It's wonderful to be here with all of you today to worship, God
in spirit. And in truth, we appreciate all
that have come to be with us. And as always is the case, I do
consider it a privilege to speak, concerning the word of
God. And I hope we have some things,
that would be both edifying and encouraging to you.
The reason for teaching on this passage in 1st, John chapter 5
and verse 18 is because a question came up in a Bible
study of private Bible study that I was having about oh 10
days ago or so. And the question came up about
this verse, what is this verse talking about in first, John
chapter 5 and verse 18? John says we know that whoever
is born of God does not sin. But he who has been born of God
keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him.
So the question came up is this verse actually saying that a
person will ever reach a point in time in their life when they
do not sin at all? In fact, this person.
I was studying with said, you know, the Bible says that
everybody said I thought everybody makes mistakes in the
only one. That's perfect.
Is Jesus, do I need to cut this part out of my Bible?
Is there a contradiction? Action.
The answer to that is no. And we're going to get to the
context of this passage in just a minute.
But first, let's notice the two things that are said to very
important important. Statements of fact about someone
who is born of God and we'll talk about what that means, also
in just a few minutes, but the one that is born of God, two
things does not sin and the wicked one does not touch him.
We're going to get to those in detail in just a few minutes.
But, you know, this passage is sometimes often misunderstood
some people have looked at this passage as to mean that there
comes a time when a person reaches a higher level of
spirituality through sanctification of the Holy
Spirit and actually gets to a point when they do not sin at
all. That is false.
That's not what John was saying here.
But what we want to do is we want to notice some foundational
passages before we get to the context of this passage and
remember this, if we think that there's a contradiction in the
Bible, but When two passages of scripture, it can only mean the
following. It only means that we don't
understand one or both of those passages because the Bible says
that the Bible is not for private interpretation and God
is not the author of confusion, but of Peace.
So, all that being said, notice with me now some foundational
passages regarding things like sin.
And first John, chapter 1 and we want to begin their inverse.
Eight, if we say that, we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and
the truth is not in us. So, here we notice, right off
the bat. If a person says that they have
no sin, they deceive themselves. And the truth is not in us.
What else do we know? Then?
John says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful.
And just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. Enos.
I love verse nine very much. You've heard me preach on this
many times over the years, but let's just notice.
If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves.
The truth is not in us, we are going to sin, then the promise,
if we confess our sins, And that is confess those sins to God.
And by the way, remember this the word confess?
Does it mean admission, does it mean?
Well, I'm caught red-handed. I got to admit it.
Oh, okay. I did, I confess confess here is
the Greek word that literally is translated to say the same.
So when you confess your sins to God, when you sin and you will,
that is confession with Godly sorrow, that his confession with
repentance when you do that. What notice?
What God does, he's faithful. And just to forgive us, our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, right here.
It says, even the contamination of that sin is gone, That's
complete forgiveness. And you know, I might say this
in passing though, Sometimes we have the consequences of our sin
that continue. We're not promised that the
consequences of our sins will be removed.
All were promised is we're going to be forgiven, like they never
happened and even the stain of the contamination of X in God
takes that away too. But it's very important to
remember, though. We have sometimes and often
times the consequences of those sins and they Linger on and you
could plug in, you don't need me to give examples of that.
You can plug in whatever you would like where there are
consequences for our actions. So what do we know so far?
We sin? If we say we don't send the
truth is not in us. We need to confess those sins to
God. He'll forgive us of our sins and
then he says, in verse 10 if we say that we have not sinned, we
make him a liar. And his word is not In US.
Then first John, chapter 2 verse John chapter 2 beginning in
verse 1. My little children, these things
I write to you so that you may not sin.
And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus
Christ, the righteous and he himself is the propitiation for
our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
Now by this, we know that we know him if we keep his
Commandments he who says I know him and does not keep his
Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever
keeps his word. Truly, the love of God is
perfected in him by this. Know that we are in him now.
Send happens to every person. What he's saying is this, these
things I write to you that you may not sin.
What's he talking about? What he's saying in context
there? I'm writing these things to you
so that sin is not the direction of your life.
It's kind of like this. Okay, people make mistakes kids
make mistakes. Do you remember when you had
little kids and they're getting ready to go off to school and we
say behave yourself, don't misbehave.
Don't don't do those things that are wrong and they're going to
get you in trouble. Make good choices.
Do we really think for a minute that they're going to make every
decision, right? That they're going to always
behave and not misbehave at all. What we're saying is, don't let
that behavior be the direction of their activity and the
direction of their choices. That's what John is saying.
