 We are going to conclude our study here in 1 John tonight, and then as mentioned recently, our next study begins, God willing, next Wednesday night with the study of the book of Romans. I haven't taught the book of Romans in quite some time, many years. And so as I was considering what would be a good book, I think in the days that we're living in, Romans would be a great book to study. And so you might, excuse me, you might want to read the first chapter, but I won't be going through the entire chapter. I'll be going up to, I forget, verse probably 15, I'm not sure yet. And then take a second stab at it, maybe even three, because there's so much in the first chapter. Actually, the first three chapters are very, very powerful and very instructive. But anyway, we will be going through the book of Romans. You might want to begin reading through that book if you plan on joining us for the studies. And preferably we'll go through that book verse by verse chapter by chapter over the course of the next 15 years. And so anyway, let's begin reading here together in 1 John chapter 5. I'll read to you, let me see, I didn't decide what I wanted, how far I wanted to read. I'll just read verses 14 through 21 and then just pick up and we'll be looking at verses chapter 14, rather verse 14 and 15 together and very subtle. You'll see that. You already know that. But let's begin reading at verse 14, I'll read to verse 21, 1 John chapter 5, beginning at verse 14. Now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin, which does not lead to death, he will ask. And he will give him life for those who commit sin, not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin and there is sin not leading to death. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life, little children. Keep yourselves from idols, amen. As we begin, John is going to actually close his letter by concluding with three basic thoughts, and we'll see that each one of these thoughts could easily take up a night of study, each one that we're going to look at, but I'm going to condense them. I'm especially going to concentrate on the first thing, but I'm going to touch on the second and the third rather briefly in comparison. But John is concluding his letter. And he first closes with words concerning confidence and answered prayer. Notice how he says it in verse 14, this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. So let me break that down for you and develop it and lay a foundation. When he says this is the confidence, that word confidence in the original language is defined by freedom to speak openly. Freedom to speak without concealment. And that word would speak of a boldness, it would speak of a courage, even an assurance. And so the word confidence speaks of our intimacy with God. We have a confidence because we're his children. We have a confidence because we can come to him and we can have immediate access to him. And that's what John is saying. He's saying that we can have a confidence or an assurance of boldness because we belong to him. He's our father, so we have an immediacy with him because we're his children, we can approach him. Now my children grew up in a ministry home. From the time they were infants, from the time they were very small, every one of my children grew up in a ministry home. And they have always had access to me as their father. To this day they still do. To this day I'll be in my office in my study and I'll be preparing a study. The door will open up and one of my kids will walk in, usually with their hand up. No, they'll walk in and they'll want to talk to me. And so no matter what it is I'm doing, I stop doing it. And I always kind of lean back in my chair, turn towards him and I talk to them. As long as they want to talk, their dad's going to talk to them. So my children have access to me. My grandchildren have access to me. They have access even greater than their parents, you know. They can come in and I have a refrigerator. I need to keep myself hydrated. But they'll come in and they'll take my water and drink it. And they find my gum and they chew it. I mean they have total access. And so that's the way it's supposed to work. They have access because they belong to me. Now a few years ago I was in my office and as I was preparing a study I had left my door open and in the back there we call it our green room. I heard some movement. I heard somebody was walking around. And so I thought it must be one of the guys, one of the staff guys. And then as I was working behind my screen I heard a sound and I looked at the door and there was a complete stranger standing there. Never had seen this person in my life just standing there. And so I looked at him and I said, hi, you know, can I help you? And he said, no. I said, do you have a meeting here? I thought he had a meeting with somebody. He had just, you know, I said, do you have a meeting with somebody? He says, no. I said, really? How is it that you got into the back? He said, I don't know. He said I was in the front. I decided to go into the sanctuary, looked around. I saw the stage, decided to walk up. And I walked back here. I said, really? I said, do you go here? He says, no. I just want the most strange thing that you can imagine because believe it or not, sometimes there are people who want to do you harm. And sometimes if they gain access to do that, they will do it. In this room right here, years ago, somebody came up here to the front. I went down to speak to them. And when I spoke to them, they said to me, God has told me to give you a message. And if you do not receive it, he commanded me to smite you. He used the word smite. He commanded me to smite you. And he pulled his fist back. Now I didn't feel like getting smitten that day. So I had a couple of my ushers, dear friends of mine who are here to make sure that I don't get smitten. And they had to walk them out. So you may or may not know it. Some of you probably are aware of it. But sometimes people just have it in for pastors. There was word in our area, I won't go further on than to say