Please take out your Bibles if you want to, to follow along. And we'll be looking this morning at 1 John chapter 5. We'll actually begin our reading in 1 John 5.13, but our focus in particular is going to be on 1 John 5.18. We've been working through the book of 1 John for a number of months now, and as you can tell, we're coming to the end of our study in this book. And just to give those of you who are visiting with us this morning a little bit of an idea of where we've been, we've seen that the outline of the book is actually pretty simple. In the first four verses of the book, John introduces us to the subject of fellowship with God. And actually, to the matter of praise, that we worship God because through Jesus Christ, God has made it possible for us to have fellowship with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. And as John reflects on that truth, he really teaches us throughout the book that this truth of fellowship with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ, is so profound that it completely changes the world. It completely changes the way that we live and move as Christians. And he does that then under two basic headings. And he's talking about how close this fellowship is with God, that it actually changes who we are. And we become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And so he does that under two main headings. First of all, that God is light. From chapter 1, verse 5 through 3, chapter 3, verse 10, he talks about the fact that God is light. And if we are in fellowship with God, then praise be to God, we also become light bearers. We walk in the light as He is in the light, and we have fellowship with one another, and we become bearers of light in a watching world, and sources of light to a needy world. Our fellowship with God, though, doesn't only result in light. Chapter 3, verse 12, we find also that God is love and praise God that not only does he love us, but that he transforms us into instruments of his love so that we can love one another and so that we can show love to a needy world. And then as John concludes the book in the section that we've been working through 513 through 521, John deals with five certainties. Here are things that because we are in fellowship with God, because we are the children of God, we know these things to be true. It's as if John comes to the end of his book and is saying, these truths are self-evident. If we really believe that we're in fellowship with the Father, and with the Son. And those five certainties are eternal life, the assurance of heard and answered prayer, the assurance and knowledge of victory over sin, freedom from sin, the knowledge that our fundamental identity is changed, is different because of Christ's work in us, and lastly, the knowledge and assurance that we have true knowledge of God. that the knowledge that we have of God is not just something that we're hoping is true, that we hope that these things that we say about God are... we hope that they're a good guess or something like that, but know that we have the assurance that these things are true. 1 John 5, 13-21, and remember, we'll be looking especially at 18 this morning. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Now, this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we've asked of him. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask and he will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin and there is sin not leading to death. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding 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. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. I trust it's true for each of you that week by week as you go to church, as you come to church, that as you wake up in the morning, you begin to think, and hopefully it's not something that you just reserve for a Sunday morning activity, but in particular on the Lord's Day, that as you wake up and begin getting out of bed and moving in the direction, if you will, of church, that you begin thinking about items of thanksgiving and praise that you have. toward God. And then maybe in particular, as you climb into the car to drive to church, that your mind begins to ramp up, if you will, to be in worship and to think about all the things that you have to praise the Lord for. And as you woke up this morning, as you drove to church, if I were to say how many of you on your drive here in the morning Remember that one of the great blessings I have from God is assurance of salvation. I think there'd be a few of you who would raise your hand, maybe several. I said, well, how many of you remember and we're praising God for the assurance that when you pray that God hears you and that we know that he hears us because of our perfect intercessor, Jesus Christ. I think a number of you would raise your hands and say, yes, that's something I thank God for today or this week, or that's something that's on my heart. But if I said, how many of you on your way to church this morning said, I thank you, God, because I know that I do not sin. I think the number of hands raised would be nil. The set would be nil. And so John here tells us something that we know with certainty. Quite frankly, in most of our Christian life and experience, we would say we don't know with certainty at all. And in fact, as soon as we say, as soon as we even mention the idea of being here and saying, I know I don't sin, our minds immediately go to that prayer of the Pharisee that Jesus talks about, the Pharisee who says, I thank you that I'm not like this worthless publican over here, that I'm a godly man and that I do all these righteous things. And we would say that's not something that's pleasing to God. So how do we fit? 1 John 5.18 then into our theology. What's John trying to teach us? What's the point