He says, I'm writing these things to you, so that sin is
not the direction of your life. And then he says, Is.
But if anyone sins, and sometimes this word, if is very
confusing. Sometimes the word if though is
translated since here Scholars, tell us the word if is better
translated as when so I'm writing these things.
So that sin is not the direction of your life.
And when you sinned though, We have an advocate with the
father, Jesus Christ, the righteous and who is Jesus.
He himself is the propitiation for our sins in that.
He paid the fine for us. He paid the price for us.
He went down that lonely road that led to Calvary and died for
the sins of the world. And that's exactly what John
says to. He is the propitiation for our
sins, but not just our sins, all those of throughout the whole
world Jesus died for the sins of the world.
The world. Now, notice this next phrase
here. Now, by this, we know that we
know him, you know, there's two different words here in this
passage and this statement and their different.
This word, no means to know for certain You can know of
assurance, you can know for certain this word.
No means to have a relationship with There's a lot of people
that think they have a relationship with God, but
notice what John says, we know for certain that we have a
relationship with him, only if we keep his Commandments, he who
says I know him and does not keep his Commandments is a liar
and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word.
Truly, the love of God is perfected in him by this.
We know that we are in him. This is a mouthful here.
So notice this in verse 4, he who says I know him and does not
keep his Commandments. Vince is a liar and the truth is
not in him. Want to give you a little
example, okay? There was a brother in Christ
and it's not the only time somebody's ever said this.
When they decided not to follow the lord anymore, not to be a
member of the church, a faithful member of the church and they
quit. I was talking to this fella and
he said, yeah, I know, but I still love God.
I still pray to God, I still have a relationship with God.
Well, not according to this passage, you can't say that you
have a relationship with God and not keep his Commandments.
And if we say that, we know him and don't keep his Commandments
were a liar and the truth is not in him.
Notice the next verse. But whoever keeps his word.
Truly, the love of God is perfected in him.
What I want to know is this is this talking about our love for
God or is it talking about God's love for us?
I think it's both. I think it's both our love for
God. and God's love for us, notice when we keep his word and
we obey him, Our love for God is perfected or it is developed
fully in our obedience. Jesus said, if you love me, keep
my Commandments. You said, if you love me, keep
my words. That's what Jesus says the word
perfected means according to mr. Vine.
To bring to an end by completing or perfecting.
It means fully developed are obedient shows the proof of our
love for God. Now also in secondarily God's
love for us. But first John chapter 5 and
verse 3, real quick for this is the love of God, that we keep
his Commandments and his Commandments are not burdensome.
So our love for God is made manifest or fully developed or
perfect it in our obedience to him.
That's number one. Number two, secondarily, what
about God's love for us? Well, the Bible says, in John
3:16, very familiar passage for God.
So loved the world that he gave his His only begotten son, that
whoever believes in him, should not perish but have everlasting
life. We know that God loved the
world. When we were in sin.
God loved the world so very much that He sent Jesus to die for
the sins of the world and when it says so loved it doesn't mean
an amount of love. It means that God demonstrated
his love by sending his son. All right.
But God's love for man is only perfected or fully developed
when we obey him and receive the spiritual blessings in Christ
and receive salvation. It's by our obedience.
Our obedience shows our love for God, and it's made manifest, or
fully developed. And our obedience also is a time
when God's love for, man, for us can be fully developed in
receiving, those spiritual blessings.
Now, all right, so what have we learned so far?
What do we know about Sin? We know this for things, we know
that all have sinned We know number two, if we say that we
have not sinned, we deceive ourselves number three.
We only know him or have a relationship with him if we keep
his Commandments. And number four, when we keep
his word, the love of God is perfected or fully developed.
That's our love for God, and God's love for us.
So what about first John chapter 5 and verse 18?
All that being said, what about first John 5:18, what does it
mean? Remember it cannot contradict
other passages of scripture and be true.
So we need to understand what the context is in doing that,
though. We have to go to First John 5
and we have to go to verses 16 and 17 first. if anyone sees his
brother sinning a sin, which does not lead to death, He will
ask and he will give him Life For Those who commit sin, not
leading to death, there is a sin leading to death, and I do not
say that he should pray about. That all unrighteousness is sin
and there is a sin not leading to death.
I don't have time to go into this in great detail.
I'm going to be very brief about this but let's just notice a
couple of things here. What he's saying is there's a
sin that does not lead to death, there is a sin.
That leads to death and all unrighteousness is sin, okay?
