The following audio is from Shiloh Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. More information about Shiloh Presbyterian Church is available at shilohopc.org. Let's give careful attention as we listen this evening again. It comes to us from 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5, the very end of the book we've reached at last. It's on page 1024 in the Pew Bibles. 1 John chapter 5 and verses 18 to 21, the Word of God. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 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. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Let's pray together. Father, how we pray that as we come and approach your holy word again this evening, that you might come to us, sanctify us, O Lord, by your truth. Your word is truth for us again this evening. And so we pray, Lord God, that in your power and love and your mercy, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you might come and enlighten our minds to understand and our hearts to receive. Open up our eyes that we might behold wondrous things out of your law. Grant us grace to believe and to obey all that you would teach us this evening. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. Interesting words with which to conclude this letter. Keep yourselves from idols. Keep yourselves from idols. What, John, where did that come from? If you had studied your way through the book of 1 John, paying attention to kind of the main themes, the content, the sum of the message which we've seen, and then you'd been asked, can you predict what would be the very last words which John Well, right. I sincerely doubt that you would have guessed those words. Keep yourselves from idols. In fact, if I'd asked you, where in the Bible do we find those words, keep yourselves from idols, my guess is you probably would have guessed somewhere in the Old Testament, probably somewhere in the Law of Moses. And yet, brothers and sisters, I would submit to you this evening that this is not just kind of a random command thrown out there, sort of a way of providing an arbitrary extra bit of application at the end of the book. Rather, John is concluding his letter by reminding us that to walk in the way of the false teaching against which he's been warning throughout this letter would be to go down the path to idolatry. Think about that this morning. What is idolatry? You think about the Ten Commandments. Which of the commands is in view when you hear those words, do not worship idols or keep yourself from idols. The first commandment, have no other gods before me, was it not essentially telling us, do not worship any other, any false god. And then the second commandment said, do not worship the true God in a false way. Don't worship him by making graven images to represent him. God's people were not to turn from the Lord and worship false gods, and they were not to worship false gods represented by images, but graven images, even if they were intended to represent the true God, the God of Israel, they were to be regarded as idols. indeed this evening, to seek to know and to worship the Lord in any way contrary to his command, in any way contrary to the way in which he has revealed himself, whether it be through graven images or whatever, that was tantamount, that is tantamount to the conscientious choice to bow down and worship a different God altogether. And sadly, I think John is saying that in Ephesus, that is exactly what was happening. And it was happening with many who had once belonged to the church. For our profession of faith this evening, I almost had us recite the larger catechism question, number 105. And if you're familiar with that particular catechism question, you're probably glad I didn't do it because it's so long. We might have been exhausted by the time we made it through. I opted instead for the Heidelberg catechism. But the larger catechism mentions both idolatry and heresy among the sins which are forbidden by the first commandment." You notice that even the Heidelberg Catechism mentioned that we're called to know God rightly, or rightly know the only true God. We've pointed out that among the various errors of the false teachers in Ephesus was the failure to keep commandments. They were negligent with regards to commandment keeping. Well, here John reminds us that indeed their false teaching itself amounted to a trampling all over of the first commandment, the very first and greatest commandment. And so John was, yes, ending with a warning, a command or a strong warning to the rest, do not follow in their errors. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. It is a strong command. It is a warning. But that warning, notwithstanding, it comes in the context of a marvelous message of hope for us this evening. God will use this command for good in the lives of his people, and we see that in our text. Do we not? Our message is this, that even though the world is enslaved to idolatry, those born of God are protected and preserved to know and worship and serve the true God, the true God Christ. And so God calls us indeed to keep ourselves from idols. Notice first this evening, We see in our text that the idolatry of the false teaching is from the evil one under whose power the whole world lies. The second part of verse 19 says just that, doesn't it? The whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The Greek says, literally, lies in evil or lies in the evil one. The clear implication is that the world lies under the power or in the power of the evil one, as the ESV translates it here. And that statement, too, might surprise us as a strikingly negative note on which to be