Real Christians & Deep Fakes - Part 1

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It was in 2018, it's hard to believe just five years ago, that a new word appeared in the English language for the first time. That word is ‘deepfake.’ Merriam Webster defines it as ‘an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.’ I think you understand that it's becoming a much greater problem because deepfakes are increasingly created by artificial intelligence. But deepfakes are not new. The truth is, they existed long before AI and they've been in the church since the first century. The Apostle John was very concerned when he wrote his first letter about deepfakes in the churches that he shepherded.

What are deepfakes in the churches? They are professing Christians who have embraced either a false form of the Christian faith, they believed in a false Jesus or a false gospel; or there are those who have made a false profession of the true Christian faith; they're not really Jesus’ disciples at all. This is still a profound problem in today's larger Christian church, and as John closes his letter, he provides some helpful insights to us regarding real Christians and the deepfakes that are in the Christian Church. This morning, we're going to learn specifically how to respond to the false Christians in your life and how it is that we should pray for them.

So today, we come to the last section of John's letter, and it is to the test of “Obedience to Christ and His Word.” This third test, in the third movement, is from chapter 5, verse 16, down through verse 21. Let's read it together, 1 John 5, beginning in verse 16 through the end of this epistle:

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life 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. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that 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. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

There are two basic ways to interpret this last section, these last few verses of 1 John. Some people see these verses as a kind of epilogue with just a series of almost unrelated staccato commands or insights. That's one way to see it, an epilogue. The second is as an integral part of the three tests, focusing for a third time on the test of sin and obedience. I think the second option is right for two reasons. First of all, because in this third movement of the letter, so far, he's only addressed the first two tests; we know there are three tests, he's addressed all three of them in the other two movements; he hasn't yet addressed the third test in this third movement.

A second reason that it just makes sense these last verses are related to the test is you'll notice that in this brief paragraph I just read, the word ‘sin’ occurs eight times. He's focusing on sin and obedience for a third time as a test of eternal life. In the previous two tests related to sin and obedience, John focused primarily on the second half of the Ten Commandments, those Commands dealing with our love for others, our relationship with others. But the thrust of the test of obedience here, in these verses, really concerns how a person responds to the first half of the Ten Commandments, especially the first two. You remember the first command in Exodus chapter 20, verse 3 is, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Look at verse 20 of our text, “…the Son of God has come, and…given us understanding so that we may know Him Who is true,” that is the true God as opposed to the false gods. And the second commandment, you remember in Exodus 20, verse 4 is, “You shall not make for yourself an idol,” and verse 21 of our text says, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

So here is John's point in verses 16 to 21, if I summarize this paragraph that seems, at first glance, to have unrelated passages in it, I think they are connected by this: “All false forms and false professions of the Christian faith are idolatry that originate with Satan and lead to eternal death. The truth that brings eternal life was revealed solely through God's Son Jesus Christ.” That's the point of this paragraph. And this closing paragraph is really going to give us a couple of key insights into real Christianity as well as the deepfakes that have been created by Satan.

The first insight and the one we come to this morning is summarized in this way. It concerns “Praying for Those in False Forms of the Faith or with False Professions of the True Faith.” That, I believe, is the message of verses 16 and 17. Now look at these, let me just admit to you, this is a very difficult passage, one of the most difficult in the New Testament, but let's see if we can take it apart and understand it.

First of all, notice the key phrases in these verses, in verse 16, two times he says, “a sin not leading to death.” He says the same thing one time in verse 17. And we're called to pray for this person, “he shall ask God.” The second important phrase is also found in verse 16, “a sin leading to death.” That's just mentioned one time, and with this person, John says, “I do not say that he should make request for this.”

So, what are these? What's aa what's the way to understand a sin “not leading to death” and “a sin leading to death?” Well, let me start by admitting to you that there are two extremely common, I would say, equally embraced interpretations of this passage. On the one hand, some say we're talking primarily here about praying for true Christians, and others who say, “No, we're talking about praying for false Christians.” And Bible scholars are divided.

