1 John

Text: 1 John 5:6-8

Summary: We are washed at baptism. We are washed by Jesus’ word (rhema). And we are washed by the blood. Pray this: Jesus, meet me, help me to believe that I’m clean, I pray that you will cleanse me fully by Your blood.

Father, we’re so thankful that you give us brothers and sisters in Christ and family together at a time like this. Thank you that we can connect through technology. Thank you for being with us yesterday. In the midst of global shutdown, your will was not thwarted in any way. And we could celebrate before you and before many witnesses the marriage and the union between Peter and Bekah.

We are so happy for them. We bless them in Jesus Name. We pray for every heavenly blessing to be poured out upon them. We pray for your love, Father, to be perfected in them. We pray for the perfect love of the Father to cast out all of our fears. Lord, as we wrap up 1 John today, we pray that you would anoint the preaching of your word. We pray that you’d give us soft hearts and good hearts to receive your word. And we pray for much fruit to be born through this teaching. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen

We’re gonna be wrapping up 1 John today. And if you’re following along and you want to read ahead, you can read the book of Revelation. So we were covering all of Apostle John’s teaching. For today, I have a prayer that I encourage everyone to pray as often as you can remember. The prayer goes like this — Jesus meet me. Help me to believe that I’m clean. I pray that you will cleanse me fully by your blood.

I was very curious at the beginning of the week why the Lord was leading me to Ephesians 5 as one of the texts that I was meditating on. And now it makes full sense because of Peter and Bekah’s wedding. What an adventure that we can. God knows the future. And so God already knew that the wedding was going to happen on Saturday. And so today, in a sense is part two of what I covered yesterday.

1 John 5
6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one 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 these three agree.

And there are three witnesses that testify about Jesus. The first one is the Spirit, and that is an internal witness. If you’ve been born again, the Spirit resides in you. You know with confidence that you are saved and you know who your Savior is — Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is an internal witness.

And it talks about the water. And I think this is speaking of baptism, which signifies the beginning of our spiritual journey. Even Jesus to fulfill all righteousness allowed Himself to be baptized by John the Baptist.

And during that first baptism ceremony of Jesus, the Father’s voice thundered from heaven. And there were many witnesses who heard that voice. Likewise, when we get baptized, we do it before God, of course, and before many witnesses.

The Spirit is an internal witness. The waters of our baptism ceremony is before many external witnesses. And the blood of Jesus is the third witness. And I think the blood reveals to us that we are the witness, and I’ll get to that at the end. 3 witnesses.

There also 3 washings. And yesterday at the wedding I talked about one of the washings — when Jesus washes us by the word. I’ll recap that quickly, but the first washing that I want to talk about is the washing that we received at baptism.

1 Peter 3
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…

I always struggled with the meaning of having a good conscience. There are places like in 1 Timothy 4:1-2, you read about those who used to be believers, and then they departed from the faith. And they became false believers because they got deceived by evil spirits. And it talks about their consciences being seared with a hot iron.

And so I thought a good conscience must be just a conscience that is functioning. It tells you when you’re sinning and when you’re not sinning. But I realized that’s not actually the correct interpretation.

To understand the word “good” in the Bible, there is not much information. “Good” in the Greek means intrinsically good. There’s not much more revelation given to us in the Greek. So what was helpful for me was to read about what an “evil” conscience is? And did you know the Bible actually talks about an evil conscience in Hebrews 10?

Heb 10
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Here, it’s talking about confidence to approach God. It is talking about having full assurance of faith. Somebody who knows I might have sins, but God is not angry with me. He is not disappointed in me. Every time they come to God, do I have to wonder whether I can actually approach the throne of grace with confidence, or maybe I should enter through the backdoor because perhaps He is upset with me.

When it talks about an “evil” conscience, the word for “evil” is pain-ridden. It speaks of a conscience that is troubled. It’s somebody who thinks they’re a sinner and is wondering, am I clean? And God’s word to us is that we are clean.

Eph 5
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…

And so what is that word through which we are clean? And Jesus gives us that word amazingly in John 13 while He’s washing His disciples feet.

John 13
10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

And so Jesus when He’s gathering with this with His disciples, this is prior to Calvary, He already declares that 11 out of 12 disciples are clean. And it’s just an amazing thing to consider that Jesus, knowing that Peter would deny Him three times, Jesus already declares about Peter that he’s clean.

It’s like if I took a bath and I went outside with sandals and I stepped in mud, would I take an entire bath all over again? Or would I just clean my feet? And Jesus is saying, basically, we’ve all been bathed. We are clean. Our feet will still get dirty. So therefore, there is more cleansing to be done to be sure. But we are clean.

It’s helpful to take the two washings together — the washing occurred at baptism and the washing that Jesus gives through His word when He declares that we are clean. You have to look at these two washings together.

What kind of cleansing did we exactly receive when we were first saved? While we testified before the world that I repent of my sins and I declared Jesus as my personal Savior and Lord? And while we testified that now I’m living for Jesus I’m following Jesus? And you did this before external witnesses.

Spiritually, you’re asking for a good conscience. You’re asking for a conscience that is not just functional, but is the opposite of an evil conscience. An evil conscience thinks God is upset with me. Even though I’ve repented, I sinned again the 10th time this week. And so God, He must be frustrated. If I am disciplining my kids as an evil father, I might be frustrated when they disobeyed me the 10th time this week.

But does our Heavenly Father look at us that way? Is He upset with us? Is He the kind of Father who has a stick in His hand, and He’s ready to discipline and to beat us every time we make a mistake?

If you want to understand the heart of the Father, you look at places like Luke 15 where the Prodigal Son returns home and the Father sees him from a distance and runs toward him. He doesn’t lecture him. He didn’t say, I got to teach this boy a lesson. He wasted all of my money. He’s going to serve as a servant for the first couple years and earn status and merit my love and forgiveness. No, He runs after him, a total failure of a son, and embraces him and throws him a party. That is the heart of our Father.

So when Jesus says, you’re clean, He’s saying, this conscience that is guilt-ridden has been cleansed. This conscience that makes you feel like you need to perform because there’s a religious spirit that says, you’re clean, but actually, you’re not really clean because there’s so much dirt in you. And so it’s almost like a bait and switch because when we first received the gospel, wasn’t it the greatest news? That Jesus died for my sins and I have a Father who loves me unconditionally.

There’s no performance, there’s no meriting love. Just by receiving the offer of salvation through faith, I am clean and accepted. I am fully loved unconditionally. Wasn’t this the salvation moment? And somehow, as a new believer, the church might leave you alone for a year. But after a second year, third year, you start serving at a church, and you start feeling a weight of performance. A religious spirit kind of latches onto you. And you think, well, I was clean in the beginning and people loved me and accepted me how I was, and now that I’m supposedly more mature a few years into walking with Jesus, now there’s all this expectation that has been placed on me. So I don’t really feel clean anymore.

Because shouldn’t I be further along in my journey? And of course, there is truth to us needing our feet washed continuously. We still need to be cleansed. But this evil conscience has been cleansed in Jesus Name. And He has already cleansed us by His word when he declared prior to Peter denying Him, prior to dying on a cross, He declared to 11 in the room, you are clean because you put your faith in me.

There’s only one who is unclean — the one who has stopped believing in Jesus and was ready to betray him, Judas Iscariot. And so I want to declare it to you as Jesus has declared to all believers, if you have repented of your sins and if you have received the offer of salvation and you believe Jesus’ word that you’re clean, I declare to you that you have already been cleansed.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself because repentance, the first washing, is so critical. The confession that you declared before many witnesses is so critical, because in a sense, before repentance, there is no spiritual life. Before repentance, there is no faith. Before repentance, the offer of Jesus that you’re clean does not apply to you.