concluding this letter, this message of hope and assurance. I mean, talk about a downer. Peace on earth, goodwill to men, press on in the marvelous hope of the gospel, and by the way, the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket. Is that really what message you want to leave in our minds, John? Are you really saying that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one? Isn't that contrary to the message of the gospel? Weren't you there as a witness of the resurrection of our Lord, John? Have you forgotten those words where Jesus said, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me? How can you now say that the whole world is under the power of the evil one? Was John now speaking as if the kingdom had been completely lost? Of course, the answer is no. We know better because we are those who have been given ears to hear. We have been made to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom as it exists in this world, this world where the weeds will continue to grow right alongside the wheat until that great day of the harvest of the end of the world. We understand that as those who are living between the first and second comings of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are living between the already and the not yet. The kingdom has come, but not in its fullness. So now, for a time, even as Christ is presently ruling in his messianic kingdom, Satan also continues to rule, does he not? He rules over his rebel kingdom, the kingdom of this world. Yes, Christ does have all authority in heaven and on earth, and he is establishing his kingdom. His servants are going forth and they are preaching the gospel, making disciples, baptizing and teaching, teaching the obedience of faith. And think about how that had already been proven true so powerfully in Ephesus. When we reach chapter 19 in our series through the book of Acts, we will be reminded of the powerful way in which the gospel first came to that idolatrous city. That was more than a decade before, probably maybe closer to three and a half decades before John was writing this letter. Paul preached in Ephesus, didn't he? And Acts chapter 19 in verse 18 tells us about how the people were converted and how they came and they burned a great value They burned their witchcraft books. In fact, as a testimony of the impact that the word was having, the whole city of Ephesus, you might recall, ended up in a great uproar over the fear of the devastating impact that the gospel would have on their livelihood, their idol-worshipping business, the business of those who made and sold idols. What a powerful testimony it was that Christ's kingdom had come, his kingdom had come, and yet idol worship continued. When John finally moved to Ephesus, Ephesus was still an idolatrous city. We can praise God for the way that the Christians had turned from idols to worship the true and living God. But they still faced the temptation, didn't they? They still faced the same temptation that ancient Israel had faced, that of being lured back into the idol worship of the world. So yes, here John was reminding these believers of the power and the presence of the evil one in this very context in which he was warning them about idols. And of course, the concern here was that idolatry in one way or another was already creeping into the church. Clearly, I don't think John was saying, just keep yourselves out of the pagan temples and you'll be fine. As I've suggested, I believe that the idolatry about which John was particularly concerned was not so much that of Christians returning to witchcraft, that would have been a problem, or Christians going back to worship Greek gods, that would have been terrible. But that, I don't believe, was the more likely danger. John knew the way Satan works. He knew that Satan's attack on the church would be more subtle, more insidious than that. The evil one's sinister scheming is probably more like this. I may not be able to get them back into the temple of Artemis, But I bet I can get them to embrace various pagan philosophies. It will so resemble Christianity that they won't even recognize it. They won't know the difference. It will be like I have them bowing down before Artemis without even knowing it. We do well this evening to remember the deceitful ways of the evil one. We are to live as those who are not unaware of his schemes. And we've seen in this letter the way that he was able to use the appeal of worldly philosophy to bring into this church such dangerous heresies, even the denial that Jesus had come in the flesh. Sometimes it's even more subtle errors, isn't it? We think of the errors that come to us in various ways. We think of the various topics which we've been considering in the Adult Sunday School class as we think about what Nancy Peercy refers to as the secular orthodoxy, which is being imposed upon us in so many different ways. I think John's words here are very helpful. