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Guard Yourselves From Idols
1 John 5:21
September 25, 2022

This morning we come to the FINAL VERSE of John’s first epistle.

• In some ways it is sort of tempting to just throw this verse in at the end of another study and move on.
• It certainly is a verse which sort of sticks out.
• In some ways it feels like an afterthought.

Except for the fact that we are convinced that
“all Scripture is inspired by God” and that includes this verse.

It is NOT a MISTAKE and it is not an AFTERTHOUGHT.
It is a command from the mouth of Almighty God.

And this morning we are going to conclude our study of 1 John
By looking at it and then seeking to understand and apply it to our lives.

SO FIRST LET’S JUST EXAMINE IT.

(21) “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

“little children” here of course refers to ALL BELIEVERS.

It is the same group John addressed earlier:
1 John 2:12 “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.”

• We are still talking about those who are redeemed.
• We are talking about those who have been forgiven.

And now John comes to them with a final command
And says that they should “guard yourselves from idols.”

“guard” is (FOO-LAS-SO) and it means just that.
“To guard” or “to keep watch even over a person” or “to make safe”

And here the OBJECT that is being guarded is “yourselves”

There is an implied threat.
And you are the target.

There is something that will come and steal you.
There is something that will come and carry you away.

And here John even names THE PERPETRATOR.
It is “idols”.

“idols” translates (I-DO-LON)
And it literally means “an image” or “a likeness”

John DOESN’T USE the word “idolatry”
(i.e. “guard yourselves from idolatry”)
Which speaks of the worship of those false gods
Or of those sinful greedy passions that are akin to loving the world.

Certainly I think they overlap.
But it is still important to note the word John used.

Those he wrote this letter to were to “guard yourselves from idols.”

It’s not just from the practice of idol worship that they must be guarded,
But from the idol itself.

IN WHAT SENSE MUST THEY BE GUARDED?
Was there some fear that an idol would attack?

OF COURSE NOT.

Paul is clear to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 8:4 “Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.”

1 Corinthians 10:19-20 “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.”

“idols” or graven images aren’t real.
• They aren’t alive.
• They’re merely stone or wood or whatever material they are carved out of.
• At best, they are a monument of which a demon has taken up their identity in order to deceive.

So when John is talking about guarding yourselves
It’s not from some sort of attack.

WHAT IS THE THREAT THEN?
What threat does an idol pose to a believer?

Well, you should know that John’s ministry
Was heavily associated with the church at EPHESUS.

• John does not indicate that these were the only people he was writing to,
• But it’s not a stretch to consider them to be the chief recipients.

And we think about what the people of Ephesus were associated with.

You’ll remember Paul’s missionary journey there.
Acts 19:23-29 “About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen; these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business. “You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all. “Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.” When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.”

So the threat in Ephesus might be seen as:
• Being deceived that Artemis was great.
• Being tempted to join that worship, even for money.
• Fear of persecution to keep you from abstaining.

So there was indeed a real and present threat to the Ephesians.
John wrote to “guard” themselves from that.

And of course this command trickles beyond the boundaries of Ephesus
To any place across the world where graven images are prominent.

ATHENS was filled with graven images and idol worship.

Acts 17:16 “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.”

We think of all the Greek gods of mythology that were worshiped.
Rome certainly had her share of idols as well.

And even today there are plenty of those who engage in idol worship.
• Hinduism and their millions of gods with all the statues that are worshiped.
• Buddhism and their fat little Buddhas all over the place.

We see evidence of this idol worship even today.

BUT WHAT IS THE THREAT?
Why do we need to guard ourselves from them?

Well obviously the threat has nothing to do with the idol itself
Since it isn’t real and has no power.

The threat from which one must be protected
Is from offending the true God
Whose glory is being given to a hunk of stone.

IF an idol was just a statue there would be no threat.
IF it was nothing more than a piece of art, there is no problem.

Idols become a problem when people are motivated to worship them,
And this is where the guarding must occur.

DON’T DO IT.
Don’t get sucked in to it.
Don’t participate in it.

The problem with idols is that they lead to idolatry.

And this is what we MUST DISCUSS here.

A study of idolatry is obviously bigger than can be covered in one sermon,
So I’m sure you’re going to have many verses enter your thinking
That we may not touch on this morning.

But we’re going to try and take a simple VIEW of idolatry
And WHAT it means to guard yourself from it
And WHY it is important that you do.

(Somewhat topical) But let’s start here.

#1 WHY GUARD YOURSELF FROM IDOLS?

Again: WHAT IS THE THREAT?
WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL?

Well let me lay 3 prominent reasons out here for you.

1) BECAUSE GOD HATES IT

Leviticus 19:4 “Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the LORD your God.”

Leviticus 26:1 “You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.”

Deuteronomy 16:22 “You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the LORD your God hates.”

If you read Deuteronomy 17 you’ll find that
If you catch anyone in your midst worshiping or serving other gods,
Then you are to stone that person to death.

GOD HATES IDOLS & IDOLATRY.

Exodus 20:1-3 “Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

You have read it many times in Scripture that God is a jealous God.
• And God’s jealousy is perfectly just for He is jealous for what belongs to Him.
• God is jealous for His is glory.
• God hates it when His glory is given to some hunk of stone that isn’t even real.

Isaiah 48:11 “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.”

And for those who insist upon worshiping false gods
And giving God’s glory to some image made by man…
There is great danger.

Those people abide under the wrath of God.
Romans 1:21-23 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

And people who participate in this worship will not be allowed in heaven.
Revelation 14:9-10 “Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

Revelation 21:7-8 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

We could literally spend all day
Chronicling the stories of how much God hates idolatry.

Idolatry was the single biggest reason for the Exile.
• The children of Israel moved into the Promised Land built High Places and would not repent of them.
• They worshiped false gods without repentance and finally God judged them and kicked them out of the land.

God hates idolatry and HE ABANDONED ISRAEL as a result of theirs.

Isaiah 2:5-8 “Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners. Their land has also been filled with silver and gold And there is no end to their treasures; Their land has also been filled with horses And there is no end to their chariots. Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made.”

GOD HATES IDOLATRY.
And I would remind you friends that
YOU DON’T WANT TO DO ANYTHING GOD HATES.

To participate in such activity
Is to bring terrible reproach upon yourself from God.

That’s the second reason I would give you for why Idolatry is dangerous.

Because God hates it
2) BECAUSE IT DEFILES YOU

The book of Ezekiel is literally filled with
God’s confrontation of Israel’s idolatry.

Ezekiel 23:7 “She bestowed her harlotries on them, all of whom were the choicest men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself.”

Ezekiel 23:30 “These things will be done to you because you have played the harlot with the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols.”

Do you pick up on the perspective of God there?

For sure He points out that they have been defiled with their idols…
But do you catch the other analogy He gives?

HARLOTRY

When we say that idolatry defiles you
Think of it in the sense of how an adulterous woman
Becomes defiled in the eyes of her husband.

Israel is actually depicted in the book of Hosea
As Gomer the unfaithful harlot.

We don’t have time but go read Ezekiel 16 and note all the times God calls her a harlot and note the descriptive disdain God has for her.
• She is considered defiled.
• She is considered uncleaned.
• She is considered stained.

There is a grief there.
There is a reproach there.

Does that help you understand why idolatry is such a dangerous thing?
• It caused God to look upon Israel as a harlot.
• Ultimately it caused God to depart from her and send her into judgment.

NONE OF US WANTS THAT.

We think of Paul pleading with the Corinthians
Who were dabbling with an idolatrous view of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 11:2-4 “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”
Their idolatry was in regard to a wrong view of Jesus.
(That is idolatry, to view the true God wrongly)

And Paul’s concern was that this idolatry was defiling them.
• He wanted to present them “as a pure virgin”
• But he was concerned that through their idolatry they might be defiled in the eyes of Christ.
• It was making them an unattractive bride to Christ.

Idolatry is extremely dangerous.
It angers God and defiles the one who engages in it.

And if that’s not enough.
3) BECAUSE IT WILL RUIN YOU

Another terrible thing about idolatry is that
Ultimately you are giving your affection
To that which cannot save or satisfy.

Psalms 115:4-8 “Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.”

Why would you love and trust something
That cannot satisfy and that cannot save?
They aren’t alive and they are not real.

Listen to God actually challenge idols to be of some benefit:
Isaiah 41:21-24 “Present your case,” the LORD says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” The King of Jacob says. Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together. Behold, you are of no account, And your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.”

They accomplish nothing for those who worship them.
• There is no satisfaction there.
• There is no deliverance there.
• There is no salvation there.

Idolatry is a horrible and dangerous endeavor.
• God hates it
• It will defile you
• It will ruin you

Isaiah 42:17 “They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, Who trust in idols, Who say to molten images, “You are our gods.”

Isaiah 45:16 “They will be put to shame and even humiliated, all of them; The manufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation.”

Jeremiah 10:14 “Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.”

Jeremiah 51:17 “All mankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.”

Idols cannot save they can only defile.
Idols cannot satisfy they can only provoke God to anger.

There is no benefit or value in them.
Idols are extremely dangerous.

Hence John says, “guard yourselves from idols”

You don’t want to go anywhere near those things!

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, there was concern because they thought it A TRIVIAL THING to dine in the temple of idols.

1 Corinthians 10:14-22 “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?”

WHAT A PERSPECTIVE!
• Do you really intend to commune with demons?
• Do you really want to move Jesus Christ to jealousy?
• Do you really want to be defiled in His presence?
• Do you really want to offend Him for an idol that cannot save?

Paul said, “flee from idolatry”

THERE IS A THREAT.
Idols and the worship of idols is a real thing
And you must guard yourself from it.

But that requires a little more digging on our part.

#2 WHAT IS AN IDOL?

OR WHAT IS IDOLATRY?

First I’ll just give you some of the definitions
I found from theologians and church councils.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote:
“[Idols are] things in this life and world that threaten to come between us and…[the] knowledge of God.”

