October 9, 2024 • 33 mins
Unravel the mystery behind the profound confidence believers hold when approaching God, knowing their prayers are heard when aligned with His will. I'll guide you through the powerful and often challenging teachings found in 1 John 5:14-21, tackling the intricate topic of sin leading to death versus the unforgivable sin. Through personal reflections and encounters with misleading doctrines, I highlight the crucial need for a deep, personal understanding of God's Word to safeguard against deception. This episode promises to encourage a more intimate relationship with God through prayer, as we explore the believer's responsibility to support one another spiritually.
We navigate the sobering tales of Moses, Ananias and Sapphira, and the Corinthians, shedding light on the serious implications of misrepresenting God and the concept of sins leading to physical death. These stories serve as potent reminders of the importance of faithfully representing God, emphasizing that while perfection isn’t expected in our earthly journey, striving for holiness remains vital. Through the lens of these biblical narratives, I stress the significance of the Holy Spirit’s guidance and the lessons in obedience and reverence they present. Join us to enrich your faith journey and discover how these teachings can lead to a life that truly honors God amidst the challenges of today's world.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
B.R.Maul (00:29):
Hello and good day.
This is BR Maul and you arelistening to Living God's Way in
an Ungodly World, a podcastthat we, of course, speak about
following God's way and not theworld's way In this world that
wants nothing to do with ourLord Savior, jesus Christ, his
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followers, those of us who areborn again in God's family.
Well, we want to do everythingwe can to follow the Lord, to
live according to God's way.
We are currently in the book of1 John, and we are going to end
that today because we are in 1John, chapter 5, and we'll be
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going from verses 14 to 21.
And that brings us to the endof the chapter and end of the
book of 1 John.
It's a pretty amazing endinghere to the book of 1 John.
He truly brings up a topic thatis seldom spoke about in
churches, especially churchestoday, because this is a topic
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that is very uncomfortable formost people.
After I read the verses thenI'll go back and break it down.
So this is a big one.
We have a lot to read, so I'mgoing to just jump right into it
.
Verse 14.
Now, this is the confidencethat we have in him that if we
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ask anything according to hiswill, he hears us and if we know
that he hears us, whatever weask, we know that we have the
petitions that we have asked ofhim.
If anyone sees his brothersinning a sin which does not
lead to death, he will ask andhe will give him life.
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For those who commit sin notleading to death.
There is sin leading to death,death.
There is sin leading to death.
I do not say that he shouldpray about that.
All unrighteousness is sin andthere is sin not leading to
death, verse 18.
We know that whoever is born ofGod does not sin, but he who
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has been born of God keepshimself and the wicked one does
not touch him.
We know that we are of God andthe whole world lies under the
sway of the wicked one, and weknow that the Son of God has
come and has given us anunderstanding that we may know
him, who is true, and we are inhim, who is true in his Son,
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jesus Christ.
This is the true God andeternal life.
Little children, keepyourselves from idols, amen.
Here ends the reading and thisends the book of 1 John.
Topic at hand here, which isseldom brought up in churches,
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is the very fact that there issin leading to death Kind of
confusing.
This is not the same thing asthe unforgivable sin.
Heavenly Father, I pray foryour guidance.
Help my words that escape mylips be only of your wanting and
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your doing, and not my own.
Open the hearts of those whoare listening, lord.
Help them to overcome anyinsecurities or any pride,
anything that may be getting intheir way, lord, of hearing the
message that you want them tohear, and I pray this in the
name of Jesus Christ, our Lordand Savior, amen.
So verse 14, john says Now,this is the confidence that we
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have in him, so, god, that if weask anything according to his
will, he hears us.
So, according to his will.
This is often a place that getsa huge misunderstanding, and the
reason for that is because ofmany churches that are teaching
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only part of the truth, such asJesus loves you just the way you
are.
Now, why is this a problem?
Because, as they continue topreach on this, that Jesus is
love, love, love, we're allchildren of God, that God loves
everybody.
Well, it gives the falseteaching and belief that
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eventually everybody goes toheaven, and we know from God's
word that is not true at all.
We do know that, for God soloved the world that he gave his
only begotten son thatwhosoever believeth unto him
shall not perish and haveeverlasting life.
So, yes, he loves the world.
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He wants every single person togo to heaven.
It is the will of God thateverybody would have everlasting
life, that nobody would go tohell and have eternal death.
But in the whole scheme ofthings, god is giving each one
of us, every single soul, thechoice to either live eternally
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with him or without him.
And even though many peoplehave been deceived those who
have been deceived and I'vetaught about this many a times
it is ultimately by choice, notthat a person's choosing to be
deceived, because I myself,growing up in a Lutheran
background, was taught that myinfant baptism saved me, that I
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was good to go unless I lost mysalvation.
I won't get into that because Ihave many other teachings.
But we can't lose our salvation.
There's nothing in God's Wordthat points to that.
I have talked and spoke to manypeople who do believe in that
and nobody can point me to apassage that proves that.
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And there are many passagesthat support the fact that we
cannot lose our salvation.
But, with that said, that wasfalse doctrine.
But at the same time whether itwas because of apathy, I was
just being lazy, or I didn'treally care, or my pride
whatever kept me from it.
I still just adopted that, evenwhen the Lord at times sent
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people in my life, or evenmessages, perhaps songs that I
heard lyrics in the songs thatpointed the other direction, and
there was something about thatthat.
There was something I knew thatjust wasn't quite right.
There was something I knew thatjust wasn't quite right, but it
took somebody to confront meand basically tell me that my
baptism as a little baby didn'tdo anything for me and I got
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very angry about it.
