A Bitter Division

As we look back over the last few weeks, can you remember, John's writing at the start of a bitter division. Cracks are forming; people are leaving. Which we saw back in chapter 2 verse 19; Some have already gone. He says, THEY WENT OUT FROM US, but they didn't really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; their going showed that none of them belonged to us. They didn't belong… because they'd made up a DIFFERENT JESUS. Who wasn't the Jesus John had walked and talked with at all.

And it's all because they're more interested in the ideas of the WORLD… than they are in the TRUTH.

Funny way they did it, to our ears. We live in a world of SCIENCE. Where if you can't measure it in a test tube, you don't want to know about it. They were the exact opposite. Where the SPIRIT WORLD dominated their thinking. Where the PHYSICAL was second rate. With very strong ideas about the FLESH and THE SPIRIT; their logic said, GOD could never come in the flesh, because according to them, flesh was BY ITS VERY NATURE… unclean. Unpleasant. And the thing that counted, the ultimate goal, they said was to DETACH YOURSELF… for your SPIRIT TO SOAR away from your body. Free from the nitty gritty slimy grimy thing we call a body. So how ridiculous, to say the GOD WOULD ACTUALLY COME IN A BODY. Get his hands dirty. There's no way GOD WOULD BECOME MAN. Take on blood vessels. Bones. Eyes and nose. NO WAY that SPIRIT and FLESH could meet that way.

And so they said, God only gave that APPEARANCE. And if it happened at all, it was only TEMPORARY. And so they came up with a new idea. A new teaching. That said Jesus of Nazareth was just an ordinary man. Until his baptism. That Jesus of Nazareth was just an ordinary guy going about his business; here's there lining up to get baptised out in the Jordan River, and the Spirit comes down on him like a dove; right out of the blue. And the voice of God… says "You'll do. This is my beloved Son; I'm well-pleased with Him."

And so here's the idea; ordinary man Jesus, goes in the water, and THE CHRIST SPIRIT COMES ON HIM AT HIS BAPTISM. Bang. And suddenly, he's THE CHRIST. And the Christ spirit stays on him for a while; stays on him until the going gets tough. Because there's no way the Christ spirit would have anything to do with SUFFERING. And DEATH. So the Christ Spirit LEAVES HIM… as he hangs there on the cross. I guess they say, when Jesus cried out to God, "why have you abandoned me?" he's just Jesus the MAN again… without the Christ Spirit any more.

Now that stuff can sound pretty strange. The Christ spirit CAME with the water; left with the blood. But that's the sort of stuff John's dealing with. And that's what he's getting at when you read verse 5 and 6; pick it up from verse 5. He says, "Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes the JESUS IS the SON OF GOD. This is the one who came BY WATER… his baptism…AND BLOOD… his death. He didn't come by WATER ONLY, but by WATER… AND BLOOD. He wasn't just a spirit visitor. He was here for the HARD YARDS AS WELL.

Ever see on TV the at election time, the Prime minister goes visiting. Time honoured tradition. Visiting a CHEESE FACTORY. And he puts on the white apron and the funny little hat and he stands around smiling for the cameras. Nobody's fooled, are they? I mean, he might put on the funny little hat. But there's NO WAY he's really getting involved, is there? He might look the part for a while, but when you buy your block of cheese at the supermarket the next week, you KNOW… the Prime Minister's had nothing to do with it. Just looked the part for a while… and then drove off to have a cup of tea.

That's the Christ the FALSE TEACHERS are pushing. Just a visitor. Not really involved. John says, that's not the REAL CHRIST AT ALL. Not just the water. The water… AND THE BLOOD. There for the lot. Real life. REAL DEATH. The hard yards. The Son of God became a REAL MAN. Real FLESH. Real Blood. Real death; real resurrection. Who by that, REALLY DEALT WITH OUR SIN.

John says, God's SPIRIT testifies that it's true. God's voice at his BAPTISM testifies that it's true. His BLOOD testifies that it's true. Verse 7 and 8; and back then, three witnesses in court PROVED A CASE. "For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water AND THE BLOOD. And the three are in agreement. All of them testifying to the words in verse 11. God has given us eternal life… and THIS LIFE IS IN HIS SON." Who came where we are… who BECAME WHAT WE ARE… and carried through to the end. Death. And resurrection.