Everything starts with repentance. And if you think about it, even in salvation history, John the Baptist came before Jesus. He paved the way for Jesus. And Jesus explains in Luke 3 that John’s ministry is a ministry of repentance.

That is step one of salvation history. You could say step two, in some sense is John 13, where Jesus declares before Calvary to a roomful of disciples, 11 out of 12 of you are clean. And then Jesus died a cross, and that is a third washing through His blood.

When I was saved, I had lived 19 years of my life just for myself. I lived for parents’ approval. I lived for pleasure. I lived for praise of man. And when I got to college, for year one, I went crazy. I went to fraternity parties, I drank, I smoked. I went to dance clubs, I wore silk shirts, I wore leather jackets, I tried to look cool. And I was looking for love. And I just lived life however I wanted. I tried living for parents’ approval, but it was not enough. During my college years, I wanted to live for myself and pleasure.

And Jesus met me as a sophomore in college. And my main repentance was not in terms of sinning because of the way I was acting — getting drunk and doing all kinds of sinful acts. No, my main repentance was Lord Jesus, I’ve lived for 19 years for myself. I lived not even believing in God and not believing that there was a will of God, and that God had called me for a different life. And so my main repentance was saying, I was a sinner living apart from God and doing life my way.

And every believer needs to have a point that you remember when you repented of that sin. I don’t live for myself anymore. I am living for the will of God. I am following Jesus Christ. He is my Savior. The baptism ceremony when you got immersed in water was your declaration to the world before God and many witnesses that I am now following Jesus Christ.

The same way that we had a wedding yesterday. It was before God and before witnesses. This repentance / baptism when you declared before God and witnesses, I repent of my sin, and I commit my life to Jesus, and I’m going to live for the Lord Jesus Christ and I will follow him all the days of my life — that is when spiritual life begins.

I pray all of us can have this testimony of beginning with this baptism of repentance. And part of that baptism of repentance is very closely connected with the washing of Jesus’ word that you’re clean and you have been gifted with a good conscience. That’s why Peter says in 1 Peter 3, you’re appealing to God for a good conscience. Not an evil conscience, not a guilt-ridden conscience, not wondering, am I acceptable in God’s sight?

No, you’ve been bathed if you receive Jesus’ word that you’re clean, you’ve been fully bathed, and so you can approach God with confidence. These two critical washings — you’ve been washed through the baptismal waters and you’ve been washed by Jesus’ word that you’re clean — that happens at the beginning of our spiritual journey. In faith, we receive Jesus’ word that we are clean. These two washings go together.

1 John 3
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God…

We know that even though we may take Jesus at His word that we are clean, we will still sin. Our feet still have to be washed. And let’s not think of this as a proportion. Jesus is not saying, since we’ve been bathed and only our feet are dirty, it’s a small issue because our feet are a small percentage of our entire body. That’s not the metaphor.

The metaphor is — you have to receive the word that you’re clean. And that assures your heart in the midst of many future cleansings that you’re not condemned. You can approach God confidently.

When I’m disciplining my boys, when they give excuse after excuse, then the lecture just continues and it gets longer and longer and longer. But the moment they say, I’m sorry, Dad, I’m sorry, Mom — in that moment, the conversation ends and grace is given.

The reason why it tends to be long is because the words — I’m sorry — doesn’t come out of the lips naturally for the boys yet. If you’re the kind of person who can come before God and say, sorry, I am sorry, Lord. Lord, I’ve made a mistake. Then, know that you’re clean. You don’t have to feel condemned. You don’t have to do a week of penance and fasting.

I’m ready to approach God confidently with full assurance in our hearts, with a good conscience. And with your faith that received Jesus’ word that says, you’re clean, you can approach God confidently because your heart is assured.

1 John 4
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Again, John is speaking about confidence. Of course, God disciplines us, but He does not do this with anger. He’s doing this to set us free. He’s doing this to break a chain. He’s doing this because there is a more abundant life that He wants us to experience. He’s not upset.

And so when you are repenting of your sins, we can approach God with confidence. And the more you are convinced of this fact that God loves you, you’re being perfected in love. And you know that there is no punishment when you come into His presence.

God may discipline you, maybe because you’re not aware of your sin, because maybe you’re not repenting. But if you come before God in repentance, there is no fear of a stick that He’s got behind His back.

There’s no fear of punishment. We can approach God confidently. The more we’re perfected in this truth that we’re clean, and we have a good conscience which allows us to approach God with any sin, even if you’ve done it 100 times, you can approach Him with confidence.

Not only are we cleansed when we were first baptized and we repented of our sins (first washing), and we declared that we’re following Jesus before Heavenly Father and before many witnesses, and in faith, we received Jesus’ word that He declares that you’re clean and we actually believe Him (second washing), the third washing is the most significant. It is the washing by the blood.

1 John 1
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Again, Jesus says, you’ve been bathed. Jesus declares through His word that we’re clean. Our feet are still dirty because we still have a sinful nature. We are not of this world, but we’re still in this world. We still bump up against sin. We’re still tempted by the evil one. Our feet still get dirty as we move about in this world. And that is why we need the blood of Jesus. And if you bring all of your sins to Jesus, He will cleanse you of every sin and all unrighteousness.

And there is a promise of total victory that is possible through the blood of Jesus.

1 John 3
8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

When Jesus says, we’re clean, He does this to relieve us of guilt in our conscience, so that we keep on coming to Jesus over and over again without feeling condemned. Because if you’re condemned, you lack confidence and you will retreat.

But when Jesus says, you’re clean, that’s not to say then that we’re victorious over sin. Victory requires the blood of Jesus. And Jesus’ blood removes all sin, and all unrighteousness.

1 John 3
8 …The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Because of Jesus’ appearance, the pattern of sinning can end. And so if there are patterns of sin in your life, these are the sins you bring before Jesus. And that’s why we pray this prayer. Pray this everyday. Jesus, meet me. Help me to believe that I’m clean.

Because if you’ve been struggling with a sin, or an addiction, or a habit, or a character flaw, after you’ve sin for the hundredth time, it is hard to believe that you’re clean. It’s hard to have confidence to keep coming before Heavenly Father and to ask Jesus for His blood.

Believe that you’re clean. Ask for a good conscience. Keep coming to the Father. Keep coming to the cross. Keep coming to Jesus and ask Jesus through His blood to cleanse you of all sin and all unrighteousness.

1 John 5
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

Why are we victorious? We go to Jesus. We believe that we’re clean because He said that we’re clean. Our conscience has been cleaned. We have a good conscience, not an evil conscience. And we keep coming to Jesus. The one who was born of God, the one who has begotten of God, the Son of God — Jesus Himself will protect you from the evil one. And the evil one cannot even touch you.

And you can live in victory over sin, and even sinning. Not only will your body be clean, even your feet will be clean. Everything in our body, from head to toe can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. That is why I’m encouraging you to pray this prayer. Lord Jesus, meet me. Help me to believe that I’m clean. Lord Jesus, cleanse me fully by your blood.

And as a foreshadowing of what we will cover in Revelation, I want to end with Revelation 12.

Rev 12
9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Remember I said in the beginning, there are three witnesses. We have the Spirit, who is the internal witness. You have the water, which you were cleansed by at baptism when you declared before many external witnesses, including our Heavenly Father. And the third witness, according to Revelation 12, is you and me. We overcome Satan, all of his attacks, all of his deceptions, all of his flaming darts, we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

We have the internal Spirit that testifies about Jesus — He is our internal witness. We have our baptism, the ceremony that we declared to the world before Heavenly Father and many witnesses. And then over time, through the blood of Jesus, we become the witness. And we declare with our mouth total victory in Jesus Christ and total victory over Satan. All of his accusations. They have no hold on me. They don’t come in and derail me. The deception just falls off of me because the blood of Jesus has covered me.

