The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Satan’s Deadliest Weapons： Deception & Despair

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00:00:27.500 Amen. This morning we're continuing with a sermon that I started two weeks ago.

00:00:33.000 The text being 1 John 5, verses 18-21.

00:00:36.720 If you were with us last Lord's Day, we paused because we had Jared Longshore, a pastor from Moscow, Idaho.

00:00:43.100 He was here. Him and Chris Wiley, another pastor.

00:00:46.740 The two of them were here. We did an all-day conference on Saturday.

00:00:49.860 And Jared stayed over and preached for us last Lord's Day.

00:00:52.860 So we're going to pick back up. I said this is going to have to be a two-parter.

00:00:56.080 this particular text, 1 John chapter 5, verses 18 through 21. Lord willing, I'll finish the text

00:01:02.500 today. So let's go ahead and stand for the reading of God's word to show honor and reverence

00:01:07.100 for who God is and how he has chosen to reveal himself in Holy Scripture.

00:01:12.160 I'll read the text in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the

00:01:15.760 word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks

00:01:20.620 be to God. One final time, our text for today is 1 John chapter 5, verse 18 through 21. The Bible

00:01:27.120 says this, we know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was

00:01:33.520 born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and

00:01:40.360 the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has

00:01:46.520 given us understanding so that we may know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his son

00:01:53.760 Jesus Christ he is the true God and eternal life little children keep yourselves from idols this

00:02:01.360 is the word of the Lord all right please be seated let's go ahead and dive right in this is a recap

00:02:07.140 because it's been two weeks now but what I did is I focused the entirety of my time two weeks ago

00:02:12.900 on the introduction. So a brief synopsis of that introduction is this, the entirety of John's first

00:02:20.360 epistle. Epistle is just another word for letter. So we have John's gospel. We have one gospel

00:02:26.500 according to Jesus Christ. So we have the gospel of Jesus Christ, the one gospel, but according to

00:02:31.680 four different human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit. So one gospel, but according to four

00:02:37.040 individual people, apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit. That's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

00:02:42.900 So we have John's gospel. Then we have John's epistles. There are three. First, second, third

00:02:48.080 John. First John, John's first epistle, explicitly deals with multiple topics, but the chief topic

00:02:55.000 is this, the assurance of salvation. Not just how can I be saved, but how can I know that I am saved?

00:03:02.900 How can I know that I've been born again, that I've been taken from spiritual death to spiritual

00:03:07.900 life, that I was lost, but now that I am found. How can I know these things? And John offers three

00:03:13.740 primary tests, three different categories for discerning, assessing whether or not you truly

00:03:19.720 have been born again. And these three tests are repeated multiple times throughout the five

00:03:24.560 chapters of John's first epistle, the book of first John. The three tests are as follows. One,

00:03:30.600 the obedience test. Are you obedient to Christ's commands? Are you obedient to Christ's commands?

00:03:38.440 It's a simple formula, for lack of a better word, but I think it suffices. Simple formula. It goes

00:03:44.540 like this. God loves us first. If God loves us, and he loves us salvifically, he loves us as a

00:03:51.900 father, he loves us in the beloved Jesus Christ. If you're his elect, then what's going to happen

00:03:57.740 inevitably, it's simply a matter of when, not if, is that God is going to cause you by the power of

00:04:03.600 his spirit to be born again. He's going to replace the heart of stone with a heart of flesh, as Connor

00:04:08.860 said, a heart that is softened and malleable and receptive to the love of God, that inevitably

00:04:13.100 cannot help, it cannot resist, we might use that word, but love God back in return. So 1 John 4,

00:04:20.400 19. We love because he first loved us. So first step, he loved us in the beloved. He loved his

00:04:27.920 own. He loved his people. He loved his children. Now, not everybody is a child of God. The Bible

00:04:33.560 does not teach that. You've heard me say it many times, so I'll say it quickly. A person is not

00:04:38.540 physically born into this world as a child of God. God is a universal creator. So he's the creator

00:04:47.040 of all people. All people are his creatures and all people bear his image. So all people are

00:04:52.580 image bearing creatures of the creator God, but not all people are children, are children of

00:05:01.060 father God. That's the whole idea throughout the scriptures. We see again and again,

00:05:05.640 the doctrine of spiritual adoption, right? Adoption, the way that that works, it necessitates,

00:05:11.820 It assumes that if you're adopting a child, the reason you're adopting that child is because the

00:05:17.700 child was not previously your child, but someone else's, right? So if you take a kid, you go down

00:05:23.240 to the courthouse and you say, we would like to legally adopt this child, my wife and I.

00:05:28.980 And then they look at you, they run some kind of, you know, blood test and say,

00:05:32.280 I've got news for you. And I think it's good news. The good news is this child already is

00:05:37.840 your child. This is your biological child. The bad news is that you're not very bright. And we don't

00:05:43.620 know if this child is in particularly good hands. You don't need to adopt your own biological child.

00:05:49.960 They're already yours. So the whole idea of spiritual adoption in the Bible, it assumes

00:05:55.200 that not everyone is God's child. That's why God has to adopt us. He's adopting us because we

00:06:01.780 previously were not his children, but children of someone else. And the Bible would say children of

00:06:07.440 the devil. Jesus says that in John chapter eight, right? The religious rulers of his time,

00:06:14.660 they're saying, well, we're children of Abraham. And Jesus said, well, God can raise up, you know,

00:06:19.520 children of Abraham from rocks. So number one, it's not that impressive. But number two,

00:06:24.840 you're not. Because here's the thing about children. Children usually bear some kind of

00:06:29.680 striking resemblance to their father. And you know what Abraham loved? You know, one quality,

00:06:35.620 one characteristics of Abraham, he loved me. Jesus says, Abraham prophetically looking forward

00:06:41.820 to the promised Messiah, his seed through whom all the nations would be blessed, not his seeds,

00:06:48.020 plural, but one singular seed who is Jesus, the Christ, that Abraham saw that one seed and knew

00:06:54.920 that not only Israel, according to the flesh, but that all the nations of the earth would be blessed

00:06:59.980 through the singular seed who is Christ. Abraham had this promise. He had this prophecy. He looked

00:07:06.320 forward to this messianic promise. It is in our past. We're looking back, but in his future,

00:07:12.540 looking forward, and he rejoiced. So Jesus says, you're not children of Abraham because Abraham

00:07:18.700 saw me and rejoiced. You see me and you want to kill me. So then they appeal even higher and say,

00:07:25.420 okay, well, Abraham, forget that. I mean, he is our father. You're wrong, Jesus. But better than

00:07:29.800 that, God is our father. And Jesus says, no, God is not your father because God loves me and sent

00:07:38.900 me. But you don't love me. You're not receiving me. No, children bear a striking resemblance to

00:07:45.660 their actual father. You look nothing like Abraham and you certainly look nothing like God.

00:07:50.120 But I'll tell you one paternal figure that you seem to resemble. He was a liar from the beginning

00:07:57.820 and a murderer and here you are lying and bearing false witness about me and seeking to crucify me

00:08:03.620 wrongfully aka commit murder your father is satan your daddy is the devil the words of jesus

00:08:13.960 slightly paraphrased but very slight so the point is when people are all god's children

00:08:19.320 you know who disagrees with you? Jesus. Okay, so we don't start as children of God.