And
“an idol is anything in our lives that occupies the place that should be occupied by God alone…anything that holds a controlling position in my life is an idol…”
https://www.monergism.com/keep-yourselves-idols

So anything that distorts who God is,
Or anything that is given control over your life,
THAT WOULD BE AN IDOL.

Another writer says:
“Anything that we love more than God Himself should be considered an idol.”
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/idolatry-defined

That is one you’re likely familiar with.
Anything you love more than God.

It does warrant asking the question:
How would you know if you love it more than God?

For that you need to look at things like how you ALLOCATE YOUR RESOURCES. Because “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
• Do you give more money to that or to God?
• Do you give more time to that or to God?
• Do you think more about that or God?

You can go a long way towards understanding what you love
If you look at your check book or your day planner
Or consider your thought life.

Or perhaps we should talk about PRIORITIES.
• If worship of God is forced to compete with something else, which one wins?

Perhaps you understand then a little about what you really love
And whether or not you love it more than God.

So an idol is anything you love more than God.

That runs real close to another man’s definition:
“making someone or something a “god” in our life. We may not consciously bow down before and altar erected for such gods, but in our hearts we become idolaters when we elevate anything or anyone to a position higher than what God would want.”
https://truediscipleship.com/guard-yourselves-from-idols/

When something BECOMES TOO IMPORTANT to you.
This is when something begins
To receive AFFECTION and WORSHIP in your life.

It is something that might make God jealous
Because it appears you desire it more than you desire Him.

THAT IS IDOLATRY.

Another writer says:
“Anytime we deny an attribute of the Lord’s revealed in Scripture or allow our own preferences to determine His character, we are guilty of refined idolatry.”
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/beware-idolatry

That is what the Corinthians were doing with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
They were accepting a distorted view of Jesus.
• Like when you only see God as loving but not just.
• When you blaspheme His nature or character and seek to manipulate Him into
what you want Him to be instead of who He is.

The children of Israel worshipped a golden calf and called it Yahweh.
It was a blasphemous representation of God.

This was were GRAVEN IMAGES also fit in the Old Testament.
When God asks questions like:

Isaiah 40:25 “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.”

• Are you really going to say that God is like a bear?
• Or God is like an eagle?
• Or God is like a cow?

Any graven image that you make of God is an insult to Him
And it is to blaspheme His character.

THAT IS IDOLATRY.
It’s not just an image of other pagan deities but even a false representation of God.

That is an insult to Him.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism says:
“Idolatry is the replacement of God with something else, the yielding of our primary devotion and chief affections to anything or anyone besides the Lord. It is the “giving of that worship and glory to any other, which is due to him alone” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 47; see Isa. 42:8)
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/idolatry-sports

That makes sense to us.
It is when we let something else have God’s place in our lives.

I’ve got one more, and I saved it for last because I think it hits the nail on the head for us.
The Heidelberg Catechism states:
“idolatry is having or inventing something in which one trusts in place of or alongside of the only true God, who has revealed himself in the Word” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 95)
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/idolatry-defined

I like that definition because this is what I see
God so angered about with His people in the Old Testament.

I want to take you on a quick journey through fabulous 40’s of Isaiah.
I think this will give us a great picture of what idolatry is.

We’ll start with what we read a moment ago.
(READ: ISAIAH 40:18-26)

God has clearly pointed out that the folly of Israel is that
They have failed to recognize the greatness of God.

They have failed to see who He is.
NOW THIS IS WHERE IDOLATRY BEGINS

When you’re view of God becomes distorted
You are a prime candidate for idolatry.

Hence when John gives a command to “guard yourselves from idols”

I’m going to tell you that the BEST WAY you can do this
IS WITH A RIGHT THEOLOGY OF GOD.

Israel had dumbed God down with their idols
And sought to recreate Him according to something they desired
And the end result was disaster.

But let me show you what their idolatry ultimately looked like.

(READ: ISAIAH 41:5-16)

Now I hope you pick up on this
Because God is going to repeat it over and over.

He first points out their efforts to create an idol that will hopefully save them.

And then God responds to Israel saying, “NO NEED! I WILL SAVE YOU!”
Over and over, “I am your God” – “I have chosen you” – “I am with you”
“I will strengthen you” – “I will help you”

It is God’s call to Israel to trust Him, not some pagan image.

(READ: ISAIAH 43:10-13)

Do you hear God’s call there?
• I am the only Savior!
• I am the only God.
• I am the deliverer.

TRUST ME! WORSHIP ME!

(READ: ISAIAH 44:6-22)

Again, worship of God is contrasted with idol worship.
Look at the struggle to create a false god that cannot save.

But that’s not God.
• “there is no God besides Me.”
• “Is there any other Rock?”
• “I have formed you”
• “I have redeemed you”

God crying out that He alone is their Savior.

(READ: ISAIAH 44:24-28)

There He is again.
• I am the maker, I am the Savior.
• I am the One who does this.
• “It is I”

I am the One you need to trust.

(READ: ISAIAH 45:4-7)

(READ: ISAIAH 45:20-25)

(READ: ISAIAH 46:3-10)

More of the same.
Don’t turn to them, trust Me!
And don’t misrepresent Me.

NOW DO YOU SEE THE POINT WE ARE DRIVING AT?

The issue throughout Isaiah was THE ISSUE OF TRUST.

I wouldn’t just ask you what do you love?
I wouldn’t just ask you what do you preference?

Certainly the flesh can get in the way and we can all have things that earn an improper priority in our lives.
• Paul said coveting or “greed which amounts to idolatry”.
• To the Philippians he said “their god is their appetite”
• We can have idols out of stuff or comfort or food or any number of things.

But the one I want to bring to your attention here,
Is anything you are trusting in other than God.

What was the problem of Israel?
• When things got hard they ran to false gods to bail them out.
• When enemies arose they ran to false gods to deliver them.

They ran to false gods for deliverance.

God purposely let things get difficult
In order that He might teach them that He is reliable
But so often Israel abandoned God
And went seeking for deliverance in other places.

And God was routinely saying, “NO! I AM YOUR SAVIOR!”

NOW HOW DOES THAT TRANSLATE TO OUR LIVES?
WHAT DO WE TRUST IN?

There are plenty of people in our culture whose god is the government.
• The government is who they count on to save them.
• The government is who they count on to keep them safe.
• The government is who they think will fix their problems.
• The government is the one who will provide for them.

And if that is our mindset, that is idolatry.
I don’t care if Republicans win congress in November, they can’t save us.
I don’t care if Donald Trump gets reelected, he can’t save us.

They are not saviors!
And to expect them to be is idolatry.

There are many in our world whose god is the medical industry.
• It’s doctors that they run to for safety and health.
• It’s doctors who have all the answers.
• Whatever the doctor says.
• And there is not a doctor on earth who can heal anything.

There are many who trust in their wealth or retirement or their job
• That is their source of security.
• That is why they smile at the future.

THAT IS IDOLATRY.
Anything you are trusting in instead of God is an idol!
He is the only God!
He is the only Savior!
He is the only Redeemer!

And John says, “Little children guard yourselves from idols.”

Now, real quickly, WHY did John close his letter like this?
What does this have to do with
Anything John has said throughout the epistle?

I’ll tell you that it has everything to do with what John has said.

Listen to the beginning of his letter one more time.
1 John 1:1-4 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.”

John wanted you to HAVE FELLOWSHIP with God
And to KNOW you had that fellowship.

Do you want to ruin that?
Then follow an idol.

Idolatry is a sin that has routinely killed
The fellowship between God and His people.

When you start loving or seeking or trusting something else,
It defiles you and puts a kink in your fellowship with God.

Watch out for those things that lure you away
From loving, seeking, or trusting Him.

Be on the lookout, and when you find them, flee!
For GOD DOESN’T FELLOWSHIP with idols.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.”

Idolatry ruins the fellowship.
“Little children guard yourselves from idols.”

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Transparent Worship – Part 2
Psalms 139 (7-12)
September 18, 2022

Tonight we return again to this wonderful Psalm which
Carries us high into the heavenlies to behold the glories of our God.

As I said last week, I’ve called this Psalm “Transparent Worship”

I did so because that is sort of the heart of David here in the Psalm.
He is seeking to worship the God
Who knows him inside and out.

In one sense
He is almost DECLARING the genuineness of his worship to God.
• He is emphatically stating that His worship is real and genuine
• And the God who knows Him fully should know that.

In another sense
David is APPEALING to God to direct his worship even more.
• David thinks he knows his heart and his devotion to God,
• But in reality it is God who really knows and
• So David even ends with that famous prayer that God would search him and
lead him.

That’s what we mean by “Transparent Worship”

And yet at the same time I don’t want to mislead
As if someone might assume
That there is a type of worship that is not transparent.

ALL WORSHIP IS TRANSPARENT TO GOD
• God sees the heart.
• God searches the heart and tests the mind.

We think of Jesus even:
John 2:23-25 “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”

GOD KNOWS.
All worship is open and laid bare to Him.

The beauty of Psalms 139 is that David is aware of it too
And it totally changes the way he worships God.

It will totally change the way we worship as well.

As I told you last time
We are breaking this Psalm down into 3 major points.

We started looking at the first point last time.
#1 THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE TRANSCENDENCE OF GOD
Psalms 139:1-18

This is that part of the Psalm that
Literally blows our mind regarding the person of God.

David contemplates who God is
And then allows that knowledge to change the way he worships.

Now, 18 verses is a lot to cover so we have broken this down even further as well.

Last time we looked at verses 1-6 where we talked about
THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD.

Namely that God is “All-Knowing”
That is what David talked about.

(READ 1-6)
• God knew the mundane details of David’s life.
• God knew the thoughts David thought.
• God knew all of David’s ways.
• God knew David’s words before David knew them.

David simply said, (4b) “Behold, O LORD, You know it all.”

Hebrews 4:13 “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

And then we discussed the IMPLICATIONS of such truth.