By the way, let me just define false Christians in case you're not familiar with that term. It means ‘someone who professes to know Jesus who says, “I know Jesus, I believe the gospel,” but who isn't a true Christian, either because they he or she believed a false Jesus and a false gospel, or they he or she really haven't hasn’t believed they haven't believed in the true Jesus; they haven't it's a false profession. So, that's a false Christian.

Bible scholars are divided about which of these two interpretations are meant here, John could have meant either, in fairness, and both are taught elsewhere in Scripture. Honestly, let me just admit to you, it's a very hard decision; I have struggled with this for weeks. So, this morning, here's what we're gonna going to do. I'm going to explain both of the two common interpretations to you and show you what both of them mean or would mean in this context. And then, as you can tell from my outline, I lean toward this prayer being for a false believer. So, at the end, I'll explain why I've come to that conclusion. But let's look at both of these two common interpretations of this passage a little closer.

The first view is that our Lord is commanding us here to “Pray for the restoration of a true believer who is living in sin,” the restoration of a true believer who is living in sin. So, let's just unfold it as we go through. First of all, what is “The Argument for this view?” Well, there's only one primary argument for this view, and that is, “Look, Tom, it's clearly implied in the words ‘his brother.’” Since throughout this letter, John uses the word ‘brother’ to refer to genuine Christians, this prayer must be for fellow Christians. So, if that's true, then what are “The Circumstances” that we're talking about in the case of this view? Well, if you look back at verses 14 and 15, John just reminded us of the access we have before God in prayer because of the assurance that we have a faith in Christ. And now he gives us a specific illustration of prayer, a prayer of intercession as well as a limitation on prayer. He's already addressed throughout this letter the danger of ongoing patterns of sin in the life of a professing Christian. So, he writes in verse 16, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death.” Let's take that apart.

First of all, “If anyone sees,” that is, if any Christian witnesses, by the way, this implies that this person is in your life, it's not somebody on the other side of the globe that you have no relationship with. “If anyone (a Christian) witnesses a sin or knows about a sin, through reasonable evidence, in the life of his brother or sister.” (Paraphrase.) But the question is, “What kind of sin? Look at that phrase, “a sin not leading to death.” Now, to understand what this sin is, we first have to step back and consider the biblical framework. Unrepentant sin in the life of a believer can lead to divine discipline; that's clear whether it's Hebrews 12, other places. We invite the discipline the Lord in our lives when we live in unrepentant sin. And that discipline can include physical illness and even physical death. Of course, the most graphic example of that is in Acts, chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, where Ananias and Sapphira lie about what they're giving to the to the Lord through His church and to the needs of their fellow believers. And Peter pronounces God's judgment on them, and they both fall down dead in the space of a very short period of time. But this is true in other passages as well. Turn back to 1 Corinthians, First Corinthians and look at chapter 11 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 27:

Therefore whoever eats the bread (Talking about the Lord's Table; whoever eats the bread.) or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, he shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For He who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body (of the Lord) rightly. For this reason (Because people didn't examine themselves and took of the Lord's Table in a in an unworthy way. For this reason.) many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.

That is, there were believers in Corinth that God disciplined them to the point of taking their lives in physical death because of their sin. The Lord takes sin, unrepentant sin, ongoing, unrepentant sin in the life of believers, very seriously. This view says that “the sin not leading to death” then is all unrepentant sins or patterns of sin in the lives of true believers, and if they don't repent, then they may very well experience God's severe chastening that could include physical death. So, before that happens, this view says, “Pray for them.” If there's a professing Christian in your life who is continuing in an ongoing, unrepentant pattern of sin, then that's the circumstance that this passage is talking about according to this verse interpretation.

