Certain Eternity Part 43 – What We Know and What We Do
1 John 5:19-21 September 28, 2025
Introduction
How many of you have heard of Pearl Harbor? How about the Titanic? How
about the space shuttle Challenger? How about Chernobyl? Let’s go back
farther, how about Mt. Vesuvius? Let’s go a little more obscure. How many of you
know about the Great Smog of London in 1952? (see The Great Smog of 1952 |
London Museum)
o In December of 1952, it was frigid cold in England and in order to keep the
costs down, most people burned the cheapest, lowest quality coal they
could find. Unfortunately, this coal also produced the most smoke and in
particular sulfur dioxide a dangerous chemical.
o Perhaps you’ve heard of the dense London fog…well on these frigid days
in December the heavy smoke mixed with the fog and created a smog that
was so thick, people outside couldn’t see their feet.
o Worst of all, in moist air sulfur dioxide turns into sulfuric acid which will kill
you if you breath it. As you can imagine this had terrible consequences.
Over a 5 day period over 4000 people died and over the next several
weeks over 8000 more died. What was meant to keep people warm and
was a good thing, led to their death when a cheap version of it was used.
All of these situations were disasters that tragically took the lives of many people,
they were all situations that lead to death.
John has been writing this letter because there were false teachers around the
church that were speaking lies and deceiving people….and all deception leads to
death.
1 John 5:13-21 “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. … 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.”
o 2 parts: 1) What We Know 2) What We do
What We Know (v13-20)
“Know” (Gk. eidō) – to have intuitive or innate knowledge which we have
previously studied, which is given by the Holy Spirit.
We know we have eternal life if we have faith in Jesus (v13)
We know the Lord hears us when we pray in His will and we know he answers
those prayers for our good (v15)
We know that if you are a child of God the Lord will enable you to break the
patterns and habits of sin in your life that you may have victory over the enemy
(v18)
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 know that our identity as a child of God and that we live in a world under the
power and lies of the enemy (v19)
o Lies (GK. keimai) literally means to be in a reclining or prone position. The
word came to be used of an official appointment and sometimes of destiny.
In the military keimai was used of a special assignment, such as guard duty
or defense of a strategic position – the soldier was placed (set) on duty.
Lies “in” = same word used to describe our position “in” Christ
(see e.g. v20)
The inference is that the world is under the power of the enemy
because God has allowed it to be…and one day that permission will
be revoked and the world will be under the power of the enemy no
more
Those of us who are from God can walk free of the influence of the
enemy even now, as we walk by the power of the Holy Spirit and
push back against the lies and influence of the world/enemy in our
lives and in the lives of those around us.
But those of us not empowered by the Holy Spirit are almost lulled to
sleep and lying in the power of the enemy – this should move us to
compassion and urgency to seek to saved the deceived and sleeping
lost who need to be awoken to the truth of real and true life in Jesus
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding
We know that Jesus – who is God – has come to allow us to see the lies and
hold fast to truth (v20a)
o Son of God = title for God…Jesus = God
John 10:24-30 “24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to
him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ,
tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not
believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about
me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will
snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to
me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the
Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
o Understanding (Gk dianoia from dianoéomai) is literally “a through mind”
which denotes the ability to pass beyond the external and superficial to
discern and understand true reality.
Dianoia (John’s only use of this word) signifies a process of the mind
forming a conclusion from certain facts. In context, the Lord gives us
the cognitive ability to discern the significance and implications that
Jesus is the incarnate Son of God.
This enlightenment also us to see through and refute the
heretical claims of the false teachers. It is the Holy Spirit’s
“anointing” (1Jn 2:27) that gives the believer this
understanding. (Part 23 of series)
Theologian Danny Akin has broken down all the things John points out we can
“know” in this letter [show slide of below]:
- We can know that we know God (1 John 2:3, 13, 14; 1 John 4:7).
- We can know that we are in God (1 John 2:5).
- We can know that it is the last hour (1 John 2:18).
- We can know the truth (1 John 2:21; 1 John 3:19).
- We can know that Jesus is righteous (1 John 2:29).
- We can know that we will be like Jesus (1 John 3:2).
- We can know that Jesus came to take away sins (1 John 3:5).
- We can know that Jesus is sinless (1 John 3:5).
- We can know that we have passed out of death into life (1 John 3:14).
- We can know that no murderer has eternal life (1 John 3:15).