00:08:26.900 Ephesians says that we begin as children of God's wrath and in a very real sense,

00:08:33.180 children of the devil. And the beauty of the gospel is that Christ in his finished work

00:08:39.300 and the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, giving us a new heart, captivates us and takes

00:08:45.200 us out of the clutches of Satan and adopts us where we are no longer Satan's children, but now

00:08:51.580 we are God's beloved children in Christ, the beloved. So all that being said, the Bible does

00:08:57.880 not teach universal fatherhood of God, but rather universal creatorhood of God. So all that being

00:09:04.700 said, again, back to this little three-step formula, we love 1 John 4, 19, because he first

00:09:10.480 loved us it begins with the fatherly love of God which is not universal but in God's sovereignty

00:09:16.720 he chooses and he saves and adopts many not all but many and when that person is born again and

00:09:25.920 adopted as a child of God the immediate response inevitable irresistible response is we then love

00:09:33.020 him in return we love him because he first loved us so step one God loves you step two you love

00:09:40.320 god and then the third step very simple here the third step is jesus back to his words he says if

00:09:46.780 you love me you'll obey my commands so the first test that john gives for determining discerning

00:09:56.380 whether or not we're in the faith whether or not we've truly been born again whether or not we are

00:10:01.460 a follower of christ is the obedience step and it's not because we are through our obedience

00:10:07.560 meriting or earning salvation. None of us can earn salvation. All our works are filthy rags.

00:10:14.980 Apart from God's grace, no one can earn the grace and salvation of God. The only thing that your

00:10:23.040 works have earned is hell. The only thing that my works have earned is hell. But because of Jesus'

00:10:30.940 perfect finished work, his sinless life, fulfilling all righteousness, that is his active obedience,

00:10:37.560 and his passive obedience dying as a substitute on the cross

00:10:41.300 underneath the white hot wrath of God that we deserved in our place

00:10:45.400 through these things, through Jesus' finished work,

00:10:49.040 we have inherited through faith his righteousness.

00:10:54.100 His righteousness.

00:10:55.040 So the obedience test is not saying you better obey God

00:10:58.520 so that he'll respond with love for you.

00:11:01.220 That's entirely backwards.

00:11:03.280 No, the process is he loves you first

00:11:05.980 as a free act of his grace, his mercy.

00:11:10.500 And then you love him in return

00:11:12.900 because he first loved you.

00:11:14.440 And because you now love him,

00:11:17.020 a sign, an evidence of your love for him

00:11:20.100 will be a desire to ever increase in obedience.

00:11:24.680 Obey my commands.

00:11:25.660 First test, the obedience test.

00:11:27.760 Are you obeying the commands of God?

00:11:29.940 And with that one, let me add one further caveat.

00:11:32.660 what are God's commands?

00:11:35.000 That's the question that inevitably rises

00:11:37.440 or should rise

00:11:38.460 because there's a lot of people would say,

00:11:39.980 obedience test, great.

00:11:41.540 I'm doing, I'm off the charts.

00:11:43.800 And then you pry just a little bit

00:11:45.620 and you say, what does that look like?

00:11:47.120 What does that mean?

00:11:47.920 Well, here's virtue.

00:11:50.000 And look, here's me.

00:11:51.160 If this was a Venn diagram,

00:11:52.820 it'd just be a circle.

00:11:54.140 But the next question is,

00:11:55.720 but hold up, hold up.

00:11:57.920 How did you define virtue like this?

00:12:01.080 well this is what uh the majority of people democracy right that's in the bible thou shalt

00:12:06.660 have democracy and and this is what the majority of people have believed is virtuous for the last

00:12:10.940 15 minutes and therefore it is well no no the virtue is only virtue if if god says it's virtuous

00:12:19.060 god defines virtue and believe it or not i know and this is crazy i know it's going to just shatter

00:12:25.720 minds. But there have been other views of what is virtuous before the last 60 years.

00:12:34.800 Before, you know, before World War I and World War II, there were actually other ideas of what

00:12:41.520 virtue was. And so at the end of the day, it's like, well, is it this guy who says this or that

00:12:46.720 guy who said that? Or is it God? Is it his commandments? Are you obedient to his commandments?

00:12:52.540 So step number one or test number one, the obedience test.

00:12:55.840 Number two, the love test.

00:12:57.220 John says this again and again.

00:12:58.700 If you hate your brother who you see, who is seen,

00:13:02.780 but claim to love God who is invisible, who is unseen,

00:13:05.640 you're a liar and the truth is not in you.

00:13:08.160 So another sign, another evidence, another proof

00:13:11.420 that you actually love God and therefore have been loved by God

00:13:15.020 and therefore have been born again, saved,

00:13:17.840 an assurance of salvation, is that you don't just love God,

00:13:21.280 but you love your brother. Notice here too, it's not universal. It's in the same way that there's

00:13:28.560 not a universal fatherhood of God, but there is universal creatorhood. It's also not a universal

00:13:34.000 brotherhood when it comes to our horizontal relationship with our fellow man.

00:13:39.300 There's universal neighborhood. Everyone is your neighbor and God is everyone's creator

00:13:44.520 and every man is my neighbor, but God is not everyone's father and not everyone is my brother.

00:13:50.840 So particular fatherhood, brotherhood,

00:13:53.480 universal creatorhood, and neighborhood.

00:13:57.180 But what we see in 1 John specifically

00:13:59.620 is not just love for your neighbor

00:14:01.660 as a sign that you've been born again,

00:14:03.900 that you belong to Christ,

00:14:04.780 but love for your brother specifically

00:14:07.460 because he is your brother in Christ.

00:14:10.220 Whatever you do for the least of these,

00:14:12.080 my brothers, you have done for me.

00:14:15.200 And so I spent a lot of time two weeks ago

00:14:16.780 talking about that.

00:14:17.500 So the love test is love for the church, love for the saints, love for the body of Christ.

00:14:23.820 Galatians chapter six, as often as you have opportunity, do good to all, but especially

00:14:28.180 that is prioritize the household of faith.

00:14:32.760 So do I love God?

00:14:34.540 If I love God truly, if I truly love God, I only could truly love God if he salvifically

00:14:39.940 first loved me.

00:14:41.220 So that's a sign that I'm born again, that I'm saved.

00:14:43.520 But how can I test and discern and measure my love for God?

00:14:49.560 How do I know if that's real, if I really love God?

00:14:52.040 Do I love God's people?

00:14:54.020 Do I love the church?

00:14:55.140 And then furthermore, one extra little characteristic with that.

00:14:58.700 Do I love God's people in theory?

00:15:02.320 It's been popular for decades.

00:15:04.020 There's a lot of people, a lot of millennials have passionately loved the children in Uganda.

00:15:10.040 But they can't share the fridge with their roommate in college.