So, in that case, what's the command? Verse 16, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask,” that is, he shall ask God or he shall pray. Pray for what? Pray for the sinning brother or sister’s repentance and restoration. In the words of Psalm 23:3, “Pray that God will restore their souls.” (Paraphrase.) So, here's the point. When you see or know that your Christian brother or sister is sinning in an ongoing, unrepentant way, you ought to pray for them. You ought to pray that that God would grant them repentance and restoration.

I want you to think right now, “Is there someone in your life like that?” You need to pray for them. I often find myself praying that God will do whatever it takes in the life of a sinning Christian to bring true repentance. I always pray “Lord, be as gracious as possible. Don't do anything more than necessary, but do whatever's necessary to bring them to repentance.”

But we shouldn't just pray for a sinning brother; we may very well need to act, we may need to practice what's laid out in Matthew 18, where if your brother sins Jesus says, “Go to him in private, and and show him his sin, confront him.” (Paraphrase.) Find out if your understanding of what's happened is true; if it is, confront him and plead with him to come to repentance. If that doesn't happen, then the Lord goes on to say, “You take two or three witnesses with you, not of the original offense, but who will witness the confrontation and and you go and you you urge them to repent.” (Paraphrase). If they still don't repent, then you bring it to the elders and the elders, Christ says, or to “tell it to the church.” Not to humiliate or shame them, but rather to urge where the whole church can urge them to repent. And if they still won't repent, then Jesus says, “Put them out of the church–treat them as an unbeliever.” (Paraphrase). So it may it may very well mean that you not only need to pray for your Christian brother or sister, but you may need to go to them privately, as the Lord commands. And if we do that, when we pray for them, when we practice church discipline in Matthew 18, we should do so with the attitudes demanded in Galatians, chapter 6 verse 1, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one (Listen to this.) in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted,.” In other words, with gentleness and humility. Pray, that's “The Command.”

And that command is followed by “An Answer” in verse 16, “…and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death.” By the way, that doesn't mean that a true believer never had eternal life, or that a true believer can lose eternal life. It means God will strengthen and restore the life that that believer already has, but that sin has weakened and threatened.

But that brings us to “The Exception,” the end of verse 16, the exception. He says, “There is a sin not leading to death,” pray for him, but “…There is “a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.” Now, what this doesn't mean is the sin that leads to death is a mortal sin. There's no evidence in the New Testament that supports the Roman Catholic idea of mortal sins, Seven Deadly Sins, or Venial Sins. Others say, “No, this is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit that Jesus talks about in in Mark 3, verses 28 to 30. I don't think so because when you look at that sin, “the unpardonable sin,” if you will, that sin is a deliberate rejection of undeniable evidence, and then attributing what you know to be the work of God to the work of Satan. You don't accidentally blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And honestly, I don't believe it can even be committed today. I think it was only possible when Jesus walked the earth, that was completely undeniable. If you're curious, you can go back and listen to the message I did on Mark 3. But regardless, that's clearly not what's intended here.

Now, those who teach this view are divided about the nature of the sin that leads to death. Some say that John means don't pray for a true believer living in a pattern of sin that may lead to physical death. In other words, it's a serious sin, it's an ongoing pattern, and you very well think that God may have to discipline this person by bringing them even to physical death. So, in this case, the sin that leads to death includes all unrepentant sins or patterns of sins in the lives of believers that may bring physical death as the ultimate divine discipline. In that case, John says I'm not commanding you to pray for that Christian. John MacArthur, who takes his view, writes this:

Such a sin could be any premeditated and unconfessed sin that causes the Lord to determine to end the believer’s life. Failure to repent of and forsake sin may eventually lead to physical death as a judgment of God. No intercessory prayer will be effective for those who have committed such deliberate high-handed sin.

In other words, God's discipline with physical death is inevitable in such cases as He seeks to preserve the purity of His church. In those cases, “Don't pray.” That's one view those who hold this take.

Others argue that John the Apostle means this, “Don't pray for a false believer or a false teacher who has abandoned the genu the genuine faith. In this case, the sin that leads to death is the false teacher or the false Christian’s abandonment of the biblical Jesus and the biblical gospel. They would point to passages like Hebrews, chapter 6:6, where it says if they “…have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance.” Or Hebrews 10:26, “…if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth,” then there is no hope for us.