But I was choosing up untilthat point to be deceived.
So people are being deceived,but there's also by choice, not
doing anything about it.
For anybody who has beenlistening to my teachings now
for the last few years, theycertainly understand the very
fact that we need to read God'sWord ourself, that we need to
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arm ourself with God's Word andnot just rely on anybody.
I don't want anybody just tolisten to my teachings and my
teachings alone.
You should be reading God'sword for yourself.
You should be meeting withother brothers and sisters,
talking about it.
Go to people who the Lord hascalled to teach his word.
That that's what they do.
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They have a passion forlearning it and teaching it to
other people.
That's great, but don't justfollow one person's teachings.
That's very dangerous.
When John says now, this is theconfidence that we have in him,
that if we ask anythingaccording to his will, he hears
us, that right away eliminatespeople who are not God's
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children and there are manypeople who are not following the
Lord.
They are not born again.
They may consider themselvesChristian or they just assume
they're going to heaven and thatthey're God's children.
And when they do pray whichisn't all that often, but when
they do God doesn't answer andof course, they just get mad
about it and they think, well,forget it then.
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Well, that's because they'renot in his will.
His will is that everybodywould believe in Jesus Christ,
everybody would believe in theblood of Christ, that he died
for them on the cross.
He wants everybody to know andunderstand that we are all
sinners and that we all fallshort of the glory of God.
That we have to have a Saviorthat's his will.
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Fall short of the glory of God,that we have to have a Savior.
That's his will.
So right away, that eliminatesthe majority of people walking
this earth.
There is something about 8billion people right now and of
those about 5.5 billion, they'renot even Christian at all.
They are Hindu, muslim,whatever it might be.
On and on that we can go, butthey're not Christian.
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They are not in God's will.
Their prayers are not beinganswered.
God's always willing to answerthe prayer about his son, but up
until then he's not going toanswer prayers for his
non-children.
But now, for those who are bornagain, we still have to be in
his will.
We can't just walk aroundliving life however we want,
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making decisions however we want, without even consulting him
and then even doing things orsaying things that we know,
according to his word, hedoesn't want us to be doing.
He's not going to bless that.
He's not going to answer thoseprayers.
Why?
Because they're not in his will.
But when we, he hears us Verse15, and if we know that he hears
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us, whatever we ask, we knowthat we have the petitions that
we have asked of him.
So consider it done.
We ask according to his willand we can consider it that we
already have those petitionsthat we have asked of him, he
will give us what we need.
It'll be his way in his time,but when you ask in his will,
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it's a done deal.
Verse 16.
If anyone sees his brothersinning a sin which does not
lead to death, he will ask andhe will give him life for those
who commit sin not leading todeath.
There is sin leading to death.
I do not say that he shouldpray about that, all right.
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So this is one that is easy tonot understand.
It seems to sometimescontradict a few things in the
Bible, but none of it does.
He is not talking aboutspiritual death.
We cannot lose our salvation.
That is impossible.
However, remember, we have thephysical death and God has been
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known to snuff out the life ofhis children who are doing
something that they should notdo.
Now, this sin isn't just anykind of sin, because, well, we
still all sin.
Saints still sin, his childrenstill sin, but for starters, we
are given the ability toovercome that sin.
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But that's still not what he'stalking about.
So let me read that one moretime.
If anyone sees his brothersinning a sin which does not
lead to death, he will ask andhe will give him life for those
who commit sin not leading todeath, for those who are already
born again, and you see abrother sinning because this is
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referring to that.
So somebody who is already bornagain is referring to that.
So somebody who is already bornagain, we can pray for that
person who is caught up in a sinand to intercede for that
brother or sister.
But John makes it clear thereis sin leading to death and he
says I do not say that he shouldpray about that.
In other words, there's nothingthat we can do for that brother
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or sister who has committed asin that's leading to death.
So what are some examples ofthose?
There's one in the NewTestament.
Actually, there's two in theNew Testament.
One of them that I'm aware ofis in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11,
go to verse 30.
Paul is talking to the churchof Corinth because there are
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those who, when instituting theLord's Supper, are being drunk
and they're just having a goodtime with it.
Paul responds Sleep is what isused to describe a born-again
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believer who is dead.
The reason they describe itthat way is because a born-again
believer now has life eternaland so they are not really dead.
Their body is dead and ourbodies will shut down is dead
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and our bodies will shut down,and that's that.
But then, absent from the body,is present with the Lord.
The soul is in heaven until thesecond coming, where the body
and souls, for those who havebeen separated, will meet these
people.
The reason that some of themare dying is because they're
sinning sins that are leading todeath.
Let's look at another one,another one in the New Testament
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, the book of Acts, chapter 5,ananias and Sapphira.
For those who don't know thatstory, a brief introduction is
Ananias and Sapphira, a husbandand wife.
They are born again and they go.
They sell their land and atthis point in time, the
disciples, the followers ofChrist, at this point, are all
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coming together, selling theirpossessions so that everybody
who is following the Lord, theirneeds, are met, and so they're
living under one purse.
Ananias and Sapphira, they sellland and they are deceitful.
When they go to Peter, theytell him a fake amount and Peter
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even states you had no reasonto do that.
It was your money, it was yourland.
You could have announcedwhatever amount and given
accordingly, but they lied aboutit First.
It was Ananias who went infirst and fell dead right away
after lying.
His wife comes in not longafter and agrees yep, this is
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the price, and she too dropsdead.
Did they lose their salvation?
No, nope, they did not.
But they committed a sin thatled them to death physically.
God took them out.
So there's one more, and thenwe can maybe see together what
these three have in common.