And by His blood, I have become an overcomer. Not only am I cleansed in my body, even my feet, every inch of me — my body, my soul, my spirit, my mind, my will, my emotions — bring every part of you and ask the blood of Jesus to cleanse you.

Some of us, we have things in our body that are broken and we ask Jesus to meet us to heal us and to cleanse our body with the blood of Jesus.

Some of us, the main problem is not our body, it’s our mind. Our mind has certain patterns of thought that cannot be broken. We keep thinking a certain way and it’s like a stronghold. We still feel condemned. We still feel we’re not loved. We still feel we’re not clean in God’s sight. It is a problem with our thinking. Ask for the blood of Jesus to cleanse your mind.

Some of us, it’s our emotions. Your emotions are out of control. We don’t have self-control of our emotions. We are so up and down in our emotions. Ask for the blood of Jesus to cleanse your emotions. Ask to be cleansed — every part of your body, your soul, your spirit, your mind, your will, your emotions.

Bring every part of you before the Lord Jesus Christ. Ask for the blood of Jesus to cleanse you of all of your sins, and He will cleanse you of all sin and unrighteousness.

There are three washings. The washing we already received at baptism. Some of us need our consciences to be washed again so that in faith we can take Jesus at His word that we are clean.

Jesus saves the best washing for last. It is the washing that came at Calvary. His blood not only covers our sin, but it also cleanses our sin. It removes our sin, it takes away our sin, it conquers our sin. And then, we have the Spirit internally testifying about Jesus. We have the Father and many witnesses before whom we testified about Jesus. And then, we become the living testimony when we declare to the world that Jesus, not only forgives you, but He also gives you victory in His name and through His blood.

Father, we’re so thankful that you’ve connected many dots today. In salvation history, John the Baptist’s ministry paved the way for Jesus. It was a baptism of repentance. And the first word that you preached was repent. I pray for anyone here who has never been baptized, who has never repented. I pray, Lord, that you would save them. I pray, Lord, that you would meet them. I pray that they would have a clear beginning with you when they repent of their sins.

And the main sin that they would repent of is that they just lived for themselves. They just lived however they wanted. They lived for this world. They lived to be praised by men. They lived for pleasure. I pray, Lord, that today would be the beginning for some of us, when we repent of our sins. And we declare, through a baptism ceremony before many witnesses, that I want to live for Jesus, my Savior and my Lord. I turn from all the other things that I was chasing after. Now I follow Jesus.

I pray for those of us who are not saved, who have not been baptized. I pray, Lord, that you would save them. Meet them. I pray that as an act of obedience that they will get baptized before you and before many witnesses.

I pray for some of us who are struggling, wondering, am I clean? Am I accepted? I pray for those with an evil conscience, those with a dysfunctional conscience, those who are condemned and guilty all the time. I pray that in faith this would be the beginning of our consciences being healed in Jesus Name.

I pray for that word that you declared to be 11 disciples. I pray that Jesus, that you would speak over all the disciples here who are gathered in your Name that we are clean because of your word. We’ve been washed by your word.

And most significantly, we thank you for your sacrifice at Calvary. Your blood not only covers over our sin, it cleanses us from our sin. Not only cleanses us, but by your blood, we become overcomers and we become victorious over sin and the evil one.

I pray that over time, it would be said of us that not just our body is clean and not just our feet, but I pray that when people look at us, they can see that our bodies are clean, our souls are clean, our spirits are clean, our minds are clean, our wills are clean, our emotions are clean, every part of who we are has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

So I pray and I plead this blood over every person who is listening. I pray that you would cleanse our body, soul, spirit, mind, will, and emotion. I pray that your blood would cover us from head to toe, every square inch, every cell in our body.

I pray that you cleanse us by your blood. I pray over time that we would have many testimonies through your blood. I pray that we would experience victory after victory after victory. Not only do we have the Spirit as an internal witness, not only do we have external witnesses, I pray that over time we can become witnesses. That by your blood, we have overcome everything and become just like Jesus in every way. Thank you, Lord.

I pray that you would be with us as we end this call. We pray that you would stop this coronavirus in its tracks. I pray that the truth would come out. I pray that all of us can return to normal activities. We’re praying for Easter Sunday. I pray that would be the Sunday that all the churches of God can gather and celebrate your victory over coronavirus, over deception, over fear, over all the schemes and the plans of the evil one that he had planned, but he was not victorious over the Church.

I pray that we can gather together again on Easter Sunday. And as we’re physically gathered together, we want to proclaim that Jesus has given us victory. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen

Text: 1 John 2:5-6; 4:9, 17-18

Summary: During this global slowdown, it is time to learn how to abide in Jesus Christ.

John 15
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Do we really believe this? That means anything we do without Jesus is a zero. Then we read in Philippians 4:13

Philippians 4
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Can I really do all things through him who strengthens me? I can’t dunk. I can’t run 300 meters in under ten seconds. So what does it mean that we can do nothing apart from Jesus, and yet we can do all things through him who strengthens me?

For whatever reason, God has not answered the prayer of God’s people, of stopping the spread of this Coronavirus. And God is obviously powerful enough to stop it if He wanted to. But for some reason, God has chosen to let this go on. That means aside from police and doctors and nurses and military and very unique sectors of this world and our workforce, for the most part, all of us are at home.

And I know we’re all generally busy. But probably there’s never been a time like this that you can remember in recent years that you’ve been forced to stay home. And so what would God want in a time when most of us are at home? I think He wants us to abide in Jesus and not use any excuses. I’m so busy with school. I’m so busy with my research. My boss is riding me. I have so many deadlines. I have so many meetings throughout the day. I’m commuting for an hour to West Hollywood. I have to drive my kids to and from sports practices. All of it has ceased.

And we have to ask from God’s perspective, why would God want a global slowdown? I think He’s giving us room and He’s taking away all the excuses that we give and we give to ourselves to abide in Christ. And Jesus describes the Christian life in John 15 as a branch and we’re the branch and Jesus is the vine.

And the same way that Jesus was abiding in the branch of His Father during His earthly ministry, He didn’t speak until He heard from the Father. He didn’t do anything until He saw the Father doing work. Jesus modeled for us the Christian life. He is our forerunner. He is our model. He is our example. And so Jesus is the person we’re following and emulating and imitating.

And that’s why it says in 1 John 2:5

1 John 2
5 …By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

And so Jesus walked this earth in a certain way. He was obedient to the Father. He patiently waited for 30 years before even beginning His earthly ministry. And every day of the 3.5 years of public ministry, He was getting direction day by day from the Father, and He only spoke when He heard the Father. He ministered on one particular day to 2000 people and He feeds them. On another day, He is alone. Or He is ministering and hanging out with His disciples.

And so everything that Jesus did was a demonstration of what a life of abiding looks like. And can you describe your life as abiding in Christ the way that Jesus abided in His Father? Two images came to mind as I thought about abiding in Christ. One is when you’re trying to glue two pieces together, even if you get Gorilla Glue or Krazy Glue, whatever strongest kind of glue that you can find, and the two pieces, especially if they’re not flat, you have to hold the pieces together for the bond to form.

Another image that came to mind for the Christian life and what it means to abide is the three-legged race. You may have attended some church picnics where you did the three-legged race. And imagine if your left leg was attached to your friend’s right leg using just a small strip of Scotch tape. And that’s all that was binding your two legs together and you try to do the three-legged race. It just wouldn’t work because your legs would come apart. Imagine if your friend was doing the three-legged race and was counting and stepping every second and fourth beat, and you are stepping every first and third beat. Again, it would just tear that piece of tape apart.

And so when we are talking about abiding in Christ, we need time for that bond to form. You need a strong bond between the two legs to do a three-legged race, you need a stronger piece of rope to tie the two legs together. And so as a branch attached to the vine, we need to have time with Jesus alone to form a strong bond.

