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1 John 5: 18 -21, The Final Words
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Feb 19, 2025
Welcome back to our study of the book of first John, today is going to conclude this odyssey that we’ve been on. Last week, we talked about the sin that leads to perdition, John calls it the sin that leads to death. We looked at the nature and characteristics of a person who might be on the verge of drifting away from God unto eternal death. We looked at several examples in Scripture of people who were doomed to destruction; we mentioned the two sons of Eli and we also mentioned the Pharisees who were so seared in their conscience that they attributed the works of Jesus to the devil. And John was sharing those words to keep his congregation from casting their pearls before pigs. He was really inviting them to be discerning in their interaction with people inside and outside the church. Today we’ll look at verses 18-21, in which John basically gives a quick recap of what he has been talking to his congregation about.
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hello good morning and this is tayeeb at
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tives.com
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welcome back to our study of the book of
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first john
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today we are going to conclude this uh
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odyssey because we've been on this
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journey since february so if you've been
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watching this
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entire series i started up in february
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and i i gotta tell you like
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there's nothing like studying an entire
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book because
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oftentimes when you want to study
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scriptures and you just take one verse
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in a passage and you look at it you
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don't really get like the full picture
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of it
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it's better to actually study the entire
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book because the more you study the book
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the more you understand what the author
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is trying to communicate
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and we all we all know that the author
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of the scriptures is the holy spirit
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himself
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so it is better for us to actually read
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an entire book so that we can piece it
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together we can understand it because
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god
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wants us to truly divide the word of god
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correctly so as a student of the world
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we
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have to really be invested in
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understanding these truths and
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and we have to be willing to spend the
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time it's going to cost you a lot of
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time
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but it's well worth it because when you
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think about it
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the scripture says that we shall invest
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ourselves
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in understanding the kingdom of god
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because jesus said
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in matthew chapter 6 seek ye first the
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kingdom of god and his righteousness
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and everything else will be given to you
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and you also talked about i don't know
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if you recall
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the story of miriam martha okay mary
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was sitting at jesus's feet and she was
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listening to the word of god
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while her sister was just busy doing
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everything else
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there was nothing wrong with she with
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what she was doing but at the same time
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jesus told mary and martha he told marta
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mary chose the best you chose to be
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in the kitchen and you chose to do this
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because i believe in that account
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martha may maybe she didn't have to like
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work because they were pretty wealthy
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so i don't know why jesus said that but
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i'm just trying to speculate at this
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moment so i just wanted to give you that
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to tell you that it is important for us
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as
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um believers to understand uh
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the word of god correctly okay so today
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we're gonna finish on this book
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last week we talked about the sin that
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leads to death
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and uh john calls it the sin that leads
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to death and we talked about
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how this refer this might refer to on
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the blasphemy of the holy spirit
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and that leads to eternal perdition okay
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we looked at the nature
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and uh the characteristics of a person
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who might be on the verge of drifting
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drifting away from god okay we looked at
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several examples in scripture
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of people who were doomed on to
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destruction we talked about
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the two sons of eli huffny and phineas
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and we also mentioned on the pharisees
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we were so seared in their conscience
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that they attributed
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the works of jesus to the devil so and
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john was sharing those words to keep his
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congregation
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from casting their pearls before pigs
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and we defined
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what that meant basically saying that we
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have to be discerning in the way
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we share the gospel we don't just go
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around and talk to everybody
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we have to ask god whom do you want us
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to talk to
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now john was facing some serious
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pernicious errors in his time
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and it was the the threat the the threat
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of the the heretics
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and in this case it was most likely the
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gnostic teachers so he had to really set
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uh his church straight he wanted them to
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really know listen
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don't mingle with these people because
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they are pretty much going to poison
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your mind
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and they have not been willing to listen
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so john said
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stay away from these people because they
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are doomed to
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destruction okay so today we are going
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to conclude uh
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this wonderful book and in this last
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portion from verse 18 to 21 john is
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basically giving a quick
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recap of what he's been talking to his
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congregation about
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since the beginning of on this um
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wonderful book so
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we are going to go now and read first
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john 5
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verse 18 to 21 and you can see you're
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gonna see it on my screen
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in just a second i'm gonna put it up for
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you now so this is what the scripture
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says here
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i'm going to go to the esv here let me
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go to the esv
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and get that for you guys all right
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so first john 5 verse 18 to 21.
