“All in with God’s Will and God’s Ways”
(1 John 5:14-21)
Series: A Word for the Church [on screen]
Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD
First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida
November 7, 2021
The Passage
1 John 5:14-21
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.
Before I get into our sermon, I want to alert you about a new ministry that I’m very excited about. Starting in January, we will have discipleship groups that meet throughout the week at different times and places specifically for the purpose of developing disciples. We will focus on Bible reading, Bible memorization, prayer, evangelism, and living as followers of Jesus. These groups will be three or four people in groups of men and women. If you’re interested in participating in these groups, or learning more, please write “D-groups” or “discipleship groups” at the top of a connection card, include your name, and leave that in your seat or give it to an usher or pastor. I’d love for us to have at least twenty-five people sign-up for discipleship groups.
Introductory Comments:
Here we are at the end of 1 John. In this passage, John gives us some final instructions for believers to follow and offers some final words concerning Jesus.
Honestly, part of this passage is kind of confusing. I spoke to a pastor friend of mine who was studying this passage with me and I said, “I wish John were a little more clear about what he was saying here.” However, God has something for us in this passage and by God’s Holy Spirit we can learn what he has to say.
These verses are inspired by God and are useful to us. After all, God’s Word says in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.” [on screen]
So, let’s ask God to speak to us now through the power of His Holy Spirit.
Join me now in prayer.
(prayer)
A few years ago, I got into non-traditional fitness experiences like doing events with a weighted backpack, but that’s another story. What I got into before that was an event called Tough Mudder. Tough Mudder is one of those obstacle course events that involves a lot of mud. [show picture on screen] In fact, it’s one of those things that you don’t want to do unless you are all in. Part of the course involves these electrical wires that drape down from above. Some of these wires are live and some are not. [show picture on screen] You don’t know which are live, so you have to be committed in order to go through. Well, when I did this part, I decided to be all in. I just ran right through without slowing down. I got halfway through when I thought, “These are just dummy wires . . . none of these are on.” Then, all of a sudden, POP! I got struck. Needless to say, I survived. However, Tough Mudder took commitment. You had to be all in.
In these final verses, John sort of emphasizes once again why it is important that we are faithful. It’s almost as if he’s saying that he wants us to be all in when it comes to our Christian walk. So, I’ve entitled this sermon, “All in with God’s Will and God’s Ways.” [on screen]
So, as we journey through these final words of John in this letter, let us see three chunks of godly instruction for our daily living as the people of God.
First, we see . . .
I. Faithful inquiry (verses 14-15)[on screen]
John has already been speaking about confidence. Remember, he said in verse 13 (from last week), “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.” [on screen]
So, John wants us to know that we have confidence in our walk with God.
By the way, this confidence is not based in our own ability or our own faith. This confidence is based on the work of God. We can be confident in Him and His blessings.
Well, let’s see what John says. Look at verses 14-15:
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.
So, John says that we have confidence and this time he is speaking about the confidence that we can have in our prayers to God.
Notice what John says, “If we ask anything . . .” Now, is that all he says? No! John says, “If we ask anything according to his will . . .”
We can have confidence that God can hear our prayers when we pray according to God’s will. So, we wouldn’t pray, “God, please give me that man’s wife,” or, “God, please make me great so that other people can serve me,” or, “God, please help me be really effective at cheating on this test.” God does not bless prayer requests from us that are not prayed according to His will.
God hears our prayers when we pray according to His will. God hears prayers like, “God, help me faithful to my spouse,” or, “God, help me be a servant to other people,” or, “God, give me the ability to study hard and take this test with honesty and integrity.”
John indicates in verse 15 that if we pray this way, God will hear us, and if He hears us we know that He will have what we asked for.
So, if you want to pray with confidence, pray in obedience to God and pray for the will of God to be done in your life.
You know, Jesus spoke something very similar to this in John 15:7, when he said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.” [on screen] Perhaps this is where John got this teaching from; he heard Jesus say something very similar! If we remain in Jesus and His Word remains in us, we will have our prayers answered.
James writes very similar instructions to the early church. In James 4:3, he explains why some believers don’t have their prayer requests answered. He says, “You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” [on screen]
So, when we inquire of God (when we ask God something), we are to do so faithfully, according to His will.
When it comes to our prayers, we must be all in with the will of God.
