Walking in Confident Assurance
Assurance: The Book of 1st John • Sermon • Submitted
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How confident are you?
How confident are you?
Matt Richardson’s fastball in little league
Daddy throwing fastballs at me in the dark
I stood in and got a hit
I had confidence to stand firm and swing hard
That you may know… (5:13)
That you may know… (5:13)
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
John’s goal in writing is to give the believers assurance of their standing before God.
Assurance of their salvation and confidence in their eternal standing.
But that assurance is not only for the future, we live in the present with a confident assurance that shows up in our everyday lives.
John points to one of the clearest ways our confidence displays itself…in prayer.
The FRUIT of confident assurance is confident PRAYER (5:14-15)
The FRUIT of confident assurance is confident PRAYER (5:14-15)
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward 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 that we have asked of him.
How you talk to someone and the responses you get from them says a lot about your relationship.
If you barely know someone you are likely not going to talk to them in the same way you would talk to someone you have known for a long time.
How familiar you are to a person determines your level of confidence in speaking to them.
Your relationship with someone also has a great deal of influence on whether they will go out of their way to help you or engage with you.
We all know the oversharers and TMI folks right?
Our prayer life reveals a great deal about our relationship with God and the strength of our faith.
John points to the source of this confidence in 2 places:
We know He HEARS our PRAYERS (5:14)
We know He HEARS our PRAYERS (5:14)
The New American Commentary: 1, 2, 3 John (2) Be Confident in Prayer (5:14–17)
it is the gift of eternal life that allows the believer to come directly before God with boldness or confidence.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
It is the gift of eternal life that allows us as believers to come directly to God with boldness and confidence.
1 jn
God’s listens to the prayers of His people.
God’s listens to the prayers of His people.
This is a bold declaration of confidence for us to rest in.
Prayer is often hard because we do not audibly hear God speak to us when we speak to Him.
But John is saying “God hears your prayers, so don’t stop praying.”
We know He ANSWERS our PRAYERS (5:15)
We know He ANSWERS our PRAYERS (5:15)
This is not a blank check for believers.
Bruce Almighty- answers all with yes. Everyone wins the lottery and chaos ensures.
Bruce Almighty- answers all with yes. Everyone wins the lottery and chaos ensures.
He says He hears our prayers when we ask “anything according to His Will”
Jesus give us this model in His model prayer “The Lord’s Prayer”:
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matt 5
Our prayers can so often focus on what we think is best for us or for others,
It is not “Got I need this to happen” it is “God may you
but our hearts will only be satisfied when we rest in God plans and purposes.
The New American Commentary: 1, 2, 3 John (2) Be Confident in Prayer (5:14–17)
Faith will accept that God’s will is best, and it will trust his plan and purpose, even if it does not understand at the time.
John and Jesus are saying our prayer must be a longing after God’s best and come from an ever-growing faith in Him.
Faith will accept that God’s will is best, and it will trust his plan and purpose, even if it does not understand at the time.
Our pursuit of knowing Jesus will guide our prayers:
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Making our home with Jesus, staying in Him, remaining close by him is the rooted of confident prayer.
We know He ANSWERS our PRAYERS (5:15)
We know He ANSWERS our PRAYERS (5:15)
But not only does he HEAR our prayers, our confidence is that He ANSWERS our prayers.
But there is a specification and requirement.
According to His Will
According to His Will
This is not a blank check for believers.
Bruce Almighty- answers all with yes. Everyone wins the lottery and chaos ensures.
He says He hears our prayers when we ask “anything according to His Will”
Jesus give us this model in His model prayer “The Lord’s Prayer”:
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Our prayers can so often focus on what we think is best for us or for others,
but our hearts will only be satisfied when we rest in God plans and purposes.
John and Jesus are saying our prayer must be a longing after God’s best and come from an ever-growing faith in Him.
Faith will accept that God’s will is best, and it will trust his plan and purpose, even if it does not understand at the time.
Our pursuit of knowing Jesus will guide our prayers:
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Making our home with Jesus, staying in Him, remaining close by him is the rooted of confident prayer.
Prayer is not to be self-focused
Prayer is not to be self-focused
John has an aside in verse 16-17.
He wants to direct the prayers of the readers to pray for those who have been deceived by the false teachers.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
1 john 5 16-17
General principles:
Pray for other people, not just yourself.
Pray for the sins you see your brothers and sister in (don’t just gossip and judge them behind their backs).
Trust that God can, and will, lead them back to himself.
Some you are praying for do not really know Jesus at all.
Sin that leads to death = unbelief in the REAL Jesus.
Rejection of who Jesus is and what He has done (the Gospel)
He isn’t saying don’t pray for them, but don’t pray for them like they are brothers and sister in the faith, THE ARE NOT.
The FOUNDATION of confident PRAYER is confident FAITH.
The FOUNDATION of confident PRAYER is confident FAITH.
John gives us three pillars of confidence that our faith is founded on.
We know we have VICTORY OVER SIN. (5:18)
We know we have VICTORY OVER SIN. (5:18)
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
Shame is the killer of confident assurance.
How could God ever love me and listen to me when I am such a horrible person?
I can’t pray after I have acted like that, He would be offended.
No way will God listen to me when I haven’t done anything for Him this week.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Oh that we may remember these words.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he 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 we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 jn 1
We cannot claim to be without sin, but we can claim the redeeming work of Jesus to destroy our sin.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Yes you have sinned and yes it is grievous and gross, and yes you need to repent and pursue righteousness
But your sin is not bigger than your savior
We know that we BELONG TO GOD. (5:19)
We know that we BELONG TO GOD. (5:19)
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
The confidence we have to pray comes from our identity as Children of God.
15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
romans 8
6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
gal
God is our GOOD FATHER and He cares for us as His beloved children
9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
this is our father God, who loves us better than any dad could EVER love His children.
Go to Him will confidence that He love you.
We know the ONE TRUE GOD. (5:20)
We know the ONE TRUE GOD. (5:20)
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. He is the true God and eternal life.
1 jn 5
The final and most REAL reason we have confidence, Jesus has come, and without Him we have no hope in life, in death, and especially in prayer.
He came to show us who God is- when we see Jesus we see the will and the very nature of God.
He has given us understanding- “the power or capacity of knowing”
Understanding of what is true- literally what is REAL.
We stand in confident assurance because we know the one who is true.
We know the one who created all that is true, good, holy, right, and just.
We not only know Him, but we are “In Him” - We are covered by Him, sheltered by Him, and find our identity in Him.
We can embrace truth and reality because He has come and we are in Him.
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
The FULLNESS of our confidence rest in the REAL JESUS.
The FULLNESS of our confidence rest in the REAL JESUS.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
The last words may seem random and unconnected, but they are truly a restatement of John’s main theme.
4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Don’t settle for anything less that the REAL JESUS.
Joy is found only in Him.
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Receive the forgiveness and redemption found in Jesus,
And don’t let sin wedge it’s way into your life.
26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
Don’t be deceived and drawn astray by the lies this world tries to sell you.
Jesus is SO MUCH GREATER
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
Oh that we would all know with FULL ASSURANCE and walk with BOLD CONFIDENCE that Jesus is our Lord and we are SAVED by HIS BLOOD and RIGHTEOUSNESS.
REJECT the FALSE and EMBRACE the REAL
REJECT the FALSE and EMBRACE the REAL