We said that:
1) God knows all your sin – you’ve never done anything that He is not aware of.
2) God knows all your righteousness – He is the God who sees what you do in secret
3) God sees even your times of trouble – He is not unaware of your hardship
4) God is the effective Sanctifier – He knows what is really wrong with us

And so we talked about that reality of omniscience
And we even marveled that the God who knows everything about us
Would still love us.

That is remarkable.

WELL TONIGHT we want to see another attribute of the incomprehensible transcendence of God.

TONIGHT let’s discuss GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE

(READ 7-12)

Let’s FIRST just listen to what David says about the Omnipresent God
And THEN, as we did last week, let’s discuss the implications of that.

David begins this section with 2 questions:
• “Where can I go from Your Spirit?”
• “Where can I flee from Your presence?”

And both of those questions expect the same negative response
NOWHERE

There is not a place I can go where Your Spirit is not.
There is not a place I can go where Your presence is absent.

And then David explains:
(8-10) “If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.”

David there doesn’t just speak of difficult places to go,
David is actually laying out HIS COMPASS.

You see north, south, east, and west there.

• “If I ascend to heaven” – that is north, the highest of heights.
• “If I make my bed in Sheol” – that is the place of the dead in the earth.
• “If I take the wings of the dawn” – that is of course east where the sun rises.
• “If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea” – that is west for the sea was west of Israel

It doesn’t matter how far I go in any direction, You are there.
There is no place too high for You
There is no place too deep for You
There is no distance too far for You
There is no area too remote for You

God is OMNIPRESENT
It means “All-Present”

And that, just as it did with His omnipresence,
Brings with it the RAMIFICATION OF JUDGMENT.

David says in verse 10, “Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.”

There’s no escaping.
I’m not getting away.

WHAT ABOUT HIDING IN HIS PRESENCE?
If there is no distance I can travel to be outside of Your presence, maybe there is a condition I can enter (invisible) that will escape Your presence.

WRONG!

(11-12) “If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.”

Even in the darkness God is there.
Even in the light God is there.
He sees all and He is All-Present.

Now I realize that is incredibly difficult to comprehend.

This is certainly another one of those “too high” truths
That we “cannot attain to”

SO STILL LET’S DISCUSS IT A MOMENT.

Perhaps it’s best to start with what it DOES NOT mean.

It DOESN’T just mean PART of God is everywhere
That He is just so big that while his right foot is in California, His left foot is in New York.

No, that would just be a part of Him present in each place.
God is “All-Present”

It also is NOT PANTHEISM.
Pantheism is the pagan belief that God is everything and everything is God.
Trees are God, mountains are God, clouds are God, etc.

No, God is God, the world is merely the creation of God.

It also is NOT merely a TECHNICAL REALITY where we just say technically God is everywhere.

You know, how you may be in a room and someone talking to you, but your mind is somewhere else.

No, God is “All-Present”
There is no escaping His presence.

A great verse to begin with is:
Jeremiah 23:23-24 “Am I a God who is near,” declares the LORD, “And not a God far off? “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.”

God testifies of Himself there
• That He is both near and far off.
• That no man can hide from Him.
• And that He fills both the heavens and the earth.

You need to understand God’s omnipresence
In the sense that God is outside of creation.

He does not dwell within time and space.
He is not bound inside of creation.
God is the creator of all things and He is beyond it.

When Melchizedek blessed Abram he said:
Genesis 14:19 “He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;”

Moses later said:
Deuteronomy 10:14 “Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.”

God is the “possessor of heaven and earth” – He owns it.
The heavens “belong” to God.

He is not bound by them, He owns them.
He dwells beyond them.

All of the created order COULD NOT CONTAIN Him.
1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”

And this is sort of the basis for His omnipresence.
We are limited by time and space and the created order
And so we can only be one place at one time
And sometimes we aren’t even fully there.

But God is All-present because He is not bound by the created order,
He owns it, and it cannot contain Him.

And in this sense it is why we see in Scripture evidence of God in 2 places at once.

Deuteronomy 4:39 “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”

Joshua 2:11 “When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”

Isaiah 66:1 “Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?”

Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Those are not just the realms over which He has authority,
But He is always present in those realms at all times.
He is All-Present.

As Steve Lawson put it, He is TRANSCENDENT and IMMINENT.
He is both beyond us and among us.

• He dwells beyond the heavens and at the same time Jesus is called “Immanuel” which means “God with us”
• He dwells in unapproachable light and at the same time the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

It is not just that God is everyone on earth.
God is all-present.
He is Spirit and He is always everywhere.

So He is All-Knowing and He is All-Present.

But as we did with His omniscience,
Let us also consider the RAMIFICATIONS of God being All-Present.

We can start with the NEGATIVE and MOST TERRIFYING here as well.
Let’s talk about the EFFECT this has on SINNERS.

Now, notice again Psalms 139.
• It began with David declaring the great omniscience of God.
• David didn’t comprehend it, but none the less he was convinced that God knew everything there was to know about him.

I think then the next statement of David is quite significant.

(7) “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?”

It is quite interesting that
As soon as David contemplates the omniscience of God,
His first instinct is to flee to a location where God can’t see him.

This is always the first instinct of fallen man.

Genesis 3:9-10 “Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

As soon as Adam sinned his first instinct was to try and hide from God.

And for the course of human history this plan will not change.
In the book of Revelation it is still the same.

Revelation 6:12-17 “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Isaiah 2:19 “Men will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD And the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble.”

NOTHING CHANGES.
From the beginning of the fall to the consummate judgment
Man’s tactics never change.

Job 14:13 “Oh that You would hide me in Sheol, That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You, That You would set a limit for me and remember me!”

But David pointed out, this is a futile endeavor.
“Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?

David said it doesn’t matter if I go to heaven or hell; east or west;
You are there.

David even said, (11-12) “If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.”

Job 34:21-22 “For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps. “There is no darkness or deep shadow Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.”

SINNERS CAN’T ESCAPE GOD’S PRESENCE.

(10b) “Your right hand will lay hold of me.”

Amos 9:1-3 “I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said, “Smite the capitals so that the thresholds will shake, And break them on the heads of them all! Then I will slay the rest of them with the sword; They will not have a fugitive who will flee, Or a refugee who will escape. “Though they dig into Sheol, From there will My hand take them; And though they ascend to heaven, From there will I bring them down. “Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there; And though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, From there I will command the serpent and it will bite them.”

Where are you going to go to escape Him?
He is All-Present.

Isaiah 29:15-16 “Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?” You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?”

Do you really think God doesn’t know?
When you sin, He is right there.
And when you flee, you never escape.

The Bible says that God
Will call all the heavens and all the earth to appear before Him.

Psalms 50:1-6 “The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken, And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth. May our God come and not keep silence; Fire devours before Him, And it is very tempestuous around Him. He summons the heavens above, And the earth, to judge His people: “Gather My godly ones to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” And the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is judge. Selah.”

And this is graphically depicted in the FINAL JUDGMENT
When sinners from every corner of creation must appear before God.

You can’t escape His presence.
Revelation 20:11-15 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Do you see that no one drifted out of His presence?
• What about men lost at sea?
• What about men already dead?
• What about those disintegrated in an explosion?

They still did not travel beyond the presence of God.
He is there and He brings them all to judgment.

So hopefully you understand this implication
As it relates even to judgment.

Sinners should be extremely aware that God knows all their sin
AND He knows right where they are.

There are no fugitives on the run from God.
There are not missing persons.
You can’t escape His presence.

And if we just took this even a step further.
You’ve probably heard people describe HELL as “separation from God”

They say this based upon:
2 Thessalonians 1:9 “These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,”

The word for “presence” there is the word for “face” or “appearance”

The idea is that in all your pain and all your suffering God will turn His face from you.
• There will be no grace.
• There will be no favor.
• There will be no compassion.

But don’t think for a second that you escape His presence.
Revelation 14:9-10 “Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

There the word “presence” is a different word. It means “before”

Sinners would like nothing better than to escape God’s presence.
Indeed they wanted the mountains and hills to fall on them.

YOU WISH!

Even in hell you do not escape the presence of God.
He is “All-Present”

In hell those who rejected Jesus Christ
Will bear up under His divine anger for all eternity
With no expression of grace or mercy or kindness or compassion.

But there is no escaping His presence.

(8) “If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.”

There is no escape for sinners.

And this isn’t just sinners who have rejected His saving grace,
But even an important reality FOR SINNING BELIEVERS.

It is an important thing for disobedient believers to remember.
When God calls you to a task You cannot hide from Him.

Jonah 1:3 “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”

Jonah 1:10 “Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.”

Do you really suppose that if God has chosen you for the mission field that you can escape it by fleeing from His presence?

Do you really suppose that if God has called you into some ministry that you can escape it by fleeing from His presence?

God thrust Jonah into the sea
And had a fish transport him to his mission field.
You are not going to escape Him.

No rebellion; No disobedience; is beyond His eye or His presence.
• You cannot run and hide and get away.
• There is no hideout where you are safe.

BUT God’s Omnipresence is NOT an entirely negative reality.
Think also of the great comfort of God this truth brings.

Psalms 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.”

We love that verse.

We imagine what such statements would have mean to those 3 Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace when Christ entered it with them.

We imagine Daniel in the den of lions comforted as one came who closed the lion’s mouths.

We listen to Paul:
2 Timothy 4:16-17 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth.”

He is All-Present.

Jesus promised:
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

The writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 13:5 “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,”

We love:
Isaiah 43:1-7 “But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. “For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

You see the blessing of all this.

TURN TO: PSALMS 23

We certainly see the obvious picture of God’s omnipresence here:
(4) “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.”

But it’s not just that.
Look at the location of God throughout the Psalm.

(2) “He makes me lie down in green pastures; He LEADS me beside quiet waters.”
There David sees God as the One who goes BEFORE HIM.

In verse 4 we already saw God walking BESIDE HIM THROUGH DEATH.

And then look at (6) “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will FOLLOW me all the days of my life.”

There is no escaping the presence of God.

And so just like it is with God’s omniscience;
GOD’S omnipresence is BOTH COMFORTING AND TERRIFYING.