this, in the police station in our local police force had been told to keep an eye on me whenever I'm driving through the city because I preach hate. See so there are people, that's because I teach the word of God and sometimes they consider that hateful speech. So getting that into your mind and understanding that sometimes people don't really have that access. They're not supposed to. But the ones who do have access are the ones who belong to you. And so I have access, you have access to God because you're his child. That's why you have confidence. That's why you walk into, we'll say his study whenever you want to. That's why he listens to you. And that's what basically John is is making clear for us. He's saying we can come to our father at any time. We can have a confident assurance at any time. We can bring our petitions at any time because he's our father, because he belongs to us and he has given us permission to do so. Now, what has made it possible for us to have this confidence? Well, according to 1 John chapter two verse 28, we already saw this. We have confidence because we abide in him. John had said, now little children, abide in him. And when he appears, we may have confidence and not a shame before him at his coming. We abide in Christ. We abide in him. And thus we have a relationship with God and we can speak to him as his children. We have confidence in him because his word abides in us. In Jeremiah in chapter 15 verse 16 in the Old Testament, the prophet said this. He said, your words were found and I ate them. And your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. You see, I have confidence because I abide in him. I have confidence because his word saturates my soul. It's God's word that feeds us. In Matthew four verse four, Jesus said it like this. He said, man does not live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So for the believer, God's word isn't simply words that are printed on this book in front of us. God's word is something we have consumed. It's it's something that provides nourishment from within. Like Job 2312 says, I haven't departed from the commands of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. The word of God. And this is what gives us confidence that we abide in him. And we abide in his word. The word of God is a center of our being. And because it is, we have confidence to approach God with our requests. Again, in John 15 seven, if you abide in me and my words abiding you, you will ask what you desire. It shall be done for you. So we're confident because we love God. We're confident because we're abiding it. We are confident because we're obedient to him. We saw in chapter three of first John verse 22, whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And one time we had no confidence. Our sin had made a separation between us and God. We had kind of like those those prayers that you kind of just shoot up to the sky. You throw him up hoping that somebody will catch him and answer them. But we didn't know for sure that that God would actually receive. We didn't we didn't know that. Well, one, sometimes we didn't even know if there really was a God. And so we would kind of say things like that. I used to do it. I'd say, I'm not sure if you're there, but I could use help. There was no confidence at all. It was just kind of speaking to the to the to the ceiling and all. Sin had made a separation. I didn't know that. But Isaiah 59 tells us this in verses one and two. I Isaiah 59 says, Behold, the the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hit his face from you. They will not hear. And so there's this sense that he's not listening or he probably doesn't hear me. Well, Isaiah said, your sin makes separation. And that's why we are we're like those who who have no confidence when we're not safe. We have no confidence. And again, their prayers, those weren't saved, are often just desperate and and hopeless. Psalm 66 18 says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. So as Christians, we know we approach God through Christ and God has made the way for us through him. Hebrews 4 15 and 16 says, We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to to help in time of need. With confidence, we can approach this throne of grace as we're going through Mark. We're going to get to this point when Jesus dies and the veil and the temple is torn. The veil is torn, making access to the holiest of places open to us now through the blood of Jesus Christ. And so we can have confidence that comes through the blood of Christ and we can approach him with our requests. Again, the reason we persist in our confidence is because we have a God who keeps his promises. Hebrews 10 23 says, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. God can do anything. I don't know if I shared this with you recently. I hope I didn't. If I did, let me know. So I'll just say, OK, you know, I don't remember. I was sharing it with somebody, and that's why I'm not remembering if it was in a study. Did I did? Did I say recently how how as a little boy, I knew my father could do anything? Did I tell you that and that he had made a promise? I was five years old. I told you that recently, right about going to Disneyland. Yeah, I knew he could do anything. He made it snow, you know. And so in your mind, you think that that God is going to be restricted in some ways. But when you have access to him, and we'll look at this in more detail in a moment, when you have a confidence that you can come to him, you know that the God you're speaking to has the ability to meet the need that you're making a request for. And I want to develop this a little bit because notice again in verse 14, it says, if we ask anything, so we can ask anything because we have a mighty God. Jeremiah 32 27. Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Ephesians 3 20. God is able to to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. In the training of the twelve, there have been books written that actually have the title, the training of the twelve. In the training of the twelve apostles, the apostles walked with Christ for around three years, as we know. And they saw him as he performed many acts. They were there when he was teaching. They were there when he was preaching. They saw him when he performed miracles or when he healed, when he raised the dead, when he would debate opponents and defeat them. They saw everything that he was doing. They were with him. But in spite of all of these things, they never asked him to teach them to do those things. Nowhere in scripture have I ever read where disciples said to Jesus, teach me to preach or teach me to teach. Teach me to perform a miracle. Teach me to, to bring a healing. You'll never find that in scripture. But what's interesting is they did ask him to teach them to do something. It's found in Luke chapter 11 verse one where they said, Lord, teach us to pray. They had seen something in Jesus that provoked them. They saw that he had a communion with the Father and it was very intimate. And so the priority of prayer in his life is seen throughout his ministry. You see it in the first chapter of Mark where it says in Mark 135, In the morning having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place and there he prayed. In Luke 5.16 he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. So his men saw that he prayed that he had communion with the Father and they desired that kind of communion because in prayer it reveals humility and submission. It reveals a dependence and it reveals faith. Now prayer is intended to put us in the center of God's will. We need to know that because when John is writing he says if we ask him anything, sometimes people stop at anything if we ask him anything. But he says, no, if we ask him anything according to his will, prayer isn't a blank check. Prayer isn't moving God to do what we want. Unfortunately, I've seen more than a few modern preachers teach that. That prayer is a blank check. Just think of anything that you want and ask for it. He can do anything. Well, they had seen that Jesus had remained in the center of his Father's will and that's why John points out that we are to ask according to his will. You see the Bible teaches us that Jesus came to perform the will of his Father. In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 7 then I said, Behold, I have come in the volume of the book. It is written of me to do your will, oh God. In John 829 Jesus said, The Father has not left me alone for I always do those things that please him. So the Lord Jesus Christ had a beautiful prayer life. His disciples saw John is aware of it and John is telling us that we can come to the Father. Now how can I know his will because he says I pray according to his will. Let me give you a couple of things very briefly as I develop this a little bit further. How can I know the will of God? Well one, I yield myself to him because I have a desire to do that which pleases him. In Romans 12 1 and 2 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. First I yield myself to him dying to my own desires and seeking his. And so second as I seek him I seek to grow in understanding of his ways. Colossians 1 9 says for this reason we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. So I seek him one I devote myself to him. Second I seek him to be in the center of his will. And then third I seek his word to discover his will and determine to live for him. Psalm 40 verse 8 says a delight to do your will. Oh my God your law is written in my heart. So God's will is revealed to us. I don't know if any of you are aware of or even take the time to to see some of the the conversations John and I have on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Perhaps some of you do I don't even know what's called. I just sit there he asked me a question I answer it and they post it. I don't even know what it's called. What's it called? Thank you you you listen. Unfiltered yesterday John asked me a question concerning having sex outside of marriage. He's asking questions like that because there are people who ask those questions and somebody had written and asked what if I love what if we're in love. If we're in love doesn't that make it right? Isn't God a God of love and seeing that we're in love? Did anybody listen to that? Nobody you did Ronnie. Okay anyway so yeah you asked it. It would be worth your time to listen if you want to hear straight answers and some of you might have unfiltered but somebody had written and I said something like this I'll make it quick because I'm looking at the time. I said well there's a difference between love and lust. Some people will say that they have physical relations because they're in love and so I said but no they're not in love they're in heat and there's a difference between the two and so like I said I kind of talk straight. They're not in love they're in heat. They're trying to find some reason to continue in sin without asking the author of love what it really means and there are a whole lot of people like that. There are a whole lot of people who go to church and they're seated in churches and they're in sin and they don't care and sometimes I wonder why is it seen that my prayer life is I ask and I don't receive well you ask and don't receive because you ask amiss hoping to consume it according to your lusts. You're doing things out of the will of God and then asking God to bless those things or to bless your life. No we pray according to his will how do I know his will so do the scripture. Read the word of God because he tells us for example 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 3 this is the will of God your sanctification that is that you abstain from sexual immorality. 