In our daily life, with our technology and with our cell phones, I wonder if you can describe your life as having portions of your day connecting and reconnecting and coming before Jesus? Or is your life more like a three-legged race with two legs attached with a piece of Scotch tape or two pieces that you try to glue but every few seconds you let go and the pieces fall apart?

We need time in this worldwide slowdown as I see it. Because God could have answered our prayers weeks ago and He may answer it tomorrow, He may let it go for another week. Another two weeks and it may spread and this may be stretched out to be months or even longer.

We don’t know the Lord’s will, but all we can say is that in this season, when we are all at home, you can distract yourself, even be more distant from Christ during this lock down than when you had your regular schedule. People can consume media and be on their phone all day long and complain and try to come up with something to fill their time. You may allow this season to pan out like that.

Or you may say, Lord, you’ve given me a unique season that I’m in. And rather than being afraid and reading all the news, I would recommend turn it off. It is the details of all the things that are happening in this world that may not be helping. Maybe you can check once a day. You know generally the state of our world. It is not helping to read all the details of the news that will only promote more fear. This is a time when you and I, we need to get alone and learn how to walk in the way Jesus wants.

And how can you walk in the way Jesus walked? You have to be close to Him. You have to abide in Him. That means the way that Jesus was perfectly obedient to the Father. Did you know that you and I, we can be perfectly obedient to our Heavenly Father and we can do His will and everything that God the Father has hand-picked you for to accomplish in this life. You can do all things because Christ is strengthening you, because you’re doing it with Him (Phil 4:13). You’re not doing a solo journey. You’re doing it with Him. And apart from him, you can do nothing (John 15:5).

Another verse that came to mind is 1 John 4:9.

1 John 4
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

Not only are you close to Him, not only are you abiding in Him, not only can you do all things with His enabling power, it says we’re doing life through Him. That means everything you do, it’s not W W J D. It’s not “what would Jesus do?” That’s not very biblical. People have those on their bracelets and we’re trying to imagine what Jesus would do in my shoes. No, it says we’re doing life through Him. That means everything you do, can you picture yourself fellowshipping and partnering with Jesus in this? That’s how we’re to think that I can do life through Jesus. That is different than imagining if Jesus were in my shoes, how would He act? No, we’re actually doing life through Him and with Him.

1 John 4
17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

And that’s an interesting phrase that stuck out when I read it a few weeks ago in v17. Confidence for the day of judgement because, as he is which is, as Jesus is, so also are we in this world. And so the way that Jesus lived in this world, in perfect obedience, in perfect righteousness, in perfect confidence that He would be reunited with His Father. No fear, perfect confidence, He had perfect peace, He loved perfectly, as He is, so also are we in this world.

And that is a high standard for the Christian. We are actually supposed to walk in the way that Jesus walked. The way that Jesus was in this world during the 33 and half years. So also are we. And that can be our reality. If we can learn how to allow ourselves to stick to Jesus. You cannot stick when you’re only spending a minute here and a minute there, you can’t stick. When you have just a little piece of tape that’s keeping you connected to Christ. You need to have time for that. For that grafted branch to be reattached to the vine.

You know, when a branch breaks off, if you actually put it back soon enough and you tie it together, did you know that branch can naturally graft back into whatever tree that it was broken from?

And so we as branches, the moment you feel like I am separated from Christ, first of all, do you even notice it? Do you notice that a day went by and you didn’t even think about Jesus once? Abiding in Christ is everything. That you are walking in the manner in which He walked. As He was, you are in this world. You’re living life with Him, but but also through Him. Once this clicks, then on a daily basis, you will notice, I went through this whole day apart from Jesus, I’m actually like a branch that’s withering. I’m drying up, and as you get closer to Jesus, you will actually feel even on an hourly or even a moment by moment basis, I’m growing distant from Jesus.

And you can see it through your emotional state. You can see it through the rising fear. You can see it through your irritation toward the people you’re supposed to love. You know, there are families that, it’s a very sad but very common story, that usually both parents are working, but suddenly they’re at home, and usually the kids have been sent away.

But suddenly the kids and the two parents are together and the parents, they’re so wishing that this season would pass so that they can go back to work. It is God’s call upon your life that you have to love the people that He has put in your life and that irritation that desire to just want to go back to work. I just want to go back to my routine.

I wonder how sad God must feel because God wants us to become people of love. And that’s another thing that emerges in 1 John. Imagine that Jesus was so irritated by Peter because of his hardness of heart. And James and John, the two sons of thunder, wanted to sit on Jesus’ right hand and to His left, and Jesus could have been so bothered and irritated and want to be left alone by these hardened of heart disciples. But Jesus was not like that.

And so for us, let’s not be so quick to want to return to our normal routine. This is such a unique time in history. In my 45 years I’ve never had a season like this. When the world is on a lock down and globally there’s a slowdown. It is a God given opportunity to just even check yourself, am I being dragged along by the routine of church and gathering with brothers and sisters?

Is that what is pulling me along in my faith journey? Do I have any personal connection to Jesus? These are the kind of questions you want to ask. You want to look in the mirror and say, OK, I complained that I didn’t have enough time when I was working multiple jobs and I was running around driving my kids. That was in the past.

But right now, when you’ve had a week, two weeks and this may be months of being at home and only going out whenever it’s absolutely critical. But for the most part, being holed up in your home. Do you have a desire to connect to Jesus? Does that come up in your mind or apart from Jesus, you can actually do fine. And you don’t need Christ’s strength because you can do it on your own strength?

And isn’t it a wonder that if you live like that, you don’t walk in the manner in which Jesus walked? You actually keep on sinning. You can’t break addictions. You have an excuse for everything. I’m in a bad mood because I’m tired and my boss is stressing me. There’s always some kind of an excuse for how we are. But Jesus says the way that I walked now you can walk, too. The way that I did not sin, you can also stop sinning. The way that I practice righteousness, you can also practice righteousness. The way that I loved my own, you can love starting with your family instead of being annoyed. You can actually start loving your wife and your kids.

And for those you know, in a church context, because we can’t be together, what should we do when it comes to loving one another? Because it’s not like we can gather freely during this time. One verse that I want to close with.

1 John 5
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death…

And so how should we be praying for one another during this time? Ask God to give us life. Ask God if you’ve not been born again to send Jesus and for Jesus to meet you. If you have no desire to meet God, ask for God to change your heart, to open up your heart so that you would want to meet God. If you’ve been a branch that has been cut off, ask God to revive you and this is how we should pray for one another.

Let’s pray that God gives us life, that God revives us, that God gives us a desire for life. Life is not just going to school, getting a degree, getting your dream job, earning money and dying. That is not life. Life is connecting to the Author of Life and having eternal life. That is a life that is promised if we learn to abide in Christ and let’s pray that God gives life to one another.

Let’s pray for kids who are not saved, that God would open up their hearts so that they would want to be saved. Let’s pray for those of us who are struggling, and we’re having a hard time connecting to the Author of Life.

Let’s ask that Jesus himself would come and revive us. Let’s pray for the church that is asleep. And people just are being pulled along by the routine of church and they don’t have the ears to hear and the eyes to see that their spiritual life is nonexistent. They’re just going through the motions.

Let’s pray that during this season, when they cannot gather in a traditional sense, that they would have eyes to see that actually that one of the greatest blessings that God would stop people from going through the motions and to look in the mirror and say, what is my faith when I’m by myself? When no one is inspiring me? When no one is teaching me the Word, can I actually hear from the Word myself? If I get my Bible open because Jesus says you have the Holy Spirit who is your teacher and He will teach you about everything.