Are you going to BELIEVE IT? Or are you going to call God a liar? Are you going to commit yourself to the REAL JESUS? Or make one up for yourself? Life and death decision … because HE WHO HAS THE SON HAS LIFE… and he who DOESN'T HAVE THE SON… has NO LIFE.

You know, a few years back they turned that into a car bumper sticker. No Christ, NO LIFE. And people were furious. How dare you say I have NO LIFE if I'm not a Christian. How arrogant. But that’s what it says. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life. Either arrogant or true. But if it's true, you'll want to be very, very careful about accepting any substitutes. Which Christians were in danger of doing way back then. And are still in danger of doing today.

LIFE AND DEATH…

You know, there's something that might sound even more arrogant in the next verse. As we come to John's concluding remarks. Wrapping up everything he's said; coming right to the point. The reason he's written.

And it reminds me of something Billy Graham did when he was in Australia back in 1979; the great American Evangelist, face to face with Mike Willessee. Interviewed on National Television. And the next day in the newspapers it was almost a NATIONAL SCANDAL.

Because Mike Willessee says to Billy Graham, it's near the end of the interview, they've talked about the millions of people Billy's spoken to, the Presidents he's met; and Mike says to him, Dr Graham, DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO GO TO HEAVEN?

To which Billy Graham says without a moments hesitation, "I don't just THINK I'M GOING TO HEAVEN. I KNOW I'm going to heaven."

Which Mike Willessee said was the most arrogant thing he'd ever heard in his life. I mean, aren't you meant to say, Well, gee I hope so? Or, well, you know, maybe. Billy said it straight out. I KNOW IT.

Friends, I want to say to you today, YOU CAN TOO. And you SHOULD. If you're someone who's put your trust squarely in JESUS. Who's believed in the name of the GENUINE Son of God. Because if you've done that, you're not claiming any credit for YOURSELF when you're sure you're heading for heaven. You're saying you're confident in HIM…who died for you.

And that's exactly why John's saying at the end of his letter. This is why he wrote. Pick it up in verse 13. "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW that you have eternal life." Not just HOPE IT. KNOW IT.

And how can you know it? Because the REAL JESUS …REALLY DIED - to REALLY PAY THE PRICE FOR SIN.

LIFE AND DEATH

Which leads very neatly to what John says next. A strange few verses at first. Scary maybe. About praying. About PRAYING FOR PEOPLE WHO SIN. And the sort of sins worth praying about. And the one sort that isn't.

The Roman Catholic Church draws the doctrine of MORTAL SIN from these few verses. They draw up a list. What's a mortal sin, what's a - what do they call them - venial sin. But I don't think that's John's point at all.

Follow it through. Verse 14. He says one of the great benefits of knowing you have eternal life, is you also know GOD HEARS YOUR PRAYERS. John says, if you ask according to HIS WILL, there's a 100% guarantee, HE HEARS YOU. And more than that, verse 15, if you know that he HEARS YOU when you ask according to his will, you know you HAVE WHAT YOU ASKED FOR. Because GOD'S WILL will always be done.

Want to know how to have your prayers answered? Tune your prayers to God's will. And they will be.

Now it's interesting here, isn't it, the sort of prayer he goes on to talk about - not the prayer for a new car, not the prayer for a parking space when you're running late for an appointment in the city; the sort of prayer that first springs to John's mind when he's thinking about PRAYING ACCORDING TO GOD'S WILL… is the prayer he mentions in verse 16. Praying for your Christian brother or sister- when you see your Christian brother or sister SIN.

You ever pray that prayer?

Now look, I'm not going to insist I've got this next bit right. Because there's been debate about these few verses for the last 2000 years. But I think it HELPS if you look at it in context.

Confident prayer. That's what he's talking about. Confident prayer… for people who have believed in the name of the GENUINE SON OF GOD… who are heading for eternal life.

You see your brother SIN. Someone who's put their trust in Jesus. We do it, don't we. Blow it. Regularly. You see your Christian sister sin; and you say, someone BORN OF GOD doesn't keep sinning like that. I need to PRAY… that she'll stop. That she'll remember WHO SHE IS. That she'll remember where she's heading. Eternal life.

And you know what? Because you've put your faith in the REAL JESUS, God answers the prayer. The SIN is forgiven. The wages of sin is DEATH. But - here's the miracle - THE SIN IS FORGIVEN. And it doesn't lead to death at all. Because the JESUS YOU'VE PUT YOUR TRUST IN is able to save you… he's given his LIFE FOR YOU. That's why he came. PRAYER ANSWERED.

