Alba 10-13-2024
WHO CONTROLS YOUR WORLD?
I John 5:16-21
Have you ever felt that you were out of control? It seems that is just part of life, doesn't it? A baby will swing its arms and hit its face and not know where it came from. A child wants everything in the store, and the parent (wisely) doesn't buy the toy that has the child's interest in the moment. A teenager feels trapped by the restrictions still in place (also wisely in place). And when the person becomes an adult, there are bills to pay, responsibilities to fulfill, and little time to just be.
So many things seem to control our lives. So what, or who, controls your world? Are you at the mercy of something that has a grip on you that keeps you from being who you want to be? Or have you found the answer to what will best give you the peace you are looking for? We all have a choice.
This has always been the case. Even when Moses was coming to the end of his leadership of the Hebrew people before they entered the land promised to them he said in Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”
The opposite of life and blessing is death and cursing. When it comes down to it, those are our choices. The wisest choice is life and blessing.
To choose life means, as Moses told the people in verse 20 of that chapter, you will, “love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice.” Those two things, love and obedience, are still necessary for those who choose life. A Christian is someone who loves the Lord because of what Jesus has done by His death on the cross to make possible the forgiveness of sins. And a Christian is someone who obeys the Lord, letting their light shine by their obedience so that God will be glorified. The problem is that our society is redefining the term Christian to mean good person rather than being a follower of Jesus Christ by believing in who He really is and what He really did.
The essential truths of Christianity are these: Jesus is the Son of God. The Son of God put on flesh and became Man. Jesus, the Son of God’s death on the cross is essential to our forgiveness. His bodily resurrection is essential to His Deity and proof of the eternal life that He came to give. Real, life changing obedient belief in these things puts you in the camp of Christianity. Denial of any of these essentials means you are not a Christian.
It comes down to: Who controls your world? In Romans 6:16 we read, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”
I John 5:19 says, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” In this world there is a lot of evil. But when you give control of your life to the Lord, you can say with the apostle John, “I am of God. I have chosen life and blessing.” But those are the two choices, be of God or of the wicked one.
So again the question is: Who controls your world?
Is It the Wicked One?
We know who he is. The devil, Satan, the Father of Lies. Sadly, scripture says he controls the world. It is under his “sway”. Now that does not mean the physical world God created. It is a reference to the way people live in this world. There is much evidence that the old devil has a lot of influence in this world. Even Christians, because we live in this world, can be taken by the devil's tricks. Each one of us needs the prayers of other Christians to stay strong against temptation. Because we who love the Lord often have difficulty staying on the right path. Christians need prayer.
That's why I John 5:16-17 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.”
Concerning sins that lead to death or not, commentator William Barclay suggests that the sin which does not to lead death is where a person sins but hates his sin, is ashamed of it and wants to hide it. He really doesn’t want to sin. Whereas the sin that leads to death is when a person rejoices in his sin and doesn’t see anything wrong with it. He boasts of it and glories in it.
We need to pray for a fellow believer if that person is getting caught up in something that should not be. But we can't ask that the sins of the remorseless and unbelieving be forgiven while they stubbornly persist in them. If a person dismisses the only means of salvation, our prayers will not help. But likely we will not know if the sin is a “sin unto death”. So pray for people and Christians that you see sinning, that God will use it to show them their need for repentance and their need to seek forgiveness for His glory.
We should keep appealing to God for our friends, our family, and our Christian family. We should surrender each one to God and let Him be the judge.
Our prayers should be, “Lord take control in their lives.” And that is the prayer we should pray for ourselves as well. Now if you are worried that you may have committed an unforgiveable sin, don’t be. Because if you are worried about such a thing, that would indicate that you have within you the desire to be in a right relationship with God.
But the evidence of the devil's sway over this world goes beyond the struggles we have as Christians. His influence is everywhere – politics, entertainment and more. As we look at the moral condition of the world, we are sometimes like the man who was eating Limburger cheese and got it in his mustache. He first stated that the room smelled rotten. Then the front porch, he then stepped out into the yard and exclaimed, “The whole world is rotten!” We don't need Limburger cheese to tell us that the world is rotten. It is evident.
When a political party demands the killing of unborn children, we see the devil's influence. When children are being taught that they can be a cat or a dog, or a boy can be a girl, or a girl can be a boy, that is the devil's influence. Because it is an obvious attack on God's creation as described in Genesis chapter one.
Even though late night comedians make fun of what’s happening in the world and its craziness, surely we realize that the world as a whole is under the power of the evil one! Its not funny at all! The world is a restless evil. Haven’t you noticed? Crime, corruption, violence, murder, abuse, rape, etc. How can this be? One word. One name. Satan. The wicked one.
