That you may Know
Notes
Transcript
That you may Know
That you may Know
Today we are going to wrap up 1 John and the next two weeks we are going to look at John’s 2 short letters, likely doing one each week.
They are interesting!
We are going to wrap up where we started many weeks ago.
It may feel a bit like a ROLLERCOASTER, because John is going to do a quick wrap up and cover many topics.
I am writing these things to you so that you may know that you, who believe in the name of the son of God, do indeed have the life of the age to come.
John does us a favor by giving us a fifth reason for writing this letter.
In case you have trouble remembering:
1:3 Have fellowship with us, God, and Jesus
1:4 That our joy may be complete
2:1 That you may not sin, but you have an advocate
2:26 Warn about deceivers
5:13 You may know you have eternal life
He wants to give assurance of something that began, for him, in Genesis.
Access to the Tree of Life that would lead to life in the age to come.
(Notice it does not say in heaven)
(Rather, it refers to an age)
(We often see eternal life in this phrase)
John’s primary concern is with the trust and loyalty people had in the Name of the Son of God.
And he will get to a warning in the ver last verse that will impact this assurance of eternal life.
But, BEFORE we get to that, John decided to include a couple of sentences that create potential for misapplication.
This is the bold confidence we have before him: if we ask for something according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess the requests we have asked from him.
Many will ignore that key clause in there
According to his will
Others may ask, ‘why pray’ if it is only according to God’s will?
If it is God’s will, then it is going to happen anyway, right?
Here is the deal: Don’t overcomplicate scripture.
Sometimes it is the simple reading, and you need to keep reading to understand.
Let’s focus for a moment on the primary clause:
This is the bold confidence we have before him
What a gift we have to stand before God in prayer, in any situation, and make requests.
Not like a magic genie
Not like a robot
But as a human
And the assurance is this:
If you know God’s will (redemption of humans)
Then what you ask will be granted (next verse)
So, What is God’s will?
Well, here is one:
The Lord is not delaying his promise, in the way that some reckon delay, but he is very patient towards you. He does not want anyone to be destroyed. Rather, he wants everyone to arrive at repentance.
Your prayers should be focused on repentance, that is, continual transformation to be what God meant you to be as His Image.
Perhaps this will help us understand the next two contentious verses...
If anyone sees a brother or sister committing a sin which is not deadly, they should ask, and God will give life to the people who are sinning in a way which is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin; I do not say that one should pray about that. All sin is unrighteousness, and there is a sin which is not deadly.
What is your first obvious question?
What are the deadly sins?
What are the non-deadly sins?
We are not told here, so it is not good to speculate, but John has been clear about how we should behave, so we could start there.
What kind of death are we talking about?
Spiritual
Physical
There are two occasions in the NT where people who profess to be believers are relieved from their physical life because of their actions.
They were judged by God and they died prematurely
Acts Ananias and Sapphira (lied to God)
Paul in Corinthians about communion (mistreating others)
IF John is speaking about sins that lead to physical death.
HOWEVER, there is another way of reading this section...
We know that everyone fathered by God does not go on sinning. The one who was fathered by God keeps them, and the evil one does not touch them. We know that we are from God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. We know that the son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we should know the truth. And we are in the truth, in his son Jesus the Messiah.
This is the true God; this is the life of the age to come.
John is repeating what he has already taught. His concern is for how the believer behaves, and I am hoping that you are getting this from the text.
You cannot merit your way to salvation
Yet, your salvation expects your behavior to change
For John, the sin that leads to death may be the sin that remains for anyone who does not have believing loyalty in Jesus.
You want to be free from the evil one, you must believe. You must keep believing.
And you must be loyal.
You cannot believe and be loyal to another god.
In other words, you cannot say you trust in Jesus and worship another god, or an idol.
Children, guard yourselves against idols.
That is the sin that leads to death, in my opinion.
And it is just that. My interpretation of the text in this section.
John is warning believers that if they turn from Jesus to another, that even their prayers cannot fix that.
John does not say “do not pray for that”
He says, “I don’t say that one should pray about that.” He is not forbidding that kind of prayer.
And has that not been his whole point in the letter?
Who is Jesus?
Is he real?
Is he a spirit or angel masquerading as a human?
Is all created matter sinful and evil?
He is trying to rebuff all these systems of belief and focus his people onto the things that are true about Jesus.