that he wants us to get? John has a burden for the church and that burden is that we recognize and that each person who is in Jesus Christ recognize that your relationship with sin is absolutely and drastically different from the relationship with sin that the children of the world, the children of the devil have. That the relationship of the Christian to sin is fundamentally different. And that Christ has set us free for freedom. And I really believe that John would be angry or at least profoundly distressed that Christians don't understand how extreme this break is with sin. Because for John, this fundamental break, the severing of the relationship with sin, is not Theology 500. This is not advanced Christianity. This is one of the five basic truths that he's ending his letter. Every Christian should know that they've experienced this fundamental break with sin. I believe not only is it true that the Apostle John would be grieved, but I believe that Christ himself is grieved, that we don't recognize that His sacrifice on our behalf and His resurrection being raised again for our justification, that we don't appreciate and don't understand and don't grasp the significance of this break, this breach in the relationship with sin. So brothers and sisters, know that as a child of God, that your relationship with sin has been absolutely fractured. It's absolutely broken. If you are a child of God, your relationship with sin is permanently broken. One way we might think about this is, especially given the big day of this past week, I might try to say in a bad British accent, You know, how is life in these 50 colonies? And you would all say, 50 colonies, what are you talking about? What time machine did you come out of? Do you think that these United States are still colonies of Great Britain? This is not the case at all. In fact, we just celebrated our Independence Day. And none of us in this room still thinks of the United States as colonies of Great Britain. It's just foreign to our thinking. It's not the reality that we live in. We aren't colonies of Britain. And in the same way, John is telling us that your relationship with sin that you've been set free from sin, and that you need to celebrate and rejoice in your independency. Now, let's look at how he does this. First John 5, 18. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. John begins his argument with the fundamental truth, arguing from the basic premise that you are children of God. And notice that he uses the language of, not that you are children of God, but that you are born of God. And this is language that John actually uses throughout his epistle. This is familiar language by this point in the letter. You can look at 4, verse 4, 4, verse 7, chapter 5, verse 1, etc., etc. John is wanting to remind us of the truth of 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Build all things that become new. And John's point and the emphasis of John's epistle is actually not that we are children of God in an adoptive sense. That you've been adopted into the family of God. John is arguing not from the doctrine of adoption, which is certainly a biblical doctrine. He's arguing from the doctrine of regeneration. That you are born of God. That you are the offspring of God. In fact, in one place a couple chapters ago, John uses the language of God's seed, and the Greek there is God's sperm, remains in us. That we have this DNA from God within us. And so don't underestimate then the benefits of what it means that you are born of God. If you are born of God, as opposed to being born of the devil, there'd be an expectation that there are going to be fundamental changes in your life. How can you be born of God? Is that possible? To be born of God? And to say, yeah, I'm born of God, but it has no impact on my relationship with sin. It has no impact whatsoever on the way I conduct myself. Well, that's an impossibility, isn't it? Because one of the things that separates God from the devil is the presence of unrighteousness. Right? That God is perfectly holy and righteous. So if we are born of him, it's going to have profound implications on the way that we live. And so John then is going to explore this in three ways. He sees that we, he's teaching us that we have this fractured relationship with sin. And we're going to see that it's actually a triple break. The first is that we have a break in the pattern of sin in our lives. Now, when we read verse 18 in the New King James, which is what you have in the pew, we read, we know that whoever is born of God does not sin. That's pretty extreme, that's pretty strong. Others of you are following along in versions like the ESV or the NIV, or other versions, and you're reading something more along the lines of, we know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning. That's a better translation of what's going on in the Greek. That the person who is born of God does not keep on sinning. And it fits with other statements that John has made about that the pattern of sin will be broken in the life of a believer. So for the believer, the believer in Jesus Christ does not just continue living in sin with this unbroken pattern or habit of sin. Instead, there's a new pattern, a new pattern actually of righteousness in the life of the believer, a pattern of repentance and obedience. So does sin ever show up in the life of the believer? Absolutely. But the pattern is a pattern of Sin. Repentance. Obedience. Obedience. Sin. Repentance. Obedience. Obedience. Obedience. So that we're growing in obedience over the course of our Christian life. So that the pattern of sin, sin, sin, sin, sin that the unbeliever is trapped in is ensnared by and can't get out of, that pattern of sin is broken for the believer. Now, as long as we're here, we have to address the fact