Tom Mason

Today we will attempt to finish 1st John, that epistle. Today we will be dealing with chapter 5, verses 14 to 18. It says, this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, we know that we have the petition that we have required of him. 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 am not saying that you should ask about that. All unrighteousness is sin. And there is a sin leading to death. We know that no one who has been born of God sins, but he who is born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God and that the world, 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, the true God and eternal life.

Little children, guard yourselves from idols. John ends his epistle with that charge. Little children, guard yourselves from idols. As we look into John's writing today, verse 14 starts with, this is the confidence that we have in him. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. When we hear that word, this is the confidence, it should bring a question. What is the confidence? And in order to get that answer, we have to go back to verse 13. These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

We talked about it last week, how John has taken the time to let us know that we have eternal life, that we can know that. He said now based on that confidence, we can now come before him to make our request known unto him. This word confidence, it means boldness or openness. Coming with no restraints. The writer of Hebrews picks up on this word and tells us in Hebrews 4.16, therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help at the time of our need.

You are a believer, he says, you can approach God with boldness. With confidence. And by the way, we are not coming demanding anything from God, we're coming making a request of him. And he wants us to understand that. He gives us that little phrase, we have before him. That word before is a commonly used word in the New Testament over some 700 times. I want to share with us the first four times that it is used in the New Testament and then talk about its meaning.

Matthew chapter 2 verse 12, it says, after being warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the Magi left for their own country another way. What are they warned? They warned not to go back into the presence of the king. The king had given them orders, go find out the child, come back and tell me. God says, go home another way.

But the thing that you have to realize here is what God was telling them, stay out of the presence of the king. Look at chapter 3 verse 5, at that time, Jerusalem was going out to him and all Judea and all the regions around the Jordan.

Going out to who? Going out to John the Baptist to be baptized. Because unless he was in the presence of John the Baptist, you couldn't be baptized by him. So he's sending them out to do that. Look at it from kind of a different perspective.

Matthew chapter 3 verse 10, the axe is already laid at the root of the tree. The idea is chopping down a tree. So where's the axe? The axe is next to it in its presence. Look at verse 13 of chapter 3 Matthew.

Then Jesus arriving from Galilee at Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him. Again, it's telling us that Jesus was in John's presence in order to be baptized. So when John writes to us that this is the confidence that we have before him, he's telling us we are in God's presence. Now, theologically, most of us understand that because we say, you know, God is omnipresent. Therefore, he's everywhere present at the same time. How practically do we know that? When I make a request to God, do I make a request recognizing that I am standing in his presence?

That's what John wants us to do. The phrase could be translated in his presence. So when we make our request unto him, we are in God's presence. And he wants us to know that we have what we have asked of him. And he goes on in that phrase and says, and if we ask anything according to his will, according to his will, meaning what God would ask for basically, that's what it means. But it comes first with an assumption.

It assumes that we are saved. This is not instructions to the world to ask God. This is instructions to Christians that we would ask God and then that he would give to us. After that assumption comes a qualifier in accordance with his will. So when we see that, now we know that God will give to us according to his will. John spoke of this earlier in his writings. So let's look back. First John chapter 3 verses 21 and 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 the things that are pleasing in his sight. This phrase, if we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him in his sight, it is not the answer to whatever we ask, we receive of him. It is the answer to, beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, then we have confidence before him. Because if we live a life daily in the life of Christ and the things that God would have of us when we come before him in prayer, our heart is not condemning us.

Not saying to us, you hypocrite, why are you here? That's what he's telling us. So we have to have that relationship first.

On a daily basis, we want to treat God like he's some bank and we go to the ATM machine and we put in a request and get that request back. That's not what God wants from us. God wants us day by day, minute by minute, living for him. And when we live out of that, then we can go to him and make that request. And when we do that, we have the request that we have desired of him. We see that and we know that. John spoke of this earlier in his life when he wrote the gospel of John. John chapter 15, verses seven and eight.

Jesus says, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask what you wish and it will be done for you.

My father is glorified in this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. If you read John chapter 15, you see that he's talking about producing fruit. He uses in that three phrases, bear fruit, bear more fruit, and bear much fruit. So everything that is done, he's talking to us in this passage in context, it is about Christians bearing fruit. Look back up at verse one of chapter 15. Jesus says, I am divine and my father is divine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. Now don't get confused. Now he says every branch in me, he's not talking about some weak Christian that isn't living up to and God plucks that Christian out. Nope, it's not what he's talking about. He's talking about those who among us who are false that are not bearing fruit. He deals with that, but he says, everyone that bears fruit, he prunes it. Have you ever noticed a gardener?