00:15:13.520 so do you love people or and just consider this for a moment i know again this is another thing

00:15:21.600 that just sounds absolutely shocking it sounds impossible like pigs flying but but there might

00:15:26.980 be a chance okay so just just consider it do you really love the children uganda but hate your

00:15:33.060 roommate and also hate your your mom and dad and also hate this roommate and you know and

00:15:36.580 and your entire life every single person that's ever been in any vicinity with you has always

00:15:40.960 been toxic and it's just this crazy coincidence? Or here's another alternative. Are you actually

00:15:47.060 just really bad at love? And the only people you love conveniently are people who are, you know,

00:15:51.260 like 8,000 miles away. That your love in theory, another way that you could kind of label that is

00:15:58.320 you could call it not love. You don't love. You don't. The only people you love are people you've

00:16:05.840 never met you love them in theory but not in tangible physical practical literal ways and

00:16:11.940 what we see in scripture again and again is how do you know that you uh that god loves you that

00:16:16.720 you've been saved you love him how do you know you love him you love his people and how do you

00:16:21.160 know you love his people you love them in reality not just in theory but in practice what does that

00:16:28.760 look like james talks about this the sermon on the mount matthew 5 6 and 7 jesus talks about this

00:16:34.240 if your brother is naked, you clothe him. You don't just say, I'm praying for a shirt.

00:16:40.420 You give him a shirt, right? If your brother is hungry, you feed him. If he's thirsty,

00:16:45.900 you give him water to drink. And if your brother is imprisoned, Jesus goes on to say,

00:16:51.460 then you go and visit him. And again, in this, it's your brother. And the implication there,

00:16:57.580 right? What's implied or assumed in visiting your brother, not just universal neighborhood,

00:17:02.780 but fellow man, but a brother in Christ, visiting them in prison, what's assumed there is that you

00:17:08.420 are visiting a brother in Christ who is imprisoned because he's a Christian. That's the context,

00:17:15.480 actually. I'm visiting a Christian who has been wrongfully imprisoned for being a Christian,

00:17:21.740 that they're being persecuted. So it's not just this boundless empathy, right? That's another

00:17:27.820 a problem in our culture today i just i have so much empathy uh in fact i have so much empathy

00:17:34.060 that that i've decided that facts of are of no regard you know facts facts uh don't matter you

00:17:41.440 know so this person is in prison and i just oh it's such a tragedy and i just love them and i

00:17:46.040 want to give them money and go visit them and yeah but that person's also a serial killer oh

00:17:51.360 like that person it is wrong that they're in prison because they should have already been

00:17:56.660 hanged. So I agree with you. It is unjust. But I think we have two different ideas of what the

00:18:03.580 injustice actually is in this scenario. We have this boundless empathy in our culture where,

00:18:10.320 oh, I feel for this person or I feel for that person. And we don't even stop to think,

00:18:15.760 what are the facts? So we think, who is the victim? And we assume that the first person to say,

00:18:23.520 I was oppressed. I was, I was treated wrongfully. I was this, I was that. We assume that person's

00:18:28.860 the victim, but in biblical language, did you know that bearing false witness, if that person

00:18:33.860 comes in first and spins a narrative, but it turns out they're lying, then the victim is actually the

00:18:40.240 person they're talking about. That's the true victim. And that's the person in a biblical

00:18:45.520 standard that God commands our sympathy, our compassion, and our help. So the obedience test,

00:18:53.120 obey God's commands. The love test, love for brothers and sisters in Christ, and a love that

00:18:58.820 is not just theoretical, but practical. And then lastly, the truth test, or we might call it the

00:19:04.480 doctrine test, that is having a accurate, credible profession of faith. What is a credible profession

00:19:11.580 of faith, at least two primary elements of that. It's a biblical profession, and it's a personal

00:19:18.620 profession. Biblical meaning you're professing the person and work of Christ according to the Bible.

00:19:27.940 The personal level is this. Galatians, Paul says, I am convinced that the Son of God gave himself,

00:19:33.960 loved me and gave himself up for me. The key word, loved me and gave himself up for me. And not in

00:19:42.640 some presumptuous, arrogant, me, me, me kind of in our secular culture, not that kind of way. But

00:19:49.580 it must be. If you have a credible profession of Christ, it must be biblical. That is, it's

00:19:55.840 accurate according to the scripture, what God says about Christ, but also personal. You cannot

00:20:02.300 merely believe as a Christian that Jesus died for someone somewhere out there. You have to actually

00:20:10.460 believe that Jesus died at Calvary as a substitute for you. That your sin was laid upon his shoulder.

00:20:18.800 That he who knew no sin became a curse, became sin. Our sin imputed to him. Your sin imputed to

00:20:27.200 him and that he suffered the white hot wrath of God in his crucifixion on your behalf so that God

00:20:33.960 no longer has any wrath remaining when he looks at you but only instead pleasure and love because

00:20:41.700 your sin was laid upon Christ he he received the wages of your sin which was death and his

00:20:49.120 righteousness has been laid upon you through faith and God looks at you and sees Jesus but you have

00:20:55.900 to believe that personally. You have to believe that that was done for you. Back to the biblical

00:21:00.840 aspect, you have to believe what the Bible says about Jesus. So when you're talking to someone,

00:21:07.160 it's like, well, I have a credible profession of Jesus. I believe in Jesus. I follow Jesus.

00:21:11.680 Here's the first question to ask, and you can do it in a loving, kind, respectful way. The first

00:21:15.900 question to ask when someone says, I believe in Jesus, you simply respond by saying, which one?

00:21:21.300 i believe in jesus i love jesus which jesus the jesus of sugar and spice and everything nice

00:21:29.520 right the jesus who's you know the jewish version of mr rogers right the jesus who's a tree-hugging

00:21:36.320 hippie you know who just really loves the forest right is it smoking the bear jesus like what kind

00:21:40.680 of jesus what what jesus are we talking about are we talking about blm jesus are we talking about

00:21:44.920 nancy pelosi jesus are we talking about the jesus who really loves women but but what that looks

00:21:49.860 like is murdering babies in the womb, that Jesus, or is it the biblical Jesus? Which Jesus? So when

00:21:57.520 we say a credible profession is a biblical confession of Jesus, it means confessing Christ

00:22:03.360 according to the scripture and a personal confession of Jesus that he's my Jesus. He's my

00:22:09.920 Jesus. He died for me. He loves me. I belong to him. I am his treasured possession. So obedience

00:22:18.760 test? Are you obeying his commands? The love test? Do you love God by loving God's people in real

00:22:25.520 tangible ways? The truth test or doctrinal test? Do you have a credible profession of faith, a.k.a.

00:22:32.340 your profession of Christ, your belief, your faith in Christ is both biblical and personal. That's

00:22:38.340 the book of 1 John in a nutshell. That's what I did in 60 minutes last week and this week,

00:22:43.000 probably 20 minutes. All right, so here we go. Now to the text, verse 18. That's where we're starting.

