A Daily Walk

John Randall: What do you do when you see somebody heading the wrong way? What do you see when you see somebody getting involved in worldly things? What do you do when you see somebody getting involved in sexual immorality? What do you do when someone's sowing discord and division and strife through gossip? How do you handle that? The first thing, you pray for them. That's where it starts. You start with prayer.

Guest (Male): Hey, welcome again to A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall. You've picked a good day to join us as together we wrap up our study of 1 John. So, let's say you've got a friend or a family member that is living in unrepentant sin, maybe living with their boyfriend or girlfriend, or perhaps using drugs. What do you do? Well, we'll get some much-needed help with that today as Pastor John looks at a critical conclusion to this epistle. We'll start off with a word about the power of prayer.

John Randall: If we only knew the power we have in prayer. There's a man by the name of E.M. Bounds who wrote volumes on prayer. I remember getting hold of E.M. Bounds' book and beginning to read, and I thought to myself, I wonder if I've ever prayed? This thing was so extensive.

But this is what he said. This is what I got from that volume. Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. There's power in prayer. John says, have confidence when you pray. The Lord isn't reluctant to answer you. Is there anything you're praying about right now that you haven't heard an answer yet? Don't stop praying.

Continue to intercede, continue to pray. You have a loved one who's far from the Lord, don't stop praying for them. Continue to intercede, continue to seek the Lord, cry out to God. Maybe you're like Elijah, he's on the mountain and he's praying for rain. The first time, he doesn't see anything. The second time nothing, third time, fourth time, fifth time. Finally, the seventh time his servant says, I see a cloud the size of a man's fist. And Elijah said, that's it. What if he would have stopped at prayer five or three or six? Persevere, have confidence when you pray. The Lord hears you.

And when you pray, one final thing that I would add: it's just like talking to your best friend. That's what God wants you to be. Sometimes I run into people that are very timid to pray out loud. "I don't pray out loud." Why don't you pray out loud? You just talk to God. Suddenly, you don't have to change your voice. You don't have to speak in the old English.

Some people, it's time to pray, "Let me get my prayer voice on. Thou, oh heavenly Father, thou art thee, thee..." I'm like, I'm sorry, could you just speak English? He doesn't speak in King James. He speaks every language. So, just talk to him, just communicate. You can talk to him when you're driving on the way to work. Keep your eyes open, but you can pray on the way to work. Pray everywhere. Pray in your heart, pray in your mind, communicate with the Lord. It's like picking up the phone and not hanging it up.

What do we know? We know we have the certainty of eternal life. We know that we can have confidence in prayer. There's something else that we know, and that is the third thing here: that we are to have concern for others. Look at what it says in verse 16.

Interesting passage. It says, "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask and he will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death."

Rather interesting verse there. So there's sin not leading to death, but there's sin leading to death. You should pray about this one, don't pray about that one because that one doesn't lead, but that one does. I'm telling you, there have been many people that have looked at this passage and come up with varying opinions, and primarily because of what John says: a sin not leading to death and a sin leading to death.

So which one is it? Among all of the explanations that are available, none seem to answer the question about this verse completely. And I will add that it's worth noting that John doesn't even clarify what he means. He just says it, assuming that everybody reading it knows exactly what he's talking about.

Obviously, in the context, it has to do with prayer, interceding on behalf of others and those particularly who were in sin. One opinion is that sin unto death that John speaks of is a terrible sin against God that cannot be forgiven. However, the Bible states that the blood of Jesus can cleanse a man from all sin. So I don't think that that's what it means.

Another opinion is that the sin unto death refers to apostasy or completely turning away from the faith, like somebody deconstructing their faith and just turning away from God altogether. Some also suggest that it refers to physical death. Sin that leads to death, pursuing it will lead to death.

An example of that would be in the book of Acts with Ananias and Sapphira. They sinned and guess what happened? They died immediately. Ananias and then his wife, just carried out of the church because they lied. Things have changed somewhat since that time, but that was serious. There was a purity to the church. You thought twice before you joined that church in Jerusalem. "We heard somebody just died." "For what?" "They lied."

So maybe that's what it's referring to, but there are some, practically speaking, there are some sins that will lead to immediate death. I've done memorials for people who overdosed on drugs. That sin, that pursuit, immediate physical death. Tragic, a shame, painful.

