Let us turn again to the chapter
that we read, 1st General Epistle of John, chapter 5, and directing
you now to words that we have here at verse 18. 1 John, chapter 5, verse 18, We
know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, But he that
is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth
him not. We might say that what we have
in this verse forms a twin to that that we were considering
earlier this morning. We were back there in chapter
3 at verse 9. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God." And then we considered something
of the believer's spiritual seed, and it is because of that seed
that is within. He's a partaker of the divine
nature, and it is that new nature that pernevacy, although we spoke
of the conflict with the old nature. But now, here we read
of this person, again the person begotten, born of God, the true
believer, and it says that this man keepeth himself. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself,
it says. What are we to make of such a
statement as that? Well, I want us to think of the
safekeeping of the belief. That's the theme that I really
want to address for a while this evening. But is he really able
to keep himself, or what does it mean when John expresses himself
in such a manner as this? Calvin comments here and says,
believers keep themselves from sin inasmuch as they are kept
by God. That's the comment of the Protestant
Reformer. It's not that they really keep
themselves. They're kept of God, I suppose
we can think of it in terms of the fifth of the five points
of Calvinism. The perseverance of the saints.
Although really it is truly the preservation of the saints. Because
in those familiar, those famous five points We certainly see
the sovereignty of the grace of God that we sang of in our
opening praise tonight. Man himself is totally deprived. What can man do for himself?
He can do nothing. That is the first of those five
doctrines. Man's total depravity and then
those doctrines that follow. remind us of the divine sovereignty,
unconditional election, the sovereign love of God the Father, making
choice of a people, limited atonement, the great work of God the Son,
as He comes to purchase a people for Himself by the shedding of
His precious blood. And in that death, He actually
accomplishes the redemption, the salvation of his people.
He doesn't just make salvation possible, but he procures a sure
and a certain salvation by his dying for a particular people. And then the sovereignty of the
Spirit of God in the fourth of those points, the irresistible
grace of God. And yet when we come to that
last of the points, we speak in terms of the perseverance
of the saints. They do persevere. But why is
it that they persevere? Because again, the sovereignty
of God is there. He preserves his saints. Those
appointed by the Father. Those who were chosen before
the foundation of the world. those who have been redeemed
by God the Son in that great work that he accomplished here
upon the earth in the fullness of the time that work that is
wrought in the soul of the sinner by the Spirit none of that can
be frustrated and so believers are preserved but in their preservation,
oh, they must be a persevering people. And so it is here. Believers
keep themselves because they are kept by God. The language of Peter, remember
there in 1 Peter 1.5, who are kept by the power of God, it
says, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. The safekeeping of believers,
then, is the theme that I want us to consider from these words
this evening. And we see that here it is a
twofold keeping. They are kept from sin, and they
are kept from Satan. We know that is, whoever is born
of God sinneth not. They are kept from sin. But he
that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not. They are kept from all the fearful
assaults of the devil, that great adversary of souls. But first
of all, to see how they are kept from sin. And John writes of this as something
that is known by believers. He is addressing himself to Christians. It's a general epistle. It's
not addressed to any particular church as is the case with many
of Paul's epistles. It's a general epistle. But it
is addressed to the people of God. And he says here, we know, we
know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, a fact well
known by all believers. Now some might say, well here
surely what he is teaching is sinless perfection. Is he really
saying that, that those who are true believers attain a state
where they never ever sin at all. Well we know that that cannot
be the case because that would contradict what has been said
previously. We saw it this morning there
at the end of the opening chapter if we say that we have no sin.
We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. if we say
that we have not sinned, we make him, we make God a liar, and
his word is not in us. If we know anything of God, anything
of the word of God and the truth of that word, we know that we
cannot attain that stage where we're kept altogether from ever
sinning at all. There's no contradiction in the
Word of God. If John has said that previously,
he's not unsaying it here when he comes to the end of the epistle.
Now, remember that in the experience of the believer, the experience
of the people of God, before there is any spiritual life in the soul of a man, there is
no real sense of his sinnership. there must be that new life in
the soul before ever we have any sense of what we really are
by nature we are those who are dead in trespasses and in sins
and that's true of all men and the multitudes they go about
their daily business and they have no idea of what their condition
is before God who made them the God to whom they are ultimately
accountable. There must be spiritual life
before there's that sense of our sinnership. New life from
Him we must receive before for sin we rightly grieve. We sing those words in the hymn.
But it is simply stating there the truth of Scripture. Paul
says, I was alive without the law once. He was alive, you see. He was living his life. The life
of a parison. A most self-righteous man, imagining
that he was blameless, touching the righteousness which is in
the law. I was alive, he says, without the law once. But the
commandment came and sin revived. How he was brought to feel what
he really was. And he was all the the work of
the Spirit of God, it was the application of the law of God.