Now both of those passages describe those who, after knowing the truth, the real biblical truth, knowing it, knowing it well, professing it, then defiantly walk away from that truth and as in a sustained way, have abandoned the truth. And John is saying, they would say, “We don't need to pray for those who have defiantly abandoned the biblical Jesus and the biblical gospel.

John finishes then, in verse 17, with a reminder. He says, “All unrighteousness (The word ‘unrighteousness’ means ‘a failure to measure up to the divine standard of what is right,’ all unrighteousness.) is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.” This is a reminder on John's part; the reason he throws this in is to say, “Listen, while it's true that there are sins that don't lead to physical death, I'm not minimizing sin, all sin is still serious and not to be trifled with.” So, there's the first common interpretation. And let me just say that even if that's not what John means here, it's clearly our biblical responsibility because we've seen in other passages this is what we're supposed to do. So, pray then, pray for those who have gotten caught in sin, true believers, who are living in a pattern of sin, that God will restore them.

But now, let's consider the second common interpretation of this passage. This view says John means that we should “Pray for the salvation of a false believer living in deception,” we should pray for the salvation of a false believer living in deception. What are “The Arguments” for this view? Well, first, although John does often use the word brother for genuine Christians, he also uses it for false Christians, for those who claim to be brothers, but in fact, are not. You can see it in chapter 3, verse 17, other places. So, don't be tripped up by the word ‘brother;’ John does occasionally use that word for false brothers.

Also notice that God responds to the prayer for this person by giving them what? By giving them “life.” The Greek word is ‘zōē;’ it's the normal word for ‘eternal life.’ It's how John consistently uses this word ‘life.’ That implies that the one committing the sin doesn't have life. But that wouldn't be true of the true Christian because the true Christian has already passed from death to life, chapter 3, verse 14.

A third argument for this view is just looking at the overall theme of this paragraph. The rest of this paragraph, as we'll see in the coming weeks, isn't about a believer’s sins, but what about what he believes versus what the world believes. It's about the true faith versus error and Satanic deception. It's about the true God versus idolatry. It's about real Christianity versus false Christianity. So, the this paragraph argues for this view. Those are “The Arguments.”

So now, if if this is the right view, let's set “The Circumstances” again. What are the circumstances in these two verses if we're supposed to be praying for false Christians who are locked in deception? In this view, “the sin not leading to death” is is really two different things. First of all, “A professing believer has embraced a false form of the Christian faith.” In other words, this is when a professing Christian fails the first test of eternal life in this book when he or she does not believe in either the biblical Jesus or the biblical gospel. This professing believer is connected to the church, but but has been influenced by a false teacher and has abandoned the biblical Jesus, the biblical gospel to embrace some false form of Christianity, showing that they were never truly a Christian at all. That happened in the churches John pastored, and that's why this is apropos.

But “the sin not leading to death” also includes when “A professing believer has demonstrated a false profession of faith in the true Christian faith.” In other words, this is when a person who professes faith passes the first test. They do say they understand the biblical Jesus and the biblical gospel. But they clearly fail one of the other two tests; they don't truly love God and His people, or they don't obey Christ and His Word.

So, in either of those cases, here's “The Command,” verse 16, “If anyone sees his his false Christian brother, either having embraced a false form of the Christian faith, or having made a false profession of the real Christian faith, ‘he shall ask,’ that is, we’re to ask God, we’re to pray on their behalf, pray for what? That God would remove their spiritual blindness, that He would help them see the truth that they would ask we should ask God to truly save them, we should pray for their salvation.” (Paraphrase.) But just like with Christians who are sinning, we don't just need to pray.