We are to have faithful inquiry.
Second, we see . . .
II. Friendly intercession (verses 16-17)[on screen]
In the first point, we see John speaking about praying for ourselves. Now, John spends some time talking about praying for our brothers and sisters who might be in sin.
When we are helping someone else or asking for something on someone else’s behalf, we are interceding for them.
So, let’s see how we can practice faithful intercession.
Look at verses 16 and 17:
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.
Ok, this passage is a little confusing. We don’t know exactly what the “sin that leads to death” is. Let’s set that aside for just a moment.
Right now, let’s deal with the obvious: John is telling us that we should be willing to pray for certain believers who are actively sinning.
John has made it clear in his letter that it is possible for a Christian to sin, although they should certainly not display a consistent pattern of sin in their lives.
So, we must remember that we are to be concerned not only about our own sin but also about the sins of our brothers and sisters in Jesus.
In fact, we have several other Bible passages that speak about dealing with the sin of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We read in Matthew 18:15-20 about how to address when someone sins against us. In the book of Jude, we read about Jude saying that we can rescue our brothers and sisters who are in sin by “snatching them from the fire.”
So, we have a part to play in caring for the souls of other Christians who are caught in sin.
But, what about the “sin that leads to death?”
There are a few interpretations as to what this might mean exactly, however, there are two primary interpretations:
1. One is that John is referring to a sin that leads to a literal physical death. We see examples of this throughout the Bible. However, I’m not so sure that this is what John is speaking about because he says that we shouldn’t pray for this person. Well, you wouldn’t have to worry about praying for someone if they were already dead, right?
2. The second major interpretation is that John is talking about a spiritual death. I think this is what John is speaking about.
I think he is probably referring to those who were part of the church at one point but abandoned the faith and started believing and teaching false doctrine. These would be the ones whom John refers to as the “antichrists” earlier in the book of 1 John.
This would fit the other teaching of John about false teachers who once claimed to be brothers and sisters in Christ.
The death that John speaks of is a spiritual death that leads to eternal separation from God and judgment in hell. So, these are people who we thought were part of the family of God, but we find out that they are not.
Now, you’ll also notice that John takes a soft approach to his suggestion not to pray for these people. In fact, John says, “I’m not saying . . .” Notice, he’s not giving a strong command not to pray for these people.
Basically, I think John is saying “once someone is too far gone, they are too far gone.” But, here’s the thing, we don’t really know when they are too far gone.
John’s point seems to be that we should pray for those who are not too far gone to come back to Jesus and come back to repentance.
So, here’s my advice to you and I believe John would affirm this: we should pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ to turn away from sin and turn towards Jesus. When in doubt about where the person stands with God, we should always pray!
Let’s not get so caught up in trying to identify this specific sin that John is talking about that we miss the main point of praying for other Christians to turn from sin and turn to God!
John says, “All unrighteousness is sin.” We should avoid sin, we should encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to avoid sin, and we should pray for them to turn from sin when they do get caught in it.
We should be all in when it comes to caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ, including praying for them
We should practice friendly intercession.
Finally, John gives us these . . .
III. Final instructions (verses 18-21)[on screen]
Now, due to the wording, this section is a little confusing as well. However, I believe we can discern the main point of what John wants us to know.
Let’s look at verses 18-21:
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.
First of all, John speaks again about those born of God not sinning.
Remember, when John says “those born of God,” he’s talking about those of us who follow Jesus; those of us who have repented of our sins and trusted Jesus as our Lord.
John says that these people do not sin. Again, we know from the context of the entire letter, that John is not speaking about never sinning. After all, he just said a few verses ago about how we can pray for a fellow Christian who is sinning.
What John is talking about is a regular pattern of sin; he’s talking about living a life of sin. Those born of God will not live a life of sin.
John then gives the reason why we do not sin: because we are kept by the one born of God.
Now, again, this is a bit confusing. Usually, when John speaks of someone being born of God, he’s talking about Christians; he’s talking about us. However, we don’t keep ourselves in salvation, Jesus keeps us!
I believe John is talking about Jesus in the fact that He is the Son of God and He was born as a human on the earth by the power of God.
This type of language is used of Jesus elsewhere. For example . . .