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this is what john is saying we know that
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everyone who has been born of god does
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not keep on sinning
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but he who was born of god protects him
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and the evil one does not touch him we
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also know that we are from god
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and the whole world lies in the power of
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the evil one
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and we know that the son of god has come
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and has given us understanding
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so that we may know him who is true and
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we
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are in him who is true in his son
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jesus christ he is a true god and
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eternal life
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little children keep yourselves from
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idols
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okay so we're now going gonna go and and
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see what john is telling us here
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so the first uh verses we're going to
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look at is verse 18.
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john says again i'm going to repeat it
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we know that everyone who has been born
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of god
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does not keep on sinning but he who was
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born of god
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protects him and the evil one does not
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touch him so john is pretty much giving
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us his setup
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we know as if to say now that i've given
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you a full
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exposition of who jesus is and what a
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true son or daughter of god
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looks like let me summarize what i've
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said to you so this is what john is
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saying i'm gonna give you a summary
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of everything that i've told you when i
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started
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this letter so you know it once and for
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all
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so john is certainly aware of the weight
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of his words
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okay so he provides his listeners with
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practical ways
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and to remain steady in their faith so
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this is john's main purpose
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so he previously said that a person born
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of the spirit of god
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does not make a practice of sinning
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so he's reiterating in verse 18 what he
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said
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in first john 3 chapter 1 john chapter 3
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verse 6 which we're going to go to in a
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second
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i'm going to read that to you first john
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chapter 3 verse 6 listen to what john is
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saying here
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no one who lives in him keeps on sinning
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no one who continues to sin has either
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seen him
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or known him so dear children do not let
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anyone lead you astray
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the one who does what is right is
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righteous just as he is righteous
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and the one who does what is sinful is
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of the devil because the devil has been
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sinning from the beginning
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you see so john is pretty much saying
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listen i've already taught you this but
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now
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i'm doing a recap so i'm going to tell
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you again what i told you in
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in in chapter three verse six now again
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when john was writing this letter
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he didn't have like chapter they weren't
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subdivided like that he was just telling
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them
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i've already told you that in my letter
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in portions of it so i'm gonna remind
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you
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because i'm closing this letter now so
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first thing john says is
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we know that everyone who has been born
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of god does not keep on sinning
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and john is saying i've taught you that
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and he said i've also taught you that
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um he was born of god protects him
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and the evil one does not touch him so
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now let me pause for a second
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we need to know uh the person that john
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is talking about he said but he
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who was born of god protects him who's
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that person that was born of god
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okay we need to understand what that
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person is so
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the person born of god that john is
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referring to here is pretty much
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jesus and let me pause for a second
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because the born of god
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means that uh the one was born of god is
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of the same
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essence as god okay that's this is why
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john says that he used that terminology
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remember
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he was fighting against uh the gnostic
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teachers who pretty much say that jesus
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was also a created
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being so john is saying listen the one
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was born of god
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protects him when john uses the
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appellation born of god he's saying that
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the one who's born of god is of the same
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essence as god
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and we're going to see that in john 1 1.
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listen let's go back to john 1
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1. in the prologue john 1 1
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let me show you that in just a minute
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we have to really look at that john 1 1.