If we see someone who's who's a false Christian because they fail the tests, we need to go to them. You see this in Jude, I don't have time to turn there, but in Jude chapter or Jude verses 21 to 23, Jude is talking about people who've been entrapped in false teaching, who who somehow embraced false teaching at some level. And he says, “Go to them, snatch them out of the fire, save them from the error that they are locked into.” (Paraphrase.) So, pray for their salvation and try to save them from the damming error that they've been influenced by.

What's “God's answer” in in verse 16? “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life life to those who commit sin not leading to death.” In other words, pray for their salvation, and God will give them life; He will save them. Now, don't misunderstand. This is not an ironclad promise that God is going to save every unbeliever you pray for. Why is that? Because we know from all of Scripture, that it is not God's plan to save everyone. You can go back and study Romans 9, but there are many other places where God makes that clear.

So, what is this passage saying? It's saying God will hear your prayer, and the God who delights to save will, in fact, save those whom He has chosen from all eternity. And here's the amazing thing, and this is, I think, the thrust of this passage, He will save them in answer to your prayer. The God who determined the ends, their salvation, also determined the means, answering your prayer to do so.

So, in this case, what is “The Exception?” What is it or What’s the person for whom we are not to pray? Verse 16, says, “…There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should make request for this.” Well, in this case, the sin that leads to death is when a false teacher teaches a false Jesus or gospel. In other words, pray for for individuals who have been deceived, but don't pray for the false teacher who has led them into that deception. This is a fairly common view. For example, D. Edmond Hiebert writes:

In view of what John has said about the false teachers, it is clear that he has in view the persistent attitude of those who separate from the true Church and pervert or reject the apostolic message of redemption in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.

Donald Burdick writes this:

Sin that leads to death is the continuing sin of the false teachers. In addition to disobedience and walking in the darkness, this was a sin that involved the rejection of the truth of the incarnation of the Son of God.

So, what's John saying when he says, “I'm not saying to pray for them?” In the case of those deceived by false teaching, we are to pray for their salvation and to seek to rescue them. But in the case of the deceivers, we're not necessarily called to pray for them, because biblically, their doom is sure. Turn to 2 Peter; 2 Peter, chapter 2, of course Peter is dealing with false teachers in this letter. In verse 3, the second half of the verse, he says, “…their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” Verse five or excuse me verse 9, Jesus says, or I'm sorry Jude II Peter says that God knows how to “keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.” Go down to verse 17 of chapter 2, the end of the verse says of false teachers, “…for whom the black darkness has been reserved.” Go over to Jude, just a few pages over, Jude, verse 13, again, talking about false teachers, and the end of verse 13 says, “…for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”

But back in our text, you'll notice that John doesn't say, “Do not pray for them.” Instead, he says, “I do not say that you should pray for this.” Now, why does he not put it as a firm command, but kind of state it more more carefully, more nuanced? I think it's because we don't know whom God has chosen. So, he's not saying, “absolutely never pray for these false teachers.” In this sense, it's it's really never wrong to pray for the salvation of any unbeliever, even for false teachers. He's simply saying, “It may, in fact, not be effective, because they may be one whom God is reserved “for the blackness of eternal darkness forever.”

So, what do you do with all this? If you have friends or you have family members who have embraced a false form of the Christian faith, they have a false Jesus, they're in the Mormons or the JW’s, or or they have a false gospel, they're Roman Catholic and they’ve embraced a false gospel. Or, they they believe the biblical Jesus and the biblical gospel or say they do, but really, there's no evidence in their life lives and hasn't been for years that they walk in any pattern of obedience to Jesus Christ, or love God or love His people; they've made a false profession. If there are people in your lives like that, don't give up is what we learn from John; keep on praying! Those people who left the churches in the first century, John’s saying to the true believers who stayed, “Keep on praying for them, don't stop, don't give up.”

