First John: 1 John 5:14-The Child of God Possesses Confidence in Prayer as a Result of Experiencing Eternal Life Lesson # 200
First John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:00:32
0 ratings
· 119 viewsFirst John: 1 John 5:14-The Child of God Possesses Confidence in Prayer as a Result of Experiencing Eternal Life
Files
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. (ESV)
1 John 5:14 Consequently, this is tantamount to our confidence which each one of us does exist in the state of experiencing in His presence, specifically that, if anyone of us for our own benefit does request anything in accordance with His will, He does hear each one of us. (My translation)
1 John 5:14 is a result clause since this verse presents the result of the declarative statement in 1 John 5:13, which asserts that John wrote 1 John 1:1-5:12 in order that the recipients of First John could confirm that they are experiencing eternal life.
Experiencing eternal life is personally encountering the Father through learning and obeying His Word which reveals His will.
Consequently, the child of God gains more practical spiritual wisdom as well as more of the character of Jesus Christ.
1 John 5:14 asserts that John and the recipients of First John possess confidence in the presence of God in the sense that if they for their own benefit ask anything of Him according to His will, He hears these requests.
Therefore, 1 John 5:13-14 teaches that the child of God can possess confidence that God will hear the requests they present to Him in prayer whenever they make these requests according to His will as the direct result of experiencing eternal life, which again speaks of the fellowship with the Father.
Consequently, the believer can possess confidence in prayer that the Father will then answer these requests when they make these requests according to His will as a result experiencing fellowship with Him through obedience to His will.
“Our confidence” pertains to a state of boldness and confidence and the absence of fear the faithful believer will possess when they enter into the presence of the Father for the purpose of making a request of Him in prayer and appears in relation to prayer in 1 John 3:21.
This is the fourth and final time that this word parrēsia, “confidence” appears in First John.
In 1 John 2:28, the noun parrēsia pertains to a state of boldness and confidence and the absence of fear the faithful believer will possess when Jesus Christ is revealed to them and every church believer at the rapture or resurrection of the church.
Now, in 1 John 3:21 when John speaks of the believer experiencing confidence in the presence of God, he is not speaking of confidence when they stand before Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church as he does in 1 John 2:28, but rather when they are making a request of the Father in prayer.
In fact, when he speaks of the believer experiencing assurance in 1 John 3:19, he is not speaking of assurance of one’s eternal salvation since this is never stated as a purpose in First John.
Rather, when he is speaking of confidence in verse 21 and assurance in verse 19, he is speaking of these things in the context of prayer.
This is indicated by his statements to follow in 1 John 3:21-23.
In 1 John 4:17, the confidence which John speaks of in a purpose-result clause in 1 John 4:17 is related to receiving rewards for faithful service.
Notice in 1 John 5:14 that when the apostle John asserts that if we ask the Father “anything,” he qualifies it by saying that these requests offered to the Father must be “in accordance with His will.”
The obvious implication is that the Father does not fulfill the requests, which are not according to His will.
Thus, the believer cannot simply expect God to fulfill their requests, if they are not in agreement with the Father’s will.
The Holy Spirit is teaching in First John reveals that the Father’s will is that the recipients of First John and all God’s children must obey the command to love one another.
This is the will of the Father for God’s children.
In 1 John 2:12-14, John affirmed that the recipients of First John were obeying this command and thus were living in accordance with the Father’s will.
Consequently, the recipients of First John were experiencing eternal life which is experiencing fellowship with God the Father.
The recipients of First John must therefore, continue to obey the command to love one another in order that they might continue to experience fellowship with God and thus have God hear and fulfill their requests.
So therefore, in relation to intercessory prayer for each other, when the recipients of First John present their requests to the Father, they must continue to offer these requests for each other as the result of divinely loving each other.
In other words, divine-love for each other must be the motivation for the requests when interceding in prayer for each other.
1 John 5:14-15 teaches that we will receive our prayer requests if we pray according to the Father’s will.
However, if we do not pray according to His will, we will not receive our requests from the Father (1 John 5:14-15).
Not praying according to the will of God is a most serious hindrance.
1 John 5:14 also teaches that praying according to the Father’s will benefits the child of God.
They will benefit because it is the Father’s will to do so which results in the child of God becoming more like Jesus Christ who always prayed according to His Father’s will.
It also results in rewards for them at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church.
So, in 1 John 5:14, when the apostle John speaks about presenting one’s requests in accordance with the Father’s will, he is of course speaking in the context of prayer.
Both Jesus Christ Himself and His apostles taught that there is a protocol to prayer in that the believer-priest must address God the Father in prayer (John 14:13-14; 16:23-27; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6; Eph 2:18; 3:14; 5:20; Col 1:3, 12; 3:17; 1 Pe 1:17; Rev 1:6).
They are to do so in the name of Jesus Christ and by means of the power of the Spirit, which means that their requests must be in accordance with the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God which reveals the Father’s will.
Paul teaches this in Ephesians 2:18: (1) “Through Him”: Lord Jesus Christ (2) “One Spirit”: Holy Spirit (3) “To the Father”: God the Father.
Even the Lord Jesus Christ taught to address the Father in prayer.
When His disciples asked Him how to pray, His response was, “pray to your Father” (Mat 6:6).
The Lord Jesus Christ’s disciples asked that He teach them how to pray and He responded by instructing them that they should pray to the Father (cf. Luke 11:1-2; Matt. 6:5-13).
As we noted, 1 John 5:14 asserts that God the Father does hear His children’s requests when they present these requests to Him in accordance with His will as a result of experiencing eternal life or in other words, fellowship with Him.
When John says that the Father “hears” (akouō) these requests, he means that the Father is paying attention to these requests because they are in agreement with His will as a result of His child experiencing fellowship with Him.
It does not mean that the Father is answering these requests, although, He will do so when they are making these requests according to His will while in fellowship with Him.
1 John 5:15 does assert that the Father does answer these requests or in other words, He does fulfill these requests.
So therefore, 1 John 5:14 is teaching that the child of God can approach the Father with confidence when making a request for others or themselves in accordance with His will, while 1 John 5:15 teaches that they can possess confidence that the Father will fulfill these requests.
1 John 5:15 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. (ESV)
Finally, 1 John 5:14 echoes 1 John 3:21-22.
1 John 3:21 Beloved, if any of our hearts are not being convicted, then each one of us are experiencing confidence in the presence of God (the Father). 22 Consequently, if any of us does at any time request something, then each one of us are receiving the fulfillment of our request because each one of us are conscientiously obeying His commands. Correspondingly, each of us are practicing that which is pleasing in His judgment. (Author’s translation)