The awareness that God is All-Present
Should most definitely produce awe and fear.

When God spoke to Jacob, notice what Jacob realized:
Genesis 28:15-17 “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

He was afraid!

What a sobering reality when you realize that
God not only sees and knows all that you are and do,
But God is always present.

David realized that there was no escaping it.
There is no where a man can go to escape the presence of God.

And this reality is either comforting to you or terrifying to you
And that is all depending upon your attitude.

If you love God and trust God and seek to obey God then it is of great comfort to know that God is always present.

If you do not love God or trust God or obey God then it is a terrifying reality that God is present and can at any moment lay His hand upon you.

The writer of Hebrews said “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

And this is perhaps what David had to square with.

He has now come face to face in his worship
With the God who knows all that is in his heart
And from whose presence he cannot escape.

And the choice of David is then
To draw near to Him and worship Him and to submit to Him.

It is sin that causes men to seek to escape from God
But that was never God’s intent.

Man was created to draw near to God.
Man was created to seek God.

And the promise to us that He is not far!

Acts 17:26-27 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;”

This is truly one of the greatest realities of the omnipresence of God.
That on the day when you become aware of your sin
And you seek to cry out to God for forgiveness, He is not hard to find.

HE IS ALL-PRESENT!

Listen to Paul as he expounds the gospel and the cry for salvation.
TURN TO: ROMANS 10:5

Paul is talking about the righteousness of God
Which is available to all who believe.

And the question is: WHERE DO I FIND IT?

Look at verse 6, “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down),”

What does that mean?

• Suppose you wanted righteousness and you knew that it could only be found in Jesus Christ, but He was in heaven and unwilling to come to you.

• Suppose you had to go track Him down and ascend to heaven and pull Him down to earth and get Him to fulfill the Law and die on the cross.

That would be an impossible task.

Or look at the next scenario:
Verse 7, “or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”

• Suppose salvation depended upon Christ rising from the dead (which it does) but He never did.

• And your only hope of salvation is to descend into death and rescue Him and bring Him up from the grave.

That would be again an impossible task.

If salvation was not READILY PRESENT we would be sunk!

(8) “But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,”

Salvation isn’t far, it is near.
It’s as near as your words and your heart.
It’s as near as your confession and your belief.

What do you mean Paul?

(9-10) “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Salvation is near.
It is near to you this very second.
God is All-Present.

If you cry out to Him right now, He is here!
• If you repent of your sin and confess Him as Lord.
• If you believe that God raised Him from the dead.
HE IS PRESENT TO SAVE!

Psalms 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”

It does not good to seek to hide from God.
There is no hiding.

But His presence doesn’t have to be a negative thing.
It can be the most precious thing in your life
Because our All-Present God is present to save.

You’ve spent the week contemplating God’s omniscience.
Now spend a week contemplating His omnipresence.

It will change the way you live and worship.

Download Here

 

What Believers Can Be Sure Of – Part 2
1 John 5:13-21 (18-20)
September 18, 2022

Last week we started this look at
The closing thoughts of John in his epistle.
For all intents and purposes the heart of the letter is behind us.

Now John is simply reviewing that which we should have learned.

You see it 7 times in these final verses:
“you may know” or “we know” or “we may know”

These are the things we should have learned.
These are the things that we can be sure of.
• I told you last time that John gives 5 of them here in these final 9 verses.
• I actually might amend that a little and call it 6.
• We may look at the final verse independently.

We are looking at those things which believers can be sure of.

Assurance is a good thing.
Assurance is something which God intends for believers to have.

We saw the first two last time.

Believers can be sure
#1 THAT WE ARE SAVED
1 John 5:13

We actually walked back through several passages throughout John’s epistle and examined “These things I have written to you”

And we saw that over and over and over
John was making the same point.
He was revealing how we can know if we are saved or not.

And if we want to summarize “these things”, we would do so like this:

• We know we are saved when we receive the Holy Spirit.
• We know we have received the Holy Spirit when we walk in practical righteousness and brotherly love.

That’s really the simplest summation I can give you.

One who believes “in the name of the Son of God” receives the Holy Spirit who causes that person to walk in love and righteousness.

IF THAT IS YOU, then you are saved.
If that is you, then “you may know that you have eternal life.”

#2 THAT WE ARE HEARD
1 John 5:14-17

John simply said:
“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

This was another proof that John had written to these believers.
• Those who believe in Jesus are granted the right to become sons of God.
• We are adopted into God’s family.
• And we are welcome to Him.

A believer in Jesus Christ should never be timid
About approaching the Father in prayer.
We have confident access through Jesus.

Even in our sin we are promised that we can approach God,
Confess our sins, and God will forgive us and cleanse us.

We know that God hears and answers our prayers.

And then we saw what we think was JOHN’S EXAMPLE
Of how effective our prayers can be.

• That even when a fellow brother falls into sin
• And is reaping physical consequences for his sin.
• We can pray to God on that brother’s behalf and God will restore him to life.

God hears the prayers of those who believe in Jesus.

So we saw those two last week.
As believers in Jesus Christ we can be sure:
• That we are saved
• That we are heard

#3 THAT WE ARE SECURE
1 John 5:18

Here we have another verse that has been subject to
Many different interpretations and applications.

SO WE NEED TO DO OUR WORK ON IT AS WELL.

In verses 16-17 we were clearly dealing with a brother who sinned.

So in one sense it SEEMS STRANGE
That John would say in verse 18 that, “no one who is born of God sins;”

For starters,
We are well aware of how John started his letter:
TURN BACK TO: 1 John 1:8

We could, I suppose, then say that
We are talking about the habitual practice of sin.

And we could say that “no one who is born of God lives in the continual practice of sin”

That is, after all, what John spoke of back in chapter 3
TURN TO: 1 John 3:7-8

AND WHILE THAT IS TRUE,
I’m NOT certain that this is what John is referring to here.

THE CONTEXT of the verse sheds the needed light on the subject.

John says, “We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him”

From the context it is apparent that what John is referring to here
Is the specific sin of apostasy, or falling away from the faith.

If you’ll remember, that was a major issue for the recipients of this letter.
They were confused as to why some were abandoning the faith
And leaving the church.

JOHN EXPLAINED IT VERY CLEARLY IN THIS LETTER.
TURN TO: 1 John 2:18-20

John had a simple explanation as to why some people
Were abandoning Christ and leaving the church.

The reason is because “they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us”.

Those who are not genuine believers are NOT secure.
They are prone to deception and selfish desires which pull men from the church.

IT IS THE SIN OF APOSTASY.

But John reminds the true believers here that
They need not fear ever committing such a sin.

WHY?
“He who was born of God keeps him”

This is another point of debate among commentators.
• Some say this is referring to Jesus
• Some say it is not Jesus, but rather the believer himself

The latter’s argument is that
Jesus is never referred to as One “who was born of God”

But that’s not true.
John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Jesus is the “only begotten Son”
Jesus was “born of God”

And that is the real distinction in this verse.
It is found in the verb tenses.

You see the difference between the word “is” and “was”

Referring to the believer
John calls him “one who is born of God” indicating a present condition.

Referring to Jesus
John call him “He who was born of God” indicating a past reality.

Beyond that even, we are well-aware that
It has never been us who keeps ourselves.
It has always been Christ who keeps us.

John 17:11-15 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”

John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

The security of the sheep has always been because of
The strength of the Shepherd, not the strength of the sheep.

Christ protects His own.
Christ keeps His own.

Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Christ is a faithful High Priest who always lives to make intercession for us.
He is forever pleading our case before the Father.

Romans 5:8-10 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

There Paul speaks of
The IMPLICATIONS of the resurrected and now ascended Jesus.

If His death could reconcile us to God
Then certainly His life can keep us reconciled.

THAT IS THE POINT.
• Those who believe in Jesus are secure.
• We are absolutely certain of this.
• We “know” this.

2 Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

Jude 24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

AND JOHN WANTED YOU TO KNOW THIS.
There may be some who leave the church and deny Christ,
But that is only because they were not genuine believers.

TRUE BELIEVERS ARE KEPT.

And John says, “the evil one does not touch him.”

Think of it rather as “lay hold of”

• We know, for example, that Satan sifts the wheat as he did to Peter.
• We know that he prowls seeking whom he may devour.
• We know he tempts
• We know he accuses the brethren

But he is NOT allowed to claim believers ever again.
He cannot lay hold of us again.
He cannot enslave us again.

We are protected by Christ.
1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

It really is as simple as that.
You did nothing to get yourself saved
And you do nothing to keep yourself saved.

Your soul is guarded by Christ.
He has purchased you and of those the Father gives Him,
He loses nothing.

John 6:39-40 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

John clearly wanted to remind the church of this.
• Don’t let the apostates confuse you.
• Genuine believers are kept by Jesus.

We know that we are saved
We know that we are heard
We know that we are secure
#4 THAT WE ARE SET APART
1 John 5:19

You can see that John has been addressing various issues
That no doubt caused confusion for the church.

Another one of those issues was that of being hated or persecuted.

IN THIS LETTER John had referenced the sort of attacks that the church had come under by the world.

He mentioned DECEPTION
TURN TO: 1 John 2:26

He mentioned HATRED
TURN TO: 1 John 3:13-14

He mentioned REJECTION
TURN TO: 1 John 4:4-6

All of those can be confusing issues for people to face.

• When someone continually argues with you about your beliefs
• And continually tries to get you to believe their doctrine…
• When someone grows to hate you for your beliefs…
• When someone refuses to listen to your message…

It can cause some doubt and uncertainty.

But John desired to make sure we understand that the reason for the animosity is NOT because we are doing something wrong.

Jesus fully explained in the upper room
Why there is a sharp division between us and the world.

John 15:18-21 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.”

Believers are hated very simply because they are set apart.
They have been chosen out of the world
And this is why they are maligned and attacked and hated.