And let me just say, “If you're the person that others have been praying for, and in God's providence you're here this morning; don't think for a moment that you are beyond the reach of the grace of God.” I love what Paul says in in 1 Timothy, chapter 1, he says, “God saved me, the worst of sinners. (Paraphrase.) And he says, “You want to know why Christ saved me?” He says, “It's because He wanted to prove to everyone that He could save you.” (Paraphrase). You haven't sinned the way Paul sinned; you haven't murdered believers, you haven't blasphemed the name of Christ in the way he did, you haven't tortured believers in the Church of Jesus Christ. And God said, through Paul, “I can save anyone!” So, don't for a moment think you’re beyond the reach of the grace of God. If you will repent and believe in His Son, you can enjoy true salvation today, true forgiveness for your sins.

So, both of those are the common interpretations and both of those are true and biblical, and they're both taught in Scripture, as I've shown you, and so you should practice both of them. You should pray for Christians in your life who are sinning, and you should pray for false believers in your life that they would come to salvation. But which does John mean here? Well, we can't be dogmatic about this, but I I think it's the second view.

And there are three pieces of evidence that as I considered this text convinced me. I'll just give them to you; you can think about them. First of all, ‘death’ in these verses must be eternal death, not physical death because it's positioned opposite to the word for eternal life. And it's consistent with John's use of the Greek words ‘life’ and ‘death’ throughout his letter. He never uses the word ‘death’ in this letter to refer to anything but but spiritual, eternal death. He never uses it for physical death.

Second argument is although the person in verse 16 who commits “the sin not leading to death is called a ‘brother.’ Notice he only receives eternal life after believers pray for him. That means he was spiritually dead when he committed this sin. In other words, he was an unbeliever.

And the third thing that convinced me is the rest of this paragraph and the rest of the book, as a whole, points toward this prayer being for those who left their churches and followed the false teachers. Back in chapter 2, verse 19, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they are all that they all are not of us.”

So, you and I then, chapter 2, verse 24, must “abide in the Scriptural teaching about Jesus in the Gospel.” (Paraphrase.) And we must pray faithfully for those who have come under the influence of false teachers or those who’ve made a false profession of faith, chapter 5, verse 16. And we must be careful to take our own sin seriously, chapter 5, verse 17. In fact, as we learned in 1 Corinthians 11, we “must examine ourselves” and judge our sin before God so that we don't invite His chastening into our lives. And we're to examine ourselves, especially according to 1 Corinthians 11, when we come to the Lord's Table. As the men come to serve us, take a moment now and prepare your heart in that very way.

Our Father, this passage reminds us that you take sin very seriously, and it reminds us that we should take our own sin very seriously. Lord, we pray, even as we come to take of the Lord's Table, that for those of us who have believed in the true biblical Jesus and the true biblical gospel, Lord, we've repented of our sins and believed in the finished work of Jesus Christ, in His life, death, and resurrection as our only hope of being right with You, Lord, I pray that for us, You would help us to truly examine our hearts to make sure that that we don't take of the Lord's Table in an unworthy way, and invite Your discipline in our lives. Lord, we know that means primarily, truly confessing our sins to You, seeking your forgiveness and seeking Your grace to turn from those sins. Lord, don't let us confess our sins on the one hand, while playing games with You and still intending to leave this very place and commit those sins again. Lord, give us the the full and complete resolve to turn from sin and to pursue righteousness even as we seek Your forgiveness. Lord, that's what our repentance looks like, and, Lord, we come to you in that way, each of us individually who knows You. Lord, we seek Your forgiveness for our sins, the many ways that we have failed to love You, and the many ways we have failed to love others.

Lord, those are your two great commands fleshed out in all the specific commands of the Ten Commandments and of the rest of the Scripture. But Lord, it really comes down to this, we have failed to love You as we should, and we have failed to love others as we should. Forgive us, oh, God, and give us a new and fresh resolve to obey You in all of the things You've commanded so that we can express our love for You and our love for others. Father, cleanse and forgive us so that as we take the Lord's Table, we can truly, rightly celebrate His death for us in which He purchased our forgiveness. Lord, receive our worship that we offer in this ordinance that You've given us, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.