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Be mindful, be aware of the way in which that power is exerted in an effort to control your lives, your thinking. We can see how the evil one surely seeks to use the allure of the approval of the world to convince us to compromise on our biblical convictions. and no doubt he will even try to make it seem like we are being Christian in so doing, following biblical principles of love for and acceptance of our neighbor if we adopt the world's ever-changing moral standards rather than stand firm on God's true word. If the evil one can convince us to follow the ways of the world rather than God's truth revealed in Christ, then he has us on the path of idolatry. But by God's grace, we avoid that path as we are mindful of his power over the world and as we remember our duty to resist and as we resist him. So no, that statement is not a downer for us this evening. It's a warning by which the Lord preserves us in his truth in Christ Jesus. For us, indeed, this is part of the great gospel message of hope in Christ. And there are a couple of things I think it's important we can say in this regard. Remember that this was a message by which John was giving assurance. Well, the message of Satan's rule is part of that message of assurance for believers. Why is it? How is it that such a seemingly negative message could be something uplifting and assuring to Christians? Well, for one thing, when it does seem at times like the world is going to hell in a handbasket, we're reminded, are we not? We're reminded that God's kingdom is not failing. God has established his kingdom. according to his plan. This is all part of his plan. He is ruling and reigning according to his will. And secondly, this explains why it is when the world is not so happy with us, one way in which we know that indeed we do have eternal life, one way in which we are assured of our possession of eternal life is when we find that we're not fitting in so well in a world of those who lack that life. a world that is against God. If we hold fast to the truth of God's world, we should not expect it to be so easy for us all the time. If we keep ourselves from idols, then yes, surely we will at times suffer for it in a world that is enslaved to idolatry under the cruel power of the devil. And yet there, verse 19 tells us, We know, we know, remember the false teachers, they were the ones claiming knowledge, claiming possession of a knowledge which the rest failed to possess, and yet here John was saying, no, we know, we have the true knowledge, we know that we are from God, and we know it even as we are painfully reminded at times of what we also know, that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. So we know, we know as those who are from God, as those who belong to Christ and his kingdom, that we will find at times that the world hates us. It's when that happens, we should be all the more certain that God is for us, that He loves us, and He's delivered us from idols into something so much better. And that brings us to our second point this evening, that idol-free worship comes from the true knowledge of the true God, Christ Jesus Himself. Notice something here, brothers and sisters, how fitting it is this evening that the keep yourselves from idols command immediately follows what may be one of scripture's clearest statements about the deity of Jesus Christ. I'm thinking of the end of verse 20 where it says, he is the true God and eternal life. Now I say maybe one of the clearest statements of the deity of Christ because if you look at that verse carefully there, verse 20, you see that it is possible that the pronoun he is intended to refer to the father rather than the son. Verse 20 says halfway through, and we are in him who is true, there's the father, In his Son, there's the Son, Jesus Christ. So both the Father and the Son are in view here, and John may indeed be saying, of the Father, that he is the true God and eternal life. That would certainly be a true statement. But I believe that he is referring specifically to Christ. by this statement. John has had an interest, we've seen, in defending the true deity as well as the true humanity of Jesus Christ, and I find it likely and most fitting that in some ways he would end his letter just as he began this letter, with a very strong statement about just who is Christ Jesus, and to warn that any religion that does not embrace him as he truly is, for all that he is, is idolatry. and brothers and sisters, John brings us such a great reminder, does he not, this evening, that what we have in Christ is so much better, so much better than anything that the world has to offer. Whether it was in ancient Israel long before Christ came, or whether it was in Ephesus in John's days, there's always been the temptation, always been the temptation to believe the message of the world which says, oh, you're missing something. You're missing something so great, something that we have to offer you. In Ephesus, it was, you don't have our knowledge. In ancient Israel, or as they were scattered among the surrounding nations during the time of the exile, it was, you don't have any gods that you can look at and handle. Where are your gods? Where are your gods? I imagine that that would have still been a relevant question for the Christians even in New Testament Ephesus, where again the worship of literal idols continued to be rampant. But perhaps, perhaps for New Covenant Christians, it no longer brought the same kind of sophisticated philosophical appeal as the knowledge, the knowledge being espoused by the false teachers in Ephesus. Even so, I think it's helpful for us this evening to appreciate the challenge that idol worship represented to Israel's faith. And I'm going to read from Psalm 115, if you'd like to turn in your Bibles and follow along and see it for yourselves. Psalm 115. Again, the idol prohibition has a much broader application than literal graven images of God's for worship. But consider how the psalmist reflected on the challenge of idolatry to the faith of God's people. In Psalm 115, beginning in verse 2, he asked the question, why should the nation say, where is their God. Now keep your fingers there, but just imagine, imagine the ridicule that the people of Israel were facing. What kind of gods do you worship? You can't even see him. Where is he? Where is your