Jesus would talk about just how hostile this division could become.
John 16:1-4 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

In His High Priestly prayer Jesus addressed the issue before the Father.
John 17:14-19 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”

Jesus was well aware of the issues.
• We are no longer “of the world”
• But we have been sent “into the world”

And this reality is cause for hatred and animosity and rejection.

And when this happens believers should NOT let such a reality
Be a source of confusion and doubt.
Instead, such a reality
Should be cause for great CONFIRMATION of our salvation.

“We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”

The fact that the world hates us
Is only a confirmation that we are no longer with them.

1 Peter 4:3-4 “For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;”

God has saved you out of their circle and that is why they attack.

Colossians 1:13-14 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Titus 3:3-7 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

You see it everywhere in Scripture don’t you.
God has done remarkable things for you.
• He has saved you from sin.
• He has transferred you to His kingdom.
• He has filled you with His Spirit.
• He has called you His child.

That is why there is such hatred for you by the world.
That is why they lie to you and malign you
And hate you and reject you and ignore you.

They do that because they lie to and malign and hate and reject God.
They lie “in the power of the evil one.”
• Their father is the father of lies.
• Their father is adversary against God.
• Their father is the accuser of the brethren.

When they do those things, they are just doing the deeds of their father.

But you have a new Father now and are no longer in that family.
You are set apart and this explains the animosity.

This is one of those things John wrote about that you should know.
TURN TO: 1 John 3:10

John wanted you to be sure of that.

So as believers we are sure:
• That we are saved
• That we are heard
• That we are secure
• That we are set apart

#5 THAT WE ARE CORRECT
1 John 5:20

Oh everyone loves that one!
WE ARE THE ONES WHO ARE RIGHT.

And I know, you’re not supposed to be so dogmatic in this day and age.

I texted you all out a link this week to the sermons from the Truth Matters Conference which was held this past May at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

It took me a little while to get to those sermons to listen, Chris put me on them.

I sent out the link because
They are so helpful in this world of deception and confusion.

But as we talk about how you can be sure that you are correct,
I want to read you an excerpt from one of those sermons.

This sermon was by Phil Johnson. He’s the executive director of Grace To You which is the ministry where you hear John MacArthur on the radio.

Phil Johnson preached a sermon called: “A Certain Uncertainty”

As part of his introduction he said this:
“One of the most disastrous developments in Western society since the end of World War II has been the loss of certainty. It’s not politically correct these days to hold strong opinions, to be convicted—to hold convictions about especially biblical truth; and that’s ironic because one of the founding documents of the American way of life, the Declaration of Independence, opens with a short preamble that’s followed by these famous words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” But in postmodern America, no truth is self-evident. We’re not even supposed to be sure what a person’s gender is until that person tells you his, her, or their pronouns, or until the kindergarten teacher figures it out…
People nowadays just don’t believe that it’s possible to know with any kind of certainty what’s really true, and so they just have one bedrock belief. This is their key presupposition: that anyone who is certain about anything is just arrogant, because if you don’t believe it’s possible to know anything for sure, how can you take seriously any truth claims, especially truth claims coming from someone so unenlightened as to believe that God has revealed truth in Scripture…
Postmodern wisdom therefore suggests that simple humility should keep us from ever claiming that we know anything for sure. That is the fundamental idea that’s actually driving human society right now: It’s the belief that no one, no one anywhere, has the authority to declare that anything is absolutely true. You can express your personal opinion as much as you like, but only if you acknowledge that it’s merely your opinion. You cannot make any universal truth claims, and if you do, you’ll be challenged. In fact, if you do, you might be forced off Twitter.
Now as Christians, you ought to recognize instantly, that is not humility, that’s unbelief.”
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/TM22-5/a-certain-uncertainty-phil-johnson

As Phil would go on to quote:
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

The very essence of your faith…
The very essence of being a believer expects that
You will be a person of assurance and conviction.

God did not give you His word so that you could vacillate.
God gave the truth of His word so that we could be dogmatic.

Or as Steve Lawson likes to say, “Bulldogmatic”

We battle this issue known as Post-Modernism today.
(And I’m going to summarize here a little more of what Phil Johnson had to say)

If you are not familiar with the term.
It used to be that we battled what is called “Modernism” which was the belief that all truth must be verified by science.

If science didn’t verify it then it wasn’t true.
And when the church fell into modernism
We eventually fell into liberalism and finally apostasy.

When people started disregarding the Bible because it didn’t make sense to them scientifically (like Jesus walking on water or multiplying the loaves and the fishes) it led to unbelief.

But our culture is no longer a “MODERNISTIC” culture.

Now we have moved into post-modernism where the culture
No longer believes in absolute truth (even scientific truth).

That is why an entire generation can argue about things like gender
Or whether or not 2+2=4,
It’s because they believe it impossible to know truth.

AND NOW WE ARE IN THIS POST-MODERN CULTURE,
Where as Phil Johnson noted the only real error that you can commit
Is to be dogmatic because that is seen as arrogant.

And if you step out and say, “This is true” or “That is true”
Immediately the backlash will fall down on your head
And you’ll be called arrogant or unloving.

THAT IS WHAT WE FACE.

Now in John’s day certainly it wasn’t post-modernism.
In John’s day it was GNOSTICISM.

• John was dealing with people who had a higher knowledge than you.
• They had supposedly had some sort of spiritual encounter that gave them enlightenment that you didn’t have.

It must have been really hard to debate people like that.

I think to probably best give you the feel it would be like
If you find yourself in a college classroom
Debating a professor or some PhD.

You know, they’re educated and you aren’t
So you aren’t qualified to correct or argue with them.

I think that is probably a little more what it felt like for John’s people.

And I think you can see how intimidating this must have been.

Is it not intimidating for you
When you are sucked in to some debate only to know
If you disagree or state the truth they are going to malign you?

IT’S HARD.
No one likes to be called arrogant.
No one likes to be called unloving

BUT…
WE KNOW!!!

“And we know that the Son of God has come”

• We know Jesus is fully God.
• We know He came to this earth in human flesh.
• We know He is the Savior.

“And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”

Did you catch all the “we know”?
Did you catch all the “true”?

Listen church, they may malign you.
They may call you uneducated and stupid
Or they may call you arrogant and unloving.

But that doesn’t change the fact that we are correct.
WE HAVE THE TRUTH.

How can you say that preacher?

John 8:31-32 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

John 17:3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

1 Timothy 3:14-15 “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

We have the truth!
We know the truth!

Don’t let them bully you.
Don’t let them silence you.

We are the light in the world, not them.
We have the truth, not them.

And this is one of the reason John wrote.

TURN TO: 1 John 2:14

TURN TO: 1 John 2:21-24

TURN TO: 1 John 4:1-6

THE WHOLE IDEA OF THIS LETTER
WAS TO TAKE REGULAR BELIEVERS LIKE YOU AND ME
Who were being silenced by liars
Who had convinced them that they knew what you didn’t,
AND TO CONVINCE US THAT WE HAVE THE TRUTH!

WE DO CHURCH!
We have the word of God.
It is true, every word is true, it cannot pass away.

Believe it and stand on it and proclaim it.
YOU ARE CORRECT!

And this also John wanted you to know.

Now I know there is one more verse,
But I am compelled I think to deal with it on it’s own next week.

But Christian if you believe in Jesus you can be sure:
• That you are saved
• That you are heard
• That you are secure
• That you are set apart
• That you are correct

Download here

What Believers Can Be Sure Of – part 1
1 John 5:13-21 (13-17)
September 11, 2022

This morning we come to the conclusion of the book of 1 John.
• For all intents and purposes the main points of the letter are behind us.
• John has completed his dissertation.

What we get now in the final 9 verses of the book is THE REVIEW
John concludes this book by reinforcing the things
That we should have learned as we studied this book.

Very little in this final segment is new information.
It is meant to reinforce what we have learned.

What we see in these final 9 verses are 5 things believers can be sure of.
• These are the 5 things that John wanted you to know.
• These are the 5 things that John wanted you to be confident about.

And so to make sure we see them,
John concludes his letter by reiterating them again.

What can we as believers be sure of?
#1 THAT WE ARE SAVED
1 John 5:13

It is probably the most famous verse in the entire epistle.
• That believers can and should know that they are saved;
• That they have “eternal life.”

And as John points out,
This is one of the main reasons he wrote this epistle.

This was THE PLAN
“These things I have written to you…”
• The entire purpose of this epistle.
• The entire purpose of this writing was to cause you to learn this.

When God wanted believers to know they were saved
He used John to write this epistle.

It is an authoritative, factual, written letter.
• John is NOT leaving men up to their FEELINGS on this.
• John is NOT leaving men up to their LOGIC on this.
• John is NOT leaving men up to the VIEWS of the culture.

There needed to be a guide.
There needed to be a recorded truth.
Something tangible that you could hold and read.
Something you could measure your life by.

God’s word through John would be that measuring stick.

We are always thankful that GOD HAS SPOKEN
To answer the most pertinent issues of our life.

God has NOT left us to logic or reason or feeling
To determine spiritual things.

But rather God’s magnificent promises have
“granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.”

God has addressed in His word how you can know if you are saved.

We are blessed to have this letter
And to be able to measure our lives by it as well.
THE PLAN

We also see THE PREREQUISITE
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God…”

It is really an elemental truth, but it MUST BE STATED over and over.

Not everyone is saved.
Universalism is a lie.

• Our culture wants to believe that everyone and all dogs go to heaven.
• Our culture wants to believe that all roads are leading up the same mountain.
• Our culture wants to believe that a loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell.

If that is true then there is no need for John to write this letter.
Why bother giving assurance if everyone is saved?

No, the fact of the matter is that salvation is only for “you who believe”.

The offer is qualified.
God doesn’t give eternal life to non-believers.

John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Eternal life is available but it is limited only to those who believe.

And NOT to those who “only believe”
But those “who believe in the name of the Son of God”

Again, the “name” indicates the fullness of His person.
What they believe matters.

There is belief that Jesus is fully God and that He became fully man.
He is the God-man.
He is God made flesh.