- We can know love (1 John 3:16; 1 John 4:16).
- We can know that God abides in us (1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:13).
- We can know the Spirit of God (1 John 4:2).
- We can know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception (1 John
4:6). - We can know that we love God’s children (1 John 5:2).
- We can know that we have eternal life (1 John 5:13).
- We can know that God answers prayer (1 John 5:15).
- We can know that we will not practice sin (1 John 5:18).
- We can know that we belong to God (1 John 5:19).
- We can know that the Son of God has come (1 John 5:20).
- We can know that the Son of God has given us understanding (1
John 5:20). - We can know Him who is true (1 John 5:20).
Because of everything we know (eido) and that Jesus has given us
understanding of through the Holy Spirit we can also have confident and certain
experiential knowledge
o “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.”
o “you know” (Gk. ginōskō) = experiential knowledge, different then the
innate knowledge given by the Holy Spirit who teaches you directly as you
seek and find the truth of God that He reveals
The experiential knowledge that we know is:
1) of who God is and that He is truth
Note: “true” (GK. alethinos) is genuine and real…as opposed to
counterfeit – more than just factually true (vs false) but
materially and substantively true in every way
2) that we belong to Him
3) that there are no other God’s like Him and that in Him alone is
eternal life and the satisfaction/contentment/peace that only He can
give
Spurgeon “Many people, when they hear or read that
expression, [eternal life] suppose that it means heaven; it does
mean that, but it means much more. Eternal life commences
here; it begins in the believer as soon as he is born again. Then
he receives into him that same life which he will have
throughout eternity. Eternal life is not a thing of changes; the
river widens and deepens, …but it is ever the same river of the
water of life; it always flows from the same source, it is always
constituted in the same manner. The life of the new-born
Christian, who only a few minutes ago began to pray, is
precisely the same life which is to be found in yonder bright
spirits, that have now been thousands of years in perfection at
the right hand of God praising his name. Death does not
transport believers into a new life; it simply rids us of certain
impediments that hamper our true life in its upward flow. The
life of the Christian here is the life triumphant that is to be
enjoyed hereafter, it is one and the same life so far as its real
nature is concerned…..There is a Saviour; that you know, but
he is not your Saviour unless he has infused into you a life
infinitely superior to that which was born in you at the first”
o This experiential truth of the life we have in Jesus – empowered by the
supernatural knowledge given to us by Holy Spirit – enables us to stand
firm against the lies and temptations of the enemy
James 4:7-8 “7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near
to you….”
1 Peter 5:6-9 “6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty
hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all
your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded;
be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring
lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith…”
Notice that it is in drawing near to God, submitting to Him,
humbling ourselves before Him, that we have power and
understanding to resist the lies and temptations of the enemy.
What We Do (v21)
After encouraging his readers to have confidence in the Lord and what He
teaches us through His Holy Spirit and experientially through our own spiritual
journeys, John concludes his letter with on its face something that seems to
come out of left field:
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
John hasn’t really spoken about idolatry at all up to this point, yet here at the end
of the letter he adds these as his parting words. Why is this?
Idolatry as the amplified translation puts it, is anything and everything that would
occupy the place in your heart due to God…it is any sort of substitute for Him
that would take first place in your life
o In the most immediate context, these “idols” would certainly refer to the
false gospels, the false conceptions of Jesus that the proto-gnostics, or
anyone else is speaking.
o D Edmond Hiebert “The reference to the true or real God in 1 John 5:20
seems to have prompted John to brand their fictional, humanly contrived
conceptions of Christ as idols, placing them in the same category as the
pagan images and the imagined gods they represented. Their infatuation
with their own views concerning the true God and His incarnate Son was
indeed a new kind of idolatry.”
There is no such thing as a designer god. There is no such thing as
“my truth”. There is no such thing as “my higher power”.
There is only the truth – Jesus (John 14:6) – and everything else is
deception. And this is what John has been writing to us about through
this entire letter. We either have the true Jesus, revealed to us as the
Son of God, who is the only one who can give us life….or we have a
false idol that is a counterfeit god that can only offer death.
If someone is teaching a “faith” in anything other than the Jesus
revealed by the word of God, then they are teaching idolatry. Just
because someone claims the name of Jesus does not mean they are
speaking truth – the proto-gnostics that John is writing against are
clear proof of that…and it arose in the church not even 100 years
after Jesus died and rose to life.