1 Thessalonians 5 18 and everything give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Peter 2 15 this is the will of God that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men so God's will is revealed to us in his word and the way to know his will is to know his word how can I pray according to his will I study his word and I see how the Lord works and what he desires and then I learn to pray according to his will and as I pray and as I study and read his word I begin to see things I see things that he desires for example in 2 Peter 3 verse 9 I read how the Lord says that he is not slack as some men count slackness but is long suffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance so I say wow the Lord's will is for people to be saved what part do I have in that and the part I have is to go out to all the world and preach the gospel oh so that's how that works yes it's my desire that people be saved but I'm going to use you as the instrument that speaks on my behalf and by the Holy Spirit's power in my word will draw people to repentance and salvation and so that's how we pray and when I when I first read that God is not willing that any should perish that motivated me in my early Christian life to share the gospel that's why I was able to share with my dad and my mom my brother my sisters and my friends because God is not willing that any should perish that all should come to repentance so that's what provoked me to do that and hopefully that's what provokes you to do the same and so again verse 14 this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will hears us and if we know that he hears us whatever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him we know that he hears our prayers and because we know he hears our prayers we know we have our petitions when praying according to his will we rest knowing that he will answer one of my commentators said this we can recognize the event when it comes to pass as not from chance but obtained by our past prayers and so when something comes and blesses us we understand that's what we ask God for and God answered our prayer and so answered prayer according to his will we have confidence the second message verse 16 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 it all in righteousness is sin there is sin not leading to death does that make sense to you me neither let's go to verse 18 that really is a tough portion of scripture again if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death first John is dealing with sin in the church he's not dealing with the sin of those who are unsaved notice how he says if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin so he's speaking of sin within the confines of the church so he's saying if you are an eyewitness who has seen someone committing sin you should pray now this is not hearsay and this is not meddling in somebody's life and and this is not receiving gossip this is something you know and you're aware of so the question has been asked what happens if if I see a brother involved in sin and this kind of approaches that you see one of the things that has been forgotten today in the church world is that we have forgotten that as believers we're the family we're the family of God and because we're family we have responsibility to care for one another when Cain rose up and slew his brother Abel and God asked Cain about it you remember what Cain said am I my brother's keeper well the answer to that question was yes yes you are that's the answer it's the sinful heart that says I have nothing to do with my brother it's the sinful heart in the church we're supposed to love one another we're supposed to care for one another pray for one another sometimes we exhort and sometimes we even confront but we don't do it out of self-righteousness we do it because we love and we want to see people right with God so when we see a brother in sin we're to intercede on their behalf because restoration begins with prayer for the brother or sister that's in bondage to sin and we need to understand that sin does have an effect even if it takes time for it to appear you go out and you sow seed it doesn't appear the next day normally it will take some time there will be fruit but sometimes it's not noticed immediately so what is my response to a brother or sister in sin well Paul said in Galatians chapter 6 verses 1 and 2 brethren if a man is overtaken in any trespass you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness considering yourself lest you also be tempted bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ so the answer is not ignoring it as if it's going to take care of itself that's because sin infects the whole body it's like cancer we've had friends i've had friends who have died of prostate cancer a couple of them come to mind immediately it was one of those slow-moving cancers that was unnoticeable at first and then found too late sin can be like that it's a slow progressing cancer in your soul and you don't even see it don't you're not even aware of it until it takes your life Galatians 5 9 says a little 11 leavens the whole lump sin infects the whole body now John made a distinction between sin that leads to death and sin that doesn't some sins he's saying result in a divine death penalty some don't now let me develop that three things one all sin eventually results in death roman 623 says the wages of sin is death but with that said most sins don't result in immediate death a believer is dealing with envy or has an angry spirit a mean spirit and you know they they don't necessarily die because of that but all sin will eventually lead to death and not every sin will result in death but second all sin is dealt with believers never get away with it they are chastened revel revelation 319 as many as i love i rebuke and chasten the word chasten means to discipline be zealous therefore and repent Hebrews 12 6 the Lord disciplines he educates the one he loves and he chastens he scourges speaks of something very painful everyone he accepts as his son Hebrews 12 11 now no chastening no disciplinary correction seems to be joyful for the present but painful nevertheless afterward it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who've been trained by it and so one ultimately we die because of sin but two not all sins lead to immediate death but yes your sin does lead to a chastening god deals with it now a third thing any sin if committed long enough is a