Living God's Way in an Ungodly World
In a world that makes up its own rules, it is important for Christians to stay focused on the One who still rules...Jesus Christ. Come and listen to the great Gospel message, learn about the love Jesus Christ has for you, and know what God's word, the Holy Bible, has to say about overcoming the challenges of following Jesus in a world that no longer wants Him.
Living God's Way in an Ungodly World
Sin Leading to Death
Unravel the mystery behind the profound confidence believers hold when approaching God, knowing their prayers are heard when aligned with His will. I'll guide you through the powerful and often challenging teachings found in 1 John 5:14-21, tackling the intricate topic of sin leading to death versus the unforgivable sin. Through personal reflections and encounters with misleading doctrines, I highlight the crucial need for a deep, personal understanding of God's Word to safeguard against deception. This episode promises to encourage a more intimate relationship with God through prayer, as we explore the believer's responsibility to support one another spiritually.
We navigate the sobering tales of Moses, Ananias and Sapphira, and the Corinthians, shedding light on the serious implications of misrepresenting God and the concept of sins leading to physical death. These stories serve as potent reminders of the importance of faithfully representing God, emphasizing that while perfection isn’t expected in our earthly journey, striving for holiness remains vital. Through the lens of these biblical narratives, I stress the significance of the Holy Spirit’s guidance and the lessons in obedience and reverence they present. Join us to enrich your faith journey and discover how these teachings can lead to a life that truly honors God amidst the challenges of today's world.
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Hello and good day. This is BR Maul and you are listening to Living God's Way in an Ungodly World, a podcast that we, of course, speak about following God's way and not the world's way In this world that wants nothing to do with our Lord Savior, jesus Christ, his followers, those of us who are born again in God's family. Well, we want to do everything we can to follow the Lord, to live according to God's way. We are currently in the book of 1 John, and we are going to end that today because we are in 1 John, chapter 5, and we'll be going from verses 14 to 21. And that brings us to the end of the chapter and end of the book of 1 John. It's a pretty amazing ending here to the book of 1 John. He truly brings up a topic that is seldom spoke about in churches, especially churches today, because this is a topic that is very uncomfortable for most people.
B.R.Maul:After I read the verses then I'll go back and break it down. So this is a big one. We have a lot to read, so I'm going to just jump right into it. Verse 14. Now, this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. 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, 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, verse 18. 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. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one, 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. Little children, keep yourselves from idols, amen. Here ends the reading and this ends the book of 1 John.
B.R.Maul:Topic at hand here, which is seldom brought up in churches, is the very fact that there is sin leading to death Kind of confusing. This is not the same thing as the unforgivable sin. Heavenly Father, I pray for your guidance. Help my words that escape my lips be only of your wanting and your doing, and not my own. Open the hearts of those who are listening, lord. Help them to overcome any insecurities or any pride, anything that may be getting in their way, lord, of hearing the message that you want them to hear, and I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, amen. So verse 14, john says Now, this is the confidence that we have in him, so, god, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. So, according to his will.
B.R.Maul:This is often a place that gets a huge misunderstanding, and the reason for that is because of many churches that are teaching only part of the truth, such as Jesus loves you just the way you are. Now, why is this a problem? Because, as they continue to preach on this, that Jesus is love, love, love, we're all children of God, that God loves everybody. Well, it gives the false teaching and belief that eventually everybody goes to heaven, and we know from God's word that is not true at all. We do know that, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth unto him shall not perish and have everlasting life. So, yes, he loves the world. He wants every single person to go to heaven. It is the will of God that everybody would have everlasting life, that nobody would go to hell and have eternal death. But in the whole scheme of things, god is giving each one of us, every single soul, the choice to either live eternally with him or without him. And even though many people have been deceived those who have been deceived and I've taught about this many a times it is ultimately by choice, not that a person's choosing to be deceived, because I myself, growing up in a Lutheran background, was taught that my infant baptism saved me, that I was good to go unless I lost my salvation.