Can you actually do that? That if you’re on an island and we were all separated and technology was cut off and all you had was you and the Bible, can you thrive? That is what God wants for you to do. For you to thrive in Jesus because you just have Him. And that’s all that you need. Apart from Him, you can do nothing. That means if you have everything else minus Jesus, you have nothing. You accomplish nothing in God’s eyes. But if you have Jesus, everything you do that is in the will of God for you, you will succeed and you will thrive and you’ll have success.

That doesn’t mean you’re trying to imitate me. Because you have a unique will for you. And as you abide in Jesus, He will tell you, here’s your next assignment. I want you to obey this and everything with and through Him who strengthens you because you’re doing life through Christ. You will be successful and you will thrive even when there’s panic spreading throughout this world.

I think what’s spreading in this world, sure it is a coronavirus. But what it’s spreading even more insidiously is fear. Let’s ask for the perfect love of God to flood our hearts as we abide in Jesus so that every fear is cast out in Jesus’ Name.

Okay, let’s pray.

Father, you could have chosen anyone to live in the year 2020. But before the foundation of the world, you chose us to be in Christ and to live in the year 2020. There’s a reason, Lord, you’re giving grace and space to your church. Your true church to reevaluate. This is like a midterm exam for many of us. How are we without the normal routine of life? How are we without the normal routine of church? If we’re stranded on a deserted island and all we had was our Bibles, could we meet you? Could we thrive? Because apart from you, we can do nothing.

But with you and with your strength, we can do everything that you have purposed for us. Father, we want to walk in the manner in which you walked, Jesus, as you were in this life while you walked for 33 and a half years. So are we in this life, we can be perfectly obedient, perfectly righteous. We can be perfected in love. These are the promises of 1 John and John 14-17.

And Lord, we ask that in this season when we were being slowed down, and Lord, you’ve redeemed pockets of our time. We don’t have to commute to work. And in that redeemed amount of time, I pray that we will learn to abide.

Father, many of us don’t even desire that. So, Lord, we ask that you change our desire. We pray for one another that we would desire life, true life, not the counterfeit life that just goes through the motions. We want true life. Open up our hearts that we desire life. Open up the hearts of our children who have yet to meet you so that they would desire life. Change our desires. I pray that you would revive us, Lord, the true church of God that is asleep. I pray that you will revive us and wake us up during this season.

We don’t know how long this coronavirus lock down will remain in place. But we understand that you can at any moment lift it. But also we understand you have given us a God appointed season to learn how to connect to you when we have no more excuses. No more excuses. We don’t want to consume the time with entertainment and with consuming news which will just promote more fear. Lord, we want to be still before you and have that bond with Christ form more deeply and more permanently. Help us, Lord, we are weak.

Revive us, Lord, We repent for seeking life in so many wrong areas. We want to seek life in Jesus Christ, the true vine. Jesus, you are the way, the truth and the life. And one day we will stand before Heavenly Father with confidence because we walked in the way that Jesus walked, in perfect obedience, perfect righteousness and perfected in love. And on that day, because we walked in this life exactly the way Jesus walked, on that day, when we see you, Heavenly Father face to face, we can have ultimate confidence.

Father, teach us. We want to stop just talking the talk. We want to start walking the walk. In this season, I pray that you would reorient our lives and our perspectives and our thoughts so that we can believe that we can walk the way that Jesus walked. In total victory, in total obedience, in total righteousness, perfected in love. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen

Text: 1 John 1:5-10; 5:18-19

Summary: Our path to total victory in Jesus is available if we do these 2 things. First, confess internal sin (i.e. worldliness). Second, ask Jesus to protect you from external sin (i.e. the evil one).

Good morning, everybody. Please turn with me to 1 John 5. We’re going to jump around a bit today.

1 John 5
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Father, we ask for your help today because we want to learn how to be victorious children of God. You say in your word that Jesus overcame the world and we too will be overcomers in the world. In our daily life, we see so much defeat. And Lord, we want to understand why. And we want to know the pathway to victory. total victory that is found in Christ Jesus and in Him alone. Teach us now. Holy Spirit, we pray for your anointing that you would teach us everything that is required to be victorious in this life. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

Last week I mentioned that if you meditate on John 14-17 you’ll be surprised at how much more understanding the Holy Spirit will give to you about the themes that were introduced to us from John 14-17 by studying 1 John.

John 16
32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

This is speaking about Jesus. He sees the disciples and they are starting to be sorrowful because Jesus has been telling them that He’s going to depart from them. And this is the first tribulation that they will go through among many other tribulations in this life that they will go through. And Jesus’ promise is to take heart. And He tells them that it will feel like childbirth. But soon you will see the child. Soon you will see me and your sorrow will be turned to joy. And you will survive this first tribulation. Jesus says, I have overcome the world.

And then He says in 1 John 5:4…

1 John 5
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

So which one is it? Is it Jesus overcoming the world? Or is it ourselves, you and me, overcoming the world? Is this contradictory or are they saying the same thing? From what I can read in Scripture and God’s revelation from John 16 and 1 John 5, the pathway to victory in Jesus is first, you must confess internal sin. You must confess internal sin.

For example, our worldliness. And we’re going to be talking about the world today. We must confess all the sin that is within, internal sin. And second, we must ask Jesus to protect us from external sin, especially in the form of the evil one who is coming to tempt you, to rob you, who is coming to bother you and to distract you and to deceive you and to drag you down to hell.

We must confess internal sin. Then, we must ask for Jesus to protect us from external sin, namely in the form of the evil one, Satan, the ruler of this world. If you do these two things, you will be victorious completely as Jesus was victorious.

There are sins that you commit intentionally and that one you can’t blame on anybody because you know certain things are sinful and you just decided, I’m going to do it. That one you can’t blame anybody. You can’t even blame Satan. You just have to confess your sins.

There are other things that you do not intend on sinning when you began the day, but you just stumbled into it. If you notice that if you are reading news sites, there are advertisements that you did not want there and are tempting you. And then you click it and without knowing it, you’re falling. You’ve stumbled into sin. That is, I would say somewhat external to you. It is from the evil one.

And Luke 18 describes a widow who is persistent in prayer. And she is going to this judge who is an unrighteous judge, who is in bed asleep with his family, and this widow is just knocking on his door. And then this unrighteous judge grudgingly gets out of bed and answers this widow because this widow is so persistent.

And did you know that the widow is asking for a very specific request? She’s asking for justice from her adversary. And there is an adversary in this world, Satan, who bothers you. Think about this widow. Who is this adversary? What is this neighbor doing to this widow who has so little? But this adversary is coming in and trying to take what is not his from this poor widow.

And that is a picture of the Christian life. We are like this poor widow. And in Christ we’ve been given all of these promises of peace and victory and abundant life. And yet why is it not our reality? It is because there is an adversary who is stealing things from you, the things that God has promised.

He has plucked it out of your life and he’s bothering you. He’s harassing you. He’s even tormenting you. And the promises of God are elusive to you. They’re out of your reach. You experience it in moments. But for the most part, this adversary has been very successful and stealing from you and robbing from you.

And 1 John is just an amazing book that if you meditate on it, you’ll be so blessed.

1 John 2
12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

You see a progression here that in the beginning we are just little children. And the main thing that you are learning as a child of God is that you are forgiven from your sins. And then as you progress and as you mature, the next thing you will experience in your life is overcoming the evil one.

And then you progress. You become a spiritual father, a spiritual mother, someone who is matured in their spiritual journey. And it says you know Him who was from the beginning. And 1 John begins with that which was from the beginning.

1 John 1
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

And so a spiritual father ends his life where he began, with the person of Jesus Christ who was manifested to him and through the manifestation of the Son, you got connected, reconnected and reconciled to the Heavenly Father.