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The other one we need to go tothe Old Testament.
This is all the way in the bookof Numbers, chapter 20.
But this is Moses and Aaron,and at this point, you know,
moses, he's been getting alittle short with the children
of Israel.
They've been whining a lot,they've been frustrated, and of
course, he is the one leadingthem.
He too is getting frustrated.
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Well, they're thirsty andthey're complaining that, oh,
they're going to die andeverything else.
And so here is what Scripturesays, verse 7,.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses,saying Take the rod.
You and your brother Aaron,gather the congregation together
, speak to the rock before theireyes and it will yield its
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water.
Thus you shall bring water forthem out of the rock and give
drink to the congregation andtheir animals.
So Moses took the rod frombefore the Lord, as he commanded
him.
So so far, so good.
Moses takes the rod, just asGod said to do.
And verse 10,.
And Moses and Aaron gatheredthe assembly together before the
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rock and he said Hear, now, yourebels, must we bring water for
you out of this rock?
Then Moses lifted his hand andstruck the rock twice with his
rod and water came outabundantly and the congregation
and their animals drank.
Moses out of anger out of spite, anger out of spite.
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Instead of speaking to the rock, he went ahead and wrapped it
hard twice and the water cameout.
Now listen to God's responseverse 12.
Then the Lord spoke to Mosesand Aaron.
God says Because you did notbelieve me, to hallow me in the
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eyes of the children of.
So what happened there?
Well, moses committed a sinthat brought him to death.
Now, in this case, moses didn'tdrop dead.
In the last two that we justread, these people were dropping
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dead.
So God gave Moses a little moretime because he was going to
work, through Moses as theleader, to get the people to the
promised land.
And in that meantime, mosesseveral times, I believe it was
petitioned to the Lord toforgive him, until God finally
said I'm done talking about it.
Moses, you sinned against me.
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You did not make me look holyin front of my people with your
fit of rage.
That is not what I told you todo.
And so, no, you are notentering the promised land.
And we know that Moses did notenter the promised land.
He was able to see it and thatwas as close as he got, and then
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the Lord had told him when hislife was up, and Moses went up
and died at that point.
So those are three areas, nowthat we are aware of those
sinning that led to death.
Was there a particular sin?
No, we can't identify what weknow, and there are others in
the Bible as well that it seemsthat their life was taken
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because of a certain sin, butthere is no particular sin that
seems to be the one that leadsto physical death of a believer.
Moses, that was just flat outhis temper.
He was angry and he did nothallow the Lord.
He was angry and he did nothallow the Lord.
Ananias and Sapphira they justflat out lied, cheated God out
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of money, which they didn't haveto do at all, but they were
very de be conducting the Lord'sSupper.
They were not acting likechildren of God.
So in all three of those we dosee a theme going here and that
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is well, you're not representingGod, you are misrepresenting
God.
So it seems like even the factthat some of them in Corinth
were getting drunk I don'treally think it was because they
were drunk.
I think it was because whenthey were getting drunk, when
they were coming together toworship the Lord as newbie
Christians and they weresupposed to be remembering Jesus
.
That's why we do communion.
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We don't do it so we can justhave a good time and eat and
drink, and that's what they weredoing.
Same thing with Ananias andSapphira.
Okay, there's Christians thatlie all the time.
I'm not advocating for it, I'mnot saying it's a good thing,
but people aren't dropping deadjust because they lie as a
Christian.
But in this case they wererepresenting the Holy Spirit.
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People were coming togethergiving their money and manna or
not manna, mammon to theapostles so everyone's needs
could be met, and they weredeceiving their brothers and
sisters, which in turn, isdeceiving God and the Holy
Spirit.
So misrepresenting that's whatseems to be.
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If we get to the point where weare supposed to be doing
something for the Lord and oursin before the eyes of others
make the Lord look bad.
Apparently it isn't beyond theLord to say that's it, you're
done, I'm going to take you home.
But that doesn't mean somebodyloses their salvation, not at
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all, beloved.
Verse 17,.
All unrighteousness is sin, andthere is sin not leading to
death.
So there are obviously sinsthat we do, that we repent of,
that, we are sorry for doing.
But it doesn't misrepresent,it's not perhaps leading
somebody astray from the Lord.
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We're not misrepresenting Jesus.
But we still might lie or wemight do something that we do
regret.
That is a sin and we repent ofit.
Because Moses, he asked forforgiveness and of course he was
forgiven, but he still was laiddown to die and was not able to
enter the promised land.
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And the others, well, theyweren't given that chance.
Their lives were just takenfrom them.
Verse 18, let's be clear on thisnot sin, but he who has been
born of God keeps himself andthe wicked one does not touch
him.
Let's be clear on this.
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I think there are unfortunatelythere are religions out there
that play that, as we should beable to get to a point in our
walk here, on this side ofeternity, where we are sinless,
as I have taught many timesbefore, on this side of the
grave, we will never be sinless.
However, with the help of theHoly Spirit that is residing in
us, a Christian who is readingthe Word, walking actively with
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the Lord, should indeed, as thatwalk continues on in time, sin
less.
So what he is talking abouthere is that the very part of us
that is born again, ourspiritual side remember the
spirit and the flesh beloved areconstantly fighting.
They're constantly battling.
It is our spiritual side thatdoes not sin, that wants to do
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the right thing.
The righteous thing isthirsting after God is thirsting
after God is thirsting tofollow Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior.
But it is the flesh that wefight against.
So it's that part of us that isborn of God that does not sin.
But our flesh continues tofight and we do slip up from
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time to time, and that's whyeven saints need to drop to
their knee, repent when we sinand move on.