threat to a christian's life in Proverbs 11 19 it reads as righteousness tends to life so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death there is a chastening that results in the believer being taken home one of my commentators said the sin unto death speaks of a case of grievous backsliding from the life and power of godliness which god determines to chase in with death well at the same time he extends mercy to the repentant soul the sin not into death is any sin which god does not choose thus to punish in this fashion there are sins that you commit that are not so severe that the lord determines to take you home but there are other sins that are leading to other sins and this is what's heavy and i can't give you a real great deep understanding of this but there are other sins that have continued in very well will lead to you having a shortened lifespan the lord in his mercy removes you and takes you because you're going in a direction you shouldn't do i understand that no i don't but john is saying be aware of this for the person who is in a sin and you're praying for him that sin may not necessarily lead to death but if you know of somebody who is continuing in willful sin there's a time when you simply and this this is hard to say but it's true that you stop praying for them and you leave them in the hands of the lord there have been over my years of walking with the lord and in my ministry there have been a few times in those years where i've said to the lord in my prayer life i've said father i've prayed so many times for this one i'm leaving them in your hands because there's nothing else i can do you already have heard my cry i've asked you i'm leaving them in your hands sometimes i have to do that sometimes i just leave them in the hands of the lord when paul was writing to the carinthians it's found in first carinthians chapter 11 verses 28 and 30 he said let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup speaking of communion for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the lord's body for this reason many are weak and sick among you and many have died many sleep and so this is something the early church was very conversant with and understood it's something that we in the later days of the church find hard to understand but there are sins that lead to death and god will allow you to go home early years ago we were when i was an assisting pastor in another fellowship we had a young woman who was separated from her husband and she had come to church and left her child in their child in the nursery and uh the father of the child came and took his his son he was very very drunk and he took off with the son and he created a great problem and uh he uh while he was drunk ran into a bridge an underpass and he was killed and i've never forgotten that this is a guy who was walking walking walking away and i will not say that i will not say that that god took his life but i've often wondered if that's how that happened by the way that's how we began here when we started this church to have people sign their children in and the same person who signs a child in needs to take the child out why is that because i saw it happen where somebody took their child and ended up putting that child's life in danger and so that's why some people say why that's my why we do that to protect the children we do that to protect the family of god that's why we do that and so with that as christians we have a course to finish but god may take us home early we need to seek to finish our race of faith it's like what paul said in 2 Timothy 4 7 he said i fought a good fight i finished my course i kept the faith and then finally verses 18 through 21 we know that whoever is born of god does not sin but he who has been born of god keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him we know that we are of god and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one and we know that the son of god has come and has given us an understanding that we may know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his son jesus christ this is the true god and eternal life little children keep yourselves from idols and so this is the third message he says we know that whoever is born of god doesn't sin when he says doesn't it's not that we're not capable of sinning of course we do the the term is really found in a tense that means make a habit of or lifelong practice of sin we do not sin regularly we do not sin as a practice we do not sin in a constant fashion because we hate sin because we know jesus died to set us free from sin so it's not our lifestyle or our practice and so he's saying live completely for jesus christ why would be why would that be necessary well the wicked one cannot get a foothold in your life when you're pursuing him completely in jude 21 it simply says keep yourselves in the love of god looking for the mercy of our lord jesus christ to eternal life so don't practice sin but pursue jesus christ he says in verse 19 we know that we are of god and the whole world lies under this way of the wicked one now this is something that obviously by itself could be presented as a study we see the evidence of the whole world lying under this way of the devil we see that every day there are quite a number of people who don't watch the news who don't want to watch it and to be honest with you i understand why why people don't want to i get that i really do because you see so much going on but at the same time you're blind to what's going on too if you're not aware and so i watch the news even though my wife and i eventually will say you know and i'm going to change it it's time to change it you know i don't want to watch much more and this is very depressing but we know that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one i could go on and on and i i actually thought should i give a whole message on just that no but you're aware of it we live in a world that is turned upside down where where a man can say he's a girl and a girl can say she's a man and and you know all of that that the whole