And this is eternal life, that you believe in the Son and you believe that He was sent from the Father. A spiritual person ends his life where he began. But a little child is just struggling with sins. He’s not a young man, a young woman. He is not overcoming sin yet.

And so there’s just this defeat, this wondering of, am I forgiven? And so it begins with the assurance that your sins are forgiven. But if you read 1 John 1:5

1 John 1
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

I think we would all agree that we are sinners, but there’s a key step that a Christian does that a non-Christian doesn’t do. A non-Christian does not confess sin. A Christian confesses. There are some Christians who never confess unless they are caught. That is a liar. That is someone who is saying, I have no sin. I don’t need to confess sin.

There are people who say they confess to God, but they never confess to anybody else. And I would question that person. Do they really confess sin before God? Because if they did, they would confess to one another.

It is a hard thing to confess your sin, but that is the beginning of your Christian journey. When you are able, when no one’s in the room and you just know you’ve sinned. And there’s a compulsion from within to confess.

And that person who confesses often will confess to somebody else not because they need that person to affirm. But just because it naturally comes out that if you’re serious about dealing with sin that you confess it with your mouth. It is something you exercise being humble before the Lord and before one another. You’re not doing it because you got caught. You’re doing it because something within, there is a conviction by the Holy Spirit of some unrighteousness, something that is not right.

Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the standard of righteousness. And so when we look at our life compared to Him, we just confess sin because sin is missing the mark and Jesus Christ is our target, and we’ve missed Him. And so we confess with our mouth, all of our sin and unrighteousness. Someone who never confesses, it says in v8

1 John 1
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If you do not confess sin, the truth is not in you and you are deceiving yourself. But if you confess with your mouth audibly, John is speaking to little children, people who are struggling with, am I forgiven. My question to you is, have you confessed your sin? Because if you confess your sin, you’re on the pathway to victory. You need to confess it with your mouth, confess the sin with your mouth and you are on the pathway to victory.

And I want to talk about a Christian’s worldview, and that’s different from a Christian worldview. A Christian worldview is what Christians believe. I want to talk about a Christian’s worldview, or a Christian’s view of the world because that is a very important part of our discipleship.

In John 15, if you recall the second half of the chapter, Jesus says that the world hates us because we are Christian. The world hates us, and we have to ask the question, why does the world hate us? And the answer is surprisingly given in 1 John 3:12.

1 John 3
12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

Why does a world hate a Christian who is living righteously, who is minding his own business, who is not going and necessarily pronouncing sin upon an unrighteous world, a Christian just minding his own business? Why does that elicit such a strong reaction from this world?

It is because the world knows that its deeds are unrighteous, and it sees a Christian living righteously, and it’s like a slap in their face. It’s not because we’re going to their home and trying to shove the gospel down their throat. It’s just our mere existence.

Our presence spiritually is so disruptive and so disturbing to a world that is hiding in darkness and enjoys living unrighteously, and they see a righteous Christian and they can’t stand the presence of that person. And they have to say something. They have to do something. If they get a chance, they will kill that person so that they can live with themselves and not have their conscience pricked with the presence of a Christian. That is a spiritual reality of a Christian in this world.

Another verse about the Christian’s worldview, or the Christian’s view of the world is in 1 John 5.

1 John 5
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Do you believe this? Do you believe that every corner of this world, except for the universal church, the true bride of Christ, that one is in God’s hands and Satan cannot go there, and we’ll talk about that later. But every other aspect of this life, every other corner of this world is under the control and the power of the evil one.

That means Satan has made his main weapon deception. And so he has infiltrated every institution, every discipline, every form of knowledge and he has distorted it. He has introduced deception and his main goal is that a Christian who goes through this world thinking this world is not that bad, that person has no idea who is in control and what the agenda of this evil one is. A person who just blindly and carefreely goes through this world, and they are surprised that at the end of their life, they are an unbeliever. It is designed that way.

If you believe that Satan has control and has power over this entire world and all of its institutions, that will give you a clue how we should be in this world. It reminds me of Genesis, and the two trees. There’s a tree of life, which is the cross of Christ, cross of Calvary, and there’s Jesus and you go through Him. You go to the tree of life and you are cleansed by the blood that flows from that tree and you enter the Kingdom of God. That is one pathway that is reserved for the believer.

And then there’s the other pathway, which is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That one is without Christ. That is without His sacrifice on the cross. You are determining for yourself through the acquisition of knowledge. You are the ultimate judge, and you are saying I know good from evil. I don’t need God to tell me because I’m smart enough. I am the ultimate judge and let me go through this life and acquire as much knowledge as I can. And I don’t need God. That is the other pathway of life.

And if you just take a few little segments of this life. I want to try to educate you of how we should be in this life and what the Christian’s worldview is. How should we view the world? You take something like medicine. It is not a precise science.

A few decades ago, researchers in America said that the enemy in our diet is fat and sugar is safe. In other countries, like the U. K., they had the complete opposite conclusion. They said, no, fat is fine. Sugar is the enemy. If you look at the obesity problem in America, you know who’s right. Which country was telling us the truth? And it’s not America. That’s just one example.

We take something like history. Are we getting the complete facts? When we study history, you take, Korean occupation by the Japanese. You study that in Korea, and you study that same period of time in Japan, you will get a completely different set of facts. You take the Holocaust. I wonder how that is taught in Germany versus other parts of the world.

How about the founding of America? How was that taught in U. S. Schools? How is that taught among Native Americans whose land was stolen from them? It all depends where you’re coming from and who the victor was and how the narrative is spun. Satan has control of this world. He is spinning lies.

And I think we would all agree mathematically, that two plus two does not equal 3.999999. That is a mathematical falsehood, and Andre is smiling. He agrees with me. If something is 99.99% true, it is 100% false. If something is 99.999% true, it is 100% false.

And there’s only one Person, only one thing that is 100% true. It is Jesus. And God describes Himself as a light. Everything else compared to Him is darkness. And God says there is no variation. There’s no shadow. There’s no shadiness in Me. I am trustworthy. Believe in Me.

If you follow the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we make the mistake of elevating people with degrees. That’s as absurd as me saying, because I have a masters in divinity, I know God better than you and I look down on you and you are at a second tier from me because I got educated. That is so absurd. And yet we do that with people with PhDs. In whatever field we say, they are the expert.

If they are honest, they would say they know how vast their field is and they’re just scratching the surface. Even with multiple PhDs, they know nothing compared to the complete, exhaustive knowledge of one discipline. And yet we act as if the person with the degree knows everything. Everybody else, you know nothing. And that’s how we talk to another. We don’t listen because we say their opinion is so invalid compared to me, because I know better.

And that is so proud. We have to understand there’s only one Person who is absolutely truthful to you because He is truth. It is Jesus Christ. And there is a Heavenly Father who describes Himself as light in whom there is no darkness. Everything else has a tinge of darkness in it, and maybe 99.99% true, but is it so trustworthy that you can bank your life on it? And think, I will believe in this and I can’t possibly be wrong because I’m a smart person and I trust this? No, we just have to be humble and say, I am not God, I don’t know the truth.

Even the news. Do we know what’s true? Think of people living in North Korea, they believe their worldview is true. Those people who are deceived in South Korea right now, they believe they are hearing the truth. We also believe we’re being told the truth here for so long. Trump was a Russian spy, and people were speaking with such confidence as if they had reams of evidence. And yet there is not even one piece of evidence that has emerged after three years. And so we have to wonder, were we lied to for three years?

Satan is in control of the educational system, every field of study, his control of the news. The whole world is under the power of the evil one. And if you believe this, there is humility that says, okay, I will learn some things, but I’m not saying I’m an expert in this. I’m not trusting in the experts, no matter how knowledgeable they seem to be. There are pieces of the story that are being left out intentionally because Satan is a deceiver. And so if he controls this world, he is deceiving you if you just blindly trust the gatekeepers of this world.