But he who has been born of Godkeeps himself keeping.
That is protecting ourself.
Don't expect beloved to.
If you're watching movies,listening to music that you have
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when before you were born again, that temptation is going to
suddenly just leave you becauseyou're born again.
Not at all, as I tell my ownkids you are the one, you're the
last line of defense foryourself.
You get to protect yourselfwhat you watch, because you are
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going to become in part what youlisten to and what you watch,
who you hang around, how youtalk, all of that.
So if we're letting in allkinds of worldly things and
we're watching movies that arenot good at all, that is
promoting sin.
Well, it's going to fuel ourflesh that all the more is going
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to want to sin.
So the spiritual side of us,well, that's born of God, does
not sin.
But he who has been born of Godkeeps himself.
So protect yourself, beloved,and the wicked one does not
touch him.
And myself I believe that thisis a passage, a verse here and
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the wicked one does not touchhim.
That would be the devil or ademon.
That a born-again believercannot be possessed by a demon
or Satan himself, because wehave the Holy Spirit dwelling in
us, and so he can't do that Now, not to say we can't be
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influenced, and especially ifwe're giving our enemy a
foothold by watching movies thatpromote sin, listening to music
that promotes sin and all kindsof stuff, well then we are
going to run into more and moreproblems.
Verse 19,.
We know that we are of God andthe whole world lies under the
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sway of the wicked one.
Now, this is interesting wordshere, the verbiage under the
sway of the wicked one.
It almost paints the picture ofthe wicked one cradling people
and lulling them to sleep.
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Hmm, that certainly fits in ourworld today.
There are many religions thatdon't believe that the devil
exists.
But here John is saying we knowthat we are of God and the
whole world lies under the swayof the wicked one.
We see it as we walk with theLord, as God's word opens our
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eyes and the truth sets us freeand we see what really is going
on around us.
We can see that for ourselves.
We can see people who arelulled to sleep.
They are comfortable with theirlifestyle, they are comfortable
with their religion.
And while I'm thinking about it,following God and being a
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follower of Jesus Christ is nota religion.
We don't have a religion.
Christianity, beloved, is not areligion.
All right, lutheranism is areligion, catholicism is a
religion, and I could go on andon.
Those are religions.
Now, many of those religions.
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There are born-again believerswho are following Jesus.
But we don't follow a religion.
We follow a person and that'swhy I use terminology like
children of God, born-againbelievers, brothers and sisters
in Christ, because it's not areligion.
Because it's not a religion,and in this case, when it comes
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to the wicked one that isswaying the world, he is
convincing them that they arehappy doing their traditions,
they're just good to go, Leavethem be.
People will say Don't tell meabout, I'm not born again,
because I was baptized as aninfant.
I sure am.
Don't tell me that serving Godevery Sunday isn't getting me
into heaven, because I'm doingthe right thing.
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And on and on we could go.
It's all misleading, it's allunfortunate, and my heart goes
out to all who are in thatposition.
Verse 20, and we know that theSon of God has come and has
given us an understanding thatwe may know him, who is true and
we are in.
There's that relationship rightthere, being in him.
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We are in him, he is in us.
We are a family, we dwelltogether, we are one.
And John says we are a family,we dwell together, we are one.
And John says this is the trueGod and eternal life.
To be a son or daughter of God,a child of God, you don't need
to join a religion.
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You can't join a religion to goto heaven.
It's not good people that go toheaven, it's saved people go to
heaven.
It's not good people that go toheaven, it's saved people go to
heaven.
Don't forget that.
And he ends his book 1 Johnwith this last sentence
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no-transcript.
That's a good way to end that.
After talking about what it isto actually love God, to love
your brothers and sisters andwhat love is about, in the book
of 1 John he reminds us keepyourselves from idols.
Now there are those of you whodo live in countries where, yes,
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you are around religions thathave multiple gods, and so they
actually have physical idols,little gods posted all over the
place.
There are also many who don'tlive around people who worship
many gods and have false idolsmade up by wood, stone or silver
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or gold.
But idols are in other forms,such as televisions, computers,
smartphones, gambling, alcohol,going to that liquor store every
weekend.
Even food can be an idol.
For those who live in countrieswhere we have an abundance of
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food at our disposal, it is easyfor people to worship food.
They just need to have theirmeals.
And I'm not saying need, as ifthey're going to physically die.
I'm saying need because that'swhat entertains them, that's
what they look forward to.
They can't wait till dinnereach night, they can't wait for
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going out to eat and it's aroutine.
Well, that becomes an idol.
Anything, anything beloved, thatgets in your way of worshiping
God.
If you are not reading his word, if you're not praying to him,
if you're not meeting withbrothers and sisters on a
regular basis, if you're notworshiping God those four areas
that I teach on on a regularbasis, that I remind us all to
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do, if you're not doing thosethings because you are too busy
dining, getting together withparties or drinking, whatever it
is, going out to the movies,anything that you do that takes
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the place of your Lord.
God is an idol.
You can break from that.
You can be free from that Ifyou're born again, beloved, just
pray to our Heavenly Father.
He is always quick to forgive.
His mercy is bountiful, so youonly need to ask for forgiveness
.
Repent and repenting is turningaway from the sin.
So it's not just saying sorry,please forgive me, and then go
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back to it, repenting.
Is you really want to stopdoing it?
Pray to him about it and hewill help you.
If you're not a child of God,well then, pray and ask him into
your life now, before it's toolate, before your time here on
this side of eternity expires.
And then it is too late Becausewithout asking Jesus into your
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life, without asking Jesus to bethe Lord and Savior of your
life, if you die you go to helland I want that for nobody.
