“Experience is the best teacher.” Most of the learning we do during this lifetime will be through the issues, problems, and joys of just living. Our experiences change how we do different activities and it adjusts how we view our world. If you have ever smashed your thumb with a hammer, that experience taught you a small lesson on the meaning of pain, controlling you words, and how not to swing a hammer and hold a nail. The stigma that younger people aren’t as capable at living life isn’t totally unfounded because the older you get, the more time you have had to experience life. Yet, life experience isn’t the only way to learn and isn’t the easiest way to learn either. Sometimes we learn the hard lesson of life and death very early in life. I learned about death when I was very young with the loss of my grandfather and grandmother. It was a great struggle for me to comprehend how it all worked when I was only 7 and 8.
Sometimes, however, experience doesn’t sink in. Some people don’t learn their lessons and others just don’t think. “Two pals are sitting in a pub watching the eleven-o’clock news. A report comes on about a man threatening to jump from the 20th floor of a downtown building. One friend turns to the other and says, "I’ll bet you ten bucks the guy doesn’t jump." "It’s a bet," agrees his buddy. A few minutes later, the man on the ledge jumps, so the loser hands his pal a $10 bill. "I can’t take your money," his friend admits. "I saw him jump earlier on the six-o’clock news." "Me, too," said the other buddy. "But I didn’t think he’d do it again!" – Ohio Motorist, Reader’s Digest, June, 1994, p. 72.” I am hoping this was a fake conversation because if it wasn’t, this guy must get duped a lot.
Today, we will finish the book of 1 John with the last three verses; 1 John 5:18-21. We have continued our course through this book following the idea that the entire book addresses some aspect of our relationship with Christ. We traveled from the foundation of fellowship found in the first four verses of the book all the way through confession, obedience, salvation, eternity, prayer, and now finally we will speak about three pieces of knowledge every Christian should have. This knowledge isn’t just a book knowledge you would gain by reading but an experiential knowledge gained through sharing life with Christ. John tells these Christians that they should have experienced and know three specific ideas. Let’s investigate these three pieces of knowledge and see how we too should have encountered them.
Know God keeps His Own – V. 18
“We know that those who are God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe, and the Evil One cannot touch them.” – New Century Version
As previously stated, this knowledge isn’t book knowledge but an experiential knowledge. It apparently can be felt and known in a personal manner. John tells these Christian people that they can know by experience that God’s children do not habitually sin. The New Century Version does a great job with these verses in translating them from the Greek manuscripts to English. Anyone who accepts Christ and obeys God is a child of God. No one who obeys God can continually sin. These two ideas are polar opposites. A Christian cannot continually choose sin over God and continue to be a Christian. The next sentence makes this concept interesting. The Son of God or Jesus keeps them safe and the Evil One (Satan) cannot affect them. This safety being referred to isn’t a safety from the evils of the world such as bills, pain, and struggles but a safety from Satan taking over the life of a Christian. Once a person accepts Christ, they have been separated from sin and the influence of Satan. They now live safely inside the hands of God and cannot be directly attacked by Satan.
You may ask the question, “So how does bad stuff happen to good people?” If God is protecting Christians from Satan, then why do Christians suffer just like everyone else? Many have asked this question. Think about this, God has a bigger picture than we do of every situation. The girl who refused to deny Jesus Christ at Columbine by standing on her faith, brought thousands of people to Christ. Her parents never wanted her to die, it was their little girl but God used that evil situation for good. Secondly, God gives people the ability to think and act independently of Him. Those boys who did the evil deed were acting contrary to God but God gave them free will to do as they pleased and they chose to act and live out Satan’s will instead of God’s. Lastly, some take themselves out of God’s hands by choosing to sin and choosing to walk away. We will discuss this more in the next verse.
I do not know about you but I can tell you absolutely tell you that I have felt the protective hand of God in my life. It always comes when I most need it too. I remember when my mother had her second psychotic episode and the fear, uncertainty, and anger were tearing me up inside. I remember so clearly feeling a sense of relief and calm. I remember feeling peace and feeling the anger and fear melt away. I have experienced this and my experience has been validated by scripture. Trust the scriptures first and your experience second unless the scriptures affirm your experience. In the case of these three verses, every single one can be experienced and validated in scripture. Have you ever felt and knew that God was protecting you? You can know by experience that our faith in God is protected even if our physical well being is not.
Know we are God’s In Satan’s Realm – V. 19
“We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the whole world.” – (NCV)
Again we encounter this same knowledge by experience. Every Christian can know by experience that they belong to God. When a person accepts Christ they have become a child of God and are now a part of God’s flock. If God is likened to a shepherd, then we would be the sheep. In this sense, every Christian belongs to God. But… the word always indicates that a stark contrast is coming. But the Evil One who we call Satan is in control of this world. The idea being presented is that Christians belong to God and yet they live in a world where Satan rules. No wonder bad stuff happens to good people on this earth. A being which is pure evil controls everything. God only guarantees the safety of our faith, not the safety of our belongings, our family, or even our own lives.