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listen to what john says here
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it's important for us to see that in the
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beginning was the word and the word was
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with god
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and the word was god he was in the
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beginning with god
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all things were made through him and
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without him was nothing was not anything
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made
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that was made okay so john is saying
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that
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and if you go to colossians 1 verse 15
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uh to 18 listen to the scripture the son
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is the image of the invisible god the
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first
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born over all creation for in him all
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things were created
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things in heaven and on earth visible
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and invisible
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whether thrones or powers or rulers or
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authorities
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all things have been created through him
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and for him basically
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john is separating the one born of god
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from the creation itself
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john is saying the one born of god is of
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the same substance
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it's called some consumption and then
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called eternal
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and and co-equal with the father and the
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scripture clearly tells us in
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in colossians 1 verse 15 to 18 and in
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john 1
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1. so john is making that distinction
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that he's saying you guys
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the one born of god protects him because
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when we are born of god we that have
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been adopted we are
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the scriptures say that we have been
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born of the spirit of god so we are not
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just like jesus
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in the sense that we are not essential
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we we are not
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cold essential with the father we don't
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have we we are not of the same essence
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as the father we have been adopted into
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the family
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but jesus is born of god he was begotten
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of the father
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not made but begotten so john is saying
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that we who have been born of god
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being adopted into his family we don't
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keep on sinning because jesus
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protects us okay and the evil one does
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not touch us and he cannot touch us now
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let me make some something clear here uh
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because jesus oversees us and
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he shields us from the evil one it
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doesn't mean that we are not going to
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suffer
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i want to make that clear this does not
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john is not suggesting just that
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he's not saying to us that just because
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jesus protects us we are not going to
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suffer that's not what john is saying
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because if you know
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uh the history of the church you know
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that church folks
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have been suffering ever since jesus
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ascended into heaven we've been
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always persecuted okay so john is not
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saying that you are not going to be
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persecuted
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because you're going to be shielded from
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from the evil one in that way what he's
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saying is this
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once you are saved you are always going
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to be saved
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once jesus have you as his son and as
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his brother
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you are always going to remain saved
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because no one can pluck you
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out of the hand of jesus the good
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shepherd and i'm going to go to john
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10 verse 27 to 29 to show you that this
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is what john is referring to when he
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says that
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when the one born of god protects him
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and protects
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us so if you go to john 10 verse 27 to
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29 let's listen to the scripture
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my sheep listen to my voice i know
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them and they follow me i give them
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eternal life
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and they shall never perish no one
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will snatch them out of my hand my
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father who has given them to me
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is greater than all so no one can
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snatch them out of my father's hand i
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and the father are one
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once again jesus is talking about how he
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is co uh eternal with the father he's of
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the same substance and no one can take
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us
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out of his hand this is what john is
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saying when he's saying that
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the one born of god protects him and the
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evil one does not touch us because the
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evil one cannot
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take us once jesus has us he cannot take
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us out of his hand
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we may suffer still but we are not going
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to lose our salvation
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he is going to protect our soul remember
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what jesus said somewhere
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he said don't be afraid of the one that
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can kill the body but there's no there's
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no harm to the soul
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because we can be dead we can be killed
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we can suffer
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but the evil one cannot take our soul
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anymore because we belong to jesus so he
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shields us
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okay in that way this is what john is
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referring to here
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now we are going to go to verse 19 and
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20. so
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listen to what john is saying we also