So a simple prayer.
There is no magic in the prayer.
It comes from the heart, assimple as Lord.
I know I'm a sinner.
Please forgive me.
I need your Son, jesus Christ.
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Lord, show me what I need to do.
I am your child.
Amen.
There's nothing special.
But if you say it from theheart, that is what he knows.
He does not weigh our words, hedoesn't even weigh our actions.
The Lord weighs the heart.
Well, this is it for today.
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Again, thank you for joining meand come back next week and
until next time.
God bless, thank you.
Hello and good day.
This is BR Maul and you arelistening to Living God's Way in
an Ungodly World, a podcastthat we, of course, speak about
following God's way and not theworld's way In this world that
wants nothing to do with ourLord Savior, jesus Christ, his
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followers, those of us who areborn again in God's family.
Well, we want to do everythingwe can to follow the Lord, to
live according to God's way.
We are currently in the book of1 John, and we are going to end
that today because we are in 1John, chapter 5, and we'll be
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going from verses 14 to 21.
And that brings us to the endof the chapter and end of the
book of 1 John.
It's a pretty amazing endinghere to the book of 1 John.
He truly brings up a topic thatis seldom spoke about in
churches, especially churchestoday, because this is a topic
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that is very uncomfortable formost people.
After I read the verses thenI'll go back and break it down.
So this is a big one.
We have a lot to read, so I'mgoing to just jump right into it
.
Verse 14.
Now, this is the confidencethat we have in him that if we
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ask anything according to hiswill, he hears us and if we know
that he hears us, whatever weask, we know that we have the
petitions that we have asked ofhim.
If anyone sees his brothersinning a sin which does not
lead to death, he will ask andhe will give him life.
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For those who commit sin notleading to death.
There is sin leading to death,death.
There is sin leading to death.
I do not say that he shouldpray about that.
All unrighteousness is sin andthere is sin not leading to
death, verse 18.
We know that whoever is born ofGod does not sin, but he who
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has been born of God keepshimself and the wicked one does
not touch him.
We know that we are of God andthe whole world lies under the
sway of the wicked one, and weknow that the Son of God has
come and has given us anunderstanding that we may know
him, who is true, and we are inhim, who is true in his Son,
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jesus Christ.
This is the true God andeternal life.
Little children, keepyourselves from idols, amen.
Here ends the reading and thisends the book of 1 John.
Topic at hand here, which isseldom brought up in churches,
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is the very fact that there issin leading to death Kind of
confusing.
This is not the same thing asthe unforgivable sin.
Heavenly Father, I pray foryour guidance.
Help my words that escape mylips be only of your wanting and
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your doing, and not my own.
Open the hearts of those whoare listening, lord.
Help them to overcome anyinsecurities or any pride,
anything that may be getting intheir way, lord, of hearing the
message that you want them tohear, and I pray this in the
name of Jesus Christ, our Lordand Savior, amen.
So verse 14, john says Now,this is the confidence that we
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have in him, so, god, that if weask anything according to his
will, he hears us.
So, according to his will.
This is often a place that getsa huge misunderstanding, and the
reason for that is because ofmany churches that are teaching
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only part of the truth, such asJesus loves you just the way you
are.
Now, why is this a problem?
Because, as they continue topreach on this, that Jesus is
love, love, love, we're allchildren of God, that God loves
everybody.
Well, it gives the falseteaching and belief that
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eventually everybody goes toheaven, and we know from God's
word that is not true at all.
We do know that, for God soloved the world that he gave his
only begotten son thatwhosoever believeth unto him
shall not perish and haveeverlasting life.
So, yes, he loves the world.
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He wants every single person togo to heaven.
It is the will of God thateverybody would have everlasting
life, that nobody would go tohell and have eternal death.
But in the whole scheme ofthings, god is giving each one
of us, every single soul, thechoice to either live eternally
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with him or without him.
And even though many peoplehave been deceived those who
have been deceived and I'vetaught about this many a times
it is ultimately by choice, notthat a person's choosing to be
deceived, because I myself,growing up in a Lutheran
background, was taught that myinfant baptism saved me, that I
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was good to go unless I lost mysalvation.
I won't get into that because Ihave many other teachings.
But we can't lose our salvation.
There's nothing in God's Wordthat points to that.
I have talked and spoke to manypeople who do believe in that
and nobody can point me to apassage that proves that.
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And there are many passagesthat support the fact that we
cannot lose our salvation.
But, with that said, that wasfalse doctrine.
But at the same time whether itwas because of apathy, I was
just being lazy, or I didn'treally care, or my pride
whatever kept me from it.
I still just adopted that, evenwhen the Lord at times sent
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people in my life, or evenmessages, perhaps songs that I
heard lyrics in the songs thatpointed the other direction, and
there was something about thatthat.
There was something I knew thatjust wasn't quite right.
There was something I knew thatjust wasn't quite right, but it
took somebody to confront meand basically tell me that my
baptism as a little baby didn'tdo anything for me and I got
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very angry about it.
But I was choosing up untilthat point to be deceived.
So people are being deceived,but there's also by choice, not
doing anything about it.
For anybody who has beenlistening to my teachings now
for the last few years, theycertainly understand the very
fact that we need to read God'sWord ourself, that we need to
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arm ourself with God's Word andnot just rely on anybody.
I don't want anybody just tolisten to my teachings and my
teachings alone.
You should be reading God'sword for yourself.
You should be meeting withother brothers and sisters,
talking about it.
Go to people who the Lord hascalled to teach his word.
That that's what they do.