Now you might be the gardener and there's a dead limb on your rosebush. You take a piece of equipment and go out and cut that dead limb off. But what if you wanna prune that same rosebush so it will produce more roses? You use the same piece of equipment. So pruning can be painful. But what he's saying to us is that when he does the pruning to us, he's doing it so we can bear much fruit. Already bearing fruit, but he now wants us to bear much fruit. So when God promised to give us whatever we ask, he's not concerned about our happiness.

How many times have we been told from the preaching here that if God was concerned about our happiness, he would have gave us the happy spirit. But since he was concerned about us being holy, he gave us the Holy Spirit. So that's what God is concerned about. You and I being holy. So when he promises to give us whatever we ask for, he's not concerned about me having a larger and better telescope. He's not concerned about you having a bigger and better car or a bigger and better house. He is concerned about us living for him and producing fruit that will bring others to him.

That's why every time we ask, he is willing to give us that, that we might honor him in all that we do. When we're living according to God's plan, we too are concerned about being holy rather than being happy. So God has called us to do this. So every request should be for the purpose of putting God on display that others might see his glory. Remember in 1 Corinthians 4, verses one and two, Paul says to us, in this way, any person is to regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. The old King James says found faithful. It is required of a steward to be found faithful, not just in the things that God gives to us, but also in our making our request to God. We are to be faithful in the things that we ask for and the things that we want from God that we then might be able to put him on display. So when I make my request to God, it is that I might honor him in my life that others might come to know him.

Then we come to that phrase, he hears us. Let us look again at 1 John 5, verse 14. This is the confidence that we have in him. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. As John lays it out here, he hears us is God's yes to our request. When we make that request to God, and he hears us, the answer is yes. Well, what happens if the answer is no? I don't see that God answers us with a no. I see that he doesn't hear us when it's not according to his will. The scripture is clear. If we know that he hears us, then we know that we have the request of him.

But we can only know that he hears us when we ask according to his will. Well, if you say God doesn't hear us, are you limiting God? No. Remember, God has said about our sins, he said he forgets our sins. It doesn't mean that God has a bad memory. It means he chooses to forget our sins. So if God doesn't hear us, it's not that he's lack on hearing, it's that he chooses not to. Why? Because it's not according to his will. That's what he is bringing to us, that he might hear us. Let me give you an example from the life of this church.

In October, we'll be 29 years old as a church. When we were six months old, we took our first mission trip.

When you go after missions, you're going to carry the gospel to people who do not have it, that they might come to Christ. Before that first mission trip, the elders and the pastor brought the information to the church and said, let's pray about going on this trip.

Since that time, until the last trip has returned just a few weeks ago, the elders have presented to the congregation trip after trip, trip after trip. Not one trip has been canceled because there was not funds to go. Every trip that has been planned has been planned and that trip has come to fruition because the people have given, the resources was there, that the elders was making a request to God and you were making a request with us that God would be able to send these people on a mission trip every time.

Why? Because of our goodness? No, because we're doing what God requires of us, that we might take the gospel. That is true whether you're sharing with the friend next door or in our door-to-door ministry. This is the thing that he is bringing to us and he has called for us to do that we might honor him in all that we do. Now let us move forward. First John chapter five, verses 16 and 17.

John has given to us the assurance that whatever we ask according to his will, he gives this to us. Now John wants to give to us the exception to that rule. Verse 16, if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask God, God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I am not saying that you should ask about that sin. All unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not leading to death. I like the emphasis that John puts here.

He wants to put that little footnote in there. All unrighteousness is sin, all of it. But he talks about this thing about a sin unto death or sin not unto death. He says 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. John doesn't tell us what that sin is, but he wants us to know that there is a sin leading to death. First, let's address who can commit this sin leading to death.

Some commentators give us two options, sinners or saints. John rules out sinners when he says if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death. John is writing to the saints. So he's writing to brothers and talking about our brothers or sisters who would commit this sin. So then John is telling us that among the church, among the believers, there is a sin that could lead to death. But John doesn't tell us what that sin is. The Bible really doesn't lay out to us what that sin is. But yet John wants us to know that.

Some people have said it could be the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, Matthew 12, 31 to 32. I'm not gonna get into that part of it, but I'll tell you right up front, it's not that because a Christian could not commit blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. Some have suggested Acts chapter five, verses one through 11. Remember Ananias and his wife, Sophia? They were in the church, the early church, and the early church, people would sell their property and bring the funds in and give it to the apostles that the needs of the church could be taken care of.

So they did, they went out and sold their property. They came back and said to the apostles, here's our money. So Peter started examining Ananias. Did you not sell the property for such and such? Yes, I did. Was it not yours or in your charge when you did that? Yeah, yes, it is. So are you telling us that this is what you sold the property for? Yes, it is. The man fell dead right there in church. The young men took him out and buried him. Later on, the wife comes in with the same story. And I'm impressed with the way Peter announced to her that her husband was dead.

