This We Know: Week 11 - Context: The Interpretation of Knowledge

Week 11: Context: The Interpretation of Knowledge
 1 John 5:6-21 We are finishing our study through the book of 1 John, today. I have enjoyed teaching through this book and I believe it is foundational for believers to study and understand it. We have 16 verses to cover and it has been said that these verses are a challenge. Martyn Lloyd-Jones states “Now there can be no question at all but that these three verses are not only the most difficult verses in this epistle, but I think … that they are the three most difficult verses, in a sense, in the entire Bible!” [Martin-Lloyd Jones - Life in Christ - Volume 5 "Life in God" ] You’re going to see that he is not speaking in hyperbole, but I want to encourage you as we get started to engage with the text. God’s word was given to us so that we could understand it and benefit from it. We have the Holy Spirit living in us and He reveals truth to us and brings understanding. We are going to study all of these verses, but we are not going to get lost in the weeds. So many times, we approach the Bible we miss the forest for the trees. We get caught up on details that are not the main point of the passage. That’s why the title of this sermon is, “Context: The Interpretation of Knowledge”. Context involves knowing WHO the passage is written to and WHAT it's about. Context involves discovering what God actually meant by the words, instead of making it mean something else. Here are some wrong ways people read the Bible: Some people approach the Bible like a Fortune Cookie - Taking a phrase and using it to mean whatever they want it to. Someone who quotes “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” when purchasing a lottery ticket! That verse doesn’t mean you can win the lottery! It actually means you can endure great suffering with Christ’s help! Some people read the Bible like a Bad Lawyer - Using the Bible as a weapon to argue against you or control you. Judge not! God is love! These words are true, but they have a context. Last week we studied God is love and the words were written to warn people about the danger of sin and punishment. People quote them to mean the opposite… since God is love, He would never judge me. The world doesn’t believe that God is love, but that love is god! [Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ is Essential] What is the book of 1 John about? What is its context? John is writing to a church who is being attacked by false teachers who are leading people astray. He is confronting false doctrine. He is explaining how they can identify if a teacher is a true believer and how they can know if they are true believers. He gives a series of tests: The Love Test, The Obedience Test, The Doctrinal Test, and The Belief Test, just to name a few. The words in our passage today are connected with the themes of the entire book. We can’t detach a verse here and there and build a doctrine around it. With that in mind, let’s read our text. 6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 


Prayer: 1. God’s Word is True 6-11 Here are some confusing things we can get caught up on in 6-11: What does water and blood mean? Why are verses 7&8 different in the KJV and other versions? These are not bad questions… they are just not the main point of the text. Let’s deal briefly with them. - Water and Blood - 
A: Physical Birth and Physical Death 
B. Baptism and Death - Commencement of His Earthly Ministry and Consummation of His Saving Ministry - 
C. Both are true - No salvation if Jesus didn’t come to be born of a virgin as a baby - No salvation if Jesus didn’t die and shed His blood - Baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. - Why are verses 7&8 different in the KJV and other versions? 
A. Option 1: They were added - These extra words are generally absent from the Greek manuscripts. In fact, they only appear in the text of four late medieval manuscripts. They seem to have originated as a marginal note added to certain Latin manuscripts during the middle ages, which was eventually incorporated into the text of most of the later Vulgate manuscripts. (If it was added it was because they thought it was part of the original)
B. Option 2: They were left out of modern versions - (If it was left out it was because they thought it was not part of the original)
C. KJV is true - “there are three that bear record [in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”
D. ESV is true - You don’t have to have this verse to prove the Trinity! The ESV isn’t trying to remove the doctrine of the Trinity! We see the Father, Son, and Spirit multiple times throughout our text. - What is this saying in context? Jesus is the way, truth, and life, no one can be saved apart from Him. The testimony of God is true. Jesus’ life and death testify along with the Holy Spirit that Jesus is the Son of God, God in the flesh, and the Savior of the world. 

This was written because people were denying that Jesus was God and that Jesus was human. God’s word is true! Jesus is the God-man. You must believe in Him to be saved. 2. We can know that we are true believers and children of God. (12-13) - Whoever has the Son has life - Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life - I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
 3. He hears and answers our prayers (14-20) - We must ask according to His will - We have the requests that we have asked of Him - What is the sin that leads to death? - Unbeliever - Rejecting Christ - Addressing False doctrine
- Willful disobedience and being unrepentant - Resisting God’s Will intentionally! - John MacArthur said this verse could be applied to a Believer - 
a Christian’s sin that is so serious that God takes the life of the one committing it. He put to death Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to the Holy Spirit in front of the church (Acts 5:1–11). 

Paul wrote to the Corinthians concerning those who were abusing the Lord’s Table, “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep [have died]” (1 Cor. 11:30). The sin is not one particular sin, but any sin that the Lord determines is serious enough to warrant such severe chastisement. [https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0265/the-sin-leading-to-death] 4. Keep yourselves from idols. (21) - An idol is anything that is more important to you than God or something that replaces God. Idols glorify you, not God. Idols consume you, you become like what your worship. Idols require great sacrifices. You turn to idols instead of God. You use idols to gain what can only be gained from God. - Why does John end his book this way? Some think it feels clunky, abrupt, or even incomplete. - I like Andrew Prideaux’s insight on this verse - When John tells us to “keep yourselves from idols” he draws together all the threads of his letter. He’s saying: “Don’t be seduced by false views of God and of Christ: don’t let your heart be captured by the idol of self and the trinkets and trivialities of the world. Reject the phony intimacies of sexual immorality. Reject the false promises of empty riches. Reject the vain boasts of self-promotion and the lustful craving for fame. Reject the superficial relating and fair weather friending and easy enemy making that too often passes for friendship in the world. Reject the half-baked, flat tyre, anaemic versions of Christianity offered up by a theological liberalism that has man rather than the Lord Jesus Christ as its centre. Choose Christ. “Remain in his love.” (cf.1Jn 2:15ff)


 [https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/little-children-keep-idols/] Application: 1. Study God’s word in context. 

If you wish to know God, you must know his Word. If you wish to perceive His power, you must see how He works by his Word. If you wish to know His purpose before it comes to pass, you can only discover it by His Word. 
- Charles Spurgeon 2. Nothing is more important than knowing God. 

 3. Those who know God, live like it! 4. Pray like Jesus! (Faithful, Passionate, According to God’s will) 5. We must fight against our flesh. (Keep yourselves from idols) "What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we have in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? To know God. What is the best thing in life? To know God. What in humans gives God most pleasure? Knowledge of himself." - J. I. Packer [Knowing God - J.I. Packer]