It’s not just THAT you believe, but WHAT you believe.
You have to believe and you have to believe that
Jesus is the Son of God who came in human flesh to save sinners.

That is and has always been the prerequisite.
AND JOHN HAS MADE THAT CLEAR.

THE PLAN, THE PREREQUISITE
And we also see THE PURPOSE of John’s writing.
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

This is ONE OF the purposes.
So that those who believe will “know that you have eternal life”

• It’s NOT a feeling.
• It’s NOT an emotion.
• It’s NOT a hope or a desire.
• It is a conviction; a certainty; an assurance.

This is one of the reasons God inspired John to write this letter
So that believers would know that they are saved.

You think of ALL THE THINGS
That WE TRY TO BE SURE OF or to make secure in life.

• We buy auto insurance in case we have a wreck.
• We buy home insurance to protect us against natural disasters.
• We buy life insurance to protect financially against death.
• We buy health insurance to protect against financial ruin in case of medical
costs.

The whole idea is that we want to be certain and confident of the future.
We want to make sure that we are adequately prepared
For whatever may come our way
And that nothing catches us unaware and ruins our life.

And I don’t know your personal budget, but I’d bet that if you total up all that you spend on insurance a month you’re probably spending at least 25% of what you make to try and protect the other 75%.

The point is that we know the future is no certain
And we see the importance of making sure that we are protected.

And that is just the future in this life.
That is just regarding the number of years you have left in this life.

BUT WHAT ABOUT SALVATION?
WHAT ABOUT ETERNITY?

We read the FACTS regarding those who are caught UNPREPARED.
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”

Luke 13:23-24 “And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

Those are people who are not ready when eternity hits.
We’ve read that story about the rich man and Lazarus
And how in the blink of an eye both of those men entered eternity
And things were drastically different for each of them.

You do realize that there is an eternal storm coming?

Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

If you are not familiar with that parable of Jesus…
• We have two men and both are preoccupied with building their life.
• Their life is represented by the house they are building.
• It is a metaphor for everything you build and accomplish and wish to save and
protect in this life.

The problem is that there is a storm coming.
And the storm hits both houses.
The storm hits every house.

The storm is a metaphor for the coming judgment.
• In eternity everything gets tested.
• In eternity everything gets judged.

And the reality is that
While one man was prepared for judgment, one man wasn’t.

One man built on a faulty foundation.
The other man built on the rock.

WHY THE ROCK? Because he knew a storm was coming and he tied his house to the only thing that could withstand the coming storm.

Of course the rock is Jesus.

BUT AGAIN YOU GET THE POINT.
It is foolish to spend so much time seeking to protect and secure
Things in this life but give no thought to eternity.

You will live in this body for 70, 80, 90 years.
But then eternity lasts forever.

A man should really consider what comes then.

Paul said:
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”

Peter said:
2 Peter 1:10 “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;”

You ought to want to settle that issue.
• You ought to want to know if your house will withstand the coming storm.
• You ought to want to know if you are going to live forever or be judged forever.

AND THAT IS ONE OF THE REASONS FOR THIS LETTER.
These truths only apply to those who believe in Jesus,
And this is how they know they have eternal life.

That is one of the reasons that John wrote “These things”

WHAT THINGS?
Well, let’s do a QUICK REVIEW.

(1:6-7) – There is one definitive fact.

• Those who walk in the light (righteousness) are promised that they are forgiven of all their sin.
• They are promised that they have been atoned for.

So we examine our lives and ask if I am one who walks in the truth or if I am a liar and a phony and a fraud?

(2:3-5) – that’s pretty clear.
Do I keep His commandments?

Is obedience to Christ the characteristic of my life?
• He commanded us to love one another.
• He commanded us to forgive our brother.
• He commanded us to go forth and share the gospel.
• He commanded us to confront our sinning brother.
• He commanded us to serve one another.
• He commanded us to confess Him before men.
• He commanded us to be faithful until death.
• He commanded us to feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick.
• He commanded us to deny ourselves and follow Him.

DO I DO THAT?

(2:9-10) – Do you hate your brother?

We remember that hatred = the absence of love.
Do you hate those whom God loves?

(2:23) – Have you confessed the Son?

(2:29) – Do you practice righteousness?

(3:10) – There they are again.
• Do you practice righteousness?
• Do you love your brother?

(3:14) – And again, do you love your brother?

(3:24) – do you keep His commandments?
Do you have the Holy Spirit of God?

(4:7) – And again, do you love your brother.
This is the one who knows God.

(4:13) – Do you have the Holy Spirit?

(4:15) – Are you confessing that Jesus is the Son of God?

(5:1) – Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?

(5:12) – Do you have Christ?

I mean when you lay them all out
It becomes obvious doesn’t it?

1) The one who believes in and confesses Jesus receives the Holy Spirit.

2) And when the Holy Spirit moves in He causes certain behaviors.
• He causes you to continually believe in Christ.
• He causes you to confess Christ publicly.
• He causes you to obey Christ’s commands and live righteous.
• He causes you to love your brother.

John has been more than thorough in that regard.

And thus he says:
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

AGAIN, the purpose of this letter was NOT to condemn
(though the truth may do that).

John DIDN’T WRITE to expose a bunch of phonies in the church.
John WROTE because he wanted true believers to know they were saved.

HE WROTE TO:
• People who loved Christ, believed in Him, and confessed Him.
• People who had the Holy Spirit.
• People who loved their brothers in deed and truth.

John could see that in their lives and he wanted them to know:
YOU ARE SAVED!

You wouldn’t do those things if you hadn’t been saved.
God has granted you “eternal life”.

And I remind you again that
“eternal life” is not something you receive when you die.

John isn’t telling you that you will get eternal life.
John wants you to see that you already have it.
THE LIFE OF CHRIST IS IN YOU

Eternal life is something you receive when you believe.
When you believe, Christ makes you alive.
He raises you from spiritual death into spiritual life.

It is a new life manifested by love and obedience.

It is called eternal life because it never ends.
You don’t lose it when you die.

At death you lose physical life, but you don’t lose spiritual life;
Spiritual life lasts forever. Spiritual life is eternal.

John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Jesus gives spiritual life which is eternal.

And John wants you to know that you have it.

He got this from Jesus in the upper room
And he wants to make sure you know it too.

John 17:1-2 “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.”

Jesus gives eternal life to those who are His

John wrote this letter so that you would know that you have it.
• He wrote this letter so that you would be able to see if your house is indeed built on the rock.

You may NOT KNOW what the future holds for your physical health…
You may NOT KNOW what the future holds for your financial security…
You may NOT KNOW what the future holds for how long you will even live…

But one who genuinely believes in Jesus…
One who has been filled with His Spirit…
One who obeys Christ…
One who loves the brethren…

One thing you can know is that you have eternal life.
YOU ARE SAVED.

It is possible to know it and you should know it.

But that’s just one of the things John wanted you to be sure of.
That we are saved
#2 THAT WE ARE HEARD
1 John 5:14-17

I know the last two verses we just read there
Have probably stirred up your curiosity a little and we’ll get to them.

FIRST: let’s make sure we understand the overwhelming point of John.

As a believer in Jesus Christ you can be confident
That the God of the universe hears your prayers.

“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

It has been important to John
• That those who believe know they are saved,
• But also to know that they are children of God and thus are welcome to Him.

Throughout this letter has been a concentrated effort to make sure
And IDENTIFY BELIEVERS AS the real and actual children of God.

(2:12-14)
John reinforces the family ties believers have with their Heavenly Father.
• We AREN’T just distant slaves.
• We DON’T just have a number among the redeemed.
• We ARE children of God.
• We HAVE been loved and redeemed by our Father.

(3:1)
John uses intimate language to describe our new relationship.
• We are called “children of God”

Perhaps John saw people who were timid to approach God.

Perhaps John saw people who had been saved out of that old Jewish system where God was behind the veil and totally off limits.

And John wants them to know that because of the work of Jesus,
God is not irritated at their presence.

God doesn’t sigh when you knock on His door.
• Because Jesus has clothed us in His righteousness…
• Because Jesus has fully atoned for our sin…
• Because Jesus has removed every ounce of condemnation…

God is our Father.
We walk right through His door and boldly approach Him.

Hebrews 4 says we “draw near with confidence”
Hebrews 6 says we have “a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters the veil”

Hebrews 10:19-22 “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Do you understand that as a redeemed child of God that you are welcome to God?

God not only allows us to present our requests to Him,
But He actually tells us to do it.

Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

THAT IS WHAT JOHN SAYS HERE.

Not only does God hear us, but look at verse 15 “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”

John wrote this letter so that you would know that
You are encouraged by God to approach Him
And present your requests to Him.

(3:21-22) He had already said it once.
• “we have confidence before God”
• “whatever we ask we receive from Him”

GOD HEARS THE PRAYERS OF HIS CHILDREN

“hears” DOESN’T just indicate that God is aware of what you are praying.

That is true for all men.
Even when non-believers prayer God fully knows what they are saying.

You’ll see in Psalms 139 tonight that God is aware of every word on your tongue before it ever comes out of your mouth.

“hears” DOESN’T just mean He is knowledgeable of what you said.

No, the idea here is of ANSWERING.
• God answers the prayers of His children.
• We have the right to make requests of God.
• And He will do it.

AND AGAIN, WHERE DID JOHN GET THIS FROM?

John 14:13-14 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”

John 16:23-24 “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”

John 16:26-27 “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.”

If you ask God, He hears you!
He answers you!
He will grant your request!

I heard a great quote the other day:
“God didn’t tell us to pray for His benefit.”

That’s a great perspective isn’t it!
John wants you to know that as a child of God
You may confidently approach God and present your requests.

NOW AGAIN, we do see the PARAMETERS.
“if we ask anything according to His will”

(And incidentally true believers who love God, desire obedience, love their brethren, long for the kingdom, and want to see the lost saved, will pray according His will)

God is NOT promising to be some genie in a bottle
Who just grants your every wish.