. . . in Colossians 1:15, Paul says of Jesus, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” [on screen]
. . . also in Revelation 1:5, we read, “ . . . Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” [on screen]
So, although Jesus has always existed, He is the Son of God who was born on the earth and He represents all of God’s children as the head of the children of God, although He is God Himself.
There is a beautiful mystery to this all, but what John is saying fits with what the Bible says elsewhere.
Briefly, let me mention that John reminds us what we already know: the evil one does not have any power over God’s children. The world is under the sway of the evil one (the devil), but the children of God are not under the sway of the evil one. As John said in verse 19, we are of God!
John points out in verse 20 that Jesus, the Son of God, has come so that we may know the true one, who is God Himself.
I love what John does here. He lets us know who the true one is, how we know Him, and he lets us know more about Jesus also.
We are in the “true one.” Who is the “true one?” Well, we know that we are in God; we are children of God. However, at times we are said to be in Christ also. So, maybe John is talking about Jesus. Well, look at the next statement.
John says in verse 20, “ . . . that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ.” It’s almost as if John knew that he was being a little confusing in his writing. He is saying that we are in God and we are in God by being in the True One’s Son, Jesus Christ. It is by the work of Jesus that we are in God! When we are in Jesus, we are in God!
John then says, “He is the true God and eternal life.” Well, who is eternal life? Jesus is! John says, Jesus, God’s Son, the firstborn of God, is also the true God!
So, John ties it all together for us. Jesus is truly the Son of God, He is the first of God’s children, and He Himself is God. He and the Father are one! When we are in Jesus, we are in God! Oh, what a beautiful and miraculous mystery!
John then finishes this section and this entire letter with these words from verse 21, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”
Well, why does John say this? To be sure there are definitely actual idols present in John’s day. These would have been items made by human hands that people would set up in order to worship.
However, most scholars think John is speaking of idols in a generic or general sense. Loosely defined, idols could refer to anything that takes the place of God. Idols are anything that steals the devotion that God deserves from us.
God deserves all of our worship and anything that gets in the way of that can be considered an idol.
Listen to what Moses said concerning this in the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:3-5 says, “Do not have other gods besides me. Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” [on screen]
God is a jealous God, meaning that He wants all of our worship. John is saying, don’t put anything in the place of God; don’t love anything more than God; don’t worship anything with the worship that is due to the one, true, Living God.
John’s final instructions center on this: (1) stay away from sin, (2) there is victory in Jesus, (3) there is life in Jesus, (4) Jesus is truly God, and (5) worship God only.
Concluding Thoughts:
When it comes to following Jesus, we have to be all in.
Walking with Jesus affects the way that we pray (faithful inquiry). Walking with Jesus affects the way we interact with others (friendly intercession). Walking with Jesus affects our obedience to God (final instructions).
Are you all in with God’s will? Are you all in with God’s ways?
Being all in with Jesus changes everything. He is truly God and He is truly all that we need to know God.
That takes us to our bottom line for today’s message and really for the entire book of 1 John:
Bottom Line: Jesus is truly God. When we are truly in Him, we truly know God. [on screen]
(repeat)
John’s repeated message for us in his book is for us to truly know God by truly knowing Jesus. When we truly know Jesus we can truly live the lives that God has called and created us to be.
I hope this sermon series has been an encouragement to you.
Challenge yourselves to live out this passage in the following ways this week:
Weekly Challenge: [on screen]
1. Ask according to God’s will. [on screen]
Hebrews 4:16 says, “Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.” [on screen]
When you pray according to God’s will, you know that God hears you. So, go before the throne of God with boldness!
The Christian Standard Study Bible says this, “For believers, prayer seeks communion with the Father more than the acquisition of favors or the satisfaction of desires.” [on screen]
Your prayers shouldn’t be about satisfying your own desires, they should be about knowing God more and living according to His will. Practice praying that way this week.
2. Guard yourself. [on screen]
John ends the passage by telling us to guard ourselves from idols. I think that’s a fitting ending to the book of 1 John. We must understand that we have to be intentional about living for God and avoiding anything that takes us away from God.
Proverbs 4:23 also speaks of this. It says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.” [on screen]
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.” [on screen]
So, let us intentionally be aware of our temptation to sin, let us be purposeful about living the lives God has called us to live. Be a faithful follower of God and do so on purpose.
Closing:
Are you all in when it comes to living for God and His ways? Have you been changed by God?
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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