B.R.Maul:I won't get into that because I have many other teachings. But we can't lose our salvation. There's nothing in God's Word that points to that. I have talked and spoke to many people who do believe in that and nobody can point me to a passage that proves that. And there are many passages that support the fact that we cannot lose our salvation. But, with that said, that was false doctrine. But at the same time whether it was because of apathy, I was just being lazy, or I didn't really care, or my pride whatever kept me from it. I still just adopted that, even when the Lord at times sent people in my life, or even messages, perhaps songs that I heard lyrics in the songs that pointed the other direction, and there was something about that that. There was something I knew that just wasn't quite right. There was something I knew that just wasn't quite right, but it took somebody to confront me and basically tell me that my baptism as a little baby didn't do anything for me and I got very angry about it. But I was choosing up until that point to be deceived. So people are being deceived, but there's also by choice, not doing anything about it.
B.R.Maul:For anybody who has been listening to my teachings now for the last few years, they certainly understand the very fact that we need to read God's Word ourself, that we need to arm ourself with God's Word and not just rely on anybody. I don't want anybody just to listen to my teachings and my teachings alone. You should be reading God's word for yourself. You should be meeting with other brothers and sisters, talking about it. Go to people who the Lord has called to teach his word. That that's what they do. They have a passion for learning it and teaching it to other people. That's great, but don't just follow one person's teachings. That's very dangerous.
B.R.Maul:When John says now, this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us, that right away eliminates people who are not God's children and there are many people who are not following the Lord. They are not born again. They may consider themselves Christian or they just assume they're going to heaven and that they're God's children. And when they do pray which isn't all that often, but when they do God doesn't answer and of course, they just get mad about it and they think, well, forget it then. Well, that's because they're not in his will. His will is that everybody would believe in Jesus Christ, everybody would believe in the blood of Christ, that he died for them on the cross. He wants everybody to know and understand that we are all sinners and that we all fall short of the glory of God. That we have to have a Savior that's his will. Fall short of the glory of God, that we have to have a Savior. That's his will. So right away, that eliminates the majority of people walking this earth.
B.R.Maul:There is something about 8 billion people right now and of those about 5.5 billion, they're not even Christian at all. They are Hindu, muslim, whatever it might be. On and on that we can go, but they're not Christian. They are not in God's will. Their prayers are not being answered. God's always willing to answer the prayer about his son, but up until then he's not going to answer prayers for his non-children. But now, for those who are born again, we still have to be in his will. We can't just walk around living life however we want, making decisions however we want, without even consulting him and then even doing things or saying things that we know, according to his word, he doesn't want us to be doing. He's not going to bless that. He's not going to answer those prayers. Why? Because they're not in his will. But when we, he hears us Verse 15, and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. So consider it done. We ask according to his will and we can consider it that we already have those petitions that we have asked of him, he will give us what we need. It'll be his way in his time, but when you ask in his will, it's a done deal.
B.R.Maul:Verse 16. 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 right. So this is one that is easy to not understand. It seems to sometimes contradict a few things in the Bible, but none of it does. He is not talking about spiritual death. We cannot lose our salvation. That is impossible. However, remember, we have the physical death and God has been known to snuff out the life of his children who are doing something that they should not do. Now, this sin isn't just any kind of sin, because, well, we still all sin. Saints still sin, his children still sin, but for starters, we are given the ability to overcome that sin. But that's still not what he's talking about. So let me read that one more time. 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, for those who are already born again, and you see a brother sinning because this is referring to that. So somebody who is already born again is referring to that. So somebody who is already born again, we can pray for that person who is caught up in a sin and to intercede for that brother or sister. But John makes it clear there is sin leading to death and he says I do not say that he should pray about that. In other words, there's nothing that we can do for that brother or sister who has committed a sin that's leading to death.