As a parent, you don’t grant your children’s every wish.
• They are welcome to you.
• You want them to come.
• You probably tell them to ask you.
• And you delight in granting their requests.
• You have a bigger plan for them than just to grant their selfish desires.

AND SO DOES GOD.

But when we pray according to the will of God, He grants our requests.

And then we come to that CONFUSING PORTION of the text.
(16-17) “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.”

First let’s just say that there a lot of sound theologians who struggle with being dogmatic about what John says here so I’d be foolish to act like I know exactly what John is talking about or why he said it.

However, I can give you my thoughts regarding what is being said.

I think what John is doing here is giving you an example
Of just how effective your prayer can be before God.

John tells you that you can present your requests to God
And then he points out the sort of things that can be accomplished through your prayers.

And one of those things is that God will give life to a sinning brother.

Your prayer is so effective before God that God will “for [you] give life to those who commit sin not leading to death.”

I think John’s purpose is to illustrate just how much God delights
In answering the prayers of His children.

But it is notably a difficult passage to understand.

It is quite likely that when John spoke of sin leading to death that the congregation who received this letter knew what he was talking about, but John doesn’t fill us in and so we are somewhat in the dark.

But let’s take a discerning look at it.

First of all, we must recognize that the sinner in question is a “brother”

“If anyone see his brother committing a sin not leading to death…”

Now there are some cases in which you could make the argument that this could just be a Jewish brother and not necessarily a believer, but throughout this letter John has NOT used the word “brother” in that sense.

In this letter “brother” has always been a fellow child of God.
So I don’t think we can flip flop now.

We are talking here about a sinning brother.

AND SINCE it is a brother that necessitates our understanding of what is meant by “death”.

If the sinner in this scenario is a brother (and we have every reason to believe he is) then “death” here CANNOT be in reference to eternal death or hell.

• There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
• Believers get eternal life and they will never perish Jesus said.

It has to be physical death and physical life which is view here.

SO John speaks of sin which leads believers to physical death
And sin which does not lead to believers physical death.

That almost makes it read as though
We are talking about BAD sins and LESSER sins,

But I would remind you that the wages of all sin is death.
• All sin is insubordination against God…
• All sin is to rebel against His sovereign authority…
• All sin brings death…

• Ask Adam and Eve
• Ask Uzza

We are NOT here talking about bad sins and really bad sins.

What is the determining factor regarding whether or not a sin may lead a believer to physical death or not?

And the answer is REPENTANCE.

So is there precedent in Scripture where God physically kills a believer who does not repent of their sin?
• How about Ananias and Sapphira?

• How about:
1 Corinthians 11:28-30 “But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.”

Paul said that some of the Corinthians were dying
because of the way they dishonored the Lord’s Supper.

• What about the sinning brother in Corinth?
1 Corinthians 5:5 “I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

God would kill him before he would let him go so far as to lose his salvation.

So John says here that we have a brother who has sinned,
But it is NOT leading to death.

That indicates, I think, two things.
1) His sin has brought a consequence which has brought him near to death.
2) He is repentant for what he has done, and God has decided not to kill him.

John says:
“If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death.”

It is the power of your prayer.
God will restore them to life because you asked Him too.

You say, “Is there any other reference in Scripture which suggests that this is what John might be talking about?”

I believe there is.
James 5:13-16 “Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

• Now I know there that James refers to one who is “sick”.
• You should know that the Greek word there can be translated “sick” but it is
also translated “weak” as in one who is in sin.

I actually think that is the preferred translation of that verse since James doesn’t deal with physical sickness anywhere else in his letter, but he deals a lot with spiritual weakness or sin.

But there James tells that “sick” or “weak” brother
Who may in fact be near death as a consequence of his sin
To call on the elders and they will pray in faith and he will be restored.

I think that’s the same thing John is talking about here.

Then what does the next thing John says mean?

“There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Well, take that sinning brother who refuses to repent.
• And in his refusal to repent he has ultimately been removed from the church for the destruction of his flesh.

God has determined to take his life because he won’t repent.
It is contrary to the will of God to ask God to spare that man
Since the whole point of his discipline is to push him there.

“All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.”

Specifically it is that sinning believer who repents, and who is prayed for by other believers who is restored to life.

This is John’s example of just how powerful our prayers are before God.

Our prayers before God have the ability
To restore a brother who has been caught in sin back to life.

And the point is:
GOD HEARS AND LISTENS AND RESPONDS TO THE PRAYERS OF HIS CHILDREN.

You should know that!
You should be sure of that!

You are not just sending prayers up into some cosmic void.
You, as a believer, have the right to speak directly to God, and He hears!

Those are two things John wanted believers to be sure of.
• That we are Saved
• That we are Heard

There’s 3 more, and we’ll get to them next time.

Download here

Transparent Worship – Part 1
Psalms 139 (1-6)
September 11, 2022

Tonight we approach another fan favorite of all the Psalms.
It is one of the most frequently quoted because it walks directly into the heavenlies and contemplates the transcendent glories of God.

Ultimately it is a Psalm in which David contemplates
The realities of worshiping a God who knows his heart.

I called this sermon “Transparent Worship”
In a sense that is a little redundant because all worship is transparent.

At least it is transparent to God.

When we come together for corporate worship it is possible if not easy to fool man in regard to the condition of our heart.
• You can watch a person lift their hands…
• You can see a person close their eyes…
• You can hear a person sing at the top of their lungs…

And by all accounts to us it may appear that
They are genuinely and truly worshiping God with all their heart.

AND THEY MAY BE, BUT YOU AND I WILL NEVER KNOW.

BUT GOD KNOWS
Jeremiah 17:10 “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”

1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well He told her that God seeks those who will worship Him in “Spirit and in truth”

God alone knows if that is occurring or not.

Jesus saw right through the Pharisees.
• Jesus said they “honor Me with their lips but their hearts are far from Me”
• Jesus said they “clean the outside of the cup and of the dish but inside are full of robbery and self-indulgence”

GOD KNOWS.

And this is the truth that David contemplates tonight in the 139th Psalm.

And not only does David contemplate the glory of who God is,
But he also applies these realities to his own behaviors
That it might forever change his worship before God.

Tonight we hope to do both as well.

• We gaze upon the transcendence of God and we marvel at the wonder of who He is.

• Then we apply these truths to the way in which we live before Him and let it transform our worship and very lives as well.

Psalms 139 should change our lives.

We’ll break it down into 3 main points tonight.
#1 THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE TRANSCENDENCE OF GOD
Psalms 139:1-18

This is the part of the Psalm that really grabs us
And lifts us into the heavenlies
To behold the very transcendent glory of God.

In fact, even though we may pour over the words there is a sense in which TOTAL COMPREHENSION of this Psalm is IMPOSSIBLE.

Even David says in verse 6, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.”

And I love this about God.
• I love that there is a very distant gap between what I can know and what God
does know.
• I love that He is above me in every possible way.
• I love that He is beyond comprehension.

And I love that even though I cannot fully grasp it all,
That God has seen fit to reveal at least a part of who He is to us.

THESE TRUTHS HERE ARE BEYOND COMPARE.
The things that are said of Him here can be said of no other would-be god.

God is unique here.
God is set-apart here.

And if you will but take a glimpse of God here,
It cannot help but transform the way you live your life
And the way you worship.

18 verses is a lot, so let’s break these down a little further.
Let’s talk about the OMNISCIENCE OF GOD
(1-6) “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.”

Now, for the sake of our understanding of this Psalm as a whole
You need to circle or underline that first line of verse 1.

“O LORD, You have searched me and known me.”

And that is important because by the time David is finished
With this Psalm he will have circled back here.

Look down to verse 23, “Search me, O God, and know my heart;”

So it begins with a declaration that God has known him
And it ends with a request that God would search him even more.

THERE ARE A COUPLE OF REASONS FOR THIS.

1) DECLARATION
And one sense you have David here declaring and almost defending his genuine worship before God.

Look at verse 21, “Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?”

That is a question David poses to God.
• God, you know everything about me, you know my heart.
• Can’t you see my devotion to You?

Now, that is what David believes about himself.
• David believes that in his heart he is truly and solely devoted to God.
• David believes about himself that he truly loves God and truly hates the wicked.

But it doesn’t end there.
It ends with a request to be searched out even more.

And that is the second reason we see for this Psalm.
2) SUBMISSION

David is appealing to God to see if his assessment of his life is accurate.
David yields all judgment of himself even to God.

Do you understand that you don’t know your own heart?

When I was in seminary before I was ever called to pastor a church one of the professors sought to give us a little practical wisdom for the day when we might go and interview with a church.

He said, “When you go and speak to a pastor search committee and you ask them about their church, you need to understand that you are not dealing with 1 church, you are dealing with 3.

They are:
• The church they think they are.
• The church they wish they were.
• The church they really are.

Now that’s true of people too.
In your own life there is:
• The person you think you are.
• The person you wish you were.
• And the person you really are.

You may know the first 2, but only God knows the 3rd.
So David is forced to yield up even what he thinks about himself
To the true knowledge of God.

WE CALL THAT HUMILITY.
You are what God says you are.

In a world where everyone thinks they reserve the right to declare their own heart, we understand that the Bible says you don’t even know your own heart.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”

David yields to that.

Remember Paul?
1 Corinthians 4:4 “For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.”

You need to see that theme which permeates this Psalm.
• In one sense David is declaring his heart to God.
• In another sense David is asking God to reveal his heart to him.

And this is how we come before God in worship.
• We come with boldness certainly to declare our praise to God.
• And yet at the same time we come with humility for we know any encounter
with God is sure to expose and change us.

There is a real submission and humility here from David.

It all begins with
DAVID CONTEMPLATING THE OMNISCIENE OF GOD
(omniscience of course is that God is all-knowing)

David does NOT give a detailed theology of God’s omniscience.
David gives a personal testimony of God’s omniscience.

David limits his evidence simply to what God knows about him.
Surely God knows far more than this, but this alone is remarkable.