world lies into the sway of the wicked one and that's what you're seeing you're seeing bondage you're seeing confusion you're seeing a lot of hate you're seeing a lot of anger and so that's evidence we know that the enemy is running rampant so we're to resist him we already looked at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11 which says put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil in James 4 verse 7 submit yourselves therefore to god resist the devil he'll flee from you and so we're in war the christian life is is is not recreational the christian life is warfare we're on the alert constantly we're supposed to be awake constantly our enemy is prowling like a lion seeking whom he may devour and so we have to be on the alert we need to be awake that's why Jesus would speak to the men who are sleeping when they should have been praying and say watch and pray he said the spirit indeed is willing the flesh is weak you have to be aware of what's going on around you don't fall asleep on the job don't be somebody who ignores what's going on to your own hurt we know that the whole world lies into the sway of the wicked but god is given to us in christ the victory and we have the word and we have the weapons of our warfare and we have the power of prayer and we have god on our side but we don't we don't take naps and we don't go r and r in the military you have rest and recuperation you you have a time if you're in the battlefield you you come off and you rest you recuperate they they give you time to to to get back to health and then go back in you're not out of the war you're just taking a moment but in the spiritual war you're never out of the war the battle is constant you need to know that if you don't you need to know that some things you're going through that you're thinking why is god mad at me maybe the lord is chasing in you because maybe you're not in his will and he's trying to bring you into it he's a father he chases the children he wants you in the right place why he intends to use you for good so he wants to prepare you you need to be ready for that and so we submit ourselves to god and finally verses 20 and 21 we know that the son of god has come and given us an understanding that we may know him who's true and we are in him who is true in his son jesus christ this is the true god in eternal life and then he closes little children keep yourselves from idols amen little children we have the truth jesus christ is god in the flesh he is the true god don't allow those who are trying to convince you that god the spirit cannot dwell in a body of flesh like the nostics are saying in the beginning was the word and the word was with god the word was god john said and the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us the incarnation is the center of our faith so hold fast to the true god jesus christ and keep yourself from idols keep yourself from anything that moves you to compromise again i saw a picture all of us have seen it if you're ever on social media at all of guys who are sitting in a football game and snow has covered all of them have you seen that picture they're watching their favorite team and the snow is on these men they have these coverings and they're all it's like snow they're just sitting there frozen watching the football game and pastors love to point those things out and say look at the devotion the world has to their idols and the church well i can watch on tv i can watch online i don't have to be there i don't have to serve i don't have to do anything keep yourself from idols keep yourself from idols how are you going to grow i am so blessed that you guys take the Wednesday night you're Wednesday night i really am you don't know how blessed i am to see you that you actually come out on a Wednesday you leave work maybe grab a quick bite jump in your car and you come here we love you so much for that i'm so blessed to see that please pray for our brothers and sisters who have gotten caught up thinking it's not important to get in god's word please pray for him i want to see revival i want people to wake up there there are people who are spending $50,000 for a ticket for a football game you know the lowest price for the Super Bowl i was hearing is $5,000 for a ticket up in the nose bleed section and and then there are the people who were saying all the church ever asked for his money no really and the NFL doesn't it doesn't make any sense it doesn't make any sense and so where your heart is there your treasure shall be also let us be aware that there are idols there are things that even when we think they're good that can take us away from the Lord we want our children to to be active to to be involved and we put them in sports and i think sports is great played sports all my life i love sports enjoyed sports i can watch sports can't play them anymore but i enjoy it but i also know that it could take me away from the things of the Lord very easily i know that and my kids grew up you know i wanted them to play sports if they wanted to put them in baseball and things like that but i never let them do anything on a sunday never why because it's a day that we get together as a family and serve the Lord together it's a day that we as a christian family go to church to hear about the things of the Lord that's why and i did that as an assisting pastor before i was a senior pastor my children were in church my children received bible studies every day of their life for into their teenage years every every night we would have devotions why because i knew the enemy was going to do everything he could to steal my children i knew it and we were armed and ready for the battle and it was a battle but my four kids are serving the Lord now and it was worth it and it was hard but it was worth it to hold fast because i wanted to see the victory of the Lord and i'm seeing it and so what we need today is to stay away from anything that causes us to enter into a compromise to stay firm with Jesus Christ and that's what he closes with keep yourself from idols do not compromise