we can know with certainty that we will live with God forever.
God has given us eternal life through His Son Jesus.
Next week, we will resume our study of Genesis.
Communion: We practice open communion, which means if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you may join the church in taking the Lord’s Supper. Communion is a practice of remembering what Christ has done by eating and drinking, and we are told that we must examine ourselves in the taking of communion, so that we do not eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner. Take this time to examine yourself before we take communion together.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.