B.R.Maul:So what are some examples of those? There's one in the New Testament. Actually, there's two in the New Testament. One of them that I'm aware of is in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, go to verse 30. Paul is talking to the church of Corinth because there are those who, when instituting the Lord's Supper, are being drunk and they're just having a good time with it. Paul responds Sleep is what is used to describe a born-again believer who is dead. The reason they describe it that way is because a born-again believer now has life eternal and so they are not really dead. Their body is dead and our bodies will shut down is dead and our bodies will shut down, and that's that. But then, absent from the body, is present with the Lord. The soul is in heaven until the second coming, where the body and souls, for those who have been separated, will meet these people. The reason that some of them are dying is because they're sinning sins that are leading to death.
B.R.Maul:Let's look at another one, another one in the New Testament, the book of Acts, chapter 5, ananias and Sapphira. For those who don't know that story, a brief introduction is Ananias and Sapphira, a husband and wife. They are born again and they go. They sell their land and at this point in time, the disciples, the followers of Christ, at this point, are all coming together, selling their possessions so that everybody who is following the Lord, their needs, are met, and so they're living under one purse. Ananias and Sapphira, they sell land and they are deceitful. When they go to Peter, they tell him a fake amount and Peter even states you had no reason to do that. It was your money, it was your land. You could have announced whatever amount and given accordingly, but they lied about it First. It was Ananias who went in first and fell dead right away after lying. His wife comes in not long after and agrees yep, this is the price, and she too drops dead. Did they lose their salvation? No, nope, they did not. But they committed a sin that led them to death physically. God took them out. So there's one more, and then we can maybe see together what these three have in common.
B.R.Maul:The other one we need to go to the Old Testament. This is all the way in the book of Numbers, chapter 20. But this is Moses and Aaron, and at this point, you know, moses, he's been getting a little short with the children of Israel. They've been whining a lot, they've been frustrated, and of course, he is the one leading them. He too is getting frustrated. Well, they're thirsty and they're complaining that, oh, they're going to die and everything else. And so here is what Scripture says, verse 7,.
B.R.Maul:Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying Take the rod. You and your brother Aaron, gather the congregation together, speak to the rock before their eyes and it will yield its water. Thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. So so far, so good. Moses takes the rod, just as God said to do. And verse 10,. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock and he said Hear, now, you rebels, must we bring water for you out of this rock? Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod and water came out abundantly and the congregation and their animals drank. Moses out of anger out of spite, anger out of spite. Instead of speaking to the rock, he went ahead and wrapped it hard twice and the water came out. Now listen to God's response verse 12. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron.
B.R.Maul:God says Because you did not believe me, to hallow me in the eyes of the children of. So what happened there? Well, moses committed a sin that brought him to death. Now, in this case, moses didn't drop dead. In the last two that we just read, these people were dropping dead. So God gave Moses a little more time because he was going to work, through Moses as the leader, to get the people to the promised land. And in that meantime, moses several times, I believe it was petitioned to the Lord to forgive him, until God finally said I'm done talking about it. Moses, you sinned against me. You did not make me look holy in front of my people with your fit of rage. That is not what I told you to do. And so, no, you are not entering the promised land. And we know that Moses did not enter the promised land. He was able to see it and that was as close as he got, and then the Lord had told him when his life was up, and Moses went up and died at that point.
B.R.Maul:So those are three areas, now that we are aware of those sinning that led to death. Was there a particular sin? No, we can't identify what we know, and there are others in the Bible as well that it seems that their life was taken because of a certain sin, but there is no particular sin that seems to be the one that leads to physical death of a believer. Moses, that was just flat out his temper. He was angry and he did not hallow the Lord. He was angry and he did not hallow the Lord.