00:22:48.160 we know christians are kept from sin that's the first thing that we see verse 18 says we know that

00:22:54.940 everyone who has been born of god does not keep on sinning but he who he who was born of god protects

00:23:02.320 him and the evil one does not touch him what does that mean well uh it we know that when he says

00:23:11.280 we know that everyone who has been born of god does not keep on sinning john has already elsewhere

00:23:15.940 in this same epistle, he's already said that believers do in fact sin. We can look no further

00:23:22.100 than simply 1 John chapter 1 verse 8. So the very first chapter of this letter, 1 John chapter 1

00:23:28.220 verse 8 says this. It says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in

00:23:35.920 us. So when John says that one of the signs of being born of God is that we do not keep on sinning,

00:23:43.140 he's not he's not speaking out of both sides of his mouth he's not contradicting now in first

00:23:49.260 john chapter 5 verse 18 what he previously has said in first john chapter 1 verse 8 in first

00:23:55.180 john chapter 1 verse 8 he says if anyone claims to be without sin he's deceived himself so john

00:24:02.580 is is fully aware he knows good and well that even christians those who have been born of god

00:24:08.400 sin. So then what does he mean when he says, we know that everyone who has been born of God does

00:24:13.980 not keep on sinning. He must mean here that no genuine child of God lives in an indefinite state

00:24:21.960 of sin. John is simply saying that genuine conversion has an obvious result, namely

00:24:28.520 a righteous life. Then at the end of verse 18, John says this, and the evil one does not touch

00:24:36.020 him. John does not mean that Christians are completely immune to Satan's attacks. Satan can

00:24:42.540 still tempt Christians and even sift them like wheat if God in his sovereignty chooses to grant

00:24:49.000 Satan permission. Luke 22 verse 31. However, Satan can no longer enslave us. This is the key of what

00:24:57.640 John is saying. Chapter 5 verse 18. First verse of our text today. He's saying Satan can no longer

00:25:03.480 enslave us if we are born of God, Christians born again, and he cannot therefore make us

00:25:10.340 captives of sin for the rest of our lives. In short, Christians will continue to wrestle with

00:25:18.480 sin. Christians will continue to struggle with sin, but Christians are no longer slaves to sin

00:25:25.960 and Christians will be tempted and prodded and poked and bugged by the enemy.

00:25:33.480 we will at times be oppressed by the enemy there is such a thing for the christian as spiritual

00:25:39.480 attack but the christian can no longer be enslaved or fully taken captive by the enemy

00:25:47.580 so the christian sins but he is not a slave to sin and the christian is tempted and oppressed

00:25:55.360 in varying degrees at varying times in varying ways by satan but he is not a child of satan

00:26:01.640 He is not held fully captive by Satan. There is freedom from Satan and freedom from sin.

00:26:09.020 The three Ps when it comes to sin, the easiest way to remember this. Christ has fully,

00:26:15.800 fully broken or fully paid for the penalty of sin. That's done. If you are a Christian,

00:26:22.120 the penalty of sin has been fully paid for by Christ on your behalf. So the penalty of sin

00:26:27.160 is atoned for. It's done. It's paid. It's finished. The power of sin is broken. If you are a Christian

00:26:35.060 born again, you are not a slave to sin. However, in this life, not forever, but in this life,

00:26:41.260 the presence of sin remains. So for the Christian penalty of sin done power of sin, broken presence

00:26:51.060 of sin ongoing in this life only but first john also elsewhere says this when we see him we will

00:26:59.440 be like him for we shall see him as he is what john is referring to is that final day when this

00:27:07.180 life comes to a close when we stand before christ when we see him we shall be like him not like him

00:27:15.260 in every regard. He's God. Even in heaven for eternity, we will only ever still be creatures,

00:27:21.880 glorified creatures. Yes, but creatures nonetheless. We will not be like him in his,

00:27:27.000 in the fact of his omniscience and the fact that he is infinite and the fact that he is

00:27:33.060 God deity. But we will be like him in what regard? What is John specifically referencing?

00:27:38.360 When we see him, we'll be like him, meaning we will be like him in regard to his sinlessness.

00:27:45.260 that we will be pure, purified, that the presence, not only is the power of sin broken, that's done

00:27:52.480 even now if you're in Christ, but on that day when we see him, when we stand before him in the life

00:27:58.620 to come, not only is the power of sin broken, that's broken now, but the presence of sin will

00:28:05.340 be done away with, even the presence of sin. Paul says this in Romans chapter 7, sin still resides,

00:28:11.680 And Paul's saying this as a Christian.

00:28:13.760 I fully believe this is post-conversion.

00:28:16.800 And yet Paul, as a Christian, says,

00:28:18.300 sin still resides within the members of my being.

00:28:21.120 That is, sin still resides within my flesh.

00:28:23.640 So I find this law at work within me

00:28:25.700 that when I want to do good, I cannot carry it out.

00:28:28.720 Oh, what a wretched man I am who will save me

00:28:31.220 from this body of death.

00:28:34.320 That this body, currently, sin still resides

00:28:37.380 within the members of my body,

00:28:39.100 within the members of my flesh.

00:28:40.800 meaning that this sinful flesh, even as a born again Christian, the flesh in this life still

00:28:46.080 remains. And within my flesh, there is an ever present inclination, a propensity towards idolatry

00:28:54.720 and evil desires. Now, the idea of Christian faith is that by God's grace, we, as Paul says

00:29:02.900 elsewhere, I beat myself, I beat my flesh and make it my slave. That we are called to exercise

00:29:11.600 progressively more and more mastery over our sinful flesh, over our sinful desires. That we are not

00:29:18.980 slaves to Satan, slaves to sin, or slaves even to ourselves. However, here's the deal, you're still

00:29:26.280 a slave. Slavery is inevitable, just for the record. Everyone is a slave. The trick is being

00:29:33.680 a slave of the best master. You're either a slave of Satan, your flesh, a slave of sin,

00:29:41.280 slave of culture, a slave of other people, or you can be a slave of Jesus. And Jesus is the only

00:29:46.740 slave owner who can look his slaves in the face and in the same breath say, you are my slaves,

00:29:53.080 my bondservants to do my will, and yet I call you friend. That's the key. So all that being said,

00:30:03.220 the power of sin is broken. In addition to that, the penalty of sin for the Christian is paid,

00:30:09.480 and the presence of sin remains, and yet we are experiencing in sanctification by grace through

00:30:16.080 the power inner working of the Holy Spirit. We're experiencing further and further progressive

00:30:20.720 righteousness in this life, but eventually complete righteousness, where even the presence of sin will

00:30:27.660 be there no longer. That's verse 18 of our text. When John says, we know that everyone who has been

00:30:34.100 born of God does not keep on sinning. He's not saying that the sign, the only true telltale sign

00:30:40.180 of being a Christian is that you have achieved a state of sinless perfection. That is not what

00:30:46.220 John is teaching. There is no state of perfect, sinless perfection in this life. That state does

00:30:54.320 exist and it is the state of the Christian in the life to come. When we see him, we will be like him

00:31:00.700 for we shall see him as he is. In what regard? How is he? Sinless, righteous. And the very presence,

00:31:09.140 not only power and penalty, but even the presence of sin on that day will be no more. So what John

00:31:15.420 is saying is simple. He's not saying, if you're a Christian, you'll never sin again. But what he is

00:31:20.780 saying is that Christians should not be defined by sin. Christians experience real, progressive,

00:31:29.540 gradual, visible, tangible improvement in righteousness in this life. And if there's

00:31:38.460 nothing, if there's no fruit to speak of, I've been a Christian for 40 years, and in every single

00:31:44.300 category that I can think of, I've gotten worse. Well, you're going to hell. You're not a Christian.