Galatians 3:22 says, “The Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.” (NIV 1984) Our prayer should be, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil! Lord, keep us out of the devil’s territory. Put a block in our way to keep us out!” Because if we don’t daily walk with God, we will walk with someone else. So again the question is: Who controls your world?
Is It the Son of God?
That is the other choice. Jesus is our only hope! Because He gives us the truth. Look at I John 5:20. It says, “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.”
The only way to overcome the confusion and evil that is in this world is to have our faith firmly planted in the truth about life that God has created, and now gives through His Son Jesus Christ. Because through Him we are kept safe.
I John 5:18 says, “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.”
It does not say that a Christian never sins, otherwise why would verse 16 say we should pray for a fellow Christian who is caught in sin. But verse 18 does say that sin is not what a Christian does. Our birth into the family of God gives us a new purpose – to live for Him.
It also “keeps” us in His care so that we can avoid the pitfalls that so often arise. In fact other translations of verse 18 give us insight here. The Modern English Version has it this way: “We know that whoever is born of God does not keep on sinning. But whoever has been born of God guards himself, and the wicked one cannot touch him.”
But it can also be translated as the English Standard Version does. It says, “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.”
Did you notice the change? In one case it appears that the Christian doesn't sin because he guards himself against the evil one. In the other case it states that “he who was born of God”, in other words, Jesus, “protects” the Christian from the evil one. My understanding is that both translations are possible. And I believe both things are necessary for us to prevent the evil one from succeeding in his quest to bring us down.
In other words, without Jesus, we would have no hope at all. But that does not mean that we should not put on the whole armor of God to do our part in the fight. As born again believers, we can rest in the assurance that Jesus paid the price for all our sins at Calvary. He has given us the Holy Spirit to enable us to break the bondage of habitual or besetting sin. But it is up to each one of us individually to decide if we will lay hold of that victory.
The Lord tells us to stay away from sin because He knows how harmful it is to our physical and spiritual well being. Although the world is pressing us to say yes to sin, we must have the courage to stand up and say "NO". It may not be the most popular decision, but it will be the wisest decision. And it will demonstrate who controls our world. In the battle against sin, it is essential that we keep our minds set on who we are in Jesus Christ. If we are born of Him, we have the resources to be free from habitual sin.
If Jesus controls our world, verse eighteen tells us that through Christ, we are given understanding. We are made to understand who God is. We can know the true God. But what are all these other people worshiping? False ones, idols. The enemy to fellowship with God is idolatry - embracing a false god, or a false idea of the true God.
After having spent a lot of time in the letter warning us against the dangers of the false Jesus many were teaching in his day, John closes with the warning in verse 21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols”
Of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament, the second commandment deals with idols. This may be something that most of us can’t relate to, unless we include life goals that revolve around something other than God Himself. What is the object of our affections, our efforts, and our attention? Where does the majority of our time go? On what do we spend the greatest amount of our resources? In other words, Who controls our world?
John’s main goal for writing the letter was that we would walk in the confidence that had already been given us by our faith in Jesus Christ. And he wants us to run from any false religion that may creep into the church these days.
There are a lot of false gods all around this world. But through Christ we can know the true God. And we can have victory through Christ when we let Him control our lives.
CLOSE:
Bill and Gloria Gaither have written many wonderful Christian songs. One that Gloria wrote in the late 1960’s came while she was expecting a child. The couple was going through some terrible problems. Bill had been seriously sick, their music had been attacked as not being spiritual.
On new years eve night, Gloria sat in a dark room experiencing a time of anguish and fear. She said, “I sat alone in the darkness thinking about the rebellious world and all of our problems - and about our baby yet unborn. Who in their right mind would bring a child into a world like this?”
She was at the height of her fear and then something happened. She said, “I can’t quite explain what happened in that next moment, but suddenly I felt released from it all. The panic that had begun to build inside was gently dispelled by a reassuring presence and a soft voice that kept saying, ‘Don’t forget the empty tomb, don’t forget the empty tomb.’ Then I knew I could have that baby and face the future with optimism and trust for I had been reminded that it was all worth it just because He lives.”
And she wrote: “How sweet to hold a newborn baby, and feel the pride and joy he gives; but greater still the calm assurance, this child can face uncertain days because He lives.
Because He lives I can face tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone, because I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives.”
Our prayer is that everyone here knows that He lives, and that He lives within your heart. And that He will have His way with you.
OUTLINE:
Who Controls Your World?
Is it the wicked one?
He controls the world
There are Christians who sin, who need our prayers
His influence is everywhere – politics, entertainment
Is it the Son of God?
He gives us the truth
Through Him we are kept safe
Through Him we know the true God