1 John 2
26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

And, of course, we need the Holy Spirit’s help to not be deceived. And what the Holy Spirit does, He shows you the true Christ so that when a false teacher is pointing to a counterfeit Christ, you can tell the difference. It’s like if you give me a piece of glass, I might think it’s a diamond because I am not trained. I’m not an expert in jewelry. But you go to an expert jeweler. He will be able to inspect the jewel and tell you if it is real or counterfeit.

And so the Holy Spirit shows you the real Christ. And so when a false prophet or false brother or sister who is being inspired by a false spirit, a spirit of the anti-Christ, and this person gives you a false Jesus, you can tell because you know the true Jesus.

But the interesting thing here, in light of what I’ve been saying about a Christian’s worldview, is that did you notice that the Holy Spirit is not there just to help us to know true Christ from a false Christ? It says that you have no need that anyone should teach you but as his anointing, the Holy Spirit’s anointing, his teaching ministry teaches you about everything.

If you’re filled with the Holy Spirit and you’re confused about any topic in this world and you bring it before Him, the Holy Spirit will tell you what’s true and what’s false. There are many things a few years ago that I didn’t actually agree that Satan controls this world, and this world is under the power of the evil one. But step by step, the Holy Spirit has shown to me, ah, that one, you better look into that a little bit more. This one that you think is undeniable truth, look into that. This thing that you say is a fact, you better not trust it.

And just one by one, it’s the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. He has taught me not just about spiritual things. It says He teaches you about everything. And the Holy Spirit, if you ask Him, and you bring something in this world to Him, He will tell you there’s falsehood there. Why don’t you find it? I’m going to help you. I will guide you to the truth about this topic.

Okay, Now we’re getting it to the meat of 1 John. What is a Christian’s worldview, or a Christian’s view of the world.

1 John 2
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

A Christian who is worldly is an oxymoron. You cannot be a worldly Christian. You cannot love this world or anything in this world. Because remember I told you who owns this world? Whose influence and whose fingerprints are in every part of this world?

And if we have been saved, we’re still in this world but we’re no longer of this world. We’ve been brought into a new kingdom. Why, as a Christian, would we be worldly and want more of this world when Jesus is taking us in an opposite direction out of this world?

And so if you’re a Christian, your confession of sin needs to start here, am I worldly? Do I want the world? Do I want the things in the world, the things that other people who are non-Christian chase after? Am I chasing after the same things? And if that is you, that is the beginning of where you start confessing your sins.

That’s the first step to move from deceit to victory. You need to confess all the worldliness that is in you, and there are three Ps here for worldliness. The first one is the desires of the flesh. That means pleasure. The desires of the eyes, that is praise. And the pride of life, another way to translate it is, a boasting of one’s goods. This is possessions.

And so, if you desire pleasure in this life, there will be no shortage of things, counterfeit things that Satan will give to you to indulge in a life of pleasure. And you have to ask yourself, you’ve done that before. You’ve seen the end of the story when you pursue that thing, did it satisfy you? Why do you keep going back?

It’s like an insane person who does the same thing over and over. They expect a different outcome. Even though it’s the same thing. Shouldn’t we learn that there is no ultimate satisfaction in pursuing the thing that seems pleasurable on the surface. You know where that road leads, and so you have to say, I renounce all worldliness. I am not going to make my life a pursuit of pleasure apart from God. Pleasure in this world is one of Satan’s pitfalls. We must recognize and repent of it.

The other one is desires of the eyes. And Ephesians 6 talks about a slave and a master and a slave who only works, and it’s described as eye service, he only works when the boss is watching. And there are workers like that in companies. They are lazy. But when the boss comes around, they are suddenly diligent because their eyes are always darting, they’re always taking notice of their surroundings, they are so man-centered. It’s the praise of man. They’re seeking their eyes, you can see it in their eyes.

And if that’s the pursuit of your life, Satan will give you no shortage because every potential person is somebody that you’re looking to be praised by. And you can spend your whole life seeking the praise of your boss, of people that you respect and admire, and that could be all consuming for the rest of your life. And that’s a second pitfall. Praise.

The third one is the boasting of one’s goods, or one’s possessions. It is having a greed for stuff. And as a Christian we have to confess if we desire pleasure, praise or possessions. These are Satan’s pitfalls. We need to renounce them and repent of them and confess them with our lips. So now that you’ve been warned about what the pitfalls are, if you deliberately continue to chase after these things, it is on you.

You need to repent that you cannot blame anybody else. Now that you know what is the Christian’s attitude toward the world, you cannot love it. You cannot love anything in it. You shouldn’t pursue possessions. You shouldn’t pursue the praise of people. You shouldn’t pursue pleasure.

Now that you’ve been warned, if you keep doing it, it’s on you. You can’t blame anybody. You can’t even blame Satan. God’s word is clear. If you disobey it, it’s on you. You’ve been warned, and you need to confess it over and over until this worldliness has been purged from you. That is the first step to victory.

1 John 2
18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. 26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

Now that I talked about the world on a somewhat physical level. Now I want to talk about the world on a spiritual level.

There are two fathers in this world. There is the one true Father who is described as light, in whom there is no darkness. And there’s another lower case ‘f’ father who is the father of lies. Two fathers in this world.

Spiritually speaking, there are two Christs in this world. The true Christ and the antichrist. There are two spirits in this world. The Holy Spirit which is the true spirit, the spirit of truth. And there is a false spirit, unclean spirit, deceptive spirit, or the spirit of the antichrist. And there are two sets of offspring, true Christians and false Christians.

There are two christs. When it says antichrist, it obviously means opposed to Christ. Anti means opposed. We know that Jesus Christ became a man and He is the true Christ. And then we also know that in the future there will be a counterfeit Christ, a capital ‘A’ antichrist, a human political figure of some sort who will bring all the world together maybe through a pandemic, maybe a financial crisis. The world is falling apart, and every citizen of every country is looking for one person to bring wholeness and peace and order to this world.

There’s a capital ‘A’ antichrist that is coming into history just as there was a true Christ that came as a man in human history. But right now there is the Holy Spirit and there’s a spirit of lowercase ‘a’ antichrist.

And when I think about the spirit of the antichrist, I don’t think about anti as opposing Christ. I think of anti as ‘in place’ of Christ, just a counterfeit slipping in, a counterfeit Christ. That is what the antihrist does, because if it’s so obvious that this person is satanic, of course we’re not going to be deceived.

But if somebody is saying the name of Jesus and they are speaking the same language, and they seem to bear the right kind of food but you’re not sure, because something seems off and you don’t understand, there is a spirit of the antichrist trying to slip into your life, a false Christ, a counterfeit Christ. Whereas the Holy Spirit’s job is to shine light on the counterfeit and point you to the real thing. That is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and that is against an antichrist spirit.

And so I think there are three spiritual states. There is the Holy Spirit who fills a person and that person is Spirit-filled. There is the spirit of the antichrist filling a person, an unclean spirit. And I think there’s also a mixed spirit. On some days, it’s the Holy Spirit coming out, but on other days, it’s an unclean spirit.

And so there are three states, and we have to cleanse ourselves of all unclean spirits and ask for the true Holy Spirit so that we will never fall victim to a counterfeit and only follow the real Christ. Because the offspring of these two spirits, people filled with the Holy Spirit versus false spirits, they all started together. John is saying they were once with us. They were once in the church, they were standing next to you. They’re calling themselves a brother or sister in Christ. They were with us. But yet at some point they departed. They left us. They’re no longer continuing with us.

Maybe because they never dealt with this unclean or mixed state. And so the unclean side of the spirit got stronger and the voice of the true Holy Spirit got softer. And over time it became revealed that they were never of God or they got deceived and they left God. Either way, they’re no longer walking with us.