But here's what we understand ultimately about sin. You go to other passages. If you face a passage when you're just studying through the Word and people say, "What do you look at?" You look at what you know for sure. You go back to scripture. Here's what we know for sure from what John just said. Ready? Write this down. This is really good stuff. There are sins that lead to death, and there are sins that don't lead to immediate death. You're like, "We just read that." I know, but that is what it says and I'm just reiterating it.

But I also know what the Bible says about sin, and that is that the wages of sin is death, physically and spiritually. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What do I do? I want to take a moment and consider: how should I handle a situation as John points out here, if anyone sees a brother sinning? What should I do?

Should I just let them go and go, interesting he calls them a brother sinning? A brother sinning. Somebody who has the knowledge of the Lord and they decide they're going to start sinning. They're going to start living a life of sin. What do I do if I'm made aware of that? Do I just go, "Well, they'll figure it out. He's the Good Shepherd, he'll use the rod and the staff, he'll take care of it. I'm not going to say anything"?

Well, John seems to indicate here, and the Bible indicates, that we have a responsibility to be there for one another. What do you do when you see somebody heading the wrong way? What do you see when you see somebody getting involved in worldly things? What do you see when you see somebody getting involved in sexual immorality? What do you do when somebody's sowing discord and division and strife through gossip? How do you handle that?

The first thing, you pray for them. That's where it starts. You start with prayer. That's the first thing you do. In this context, that is the first thing we need to be committed to. You begin to pray that their eyes would be opened, that their hardened heart would be softened. Pray that the devil would be bound from leading them astray. It starts with prayer.

Did you know today, listen to this, somebody prayed for you. Somebody prayed for you. Somebody interceded. You might not even know who they are. They prayed that you would get saved. They prayed that you would repent of sin. Prayed for me, that I would walk with Jesus. Somebody prayed for you. And heaven's going to reveal ultimately who was interceding. But we ought to thank God for those people who prayed for us because here we are by the grace of God. Am I right?

Somebody saw the life you were living and loved you enough to come and speak to you the words of eternal life concerning the gospel, and they prayed for you. After you pray for them, you know what the next step is? You go to them. You go to them. Now granted, before approaching them, you want to make sure you allow the Lord to search your own heart, that you don't have a plank in your own eye and you're trying to take the speck out of their eye. Search my heart. I want to have the right heart if I'm going to go to them.

And then after allowing the Holy Spirit to search my heart and to remove the barriers from ministering to them, the next step is to go to them, listen carefully, personally and directly. Not circumvent going to them. I'm going to go to somebody else in order that maybe they'll go to them. No, no. If you saw it and God brought it to your attention, then you go, you speak to them.

And you go to them personally. Jesus said it this way, Matthew chapter 18, verse 15. Here's one example when he talks about somebody who sinned against you personally. "Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone." Do you see that word there? Alone. Alone.

And if he hears you, you've gained a brother. Most people don't want to do that. We want to go to everybody else, kind of build a squad, a posse, and then we're going to mount up, then we're going to go, we're going to attack them and drag them through the city. That's not the way to do it. You go to them personally.

But you also go to them, and this is really important, humbly. Galatians chapter 6, verse 1, a passage that I have taken great comfort in and tried to apply to my life. It says, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual seek to restore such a one in a spirit of..." I love this, "gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted."

There's this understanding that without Jesus, I could do that exact same thing that that person is doing. There is not one sin that you see anybody else doing in this world that you and me are not capable of if not for the grace of God. Just remember that.

And so when I understand that, I go to that brother, that sister, humbly and I approach them knowing my own weakness. I'm not here to criticize, I'm here to come alongside and to help. And so you go to them privately, you go to them humbly, you go to them lovingly with the desire to see restoration. That is the goal. That is the hope. You don't just confront to confront. You confront with the intention of hopeful restoration.

James chapter 5, verse 19, said it this way, really good passage. It says, "Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins." Have you seen somebody wandering? Have you watched them? Are you observing? What do you do? You go to them. You try to reach them in order that they would come back.

Do you have anybody in your life like that right now? "Well, I don't want to confront them because I'll feel uncomfortable." How uncomfortable are they going to be if they continue to walk away from the Lord? Sometimes we worry too much about how we feel in light of how they're going to see us rather than if... The Bible says that faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

You can find plenty of people who will tell you exactly what you want to hear and prop you up in some sin that you're pursuing. The world's full of them. You can pay people and sit on their couch and they'll tell you why you're doing what you're doing. It's definitely not your fault and that's Randall with two L's, right? You'll pay somebody to tell you what you want to hear as opposed to what you need to hear. That happens a lot. And people feel justified and they feel liberated, and "You are the problem and I am not the problem." And it's a mess.

