Keep Yourselves from Idols

“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. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

“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.

“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. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:13-21 ESV)

We don’t always know for certain what the will of God is in any given situation, do we? Now, if we read the Scriptures we can learn what his will is and what it isn’t with regard to the gospel message, and to our salvation, and in regard to the promise and hope of eternal life with God, and with regard to the subject of habitual and deliberate sin against the Lord Jesus. Those things are made clear to us in the Scriptures, but we must read the Scriptures in their appropriate context to learn the truth of the Scriptures, for so many people are teaching Scriptures out of context erroneously.

But we don’t always know God’s specific purpose for our individual lives other than what is stated clearly in the Scriptures, or to know where we are to go or what job to take, i.e. things which are everyday decisions we must make that aren’t addressed to us specifically in the Scriptures other than we are to seek the Lord and his counsel and direction, and we are to walk in his ways and in his truth and in righteousness, and not in sin. So sometimes when we pray for something, we may have to say with Jesus, “Nevertheless not my will but Thine be done.” That is still praying according to God’s will.

But what we can be most certain of is the message of the gospel, for it is stated for us clearly all throughout the New Testament, but we must guard against getting our gospel alone from Scriptures taught out of context, for many false gospel messages come from selected Scriptures taught outside their original context. For, to believe in Jesus is not just professing him as Lord or praying a prayer to receive him into our hearts. Belief in Jesus is persuasion of God to leave our lives of sin behind us and to now follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands in holy living (Luke 9:23-26).

And the Scriptures teach us that the way that we can know that we have eternal life with God is if we are dying to sin daily, by the Spirit, and if we are walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and in walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands, and if we love our fellow humans. For that is faith, to die to sin and to live to righteousness and in obedience to our Lord and no longer in sin and to love our neighbors as ourselves. For Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to his righteousness, in his power, by his grace.

Now, with regard to this next section about sin leading to death, or not leading to death, I will share here my understanding based on all the Scriptures which teach on salvation from sin and on eternal life with God, and on the subject of putting sin to death in our lives and no longer walking in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. For it is the practice of sin that leads to death, and it is the daily dying to sin, by the Spirit, that leads to eternal life. So this all comes down to what we practice, either dying to sin and obeying our Lord, or continuing in sin and disobeying our Lord.

And then the passage here continues by stating that. For everyone who is truly born of God does not keep on sinning, making sin his practice. For Jesus protects us from the evil one. But, we do have examples in the Scriptures of Christians falling back into sin and forsaking the lives God had for them to live, and so we have much counsel given to the churches in the Scriptures instructing the Christians to repent of their sins and to return to following the Lord as they once had. So this is not saying a true Christian will never sin, but when he comes to Christ he doesn’t still practice sin.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

And an idol is not just a statue formed in the hands of human beings. It is anyone or anything that is honored by us and is valued by us and to which we give our undivided loyalties and hearts and minds and passions and commitment to in place of God or above God. And so an idol can be a person or a possession or a talent or intellect or a people group or a philosophy, or habits and practices which are dishonoring and disobedient to the Lord. It is what we are most devoted to, what we talk about most, and that which has our hearts surrendered to do its will in place of us doing the will of God.

Only in Him  

An Original Work / February 19, 2014

Based off Isaiah 30

Woe to those who look to man’s help;

Who turn away from Jesus Christ;

Forming an alliance not in step with God;

Making their own plans, and praying not.

Willing not to listen to truth,

They close their ears to what is right.

Pleasing words are all that they’ll hear;

Feel good messages that bring cheer.

Trust in your Lord; turn from your sin.

Put your faith now ONLY IN HIM.

Do not turn to idols. They’ll not satisfy.

Jesus will save you. That’s why He died.

Your Lord will be gracious to you.

He cares all about you, ‘tis true.

He forgives you all of your sin

When you give your life up to Him.

Oh, how truly gracious He’ll be

When you bow to Him on your knees;

Turning now from your sin; walking in his ways.

He’ll lead and guide you all of your days.

Now you will sing praises to Him.

He delivered you from your sin.

You’ll tell others now of His grace,

So they may see Christ face-to-face. 

https://vimeo.com/87181019