So everything is Under the Umbrella of sin, if it's
unrighteousness, it's in, you know what that means?
There's no degrees of sin. Sometimes there's greater
consequences for different sins but there's no degree of sin.
All unrighteousness is sin and sin is equal, okay.
But then he says though, one with these sins, there's a sin
that does not Lead to death and a sin that does lead to death
and we understand what this means.
This is this, there's a sin that does not lead to spiritual death
and there's a sin that does lead to spiritual death Now.
What's the big bad Sin? The sin that leads to death.
Spiritual death. Spiritual separation from God.
Is any sin? He will not repent of and
confess. It is the practice of Habitual
sin without the willingness to repent that leads to spiritual
death. And by the way, we got to get
this because this is the same context as we flow ended Verse
18, the same thing Now a sin that does not lead to death.
Obviously there's we all sin. We all make mistakes and just
because we sin it did not separate us.
We did not lose our relationship with God every night.
We pillar Warheads, we ask God to forgive us of our sins and
cleans that slate, we confess those sins to God with Godly
sorrow and repentance. He even takes away the
contamination of that still have a relationship with him, but
when I go, and I decide to live a life with habitual sin, and I
make that choice, Choice without the willingness to repent that
leads to spiritual death or the separation of me from God in our
relationship. All right. so, Does it mean in
verse 18? What does it mean then?
We know that whoever is born of God.
Does not sin. But he who has been born of God,
God keeps himself. And the wicked one does not
touch him. Our first of all, what does it
mean to be born of God? Born of God is better.
Translated begotten of God. It's the same word that means to
be made alive, okay? So, he who is made alive or
begotten of God does not sin. Hold that thought.
Let's go further. It's also translated as child of
God. Who's that?
Just somebody that's been baptized for the remission of
sins and nothing else. No one that is begotten of God
is a child of God, is a faithful Christian.
The statement of fact in This Promise is for the faithful
Christian only and what he's saying is the faithful
Christian. That is begotten of God Made
Alive by God is not going to practice habitual sin.
That we just talked about in the previous verses and be guilty of
practicing that without the willingness to repent.
That's all that means. Doesn't mean we can't send it
all. Bible says, all unrighteousness
is sin. So if I'm a faithful Christian,
I'm not going to practice habitual sin and have the lack
of desire to repent. When I make it, when I make
those sins in my life, that's all that means.
It means I'm not going to ruin my relationship with God.
But you have to be a faithful Christian.
A person that is a faithful Christian.
Has that promise You know, there's a whole lot.
Said. About the devil.
There's a lot said about the devil.
It's amazing. How many conversations I get in
to with people that talk about the devil.
And the devil having strongholds in life demonic possession.
The devil meeting us in our dreams.
Step that I've really never even thought about yet, people
sometimes today have that in their mind, that that actually
happens. Now remember this is a statement
of fact, there are two facts here that we want to notice and
it's for the faithful child of God.
What happens if I'm a faithful child of God?
I'm not going to be guilty of living my life in the habitual
practice of sin and be stuck in the unhappy circumstance of the
sin, that leads to spiritual death.
What else? But he who has been born of God
that's begotten child of God or faithful Christian keeps himself
and the wicked one does not touch him.
I don't know if a passage can be any clearer than that.
If I'm a faithful child of God. And by the way, not based upon
my own strength, not based upon my own wisdom or anything,
really? But with the Lord's help,
putting my faith and trust in the Lord, and all things, and
putting my life in the hands of the Lord and all things,
trusting him in both Time, and Eternity, you know, it's going
to happen. The wicked one, the horrible
devil is not going to touch me. I didn't say he's not going to
tempt you. I'm saying that the devil does
not have a stronghold in your life that you do not allow.
The Devil is a vanquished foe. And that happened at the cross.
The cross took care of the Whippet on the devil.
The devil was whipped by Jesus At The Cross.
And you know what, he's a vanquished Foe and the Lord was
Victorious and we that are in. Jesus Christ will also be
victorious in the same way. The devil does not have a
stronghold in your life. If you don't allow.
So in closing at first John, 5:18 it teaches us, this, I'll
sum it up and we'll be finished the Christian who sets his mind
to refrain from sin will not be guilty of the habitual practice
of sin without the willingness to repent.
He will set his mind to refrain from sin.
And with the Lord's help will be free from the grasp of the
devil, because Satan has no power over us.
That we do not give him. Those are great promises.
I'll just throw one more passage in James 4:7.
If you're having trouble, if you're struggling submit
yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will
flee from you. He's bound, we could buy them by
the word of God today to great stuff.
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