Our Daily Bread “It is possible for me to worship an idol I call
“Jesus” that leads me away from Him. Perhaps my Jesus
resembles a teddy bear that lulls me to sleep, or an indulgent
father, or a Santa Claus who doesn’t take my sin seriously.
Such misconceptions are not the Jesus of the Bible but an idol.
That’s the reason John warned us to keep ourselves from
idols.”
If someone is mixing the gospel with anything else – be it other
religious views, politics, philosophies, secret knowledge or any other
man-made way of thinking – it is idolatry. John call us to be vigilant to
keep ourselves from such idolatrous false teachers and false gods.
But idolatry is also far broader then a false gospel or false religions. There are
cultural idols all around us that tempt us; things that by the grace of God and the
power of the Holy Spirit, we must remain vigilant against.
F.B. Meyer “Sensual appetite is an idol with many (Phil. 3:19). Eating and
drinking, feasting and pleasure-seeking are idols before which many prostrate
themselves. And there are other idols than these, for whenever any earthly object
engrosses our soul, and intercepts the love and faith that should pass from us to
God, it is an idol which must be overthrown.”
In his easy to read and understand book Gods at War, Kyle Idleman addressed
the basics of this topic. He writes that even with a good thing “the instant
something takes the place of God, the moment it becomes an end in itself rather
than something to lay at God’s throne, it becomes an idol.”
o In the book, Idleman discusses how many things can become idols in our
life. He specifically has chapters on food, sex, entertainment, success,
money, achievement, romance, family, and most common of all – myself.
If you want to dive deeper into the topic I would commend this book
as a good starting point from which you can dive deeper into the word
of God and other solid writers.
But here’s the thing, it is one thing to know the dangers and the risks of idolatry, it
is another thing to actually remain vigilant against them.
1 John 5:18 assures us that the Lord keeps us – guards us, defends us, and
protects us from the evil one – praise God
o Yet here, we are commanded (present imperative) to continuously guard
ourselves from idol worship….for it is so easy to fall into the elevation and
worship of other things instead of God.
Romans 7:15-19 “15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do
what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … 19 For I do not do the good I want,
but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”
o You see despite what we know – we are in a constant battle against the
weakness of our selfish, prideful selves who are being enticed by the world.
And the only way to overcome those temptations is by pressing into our
relationship with the one true God, the only one who can truly satisfy, by
relying every day on the Holy Spirit to lead us and empower us and
strengthen us for the fight.
o Galatians 5:16-17 “16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify
the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the
Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are
opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”
John is giving us warnings, he is teaching us truth and pointing us to Jesus. It is
our responsibility to ask God to help us to stand firm and resist the enemy; to not
fall into idolatry of any kind – be it false teaching or false worship of any god-
substitute – and it is the Holy Spirit who we must rely upon to strengthen us as
we do this.
o Philippians 2:12-13 “12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always
obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who
works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Heed the warnings, know truth, but most importantly, trust in Jesus. Ask the Holy
Spirit to fill you, convict you, comport you, guide you, strengthen and empower
you to worship the one true God alone.
Conclusion
You know we talked about all of those disasters at the beginning of sermon that
caused so much death. Recall the cheap coal that people were burning because
it was the easier way. The idols of this world are just like that cheap coal – we
think it will keep us warm when things are cold, but it is actually going to be the
thing that stealthily kills you.
But you know one other thing that each one of those disasters had in common –
the death they caused could have been largely avoided. Every single one of
them had warnings that were given before the disaster that were ignored by
people who thought they knew better or were inconvenienced by listening to the
warnings that were being given.
o People knew Vesuvius was going to erupt, people knew that there were
icebergs in the water ahead of the titanic, people knew that the tests of
various systems for challenger and Chernobyl predicted terrible fates,
people even knew that the Japanese were coming and that too much
pollution was being put out in London into the fog. But despite their
knowledge all of the warnings were ignored.
We praise God for the things He has revealed to us…for the things we can know
confidently. But by God’s grace we cannot fall into a place of comfort or
complacency…or perhaps even worse – self-confidence. We must constantly rely
on the Holy Spirit as He convicts us as He warns us of the dangers of idolatry all
around us. And by God’s grace we walk by the Spirit, we follow His lead, and we
walk in life.
o Not just for our own benefit, but more importantly for the benefit of those
around us as we share truth with them and encourage them to find Jesus
and overcome death through faith in Him.
Amen. Amen.