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TranscriptIntroduction
Welcome to our final session in our Biblical Family Devotional through I John. I’m so excited that we have made it this far and that you have spent all of this time with you me and your family better understanding what it is to be a biblical family.
I hope that if you didn’t have a biblical family before—because not everyone in your family was born again—that you have one now. And if everyone in your family were a child of God when we started, I pray your family is a more biblical family than you were. I hope you’ve been growing and changing. Of course, I think we all recognize that practical, daily change is difficult and often slow. But I want to challenge you to not let that get you down. God wants to mature us from one degree of glory to another, and we don’t always know how much of a change there will be from one to the other. Our job is simply to focus on growing. So, it’s with this goal in mind that I remind you that the episode notes, transcript, LifeWork, and related resources are linked for you in the description of this session. Those resources are there to provide you with more tools that will help you grow faster than you otherwise would have grown. It’s so easy to mature in Christ when we have His truth constantly in front of us. But it doesn’t take long for us to forget the Lord and His commands and His grace when we get distracted and enamored by the world around us. I want to challenge you to continue studying the Bible and praying every day, continue going to church, continue in active, personal discipleship, and continue listening to and watching biblical truth. You will be amazed how easy spiritual maturity comes when you’re constantly swimming in the reality of God . . . and how easy it is to slip back into old sin habits when we’re not surrounded by truth. So, let’s dive into some of that truth today as we learn about the confidence our family can have as we strive to live biblically. Topic
I hope you’ve been feeling more and more confident as we’ve gone through this study. I know the sting we talked about two sessions ago can cause us to lose that confidence as we’re reminded about how sinful we are, but then we should be reminded of the Advocate we have in Christ and the shelter we have in the Father and the power we have in the Spirit. As we meditate on those truths and live in light of them, our confidence likely has come roaring back because our confidence is not ultimately in us.
If our confidence were tied to our power or ability or consistency, we would have absolutely nothing about which to be confident. But our confidence is in God, and that’s what we’re going to see today. But before we jump in, I need to share something very important with you. I started this ministry almost 10 years ago, and ever since, I’ve been trying to pour myself into it full-time so that I could worship God by equipping families to better know, love, and serve Him. But most Bible-centered ministry doesn’t pay the way some might think. Since I started this ministry, over half of the time was spent working various other jobs to make ends meet. Now, as we approach our 10th anniversary, we’re asking everyone who’s benefited from our free resources like this podcast to help us become a sustainable ministry. All you have to do is go to TruthLoveParent.com or use the link in the description to learn more about how you can support us financially. We’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit. We only make money as donors give it to us. If we’re going to be able to continue this ministry and ministering to families all over the world, we really need your help. We’re trying to raise $100,000 before September, 2026 in order to have enough money to pay all of our bills. Will you please seriously consider how you can support Truth.Love.Family? It might be only $5 a month, but perhaps your family could donate 10, 20, 50, or even $100 a month to help more families—including yours—be biblical families. Listen, I’ve never been in this for the money. If that were the case, I never would have gone into full-time Christian service. I’m here to worship God by speaking His truth in love. And I’m overjoyed when we can pay our bills in the process. So, please visit TruthLoveParent.com/donate to become a monthly donor or to give a one time gift, and my family and thousands more all over the world thank you for helping us create this Christ-honoring, evergreen content. Alright, let’s begin our time by reading I John 5:13-21, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. 18 We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was begotten of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 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. This is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” There is so much encouraging truth here. Let’s work through it piece by piece. 1. Biblical Families are confident that they have eternal life. I John 5:13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” I mentioned at the outset of this study that I John is the go-to for when a Christian brother or sister finds out that someone else is struggling with the assurance of their salvation. It’s right there in the verse! But it’s not just about reading some uplifting and inspiring content that makes you feel good and distracts you from any doubt that you might have. It’s about a checklist, a rubric, a set of identifiers to which you can look to know if you truly do have eternal life. Of course, the Scriptures are full of such truth. We did a whole series called the Evidence of Spiritual Life from the book of II Peter. That series not only helps you to determine if you or someone you love is truly born again, but it also sets the trajectory of our spiritual maturity. Listen, you’re not perfect. You sin, but if after working through this study you clearly see how God is working in your life to convict and change and empower you to glorify Him, then you can be abundantly confident that you are a child of His. 2. Biblical Families are confident that God hears their requests. I John 5:14-15, “And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” Now, I wish I could spend a lot of time here because I don’t want any of us to be confused on this point. So, listen carefully. God is not promising to simply give us whatever we want. He’s very clear that He will answer our requests as long as they are “according to His will.” That is a very important caveat. Our request needs to be in submission to the desires the Father outlines in His Word. Let’s use one very clear example. Let’s say that someone in your family is still not born again. They’re living in the dark and do not confess Christ. So, you ask the Lord to save that family member because you know that the Bible says in II Peter 2:9 that God is “not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” Does that mean that your unsaved parent or sibling or cousin is definitely going to be saved just because you requested it and I John 5:5 says, “we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him”? If we’re students of the Word, then we also know what Jesus says in Luke 13:34, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” We also know that Matthew 22:14 says that many are called but few are chosen. And Romans 9:15-18 makes it abundantly clear that God is sovereign in this matter. The passages reads, “For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ 16 So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, in order to demonstrate My power in you, and in order that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.’ 