He goes on to say in that opening chapter of 1st Timothy, knowing
this. It's interesting how he uses
an expression very similar to John. John says we know. Well
there in 1 Timothy 1.8, Paul says knowing this, that the law
is not made for a righteous man. but for the lawless, the disobedient,
the ungodly, and for sinners. That is the ministration of the
law. He says we know that the law is spiritual. This is the
believer, he knows that God's law is a spiritual law. And I
am carnal, he says, sold on the sin. This is what God's people
are brought to understand then with regard to their condition.
Again, the language of Paul, there in Romans 7, I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. And so, we're not for a moment
to imagine that the opening words of our text in any sense teach
or support the notion of sinless perfection. We know that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not but he that is begotten of God keepeth
himself and that wicked one toucheth him not. What sin is it? What sin is it that the believer
is here said to be kept from. It is a particular sins, it is
particular sins we might say that are being spoken of, that
he's being kept from. He's not preserved in a state
of sinless perfection. There's the old nature, yes.
But there are sins that he is kept from. And clearly in the
context we see that this man is kept from the sin unto death.
He's kept from that sin. Look at what he says previously.
We must always of course see every part of scripture in its
context. We have to see it in the immediate
setting, we have to see it in the general setting, the whole
of the Word of God. But look at the immediate context
here. Verse 16, If any man see his brother sin a sin which is
not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for
them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I
do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is
sin, And there is a sin not unto death. We know that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not. Now the context is one in which
clearly he is speaking of this particular sin, the sin unto
death. What is the sin unto death? Well
the scripture speaks of a sin that is unpardonable. It's that
sin against the Holy Ghost. The Lord Jesus himself teaches
that. And we're not to try to explain away the teachings of
the Lord Jesus. In Matthew 12, 31, the blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. That's the words of Christ. That blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost shall never be forgiven. What is it that is being spoken
of? It is that condition where a
man becomes a total apostate, the sin against the Holy Ghost. Those who appear as believers
and yet they are not possessors of the grace of God, their profession
is just an empty profession, a shirt. And we have those very
solemn passages in the epistle to the Hebrews, remember. On
two occasions in that epistle, what does the Apostle say? You're
familiar with the words there in Hebrews chapter 6 and verse
4 following? It is impossible, he says. It
is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted
of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the
world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again
unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son
of God afresh and put into an open shade. Apostles, the sin
against the Holy Ghost and then he says something very similar
later in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 26 if we sin willfully
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses. Of how much sort of punishment
suppose ye? Shall he be thought worthy who
hath trodden on the foot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done despite? unto the Spirit of Christ. They're solemn passages. And
they're not easy passages to understand, to interpret. But
they're there, they're left on record. And why are they there?
Not to terrify us. No, they're there that we might
be those who are careful to look to ourselves, to examine ourselves,
to prove ourselves, to know ourselves. now that Jesus Christ is in us,
except we be reprobate. Oh, there is a sin, you see,
but those who are born of God, they don't sin, they don't commit
that sin, that sin unto death, that blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit, they don't do that. Here you see We see how John
addresses himself to believers. In verse 16, If any man see his
brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and
he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. When
believers sin, there's restoration. God we know will restore us even
from our sorry backslidings. and God for restoring mercies,
where would we be? How often we transgress, how
often we displease God, and yet we can pray for ourselves, we
can pray for one another, for those restoring mercies of God.
But then there are those who are apostates. There are those
who are not brethren, they're false brethren. And John, John
speaks of those Remember the words that we have back in chapter
2, verse 19, They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. Ah, but then the believer, but
ye have an unction from the Holy One. He says, and ye know all
things. All those who are under that awful sin unto death, they
are destitute. They are destitute of God the
Holy Spirit. They know nothing of those strivings
of the Spirit in their own hearts. They know nothing of those experiences
that the Apostle is speaking of there at the end of Romans
chapter 7. We read those words, those familiar
words at the end of Romans 7 from verse 21 following this morning.
Well, those who have committed this sin unto death, they know
nothing of those strivings of the Spirit of God in their hearts.