Have you experienced this part of reality? This world is filled with tons of evil, insurance companies I believe rank at the top of the scale if there is one. As Christians, we are just passing through this world to reach heaven. The contrast becomes even starker as more liberal laws are passed. Now, they are trying to make speaking against homosexuality a hate crime. If this passes they will try to censor me from the pulpit, note that I said they would try to censor me. This doesn’t mean they will succeed. They are also passing what is called an ENDA or Employment Non-Discrimination Act which will make it very difficult not to hire someone sinning the sin of homosexuality. This means that not hiring an openly gay youth minister could make life very difficult legally. Yet, we cannot have someone teaching our kids that this sin is acceptable. Our liberal government takes steps each day to push the gay agenda so that everyone will just accept it. I think we can all easily relate to being a part of an evil world. We have all experienced this. September 11th is a prime example of someone obeying the evil thoughts of Satan and acting them out in Satan’s world. These wars where thousands are murdered and tortured happen because sin in this world has allowed Satan to take over.
We have all experienced and know that even if you are a Christian passing through on your way to heaven, you may well have many troubles along the way. The problem is that we live in a world controlled by evil. The devil exists and rules this world. Hopefully two children were wrong when discussing the existence of God. “Two 6 year olds struggled with the problem of the existence of the devil. One boy said, "Oh, there isn’t any devil." The other, rather upset, said, "What do you mean, there isn’t any devil? It talks about him all the way through the Bible!" the first replied, "Oh that’s not true, you know. It’s just like Santa Clause, the devil turns out to be your dad."” I hope for your sake you don’t turn out to be leading your children astray but it can and does happen. The devil has infiltrated our homes and destroyed our values. We know through experience that Satan rules this world.
Know Christ came to give us eternal life – V. 20
“We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we can know the True One. And our lives are in the True One and in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and the eternal life.” – (NCV)
This is the third set of knowledge. John continues to speak about this experiential knowledge. John tells these Christians that they should have experienced learning from the Words of Jesus Christ “so that we can know the True One.” Christ came and gave factual knowledge. That word for understanding is another word for know in the Greek. This know however refers to the acceptance of facts or general brain knowledge. So John says “We know by experience that Christ has come and has given us facts so that we can know the True One.” The true one would be none other than God. He continues with “and” we know by experience that our lives are in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ.” John states that these Christians including himself should have first hand knowledge that Christ came with evidence of God and that all Christian lives are shared with God. God is the true God and the embodiment of eternal life.
“Thinking of the fullness and duration of this wonderful life, W. B. Hinson, a great preacher of a past generation, spoke from his own experience just before he died. He said, "I remember a year ago when a doctor told me, ’You have an illness from which you won’t recover.’ I walked out to where I live 5 miles from Portland, Oregon, and I looked across at that mountain that I love. I looked at the river in which I rejoice, and I looked at the stately trees that are always God’s own poetry to my soul. Then in the evening I looked up into the great sky where God was lighting His lamps, and I said, ’ I may not see you many more times, but Mountain, I shall be alive when you are gone; and River, I shall be alive when you cease running toward the sea; and Stars, I shall be alive when you have fallen from your sockets in the great down pulling of the material universe!’ "”
Whoever this man is, he believed absolutely with all confidence in an eternal life for Him. He believed it so much that he bade farewell to those things which many feel will be here long after us. Something in this man’s life must have taught Him to trust God’s word and to accept that in all truth eternity exists. What could it have been? I would bet with this kind of confidence, he must have lived His life with Jesus Christ. He shared everyday with Jesus, praying to Him and reading. He shared his life with Christ through prayer and reading and in return He knew he would spend the rest of eternity in Heaven. Sounds like a pretty good exchange doesn’t it? At the most you may live 120 years. Wouldn’t that be worth expending for Christ to inherit eternity? The experiential knowledge we can have comes from spending our time and days with Christ at the center of our lives; sharing our lives like he is our best friend. This is the depth and meaning of fellowship. Neither this sermon nor any other does justice to the depth of security and trust you can have in Christ.
What do we do now? – Evangelism – An Unspoken Plea
Now what? Some of you may be asking how you can have this type of knowledge. You want to experience to kind of love, joy, peace, and security you can have in Christ. Well, that is easily remedied. Believe Christ died and rose again to purify your sins. Stop committing the sins you have been doing. Intentionally reject lying, cheating, stealing, being unloving, etc. and set yourself not to commit those again. Confess to everyone your belief in Christ and obediently follow Christ in baptism for the forgiveness of your sins. This just begins your journey. Now you must learn and grow through reading the word, learn to talk to God, and receive instruction.
Some of you may be stuck here however and your knowledge of Christ has never gone past the baptismal pool. You have never developed a relationship with Christ. Now is the time to correct that. “I am a Christian and I go to church. What else can I do?” I am glad you asked. Have you ever just sat down and talked to God like you would your best friend? Just tell Him everything that’s going on. I often find myself telling Him everything and then explaining how powerless I feel. I am always reminded that I am talking to someone who has the power to do something about my problems. It starts with you going to God willingly and being honest with Him. Admit your failures and sins. Confess your how you cannot find Him. I promise He will come running and find you. He has been waiting since you were baptized for this. Christ died for you and now waits for you to open your heart and let Him in to clean it.
However, all of you need to hear this. Every Christian has a duty to Christ and the world. Watch this video. Play video An Unspoken Plea. They are waiting for you and me. Did you know that 90% of the people who come to Christ come from individuals like you sharing their faith? The minister only converts 5% of the people if even that. You have the power to transform someone’s life of guilt, shame, and emptiness into a life of fullness, joy, and peace. Grow and learn from Jesus as you read and pray. Walk with Him and then go share it with others. This is your duty. Apply your experience of joy and peace from Christ and give it to others. They are waiting for you.