B.R.Maul:Ananias and Sapphira they just flat out lied, cheated God out of money, which they didn't have to do at all, but they were very de be conducting the Lord's Supper. They were not acting like children of God. So in all three of those we do see a theme going here and that is well, you're not representing God, you are misrepresenting God. So it seems like even the fact that some of them in Corinth were getting drunk I don't really think it was because they were drunk. I think it was because when they were getting drunk, when they were coming together to worship the Lord as newbie Christians and they were supposed to be remembering Jesus. That's why we do communion. We don't do it so we can just have a good time and eat and drink, and that's what they were doing. Same thing with Ananias and Sapphira.
B.R.Maul:Okay, there's Christians that lie all the time. I'm not advocating for it, I'm not saying it's a good thing, but people aren't dropping dead just because they lie as a Christian. But in this case they were representing the Holy Spirit. People were coming together giving their money and manna or not manna, mammon to the apostles so everyone's needs could be met, and they were deceiving their brothers and sisters, which in turn, is deceiving God and the Holy Spirit. So misrepresenting that's what seems to be.
B.R.Maul:If we get to the point where we are supposed to be doing something for the Lord and our sin before the eyes of others make the Lord look bad. Apparently it isn't beyond the Lord to say that's it, you're done, I'm going to take you home. But that doesn't mean somebody loses their salvation, not at all, beloved. Verse 17,. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death. So there are obviously sins that we do, that we repent of, that, we are sorry for doing. But it doesn't misrepresent, it's not perhaps leading somebody astray from the Lord. We're not misrepresenting Jesus. But we still might lie or we might do something that we do regret. That is a sin and we repent of it. Because Moses, he asked for forgiveness and of course he was forgiven, but he still was laid down to die and was not able to enter the promised land. And the others, well, they weren't given that chance. Their lives were just taken from them.
B.R.Maul:Verse 18, let's be clear on this not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. Let's be clear on this. I think there are unfortunately there are religions out there that play that, as we should be able to get to a point in our walk here, on this side of eternity, where we are sinless, as I have taught many times before, on this side of the grave, we will never be sinless. However, with the help of the Holy Spirit that is residing in us, a Christian who is reading the Word, walking actively with the Lord, should indeed, as that walk continues on in time, sin less. So what he is talking about here is that the very part of us that is born again, our spiritual side remember the spirit and the flesh beloved are constantly fighting. They're constantly battling. It is our spiritual side that does not sin, that wants to do the right thing. The righteous thing is thirsting after God is thirsting after God is thirsting to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But it is the flesh that we fight against. So it's that part of us that is born of God that does not sin. But our flesh continues to fight and we do slip up from time to time, and that's why even saints need to drop to their knee, repent when we sin and move on. But he who has been born of God keeps himself keeping. That is protecting ourself. Don't expect beloved to.
B.R.Maul:If you're watching movies, listening to music that you have when before you were born again, that temptation is going to suddenly just leave you because you're born again. Not at all, as I tell my own kids you are the one, you're the last line of defense for yourself. You get to protect yourself what you watch, because you are going to become in part what you listen to and what you watch, who you hang around, how you talk, all of that. So if we're letting in all kinds of worldly things and we're watching movies that are not good at all, that is promoting sin. Well, it's going to fuel our flesh that all the more is going to want to sin. So the spiritual side of us, well, that's born of God, does not sin. But he who has been born of God keeps himself. So protect yourself, beloved, and the wicked one does not touch him. And myself I believe that this is a passage, a verse here and the wicked one does not touch him. That would be the devil or a demon. That a born-again believer cannot be possessed by a demon or Satan himself, because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, and so he can't do that Now, not to say we can't be influenced, and especially if we're giving our enemy a foothold by watching movies that promote sin, listening to music that promotes sin and all kinds of stuff, well then we are going to run into more and more problems.
B.R.Maul:Verse 19,. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Now, this is interesting words here, the verbiage under the sway of the wicked one. It almost paints the picture of the wicked one cradling people and lulling them to sleep. Hmm, that certainly fits in our world today. There are many religions that don't believe that the devil exists. But here John is saying we know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. We see it as we walk with the Lord, as God's word opens our eyes and the truth sets us free and we see what really is going on around us. We can see that for ourselves. We can see people who are lulled to sleep. They are comfortable with their lifestyle, they are comfortable with their religion.