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know that we are from god
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and the whole world lies in the power of
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the evil one
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so this is another thing that john is
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teaching us he's saying
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we've also learned that we will believe
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in jesus
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the one that john preaches are the true
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sons and daughters of god
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so this is what john is saying verse 19
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we also know that we are from god
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okay because the spirit of god dwells in
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us and he
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he alluded to that in first john chapter
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4 verse 1 to 5
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and verse 13 so he's saying i've already
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told you in my letter but i'm going to
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remind you again
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okay so we are going to go to that
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chapter and look at it
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so first john four verse one to five
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let's listen
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dear friends do not believe every spirit
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but
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test the spirits to see whether they are
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from god
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because many false prophets have gone
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out into the world
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this is how you can recognize the spirit
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of god every spirit
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that acknowledges that jesus christ has
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come in the flesh is from god
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by every spirit that does not
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acknowledge jesus is not from god
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this is the spirit of the antichrist
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which you have heard is coming and even
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now isn't already in the world
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and he says in in verse 4 you dear
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children are from god
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and have overcome them because the one
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who's in you
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is greater than the one who is in the
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world okay and they are from the world
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and they therefore
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they speak from the viewpoint of the
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world and the world listens to them
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we are from god and whoever knows god
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listens to us
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okay so you see what john is saying he
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says in in verse 13
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this is how we know that we live in him
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and he in us he has given us
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of his spirit so again john is saying
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those words this is why he's saying
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in in verse 19 we know that we are from
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god because of the reasons that i just
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gave you
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but those who are in the world they lie
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under the power of the evil one so
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basically john is saying
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those that do not have the spirit of god
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those that are led by the spirit of the
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antichrist
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they are of the world and they live
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according to the sinful nature
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okay they are under the control of satan
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he talks about that in first john 2
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verse 15 to 16 and we're going to look
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at it
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first john 2 verse 15 to 16 listen to
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the scripture
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excuse me do not love the world or
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anything
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in the world if anyone loves the world
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the love of the father is not in them
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for everything in the world the lust of
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the flesh the lust of the eyes and the
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pride of life
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comes not from the father but from the
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world
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the world and his desires pass away but
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whoever does the will of god
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lives forever so john is saying in verse
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19 that the whole world okay those that
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are not saved
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those that are not endured with the holy
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spirit they are
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under the power of the evil one and you
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see that every day
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now in verse 20 john says we know that
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the son of god has come and has given us
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understanding
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so that we may know him who is true and
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we are in him who is true
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in his son jesus christ so john is
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saying we've also learned that jesus has
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come to be the
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light for us in order that we might know
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god
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this is why jesus came he came to be the
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light for us he came to die for our sins
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and to give us
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life because we've been separated from
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god as a result of the sin
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of adam and eve so ever since then
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we are born with this propensity to hate
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god we don't want to keep the knowledge
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of god in our minds we hate
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thinking about god we it's absolutely
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repugnant to our minds we don't want
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that but jesus came to restore that
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fellowship
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so he came and as he died on the cross
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and he rose again from the dead
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he not only paid a penalty for our sins
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but now he has again restored
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that fellowship now we can love god
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again in our minds now we have the
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desire to know god
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it doesn't mean that we are completely
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uh set free from the sinful nature
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we are still battling but for the first
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time now we have the desire
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to love god we have the desire to know
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him
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and this is what jesus has come to do
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okay john is saying jesus is the true