And that’s why it says in 1 John 4, we need to test the spirits. Did you know that behind every person there is a spirit? Behind every person, there is a spirit. If there are non-Christians, there are only unclean spirits and the power of the evil one is controlling that person, even if they’re the nicest person you ever met. If they do not have the Holy Spirit, if they’re not born again, they’re controlled by an unclean spirit. And so you should be careful to receive their counsel if they’re not a believer.

And behind a Christian, you have to also test the spirits. What they are saying, is it coming from a pure Holy Spirit? Yesterday, what they said seemed like it was Holy Spirit, but today, what they’re telling me seems like it’s from an unclean spirit. It is possible to be a person with a mixture of spirits, and so those unclean spirits need to be cast out in Jesus name.

So the pathway to victory, first step, go back to 1 John 1:5-10. Read those verses for yourself. The first thing you need to do is to confess your sin. You need to use your lips to confess your sins. And hopefully, if you’re serious about this and you will confess to somebody else and receive their prayers because the prayers of a righteous person are effectual.

And the first thing that person will ask you, for example, in James 5, it says an elder who comes to your home and prays for you in your sickness, one of the things that a godly elder should ask, is there any unconfessed because maybe that’s the reason why you’re sick. That is what it says in James 5.

So confess internal sin. Confess worldliness. Confess if you still have desires of the flesh, or if you still pursue praise. If you still want to be praised by men, or you have desires for possessions and you still want stuff. These are the very concrete things that we need to confess until they are no longer a problem.

And then you’ll have victory over these things and you’re coming out of this world. You are in this world, but not of it. The world is being uprooted out of you. That is step one of discipleship and a little child (1 John 2:12-14), the verses that we read, the little children who are wondering, am I forgiven and who are still struggling with these types of sins, these internal sins.

There’s a reassurance that God will give as you’re beginning your discipleship. You’re still starting out in an elementary, kindergarten discipleship, and He will reassure you that you are forgiven because you’ve confessed.

If you don’t confess, I don’t think you’ll ever be assured that you’re forgiven. But if you confess, there’s assurance that you are forgiven, not because you’ve been caught. But because the Holy Spirit is in you and is convicting you of unrighteousness and you confess it with your lips. Then as little children, there is a reassurance that you’re forgiven.

And then we progress beyond that to a young man, a young woman in the faith who is now overcoming the evil one. And for this I want to go to 1 John 5:18-19.

1 John 5
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Verse 18 was confusing and just an amazing thing that the Lord showed to me. If you just look at the grammar, it starts with everyone who has been born of God. He’s talking about every believer, you have been born of God, right? And then it says, he does not keep on sinning. But he who was born of God, is he talking about us in the first half of the verse? Is He talking about us, everyone who has been born of God?

And then it says, he who is born of God protects him. Is it talking about us protecting ourselves? Who is he who protects us from the evil one so that the evil one does not touch us? Another way to translate ‘he who is born of God,’ I think it would have been better and more clear if the Bible translators translated as he who is begotten of God, the begotten Son of God. He will protect all who have been born of God.

And that’s why it says in John 16 that Jesus overcame the world. How do we overcome the world with our faith? It is because Jesus himself is protecting you. Every time you exercise your faith, you’re asking Jesus, protect me from the evil one. Defend me from the accusations of the evil one. He’s bothering me. It’s like the poor widow who is knocking, not on the unrighteous judge’s door. We’re knocking on the righteous Heavenly Father’s door for justice to silence this adversary who is bothering me continuously. The reason why she’s persistent is because the adversary must be so persistent that she just can’t take it anymore.

And so we as Christians born of God, we knock on Heaven’s door to a Righteous Judge and what does God do? He mobilizes His Son Jesus who overcame the world. Now He is helping us to overcome the world and all the flaming darts of the evil one. It says here He will protect you and the evil one does not touch him. That means if you learn this truth that Jesus is my defender. Jesus is my protector. Jesus is my shield. Jesus is my strong tower.

And every time you are harassed by an adversary, every time he bothers you and distracts you and brings all kinds of accusations day and night against you, and it’s coming in the form of the hatred of your soul. Every time that happens, you go to Jesus and Jesus who overcame the world, He will help you overcome the world, and He himself defends you. And you’re so secure in His defense that the evil one who wants to come in, he can no longer come in. He can’t even touch you. You’re untouchable to him because Jesus is there.

If you learn these two things, that any sin that is internal that you deliberately do, for example, worldliness, a desire for pleasure, praise, or possessions, these kinds of things that you know the outcome. You’ve done it before and it didn’t satisfy, but you just keep going like an insane person. You think the well is not poisonous when last time you got sick when you drank from the well, but you keep doing it. When that kind of sin happens, you must confess it and believe you’ve been cleansed. That’s a little child.

And we must progress to a young man, a young woman who starts overcoming the evil one. And not because we’re so strong but because Jesus is strong. And if you hide behind Him, He will protect you and the evil one cannot touch you.

And let’s say you are defended from the evil one. Do you think Satan is going to leave you alone? No, he’s going to go after your spouse and then you’ve got to defend her or defend him. And if the married couple, husband and wife, thinks it’s safe, do you think that Satan will think, okay, I’m going to leave this family alone now?

He’s going to go for your children. If Satan sees he can’t knock you down, he’s going to try to knock down your loved ones, and he’s going to try to discourage you. But the promis is that we can hide behind Jesus and the evil one cannot touch you, he cannot touch your spouse, he cannot touch your kids, if you constantly bring all of your loved ones behind Jesus who overcame the world.

Let’s pray.

Father, thank you for teaching us how we can be victorious in Christ. First we confess our sin. This is deliberate willful sin, internal sin. This is a desire of our own heart that leads us astray. I pray that you would purge every sin, every unrighteousness, every trace of worldliness from our hearts. We pray for the blood of Jesus to cover our hearts, our body, our soul, our spirit, our mind, will and emotion because you saved us not out of this world, but we’re in this world but no longer of it.

And so, Lord, we ask that you would purge of every trace of worldliness and sin and unrighteousness that comes from our own hearts. Every time it happens, we confess it, Lord. I confess it and we believe like little children that we have been forgiven. We don’t have to be condemned. We don’t have to wonder, am I forgiven? We don’t have to live in doubt and condemnation as a little child. We believe that when it says in your word that we confess and we’re forgiven, we will take you at your word. And when we confess our sin, we are forgiven, and we believe it, Lord.

Father, but that’s not where you want us to remain. You want us to progress toward a young man, a young woman in faith who is no longer deliberately sinning. But we may be stumbling in sin because we are not guarding ourselves as we step out into this world. Some of us may not understand that this world is under the control and power of an evil one. It’s like we’ve walked into a war and we have no armor. We have no shield. We have no weaponry. We have no helmet. We just go thinking we’re taking a stroll in a park when we’re in a war against an evil one.

Thank you, Lord, that the secret of overcoming the evil one is Jesus Christ. He overcame the world and He will help us to overcome the world. What a promise that, Jesus, you are our shield. You will defend us, you’ll protect us. And if we hide in you, if we’re in you, if we abide in you, the evil one cannot touch us. What a truth.

And as you Lord Jesus walked this earth in total victory, your promise for every disciple of Jesus is that we too can walk in total victory. You’re saying that we can walk in the manner in which Jesus walked, in total victory and righteousness.

Father, as we partake in your Lord’s Supper, your body was broken and your blood was shed. We want to be close to you. We want to be in you. We want to plead your blood to cover over all of our sin. We also ask for your protection as you teach us to pray the Lord’s prayer. Lead us not into temptation, but lead us away and out of the reach of the evil one. Thank you for teaching us such amazing things to be totally victorious in this life. Thank you. In Jesus Name, Amen