But here's what I've learned also: that the people that really love you, think about the people that really love you. They will tell you not just what you want to hear, but what you need to hear. How many of you are married today? All right, all five. Okay, you don't want to raise your hand? You might want to raise it. All right. Listen, you know your spouse has the power, the ability to say things to you that nobody else could say because they know you. But they love you. Maybe you don't always see it as love, but it is love. That is the motive.

People who love you, they'll tell you. You love your kids? Of course you do. Will you tell them what they might not want to hear? "Well, I don't want to cause World War III in this house, and so I gotta protect myself. I'm not saying anything. I'll just let them do whatever and just wait it out." No, no. Sometimes you have to step in and lead and speak and address these things. And the motive is love.

So we know that we ought to have a concern for other people, a love for others, especially those who have wandered away from the truth, to be those people that will speak into their life, to ask God to reach them, to call them back. Finally, the fourth thing that we know is that we need to continue to have a commitment to follow Christ. And that is in verses 18 through 21 as we conclude. Listen to what John writes and notice how many times he says "we know."

"We know whoever is born of God does not sin. He who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him." Now when John says "those that are born of God," he's speaking of somebody who's born again, a Christian. A Christian, it says here, does not sin. You think, oh man, I'm not a Christian. I sinned today on my way here. You realize you fall short. What John's talking about is somebody who lives in a continual state of sin.

He said this repeatedly throughout this epistle. A true, born-again believer, somebody who knows Christ, filled with the spirit, you will not be comfortable living and pursuing a life of sin. You just won't. So the person that does while claiming to be a Christian, you would question whether or not they were a Christian. John says that throughout this letter. "If we say that we know God and yet we live this way, we lie." We lie to ourselves, we lie to God. "If we say this but we do that," again, he would say we're not telling the truth.

We're pretending. I mean, he says that throughout this letter. So the Christian, the born-again believer does not live in a habitual, practice lifestyle of sin. Doesn't mean that they won't stumble, doesn't mean that they won't need to repent, but it does mean they won't live there and be content to live that way. And they will keep themselves from those things, run from sin as opposed to running to it. And the promise is that the devil's not going to touch them.

The enemy can't have a grip on them because they are a child of God. You seek to keep yourself from sin. You say, "Well, John, I struggle with sin." Everybody in this room does. How do I overcome it? I've got a great passage for you. Make a note of it, memorize it. Romans chapter 6, beginning in verse 11. This is what it says: "Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

That's the remedy right there. Here it is. It starts with realizing I am dead to that former life. I reckon if I've been crucified with Christ, that old person is dead. But I have to reckon it in my mind. I'm dead to that, I'm not alive to that. I used to be very much alive to that, I'm not alive to that anymore. I'm dead to that. So I reckon the old person to be dead. And what follows is I'm alive to God and I don't let sin reign in my mortal body. It wants to, it desires to, but I don't make provision for it to fulfill its lust. So I resist it, I fight it, I don't give it a place. "You will not reign here. You used to reign, you used to rule, not anymore."

And in addition to that, I present myself, my members to the Lord for righteousness' sake. Many of us before Christ, we presented ourselves to unrighteousness. Available, anybody, I'm here. We lived that way. Not anymore. I'm dead to that, I'm much alive to God. The resurrection power of the spirit of God is alive within me, working in me. And also I present myself to Jesus, I'm a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is my reasonable service.

That's the life I choose to live. That is how you overcome sin. That's how you overcome it: through the power of the Word of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes people say, "I just struggle with sin, I struggle with sin," and we all do. But there was a man who was in a prayer meeting and he was confessing this. "Yeah, folks, I just... I confess I struggle with sin." And he kept calling it "I keep falling into the web of sin. It's the web of sin, just entangles me, the web of sin. Ah, the web of sin."

And the whole frustration about the web of sin was the consequences, and he had no real lasting freedom. Finally, this wise, godly old woman said to this young man, "Son, you need to stop cleaning the webs and kill the spider." And that's what some people do. Just keep "Ah, the web." Just kill the spider. All right, just get rid of it and watch what happens.

The blessing of not pursuing a life of sin and keeping yourself from it by the power of the spirit is that it says here: "The wicked one does not touch him." Listen, all of us are subject to attacks of the enemy. But "No weapon formed against us shall prosper," the Bible says. "Greater is he that is in us than he that is in this world." When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord raises up a standard against him. Amen? So we have that power over sin.