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” This is a significant and weighty truth, but I bring it up here not to answer any ancient debates, but to point out that we don’t know God’s will for your unsaved family member. If they come to know Christ, then we can be certain that it was the Father’s pleasure to save them, but if they reject His truth, their salvation was not according to His will. Keep this in mind when you’re praying for things that you think absolutely have to be something good, but the Lord doesn’t answer the request the way you wanted Him to answer it. He knows best. We should strive to conform our requests to His clearly revealed will. Then and only then can we be confident that He hears and will answer in a way that glorifies Him. 3. Biblical Families are confident that they can intervene for their brothers. I John 5:16-17, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.” Now, again, it’s not my intention to grapple with the super-weighty truths in this passage. The question of God’s will and sins leading to death are very important, but they lay outside the scope of this study. John MacArthur provided a short, biblically-faithful answer to this question, and I’ll link it for you in the description. Our consideration for today focuses on the fact that we can be confident that God wants us to interact with and engage our family in discipleship. We talked about the one anothers earlier and saw how they are an important part in the discipleship in which we’re all supposed to engage. We have so many resources about discipleship in the family. We frequently talk about the discipler’s responsibilities to teach, reprove, correct, and train. We have a series called the Discipleship Spiral which focuses on us as the disciples and our part in it. Whether it’s praying for our sinning brothers and sisters in Christ or it’s what we learn in James 5:19-20, “My brothers, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins,” we are confident that God wants us intervening. We know for sure that He wants to use us in the spiritual growth of our families. And that will lead to . . . 4. Biblical Families are confident that they can sin less. I John 5:18, “We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was begotten of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.” Again, I want to remind us that John is communicating here that “no one who has been born of God [repeatedly and unapologetically] sins.” You will sin, but how you respond to that sin is key. Do you run to Jesus your Advocate? Do you confess your sin, ask for forgiveness, and commit to change? If so, then God will use this process to mature you. By His grace, you will find that sins you used to commit are no longer a temptation. Of course, depending on your age and life experiences, you won’t be surprised to hear that there will likely be some temptations that will forever haunt you, but you won’t give in to them as often. John has been calling us into the light of God’s righteousness and holiness. Do you remember I John 1:5-9? “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not do the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We can walk in the light! We can live righteously. We can be confident of this fact. 5. Biblical Families are confident that they belong to God. I know it might have made sense to mention this point earlier, but we’re just working through the passage. I John 5:19, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” Christians can be confident that they do not belong to this World system. The World is floundering in the dark. It’s beliefs and rules and expectations should mean nothing to us. We are of God. That means that we are new creatures who should function differently. We have a different set of expectations, a divine power, new life, and a heavenly city toward which we should be living and moving. This means that we don’t need to worry about the criticism this World levies against us. I’m not saying that unsaved people can’t be used by God to convict us of things. That happens all the time. I love when unsaved kids in your school understand better than you seem to that professing Christians shouldn’t do the kinds of things you do. What I am saying is that their secular criticisms that contradict the Scripture don’t have to impact us and definitely shouldn’t influence us. And we’re confident of this because . . . 6. Biblical Families are confident that Jesus has come, that they can know Him, and that they are in Him. I John 5:20, “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. This is the true God and eternal life.” If you’re still doubting Who and What Jesus is, then I understand your lack of confidence that the Scriptures show us how to live the best way possible. I get why trusting God and wanting to please Him is such a struggle. But those of us indwelt by the Holy Spirit believe with all of our hearts that Jesus is fully man and fully God. He came to this earth to live a perfect life, die a substitutionary death, rise again in defeat of sin and hell, and ascend back to the Father to rule as King. And because of that, we have absolute truth and eternal life. And because of that . . . 