B.R.Maul:And while I'm thinking about it, following God and being a follower of Jesus Christ is not a religion. We don't have a religion. Christianity, beloved, is not a religion. All right, lutheranism is a religion, catholicism is a religion, and I could go on and on. Those are religions. Now, many of those religions. There are born-again believers who are following Jesus. But we don't follow a religion. We follow a person and that's why I use terminology like children of God, born-again believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, because it's not a religion. Because it's not a religion, and in this case, when it comes to the wicked one that is swaying the world, he is convincing them that they are happy doing their traditions, they're just good to go, Leave them be. People will say Don't tell me about, I'm not born again, because I was baptized as an infant. I sure am. Don't tell me that serving God every Sunday isn't getting me into heaven, because I'm doing the right thing. And on and on we could go. It's all misleading, it's all unfortunate, and my heart goes out to all who are in that position.
B.R.Maul:Verse 20, 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. There's that relationship right there, being in him. We are in him, he is in us. We are a family, we dwell together, we are one. And John says we are a family, we dwell together, we are one. And John says this is the true God and eternal life. To be a son or daughter of God, a child of God, you don't need to join a religion. You can't join a religion to go to heaven. It's not good people that go to heaven, it's saved people go to heaven. It's not good people that go to heaven, it's saved people go to heaven. Don't forget that. And he ends his book 1 John with this last sentence no-transcript. That's a good way to end that.
B.R.Maul:After talking about what it is to actually love God, to love your brothers and sisters and what love is about, in the book of 1 John he reminds us keep yourselves from idols. Now there are those of you who do live in countries where, yes, you are around religions that have multiple gods, and so they actually have physical idols, little gods posted all over the place. There are also many who don't live around people who worship many gods and have false idols made up by wood, stone or silver or gold. But idols are in other forms, such as televisions, computers, smartphones, gambling, alcohol, going to that liquor store every weekend. Even food can be an idol. For those who live in countries where we have an abundance of food at our disposal, it is easy for people to worship food. They just need to have their meals. And I'm not saying need, as if they're going to physically die. I'm saying need because that's what entertains them, that's what they look forward to. They can't wait till dinner each night, they can't wait for going out to eat and it's a routine. Well, that becomes an idol.
B.R.Maul:Anything, anything beloved, that gets in your way of worshiping God. If you are not reading his word, if you're not praying to him, if you're not meeting with brothers and sisters on a regular basis, if you're not worshiping God those four areas that I teach on on a regular basis, that I remind us all to do, if you're not doing those things because you are too busy dining, getting together with parties or drinking, whatever it is, going out to the movies, anything that you do that takes the place of your Lord. God is an idol. You can break from that. You can be free from that If you're born again, beloved, just pray to our Heavenly Father. He is always quick to forgive. His mercy is bountiful, so you only need to ask for forgiveness.
B.R.Maul:Repent and repenting is turning away from the sin. So it's not just saying sorry, please forgive me, and then go back to it, repenting. Is you really want to stop doing it? Pray to him about it and he will help you. If you're not a child of God, well then, pray and ask him into your life now, before it's too late, before your time here on this side of eternity expires. And then it is too late Because without asking Jesus into your life, without asking Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of your life, if you die you go to hell and I want that for nobody.
B.R.Maul:So a simple prayer. There is no magic in the prayer. It comes from the heart, as simple as Lord. I know I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. I need your Son, jesus Christ. Lord, show me what I need to do. I am your child. Amen. There's nothing special. But if you say it from the heart, that is what he knows. He does not weigh our words, he doesn't even weigh our actions. The Lord weighs the heart. Well, this is it for today. Again, thank you for joining me and come back next week and until next time. God bless, thank you.