00:31:51.520 I mean, it's really simple, right? This is an apple tree. And every year for 20 years now in

00:31:57.420 season, it produces pears. How many apples? Zero. Lots of pears. Great pears. It's my favorite apple

00:32:02.960 tree. Well, I think it's a pear tree. So that's what John's saying. Not sinless perfection in

00:32:12.300 this life, but progressive victory over sin. You are not a slave to sin and you're not a slave to

00:32:18.500 Satan. Because notice the second half of verse 18, he doesn't just say that no, everyone who has

00:32:24.260 been born of God does not keep on sinning. But then he goes on and says that God protects him

00:32:29.440 and the evil one does not touch him. Now that's the big theme in the text that we're going to see

00:32:34.320 multiple times as we move on to the other verses. Christians, not only are they free from slavery to

00:32:39.660 sin, but they're also free from slavery to Satan. And what we'll see is there's one primary tool

00:32:46.680 that Satan uses for the unbeliever. But for the Christian, this tool, this weapon has been stripped,

00:32:55.060 neutralized, disarmed. And we'll look into that a little bit more in a moment. Let's look at verse

00:32:59.200 19 now. We know that non-Christians, so we're comparing and contrasting. So Christians, they're

00:33:04.760 no longer defined by sin. They have victory over sin. They're being sanctified, and the devil may

00:33:10.460 tempt them, but he does not own them. Non-Christians, however, verse 19, on the other side, we know that

00:33:17.980 non-Christians belong to Satan and are deceived. Verse 19 of our text, John says, we know that we

00:33:25.720 are from God, and the whole world, or we might say, but the whole world, on the other hand,

00:33:30.980 lies in the power of the evil one. Throughout this letter, John has drawn a sharp line between

00:33:38.200 Christians and the rest of the world. You see that in multiple places. One example would be

00:33:43.420 1 John 3, verse 1. There is no middle ground. A person is either of God or they are of the world

00:33:53.340 in line in the power of the evil one. That's what verse 19 says. Let's look at the text one more

00:33:59.140 time. First John chapter five, verse 19. We know that we are from God and the whole world, by way

00:34:06.560 of contrast, lies in the power of the evil one. Some translations actually say in the arms of the

00:34:14.660 evil one. The picture that John is painting here, it's vivid and profound. We need to get it into

00:34:21.540 our minds and souls. The picture that John is painting here of the unbeliever, the non-Christian,

00:34:27.420 is not that they are like frantic captives

00:34:31.480 desperately trying to escape Satan's clutches.

00:34:35.340 Rather, unbelievers lie happily and peacefully

00:34:39.000 in the arms of their father, Satan,

00:34:42.200 like babies cooing at their mother,

00:34:46.700 oblivious to their own impending doom.

00:34:50.280 The devil has blinded their minds

00:34:52.600 and deceived them,

00:34:54.260 according to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4.

00:34:57.420 So the Christian, what does the Christian look like?

00:35:00.520 He's no longer defined or marked by sin.

00:35:03.220 He's no longer a slave to sin.

00:35:05.320 He is growing in righteousness.

00:35:07.400 He still struggles with sin.

00:35:09.080 The presence of sin remains,

00:35:10.740 but he is growing in righteousness,

00:35:12.800 gaining victory over the power of sin.

00:35:15.040 And the devil does not touch him.

00:35:18.100 Temptation, oppression, yes,

00:35:19.780 but the devil cannot hold him.

00:35:22.400 But who does the devil hold?

00:35:24.900 The unbeliever.

00:35:25.700 And the unbeliever is not being held by Satan as a captive, frantically trying to get out of his clutches.

00:35:31.920 But the unbeliever is actually being held by Satan as though he is their father, like an infant rocking them.

00:35:39.720 And they look up into their father's eyes, the devil.

00:35:42.920 And if they could speak, they would say, I love you.

00:35:46.640 That's the unbeliever.

00:35:48.840 Well, I have unbelieving neighbors and they're really nice.

00:35:52.140 Okay.

00:35:52.400 but if god doesn't save them by his grace that unbelieving neighbor will curse god for eternity

00:35:59.180 in hell if you really can get down to the root of it if you really can get down to the root of it

00:36:06.800 the unbeliever is not neutral towards god he's not merely indifferent towards god or uninterested

00:36:14.120 in the things of god but romans 8 says that the mind of the unbeliever is hostile towards god

00:36:20.240 at enmity with God.

00:36:21.980 He does not submit to God's law, nor can he.

00:36:25.040 He is unwilling and unable.

00:36:28.960 If you're wondering about unbelievers,

00:36:31.360 about the non-Christian and whether or not

00:36:32.980 they really hate God,

00:36:34.740 just go to an abortion route

00:36:36.420 and just read a few scriptures

00:36:39.800 about what God says about murder 1.00

00:36:41.520 and watch as purple-haired feminists, 1.00

00:36:45.760 you know, they begin to scream and screech 1.00

00:36:49.200 about how much they love killing their babies

00:36:52.540 and they hate Jesus.

00:36:55.500 It's actually a really merciful thing.

00:36:57.700 It's something that God has done.

00:36:58.880 I don't know if you've witnessed this,

00:37:00.620 but it's something that God has done

00:37:01.820 in his providence, in his kindness, in nature.

00:37:04.560 Right, a poison dart frog.

00:37:06.480 The way God designed it is that it's bright colors.

00:37:09.760 So you know, stay away. 1.00

00:37:11.860 God has done this with feminists in 2023. 1.00

00:37:14.660 Right, you look at their hair. 1.00

00:37:16.220 If it's purple, if it's red, if it's pink,

00:37:18.100 whoop, poison dart frog. Be careful. Don't get too close. That's God's, you know, loving kindness

00:37:23.580 towards us, warning his people. All right. So we know that non-Christians belong to Satan and are

00:37:31.760 deceived. Now again, on the flip side, it's just comparing and contrasting. That's what this text

00:37:36.160 is doing again and again. The Christian, the believer, however, is not deceived. He's not

00:37:43.320 deceived. We know that Christians do not belong to Satan, but rather belong to Jesus and have been

00:37:49.960 given understanding. The opposite of deception, Christians have been given understanding. This is

00:37:56.940 verse 20 of our text. Let me read it again so it's fresh in our minds. In verse 20 of our text, John

00:38:01.860 says, and we know that the son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him

00:38:09.860 who is true. In direct contrast with the blind indifference of the world, Christians have been

00:38:16.520 given spiritual, supernatural understanding from Jesus in order to know the one and only true God

00:38:24.800 of the Bible. Let's look at some verses that back this up, right? Cross-referencing here other verses

00:38:31.060 in scripture. This is Luke chapter 10 verse 21 through 22 says this, in that same hour he rejoiced

00:38:37.680 in the Holy Spirit and said, this is Jesus. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

00:38:43.920 that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little

00:38:49.000 children. Revelation, understanding. For such was your gracious will. All things have been handed

00:38:58.020 over to me by my father. That's Jesus. And no one knows who the son is except the father or who the

00:39:06.600 father is except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. What Jesus is saying

00:39:14.740 is simple. If you are in Christ, he has chosen to reveal to you the father. You know God because

00:39:25.980 and only because you know his son and his son has chosen supernaturally to reveal his father

00:39:33.580 to you. To say it in the negative, in the other direction, if you don't know Christ, you don't

00:39:40.600 know God. If you are a Muslim, you don't know God. If you are a Talmudic Jew, you don't know God.