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They have a passion forlearning it and teaching it to
other people.
That's great, but don't justfollow one person's teachings.
That's very dangerous.
When John says now, this is theconfidence that we have in him,
that if we ask anythingaccording to his will, he hears
us, that right away eliminatespeople who are not God's
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children and there are manypeople who are not following the
Lord.
They are not born again.
They may consider themselvesChristian or they just assume
they're going to heaven and thatthey're God's children.
And when they do pray whichisn't all that often, but when
they do God doesn't answer andof course, they just get mad
about it and they think, well,forget it then.
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Well, that's because they'renot in his will.
His will is that everybodywould believe in Jesus Christ,
everybody would believe in theblood of Christ, that he died
for them on the cross.
He wants everybody to know andunderstand that we are all
sinners and that we all fallshort of the glory of God.
That we have to have a Saviorthat's his will.
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Fall short of the glory of God,that we have to have a Savior.
That's his will.
So right away, that eliminatesthe majority of people walking
this earth.
There is something about 8billion people right now and of
those about 5.5 billion, they'renot even Christian at all.
They are Hindu, muslim,whatever it might be.
On and on that we can go, butthey're not Christian.
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They are not in God's will.
Their prayers are not beinganswered.
God's always willing to answerthe prayer about his son, but up
until then he's not going toanswer prayers for his
non-children.
But now, for those who are bornagain, we still have to be in
his will.
We can't just walk aroundliving life however we want,
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making decisions however we want, without even consulting him
and then even doing things orsaying things that we know,
according to his word, hedoesn't want us to be doing.
He's not going to bless that.
He's not going to answer thoseprayers.
Why?
Because they're not in his will.
But when we, he hears us Verse15, and if we know that he hears
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us, whatever we ask, we knowthat we have the petitions that
we have asked of him.
So consider it done.
We ask according to his willand we can consider it that we
already have those petitionsthat we have asked of him, he
will give us what we need.
It'll be his way in his time,but when you ask in his will,
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it's a done deal.
Verse 16.
If anyone sees his brothersinning a sin which does not
lead to death, he will ask andhe will give him life for those
who commit sin not leading todeath.
There is sin leading to death.
I do not say that he shouldpray about that, all right.
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So this is one that is easy tonot understand.
It seems to sometimescontradict a few things in the
Bible, but none of it does.
He is not talking aboutspiritual death.
We cannot lose our salvation.
That is impossible.
However, remember, we have thephysical death and God has been
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known to snuff out the life ofhis children who are doing
something that they should notdo.
Now, this sin isn't just anykind of sin, because, well, we
still all sin.
Saints still sin, his childrenstill sin, but for starters, we
are given the ability toovercome that sin.
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But that's still not what he'stalking about.
So let me read that one moretime.
If anyone sees his brothersinning a sin which does not
lead to death, he will ask andhe will give him life for those
who commit sin not leading todeath, for those who are already
born again, and you see abrother sinning because this is
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referring to that.
So somebody who is already bornagain is referring to that.
So somebody who is already bornagain, we can pray for that
person who is caught up in a sinand to intercede for that
brother or sister.
But John makes it clear thereis sin leading to death and he
says I do not say that he shouldpray about that.
In other words, there's nothingthat we can do for that brother
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or sister who has committed asin that's leading to death.
So what are some examples ofthose?
There's one in the NewTestament.
Actually, there's two in theNew Testament.
One of them that I'm aware ofis in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11,
go to verse 30.
Paul is talking to the churchof Corinth because there are
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those who, when instituting theLord's Supper, are being drunk
and they're just having a goodtime with it.
Paul responds Sleep is what isused to describe a born-again
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believer who is dead.
The reason they describe itthat way is because a born-again
believer now has life eternaland so they are not really dead.
Their body is dead and ourbodies will shut down is dead
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and our bodies will shut down,and that's that.
But then, absent from the body,is present with the Lord.
The soul is in heaven until thesecond coming, where the body
and souls, for those who havebeen separated, will meet these
people.
The reason that some of themare dying is because they're
sinning sins that are leading todeath.
Let's look at another one,another one in the New Testament
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, the book of Acts, chapter 5,ananias and Sapphira.
For those who don't know thatstory, a brief introduction is
Ananias and Sapphira, a husbandand wife.
They are born again and they go.
They sell their land and atthis point in time, the
disciples, the followers ofChrist, at this point, are all
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coming together, selling theirpossessions so that everybody
who is following the Lord, theirneeds, are met, and so they're
living under one purse.
Ananias and Sapphira, they sellland and they are deceitful.
When they go to Peter, theytell him a fake amount and Peter
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even states you had no reasonto do that.
It was your money, it was yourland.
You could have announcedwhatever amount and given
accordingly, but they lied aboutit First.
It was Ananias who went infirst and fell dead right away
after lying.
His wife comes in not longafter and agrees yep, this is
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the price, and she too dropsdead.
Did they lose their salvation?
No, nope, they did not.
But they committed a sin thatled them to death physically.
God took them out.
So there's one more, and thenwe can maybe see together what
these three have in common.
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The other one we need to go tothe Old Testament.
This is all the way in the bookof Numbers, chapter 20.
But this is Moses and Aaron,and at this point, you know,
moses, he's been getting alittle short with the children
of Israel.
They've been whining a lot,they've been frustrated, and of
course, he is the one leadingthem.
He too is getting frustrated.
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Well, they're thirsty andthey're complaining that, oh,
they're going to die andeverything else.
And so here is what Scripturesays, verse 7,.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses,saying Take the rod.
You and your brother Aaron,gather the congregation together
, speak to the rock before theireyes and it will yield its
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water.