He said, the feet of the young men who carried your husband out and buried him, they are at the door and they will now carry you out. She fell dead. They took her out and buried her. This could have been one of those situations where it was a sin unto death. Not of the particular thing that they did, but the fact of their hearts and what their condition of their heart was. And that's what makes the difference. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we're told of a young man that was sleeping with his father's wife.

Apparently this man, a mother had died or she was no longer in the picture. The father had married again and now he's sleeping with her. Paul says, you ought to have dealt with this. You ought to have taken this out from among you. But since you happened, I'm gonna tell you how to do it. He said, put the man out of the church so that Satan may destroy his body, but his spirit would be saved in the day of the Lord. So this could be it. Now, I'm not saying sexual immorality is it, but I'm saying the fact that he was into this sexual immorality and in the church pretending that there was nothing wrong and the church did nothing about it.

Got to a point that what Paul says, you have to put him out of the church so that his body would be destroyed, but his spirit would be saved in the day of the Lord. Then we come to church discipline. We had a young lady in our church for a few weeks. She was going to a Bible college and the Bible college had told her to go and interview some leaders of churches and then come back and give a report, I guess, to the college. So she interviewed, they all of those interviewed some of the leaders of the church here.

And in my interview, she asked me, had I ever heard of this thing, church discipline? I said, yes, we have. She says, have you ever seen it happen? Yes, I have. She says, what about here at our church? She was taken by surprise. Said she had not heard of church discipline actually taking place in a place. So what is church discipline? In Matthew chapter 18, starting at verse 15, talking about a person who has sinned against another person. Go to them and them alone. If they hear you, you have warned your brother.

I mean, it's over. Everything's forgiven. If they do not hear you, then take one or two others with you that in the words of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. If they hear you, you have warned your brother. It doesn't go any further. It doesn't get to be in the church bulletin for prayer. It's done with. But if they do not hear you, take it to the church. When you take it to the church, then the elders brings it before the congregation. We never tell what the person's sin is, only that the person is unrepentant.

But in that passage, it never tells us to pray for that person. This could be what he's talking about. Any sin that we get so entrenched in that even when you face the church, you're not willing to confess. That could be it. So not trying to figure out what that is or how it works. I find it interesting that John tells us about the assurance of answered prayer. Then he gives us the exception. That would be a person who's committing a sin that leads to death. He said, I'm not telling you that you should pray for yet.

But then he connects where we have his verses 18 and 20 to all of this. Says, 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. Now John is not saying the evil one does not tempt us. He say does not touch us. In other words, he cannot touch our spiritual lives. So he can do nothing about that. But John says, no one that has been born of God sins. And when we see this S on sins in our English translation is helping us understand that this is an ongoing pattern.

So when you see sin in your life more than anything else, and when people see sin in your life more than anything else, he says, you're not born of God. He says, because no one who is born of God will practice sin. That's the term you could put there where it says sin. Matter of fact, John spoke of this in 1 John chapter 3. So let's turn to that. 1 John chapter 3. John says, see how great a love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God and such we are. For this reason, the world does not know us because it did not know him.

Beloved, now we are the children of God and it has not yet appeared as yet what we will be. When, excuse me, we know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. Look at verse 3.

And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. Just as God is pure, then we will purify ourselves. Now, he's not talking about a sinner purifying himself. He's talking about a Christian who has been saved from his sin and find himself sinning again. He goes to God and John has already given us the information in 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's how we purify ourselves, by keeping close account on our sins.

Going before God, yes, I have sinned, Lord. Would you forgive me? And the scripture is already telling us that when we do this, he will forgive us. And not only forgives us, he cleanses us up of all the unrighteousness that that sin brings. So John wants us to understand that. Look at verse 4.

Everyone who practice sin also practice lawlessness and lawless and sin is lawlessness. Again, everyone who practice sin practice lawlessness. He says that that's not the life of a Christian. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin at all. No one who abides in him sins. No one who sins has seen him or know him. That's pretty clear. That's not coming from the preacher, that's coming from the scripture. But he wants us as Christians to understand what our pattern of life should be.

It should be a pattern of righteousness. Verse 8 says, the one who practice sin is of the devil. For the devil sin from the beginning. The one who sins is of the devil. And that's why in verse 10 of chapter 3, he concludes by saying, by this we know the children of God. Excuse me. By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. If I said to you, I'm standing in front of you preaching today, you would say, Tom, that's obvious. That's what he's saying. How obvious it is, whether we are children of God or the children of the devil.