00:39:54.080 Unless you are a Christian who knows Christ and has a biblical confession of Christ, not that he

00:40:00.960 who's just a good guy or a philosopher or a prophet, but that he is the only begotten son of

00:40:07.820 God, creator, not a created being, not a Jehovah's witness or Mormon view that he's really just the

00:40:15.200 archangel Michael and brother of Lucifer, that he's the first among created beings, but he's not

00:40:20.320 actually the creator himself. No, that's garbage. That's heresy. That's wrong. Now, if you don't

00:40:27.340 know Jesus. And again, the question is, which one? I'm talking about what the Bible says about Jesus.

00:40:32.840 If you don't know Jesus from the scripture, then you do not know God. Because the only people who

00:40:38.440 know God is Jesus, his son, and those Christ chooses to reveal him to. Luke 10, 21 and 22.

00:40:46.440 Also 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. But the natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of

00:40:52.840 God, for they are folly to him. He cannot understand them because they are spiritually

00:40:59.060 discerned. And how do you spiritually discern these spiritual things? With spiritual eyes and

00:41:05.320 spiritual ears and a new softened spiritual heart, which comes by the Holy Spirit.

00:41:12.280 And the Holy Spirit not only gives you a regenerate new heart, but he gives you faith in

00:41:17.100 Jesus. And in knowing Jesus, seeing Jesus, savoring and loving and worshiping Jesus,

00:41:25.640 Christ will also reveal to you his father. So for the unbeliever, they don't know God.

00:41:33.600 The chief ministry, here it is. This is probably the biggest line of the sermon that I want you

00:41:38.160 to come away with today. The chief ministry of Satan with the unbeliever is primarily a ministry

00:41:46.640 of deception. But the chief ministry of Satan with the believer, with the Christian, is primarily

00:41:54.540 a ministry of doubt and despair. And this is where I want us to land the plane, and then I'll read the

00:42:02.280 last point as our conclusion, and I'll read it briefly. But this is where I want us to rest our

00:42:07.380 hat and just sit for just a little bit. Satan's chief ministry with a non-Christian is keeping

00:42:14.340 them deceived, keeping them blind, making sure they remain plugged in to the matrix.

00:42:25.480 All right, that they just, they see all these things and they love it. They love trash world.

00:42:32.300 They love clown world, right? They think that, you know, there's never been anyone who's ever

00:42:38.620 been moral. No moral culture has ever existed in the history of humanity until 15 minutes ago.

00:42:44.340 right there did i mean there are people who really believe that people who really believe

00:42:49.800 that they think all the founders of our republic were terrible people they think that every

00:42:56.340 generation and every culture and every nation ever has been bad until they were born right

00:43:02.760 they are deceived they're plugged into the matrix they're cuckoo they're crazy they're arrogant

00:43:11.840 They're proud and not only deceived about the world, but first and foremost, their deception

00:43:19.620 stems because they have a wrong view of God. They're deceived about God. They're deceived

00:43:25.060 about Christ. The chief ministry of Satan, when it comes to the non-Christian, is a ministry of

00:43:31.100 deception. He has deceived them and he is keeping them deceived, keeping them blind, right? If they

00:43:39.820 start to stir, even for a second, he rocks him just a little bit more steadily. Begins to sing

00:43:45.740 another lullaby. Rock-a-bye, baby. That's his ministry. But if you're a Christian, you've

00:43:54.580 been born again. Here's the mark of a Christian. You don't keep on sinning. Again, not sinless

00:43:59.080 perfection. Not in this life. But it means you're warring now against sin. You're not happily sinning.

00:44:05.620 you're not a slave to sin. You're warring against sin. And yes, you're still being tempted by the

00:44:11.420 enemy. There's still spiritual, spiritual attack, but you're no longer owned by Satan, not a slave

00:44:16.720 to Satan. And you may not have perfect theology. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that the

00:44:21.620 Christian upon conversion has all his doctrinal I's dotted and T's crossed, but he does understand

00:44:28.960 the basic fundamental truths of the faith.

00:44:32.300 He knows Jesus, the person and work of Jesus.

00:44:35.960 He knows that we are born again

00:44:38.340 and saved by grace alone, through faith alone,

00:44:41.620 in Christ alone.

00:44:43.480 He is no longer deceived.

00:44:47.320 And so here's the life of a Christian.

00:44:49.740 This is the point.

00:44:51.060 The moment you get unplugged from the matrix,

00:44:53.880 the moment that you're no longer a slave of Satan,

00:44:56.600 a slave of sin,

00:44:58.600 The moment your eyes are open, your ears are open,

00:45:02.360 you've got a new heart, you're spiritually awake,

00:45:05.900 you're no longer deceived, you're no longer asleep.

00:45:11.200 Essentially what that does is it means that moment,

00:45:14.080 we call it conversion,

00:45:15.500 that moment is the day of a declaration of war.

00:45:19.640 So life gets harder.

00:45:22.900 I don't understand.

00:45:24.300 I'm following Jesus and things are tough.

00:45:27.640 remember the whole world lies in the arms of the enemy not frantic captives looking at you and

00:45:36.440 your freedom in christ and wishing they could have it no they're lying sucking their thumbs

00:45:41.000 in satan's arm and looking at you doing war against their father who they love

00:45:49.240 you're insulting their dad

00:45:52.560 so they hate you of course they hate you why would they hate me i didn't see this coming

00:46:00.240 read the book jesus said the student is not beyond the teacher the slave is not greater

00:46:06.860 than the master if they hated me they will hate you there's only one way to avoid hatred from the

00:46:13.800 world as a Christian. The only way to avoid hatred from the world as a Christian is to look nothing

00:46:21.100 like a Christian. To look nothing like Jesus. And to think, well, I'm faithfully following Jesus

00:46:30.960 and unbelievers, they think really well of me. And that guy over there, he thinks he's faithfully

00:46:38.220 following Jesus, but he's always stirring up ruckus and drama and conflict. You mean like

00:46:44.980 all the apostles? Like the guys who had prison ministries because everywhere they went? Paul,

00:46:50.200 literally, his title that people gave to him is one who stirs up riots.

00:46:58.920 Right? So you're Mr. Winsome Christian, but the apostle Paul who wrote underneath the

00:47:04.600 inspiration of the holy spirit two-thirds of the new testament scripture he was known not as mr

00:47:09.520 winsome christian but as mr one who stirs up riots because the the gospel that he preached

00:47:18.200 both law and gospel here's the thing part of the reason paul was always in trouble and people

00:47:23.540 wanted to imprison him is because he didn't just change people's opinions in such a way

00:47:28.020 that it began to transition their private inward lives.

00:47:33.240 Now, when he was in Ephesus,

00:47:35.100 the way that he was preaching Christ

00:47:37.980 and the way that he was wailing on idolatry

00:47:41.660 actually began to affect the economy.

00:47:45.960 Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.

00:47:48.880 They began to chant and scream

00:47:51.220 as a mob in the city square.

00:47:54.040 He's desecrating our idols

00:47:55.860 and we are soon to lose,

00:47:58.080 not only are gods losing their good reputation,

00:48:00.980 but we are soon to lose our trade,

00:48:04.260 our livelihood.

00:48:07.600 See, that's where all of a sudden

00:48:09.220 Christianity becomes a threat.

00:48:12.100 The reason we've got along so well

00:48:14.160 with the world for such a long time

00:48:15.700 is because we haven't been a threat.

00:48:19.780 The world, our world,

00:48:21.820 has been perfectly fine with Christians for decades

00:48:24.320 is because Christians don't do anything.