God? It was a genuine temptation, I think, to see Israel's faith and worship as somehow insufficient. I think that was especially probably true during the time of the exile when they had been conquered by nations who worshipped idols. Maybe worshiping the idols of the Babylonians suddenly didn't seem like such a bad idea, but here through the psalmist, the Lord was making the very same appeal being made by the apostle in our text. He continued in verse 3, Psalm 115. Our God is in the heavens. He does all that he That means the exile did not happen because of his weakness, but because of his faithfulness in response to Israel's unfaithfulness and sin. The psalmist continued, verse 4, their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak. Eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear. Noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel. Feet, but do not walk. and they do not make a sound in their throat." And noticed after exposing just how worthless they are, he makes the warning, those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them, and then the appeal to the faithful, oh Israel, trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord, he is their help. and their shield. With all that the Lord had done for his people, they had more than sufficient reason to forsake the idols and to worship and serve him, the true and living God, and him alone. Well, brothers and sisters, how much more is that true for us this evening? Do we need to see Him? Do we need graven images which would represent our God? Here we find that God has given Himself to us in Christ Jesus. We see it in our text. We see it elsewhere in Scripture. Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 tells us that He, Jesus, He is the image of the invisible God. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 tells us that He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. You want to see God this evening. Do you not see him, brothers and sisters, do you not see him by faith shining, his glory shining in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true God and eternal life? And are we not so blessed to be those who know him? What I mentioned in verse 19 of our text is also true, not only there, notice how also in verses 18 and 20, again and again, we see what we've seen throughout the letter, the repetition of the we know, we know, isn't it marvelous the way John concludes this letter with another clear refutation of the false teacher's claims upon Christian knowledge. He opposes that error. He refutes their claims with the assertion of the true knowledge which is possessed by all true believers who hold fast to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It comes out especially there in verse 20, does it not? And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true. Is there any greater power this evening to resist idolatry than the true knowledge of Jesus Christ? Meditate on that question. Meditate on it well this evening, Christian. It's a question which can be applied to not only idolatry, but to all sin. Christians, are you tempted this evening? This ties in so well, by the way, with our meditation this morning, Elder Kirby led us as we were thinking about the Tenth Commandment and covetousness and not being content with what God has given us. The temptation to be tempted by some great thing that the world would offer us. Do you ever feel that way? We all feel that way at times. I remember as a young boy feeling that way when I would be in my unbelieving friend's homes and I would see things they had that I didn't have. I don't know how many of you remember home box office. We were the only house on our street that didn't have HBO and I got in those homes and saw, wow, they're seeing things that I would never see. Well, my godly Christian parents wisely would never have allowed me to see those things, but what a temptation to think I'm missing out on something. I'm missing out. I'm not suggesting that if you had HBO, you were worshiping idols in your home. But certainly, idolatry can be very broad, does it not? And brothers and sisters, What a reminder this evening. It's not Christ. So much infinitely greater, so much more satisfying than any idol in this world or any of the pleasures which sin would offer to us. That command, little children, keep yourselves from idols, does indeed have a broad application and it indeed applies to covetousness. Listen to what Paul writes in Colossians chapter three, verse five. He writes, put to death therefore what is earthly in you sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. That is, I believe, all of those sins mentioned are all forms of idolatry. In Christ, God calls us unto idle, free worship, idle, free living, lives indeed free from sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the desire for all of those things, covetousness. He calls us unto idle, free living, which comes from the true knowledge of Him the true God, the God-man, Christ Jesus. And we see lastly and briefly this evening that idol-free worship comes by the power of Christ in those born of God and protected by him who was born of God. Now, as I state it that way, you can see that I'm siding with a particular interpretation of those words in the middle of verse 18 of our text, where it says, he who was born of God protects him. This is probably the most popular view today. which I believe is the correct one and which I'm siding with, that is to see this as a reference to Christ. That is to say that John is referring to Jesus as the one who was born of God and as the one who protects us. Truthfully, the Greek here is very difficult to translate