He goes on to say, anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God. Anyone. Poor pit or pew. Up here or out there. Anyone who is not practicing righteousness, they are not of God. He lays this out for us that we might clearly understand that. This thing about a sinner, who would a sinner be? Look at Psalm 51 verse 5.

He says, behold, I was brought forth in guilt and in sin my mother conceived me. He's not saying that his mother committed a sinful act. His mother had a sin nature when she conceived him. Remember Genesis tells us about Adam, says Adam was created in the image of God. And then Adam begot children in Adam's image. What was that image of Adam? A sinful image because he had sinned against God. In John chapter 8 verse 34, Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

Wow. We don't want to be slave of nobody. But he says, if you commit sin, you are a slave of sin. A few weeks ago in my Sunday school time with the adults, I was asked a question. Tom, why do you keep bringing us to the fact that we are slaves? I was thankful for the question because it gave us an opportunity to do a study on the word. And at the end of the study and bringing the results to them, that same person said, thank you for, I'm glad I asked the question. Now I understand. See, we used to be slaves of sin.

Now we're slaves of righteousness or we're slaves of God. And I hope that's not bothersome for you. Because we are either children of God or the children of the devil. We are all, we're either slaves of sin or we're slaves of righteousness. And that's what you and I are called to do. Then John, John, first John chapter five, verse 18.

We know that no one who is born of God sins. He just walks through this and helps us understand what it is that we ought to know and how it is that we ought to know it. And verse 19, he says, and we know that we are of God. And the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Now notice the comparison again.

We Christians, we are of God. And everybody else lies under the power of the evil one. Told you last week, there's only two groups of people in the world. First John chapter five, verse 12.

Those who have the son and those who do not have the son. Our question is first, what group am I in? And then as I meet others, should be asking the question, what group are you in? He says, and we know that the son of God has come and has given us to understand 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. Peter would say on one occasion, there is no other name given under heaven whereby men must be saved other than the name of Jesus Christ.

Peter was standing before the religious leaders of his day, and they asked him the question. That's what I like about questions. Then you're required to listen to the answer. They got to hear from Peter, there is no other name given under heaven whereby men must be saved. Peter said, that's why we preach this name. That's why John wrote this. Over and over again, he pointed to the fact that eternal life is in Jesus Christ. He says, we have observed him with our eyes, how our hands have handled him.

The word of life. He brings this to us and he wants us to understand this. And then before he writes his last phrase, he says, this is the true God. And eternal life. And then notice his last phrase, verse 21.

Little children, guard yourselves from idols. Now he's already told us that the evil one can't touch us. Can't touch our spirit that God has given to us. But he says, you and I have to guard ourselves from idols. Those things that we get so hooked up in, that we can't see anything else. And I have to tell you, a lot of that is religious stuff. Donna and I was in Running Springs on yesterday. If you don't know where Running Springs is, it's on the way to Big Bear. And we saw a sign that said, Farmer's Market.

Which is always an invitation for us to pull in. Excuse me. So we did. Got out, walked around, bought a few things. Saw a gentleman there with a t-shirt on. Said, Team Jesus. I didn't have a t-shirt on that said that. Nobody else that I saw there had anything that would point anybody to Jesus. So I thought I would have a conversation with him. I said, what does your t-shirt mean? He said, it means Jesus' team. I said, well, how would you get on that team? He said, well, the good book says, if you read it, in it, there are some instructions you can follow to get on the team.

So I still don't know where he is. So now I have to ask another question. So if you were to die today, where would you spend eternity? He said, well, God says that he reserves the souls of people.

And when he comes back, he then will decide whether you go to heaven or hell. So then I thought, since we have heaven or hell, it's worth to ask another question. Then will you go to heaven or to hell? He thought for a minute. He said, sir, to be honest, I don't know. That was heartbreaking to me. Here's a guy wearing a t-shirt out in public that would cause at least one person to ask the question, how do you get on the team? And he doesn't even know. He doesn't even know if he's on the team or not.

Then so I shared with him some scripture. And you know how people, when you're talking to them, and they kind of glass over? That's what the guy did. So I left there not knowing what, well, no, I didn't. I left there knowing what team he was on. It just wasn't the one he had on the t-shirt. It just wasn't the one he had on the t-shirt. Okay, because see, John says the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. So if I ask you how to go to heaven, you should be able to express that to me if you're claiming to be on Jesus's team.

I would say to you that that was an idol in his life. He had something that showed Jesus's team, but didn't even know himself whether he was on the team or not. May that never be said about us. And then let us, as John directs, guard ourselves from idols. Father, we thank you for our time together today. Thank you for your word. Ask now as you would direct us as we leave this place, that we might put your word into practice in our lives, that we would be equipped to tell someone about you. In Jesus's name, amen.