00:48:27.860 Of course we don't get any hostility.

00:48:31.360 We don't get any hostility

00:48:32.980 because we haven't gone to war.

00:48:36.820 But I like to think that by the grace of God,

00:48:40.140 that the church is like the Ents,

00:48:42.780 the March of the Ents.

00:48:44.220 You're like the Ents.

00:48:44.900 What scripture is that?

00:48:47.200 It's Tolkien.

00:48:50.380 Talking about the two towers,

00:48:52.840 Isengard and the ends they look around and they say I'm on nobody's side I'm not on Gandalf side

00:49:03.160 or Saruman I'm on nobody's side because no one is on my side and that's how I feel in this given

00:49:11.640 moment all right Russian Ukraine I'm on nobody's side I'm not a fan of Putin I think he's a war

00:49:20.280 though. I'm sure as heck not a fan of Ukraine. I think they're the money purse of the most corrupt

00:49:27.460 politicians in the entire world. I feel somewhat similar about Israel and Palestine.

00:49:36.660 I'm no fan of Hamas. They're Islamic terrorists. And if God doesn't mercifully intervene and save

00:49:42.900 them they're going to hell but when i look at israel and i look at ukraine

00:49:47.680 i feel like i'm looking at the same picture

00:49:51.680 israel is not a bastion of judeo-christian values which is an oxymoron israel like america

00:50:00.220 not trying to just pick on them it's a bastion of the rainbow flag

00:50:04.400 exporting perversion around the world.

00:50:14.720 I'm on nobody's side because nobody's on my side.

00:50:19.320 Nobody's on my side.

00:50:20.580 Nobody's on America's side.

00:50:24.040 Right?

00:50:24.640 We're all Christian nationalists

00:50:26.020 if we're talking about any nation except for ours.

00:50:29.480 Right?

00:50:30.100 With some billions to Ukraine, billions to Israel.

00:50:33.740 You can be a Christian nationalist if we're talking about being a Zionist.

00:50:36.840 You can be a Christian nationalist if you're talking about this place or that place or anywhere.

00:50:40.280 But you can't ever do anything for your own people.

00:50:44.780 Nobody's on your side, brothers and sisters.

00:50:46.540 You just need to wake up to that.

00:50:48.020 You need to know that.

00:50:48.940 Get it deep in your bones.

00:50:50.840 Wake up.

00:50:51.700 Nobody's on your side.

00:50:54.900 I'm on no one's side because nobody's on my side.

00:50:57.460 But here's what the ints eventually do.

00:50:59.360 eventually they get kind of tricked by these little tiny hobbits and they get just close

00:51:08.980 enough to Isengard to see how terrible Saruman actually is. They get woken up

00:51:17.860 kind of like a 2020, 2021, 2022 kind of situation. They get awakened to see how bad trash world

00:51:26.780 really is how bad clown world really is that the world the unbelieving world they're not actually

00:51:32.460 neutral they're not willing to coexist they're not willing to go along to get along they actually

00:51:37.660 want to take your children destroy your lives they hate every biblical principle and then what

00:51:45.180 happens is that when the ants get close enough to isengard to see what saruman has done uprooting

00:51:51.460 other trees, their friends, and burning them. Then all of a sudden, they go into a righteous

00:51:58.080 rage. The church needs to be angry today. Righteously angry. Jesus is meek and mild.

00:52:09.500 We want to look like him, but he's not only meek and mild. John chapter 2, Jesus was fashioning a

00:52:16.200 whip with cords. He was throwing over the money changers tables, releasing all the livestock

00:52:23.460 and whipping out these thieves out of his father's house. Get out of here. Don't desecrate my father's

00:52:33.280 house. My father's house is not a den of thieves, but it is a house of prayer for all nations.

00:52:39.140 and i believe that as difficult as things have been there is not only a silver lining i think

00:52:48.700 it's more than just that it's an incredible mercy in the providence of god that people

00:52:54.260 are waking up the temperature slowly turned up on the boiling pot of water so the frogs are

00:53:01.020 eventually boiled alive they they never they never realize how hot it's getting they never

00:53:06.460 jump out of the pot but but in 2020 these last three years since then what trash world has done

00:53:13.580 is they got a little cocky and they they thought you know what we're already close enough we can

00:53:19.520 just we could just finish it up and they turned up the knob suddenly and a lot of frogs stayed in

00:53:26.240 the water because their nerve endings were already shot but a few that still had a little breath in

00:53:32.220 their lungs, felt the temperature rise for the first time and realized this isn't a party in a

00:53:38.280 hot tub. This is dinner. And they jumped out and they're starting to fight back like the Ents

00:53:45.600 seeing what Saruman was actually up to. And the Ents will now go to war. The church is a sleeping

00:53:52.640 giant. The church is the most powerful, formidable force in all the world, in all human history.

00:54:02.220 it's not a singular nation it's not a military it is the church of jesus christ it is the

00:54:08.400 battering ram of christ and the gates of hell will not prevail against it but she has to wake

00:54:14.260 up she has to wake up and in the mercy of god i believe she is and she's a sleeping giant and when

00:54:23.180 she rouses from her slumber and i would argue it's not just a 60 year slumber from the sexual

00:54:29.960 revolution of the 1960s. It's not just a boomer slumber. It's not even just 120 or 130 years.

00:54:38.740 I think it's a slumber that's been going on for a long time. I would track it back at least

00:54:43.320 to the enlightenment. But I do believe that by the grace of God, this leaping giant can wake

00:54:50.600 once more. And if she does, or because of the promises of scripture, I think we should say

00:54:58.840 when she does, be it our generation or the generation of our children or the generation

00:55:04.040 of our children's children, not if, but inevitably, by the grace of God, when she wakes,

00:55:11.700 she will do violence to the gates of hell, and it will be beautiful and glorious.

00:55:19.880 Since the beginning, the kingdom of God has suffered violence, but the violent take it by force.

00:55:26.580 that is not talking that's bible the violent shall take it by force nobody waltzes in to heaven

00:55:36.620 not to the one who conquers will be given the crown of life to the one who endures to the end

00:55:46.080 will be given the crown of life paul says to the corinthians strengthen yourselves

00:55:54.900 act like men. Be awake, be watchful, be alert. And by the grace of God, this is happening.

00:56:06.600 And we must do vigilance in our own lives, in our homes, in our business, in politics,

00:56:16.480 in our county, in every place where we are. We must be vigilant to be watchful, to be alert,

00:56:22.220 to be awake, and to perform righteous violence. Since the beginning, the kingdom of God has

00:56:30.200 suffered violence, but the violent shall take it by force. Our weapons are not carnal, but our

00:56:36.300 weapons are spiritual, powerful, for tearing down strongholds and every lofty opinion that sets

00:56:43.980 itself up and over against the knowledge of Christ. We uproot and decimate ideologies and

00:56:50.740 deceptions and lies. Because what John is saying in this text is that the mark of the world, the

00:56:58.560 mark of the unbeliever is that they're asleep. They're lying in the arms of Satan. They are

00:57:03.560 deceived. They are deaf. They are dead. They are blind. But not so with the child of God.

00:57:10.340 The child of God does not go on sinning. The child of God is not a child of Satan.