with certainty, and so there are other plausible interpretations which have been suggested, such as the one born of God, namely the Christian, protects himself. or another which says, the one born of God, namely the Christian, holds on to him, that is, to God, or another which says, the one born of God, namely the Christian, he, God, protects him, the Christian. It would not be fruitful, I don't believe, to even attempt to get into all of the complexity of the Greek grammatical argument. Suffice it to say, we should not be overly dogmatic about any particular interpretation, but the widely held view that John here refers to Jesus as the one who was born of God is very defensible from the scripture. Christ was born of God, was he not? He was born of God in the miracle of his conception as he was then conceived by the power by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. He was also born of God in his resurrection from the dead. Colossians 1, verse 18, says that he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. And John himself describes him in Revelation 1, verse 5, he calls Jesus the firstborn of the dead. Is that not, this evening for you, Christian, is that not only most, true, but a most edifying thought, to think that you were dead and have been born again because of the work of Christ, who is dead and has been born again. He was born again from the dead, and as Hebrews chapter two, verse 14 tells us, his new birth, his resurrection was a powerful victory over Satan who held the power of death. I think this truth fits very nicely with what Pastor Holst showed us from Acts chapter one about the beautiful connection between Christ's spirit-empowered and spirit-controlled life and ministry and our own possession of the Spirit and Spirit-controlled life. John here similarly is connecting our new birth with that of Christ's new birth. The same Holy Spirit by which our Savior was born again has caused us to be born again, just as Jesus was dead but is now alive forevermore, so also we who are in him, though we were dead, so in Christ We have been made alive and we are alive forevermore. And what does this mean with regards to our duty to keep ourselves from idols? Well, by that same power, the Holy Spirit protects us, preserves us in Christ and protects us, protects all those who are born of God from the evil one such that the evil one cannot touch us. John reminds us, does he not, of the permanent effect of the new birth. We've seen this already, especially in chapter 3, verse 9, but listen again to the words of verse 18. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. This is, of course, no license for spiritual laziness and the fight against idolatry and against false doctrines and against worldly philosophy and everything in this world that opposes Christ. We must fight, and we must fight well against all of it. But Christian, as you fight that fight, you do so in such wonderful hope, embracing the promise regarding all those who have been born of God. For those who are truly, as verse 20 says, those who are truly in Him, in Him who is true in his son, Jesus Christ. You will, yes, you will still sin in this world. You will at times commit great sin, but God will not allow you to continue. in such sin, he will bring you back. In the end, the evil one will not hold power over you. You will not again become a slave to idolatry. Is that not marvelous, wonderful hope in which to press on in the power and the grace of Christ? Marvel at the grace of God in Christ Jesus. this evening, that though the whole world lies in the power of the evil one and is enslaved to idolatry, God's power in us is so far greater, and that is the power by which he preserves us in Christ. When Christ was raised from the dead, he became the firstborn, the firstborn of a whole new creation, a new world. And Christian, this evening, in giving you new birth and in uniting you by faith to Christ, God has made you to be part of that new creation. Is that not a wonderful source of assurance, the goal of the letter that John has written? Meditate much on that hope, brothers and sisters. Let it indeed build you up, yes, in your assurance of your life in and fellowship with Christ. now and in the hope of all that is to come. Think about it. I'll close with this wonderful thought. In that new world, in our inheritance in glory, the power of the evil one will be no more. The idols of this world, what will they be? They will have been exposed for the worthless things that they are, and they will be no more. And what we shall then possess in fullness is something that we already possess. Even now, we know Him. We know Him who is true. We are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ, the true God, and the eternal life. By God's grace, let us keep ourselves from idols. Let us pray. Father, how we do bless and worship and praise you for all that we have, all that you are and have become for us in Christ Jesus, all that you've taught us, even through this marvelous letter. Lord, we pray that by your grace, that you might fill us with your word, strengthen us, Lord, that we might turn afresh, even this evening, from any idols in our hearts, to serve you, the true and living God, and to wait for your son from heaven, even Christ Jesus, whom you raised from the dead, Jesus, the very one who rescues us from the wrath to come. Lord, we pray this evening that by your spirit, through your word, you would increase our faith, strengthen our assurance, help us more faithfully to live out, oh Lord God, with full assurance to live out that eternal life to which you have called us in Christ. In whose name we do pray, amen.