Unforgiven

May 27

Read: 1 John 5:13-21 (the end)

Unforgiven; Buckle Up

“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.”

John’s ultimate goal in writing all this - and God’s goal in you - is that you would have “eternal life”. This is a life that stretches beyond this timeline. John wants you “to know” that this is what you have… to be convinced of it! To think this way means having a perspective that moves beyond the here and now, and takes into account all of eternity. We have not yet experienced eternity, but God has planted in us a sense of what it is; it is “written on humanity's heart”. (cf. Ecc 3:11) The present world, and the struggles and victories within it, must always be viewed against the backdrop of the eternal life granted us in Christ. To be bearers of eternal life means that eternal “death” has no place in us… it has been done away with… it is being rooted out of us. Make no mistake: SIN = DEATH. This is why the Lord had John lean so heavy into the truth that the people of God must be moving out of sin and into life.

This letter ends with a cryptic exchange in the final section: “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. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.” (v.16,17) There is a very encouraging bit of truth buried in here… and a very sobering reality. What shall we have first? The “good news” or the “bad news”?

Let's begin with the sobering bad news: there is a way of sinning… a pattern of sinning… that leads to spiritual “death”. (v.16) Another way to put this is that there is a way of sinning - an ongoing pattern of sin - that leads to a place where eternal life cannot and does not cohabitate with it… life and death have no place with one another. We see this same sort of idea in Hebrews 6:4-6: “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance…” Hebrews sees the need to be “restored again to repentance” as what is most crucial. Look at the list of things in the Hebrews passage! What is left for a person to learn, experience, or be a part of that is not on that list !?! There are only so many avenues that God avails us to be drawn near to the Son and to repent. Make no mistake, there is no eternal life through Christ without repentance.

Now here is some good news! John captures this same idea in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confession and repentance to and in Christ ALWAYS leads to forgiveness and cleansing. This is the promise of God in Jesus. It is not that we as Christians will never sin. This is not the case. Look at what 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The liberating truth is, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation (payment and covering) for our sins…” The good news in the rest of John sets the stage for the hard facts at the end.

The sobering truth is that there is a way of sinning… of living life actively and intentionally rejecting the truth of Christ … that leads to a hardness of heart where repentance and confession cannot and will not happen. This is why it is so important to John throughout the book to call God’s people out of sin! There is NO SIN that cannot be forgiven by Jesus when confessed and repented of; but there is a way of living that hinders confession and repentance so much so that it never happens… and that leads to “spiritual death”. In this way - 1 John seems to draw a line between manners / habits / patterns / ways of sinning. There is one other really cool truth embedded here.

“If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life…” Your prayers have the very real ability to bring about life for someone else. This verse says as much. God is willing to grant… to dispense… to “give life” to others when we pray on their behalf in the midst of their battles with sin. Sin is death… God is life… and we have the real ability to be a catalyst for each other to receive LIFE. When you pray - it matters. When you share with each other your sins, and you pray for one another, you get LIFE from God. When sins are buried deep, unrepented of, unconfessed, and not prayed for by one another… then “death” seeps in… there is a LOSS OF LIFE. When repentance, confession, and prayer for one another takes place… then LIFE COMES. We are transformed. We are set free from those things that were killing us and draining us. “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God (Jesus Christ) protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” (v.18) We become “untouchable” by Satan because we are protected by Christ. What good news… what promises. These are the words of 1 John for you:

“If we confess our sins, (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness… But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation (payment and covering) for our sins…If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life…whoever does the will of God abides forever…you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge… this is the promise that God made to us—eternal life…See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are…whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him…he who is in you (The Holy Spirit) is greater than he who is in the world…everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world…God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life…”

The End of 1John - Love you guys. - JDP