(2) “You know when I sit down and when I rise up;”

You can underline the phrases:
“You know” – “You understand” – “You scrutinize” – “Intimately acquainted” – “You know it all.”

The point here is of God’s knowledge.
And David says that God is aware of
Even the most mundane and insignificant aspects of his life.

We might marvel if God know about the high points of our day.
• God knew about that moment when you witnessed today.
• God knew about your Bible study
• God knew about your prayer

We might expect God to be caught up on all the high points of our life,
But David says that God knows even the minutest details.

“You know when I sit down and when I rise up;”

Matthew 10:29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”

God knows everything about your life.

And NOT JUST the outwardly observable things.
“You understand my thought from afar.”

• God knows what you are thinking.
• God knows why you are thinking it.
• God knows the motive behind it all.

He doesn’t just know your thoughts or read your mind,
He “understands” them.

It’s not that God is just chronicling your life
Like some sort of cosmic accountant or like a stat keeper at a baseball game.
• Rory sat down 27 times today.
• He walked 723 steps.
• He preached for 57 minutes.

That brings his sitting to walking average up to .235
And his preaching average to 52 minutes.

You are not a stat to God.

David says, (3) “You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.”

God “scrutinizes” what you are doing.
He examines it, He watches it, He understands it.

His understanding of what you do and why you do it is said to be
“intimately acquainted.”

In this life you might say that no one knows you better than your close family.
Your parent or your spouse; those with whom you’ve been most intimate.

God knows you better than them.

In fact, God knows you better than you know you.
(4) “Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.”

God knows what you’re going to say
Even before you know what you’re going to say.

David says, (5) “You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid your hand upon me.”

In other words, You are before me and after me.
And David says, “And laid your hand upon me.”

The implication there is that of judgment.
Look down at verse 10 “Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.”

God knows EVERYTHING

WHAT KIND OF KNOWLEDGE IS THAT?
It is Incomprehensible Knowledge.

To which David says, (6) “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.”

That is mind blowing to David.
It is incomprehensible.

We often speak of Satan being an accuser of the brethren.
• He loves to tattle on you to God.

But the reality is that he doesn’t have to
For God has always known everything about you.

• He knows what you do and why you do it.
• He knows what you’ve said and why you said it.
• He knows what you’re thinking and why you thought it.

“You know it all”

STOP AND PONDER THAT FOR A MOMENT.
God is watching and understanding and scrutinizing
And intimately acquainted with everything about you.

Hebrews 4:13 “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

He sees
He knows

And let’s just carry out THE RAMIFICATIONS of such a truth.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN IN YOUR LIFE?

Well we can certainly start with the most obvious and terrifying negative.

GOD KNOWS ALL YOUR SIN

Do we not remember the Ananias and Sapphira account?
• They gave the money but lied about what they gave.
• And God knew it.
• And God struck them dead for lying.

Do you remember the story of Gehazi in the Old Testament? (the servant of Elisha)
• When Naaman the leper came to Israel was cleansed
• And Gehazi followed him to collect payment:

2 Kings 5:25-27 “But he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant went nowhere.” Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothes and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants? “Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.”

Do you remember that secret sin of David?
• When he had an affair with Bathsheba
• And then had her husband sent to the front lines to die to cover it up:

2 Samuel 12:9-12 “‘Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ‘Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’”

How about the elders of Israel in the days of Ezekiel?
• Who were secretly worshiping pagan gods and thought no one knew it.

Ezekiel 8:7-12 “Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. And He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.” So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. Standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”

Or should we talk about Achan and how he took the spoil from Jericho and buried it in his tent, but God exposed him?

Should we talk about how Sarah laughed to herself when God told her she would bear a son and God exposed her?

Do you remember when Jesus declared the paralytic forgiven?
Matthew 9:3-4 “And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?”

Or how about when the Pharisees scoffed at Jesus’ preaching about money?
Luke 16:14-15 “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”

ARE YOU STARTING TO GRASP THE IDEA HERE?
GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU.

There are many things which are deceptive about
Our current age of technology and video and pictures and such.

But one of the biggest deceptions that we see in our culture
Is this PERCEIVED ANONYMITY of people.

People think they can get alone on their phone
And it gives them the illusion of secrecy and privacy.
And it is anything but!

Everything is public now, and it always has been to God.
He knows everything you’ve done, thought, and said.

HE WITNESSED IT ALL.

There were two tribes
• That wanted to take their land on the wilderness side of the Jordan
• And they promised after they settled their land that they would go and help the other tribes secure their land.
• Moses warned them against breaking their promise:

Numbers 32:23 “But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.”

WHAT A STATEMENT!

Listen, God knows everything and that means that
He knows about every single one of your sins.

You aren’t fooling Him.

It is remarkable that He loves us still.

But it is also IMPERATIVE that
You repent of your sin for He already knows.

Someone hit one of the posts in front of Carrie’s salon this week and kept going.
We watched the security camera footage and saw the truck and printed out a picture of the truck hitting the post from the footage.
We found out whose truck it was and went by their house and said, “Hey, you hit the post in front of our building.” He kind of paused a second and then I handed him the paper with the picture of his truck hitting the post. He said, “I admit it.”

Well yeah, I mean, you kind of have to admit it.

So do you with your sin.
God’s got you dead to rights.

He knows, and it is nothing but the patience and kindness of God
That has caused Him to allow you time to repent.

Romans 2:4-6 “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:”

So when you think about the implications of God’s omniscience
First think about it in regard to your sin.

ALL YOUR SIN IS KNOWN.

But there’s more to contemplate.
ALL YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS KNOWN TOO

And this is remarkable since we have a God
Who has promised to reward us for all our righteous deeds.

Do you remember Jesus’ teaching on the Sermon on the Mount?
• In Matthew 6 He confronted the hypocrites for their giving and prayer and fasting
• And how they did it all to receive glory from men.

But Jesus said:
Matthew 6:3-4 “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:17-18 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

The emphasis there of course is that God “sees what is done in secret”

Or do you remember when Jesus talked to the disciples about going out into the world to share the gospel?

Matthew 10:42 “And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”

THAT IS GOOD NEWS ISN’T IT!
God knows everything about you,
But it’s not like he’s some spy waiting in the bushes
Just trying to catch you in some evil deed.

No, God is just as eager to reward you for your obedience.

When you know that God is watching everything you do,
It is so much easier to serve Him in secret.

When you know that God is intimately acquainted with all your ways,
It is so much easier to not worry how you are perceived by men.

GOD SEES IT, GOD KNOWS IT.

Listen to Paul:
Romans 1:9 “For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,”

2 Corinthians 1:23 “But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth.”

Philippians 1:8 “For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 2:5 “For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness”

What is Paul saying there?
• You don’t know how devoted I am to you, but God does.
• You don’t know how much I pray for you, but God does.
• You don’t know my motives for serving you, but God does.

AND Just as God is aware of our sinful MOTIVES,
He is always aware of our righteous ones.

Listen to Jesus when He called Nicodemus:
John 1:46-48 “Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

There was no fooling Jesus.
• He knew Judas was a devil
• And He knew Nathanael was trustworthy
• And He would reward them both.

God knows all your sin,
And God knows all your righteousness too.

A SINNER should not think he will escape UNDETECTED
A RIGHTEOUS man should not worry that he will go UNREWARDED.

GOD KNOWS.

But that’s not all we think about when we think about His omniscience.

Because God knows all things about our life, HE IS HELP IN TROUBLE

Do you remember Hagar?
• She was the mistress of Sarah and the mother of Ishmael.
• When she was treated roughly by Sarah she fled and found herself in the wilderness.
• God came to her and promised her that her son would also be a great nation.

Genesis 16:13-14 “Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.”

“Beer-lahai-roi” means “God sees”

You are never in danger…
You are never in trouble…
You are never in a predicament…
That God doesn’t see and know exactly what is going on.

You are never outside of His gaze or His knowledge.
You never go outside of His observation zone.
HE KNOWS IT ALL.

One more encouraging thing about His omniscience.

AS IT RELATES TO SANCTIFICATION

God knows about sin that you don’t even know about.
God knows about offenses in you that are not apparent to you.

We are prone to give ourselves a pass.
We are prone to justify ourselves.

And if it were left up to us we would never be fully sanctified
For would stop well short of the mark
Convinced that we had finally arrived.

But God sees things about our selves that we don’t see.
God sees sin that we haven’t even contemplated.

And sure this can be a cause for fear of judgment,
But it is also a cause for hope of sanctification.

Have you ever gone to the doctor with a negative symptom but have been frustrated because the doctor doesn’t know why you are suffering in such a way?

They can run tests and MRI’s and Cat scans and procedures that end in “oscopy” and do blood tests and sorts of other things and still they can’t find it.

It’s kind of hopeless isn’t it?

You know there is something wrong but you don’t know how to attack it
Because no one can tell you what it is.

BUT GOD KNOWS.
And He can fix it.

Do you remember Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well?
John 4:16-18 “He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”

And alter after offering her living water do you remember what she did?
John 4:28-29 “So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

Yes there was a confrontation of sin, but she wasn’t upset about it.
She finally found a man who knew her sin and could help her with it.

Your Sanctifier knows what needs to be fixed.
• He is intimately acquainted with all your ways.
• He is well-aware of your sin and how to remove it.
• He knows it all.

He was at your beginning, He will be at your end.
His hand is already upon you.

He knows the smallest details and He knows the deepest motives.
He knows things about you that you don’t even know about yourself.
• Do you know how many hairs are on your head?
• Do you know the day of your death?
• God does.

So do you understand now when we talk about “Transparent Worship”?
He knows…
Be honest before Him.
Be honest with Him.

He has already searched you.
He has already known you.
But in spite of that He has loved you.
• We know that because He has yet to destroy you.
• We know that because He sent His Son to save you.

Be true and honest with Him.

We’ll stop here for tonight
And pick back up next week with this wonderful Psalm.

This week you can simply contemplate that
God knows all that there is to know about you
And you should respond accordingly.