When Satan comes knocking at your door, just say, "Jesus, it's for you. Let him get it, let him handle it." He'll take care of it. The Bible says that in James chapter 4, verse 7. It says, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." John says we know that we are of God. We know that if we're born of God we don't live in sin. We know the wicked one can't get a grip on us anymore, we belong to Jesus.

And we know, and look at this verse 20, and we're going to conclude. "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know him who is true." Jesus came so that we could know God, know him who is true, and we are in him who is true. We are in Christ. And look at this: we are in him who is true and in his son Jesus Christ. "This is the true God and eternal life." Did you know that that is another proof text for the deity of Jesus Christ? John says this is who is Jesus, the Son of God. It says here, "This is the true God and eternal life." He's referring to Jesus. We know this.

And so because of what we know about God, what we know about the work of Christ on our behalf, what we know that we're in him, the final exhortation in our commitment to Christ is this. John says, "Little children, keep yourself from idols." That's the final thing. Keep yourself from idolatry.

If you read through the Old Testament, you will find that idolatry was the curse of the nation of Israel. It hindered them, it stopped them, it ruined so much of what God wanted to do. And there was judgment and chastisement as a result of idolatry. They would set up these pillars made of wood and they would decorate them and dance around them and worship a pillar of wood. They would have stone images, they would have idols, they would all these things that they took on themselves from the Canaanites, from the Egyptians, and they embraced it all. And God said, "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make a graven image." And they said, "We don't like those first two, so we're going to make some." And they worshipped them, and as a result they suffered the consequences.

Now today we don't have so many pillars that you would decorate and bow down to, or images that you might burn incense to or candles or whatever. But idolatry is anything that replaces God in your life. Anything that is the master passion, driving force, constant thought. You live for it, it's your idol. And an idol can be all kinds of things. It could be anything that you worship. It could be your career, it could be your possessions, it could be your health, it could be whatever it is. It could be something that takes the place of God. And our primary passion and pursuit is to live for Jesus. We can't have any other idols before us. And so John says, "Here's what you need to do: keep yourself from it. Fight against it. Don't allow yourself to get swept up in that idolatrous pursuit that is all around us." Keep yourselves from idols.

Guest (Male): "Keep yourselves from idols." An interesting way to end this epistle, but a word we desperately need to hear and receive today. Pastor John Randall will share some closing thoughts in just a moment as we wrap up our study in 1 John today on A Daily Walk. If you missed any part of the journey, you can catch what you missed online at adailywalk.org. You can also hear John's messages through our free app. This is a great way to listen to current and past teachings from Pastor John. Just search for Calvary South OC.

Here's a question for you: Has this ministry blessed and encouraged you in your daily walk? If so, we'd like to know. You can email us at adailywalk@gmail.com. That's adailywalk@gmail.com. Let us know the station you listen to as well. Here in the month of May, we've picked out a resource we think moms will benefit a great deal from. It's "A Mom After God's Own Heart: 10 Ways to Love Your Children," authored by Elizabeth George.

She writes, "God has put you in a unique situation where you have tremendous influence in the lives of others. Be a mom after God's heart. Help your children, no matter what their age, experience God's love, God's blessings, and God's provisions." We're making it available for the cost of $12. Ordering is really easy online at adailywalk.org or just call 877-242-0828. Please remember us in your prayers and your giving to the Lord. We want to help as many people as possible in their daily walk through the teaching of God's Word, and you can help to make that possible through either a one-time gift or ongoing monthly support. Donations can be made online rather easily at adailywalk.org or call 877-242-0828. Here is Pastor John once again with some final thoughts.

John Randall: As we end our journey through 1 John, folks, we leave here today with confidence, not in ourselves but in the one who is true. I pray that this study has brought you to a place of assurance, that you know that you know you belong to Jesus, that you are born again. It's not a question of where you're going. It's not a question of whether you follow the Lord. There's nothing suspect about whether I'm truly a follower, you know it. And John has told us repeatedly, "this is how you know."

I pray that we leave here with hearts that are anchored in truth, with hands that are ready to serve, and lives that shine with the love of Jesus to a world that desperately needs to see it. Until we see him face to face, until we're in his presence, remain faithful. Walk with the Lord. Amen. Well, that my friends concludes the book of 1 John.

Guest (Male): On we go to 2 John next week on A Daily Walk. We're on a journey through the New Testament with Pastor John Randall and nearing the finish line. This program is brought to you by Calvary South OC and made possible through your generous support.