They know nothing of Him. They are guilty of the blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit. That's the particular sin that
he is speaking of, but then also here. He is speaking, you see,
of those who live a life of continual sinning. We know that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not. Now the tense here is the present
continuous. In other words, those who are
born of God do not keep on sinning. That's what he is saying. Their
life is not a course of sinning. That is true of those who are
the ungodly, those who are in the world. Whatsoever is not
of faith is sin. Everything that they do is sinning
the whole course of their life. But he that is born of God doesn't
live that sort of life. No, he knows those remarkable
strivings of the Spirit of God in his soul. Now we can observe
these two things here with regards to the people of God. And here in
a sense I want to repeat and emphasize some of the things
that I was saying this morning. These people have a spiritual
nature from God. That's why their life is not
a continual source of sinning. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not. Remember the words that we were
looking at earlier. The same truth there in chapter
3 verse 9, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. For
his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God." At the beginning of that verse, as we said this
morning, and again at the end of that verse, we read of the
new birth, regeneration, whosoever is born of God, because he is
born of God. And what is the consequence of
that new birth? He has a new nature. He has a
new nature. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature, he is a new creation. He is a partaker of the divine
nature. That's the language of Peter,
there in the opening chapter of his second epistle. those remarkable words that we
find 2 Peter 1 verse 3 according as his divine power hath given
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that
by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." How
are they partakers of that divine nature? Well, they're those who
are born again. Not of corruptible seed, says
Peter in the first general epistle, and that opening chapter, as
we saw this morning. Born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, the Logos of
God, which liveth and abideth forever. They have that seed
of Christ in them, the divine nature. And that can never sin. That can never sin. Impossible. that new nature, that new creation. It is sinless. But there's still
that old nature. And the Lord says it. Remember
the language of John chapter 3, that which is born of the
flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. And what is that that is born
of the Spirit? That's the new birth. You must be born again. And then our Now Paul brings it out further
when he writes to the Galatians. How the flesh lost it against
the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary
one to the other and ye cannot do the thing that ye would. You
cannot do the thing that ye would. Oh the wretched man how he feels
it. You shall deliver me from the body of this death is the
language of Paul. There in Romans 7, I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. The believer knows what sin is,
but there is that conflict, that conflict within. He has a new
nature, a spiritual nature, that he has received from God. And
God keeps that, that he has put within the soul of his saints.
And then furthermore he has that spiritual union also. Oh there's
a union now, there's an eternal union. He was chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. But that eternal union
has become something living and vital. In a man's experience
it's coming to his soul, it's an experimental thing. He's had
an experience of the grace of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ
is in him again. Remember what he says back in
that third chapter, verse 6, "...whosoever abideth in him
sinneth not." "...whosoever abideth in the Lord Jesus Christ sinneth
not." And the Lord says Himself there in the 15th of John, "...abide
in me, and I in you." As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself
except it abide in the vine, no more can he except he abide
in mine. Oh, there must be that abiding,
that real union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And how the Lord
prays for these, his people. And we come to that 17th of John. Holy Father, he says, keep keep
through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that
they may be one as we are one." Here is the answer, you see,
to the Lord's prayer. He asks the Father that they
might be kept. Kept through the name of God. And so they are kept. We know
that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten
of God keepeth himself. He keepeth himself and that wicked
one toucheth him not. They keep themselves as they
are kept. Kept by the power of God. It
all has to do with that spiritual seed that we spoke of this morning.
There's that new nature, that spiritual nature within, and
now there's a realization of that eternal union. It's an experimental
union. It's brought into the man's soul.
He's one with Christ. All by faith he is looking now
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to Him Christ is all and in all. They're kept. The safekeeping
of the believer kept from sin Sin cannot have dominion over
him. He can never commit that sin
unto death. He will never sin against the
Holy Ghost. Because in him is the work of
God. But then also in the second place
we see that they're kept from Satan. They're kept from Satan,
that great enemy of souls. that one who is the originator
of sin that one who comes there into the Garden of Eden to tempt
Eve and the consequence of that the fall of our first parents
recorded for us so faithfully here in Genesis chapter 3 but
beliefs are kept from that awful foe, that wicked adversary or
think of the devil's attacks. What does it say here? He that
is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth
him not. That wicked one toucheth him
not. He can't touch the people of God. He can't touch but he
can tempt. He can sift. He can buffet the
saints. He can afflict the people of
God. Why he even tempts the Lord Jesus Christ himself. How the
Lord is led of the spirits into the wilderness to be tempted
of Satan. And then he resists all Satan's
temptations and the devil leaves him for a little season, it says
in Matthew. Leaves him for a season, but
he'll come again. And when the Lord comes to the
end of His days here upon the earth, what does He say to His
faithful disciples? Ye are they which have continued
with Me in My temptations. Are they continued with Him always?
Tempted, tempted, tempted, tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without seeing how He can feel for us. Or the devil tempts
you. and the devil sifts how the Lord
speaks to Peter Simon, Simon behold satan hath desired to
have you that he might sift you as wheat but I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen
thy brethren or how Simon Peter was sifted he was put in that
awful sieve the sieve of satan And then all his false vain confidence
was destroyed. He had said that he would never
ever deny his Lord. Though all would forsake him,
never merry. But alas, he denied him three
times. And he denied him with cursing.
How that man fell, how that man sinned. He was in Satan's sea.
And Paul also. Paul knew something of the works
of Satan. Speaks of being buffeted. There
in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, remember He's had a remarkable
experience, so remarkable he speaks in the third person. He
doesn't mention his own name, but it's evidently his own experience. He was caught to the third heaven,
the very heaven of heavens. He saw unspeakable things. And then he says, lest I should
be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations.