7. Biblical Families are confident that they must worship God and reject all other worship. I John 5:21, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” I love how John ends this letter. There is no Pauline goodbye. In fact, some have been confused by the abrupt and—seemingly—disconnected sentiment at the end of the letter. But I believe there could have been no better way to end. This statement sums up John’s whole heart for us—his audience. First, John reminds us that he loves us. His letter is blunt, uncompromising, and could even sound harsh to those who are currently lying to themselves. But all though he has communicated as a fatherly figure by clearly and lovingly guiding us through the necessary steps to knowing for certain whether or not we are children of God and what God would have of His children. Second, the command to guard ourselves from idols is at the very crux of what it means to be a biblical family. All families on this planet are worshipping something because every person on this planet is worshipping something. But there are only two things that we can ultimately worship. There are all sorts of secondary forms of worship, but there are only two primary forms. We will either worship God or worship self. The worship of anything other than the God of the Bible is a form of self-worship. It is the worship of self that leads into the darkness—or keeps us there. It’s the worship of false gods that will damn us to an eternity without the true God. Even though you may be confident that you are a Christian, please understand that all of your sin is a result of self-worship. In order to explain this and help you grow in your understanding of biblical worship, I’ve included links to The Merest Christianity and two messages I’ve preached called “Your Responsibility in Worship.” The sermon links will take you to the Evermind app where you can access the messages for free. I wish we had more time to dig into this, but these introductory remarks will suffice for now until you listen to those other resources. Worship is nothing more or less than showing what we value. If we value God and His commands and His light above all else, we’ll obey Him. But if we value our own way more, we’ll do what we want to do. In that moment of sin, it was worth it to us to disobey God. Our worth was tied up in what was right in our own eyes. That is idol worship. That is self-worship. That is sin. The word “guard” refers to soldiers guarding something precious. John is using one of the strongest words he knew to explain how hard we must fight to avoid worshipping anything other than our Lord. But true biblical families have all the confidence in the universe that they have everything they need to worship God and stop worshipping themselves. The entire letter of I John was written to show us the way. And it’s in this confidence that we know we have eternal life, that God hears our prayers, that we can and must intervene in each others live, because we know we can all sin less, because we’re confident that we belong to God and can know Him and live in Him. But if we’re living in the dark, if we’re pursuing our own worship, if we’re calling God a liar, if we don’t love others as God loves us, if we consistently and unrepentantly sin, then we absolutely should not have any confidence in anything we’ve discussed today. Conclusion
But as we conclude this study, I pray that you do have this confidence. I pray that you are growing in Christ and maturing spiritually. I pray that you are living more in the light than you were when we started.
If you’re not . . . then I plead with you to stop worshipping the puny god of self and instead worship the true God of the universe. The book of I John, the whole of Scripture, this devotional, and the countless resources we’ve shard with you can all help you better understand Who Jesus is, what He’s done for you, how much He loves you, and what you need to do to believe on Him and confess Him and be born again. Now, as we bring this study to a close, I want to remind you of a couple things before we re-read our passage and find out what LifeWork we have. First, this podcast exists to help dads and moms worship God with their parenting. We’ve created so many free resources for you, and we could really use your help to continue creating these God-honoring, Bible-rooted resources. Will you please commit in 2026 to supporting us on a monthly basis? Help us reach our goal of raising $100,000 so that we can continue spreading the Gospel across the globe. Second, now that this study is over, I hope you and your family will join me on our Family United in God family devotional. You can access that devotional on the Evermind App along with those worship sermons I mentioned earlier. Normally that series costs $50, but you can access it today for only $25! Once you purchase it, it will always be yours to revisit in years to come. Now, let’s read our passage for today. Follow along. Pay attention, and try to remember what we studied. I John 5:13-21, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. 18 We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was begotten of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 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. This is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” Alright, so some of you might be wondering why I’m assigning LifeWork this week since we won’t be meeting next week in this study. I’m assigning it for the same reason I have all along. This LifeWork isn’t a creation of my own ideas. They’re not simply my opinions. God wants us reading His Word, praying, assembling with His people, and daily living out the truth of His Word. Therefore . . . 1. Meditate on God’s Word every day. It may not be a whole passage, it may only take a couple minutes, but please spend time at His feet meditating on His truth. The more, the better, but at least spend a little time each day. Just like you need to eat and drink and breath and sleep each day to grow physically, you need to spend time with God each day to grow spiritually. 2. Spend time with God in prayer every day. God speaks to us through His Word, and we speak back with Him through prayer. But don’t just always be asking Him for things. You can praise Him and thank Him and confess your sin and advocate for others and tell Him about your day and confide your trust in Him. Learn to love your time in prayer. 3. Assemble with a Bible-preaching church. We have a series about what a Christ-honoring church looks like. We pray you’re part of one and meet with them regularly to build each other up into Christ. 4. Participate in your discipleship every day. It’s not good enough to read the Bible and pray and meet together with people if we’re not actually going to grow and change and mature. We need to be doers of the Word, not hearers only. There are many people in this world who read and study the Bible and pray and go to church . . . but they’re not truly born again. If you’re uncertain how that could be, I encourage you to listen to our Four Children Series. Those people are Rocky-Hearted People, and they aren’t really spiritually alive and growing. They do what they do as an act of worship to self because they like it. But true Christians are living and growing and changing and submitting Christians. And we should do this LifeWork every day for the rest of our lives. Of course, you can also share this family devotional and any of the other resources we have with your friends and family and church. And you can always email us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at (828) 423-0894 if you need personalized biblical counsel. And—for you moms and dads—I hope you’ll join us next time to learn about all of our biblical parenting topics for Season 35. I’ll see you then!
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