Now stick with me on this. Because here's the point. What if you're one of the people John's been talking about all through his letter. One of the people who have invented their own brand new Jesus. Not the Son of God at all. Tell you what, if you see a brother or sister drifting off after that sort of teaching - if you've watched while they left, the ones John talked about in chapter 2, they went out from us because they never really belonged to us… what about someone like that? More to the point, what if you see someone like that COMMIT A SIN?

Can you see, it's an entirely different picture, isn't it. No point praying that God will forgive them for BEING DISHONEST when they're following a different JESUS, is there? No point praying God will forgive them for their PRIDE when they've walked away from the truth; because the only place there's forgiveness of sin is in TRUSTING JESUS. These are people whose SIN LEADS STRAIGHT TO DEATH. Who'll DIE UNFORGIVEN. Which is a terrible thought. Because… here's why… because they've GIVEN UP TRUSTING THE REAL JESUS. And started following a made up Jesus instead. Who can't save them from anything.

John says, no point praying for the PARTICULAR SINS of people like that. Because they've jumped ship already. When he says, "there's a sin that leads to death," that's what I think he's talking about. Cutting loose from their only possible saviour. The only possible one who can forgive sins.

In other words, I'm suggesting the people he's talking about here are the people he's been talking about all the way through. Have a listen to it again and see if you think it makes sense…

Verse 16. "If anyone sees his BROTHER commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should PRAY and GOD WILL GIVE HIM LIFE. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There IS A SIN that leads to death… I'm not saying he should pray about that. ALL WRONGDOING IS SIN… and there is sin that DOES NOT LEAD TO DEATH." Why not? One reason. Because you CONTINUE TO TRUST IN JESUS. Who's paid for it already.

Which isn't a license just to keep on sinning. Which John keeps reminding us. It's tightrope he keeps walking, he's been on it right from chapter 1. Say you have no sin, you deceive yourself and call God a liar. Willingly and willfully CONTINUE IN SIN, you've missed the point. Because even though we're going to sin, we're never going to say it's OKAY TO SIN. And we're always going to keep repenting of it. Time after time. Verse 18; "We KNOW… we know that anyone born of God doesn't continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe; and the evil one can't harm him." Jesus. The reason we don't want to keep on sinning. And the one who keeps us safe even when we do.

CONCLUSION

Friends, this letter we've looked at over the last five or six weeks, I guess it broke the old Apostle John's heart to have to write it. That people were prepared to so easily walk away from the Saviour he had known. From the TRUTH he'd been commissioned to proclaim.

Incredible, isn't it. That the SON OF GOD comes in the flesh. And they say, WE KNOW BETTER THAN THAT. And it's no surprise the same thing happens today. We've been reminded that we need to keep on keeping on. That we need to REMAIN... in the truth that's come to us through the apostles. Stay put… and when something new comes along, don't even THINK ABOUT IT. Don't even entertain the idea that there's something you somehow need apart from Jesus to make yourself a COMPLETE CHRISTIAN.

John's got a word for it. For remodeling the gospel to suit yourself. For RE-INVENTING A JESUS to suit your own point of view. The word is IDOLATRY. A bit more subtle than carving something out of stone. I guess it's more like carving something out of IDEAS… and you bow down to the god you've made in your own image. To suit yourself. Instead of bowing to the GOD WHO MADE YOU.

Follow the last couple of verses. Because the lines are drawn between the world's wisdom… and God's wisdom. The true … and the false.

Pick it up from verse 19. We know that WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. WE know also 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 - even in his son, JESUS CHRIST. HE is the TRUE GOD and eternal life. Dear children, don't fall for anything else. KEEP YOURSELVES FROM IDOLS.

Will you DO THAT? Because they come in all sorts of subtle shapes and sizes. Always appealing. Always offering something more. That sounds so right. But in the end, they're saying the Jesus you read about, HE'S NOT ENOUGH. The Jesus you've trusted, you need something MORE. John says, it doesn't matter how sincerely you believe anything else… if you want to know the way to life, it's HIM. If you want to know the way to TRUTH… it's him. If you want to know a love that survives into eternity… it's only in HIM. And nowhere else. That's where our security lies. And how we can KNOW… we have eternal life. So let's make sure we KEEP OURSELVES… from idols.