There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the
Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me,
My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect
in weakness." Oh, you see how Satan time and again overreaches
himself. He would destroy Simon Peter,
but Simon Peter is restored and is able to minister to his brethren. And here again, how the devil
overreaches himself. Yet, yes, we see Paul being buffeted,
the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, he says, lest I should be
exalted above measure. But the Lord overrules it all.
I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me, and
he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I write a glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. There's Paul's testimony. There's
Paul's testimony. He wants to know more and more
of that grace of God, to be growing in grace and in the knowledge
of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh, he comes, he tempts. He sifts, he buffets, he afflicts,
he resists, he's a terrible adversary. We have him there in the Old
Testament, in the book of the Prophet Zechariah. And the third chapter, he showed
me Joshua. the high priest standing before
the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to
resist, to be his adversary. And the Lord said unto Satan,
The Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuketh thee. Is not this a bran plucked out
of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel. And he answered and spoke
unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with change of raiment. And they said, Let him set a
fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon
his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the
Lord stood by. Oh, the devil's there, but you
see how the devil is altogether outwitted by God and by the grace
of God. Oh, that wicked one, he is the
accuser of the brethren. The accuser of the brethren.
Accusing them day and night before God. How he tempts, and how he
ensnares, how we fall, Oh, we're ashamed. He turns accuserly. We'll shut our mouths. We feel
so ashamed. How can we come and make our
confessions? Oh, he is a subtle foe. He's
an awful adversary. But we're to be those, you know,
who are not ignorant of him. We're not to be ignorant of him,
lest Satan, Paul says, should get an advantage of us, for we
are not ignorant of his devices. He has his devices, his clever ways. How he sets
his heart upon believers, how he will seek to destroy believers.
We have it recorded there in the in the book of Job remember
in those opening chapters where the scene is set when Satan comes
before God with the angels, with the elect angels and God says
to him, hast thou considered my servant Job? and the margin
says what that word literally means hast thou set thy heart
upon my servant Job? you see you can't really destroy
the saints. He can't touch them really, he
can't in any sense destroy that life of God that is in the soul
of the sinner. But how he desires, how he desires,
but how all of his workings are under the sovereignty of God,
that's the mystery. As we see there in Job, when
the Lord says to that wicked one, Behold, he that is Job is
in thy hands, but save his life. We can't destroy his life. He that is begotten of God keepeth
himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. Here are those wicked assaults,
those attacks that come from satan, the adversary of souls
that is a fact but God does provide for his people in the good fight
of faith they are to resist the devil
and so what has God done? He has provided his children
with armor You know the passage there in
Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 following. And why does God provide
this remarkable suit of armor? And we've looked at it on previous
occasions. When it says, put on the whole
armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. That's why God provides it. that
she may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we
wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of darkness, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. He's speaking of all the realm
of those demons and that awful conflict that the believer must
be engaged in if he's going to keep himself. or the armor, God has provided
the armor how is it made use of? well the hymn says of that
armor put on the gospel armor each piece put on by prayer now
we have to be those who would look to God we don't look so
much to what God has provided it's not so much the armor though
it's looking beyond that, he's looking to God himself. And so in that passage in Ephesians
chapter 6, how does he conclude having spoken of all the parts
of that suit of armor? He says, praying, praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and for me that
utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel. For he wants prayer
for himself. It's a great mystery of the gospel.
Now the Lord Jesus is that one who has come and vanquished Satan. He is truly a defeated foe. But all the importance you see
of us praying And we see it again here when
we take account of the context. Back in verse 14, this is the
confidence that we have in Him, that is in God Himself, that
if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions. that
we desired of Him. We must pray. And how are we
to pray? We're to pray in faith. We're to pray in faith, without
faith. It is impossible to please God.
He that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder
of all that diligently seek Him. Oh, we must pray in faith. Faith! overcomes Satan. Faith overcomes
the world. Doesn't he say that? Verse 4, Whatsoever is born of
God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. What of the world? Well look
at the The verse immediately after our text, verse 19, we
know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. The whole world lies in the wicked
one. Well, how do we overcome? We have to look to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the great object of faith.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who has overcome. He has overcome. You remember the language that
we have at the end of Revelation chapter 3? That letter to the church of
the Laodiceans. He says there, to Him that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame
and I am set down with my Father in His throne. He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Oh, this is the one. Do we have
ears to hear? This is the one we have to look
to. The one we must come to by faith if we will know what it
is to experience to enjoy that safekeeping the safekeeping of
believers, the safekeeping of the people of God or that it
might be ours to know these things we know that whosoever is born of God
sinneth not we're kept from sin but he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself Oh, we keep ourselves because of God's safekeeping
of us. And that wicked one, toucheth
him not. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to bless these truths to us. Amen.