Thus you shall bring water forthem out of the rock and give
drink to the congregation andtheir animals.
So Moses took the rod frombefore the Lord, as he commanded
him.
So so far, so good.
Moses takes the rod, just asGod said to do.
And verse 10,.
And Moses and Aaron gatheredthe assembly together before the
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rock and he said Hear, now, yourebels, must we bring water for
you out of this rock?
Then Moses lifted his hand andstruck the rock twice with his
rod and water came outabundantly and the congregation
and their animals drank.
Moses out of anger out of spite, anger out of spite.
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Instead of speaking to the rock, he went ahead and wrapped it
hard twice and the water cameout.
Now listen to God's responseverse 12.
Then the Lord spoke to Mosesand Aaron.
God says Because you did notbelieve me, to hallow me in the
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eyes of the children of.
So what happened there?
Well, moses committed a sinthat brought him to death.
Now, in this case, moses didn'tdrop dead.
In the last two that we justread, these people were dropping
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dead.
So God gave Moses a little moretime because he was going to
work, through Moses as theleader, to get the people to the
promised land.
And in that meantime, mosesseveral times, I believe it was
petitioned to the Lord toforgive him, until God finally
said I'm done talking about it.
Moses, you sinned against me.
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You did not make me look holyin front of my people with your
fit of rage.
That is not what I told you todo.
And so, no, you are notentering the promised land.
And we know that Moses did notenter the promised land.
He was able to see it and thatwas as close as he got, and then
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the Lord had told him when hislife was up, and Moses went up
and died at that point.
So those are three areas, nowthat we are aware of those
sinning that led to death.
Was there a particular sin?
No, we can't identify what weknow, and there are others in
the Bible as well that it seemsthat their life was taken
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because of a certain sin, butthere is no particular sin that
seems to be the one that leadsto physical death of a believer.
Moses, that was just flat outhis temper.
He was angry and he did nothallow the Lord.
He was angry and he did nothallow the Lord.
Ananias and Sapphira they justflat out lied, cheated God out
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of money, which they didn't haveto do at all, but they were
very de be conducting the Lord'sSupper.
They were not acting likechildren of God.
So in all three of those we dosee a theme going here and that
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is well, you're not representingGod, you are misrepresenting
God.
So it seems like even the factthat some of them in Corinth
were getting drunk I don'treally think it was because they
were drunk.
I think it was because whenthey were getting drunk, when
they were coming together toworship the Lord as newbie
Christians and they weresupposed to be remembering Jesus
.
That's why we do communion.
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We don't do it so we can justhave a good time and eat and
drink, and that's what they weredoing.
Same thing with Ananias andSapphira.
Okay, there's Christians thatlie all the time.
I'm not advocating for it, I'mnot saying it's a good thing,
but people aren't dropping deadjust because they lie as a
Christian.
But in this case they wererepresenting the Holy Spirit.
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People were coming togethergiving their money and manna or
not manna, mammon to theapostles so everyone's needs
could be met, and they weredeceiving their brothers and
sisters, which in turn, isdeceiving God and the Holy
Spirit.
So misrepresenting that's whatseems to be.
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If we get to the point where weare supposed to be doing
something for the Lord and oursin before the eyes of others
make the Lord look bad.
Apparently it isn't beyond theLord to say that's it, you're
done, I'm going to take you home.
But that doesn't mean somebodyloses their salvation, not at
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all, beloved.
Verse 17,.
All unrighteousness is sin, andthere is sin not leading to
death.
So there are obviously sinsthat we do, that we repent of,
that, we are sorry for doing.
But it doesn't misrepresent,it's not perhaps leading
somebody astray from the Lord.
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We're not misrepresenting Jesus.
But we still might lie or wemight do something that we do
regret.
That is a sin and we repent ofit.
Because Moses, he asked forforgiveness and of course he was
forgiven, but he still was laiddown to die and was not able to
enter the promised land.
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And the others, well, theyweren't given that chance.
Their lives were just takenfrom them.
Verse 18, let's be clear on thisnot sin, but he who has been
born of God keeps himself andthe wicked one does not touch
him.
Let's be clear on this.
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I think there are unfortunatelythere are religions out there
that play that, as we should beable to get to a point in our
walk here, on this side ofeternity, where we are sinless,
as I have taught many timesbefore, on this side of the
grave, we will never be sinless.
However, with the help of theHoly Spirit that is residing in
us, a Christian who is readingthe Word, walking actively with
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the Lord, should indeed, as thatwalk continues on in time, sin
less.
So what he is talking abouthere is that the very part of us
that is born again, ourspiritual side remember the
spirit and the flesh beloved areconstantly fighting.
They're constantly battling.
It is our spiritual side thatdoes not sin, that wants to do
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the right thing.
The righteous thing isthirsting after God is thirsting
after God is thirsting tofollow Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior.
But it is the flesh that wefight against.
So it's that part of us that isborn of God that does not sin.
But our flesh continues tofight and we do slip up from
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time to time, and that's whyeven saints need to drop to
their knee, repent when we sinand move on.
But he who has been born of Godkeeps himself keeping.
That is protecting ourself.
Don't expect beloved to.
If you're watching movies,listening to music that you have
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when before you were born again, that temptation is going to
suddenly just leave you becauseyou're born again.
Not at all, as I tell my ownkids you are the one, you're the
last line of defense foryourself.
You get to protect yourselfwhat you watch, because you are
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going to become in part what youlisten to and what you watch,
who you hang around, how youtalk, all of that.
So if we're letting in allkinds of worldly things and
we're watching movies that arenot good at all, that is
promoting sin.