that this verse is often used to teach the doctrine of perfectionism. That there are Christians who don't ever sin anymore. And that that would be the hope and dream of all of us. And certainly, in one sense, it is a hope and dream. We look forward to not sinning. But John has already made clear that if anyone claims, 1 John 1, verse 7, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves. And so we know that that's not what John's teaching. Actually, in our immediate context, there are two key problems with the doctrine of perfectionism. First, look back at verse 16. If anyone sees his brother, sinning is sin, which does not lead to death. So immediately, John's addressing that there is going to be church. There is going to be sin in the church. And you're going to see other Christians struggling with sin. And now we come to verse 18. And there's yet another problem with the doctrine of perfectionism, because John says we know that whoever is born of God does not sin. Now, any teaching of perfectionism that I've ever come across anyway, does not include all believers. There are two levels of believers involved. There are the believers who continue to struggle with sin, and then there are the ones who have been perfected. But John here, his statement is not, and you can look at it closely, it's not about parts of the body of Christ. Whatever he's saying, it's universal. It's true of all Christians. And so if you're going to embrace the doctrine of perfectionism, which John has made clear that he does not, and the scripture makes clear that it does not, if you're going to embrace such a doctrine, you have to embrace it for all the saints. And such is not the case. So John's saying we know that whoever is born of God does not continue in the habits and patterns of sin. And his basic argument is that now, as one born of God, the natural thing for you is for you not to sin. Sin is unnatural. in the life of the one who is born of God. And if you want to think about it, just flip that statement on its head a little bit. Could it be possible, could the opposite be true, that someone could be born of God and have no change whatsoever in their relationship with sin, no change in their life? And John says, absolutely not. It's an impossibility that one born of God can just continue being comfortable in the pattern of sin. And brothers and sisters, we need to just stop here and praise the Lord. Because such is the power of God. Such is the extent of the new birth in Jesus Christ, that the fundamental patterns of our behavior in sin are just severed and broken so that we truly are, in Jesus Christ, new people. And so now with this change of nature, sin, if you will, becomes abnormal, not normal. Sin is abnormal in the life of the believer. And I think we get this wrong. I think preachers get this wrong a lot of times. We talk about, wrongly, and I don't doubt that I've done this as a minister of the gospel, we talk about the fact that we all are pigs who keep going back to the mud. And that is not the biblical reality. The biblical reality is that you and I, in Jesus Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, are like Annika Verlinde yesterday in her wedding dress. It was an outdoor wedding. And I don't doubt that if we took a look at that dress, that there's some dirt or whatever, some slight stains around the hemline of the bottom of the dress. Maybe somebody came up and gave her a hug who had a little bit of food stain on their hands or one of the kids got a little close after they'd been playing in the sand and there's a little mark down on the dress somewhere. But those stains are the exception, not the rule. And when Hanukkah's in that wedding dress, her natural inclination and the inclination of no bride that I've ever seen is to say, oh, there's a mud puddle. Yes. Yes. Yes. Let's roll around now. Wouldn't this be great? That's not the way brides behave. It would just be the most unnatural thing and you know it would be because we don't see that type of behavior out of a bride. And brothers and sisters. Through Jesus Christ, You are not pigs anymore who long for the mud. Through Jesus Christ, you are brides who love to keep the dress clean and who naturally desire to keep the dress that you've been given clean. This is the power of the gospel, this break in the pattern of sin. I don't want to live in the mud and mire anymore. And would God be so good as to give us even more of a desire to keep ourselves pure and unspotted by the world? And so the power of Jesus Christ breaks the pattern of sin within us. John goes on, and in some ways he doesn't get less confusing. We read that first line and we need to remember that he's talking about the pattern of sin being broken. And so freedom from that pattern. The second clause of this verse, he who has been born of God keeps himself. He's talking about a break in the passion for sin. Once again, those of you who are following along in the ESV or similar translation will read something, and this is where the confusion comes in. So listen closely to the New King James. Who's the he? The he who has been born of God keeps himself. Quite clear, isn't it? It's talking about the believer keeping himself. Those of you who have the ESV or the NIV are going to read something more along the lines of he who was born of God protects him. Now who's the one born of God in that translation? Well, it sounds an awful lot like Jesus, doesn't it? Well, so the question becomes in this second clause, who does the keeping? Who does the protecting? Well, let me tell you, first of all, that the Greek is actually a little ambiguous. Secondly, As we think about who is doing the keeping, we need to recognize that there is no specific doctrine at stake here. And here's what I mean about that. Are there verses in the Bible that teach you that God, that Jesus keeps you and watches over you? Or we sing about it all the time in the Psalms. John 10, Jesus talks about, I'm a good shepherd. I care for my sheep. I take care of them. Jesus prays for His disciples, those who will come. And John 17, He talks about His keeping of His people. The benediction that we hear, that God blesses us with, sends us out with. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you. Does God keep us? Does God keep the elect? Amen, He does. Are there any verses that talk about us having a responsibility to keep ourselves? Well, if you want to look two verses or three verses later, verse 21, little children, keep yourselves from idols. And that's just one. You know, we could multiply. OK, so the Greeks are a little ambiguous, but recognize that there is no particular doctrine at stake. In other words, if we interpret this verse to say Jesus keeps us, that doesn't mean that you have no responsibility to keep yourself. If we interpret it as you need to keep yourself from temptation, from sin, that doesn't mean that Jesus plays no part in it. So are we clear on that point? All right. Let's go on to interpret what this verse means. Well, there are many who interpret this verse as Jesus is the one doing the keeping. And in fact, in my reading this week, I think it's fair to say that the majority of commentators, at least the more modern generation, takes the view that Jesus is the one doing the keeping. However, and you might anticipate that this is where I'm going, I'm going to argue that it's actually the believer keeping himself. And there are three reasons I'm going to argue that. And by the way, Lenski and Robert Candlish are two commentators who take that position. Robert Lloyd-Jones is on the other side with the majority. Okay. There are three reasons I want to argue that this is talking about and urging you as believers to keep yourselves. First of all, it's not new material in the book. And the point of John's epistle here has not been so much to emphasize that God keeps us. He certainly wouldn't deny the truth of that. But like if you look back at chapter two, verse one, my little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. He's concerned that we not sin. First John 3 verse 9, whoever has been born of God does not sin. Once again, that pattern of sin for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. John here is building on previous material and saying, look, let's sum up the arguments I've made. One of those things is that you as believers will keep yourself from sin. Secondly, second reason I think that this clause is referring to us, It's because the phrase born of God in first John never refers to Jesus Christ. And in fact, the only places in the New Testament that it does would be very clear birth narratives in the in the Gospels and in places in the New Testament where where Psalm 2 is quoted. This is my begotten son. And so therefore, it fits with John's usage throughout the rest of the book that the one who is born of God is referring to the saint. Lastly, whenever John uses this concept of keep, and this word for keep, He's talking about our responsibility, our call to keep ourselves. Once again, you can look at verse 21 and we could look at other references in that regard. Keep yourselves from idols. Now, once again, there's no doctrine specifically at stake here. If you want to disagree with me, I'll tell you the commentators who agree with you and who disagree with me. However, I think that in the context of what John's doing, he's urging the church to holiness And he's urging us to fence off our garden, so to speak, that the precious blood of Christ has been shed for you, people of God, and that the seed of God has been planted in you, and that you have a responsibility to protect what God has entrusted to you. To walk in newness of life. To not act like it's a matter of indifference if you're in the pig pen. And he's saying that for the believer, there will be a break in the passion for sin. That you will keep yourself because those desires, that magnetism of sin, is going to be broken for you. John's telling you that the precious blood of Jesus Christ has been given for you. purchasing you, cleansing you from your slavery to sin. And the convicting thing about that is, start listing the things in your world that you take better care of and more diligent care of than your soul. I think sometimes, frankly, we're a lot more concerned about the carpet in our houses. Did somebody spill something again? And our computers. Does my computer have a virus? I've got to go out and spend money. We've got to protect this thing. We've got a lot of money invested here. Our cars. And just start rattling off in your mind the things that you are more diligent and protecting than your own soul. If we think in the second person, think about people around you who you are critical of. People who don't keep their house really quite the right way. People who don't mind their children the way that they ought to. People who don't mind their tongue the way that I'd like them to, or don't do their work in a timely way at my company the way that they ought to. But then turn those criticisms on yourself and say, how much those criticisms apply to me and my care and diligence in watching over my soul. Jesus has died so that we can have a hunger and thirst for righteousness. And that hunger and thirst for righteousness is an endless hunger and thirst for righteousness. It's not bounded. There's a little Greek thing going on there in that beatitude. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Jesus died so that we don't have a thirst like, oh, I'd like a glass of water now, oh, maybe two, but at a half gallon, I'm starting to feel a little bit full of liquid. No, no, no. Our hunger and thirst for righteousness that God's given to us is this infinite hunger and thirst for righteousness. And what John is describing here is a break in the appetite for sin in the life of the believer. That we will keep ourselves. And that we will have no desire to go back. We live in a diverse enough country, I think that if it went to the ballot box, I don't doubt that there would be some people who would vote that a good and right thing to do would be to reunite with Great Britain. There'd be a few. But it would be a few. It would be just a handful. The outcome of such a vote would never be in doubt. And you know that's true. John here is talking about this fundamental break with sin, this break in the passion for sin that will lead us to keep ourselves. I don't want to go back there. I don't want to be British again. And if that's true, how much more do we say, I don't want to live in sin anymore. Why would I live in sin? Why would I embrace sin? And so the one born of God keeps Himself. The third and final break is the break with the power of sin. The wicked one does not touch Him. Praise God. We live under a new government. with a different king. Satan no longer has dominion over you. You're no longer his slaves. You've been bought with a price and freed from the bondage that Satan had you under. Now, Christians can still be tempted, certainly. But Satan cannot claim you and take dominion over you any longer if you're in Christ. You can be tempted. We can fall into sin. But Satan can no longer say, this one and this one and this one are mine. Because Jesus Christ has purchased us and holds us safe. And how much Satan would like to touch you. How Satan longs to destroy the new creation that God the Father has effected through Jesus Christ. How Satan would love to smear and mess up that picture and to destroy each and every one of you. But this is if we have, through God's power, a halo effect. A restraining, not an actual halo, but like a restraining order. A zone around us. Satan can come near enough to tempt, but he can't come near enough to control and to manipulate any longer. He can't lay a hand on us, so to speak, to drive us where he wants us to go. And so there's a break with this power of sin in our lives, and that's sealed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Going back to our Independence Day, if I say, well, the Queen imposed a new law this week, and she's requiring everyone to pay the stamp tax once again, your response would be to say, well, okay, that's fine and dandy. I guess it really doesn't impact me and my world. And in a similar way, the power of Satan's power over us has been broken so that our Independence Day, brothers and sisters, means that he can dictate whatever he wants and has no control, no sway, no authority over you to tell you who you are and what you have to do. The great reality is that you and I, in Jesus Christ, do not have to sin any longer. And not only do we not have to sin, but because we've been born of God, it is now unnatural for us to sin because of the extensiveness and the reality of this new birth in Jesus Christ. And this new birth means that we have new life patterns, new desires in our lives, and a new government that we live under. If I were to ask you now to please rise and sing with me, God Save the Queen. I would make several of you squirm because you would say, well, we're psalm singers, Pastor. I'd make several of you squirm because you would say, the church is not a political organization and we're not here to praise a queen or king or president or supreme court justice or whatever else. But I would make all of you squirm Because you would say, that's not our anthem any longer. We've fought a war over that. Other people, you know, our forefathers fought a war over that. And we know that's no longer our anthem. And brothers and sisters, your anthem is no longer, I am a servant to sin. Your anthem is, in Jesus Christ, I am a new creature because I have been born of God and I have no more relationship with sin. And may God give us the faith and the confidence that our break with sin is just as extreme and justice complete and more so than our break with Great Britain ever has been. Because Jesus Christ died and rose again so that you might have an independent stay from sin. Praise God that we no longer have to have patterns of sin. that we no longer have a passion for sin and that the power of the evil one is broken so that we don't have to sin. Amen. Let's pray. Our great God, Lord, how we are encouraged by this truth from Your Word and challenged by it And God, we confess that we easily lose sight of this truth. And sadly, we often put, and certainly the world around us puts a lot more energy into recognizing the significance of independence from Great Britain and fails to see the independence that you offer, the true independence the eternal independence that you offer through Jesus Christ. Jesus, we praise you that you have done what no man, not a single person in this world could have done, either for ourselves or for other people, that you broke the pattern of sin, that you broke the power of sin, and that you set us free. God the Father, we praise you that you have regenerated us and that we are born of You, that we are Your sons and Your daughters, and that we bear Your likeness in the world. And God, we pray that You would complete in us this breaking with sin. Give us the faith, Lord, to live this way. Cause us to flee from sin, to keep ourselves from sin, to keep ourselves from idols, to be more diligent, and watching over the new seed, this precious blood and what you've done for us. Be more diligent in protecting and preserving it than we are in watching over our carpets and our computers. Change us, Lord, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.