00:57:17.040 the child of God wrestles he wars but he is not a slave and the child of God is not deceived or

00:57:24.520 blind but he has been given understanding and because of that and because Satan knows that

00:57:31.960 his chief ministry with your unbelieving neighbor will be a ministry of quiet and often comfortable

00:57:38.720 deception but his ministry with you because he cannot deceive you because you've been given

00:57:45.640 understanding by Christ himself, his ministry with you will not be deception, but despair.

00:57:52.960 And so brothers and sisters, hear me. Do not despair. Don't despair.

00:58:02.320 Don't give up. See, that's the problem right now. There are a lot of people who have, you know,

00:58:08.300 like Neo and the matrix, the blue pill, you go back to sleep and the red pill, you wake up.

00:58:12.480 There's a lot of people who took the red pill. You've heard me say this. They've woken up.

00:58:15.640 but then he immediately followed that red pill

00:58:17.640 with a black pill of utter despair.

00:58:21.300 You're no good if you despair.

00:58:25.040 Back to Lord of the Rings, right?

00:58:26.500 Bible, Matrix, and Lord of the Rings.

00:58:28.040 Those are my, that's my biblical, you know,

00:58:30.460 and proof text and cultural support.

00:58:32.200 But back to Lord of the Rings, Thaoden.

00:58:34.400 He's a good guy.

00:58:36.220 He's one of the good guys.

00:58:38.020 But when he's under the spell of Saruman,

00:58:41.480 he despairs.

00:58:43.340 Everything in his mind is meaningless.

00:58:45.080 we can't win we'll never survive right Gondor they've lit the torches Gondor calls for aid

00:58:52.040 will Rohan answer but finally it's not just that he wakes up to how bad things are he also you need

00:59:00.860 two things not one you don't need to just know how bad things are we got plenty of people going

00:59:06.140 around today patting themselves on the back saying I'm enlightened I'm aware I know how bad things

00:59:11.840 are. I know that feminism exists and how bad it is and where it started and blah, blah, blah. Okay, 1.00

00:59:16.100 great. What's the solution? Get a vasectomy in your twenties, never have kids and don't get

00:59:19.800 married. You blackpilled. You gave up. You're not a man. I'm not impressed by you. You're awake.

00:59:27.580 You're awake, but you're hopeless. Get out of here with that. No, thank you. No, it's not just

00:59:36.300 knowing the time and the hour that things are bad it's knowing also the power of satan the

00:59:42.260 darkness of the hour but that christ is greater that christ is greater and that we win and we

00:59:50.340 don't just win spiritually in the 17th dimension we don't just win privately in our homes and we

00:59:55.940 don't just win uh in in some bottom of the ninth saved by the bell mentality but we will win

01:00:02.300 intangibly, physically, literally, progressively in this time, in real human history. And if our

01:00:12.040 generation is a lateral play, if that's all it is, if all my life is, is actually passing the ball

01:00:19.360 back to my son so that he can move the ball yards down the field, so be it. But the question is not

01:00:28.560 if we win, but simply when will we win? And we will. So little children, the last verse, verse 21,

01:00:37.600 keep yourselves from idols. It seems random. We've been talking about all these things. John hasn't

01:00:44.740 mentioned idolatry actually once in all five chapters of this letter. At the very end, he seems

01:00:49.980 to abruptly change the entire subject, but he's not. At first glance, it seems out of context.

01:00:56.060 However, as we look closer, we will come to realize that this final command,

01:01:00.860 little children, keep yourselves from idols, actually sums up John's entire message.

01:01:06.360 Verse 21 of our text, John says,

01:01:08.400 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

01:01:10.980 Invariably, idolaters always fashion for themselves their own made-up gods

01:01:16.760 to suit their desires and preferences.

01:01:19.580 They do not submit to the God who's revealed himself in Christ Jesus

01:01:24.000 and through the pages of scripture. Many churches in our nation are filled with false converts

01:01:29.800 who happily listen to false teachers who consistently promote a false Jesus. Here's the

01:01:36.700 line. John wants us to realize that this is not simply a matter of bad theology, but rather this

01:01:44.480 is idolatry. Heresy is idolatry. Idolatry is worshiping another God. And bad theology,

01:01:55.220 when it comes to the person and work of Jesus Christ, is fashioning for yourself another God.

01:02:01.540 It's not just that, oh, you have bad theology about Jesus. If your theology is bad enough

01:02:06.140 about Jesus, you have another Jesus. And another Jesus is an idol. So John is not changing subjects

01:02:14.040 here at the very end of his letter.

01:02:15.580 This is the last verse in 1 John.

01:02:17.900 He's not changing subjects.

01:02:19.520 It's not random.

01:02:21.020 Instead, he's summing up the entirety of his message.

01:02:23.760 He's saying this.

01:02:25.220 Theology matters, brothers and sisters,

01:02:27.740 because theology, when it goes off the rails

01:02:30.180 and goes to a certain point too far,

01:02:32.580 it's no longer just bad theology.

01:02:34.560 It is idolatry.

01:02:36.940 Remember, Christians, the Israelites in the wilderness

01:02:40.260 when they had crossed the Red Sea

01:02:41.740 and Moses went up to the top of Mount Sinai

01:02:44.460 to meet with God and he had been gone

01:02:46.800 in their opinion for too long.

01:02:48.980 They fashioned for themselves a golden calf

01:02:51.160 and began to worship the calf.

01:02:52.760 But notice they didn't say,

01:02:54.240 hey, we're done with Yahweh

01:02:55.500 and now we have this other idol that we call Cal.

01:02:59.100 We worship Cal now instead of Yahweh.

01:03:01.240 No, they said, this is Yahweh.

01:03:04.500 This is, oh Israel, your God

01:03:06.540 that led you through the Red Sea.

01:03:08.700 and that's what the church still does to this day if we're not careful if we're not vigilant

01:03:15.800 if we're not if we're not diligent to preach from the scripture to preach sound doctrine of biblical

01:03:21.560 and personal confession of jesus christ what happens is this it's not that you say well

01:03:27.140 you know we're gonna stop worshiping jesus now we're gonna we're gonna worship you know

01:03:30.940 allah instead no that's not how it works what happens is you say oh we're still worshiping

01:03:37.100 Jesus. Of course we worship Jesus. We love Jesus. But the Jesus that you have erected is no longer

01:03:44.460 Jesus. Still worshiping Christ by name, but no longer by substance. It's not just bad theology.

01:03:53.240 It is another God. It is idolatry. All right, let's pray. Father, thank you for your word.

01:03:59.480 Bless it to your people. I pray that we'd be encouraged and inspired to live lives for your

01:04:05.460 glory and for the good of your people in our generation that you have providentially placed

01:04:11.560 us in this place this time that we would not despair the unbeliever is deceived but the

01:04:18.440 christian is tempted by despair but let it not be said of us let us have great hope that we would

01:04:25.420 see we wouldn't be naive we wouldn't minimize the power of darkness in this moment it is great

01:04:31.200 but that we also wouldn't minimize the power of christ it is greater greater is he who is in you

01:04:38.300 than he who is in the world help us to believe these things to live these things all for your

01:04:43.340 glory in jesus name we pray amen

The NXR Podcast - November 20, 2023

SUNDAY SERMON - Satan’s Deadliest Weapons： Deception & Despair

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