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light
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and john mentioned that in chapter one
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so let's go to chapter one again
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and just read some of the things that
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john said listen to what john says in uh
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in chapter one
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uh offer john let me go to that in a
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minute
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i'll have it for you this is the message
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we've heard
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from him and declared to you god is
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light
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in him there is no darkness at all so
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jesus came
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and he came to give him understanding if
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you go to verse one
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through four let's let's read that that
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which for us was from the beginning
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which we have heard which we have seen
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with our eyes
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which we have looked at and our hands
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have touched this we proclaim concerning
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the word of life
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the life appeared we have seen it and
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testified to it and we proclaim to you
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the eternal life which was with the
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father
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and has appeared to us we proclaim to
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you
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what we've seen and heard from him as
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well so that you also may have
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fellowship with us
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and our fellowship is with the father
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and with his son
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jesus christ we write this to make our
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joy complete so john is reminding his
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readers about
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everything that he's been saying since
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the beginning okay
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so john is saying that we we've also
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learned that we live in god
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and in his son jesus okay this is in
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chapter one
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because our fellowship is with the
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father and his son so john is reminding
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that
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us that we are the true one that live in
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god because we live in him who is true
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okay we have our source in jesus himself
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and jesus and his father are one and
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john is saying he is the true god and
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eternal life
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okay there are many false gods there are
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many created god
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but john is saying i'm saying all this
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thing to you to show you and to prove to
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you that
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the one we are put our trust in is
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legitimate and he
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always is going to be the one to lead us
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into life
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because he came from god and he is one
18:30
with the father
18:31
and he told us about god and we've seen
18:33
it and we've testified to it
18:34
and he is indeed the way the truth and
18:38
the life
18:38
and no one comes to god except through
18:41
him because he came from god so he knows
18:44
god
18:45
okay so john is telling us and he's
18:47
saying that now the holy spirit lives in
18:49
us and because the holy spirit lives in
18:51
us he has given us understanding and we
18:53
want to know god
18:54
we want to live in god and you can see
18:56
it in the way we live our life
18:58
so our behavior and the way we live our
19:01
life is a reflection of
19:02
our union with god the father and god
19:05
the son
19:06
through his spirit okay and then the
19:08
last thing that john says in this
19:10
chapter
19:11
is pretty interesting listen to what he
19:12
says the last thing in verse 21
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little children keep yourselves from
19:17
idols
19:19
because there are so many idols that we
19:21
can get caught up
19:22
with okay we live in a world that
19:24
everything is pulling
19:26
us away from from uh
19:29
really being consumed with the things of
19:31
god there's so many
19:32
things that and so many things are good
19:34
things sometimes it could be children
19:35
it could be our wives it could be our
19:37
husbands it could be our work
19:39
even ministry ministry can become
19:42
idolatrous in a sense that
19:43
you love your ministry so much that you
19:45
spend so much time in the ministry
19:47
instead of spending time
19:48
knowing uh your god okay so
19:52
there's so many idols and and we have to
19:54
always depend on the holy spirit
19:56
because he's the spirit of life and he's
19:58
the spirit of truth and god said
20:00
and through jesus that he will guide us
20:02
into all the truth so we have to always
20:05
remember to be humble it's easy for us
20:08
to drift away try
20:10
try to you know when when you you think
20:12
sometimes god is working in your life
20:14
and you begin to think hey listen i've
20:16
reached this level of spirituality
20:18
and the next thing you know something
20:19
happened and you completely realize how
20:21
weak
20:22
you are and it happened to me yesterday
20:24
my printer wasn't working
20:25
okay on saturday my printer wasn't
20:27
working and for two hours
20:30
for two hours i was trying to get this
20:31
to work and i couldn't get it to work
20:34
and uh i pretty much gave up on it and
20:37
i said you know what i'm gonna get back
20:39
to no monday when i'm fresh and my mind
20:40
is clear
20:41
so monday i went and purchased this and
20:43
purchased um
20:45
more color ink cartridges basically the
20:48
reason why the printer wasn't working is
20:50
because
20:50
i still had the black ink which i use
20:53
all the time but the color one of the
20:55
colored inks
20:56
uh ran out the cayenne so i felt like
20:59
i don't have to buy the colored ink if i
21:01
want to print but because i bought
21:03
the the printer that i bought was pretty
21:06
cheap
21:06
you know they set it up in such a way
21:08
that when you run out of any ink you
21:10
have to get
21:11
uh you have to get it or the printer
21:13
won't work so i got pretty frustrated on
21:15
saturday
21:16
so so on monday i'm like okay now i'm
21:19
back to where i need to be let me go
21:21
and buy this ink and i come back and
21:23
i'll i'll try to get this to work
21:25
so i come back and then i put it in the
21:27
new ink
21:28
and the printer still won't print it
21:30
prints pretty weirdly like it's giving
21:32
me like blank pages
21:33
like i'll show you on the screen it's
21:35
giving me like blank pages i can't see
21:37
what's going on
21:38
so i did again i spent like almost an
21:40
hour and half two hours doing this and i
21:41
couldn't figure it out
21:42
i was so mad that i took my face and i
21:45
smashed
21:45
the printer picked it up slammed it and
21:48
and this is me
21:49
sitting here trying to tell you about
21:51
the word of god but i displayed and i
21:52
exhibited
21:53
such vile uh behavior i i've never been
21:57
i've not been
21:58
this angry in the longest time so i
21:59
thought pretty much okay
22:01
you know what i don't let things get to
22:02
me anymore but a simple printer
22:05
exposed my heart he exposed
22:08
uh how colors i can become and and that
22:12
scared me
22:12
in a sense that remain humble okay just
22:15
because you think you've you've
22:17
you know you you've learned and god has
22:19
taught you a lot of things you think you
22:21
you know something you don't you can
22:23
easily fall just like that
22:24
in a split second just a simple print
22:26
that caused me to be so angry that i had
22:28
to smash it
22:29
so i'm i'm saying this to say that
22:31
remain humble
22:33
and and the way god keeps us humble he
22:35
allows
22:36
um thorns in our life remember what he
22:38
said to paul
22:40
uh paul said that there was a thorn in
22:42
his flesh that kept on bugging him and
22:44
he went to god and asked god to take it
22:45
away
22:46
and god said no my grace is sufficient
22:48
for you for my power
22:50
is made perfect in your weakness so this
22:53
is the things that i we have to do we
22:54
have to remain humble now god is going
22:56
to keep us humble
22:57
he he knows how to do that okay so i
23:00
hope you've enjoyed the
23:01
this odyssey in the book of first john
23:03
have a wonderful day
23:04
and now i'm gonna try and think about
23:07
what is to to to read okay have a
23:09
wonderful day i'll see you next time
23:10
thank you