Well, it's going to fuel ourflesh that all the more is going
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to want to sin.
So the spiritual side of us,well, that's born of God, does
not sin.
But he who has been born of Godkeeps himself.
So protect yourself, beloved,and the wicked one does not
touch him.
And myself I believe that thisis a passage, a verse here and
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the wicked one does not touchhim.
That would be the devil or ademon.
That a born-again believercannot be possessed by a demon
or Satan himself, because wehave the Holy Spirit dwelling in
us, and so he can't do that Now, not to say we can't be
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influenced, and especially ifwe're giving our enemy a
foothold by watching movies thatpromote sin, listening to music
that promotes sin and all kindsof stuff, well then we are
going to run into more and moreproblems.
Verse 19,.
We know that we are of God andthe whole world lies under the
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sway of the wicked one.
Now, this is interesting wordshere, the verbiage under the
sway of the wicked one.
It almost paints the picture ofthe wicked one cradling people
and lulling them to sleep.
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Hmm, that certainly fits in ourworld today.
There are many religions thatdon't believe that the devil
exists.
But here John is saying we knowthat we are of God and the
whole world lies under the swayof the wicked one.
We see it as we walk with theLord, as God's word opens our
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eyes and the truth sets us freeand we see what really is going
on around us.
We can see that for ourselves.
We can see people who arelulled to sleep.
They are comfortable with theirlifestyle, they are comfortable
with their religion.
And while I'm thinking about it,following God and being a
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follower of Jesus Christ is nota religion.
We don't have a religion.
Christianity, beloved, is not areligion.
All right, lutheranism is areligion, catholicism is a
religion, and I could go on andon.
Those are religions.
Now, many of those religions.
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There are born-again believerswho are following Jesus.
But we don't follow a religion.
We follow a person and that'swhy I use terminology like
children of God, born-againbelievers, brothers and sisters
in Christ, because it's not areligion.
Because it's not a religion,and in this case, when it comes
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to the wicked one that isswaying the world, he is
convincing them that they arehappy doing their traditions,
they're just good to go, Leavethem be.
People will say Don't tell meabout, I'm not born again,
because I was baptized as aninfant.
I sure am.
Don't tell me that serving Godevery Sunday isn't getting me
into heaven, because I'm doingthe right thing.
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And on and on we could go.
It's all misleading, it's allunfortunate, and my heart goes
out to all who are in thatposition.
Verse 20, and we know that theSon of God has come and has
given us an understanding thatwe may know him, who is true and
we are in.
There's that relationship rightthere, being in him.
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We are in him, he is in us.
We are a family, we dwelltogether, we are one.
And John says we are a family,we dwell together, we are one.
And John says this is the trueGod and eternal life.
To be a son or daughter of God,a child of God, you don't need
to join a religion.
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You can't join a religion to goto heaven.
It's not good people that go toheaven, it's saved people go to
heaven.
It's not good people that go toheaven, it's saved people go to
heaven.
Don't forget that.
And he ends his book 1 Johnwith this last sentence
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no-transcript.
That's a good way to end that.
After talking about what it isto actually love God, to love
your brothers and sisters andwhat love is about, in the book
of 1 John he reminds us keepyourselves from idols.
Now there are those of you whodo live in countries where, yes,
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you are around religions thathave multiple gods, and so they
actually have physical idols,little gods posted all over the
place.
There are also many who don'tlive around people who worship
many gods and have false idolsmade up by wood, stone or silver
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or gold.
But idols are in other forms,such as televisions, computers,
smartphones, gambling, alcohol,going to that liquor store every
weekend.
Even food can be an idol.
For those who live in countrieswhere we have an abundance of
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food at our disposal, it is easyfor people to worship food.
They just need to have theirmeals.
And I'm not saying need, as ifthey're going to physically die.
I'm saying need because that'swhat entertains them, that's
what they look forward to.
They can't wait till dinnereach night, they can't wait for
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going out to eat and it's aroutine.
Well, that becomes an idol.
Anything, anything beloved, thatgets in your way of worshiping
God.
If you are not reading his word, if you're not praying to him,
if you're not meeting withbrothers and sisters on a
regular basis, if you're notworshiping God those four areas
that I teach on on a regularbasis, that I remind us all to
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do, if you're not doing thosethings because you are too busy
dining, getting together withparties or drinking, whatever it
is, going out to the movies,anything that you do that takes
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the place of your Lord.
God is an idol.
You can break from that.
You can be free from that Ifyou're born again, beloved, just
pray to our Heavenly Father.
He is always quick to forgive.
His mercy is bountiful, so youonly need to ask for forgiveness
.
Repent and repenting is turningaway from the sin.
So it's not just saying sorry,please forgive me, and then go
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back to it, repenting.
Is you really want to stopdoing it?
Pray to him about it and hewill help you.
If you're not a child of God,well then, pray and ask him into
your life now, before it's toolate, before your time here on
this side of eternity expires.
And then it is too late Becausewithout asking Jesus into your
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life, without asking Jesus to bethe Lord and Savior of your
life, if you die you go to helland I want that for nobody.
So a simple prayer.
There is no magic in the prayer.
It comes from the heart, assimple as Lord.
I know I'm a sinner.
Please forgive me.
I need your Son, jesus Christ.
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Lord, show me what I need to do.
I am your child.
Amen.
There's nothing special.
But if you say it from theheart, that is what he knows.
He does not weigh our words, hedoesn't even weigh our actions.
The Lord weighs the heart.
Well, this is it for today.
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Again, thank you for joining meand come back next week and
until next time.
God bless, thank you.
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